Developments
The mice are back I moved in to my apartment on February 1st, 2019 and immediately started transitioning my food in to air tight, glass containers that mice can't get into. In very early March I got a cat in hopes of keeping the mice off the kitchen counter. Kramer caught his first mouse on March 3rd. Good kitty.
After that, I started setting live traps and letting the mice go near the stream in the park across the street. On March 16th, the first day I started video documenting their release I caught three at one time.
I caught a mouse every day until March 24th when, in response to the next door neighbor, who didn't have mice until I got Kramer, complained to the office and I assume they put poison out. Or maybe the weather got nice and the mice quit coming back after their relocation.
Until two days ago. I hadn't been checking the trap; in fact, I don't recall there being food in it before shoving it to the very back of the cupboard. But Kramer was showing much interest as I was moving pots and pans around and I found a dead mouse in the trap. Ooooops. Not a live trap anymore. I reset it and based on Kramers midnight behaviour I'll be making a trip to the steam this morning.
I don't know why, but I persist in trying to effect positive change here. On Thursday, 8/2 I called and left a message with Robbi Parker, the Director of Facilities for BH Management, the company that owns The Club at Indian Creek. I thanked him for getting the leaky washer fixed when I had had no luck after six months of trying, I told him I was excited about the upcoming gutter and downspout repairs, and that I was still concerned about the non-existent recycling program. I pointed out that both the BH Management and The Club websites advertise on-site recycling, but that I continue to photograph my recycling in the trash dumpster after leaving it out, per instruction, for Valet Trash Service. I'm pretty sure I used the word fraudulent somewhere in that message.
The following day, after speaking with a friend, I called an apologized for that message explaining that I was (and still am) upset because I actually care about this issue. I assured him that I have no interest in suing anybody and if I came across that way, it is not what I intended. I then shared information about The Department of Health and Environment's Green Business Program and thanked him before ending the call.
The following morning Amber Pettijohn (515-410-9336) left me a message saying they are interested in hearing more about the program and to call or email her. I also received a message from Crystal in The Club office.
“Hi Helen! I wanted to let you know that I am working with and reviewing this with my upper management team. We love this idea and would like to arrange a time to meet with you and discuss. Would you have some time next Tuesday or Thursday to come meet with us or chat on the phone?”
On Thursday, 8/8 I responded by email to amber.pettijohn@bhmanagement.com and MGR.IndianCreek@bhmanagement.com saying that I would love to meet on Tuesday, but that I was unavailable on Thursday and that I was excited to work on this with them. I sent a 2nd email on Sunday with how I would response to the Green Business application question of “What are your green goals?” if I were the owner of The Club.
We want to make recycling easier than throwing trash away.
Our lower level apartments have spacious patios. We want to give residents tools to maintain their own patio spaces. Currently, there is no easy way for residents to dispose of weeds, grass clippings, and general garden cleanup.
We’re looking for an easy solution for residents to dispose of large furniture items when they leave instead of filling the trash dumpster and leaving items next to the dumpsters.
Our overall goal is to make it so easy for residents to take care of all waste appropriately, that they don’t have to think about it. The most logical choice will be the best choice for everyone. As an apartment complex, we can’t control our residents behaviour. But we can put systems in place that let residents participate in maintaining our grounds without them even realizing it. We would like to identify those systems.
On Monday, I hadn't heard from either, except that Crystal closed the work order. I called Amber at around 2:00 to touch base and again mentioned that Crystal had requested a Tuesday or Thursday meeting. She emailed back and said that Crystal would be my point person and that she would get back with me next week. So I wait.
I can't tell if I'm being harassed.Someday I'll tell you about the July 10th newsletter. For now . . . on 8/6/19 I was notified via a letter on my door that staff would be entering my apartment to label the breaker box. They came on Wednesday 8/7 and Brea took a fairly intimate tour of my entire apartment, entering my closet and checking out the patio area. She commented “that's cute” as she left my bedroom.
I did show Brea where I had just that morning discovered the large living room window was leaking and the gentleman from maintenance said he would open a work order and appeared to do so on his phone, although there was not ticket open on the website.
8/13/19 I woke up around 1:30 to discover the AC is out. It's currently 76 degrees and yesterday it was still 98 at 6:30 pm.
I realize I sound paranoid, but I'm wondering if this new problem with my AC isn't really a coincidence. At first, I was confident they were here on Wednesday gathering evidence to try and evict me. They got plenty, for a have a hospice foster dog that I had thought would have passed by now.
Now, I can't help but feel like they're trying to make it so unpleasant that I give up and break my lease. As I sit here sweating and listening the familiar sounds of mice chewing something, I admit, I'm thinking about it.