Serenity

I really want to hone in on this. I know I spoke of is yesterday - don't really remember if it was here or "there", but it's something I'm tuning into.

Yesterday, a "lazy" Sunday afternoon - not so lazy since I was busy working all over the place around the house, but still - I was sitting on the east side of the house.

From the beginning, when this house was placed on this property, I saw the potential of this portion of my property as being an oasis. I knew that GETTING there would be a major challenge - it takes money to do nice things with your property.

Sure, you can diligently scour Craigslist, a thing I have done to no end - and you can go to yard sales and you can try to find things when they are on sale - I have done all of that. But you don't ALWAYS find exactly what you're looking for on sale or cheap.

I have resisted getting something "lessor" over there because of my intense desire to make that place an oasis.

What really tuned it in was the fact that those ridiculous dogs next door had a temporary lapse for whatever reason. I could see them through the fence, staring at me and my dogs, but they were not barking. My dogs were lazily laying in the grass, simply enjoying being with - me, actually. I don't call them out there, they follow me like a magnet to steel. I let all 3 of the big dogs come out front with me now.

I do that to train them to STAY on the property. If that gate ever gets left open again, I hope by that time I have them ALL trained to STAY HERE. One of them got it last time, maybe they will ALL get it if ever again. They are very social animals, I don't have to worry about them attacking someone or someone's pet walking down the street. The worst that will happen is they don't listen and go up to that person or animal and start sniffing.

Of course, if the animal they GO to is prone to violence, that could lead to an unhappy ending. Which is why I keep an eye on both ends of the street - if anyone is coming with a dog, my boys and girl are going back behind the gate.

Oh, the beauty of tranquility. The essence of simply taking in life and the good it has to offer. Looking around thinking thoughts of heaven and just total peace. I couldn't get enough of it, yesterday.

I sat there in the peace, looking at the area I was in, thinking what I would like to do with it. Plenty of thoughts came to mind, all of it costs money. I'm not complaining, it gives me goals. Goals to find ways to make these things happen.

I was out there again today, but it was very warm - 106 high today - so I didn't exactly have the same feeling. Tomorrow and the rest of the week have 100 as the high and lower. That is something I an deal with. I have plenty I can do over there right now without spending any more money, including the installation of that drip system. It will start in earnest very soon - as soon as I know I can just sit there in coolness or mild warmth and not have to think about how unbelievable hot it is out there.

By next summer - providing I still have this place and don't lose it to foreclosure or something bad happens - I will have a misting system out there and I am going to install a small patio cover made out of materials I can get for free from work. They throw away beautiful 4x4's all the time. It would be a very simple matter to cement 4 of them into the ground and then build a roof type of thing on it and install a misting system into it. Okay, I would have to pay for the cement and other small items, it would be very cheap.

There is no reason I should be thinking about spending my time on the WEST side of the house outside during the summer when I can do something very affordably with the EAST side of the house. I have those Sissoo trees growing like weeds on the west side of the house, by next summer I hope they can do some good in casting some shadows over there.

I'm a total tree fanatic. I have 13 Sissoo trees planted and a 14th left to go, and yes I've found a place for it, and yes, it will be planted in the next few days. There are a total of 25 trees planted now when considering the ficus. No, make that 26 with the tiny little pine tree that, in 25 years, will be a behemoth. These are all small trees. I wasn't waiting for the day before never, I had the opportunity to get the Sissoos and the Ficus cheap. Sissoos are native to India, I have read, and do not need alot of watering.

BUT, if you DO a lot of watering, they grow like CRAZY!!

Back to the east side of the house. During summer, besides the misting system, a simple evaporative cooler will give the additional cooling needed out there to make me not go insane wanting to BE out there, but NOT wanting to be in the excessive and abusive heat.

I had a very enjoyable day out there yesterday. I could stand some more of them.

ben

Think I'll Post Over Here For A Little While

I am not leaving KCL - I said I wouldn't so I won't. That does not mean I HAVE to post over there. When all the foul and vicious junk that's going on over there dies down, I'll get back to it over there. I suspect that even though there's a temporary lull, the worst of it is yet to come. Certainly, it's not totally over.

I just have other things I need to focus on right now and that kind of atmosphere does not lend well to it. This morning, the amount of lewd vulgarity was more than I could handle. So call me a wimp, I like to think of myself as civilized, out of the Barbarian age and beyond such things. I love a lot of people over there, but the mob mentality took over if not temporarily, just wait a few days for it to die down.

Now, read this again, for anyone that wants to go running to KCL: I am NOT leaving the place and I am not trashtalking it. I am speaking my opinion. I think the admins of the place are great people who have been put under a lot of stress and probably, they might back off from it for a day or two just to let the air clear. But, I'm just a squeaky little voice, it's only my opinion, I am holding NOTHING against any one person, and I like many of the people over there.

Meanwhile, I always have my good ole' Blogspot blog.

The IRS is INSISTING I file a return for the year 2007. WHY they singled out that year, I have no clue. I have heard countless times from various experts that if you don't owe money to the IRS, you don't HAVE to file. They have sent me 2 notices. I called them Friday. The lady was kind enough - it isn't the IRS treatment of the past where you are a scumbag that hasn't paid your taxes even if there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that.

And CERTAINLY, I pay a HECKUVA lot of taxes every payday to the IRS. They GET their share, they get MORE than their share. If I could keep the half of what I pay them every year, my financial situation would improve exponentially.

Well, I'm on the phone with this woman. She looks up my file. "You made X amount of money that year, the IRS wants you to file a return. In fact, you haven't filed for several years". Cause at tax time, or any other time really, I don't have the money to pay a tax return specialist to do my taxes and even if I did, I don't have the luxury of waiting to get a check back for 2 months.

I informed this woman that in 2007, my house burned down, it was a total loss and I will be owed a great deal of money from the IRS if they are going to push this issue.

Yup, they're going to push it. She said they will send out one more notice and then they will do my taxes for me. Great. She also stated, after I asked, that to have the return amended will cost me more money to do so. Okay, they win. I have the funds available, I don't want to put it on hold forever, but I am not going to let them get the best of me by filing my taxes FOR me and possibly coming up with bogus junk. I can't imagine how much it's going cost to have a qualified, legitmate tax agency do this for me, but I can't afford to be wrong on this one, not with so many deductions. I want THEM to back me up if/when the IRS calls me in for an audit, and you can be rest assured, with the kind of deductions I am going to make for that tax year, I will have plenty.

Still, I HATE doing taxes. I figure I pay enough into the system, leave me the freak alone. I have all the paperwork, at least, in my closet, I got all of that quite some time ago in case this ever came up. It took quite a while to get all of that too, so I'm glad at least that footwork is done.

Well, I got home from work today and tookalookit the plants freshly placed in the ground yesterday. Not keeling over and dying, that's all I wanted to see. Rooting takes a while, but it shouldn't take too terribly long. I have 4 more ficus to put in and a Sissoo. I'm going to put the Sissoo in where I take out one of the now-burned Norfolk Pines. I am getting all of this stuff before our version of winter hits. It's all good until any frosts come along, then rooting takes a definitive role in whether a plant lives or dies. And anyway, I don't want those potted trees to sit there all winter long in those pots. Let's get them into the ground already, shall we?

I am going to give a final shot of "drugs" to the plants this coming weekend with Miracle Gro - after I get the last of what needs to be planted in. I hope to get that done this week and then do the spraying this weekend.

Oh, and we got it over with. Steelers lost yesterday in a game they could have easily won a dozen times over. They looked piss-poor and let's not blame the rain, Jacksonville had the same handicap. Pittsburgh IS rain, the place is made out of it. It rains all the time there! The thunderstorms are awe-inspiring. No, I just say we got it over with. We won the Super Bowl last year, somebody had to beat us the first time this season, it's over with, the hooplah of it should be over with, now let's get on with the season, shall we?

Umm, that's it for now. I have a lot of stuff I could say on here, that has nothing to do with the other blogging site, BTW, but I am wary of who might be reading here.

Oh, called my son earlier but no answer. I left him a message to call me, I want daily communication with him about school. This is an absolute must considering what's going on right now with his grades. He has a rifle competition coming up on the 3rd of next month, I am going to stay on top of this until I see a passing grade in Geometry and rising grades in other classes as well.

If I get a wild hair, write about the rest of what's on my mind later, if not, have a great evening!
ben