Easter

I have been feeling a bit funny the last several days: I have heard nothing about Easter from my mom.  She always does Easter, she invokes often to remind me - all 3 of us I am sure - that she would like to see us then.  Well, my brothers basically don't give a damn about anything but what they are doing anymore.  That takes precedence over a twice yearly visitation with mom and the rest of the family.

So I called her today.  I started out with the fact that I had bought a mattress for the trailer and then I waded into the Easter waters.  My middle brother doesn't call her at all now and apparently won't answer or even respond to her phone calls.  Mom doesn't push herself, when she feels that there is no interest, she will just back off from it.  My oldest brother and his wife have already been down this road of abandoning his mother and his father.

This is completely unnatural to my way of thinking.  I don't understand it.  I have talked to my mom 3 times in the last 7 days on the phone.  I may be 48 years old, but I still love my mother and I don't care what anyone thinks about that.  My brothers have been inciting my anger towards them for some time now for the fact of forsaking my/their dad, who has done nothing to them to deserve them completely abandoning him.  But now my mother?  I have seen it coming for a while now, but I heard it in mom's voice tonight.

She is - heartbroken from what I could infer into it from her voice, intonations and what she said, especially about my middle brother.  No, at this point and for some time now, I don't think too much of my middle brother and I have told him quite frankly about it.  He deleted me as a Facebook friend going on what, 2 years now?..........because of an interchange where I was sick of his superiority, ego attitude and also sick of the way he was absolutely refusing to return any kind of communication from my dad.

But mom?

How can you do that to your own mother?

I had to ask her what she was doing for Easter since she wasn't going there.  This sent her into a tizzy of emotion, to be quite honest about it and I was a bit shocked because of her response.  This was the first I had heard that both of my brothers have stopped calling her and stopped talking to her.

I won't say what kind of emotion that invokes in me or what desire that makes me feel to want to take action upon considering the already foul state between them and my dad.  I have to let it go.  I can't do anything about them - except pray for them and hope that somewhere, somehow, God gets a hold of their hearts and clues them in on reality.

I was definitely planning on going to church for Easter, but I let it go instantly.  Oh well.  I think the Lord would rather me visiting my mother anyway, in honor to Him as well as to my mother, as the word succinctly states to honor your mother and father.  Ohhh, but church was going to be so good.  Yes, special speakers and a nice brunch afterwards.  I will miss that, but, I will have no regrets. There will be other special events.

That's it.  I love my mom.

ben

Thursday 4/5/2012

Yikes.  Another miserable night's sleep.
That always makes for a lovely day at work.
Well it's a beautiful day, so I will just drink a lot of
coffee and get with the program.
I attempted to sleep in an extra 20 minutes which did
absolutely nothing for me since once the alarm clock
goes off, I'm awake and that's that.

Well, I got started late so, this one's ending early.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 4/4/2012

I still would just love to hear any of the Supreme Court's justices thoughts on Obama's - threat really - to uphold his "signature bill" - Obamacare.  I mean, really.  Just pure arrogance to hear this guy - I listened to 2 videos yesterday of him actually making the comments - mouthing off to the Supreme Court.  I still want to know what, exactly, he is going to do if they strike a portion or the entirety of the law down?

Whatever.  Mark somehow got that mattress in that trailer bedroom yesterday.  I dunno if he had Lynnette helping him or what, but it's done.  That mattress is WAY thicker than I envisioned it looking in there, but hey, at least it will be extremely comfortable.

I'm getting closer now to getting down with the major issues on the trailer.  Which is good, cause' it's already April and May will be here before you know it.  I had an offer on an ad I posted almost a month ago for someone to move the trailer: $300.  You can't beat that with a stick.  125 miles pulling a trailer for $300?  I wonder if the person is just looking for an excuse to get paid to drive up to the mountains, lol.

I am going to measure the "hole" for the microwave and then go looking.  It's going to be too much to ask people to give the dimensions of one they might be selling on Craigslist, I'm probably going to opt for a new one in this case.  Not that I really want to buy a brand new one for something that will get relatively small amount of use, but I know if I ask people to give me the dimensions of a microwave they are selling on Craigslist?  Uhhh, I don't know, maybe a foot and a half wide by a foot tall?  Will be most of the answers if not even more vague than that.

And then there's the carpeting issue.  I am half tempted to just take on the project myself.  Probably about $50 worth of carpet that I can get at Home Depot with the gift cards I got for Christmas.  I tend to hang on to gift cards for a long period of time until I finally remember that I have them and then light pops up:  Oh, hey, it won't cost me anything out of pocket, I'll just just my gift cards! I have had gift cards for 2 years before using them and fortunately, they didn't "expire" as some of them apparently do.  Isn't that convenient?  The card, which was paid for with cash, apparently loses it's "value".  I've only read about it in the news, I have never had that happen to me.  If it had, it would open up a firestorm of communications with whatever levels of management I would have to speak with until I got the issue resolved - in my favor of course.

There are still a few issues on the roof, but the big stuff is done.  Which it certainly took me long enough to finish, lol.

The situation at work has not changed.  But, I am now comfortable with whatever happens.  My life will not be over if something negative happens and that's that.  I am getting the cold shoulder from certain individuals at the main branch, don't really care to be honest.   I'm already almost 4 hours into OT for this week and 3rd day hasn't even started yet.  I would like to get off a bit earlier today, hope that happens actually.  I might just stop in at Home Depot on the way home from work and takealookit some carpeting and see if they have anything that catches my appeal.

Time to head off for work.

G'day.

ben

I Have A 55 Gallon Barrel...............

.............was the lady's reply to my question of whether she has a pond.  I see.  Well, I mean, whatever.  I am thinning out the excessive amounts of plants in one pond.  I gave her the entire plant.  I have another one right next to it that is just as large.  So no biggies.  I realized, however, after removing a large amount of fiolage, ie: that large plant, that it had created a large void in the pond for the fish to hide in.  So I moved the remaining plant into such a position to give cover for the fish.  I am going to thin that plant as well, but not too much since fish really WANT to have hiding places.

It's just the way they are, natural instincts, prolly in their DNA.  The need a place to hide in the natural against predators.  They actually ARE predators here that can be a serious threat, namely: Heron. They love pond fish.  My horse trough pond is immune to them, they can't walk into that pond.  But the pond I am thinning the plants in? No such luck.  A heron could walk in there and feast to it's heart's content and come back the next day for more.  Fortunately that hasn't happened.

So, my water lily in that pond needs to come back from it's dramatic loss a year and some months ago in a deep freeze that affected all plants on my entire property to some extent or another.

Well anyway, if that lady doesn't end up using all of that and discarding some of it, so beit.  But I would have rather it gone to a pond that needs as much plants as I can give.  She wanted to take my giant leaf Taro's - like break off a round of it - not happening.  I gave her some small ones that are offshoots of the larger plants.  It's amazing how water plants will send out "shooters" all over the place and start growing in the middle of nothing.  Those offshoots usually thrive, BTW, but it gets to be too much so I give them away.  I told her that with time and patience, those little plants will grow as big as those that she wanted.  Hey, I might have offered her a big plant - for a price and not a cheap price, either.  But it would have taken away from the appearance of what I have going with that clump of plants and I really have no desire to get rid of any of it besides maybe the small ones.

Okay, well another long interlude.  Eddie came over, walked the dogs and meanwhile, the clan came out of the bedroom.  Uhh, so a bit preoccupied.

Whatever the case, time has passed and it's time for bed.

Nite.

ben

Tuesday 4/3/2012

Another day, another mind full of things that I am contemplating.
Actions not taken because of consequences unknown - or - consequences known and not quite ready for what will come.
Not going there right now.
Anyway, now that I have the mattress for that trailer, the next thing on the list is a microwave - one that will fit into the hole that was made for it.  Dunno how that is going to work out, really. I'm not a fan of small microwaves that don't have enough room for large plates or much of anything, really.
Also definitely not a fan of low wattage microwaves that take twice as long to nuke your food as, say, an 1,100 watt or higher will do.
No hurry I guess.  Still have some time.  I was glad to get that mattress and get it in there - though I still have yet to squeeze it through that narrow doorway to get it into the actual "bedroom" itself.  I couldn't do it alone because I will have to fold the thing down in the front while someone else is pushing it from the back.  I should be able to get it in there.  Well, I BETTER be able to get it in there or I just wasted money for nothing.

Then there's the flooring. Replace the carpet or simply clean that which is left and only replace that which was  damaged and removed.  I dunno.  It isn't that much carpet, really, when you think about it, it's a travel trailer and the amount of carpet actually need to cover the areas that are already carpeted?  Not really much at all.

Well, that wasn't what was on my mind that I'm contemplating and considering, that's just another thing.

Time to go to work.

ben

Who the BLEEP is Obama to tell the Supreme Court what to do?  What a big, ugly joke this President is.  This is WHY we have 3 branches of government, the check and balance system, remember?  You know, the Judicial branch, the Executive Branch and the Legislative branch?  Obama must be sweating it to make the statements he was making today.  What is he going to do, send the Marines to the Supreme Court if that court doesn't bow to Obama's demands?

I have no idea what kind of ruling is going to come out of the Supreme Court, but the so-called experts, judging from the questions the Justices asked, are leaning toward an overturn of at least one part of it and if so, potentially all of it.  Here's what I am 99% sure of: the Justices in the Supreme Court could care less what Obama attempts to dictate to them, they are not there to appease a President, they are there to uphold the Constitution of the United States.  I don't care what side of the political realm they are on, they SHOULD be completely unbiased, using no bias for something simply because it agrees with their political viewpoint.  They undoubtedly see things different when it comes to interpreting it, so beit.

One month's rent just handed to me, waiting on the cowboy to come home and hand me some rent money.  He just called me. I haven't seen him in almost a week. He had to jet home to California - which he does frequently - but this time a family emergency.  No details on that, but then asked if he could bring his cousin and his younger brother to stay for a week.  Apparently the younger brother would have had to stay home alone while his parents are off on whatever emergency it is.  I hated to tell him no, but I wanted more money. Didn't ask for it, he offered it after I said okay.

Nice that people understand that more people in a house equals more money spent on electricity and water usage.

Umm, well it's really windy.  REALLY windy.  Like, my hard hat, which I have adjusted tight for snugness on my head - blew right off today when a wind gale hit, with tons of dust blowing with it.  Nasty dust blowing everywhere, but especially out in the open areas where there isn't a lot of buildings and houses.

So whatever.  I slept miserably last night and am extremely tired.  I kept waking up from bad dreams, the likes of which I won't even bother going into.  One of the dogs has the runs and woke me up to let him out - give him a big time pass on that one, wake me up anytime you gotta go.  Then Sophie had another one of her dreams and started making that weird noise dogs make when they are in some sort of dreamland.  As for the situation at work: who knows.  I am just going to work, getting the job done with a good attitude and that's that.  If someone tells me something differently, whatever.

Monday 4/2/2012

One of the Danes definitely could not hold it all night long.
Fortunately, he woke me up before he did anything on the floor.
Poor doggy.  When either of those Danes gets the runs, it usually
lasts several days.  Whatever the case, I let him out of my bedroom and
he high-tailed it for the doggy door.  I decided that he can just stay out of
my bedroom for the night in case that little bit of misfortune was going to hit again.

Been doing some serious pruning of most trees on the property.  Also driving
in lodge poles to help keep the trees growing in the right direction.  The rope I
bought yesterday to tie down the mattress to the car will now have a secondary
use: tying up trees to those poles.

Umm, well anyway.  I continue to see people posting the "date of their death"
all over the internet, as has been the case for some time now.  A program that
predicts the date of your death and people asking if I am going to do it?
Are you kidding?
Why would I want to give some piece of electronic, software junk that much credence in my
life?  No, is my absolute answer, no thank you.  I'll leave that in God's hands.  I can't
imagine the mind games that some people might go through once that date approaches
if it does, indeed, approach anytime soon.  I know I am going to die someday, that's
enough for me.  Sorry, but some of the stuff going on on the internet with people I know
is a bit off the wall, putting it mildly.

Well, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 4/1/2012

April Fool's Day on a Sunday.  Fancy that.
I was going to post something on FB - totally not true thing - but decided against it, lol.  Something like McDonald's having free food all day long if you give them the code word of Mikkey Q's (not Mikki D's).

I went to church today and came out of that completely enlightened - or at least - feeling like a load has been lifted off of me.  WHATEVER happens at work concerning a current situation, I am comfortable that the Lord is in control of my life and that I only need trust in Him.  I will hope for the best.  If it doesn't work out the way I would like it too, then it must be time to move on.  To what, no clue and not going to worry about it.

Life is what it is - and it doesn't go on forever, at least not on earth.  I have always had to remind myself of that little factor when things start getting a bit rough.  I could live in one of those trailers on the side of my house on a farm somewhere and be as happy as I am in this 2,000 square foot house with all of these people living here.

Speaking of that, I scored the queen sized mattress today - finally.  Someone finally posted a good looking mattress on Craigslist and I was all over it.  Put that sucker on the top of my car, tied it down nicely and brought it home : )

Apparent pregnant fishies in all 3 ponds.  That time of year.  I don't really need any more fish.  The front pond is loaded with small fish and several medium sized.  The pond in the ground on the east side is probably good where it stands, the horse trough pond has a lot of large fish in it and could use some thinning out. IE: give them away.  No, I am not giving any Koi away, just goldfish if anyone that comes for plants might want them as well.

Work tomorrow. Interesting subject for me, but totally changing my view of it.  I already said that, but the weekend is coming to a close and here we go again. I will have peace at work regardless of what happens.
If someone is going to try to belittle me - such as I have heard the drivers at the main branch are already doing - well, don't come knocking on my door.  They have their OWN widely known issues from the past from within the company.

Won't go into those particular details, suffice it to say I haven't received any kind of ticket in at least 13 years.
Not boasting, but people that want to try to mock me behind my back that have such and other infractions - could do well to shut their mouths up.

Hmmm, well that was a bit negative.  Lol.  One of the dogs has the runs.  Nice. It hasn't happened in a couple of hours, so hopeful I don't wake up to it in the middle of the night.  Yikes!

Okay.  Well, other things not worth going into.

G'nite.

ben

Care And Treatment Of Small Ponds - Starting Up A New Small Pond

I am a small pond enthusiast and have been doing it for going on my third year now.

If you are just starting out with ponds and especially if you are doing small ponds, then perhaps I can help you bypass a lot of guesswork and get what you need right from the get-go.

First off, I live in the Sonoran desert in southern Arizona.  It simply means during the summer, the temperatures in my ponds go up substantially, especially my pond out front of my house that can hit 95 or even high degree water temperature.

Amazing how Koi and Goldfish can withstand such temperatures.  I do throw in ice during the summer, but it's not like it's a cool swim for those fish in there after I throw it in there, just brings the overall temperature of the pond down a couple of degrees.

Well, let's get started.  First off, the filtration system.  If you are going to have fish in your pond, you are going to need filtration.  I spent quite a while reading all kinds of information about this particular subject before I just threw my hands up in the air and started looking for a waterfall filter.  Basically, it's a plastic container maybe a foot and a half tall and a foot or so wide.  It has an inlet at the bottom for water to be pumped into it and then the water "falls" off a large lip at the top of it.  I have 2 of them.  They both have  bio balls in them - you will need those - and they both have the thick filter media.  I also buy much thinner filter media on eBay to help further filter the water.  

This and the pump that supplies the water to the filter are the most important parts of your pond.  Without them, your fish are probably not going to do very well.  BTW, you can be hard-plastic liner pre-formed ponds or you can buy a liner and dig a hole in the ground.  I have the preformed liner WITH a liner in it.  I also turned a 400 gallon galvanized metal horse trough into a pond as well.  

The waterfall filters are the best, IMO, but there is also a much smaller, compact filtering system you can buy on eBay or wherever that will also do the trick.  The point of the waterfall filters is that the water is streaming off the top of the filter into your pond and yes, you get the nice sound of water falling into a pond with them.  

The pump is the other half of the equation.  Smaller is not better, especially with fish.  More Gallons Per Hour (GPH) is always better.  In all 3 of my ponds, I have pumps that are sized large enough to cycle the entire contents of the ponds twice per hour.  That's my equation after fooling with this for quite a while.  So, if you have a 400 gallon pond, I will buy an 800 gallon per hour pump for it.  Sounds excessive, right?  Not at all.  It is, as far as I'm concerned, the perfect sized pump for the amount of water in your pond.  You can go ahead and buy, say a 150 gph pump for a 400 gallon pond and you are going to have a small trickle of water.  If that's what you want, then go for it, but it probably won't work with your filtration system too well and if you want that pleasant sound of falling water, you are not going to get much of that with such a small pump.  I WENT that route.  I started out at 75gph, then 125, 150, 200, 350, all the way up until I got to 800gph and then? I was definitely happy with the results.

That was the hardest part of this setup that I had to deal with.  How big of a pump. Well I just give you some good advice.  A larger pump will pick up all the junk that floats to the bottom of the pond as well.  There IS no buildup down there to have to fool with.  If you have enough fish, they stir up the stuff on the bottom and that pump sitting down there sucks the junk - fish poop to be precise- right out of the water.  

Next?  UV sterilizer.  Not all ponds need them. I have one pond that doesn't have an algae problem, my other 2? The water turned pea green.  You couldn't see an inch down into the water.  I bought the smallest UV sterilizer I could find and they both work great!  I don't WANT green ponds, is the point. I want to be able to see my fishies in there.

You can get new pumps and UV sterilizers at great prices on eBay.  That and sometimes Craigslist.  I bought both my waterfall filters from 2 different people who were shutting down their ponds and were practically giving the filters away.  I will never buy a used pump, though, all of them I have bought new on eBay and haven't had a problem, same with the UV sterilizer.  

Fish?  Took me quite a long time.  I wanted Koi.  I acquired a lot of pond sized goldfish for free, the Koi were a bit more elusive.  But, I kept going to Craigslist, day after day after day, looking for the deals on Koi, all of them were deals made from individuals that were shutting their ponds down permanently.  They wanted to get rid of them but wanted them to go to good homes.  Your small pond can accommodate a large number of fish.  The more fish you have, the more fish food you are going to go through and you will also find you will have to clean out that filter more frequently.  

Fish food.  I buy large bottles of Goldfish flakes at Walmart, I buy 20 pounds of Koi pellets at a time off of a supplier on eBay. 

Additives.  Well, if you have just filled your pond up with fresh city tap water and then are going to put fish in right away, I would suggest you get some liquid that is sold at Walmart amongst other places that helps remove chlorine from the water and also reduces stress in fish. I mention Walmart cause' I did my ponds on a budget. I didn't skimp, but I did buy some used stuff.  

Plants.  You don't need a green thumb to grow water plants and they do amazingly well with out ever doing anything to them.  My Taros in one pond have grown incredibly large (elephant ear plant).  My Umbrella plants are growing in all 3 ponds.  I have Yerba Mensa in one pond that grew from a tiny plant into a behemoth!! Water lillies are also good for keeping your pond a bit cooler if you have direct sunlight hitting it and the water is heating up in summer.  I have all of those and also parrot feather in one pond.  With my ponds, it was hit and miss.  Some plants grow better under shade, others grow better in direct sunlight.  I got all of my plants off of Craigslist locally from people either selling them or giving them away.  

When an owner of a large pond decides it's time to clean up the plants, many of them will write up an ad on Craigslist.  They almost always give the plants away.  90% of my plants were free, only the water lillies did I have to pay for.  You really WANT plants in your pond. Natural beauty and helps keep your pond clear.  Actually, I don't have large ponds but I occasionally have to prune back some plants, just posted an ad for freebies today and have had several inquiries.  

Once you get your pond or ponds going, they aren't much maintenance.  Clean out the filtering system once in a while and sometimes the pump gets clogged up with junk that it has accumulated.  Feed the fish and make sure the water level is good in the pond.  Fish are fun to watch and it's cool to see your plants grow over time. 

Also, one last thing about the plants.  Whatever kind of container you have, that's what you can use.  Cut a milk jug in half and there you have a pond planter.  Put the plant in it, fill it with dirt and cover the dirt with rocks.  It's as easy as that. This is not complicated stuff, but there is a bit thrown at you at the very beginning, I do hope this article will help.

Edited:  Aeration.  I found that my small ponds with lots of fish in them were not sufficiently aerated in the summer months by the act of the waterfall filters alone.  I ended up buying small air pumps either off of Craigslist or yes, at Walmart, the same you would use in an aquarium. How did I know that the ponds weren't sufficiently aerated?  The fish were up at the surface, gulping at air.  It was pretty easy to determine the problem and even easier to address it. A pump with at least 2 outlets, the air tubing and yes, air stones.  As soon as I did that, the fish were no longer sitting at the surface.

Water changing. Well there's a lot on the net about it, some say to do it once a month and some say to do it twice per month. They all vary on what percentage of water to change out.  I haven't needed to change out any water in my small ponds.  Evaporation makes the water go down enough that I have to refill it periodically with fresh water.  I do think it good to have to put in fresh water here and there, I have no scientific reasoning behind it, I just think that the fish do better if they get fresh water infused here and there.  Well, my ponds will go down a couple of inches per month in the winter and a lot more in the summer due to evaporation alone.  So, that's all I do. Just refill the ponds.  

Saturday 3/31/2012

Last day of March.
Temps are just starting to move up here.
Nothing horrendous yet, but it's definitely getting a bit warm out there.
Just spent quite a bit of time on the east side of the house pruning more trees and putting poles into the ground to help keep them standing straight up.  Rosemary was out of control, pruned those 2 bushes back quite a lot as well.
Front yard looking good.  Front yard pond doing very well.  The water lily plant I have in it is sending lots of new leaves - good thing because that is the only thing the fish have to hide under in that little pond.  I have it directly in the middle of it and it provides good coverage for them, will get even better as more leaves pop up out of the water.
Next pond needing attention is on the east side of the house.  Umbrella plant has also sprouted out of control and am going to need to cut out a lot of it.  I might run a Craigslist ad and see if anyone is interested in them.

Besides outdoor activities in working on my property, I have little interest in doing anything else this weekend.  I am still pretty much under a bit of a weight with this situation going on at work.  The conclusion? I may not know for some time. Or, I could find out Monday, who knows?  When you don't know what's going to happen with something that could dramatically up-end your little world, well, sit down, breath, relax. At the same time, brace.  Think of what I will do if the worst possible scenario happens.

If the worst happens, it won't be the end of the world but it will certainly have a dramatic effect on my life.

But, whatever.  Tough it out.

Ready made family.
My manager got a call from a lady while at work yesterday: she was bored and was coming to visit.  She brought one of her kids, a 6 or so something year old girl. My manager is like: she's pretty good looking, why don't you date her? Before she comes over.  Yeah. 6 kids?  This lady has 6 kids.

Well they show up and the lady goes into his office while the little girl is out at the counter - asking me 50 questions - at least.  Mostly it was about whether I was married, do I want to get married and finally: "Well you can marry my mom if you want to.  You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you want to, you can marry her".  Talk about a girl desperate for some fatherly/male type of attention.  This little girl sat out there for 30 minutes going on and on like this.

No, I am not going on a date with the lady.  We never got that far.  I might actually be interested, but - no kids on a date, thanks.

Next door neighbor.  You know, the one that is sort of building a house?  Well, he finally got the slab poured and started putting up the walls.  Used lumber.  All of it.  Whatever makes him happy, I guess.  It's going to be a very small house.  He already has a sign up out front: house for sale.  He's selling a house that hasn't been built yet.  Nice.

I haven't seen 350 man in over a week. Not that I want to nor do I care.  In fact, very nice. The house going up next door is now starting to block out the view of 350 man's house.  Very nice again.

I'm about to go out front again and water my plants.  I am taking Sophie out there, but, this time, she will be leashed.

Later.

ben

Friday 3/30/2012

Well, that was fun.
I had Sophie out front - have had her out there several times now - but this time? She took off.  Fast.  Fast little doggy.
She's gone, too.  I chased her in the car, caught up to her several times and got out, only to have her look at me as if I were a complete stranger and take off running (which I will admit here pretty much pissed me off that she wouldn't even give a hint of recognition).  She finally got into an area where my car wouldn't go and I can't catch that dog on foot, she is far too fast for me.  I tried driving around the area for a good hour, but, she's gone.

Good thing I don't have any great attachment to that dog yet.  She has a collar and it has a number to call if she is caught, so, maybe I will see her again some day, who knows.  She was running right out in front of cars on a busy street, not so sure she is going to last too long running around doing that.

Situation at work is in limbo.  No idea, really.  I am going to try to get my mind off of it cause' it isn't going to do me any good to worry about it perpetually.

Back to the dog, the neighborhood kid comes walking in here 15 minutes ago saying he had seen Sophie back in this neighborhood and tried to catch her.  Yeah, good luck.  She isn't listening to anyone.  I got in my car again and drove around this entire area several times, didn't find her.  Even if I did, though, I have doubts that I would have been able to get close enough to her to grab her collar.

Another extremely long interlude.  I gave up on the dog, the dog apparently did not on me.  She came back - an amazing feat in itself, a dog that can actually find it's way home. She was next door, the neighborhood kid lured her with a piece of meat and then grabbed her collar and brought her back in my gate.  I gave him a $5 reward. That kid smells to high heaven. He comes in here smelling so foul, I can hardly stand it, I have to cover my nose the smell is so strong, as if he never takes a bath.  The dog is laying there with this pathetic look.  If that isn't a dog that knows she has done something wrong, I dunno what it is.

Whatever.  I'm done with this.

ben

A Problem

It is interesting to watch people who take pleasure in other people's nightmares.  I'm not talking politics here, that's a whole different story.  To "take pleasure in another man's calamity" is something I have never quite understood. You know, a person hates another person.  The hated person has something horrific or very bad happen to them and then the hater laughs and mocks the person either behind their back, to their face or both.

I mean, okay, Osama bin Laden.  There's a guy you can say good riddance to.  Well, whatever.

All plans are on indeterminate length of time hold right now.  Situation at work and the potential to - not be employed anymore.  Can't and won't go into it on my blog.  I can only say that I still love my job at my company, there are a good share of problems but, you find that at any place of employment.  I would have liked to have been promoted by now, but, I do like the responsibilities that determine my job description.

So, if it happens, it happens.  I will remember the good things, such as all the employees that helped me out when my house burned down. Gift cards and furniture and all kinds of stuff were given to me.  The company itself helped me out with a fund they have designated for emergencies.  I have received the highest level of bonus money that my "tier" can receive every year I have been there.  I have received the Safe Driver Award 4 years out of 6.  But, I do potentially face a new reality: becoming one of the millions of Americans that are unemployed.  

I have a couple of co-workers, referencing the beginning of this entry, that talk smack about me behind my back.  I'm not the only one they talk smack about, but I recently heard from one of our VENDORS about their malicious speech.  The guy at the vendor is totally cool and I actually get emails forwarded from him here and there with comedic things he has gleaned from wherever on the internet.  It's funny how you can uplift your fellow employee - which I have done with both of these individuals numerous times in the past - and the find out they have been trash talking you.

I dunno, but I work at 2-man branch.  That's my manager and I.  We are going to hit somewhere near or maybe even over 600k - $600,000 for this month.  That will be more than the main branch's warehouse will have put out in terms of truck deliveries, where they have 2 full time drivers plus several individuals that work down there that they use to send out product as well.  I am the ONLY driver.  I take pride in my work; I strive for excellence and I try to keep a good attitude. It is, actually, the 2 full-time drivers over there that talk the crap about me behind my back and then talk a sweet and nice to me face-to-face. Don't you just despise people like that?

I am not going to go into the details that have led to this point, I am not terminated yet and it may not happen, but, I am preparing for the "worst".  I can probably find another job, but, who knows what, how much it will pay, the working conditions, etc.  I'm one of those people that will stick around for a long, long time.  I probably get too comfortable in my working conditions, but when I have an expertise of what I am doing, I tend to enjoy it as well.

It IS even more interesting, however and getting back to the main point of this entry, to find out who IS on  your side.  Quite a few people, I find out.  This includes members of management, I might add, which is refreshing to say the least.

Well, anyway, I put in a 10-1/2 hour day today and was totally burned out at the end of it.  A LOT of driving.  When I  got back to the yard, done with the truck and all paperwork in hand, I walked into the building to hear my name being mentioned. They didn't know I had pulled in with the semi.  We have a "dinger" that sounds of when anything passes through the gate on the side of the building, but they had a lunch for contractors today and they blinded the dinger so it wouldn't keep going off repeatedly, incessantly, forever.

I had no idea what was going on, but it came to light quickly: the lottery.  It's over half a billion dollars now.  22 people in our company had pitched in $5 a piece to create a pool.  A salesman came out of the kitchen - totally cool dude- after hearing, oh, Ben's here, he just came back! and asked if I wanted to be included in the pool.  Of course I do.  How would you like to be the sorry sap in your company that didn't pitch in 5 bucks and then find out everyone else has their part in 540 million dollars?  Even spread out 22 ways, that's still a LOT of money per person!  27 million? Minus taxes and in my case, 20% up front to the Lord's work. At least 20%.  What are you going to do with that much money anyway?  Buy a house and set up a fund to pay for property taxes for the rest of your life and after that, who cares.

Others would care, of course, I don't.  If I owned a property flat out, that would be the end all for me.

You know, I haven't been terminated from a job since I was 16 years old.  It would be a blow to me, frankly, to get that kind of thing handed to me now just because of that if nothing else.

Oh well.

ben

Thursday 3/29/2012

Ouch.  Large mortgage payment went through - 2 month's worth.  Coco situation sort of aggravated my financial position, but I had to pay that down to zero.  I haven't made my mind up about short selling the house and until I do, the mortgage obviously must be paid.

I got off work late yesterday - didn't get home until after 5:00.  Long days equal getting much of nothing done around the house, especially on that trailer.  My manager didn't bring in his grinder because, he stated, he couldn't find it.  I am just going to go buy another one from Harbor Freight - though this time I will buy one with a bigger motor and hopefully last a bit longer.

Regardless, I got caught up in reading the news this morning and just realized that..........it's time to be off to work.  Another full day, perhaps, dunno, but this morning is definitely going to be quite busy with all kinds of orders in there to pull, load and take out to jobsites.

Later.

ben

Wednesday 3/28/2012

Church: small groups.

Last night.

Took my chicken sticks, big hit, which was nice.

We all sat down at tables, had some conversation.

After about 30 minutes of eating and talking, the group leader brings up a subject for everyone to share their stories on.

He shared one of his and then the lady-that-never-shuts-up shared hers.  

Then someone else.  Then the lady-that-never-shuts-up. 

Then another person.  Then the lady-that-never-shuts-up.

I shared one and then the group leader hijacked my story - I could tell stories of my missionary days for hours, but I wasn't about to do any such thing.  Instead, I went on for about a minute before the leader took my conversation out of my mouth and started making it his own.

Which irritated me - well that's an understatement but since it's church I let it go.

Then this lady-that-never-shuts up started telling story, after story, after story.

I was ready to get up and walk out to be honest.  If the leader of the group can't find it within himself to take control of the situation and do whatever needs to be done to - get that woman to shut her freaking mouth - well I am questioning whether I will be going back.  I don't know WHY - ANYONE - thinks that anyone else wants to hear them speaking ALL the time. 

It was so bad in the end that she actually interrupted someone else that was trying to speak and started talking over the TOP of that person!  Unbelievably rude and selfish - MY opinion and thoughts are more important than anyone else's.  

Whatever.  

It's time to go to work.  

I am going to write the pastor about this situation at small group and find out his thoughts on it, though, it may put him in an unenviable position, so beit.

G'day.

ben

The Chinese Buffet

Their chick sticks are of heavenly origins, I am sure of it.
I had never seen chicken sticks like this before, much less tasted anything that was that good.
I am going to small group at church tonight and it's a pot luck type of thing.  Instead of cooking something, I figured I would take about 20 of them in there and everyone would get at least one of them.

Regardless, they had all of 3 left when I went in there and a lady came up and snatched them before I could get my hands on them.  So, I just stood there and waited.  The owner finally came up and asked what I was waiting for.  I pointed at a slew of empty pans, but most notable the chicken stick pan.

He was, apparently, not exactly happy that the food trays were near empty and rushed into the kitchen to take care of business.  A few minutes later, trays full of food started appearing.  A few minutes after that, they came up with the chicken sticks, but there was only twelve of them.  I took all of them and just waited some more.  Honey chicken finally came out - Mark and Lynnette love this stuff so I buy them a container full every time I come in here - Lynnette being in love with the Honey Chicken.

Done with that, they came out with more chicken sticks.  But again, only 12 or maybe 14 of them.  A lady took a couple.  I looked at the owner: "well is it okay to take more?".  He's all over that, yes yes, take as many as you want, we cook more.  I took all of the rest of those as well and decided that was enough waiting and probably enough money.  There's 10 or 12 in the group, sometimes more.  Everyone is bringing something, so if they get one of the chicken sticks each at least, then that should be good.  I can just about guarantee that someone or many someones are going to ask about where I got those chicken sticks.

"Ancient Chinese Secret, located at McClintock and Baseline" I will respond.

Long interlude.  I took an almost hour-long nap.  If I have to stay up later than my bedtime, gotta make it up somewhere.  Time to leave for church.

Tuesday 3/27/2012

Message to atheists: get over yourselves.
I don't cafe if you are offended by my Christianity or my belief in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  I don't care if you hate the Bible.  I don't care if you hate church, Easter, Christmas and a whole variety of other holidays, seasons and things that Christians like to do.

If you don't like any of that stuff, don't participate in it!  In fact, since you hate all of it so much, why not go find an island somewhere that is large enough to accommodate all of you and start a Godless society?  God is at the roots of this nation of ours - the belief in Him that is and that is all there is to it. You can sue and sue and sue all you want, but you are wasting your time- and your money.  Even if you get a few wins here and there, you aren't going to erase God from this entire society!  There are too many of us here that believe in Him!  Akin to Obama's desire to remove guns out of the hands of responsible, law-abiding citizens: It's NEVER going to happen!

Enough.  I am sick of seeing lawsuit after lawsuit being filed by atheists against all kinds of governments, churches, groups, whatever.  Frivolous at best.  Are these people really so thin-skinned that they can't stand that others are enjoying their religious freedoms to express themselves in a public forum?  Apparently.  One wonders how they make it in life if they get offended so incredibly easy.

No idea.  Onto other things.  Still looking for a mattress.  Ended the ordeal with "The Craigslister", who, I had already guessed, isn't really into Craigslist at all and had no clue how to deal with it.  I'll find a mattress eventually, but I am going to start looking on a daily basis, time is running out.  I have seen a couple of places in phoenix selling mattress on the side of the road - well they're actual shops selling new mattresses to clarify that, but the mattresses are always stacked up right next to the street.

I dunno, but I want to get PAST this particular sticking point of finding a mattress for that trailer.  It's gone on long enough.  Then it will be to find a microwave that fits into the cabinet that is made for it.  Or not.  And the carpet.  These are the three, big things left to do besides the work on the roof.  I have the major part of the roof done, it's just removing old sealant and putting on fresh is what I wanted to do with it at this point.  Hopefully by this weekend I will have this mattress ordeal done and over with - HOPEFULLY.

I also have a lot of minutia to buy for it. Some of it dollar store stuff, other stuff a bit more expensive, but just things you want to have around.  Toiletries and silverware and this and that.  Pots, pans, you know.  I have enough time to finish all of it, but man, some sticking points here that I didn't think would take this long to get past.

Whatever the case, it's time to go off to work and, undoubtedly, the Intel plant.

G'day.

ben

More of 'The Craigslister'

So, this guy writes me back after I tell him all of that - that I know his line of work, where he works, the name of his wife, his home city of Philadelphia and the idea that I would just forward this email of his to his superiors, as I put it, and see how they feel about one of their employees in such a high level job making such unbelievable statements as he did to me.

His tones were WAY down.  The cussing was gone, the only threat he had left was his lawyer.  Lol.  That he would sue me for slander and defamation of character.  First off, threats from lawyers no longer have the effect on me they once had 25 years ago.  This is because lawyers intentionally throw all kinds of legaleze at people and threats of this and that and what would happen to you if they follow through with their threats.  In most cases, it's at LEAST 90% hot air and probably more than that.  They are trying to scare you to get you to back down and not do anything at all - or stop whatever it is that is "offending" another person or entity.

Well, I wrote him back.  Sick your lawyer on me: you have defamed yourself by your own words.  It's not here-say, it's your own email.  You wrote that email after I demanded that you not write back to me.  You are the one that acted like a 5 year old getting cocky on an elementary school playground.

I was not backing down, was the point, I had no reason to back down - after he had demanded payment up front for something that I wasn't going to get for 2 weeks, I just said not.  Not happening and where you ever got the idea that anyone is going to give another person money for nothing is unknown, but in my world, it doesn't happen.

He writes me back again.  This time, the threats were entirely void of the conversation.  No lawyers, nothing. A man in his position with a person like me having enough of his personal information that I can tarnish his image at the very least?  Yeah.  I'll bet he doesn't pull that crap with people online ever again, or if he does, at least the thought of potential consequences will come back off the dusty shelves of his mind to give him thought to possibly not go that route.  He ended his much humbled tones with an apology.

That's all I was looking for.  My issue with him is over with that apology.  Let's get real, folks: whatever we say online can be found by just about anyone.  Facebook. Twitter. Blogs.  I say alot on this blog, but there are certain things I won't say or lines of thought I won't go into.  I may have in the past, but no more.  My Facebook account?  I only have it to play that Zynga game, otherwise I wouldn't even use the thing.  I have found a lot of interesting and even wonderful people that I communicate with through that game, which is the only reason I still play it.  I had thought of deleting my Facebook account until I started with that game and then started talking with people - normal people I might add - from all over the world. Well, there are the crazies, too, but I have "gelled" with a couple of dozen people at least which makes me not want to get rid of FB at this point or delete that game.

Well, got home early 2:00 pm.  That's definitely early for me currently.  There was only one delivery - which turned into 2 - in the system.  I got those done and put stuff away, cleaned up a bit and left half an hour early.  I figure that sometime this week, I will go over hours again and I will still end up with OT regardless.

Caleb called me this morning - I don't get calls from Caleb while I'm at work unless something is wrong, I was hoping that car hadn't broken down again.  Well, it WAS the car, but not a breakdown: he had locked himself out of it.  He was extremely lucky that I had JUST happened to pass by where he was at only a few minutes earlier.  Otherwise, I would not have been able to help him since I was on a run to pick up material and deliver it to a job site.

Enough.

Monday 3/26/2012

So, after I dismissed this guy that had a mattress for sale, he writes me back and goes into a tirade, cussing, shooting off at the mouth, making unbelievable statements that I won't even repeat here. My email to him was NOTHING of this nature.

The guy has his entire name written on his emails and further, he was dumb enough to tell me his line of work.  It took me all of 30 seconds to find his Linkedin and Facebook accounts, where he works, his home in Philadelphia, etc etc etc.

Anyway, I started this entry too late, I have to leave for work!

G'day.

ben

Sunday 3/25/2012

Can you believe March is close to being over already?  Wow!
May will be here before I know it.  Yes, I know I skipped April, May is when I intend on having that trailer moved up to the property when my mother goes up there.
In the meantime, I am STILL trying to nab a queen sized mattress for the thing. Craigslist is SO full of flakes, it's ridiculous.  I've offered what they are asking and they still don't get back to me, but some of it has to do with the fact that I need it delivered and many people, I am finding, can't deliver.

I opted out of church today.  One of those moods, I guess, I simply didn't feel like going and am not going to stress over it.  They always ask whenever I don't show up - my excuse this time? I will simply tell them: long work week, tired, just didn't feel like going, sorry.

I replied to an ad with a mattress for sale.  The conversation went such and such in emails and then, a few hours later, I called him.  He said he isn't leaving until 2 Fridays from now and would need the mattress.  Okay, whatever, I can wait.  So the discussion went until he got to this part: Well, we are going to have to meet up and you are going to have to pay for it in advance.  The apartments I live in will charge me such and such if I leave anything behind in there and I want to be 100% sure that you are going to take the mattress.

Yeah, in a PIG'S EYE will I give him or anyone else any money in advance for something being bought off of Craigslist and I FLATLY told him that on the phone, wished him a nice day and hung up.  Lunatic.  He called back - I did not answer, I told him I was no longer interested: I am NO LONGER INTERESTED. He then emails me.  Blah blah blah.

Craiglist is a strange world and there are some pretty strange people that you may encounter from time to time if doing business on it or even frequently.  The guy could offer me the thing for free at this point and I wouldn't take it.

In fact, after thinking about it, I am at the point where I really don't WANT to sleep on someone else's used mattress.  Well, you know, sometimes there are ads in there for a very nice mattress that was in a guest bedroom that wasn't used much.  If true, that doesn't bother me.   Whatever the case, I don't have unlimited time, but this guy's mattress?  He can sell to someone else.  Yes, he totally changed his tune after I gave him a dose of reality, but who cares.

There is no argument in my mind, whatsoever, that the Obama administration would like to do away with gun ownership, period.  It will never happen, but it's certainly one of his major agendas whether he wants to state that as such or not.  The Stand Your Ground law in Florida isn't much different than what we have here.

I do not have to retreat if someone enters my home or my car.  The fact that a person is entering your home is enough to use deadly force.  That is, of course, up to the homeowner with the gun in his/her hand.  Hands in the case of a nice, large, extremely threatening-looking thing called a 12-gauge shotgun.  I don't live in a nice area and I have no qualms with deadly force when it's called for.

But from reading numerous news accounts - which is all I have to go on and if you go on what you have read - the man that shot that kid in Florida was not standing his ground.  He was chasing after the kid.  He was told by 911 operator to stop following the person.  There isn't any good reason for a block watch captain to go around attempting to detain people, call the police if you really think there is something wrong and let them deal with it.  I mean, if the kid was breaking into a home, different story. Obviously, there are a lot of facts that we probably don't know about, but for me?  Standing your ground doesn't mean going after a person that is walking down a public street, minding his/her own business, confronting the person because you are suspicious and then ending up shooting that person.

Which is the point.  Get rid of the laws that help innocent people defend themselves, right?  This is exactly what is going to happen and is already in the beginning stages of it.  One incident that makes national headlines and stays in the national headlines for days and days is enough to being consideration retracting all such self-defense laws?

The hummingbirds are fighting out there. They have been for quite some time now.  Mama doesn't want any other hummers coming around her nest and she will get into a serious fight over that issue, as I have witnessed many times over.  Don't even think about flying over this property, is her statement to them, if you do, you are going to receive my wrath.  And her wrath? I've seen it doled out several times over.  Fierce looking fighting while zipping through the air and pecking at the other bird.  I have a lot of flowering plants right now, not to mention the red liquid feeders, pretty tempting, I am betting, for a hummingbird looking for new territory.  I don't think that's going to happen. I don't really know, only suspect, that this particular mama is the same bird that hangs out around here year round.  There are times when there are a dozen of them around here feeding off the feeder, but mostly, she takes issue with all of them and defends her territory.

It is an amazing thing to watch.

My next door neighbor has finally poured the slab for his new home.  At the rate he is going, it will be a decade before that house is actually built and lived in.

I have gotten almost nothing done today and could care less.  I got plenty done around here yesterday and worked my @$$ off at work the 5 days previous, enough for one week.

Whatever the case, enough for one entry.  A couple more hours and then off to bed.

ben

A Few Hours

Break time.

I went to Denny's and sat at the counter - usually get better service at a counter than at a booth in that particular location.  Very nice looking and sweet young lady was my server.  She made several corrections during my visit which made it particularly nice, not to mention repeatedly visiting me to make sure everything was good and drinks were filled.

Corrections being taking the hash browns back before even serving them to me - I said nothing about them and would have eaten them the way they were, but I had asked for extra crisp and they were not.  Took a cup of coffee she had just poured, looked at it and said no, this isn't good, dumped it out and actually went to the server station in the middle of the place to get a fresh cup for me!  I didn't ask for any of it and I was in a very good mood, I would have just taken whatever and been happy with it. 

I got service you would expect at a much finer restaurant with much higher prices and yes, I tipped accordingly.  It had been so long since I had down sit down service that I gave a 200% tip.  Lol.  Make that about 230% tip, but who's counting.  Made up for all the time I had not done sit-down service, but more importantly, that I recognized the quality and level of service that she was giving and that I very much appreciated it and beyond that?  I worked in restaurants in my teenaged years and there are a lot of very STINGY people out there that either do not tip at all or give very minimal percentage tip that is not on par with industry standards of at least a 15% gratuity if you have received good service.

Waiters and waitresses, as most people know but many don't seem to care anyway, get the bulk of their income from tips, not hourly wages.  

I then headed to Auto Zone. Car needs new brake pads and I decided I would either install them myself or have someone come over and give them $25 or $30 to do it for me.  Versus taking it into a shop and having them attempt to tell you that you need $800 to $1,000 or more worth of work.  I never take my car into any shop to have brake work done, it's pretty much a ripoff and I am not buying it.  Well, the gift cards I had not only paid for the brakes, but also the floor jack and also some other stuff I needed.  Well, there you go, the money spent on the tip at Denny's was made up for by the gift cards at Auto Zone.  

I then headed to Home Depot, which was the intent of my departure from home earlier anyway.  Marigolds, Tulips and other flowers, got a flat's worth of them and brought them home.  Out front, I noticed that the recent rain had given rise to - a lot of weeds.  So, instead of getting on the trailer roof, I got down and dirty and started pulling weeds.  After 45 minutes of that, well, I had to plant those flowers.  All 3 pots out there are now filled with beautiful, extremely fragrant flowers of all kinds of colors - purple; red; yellow; orange and there it is.  Instant beauty both visually and orfactoral.  I have plenty left to do out there in pulling the small weeds - much easier to get them up and out when they first show up than commit a procrastinational offense and then, you are going to have a time getting them out WITH the roots.

Next.  MAYBE up on the roof before going back to the weeds.  In fact, I need to get my vacuum out and use it on the front - leaves everywhere detracting from the beauty of my front yard, which I do consider to be looking very fine at this point if I do say so myself.  Plus, one of the Sissoo's needs an entire limb cut down - it is a 2 limb tree growing out of the ground.  If you leave it that way, eventually it's going to come back to bite you.  This is still a small tree so it should be okay doing that without anything but the tree being able to focus on it's one limb growing instead of attempting to grow 2 of them.

Dogs have my room smelling - like dogs so a very intense cleaning started on that as well, including cleaning the carpet later on.

Well, it's a beautiful day outside and I just realized that - uhhhhh - probably better to get going on that roof before it gets burning hot, ie: waiting until May or something to finish it.  Not the greatest idea, so, I am going to get up there and do that small vent and maybe start on the other thing up there that I want to do before calling it roof quits for the day.  Then, back to weeds and also cleaning out one of the pond filters for the second time this week.  It is getting clogged up quickly because of the tree debris coming down into it.  Soon, that will all be cleaned out of there and I will be able to revert back to once a month cleanings.

Have a great day : )

ben