I arrived home from work at around 5:30 PM.
Walking through the door a scene greeted me: the young tenant, his friend and Lynnette sitting at the kitchen table, laughing it up about whatever.

When I finally got everything done and sat down at the table to engage myself in whatever was going on, well, at first it was quite entertaining.  2 college dudes - one of them fairly smart and the other a blooming idiot - going at it with each other about Obama's policies and this, that and the other thing.

I was dragged into this discussion.

I did so with a good heart.  Let's talk about this.  Let's put our opinions, perspectives and the facts that we think we know on the table an compare notes.  I don't go into political discussions with the intent of it getting heated up and almost always, if it does get heated, I turn it off.  It is, to me, a senseless waste of time to argue with  a person in a heated fashion that will accomplish nothing for either party.

But I will get into a political discussion with someone of opposing viewpoints, as long as it remains civil.  Well, these 2 were going at it, I was interjecting here and there but then?  Another tenant came out. George, who is in his 50's.  He wanted to find out what I was laughing about - at that point I was finding it humorous to see these guys bantering back and forth.

But then, the young tenant's friend wanted to engage me personally. Okay. I listened to him and then would try to speak, only to have this guy interrupt me before I could even get a complete sentence out.  He didn't want to hear anything I had to say to the point of being extremely rude.  EXTREMELY RUDE.

I put up with this for a while, though I didn't want to, but after he said something that crossed my line and then interrupted me again when I attempted to calmly give him my view of it?  Enough was enough.

I ended the conversation and told the man flat to his face that he was rude, condescending, arrogant and self-aggrandizing.  That I had listened to EVERYTHING he had to say, but that EVERY single time I tried to say anything, he had cut me off and interrupted me.  It was the end of it for me.  The younger tenant went ape.  In a good way.  I apparently told this man what he had wanted to say to him for a long time.  I don't know.  I can't and won't take an argumentative person that won't listen to anything the other side of the argument has to say.

Well that's over and so is this night for  me.  I have more I would like to delve into, but I am tired and am going to go to sleep.

G'nite.

ben

Little Hummingbirds

Every year, she builds a rather intricate, detailed and almost perfect looking next.  Every year, she lays 2, tiny eggs in the nest. Every year, both eggs hatch and there are 2 little Hummingbirds in there and yes, every year, one of them dies and the other survives.

There is nothing I can do for the little one that doesn't survive.  It's the way of nature.  I don't know if momma just doesn't feed one of them or how that happens, but it does.

And so it is.
There are 2 tiny, and I do mean tiny, birds in that nest and they are both alive.  But I suspect in short order one of them will perish.  The nest is so small, as in other years, that it isn't large enough for 2 of them.  This year, I intend on taking a number of short videos and posting them to show the progress - or death of one if that's what happens.

Meanwhile, has anyone noticed the price of gas basically sky rocketing?  I mean, jumping in price on a weekly basis to the point that it is almost a buck more expensive than it was, say something like 2 months ago.  Freaking ridiculous.  I mean, wow!  Their pathetic excuses as to why they can just raise the prices - they have a long list of them as most readers know - just go to further flame the consuming public.

On a completely different note, I was toying with one of the estimators downtown about his hunting activities (searching on the net) while he's supposed to be working.  We sort of have a 2-way thing going where he tells me I don't do any work and that he gets twice as much work done in an hour than I do in an entire day while I badger him about Googling on the internet and doing his hunting activities instead of getting anything done.

It is all done in good humor, we aren't getting angry or upset with each other, in fact, it usually ends with quite a lot of laughter.

But he is a hunter and I have always wanted to learn how to hunt.  I am not about to just go out in the woods and start shooting at everything that moves in a pathetic and probably dangerous attempt to teach myself.  If I were starving, the economy was screwed and there was no food available, different story altogether.  So, in completely serious tones after we were done messing with each other, I simply stated to him that he is going to have to take me along on one of his hunting trips and teach me how to hunt.

I don't know anyone that hunts, that's all there is to it.  No-one in church hunts, none of my friends are hunters, they're not even out doors type of people.  Camping is out of the question for many people I know, some of them do it because they have kids but that's the only reason they go.  I am ready to try some new things in life and I have always wanted to learn how to hunt since I was a young kid - and my parents were gun haters though they definitely loved the outdoors and camping (so I at least got half of the picture).  Well, my mother still is very much in love with the mountains and now she owns several guns but not for hunting purposes (and if I were her age and living alone, I would definitely own an assortment of handguns and at least one shotgun, maybe a 20 caliber for home/self defense purposes).

He looks at me after I say that to him and asks: "You really don't know anyone that hunts?"  Nope, I replied, not a single person.  Most of my friends and acquaintances don't even own guns, much less being avid hunters.  We didn't go much further with the conversation as he had to get back to work and so did I, but I did plant the seed.  He goes hunting throughout the year for whatever is available.  Elk, deer, bear, whatever.  He doesn't just stay in AZ, either, he travels to New Mexico and other bordering states, wherever the hunting is and whoever is able to win the lottery for whatever is being allowed in whichever season.

I missed the first draw for big game, it was due by Tuesday of last week.  There are, however, 2 more draws for Elk and other big game and I intend on attempting to win.  AZ has a process that gives returning applicants more favor over new ones.  A lot of people apply so winning is definitely not guaranteed.

Anyway, I blew off my plans to go up to the mountains this weekend as I figured to ask for a day off in the near future and spend a couple of days up there.  It's a bit easier to spend 2 or even 3 nights when you have an extra day off.

I have plenty of stuff that needs to get done around the house both inside and out and that's what I am doing with this weekend.

ben

Driving down the Superstition 60 on the way home from work today (so in my personal vehicle).  Coming up to an on ramp with vehicles getting on the freeway, so I get over into the next lane to let them get on.  I'm going significantly faster than they are, at least 20 MPH worth, they aren't up to speed yet.

So, when I get up to this on ramp, but 2 lanes over, a driver gets into the "slow" lane, indicator light on.  He gets in that lane, indicator light still on.  I'm almost up on this vehicle when he decides to come over into my lane.  He sees me and quickly jacks it back into his own lane.  This is another blooming idiot that 1: doesn't appreciate the fact that I moved over to let him and other vehicles on and 2: believes by virtue of the fact that you have your indicator light on, you are therefore given right and license to cut prevailing traffic that is legally occupying a lane off, regardless of what may happen.

Passing by this freak?  He honks his horn at me!  LOL!!!  What else to do but laugh.  There was no good reason for him to "have" to get into the lane I was in but he thought he had the right of way.

Whatever.  I have half a mind to go up north again this weekend, but only if I can leave tomorrow afternoon. I don't just want a single overnighter, gotta be 2 nights.  Just a lot of fuel and like to make it worth the trip up there with a bit longer stay than what occurred last weekend. Though, it had been so long since I had been up there last weekend, even a one night stay was nice and relieving to find that nothing had been tampered with up there.

It would actually be cool to put the other trailer up there as well and then be able to invite people up for weekends.  Lol, dreaming.  My mother's property not mine and pretty much guaranteed she wouldn't go for that - at all.

Well I have other things, but I think I'll post that on the other place.

G'day.
ben

6 lane street.  Goes through Mesa and Chandler.  Turns back into 2 lane highway on either end, going into Indian Reservation on either end.  Highway 87, otherwise known as Country Club Drive in Mesa or Arizona Avenue in Chandler.
Northbound, center lane.  Nothing in front of me, car to the right of me. A van comes flying up to the car to the right of me, what's he going to do, smash into that car?  No, the fleeting thought came to me, he's going to cut you off.
I look to my left, see the lane is clear just in time to have this jackass, who had to slow down considerably to avoid rear-ending the car in front of him, cuts directly in front of me.  If there was 5 feet between he rear bumper and my front bumper, that would be over-exaggerating the distance.  He is going 10 miles an hour slower than I am as well since he had to slam on his brakes to avoid contact with car in front of him, so now, I am forced to jack the truck over into the other lane.

This guy has the audacity to call my company and tell them I am driving aggressively, in and out of traffic, speeding, etc etc etc.  When my manager called me and told me this idiot had told our operations manager that and that the ops manager had come unglued, I blew a fuse.  I drive for the company for 7 years and all of a sudden one ass**** calls my company and they think I am doing what this idiot says I am?!!!

If I were driving like that every day, there would be a few outcomes: first it's illegal, at least in a semi.  Cops can write you up a ticket for "bobbing and weaving", as the action is coined. Second, probably get a speeding ticket and third: probably would have rear-ended someone by now.  Good thing the ops manager didn't talk to me directly about it, cause' I wouldn't have held back my ire for a company that gives me a safe driver award and then wants to question how I am driving out there.

Whatever.  That stuff happens all day long - but this one was a very close call and could have easily ended in a rear-end collision if I hadn't been prepared for it.

But I gotta say, the thing that really irritates me in all of this is the Ops Manager who instantly believes every word this idiot is speaking to him on the phone, doesn't give me a slice worth of the benefit of a doubt, comes to our branch and starts cranking to my immediate manager about it.  Doesn't even want to hear my side of the issue before making judgments and conclusions.  That's just plain bull****.  If people were calling in every day complaining about my driving then I could see it.  The last time anyone called in was a woman that claimed I had cut her off.  That alleged incident "took place" immediately before I got back to the shop and as much as I strained my head, since it had just allegedly occurred, I couldn't remember cutting anyone off or even seeing the vehicle that my manager said I had done it to.

And here's the jist of the story: a person can call a trucking company and report a truck - it's got it's name, DOT number and truck number on it - and make whatever kinds of statements they want to.  They can make up fairy tales and people often do.  I have talked to people that say they have called a trucking company and made a bogus claim about a driver just for the "fun" of it.  It's done with impunity, there is nothing I as a driver can do to "retaliate", such as in the case of this freak yesterday.  I can't call his company and complain that he almost caused an accident, was jibbering on the cellphone and gave me a s*** eating smile when I passed by him, obviously knowing what he had done and could have cared less.

So, live with it?  Perhaps the driver that made the bogus comments, yes. But not the Ops manager jumping to conclusions without even giving me a chance to say anything.  That causes me to lose all respect for that man.

I don't think that I have made better time on the drive back from the mountains than today.  Traffic was very light on the highway and going through town.

Regardless, when I arrived up there yesterday - ummm - I think before noon - it was a pleasant surprise to find everything just as I had left it, sans the Direct TV dish had fallen over.  The ground was wet and the giant nails I had used to hold the pedestal in place had simply given way to the moisture and the whole thing had come cascading down.

There were no signs of any mice having had made it into my trailer and the trailer was clean and smelled good.  There was snow patches all over the place.  The normally dry creek was running heavily with snow run-off.  That creek used to flow year round, but the combination of a lack of rain and a rancher up the way that diverts the creek onto his property - caused it to become bone dry during the summer.  There have, apparently, been lawsuits over the rancher's actions.

It wouldn't be so bad if he re-diverted it back into the creek bed, but unfortunately, at least half the water gets dumped out the other side and down into a canyon.  Some of it comes back to the stream it's supposed to be in but it's such a small trickle of water it ends up going underground.  I have heard there are lawsuits concerning this situation.  I wouldn't know.  If I lived on that creek and had the water taken, I probably wouldn't be too happy about it either.  The fact is, there used to be enough water flowing in there that a person could have installed a hydroelectric generator.  But, my mother's property is on top of the hill.  The properties along the creek are, of course, at the bottom of the hill and on the other side of a dirt road down there.

There IS electricity up there, but the fact is, a person could run electric for free and get all the water they need, for free, with that stream.  Of course, there is enough water flowing through there right now that if you installed a couple of large water tanks you could have enough water to last you through a summer.  I'm only thinking of the situation I would like to find myself in if I can ever afford to buy property somewhere up in the mountains - I would definitely want something next to a creek.  A couple of 5,000 gallon water tanks and using water sparingly enough and you could simply fill them up during the winter and have enough water to last until the next winter.  My mother has a 1,000 gallon tank and we used probably a few hundred gallons of that water between us this summer.

Whatever the case, my mother was sighing big sigh of relief.  She had thoughts of whoever that has been stealing electricity also breaking into the shed and trailers and helping themselves.  Someone has been using electricity up there during 2 months time when none of us had been on the property.  I dunno what anyone could do with it.  It's on private property, surrounded by fence, locked gate and since no-one broke into the trailers - and presumably helping themselves to such things as watching TV and running heat in the cold - I can't really think what anyone would be doing with it.  Camping in a tent on forest land which is right next to her property and running and extension cord to use for heat and whatever else?

The dogs?  Love being  up there, but hate the ride going up there and returning.  The Catahoula just sits there on the front sit with her head against the side of the seat staring at me, panting the whole way.  Duke chokes and near-vomits the entire trip (and yes, I have tried giving him dramamine, it only made it worse).  Prince just sits there in the back sit with a very pathetic look on his face.  I could leave the dogs here, if I really thought they didn't want to go.  If I had a pickup, I could put the Danes in Kennels and tie them down to the bed and probably be a bit more comfortable ride for them - albeit much colder considering outside.

Whatever the case, I had been wanting to go up for quite a while now, just a lot of things that had been getting in the way.  It got down into the low 30's last night, but my space heater did the trick in keeping the entire trailer warm enough to feel comfortable in there.  I'm not sure what the electric use of that will be, lol, but I am sure my mother will let me know when the bill arrives!

Oh, and I did have a fire in the fire pit!  The wood was wet so it took a while to get the coals hot enough to burn logs - but there is ample pine needles around and that stuff burns like gas.  I sat out there for hours with this nice blaze going.  There are no fire restrictions right now because of all the snow and rain, the ground is saturated and trees are definitely nicely watered.  Which is good, because that wet wood was creating a lot of smoke.  It was drifting over the valley and undoubtedly the Forest Service saw it.  I say that because a helicopter came flying over after about an hour of it.  They take forest fires seriously up there.  There have been several major fires and they do extensive damage.  I have been camping for decades and I know how to put a fire out and make sure there are no live coals left burning underneath.

But it was easy in this case: a bucket of water and it was completely drenched and out.  Checked it again this morning before I left to make sure of that fact.  People have been thrown in jail for starting massive forest firest - some intentionally and some not intentionally.  The latest was a couple of guys that had a fire and then just left it.  They put the fire out, yes, but they didn't make sure the coals underneath were also extinguished. I think that fire burned up near half a million acres.

I dunno.  It seems to me it's only common sense to make sure your fire is completely out and it's not that difficult to simply take a shovel and extinguish the entire thing with dirt if you have no water available.

It's great that my mother lets me use her property, free of charge excepting to reimburse her for electric use - I am thankful for the opportunity to have some place to go to, out-of-town, better than a hotel stay somewhere, home-away-from-home - but in reality?  Her property is not the kind of property I would want for a retirement home.  I just think it important to have access to water on the land itself - via a well or stream - or if a lot of rain, water collection barrels.  In her case, you have to either drag a trailer to the nearest place which is about 12 miles away or have a truck deliver it at no small expense.

Speaking of hotel stays.  I have been playing an online casino game - not for money, you get free chips daily - but this particular site gives you "gold coins" for credit to acquire all kinds of things in Las Vegas.  The most intriguing is the free hotel stays.  I almost have 100,000 gold coins and can already get a 2 night stay for 35,000 of them.  But there are MUCH nicer rooms available but for a lot more gold coins. One of my tenants is planning a trip in August and we have discussed going together, pooling 3 people's worth of coins and getting a lot of freebies out of it.

I don't really want to go to Las Vegas for gambling, but rather for some of the shows you can see up there.  I  do like Blackjack, though!  I think it's a 4 hour trip up there?  Drive up, stay free for 2 nights in a very nice room, get free food and other perks and then go home.  An almost free vacation besides the gas up there and whatever expenses I might incur.

Well, August is a long time from now, just musing.  I still am weighing the idea of a cruise somewhere.  I don't care about the Carnival fiasco.  That is not enough to stop me from wanting to go on a cruise.  The odds of something like that happening are pretty slim, I am guessing, you don't read about that happening on a weekly or even monthly basis, so take my chances.  And anyway, those people are all being comped.  I understand it was gross with vile and putrid conditions on that ship.  From my perch, though, make the best of a bad situation and know that you are going to get a free ride on another ship.  If it happens twice to you, then you probably ought to stay away from boats, lol.  I don't wish anyone suing that company luck, either.  You assume a risk potential on anything you do in life and perhaps they should just be happy the boat didn't sink or run into something while it was floating listlessly without power.  I know I wouldn't be happy about the situation, but I doubt that I would sue the company.

Enough for one entry.  I missed church today but I knew I would.  I haven't missed a day in a long time now, so no biggies.  The rest of the day I am just doing some cleaning and watering, see if there is anything worth watching on TV and that's about it.  Another work week en-queue and my goodness am I ready for some more time off!  Lol.

ben

Hitting the road in about an hour or so for the high country.
Will only spend one night up there since - it's already Saturday.
Temps not expected to be too bad, nothing worse than it was down here about a month ago when that hard freeze hit us and extremely low temps.

But, I am kind of anxious to find out if anything is missing.
More to the point, my extension cord that goes from the trailer to the power pedestal.
I had taken thought of thieves last time I was up there, but I didn't really think about my power cord potentially being stolen - and would end my trip.  I would have to turn around and leave.

If I find no-one up on the property - I actually would like to catch the person/s stealing the electricity and get them taken care of - I will be examining the neighbor's property as well and also for any signs of vandalism or potentially where these people are getting on to the property.

The roads are interesting looking.  There is a live camera set up on the road up there that takes a new shot every so often.  It shows wet roads with snow on either side, but the roadway itself cleared of snow.  I can deal with that, it's snowed out roads that my car isn't going to navigate very well, I don't think.  I remember going up there when I was a teenager and had a Subaru Brat.  I had gone camping up on the Rim. The day I left, well, it had snowed heavily and there was a foot of snow on the highway.  Put that car in 4-wheel drive and had fun plowing through  it.  That little car was amazingly good at plowing through snow as deep at several feet.  Driving by a stranded car on that occasion, they pulled out behind me and attempted to follow in the tracks I was leaving.

Changing the subject, the passenger on the ship that is suing probably could best spend their money elsewhere besides a high-cost lawyer.  I am guessing that you have to sign a contract or the tickets themselves come printed with disclaimers about ships breaking down and that's the risk you take and if the ship does break down, oh well, get over it.  I thought it funny that these people were complaining about lack of food and how "rough" it was.  Yes, the smell of raw sewage would be hard to take, which is why I would be out in the fresh, open air, not inside the ship.  But food?  I have gone 11 days without eating anything.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Hospital

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER SOMEONE?
My dad is a minister.  My first and second name are taken out of the Old Testament.

IF YOU HAVE ANY CHILDREN, HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?
1 son, aged 19, wants to be a missionary to Japan.  I wish I had had more kids!

HOW MANY PETS DO YOU HAVE?
2 Great Danes and a Catahoula, oh and lots of Goldfish and Koi.

WHAT IS YOUR WORST INJURY?
I was picking up a 500 pound transmission with another person who picked up his end too quickly causing the transmission to slide off the rail we had it on and smash into my right knee. I never went to the doctor, I should have but I was on the mission field and it was not easy to get to see a doc.  I was out of commission for quite a while. After I was "healed", my entire bone would pop out of the knee joint when attempting to push in the clutch on a truck.  It didn't hurt but it was a pretty ugly looking sight.

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?


WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO BAKE?
I don't really do any baking anymore, but I do like to do roasts occasionally in the oven.

FAVORITE FAST FOOD?
Big Mac by far. Rarely eat them because they are loaded with calories, but definitely my favorite!



WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I dunno.  I have seen video of people bungee jumping and the cord breaking or the cord not correctly measured for distance and people smashing into the pavement below.  Not a pretty picture.  I don't think so, to be honest, but I would like to try sky diving.

WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
I examine all facial features, especially when they are talking.  I look for body language alot.  What are people really trying to say that their words aren't speaking.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
2 Tuesdays ago.  A co-worker had been killed in an accident on an open stretch of Interstate after hitting black ice, rolling the vehicle and smashing into a semi that had also rolled before he got there  on that same patch of black ice.  I held it in until I walked into church that night for a prayer meeting and that's when it hit me.

ANY CURRENT WORRIES?\
I dunno.  I think about heaven alot.  I think about my own salvation a lot and what am I doing for the Lord?  I also think about retirement frequently.  How am I going to live on what I have saved and is Social Security - that thing I have paid into for decades, even going to exist?

NAME 3 DRINKS THAT YOU DRINK REGULARLY.
Water and coffee.  Those are my regular drinks, you want a third, go ask what potion Herman Munster is currently ingesting.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?
NKJV

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PIRATE?
Umm, no thanks, especially if the definition of a modern-day pirate is the Somali version. I had a tenant living here a few years back that was a Navy Seal and was one of the individuals that took out one of the pirates holding that captain that had been kidnapped from the tanker.  He shot the man once in the head and twice center mass, taking him out instantly.  Not a good day to be a pirate!

FAVORITE SMELLS?
I don't smoke cigarettes, but there are certain brands that I really like to smell the smoke of.  I also like the smell of diesel exhaust - don't ask why cause' I couldn't possibly tell you.

WHY DO YOU BLOG?
Honestly?  To write out my thoughts and then read them over and see what direction I am headed.  I have found myself adjusting things frequently after re-reading something I have written about what I am currently doing.  That's not the only reason, but certainly an important one. It's of course cool to have people reading that can actually stand to read a mini-book on every post!

WHAT SONG DO YOU WANT PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL?

I [g] wandered so aimless life filed with sin
I [c] wouldn't let my dear saviour [g] in
Then jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the lord [d7] I saw the [g] light.

Chorus
I saw the light I saw the light
[c] no more darkness no more [g] night
Now Im so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the lord [d7] I saw the [g] light.

Just like a blind man I wandered along
Worries and fears I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight
Praise the lord I saw the light.

Chorus

I was a fool to wander and astray
Straight is the gate and narrow the way
Now I have traded the wrong for the right
Praise the lord I saw the light.
WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I know I am hard to get close to.  I don't necessarily want to be that way, but life has it's way of making you think hard and long about who you want as friends.  I express myself differently than many people do and that doesn't necessarily come off right to folks,.

FAVORITE HOBBY?
Changes with time.  Right now I am getting engrossed in learning how to build a house.  I am thinking of taking a course that helps you along with such information.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A FRIEND?
A person that I can disagree or who disagrees with me and doesn't get so offended that I never hear from them again.  A person that grates me from time to time.  My best friends in life - we have always crossed on something but that was part of the grit that made it a good friendship: We could go there and not get angry with each other.  We talk on the phone several days a week - for a minute, for an hour, whatever.

NAME SOMETHING YOU'VE DONE THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD.
Missionary.  5 years of traipsing around the U.S. and Mexico.  If you had told me when I was a teenager that I was going to be a full-time, volunteer missionary, I would have said some very un-nice things to you.  I've prayed for people with conditions that have hounded them for a long time and seen them healed (though I take NO credit for it, that all goes to the Lord).  Own a home.  Never thought I would ever cross that line when I was - poor.

 ANY PET PEEVES?
At least half the people driving on the road.  People starting crap on the internet acting in ways they would never do in real life, face-to-face.  Hypocrisy - I  REALLY hate that, whether it's someone else or if I catch myself in it.  Thieves.

WHAT'S THE LAST THING THAT MADE YOU LAUGH?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

So, I'm deilvering to a jobsite that is right off the freeway (I-10 at Warner Road).
I was quite fortunate, frankly, that I was in the pickup truck and not the semi.  Why?  Cause' the Feds had a commercial vehicle inspection station set up replete with portable scales.  they were not diverting the entire freeway off, they were just catching whoever mighthappen to get off there.  And boy, were there a lot o officelatoinrs standing around waiting for something to do.

I've stated this a thousand times, say it again: they can an will find something wrong with your truck.  I don't care if it's brand new, they will find something wrong with it.  And now under the newest regulations, a warning counts against a company that same as a ticket.

Oops, did I say the latest regulations?  Nix that statement, cause' they are now coming out with even MORE restrictions on commercial drivers.  They wonder why the trucking industry is experiencing a shortage of qualified drivers and not being able to recruit enough new drivers to the "profession".  They are now going to reduce the amont of hours any driver can drive in a given week, from 82 to - I  it was 70 but don't quote me on that.  I'd have to look it up again.

It's not going to affect me at all.  But it is definitely going to affect many of my fellow OTR drivers.  Do you realize how much "free" work an OTR driver does?  Most the time, loading and unloading is not paid.  Fueling is not paid.  Doing all the paperwork is not paid.  The ony thing they are paying for is the amont of miles you drive to deliver a truckload of goods from point A to point B.  Everything else is free work.

This is my pet peeve with the wages that are paid to OTR drivers that are driving for a company.  I'm a big time advocate for hour wages for all truck drivers that want it over only getting paid by the mile.   Talk about a big time change in the trucking industry, if all of the time that truckers have to spend in doing everything that driving a big rig entails had to actually be paid for!

The contractor I delivered to said this was the second time they had done it there in the last couple of weeks. Wow.  Never knew they were doing it there at all.

Well, anyway, prayer meeting tonight, not sure if I'm going or not.  Also not sure about going to church this Sunday.  If I end up in the mountains, I may just end up taking my leisurely time in leaving on Sunday to get home.  Traffic on the highway shouldn't be that bad, it's winter and not near as many people like going up north during the winter as they do during the summer.

I'm not going to decide on that trip until tomorrow night, when I can see some kind of weather report as to what might happen.  I don't give forecasters much credence around here, they can't seem to get much right.

I watched about 30, 35 minutes of Obama last night and that was all I could stomach.  The man just plain doesn't get it.  It's his way or no way at all and then blame the GOP.

Assuming the ex-LAPD cop is dead.  He went out, presumably, the way he figured he was going to go out, so that only leaves one question for me: who is going to pay for that burned-out cabin?  Pathetic statement? Perhaps.  But if I had a cabin up in the mountains and that kind of thing happened in it, I wouldn't exactly be happy about it.  There is insurance, I hope, on the thing if nothing else.

The point? The man is dead.  Well, I guess they haven't identified the body yet - might take a while to do that if it's burned up to a crisp - the state will not have to incur the expense of a trial and a lengthy prison stay while all the appeals processes are going through for 15 or 20 years while the man waits for a death sentence to be carried out.  I'm sort of wondering if there wasn't something else he could have done to have his name restored besides going around killing and injuring innocent people.

Speaking of cabins, that's pretty much what hit my mind a while back and as usual for me, I'm all over looking into what it's going to take to get some property and build one.  Not that I have anything even close to the financial resources to buy land and all the materials involved in building a cabin and all the labor that goes into building one (versus paying double or triple the price to have someone else build it for you).  I don't  even know how to build a cabin, but alas: there are courses out there that teach you how to do just that from start to finish.  One such course not only gives you the knowledge, they also have a registry on their site after you finish the class.

You find others that are building their cabins and you go help them.  Why would I want to do that? To learn how to do all of it before I start doing my own, that's why.  And find out what kind of obstacles and problems I am likely to face.

I don't really know if I ever will be able to get a cabin on some unknown mountain property, but I like to set goals for myself, however unattainable they may seem and attempt to figure out how I can reach the end point of the goal.  The obstacle here? Money, of course.  Property isn't cheap and neither are building materials.  Not to mention the plans and permits and all that to build one.  And travelling back and forth. Lol, everything that might go into it.

So, let's say I wanted to just build a regular house on a mountain property.  Distinction without a difference.  Land and materials = money.

Well, whatever.

Time to be off to work again.

ben

So, I am going to try for again to take a trip up to the property.  It's cold up there.  Lows will be in the 20's or in the teens this coming weekend.  I'm going to see about a set of thermals, I already have a very nice winter coat that I have "tested" in extremely cold conditions.  The trailer has an electric heat and a propane driven wall heater that blasts heat.  It also has heat coming out of the roof AC unit.  The central heat is not working.  But, I have ample experience with central heat in trailers: they consume a LOT of propane gas, too much.  Mix electric heat with the propane unit and that should be good.

That is, of course, if I can even get up there! Things keep happening to stop any intended trip. And yes, snow is also problematic.  It has snowed up there already but I don't know how much on the ground.  Whatever the case, if I do go, I intend on leaving on Friday afternoon as early as I can get off of work and hope to get up there before nightfall.  Preferably, well before nightfall.

That's the plan, who knows what will happen and only, as always if: the Lord is willing.

Well, other things I am engrossed with in thought and goal making and such, but no time here, time to go to bed.

The pastor has been pushing since this morning to meet and deal with this situation.
Which would be okay excepting I didn't sleep well last night, I am tired and I am a bit cranky right now.  Not only that but he has some other person or people coming in to "help" with this situation.

The only thing I can say is if it turns as contentious as it did last night, I will have no part of it.  Not in the mood for it and frankly, leadership of a church should be able to constrain themselves and not lash out or whatever in attempt to make others see things their way (I'm right, you're wrong type of deal).

It is probably true that if I leave this church, it will be a long, long time before I even think about going to another one.

Whatever.  It rained most of the morning, it was blowing wind and the "real feel" temp was at 37, and yes, it felt that cold.

Well, time to drive off and go deal with this situation, come what may.

It dawned on me this morning that it has been quite a while since the City of Chandler sent out a photo radar ticket to me in the mail.  Per the rules, I don't have to respond to it and - I didn't.  The rules also state that after 120 days, it's too late.  They must use a process server to officially serve the summons, a mail-sent summons does not constitute having been legally served.  So, looking at the date: September 20, 2012, it's been well over 120 days since that thing was sent out to me.

Now, there is a chance that the  process server put the thing somewhere out front and just left it in a place where the wind can blow it away or get stuck in bushes out front - it wouldn't be the first time - so I will go out and scour the front of the property today to ensure I didn't miss their ridiculous version of having had served a person.

I am blowing that off. The time has elapsed, the picture of the individual driving the car is blurry and obscured by the car's right headlight - it's out of alignment, lol.  The pics show the vehicle entering the intersection on yellow and exiting on red.  Oh well, sometimes it happens.

As for the situation with the church, it pretty much blew up in an email exchange that went too far.  The pastor took personal offense at my email to the church and said I was accusing him of - what I don't know since he never said even after asking him twice - and went off into all kinds of tangents.  I had asked there be a face-to-face meeting about this instead of email exchanges precisely because of this reason.

Things tend to get blown out of proportion in email and things may be said that, in a personal interaction, would never be stated.  Whatever the case, the email exchange did not end well but he asked me this morning in another email to meet with him and an elder personally to attempt to try and resolve the issue.  Fine, whatever.  I didn't sleep well last night so that may not be the greatest idea in the world, but if he really wants a personal meeting now after he didn't care about it when I specifically stated that I would rather not do all of this in emails, well, whatever.
\
The subsequent conversation with one of my tenants about this had him stating that that's why he doesn't go to church.  I also heard this on Saturday from the mother of the deceased co-worker: she HATES church because it is "man-made".  She is, for whatever reasons we did not go into, very bitter against the Catholic Church and will only watch church services on TV, not actually go to one.

You meet all kinds of people walking around that have been offended by the church and are usually bitter and holding grudges and all that good stuff. I know that I have been there as well.  Took quite a long time to get over it, which I believe I now am, but then baam, here we go with something else that puts the church in a negative light, IMO.

Well whatever. It's raining, I'm sitting in a pipe yard in west Phoenix and not looking forward to getting out of my warm truck to go tie down pipe that should be getting loaded onto the truck any minute now.

With that, I'm outta here!
ben

I get tired of church games.
I don't think there's a church in existence that doesn't "participate" in such frivolity in some way, shape or form.
But still.
The church I am going to now, well.
Over a year ago, I saw a note in the weekly flyer saying anyone that wanted to become a church member can sign up and go through the training course.
Cool, I thought, whatever the course is, even if it's stuff I already know, it should be good.
Well, I was informed shortly before the day of the class that it had been cancelled because of people out with sickness and I would be informed when the next class would take place.

Well that never happened and the there was never any mention of it in the flyer again.  Now, whether that was due to them not wanting certain individuals and not making it public anymore (and yet still having classes that I don't know about ) or whether they stopped altogether - who knows.

But when I went in there this morning, I saw a table set up with 2 books on it.  These books had people's names written in it.  Mine was not in either of them.  It was a listing of all the members and those who could vote for their annual board meeting.  They had to have a quorum of church members present to be able to conduct the business.

I remember this last year as well. It didn't sit so well with me then, but now, after 20 months of going to this church, well, it rubbed me the wrong way.  Not necessarily because I am not on their membership roles, but that the whole situation had been swept under the carpet, nothing was ever said to me again about membership meetings and no-one has, apparently, the intestinal fortitude to come up to me and tell me why  I am not fit for membership in their church.

These are games, IMO.  The type of games that, if not rectified, will lead me to leave permanently.  If I am not eligible for membership in their church and they don't even want to confront me, if such is the case, and tell me why, then they can go blow.  And unlike them, I will have no problem telling them that to their face if it comes to that.  Which I hope it does not, but I certainly went through some mind games this morning after seeing that and not seeing my name in there.  Why is that important to you?  Because, not being able to participate in something like what everyone else in the church or most everyone else in the church can participate in makes me feel like and outsider looking in. No viable input, no nothing.  I could stay if I wanted to, according to today's bulletin, but only members are allowed to vote.

I just want to tell them they can go jump in an icy cold lake.

Instead, I sent them an email and explained the situation (in case someone feigns to not remember) and that I would not be coming back unless they want to have a face-to-face meeting with me (forget the phone calls or the emails, thanks) and tell my why.  That's it.  Just a simple explanation.  Even if it's telling me I am not somehow good enough/disqualified/ whatever, that's what I need to hear.  I can then make a decision as to whether I want to continue on in that church, or, if there is something they prescribe - within reason - that I need to do (and biblically based, thanks), I can deal with that.  But getting the cold shoulder? I've already been through that in churches and I refuse to just play along and act like it doesn't bother me ever again.  Either deal with me and this situation or I will come to the last service I will come to, get up front and explain the situation to everyone in the church whether they want me to or not and let the congregation know the particulars.  The the body of Christ in that church can decide - through hearing from the Lord of course and hopefully - what should occur instead of what's going on now.

That's it.

The Funeral

Well, interesting.

Got to the funeral home.  An all inclusive funeral at that place.  No funeral procession and the wake the same day as the service.  Walked in, got into the room where George was laying in a coffin and sat down.  Just looked around, looked up front at George and pondered.

After a little while, they started a video showing on a drop-down screen of a very large series of photographs of George from birth until recently.  In fact, the most recent photo was of him and his wife at the company party in December.

There was a pretty crowd there considering it was the viewing and the actual service wasn't going to start for another 2 hours.

I took a walk up to the front and took a look at George.  His body had decayed considerably.  I found that interesting because at other viewings I had never seen any decay.  Bodies are filled with the fluid and kept refrigerated as far as I know.  One side of his face was quite puffy looking and there was damage visible.  They had a cap on his head - though for George that certainly wasn't unusual, I am guessing it would have been hard to cover up the "blunt force trauma" that killed him if they hadn't had that on there.   His fingers were - not really fingers anymore from the decay.

I don't really know how morticians can work with bodies like that day in and day out, that is not something I think I would take much pleasure in - at all.  Not to mention having to oversee the services and seeing this kind of thing on a very frequent basis.

Anyway, I got out of there after viewing the entire collection of photos and partway into it a second time and started getting into conversations in the hallway with his family members, only a few of which I know.  I also happened upon George's best friend and not just self-described as such, either, pretty much everyone that knew George said yes, that was his best friend.

The service started and his mother was just losing it.  Of course, that's to be expected.  A pastor got up and used the service as an opportunity to preach the Gospel and I was listening to his mom making comments, turns out she is a very strong Christian woman.

At least half of the crowd ended up over at one of the step-son's house and there was food and tables set up in the back yard.  It was and is quite cool out there.  Cold, actually, at least by my standards.  Which probably isn't saying much compared to those that are currently in the aftermath of that huge blizzard.  I sat down at the best friend's table - they were sitting alone and then a crowd of managers joined the table I was sitting at and we had some interesting discussions.

I hugged the mother on the way out- she broke down in tears as I told her it was very cool that she is a strong, Christian woman.  She gave me a look of surprise.  Yes, I could tell from the way you were talking that you love the Lord, is what I told her.  She went into a very long story of how she absolutely loves the Lord but hates the church, which she considers man-made and not very nice words about it.

I felt compelled to tell her that yes, many churches are built upon man, but there are plenty out there that aren't.  But I didn't push it, no point in it.  I simply told her that we had been praying for her and the rest of the family and that we would continue to do so.  They are going to have a second service in New York, which is where George is from and apparently had many friends back there as well.

That's pretty much it.  5 hours worth and that was enough for me.  Most of the people had cleared out by the time I left the gathering anyway.  Our company's GM told me it did happen on I-40, contrary to some rumors that have been floating around, and that he had, indeed, rolled the pickup into a semi that was already rolled over in the Interstate's center median.  George had hit black ice and that was also what had caused the 2 trucks to crash.  The police report has not been released and won't be until 21 days, so we still won't know exactly what happened out there, but now I have a clear picture of it, anyway.

Home now.  I didn't much figure I would get anything done today with this funeral and the amount of time it would end up taking considering a visitation; service and then a party at a different location afterwards.  But I was glad I went.  I saw some sides to people there that they haven't shown before - mostly referring to management.  George and the ops manager used to hang out together here and there and apparently took trips to different places together.  Well I assume their wives would have been there with them. The GM had nothing but glowing remarks about George the entire time.

It's already past 6:00 pm, so I don't suspect I will do anything today, have church in the morning and dunno about the rest of Sunday.

ben

Money ain't everything, but it definitely is something.
So it goes in my head when I contemplate retirement and attempting to save enough money for such.
Beyond that, however, is where to retire and do I want to have a mortgage at the age of 65 or whatever.
Do I want tenants living in my house forever.
Do I want to stay at the property that I am currently living on.
The answer to all 3 questions is a definitive: NO.

Properties in the area where I would like to retire are running 150k to 200k.

Zestimate - whether accurate or not I am not sure - has come up 36k in the last 4 months on my current property.  Another 35k and that's what I owe on it.  To go any more than that would be surprising, but certainly not unwanted.

Go live in a cheap dump somwhere for 5 to 10 years, save up all the extra money and build a house or cabin.

I don't really know how else to get there.

Better yet, just save up for one of those huge RV trailers with all the slide outs and then live in that for however long, saving as much money as possible.

Or, my original plan, to build a casita on the side of this house and have another rental unit.

Could just find a woman that has a great income, get married and then we can save a LOT of money quickly living together, lol.

Hmmm, the last one certainly sounds tempting if nothing else.

Actually, I really need to consider raising the rent on the tenants I have in here now.  Not being greedy, but my rates are around $75 to $100 per month less than "current market value", which is going up and up and up as renting is becoming the standard for people who have lost homes and have no choice but to rent - or live under a bridge.  Ohhhh, that I could just find somewhere where I could live realllly cheap without it being a total dump.  Of course, I have been known to fix up dumps to make them nice places to live.

Whatever.  Lots of thoughts swirling around in my mind, no conclusions on what to do.  

With that, it's off to work!

G'day.

ben

They arrested her and threw her in jail!
I got a letter from the City of Phoenix today telling me all about it and how the city is sorry that I have been the victim of a crime.  This is referencing Duke who was basically mauled by this woman's 3 pitbulls.
Look, I am just not that vindictive.  Dogs biting dogs.  If it was her 3 pitbulls mauling a human, I would  have a different view of it.  Her dogs are definitely gone - at the pound but I don't know if they are going to be put down or what, they are under quarantine.  I don't know what to say.   "Whosoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished."

I dunno.  

So I am making a delivery to a business.  The business is in a complex which is only accessible through a narrow driveway going into the area.  The are is a line of business down either side with a driveway going in a loop - or more like a rectangle once you get in there.  This is not a place for a semi.  Well it's too late, I am already in there.  I get out of the truck after talking to the man at the business and walk down to the end at the turn and then another turn to come back the other side. No way is that truck going to make it around that turn with all those vehicles and motorcycles parked there, not even close. 

The man starts informing me that a 53' trailer comes in there all the time with a long wheel base tractor. I'm looking at that turn and thinking this guy is on drugs.  He doesn't drive trucks, he has no clue what he is talking about.  I just said okay, but let's get the truck unloaded.  He continues to tell me how this big, long truck comes in there almost every day. I continue to let it go through one ear and out the other.  That turn is impossible with all the vehicles parked there, I wasn't even going to try it.  

At the end of this "discussion" and his continual bantering about how this "other" driver could make it through there, he finally admits that the truck comes in there early in the morning before anything is opened and all those vehicles aren't parked there.

Give me a break.  I was blocking a line of cars trying to get in.  When finally done, I pulled over to the side, waited until all of it cleared and then started backing out of there. Talk about a test of backing skill.  You would just have to see this place to appreciate it.  All the way out to the major surface street with LOTS of traffic on it. I waited and waited until there was enough of a break and cranked that baby right out there.  Traffic had to stop, yes, but what else was I supposed to do.  

Oh, and now my company is going to install satellite and will be able to track every truck in the fleet wherever it is.  A total and complete waste of money. The only purpose it will serve is to find out who is slacking off.  I don't really care if they see where I am at every minute of the day, I am busting @$$ so whatever.  But I do consider it micro-management at it's finest.  Someone looking over your should as often as they please to look on the computer and see.  This isn't just my manager, this is any manager in the company that has a hard-on to "catch" someone doing - what?  It will not alter anything for me.  I will still stop at the store and get my lunch.  That's the only "slacking" I do, which is not slacking at all anyway.  If I am driving all day long, I don't care what anyone thinks about me stopping at a store for 3 minutes to pick up a sandwich and a drink. 

I guess what I am not really fond of is micro-management.  I don't need or want someone watching over me every minute of the day.  I am self-motivated and I earn my money, thank you very much. I'll get used to it, had it some trucks when I was doing OTR stuff, but I can see the use for it there.  

Anyways, the GM (of my company of course) wrote a mass email today asking for anyone/everyone to send in any emails or whatever they might want to say to remember George by (the dude that was killed in the vehicle accident a week ago today).  Well, that was in my in-box when I came back from the road but also a personal one:  he was asking me if it would be okay to post my letter that I had written to him about the situation the day it happened.  It was a fairly personal letter to him, I know he really liked that particular worker and just wanted to send him something to offer some support.  

I re-read the letter and kinda hemmed and hawed on that one.  But it was obvious he wanted to put it in there, but at the same time he was trying to make it not-so-obvious.  I wrote back and said yes, if you feel it's appropriate, it was what was in my heart at the time and now still in my heart.  He wrote back and conveyed that the letter was very good, or however he put it and he thought George's wife would really like to see that.  

Cool.  George was a great guy.  A life taken to soon, I think.  He had a lot going on and a lot to look forward to.  We'll definitely all miss him.  I already miss him, lol, not seeing him downtown.  When he was there - which sometimes he was and sometimes he was out on the field - he would help me get everything together I needed to get on the truck and get out of there.  We would chat and talk about all kinds of things.  We weren't best friends, I'm not saying that, but we definitely got along and definitely talked about personal issues that had nothing to do with the company.  

Nice birthday. The college aged tenant made steak dinner and included me along in that equation.  That with fresh asparagus; mushroom and mashed potatoes - not made from boxed flakes.  I'm guessing 60 or 70 birthday wishes on my Facebook page.  My dad?  Got a card to me today, right on time : )  Nothing from my brothers, but not expected either.  An email with happy birthday would suffice - such as I do with them.  But, same-o, same-o.  Of course mom called besides already sending me 2 birthday cards!  

And an eviction notice.  The individual I was trying to help in the trailer has not been looking for a job.  I have heard 3 reports from 3 different people that he's screwing girls in there.  He has been avoiding me.  I pounded on the door 3 times today, no answer.  I just went in - but the "bedroom" draw-thingy was pulled close, I have no idea whether he was back there or not.  Whatever the case, I give people a chance in life.  If they do something with it, wonderful, if they do not, they can go mooch somewhere else.  

Umm, so that's it for now.  Much more, actually, but nothing I am going to go into now.  It's almost my bedtime : )

ben

My birthday today!!! I'm 49 years old!! Whooopeeee! lol

I was starting to get a bit antsy about it.
3 weeks and nothing.
I am speaking of rent coming from a certain individual.  I have 3 rooms of tenants.
Anyway, I figured if I didn't hear something or better yet, see some dinero by the end of today, well, time for notices.
Fortunately, the situation was resolved without having to say anything at all about it and that's that : )

Copied and pasted from my Facebook wall:
Driving the semi (48 foot flatbed trailer on International 8600 tractor) down the Santan/Loop 202 Freeway this afternoon, toodling along in the "slow" lane, had been in it for about 8 miles. A car comes zipping up, cuts directly in front of me - less than a car length of distance between my front bumper and his rear bumper - and hits the brakes. Truck was fully loaded, but light material, meaning not a heavy load and I was able to get slowed down. Immediately went into the middle lane to get past this - person - which took a few seconds to get back up to speed. JUST as I was about to overtake that car, he tried to cut me off again! But I had too much momentum, no slowing down this time, he started to enter my lane - with maybe 5 feet between us if he had actually come over - but apparently the idea of being mowed down by a semi was not palatable and got back over in his lane. Not that I want to mow people down, this individual was putting his life in his own hands. This was, probably anyway, a person wanting me to hit him in a rear end accident and then collect insurance money. I got well past this driver - but then that person got into the third lane, sped WAY up and then did the cut-off yet again. I was prepared for it this time and also was at my exit ramp. I simply got off the freeway. I figured if this person wanted to continue this BS, I would pull over to the side of the road and call the police. The lunacy of people playing with semi trucks in traffic, especially at high speeds. A crash between the 2 vehicles could easily result in that person's death or serious injuries. To risk your life for money is - absurd at best.
  Lol, why type it twice when it can be copied and pasted once.

That wasn't actually, the only thing that happened in traffic today with stupid drivers doing stupid things, but it was, by far, the most notable thing.

This morning was also - interesting. Pipe that was supposed to be picked up Friday - which I couldn't because I couldn't get to the manufacturer before they closed - was therefore picked up this morning.  I called the inside salesman that is on the account to ask him about the ticket.  He started going ballistic on me because I hadn't delivered the first load yet. I was not in the mood.  I can't say my response to him was Christian-like, not even remotely such.  I won't go into the details, but there were no pleasantries and I eventually hung up on him.

Then, I got to the jobsite to deliver the pipe.  It is some sort of city owned ranch for educational purposes about farming.  Whatever the case, I did not see a backhoe or trackhoe (excavator) and called the number on the delivery ticket to inquire where, exactly, they wanted the pipe to be dropped.

The man was a total jerkoff.  He stated that I was in the wrong place.  I was not in the wrong place.  He insisted I must be at the wrong place and when I attempted to confirm with him where he wanted the pipe dropped at this site - many places it could be taken off - he hung up on me.  The man's attitude was foul.  I called the inside salesman again who said he was sorry, he had "forgotten" to tell me that this guy was known to be an @$$ with everyone.  I could have cared less, I was not calling that guy back.  In fact, I didn't care if I never saw him, much less talked to him on the phone again.

I resolved that situation -without dragging on this story forever - and moved on.  It was on the way there that the above-mentioned story on the freeway occurred.

Interesting day, I guess.

I slept miserably last night, woke up probably a dozen times.  When I finally got home from work today, I decided to take short nap - 20 minutes or so.  I woke up an hour and 20 minutes later and had to force myself to get up, it was like it was the middle of the night I had fallen into such a deep sleep.  The only thing that woke me up was it was still daytime and I usually do not sleep very well in lighted conditions.

Ummm, well tomorrow is my birthday - will turn 49 - and my manager wants me to go out with him to a fancy pizza joint and get "ripped".  No thanks, but I'll have a couple of beers I guess.  I don't want to get ripped, number one and number 2, even if I did want to, I still have to drive home afterwards.

Enough.

ben

33 days without any form of meat.
I can say that I eat far less food when eating meat versus not.
There is nothing else that fills you up like meat and keeps you feeling full and mind off of food.
That is, of course, my opinion.  But I tried all of it, everything I found at the big veggie stores that cater to vegans.  Some of it tasted delicious, some of it not so good.  But whether it was delicious or not, it was, in the end, only veggies or tofu or some such thing and the full feeling doesn't last very long.

I'm sure it's great for your health - eating only veggies and such and probably good for lowering cholesterol levels.  But I can't honestly say I "feel" any better than when eating meat on a daily basis (as some would suggest will happen).  Though this is definitely not the point or purpose of fasting, it is still something I had wondered about for a long time.

As for the purpose of the fast, certainly there have been benefits of a personal nature of which I won't go into here, sorry.  There have also been a number of mind battles going on, in the Christian realm they are called attacks from the enemy (satan).  He doesn't want to let go of anyone.  If he has you in any form of bondage - and if you are not saved, it's pretty much 100% guaranteed you have some sort of chains holding you down and some sort of addiction or things you do, usually self-destructive - that are keeping you in "bondage" to the enemy's desire for your life: to end up in a lake of fire.  He doesn't care about any of us, he pretty much hates us, good thing God is FAR greater (being the Creator, that equation is easily true).

I'm still working through some things, to be honest, not easy things either.  You get into patterns, habits in life and some of them may not be so good for you either spiritually, physically or both at the same time.  I'm not talking about Jim Jones Kool Aid type of thing, not suicidal or anything remotely close to that, but we tend to look at things in life and think: "well that's not really so bad" in comparing it to everyone else or looking at the news and seeing all kinds of mayhem going on in this world.

Perhaps God sees your life differently and desires you to live a better life that is more spiritually fulfilled and that is a life that is pleasing to the Father in Heaven.  Perhaps there is a greater purpose for your life which you may have not even thought about, much less explored.  I have gone through all the thought processes - as much as I know anyway - in such realms and have come to the conclusion that there is nothing in this world that compares to simply loving the Lord with all of my heart and following hard after Him.

However, I can also honestly say that there are 3 T-Bone steaks sitting my refrigerator.  I was going to get New York Strip or even Porterhouse, but I opted for the "bargain" priced stuff instead (50% off at Fry's).  And besides, any steak will taste like a Porterhouse at this point!

So, the "prophecies" of the doom and gloomers are starting to come to light.  Not that I wanted to see any of it happen, but, the fact of the matter is, inflation is here and not going away.  Food prices continue to rise and  so does the cost of just about everything else.  A few are "prescribing" that food prices will literally soar in the next 3 months.

I read such things and wonder if they are going to occur.  I then think that if they do, there is nothing much I can do about it and therefore, why bother worrying.  I can store up some food in the pantry and try to save up a bit of extra cash if things get really tight, but in the end, I only have God and Him alone to trust and obey.

I have lived in poverty in the past and can honestly say that I don't think ill of the time I spent in such condition.  It does, actually, cause' you to be more thankful for the little things you do have and if you acquire something that had been out of reach for a long time, even moreso appreciative of having had the opportunity to acquire such.  Such as the time my water heater went out and I went without hot water in the house for 6 months.  I was so poor that I couldn't afford to buy a new OR used one.  Or going through very hot summers with only evaporative cooling to keep the house cool.  In 115 degree heat outside, the house would get up to somewhere in the low to mid 90's inside.  I would sit there with only shorts on and a fan blowing at me, drinking a lot of ice water. But, I didn't sit there feeling sorry for myself, it was what it was.

I have considered the ways of the rich and have come to the conclusion that regardless of what income level you are at, you can either be happy, or very often, be extremely miserable.  Considering the ways of the rich as referred to in numerous places in the Bible, being rich is not, actually, a desirable thing considering the traps and snare that rich men and women can and often times do fall into.  I could go live in a small travel trailer, such as I have done in the past, and be as happy as living in this 2,000 square foot house.  If I have a comfy bed and my dogs can fit in there, who cares.

Do I put such a great value on my dogs?  To some degree, yes.  They don't care what I look like, how I smell or how rich or poor I am.  They are content to be fed once a day and show me great affection regardless of what is going on in my life.  They feel when I am stressed and they always come to my side when I am under some kind of duress.  I don't know how they know that, but they do.  They don't argue with me or tell me that I "should" be doing this or that.  They're usually only unhappy when I am unhappy but try to cheer me up in whatever way they can.

They do not, of course, take the place of human interaction or a relationship with the Lord, not even trying to say that at all.

Regardless, though I don't really want to be poor, I will be happy with whatever situation I am in.  I have tenants galore living here - sometimes that causes problems and sometimes I dream of having my place to myself - but usually we all get along and the little things that happen are usually quickly forgotten.  I am not poor now, at least I certainly don't consider myself in such condition.  I only need look to our friends to the south of the border to confirm that.  Or even throughout our own nation.  Or my friend in the Philippines who told me a few days ago that many of the people in the area he lives in can only afford to eat once per day.  Which is why, he states, Philippine women like to find American men and marry them.  He states their living conditions almost always increase exponentially and worrying about eating 3 times a day or even getting 2 meals per day is no longer an issue.

Do you have to worry about what you are going to eat every day?  I only think of WHAT I am going to eat, not IF I am going to be able to afford to.  How many nations on this earth are full of people in the same such condition: malnourished, starving and whose only thought in the morning is where to get fresh drinking water and what they are going to be able to put on the table to eat for that day.

Yes, you have heard that all of your life and though it moves you a bit, it doesn't cause you to take any action (such as sending money to a missionary overseas to help him or her in their endeavors to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and in many cases teach the people how to farm and feed themselves).  If you would really like to get a heart for people in such condition, which is probably a good percentage of this world, you need only take a trip to such a place and visit them first-hand.  There are plenty of missionary organizations out there that will allow you to take a week or 2 or however long you wish to stay and see and experience first-hand what it is like.  Your life will be changed forever.  If it is not, then I suggest you really need to seek the Lord about the state of your heart and your potential dwelling place in eternity, as I would also suggest that it may not include any portion of heaven involved.

If you wonder, readers that have been reading me for years and there are at least a a few here, why I give out food to hungry people locally even when I'm not doing that great financially myself, you need only reference the above statements to get where I am coming from.  I doubt that, when I stand before the Lord, that He is going to fault me for having helped the poor and needy.  In fact, Christ commanded us to feed the hungry.  I undoubtedly will have to answer for a lot of other things, but then there is the shed blood of Christ, thankfully, that atones for my sin.  Not that that gives me a carte blanche pass to go out and sin and do whatever I please, quite to the contrary, I am thankful for my name having been written in the Lamb's Book of Life (you can Google that and find that in scripture if you please) or I can simply give you the scripture to look it up: The Book of Revelations, Chapter 21, Verse 27.  No, I am seeking to live a life that pleases my Father in Heaven, not causes him to look at me through the eyes of wrath.

Whatever the case, I have a bonus coming in my next paycheck and a portion of that is going to buy a case of Bible for my friend in the Philippines so that he can hand them out to those that he knows will read them.  Earthly food is good for the here and now, the Heavenly food - the Word of God - is good for all of eternity. A person needs both.

I am also tired of my own lack of faith.  Am I walking in the power and authority that is to be had for the believer?  No.  I have never raised the dead or done other such things as the Bible clearly states is for the believer to walk in - for the Glory of God and the expansion of His eternal Kingdom (and no other reason, such as puffing up man or attempting to show what "you" can do).  I have cast out a few demons in the past and I have prayed with people that had been sick for a long, long time and seen them healed the same day.  Glory to God alone.  But what this world and certainly this nation needs is to see the reality of God.  Tumors and cancers to be eradicated immediately from a person's body; dead people being brought to life that are laying in coffins at viewings - people whose bodies are ravaged by whatever and filled with embalming fluid being brought back to life.  These things are possible. I firmly believe that.  God is the Creator and the Creator who made all of these bodies is easily able to "fix" them.  It's "me" that's the problem.  This is what I am seeking after: that the world may "see" God through the miracles such as what Jesus did when he was walking this earth and healing the sick everywhere he went.

But it's a battle. The flesh doesn't like it and the enemy most certainly doesn't like it, either.  Anything that brings Glory to the Most High God the enemy would like to bring down and stop before it starts.  But I will not dwell on the enemy too long, he is a liar and he has been cast out of Heaven and his fate is sealed.  I have a lack of faith, that's what I am saying and I want that faith to be increased and that is one thing that I have been praying for during this fast.  I realized that before that is going to happen, certain things in my life have to be dealt with and the dealing has long since begun.

With that I must be about the morning's business. Namely, taking a shower and getting ready for church.

Happy Sunday.

ben

Finally got some more information about the co-worker that was killed.  He was driving up a hill on the highway, came to the top to be greeted by a crash that had occurred right there on the other side of the hill.
Road conditions were bad with ice and snow.  A witness said he was swerving back and forth (lost control) attempting to avoid the crash, the pickup he was driving rolled several times and finally crashed into the semi truck that was already in the other crash that had already occurred.

The coroner apparently stated that he had 2 very deep gashes in his head - ie: brain injuries and a large number of broken bones.  I did not hear whether he had survived and taken to a hospital or had been killed on impact, but from the sound of the injuries I would veer towards either instant death or fast death shortly after the crash occurred.

As word spreads around that someone was killed in our company, so are the reactions.  Today, walking into a vendor to get some materials, the desk-dude was shocked to see me standing there.  "I thought you were dead".  A not-so-comforting thought.  No, not me.  The dude that smokes, that's the one that is dead.  He's the only one that smokes that goes around picking things up, so easiest way to identify who it was that passed on to the next life.

3 days left to go one the meatless fast.  Although I am definitely ready for a thick, juicy steak, the fast has been good and productive.  Got some interesting words from the Lord at the prayer meeting a few nights ago and am going to go again to the final prayer meeting concerning this fast tomorrow night (Lord willing, of course).  I think I might have a beer with that steak!

I was contemplating going up north tomorrow but with Duke's situation, I think I am going to give it a pass until next weekend.  And anyway, the prayer meeting tomorrow night and the end of the fast on Sunday, this weekend really wouldn't be a good one to take off up there anyway.  I tend to try and go up on a Friday afternoon so I can have 2 full nights up there and come back Sunday morning.  But in this case, I haven't been up there in a while, so if I go next weekend instead of this, I can just sleep in on Sunday and come back by early afternoon and skip church for one weekend.  Not the end of the world to miss one Sunday at church.

I was speaking with my mom today and she is all kinds of concerned about the door to her shed up there.  Apparently my older brother was up there a bit ago and told her the door won't shut properly and can't be locked.  She wants me to fix it while I'm up there.  Well, maybe.  They have the high temp for 2 Saturdays from now forecast at 56 degrees with the low at 24.  My first thought in cold weather like that is not to be fixing things in freezing cold weather.  We'll see.  My first thought is to take some cocoa up and already have coffee and tea up there and spend some quality time in the Word up in the mountains.  Of course I have Direct TV up there and internet access as well, so, not like cut off from the world (though in reality, I don't wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to go ahead and take a break from internet/facebook/all of this stuff and just meditate on the Word and on the Lord).

Caleb wants to take my car up to Heber - which is further on up the road from my mother's property, about another 50 miles I think - and go to the Salvation Army camp again with a friend in February.  I am undecided about that one.  He is a good enough driver - he hasn't been in any accidents since he started driving and no tickets - but driving on open highway and up on the Rim where there my be the potential for ice on the road is a completely different story.  Not to mention that car is my ride to and from work every day.  I will probably let him take it, but I told him I would be praying about it first before making any decision.  Any "check" in my spirit about it and I will be inclined to say no.  He started talking about taking that old Buick up there and I simply said no.  I don't trust that car to do anything more than get him around town.  If it breaks down in town, not terribly difficult to get it towed home or to a garage.  Out  on the open highway, totally different story.  Rent a truck and a car trailer to get it back.  I actually have no idea whether that thing would be good for a drive up there or not, I just simply don't think it's a good idea.  I still have this thing about my co-worker being killed on an icy road on Tuesday running through my head, probably that is weighing on me more right now than anything.

I hit Walmart on the way home from work today to get some dog food.  I figured to get some 12 gauge target rounds - I figured wrong.  Not a single box of ANY kind of 12 gauge ammo in the entire case.  ONE box of .40 caliber in there - expensive stuff at $45 per box, no thanks.  I had been in that store about a month ago looking and it was low on ammo then, but this was even worse.  I read today that some group wants to sue the government for allowing lead in bullets - their reasoning they did away with lead in everything else.  Ummm, how much of the supply of ammo out there doesn't have some amount of lead in it? Yeah.

I'm not going to go into politics here, at least not today.  Too much going on, much of it bluster and hot air, the same old stuff not even packaged differently.  Dems blaming GOP, GOP blaming Dems.  Same-o, same-o.  The only thing I have seen of interest is the rise in the stock market - which has been great for my 401k!  Umm, but let's not get too excited, my 401k does not have that much money in it.

Enough.  Tomorrow is Friday, the entire day at work from the time I clock in until the time I clock out will be overtime.  I was informed today that management "bitches" about it regardless of whether it is justified or not.   Our 2-man crew has delivered/sold over 500k in sales this month at about 15% gross profit. I guess profit could stand to be a bit higher, but no other store in our region has higher GP so no biggies.  Meaning, to me, that the OT is justified.  All other branches have a lot more people working at it and most of them do not do anything close to the amount of sales we are dealing with each month.  They are, in effect, saving money in not having to pay another full time person and  the subsequent benefits they would incur with another person.   I think the not having to pay substantial amounts of benefits to another person is quite the savings in itself - but - we had asked for another person to be hired either for our shop only or to be split up time-wise between our branch and the main branch.  Nope, not happening.  So, I have no sympathy.  I need the money anyway, definitely not complaining about my paychecks : )

G'nite.

ben