(no subject)

[which_chick]

Busy day at work today. We showed up to paint at 321, the place was fucking crawling with state police officers and cars and stuff. We got there about 7:30 AM so this was a little early. Whatever. I strolled up to one of the police and asked what was up on the grounds that we were the landlord. The police was like, "Did someone call you?" so I allowed as how no, we hadn't been called, we'd showed up to paint. They didn't want to tell us what was going on, so we commenced to painting.



Eventually, they allowed as how the tenant in the little house in the back, a lady younger than I am, with two little kids, was dead. They didn't suspect foul play. Uhm? Okay. Mr. Police, you are not being very forthcoming with the details, there. We're probably not going to find out why the tenant died suddenly, which sucks. I think the newspaper should say why people died, but it does not. You don't get "John Smith: Fought lung cancer and lost" or "Sally Davis: Choked on a chicken bone" or "Barb Strait: Heroin Overdose" or "David Appel: Been trying to drink himself to death for years, finally succeeded." You don't even get "Mark Carter: Sudden, senseless heart attack" or "Betty Shoop: Died quietly in bed at eighty-five." The newspaper says stuff about them from when they were alive. It does not tell you why they died... when being dead is the only newsworthy thing about 'em. This irritates me.

We'd assumed there was no dead body because there was no ambulance. I guess they got rid of the dead body before we got there. I do not understand the calling of ambulances for dead bodies. Why should anyone pay serious money to haul a dead body in an ambulance? Ambulances are expensive, specialty vehicles designed to transport the still-living to hospitals or to shift the frail-but-living from one venue of medical care to another. Dead bodies are just meat. You could move 'em just as well in a pickup truck -- plus it'd be cheaper. You could use one with a cap on the back if you were worried about, y'know, the dignity of the thing but I'm pretty damn sure that dead people don't care about dignity.

So now we have an empty apartment coming up. She didn't give us thirty days notice in writing, so she's not going to get her deposit back. (It wasn't her money anyway. It all came from assorted aid agencies. In the event that there are human heirs for whom we can feel sorry, we tend to give the deposit back in the event of tenant death. However, when the deposit will just go to nameless agencies of the state, we claim a lack o' notice to vacate and keep the damn money.)

Having a dead tenant in the morning didn't deter us from painting, the which we did through the day. We've about got one side of the building painted, so go us!

After that, I came home and put another power-walking ride on Callie. We went across the road and up/down the local scenery three times. It's a fairly vertical scenery and makes for a nice aerobic workout even though all we did was walk. I put bell boots on her to see how that went. It went fine. Nothing ever goes not-fine on Callie. She's so... boring amenable. I will also need to get her hooked up with easyboots (I still have them from last year with Goof, and they'll fit) b/c her front feet are sore.

Tomorrow at work, there will be more painting, hopefully without any more dead tenants. I also have to look at a laundry drain and we have a lunchtime settlement/closing at which the buyer *might* have money for us (Financing is so uncertain, dontchaknow. We're the lender holding the mortgage on the property, is our involvement, here.) and at which we *might* have a satisfaction piece. Obviously, our satisfaction piece is contingent on their money. If we get no money, they get no satisfaction. :)

Tomorrow evening will be a quick pony outing and after that, I'll be attending a seminar offered by the state to tell us All About the Marcellus Shale. I don't know that my fortune will be made from the Marcellus Shale, but what the hell. Might as well learn about it if I'm going to be fielding phone calls from land men, right? (We have approximately five hundred acres of land that is under what some geologist sorts think is thick, productive, useful natural-gas-bearing shale. We're also conveniently located right next to a natural gas pipeline.)

Comments

[fooliv.livejournal.com]

My mother came up to the family reunion with a set of nineteenth century obituaries for her genealogy project, and apparently Victorian Ohio local papers didn't believe in discreet or tasteful obituaries which passed over the unpleasant details. The ancestor in question died from eating rancid two-year old butter, but her neighbors in death did things like falling under wagons, getting gored by bulls, thrown from trains, and, in one case, voting Democratic. Usually with a graphic description of the proximate cause of death.

Did the tenant's kids survive her?

[cousinsue.livejournal.com]

My great great grandfather is listed as dying from "insanity". We figured, since he was very, very old and only in the Asylum for a few months that it was dementia, and he probably died of old age or heart failure.

[cousinsue.livejournal.com]

They ambulance 'em because they've not been declared dead yet. Not sure how it is here in PA but in some states it can only be done by a doctor, and in some only by the elected official / coroner.

What happened to the kids? Did Social Services come for them?

[teflon-tim.livejournal.com]

I would also think that the ambulance is to ensure that the body gets to the hospital for examination quickly and without any extra damage or contamination. Cause of death needs to be determined accurately, and loading them in the aforementioned pickup truck might cause problems.