Thirty Six Years Ago

I was still living with my parents, had my first full time job as a billing clerk at Visiting Nurses Association when this hit. 

The drifts on our country road were higher than my head. It was the snowiest January on record for Indiana. 

Don't ask me why all these googled pics are black and white. We DID have color film in 1978. 

Ok. The color pics look almost the same as the black and white. 

It literally took until June for some of the snow piles to melt. 

Three weeks ago tomorrow (Sunday) we arrived here on sunny Fort Myers. It's been very cool just after we arrived. I've only had one day a spent a few hours at the pool. We. Still haven't made it to the beach. Supposed to be 80 degrees here on Monday, so that will be our first beach day. 

In the meantime, Indy is closing on that record snowfall January. It is now the second snowiest January on record and they have been experiencing sub zero temps. Only just a few more inches of snow this week and it will top 1978. 

To say I am not complaining about the cool temps here is an understatement. 

I HATE Indiana winters. Apparently I would have hated this winter only second to 1978. So far. 

Where Psychos Tread

We first began to hear complaints about him shortly after the Homeowners Association (HOA) was turned over from the builders to the homeowners and the HOA board was elected. 

He was chosen as the board president. Let's call him Mr. French. Not after the beloved butler on Family Affair, but because he is from......you get the point. 

For the most part, we dismissed the complaints. The complex was being kept nice, money spent for upkeep and maintenance. I wasn't thrilled that they maintained the same property managers that the builders used though. I had had a run in with them with our first renters. Nasty emails threatening to deny our renters mainly because they were insisting upon obtaining the renter's social security number and bank account information. 

For one thing, the rent was due to us, not the property manager. There was no cause for them to have this information.  And secondly, perhaps even more telling was the fact that we were renting to CANADIANS. They didn't have social security numbers. When I finally had it out over the phone with the property manager Nazi's, they complained that the renter didn't include the information on the second car. Except there WAS no second car. I sarcastically said, "do you honestly think they are driving TWO cars from CANADA?"  

If there is an industry scam anywhere, Florida property managers are it. Unless it's a big firm, more often then not, the person submits high maintenance bills from their relatives, $50 to change an outdoor resident entry light, etc. 

But I digress. 

Mr. French was on the board for the first couple of years. When the board changed, they hired a different property manager and that's when things began to get nasty.  Mr. French was furious over not being on the board, but he went really psycho when they found discrepancies with the former property manager and he was insistent they keep her.  

Not sure of the data she took with her, but she provided him with everyone's email address in the complex and that's when the bombarding of the email began. 

Let me be clear, this man is not stupid. He once owned his own computer company and apparently made quite a bit of money from it. He is also well versed on the laws on HOA's in Florida. That doesn't mean he abides by them, but uses them to spread lies about the board ever since his unelection. 

By law, a resident is allowed to inspect all the records of the HOA on the premises of the property manager. After his sweetie was fired, he went to the new property manager and preceded to take all the records HOME. I believe she tried to stop him, but to no avail. 

It was at this time that someone located the information that is now readily available online. Arrest records with mugshots. Mr. French had previously lived in a related community just north of us where he also was on the board. When that much larger community began having issues with him, unelecting him also, he had a encounter with either a lady on the board or the property manager. 

In short, he assaulted her and was arrested. I'm assuming that's why he moved to our complex. 

And became our problem. 

Every couple months or so, we get an email from him charging all kinds of malfeasance of the board. As an example, a couple years ago the County Commissioners found a drainage ditch was not up to code. Our builder is long ago bankrupt and the county gave us a couple years to fix it.  Last year, the time was up and the county indicated we must fix the expensive issue or the complex would lose their Certificate of Occupancy. 

Yeah, I think we all know what that means.  But apparently. Mr. French suddenly wasn't aware of the laws, saying that the board could not spend the $30,000 without 2/3's of the residents agreeing. Which is simply only true if it's a voluntary expense. 

Last month he sent an email that said because the available immediate cash dropped $125k, that they board was "missing cash". That's like saying because you had $3k in your bank account last month and paid your $2k property tax bill leaving you with $1k this month, you "lost" $2k. 

He has threatened and harassed every person who has been on the board since his booting. He now files lawsuit after lawsuit. Last year he insisted the board refund fees because they had "excess cash".  When. Mr. French discovered he couldn't sue the board for everyone's refund, he sued for his own.  Of course the board cannot refund one person's fee and not everyone's not to mention there was not excess cash, only slightly above the required reserves. It seems Mr. French has forgotten about reserves. 

Monday was the board elections for 2014. Of course he ran again, sending more lies and accusations out before the election. It has gotten so scary, that we have one of the largest residents to sit next to him, just in case. 

He interrupted the meeting twice, first claiming that one of those running for the board was ineligible. First, his English is very poor and no one could understand the word "ineligible". Second, last year the association 2/3's this time had voted that the board members could run for more than two consecutive terms. He knows all this, but doesn't care. It was a little like attempting to pull out the immunity idol after the tribal council vote. 

After the election results were announced he stood up again and then didn't like it that everyone groaned, loudly. He said that the board should settle one of his lawsuits because it would cost the association $30k to defend his $500 idiotic lawsuit. 

Then he complained about being served a 30 page cease and desist and protective order from the board.  The board has retained the same attorney the assaulted woman had from the other complex and he believes they can enjoin him from even attending the meetings.  A guy behind me yelled out, "how does it feel."  Appropriate?  Maybe not, but he has harassed so many people here no one cares. 

I really really wanted to yell out, "I'll GIVE you $500 to put your place up for sale and MOVE". Alas, I am not the type to do that. 

We sat in the back and during the entire meeting I was thinking that it was good there were so many people in front of us. Honestly, no one would be shocked if this guy shows up and starts shooting everyone in sight. 

I have no idea why one person apparently loves to start serious issues with his own neighbors everywhere he goes. Well, other than he may well be mentally ill.  Last time we were here, one of the neighbors on the board came and looked at the gun Bob had recently bought. That's how scary this  Frenchman is. 

Out of 187 units, he got six votes. 

(Yes, I could get him to stop sending email to us, but then I wouldn't be aware of his crazy rantings.). 

First Week

We arrived down here last Sunday, thankfully escaping the most snow in Indy since the blizzard of '78. Then they had record cold, dropping down to a balmy -46 degrees chill factor. Apparently the city was at a standstill early last week as we were settling into our home.  I watched the national weather reports out of Indy while enjoying the Florida warmth. 

We made it to the Florida/Georgia line by the time we stopped on Saturday. We headed over to eat at a local Applebee's in enough time to watch the Colts pull an amazing comeback for the wildcard seat in the playoffs. Unfortunately, they botched the game last night. 

I spent Monday arranging the clothes we brought down. Normally they are just tossed in a drawer since we only stay a week or so. 

On Tuesday, the kitchen was driving me crazy. It was okay for a vacation kitchen, but I like to cook and being here for three months means more stocked pantry. 

It cooled down to the 50's here on Wednesday, so we hibernated a little.  We went to the seafood market for some shrimp and I have been making wonderfully fresh shrimp cocktail for a bit of a snack. 

Amazingly enough we haven't even been to the beach yet. I did get to the pool yesterday in the late afternoon. 

It's early yet in the season, but we aren't used to all these old people. My SUV was nearly rammed on three separate occasions in parking lots on Tuesday. 

We rode our bikes through the nearby park yesterday. Whew, when we bought them last July, I hadn't been on a bike in probably 40 years, so it took me a little while to feel comfortable with not falling off. We were out about an hour on them yesterday, taking a few rest stops. I want to get back intot he habit of doing that every morning. 

Bob went to the pool around 2 today and it was so packed that he came back until 3. Pretty sure we're going to head to the beach tomorrow. You have to go over the bridge to Fort Myers or Sanibel early this time of year or you're stuck in traffic and cannot find a place to park. 

He decided to run down to Naples to look at a car and I'm sitting here watching Manning and the Broncos int he playoff while looking out here. 

Last Friday they had a cocktail party in the clubhouse. Bob knows quite a few more people here than I do because he's spent a lot more time here than I have. I ended up meeting a lot of really nice people. The ladies luncheon out is next Thursday in Sanibel. I think there are close to 30 women signed up. I'll feel more comfortable now that I've gotten to know a few of them. 

Unfortunately, just a few days before we left, I had an endoscopy and they knocked out a filling in my front tooth. I was thinking I could wait until we got back home, but it's driving me berserk. Got a name of a good dentist from one of our neighbors. Hope they can get me in very soon. 

My sister is on the other side of the earth as we speak. She landed late yesterday (today in India) to see our India family. She went all by herself and needless to say, I was very concerned. The good thing was that she flew through Dubai, so it was a bit safer than her last visit 8 years ago when she and my nephew flew into Mumbai.  

Supposed to be 82 here tomorrow. I may never want to go back. 

And a House is Not a Home

Late February I think it was, I lightly put my foot down to Bob and said, "No more someday, this next winter we are heading south". 

It was precipitated because he was about to undergo some major back surgery removing a tumor that had deteriorated his left foot, calf and eventually half his backside. That deterioration wasn't coming back and we had been saying for years that instead of renting our coach home in Fort Myers we would someday get the hell out of Dodge. Actually, Indy not Dodge, but you get the drift. 

Our original plan was to leave last weekend, but an unexpected family health issue (temporary) delayed us until tomorrow morning. 

January first brought a significant amount of snow here, close to 7 or 8 inches. We picked up our grandkids before it started and then kept them until today. Early this week was too soon to do more than pack up most stuff, but not early enough to get some final cleaning and last minute packing. 

Not realizing we would be lucky to have the grandkids for two days left us with taking them home this morning and then running hither and yon and floor and bathroom cleaning for this afternoon. Bob was hoping we would get the place dusted which I told him was really kinda pointless given that there would likely be an inch of dust by the time we get back. 

We've handed out keys to family, friends and neighbors, installed a security camera and alarm and will have neighbors watch and keep the driveway plowed so the house does not look vacant. 

It seems so different than when we leave our place in Fort Myers. While it's decked out with everything we need, there is nothing there that can't be replaced with an insurance check if something happened. 

We moved to this house a year after we were married. His girls were raised here, 22 of our nearly 23 years have been here. All our memories are here. This is the only constant house in our grandkids history, their parents and other grandparents have all moved several times. 

Last summer I was sitting outside with my grandson when I mentioned something about moving from this house in a few years. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, "You will never leave here". In his 11 years this was his constant. He couldn't imagine us EVER living anywhere else. It broke my heart a little. 

As does this trip south. And I don't know why. 

Believe me, I cannot wait to get to warm weather. They are now predicting near blizzard conditions here starting late Saturday night and probably continuing into Monday. By the time the snow starts up again Saturday we should be at the Florida/Georgia line. 

I plan on irritating every one of my fb friends and family with weather updates until April. Pictures of the pool and the beach and the fresh shrimp and fish. Maybe a quick trip over to Fort Lauderdale for an impromptu cruise. 

What is this?  It's almost like a life that we've only dreamed of. Tomorrow starts the "someday" we've talked about for years. 

And while we've locked, secured, alarmed this house of ours, I feel sad for it. 

Does a home ever get peoplesick?