Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, June 30, 1984
Friday, June 29, 1984
Wednesday, June 27, 1984
Earlier I had measured and cut the carpet for the back bedroom. I will have enough left over for the bathroom, when I need it. It will be a lot easier to keep clean than the burgundy-colored carpet that's in there now.
Greg took the radiator out of my car, and is going to get it fixed for me. I am still driving Mom's old car.
Steve had a message to get in touch with the unemployment office about a three-hour, minimum wage job. He told me it was chasing chickens for a produce company.
A typical workday, with the exceptions of the last person I talked to. She was well educated and had headed some committees on jail reform. She told me that the St. Louis, Missouri, area is as hard hit by this depression as my area is.
I came home from work, added pool chemicals and filled it with water, then stayed up the four hours need to circulate the chemicals, before shutting it off and going to bed.
Tuesday, June 26. 1984
The man who sold me the burgundy carpet for my bathroom, brought me a piece of carpet that was beige, pink and brown spotted. I think it's big enough to cover the back bedroom and the bathroom.
Otherwise, it's been a typical second shift, part-time workday.
Monday, June 25, 1984
I washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, and gave the dogs a bath.
I tied my tomato plants to the fence, because they are getting tall and beginning to fall over. My newly planted green onions, radishes, cucumbers and dill are starting to come up. I hosed down the pool carpet and driveway.
An ex-neighbor, who now lives in California called. I was delighted to hear from him. He lived across the street from me for years, but after being employed by Caterpillar Tractor Company for nine year, was laid-off. He sold all of his personal belongings, rented his house, and moved to California to find work. He didn't sound as if he had found enough work in California either.
Steve is at Teresa'a house, celebrating her birthday, and Greg went to a movie. I've started planning what I'm going to wear on my vacation in Nashville next month.
Sunday, June 24, 1984
Teresa turned twenty-one at midnight, and Teresa, Steve, Greg and I celebrated her birthday.
Saturday, June 23, 1984
I bought three tabloids and two magazines to devour this evening.
Sonny and his brother have finished the back of the house roof. It's stormed twice and my ceilings haven''t leaked. They will be here Monday to start the rest of the roof.
Steve and Teresa vacuumed the pool for the first time, then they went swimming. It started storming and they had to get out, but went back in after the storm ended.
Steve and I are leaving the garbage and dishes for Greg, because since he's been here, he hasn't done any housework; what Steve and I haven't done, hasn't gotten done.
An ex-beau has written to me and gave me his new phone number. I called and was overjoyed to talk to him. He invited me to a three day vacation in Nashville, Tennessee, next month, He will fly me from here to Nashville and he will fly from his Albuquerque, New Mexico home to Nashville. I am ecstatic!
Friday, June 22, 1984
I scrubbed the pool, let the debris settle , and then vacuumed it. I added algaecide, muriatic acid, chlorine stabilizer and a product that clears the cloudiness in the water. The pool will be perfect tomorrow morning, and after vacuuming, will stay that way all summer, with minimal vacuuming, if the chemicals are added on a routine schedule.
I sprayed Mom's house for cockroaches again. I bombed my house, garage and attic for wood roaches. I sprayed inside my house and garage, and sprinkled powder in the garage and house too.
I picked green onions, white and red radishes and leaf lettuce, then I made wilted lettuce, an old time favorite of mine.
It stormed late tonight and my back bedroom, that's now Steve's room, leaked like a sieve, but the storm ended quickly, and the ceiling didn't cave in, but it is going to be water stained again. Steve is spending the night at Teresa's parents house, and Greg has also gone there to watch a movie.
Thursday, June 21, 1984
I vacuumed the pool, scrubbed some of the pool, then vacuumed it again.
Today has been peaceful.
Wednesday, June 20, 1943
My mailman told me that in over twenty years of delivering mail, so many unrelated people are living together on his route, it's almost impossible to remember all the names.
Steve, Greg and I scrubbed the pool, and then I vacuumed it. I also cleaned the pool carpet, driveway and garage.
My house is a disaster, although Steve doesn't dishes and cleans the countertops and table. Everyone take care of their own room and laundry. Steve and I keep the garage clean. Steve will vacuum and sweep floors, but that is all that gets done besides the pool.
All three of my tenants, Steve, Greg and Sonny, set off firecrackers, jumping jacks and bottle rockets tonight, while listening to the stereo, turned up to 1,000 or more decibels, while cutting plywood and nailing it to my roofs two-by-fours.
The make me feel either young or senile, depending on my mood. I like rock 'n roll, heavy metal, classical, opera, ageless classics and the Beatles, but not any of them deafeningly loud. It's incredulous to think of my life only five months ago and today. I've made major changes in my life before, but never so many, so quickly. I wonder what the neighbors think. When I moved back here two years ago after leasing this house, and trying to live with my totally insane Mother, several of my neighbors told me they were glad I was back. After today, all the things that have happened and all the things that may happen while I try to make financial ends meet, my neighbors my regret that I'm back. I regret having to live the way I have to live now. I don't need anything except a full-time joy to enable me to live like other sane, rational people.
Tuesday, June 19. 1984
Monday, June 18, 1984
I weeded the garden and replanted onions, radishes, cucumbers and some herbs. I am burnt to a crisp again and my hands are stiff and sore from the weeding.
Greg asked me to go to a drive-in movie with him, and even offered to pay my way. I declined.
It's ironic that Greg's Mom and I were good friends in high school. Greg certainly looks like her. His Dad would take us both to school in his car. It's also ironic that Greg's Mom and Dad are still married to each other; they fought like crazy in high school.
Everyone went swimming today, except me, as usual. The pool is the big attraction for roommates.
Steve wants Teresa to move in here with him, but she figured it out in black and white on paper, and with both of their salaries, they couldn't financially make it. She lives with her parents.
I've been lonely today, missing Love, maybe because I weeded the garden, because the garden is my personal tribute to Love. All of my springtime enthusiasm seems to be dwindling this week. I don't want to start any new projects either.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunday, June 17, 1984
I have a hangover; I over-partied!
I need to start scrubbing the pool this week and I will get into the pool for the first time this year to clean it. All I can think about is how much debris is in the pool and how much work is ahead of me. It's almost as if I get some type of perverse pleasure in just cleaning it, and I don't need to to swim in it at all.
My roommates and some of their friends and relatives splashed the pool skimmer cover off, and the water waves quickly flooded the filter and pump area. The pump was completely covered with water when I discovered it. The pump was draining as fast as it could. I hope the pump is okay and that it will dry out by tomorrow. I hope I don't have to disassemble the pump to dry it out. Neither of my roommates have mastered the complexities of the pool yet, but sometimes I haven't either. I was the one who forgot I turned on the water and flooded it last week.
Steve keeps the garage spotless for me, does the dishes and cleans the kitchen, but Greg hasn't caught on that he needs to do things around here too, for the benefit of us all. Greg did clear off the kitchen table tonight; maybe he'll improve.
Greg comes from a very religious family. He told me when he lived with his folks, he wasn't allowed to watch TV that wasn't family entertainment, wasn't allowed to change TV channels without permission, couldn't sleep nude with a fan on himself, even though he gets terribly gaulded, had a 10:30PM curfew, wasn't allowed to go to dances and had to go to a Christian college. He said that even at college, the restrictions were less than at home. He seems determined to catch up on all movies and drive-in theaters in the area quickly.
I went to the store and had on my old painting clothes, as usual. The clerk actually thought that I had been painting. I wonder what kind of weirdo category she would mentally place me in, if she realized I normally wear these clothes or my bathrobe, although I do change into a swimming suit in the summer.
Saturday, June 16, 1984
Both my roommates went to the party for awhile, and then went swimming in my pool.
Friday, June 15, 1984
I washed and waxed the kitchen floor and entryway and vacuumed all the carpeting.
Greg saw a garage sale that was selling carpet scraps. I hustled over there and found a three foot by seven foot burgundy scrap for a dollar: I fitted and sewed it together for my bathroom. It's better than the still-wet-from-plumbing-mess carpet that was in there, even though a beige or gray would have looked better. Beggars can't be choosy!
I also bought two winter dresses for $.68 and they fit like a dream.
I made ten mulberry tarts and had enough lemon pudding filling, left over from the pie I gave Deanna, to make four lemon meringue tarts. All but three have been eaten already.
Don stopped by to tell me Diane moved back to her parent's home. He's been unable to find work and they didn't have enough money to live on. She has a babysitting job one day a week and cared for an invalid one day a week. When there isn't enough money to even buy toilet paper, naturally any relationship will crumble. They had all the rest of their problems worked out, but the money problems were too much. He's trying to get on active duty in the Air Force, but he's been told that it will take at least three months. I don't know how he's going to survive until then. I didn't ask and he didn't say.
Thursday, June 14, 1984
I spent $25.00 for a Chinese dinner I made tonight. I spent four and one-half hours preparing it for Steve, Teresa and me.
I cleaned the pool and it is looking better everyday. It's a light green color and needs to be scrubbed more than anything else now. I still have quite a few leaves in it, but they will be vacuumed out soon and are the least of my worries. The leeches have died with the addition of all the pool chemicals.
Steve made my dogs a wooden ramp to be able to get in and out of the pool by themselves, but my male, took an instant dislike to it and chewed it up.
My main worry is not having enough money to do the roof and buy the chemicals I need to keep the pool up to par.
Sonny and his brother took all the shingles off the back side of the house and the rotten plywood too. They are supposed to have everything delivered tomorrow morning, and are supposed to start replacing the roof tomorrow. I hope to hell it doesn't rain tonight, because there isn't much roofing plywood on the back of the house. Sonny doesn't know that I don't have all of the money to pay him yet, and I will knock it off his rent instead. It looks like rain tonight, and if it rains much, all the tile in all the bedroom ceilings may cave in.
Deanna helped me pick enough mulberries from her backyard tree for a pie, and I made her a lemon meringue pie for a going-away present, her favorite.
My sunburn is peeling, but it hasn't bothered me much and wasn't even sore.
Greg's in and out, but gone most of the time.
President Reagon is supposed to speak on TV tonight, but I'm not even going to watch him, because I am sick of hearing that things are getting better. Another neighbor of mine is losing his house next week and I know that neighbor doesn't think that anything is getting better.
Wednesday, June 13, 1984
I forgot that I was filling the pool with water, and the water overflowed. The water covered the pool filter, short-circuited the pool filter motor and blew the garage fuse. If Steve hadn't been working on a mouse trap in the garage when the lights in the garage went out, I don't know what would have happened. After the water in the filter area drained, I started the pool filter and it worked, luckily.
I took Deanna, Steve and Teresa to see a Chinese-type Zen garden that a man, who lives about three blocks from here, built in his back yard. On the way there, an eleven or twelve year old boy on a bicycle decided that he could beat my car across the street. If I hadn't had great brakes, I would have hit him. I only missed him by about three inches. I didn't even see him until he was right in front of my car. It's a miracle the kid wasn't hurt or killed. Luckily, the kid won, this time.
Tuesday, June 12, 1984
I cleaned the pool, which is a daily two to four hour activity.
Greg seems to be gone all the time, but Steve is home a lot.
How do other people support everything in this recession/depression?
Monday, June 11, 1984
I put the finishing touches on Dad's old bedroom furniture, the furniture I'm going to put in Steve's bedroom, and shampooed the carpet in his room, but it will need at least one more shampooing. Then Steve helped me move the refinished bedroom furniture into his room. The bedroom set looks almost as good as the day Mom and Dad purchased it.
My tenant at Mom's house, Sonny, stopped here and I have arranged for Steve to buy a fourteen inch tire from Sonny for $10.00. He said he would pay Sonny when he gets paid, two weeks from now.
I dug four lilac roots from Deanna's back yard and planted them in my postage-stamp sized back yard between the bedroom windows. If they come up, they will have a wafting scent in the bedrooms next spring. Deanna also let me dig up two other plants. I don't know what they are, but she says they have flowers that smell nice. I planted them around the bedrooms too.
I rented my other bedroom to Greg, a twenty year old man. He seems the nervous, hyper type.
Sunday, June 10, 1984
I cleaned the pool again. It doesn't look any cleaner, but it is a lighter shade of brown.
Saturday, June 9, 1984
I also spent eight hours in the bright sun cleaning the pool for the first time this season. I am bushed!
Friday. June 8, 1984
From 8Am until 1:30PM, I cleaned out the pit area of the pool that's deeper than the rest of the pool and hooked up the pool filter. Then I let the filter circulate the water with the new chemicals to thoroughly mix them until 8:30 tonight. I have a phenomenon in the pool that I've never had before, leeches. I have no idea where they came from, nor how they are able to live with all the chemicals in the pool.
I re-stripped Dad's bed headboard, footboard and sideboards again, sanded them and put one coat of polyurethane on them.
Since Steve had no spare tire, he took my car to work again, and is supposed to have a free spare tire lined up for his car. I didn't have any money for gas, so he borrowed the gas money from his girlfriend, Teresa. He's supposed to start working thirty-two hours a week - starting Sunday, instead of the nineteen hours he works now. He's better have transportation, because he won't be able to drive mine all the time, and maybe not at all, if I get a job.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, June 7, 1984
I filled the pool with water and tested the water to know which chemicals to buy. The chemicals were okay from my end-of-the-season pool treatment last fall, and all I had to add was chlorine to the chlorine floater.
I folded the pool cover, which is not easy task, since it's huge and designed to fit a 18 foot by 36 foot pool, and stored it in the garage.
I've got plexiglass in some of my windows. I've noticed that the plexiglass is more flexible when the wind blows than the glass windows. It's kind of eerie, seeing the reflections in those windows get bigger, then smaller, then bigger again with each wind gust.
Wednesday, June 6, 1984
I stripped and sanded the mirror frame, another dresser drawer and the wooden knobs for the drawers. I handpainted the wood filler to resemble the natural wood grain, and it doesn't look bad. I polyurethaned another coat on the nightstand, dresser top and put the first coat on the drawer, knobs and mirror frame.
The Reagon Administration is still saying that everything is getting better, but Reagon's optimism doesn't apply to me and my neighbors. Some of my neighbors are a lot worse off, especially the ones with no home now, and none are better off. Even if I knew I could live in Reagon's space station for the rest of my life, rent free, with all the food I wanted to eat, I wouldn't feel better off. Somehow there's nothing quite like the satisfaction and pride of owning your own home, even if it's a postage-sized slum or one-room shack.
Tuesday, June 5, 1984
The plumber spent one and one-half hours here and charged me $73.00 for labor and parts. He cut the trap off, and fit plastic piping to the water pipe that goes to the sewer. He fixed my hot and cold water problems too. Even then, I had to put about two-thirds gallon of muratic acid down the tub drain before it would work well. He got paid $5.30 more than my unemployment check for a week. I don't want to be Road Commissioner, publisher or mortician, I want to be a plumber. I got the kitchen somewhat clean from the plumbing mess.
I got the refrigerator in the garage moved from one wall of the garage to the opposite wall and got a big overstuffed chair of Mom's moved into Steve's bedroom, with Steve's help. I put another coat of polyurethane on the dresser, dresser wooden handles and top of the nightstand, after I sanded the plastic wood filler that I filled the dents and chips with. I still have the headboard, footboard, side-boards and dresser mirror frame to do.
I boxed up all the clothes of mine that didn't sell. I gave Mom's clothes to Ila. Maybe she can use them or give them to some of the residents at her mother's nursing home.
Rob stopped by and is thinking about giving up his custody rights of his three daughters, because he can't pay the child support, and his ex-wife won't let him see his kids without the child support payments. His reasoning is since he's unemployed, can't pay his child support and is having to live with his parents, and is incurring more of a child support debt all the time, without being able to see his children, what's the use of wanting or trying to be a father.
Monday, June 4, 1984
The cheapest plumber I found is $32.00 an hour.
I'm still hunting for sixteen-inch ceiling tile.
Sonny stopped by today to tell me that since it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow night, he will start my new roof Wednesday. I said I would give him one of Mom's many tables that didn't sell, a lamp and a plant stand for his wife.
I bought primer and paint for the pool rim and muriatic acid to clean the rust off the rim. Muratic acid is added to the pool water anyway, so it won't hurt the water quality. I got rug shampoo and deodorizer for the back bedroom, bath and hall carpeting. I picked up tile for the bathroom where Steve's brother poked holes in the wall. All I need is a new wood baseboard to put around the tub.
I bought a new swim type bra for my bathing suit top, since I will be into pool cleaning this week.
I varnished the nightstand for the third time and stripped, sanded and polyurethaned the dresser.
After dinner I washed dishes, swept the kitchen floor and vacuumed the carpet. At 1AM I called it a day.
Sunday, June 3, 1984
I went over to my neighbor, who I call Grandpa, to see his house plumbing, but his plumbing is in his basement and mine isn't. Then I went to another neighbor's house, and he explained his plumbing set-up over a beer. Apparently I am missing the 4" lid into a trap and some connections to a lower pipe beneath the water and ground level. Whoever fixes it is going to have a rotten, filthy job. I also need some type of gasket in the hot and cold water knobs.
I started refinishing the bedroom nightstand that's going in the back bedroom. Everything I've refinished, looks great. At least Dad's old bedroom furniture is turning out well for me.
Steve only worked about three hours today.
Saturday, June 2, 1984
Steve tried to fix my plumbing problem, and everything was well until he had his brother come over to help. His brother put two holes in my bath walls, and although I can repair them easily, I am dismayed that they wouldn't have more sense. Steve tried to replace everything as it was, wood moldings, etc., but I have to consider this rental property now, and I will have to redo it or pay to have it done for cosmetic reasons. All people want a clean, well-maintained, bathroom. Anyway, my plumbing isn't fixed and I must call a professional plumber Monday.
I got my paycheck from my last job assignment, and was disappointed. I only cleared $98.00, but my job-related, traveling costs were $60.00.
Sonny hasn't started my roofing yet, and nothing has been delivered. If nothing arrives Monday, I'll go to Mom's house to see what's up. I gave them free rent for the month of May and$100.00 to buy materials.
My repair problems at both houses are keeping me broke with a capital B, and I don't have another paying roommate yet.
I stripped all the varnish off Dad's old nightstand and dresser, except for one drawer, while keeping tabs on the garage sale. I sanded two drawers and put a thin coat of polyurethane on both of them. If two end tables and a desk don't sell, I may keep them and refinish them, then try to sell them. My money situation is horrible, and the more I am able to financially accomplish, the more needs to be done.
I'm also having more plumbing problems now. My bathtub hot water seat is leaking water again when it's turned on, and the cold water seat leaks whether it's turned off or on.
Deanna. one of my neighbors, is moving, because she can't afford to live in her house anymore on ADC. I will miss her
Friday, June 1, 1984
I finished getting ready for the garage sale, and put an advertisement for the sale in the newspaper. When Steve got home from work, he helped me straighten a bed frame for the twin bed I want to sell. I'm sore everywhere.
I need to shampoo the hall, back bedroom and bath carpet as soon as they dry out. I am sick of plumbing problems and wet carpets. I'm also sick of roofing and ceiling problems. This slumlord wishes she didn't own any property, didn't have to deal with our Great Gas God, the water company, the phone company, the repairmen, the tax man, government, etc. Why is the economy so crazy that I can't get out from under all these problems.! What the hell have I worked the last twenty-five years for? Where's my freedom? Why is this country so screwed up that I can't get free? All these possessions are nothing but a financial repair headache, and I'm in a cage that I only partially manufactured. Who could have imagined twenty-five years ago that the American Dream would become a nightmare in 1984 and the previous few years too, with no exits, just more and more of the same.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, May 31, 1984
Teresa, Steve's girlfriend, brought me a toad for my garden. The toad, that was here last year, isn't here this year. Toads not only eat bugs, but dig in the earth and keep the ground soft. I've made a toad bath (a pan lid turned upside down and filled with water and several rocks in it for the toad to sunbathe), then dug out a place under the concrete around the pool for his shelter, several feet from the toad bath.
I got the rest of the stuff down from the attic to sell in the garage sale. I fixed one of Moms kitchen table legs, because the screws to the leg holder had stripped out.
Wednesday, May 30, 1984
I started getting everything out of the garage for my garage sale. I amazed myself by getting about half of everything out and ready. Steve wrote down the approximate prices of everything that I have outside. I'm sore all over.
Steve is afraid that the loan company will take his car, since his hours have been cut at work and he has been unable to make a car payment. He wants to put his car in the garage until he's able to catch up on his car payments. Now I know why the garage being clean was so important to him.
Tuesday, May 29, 1984
I paid the house payment; paid Mom's house taxes and mailed my unemployment form.
I bought cockroach spray and sprayed the kitchen, bath and washer/dryer area in my house. Steve help me move the stove and I sprinkled roach powder under the stove, frig/freezer, dishwasher, loose kitchen cabinet and washer/dryer. At least my house is designed so that the plumbing is contained in only one wall and easy to get to. I set off a roach bomb inside the kitchen/bath wall and put the dogs outside. I weeded the garden around the pool for the two hours that's required for the roach bomb to be effective.
Steve built some shelves in the garage this morning, and cleaned off the garage work bench for me. After weeding the garden, I started cleaning the garage. When Steve came home from work, he finished cleaning the rest of the garage, while I went in the house to deal with the extermination cleanup. I aired out the house and only saw two dead woodroaches and several dead spiders. Only seeing two roaches here, instead of the one-hundred-fifty or so dead cockroaches I saw at Mom's after I sprayed, bombed and powdered, gave me hope that the problem isn't bad here, and they're a different species of roach too, not the German type roach at Moms, so maybe they're easier to get rid of.
Monday, May 28, 1984
Steve is driving forty-four miles a day to his part-time job and it's a lot of short hours. I typed a resume and covering letter for him; maybe he can find something closer. I told him to make copies, but also to mail one to the place Love worked.
I paid Steve for putting up the CB antenna and helping me spray Mom's house for cockroaches.
It rained and made it impossible to start cleaning out the garage for my garage sale. I hope I can make some money from it; I will need it.
I also don't have another roommate yet, and I need the extra income. I have to open the pool within the next two weeks and the chemicals are expensive. I have to pay the June installment of Mom's property taxes of $259.00, my house payment of $150.00, the Great Gas God of $167.00 since the government's HEAP funding isn't dispersed yet, my phone bill of $50.00 and the water bill of $31.00. That's a total of $651.00 in the next two weeks, without any other expenses. My total income for that same period is $481.00. Needless to say, I will have to spend Love's death insurance benefit for things other than fixing the roof. I will need minimally $170.00 for other expenses; food, car gas, cockroach spray, powder and bombs for my house and maybe more for Mom's house too, and pool chemicals, plus anything else that comes up.
I wanted to spray for the woodroaches here today, but the stores are closed because of the holiday.
I made a pot of chilli. Steve and I finished it off in quick order.
Love's beloved elderberries have survived the winter. Hooray!
My bathtub is leaking. The water from the faucet is coming out faster than the drain can get rid of it. I caulked a large washer in the tub drain, but I don't know whether the drain is sufficiently reduced in water flow to slow the drainage enough to prevent leaking when Steve takes his next shower. Currently the bathroom, part of the hall and part of Steve's bedroom are flooded. At least the faucets aren't leaking. I don't have enough money for a major plumbing repair right now.
Fortunately, I am not totally dependent on ADC or welfare now, because I wouldn't have any money to kill the roaches and they would be allowed to multiply without me being able to do anything about it until both houses were uninhabitable. Ditto, termites or anything else that might beset the average homeowner.
Sunday, May 27, 1984
I sprayed Mom's house for the cockroaches today, inside and out. Steve sprayed the attic for me, but put several holes in the breezeway ceiling. It already had a big hole in it, and I have to fix the ceiling anyway, so it's not a big deal I put roach powder in the bottom of the cupboards and set off three roach bombs.
I replaced the window that I broke yesterday at Mom's house, and took the front door screen to be repaired.
I window shopped for sixteen-inch ceiling tile for Mom's house, but was unable to find any.
Saturday, May 26, 1984
I went over to Mom's house to see what needed to be done before I spray for cockroaches tomorrow. My tenants were gone fishing, as I knew they would be, for the weekend. I opened the back door, looked around to survey the situation, closed the middle back door and realized that I'd left my purse in the now locked house. I thought I had a front door key in the car glovebox, and when I found it, the front storm door was locked, so, I ripped the storm door screen to get to the lock on the front door. Guess what? The key didn't fit the front door, the back door or the middle door. I had to break the glass out of the middle door to get my purse and car keys with Mom's house keys on it. I cleaned up all the glass, came home and bawled.
I got my food stamps today and spent all but $7.00 of them.
The phone company sent me a disconnect notice, and when I called about it, they told me I owe and additional $50.00.
Friday, May 25, 1984
I finished cleaning house, even my bedroom, which hadn't been cleaned in over two months. My once small spiders were allowed to grow undisturbed to tarantula size. I eventually had to clean my own personal pig sty anyway.
I usually wear my tattered, threadbare, patched bathrobe or old painting clothes with a bandana holding my hair out of my eyes, but I got dressed up today and even put on makeup. Then I got the mail and Love's death benefit insurance check also came in the mail. I wanted to cry, but didn't dare, because I had makeup on. I was in a blue mood all evening. The cookout went okay, but the coals weren't very hot; I finished cooking the steaks on the grill of my stove.
Steve and his girlfriend always seem to be arguing over something and she seems to start it. Steve told me that he never argues with any woman, because he knows he can't win.
Rob gave me a book to read about a prison riot. Since he was a prison guard at one time, the conditions of both inmates and guards are important to him. I can't imagine having to go into pods (large multiple prisoner cells) with fifty hostile inmates without any weapons, and I can't imagine having to go in there with a weapon either.
Thursday, May 24, 1984
I weeded the garden, made a fresh strawberry pie for a cookout here tomorrow night, then I swept, mopped and waxed the kitchen and entryway.
Steve put a new faucet on the water outlet pipe in the garage, and my neighbor, from across the street, fixed my cold water bathtub faucet leak. I hope I don't have any more plumbing problems for awhile
Wednesday, May 23, 1984
I did housework today and I have a plumbing problem again. The plumbing problem is the same one that I had during Easter, but this time it's the cold water in the bathtub that's leaking. It hasn't unscrewed completely yet.
It rained again, but I didn't mind because I have most of the necessary outdoor chores done.
Tuesday, Maya 22, 1984
Rob and I took the dogs for a hot dog and ice cream cone. I have my pets so spoiled. Rob teases me that the only reason he comes over is to see the kids (my dogs). He asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him an ankle tattoo. It would be about as useful as the pool cue Love got me, since I don't play pool. It would also be about as useful as the giant, ceramic, jungle giraffe I got one year.
Monday, May 21, 1984
I went to pay my $83.00 phone bill, but I only owed $53.00.
Steve put up my Citizen's Band radio antenna today on the far end of the house. It took him about two hours.
Sunday, May 20, 1984
The temporary job has ended, only two days work. It was selling steaks for a company. The trucker, who stocked our coolers, gave each of us workers two and one-half boxes of steaks that were freezer-burnt or had rips in the packaging. I drove a co-worker to work with me, and it poured rain all the way home. I took me two hours to get home safely. Now, I'm laid-off again.
Steve works in a restaurant as a cook. He has an easy-going , relaxed attitude, and I am more easy-going and relaxed now at home too. He brought my dogs a huge bag of restaurant scraps and they chowed down.
I saw another woodroach in the kitchen.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Saturday, May 19, 1984
I overpaid on Mom's final furniture bill and got a $12.55 refund in the mail today. If my paycheck doesn't get here, I'll still be able to go to work Sunday.
The temporary job is okay, except I'm standing in one spot and my feet are killing me. Also the job is fifty-four miles away. I get paid for one and one-half hours of traveling time each day and $12.00 a day for gas, plus a wage.
Steve is helpful around here. He was in the Marine Corps, stationed on a military base we lease from Cuba. Since we are enemies of Cuba, what are we doing there?
Friday, May 18, 1984
Cecil bought a large package of ground beef and asked me to make him a meatloaf yesterday, so, I made it today, because I didn't have time to make it yesterday. He asked me if he could borrow $20.00, but I didn't have any extra money to loan him today. I am worried about being able to buy gas to go back and forth to work through Sunday. If my paycheck doesn't come this weekend, I don't know how I'll get to work Sunday.
Thursday, May 17, 1984
When I came home from an errand, Steve, his girlfriend, Theresa, and I sat an talked. I heard Cecil whisper "Temper, temper" as he came out of his room into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. I haven't the vaguest idea what is wrong with him. He has been very moody and reclusive for several days now.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 16, 1984
I had to pay $186.00 to our Great Gas God.
I sprayed the yard for weeks and fleas. I also sprayed the carpets in the house for fleas. The last couple of years I have grown bumper crops of both weeds and fleas. I tried to keep the weed killer far away from my garden, and I think I did, but only time will tell. The last two years my dogs got flea baths twice a week, but they still had fleas 'til the first frost. Maybe I can prevent them this year, since flea shampoos and dips are expensive. I gave the remainder of the spray to 'Grandpa', my neighbor. He has a dog that gets just as miserable as mine with fleas. I'm feeling close to nature this years and it was beautiful outside today.
I started refinishing the dresser for the back bedroom. It was my Dads and has sentimental value to me. I'll try to do more on it after my garage sale.
I treated myself to a coney dog, fries, root beer and ice cream cone.
I ran into an old high school boyfriend at the unemployment office. His wife owns a small shop downtown, but he's out of work. He told me they were getting ready to move out of the area.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 15, 1984
I am going to love having some time off from work, even a job I like. I see so many things that need to be done around here, if I have the time and money. If
Cecil and Steve can keep the house relatively clean, perhaps this year will be my most organized year ever.
I saw a wood roach by the garage today. I certainly have a lot of water and moisture there to attract them: a watered garden, damp pool carpet, garden hose that leaked in the garage, and bathtub plumbing problem directly on the other side of a dripping garage faucet.
Monday, May 14, 1984
I glued a broken rake and it's handle together to be able to rake the yard on the next nice day.
I did five loads of laundry and took a bath. I'm tired and I quit for today.
Sunday, May 13, 1984
Saturday, May 12, 1984
Cecil and Steve seem to get along very well. Steve said that Cecil is "a hell of a guy". Steve is grateful for his girlfriend's financial assistance, but he doesn't want to marry her. I wonder if he can get a job similar to Love's last job. At least I can have him inquire about it.
I saw more wood roaches in the kitchen last night.
Friday, May 11, 1984
I rented my back bedroom to a twenty-two year old man, Steve. He has a girlfriend, who doesn't live far from here.
At work, it seems to me that Kentucky and Illinois have people with a high incidence of illiteracy. Illinoisans are decidedly the rudest people in the Midwest region that we phone. We aren't trying to sell anything and it's a pick-at-random sampling of people. The people from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Michigan and Iowa seem sane and competent. Four out of the eleven jobs at work I detest, because they deal with the inhabitants of either Kentucky or, worse yet, Illinois.
Wednesday, May 9, 1984
I am still spot painting my water-stained, back bedroom. ceiling and I hope that tomorrow will be the last day of touch-ups. So far, I've used a gallon of paint and a quart of sealer.
Everything, except Mom's house, and her cockroach problem, seems to be stable for the time being. The cockroaches have gotten bigger and are multiplying rapidly there. Sonny and Felicia haven't been able to be gone a whole day before, to allow me to spray without endangering them and their children, plus running them out of their own home.
My bathroom carpeting is finally drying out after my bath plumbing flooded everything again last week.
Another typical day in the life of a typical 'slumlord'. Just as I'm hitting my stride with my job, and re-learning when to run my errands, shop, etc., my part-time job is about to end.
Tuesday, May 8, 1984
We have the highest trade deficit ever. The United States is $25,8000,000,000.00 in the red for the first three months of this year.
The biggest class action lawsuit in history was settled today, with the biggest awarded settlement in history to go to Vietnam Veterans, both the United States and New Zealand troops. The award came from seven chemical companies, who invented Agent Orange, better know as Dioxin. It was used as a defoliate to strip the leaves from plants. It was sprayed in Vietnam, not only on trees and plants, but over our and other countries men, who were fighting our war. There wasn't any regard to the effects that it would have on those men, their children or their children's children. The money, $180,000,000.00, was set up in a trust fund, earning an additional $68,000.00 per day. It will be used for genetic counseling to prevent birth defective children of the servicemen, liver damage, cancers and skin rashes of the servicemen, that Dioxin causes.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 7, 1984
Just in case my ex-high school classmate decides not to move in, I am making out another advertisement to put in the newspaper Wednesday. I'll need the money to pay all the bills next month, since Cecil's rent will be perpetually one month late until he gets his disability restored.
The cockroach problem is out of control at Mom's house. Sonny and Felicia, the tenants there, are going to spray this weekend before going fishing, and I will spray the next day. I'm lucky they haven't moved out because of the problem, let alone all the other things that were wrong with the house, and all the things that are still wrong with it.
I planted cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, beets and chives today. I fertilized and soaked the ground well to start the germination process. I fixed one on Cecil's favorite dishes, then relaxed this evening.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 6, 1984
I had a great day at work. The computers broke down after about an hour. We were all told to take at least an hour off for lunch. We went to a local pizza place, scarfed down pizza and salads, played video games, talked and laughed. Everyone was in a jovial humor for the rest of the night and the time just flew by, all six and one-half hours of it.
I painted the very dim water spots in the back bedroom again tonight, and again I hope this will be the end of it. I am sick of looking at that ceiling.
I called my ex-high school classmate to ask her why she hadn't moved in, but she said she had been sick and would try to move in Tuesday
Saturday, May 5, 1984
Cecil ran the vacuum, did the dishes, took the plastic insulation off two windows, put the screens in the storm doors and mowed the yard, while I spaded, weeded and planted the rest of the garden. Most things survived the winter with the exception of the asparagus, elderberries and rose bushes. The grapes, blueberries, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, sage and peach tree are all thriving.
While I was planting the garden today, Deanna, one of my neighbors, came over to chat. Deanna has been laid-off for two years now, even though she had eight and one-half years seniority. Deanna and her family are now on public aid. She was wondering if I would plant a garden, since it was always Love's pet project. I just hope my garden turns out as well as his gardens did, and it may also be a necessity for survival now.
I got the property tax statement for Mom's house today: it is exactly the amount of rent I get from roommates and tenants in two months. Next year the taxes will be more because I won't get any tax relief. Mom got a tax break because she was over sixty-five years old.
I applied another sealer coat to the back bedroom ceiling where the water stains still show, and after the sealer was dry, painted another coat of paint on the spots.
I had a great day at work. The computers broke down after about an hour. We were all told to take at least an hour off for lunch. We went to a local pizza place, scarfed down pizza and salads, played video games, talked and laughed. Everyone was in a jovial humor for the rest of the night and the time just flew by, all six and one-half hours of it.
I painted the very dim water spots in the back bedroom again tonight, and again I hope this will be the end of it. I am sick of looking at that ceiling.
I called my ex-high school classmate to ask her why she hadn't moved in, but she said she had been sick and would try to move in Tuesday.
Friday, May 4, 1984
It was just another work day, with nothing exceptional happening.
I painted the back bedroom ceiling with latex paint. It covered pretty well, but it will need to be painted at least once more.
Thursday, May 3, 1984
I repainted the back bedroom ceiling again.
I made out a resume for a market research firm in Pennsylvania and I will mail it tomorrow.
The hot water faucet in the the bathtub almost unscrewed again, but I was able to get it screwed in, before it flooded to much of the carpet.
I made a big pot of chilli, read women's magazines and watched TV.
Wednesday, May 2, 1984
My job is interesting. Before the computer generated telephone rings, I assess the name, city and state of the person that will be on the other end of the phone call. When they pick up the phone and answer it, it all comes together, the tone of their voice, their age and their own peculiarities.
Tuesday, May 1, 1984
A routine work day. I got my dearly needed food stamps. I went to the grocers and 'porked' out. I only have $5.00 worth of food stamps left.
When Cecil got his disability check today, it was only $60.00 for the month. He showed me all of his paperwork, and it clearly is a government error, which the local Veteran's Administration office here admitted, but all they can do is file more paperwork on his behalf. In the meantime, the VA has given him a $43.00 food voucher, and they have agreed to pay me $97.00 for rent. I won't be able to get the $97.00 'til more paperwork is filled out. I've been frantically re-figuring. I'll be able to pay everything without Cecil's rent this month. I was given a paper from the VA stating that I will be paid June 1, 1984. If I'm treated as poorly as Cecil, I'll see it in a year, maybe.
Cecil's story is another classic case, the same as Love's was, of government mismanagement. Although entitled to full disability, he was completely shut off after the Reagon Administration took office. He had to go home to live with his Mom, while she collected welfare for her and him. Then he was reinstated to full eligibility after a year of letter writing and hand-wringing. He started helping out with his Nephew's room, board and spending money. His Mom was cut from the welfare rolls, because Cecil was still living there, while trying financially to get on his own feet after the year of non-payments. This went on for another year. Then he beat the system by buying a car and moving out. His Mom went back on welfare, but because of Cecil's nephew's scholarship, Cecil's Mom was denied any money to provide for the nephew, so Cecil agreed to help out still, even though he wasn't living there. Now Cecil has been cut back to $60.00 a month by a government error, that he's trying to get straightened out, and has filed some paperwork to the government again. Alter all, we have to find something for our government employees to do and re-shuffling paperwork is meaningful work. Right? Right! Cecil is in disbelief that the government could screw up his case a second time in two years, but he is a novice in comparison to others. At least his life isn't on the line like poor Love, because he wouldn't have a prayer, and maybe he will live long enough to get it straightened out again.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Monday, April 30, 1984
I get 9.6 miles per gallon of gas driving Mom's car back and forth to work. I'm averaging $7.00 a day in gas and expenses. I don't know how Mom's car runs at all, because it has three burnt valves, uses a quart of oil every four days and guzzles brake, power steering and transmission fluid, but it starts. Mine won't even start now after sitting only two months, even with a new battery.
I am slowly picking up the pieces. I don't look on each new day as a bright promise, but I don't look on each one as just another day to get through either.
Cecil is marvelous around the house. I definitely needed someone like him as a roommate, if for no other reason than to take some of the responsibilities off my shoulders, so I can get everything squared away without the mental anguish of not knowing where to turn. He even told me I could use his car to go to work, if Mom's car broke down before I can get mine fixed.
Karen, my ex-high school classmate, told me that if she moved in, she would be glad to give me a few extra dollars if she had it. She's getting her food stamps Wednesday and her rent is due Saturday. We'll see if she follows through on moving here this time.
Sunday, April 29, 1984
I called my ex-classmate, who was going to move in here once before, then changed her mind when her landlady lowered her rent. She said that she was still looking for a place, and would probably move in Saturday.
Cecil did the dishes for me and I made dinner. He is a jewel of a tenant.
Saturday, April 28, 1984
The tenants at Mom's house, a man and his wife, Sonny and Felicia, and their two children, are going to be late with their rent. Sonny may fix my car before I have the money to fix it, then I'll knock it off the rent. I need good reliable transportation and it will help their rent situation too. He's got a job working on cars, but I don't know if it's a full-time job or how stable it is. He's also going to ask his cousin about doing my roof within the budget of Love's insurance check, when it gets here. Cecil also got an estimate of $165.00 from Sonny about bodywork on his car. Cecil thought that the estimate was more than reasonable. Sonny took it upon himself to put a new seal in the toilet, put in kitchen seals and washers at Mom's house this month, and I knocked it off the rent. He wants to paint the garage door and replace the concrete walkway in front of Mom's house. His wife keeps the house clean too.
Naturally it's supposed to rain tomorrow, since I have the day off and want to plant the garden.
Friday, April 27, 1984
I paid $30.00 on my phone bill and it's down to the $50.00 deposit. The cashier told me that I'd have to call Monday and explain or my phone service would be shut off for non-payment.
Cecil cleans my house, since I've been working six days a week. Tracy was always gone or asleep. Today he swept the leaves away from the back door, vacuumed, did the laundry and washed the dishes. He's always tinkering. It's comforting to know that someone is here who can take charge, and doesn't mind a little responsibility. Rob's job ended in the nearby state. He came over and we had a pleasant evening. A man I met called, but Rob was here and I cut the conversation short. I certainly would appreciate a nice dinner out, with some wine and conversation though. Oh well, it's not to be.
Tonight I feel empty again, not cared about and alone. I feel let-down, but I don't know why. I'm probably just missing the everyday contact with people I care deeply about.
Thursday, April 26, 1984
About one-half hour after I got to work, I had a phone call from Cecil. Tracy had come home and moved all of her stuff out, but she also let my dogs out, and the dog catcher picked them up. Since I haven't had the money to get their rabies shots, I don't know what will happen, but I will find out tomorrow.
Then to top everything off, when coming home from work, the heater hose on my car broke, and I had to stop on the expressway, when the temperature light came on. Luckily the car behind me stopped and the male driver tried to fix the leak. When he couldn't fix it, he and his two women passengers, drove me to the nearest gas station. The gas station attendant agreed to stay open 'til I could get there. The man drove me back to my car, and by then the car had cooled down enough for me to drive to the station myself. The station ended up staying open an extra one-half hour, and it only cost me $11.00.
Wednesday, April 25, 1984
Tuesday, April 24, 1984
Work is going fine and I still enjoy it, but I'll be ready for a change in another two and one-half weeks.
Diane and Don are having problems again, even though they reaffirmed their vows. Diane came over after I got home from work. She has put up with a lot from Don: his calls to a telephone sex talking agency at a cost of $100.00, his affair with another woman and now he is becoming violent with her, plus she thinks he is running around on her again. He takes the car keys away from her, and won't let her have them. She either helps to support them or totally supports them; he has never totally supported her. She doesn't deserve to be treated the way she is being treated. Not even counseling seemed to help. He doesn't realize what a wonderful woman he has.
Monday, April 23, 1984
Love's insurance is only going to be about $800.00. I don't know what I am going to do. Maybe I can have one-half a roof put on.
Sunday, April 22, 1984
Tracy was supposed to go to her boyfriend's parent's house, but after she went to church and called him, he hung up on her three times in a row. She called her Mom, who is several states away, started crying, and she cried and cried. She finally decided to spend the night at her grandmother's apartment. i don't blame her for spending the night somewhere else, since her bed is too soaked from the ceiling leak for anyone to be able to sleep in it. The last time Tracy talked to her Dad, her told her to join the Air Force. Tracy's Mom wants her to sell her car, move to Utah, and live with her. Tracy doesn't know what to do. Her net pay is only about $70.00 a week working part-time, which isn't enough to pay rent, keep a car in shape to drive to work and eat too. I think Tracy has an ulcer, because she complains about stomach pain regularly, but she doesn't have enough money to go to the doctor. There aren't any government agencies that will help. According to the agencies, Tracy makes too much money to be able to qualify for anything, including medical, plus she's over eighteen years old and not in school.
I didn't eat Easter dinner 'til 8:45PM after Tracy left.
Saturday, April 21, 1984
Friday, April 20, 1984
I found out at midnight why my bath carpet has been wet. I had a noiseless leak in the hot water faucet. The 'seat' of the faucet completely unscrewed itself tonight, when I tried to turn the faucet off. Luckily my neighbor, who lives across the street was still up and he fixed it. I couldn't get the main water valve turned off, but my neighbor got the seat screwed back into the pipe anyway. My neighbors and neighborhood are wonderful.
The back bedroom ceiling is leaking again and Tracy can't sleep in her bed, because it's wet. I must get Mom's repairman here Monday to do whatever he can. The new ceiling is soaked and I hope it doesn't cave in again. The repairman thought he had the leak fixed last fall, but now it's leaking in a different place.
Thursday, April 19, 1984
Wednesday, April 18, 1984
All is well at work. I have the key or type facts into a computer, while I am talking to people with a telephone operator's headset. It was confusing at first, but I like it now that I've got it all together. The computer won't let unacceptable facts be keyed into it, which makes it easier. I like this job as well as I've ever liked any job outside my home.
I heard a song, that I had always associated with Love, on the car radio tonight coming home from work, and cried all the way home.
My bathroom carpet is soaked. I asked Cecil about it, but he told me he takes a bath, not a shower. I didn't splash water on it, because I always take a bath too. Tracy must have left the shower curtain outside the tub when she showered this morning. I haven't seen her to be able to bring up the subject. I may not see her for days because our working and sleeping schedules are so different. I checked under the bath lavatory to see if I had a rusted water pipe with a hole in it, but the plumbing is okay. Water from the shower had to be the culprit.
Congress made a law requiring employees of churches to pay their own Social Security tax. I don't understand why the churches don't automatically hold out the tax on their employees, the same as any other employer.
Tuesday, April 17, 1984
The whole world seems to be coming up roses for me. Mom's house is rented. I have two very nice roommates, a job that will mean more employment than I anticipated, plus it will extend my unemployment. I am truly lucky in this terrible economy.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Monday, April 16, 1984
The employees at work don't like the woman who hired them, because she intimidates them. I found her charming and personable. She seemed interested in placing the applicants in a setting that agreed with their personality.
Tracy's a Mormon. Cecil wants to go to church on Easter. I told him to go with Tracy, but he said he wanted to go to a Christian church. The Mormon religion is a long way from the Iranian Koran religion, but I think that's the way he pictures it.
Cecil always seems depressed to me, and to Tracy too. He loves horses and is a barber by trade, although with his shaking problem, I wouldn't want him cutting my hair. (I like having ears and a nose.) He seems sensitive, but extremely reclusive. He has four children, eighteen to twenty-five years old and seems very proud of them all. He also has one grandchild that he seems very proud of too. His Mom lives in a nearby town and is raising one of his brother's children. She has been denied food stamps for the boy during the summer months when he's out of college, because the boy got a scholarship and the government considers the scholarship income, even though it's only enough to cover school expenses.
Sunday, April 15, 1984
Cecil watched TV with me and we talked politics. He's pretty interesting. He has some political concepts that make me think, but we're not that far apart on most issues.
Saturday, April 14, 1984
HEAP has been funded again by Congress, but who knows how long before the agency will receive the money. I will try to pay more on my Cilco bill this month. I hope the Great Gas God doesn't shut me off before the assistance from the HEAP program arrives.
Cilco has collected $13,000,000.00 in taxes, the equivalent of #17.50 per natural gas and electric customer, and is allowed up to thirty years to pay the taxes to the government. Why? The government wouldn't wait for any paultry taxes I would owe. I would rather give the $17.50 to the government now to help pay on the national debt, but the government would probably build another space station or underground city somewhere with the money.
Thursday, April 12, 1984
Cecil stayed up for awhile with me tonight. He told me all about himself, but not why he is on disability. He physically shakes like crazy! Perhaps he has something with a social stigma attached to it, and is afraid of people's reactions. After Cecil went to bed, I sat at the kitchen table thinking about all the plants and flowers that Love planted. I was almost in tears realizing they will be blossoming soon.
Wednesday, April 11, 1984
When I got home, Cecil was ready to go to bed and Tracy hadn't come home from her boyfriend's house. She came home just as I was getting ready for bed. Everyone's schedules seem to be working like clockwork, shower and bath schedules included. Will miracles never cease.
Tuesday, April 10, 1984
Today at work we did practice interviewing and keypunching data entry into the computer. I completely lost one whole page of data entry and couldn't retrieve it. I hope I get better tomorrow.
When I got home, Cecil was ready to go to bed and Tracy hadn't come home from her boyfriend's house. She came home just as I was getting ready for bed. Everyone's schedules seem to be working like clockwork, shower and bath schedules included. Will miracles never cease.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Monday, April 9, 1984
The Reagon Administration mandated loophole closings for disability benefits to the mentally and physically ill citizens. The project exceeded the dollar-wise savings projected by the government figures by two-hundred percent. Many mentally and physically ill people were told to go to work, and that they wouldn't receive any more financial assistance. Thanks to some of the review personnel, ninety and eight-tenth percent of the mentally disabled have been reinstated. Now the disability budget has been cut again, and some of those same reinstated mentally ill and disabled people may be cut from the financial assistance rolls again.
My tenant, Tracy, says that the store that employs her has a policy not to hire any full-time female employees, only full-time men. She says that the only women who even get hired part-time are women who are willing to sleep with her married boss.
She says she is fortunate that she was hired before he was the boss.
Cecil moved in. He got to meet Tracy while I was here, which I was glad of. I think that all three of us will get along fine. Cecil seems interested in helping me with a garden this spring, but he can't swim, so I don't imagine he will be interested in the pool.
My first day of training went okay. I was glad that I had taken a keypunching cource, and working in a temporary job for a very short time at a nearby bank keypunching, because this job entails computer data entry. The training will last until Saturday when I start the actual job. I won't have a day off 'til Monday. My days will probably be similar to today, getting up late, reading the paper and drinking coffee, fixing my brown-bag-it lunch, getting dressed and ready to go, driving the twenty-two miles to work, working, driving home, watching TV, bathing and going to bed. I won't have to wear make-up. I won't be seen by the general public, only the women I work with. Pretty dull, huh! Oh well, it's a job, part-time, but a job. I don't know if I'll like it yet or not. I have to look at it this way, it may help me get other jobs later on. Since it's interviewing on the phone, while data is punched into a computer, it will give me experience. Maybe I'll get to work for them again.
Sunday, April 8, 1984
Tracy has moved in. She helped me move Mom's furniture out of the back bedroom, and helped me move what furniture she wanted in from the garage. That's a lot for a tenant to do, especially when she is paying me. If she hadn't helped me, I would probably have had to pay Mom's repairman, because none of my neighbors were home.
A local reporter from the Peoria Journal Star newspaper has printed a column that deserves national attention. His name is Rick Baker and here is his column. **" For all you jobless folks out there who've exhausted your unemployment benefits, are losing your homes, your cars, your families and your sanity, here is some news: you don't exist. Non-existence probably beats the hell out of your real life right now, so, congratulations. The government is playing games with numbers to it's own advantage. Bureaucrats juggle statistics creating a mirage that makes politicians look more effective than they are. You can be out of work and starving to death, but according to the official numbers, you're fine. Unemployment statistics in the Peoria area, and just about everywhere else, are about as accurate as Janet Cooke's Pulitzer Prize-winning story about an adolescent drug addict, and are bandied about as little more than a political tool by solons trying to assure the public they're doing a great job. Thousands of jobless Peoria men and women are not included in the area's jobless rate because they've run out of unemployment benefits, can't collect any more from the government, and are therefore not counted as out of work even though most are more desperate than ever. A generally naive press takes the figures the government hands out as gospel, prints them in the newspaper, hollers them over radio and television, and while every other house on your block is for sale and every other former breadwinner watches soap operas, you're made to believe the overall picture is dandy. But it ain't! The twelve and one-half percent generally given for the Greater Peoria area is little more than a number reflecting the government's ability or unwillingness to face reality. A more accurate figure is probably somewhere around eighteen to twenty percent, and that doesn't reflect the plight of the area's underemployed, folks who've taken much lower paying jobs in an effort to meet the barest of necessities. The government wants the massive unemployment problem to go away, so they create a mirage making it go away, a local expert said. And during an election year like this, they play all sorts of games. Figures lie and liars figure. And as a result of the numbers game, the official unemployment rate is expected to continue to decrease even though the number of actual jobless will probably stay about the same. One of the reasons for the decrease (very handy in an election year) is the reduced time folks laid-off in 1982 from Caterpillar are eligible for unemployment benefits. Those laid-off in 1982 were eligible for a maximum of about two years of weekly unemployment payments. But the hundreds laid-off in the summer of 1983 get less than a year of such benefits because of cutbacks in the unemployment payment program. These folks will soon be disappearing from the unemployment rolls in droves. They still won't have jobs. They just won't, in the government's eyes, be counted as unemployed. And come November, newspapers and the broadcast media, along with every politician seeking re-election, will be screaming about the dramatic cutback in the unemployment rate. Another game initiated last year in an effort to make the federal government look real efficient in shaping up the economy is the addition of the military to the overall unemployment pot. Never before had the military been considered a part of the national work force. But in an effort to shave some points off the unemployment stats, the feds began counting the massive military rolls among those employed by the free enterprise system. That's bogus. But the strategy is working. The press buys the statistics, the people believe the press, and the people are left deceived. And another game meant to appease unemployed people is a federal invention known as a jobs training program, which is a creation of a sort of corporate welfare state. Under that program, the federal government will pay an employer up to three-fourths of the wage earned by a person hired from the program. So, if an employer agrees to pay a worker $4.00 an hour, the government will pay up to $3.00 of that. Even in the face of such sweet deals, area employers just don't have that many jobs to offer. Locally, 2,000 to 4,000 people have signed up for the jobs program, and less than one-percent of them will probably get any type of full-time permanent work as a result. But the federal government is doing all it can to employ more bureaucrats. To oversee the rather impotent jobs program, the government has designated four administrators, four staffs, and four offices in four different locations within a twenty mile radius. But the bureaucrats count (and badly). You don't"
I'll have another tenant move into the middle bedroom tomorrow. His name is Cecil, and he seems decent enough. He is on government disability financial assistance , the same as my ex-high school classmate, who thought about renting here. As he left today he said that he would help me fix my back door.
**Republished from the Peoria Journal Star newspaper with the permission of Terry Baker, widow of Rick Baker.
This is the letter I sent 3/19/o7:
Dear Ms Baker,
Your don't know me from Adam, and I don't know you either, nor your deceased husband.
Why I'm writing and what I want:
I lived in the Peoria area for years and didn't leave the area until 1987. For some crazy reason in 1984, I started and kept a diary/journal/book for the entire year. It is about what happened to my area and my neighborhood. During that time, your deceased husband wrote a column in the Peoria Journal Star that I copied verbatim, because it explained so eloquently what I was seeing with my own eyes in my town. It's been 23 years now, and I've decided to record it for posterity in book form.
I know that I can copy about 400 words of his column verbatim, but I would like to include the entire column, about 700 words, and credit your deceased husband. I know I can chop it up, insert about 400 of his words and butcher the gist of the rest of the column myself, but from my point of view, I couldn't begin to do it justice. I would like written permission to include the entire column.
I don't know if my book will sell one copy, but from a historical viewpoint, it might be of some interest to historians someday. I want it on record, not pitched in the garbage by one of my grandchildren after I'm gone.
I had no idea your husband was deceased until I started looking on the internet for contact information. I'm sorry. When you get to my age, a lot of friends, loves, etc. are gone, and I can empathize.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the best and hope you have made the most of your years. I am enclosing a SASE and will be waiting for your reply.
Best Wishes, Carole Steinbach
P.S. I hope I never see hunger in the United States again, as I saw it in the early 80's in Illinois.
Received from Terry Baker 3/31/07
23 March 2007
Carole,
I don't know which column you need. As far as I'm concerned, use whatever you want from it as long as you credit Rick and the paper.
Terry
