I Started To Travel.............

............all over the place today in terms of visiting people's blogs. Some of the stuff going on in people's lives make my problems look - quite small and insignificant. It was a wake-up call for me to continue praying for many people that are going through so many different - stressful - and sometimes gut-wrenching things.

I hate to see people getting sick, or hurt, or losing their jobs. You read it in their words: the tension is palpable, the loss of any kind of security is frightening. Some of those people come here. I want you to know that I am praying for you - I lift up prayers to the Lord frequently for people that are going through all kinds of things on Blogspot and other blogging venues.

And then there's all the crap going on in the world. I read about a town somewhere in New Mexico, I think it was, that is basically lawless and that some of the Mexican drug lords have actually moved in there. This was - an unbelievable thing to read. A town where they openly know that these kinds of people are living there and nothing is being done about it? The story goes on - you'll have to find it if you are interested and read it for yourself. I don't understand the "security" for a lawless group of thugs and murderers living on our side of the border.

The swine flu scare. Pirates in Somalia. North Korea a viable nuclear threat. On, and on, and on. I find peace through my Lord and I also find peace by tuning this stuff out at some point and discontinuing reading about it. I am not living in a cave or on an island - I do like to find out what's going on in this world, but I find that I can only take so much of it and then, turn it off. I have enough troubles of my own - and I am also actively helping other people who are going through tough times right now in giving out food here and there as I can. In other words, I do what small part I can and leave the rest up to each individual as each person chooses - to reach out or not to reach out.

As for today? I made the boys go out there and paint all 3 trellises - well, not paint them, apply the wood seal to them. They have been out there an hour and should be out there another hour at least. I made no promises of anything, either. Caleb is allegedly going to go find a job when he turns 16 - which is later this month. I hope he finds a job and I definitely expect him to get a dose of life. Life can be extremely difficult at times - have we not all experienced that - going to work is a part of it. Most days I love going to work, some days I drag my @$$ out of bed and force myself to go through the motions to get myself there. Once there, the mind always kicks into automatic - do this, that and the other thing - a daily routine.

He has definitely gotten some doses of reality through JR ROTC, though, and I have fully supported him in that endeavor. It's the kind of program that starts to prepare you for the reality of life. Daddy will be there as long as daddy is alive - that would be me - and he will always be welcomed in my home, but the time is coming when he will move out on his own. I am slowly preparing myself for this eventuality. I cannot envision myself without having kids in my life. I love kids, I love having them around. The most probable scenario when the day comes that he is gone is that I will try to adopt. I have been reading about it - to great extent actually - single parents are welcomed into that system. That's because of the total lack of sufficient families that are willing to adopt.

Anyway, Michael is a totally different story. He is in for a big surprise. Even high school is a wake-up call. He will undoubtedly flunk most of his classes this year. I don't even know that they call it flunking anymore - but I will ALWAYS call it that, especially when it's caused by a person failing to show up for school or doing homework with the parents saying - yeah, that's okay. It's okay to do what? Set up your kid to fail? Try that s*** in college and see how far it gets you. Or the military - or any venue in life.

Ummm, enough. Finally got motivated and am heading outside into this horrid humidity heat to get some things done.
ben

Saturday

I came home from work yesterday just absolutely exhausted, after not getting near enough sleep the night before. I still went outside and watered just about everything. Unfortunately, the "wave" wasn't over yet, so I visited the casino for a couple of hours as well. I tend to ride out winning streaks until they're gone. Last night, my "take" was only $70 - but - it's $70 I didn't have before last night - so I'll take it. Is the wave over? Who knows. I enjoy the outings is all I can say about that.

Chad - the gentleman that left a message on one of my entries a couple of entries down - was true to his word. Of course, I could hardly ever imagine talking to a company official making promises like that and not carry through with them. I received the gift card yesterday in the mail. Thank you, Chad! I was going to spend the whole thing on my food storage supply, but I have altered the plan to use 80% for food storage and the other 20% for a nice, thick, juicy steak. Ohhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah. I was thinking of making homemade coleslaw again - a big hit in these parts of the world (well, at my house anyway :|) and get a picnic roast, slow cook it and make more BBQ - I guess I'll just make up my mind when I get over to Fry's later on today.

I am supposed to go over today or tomorrow and dig that tree out. I do want that tree, but I most certainly do not feel like digging that thing out. I envision a LOT of work to remove a tree, even if it isn't that big. I was thinking of getting one of those "day laborers" that hang out on the street corners and pay him $25 to dig the thing out - the tree would be worth far more than that - and not do anything but sit there and watch the person do the digging for me. I'm only half awake right now and it's still early - give that some thought.

Michael did not go to school yesterday. He does tend to come up with some interesting excuses. Apparently he spent the whole day at my house. For the excuse, he should have just come over here the night before and - he then would have no excuses. What was the reason he didn't go to school? Well, first off, he told me I wouldn't believe him. So I started making guesses. I was way off.

Turns out his dad got drunk, extremely drunk - well I cut him off there and started making more guesses. I was still way off. First, that guy never used to drink. The advent of Michael's mom getting a job and actually sticking with it plays out to the purchases of a lot of alcohol and a lot of marijuana. When it comes to money management, those people have absolutely no clue, and if it wasn't for the great State of Arizona and the Federal Government paying for their housing and giving them food stamps (and Lord knows what else), they would be out on the street and would be hungry.

Anyway, dad apparently cranked up the music and left the volume so high, people inside their homes 150 feet away could hear it. Me? I would have called the police after 10:00 pm for violation of noise ordinances. But that's just me. Michael claims the music was on that loud, all night long, until he finally passes out (the dad, that is) and then they shut it off. I can't even imagine that man being drunk. He's already a hot-head, I envision a man going crazy and threatening everyone and going off without reason. Certainly NOTHING I want to be around.

Ummmm - long break. All tenants converged on the kitchen at once. The newest made French Toast. Yummmm.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with this day.
If it keeps going like this, the question will answer itself.
Happy Saturday!
ben