Last week I mentioned that I wasn’t able to post because we didn’t have power to half of our abode, including the wireless and computer. I also mentioned that this has been one of many exciting adventures we’ve had in the almost 20 months we’ve lived there. Shall I count the ways?
When we first moved in there was an infestation of bugs. I had never seen these particular critters before. They were a cross between a box elder bug and a cockroach. Nasty things that climbed into our microwave and were visible in the display as well as all over the counters and walls of the kitchen. Luckily they were isolated to the kitchen and we used a lot of insecticide to get rid of them. We have been bug free for over a year.
We moved in August which is warm even in Peoa. One window had a screen, over the kitchen sink. We bought our own material and put it in, but since the windows are the dual sliding aluminum frames, the seals aren’t too great. They warp depending on the temperature. Now that we have the screens in we don’t want to take them out, which means the windows are very cold in the winter. The majority of the windows are cracked. One even has been drilled through by a previous tenant wanting to get their satellite cable into the living room.
There is a quarter inch gap under the front door. Another funny thing about the front door, the doorknob is backwards. I didn’t realize there was a natural way to turn the knob, but this one only turns to the left, which still throws me off on occasion and it takes our guests a few tries to get it open.
We can’t run the dishwasher and wash dishes in the sink at the same time. The water gets backed up. When we first moved in the sink had issues. Instead of draining into the sewer, it drained into the dishwasher first and then into the sewer from there. We didn’t realize this at first until dirty water started leaking out of the front of the dishwasher when we were doing dishes. Our landlords were in the process of getting the dishwasher fixed and told us not to use it. None of us realized how bad it was until then.
The living room has two lights, both over the front door. This lights one corner of the living room. We finally bought a lamp so we can actually see after dark. We should have bought one sooner, but we kept hoping we would move. And in the summer it isn’t too bad because it stays light late.
The bedroom door doesn’t close all the way because the frame has warped.
The ceiling in the kitchen leaks in two places. One is over the sink, which is convenient. The over is over the stove. But we have cabinets over the stove. We came home one night to a puddle on our stove as water ran down the hood through our spice cabinet.
The electrical is faulty. This is not the first time that we have come home and found that the electricity is off for no reason. And don’t even get me started on what breaker controls what. As the electricians were fixing the problem Wednesday afternoon they found several places that had bare wires. For this reason we can no longer use the main light in the bathroom. We can only use the light over the vanity. This can be difficult to find at 5:30 in the morning when I want to take a shower.
The entire kitchen is carpeted. Need I say more? You should come see the melted spot in front of the stove from a previous tenant.
The roof over the porch isn’t connected to the trailer. So we get rivlets of water running down the front of the trailer and dripping off of the front door. In the winter we have to be careful where we put the snow shovel. We normally just lean it up by the front door, but there have been several times that the water dripping down the trailer has frozen it to the wall.
And lastly, we live in front of a mink farm.
It isn’t the smell that bothers us. I grew up smelling the Great Salt Lake on stormy days, and Moose grew up around dairy farms. No, it is the flies. These aren’t the normal house flies. These are more like gnats. Granted I’ve never had one bite me. But during the summer they swarm our front door. We can’t keep them from our trailer. (Remember the cracked windows and screen situation?) I look forward to the day when I can stand on my front porch in the summer talking with people instead of hurrying them inside.
The feed truck also comes about every three days between the hours of 2 and 5 AM. The mink farm is only two hundred feet behind us and the road is about twenty feet from our bedroom window. The truck is a large semi and it leaves its engine running while it is resupplying the farm. This can take between 15 and 30 minutes. The trailer shakes and during the summer, when our window is open, we sometimes get the exhaust as well as the noise.
I need to add an addendum. Our landlords have been helpful. When we tell them there is a problem, they work on getting it fixed as quickly as they can. They have had some renters who have been awful and didn’t care about the place. Single wide trailers aren’t made to last and when the family has no respect for it, there are bound to be repercussions. Moose and I needed an inexpensive place to live and this worked well for our needs. We never meant it to be permanent. This place has enabled us to live within our means while paying a mortgage. We met new friends. We have had wonderful experiences during this time that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. Yet, we can’t wait to move. In under three weeks, we could be in our new place.
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