Both feeders were running low on the sugar concoction the multitudes of hummingbirds are drinking - at the tune of about 2 inches of it a day. That's a lot, at least compared to a month ago. So, I stopped at Walmart today hoping to find a better deal than that of which Fry's had - $5.00 for a bottle that half fills them up twice.
Sure enough, they have $0.97 packets of it - makes a quarter per package, enough to half fill both feeders which is all I want to do anyway. I bought 5 packages, should be enough to last quite a while. Got dog food, pond clarifier and a new AC filter - it's full of junk and I want to replace it in case I need to turn on the heat again anytime soon.
Came home. Got on the computer - I do that pretty much first getting home. Got up from that, mixed up the mixture and put it in the fridge. Directions say to use warm water to mix it up, I wanted to put it out there cool, not warm since they are used to drinking a cold concoction. Felt tired, went and took a nap. Came out, the "kid" tenant - he's early 20's - was on my old computer. He is trying to find a new job. He said he would be on it for 5 minutes, so, I decided to get the feeders, clean them out and put fresh liquid in them.
Ummm, I was not prepared for what happened next or what's BEEN happening since the point in time that I took the feeder into the house. One of the regulars had come up to drink, I had the thing in my hand. He went and perched on the fence, looking at me. I went inside, thoroughly cleaned out the feeder, poured in fresh concoction, took it back out. One of them - don't know which - buzzed me. Stopped about 6 feet above me, hovering. MAD. That bird was fuming mad!! And now? They can't drink out of the thing, they are too busy fighting!!
Benb notes that next time he wants to refill the feeder, do it at NIGHT. I have no idea why this action of me refilling the thing sent them in to a huge frenzy, but it did and it's been going on for over an hour now. I refilled the other feeder but there isn't any activity going on over there.
Other things going on, but, I'll save that for tomorrow's entry.
ben
5 comments:
Wednesday
Tiffany - the tenant that is moving out - showed up last night with 2 people and a pickup truck and began the process of moving the large amount of things she has in her room - out. Which is a good thing. I have the room paid for in advance for the entire month of February, I was glad that she was sticking to her word. 5 full days to get it completely emptied, carpet cleaned and ready for the next person.
The other tenant that just recently moved in - is posing some problems. Basically, I am getting that this guy has never lived in a shared housing type of situation and I guess it's time for some education. We don't shave our faces and then leave the little hairs all over the counter. We don't put our personal hygiene items on the bathroom counter and leave them there - you only do that if that is your own, personal bathroom. Yes, you can leave shampoos on the ledges in the shower, but nothing stays on the counter excepting the anti-bacterial hand soap that I keep a constant supply of there.
We don't pile dishes in the sink. We don't come up with the excuse that the dishwasher had clean dishes in it, therefore, no place to put dirty dishes. Instead, we empty out the dishwasher, put the dishes away and then start the process of putting dirty dishes back in.
We don't sit on the owner's computer and attempt to hijack it when the owner comes home from work.
But, the coup de grace was yesterday. He was on my old computer, filling out some sort of online form to sign up for school to get a security license to become a security officer. I let him stay on it since it was related to him getting a job and decided to sweep the kitchen floor and then mop it.
I got that all done just before he got done on the computer. The floor was still wet. He started walking towards the refrigerator. I stopped him. "Can you wait a couple of minutes until the floor dries, please?" Well, Ben, I have to get ready for work, I need to get my food ready right now. "Can you wait a couple of minutes until the floor dries, please?" I have to get ready for work now, if I don't leave early, I will hit rush hour traffic and I will be late for work.
I am getting visibly annoyed at this point. If it was such a rush to get ready for work, what was all of that sitting on my computer for 20 plus minutes after I had graciously allowed him to use it as long as he needed to to get his stuff done on there? The idea that he couldn't wait a few minutes for the floor to dry? I offered it this way: GO AHEAD, DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO.
"I'm not trying to be a prick......yada yada yada", was his reply and onto his excuses, but instead of going into the kitchen, he went to his room. My first thought was maybe he wasn't TRYING to be a prick, but he was definitely accomplishing that goal with great perfection, I might add.
I went and got some paper towels and manually dried the floor so that I wouldn't have to mop it over again.
This guy isn't going to work out. The other night, he was making so much noise, as I reported in another entry, that it woke me up - me having ear plugs in and a large box fan running next to my head. I asked Martha, the other female tenant about it. She had wondered if there had been a party out here that night. NO, I replied, it was him and JD living it up, at mine and your expense in terms of sleep.
Again, the guy has no clue. I don't know if it's just that he doesn't KNOW that what he is doing is unacceptable in such a situation or that he doesn't CARE.
But, it only gets worse. Lynnette - the trailer tenant - reported that he was yelling into his phone - at his mother - yesterday. I have heard him raising his voice in his bedroom as well.
I have no choice but to write up a notice - I am not going to get into it with him personally, at least not on the "first volley", spell all these things out and ask him if my place really is the right place for him to live. Cause' in reality? A person that wants to live like that needs their own apartment. Of course, he cannot afford such a thing. He will only continue to run into problems living with other people such as he is with us wherever he goes, irrelevant of who it is he is living with.
But, I am going to write up that notice today and I am going to leave it under his door. It isn't an eviction notice, I think I have decided on the title being something like: "Notice: Shared Living Etiquette".
If he doesn't like it, he's free to leave. He is paid up through the end of the month. In such a situation, I don't want or need an advance move-out notice, if he can't or won't change, I will give him the appropriate 30-day notice since that's all I can really, legally do and deal with it that way.
I get people that are real pickles once in a while, long-time readers know full well who those individuals from the past were. This guy is starting to rank right up with Mary, Justine and Sheila. Those are names from the past, people that moved in, all 3 were forced out with restraining orders. 2 of the orders I had served, 1 of them was Mary serving on Justine.
I don't think I'll need a restraining order here, I think I will try reason and logic with the man because, I still am not sure that he understands that he cannot just go around doing whatever he pleases without possibility of consequence. I'm guessing this is his first "adventure" into living with other people besides his own family. The way he talks to his own mother gives a good clue as to how THAT situation must have gone for the last 20 whatever years that he has been living and walking on the face of this planet.
I have talked with his mother, she called for him, he was not home, I talked with her. She didn't bring up negative stuff, so I didn't either, she actually sounded like a really nice person.
Well, that's life in the rental lane. Nothing new under the sun, but it's been a while since I've had to deal with this kind of nonsense.
As for me, work day approaches and there is some pipe to pick up at a vendor and deliver it to a jobsite.
Therefore, I bid you........g'day!
ben
Thursday
So, I get on Facebook this morning and I have several messages. I have added all kinds of friends to Facebook in order to get Cafe World neighbors. I put my Facebook UID up on an "Add-Me" forum under Cafe World and bang, all KINDS of requests come pouring in.
The funny thing is, some of these people want to get into conversations about things that have nothing to do with an online, unreal restaurant.
The funnier thing is they are from all over the world and are writing me messages in their languages! lol. I don't speak French or Bulgarian, thank you. However, Google translator does, and from what I am seeing, it does a pretty good job of it.
So, a lady in France says it's her birthday and she thought it a fine b-day gift to herself to be talking to an American man. Yikes. Well, not too scary, there is a great expanse of water separating us. I bid her a happy b-day and moved on to the next message.
This is a kid in Bulgaria - who plays Cafe World - and is inviting me to his event. Yikes, this is scary. Why? Cause, it's a kid on Facebook, but again, another great expanse of water separating us, I ask him WHAT group he is referring to. This is, of course, all in Bulgarian. To me, a rather odd looking language in print. I go to look at his group: he is forming a group of people to take a stand against short recesses, lol. He furthers it by saying that they don't have enough time to line up, get out of school, run down to the nearest store, get whatever and get back in time. Didn't want to throw a wet blanket on his party, but around these parts, kids aren't ALLOWED to leave the school campus to go ANYWHERE unless it's time to go home.
More messages. Don't have time for it. Gotta git to work. I have these pre-work rituals and if I don't get to all of it, I feel like something is missing that day and it can be hard to shake.
My muscles - feels like all of them in the upper body - are sore. I have been working out with weights. My muscles weren't exactly getting flabby looking, but it isn't the look I want, especially in considering attempting to find a lady. Attempting to build up the chest, biceps and triceps to start with. If I keep at it long enough, I may decide to start up at a gym. They don't cost near as much as they used to and you don't have to get into any contracts.
Speaking of contracts, Cox cable doesn't require a contract for their high speed internet. I have been pondering whether to switch over and dump Qwest. Cox's internet comes through their own cable, Qwest's internet comes through "twisted pairs" they call them, the phone lines. Allegedly, the cable route provides much faster service.
Social Security to run out by 2037. This is the latest report. I will be in my 70's at that point in time, if I live that long. I don't know what to say about that. Politicians don't want to do anything about it, they never do. It is an unpopular subject for them and there are no easy fixes.
Work day arrived, on-time, and I'm done.
G'day.
ben
Bulgaria was a surprising country and I had a very pleasant visit there once...about four days total. I knew a Brit living there who met me at the airport, organized my accommodations and took some time off to drive around the countryside with me, all the way to the border of Serbia.
Interesting thoughts. I have missionary friends that have spent considerable time in Bulgaria, but their view of it is from a different angle, I guess you would call it. Pretty cool that you had a friend/acquaintance living over there that give you a tour!
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