HOT Day

There were just six of them.  6 pallets.  Loaded with heavy fittings for ductile iron pipe.  A contractor returned all of it  and now we are sending it back to the manfucturer, it is oddball stuff that we can't resell and are not going to just keep in "inventory" forever.  The manufacturer will charge a 25% restock fee, but at least the contractor gets something back out of it.

Well, my job was to make all of that stuff fit for transporting on LTL trucks.  LTL is simply a term for less than load - not a whole truckload.  You see them all over - Conway/Saia/Bestway all kinds of companies specialize in picking up materials that are not a full truckload but are FAR too heavy or large for UPS or Fedex to pick up in one of those vans they drive around.

Well, I have ample experience with these freight companies.  The stuff gets moved around endlessly until it makes it to it's destination.  It doesn't just get moved around, it gets bashed into by other freight and crashed into by forklifts and hand trucks.  So, I had to really package the stuff well.

WEll, it was 110 degrees out there and that's in the shade.  Banding the stuff up and then walking around each pallet endless times with shrink wrap to entomb it in plastic and then tape it up and the move it back outside?  About killed me.  I had another heat headache, I HATE those.  I will freely admit that this summer has totally kicked my @$$.  I have never experienced so much heat with the humidity levels at what they are for such an extended period of time.  111 degrees with up to 50% humidity?  It's like being tortured.  I'm not trying to be funny, either, it is literally HELL out there right now. 

I got done with that and felt like passing out.  Even my manager took one look at me and asked if I was okay.  I didn't say anything, what's to say?  It totally SUCKS outside during the daytime, especially for those of us that have to work in it.

I went on a delivery run after that - something finally came up and I decided today, after going through all of that, would be the day to cheat and totally blow the diet.  Ohhhhh, and I did.  No, not the sub sandwich this morning that had ham, loaded with veggies and topped with a little vinegar, mustard and pepper.  Nope, that's been a staple of this diet, actually.  It's the only fast food I can find that has low calorie and low fat offerings. 

Ahhhh, no, I went for the Dairy Queen Blizzard.  A LARGE one.  German Chocolate.  I hadn't had one of those  - I dunno, in a year?  I stay away from ice cream because I love the stuff so much.  You wanna put on a nice gut, just eat ice cream every day.  It was heaven in a cup.  I devoured it - too fast actually, should have taken a little more time and enjoyed it a little more cause' honey, there ain't gonna be no more of those offerings for quite a long time.  You know, I didn't feel bad at all after I ate it.  I thought - I have done so well making good eating choices and literally shoving temptation back down my throat and not giving in SO many other times, I thought it was a treat well-deserved. 

I think next month I will do something out-of-diet, but it won't be ice cream.  Instead I'll have a meal of something that I haven't been eating and just forget about the calories.  I am totally resolved to continue eating the way I have been since I started this diet for a long time to come, I don't have a problem with what I am eating because I happen to like the stuff.  I DO need to find some new recipes, I will be spending some time doing that soon enough.

In 2 hours I go to get the turtles.  Never had turtles as a kid, I think it might be cool.  But, if I end up hating it, I can always sell them on Craigslist, those kinds of turtles don't last long on there, people buy them up if you are giving a good price.  They actually had posted these turtles for sale before I even saw them, but contacted me via email - they don't really want money for them they want a good home.  I promise to give them a good home while they are here and if I end up liking having turtles around, they will be here until I either lose the house to foreclosure (hope not, but reality is reality) or they die, or I move - though if I move and it is voluntary (not foreclosure) to another property that I would buy, all animals - dogs/fish/turtles/some humans - would go with me.  These are preformed ponds and come out of the ground easily.  It's DIGGING the ground out FOR them that's the pain the - rear.  No, coming OUT of the ground is simply the act of removing living water creatures - put them in temporary quarters - take out plants - temp quarters as well, pump out the water, grab a hold of the liner and walaah - it comes right out. 

Uhhh, gotta go out and feed the fishies : )

ben