Plagues and pickles

 Well, I am back home now. We got things done while I was there, but it was plain to see that my daughter-in-law was tired. When we found out that my son was returning home sick, I had this quiet niggling fear that she was getting whatever he had. 

She was. 

In the meantime, I managed to start coming down with the cold William was recovering from when we took everyone out for my daughter's 45th birthday the previous week. 

A plague of plagues.

The girls enjoyed crafts. 

I showed them how to make a jack-o-lantern that stood on its own and and had different faces.

We collected pine cones to make these:

We did not actually get them done. The eyes for ours will be made from acorn caps, and the wings are made from paper hearts cut in half lengthwise. 

We did make bats. 

Even our simple plan to go to dinner Sunday night when my on-the-mend (we thought, anyway) son began throwing up.

In the end, I took my sniffles and body aches home. It was a long drive, but I got here. As I feared, my daughter in law is currently flat out with whatever my son had. I am hoping not to get it. 

I came home to quite a pickle. One of our tenants moved an acquaintance in. He is having mobility issues. We were shocked because we know this person. She has a drug history, and she has a criminal background that goes along with a druggy lifestyle. Burglary, disorderly conduct, assaults, possession. 17 pages of it. She has been incarcerated. She has 5 counts on an open case which will be heard on Oct. 14th.

Most alarming is that she was taking care of her mother during her final months and had a history of taking advantage and manipulating her. She was part of a drug trafficking scheme out of the old lady's home. 

All of a sudden, there were security cameras going up on our house.  Tim caught her smoking dope twice in the same week on the back porch. 

The issue became security. Providing a safe place for the two elderly tenants in the duplex. She is always there, so I tried to message the tenant with our concerns. Much to my surprise, she took his phone saying that it was better that I talk to her. At that point, we feared that she was intending to control the situation with the tenant just as she had with her own mother. 

It is not the pot. It is her history, a history that the tenant is well aware of. Somehow, she convinced him that she had changed.

After discussing it with the police, we made the decision to start the eviction process. We gave her 30 days. She should receive the paperwork today. The tenant is upset. We feel bad. In the end, we feel like it was the only way to handle it. 

The other Tim continues to improve. He is on a regular diet again. Amazing.