Fireworks, cookouts and swimming. That's what the fourth usually means to people. Yesterday it meant shopping to me. I only get to go and do big grocery shops twice a month. The third or after and the thirteenth or after. Those are the times that I either get paid or get my food stamps. So to go and get what I need for the month has to be planned out very thoughtfully and it's planned months in advance which days I'm going. I rely on my caseworker from a mental health support group I belong to to take me because I don't have a car of my own to do it. Because my case worker doesn't work Sunday and Monday and there is a standing staff meeting that takes most of the day Tuesday that meant I went shopping on Wednesday which happened to be the fourth.
It didn't really feel like a holiday to me because I did all the things I would usually do on a regular week day. I did get up at my normal time and I had planned with one of my friends to have him come over to be in the house so I felt comfortable to take a shower. I have fallen in the shower in the past and have a life alert button that I wear but would rather have someone here when I go in. I felt so much better when I got out which is always the case. It's hard for me to get in there though because it takes a lot of energy and most days I just don't have it. It also hurts to get in there. I have Fibromyalgia and other pain issues including bad knees and a bad back. It's hard most days just to get out of bed not to mention trying to lift my legs to get into a tub. I have a shower stool so I can sit when I get in there, it's just getting in there that's hard. Most people don't have any sympathy for me and that is their problem not mine. I'm not looking for it anyway. I try not to let people know how bad I feel, pain wise, anyway. It's a constant thing that varies from day to day in intensity but never gets below a 6 on a scale of 1-10. Today is one of those days where it's running about an 8 and there isn't any thing I can do to make it less. It's also hot outside and this afternoon I have an appointment regarding getting my section 8 and that means I have to get dressed which can be a problem.
My home health aide comes in 3 days a week to do things that I'm not able to do for myself anymore. Things like washing a full sink of dishes, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and laundry. Even simple things that most people take for granted like making the bed can cause my back to go out then I'm done for the day.
To get back to the fourth because I got off on a tangent there. So after hearing fireworks for 2 nights from the towns around me and probably Worcester as well some idiot that lives here in the complex got his hands on some illegal fireworks. It wasn't just one person because they were going off in a lot of parking lots and courtyards. They make more noise than pretty colors and are just a pain in the rump because the idiots don't respect time limits. At 1AM I was still hearing them going off even though I had shut the windows and turned the A/C on to drown out the worst of the noise. When the towns light them off, because of where my apartment building is, I'm not able to see them but I can hear them. The noise isn't that bad to handle and the cats are only spooked a little. Well with the fireworks going off right outside the window last night the cats were totally spooked out. The big one, Dumkupf, weights in somewhere around 30 lbs and he was trying his hardest to get under my bed. My bed sits low to the ground and there was no way he was getting under there. He had his head and part of his upper body under there but got stuck. The little on, Middy, is small enough that she can get under the couch so she was hiding there. After I shut the window and finally went back to bed they both got on the bed, one on each side of me, to try and get me to protect them. They don't do this very often so it was kind of nice. They stayed there most of the night as well because every time I woke up to roll over I found I was pinned to the bed.
I know that for the next 6 months I'm going to be hearing someone up here lighting off firecrackers and other noise making fireworks. Now that the new management has taken over there isn't a security person to patrol the property at night. At least when you call the office number there isn't any way to get connected to them like there was a few months ago. Being that this is private property the police don't patrol up here and when you call about noise complaints you can't even call on 911. They tell you to call back on the non emergency phone number which is a pain in the butt because it's not listed in the phone book I have and they don't really give you a chance to ask what it is. I have to call a friend to have them look the number up for me. Even then when you get someone they say there isn't anything they can do as Orchard Hill Estates is privately owned and they can't do much. They in turn tell you to call security and now there isn't any. It's something that I'm going to talk to the new property manager about because if there was security here last nights noise wouldn't have lasted as long as it did and they could have confiscated the illegal fireworks and made a report about who was lighting them off to put in the file of trouble makers up here. Maybe the next time their lease is up they wouldn't be able to renew it if they have enough reports and complaints about them. At least that's what I wold hope would happen but I have a feeling that that isn't the case.
So that probably means again tonight I will be running the A/C to drown out the noise. I struggle every summer to pay the electric bill because of having the extra electricity to run the A/C, X-box and other toys or games that the kids use during the summer months. I don't want the kids to just be sitting around up my butt bugging me so I let them use these things and the in turn run the electric bill up. I have tried to get all energy efficient things but the A/C is an older model that isn't very energy efficient. None of the A/C's up here are younger than 5 years because they just fix them and put them back. Management up here doesn't pay for our electric like they do the heat so they don't care if the appliances are energy efficient or not. It's not money out of their pocket so why should they care? Most of the people up here are on some sort of assistance whether it's welfare or social security and we all struggle to pay our electric bills in the summer. I know I have asked over and over to have more energy efficient appliances brought in but I hit a stone wall with management. I know that when my refrigerator goes, and it's on it's way out, not only will I have to pay to replace what ever was in it but they will just repair the fridge and put it back in one of the other apartments. They would rather spend more money to repair something than to replace it for less money. The last management company even fired maintenance supervisor that they had just hired because he had blown their budget buying new appliances even after he showed them in black and white it was cheaper that way.
Another tangent. Well to end today I have the Section 8 appointment at the RCAP office in Worcester this afternoon. I was originally scheduled to go last month in Gardner which is over an hour away and had to wait for them to schedule me in Worcester. That appointment came through 2 weeks ago and I had to scramble to find a ride. On Saturday afternoon I got letter from them saying that now instead of it being at 10:30 in the morning it is now 1:30 in the afternoon. I was so pissed as I had a hard time pinning someone down to take me in the morning and now I had to find someone to take me in the afternoon. I managed, after about 5 phone calls, to find someone to take me but I'm sure whoever comes back to get me is going to have to wait for me to get out. They tell you that it takes anywhere from 2-21/2 hours for the appointment. Sometimes it even goes longer depending on how many people there have to have interpreters there for them. If the person who is heading the meeting has to keep stopping so things can be translated it takes even longer. If I had my way they would have separate meetings for the English speaking people and those who don't speak English as a first language. That would stream line the process and maybe the meetings wouldn't take as long.
Time to fight to get dressed for this meeting so good bye for now.
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