Visiting With Dad

My dad called me at work - wanted me to stop by and pick him up on the way home from work.  Millie - his  wife - was not feeling too well and didn't want to go anywhere.  They ARE older folks - I don't get too hyped up about the older generation doing whatever makes them happy, regardless of what the might mean to plans that have been made. 

So, I stopped at Walmart - I have one good pair of jeans and one pair of dress slacks and that's IT for pants. I have several pairs of blue jeans with holes or rips in them.  Oh, dog food, roach killer, new windshiel wipers for both cars.........ummmm, oh and more pond clear.  I usually only need to use "Pond Clear" at the start up of a pond.  After it clears the pond out, it's not necessary again as the filtration unit keeps it clear from that point forth. 

Stopped at their hotel - a nice place and visited with both of them for about an hour and then took dad to my house.  He wanted to see all of these plants and trees I have been talking about forever.  He was pleasantly surprised to see the fish ponds.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mark had done even more cleaning in the kitchen.  First impressions - sort of anyway, my dad was here a couple of years ago I guess it was with Millie - are always important.  I mean, between Mark and I cleaning in this place for 3 solid days, it's freaking awesome in here.  I did not ask Mark to do anything in here - he saw what I was doing this weekend in spending hours and hours of relentless cleaning and picked up where I left off. 

We left and went to dinner without Millie, who wasn't feeling up to coming.  Spent a good hour and a half, maybe it was 2 hours there, visiting.  Dad is very interested in what is going on with Caleb, who is beginning to show more and more confidence in himself and speaking up - not in an obnoxious way either - about what's going on in his life and what he's up to.  It was a great time and I hope to make it down there either Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I don't know that Caleb will be able to go either time - that's up to him.  He has work and that is very important to him as it should be.  I don't know that it takes more precedence than family, but I consider the economy and the fact that people my age that are unemployed are willing to take the same job he got.  Keeping a good impression with an employer is even more important now than ever.  Again, I'll leave that up to him and hold no ill will with whatever decision he makes. 

For me, my dad is getting old  - but - he looked good today.  A bit slower, yes, but still very talkative, looked healthy, I was glad to see him still getting around.

We left - Caleb went to his mom's house, I took dad back to the hotel, but I went back inside with him as I wanted to bid Millie a goodbye.  She's a good lady and I'm glad she and dad found each other.  They get along well - at least what I see when the doors aren't closed - but it is a good match I think and they have been together awhile now.  Quite a while, actually.  We talked a while longer but I could see they were both wearing out so I bid them well, a safe trip home and hopefully see each other at Christmas or Thanksgiving. 

That was it.  I'm pooped.  I drove all day long today, it was nonstop and grueling.  Not complaining, just saying that getting up early, working, stopping at stores, going out?  I'm not 20.  But it felt good anyway.  It felt even better today at a jobsite.  Most jobsites we have don't have forklifts,they have fork attachments that are put on backhoes.  One of the forks was bent so that getting both forks into a pallet was almost impossible.  On the last pallet, they operater basically destroyed the pallet and all the very heavy parts were laying all over the bed of the semi.

The backhoe operator and his helper - both in THEIR 20's - grimaced and started complaining, what are we going to do now? I smiled  - easy, put the bucket of the backhoe up next to the trailer and we will throw the parts in there.  These are people that don't know me.  I have seen the look before - WHO is actually going to end up doing the work?  These aren't 2 pound parts, they're 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 50 pounds and up, a varying allotment of different sized things.....and as if I'm just going to stand there, an "old" guy and direct them.  Not at all.  But I always read that.  I got up on the trailer and started pickup up those things by 2's, chucking them into the bucket and going at a rapid pace until it was done.  The helper was also up there - going about an 1/8th of the pace I was.   I thought nothing of it, this goes on everywhere.  When I was through, this guy exclaims: "HOW did you do that so FAST?".

Took me by surprise.  Didn't know what to say to that, so I just remarked that we have to throw this stuff around all day long.  I thought about it later, he was paying me a compliment and for that I am appreciative.  For good health I am far MORE appreciative. 

It's the end of the day.  I hope tomorrow is busy, but there was only one thing in our truck routing system and I believe that is being put off as the vendor has not finished manufacturing the part needed for our contractor yet and may not have it done until Friday. 

I would get into politics - the Obama administration inviting the "president" of Iran to talks about Afghanistant is unconcsiounable, but why ruin the rest of a good day?  Go to bed in peace. 

G'nite.

ben

Tuesday

Came home yesterday to find that Mark - the trailer tenant - had finished in the kitchen that of which I did not have time to finish. This guy is good at cleaning, this is a fact.

He took down the blinds, took them outside, cleaned them off with a hose, cleaned the windows, went over the floor again - after I had just done it the day before - very nice.

If I could get a hold of a good trailer for those people - I mean a nice one - I would. They are welcomed to stay as long as they want to. I'm charging them very low rent and they do a lot of work around the house - nice setup. Their plans to get into their own apartment have been totally dashed and the only way I can for them to get into their own place is that one of them finds a job.

Anyhoo, today is the visit with my dad and his wife. They are coming over sometime this afternoon.

So, on a day when you hope there is less work to do so you can get off early? Not happening. 5 deliveries and a pickup downtown equal all day long. Well, not ALL day, just meaning I'll be lucky to get off at my regular time.

My new pond it's semi-permanent occupants are doing well. The water is a bit cloudy - added some unwanted stuff to the water when I shut the other pond down, there was debris floating around in there that got transferred to the new setup. The much larger pump and filtering system is slowly dealing with it, plus I put some stuff in there made specifically to clear up the water. It clumps stuff together which basically ends up at the bottom of the pond. I have an 800 gallon per hour pump down there that basically forces everything on the bottom to it - and it does get clogged up for all the leaves and just it sucks into it. Still lots of work to do on it, but at least it's up and running.

I was wondering what all the hoopla about Obama calling voters "scared" was - well I read the statements for myself. "said Republican candidates are "playing on fear" and suggested voters are falling for it."

In other words, voters are too dumb to figure this stuff out by ourselves, which is why we need even bigger government, the Feds can take ALL of our money and we will just sit there like animals in cages waiting to be fed. I can see why people are outraged, personally? I consider the source. Obama hasn't got a clue what he's doing and if anyone is fearful, it's HIM losing complete control of the House and Senate. Of course, he has had a free ride, it's probably going to change, so now HE is using the same tactics - well everyone else is, really.

The elections are only a couple of weeks away, I can't wait. I hope the polling places are jam-packed with people, the more the merrier. It would be nice, for a change, if a majority of voters showed up so that it isn't a small percentage of American society telling the rest of us how it's going to be run. That's the jist of it. Too many people are too lazy, unmotivated to take a few minutes to cast a vote. Then these same people complain about everything that has to do with politics. Gonnnnnnnnnng!! (The Gong Show) - you lost your right to complain when voting day came and went and you didn't bother.

As for today, work day approaches and I'm going to jump right into and try to get all of this done as fast as possible. The earlier off work today, the better.

G'day.

ben