This morning I looked across the room and looked at my mini "grandfather clock" and marvelled at the fact that the pendulem was swinging back and forth. It wouldn't do that when it was in Idaho. The floors must have been crooked.
Jeremy wants me to come visit him in Denver, saying the temperature is going down this time of year. It's been running in the 70's, but I do better when it's in the 60's, so I'm keeping an eye on it. People in the dog park tell me, in awe, "Boy, you really do like it cold, don't you". Cause I'm out there in a skirt and short sleeves, while they've got jackets, scarfs, and gloves on, when it's 67 degrees out.
Which then gets me to musing about how I'm feeling. I don't seem to be in ... constant? pain as much. Not sure if that's the word I want. If I don't take my pills on time, the pain is definitely right there, but I seem to be more... tolerant of it. I don't have the desire to chew my own hands and feet off as much as I used to. I usually tell people when asked why I moved here, that I moved for my health, better temperatures and medical care. That's the short answer, but not the real reason. As it's turning out tho, the temperature seems to be making a HUGE difference in my health. September and October are considered the Summer months here, and the temperature is running in the low 70's the last few days. It's too warm for me to be in the sun, but it's comfortable enough in the shade still. One good thing about the streets, is that there's always one side or the other in the shade.
Yesterday, I walked the 6 blocks to the Mission, to get a weeks supply of fruits and vegetables, and hit a couple of thrifts shops.
Annie's still tired from yesterday, and this morning's play in the park. She likes the new blanket too.
Back to the musing. I've been here 147 days - almost 5 months, and I still marvel at how happy and content I am.
I do get a little paranoid sometimes at my isolation from friends and family, but I am meeting people every day. There's 3 people that I have their email address and phone numbers, and feel comfortable enough to call them if I needed help. I'm thinking about asking one of them to be my San Francisco emergency contact.
Last night is what got me to thinking about contact numbers. About 6pm, there was a loud bang that was loud enough to make my apartment move. I'm on the 4th floor, and there's one more floor above me. My first thought was that it was a gun shot directly above me. Then it happened again, a little more quiet, but it still made the apartment move. I listened for my neighbors in my hall to come out, but nothing. Over the next few hours, it happened another 4 times. My animals, who were all on the bed with me, would stare up at the ceiling each time, and the cats would hide under the bed. After the 3rd time, I started to wonder if it was an earthquake, and considered getting online to research earthquakes (which it occurs to me, is the one thing I have NOT researched about moving here...). The 6th time it happened at 10pm, and it moved the apartment again - and it was the loudest yet, and I got scared. So I went downstairs to the other building to tell the security guy, and he said that someone else had complained and he had just got done calling the police.
I sat down to chat with the "lobby lizards" (people who seem to live in the lobby area - the gossips), and they were harping on the security guy for not telling the police that it was an emergency, because it would take them hours to get there. As I listened, I realized they were talking about the noise coming from someone on the 1st floor, and that he was a "5150"... a crazy person in police talk. I told the security guy that I thought the noise came from the 5th floor and that it had been loud enough to move my apartment. He called the cops back and asked me to talk to them. The lady asked me if I thought it was a gunshot, and I told her that was my first impression, but not my 2nd thru 5th impression, but that the 6th one scared me, and my animals. She thanked me and told me to wait there with the security guard. I sat down to wait, figuring it would be awhile. By the time I walked across the lobby to some chairs - there were at least 10 cops at the door. As we let them in, another bunch of them came in behind the first bunch. There were at least 20 cops!
I couldn't get a word in edgewise, because of the 2 lady lobby lizards, who think they run the place, so the cops were only hearing about the 1st floor noise, which made no sense to me. Some of them got on the elevator, which was wrong, because the noise/s came from the other building. There are 2 buildings, and to get to the back one, you have to go down the hall, out the door, up the sidewalk into my building. The rest of the cops went down the hall, and I went to the one who was standing at our front door and told him my side of the story, which he then relayed over the radio. I sat down, figuring I'd done the best I could. The cops came back, saying no one was answering their door, but there didn't seem to be any signs that they should bust down some doors without a solid reason. They said they checked out the 5th floor also, but no signs of trouble. Out they went, cop after cop after cop. There had to have been at least 25 of them. I was impressed, and a bit embarrassed, wondering if I'd brought them out there for no reason. They told me to always report anything that concerned me, to err on the safe side.
I went home to my apartment. There were 2 more bangs, but they were much quieter, and I have no doubt that they came from above me. I took Annie out for her last walk, stopping in the lobby to tell the security guy that it was definitely coming from the 5th floor. By then, the lobby lizards and him had decided that it was two separate incidents - quite the exciting times in the ole place tonight!
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