Friday, January 22, 2010

Fifth Wheel

I've spent a good portion of the afternoon making one phone call after another after another. Unbelievable. I am attempting to get the 5th wheel - it doesn't need any work and it's going for $650, versus the travel trailer that would need a lot of work - and money - and is going for $600. Anyway, I found a guy to move it at a good price. He went over there to look at it - he lives like 10 blocks away from where it's parked - called me back and said it needs a truck with no bed on it - a semi in other words or a pickup that is a flatbed - with a 5th wheel - to move it.

So, that threw the whole deal back into chaos as I had the whole thing worked out. Gag. Well, whatever. Now the deal is back into the seller's hands who is going to find someone he knows to move it and lets get this deal over with already.

Thank you.

I have this feeling the tenancy situation is going to change around here and I have no clue s to why. Butwhen I get feelings like that, I don't tend to ignore them. Meaning I may well be in the "throes" of having to find another tenant soon. Or more than 1, who knows. I haven't gotten any notices from anyone, just got that feeling.

Whatever. Deal with it as it comes. It's been a pretty good, long run on this current crowd of tenants paying regularly, on-time or close enough to on-time, it's been very nice.

The weekend is here. The state of Arizona - I think it's all flooded. The normally dry Salt River running through Tempe and Phoenix and such is now running with water. Tempe Town Lake is now a river, basically. It rained some today, but nothing like yesterday. Yesterday was a gully-washer, that's a fact. I guess it is still raining around different portions of the state and possibly even the valley, but not here.

Crying. I was writing this and it suddenly popped into my head that I was going to make French Onion Soup, and that I was going to cook the onions the night before. Or even put if off until Sunday, but get the onions going. Yes, cutting onions makes my eyes burn and water and I don't remember how to avoid that. I just cut them up - a huge slow-cooker full of them, so it's all over now. But if anyone knows how to cut onions without the burning and tearing effect, I would certainly like my memory refreshed for next time. I am cheating on the French Onion Soup - you are supposed to cook them over the stop top. I am going to cook 1/3rd of them over the stove top and the rest in the slow cooker - my slow cooker is full and I still have 4 very large onions left is the only reason why.

Well, anyway, with seemingly endless number of people chiming in with recipes and how to make French Onion Soup (Googling for recipes, that is, not on this blog), landing on the post that said that cooking the stuff is easy if you just dump the onions into a slow cooker and leave them in there on low for about 12 hours. The next person in the thread I was reading said she tried it, but put the cooker on high for 8 hours. WHATEVER. Okay, well, I want a good soup but laboring over a stove top for countless hours seems ridiculous. I like to cook - but not THAT much. Well, there are certain recipes that I will make here and there that do take quite a bit of time and prep., but I don't do it often.

BTW, what WOULD we do without Google? I don't LIKE any of the other search engines, and I've tried a lot of them. Just thought I'd throw that in there. On that line, what would we do without cellphonees? Well, I'm of the age - I didn't get one until I was in my mid 30's, lol. It IS a useful tool, but like everything, moderation. Plus the new-found fact - apparent fact anyway - that long-term, heavy use can cause brain tumors. I have had that fear ever since cellphones came out, frankly. I went through about a 2-year stint where I was talking on cellphones anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 minutes per month. I figure my use is less than 500 - well probaby not even close to that - now.

Oh, BTW 2: for the naysayers about renting out a travel trailer. I'm not charging full price, the real deal is getting someone to do work around the place in exchange for - a large trailer actually. 36 feet is pretty big, doncha think? That person can dig the trench right off the git-go to install a sewer line and they will have full bathroom priviledges right there in the trailer, as those things are all set up to simply attach a garden hose to it. I have the PVC schedule 40 pipe to run from the other side of the house to that trailer as well. The trench would have to go clear over there anyway to connect with the sewer line in the ground.

Wow. Now that I think about it - that's a LONG trench. about 125 feet to connect with the line which is actually in front of the house. Well, whatever. If the person is motivated to do so, they will do it, if not, the house is always available.

This entry is getting long.

Have a great evening?!!

ben

Friday

Woke up in the middle of a very deep and sound sleep. That alarm clock was at it's second level of beeping. I am groggy and haven't been able to fully wake up. I could have slept several more hours at least. This is the 3rd time this week that this has happened - I have been on a sleep deficit for quite some time, apparently something in the brain has clicked and said it's time to do something about that.

Rain has stopped this morning, but it was obvious it had rained all night long. All that stuff going on in California is coming straight over here. The interesting point of yesterday was the tornado warning. No, folks, I have never heard of a tornado warning in Phoenix, Arizona. It was at least a 5 hour long warning and I went outside, in the rain and was looking around at the sky. I didn't hear of any tornados touching down, but then again, I haven't read the local news yet. I believe it's supposed to rain off and on all day today as well. Well, I just looked at AZcentral.com and there is a spoof in there saying that a tornado actually touched down on the Arizona/California line. It also said the governor has issued a state of emergency. The only thing I can say is our state NEEDS this water, rainfall has been WELL below normal this year.

I'll also say that living on the base of a mountain has it's advantages - unless the ENTIRE valley is going to fill up with qadrillions of gallons of water, the only flooding I ever see is the small stream that starts flowing along my west wall from one end of the property to the other, plus a pool of water where I have my little gras patch growing.

Meanwhile, I was looking into some information on speeding tickets issued by photo radar on the city's freeways. Apparently, DPS targets "freqent fliers" - people who get clicked by those cameras frequently and do not pay the fines. It is also apparent they don't really bother with a "one-timer". Legally, if I don't respond to their snail-mail sent demands to pay $180.00, they have to have me served. I am totally opposed to cameras being set up all over the place for a variety of reasons, and I certainly have no problem of doing absolutely nothing about this photo ticket I received in the mail last month.

As for today's work, I doubt there will be anything but pickups from vendors. All deliveries have been moved out to Monday, which means Monday will be a very busy day for me. Not to mention the fact that today is inventory - they count everything, I will have nothing to do with it because, again, drivers aren't allowed, lol. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or making a bad statement against truck drivers? I'll leave that one alone : )

Ava' great day!
ben

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