Aaaand... we're off!

 Tomorrow morning, we leave for a destination birthday celebration!

I will be 60 years old on Thursday, and it's a momentous occasion, since, statistically, I am an anomaly of stage 4 cancer survival. 

We will arrive in Frankfort, Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon, where we will meet my bestie, let's call her Mags, from Michigan, and some of my family from Chicagoland!

Mags arranged this whole thing, and is paying for my part of our lodging, and a cool river boat history tour.

My sister, brother in law, their son, and his girlfriend are coming. The four of them will ride share.

Their daughter had a vacation last month for HER birthday, and was not able to get off work again.

My brother couldn't justify the expense, as he felt that he would have to drive alone, and lodge alone, because he smokes.  

His son never said why he and his wife weren't coming. They just said no.

SO, I am very happy that some decided to come. Very happy indeed.

Mags got an Air BnB for the 5 of us "old" people, and then the "kids" got their own place.  We will be together for most activities, including cooking dinners together all three nights we are there.

I can't wait!!  The area is so beautiful, too, with hiking trails and gorgeous parks.  

We hope to do a distillery tour or two, but they are very expensive to do anymore.  Tours used to be free, and then you get to the end where there is a tasting room, and a store, and THAT's how they get your money!

Some have not re-opened to tours since closing for covid, too, which was disappointing.

So, we will play the distillery tours by ear.

Dave and I will have to pay for lodging on the way, and on the way back, because it's a two day drive, longer than to Chicago.

Yesterday, Dave and I started the week of celebrating by getting our mani/pedis, mentioned last week, and I started to pack, and make lists.  

I got the back yard mowed, too, but Dave still needs to do that stupid raking project in the front, and has now put it off for over a month, and has to do it today.

Anyway, the house we are staying in is supposedly fully equipped, but I am bringing my immersion blender, and some spices I will want to have on hand, and Dave is bringing the SodaStream, and some bottles for it.

REALLY looking forward to getting away, and to seeing loved ones, and  new sights!!  I have not been to Kentucky in probably 25 years.

I just hope my pain levels don't prevent me from enjoying things.  I started back on the hormone blocker a while back, so the pain is ramped up again.

In other news, the past week has been just awful with noise from the new neighbors (who moved in back in December), starting last Sunday night, Easter, when it sounded like they were having a drunken, full-volume karaoke party --with all the windows open!

They were not singing, they were yelling.

Now, mind you, I appreciate singing that sounds like yelling... and... this was NOT that!!!  

Even the neighbors across the street, who can be pretty loud themselves, were out on their front porch to see what was going on.

We ultimately called the police around midnight, and things finally stopped around 1 am, but I was so stressed out by it that I could not sleep until some time after 4.  

My alarm goes off at 6 for work.   Last Monday was really rough because of that.  My eyes are dry from my meds, and being up all night made it worse, and the heat was on at the office....it was torture.  I actually left early, it was so bad.

Then, almost every night this past week, there have been multiple incidents, mostly starting around 2 am, when the bars close.  

Every night, around 2:15 am, there have been several people showing up, with loud voices in the driveway, car doors slamming, car alarms being set, coughing, dogs barking...it's been absolutely terrible. 

And it wasn't ending there.... as the hours passed, they'd  come back out to their cars, to get stuff or whatever, slamming the doors again. Sometimes in groups, with more talking, coughing, etc.

Mind you this is about 6 feet from our bedroom windows, which are from 1927, and have no sound insulation. (More on the window situation later in the blog.)

Of course, Dave has slept through it all, except for last Sunday night, when I woke him up to call the cops.

I messaged the owner of the house, since we are friends, and she said she would have the property manager issue a warning, but I only told her about Sunday night.  She doesn't yet know about what's happened since then. 

Either they never got the warning, OR the people who come and go do not care.  

My guess is that the one adult (40-ish) person who we think is on the lease cares, because the one night she was here this past week, it was quiet....but she doesn't always stay in the house anymore. 

The one time I met her, she introduced herself, and said she teaches school.  The person we think is her daughter (20-ish) was with her, so we met briefly as well.  We think these two are the only permanent residents.

But who knows?  With as often as different people have been coming and going and staying overnight, there's no telling.

The cast of characters changes pretty often.  

Sometimes there are 5 or 6 cars in the driveway, and in the street, including one time when our driveway was partially blocked.  Sometimes, there's a little boy here, and sometimes not.

Anyway, Dave has asked me to get him up from now on, so he can witness the noise in the middle of the night, too, but we are leaving town tomorrow, so it will be really nice to get the hell away from this chaos.

Thursday this past week was unusual, as there was noise and activity all day.  The icing on the cake that day was the car alarm actually going off, for at least 2 minutes (which felt like an eternity), while I was trying to work. It was directly outside of my office. 

Dave was at his office that day, so he missed the day time chaos of that day, too. 

I will message the owner again, and ask if the warning has been given yet, and maybe update her on the shenanigans since I messaged her the first time.  Maybe ask her who is actually supposed to be living there.

If the terms of the lease have been broken, she may have recourse to evict.

Sigh. The noise and disruption has been very stressful this week, even for our cats.  

I mean.... I understand that people work nights, or that they work at bars, or hang out at bars, until closing.  I understand that most of the people coming and going at this house are much younger than us. 

However, this is a quiet neighborhood, not a dorm or youth hostel.  This kind of activity, in what is LITERALLY the middle of the night, almost every night, is unacceptable. 

SO--yes, it will be very nice to get away.

Oh, and on the window fiasco... no word. Nothing. Nada.  They acknowledged Dave's complaint, and started a new work order. There have been no further updates.

Apparently, it actually WILL take 3 more months to get the one they didn't make for us.

Unbelievable.

On that note, I am off to get some breakfast, and to figure out what needs to be done today, and what can be packed. 

Have a good week, and we will be home before next blogging day!