Life’s Recent Chaos at Mac’s Abode

So, the past few weeks have been a bit crazy here at the ol’ Mac’s Abode lately. Things from gardening, selling batches of houseplants to seeding new garden ones for the greenhouse, pet visits to the vet, and revisiting the drama that is our crazy-ass neighbor, yeah, THAT neighbor! So, I’ve fallen behind on video production and blog posts lately, mostly because of the drama being stirred up by that nutjob across the street from us.

Getting a head start on the season

Things have just started to slow down in our house plant sales, which we’ve been posting on Facebook Marketplace. We’ve been busy planting seeds for our garden and a variety of flowers for people to buy for their yards. I’ve been starting the seeds in our plant room that we have set up inside our home, complete with grow lights, heating mats, and homemade humidity chambers (plastic wrap—lol!).

Last year, we planted a variety of tomatoes and various types of peppers, and they all sold out fast, so we’re going to produce more, and hopefully, many people can get some before they run out again this year.

I’ve already started to bring them out into the greenhouse because they’ve started sprouting earlier than I had expected. To avoid them all getting leggy trying to get closer to the grow lights, I put them outside in the greenhouse so they can get the proper lighting. A lesson we learned a few seasons ago.

And since I have to start bringing all the sprouting seed trays into the greenhouse earlier than I intended, I have to make room in there by cleaning out all the old and dead plants from last year. As you can see in the above photo, I will have my work cut out for me.

While I wasn’t intending to start using the greenhouse this early, I will have to start using the diesel heater to keep it warm during the nights and on days when it’s cloudy and overcast. It’s a good thing it was already set up to go from when I permanently installed it at the end of last season. I filled the fuel tank, and she fired up like it was still new, even though it’s almost 2 years old now.

It’s a good thing, too, because the weather forecast was way off base for the past few forecasts and they seemed to have changed the outlook from what they said it would be from last week. So instead of being warm and sunny it went to cold and snowy. I think it’s because somehow they saw me getting things ready for the season, and they went, “Nope, can’t have you enjoying yourself too early so we’re going to make the weather crappy for you.”

I still have to get the garden flower seeds started so they’re all ready and blooming for when people start stopping in to buy them! So much work, but to be completely honest, it’s worth it. I find it very therapeutic, and seeing the fruits of your labour is also rewarding, for me anyway. If you don’t have a greenhouse, I highly recommend either building one yourself like I did with our hoophouse or getting a premade hoophouse. They’ll pay for themselves, especially with the prices for vegetables and such at the supermarkets.

Poor puppy blues

So while we’re busy with plants and garden stuff, our eldest dog, Princess, developed an eye issue that, when we noticed it, we knew it was a trip to the vet because it didn’t look good and had us very concerned. It was a good call because it would have gotten worse if we had just let it go.

Somehow, she developed a corneal ulcer on her right eye. The vet put a (1) drop of fluorescein dye test in her eye to see if it was an ulcer and indicated a positive result. That one drop costs $45!!! That’s just bullshit price gouging as far as I’m concerned. I truly wish this shit was regulated because so many pets must suffer. After all, most owners can’t afford to take them to a vet. But that’s an entirely different rant.

The vet ended up giving us some eye drops, Tobrex Ophthalmic Solution 0.3% 5 ml, at a whopping $42.94, and those prices don’t include the taxes! And, of course, the charge for the 20-minute exam time was $110.00. Total with taxes $227.63 for a 15- to 20-minute visit to get eye drops. Please explain to me, like I’m a five-year-old, how this is justifiable.

They said to bring her back the following Monday just to see if there were any changes. At no cost to me, though, how thoughtful. (eye roll) After sitting and waiting for about 25 minutes for the vet to come and check, after they put us in a room that had the heat cranked and I lost about 5 pounds from sweating, the vet came in, looked at Princess’s eye, and said it looked fine.

They then asked if I could bring her back in a week from that Monday. I asked if it would be no charge again for a followup, and they said no, there would be a fee for the visit ($110), and I said, “I tell you what. If it gets worse, I’ll call to make another appointment.”

So it’s been just over a week, and her eye doesn’t seem to be getting any worse. It still has that red blotch but was told that’s normal and will actually turn white from scarring. Just keep adding the eye drops. I hope it does clear up because the alternative is removing her eye, and not only can we not afford a serious surgery like that, but it would also break our hearts because she’s such a happy and active girl.

The cons of living in an old home

It was a nice, warm, sunny day a while ago. You know when we all thought spring was here, but Mother Nature was just playing games with us and then dumped a crap ton of snow on us and dropped the temperatures? Yeah, that time.

Well, I took advantage of that day and opened up some windows to air the place out and also took the time to do a bit of spring cleaning in the house. I was removing some dusty cobwebs in one of the living room corners, and when I pulled out our cabinet that was in that corner, I found something that no homeowner ever wants to see. MOLD!

Yup, there’s a leak in our house from outside. I eventually found where it might be coming into the house from outside, so that’s a good thing. Just finding the time and materials to repair it is another problem. I managed to get it all cleaned up as far as the mold goes. It’s not a steady leak, it seems. We believe it only leaks badly when it’s really windy and rainy because the area we think it’s coming in through is in the top corner of the wall where it meets the roof. So that’s another thing to look after as soon as the weather improves.

It’ll be a DIY job that I’m not particularly eager to do either. I’m not a handyman, and we can’t afford to hire one. So that has added some anxiety to our lives, not that we can ever have enough ANXIETY in our lives, RIGHT? 😣😥🤯

That cockroach of a neighbour

Yup, she is still like that irritating sound you hear of fingernails scraping across a chalkboard that makes you grind your teeth and gives you the heebie-jeebies whenever you hear it. She’s that cockroach that just doesn’t seem to die off and go away. Yes, we’re talking about none other than that Lunatic Neighbour again. I know, I know. What now, right?

We honestly thought we were done with that narcissistic neighbour and her chaos once and for all, back when she pleaded guilty to all of the charges against her. But something has changed, and it’s suspicious. It’s almost as if they’re trying to delay something, to prolong her incarceration or something. The only thing it’s prolonging is our patience and adding more anxiety to our lives.

Timeline refresher:

Crazy people harassed us for weeks leading up to my being assaulted and having our property destroyed, which led to the arrest of the criminal listed in the court docket below. Keep in mind that this all started back in the summer of 2022 when we asked that they keep their dogs from trampling through our gardens. Apparently, that’s all it takes to cause insane people to go over the edge and create chaos in the entire neighborhood.

I didn’t save the initial court docket that showed her initial 1st appearance and plea dates; those aren’t really relevant anyway, but I want to mention that there were multiple date changes prolonging the whole process longer. But we were served a subpoena to appear on August 12, 2024, as witnesses to her trial because apparently she pleaded innocent on her plea date. We would later find out that it was just a ploy to prolong her sentencing date because when we arrived for her trial, she changed her pleas to guilty, all of them. Note the one highlighted in red, and keep that one in mind.

So, the crown set a sentencing date for her on November 20th, 2024. At this point, we’re feel like we’re done. 2 years have passed and we can finally forget about her and never have to deal with her bullshit again. Despite her having over 2 years to roam around freely and have the ability to turn friends, neighbours, and family against us, she made herself out to be the victim while we stayed silent for the most part, aside from my updates on the whole thing here.

But oh no. What, the date has been moved yet AGAIN! To January the next year! We have the suspicion that her lawyer is prolonging things. We were told that they sometimes do this to keep their client free longer before they are incarcerated. From all the constant date changes prolonging things longer and longer, it seems this is exactly what is happening.

We were contacted by the crown to let us know of the outcome. This is going to blow your mind. Probation with a no-contact order and 30 days of house arrest. Yup, house arrest 50 feet away from our bedroom window. You can’t make this up. But there were only 3 charges they mentioned. There should have been 4.

The lady who called us on behalf of the Crown didn’t have any additional information on that. We ended up just thinking they must have combined some of the charges, maybe? At this point, we were glad we were done with this psychopath. We are now also ready in case they try to do anything because clearly, the law here in Canada is a joke. Thank you, Liberal Party of Canada!

Present date:

So, in early February, we had a visit from the RCMP. “What now?” we said to each other. I went out to greet the officer, and he served us with another Subpoena to appear as witnesses again.

Yup, this annoying nutjob of a neighbour is still at it, flip-flopping with her pleas again. FUCK! We just can’t get rid of her. You’d think trying to cut somebody out of your life would be easier, right? Apparently not!

See that one charge highlighted in red like the first one above? That’s the breach of an undertaking. The one when she just got back from the police department under a no-contact order, got out of the car, and yelled, “Fuck you, poor muffin,” and proceeded to flip me the bird (gave the middle finger) as her counterpart continued on afterward with his insane rant while I was outside in our driveway getting something from our car.

The undertaking was that she would have no direct or indirect contact with me. She breached that by yelling across the street at me directly and then giving me the middle finger (indirectly), all caught on surveillance video. Video that the prosecution lawyers have for their evidence. And now we have to go back in for a trial again? Take time off work just to play into whatever game this is?

I hope the Crown sees what’s happening here and realizes they’re wasting the court’s time and finally ends this. We’re going to go in, say what we witnessed, and go back home. This better be the last we have to deal with in this matter. Three years of this bullshit is stressful and should have been dealt with right away, but it seems Canada’s justice system is so bad that the whole “Right to a speedy trial” is just a dream now.

Will she change her plea back to guilty in May when we go back, or will she still say she’s innocent despite there being video and audio evidence? Whatever happens, it better be over because we have spent enough of our time on this matter.

Conclusion: The Rollercoaster of Life at Mac’s Abode

And there you have it, folks! Life at Mac’s Abode could easily be mistaken for a chaotic reality show, complete with gardening triumphs, pet drama, household hazards, and the loony antics of our neighborhood nemesis. If you think your life is a whirlwind, try juggling seeds, eye drops, mold, and a neighbor who must have taken a crash course in how to annoy the entire community!

So what do you think? Are our gardening escapades and misadventures enough to make you feel a little better about your own daily chaos? How have your days been treating you? Are you keeping it calm, or is your life equally as crazy? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments below! We can’t wait to hear from you! 🌱🐾🏡🌀