In other news, my camera continues to be problematic. This time, I could take only 15 photos before it shut down, claiming dead batteries. The rechargable batteries are not very old. I don't know if it's the fault of the camera, charger or batteries.
The soon to be doctor over in Corvallis, whose six female kittens were not up to weight for spay, at least four of the six were not, apparently adopted some of the unfixed kittens out at a garage sale yesterday and gave away my number with them. The kittens were also flea and worm infested. She claimed she would at least treat them for tapeworms. I treated them for fleas before I knew they were not weight grade, because the clinic I take them for surgery requires that. I also roundwormed them.
Yesterday, I get a call from someone who got one of their kittens free at the garage sale the soon to be doctor was putting on. Unfixed. Not treated for tapeworms. I ask the woman if she has other cats and if so, are they fixed. No, she says, and that is why she is calling, because she also has an unfixed male.
I said, "So, might I ask, if you have one cat already you can't take care of, why would you get another?" She did not even understand why I would ask such a question and said, "Well the lady at the garage sale said you'd get them both fixed for free."
This is the mentality out there, the mentality of "I deserve this" "I am entitled to everything free" and "I don't care what it costs someone else". The "What the hell is personal responsibility?" attitude so prevalent in our society.
I'm fed up with being used. I looked forward to going to the Fair with the NS vet, then they took off on their own right away and even told me they were confiscating my tent, to use for the two kittens they brought with them.
I don't answer the phone anymore. I listen to the message left, if any, then decide if I am going to return the call. If the call is someone interested in a kitten, which hasn't happened yet, but I'm still hopeful, boy yes I'd return the call or pick up.
I have had no contact with my brothers for a long time. I have given up. I try to call them, leave messages, send e-mails, no response.
The response I finally got from my one brother was about the house only. Guess he hadn't, in over a year, provided his insurance company information on the wood stove in here. It's not up to code, was installed at some point after the house was built, and needs either brought to code or removed most likely. He wanted measurements which I immediately sent him and although he doesn't remember, I have sent him the measurements at least once, maybe twice before. He must have lost them.
I don't know what insurance companies do about noncode wood stoves. If they're not being used, seems like that would be good enough. The form asked when it was installed, too, and nobody has any way of knowing that. Some renter did it on their own at some point, probably trying to offset high heat bills, but didn't install it to code, and used it for awhile, then according to one neighbor, was forced to stop using it, for some reason, maybe somebody complained, which is likely in this neighborhood. I can't use it anyway, being on HUD, because HUD won't approve it since it isn't to code.
I am concerned about rising costs here. I can barely afford to live here, with the extreme water rates in Albany and the high electric for a two bedroom house. I thought the house was insulated but there is no insulation underneath at all. I looked, when down surveying the moisture problem, still unresolved, under the house. It's never been addressed and neither has the leak in the roof, at the antenna some other renter installed. The roof of this house is peppered with antennas and a satelite dish for TV, all devices various renters installed at some point and have never been removed.
There's supposed to be some insulation in the attic, where, the inspector also stated, was a severe rodent infestation, and with the leak providing moisture too, up there, I really don't want to crawl around in that. Besides, you have to crawl the studs and I just know I'd fall through. I can't get up there anyhow, since the hole is in a closet above shelves and unreachable without a very long ladder.
I'm not sure how to stop heat loss here. I can't close off different rooms to the heat with the vent system. That doesn't really work. I am concerned there are holes in the ducts too, where heat is lost. Because this house was built in the early 70's, it does not have the now required clearance, between the dirt underneath the house and the bottom of the ducts. This means you can't crawl around under there very easily and it also means the ducts are exposed to water when the water under the house is higher. That probably can't be good, but I don't know how to fix that at all.
I think I'm going to create squares that can cover the windows, of insulative material. I'll build them so I can remove them easily, if I want some light in on a nice day. Anyhow, I'm trying to think of ways to make this house more energy efficient and therefore affordable.
It still uses far less energy than that tiny disgusting shack over on West Hills Road the slumlord owned. Can you believe that? The shack was smaller than just the two bedrooms of this house, was set on cinder blocks, usually, in the winter, had 8 inches to a foot of standing water under it, and had an inefficient stand alone gas furnace that blew hot air, if it worked, one direction only.
That slumlady was some piece of work. I can't even imagine now, if someone was so unlucky as to live there, with natural gas prices going up yet again, what they would pay on cold winter months to heat a tiny space in that shack. So I'm still better off here, regardless, as to electricity costs. If I could find a used energy efficient refrigerator, that would likely make one huge difference. The frig here is old, very old, and ineffecient. I will be watching for one. I think it'd be a huge difference.
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