Did I mention....

That in addition to Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis, that we spent last Thursday in Milwaukee? Perhaps I forgot because it was so traumatic.

We went to see how our house was doing. Our tenant had fallen short on her rent for the last two months and we'd been told that the house couldn't possible show well to future tenants given the state in which she was keeping it. Her mother died about 8 months ago and had really been the one holding things together. We are incredibly lucky that things didn't fall apart rent-wise in the middle of winter, when the prospects for new tenants would be less than nil.

So we pull up to our house. And out of the front door walks a teenager with his pants belted just below his crotch. I realize that Milwaukee is sometimes a little behind on the fashion trends, but a) this was a LOT of behind, and b) as far as I can tell, that trend has been over for even the U.P. to get the idea. And, he had no shirt on, which led us to surmise that he leads a lifestyle that includes a great deal of television, potato chips and twinkies. (Hmm, this could explain his not being able to pull his pants up farther.)

So our first reaction - ewww. We met our manager, Toni, and went into the house. And we met the tenant, who just seemed like the kind of person who would have a son who can't pull up his pants. The house was cleaned up more than the last time Toni had been there, but we were still pretty shocked. The whole place was just a mess. (Our second reaction - ewww.) It's going to take a good amount of work to make sure we can rent the place again. Pulling up carpeting, repainting pretty much everything, fixing windows and screens, filling the holes in the yard dug by their dog, tiling the bathroom floor and putting in a new vanity....

And we still need to find a new tenant (if you know anyone looking for a 4 bedroom house in Milwaukee....)

The redeeming part of the day - returning to our favorite restaurant from 5 years ago and realizing that it hasn't changed at all.