I was standing outside earlier, sunset to be exactly. The air was still and I was talking with a person on the phone, working with my ponds. I was looking around and looked up.
It's a good thing to look up once in a while. There was an UGLY sky coming right at me. I can't describe it. It's like nothing I have ever seen before, and yes I have seen tornadoes and other ugly stuff. Not 60 seconds later, the winds started blowing heavily. That isn't unusual in these parts: no wind one moment and then heavy, relentless winds another.
It was the DUST that I couldn't believe. INSTANTLY, there was such a thick haze of dust that it was like being in a fog. I am not over-exaggerating here, it was dense in a span of time that was amazing. I went inside - I have had respiratory problems all of my life since I was very young and breathing that stuff in isn't exactly doctor-recommended. I just went out there again - it's even WORSE now than it was before. This is the kind of dust storm where opening your mouth, you get dirt in it type of thing. I have grit in my teeth right now. I can't imagine what the roadways are like right now and what kind of - unfortunate - accidents might be going on.
Well, anyway, I am indoors and will be the rest of the night. Deal with the pond aftermath tomorrow after work. Several plants in 2 ponds have been pushed over by the winds and attempting to upright them was fruitless: the winds are too heavy. Those plants will survive a night in the water so I am not worried about it.
The topic of my interest tonight, however, is based upon an ad I placed yesterday on Craigslist. I have place a few such ads in the past, with no luck. I mean, people responded but what they had and what I was looking for were on 2 completely different planets.
You see, I have wanted to get those people in the trailer out there out of that old thing and into something a bit nicer. Doesn't have to be new or even close to it, but something that is still in good condition. That thing - is not in good condition. We did the best we could before they moved into it and after that? No thanks. No room to work - at all.
So, this guy replies to my ad today. His trailer is almost as old as mine, but the marked difference is that it is in good shape, the interior is still nice and the appliances all work. The propane system is still intact for cooking and heating water. I haven't SEEN it yet, be doing that possibly tomorrow. It would be an almost across the board, straight up trade. I would have to come up with a vehicle to move the trailers - or pay to have them moved I suppose.
I haven't said anything to the trailer people about it yet, I won't until I know it's really as good as the guy says it is and that a deal has been worked.
Ummm, anyway. Not going to get excited about anything until eyeballs meet metal and titles are transferred. Not that there is anything to get excited about: to switch out trailers will be a lot of work. Take off the evap cooler off of mine to put it on the other one. They will have to move everything out of that thing and move back into the "new" one. Probably the "new" trailer will have a fold-down couch, I doubt that's going to work for them so the couch would have to be removed to put the bed back in. It would have to be removed CAREFULLY and stored, as I wouldn't want to just throw it away.
I ain't there, yet, just getting it rolling.
The missing tenant showed up today. 10 days gone. 5 days past due. Eviction notice under his door. Notice of Abandonment would have come in 2 more days. He handed me 3/4's of this month's rent, said he was in Tucson, his car had broken down, he was spending the 4th of July with family, etc etc etc. He ONLY had to tell me that on the phone. That's all. I don't REALLY know what he's been up to. No, I don't necessarily believe his story, but I am not involved in his personal life and as long as it doesn't affect me, I don't really care what he does as long as it isn't illegal junk.
To end this, I just read a story of a family that was out on a beach. They were having a 4th of July picnic or whatever out there. A guy, out of the blue, grabs their 2 year old boy and starts off with him. The father sees him and apparently gets into an altercation with the man, getting his son away from the man. That was that, they got a police officer, the police found the guy still on the beach and arrested him.
I am not judging the father, at all. People think differently, I am good with that. I can only say, however, that if it had been my 2 year old son (who isn't anything near 2 years old now, lol), the ending for that man would have been far worse. I know how I am. We all know ourselves, yes? I know that the intense rage of a man attempting to take my only son would have been enough for me to tear that guy apart. He would have not just run off into the crowd, he would have been tackled to the ground - and that would be the least that would have happened to him.
Anyway, I am covered with dust and I guess I better hit the shower and go to bed. That stuff is all in my hair and I wasn't even out there that long!
G'day/night.
ben
3 comments:
Wednesday
Well I didn't expect that dust storm last night to make national news, but some of the pics they have of it are totally awesome! One pic makes it look more like giant waves of water crashing down on the city more than making it look like a thick, dense dust storm.
I have seen a lot of dust storms in Phoenix, they used to be far more prevalent in the 70's, but I don't ever recall one as thick as that one. Everything on my property is covered with an almost sooty type of dust. Windows are filthy, cars are covered with such a thick layer of it you'd think they'd been hit by volcanic ash, not dust from a storm. Quite the cleanup today after I get home, I am sure.
Oh, but wait: after work today I am supposed to go look at the trailer and see if it's anything I want to get involved with.
Bath Salts. Methylenedioxypyrovalerone. Try saying that word 3 times fast without goofing up! "Designer Drugs". This stuff pops out of the woodwork. It's just incredible the stuff that is available nowadays compared to when I was a teenager. The difference, though, is that this junk coming out now can be deadly and is sending a lot of people to hospital emergency rooms. Not so much when I was a kid, it was "pure" whatever: heroine; cocaine; pot, not synthetic versions of them.
Well whatever. The stories keep coming out about all these different, new drugs that "chemists" are pumping out, just amazing what people will do to themselves in order to get high.
Anyway, I finally figured out how to unload that 12 gauge shotgun without killing anyone. It wasn't that hard, I just got a bit fearful of the thing. No, there wasn't a shell in the chamber when I was fooling with it, I made sure of that. The thing just ejects them out of the side when you want to unload it. This is the disadvantages of not growing up with guns. I will be finding a legal spot to take the thing and fire off a box worth of shells to get comfortable with shooting it.
Time's up, to work it is!
G'day.
ben
You might start with half a box.
Especially if you don't hold it tight against your shoulder.
Your storm was the LEAD story on Drudge.
fin
Gotcha on the half a box. I just really want to get the feel of shooting the thing and I don't expect it to take that many rounds to figure that out.
I saw the story - and pics - on front pages of several internet sites. It was a devilish looking thing!
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