Blogs

FYI, I have at least 8 different blogs on numerous different sites. I have a couple of blogs that are for me only. No-one knows where they're at and I haven't seen them on any Google searches. I don't write on those very often - sorty of puking blogs - get it out of the system and move on.

The one I switched to recently is the same one I was using after JS crashed and really didn't know where to go on Wordpress. I consider that a sort of anonymous blog - some people know where it is, but it's all people that I know from JS or online anyway, so no big deal there.

I doubt I will ever totally abandon blogging, but there are definitely times where the "I don't feel like writing so I won't" atmosphere sets in and I'm done with it for awhile.

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas, that atmosphere has not set in, rather, somewhat of a disgust at what certain, other bloggers were doing got me to going to other places to write my entries.
As I said, just an FYI.

The newest tenant is - broke pretty much. He is a bartender - just out of the military as well - had a heckuva time finding work. When he finally did find a gig, it's pretty much minimum wage. He's a good guy and he's out putting in the applications all over the place, at least he's trying. This particular person is going to do the "work for reduced rent" scenario.

I have PLENTY of work I can keep him busy at around my house, that's a fact. There are odd jobs I don't want to do, really, which hopefully he has basic skills such as painting walls and pulling grass - junk like that. His rent will be $200 with the work, $375 without it. Judging from his sounds of desperation, I will be getting the work out of him - my ad stated a minimum of 25 hours per month. You break that down into an hourly wage, and it ain't much, but I made it clear on my ad what I was offering and ain't forcin' no-one to do it.

In fact, I made it VERY clear about how it's going to work. He's got this month paid up so he doesn't want to start until next month. All well and fine, if he's serious about it, I am going to have him keep a log of hours worked and what was done. This is the only way to keep track of it. The situation with Mary was intolerable, yes, but at the same time, she did probably 50 hours of work per month and she was still paying $400 per month for the room.

I've got myself half talked into letting her go on the lawsuit - the work she did on the front of the house remains and it was worth a lot more than the rent I took off every month. The only stickling point with her about letting her off the hook was her attempt to get police to arrest me by claiming that I had shoved her.

I don't shove ladies - or in her case a woman, ladies don't use meth in my book, women might, but not the ladies - I don't hit them, pull their hair, spit on them, whatever. That's kind of been a life-long thing for me, I doubt that will EVER change. It's pretty much a simple enough thing to walk away from a person or hang up the phone when someone is being abusive than to get angry and start thinking about a fight or violence.

The question must pose oneself when challenged to a fight is, which is harder? To walk away or stand there and fight? I'll tell you right now, it's much harder to walk away, oh yes it is. Especially if a person is taunting you, maybe throwing in the C-word: Coward, yellow-belly, lemonade-bleeding wimp - all that wonderful stuff. I have walked away from people saying that stuff to me. I have no doubt that if those people would have laid a finger on me, the outcome would have been different, but they didn't, it was all talk, and in the end, they have to live with their childishness and I am able to cope that I walked away from a cocky, mouthy, moron and not get into it.

So, anyway, we'll see how the work-for-reduced-rent scenario goes. If he finds a better paying job, I doubt he'll want anything to do with that. In fact, if he finds the money he's trying to get - by getting into a place where bartenders are walking home with anywhere between $200-$400 per night, he'll undoubtedly end up getting his own place. I actually hope I can get at least one month out of him, though, I have some things I have put off simply because I have a plate full of projects right now.

Changing the subject, today is the first official day that the dogs are banished to the great outdoors when I'm away at work. I was watching video surveillance yesterday and that sealed it. They were in my living room, rough-housing. The Dane mix was up on my couch - a thing she KNOWS I hate her doing, standing there with this defiant look on her face. The Danes walked around their living room, smelled one of my indoor plants - and yes - they lifted their legs.

THAT is IT. When I saw that, that sealed their fate. They will never be allowed in the house while I'm gone again - not unless I can figure out a way to get all the smell out of there and get them to stop the activity. For now, they are dogs, they can handle it. I put a nice strip of carpeting out on the cement for them to lay on, that's the best I'm going to do. I'm imagining the only way I will be able to get the behavior to change is to get rid of the carpeting in that living room and go ahead and install the ceramic tile I want to put in there.

Money, of course, is stopping me from doing that. We figured it out - about $800 for the materials to get it done. Totally out of the question right now. I have a savings account where I'm putting a little here and there into it - nothing grand but it's there to eventually fund a project or 2 that I want to get done around there. Frankly, the economy's going to have to come back up and my hours are going to have to be reinstated before any serious projects are going to occur. The drip system is almost totally paid for, I just have to get the work done.

Well, the work day approacheth and thankfully, there IS something to do in there that should eat up the day - or most of it anyway.
ben