Think I'll Post Over Here For A Little While

I am not leaving KCL - I said I wouldn't so I won't. That does not mean I HAVE to post over there. When all the foul and vicious junk that's going on over there dies down, I'll get back to it over there. I suspect that even though there's a temporary lull, the worst of it is yet to come. Certainly, it's not totally over.

I just have other things I need to focus on right now and that kind of atmosphere does not lend well to it. This morning, the amount of lewd vulgarity was more than I could handle. So call me a wimp, I like to think of myself as civilized, out of the Barbarian age and beyond such things. I love a lot of people over there, but the mob mentality took over if not temporarily, just wait a few days for it to die down.

Now, read this again, for anyone that wants to go running to KCL: I am NOT leaving the place and I am not trashtalking it. I am speaking my opinion. I think the admins of the place are great people who have been put under a lot of stress and probably, they might back off from it for a day or two just to let the air clear. But, I'm just a squeaky little voice, it's only my opinion, I am holding NOTHING against any one person, and I like many of the people over there.

Meanwhile, I always have my good ole' Blogspot blog.

The IRS is INSISTING I file a return for the year 2007. WHY they singled out that year, I have no clue. I have heard countless times from various experts that if you don't owe money to the IRS, you don't HAVE to file. They have sent me 2 notices. I called them Friday. The lady was kind enough - it isn't the IRS treatment of the past where you are a scumbag that hasn't paid your taxes even if there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that.

And CERTAINLY, I pay a HECKUVA lot of taxes every payday to the IRS. They GET their share, they get MORE than their share. If I could keep the half of what I pay them every year, my financial situation would improve exponentially.

Well, I'm on the phone with this woman. She looks up my file. "You made X amount of money that year, the IRS wants you to file a return. In fact, you haven't filed for several years". Cause at tax time, or any other time really, I don't have the money to pay a tax return specialist to do my taxes and even if I did, I don't have the luxury of waiting to get a check back for 2 months.

I informed this woman that in 2007, my house burned down, it was a total loss and I will be owed a great deal of money from the IRS if they are going to push this issue.

Yup, they're going to push it. She said they will send out one more notice and then they will do my taxes for me. Great. She also stated, after I asked, that to have the return amended will cost me more money to do so. Okay, they win. I have the funds available, I don't want to put it on hold forever, but I am not going to let them get the best of me by filing my taxes FOR me and possibly coming up with bogus junk. I can't imagine how much it's going cost to have a qualified, legitmate tax agency do this for me, but I can't afford to be wrong on this one, not with so many deductions. I want THEM to back me up if/when the IRS calls me in for an audit, and you can be rest assured, with the kind of deductions I am going to make for that tax year, I will have plenty.

Still, I HATE doing taxes. I figure I pay enough into the system, leave me the freak alone. I have all the paperwork, at least, in my closet, I got all of that quite some time ago in case this ever came up. It took quite a while to get all of that too, so I'm glad at least that footwork is done.

Well, I got home from work today and tookalookit the plants freshly placed in the ground yesterday. Not keeling over and dying, that's all I wanted to see. Rooting takes a while, but it shouldn't take too terribly long. I have 4 more ficus to put in and a Sissoo. I'm going to put the Sissoo in where I take out one of the now-burned Norfolk Pines. I am getting all of this stuff before our version of winter hits. It's all good until any frosts come along, then rooting takes a definitive role in whether a plant lives or dies. And anyway, I don't want those potted trees to sit there all winter long in those pots. Let's get them into the ground already, shall we?

I am going to give a final shot of "drugs" to the plants this coming weekend with Miracle Gro - after I get the last of what needs to be planted in. I hope to get that done this week and then do the spraying this weekend.

Oh, and we got it over with. Steelers lost yesterday in a game they could have easily won a dozen times over. They looked piss-poor and let's not blame the rain, Jacksonville had the same handicap. Pittsburgh IS rain, the place is made out of it. It rains all the time there! The thunderstorms are awe-inspiring. No, I just say we got it over with. We won the Super Bowl last year, somebody had to beat us the first time this season, it's over with, the hooplah of it should be over with, now let's get on with the season, shall we?

Umm, that's it for now. I have a lot of stuff I could say on here, that has nothing to do with the other blogging site, BTW, but I am wary of who might be reading here.

Oh, called my son earlier but no answer. I left him a message to call me, I want daily communication with him about school. This is an absolute must considering what's going on right now with his grades. He has a rifle competition coming up on the 3rd of next month, I am going to stay on top of this until I see a passing grade in Geometry and rising grades in other classes as well.

If I get a wild hair, write about the rest of what's on my mind later, if not, have a great evening!
ben

Saturday

I want a cigar. Haven't had one in ages, just want to smoke a big, fat cigar with a glass of something and enjoy the ride.

Well, anyway. I want to move the old Buick, the battery is dead. So, I went down and got a "new" battery - there is a place near downtown Phoenix that sells refurb batteries for $22. It's not too good to be true, either, that place has been there forever and I have bought batteries there before.

Got it home, installed it, car fired right up. Ran for a couple of minutes - then died. Figured it was out of fuel so I went and got a can of fuel. Well, it was only a gallon and the car is on an incline, I can only get it to start run for a flash of a second and dies again. I may tried another can of fuel - later on.

Got a call from someone today looking for a room to rent. Thought that odd because I took down all the old ads. It was a message left by someone, I am not returning the call - well, maybe I will. I have never confronted Jeff on the rent issue. There is no way I can afford another month of him living here for free. He KNOWS I rent out rooms, I don't just give them away. Yet, he is content to say nothing and do nothing - his reasoning without actually SAYING it is his reasoning for not paying is this looming amount for his attorney in his child custody battle. He needs to come up with thousands of dollars for it. Great, I need $100 for the water bill and another $100 for electricity.

I might think about giving him a reduced rate, but free is going out the window. If he can't afford to pay rent because of the lawyer situation, then perhaps he can move back in with his friends he was staying with before he moved in here. I just sent the money out for the first month of the 3 month trial period for keeping my home.

I get tired of having to confront people in my home about whatever. I know, I know, it's my own doings. Perhaps - just because of the people living here - but I still just get tired of having to deal with it.

Long delay. I went and got another gallon of gas to dump into the old Buick - fired right up. Making that noise - it needs a new harmonic balancer. It also needs a couple of new valve cover gaskets and one of the rear brake solenoids is leaking. AC needs a can or 2 of freon pumped into it. Nothing major - which is why I have kept the car. Major is tranny or engine. The engine only has 138,000 miles on it -that car has at least another 50,000 in it, at least going by what I have seen others of this same brand and model do.

I've kept the car for 2 reasons. First, if my finances REALLY go south and I lose the ability to make the car payments on my newer car, then I MUST have something to fall back on. Second, if my son ever gets a driver's license and a job (must have both) he will be allowed to go ahead use the thing for school and work. I don't really like just having a car sitting around, though. Anyway, I just moved the thing out of the front of the driveway and behind the gates in the rear. This is the area where I'm going to dump the junk I want hauled out of here for the bulk trash pickup. After that's done, a tenant can park there and get one of the vehicles off of the street.

I have decided - continuing on with a theme I started earlier on my other blog - that I will just go ahead and plant the ficus along the eastern side of the front of my property. I am already watering other plants there, this will do nothing to increase water usage. I didn't want to plant anything there that would give my neighbors shade on their property. They started a war with me some years ago and it has never been resolved. I don't WANT to give them shade, but the flip side is that I will eventually have a screen to not have to see them and also I will have something to do with these ficus trees - I'm running out of places to put plants.

Seriously, there are few places left for plants now. I've got them just about EVERYWHERE on this property! Front, back and sides.

Umm, anyway, it warmed up out there and dealing with the car wasn't exactly fun.

Talk to ya later - ava' great Saturday!
ben

Thursday

A big thank-you to my blogging/internet friends in Australia - Neil and Lynne - for sending me some fantastic photos/footage of a bit of the life over there! I didn't know they drove on the wrong side of the road in Australia, I thought that was for Englishmen!!

Let's get on with the business at hand.

I bought the kids a Playstation 3 some time ago, maybe a year and a half, 2 years - don't remember exactly. The things were going for $500 at the time, I found a brand new one for $360.

Those kids have played that thing to death, literally. On the weekends it's playing 15 hours a day, in the summer it's going all the time. I got sick of the thing long ago - I make them turn the volume on the TV it's being played on ALL THEY WAY DOWN when I'm in here and they want to play it.

It quit working last weekend. I found this out from my son. Caleb said I must know about the thing being broken. No, I did not - I don't play the freakin' thing and nobody told me. NOW I understand why I haven't seen Michael since Sunday morning. Lol.

So, anyway - I call Sony up today. A woman gets on the phone - it was quite obvious she was reading script from a computer screen. I interrupted her after 60 seconds of her monotone and asked to speak to a manager.

"Well, sir, he's going to tell you the same thing I am telling you" - my concern - shock - awe - in being told that a system that expensive that is broken in less than 2 years would cost me $150 to fix. I DON'T CARE IF HE DOES TELL ME THE SAME THING, put him on the phone, please.

I'm on hold for a couple of minutes. She gets back on: "Well my supervisor told me to tell you - yada yada yada". "Ma'am, I asked to speak to a supervisor, not speak to you to speak to a supervisor, I will speak to your supervisor now". Same story, he'll tell me the same thing. Same response, I don't care.

Nice racket Sony has going. First off, pay a fortune for their machine. Then, when it quits working, pay a fortune to get it fixed. Then comes the final gasp of air: For $150 to fix a machine that already cost most everyone else $500, you only get a 90 day warranty!!! I complained bitterly about that part of it. I should get a full year's warranty for that much money.

Didn't matter to them. I gave up - I was tired and I'm already fighting another battle which is draining me immensely. I'll have to call again. I did try finding on Craiglist, calling video game stores, google searching anyone fixing these systems locally - found nothing yet.

Umm, I was going to write more but I just realized it's 10 minutes past my bedtime!

G'nite!

ben

Tuesday

There is one important thing about this house I am living in that I left out when I had it built, but now wish I had done. That would be putting some level of sound proofing in the inner walls. Even just plain old insulation would have been good.

Noise isn't that big of an issue here, but it can get interesting. For me, I'm on one end of the house and all the rest of the bedrooms are on the other end, so no big deal. But I think it would be easier having tenants if they weren't exposed to each other's noises. Now, they are keeping it pretty quiet - still - I just wish I would have done something with that thought.

Well, anyway. I'm fairly sure my ex-wife has this blog on her list. If you, mrs. ex. - are here, reading my personal blog, you are totally messed up. You have absolutely no business being here. Reading a person's personal diary that you USED to be married to and are no longer is just plain not right. Not to mention all the s*** you have dumped on me in the last several days, I bid you a good riddance from my blogging adventures and don't invite your friends here, either. If you want to fill their heads full of lies about me, do it on your OWN without reading my blog for "fodder" for your bull****.

I had to purge myself of that, as one of her - the ex's - emails contained an alleged statement I made in whichever blog. But if I recall correctly, which I am quite sure I do, the thing she was mentioning was a statement I made about her not ever getting any of THIS property I am at now. The judge agreed with that in divorce court - this is where I moved to after leaving all that past-life with her behind, she had nothing to do with obtaining this property and since there is not that much paid on it, her "half" of it would be half of the remaining PAYMENTS left on it.

This property is now worth less than I paid for it. But recent estimates bring it to only a 5 to 7 thousand negative. A few months ago, this property was worth fully 30k less than what I originally paid for it. Even that pales in comparison to many people in this part of the country whose properties value have tanked 100k or even more. Can you imagine buying a house for $300,000 and then the economy tanks and now it's only worth 200k or even less than that, though you still have a mortgage that is paying off 300k ? Yeah, pretty sucky.

Well, life goes on. She - the ex - has threatened court action. I am SO terribly sick of her using that as a fear-mongering tool - get me to comply with whatever by threatening court, that I wrote her back and told her to go for it. At this point, I would FAR rather face the judge than continue on with the crap. The one assurance I have in all of this is that this is NOT going to go on forever. My son turns 18 in less than 2 years - he is the only link between us. After the crap she said to me in the last round of emails, I don't care if I never hear from her again. I have NO desire to talk to her in email, phone, snail mail, whatever.

Got distracted by tenants and now it's bedtime.

G'nite!

ben

Sunday

I had wanted to take it easy today, and wrote so on my other blog, but no such thing is occuring.
Instead, I have full-tilted myself into a clean spring fiesta of this, that and the other thing - just like a clean house. I had to take the drain apart underneath the main sink's sink and - found a lot of long hair in there. I'll be guessing that's Mary's.

The sink was draining slow and whoever is shaving in there doesn't clean out the residue left behind because of the slow drain.

I wish my printer was working. I am going to write up a schedule and people can fill in the blanks. The schedule is cleaning duties in the main bathroom. I have cleaned the toilet in there I think 5 times this week - urine and slide marks making it a disgusting thing to see when arriving in the bathroom - and other things we won't go into.

I have no obligation to clean all of that up on a continued basis. My son uses that bathroom so I do my share - yes, my share is being the ONLY person to clean that thing up. I left the bathroom waste basket full for a week now, seeing if anyone dare take it out - neither I nor my son use it. It was full of tissues and Q-tips and all kinds of stuff. No, no-one threw out the trash and instead, it overflowed and it was all over the floor.

I would like to think that full-grown adults would find it shameful to be leaving it like that, but - I can imagine one thinking that they can just blame someone else and therefore, NO-ONE taking responsibility for it. It's just the way things go with tenants and the only way to correct it is confrontation. I don't like to HAVE to do it, but I have no choice. I have let this situation go for a month now to see if anyone would do anything in there.

As it stands, I just got through scrubbing the entire bathroom out - tub; floor; toilet inside and out; sink, mirrors. The bathtub was rather gross looking with all the soap scum all over it. Fortunately, I use cleaner that basically takes that stuff off, just have to do a little elbow work with a sponge to make it totally disappear.

I then went to my bathroom and scrubbed the toilet - but I keep it clean in there and the cleaning in there took me less than 5 minutes. I am thinking of scrubbing out the entire shower stall, a thing I hate to do, but it looks like it's starting to need it.

Next, my room. Halfway done with that plus the living room and still have vacuuming to do. I would make my son do it but I made him go outside and clean up the dog crap. Michael took off early this morning - he came home late last night. In fact, the only reason it appears that he came over here was to get a decent night's sleep. I don't blame the boy - and I won't go into the reasons yet again since I have done so here too many times and regular readers KNOW the reasons.

On that tone, apparently Michael's family know that the cops are out after Anthony. I sweetened the pot by telling Michael and JD that there is a warrant out for his arrest. I have serious doubts the cops know where they currently live - they are renting yet another house and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's in a fictitious name or someone else's name altogether. I imagine Anthony would already have been arrested. I - have very good reasons NOT to turn him in, my own house and property and keeping it from destruction are the main factors. I have no fear of these people - if I'm HERE, it's when I'm not here. They know when I'm gone.

So, I'm going to let that one alone - eventually Anthony will get caught and my guess it will be for drunk driving, without a license at that and probably no insurance on the car, either. I don't know whose car it is that he is driving around, I think their Aunt's, but that person is crazy to allow that kid to be driving that car anywhere.

Back to my house. I went to Fry's this morning as well as Home Depot - and bought a nice beef roast that was on manager's markdown. From $14 to $7. They have plenty of those markdowns all the time, reason: due date about to arrive and expire. I always either cook it the same or next day or immediately freeze it. Today - I am going to cook it til' it pulls apart with a fork, drain out the juices (dogs will have a nice treat and taste to their dog food today), dump 2 bottles of very good BBQ sauce in there, walaah - BBQ beef sandwiches with coleslaw and french fries.

Caleb and I will be eating quite well later on. Michael and JD went to Michael's house to watch a pay-per-view - WWE Fake Wrestling - at $40 or $45 per pop, whatever it is. These people have no business spending that kind of money on fake wrestling, but, that isn't my problem. If I were into it, I wouldn't even be paying that much money for it as bills, gas, electricity - normal things - take precedence.

Oh, and my trip to Home Depot - pretty short. I wrote about this in the other blog too, but I'm excited about getting some Petunias and adorning my front yard with them in clusters all over the place. The garden center worker said they just got them in - and it's too early, really, to be planting them because it's still too hot. I asked if it was still too hot, how do they survive in there? the garden center is outdoors. He didn't really know, in fact, he wasn't sure they WOULD survive with it being so warm out still. So, Petunias will have to wait for cooler temps.

I'm also working on getting 10,000 plus emails out of my email box. I thought I was "down" to the 7,000 range today in getting rid of almost 2,500 of them now, but that was just the emails I HAVEN'T read. It's ALL junk mail - penis enlarger this; loan mod that. Freakin' ridiculous. I happened to see "all mail" and it's STILL over 10,000 emails!! I realized I wasn't including the mail I have already read and left in there. So, I am deleting most of it, moving some of it that I want to keep to folders. Give me a week and I MIGHT have this all done and then I will try to stay on top of it.

Umm, there's more but this is enough for one entry. I'm just getting stuff done around here today.

Hope you are doing well.

ben

More

So, Sargeant McBroom wrote back after I inquired him about what else I can possibly do to help Michael get with the program.
I already figured he has had number absences - it's a month into the school year and already 9 absences.

He said he would try to get him a bus pass. That will be the end of it for me, if Michael gets a free bus pass from school and STILL has absences, I'm washing my hands of him. He will be told he can come back and visit us - after the school year is over in June. Seriously. He allegedly got a new video game for his system as his family's house - which is why I didn't see him yesterday - I assume he missed yesterday as well. Missing school to stay home and play video games.

His parents think this totally acceptable and want to be "friends" with their kids. Nice - after they are grown up and out of the house - until that point, you are their PARENT, not their best friend. The things you force your kids to do probably aren't going to be very popular with them, such as the stance I am taking with Caleb right now. I'm sure when he grows up he'll think I was the worst dad on earth - so beit. I will not have him compromising his future because he's too lazy to get his homework done or doesn't want to participate in class.

So, time plods on and so do the issues. Seems like I can't buy a free moment of time to not have anything going on that is totally negative.

But, I did have a few moments of peace outside. For some reason, the dogs next door decided to not bark at me and I ended up putting in 4 more plants. I have 10 small ficus trees left to plant and 2 more larger plants, the name of which escapes me right now.

My problem is that I have no idea WHERE I want to put those ficus trees. I have a couple of spots left, sure, but 10 of them? I planted all 3 of the Chinese Elm this morning. 2 in the back and one out front, while ridding the front of dead mini rose plants. Half of them could not survive the intense summer heat. They just burned up. The other half were much denser and made their own shade to survive with. I like the little roses they put out, but I don't like the thorns when trying to clear away any weeds or grass that is growing around them, so no loss on getting rid of the dead ones and decided whether I want any of those plants out there at all.

The ficus cannot take their place, unfortunately. I have enough trees and shrubs out there already, I need more ground covering plants, the likes of which I have none. Some more nurseries are going out of business - but I'm not sure I want to spend another penny on plants right now, I have plenty. Until I figure out what I want to do, I have plenty of rocks from the back I can haul out there to cover the exposed ground.

Oh, I was thinking of putting the ficus out on the very front, next to the sidewalk, but I have had great difficulty getting anything to grow out there. So, gonna take a walk around the property, look at places an eventual tree might go, if there aren't any good places, I'm going to give them away - I paid all of a buck a piece for them. lol

That's it. Ken's mom just tried to call - and I was in the middle of looking for a video on my puter files which froze the whole computer up - the call went unanswered.
So, gonna call her back and then go take a look at where those ficus trees might go.

Rent

Jeff - the ex-tenant who has moved back in temporarily - asked yesterday if he could get me to write up a rental agreement. I still have his "old" one from before, but I said okay, it's apparently for use for his lawyer. HOW it is going to be used, I have no idea, but that really doesn't matter.

While doing so - and writing in the monthly amount to be paid - he continued on with his rather unending statements about how much it's going to cost him to retain this lawyer. Supposedly, he has til' November to come up with 5k. I'm not so gullible as to believe much of what anyone says anymore. People I don't know very well? Could be lying through their teeth.

The last time I was looking for the lawyer route, I was told all kinds of extremely high prices - but that it could be paid off in payments. HIGH payments, yes, over a span of 10 months is what one of them stated.

The man has given me no choice. I mean, I have been waiting for him to talk to me about the rent, as there has been no agreement from me that this is a free ride here. I am sorry that life is hitting him squarely between the eyes with his girlfriend breaking court orders and not allowing him to see his own son, but I have MY problems, too, and most of it is directly related to my finances. To think that this guy is feeling that he's going to stay here this month, next month and half the next month after that - for free - is off the wall. Throw me a bone, give me SOMETHING to work with here. Instead, I am hearing constant statements about how much money this lawyer is going to cost.

I'll bet he isn't sending a letter to the loan company that is carrying his vehicle title with such statements: "Hey, I'm going to have to put you on hold for 3 months while I get my personal stuff taken care of". Guaranteed, they'll come and haul that sucker off.

So, I have no choice but to confront him on it. If he feels he simply cannot pay rent - albeit the fact he's working 6 days a week and taking in very good money with OT - then he can find a new place to live. Most people aren't handing out free rooms right now that I know of, especially in this economy where many folks are finding renting out rooms is a lifeline that is helping them stay afloat. My situation exactly. I would love to be in a better position and help him out - but my circumstances dictate my actions in this particular case.

What makes it even worse for me is that I terminated the ad, told people the room is rented and thought I had this all behind me. I hate having to be the guy that is always giving out bad news, I really do.

I was outside for a little while. Those stupid dogs next door started yelping the second I walked out there. I'm going to start logging the day and time they are barking and doing more video of them sitting there, barking away in case this ends up becoming a court matter.

My next plan of attack, as ugly as it may be - is to block their view of my yard with that black plastic. It only need be high enough so they can't see, that might, just might, help quelch this stuff.

Well, I'm off to read some world news and then get a start on the day.

Happy Saturday!
ben

My Son And School

After calling Caleb's school today and discussing the situation with his geometry teacher, I decided that I better just GO to his school and get a printout of all of his classes, teachers and find out how to access grades online.

It was WELL worth the trip. The lady in administration heard me out and then proceeded to find his schedule and print it for me. Another lady - a former teacher of Caleb's - remembered Caleb well. She sort of shrugged her shoulders when I asked about whether it was the same in her class as it currently is in geometry - and then said yes.

I'm quite appalled at what's going on here. I asked repeatedly at the end of last school year to see his final report card - I'm assuming there's a reason I didn't see it. Caleb isn't stupid, but it's obvious to me that he isn't very well motivated, either.

In steps daddy. I will not tolerate this kind of crap. I looked at grades in every single class. It shows the activity and it shows the grade given. In one class, he has 3 consecutive F's - with 0's - meaning he must not have turned in ANYTHING. UNBELIEVABLE.

I wrote to every single teacher and asked for their guidance and suggestions they might have. I also asked how he managed to get an F on any of those items that are showing such. Did he miss class? Did he not turn in homework? Is there any way for him to make it up? This stuff is going to affect him when he tries to go to college, that's a FACT.

Whatever has BEEN going on is about to change. I can GUARANTEE that. I definitely have the ability to force this issue with him. The conversation we had coming from his mother's house to mine wasn't exactly pleasant. I wasn't mad at him, but I was definitely not tolerant of his excuses. And now that I have seen with my own eyes his grades, well, he's been forewarned. His weekends over here playing video games, watching satellite TV and surfing the internet will COMPLETELY disappear if I don't see immediate improvement. I mean, within a week - any tests, class assignments, homework - it better be at an acceptable grade - I'm thinking minimum B, but I'll accept a C if he's having difficult in it.

And if he IS having difficulty in any other class, then we're going to have to deal with that as well. Right now, though, he isn't failing any other class. One class he's actually managed to have an A-. No, the full force of intensity will be focused on geometry as it's really an emergency that needs sandbags to stop the river from flowing over the dike.

Well, that's that. I can relax a little - I am not going to confront him on the rest of this nonsense until tomorrow as I have already pretty much caused no small amount of distress today over such. I'm trying to back down a little. I was taken off-guard and by surprise when his Colonel informed me of the failing geometry situation last night and really, that effect has not faded on me since that little conversation.

The weekend is here, though I can't really say I've done much work this week!! lol

G'nite.
ben

Failing Geometry

So, I went to this ROTC meeting for the parents tonight and found out at the end that Caleb is in jeopardy of "imminent failure" of geometry and that if he does fail, ROTC will have no choice but to drop him from the program.

This is Caleb's third year in that program, he would be totally devastated.

As if I needed another ration of crap dumped onto my plate, I have to hear this from his Colonel, not from the ex or him. Not saying anything bad about the Colonel, I'm just aghast that I wasn't even informed about this s***. I am going down to the school tomorrow after work and ask for an audience with whoever about how we are going to get him through this - failure is NOT an option.

I've already started looking up local tutors - their prices and their experience - in helping to get through this. I have absolutely no way to pay for it, but I am going to have to FIND a way if it's REALLY coming down to him failing. I have no clue about geometry, I forgot all that stuff in high school, I have had no practical application of it in my adult life except on 2 occasions that I can remember in the last 27 years since I graduated.

I had extreme trouble with Geometry as well. I was good with all the other stuff, but geometry stumped me. It was half way through the school year before I finally started to get it - but I was already at D level grade, I BARELY passed that class. It sucked. Terribly.

I think I'm going to get more info from his teacher in that class and then go from there. Maybe my mom or dad could help with a tutor's expenses. Maybe the school has it's own resources with which to draw from, whatever the case, I will not let this go until I have a clear cut plan of action.

I'm pretty tee'd off, really. Not because he's having trouble, but because I wasn't told about this. I will be going behind the ex's and anyone else' back and getting my updates on his educational progress from this point forth.

Geeze.

Nice ending to a vacation.

ben

End Of Vacation

I've really been dreading this today - my vacation is over as of waking up for work tomorrow morning.
But not the end of the world - I just hope there are deliveries to make in the truck routing system.
I must admit no small amount of trepidation in taking time off and coming back. I have not seen my company dealing with layoffs in such a manner, but there is always the first time.
Yet, I had the time off coming, everyone else has been taking all kinds of time off, I had to do my 2 stints. I still will have plenty of time off hours left even after this - but I dare not take try taking any more of it for a while. I'm thinking Christmas, but maybe a day off at Thanksgiving as well. Before or after, doesn't matter, definitely the other drivers are going to be looking at time off during a major holiday - the MAJOR holidays are, of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas, with New Years a very close, but still trailing, 3rd.

I only elucidate my feelings - employment is a must, a paycheck is a must, there is no getting around such things.

In about 35 minutes, I am leaving for an ROTC meeting for parents. I only know it's for the parents, a communication type of thing, I want to be involved in my son's life to the point he KNOWS that I am there, and not just there, but in the "middle" of it as much as I can be and as much as is good with him. All the cadets will be there - that's what the email stated anyway.

I have to say that I would RATHER stay home and watch this Steeler's V Titans game, the Steelers are my home-town team. Just being honest, but I am pretty sure it will be an interesting meeting and the game is being recorded on DVR, so no big deal, I can watch it tomorrow if it's worth watching. However, I'm getting a view of the game right now - not really looking too stellar on the Steeler's part.

Really, I like getting out of the house - I've been out a couple times today on various errands all over the place. I took Prince to PetSmart - yes you can take your dog into Petsmart as long as it's leashed, licensed and vaccinated (not that they check). A store employee came up admiring him and told me he has a blue Dane. These are VERY beautiful dogs and very expensive, at least if you're getting it from a reputable breeder and that is, really, the ONLY place you're going to get one. They are a sight to behold.

A young German Shepherd came into the store - and started barking at Prince, whose deep voice reverberated throughout the store in response. "I think he has a bigger bark than you" says the guy with the woman holding the dog - to the dog. On the way out, the woman was CARRYING the dog, lol. I have not seen Prince afraid of any dog - not that I encourage him AT ALL in being violent and aggressive, that came naturally on his own and actually, I go the opposite in trying to get him to tone it down.

There is a hummingbird that is frequenting the feeder on a daily basis now. In the evenings, though, he just sits there, perehced above the feeder on the holder. The dogs just started loud barking - the thing took off, but only to the top of the fence. I can see him from here, my kitchen, some 40 feet away through the living room window. Pretty cool.

Well, I must be readying to go.
C'ya later.
ben

Wednesday

Today and tomorrow left of Staycation - though I only go to work 1 day and then back to 2 days off via the weekend.

I'm getting concerned, I guess I will call it, that my ex-tenant who moved back in has paid nothing in rent yet. He was NEVER late on paying, and he's working 12 to 14 hours a day, paying the rent should not be a problem. At the same time, he is putting a huge chunk of change down for a retained for a lawyer to fight for custody of his son.

One thing's for sure, I did not agree to staying here for free. I know he gets paid on Fridays - but I don't know if he gets paid every Friday or every other Friday. I'm going to let it go until Saturday, if I see no money and hear nothing about money coming my way, then I'll have no choice but to sit down with him and have a discussion. He makes excellent money, this really shouldn't be an issue, especially with all the OT he gets.

I'm still not THAT concerned, he's made references to hours and suggestions - in an ever so subtle way - that money is coming my way. We'll see. Meanwhile, the loan mod is a go, I just have to have the money in before the 1st of the month and have to keep doing that for 3 months running. I will be sending that payment out next week via USPS Priority Mail. That will get it there within 3 days max, WELL before the 1st of October.

I really want to stay current permanently if at all possible. My credit score will go back up and if I had been current right now, I could have refi'ed to a lower interest rate and had something like $250 per MONTH taken off my monthly payment. I kick myself when I think about that, but - it is what it is. I'm looking at about $100 less per month - I'll take whatever I can get and run with it.

I was going to go visit Ken and take the mail over there today - to his new place, he was moved yesterday back to the nursing care facility - but I am going to head to Scottsdale instead. My last painting adventure - I again offered obnoxiously low amount on a huge, beautiful painting and the person has called me 3 days in a row now wondering if I would get it.

I didn't want to drive to Fountain Hills - this person must be hard up because they are offering to meet me half way today. This painting is 3 and a half feet by 4 feet - again, it's very large and it will go well either in my bedroom or in the living room. Probably the living room - walls are pretty barren in there.

That will end my painting fun for a while - maybe quite a while - as mortgage payments kick back in and "extra money" is kept as reserve. Because of the 2 month delay in making payments, I was actually able to maintain the level I had when I got the 401k loan a few months back. Yes, all of that money is sitting in my bank account right now and then some. I will fight to keep it in there, too.

I had originally taken it out when my AC went out, I spent my last nickles on getting it fixed and was facing some seriously BAD financial stuff. I got that money and then the loan mod went through - putting of mortgage payments for 2 months. With 3 tenants, PAYING tenants I should say - I won't have to dip into it at all and I will have something to fall back on if anything ELSE happens. It's very reassuring to have that kind of money sitting there for any kind of emergency.

Actually, with 3 paying tenants, I get ahead - slowly of course, but if I'm frugal enough, I do make gains. I was doing so when the last 3-some of tenants was here, I was about $500 ahead and getting more and more ahead with each paying tenant's rent payment and my paychecks. Yes, I have spent some dough on paintings in the last few days - but again, I'm not offering much for paintings that I like the look of. I have been finding a lot of people stuck at $60 or $65 and finding out that several of these people are wanting to buy video games for their kids with that money. I lowball that and if someone bites, well, I'll be at their house takinalookit what they got. Sometimes the pics on CL don't do justice, other times it makes the painting look way better than it actually is :(

Yes, it costs that much and more for some system's video games, it's crazy. Even crazier that the kids around HERE go through those things in a couple of days. I haven't bought a video game in - what - 2 years? I stopped buying them for a couple of reasons. First, the boys would leave the discs laying on the floor, they would get scratched up or broken. $65 laying around for the dogs to trample them - infuriating, literally.

Second, the price tag. I don't play the damned things, I have no interest in supporting that kind of habit.

Third, they go through them too fast. It's MUCH cheaper to just rent the new games for 5 days - that's more than enough time for those kids to conquer a game. I don't rent them very often, either, but I will occasionally if they want to do a project around here to pay for it. Yes, I force them to work for whatever money I give them, excpeting Caleb when it comes to school stuff. I make him do chores regardless of whether there's money involved or not, same for Michael. My demands to do things around here are on an almost daily basis now.

Michael does stuff around here when I ask him to - and anymore without all the BS. He is currently BANNED from the computer, so the BS may come back. If it does, he can take it to his family's house, they're ALL full of BS, birds of a feather.

Speaking of birds, I started putting out hummingbird mixture again - after months of not, the hot weather spoils that stuff quickly - and they have already found it. Those little birdies are quite resourceful in finding food, I'll give them that. They are fun to watch, too. They pretty much just stick around during the winter, I'll have that stuff out there all winter long.

I have no clue why none of my honeysuckles are blooming. The giant one I used to have here before my house burned down used to put out blooms for the hummingbirds to feed on all year long. They WERE blooming last year, but for whatever reason, there is nothing now.

I'll have to start reading up on them things to find out what, if anything, I can do to get them to start putting out their pretty flowers that the H-birds are totally attracted to.

As for today, I went to Home Depot, exchanged the now-broken doggie door for yet another one. They put a 3 month warranty on it, the doors are lasting maybe a month, month and a half. Cheap plastic junk. The price tag isn't that cheap. I was going to get a better one and pay more for it, but it's not the one I really want. The one I want costs about $200 and has 3 flaps on it, is made of very sturdy construction and will keep the cool in and heat out or vice versa depending on time of year. If I really wanted to go haywire, they also sell one that is not only good for the weather, the dogs get collars that signal the thing to unlock when they get close enough.

Yes, they have an automatically locking doggy door. But I think that excessive and the price tage is closer to $300. I'll take the model that cuts energy costs - but - I'll wait until I feel like actually cutting out a much larger hole and spending the extra $125. For now, this one works, it's in the utility room that has no AC vent in the floor anyway (which really tees me off - another story). Anyway, it takes all of 2 minutes to get the screws out, remove the door and the same in reverse putting the new one back in. I figure in a month or so, I'll be back at Home Depot exchanging yet another one.

Oh, and I have one more thing I want to obtain for my bathroom before I close the financial doors on it - for now anyway. Some shelving. I saw some absolutely gorgeous, all glass shelving in a circular somewhere yesterday. I want that shelving! I do not, however, want to pay their price. So I am going to start searching CL yet again for someone that might be ridding themselvs of such - perhaps someone taking everything down in their house in a foreclosure situation. Hey, if YOU put up that shelving, there's nothing wrong with taking it down. I don't think I'd want the "loot" from a house that it's owners are totally gutting, taking things they shouldn't be taking because of being foreclosed upon.

That's it for now, I'm headed outside for a while to do some minor things out there besides watering.
ben

Tuesday

I had my reservations about letting Michael download "songs" from Limewire a while back, today I found some stuff that made this far worse than I would have imagined. I mean, when I let him do the downloads, he spent the night doing that stuff - and then I found out the next day he stayed home from school to continue on.

THAT was bad enough. Today, I'm going through files on my computer trying to get rid of stuff - especially videos and pics - to speed the thing back up. I go into the account Michael used to download all these songs and found hundreds and hundreds of pornographic photos and videos. I have deleted all of that garbage - the porn stuff and left the music. However, I have now decided to delete ALL of it and that will be the end of it. If he loses all of his music - and porn - on that little electronic gadget of his, he'll have to somewhere else to download that shit as it will NEVER happen on my computer again.

I didn't even know you COULD download anything but music on Limewire. I have warned him about looking at porno shit on my computer before, he is also going to be banned from using this computer for at least a month, maybe two.

Really pissed me off, to say the least. I'm going to have to run my Avast software and make sure some trojan or other viral junk didn't sneak past it - as in, perhaps something downloaded before Avast got it into their system as something to stop from allowing it to go into your files on your computer. Limewire is notorious for files that are laden with viruses and executable files that allows a person full access to your computer while you are online.

I am on staycation, and though I had wild ideas of doing all kinds of projects, I have done very few so far. I'm feeling incredibly LAZY right now. I can't explain why - but the house is empty right now cepting' all the dogs of course and I just want to enjoy the peace and quiet. If I would just start doing something, I'm sure the energetic juices would kick and I would be in marathon mode instead of nothing mode. There is nothing around here that is in dire need, though, excepting to take apart the plumbing in the main bathroom sink and clean out whatever's clogging up the drain. My guess would be Mary's hair - the only thing I can think of with anyone having had been in here that would do such a thing.

As for now, I am thinking about going up to the hospital for a quick visit to see Ken and see what he looks like/how he's doing in person rather than the eternal phone updates and then posting it on Facebook for his friends.

I also want to get to a thing my favorite Australians sent to me in the mail (no, I haven't gotten to it yet, but today should be a good day to do so or tomorrow at the latest) - albeit, they are really the ONLY Australians I know! lol.

G'day
ben

More

I spent a good deal of today pulling grass that had grown up everywhere on the east side of the house. Check that - I pulled up a LOT of grass that had to be pulled up because of it's proximity to my plants, the rest I used a weed-eater to mow down yesterday. It's been so hot this year, I just let some of it go - and now I can see that that's a really BAD idea.

Grass can choke out anything else that's trying to grow there. I'm not going to let that happen again and I'm also going to do something about making sure my plants have some sort of barrier around them in this particular area so that the grass can't start infiltrating it's "personal space".

I also put one of the drip irrigation centers together - wasn't particularly hard but I need a new hacksaw blade and I ain't getting that until tomorrow if anything is even open tomorrow. It's hard to imagine it's already Sunday evening and normally I would be going to work tomorrow. This weekend has literally soared by, unbelievable.

I think I may have finally struck a deal on a painting - but I have to drive clear to far west phoenix to get it. Why are all these deals a million miles away? Why can't I find one within 5 miles? Oh well, I like the painting it will be worth the trip.

Tomorrow's Labor Day and I put an ad up for another cookout to whosoever wants to partake. I have a gazillion replies - but it's mostly people saying how wonderful they think it is that there are still people like me left on the face of the planet. Still, several people have indicated they would like to come, so I will probably do it, though I haven't confirmed anything yet just because of the lack of interest. I can just BBQ for myself and family if it's not going to be enough people to fool with it.

Ummm, not much else. Well, there is but hardly worth going into. Just normal junk that I don't really feel any need to rehash continually. Certainly not on the eve of a national holiday which I intend on thoroughly enjoying myself - outside working again. I've tried to just put the work stuff in the back of my head and sort of leave it alone for a while. After all, I AM supposed to be on Staycation, and staycations shouldn't be that much different than vacations - leave the thoughts and cares of the world behind, if for only the moment. Well, when you're home that's kind of hard to do, but you get the idea.

G'nite, sleep tite, don't let the bedbugs bite and hopefully everone is doing well.
ben

Sunday

My mom is always asking me long in advance of both birthdays and Christmas what I want and will I just get it and then she will send me a check to reimburse me.

Mom's getting up there in age and lugging around things that are heavy isn't her particular cup of tea, this is her answer to it. Which is cool, of course - and I usually end up getting something I really need versus something I want.

This year will be no different. I have been eyeing the different brands and models of carpet cleaning machines for some time now and have finally settled on a Hoover product that gets rave reviews on it - far greater than any other machine I have read about - on any site I see it with reviews.

The best part is the thing only costs $150 - a FAR cry cheaper than some of the much more expensive models of which I don't see getting such good reviews on them. There is a cheaper model that gets pretty good reviews - it's a Bissell - but the sites I have read say that the Hoover model I am looking at is better, the Bissell is a good second choice for tighter budgets.

Well, the budget is whatever mother dictates it is, which is always the same amount for Christmas and birthdays and if the thing I want is higher than either, she lets me combine the 2 together. If it still goes over, obviously I pay the difference.

I was glad that last Christmas I was finally able to give something back to mom that was a little pricier AND is something she has wanted for a long time: a Kodak Easyshare digital camera. Well, I didn't know what kind of digital camera she preferred, I got the same thing I am using because it's easy to use and it puts out good enough quality pics, plus takes video if you are so inclined.

I'm afraid this year Christmas purchases will be some lean pickins unless this economy miraculously turns around and my hours are reinstated. Heck, I'm still wondering if I'll even be employed at Christmas what with the layoffs that my company keeps giving out. I love the company I work for and I would hate to lose my job there.

Well, I'm going to wait until much closer to Christmas before thinking about getting the machine. I just rented a Rug Doctor not too long ago and the carpets stay pretty nice for quite a while as long as I'm diligent to vacuum often. It's nice to have one of those machines around, though, in the case of one of the dogs having an accident on the floor. Usually, an accident of that nature includes diareah and usually, if it's one of the Danes, that stuff ends up EVERYWHERE. NASTY and GROSS!

I haven't been outside yet today. The temps are still low and the high shows 100. Higher than the forecasts gave it for today like a week ago when they were saying it would be 94, but I'll take it over 110/114 temps anyday.

I am undecided for today's activities. I'm actually thinking of taking an entire day off to do nothing. Well I already got derailed on that one - I am doing laundry and just got done sweeping and then mopping the kitchen floor and am going to tackle my bathroom next, and then after that the main bathroom. I am pretty much visiting the main bathroom daily and doing little cleanups here and there to keep it looking good in there as I have found that - as normal for renters - people don't really care if it's nice in there or not. I happen to care GREATLY and will do it if no-one else will.

HOWEVER. I will get to the point where I will start hating it because I hardly ever use that bathroom and neither do the boys - and I will leave a message.

It's still strange that this older guy paid for renting out a room, filled it up with his stuff - and the ONLY time he's been here in the last 2 plus weeks is to bring his stuff over here, otherwise, he hasn't spent ANY time in this house at all! lol. I'm wondering what the future of that situation is. I can say that it is wonderful to rent out a room to a person that doesn't use it! ROFL!!!

I'm headed to the place I like to avoid mostly - but I do make a trip there about once a month, and that would be WalMart - Home and King of terrible, outrageous and unbelievably BAD customer service.

ben

Mark THIS The First Time In Months............

............that the boys actually WANTED to be outdoors! It's 75 degrees outside and it's raining - which is exactly the reason they chose to leave - and certainly wasn't stopping them - to go to the high school to work out. They will have an adventure on the bus coming back and will undoubtedly get wet - on purpose.

I have gone out there and just stood in it. I need to go to the store and get some things, then when I get back, I'm dressing in junk clothes and am going to go out there and get saturated if it continues to rain. Even if it doesn't continue raining, it looks like it's going to be overcast all day long and the temps should stay pretty nice.

I have been waiting for weather like this for months. It was nicely accomodating of Mother Nature to make this thing happen on a weekend when I'm actually off of work, though, I love working in this kind of weather, too.

I don't have much else to say, that was it - it's just a plain-out gorgeous, beautiful day and I intend on spend most of it outside.

ben

Friday

I was awakened early this morning to the sound of driving round hitting the roof of my house. I had no idea how long it had been going on - but from the looks of my car this morning, not very long. My car was sludged with caked on dirt from a "dirty rain" - which is basically a short-lived rain with dust storms in it's wake and leaving the car - filthy.

Other parts of the valley got hit so hard, all of my deliveries today were cancelled because of flooded jobsites. However, one contractor called back an hour or so after he cancelled it - the sun was shining and the site dried out enough to have a semi come in - over the rocks they put down to drive on - to get unloaded. They were desperate for the pipe.

Right now, the sky to the north is very dark - totally cloud-covered. I started watering my plants but decided to put it off until tomorrow - rain is forecasted and if it's a good, soaking rain, watering my plants right now would be a total waste of water=money down the drain. I watered everything yesterday and the day before, and the high today was only 103, so I can skip a day anyway. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 99.

I wrote extensively about this next situation on my other blog, but a little here for those that don't go there but always come here ( I LOVE you guys! lol ). A driver was laid off today, and another layoff is probably coming down the pike. The driver that was laid-off has more seniority than I do. Because of several "staff reductions" in the last year and a half, I conclude that seniority his little or nothing to do with management's decisions on who to let go and who to keep.

But, our little party of "keepers" continues to dwindle. I wonder if this company is even going to exist in this area in the near future? It's kinda scary. I'm sending off my first payment towards the 3-month "must pay on time" payments on the house this coming week. I am not waiting, I want that sucker to be there WELL before the due date. I only say that because I'm sending out the money while I have the money to send. Not saying I will get laid off, not even feeling that at all, I'm an optimist in such things and I have worked VERY hard for this company, I believe that work ethic is what has saved me thus far. Reality, however, is reality and one must deal with whatever comes along the way when it comes (hopefully without diving into extreme depths of despair).

So, I am starting the first day of a 6-day off marathon. Or am I? When I heard that news, and thought about the lack of drivers, I figured I best offer to back out of the vacation mode and back into work mode, for the sake of my job if nothing else. Boss said not to worry about it - but then thought about it and said he would let the ops manager know in case it becomes an issue. So I really have no clue whether I will have 6 days off or not, and frankly, with what's going on, it's going to be on the top of my mind whatever happens.

My plans for whatever days off? I am still intent on getting much more done on that drip irrigation system. I have done very little after I got the copper portion of it done as I was just plain sick of hot weather and sitting out in it after working in it all day long became less and less appealing. Really, there's NOTHING appealing about it at all.

I really - like the idea of doing absolutely nothing. My nature doesn't agree with that philosophy and I will find myself doing all kinds of things - but I do believe I will at least find periods of time where I will laze around and be vegetable-like in activities.

Enough for one entry.

G'nite!
ben

Thursday

Well, alot going on.
I wrote an entire entry devoted to the missing dogs on my KCL account, you'll have to go over there to read all of it. In a nutshell, though, one of my tenants did not latch the gate properly this morning, locked the gate OPEN and my Danes got out. Got home, saw they were missing, went straight to the pound, found both of them, that's the jist of the story. Oh, and $238 spent on the ordeal as well.

Well, the dogs are now licensed, they are good on rabies for 3 years as well as Parvo - though I had already given them parvo shots, the pound automatically gives them another dose and said it isn't harmful to get a double dose. And - of course - the dogs are HOME. Not the situation I can say about the tenant, of whom I would like to speak to AGAIN about the gate situation.

ONE work day left until Staycation!!! Yayyyyyyy!!!! I can't wait. To do - nothing? No, I was just outside getting things prepared for my intended marathon to get that drip system installed. It's just been plain to frikkin' hot out there, I stopped doing anything except watering the plants, picking up the dog poop and cleaning whatever needs cleaned.

OH, btw, my Danes got out, but my Leopard dog stayed in the yard! I'm sooooo proud of her, she's a very smart dog. I watched on video surveillance as the danes cruised right out the gate - Coco, the Leopard Dog - stood back a good 20 feet and did not follow suit. That gate was opened for HOURS - she could have left, but she didn't!

I'm having difficulty even thinking beyond the dogs. I had a mindful of things I wanted to write out but it's totally eluding me now. I had thoughts of losing the dogs forever, I'm very attached to them and the only way I ever want to see them go is when they pass and life is over for them. Their ordeal has all 3 of them passed out on the floor. Coco was very agitated when I came home. When she thinks she's in trouble, she starts peeing. This doesn't happen very often, but I made sure I let her know in the best human terms I could that I was not mad at her at all and was, in fact, very elated that she did not leave with the rest of them. Which simply means saying her name in very affectionate terms - a thing she responds to with delight I might add - and telling her how good a girl she is - you know, humans treating their dogs like they're - humans, lol.

I'm still very ancy, though, as I don't know when this guy's coming back. He is usually here by now. I MUST inform him of what happened and that I most certainly do NOT want this to be happening again, no good reason for it. What if he repeats the same thing all over again tomorrow? NO.

Oh, well my dad sent me another check today - he's been doing that near the beginning of the month for - 5 months now I think. It was for $150, which comes very close to paying for the "Dane Fiasco".

Umm, sorry, I just don't have whatever it was. The dogs are very uneasy right now and are coming back and forth, staring at me, very nervous. Just gonna end this one.

Ava' good day, mates!
ben

Tuesday

As this week moves forward - towards my Staycation - the news seems to be filled with more and more garbage. I tend to flip past the political junk and get to the meats of the matter. But, I don't really want to go into it, just interesting stuff going on out there - interesting in a good and/or a morbid way, definitely.

I feel like getting my house filled up with tenants is something that really is a major feat. I had visions of having empty rooms well into September - this month now - and wondering how I was going to deal with certain things coming up. It does give a little confidence for any future fiascos, if it happens again - in the loss of all 3 tenants basically at once.

And even better, none of the current mix are going to school, they are all employed. I say better because people looking for rooms for school are only really going to be looking for such during certain parts of the year, such as right now. Some students get fed up with their living conditions and move somewhere else during a school year, but basically they are good where they are at.

So, I am considering taking Pete - a former renter - up on his offer for free airfare to wherever, though he wanted me to visit his new and hometown of Boiston. I haven't been in Boston in 3 decades and I really don't even remember what it looks like. It would be cool to fly out in an evening, stay a whole day and then fly back 2 mornings later. Pete works 7 days a week at the airport, so probably visiting with him will not exactly be a lengthy deal, but there is a lot of history and things to visit and see in Boston, no doubting that.

Another place I have ALWAYS wanted to go back to is Pittsburgh. I've driven by it in my trucking adventures, but not TO it. I want to go to my old stomping grounds on Davis Avenue in Brighton Heights and see how it has changed. I've been told the woods and forest that used to be behind our house is now an apartment or housing complex, not sure which. Oh that place was fun growing up. Deep, dense woods with trails and huge trees to climb.

No telling if that will ever come true or not. Anyway, I'm going to ask Pete how to go about doing all of this and if he actually will send me tickets or just how that works.

Meanwhile, the temps are coming down during my Staycation and I fully intend on getting with the drip irrigation installation. I have simply put it off as I am just sick of this heat and want to bid it a firm goodbye before going out there to do all of that work.

Well, work day is almost upon me - it's almost 6:30am - and I must get prepared for such as there is plenty to do today, which, thankfully, should keep me busy until it's time to clock out.

Have a great day (or evening, depending on where you're at)!

ben

Sunday

I could kick myself - but I won't.
SRP - Salt River Project - one of the local power companies, recently changed their modus operandi.
Recently within like a month ago - more or less, can't really remember.
Well, start with M-Power. It's prepaid power, really. You have a card just like a debit card, take it to an M-Power machine, put the card in there, load money onto the card, bring it home, stuff the card into the card-reader and it tells the rather sophisticated electric meter how much you put on there.

On the weekends, it "used" to be that even if you ran out of money on the reader, the power would stay on until 6:00 am Monday and "Accumulated Debt" would show on the reader. Not anymore. Now, it's just like the rest of the week. If you run out of power after 10:00pm, it stills on til' 6:00am the next morning, not Monday morning.

Yes, my money was low on there yesterday, something told me that I was okay until Monday morning and my habit is to go on Sunday afternoon to reload the card. Power went out at 6:00am, about an hour ago. I was sleeping nicely, too, until it went off and my big box fan went off with it.

Good grief. I immediately get out of bed, get dressed, head up to the store. Half asleep, I walked around the store figuring what the heck, I'm here, might as well do some grocery shopping.

Anyway, that's my trauma for the morning. lol

I am definitely going to try to remember NOT to let that happen again.

Of course, now that I'm awake, sleeping is not an option, I have already delved into the world of coffee with creamer, getting online and thinking about going outside to do my watering chores that I have neglected for a day and a half. I'm trying to cut back on the use of water - but not so much that my plants suffer, of course.

Really, it's Sunday and I would like to delve myself into a good worship service somewhere.

Wonder what kind of disdain I would get from people if I walked into a church dressed as I am now? Athletic short, wrinkly t-shirt, ankle cut socks and tennis.

Lol.

Oh well, it's nice and quiet in here and I think I will enjoy that peaceful serenity for a little while - I have no doubts that it will disappear in the next coming hours.

Happy Sunday.
ben

Wednesday

So, it's official. Ken's family is coming on Saturday to get his things. It's really a relief - his mom told me they're talking MONTHS worth of rehab. I know I've been rehashing this same subject, but it's one that I need to get rectified and behind me one way or the other. As I have been saying, Ken is in a bad way right now and there isn't really ANY progress coming forth now.

Dunno what else to say about it. My mind is so full of getting these rooms re-rented, there is little room for anything else. I did spend some time praying this morning, though for a handful of individuals that came to mind, a couple are fellow-bloggers on KCL.

I have yet to hear from older gentleman that is supposed to move in today. I guess from now on, anyone wanting to hold a room is going to have to give me some kind of deposit money. Not saying this guy isn't coming, I have no clue! That's the trepidation part of it.

Stupid me, I don't know what I did with his phone number, either.

Oh well. I'll go digging in my papers and find it- it's around somewhere.

Really, I'm begging Mother Nature to PLEASE bring some cooler temps. Instead, she's going to throw us 111 degree temps tomorrow and the next day. Gag.

It's abysimally slow at work. I have done one small delivery today, which was really laughable. I had 5, 20-foot sticks of 2-inch diameter PVC pipe on my truck - a whole semi to deliver that and some fittings.

It looks beginning the second day of September the temps are going to cool down into the high 90's - I'll take that over this ridiculous, non-ending nonsense that we have been getting.

Well, still at work and breaktime's over.
ben

Tuesday

Slow week at work so far - seems like it should be Friday or something.

Anyway, my latest ad landed me a tenant. Well, we shook and he's moving in - but. The But? You never know until they actually show up. He loved the place, told me about his situation, looked around several times, decided this is the place for him.

Again, I always have reservations about people until they actually show up and are ringing the doorbell with a U-haul settin' out there.

I have yet another tentative tenat that I might be able to put off until I find out about whether Ken is actually going to be able to get up on his own anytime soon, or, am I going to have to re-rent the room. If you came over here from my Facebook and you are a friend of Ken's, please think about it before making judgements.

My house is currently more than I can afford with hour cuts at work. Tenants are my lifeblood between staying here - or losing the place. Ken is a good guy and we get along great - but I simply cannot afford to keep the room open forever. The rubber meets the road and I'm doing what I have to to survive. The 1st of the month is looming - I could wait it out for a while, yes, if I knew he was going to be on his feet, back at work and doing his thing.

But, at the moment, he isn't even out of ICU yet and he's been there since 3 Saturdays ago. He hasn't fully awakened that I have heard, just a little here and there and then back out of it. The hospital officials have said when he does get out of ICU, he's going to have to go in for rehab. How much, who knows, we aren't even there yet.

Point? I wish I could hold the room indefinitely, reality dictates that I would have to call his family and ask that they come get his stuff, or, if they are so inclined, pay his rent until he recovers.

I hate even saying stuff like that, but my situation is far too immediate and in-my-face to play any kind of games with anyone about my intentions or my needs. I have something of a loan mod going and the first payment is due at the beginning of October. My desire is to be able to actually get some cash stashed in the bank and be able to withstand any unforeseens in terms of finanical calamities, the which I have endured more than once in my lifetime.

If you think that sounds selfish, then slap me upside the head, but it won't do anyone any good, I have played the game of Life long enough, I know what happens, I've been down the paths and the roads where things go, sometimes it just isn't pretty and there is nothing else to be said about it. Life can totally SUCK at times and that is the truth for most people. God never guaranteed His children a rose garden with no thorns, He did say He would be WITH us and that He IS our Provider. I've walked through the thorns and the snares and the traps, the pitfalls, the smoke-n-mirrors and though I don't always see things coming, I definitely can spot SOME of it coming before it happens.

Lord how did I get off on all of this. I'm trying not to feel guilty, I guess. I don't believe that in doing so I would be doing anything immoral, unethical or wrong, but I still struggle with things like that regardless.

Wow. Well, I hope these 2 people pan out - I guess I'll find out tomorrow about the other guy with his Boxer who is allegedly moving in. I haven't heard anything from him, but then again I haven't contacted him. We shook hands and that is all I figure I needed from a man from his generation of upbringing.

I wonder if all of that applies anymore.

What does a handshake on a deal mean to you? If you say "deal" and shake on it, does your handshake - which used to mean your word as good as signing on a contract - mean anything? If something better comes along, do you even think about that shake of that hand with the person you committed to?

For many, I think it's meaningless. If something better comes along, blow that person off that you shook with. What's worse, and really the mind-blower for me, you don't even CONTACT that person to let them know you are history. You just shank it off as a meaningless event. Not YOU the reader - but if the shoe fits, you know what to do with it.

And that's where I left it with both of them: PLEASE just let me know if you find something "better", I will not cuss you out, yada yada yada, I will just move on and find someone else. They both agreed, though the older gentlemen pretty much declared his intentions of moving in over here and that was that for him. Yet.........the current condition of the American mindset...........I don't necessarily trust that, not anymore. Not for a long, long time, really.

I believe in the American spirit - freedom; independence; justice for all; but the grit that this country was based on? Does it still exist? Do we REALLY mean what we say, when we say it? Do we find excuses to not honor our word? Would I include those that are being foreclosed upon? If a person has done everything they can possibly think of to do and still come up short - as in a person that has been laid off due to the worst recession since the Great Depression - no. But at the same time, I don't ever want to allow myself to fall into the mindset of thinking that if they can do it, why can't I. It's a personal choice to try and live my life within the disciplines of being trustworthy; honest; true; loyal. The qualities that I admire in many of our Founding Fathers.

ben

Sunday

I've been writing a lot more on my other blog - but since there are those that are following me here I will continue to write at least one entry a day (try to anyway).
Starting yesterday and finishing just a little while ago, I went and rented a Rug Doctor and went to town.

First I did Mimi's old room because someone was coming over yesterday to take a look at it. It wasn't bad really, at least not in sight, but Pete had told me he had seen her in there several times cleaning up messes. So I did a good cleaning in there just to be sure.

I then did the hallway - that was pretty dirty stuff, I went over that stretch of carpet several times before I was satisfied it was clean.

I then went into a tenant's room whose name shall remain nameless. It was DISGUSTING. A huge trash bag full of beer cans, old rotten food and plastic dishes for frozen/fast food. Garbage laying all over the place, clothing everywhere, it smelled bad and I finally determined WHERE the source of my cockroach problem is.

It is no longer. I cleaned that room up thoroughly, included moving the furniture and doing the carpet cleaning thing all over in there. It was so disgusting, though, that I kept thinking I was going to get sick. I've seen people who live like this numerous times in the past when I was both doing missionary work and work in the church, but I have never had such a person LIVING IN MY HOUSE.

Well, anyway, I got that done - it was easily the hardest part of the cleaning - and then moved onto the huge living room this morning. That took a couple of hours, moving furniture around and going over the carpet endless times until the water was coming clean out of the carpet. Think I let it go a little too long this time - with so many dogs I probably ought to be doing this every couple of months.

My bedroom was easy - just had to go over the area where the dogs sleep quite a few times but I didn't bother moving furniture since the only thing a person might find under there is dust. I can't say that it smells any better in here - I really don't ever get a bad smell going here excepting that particular tenant's room that was probably having that smell being distributed all over the house via the AC system - but it looks better and it's just the "feeling" of clean.

So, this potential tenant showed up yesterday, tookalookit the room and I guess he's pretty much decided he wants to move in, but not so fast, Charlie. He didn't bring his dog with him - he has a dog. I'm good with that part of it, but not without that dog meeting my dogs first. They must be able to get along. My dogs pretty much get along with ANY other dogs, but that isn't always true going the other way - other dogs getting along with mine.

Dogs that have not been well socialized can present a big problem. My Danes are hardly afraid of anything, really - well Duke seems to not know how to get out of his own way - but that's a different aspect altogether - point being they can take care of themselves against most dogs, but I really don't need or want that kind of junk going on in my house. The other thing I want to see is if the dog wants to start trying to mark "his territory" - INSIDE my house. If I see that, I'll shake the guy's hand, tell him thanks for coming, please go find another place.

Yes, I have the brazeness if you want to call it that to tell a person that right to their face, as I cannot STAND an animal that urinates or defecates inside of a house, especially in my house considering I have a doggy door they can come in and out of anytime they please.

I haven't heard from the other guy in a while, but - he's old-school so I assume/hope that his handshake was gold. If not, then that sends me back to the drawing board. I'll find out - Wednesday is the 26th I think. I asked him to PLEASE let me know if he changes his mind or finds another place. He said no cause' my place is in between his kids places.

If I could at least get those 2 rooms filled up, then I could see about possibly waiting a little longer to see what's going to happen to Ken since he is showing improvement daily - albeit he still hasn't fully regained consciousness. As one person intoned, a miracle could happen and he could walk out that hospital today for all I know. It IS possible, I don't put anything past the hand of God, that's for sure. Well, I can't do anything about re-renting Ken's room, anyway, until the 1st of the month, so, a little more time regardless.

Please do not get ratchety with me - I rent out rooms for a reason: I need the income to survive, especially right now that I have lost about a grand a month in income due to lost hours at work. I really need the income from all 3 rooms to make it, 2 rooms is not enough right now. When my income comes back - hours back up to normal at least - I can think about reducing it to 2 tenants. It's much easier with only 2 tenants versus 3, it just is.

Anyway, that's it really. I'm going to make some nice Club Sandwiches for lunch/dinner today - it's a bit of work but the end result is worth it.

I have more cleaning projects I am going to do today, so, can't really linger here -
have a great day!
ben

Open Carry - No Permit

I'm sorry - but I've been reading news blips all over the place about Obama's visit and the fact that people were openly carrying guns at the fringes of the debacle - I mean visit - from Obama.

Is it really any secret that we citizens of Arizona are allowed to openly carry firearms without any kind of permit here? This is the Wild West - you know, the place where the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday had the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" (well, historically it didn't exactly happen there, it happened in the street or so they say in the same town) in Tombstone, AZ?

I went to Tombstone earlier this year with my dad, son and my dad's wife - it's a nice touristy type place but it's really pretty cool. People are drawn there from all over the world - that was easy to tell as people were speaking all kinds of languages of the which I had absolutely no clue where they were from.

But no, I don't need a permit of any kind to grab my 36 long nose, put it in a holster and walk down the street with it strapped to my side. I guess I could grab a 12 gauge shotgun and hold it, barrels down, and walk down the street with it, too.

I wouldn't know because I don't actually, openly carry firearms. I'm not against the ages-old law that allows such, I just don't think it's very smart to do so. I've always been of the thought that it could be inviting trouble for no more reason than you HAVE one. Now, I have toyed with the idea of getting a carry and concealed permit - you can hid the gun on your person legally and go pretty much anywhere excepting probably federal and state buildings and anywhere where it's posted no firearms.

Still, the idea that some travel guru is not going to come to AZ because there were a bunch of protesters that had their guns openly showing for the world to see is ridiculous. Obviously, Obama was never in any danger. Number 1 because those people weren't allowed close enough to be a threat, number 2, even if they were, what do you think the Secret Service was doing, taking smoke breaks and ignoring the situation? You can bet that at any given time there were probably at least a couple of snipers on high perches taking aim at those people -just in case of course.

In case you can't tell, I'm definitely a pro-gun advocate. I do not believe in this pansy idea that private citizens should not be allowed to own firearms. WHAT, pray tell, is going to stop the thieves from going hog-wild like a kid in a candy store if that were to happen in breaking into people's homes and robbery and theft and all of that? Right now, a thief has something to worry about about coming into MY house. If that person comes walking in here with a gun drawn, that's enough provocation right there to cap his stupid @$$ and be done with it.

Or all of those folks that enjoy hunting is a favorite pasttime. Hunting is HUGE in AZ - the elk and deer lotteries are always a big competition to see what, if any draw, you might get for whatever territory.

It may be an age-old argument, but it's a valid one: if law-abiding folks can't bear arms, then only the police and the thieves will have them and we will be defenseless. What, am I going to run at someone with a knife while they're standing there aiming a 44 magnum at my chest? I didn't think so. Well beyond that, it's part of American culture - people own guns, a LOT of people own guns, legally. I have serious doubts that any president is every going to "come and get the guns" from us. There are far too many people in this nation that are pro-gun to allow that to ever happen.

The only caveat I have for it is probably people should take some kind of training - not just how to handle a gun, clean it and all of that, but also the law concerning the use of one. I know that in AZ, if I feel my life or someone else inside of my house feels our lives are legitimately threatened - ie; the robber has a gun or other weapon - I can shoot, and shoot to kill.

Whatever. I have been reading this nonsense - it gets national media attention and only serves to provoke fear in the mind of the reader. Yes, we must get rid of the guns because - what - they were standing there with them at a convention somewhere? Does anyone REALLY think Obama's life was EVER in ANY kind of threat of death?

I've Eaten Once Today.......

I'm trying to lose weight. I was driving into Casa Grande and stopped at Mikky D's for a large coffee - still on sale for a buck. I decided to go ahead and have a sausage McMuffin as well. It's like an english muffin with some butter, a thin slice of sausage and a slice of cheese - the muffin is toasted. It's 300 calories worth.

I got busy and forgot about eating for the rest of today - until now. It's too late to eat, but I"m going to anyway. An egg omelette with a little cheese; onions; mushrooms; tomatoes; and whatever else I threw in there. It won't fill me up to the point I can't sleep is the point, nothing too heavy here. I got on the scale at the main branch again - up to 199. I figure weight will fluctuate - but hopefully if I keep with this, it will eventually fluctuate down - and down.

Speaking of eating....you'll see how this correlates in a minute.....the guy that was supposed to show up today was a no-show (to rent the room, that is). I have had 3 inquiries that I have not replied to since I spoke with him yesterday. I wrote him back a while ago and gave him an ultimatum: if you want the room, communicate with me, if not, I'm moving on as I have 3 other people that have shown interest.

I am not going to wait on people - if they want to procrastinate, they're going to have to do it with someone else cause' I don't have the time or freedom of finances to deal with it. Within 2 minutes of sending that email, he called. He had an excuse - I don't know the man so I don't know if it's valid or BS - but said he would come tonight. No thanks, I go to bed early, come tomorrow. I can write these other people back tomorrow if he doesn't show the second time.

I decided tonight to put myself in the shoes of tenants - I am sleeping in one of the empty rooms. I didn't tell the boys what they could or couldn't do, just do what you normally do. I'm afraid they'll NOT act normal and will be "walking on eggshells" - but, I figure at some point they'll forget and it will be 'status quo'. I have awakened in the middle of the night - well I always do regardless of who's here or not - and went to my bedroom door, quietly opened it and observed. The talk wasn't loud - but maybe loud enough to bother someone that might be sleeping in that other living-room-lining-wall.

Whatever. I actually would like to move into the front room - it has 3 windows, is always bright and shiny in there during the daytime - but I wonder what noise levels might be there in the night. Next to the street, is there a lot of traffic a night? I don't know, but I will be finding out. Figure to do it tonight - if I don't sleep even as good as I normally don't do, at least I can laze around for the next 2 days and catch up with naps and stuff. The reason I wouldn't want to move in there is because it doesn't have my private bathroom and walk in closet and I would have to move a lot of stuff. I'll stick with my room - though afterthought - I don't wonder if I should have had the "optional" window installed in there to let a little more light in there.

I'm a day person in case you haven't figured that one out. I don't stay up late at night, I have no reason to and I don't like being up at night anymore. Maybe if I get caught up in a movie on the weekend - but I always fall asleep cause my body cycle tells me it's time to sleep, so - what's the point.

So, it's Friday night and I'm going to bed in 35 minutes - 8:00pm. Boring life? Hardly. I don't like every aspect of what's going on in my life to be sure, but I am quite comfortable with who I am and what I have done with my life - only a few things in my adult life I wish I could push the rewind button, go back and to it over. Oh well, we all have THAT in our lives, don't we?

G'nite (or G'day depending on where you're at!)

ben

Thursday

My company wants me to come in early tomorrow. Some of our customers just don't get it, they forget about making their orders until the afternoon of the day before they need it. Mostly we can accomodate, sometimes we can't. You'd think they would want to be able to keep their crews busy by planning in advance, and I know many of these people that actually do that - but there are plenty that don't.

Anyway, they MUST have this product there first thing in the morning. No problem, dudes and dudettes, let me get on the clock early and I'll do it. I do wish we could go back to at least normal hours - 40 hours per week - as I don't want to get soft and start getting into the mindframe that 7 hours per day is somehow "normal" for a workday.

I have a potential tenant coming tomorrow. He's desperately looking for a place - to take his 2 dogs. I said - maybe - and included the fact of increased rent for more animals around here. I also included that he MUST help clean up after them outside, if I have to do a repeat of what I went through with a certain ex-tenant who NEVER cleaned up after their dog, I don't want anything to do with it. I also want increased rent to cover cleaning carpet more frequently to keep it smelling normal in here. Actually, I really am laying it all on the line anymore - this is what this place is, this is what goes on here. This is what I expect of you and these are the intended consequences of serious infractions.

Danes. These 2 dogs - my Great Danes - are quite humorous to watch. They are always together - almost always I should say. But when they are sleeping, they are ALWAYS together and some part of their body is touching the other. If one barks, the other one is echoing. If one is being petted, the other is immediately up and coming over. I do not - however - like having 2 giant heads in my face while I'm sitting here at the computer. When they get pushy - which is usually always - for attention in putting their face INTO mine - they are history. GO LAY DOWN!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is ....... da da da deeeeee: FRIDAY!!!!! I would love to have a good night's sleep. I am waking up in the middle of the night for various reasons and having extreme trouble getting back to sleep.

There's nothing else - really - as I've had enough for one day.

G'nite!

ben

Wednesday

Tired.
Smoke detector alarm went off again last night around 2:00am - no clue why they're going off, the house isn't burning down and there isn't anything hot or otherwise would cause the things to go off. Takes me a long time to get back to sleep after that much commotion.

Coming home and having to write a new ad for Craigslist every day is getting old, too, but I don't have any choice in the matter. I can use the body of some of the posts I have made previously, but it has to be "different" or CL won't let you post it, it gives you a message saying you already have a post that is very similar to the one that you are trying to post - yada yada yada.

Tired and grumpy? Not really grumpy, but I was quite irritated to come home and find Michael had not gone to school today, saying he had no clean clothes and therefore "couldn't" go to school. What I am QUITE sure it really was is that I had installed LimeWire and he just plain didn't WANT to go to school, opting to stay "home" and download music. That dilemna was quickly abated: I have uninstalled LimeWire and he now knows that staying HERE on a day off for nothing is not going to continue to happen. He can stay HOME and be a lazy ass, not here.

Regardless, he didn't touch the thermostat, so at least that was mitigated. I am setting it up to 87 while I have no tenants in here during the day while I'm at work - the substantial savings is quite appealing. It's 3 or even 4 dollars less per day in electric use. Seriously. No, even more than that. I was having up to $14 per day in electric use, the use now is in the $7 range.

It would be GREATLY helpful if I could find future tenants that have roughly the same hours as I do so this could continue to occur and save me money on electricity - but - I'll take whatever hours versus and empty room and no money coming in.

A lady claiming to be deaf and dumb wrote to my ad I placed with my company email this morning saying she wanted to know if I would deal with a person that cannot speak or hear. I don't know, I've never tried, I would think there would be many challenges to such an arrangement, but a person that can read and write could simply write out what they're trying to say. Imagine - put that person in Mimi's room, they can't hear so the kids could make all the noise they wanted and it wouldn't affect her in the slightest.

But - I wondered if the ad was real or not. It was a short, to the point statement, there was no way to tell if it was a scam or not, so I replied and said I would consider it, please write back. The writing back part is the part that helps me determine if it's scam material or not. I need only get a person talking in email to come to that conclusion.

I have a headache from not getting enough sleep last night and I'm about to go take a short nap. It's still quite early - 2:00pm, I got off early because I was over on hours and I have to do some training after regular work hours at work tomorrow.

Yeah, think I'll take that nap.
ben

Tuesday

I just tried posting to my KCL blog and it just s*** it out into cyberspace, no draft saved, I was signed in and it told me, after I wrote it, I needed to sign in. BLAHHHHH.

I'm here and whatever, I HATE when that happens !!!!!! Wanna turn me into a grouch, just crap my entry into the toilet for no apparent reason and you'll definitely get my gote.

So much to write about, so little motivation now. The blogging juices are stripped of me when the blogging hosts play games.

I'll bypass all the junk on the field today at work and focus on the homefront. You see, my tenants are GONE. ALL of them. I came home today to nothing - there are no people here.

OHHHH, but there are my ever-loving dogs. Barking, whining, growling and making noises of joy when I come home, today was no different. I unlocked the deadbolt to find - an empty house!!! Oh my gosh, I'm in heaven. My gosh, I haven't been in this atmosphere in ages. I am LOVING it! I don't have to listen to people babbling incessantly on the cellphone, hearing complaints about a drunk that is puking in the bathroom and hearing more complaints - about everything else.

Yayyyyyy! Of course, an empty house means an empty bank account. I am not deterred. A day, week, whatever of a house without all kinds of people around will help me more than vacations to a sandy beach on a deserted island. Hmmm, well maybe not quite that good, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. It's like all kinds of stress has been totally deflated from within me and I am feeling a freedom I haven't felt in a while.

Were that I could just live without tenants, but it's not a happening event, especially not now that my hours at work are cut.

I have nothing else because today has been very busy and because it's getting late.

G'nite!
ben

Sunday

What kinds of thoughts permeate your mind when you go to sleep at night?
Do you ever remember any of your dreams - or nightmares?
When you wake up in the morning, what thoughts greet - or terrify - your mind?
Do you live life to it's fullest every single day?
Are there days when you just "let is slide"?
What is your outlook on life? Is it mostly postiive and energetic...
or is it mostly the opposite - full of dread and fear, negativity in it's purest and yet most raw form.
Do you think about your mortality - ever?
Maybe once a day? A week? A month? Never?
Does life seem to you at some points that it will never end and at other points it's done today?

I was exposed to so much death in my teen years - my friends being killed or dying in so many ways: Murder; suicide; deadly illness; car accidents that it really effected the way I look at life. I couldn't really say today an exact number - it was at least 15 people I knew either personally as a close friend, maybe as a friend - not-so-close but we partied together - or a person that hung out in our crowd that I really didn't know (it was a HUGE crowd of people in the different arenas I hung out in, which was fully 3 of them).

I tend to think about any number of the items I listed above on a daily basis - maybe all of them at times. It isn't sordid, it isn't fatalistic, I've seen reality and the reality is, we all die. You can no more bypass that fact than you can that you were, on one day long ago - born into this life and onto this earth. You may not like how life is going right now - but - we all go through that.

I have been through so much adversity in my life that when I see it arise, I start wondering what message is trying to be communicated to me through the event or events that are going on.

I know, you've seen death too. I have never met anyone that has seen as much as I have in my teen years. Never. Those that are still alive are dying off like flies. They aren't very old. Sometimes I start to wonder when the call will come to my doorstep. It's a sobering thought, really.

The reason I fear it is because I would like to be around for my son for a little while. Dying young - or younger - is hardly my idea of a fulfilling life it if means your offspring growing up without you being around. It is played over and over again every day in real life, but I don't accept that it MUST be my fate.

I did bad things in my teens. I hung around bad people. One crowd was a bunch of bikers - with guns - with attitudes. They were REAL bad-@$$es, I'm not going to deny it. Will it catch up to me in the form of an early demise someday? I can't answer that question, only God can do that. He's the Judge and His word is final. I have tried to live the life I thought He wanted me to live - but I have had so many short-comings and failings, things that have permeated my life since I was a kid and that I have never been able to shake. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see a gross, pathetic, foul and vile human being in the image.

But - I don't hate myself. We all have these little "demons" in our lives that we have to deal with. How we deal with it? I don't want to know, because that is usually a very personal and intimate thing. It may not be dealt with. It might be that we have stuff that we will never be able to shed. This thing calledl life is a rough road. There are lots of potholes and sometimes we find they are giant crevass's that need a crane truck to pull you out of and get you back on your merry way.

I have gone through the myriad of these thoughts today. I think about all of those people, most of them are dead. This isn't one or 2 people, or a dozen, or dozens, this is hundreds of people. I think of the mind diversions I can do to not think about it and make it go away. We all do that. I've never met a person that I got to know that didn't have something from the past that is haunting them.

The only conclusion I can come to is that I am striving in my life to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and stregth" - because, in the end, I have concluded, there is nothing else. There is family, there are friends, there are a lot of things, but - the source of life is the Lord. I cling to that as I have nothing else - been there, done that, bought the farm.
ben

First Room Rented!~!

Yayyyy! I wrote about this in the other blog - but it's enough news to write about in both - if you happen to read both blogs, not much difference in either of these posts, EXCEPT something I'm adding to this one I forgot to include on the last one.

That would be the issue of female tenants. I love the female said of the human equation, no doubting that. BUT - living with them is an entirely different matter. I have had nothing but problems with females - excepting Rosa - since I started doing this stuff. I really would far rather just rent to guys and keep it that way if at all possible. I'm not saying I WON'T rent to another female - when it comes down to the dollar bills and surviving, I'll do whatever I have to.

I can say that Mary was half nightmare-half dream. The work she did around here will have a permanent effect - the landscaping in the front and other things she did was fantastic. I'll take my hat off to her for that. Of course, smoking meth in the house didn't quite work out too well for me............

The Pole-Dancer was another - not-so-great-dream. No need to go into that, but another drug user and pot smoker.

Sheila, the first-ever tenant I had in this house and lasted all of 7 days before I had to have Phoenix Police remove her. Betsy - who just couldn't handle living with the boys in here. She was okay, though, she just couldn't bear it (not withstanding the fact that she has appeared, out of the blue, fully 3 times now looking for a place to live).

Where the rubber meets the road is money, and for that, if I have to take another female tenant, I will certainly spend a good deal of time attempting to explain EXACTLY what goes on around here to the fullest extent so that person can make an informed decision. Again, I ALWAYS say that if they don't like it, they can just up and leave, no questions asked, no trouble, just a deal that didn't work out too well.

I need to run another ad today, but I am kinda of phased at the moment. Meeting new people to move in sometimes temporarily takes it out of me. The wind comes back later on in the day, the effort needed to greet, meet and discuss whatever at great lengths is enough for one morning, plus all the cleaning I did earlier today, plus the dogs meeting each other. Oh, well the morning only has 75 minutes left in it, anyway.

The rest of the day? I thought about just taking it easy. It's going to get hot outside and I won't want to do anything with the drip system, but perhaps later on I can start putting PVC together for the manifold. I actually don't think it will take all the long to put the manifold together, to be honest. I am running 3 stations off of it to begin with, but I will probably end up with a 4th later on. It's just that that sitation is in the direct sunlight and I don't have to have one of those large umbrella type table awnings to keep it off of me - the sun that is.

That's it - and that's enough for now.

Hoping you're all have a great day (or evening depending on where you're at!)!

ben