So, the 12 year old admits he dropped a shopping cart from 4 stories up and now they are "looking to get him back into the community"?!!
Why, so he can drop more shopping carts on innocent people's heads?!! That woman him and his friend dropped that thing on is STILL messed up and probably will be for life.
Whatever. I am headed out to go pay the rest of the trailer off today and get the title. Lynnette is close to being finished with the wall papering project in that thing and it's looking good. Still quite a lot to do to that thing, though. I wish the AC would work and wouldn't have to deal with it. I'm not, like, an AC repairman. I know the fan motor is bad but how that equates into me being able to fix it, not sure yet. I would hate to have to haul the thing to a repair facility.
So, here I was about to leave. Called the dude - he didn't get the title notarized as I asked him to. I ain't driving all the way up there for nothing. Banks are opened on Saturdays now, he can get it notarized and then I will go get it - but not until this afternoon at the earliest since I have another appointment at noon.
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Extremely long intermission. Uhhhhh, like 8 hours worth. I got busy. Before I left for the meeting with pastor and an elder in the church, I ended up getting up on the roof of that trailer. I was annoyed by myself for not getting up there sooner - even IF there is plenty of time - so I just did it. Well it was obvious where the leakage was occurring from. The entire bathroom roof vent is an old, rotted piece of garbage. In fact, all plastic on that roof is going to have to be replaced. The one over the bathroom has a handle crank and lifts up a plastic cover that allows steam - and smells, lol - to go out and fresh air to come in. It also has a small fan to help that along.
I spent an hour trying to get the screws out - and yes, persistence and sheer determination paid off. I got that thing off of there.
So, I just spent some time getting that thing to that point, I eyeballed the AC unit. Ohhhhh, I just caved in. I took the plastic cover off - which is dry rotted, brittle and will have to be replaced if I don't want to have an ugly looking AC unit sitting up there without it's nice, plastic cover over it. Fiasco times two. Old screws that have been in there - forever a day and a half. Good grief, what have I gotten myself into.
But, if I can fix it myself, I will save a fortune over paying someone else to do it, so I proceeded to deal with it. First, I had Mark go in the trailer and turn the unit on - see if can get the fan to moving by hand and see if it will work. Yup, it came on, yes, turning it got the thing to humming right along. But, after a few minutes? The fan motor died. This is a non-happening event, I am not going to have a trailer up there on that property without knowing, without a doubt, that that AC unit is going to work. It might be up in the mountains, but in the summer it gets up to 90 degrees in the daytime - though admittedly at night the temps drop WELL down to where you don't need cooling.
I took the whole mess apart, got that motor out of there and then? Headed to my appointment at church. They were both there - the pastor and the elder he had decided would be a good person to join the group and get this rolling. I am not going into specific details of what we discussed - that is my personal business and again, even for me, I am not willing to share all of that all over the world/internet. But it was a very good discussion and it was exactly what I had hoped I would hear coming from a church. It ended in prayer and I still have to wonder how, exactly, I found this place? They have treated me very well there, is what I can say about that. You always wonder how it's going to be where the rubber meets the road - are they still going to be that "nice" and "giving"? Yes, is what I can say, they have a true heart for the Lord.
Left there and went to Camping World. They had a brand new - the entire setup - vent for 70 bucks. Not going to dicker with it, git-er-dun. They also had a brand new vent cap and base for 7 bucks for another situation and I decided I would buy that and replace the entire thing. They found the motor in their parts catalog and quoted me a price of $150. Yup, that was my guess when I saw that motor on the roof of the trailer. Mark was up on the ladder looking and I said: "I'm guessing $150 to replace this motor". He's looking at it saying it couldn't be more than $50. Uh huh. All things RV cost more. You can substitute some things for much cheaper, but for specific applications you are screwed if you think you are going to do something on the "cheap". This motor is only a 1/4 horsepower, but the shafts coming out of either end of it are of a specific length to accommodate for the fan housing on one end and fan blade on the other, plus a specific design for it to sit in it's cradle.
Well they didn't have that motor in stock and would have to order it. I am not in a big hurry, I have gotten a start, now to find a better deal? Perhaps. I might be able to get the motor rewound and have new brushes installed for cheaper. Several places in this area that do that, I am going to check into it. I can also type the part number off the motor into a couple of online parts sites and see if that comes up with anything. But in the end, I am going to have that unit working and I will pay whatever to get it going and be done with it.
So, I can't do the carpet in the trailer until I get the roof leaking issues finished.
Call me worried. I am, a bit. My ex is taking my son to Florida for a visit with relatives. The ex is saying she is going to move back to Florida, so why the need for a flight there for a visit? When you were married to a person for 16 years, you get to know a few things about how that person thinks. Whatever. I am sure they - they being her family and her - are going to fill his head (my son) about how wonderful Florida is and how when she moves down there, if she does indeed do so, he should move down there with him. They will undoubtedly show him a nice room to live in and the benefits of the area and this, that and the other thing.
It will be a very compelling argument, story and enticement, I am sure of that. I have no response. My son is going to learn about life in whatever form it comes to him. I have already told him he can stay here if he wants to, that I will always have a room for him if he needs it and that's that. I will say something about that before he leaves, yes, but not to keep him here, only to give him choices. If he moves to Florida, I will not be standing in his way. I will be sad, definitely. I might shed a few tears, no doubt. But, it's his choice and his life.
I got side-tracked. Back to the story. Done with Camping World and onto the next mission: call the dude and tell him I am on my way over there to get the title. Got there, forked out the $400 I had left owing on the thing and then got into a discussion. He said he had paid $3,500 for it and that he dumped it at the $2,400 I paid for it. I brought up the leaking roof and broken AC anyway. Why? Because if it were me, I would have said okay, give me $200 instead of $400 and this deal is done. It was ADVERTISED as leak free and AC working, that's why. Now, I'm spending $200 on materials to get that stuff fixed.
But that's the world and that's the way people do things. I choose not to live my life that way, if something isn't right then I try to make it right however I can - within moral/ethical boundaries of course. I don't hold it against him, I have encountered so many people with the same kind of mindset. Overall, I am happy with that trailer so no biggies. I will continue to work on it until I am satisfied that everything is working and at the same time that it looks good. Then I will have it hauled up to the mountains.
Oh, if could convince my work to let me use the tractor to haul that thing up there - I would only have to pay the fuel costs. About $120 in fuel. Well, actually, probably less than that. That trailer would be like pulling air to a semi tractor. Coming back would be dead-heading. More like $80 to $90 in fuel. I'm not even going to ask my manager about it, my old manager would let me do it - yes - but I don't think my current manager would and I have no desire to even bother to ask with that kind of thought running through my head.
Well whatever. I spoke with my mother today about Thanksgiving. Caleb has Sunday off, we can come then. Well what about you? Are you going to be okay being alone?, she asks. I didn't tell her I am never alone on holidays, there are always tenants around if nothing else. I figured she would be alone on Thanksgiving since my brothers aren't going to be there so yes, I said yeah, it would be cool to come over for a meal and spend some time with you plus go over there on Sunday with Caleb. I didn't really offer this, she was asking it. Not specifically, but I am not going to have my mother spending Thanksgiving alone so that's that. And I want Caleb to spend some time with his grandmother so that's that, as well.
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I have been doing this more and more. Start an entry and write in it at various points throughout the day. This entry started early this morning. It is now 8:30pm and I am going to end it. I have plenty to do tomorrow and as usual, going to bed early by most people's standards. Normal for me at this point. I accomplished plenty today, though I was not able to get out there and continue on with my landscaping project - it's okay. It is something I want to do. Meaning when I have time, I get to it.
But, the meeting with the pastor and the elder today? That is what stands out to me for this particular day in Benb's life. It's running through my mind. My mind is full of all kinds of different thoughts - this that and the other thing. Mark and Lynnette are preparing the trailer for the move. It's coming and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't have an empty room - yet - and I have no idea when that might happen. They like living in that trailer, actually, but Lynnette especially does not want to leave. I mean, what are they going to do, move into my storage shed like they were at the last property they were at? No. I hope the day to come that they come back. But, Lynnette also spoke about buying that trailer on payments. You can never really fully read a person.
You can try, but only God knows ALL of that about each of us.
After today's meeting with the pastor, I am just going to say that I am switching tracks. The train has been heading one direction, the track I am switching on takes a turn and leads a totally different direction. I have this life and that's it. I want it to count.
ben
