Saturday, September 19, 2009

Saturday

I want a cigar. Haven't had one in ages, just want to smoke a big, fat cigar with a glass of something and enjoy the ride.

Well, anyway. I want to move the old Buick, the battery is dead. So, I went down and got a "new" battery - there is a place near downtown Phoenix that sells refurb batteries for $22. It's not too good to be true, either, that place has been there forever and I have bought batteries there before.

Got it home, installed it, car fired right up. Ran for a couple of minutes - then died. Figured it was out of fuel so I went and got a can of fuel. Well, it was only a gallon and the car is on an incline, I can only get it to start run for a flash of a second and dies again. I may tried another can of fuel - later on.

Got a call from someone today looking for a room to rent. Thought that odd because I took down all the old ads. It was a message left by someone, I am not returning the call - well, maybe I will. I have never confronted Jeff on the rent issue. There is no way I can afford another month of him living here for free. He KNOWS I rent out rooms, I don't just give them away. Yet, he is content to say nothing and do nothing - his reasoning without actually SAYING it is his reasoning for not paying is this looming amount for his attorney in his child custody battle. He needs to come up with thousands of dollars for it. Great, I need $100 for the water bill and another $100 for electricity.

I might think about giving him a reduced rate, but free is going out the window. If he can't afford to pay rent because of the lawyer situation, then perhaps he can move back in with his friends he was staying with before he moved in here. I just sent the money out for the first month of the 3 month trial period for keeping my home.

I get tired of having to confront people in my home about whatever. I know, I know, it's my own doings. Perhaps - just because of the people living here - but I still just get tired of having to deal with it.

Long delay. I went and got another gallon of gas to dump into the old Buick - fired right up. Making that noise - it needs a new harmonic balancer. It also needs a couple of new valve cover gaskets and one of the rear brake solenoids is leaking. AC needs a can or 2 of freon pumped into it. Nothing major - which is why I have kept the car. Major is tranny or engine. The engine only has 138,000 miles on it -that car has at least another 50,000 in it, at least going by what I have seen others of this same brand and model do.

I've kept the car for 2 reasons. First, if my finances REALLY go south and I lose the ability to make the car payments on my newer car, then I MUST have something to fall back on. Second, if my son ever gets a driver's license and a job (must have both) he will be allowed to go ahead use the thing for school and work. I don't really like just having a car sitting around, though. Anyway, I just moved the thing out of the front of the driveway and behind the gates in the rear. This is the area where I'm going to dump the junk I want hauled out of here for the bulk trash pickup. After that's done, a tenant can park there and get one of the vehicles off of the street.

I have decided - continuing on with a theme I started earlier on my other blog - that I will just go ahead and plant the ficus along the eastern side of the front of my property. I am already watering other plants there, this will do nothing to increase water usage. I didn't want to plant anything there that would give my neighbors shade on their property. They started a war with me some years ago and it has never been resolved. I don't WANT to give them shade, but the flip side is that I will eventually have a screen to not have to see them and also I will have something to do with these ficus trees - I'm running out of places to put plants.

Seriously, there are few places left for plants now. I've got them just about EVERYWHERE on this property! Front, back and sides.

Umm, anyway, it warmed up out there and dealing with the car wasn't exactly fun.

Talk to ya later - ava' great Saturday!
ben

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