Lycorne With an I instead of the Y it's French for Unicorn. I just like this spelling better.

Yes, It’s been a while since I last posted. Many things have happened since I last posted, but most of them are unremarkable. I had an appointment with the midwife on Oct 17th. The really wonderful thing that day was that we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. She started out by saying that sometimes it can take a while to find where the baby is so that we could hear the heartbeat, but in this instance the baby was exactly where she started looking, so there was no hunting around for the baby. Early last week we took care of what we needed to at the Trempealeau County so everything is fine there too.

We moved here the end of September. It was at the beginning of October we met our downstairs neighbors. The downstairs neighbors are an unusual lot currently. When first met them we met Chris and Rosey. Chris is actually married to Tina, and Rosey is his girlfriend. Tina and left for Maine several months ago, and after that Chris had met Rosey online and she moved out here from New Jersey. About half way through the month, one evening Rosey became rip roaring drunk to say the least. She does not a good drunk make. When this happened Chris decide that he’d rather have his wife back, and a few days later she arrived back in town. Well, Rosey left for a few days, but since then has apparently learned she has terminal skin cancer and only a few months to live. Now she’s back living downstairs with Chris and Tina. Don’t ask me how they’re working it out, all I know is that all three are there.

What’s the importance of all that you wonder? Well the simple answer has to do with the fact that Rosey and Chris smoke. When there is only one of them down there, the smoking doesn’t seem to come up through the floor. But when both of them are there, Rosey especially, the smoking is simply awful. This is an older double-wide trailer house, that has been put on a basement foundation. While we’re not sure exactly where the smoke is coming from (we’ve attempted to seal off the basement doorway but putting up plastic and weather stripping) it manages to get up here and bother us. We’re not sure if it’s coming through the doorway, the floor (here is no vapor barrier and the false ceiling down below offers no protection), or if it’s coming up through the heating vent that was cut when they put the stairs in.

But when all of that is said and done, it doesn’t really matter where it is coming from, what matters is that the landlords aren’t willing to do anything about it. We’ve attempted for a month to get it contained, or seeing if the landlord was willing to do anything about it. Unfortunately for us, the landlords aren’t willing to do anything about it. Nor have they repaired the cut heating vent in one of the bedrooms. Nor have they fixed the door jam for the front door, even though the door can’t close or lock currently because the jam is too wide. As for the room without heating, the landlord has offered to purchase a space heater and deduct $25 a month from our rent. Sorry, but that’s not acceptable, while space heaters are safer than they used to be, they are still a fire hazard. And I know how much of a fire hazard trailer houses are in and of themselves. Generally if there is a trailer fire, it’s a complete loss, and we certainly don’t need anything to make it more of a hazard.

What does all this mean? Well basically it means we’ll be moving again, and it’s going to be fairly soon. We only learned yesterday, that they are going to do absolutely nothing about the smoke, and their idea of a solution for a bedroom without heat, is a space heater. It’s been more than a month since he was suppose to fix the door jam, and he hasn’t done it yet. So, while I like this place, and love the space we have for what we pay, it’s now time to look for something different. It’s not a fun process but it has proven to be a necessary one. Wish us luck!

A lot has occurred since my last post. Shane, Bob and I have moved to Trempealeau. The move itself had some unusual details and things but there is no reason to go into all the ins and outs of the move. Anyone who has moved before, knows things rarely go as planned for a move, and often the unexpected occurs. I will mention that one of the very unexpected things during this move is that on Friday, September 22, Shawna (Shane’s sister) received a 3 day eviction court order. She had to be out of her rental, by 6 pm, Sunday, September 24th.

Since she was moving in with Karen, they wanted us to try and move our things out sooner, that idea of theirs had mixed results. But I can say we now have everything at our new home in Trempealeau, and it’s nice not to have to commute to Holmen so Shane can do his work. We couldn’t get internet service in Trempealeau until Thursday, September 28th, so until we had it we were driving back and forth daily.

This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we went to Amrail, in Chicago. Amrail is an event put on by a group of model railroaders in Chicago, for the purpose of having out-of-town guests come and operate their railroads. We ran for different railroads during our trip, one Friday evening, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday morning. They were all lots of fun, and definitely the makings for a great trip. And as an added bonus we were able to stop at Bill Kirchmeyer’s new home in Rockford, IL on the way back to see how he’s coming with his benchwork. It’s a beautiful home, a huge basement, a great plan for the layout, and a wonderful start on his benchwork. This is definitely going to be a great railroad to come and operate once he has it finished!

Sunday evening after we returned, Shane and I met the downstairs neighbors. Rosey and Chris appear to be really nice people. Rosey just recently moved here from Rhode Island, so naturally she’s having a bit of cultural shock from the differences between the East Coast and the Mid-West. One of the biggest things she’s adjusting to is the fact that on the East Coast is that you don’t get to know much about someone unless you’ve known them many years already, and here in the Mid-West people are curious and want to get to know you once they meet you. I know the difference between the two because I spent 6 1/2 years living in the Greater Boston Area, which is most definitely that way. Out there you don’t become friends with someone until you’ve known them at least 1/2 a dozen years already, minimum.

Rosey isn’t currently working, she’s taking some time to organize their apartment and settle in before finding herself a job. One of the things she offered was that if we needed to go shopping or anything let her know and she’d be glad to help us with a bit of transportation when she can. It was very nice of her, and on Tuesday when she needed to go to LaCrosse to run some errands, we went along. Shane had considered staying home, but since he was waiting for someone to get back to him with some work, he decided to come along. It was an enjoyable time for all I believe, I know I enjoyed it.

Rosey and Chris are smokers though, and at the moment, that smoke is finding it’s way up the old staircase. We need to talk with the landlord about either closing off the stairs, or sealing the door with plastic, or something. I’m sure hoping that it will all work out. I like this place a lot, and while I can’t really smell the smoke much, I’m sure it’s not good for me or the baby. I know that Shane and Bob are much more sensitive to it, but I really hope something can be done.