Babalu/John: your set up is exactly the same as mine except mine is two per every two houses. It's never going to be a beautiful 'zen' garden...but, come on, people! It doesn't have to look like a dump, either! Plus, I have found that the worse it looks, the more people have no problem just leaving crap next to the dumpster. Like you, I am usually the one throwing it away. Good for you in 'training' your neighbors! ;-) The problem with the crushed shell is a) the cost, b) the heat they generate. I cut some of the 'sucker' parts of the scheffelera and found a dead branch with scorch marks. Scary. Like it had caught on fire, but, extinguished on its own. Thank goodness! The scheffelera grew from a discarded house plant. It's easily 25 ft. tall now. I'm at 10 years now -- am fed up enough to just clean it up myself. Yes - 10 years seems like an awfully long time to tolerate it, but, you never know if your neighbor will get angry at any attempt to clean it up. Plus, I have the time available now and didn't before. Grrr....

Well, good thing it's growing season, right? How long do you plan on staying in this place? Ask the landlord if you can take the cost off the rent if you plant grass...go with bermudagrass. It grows fast, fast, FAST, and since you won't be buying this place, you don't have to worry about it. It's going to eventually come up anyway. It's indestructible. Bad part is, it dies down in the winter, but it still holds the sand in place while it's doing it. Just want to tell you though, that if you live in FL, you are going to have weeds and sand..it's just the way it is. The sand comes in from everywhere. It doesn't matter how much grass you have, sand will blow into your house at some point. They say dust is made from dead skin cells. With all the elderly people here, I guess that explains why there is so much. (no offense, I'm contributing to that dust too!)

It does sound horrid, and I empathize about lack of sleep (if I don't get enough, I'm worthless). My mother has Restless Leg Syndrome (they make medication for it) and she does not stomp or thud around the house at night (or day). It's just as is sounds, her legs are restless during sleep and might involuntarily kick, jerk or twitch. I was thinking about the LL's perspective, tho. If I had a tenant that was disturbing others, but said tenant told me they had a medical condition that led to frequent need for nocturnal walks, I'd probably find myself in a pickle. Even if I knew the condition, and that symptoms or remedies didn't mesh, I'd still be in a pickle. I know this is a stretch, but say LL keeps after stomping tenant. Stomping tenant could well produce a doctor's letter that says 'my patient needs to walk at night for relief'. That's just something a LL really doesn't want to push, because pushing it hard enough might find them slapped with a discrimination suit or something. But obviously you can't continue to live like this. I'd suggest something along the lines of larke's suggestion. Be sure to let LL know you understand that she might be dealing with a tenant's medical condition, and you respect that. (That will help keep LL from being put on the defensive. A defensive LL is an uncooperative LL.) Then let her know that you are developing health conditions of your own, find that you can't perform your job as expected, find yourself nodding off at inappropriate times, your heart races at night when stomping starts, etc. (Yes, the hassle part of changing units would be as camlan mentioned in 1st paragraph, 12/5 post.) Despite LLs predicament, and upstairs tenant's stomping, you are still entitled to peaceful enjoyment. Hopefully you can get it with some good old-fashioned open communication and a little psychology thrown in when talking with LL.

Well, I made the trip this morning. I didn't meet the person from the infamous voice mail though. I told the clerk when the cat was taken in and what she looked like and the story about the kittens. She said that she didn't know of anything like that but that I was free to look at all the cats they had. There were some beautiful animals there, but I didn't see my hotel kitty. I can only assume the worst. I showed the lady the picture and she said she didn't remember seeing a cat that looked like that. I guess they get so many it's hard to keep up with each one. They had several kittens as well, but I don't know which if any were hers because I didn't get a look at them before animal control came. Maybe it worked out for the best. If I do get a second kitty as a companion for Jasper and myself it should really be a boy (according to everyone who seems to know), and one that is tame. I don't know why I wanted this kitty so badly... we didn't connect... I spent hours chasing it and watching it run full speed away from me. I asked myself why I really wanted this kitty. I think I just wanted to feel good about "rescuing" a "homeless" kitty. I want to expand my family, but I think when the kitty is right the situation will work out. There was a beautiful silver and grey kitty at a gas station 2 days ago that I tried to approach. It ran so fast, I thought it was going to dart into traffic. I think I would like to get a kitty of the street instead of going to a shelter (especially this one after my dealings with them!). I will just have to find one that isn't quite so scared if that is even possible. I would of course take it to the SPCA to have it speutered and vaccinated before I took it into my home. Anyway... that's the update... thanks to everyone who responded.