There were words, and then there were not

I have had things to say but I didn't get to the computer until today because I have been so tired I fall asleep on the loveseat almost as soon as I finish my dinner which hasn't been much because I've been too tired to figure out what to eat and then to make it. I understand why people eat out or buy junk food for dinner because there are plenty of fast food places around my house for me to choose from, but I don't eat that sort of food because I'm afraid of what's in it and I don't eat hamburgers or chicken unless I cook it. Food and I have a tenuous relationship. I have to eat it to survive, but sometimes it feels like food is trying to kill me or lay me low. 

This has nothing to do with food -- My neighbor is moving out, the one I share a wall with. That means a new tenant once again. Most people don't stay in that townhouse for more than a year, and I think I can guess why. The owners rent to young couples with young children, and there is nothing for young children in this subdivision -- no pool, no playground, no safe place to ride bikes. And the tenants are responsible for taking care of the front and back yards, so since most renters don't have lawnmowers, that means they have to pay someone to take care of the yard. It's a small townhouse too - about 850 sq. ft. with a tiny galley kitchen and a small living area (I saw inside photos once).

I am not looking forward to new tenants because almost everyone who has moved in there lives loud -- banging and pounding on the walls for whatever reason, slamming the front door which, if done strongly enough, causes an earthquake in my villa, with things rattling in the kitchen and the back window vibrating in its frame. I am praying for quiet and respectful tenants who don't throw boxes out by the front door and leave them for months, who don't throw their masks and other trash on their driveway or yard which blows into my yard and I have to pick it up, who at least pretend like the townhouse is their home and maybe put a plant outside in the sandy earth by the front door. 

Well, a girl can dream.

I am trying to learn to calm down and let things roll away because I was diagnosed with blood pressure so high that I'm in danger of a stroke anytime. How lovely. I am now taking meds for it and my blood pressure is way down almost to normal. Yay! I am working at a new library that has a wilderness in the back of the property and an open field to one side so I walk on my breaks. That's probably helping the blood pressure.

Something happened the other day at the library that is so cool: two wild parrots flew over my head twice, squawking the way parrots do. It looked they were being pursued by two other birds, possibly parrots. Man, these birds can fly fast (and there was a tree in the way so I couldn't see the second set of birds). I also saw a wild bunny chomping on grass and a juvenile morning dove that I scared so it took off. Sorry, little one. The next day I saw a hawk fight, possibly two males fighting over a female (there were three of them squalling and chasing). Not bad for my first 3 days at the new library. And the weather - oh, so perfect. Sunny, warm with a cool breeze. Spring is so fabulous in Tampa (except for my shedding dog and the shedding oak trees - sneeze, sneeze, sneeze!)

Wish me luck with my soon-to-be new neighbor and my job at the new-to-me library. I hope I see a wild deer in the library's backyard like my colleague did a while back before I got there.