In particular, the observer writes that each evening when coming home, he observes the Moon to be on the east side of his house and rising. On January 22, 1996 however, the Moon was on the west side of his house at 6:30 EST, and by 7:45 appeared to be lower in the sky. "I had never noticed this happening before".
The Moon was Full around January 6th and New Moon occurred on or about January 20 which means the observer was looking at a Moon in crescent phase about 2 days past New Moon, and very close to the setting Sun. The last time the Moon was probably being observed while coming home from work was when it was approaching Full Moon and so was rising in the eastern sky. Now, however, it is past New Moon in the evening sky and setting soon after sunset which is why it was seen setting in the east around the same time.