There is something a bit eerie about being in the mountains at night, no-one around, yet intriguing at the same time.
For some reason, however, having the .40 caliber S&W doesn't really feel like enough.
I will be bringing my shotgun with me - loaded either with slugs or buckshot - from now on.

My mom has a gun sitting on the counter when she's up here.  She carries it with her on dog walks.  Well, she carries it with her everywhere.  Our gun laws are so relaxed that a person can legally carry a gun in most places and just about anywhere outdoors.

The eerie part is sitting at the table and looking out the window and seeing nothing but pitch black.  There could be someone out there staring at you through the window and you wouldn't know it.  Ummm, so I pulled the blinds, lol.  Okay, so I'm on private property, but that doesn't mean squat to criminals.

Back up in the mountains.
I remembered the mouse, I forgot about the keyboard.
I want a regular, external type keyboard for this computer, I am not a fan of laptop keyboards, at all.
Anyway, I tried to hook up the satellite with the receiver I bought off of Craigslist, that I had to have them come out and show me how to change the settings that I didn't know had to be changed but figured it was a setting issue with it, not a bad receiver, and ........... nothing.

Kept getting "searching for satellite signal".  Checked the settings, A okay.  Called Direct TV for some help, we went through the whole mess, everything is set right.  I started regretting even coming up here, I want to watch a particular series that starts tomorrow morning and they are showing all 17 episodes through Sunday.  Spent an hour attempting to figure it out, no clue, whatsoever, decided that I would have to have Direct TV come up here and get it working.

But why?  I had the other receiver working last weekend.  I had the satellite towards the general direction, moving it around slowly, that it was in last weekend. Big-time bummer. Final thought, cause' if it ain't working, I'm going home in the morning.  Took the satellite apart and, however it happened, the connection was loose.  Could this be all the problem is?  YES!!!

The setup is now "permanent". The receiver will stay here, my aggressive panhandling techniques have me getting this card for free every month, no $6 monthly charge on it, I bought the receiver specifically for this trailer, done deal. It's pretty cool being an aggressive panhandler.  You get stuff for free.  You know, just like standing on a street corner with a sign and pinching your fingers together at everyone asking for a bit of spare change.  Gotta love that, right?

So anyway, it rained up here since I was up here last.  How do I know?  Cause' I just found out about yet another leak.  So, gonna have to bring all the equipment up here and spend a weekend just fixing that problem.  I had hoped I had all the leaks fixed when I had this thing at my property.  Oh well, you know how aggressive panhandlers are, begging on street corners is far more important than actually working. Ohh, the life of being a beggar.

Well, anyway, that's it The dogs love being up here, they hate the drive. Even with motion sickness medicine, Duke has a particularly miserable drive up and down.  I pretty much have to ignore it.  He's all crashed out now, in fact, all 3 of them are sleeping.  I decided this time to bring frozen dinners and not so much cooking food. Just don't feel like cooking.  I did bring some hot and spicy brats, though : )

















!!

So, yesterday's aggressive panhandling netted me an extra $29 off of my Direct TV bill; 3 more months of free movie channels (Starz); started 3 separate investigations from 3 separate divisions at the City of Phoenix into the property behind me; talked to executives at 2 companies and management at another to have the conduct of their employees reviewed (SRP, Verizon Wireless and the City of Phoenix) and basically was having a grand ole' time once I FINALLY got through to a person at the City that is actually interested in actually DOING something about the properties behind me.

Or so he says, anyway.

I am intent on aggressively panhandling Verizon Wireless as well for all the trouble I have experienced with their product.  Yup, I'm pretty good at begging.  Oh, wait a minute, that's not begging, I actually PAY this company and the others listed EVERY single month. I get a bill, I pay it online, doesn't sound much like begging to me, does it to you?  Yes, apparently one person who shall remain nameless thinks so.  I know, I should just get over it but I have never in my entire life been called a beggar, mostly because I have never begged anyone for anything.  Whatever.  I'm actually quite happy with all the progress I made yesterday on some things that I had put on a shelf. Especially the situation with the people behind me.  My motivation levels went up to extreme heights yesterday and, well, just got'er done.

Today? Absolutely no intention of doing any of that.  Though, I am supposed to get a couple of phone calls today about follow-up - specifically with the situation going on on the property behind me and also the situation with Verizon Wireless.  I think I'll leave Direct TV alone for a while, they were nice to me yesterday on 2 separate occasions and that's good enough for me.

___________________

Long interlude.  Continuing to put finishing touches on the drip system.  City of Phoenix employee called me to inform me that he was issuing them a notice to clean  up the poop.  I come into my back yard to continue with repairs to the drip system and lo and behold - 350 man, standing with a woman on the woman's back porch, staring over my fence, making comments about my dogs.

I flatly asked them what they were looking at.  The woman mouthed off right back at me, 350 man turned away, I called the police.  That guy has NO business being anywhere near my property, certainly not on a neighbor's porch, looking over the fence, with this injunction still in place and still valid until October.  Police came out quickly, but he was already gone.  I got an incident/report number and that was good enough for me.  When the year for this injunction is up, I will have something to back me up if it becomes necessary to go back to court and get yet another injunction against him.

But, anyway, they have 2 days to clean up that cat crap.  If they don't, the city worker will be back out on Monday to take pictures of it and then I assume it becomes a court matter after that. It will be easier for them to just clean up the piles and piles of crap out there than to push it, though, there is so much of it, I am sure that is not going to be a pleasant job.  Which I could care less about.  If they are going to feed feral cats, they need to clean up after those cats as well.  The war continues, stay tuned for more exciting updates.

lol