Random 4 for January 29, 2023 – Neighbors, furniture, schedule, RIP Ray

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We are a little short today!

Happy ending – Last summer I wrote about a new neighbor who kept bright flashing lights on all night. It looked like a trashy billboard from our deck. Or maybe a carnival.  Our yards backed up together. It was one of those “what to do” moments. They are only here weekends so catching them for a chat was tricky. They weren’t always home when they were here for the weekend. Sometimes when you don’t take immediate action things resolve. As it turns out, they also put flashy colored lights down their driveway which annoyed the dickens out of the neighbors who lived on their street. They took it to the HOA  (home owners association) who canvassed neighbors  around them. In the end, two HOA board members talked to them. Flashy lights everywhere have ended and the driveway lights were reprogrammed to white non-flashing (to ensure a plane didn’t mistake it for a runway). Our HOA representative said they are nice people eager to make adjustments. Wow, that’s different!

Furniture shopping – We’ve been out and about for the last two weeks looking for new furniture and carpeting. I used to love this kind of shopping. Not so much anymore. I have a conflict between what looks lovely and what feels lovely, and comfort wins out reluctantly. I must be getting old! As if that isn’t bad enough, the carpet that I love has been discontinued! (Of course it has! I love it!)

Slow week – I looked at my calendar and saw I only have one appointment, a breakfast, and of course my mahjong session. It’s a week full of blissful nothingness. I love those kinds of weeks and don’t be fooled. It will fill up! Probably with furniture shopping! Sigh.

Source: Colin Chappell

RIP Ray – If you are a follower of A Dog’s Life blog, the star pup has passed. Ray was a testy rescue dog who trained a brand-new dog owner. Colin wrote a book about their adventures and it’s worth a read. Here is a link to the blog. His faithful readers will miss him.

So how was your week?

62 thoughts on “Random 4 for January 29, 2023 – Neighbors, furniture, schedule, RIP Ray”

  1. [A week behind in Reader …] I never followed the adventures of Ray, but have heard of him – it is always sad reading about a much-loved “celebrity pet” who passes away. I am on Twitter and I am on and off it during the day to keep up with trending topics. Sometimes, a trending topic will be a name (just a first name) and I’ll click and it is a dog or cat … people may be so divisive and argumentative in this world we live in but just let someone post, often with a photo, that their beloved pet has passed away and watch the sympathetic posts roll up into the thousands.

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  4. Colin and Ray have been a favorite – really sad. (I’ve been MIA in blogland for a bit and appreciate the heads’ up)
    Gads, how great the landscape lighting has been resolved – we have a Vegas-style light-up across the street. Garish colors and so darn bright. Fortunately our bedroom isn’t on that side of the house. Unfortunately, she’s on the HOA board….aand none of the rules apparently apply to her.
    Yea for a “no plan week”!

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  7. I’m so pleased for you that the unwanted glaring light issue resolved so peaceably. It’s true that sometimes these. issues do resolve themselves, and although you can’t count on that, this time you came out ahead. It’s also good to hear that the neighbors are reasonable people. Enjoy your week with a more open schedule. I love when that happens!

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  8. I, too, used to love shopping for furniture or home accessories, but it doesn’t hold the thrill for me like it used to. I can’t tell if it’s me getting older OR the current stuff isn’t my taste. Either way, I’m spending less money.

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  10. Oh goodie – the flashing lights issue is no more…..AND it’s nice to know the folks who had them didn’t make a big stink over removing them. Hard to imagine they didn’t think someone wouldn’t appreciate them in the first place BUT now it’s a non-issue. Whew! Furniture shopping – I used to love doing that but don’t really have the energy for it now even though we have furniture that needs to be replaced. sigh.

    Hugs, Pam

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    • About the furniture shopping, I know! My husband said this is the last sofa we are buying which really put the pressure on getting it right! I had put carpeting on our stairs and was going to use that in our family room. It’s discontinued. I had a nice rant yesterday! We’ve been back to buy a carpet for under the kitchen floor and it was there. The salesman said it was very popular and available in 26 colors and now it’s gone! Boogers.

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  11. I was sorry to hear about the death of Ray, although this was the first time I met him. Our rescue dog is settling in nicely. She’s very affectionate, although she ran when I moved my cane last week. It turned out she was abused with a broom handle and kept in a crate for hours on end. I’m so glad she has freedom here.

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  12. There’s something about flashing lights that is particularly annoying. Also flashing ads. Have you ever seen those on line? Glad you got that problem ironed out and that the neighbors were pleasant about it.

    You always need a balance of beauty and comfort with furniture. But yes, the balance is bending more and more toward comfort. My favorite living room chair has both, but I spent many many hours searching for it.

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    • It must be the old age in me but I love me a recliner. Love my feet up. Before recliners, I had ottomans but they are always in the way. The new sofa will have two reclining seats. I’m pretty happy with what we are looking at but I won’t put the order in until I pick out a rug to go with it.

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  13. Our neighbor has Christmas lights framing his house and they are on every night all year long. At least when the electric company sends out those letters saying how we are with usage compared to neighbors, we are doing great. 🙂

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    • I would be less concerned about framing lights than I am about the strobe-like flashing. However, they said they would take them down. They put them up in August and ran them off and on the rest of the year. For Christmas week, they ran them 24/7 which made everyone nuts. Glad they were accommodating. People are weird these days.

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  14. Aww! I knew I recognized that handsome dog! Had to look twice to make sure it was your blog. 😊 So sweet of you to put him on here. I agree his book is really good.

    “Blissful nothingness” can be great, I agree!

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  16. Good news that your HOA stood up and took care of the flashing lights. What were the neighbors thinking? They thought that everybody would love having their flashing lights on 24/7 while THEY weren’t home to ENJOY them. So happy that is behind you! So sad about Ray. We have a quiet week until Tuesday and then Jerry’s brother and his wife come to visit from MO. It’s always interesting 🙂

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    • Our HOA doesn’t really do much. We didn’t have an issue redoing our deck and we don’t need to submit landscaping plans. They also don’t do snow removal or grass cutting but they keep inflatables out of the neighborhood! 🙂

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  18. Glad the blinking lights issue has been resolved. These days it’s always tricky as to whether people don’t flip out and retaliate (though that sort are usually younger).

    Learning about Ray’s passing was definitely a downer this week. Colin and I went back a long way and I was inspired by his ability to turn a once problematic pup into a very well behaved family member. I hope Ray has met up with my dear Angel Sam and the two are spreading joy while hunting for biscuits.

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  19. Oh, that’s sad about Ray.
    How they couldn’t realize the flashing lights were a no-no I don’t understand. They are a real trigger for my weird migraine stuff and also for people with epilepsy. It’s one thing to have to avoid concerts and other places where you know there will be flashing lights, but you can’t avoid something in your own neighborhood.
    I get so anxious when I look at the week ahead and there are multiple appointments and whatnot. And as of late it’s been that way all the time.

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    • I get anxious too when my week is busy. The new neighbors are from NYC so maybe anything goes there. I was surprised at how many neighbors complained. The lights weren’t twinkly, they were strobe like. Very annoying.

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  20. So glad that the flashing lights issue was solved, and that the neighbors might be ok folks after all. And hooray for quiet weeks. We’re retired – we’ve earned quiet weeks.

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    • Colin’s book is great. I may be a cat person but I have a soft spot for all animals. Perhaps if I hadn’t worked my entire life, I may have had a dog but the poor thing would have spent a lot of time alone. Cats, given some cat company, fare better.

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