Tuesday

Let the fireworks begin. The tenant showed up that I had put the notice on his door - but I was in bed when he came home. Okay, it's not going to be fireworks, it just feels that way sometimes when you are forced into a position of having to deal - in rather negative terms - with tenants. Perhaps he will move out when I'm at work - won't be the first time that's happened - all well and fine, too, as long as the items removed do not lap over into MY things.

Something that caught my attention this morning: Obama is set to go out and try to win support for the health care reform bill - AFTER - he signs the bill. Huh? Aren't you supposed to do that BEFORE you decide to implement something that is so widely opposed, your political life is doomed forever? No, I don't think that far-reaching, I believe that many of these democrats that smugly recalcitrated over and over that they are "doing what's good for America" even though most of America said they don't want it - yes, they are going to pay for this. Apparently there has even been some criminal acts of rocks being thrown through doors and pellet gun shots and such.

Hey, I'm not for the violence, but I am all for giving these people a permanent boot out the door - a boot so incredibly forceful that the people who take their place and those after that will think twice about telling us what is good for us. We are all fairly smart people, we can figure this out for ourselves. I don't WANT socialism and I summarily reject anything that looks like it or looks like the beginning of it and for sure, this at the very least is the beginning of it.

I saw an accident yesterday, yes changing gears again - but this was very, very bad. I thought I had seen a really bad one not too long ago - this one takes the cake. At an intersection in Mesa where the speed limits are 40MPH, there was a 2 car accident I came up on while driving the semi. One of the vehicles was a mini-van and the other was a PT Cruiser.

When I saw the minivan, I was wondering where the front end of the thing was. There WAS no front end on that vehicle. When I got up closer, I could see the condensor - it was smashed all the way up just a few inches out from the windshield. The condensor is a part of your AC system in your car, it goes in front of the radiator which is directly behind the grill - at the FRONT of the car. I have seen bad accidents in front end damage, this one? It looked like someone had taken a giant axe and cut the front end off. The minivan had T-boned into the PT Cruiser - whose passenger side was smashed all the way over to the driver's side. The tell tale sign: there was cloth put around the windows of the minivan to keep people from seeing the dead body/ies inside of it. Medical units had already come and gone by the time I got there, the police were doing an investigation. I wished I had my camera to take a pic of that minivan. I wondered how fast that vehicle had been travelling to do that kind of damage. FAR greater than 40MPH and obviously, at least to me, had run a red light.

On the freeway this morning, it was raining so hard my car started hydroplaning and I wasn't even going that fast. I slowed down, obviously, but what always gets me are the people that drive like maniacs, even in a heavy downpour. Cutting in and out of traffic, cutting other drivers off, insanity. Yes, the rain is back! My poor doggies - I left them out in the rain to fend for themselves. They are NOT allowed in the house when I am gone, period. They ARE animals and no, it's not animal abuse to leave them in the rain. Most of nature's animals endure the rain out in the wilderness and they don't seem to be dying because of it, so there.

Whatever the case, I was glad I did not water my plants yesterday as I had had half a mind to. I had heard it might rain, so I figured another day wouldn't hurt, and by golly, I was right! I won't have to water them for at least 4 or 5 days after this, it's raining HARD right now. I looked at the drought index yesterday for Arizona - it has different colors over the state indicating the severity of the drought. The index shows that the drought is gone in about 1/4 of the state, is extremely dry in probably another 1/2 and the rest is worse, I forget what they label it, but it's a MUCH small portion than what I saw last time. With rain like this coming at the rate it has been this winter, I don't wonder to see the whole state come out of it. The Salt River running through Tempe and Phoenix - a normally dry riverbed - is running at a good pace right now. That's a GOOD sign. That means the dam/lake above it is full.

Well, anyway, this post is long and I am about to sign into work.

G'day.
ben