So, I come home from work, greet the dogs who are already greeting me and then proceed to go out to the ponds.  I can't believe another dead fish!  I'm thinking, geeze, not again!!

But then I look at the fish.  Oh my gosh - GROSS!

That fish had been dead a LONG time!!  I am not going to describe it, suffice it to say it was absolutely disgusting.  It's body must have come up under the huge Yerba Mensa plant and had been lodged under there - until today, that is.  Got it out of there immediately.  That dead thing could not be helping the eco system in that pond - at alllllll.

It rained yet again last night and I just saw my water bill.  It's down about $40 right now and next month it should be down even more than that - from previous months that is.  Today's high 91 degrees.  The plants are not being subjected to scorching heat so they aren't sucking so much water out of the ground but even if they were, the now-frequent rains have been keeping the ground wet.  I'll be happy to see the water bill (which includes sewer and trash) get below $100.  I'll be really happy to the electric bill go down to somewhere around $150.

As I figured, 9/11 shows are on tonight, the night before the anniversary.  But of course my mom's birthday is also tomorrow.  I am going to call her and attempt to keep the conversation away from the dogs and her property at this point.  Pretty much losing interest in going up there at this point.  Not going to walk on egg shells around her, it's her property, she can do what she wants with it.  If I had some extra funds every month, I would definitely be looking into buying some property somewhere up in that area.  But I don't have any extra fund and an extra 3 or 400 per month for -ever - is out of the question.

Just did a search.  One lot for sale at 130k.  Nothing on it, not even improved.  Another lot for sale at 100k. Same thing, vacant lot.  Then I find another lot with an A frame cabin on it for $79,000!  Just dreaming.  Would be awesome to have a cabin like structure up in the mountains.

Put that thought on a shelf in the mind and let it sit there for a while.  Probably a long while.

Meanwhile, life goes on.  Reading the Bible and attempting to get a foot in the door of church to find some place to serve.  Whatever position that is is irrelevant to me, just to have the opportunity to serve again in some way.

The old Buick failed emissions about a month ago. I have been telling my son to get the car in to a shop and have it fixed.  Probably the charcoal cannister.  But whatever, I am not going to just start buying parts out of a guess and hope that it works.  Found a place right down the road from his college that has rave reviews in an online search.  Customers not only stating they were happy with the service but that they had compared prices and this place was cheaper than those they had inquired of.  It also happens to be a place that specializes in emission repairs.

I am, frankly, tired of dumping money into that car.  At the same time, it's been a while since I have had to do anything to it.  So, if it's been something like 5 or 6 months since I had to dump anything into it, and if I can get out of it this time for $200 or less, then I still consider it a good deal.  Monthly payments on a newer car are much more expensive.  You are enslaved to a contract for however many years - trust me, I am soooo sick of paying on my current car, I have been paying on it for like 4 years now -Newer cars equal higher insurance payments and you are forced to have full coverage insurance on a financed car.  That old Buick has minimum liability coverage and that's that.  I told my son if he totals that car, that's it, it's done and he will have nothing to drive.

I'm sorry, it's a vapor canister.  I just know it has charcoal in it.  That's what I am guessing is causing the trouble, that or perhaps it's just a bad line, which would be awesome since that would be a cheap fix.

He's taking it in in the morning, waiting until the 30 day permit runs out - which is today.  I told him he could get a pretty hefty ticket if he's caught.  Whatever.  You can only get 1, 30-day permit on any given vehicle per year.

Speaking of vehicle problems, the window assembly on my car that raises and lowers the window broke - for the third time now.  That's right.  I heard a cable snap inside the door when I was lowering the window and I knew it was trash.  I took it back to the shop for a 3rd time and had them fix it - they did it for free again since I paid them almost $900 last year to fix both windows.  The question is: how is this track breaking like this?  I asked the owner of the shop, he shrugged his shoulders, no answer.  Well it's a pretty good bet they aren't going to keep replacing this for free forever, even if they are getting comped for the part from the parts store, they still have to give free labor to repair it.

I'm thinking maybe don't use that window?  I dunno.

Been keeping tabs on the presidential election race? Yeah, right.

Alright.  I'm in a left hand turn lane (in my car) with the "Turn On Green Arrow Only" sign sitting up there.  There is a girl in an SUV in front of me who is at the front of the line.  The light turns green.  The inevitable cars that are running red lights to make THEIR left turn LONG after the light had turned red come through, but after that, this girl is still sitting there.  Yes I did honk my horn and no I don't have any regrets.  Get your eyes OFF of the freaking cellphone and DRIVE YOUR DAMNED CAR!~!!  \

Down the road, she gets RIGHT on my bumper.  Temptation: hit the brakes she isn't paying attention, she has that stupid cellphone in her right hand on top of the steering wheel, I could see it in my rear view mirror.  But, that would be illegal to try to cause an accident and unethical, so I instead hit the gas.  Whatever the case, I had checks to deposit at Chase bank and I got into a turning lane.  This girl starts honking her horn on the way past me.  I guessed she wanted me to look up to see her middle finger, so, I completely ignored her.  The honking went on until well past me, I continued to ignore her, lol.

On the freeway today, I-10 Eastbound in Phoenix near 40th street to be precise. I am in the semi this time.  A lady in another SUV is swerving back and forth in her lane, going around 70.  I was attempting to guess: is she drunk, on drugs or texting?  I guessed texting.  A few hundred feet more, she had to slow down for traffic in front of her and sure enough, another texting phone, on the steering wheel, this woman paying far less attention to the road than to that stupid phone.

What is it going to take for it to become a socially unacceptable thing to text while driving?  People are dying on America's roadways every day from it, so that's not really an effective motivator - everyone already knows it causes accidents and many times horrific accidents yet they still do it.    I don't know, really, but if I were King, I would have enacted a ban on texting while driving long ago.

That's it for now.

ben