Sunday/The Plan

First off, Suns were not playing championship basketball last night.  Stoudemire was out of it, dogged by double teaming which effectively shut him down, took out the point totals he might have scored and that was the end of that game before it ever started.  Hats off to the Suns, anyway, for a great season.   Rumors abound that Stoudemire will not be back as he will be an open free agent and apparently looking to move onto greener pastures.

Second, the oil gusher in the GoM.  It's amazing that these people/that company have been unsuccessful in stopping that oil from pumping.  They have tried one thing after another with no success.  The only thing that worked - a litte- was attaching that mile long pipe to the opening of the gusher and using it to pump some of the oil into a waiting tanker. 

Now, to the ponds.  I have finally come up with a plan.  I mean, I had a plan before, but once I acquired that much larger pond, that threw those plans out the window.  1st is to get the waterfall operational.  That is going to take some time, apparently.  Second, the new pond will be placed on the cement slab next to my side door, filled with water, a pump and filter attached to it.  All fish and plants will be transferred to that pond.  Then I will remove the 2 smaller ponds, fill them up with water out of ground and find out where the leak or leaks is/are.  Fix it, refill with water and this time make sure I have no more leaks.  They will be set in a temporary location and all fish and plants will be moved back to those 2 ponds which, at that point, will also be sitting above ground.

Drain the larger pond, use it to make an outline and commence digging operations.  It should not take as long to dig out the hole for the larger pond since I already have 2 holes and at least partial use of both to fit the pond in there.  Get the large pond set in the ground, under the waterfall, back fill around the sides, get the thing filled with water and get the falls going again.  Move all fish and most plants into that pond.  After that, pressure'soff to get anything else done.  Likely, however, that the upper pond I now have will be a feeder into the large pond as I currently have set up - as long as I'm sure the leaks are done with and I'm not going to encounter any more of them.  If I continue to have leak problems with the smaller ponds after this next, coming round of repairs, I will chuck them in the trash can and consider it lesson learned. 

IF I am successful at repairing the leaks, the other small pond will go in the ground out front.  It will be a plant garden type of thing.  It will have mosquito eating fish in it but that's it for fish.  Yes, we're talking a lot of work here to execute all of this, no doubt.  Heck, the waterfall itself is a chore to say the least.  Itwill be worth the effort once I am done, yes, but that is a ways off.  I am headed out therein a bit to continue with mixing mud and putting the thing together.  2cd tier coming up. 

Meanwhile, Memorial Day weekend. 3 days off.  into the 2cd day of it.  Time flies when you are taking time off of work - it just vanishes like it was never here.  I have a lot of cleaning chores I would like to get done around the house today as well as get the next step of the falls cemented into place. 

I was reading this morning about debt stress.  They did polls or questionnaires of people around the country to rate their level of stress.  Lots of people reporting high or moderate.  I don't really like to look at it as stress.  If I did, well, I would probably have been dead long ago as I have had financial issues for along, long time.  Life got better when I went back into trucking, yes, but it did not eliminate the problems.  If I were still living  in the old house paying $450 per month mortgage, then I wouldn't have debt issues at all.  Well, that house burned down and frankly, it was an old piece of junk that I wouldn't have been happy living in  anyway.  I am still working on paying down credit cards.  One is like $35 off from being done.  Another $100 or so and the third is around $250.

I willowe onthe car for another 3 years.  My son will go off to college in a year and a half or so.  Whether he stays in AZ or not, I dunno.  I'm simply looking at the things in the future that will drop off of the debt load and will free up some finances. I'm assuming that eventually my hours at work will be reinstated adding "additional" income, which really isn't additional, just going back to what it was before. House payments?  Unfortunately, a fact of life for me that I don't foresee ever going away. 

As long as I have tenants, I will have to go satellite or cable tv and I will have to have high speed internet available for them.  That monthly billisn't going anywhere anytime soon, either. I am working on reduing it some, however.  Water bill is pretty much a constant.  Around $95 per month - not bad considering that's water; sewer and trash pickup.  Really not bad considering all of the plants and trees around here.  I'm having to dump 3 or 4 gallons a day into the ponds because of the leak.  I bought a bio filter with UV light and a pump on eBay for a steal - again - I cannot do anyof the pond removal and switching around stuff until I receive those 2 items via UPS. 

I'm also going to contact SRP - if I ever remember to do so during their operating hours - and see about getting on one of their plans to reduce the amount of money being thrown at the AC system. 

I am always tring to think of ways to either reduce monthly expenses or increase monthly income - or both.  Getting rid of the dogs has been suggested more than once.  In a pig's eye I will.  If I have to get rid of the dogs, then that also means I'm at the point where I simply can't afford this place anymore and I am moving.  I switched dog food back to Purina.  It isn't near as good as the stuff I was feeding them before - Nutro which has beef as it's first ingredient instead of third down the line - but it made them affordable.  The store I love to hate - Walmart - is my source.  45 pound bag for $21.95 versus the 35 pound bag of Nutro I was getting for $23.95.  I feed them "good" scraps when I have them available from cooking chicken or a roast or something. 

I have my budget, to end this, in my head at all times.  I don't need to write it down, I have gone over and over and over it.  I don't do overdrafts at my bank, I know approximately what's in there.  If I get near zero, I simply don't spend money.  Overdraft fees are $39.99 for each.  No thanks.  The ex-Marine got his money early for next month and yes, he handedme a money order last night.  He hasn't been around - one of his friend's parents left town for 2 weeks and he has been hanging out over there.  He does not play around with giving me rent like he did a while back and got way behind.  I was not happy about that situation, but he DID get caught back up and now it's his first priority with his disability check every month - pay the rent first before hitting the bars or whatever.  Yes, the guy loves barhopping.  I don't really care, as long as it doesn't come home with him, which it never does. 

The temporary tenant said he's staying another week and maybe a day - when a place apparently is becoming available.  He is a no-drama person and pays his rent every Sunday - for a temp renter, he has been a dream, really.  I have another guy that has been calling for a room for 2 months now.  I have no idea.  He calls andcalls - do you have a room available?  Not yet.  I live very close to his work, but, there are other places that advertise with rooms for rent around here, I'm really not sure why he wants to come in HERE so badly.  He SOUNDS okay on the phone, but who knows?  If the Army reservist doesn't come back, the room is his, that's whatI have to say about that. 

The other female tenant?  No clue.  I'm guessing she is struggling with staying off the meth.  I think coming off of that stuff is a very hard road to go - I sincerely hope she doesn't fall back.  She has a lot of support and goes to meetings.  She hasn't seemed happy about much of anything for several days, again, I'm guessing getting off the drugs and financial dilemnas are taking their toll.  That's an on-going story, stay tuned for further developments.  One thing I definitely cannot afford right now is a non-paying tenant or empty rooms.  When the temp guy leaves - which would be 8 days from now, I really must find another temp person to take the room for a few weeks or I am going to be having some trouble making ends meet.  My dad's money - hopefully he will continue to send it - will go directly to electricity.

I write this stuff out occasionally in full detail to refresh my perspective of what's going on with my finances, what I need to do and where it's going.  I still have 2% going into a retirement account - my company automatically reinstates it for anyone that has zeroed it out at the beginning of each year, you can opt back out of it, but I am taking my own advice that I give anyone: you MUST have money going into a retirement account, a small amount is better than nothing.  I wish I could afford the full 15% every month, I'm nowhere even close to being able to afford that right now. 

Those are my debt struggles as they currently exist.  Money going to child support every month, forgot about that one.  that isn't going away anytime soon,either.  When I get freed of that payment, well, I will be in a much better standing financially.  When that goes away and the car payment goes away, I will have a LOT more money to work with.  In 3 years, when that car is paid off, it will have around 85,000 miles on the odometer - I am simply calculating that by the use I currently put it through - which isn't much.  Idont really GO anywhere except to work, the store and sometimes some outings for things off of Craigslist.  I fully intend on keeping that car and not getting into another car payment.  Fix it as itneeds fixed, yes, another car payment? No thanks. 

I am still toying with the idea of renting on my master bedroom setup and moving into one of the smaller bedrooms.  I toy with it and then let it go, mostly.  I could probably get around $600 per month - everything included - by doing that.  I let it go, usually, cause' it's my only place I can go to get away from everything if everything starts going haywire or I just want to be let alone.  I could do that in another bedroom, but - it's just not the same.  The tenant bedroom at one end of the house, my bedroom on the other.  I like it that way.

Anyway, time to get shoes on and go outside and continue on with the waterfall project.

Happy Sunday.

ben

Toilets And Things

It is a truly disgusting, almost vile experience to walk into a bathroom and see a toilet where someone - or more than one someone - has clearly missed the toilet.  I wonder how people can just go in there, the main bathroom in my house and use the facility, ignoring this junk?  I have cleaned that toilet 3 times this week. I have asked everyone to pitch in and help keep it clean - nothing. 

I have my own bathroom.  I don't have urine all over the toilet. If these people want to live like that, so beit.  I will post another message up in there anyway.  Cleaning up someone else's urine is hardly my idea of fun an entertainment.  I have considered on and off the idea of charging everyone for their lack of helping out.  My Craigslist ads make it exceedingly, crystal clear that any potential tenant IS to help clean up, especially in the bathroom. 

I have definitely decided on moving the ponds around.  This will require a lot of work - most notably more digging.  I have to pull those ponds back out anyway to find out which one is leaking and where.  The much larger pond will back in place of those 2 small ponds and then I will decide how I want it set up after that.

However, the waterfall takes priority. It must be finished before I start anything else.  So, in a little while, I am headed out there to start on the waterfall assembly itself.  Take it back, it doesn't have to be totally finished, it just has to be up and operational.  The aesthetics of the falls concerning the block can be dealt with when I have the materials to make it into what I want it to look like. 

It is starting to get warm late mornings to late afternoons.  Expected and dreaded. 

Temporary tenant?  No clue.  I have no idea if he's leaving tomorrow or not.  He isn't here - I would like to ask him so I can know whether to write up another Craigslist ad or not. 

He gave me 4 sheets that were filled out with stamps from Starbucks the other day.  One of his clients gave them to him, he doesn't drink coffee.  Yes, I went to Starbucks and got the coffee and yes, I have been sitting here this morning enjoying some exceptionally fine cups of coffee - I would not normally buy this stuff for myself, too expensive.  It was a nice guessture - 4 pounds of that coffee?  Dunno what Starbucks charges for it, again, I'm sure it's more than I would normally be willing to pay for a pound of ground up coffee beans.

Trailer tenants took the queen sized mattress, scrubbed it with a light bleach solution, spent their first night sleeping on it.  I'm imagining a far greater sleeping experience on a regular, pillow-top mattress versus sleeping on an air mattress that continues to pop leaks all over it.  Basically, sleeping on a hard, wood floor.

The trailer itself is far from done, but I lost interest.  Meaning I have other things I want to do around here besides spending all my free time working on that thing.  However, I am now going to focus on getting some carpet for it - just plain, wood floors in there right now.  Free carpet, that is.  I am not spending money on that thing at this point and don't have any plans to. I ALREADY shelled out some dough on that thing, it's out of budget at this point and for them, apparently it is livable enough.  In fact, electricity takes precedence over most things on the lower end of the budget.  Though I would hardly call $400 - $450 per month "low" in terms of shelling out the bucks to keep the AC on and keeping it cool in here. May's use is going to be around $330, June's use can add at least $100 more. 

It doesn't help that SRP continually seems to be able to crank through rate increases on it's customers by making appeals to the corporation commission who seem to just give them carte blanch on rate increases.  I will remember that at the voting polls.  They are making ENOUGH money and we are in a recession, point made and enough said.

It's still somewhat early - 8:35AM - would like to get out there and get some of the rocks into position and cemented into place before it starts getting warm.

G'day.

ben

Short saling. It's the next wave of financial chaos being forced down the American economy's throat. I hear story after story of both people I know and perfect strangers choosing the short-sale route - even though many of these people are making their payments and are capable of continuing to do so.


Who benefits from a short sale? The homeowner. That, from my perspective, is the only grouping in the mix that benefits. Everyone else is screwed. A co-worker confided to me this week that he is going to go the short-sale way. He is current on his payments but - WAY upside down on the loan. In other words, he owes far more on the house than the house is worth or will even think of being worth in any near - or possibly even distant - future.

I have struggled with the thought of doing the same thing here, since I am also upside down on the mortgage and I have been seeing that my lender is no willing to do a principle reduction. They are not, of course, constrained to do so. But, it seems to me, they stand to lose a lot more in a short sale or a homeowner simply walking than by doing a principle reduction.

I go back and forth in my mind on the pro's and con's of staying here or leaving it behind. There ARE many pro's, actually, there is also the big con: owing more on the house than the house and property are actually worth. I have gone over both sides of this coin concerning my individual situation at least a few times on this blog. It isn't all peaches for the short-saler, either. It does, from what I have heard, screw up your credit. You will not, undoubtedly, be going out and buying another house anytime soon. You will be forced into renting someone else's property for, probably, an extended period of time: years at least.

When you are renting, you are throwing money into the trash can. There is no return on that money, it's simply the fact of having to pay for a place to live with no foreseeable return in the future. My thinking is going on a line, here, bear with me. How many years will it be before that individual that short-saled is going to be able to buy their own property again? Yes, they say they will go out and rent a property at a far less rate than their current mortgage and many say they will save the difference in savings to eventually come up with the - substantial down-payment - they are going to need to get into another house.

I question, however, the ability of the person that says they are going to save the difference every month. They may be sincere in their statement at the time, but when the rubber meets the road, the American way is to spend, spend, spend, not save, save, save. This is mostly what has gotten us into this trouble to begin with: a slew of people - a HUGE pot full of people - getting loans on homes that they KNOW, when the rate adjusts, they would not be able to afford those payments.

I have a couple of questions for myself - yes, pointing this at me - when thinking of walking from my house and property. 1: can I live with it? Will I sleep at night knowing that I probably could continue making the payments, but because of the fact that I owe more than the house is worth, I didn't want to take that kind of loss, as MANY people are doing: walking.

2. If I stay, how long will it be before I pay this place down to the point it IS worth as much as I owe? I have no idea how to answer that question, really.

3. Am I ready to live on a rental property - somewhere - again? Is it easier to rent TO tenants or BE the tenant?

4. If I DID walk, DID find a house somewhere for rent that would allow all of these dogs and my lifestyle, how much would I really save?

1. I don't know. I have not answered that question to myself yet, therefore, I have not even looked into short-saling. Ethics and morals are of major concern to me in my own life.

2. Again, no idea, will have to look into finding whatever formula that may exist to answer the question.

3. NO. I do NOT want to rent a property anywhere. I HATE renting. A MYRIAD of reasons why, not going to go into all of that here, just answering my question.

4. A lot. $600 per month savings anyway. I have seen 3 bedroom houses going for $600 per month. Not GREAT houses but nice and in good condition. Fenced yard, allows dogs, etc etc etc. That's $600 - or closer $550 - off the monthly mortgage payment. I would be able to afford my own property at that rate and would not have to sublet to other tenants, or if I did, only one.

I've been through bankruptcy, bad credit, high interest loans. My home loan is at 5.25% - down from 6.75% it was at before the loan modification.

It is very tempting, in some ways, to consider walking. Far less responsibility and a weight taken off of my shoulders: trying to keep a room rented to keep the tenant money flowing in. It is a pain in the @$$, frankly, to have to keep getting new people in here. It's part of the deal, yes, I understand that, but it's no fun. Talking on the phone with one after another after another person until you get someone OVER here and committing to the room: ie: handing me cash.

Look , I love to do improvements on whatever place I am living in - but - that motivation lessons considerably on someone else's property. You think I want to spend countless hours on landscaping another person's house? Only if they give me some credit on my rent payment. You do NOT own the place, why bother? Well, cause' you live there and it makes it a nicer place to live.

Honestly, I vascillate back and forth with this issue in my mind - I don't talk about this at all with anyone but yes, I am putting it in writing - as to whether I should stay or go. Every time I see someone I know going the short-sale route even though they CAN afford the payments, it sends me into all of this thinking all over again. My house payment is current. I have enough coming in - now anyway - to continue to make the payment. That seems to change month-to-month. I can't answer my own question to myself with any definitiviness: stay or go?

BTW, short-saling screws everyone else in the neighborhood. Property values go down because you are selling the house, usually, FAR below the comps in the neighborhood for any house of same size and amenities. Of course the lender is screwed - they are taking a huge loss. It only helps the homeowner and I suppose the buyer who is literally getting a steal of a buy.

Onto other things. I finally was offered a queen sized mattress on Craiglist through one of many ads I have run to get one - for free. I simply put the story out there, got some responses but no replies to my response to their initial offering. Well, a homeowner that also - rents rooms - had a tenant leave and left behind the mattress. Had soda spills on it. She told me that before I went and got it. I figured the trailer tenants would be able to overlook some soda stains to have a comfortable bed versus continually having to repair and blow up an air mattress. I didn't ask them, I just went and got it. Brought it home, told the guy if he didn't like it, I would just get rid of it.

The next time I came home, he was out there with a small bucket and some bleach. He was using a light bleach mixture to sterilize the mattress and try to scrub out the stains. He spent hours on it. The mattress is now inside the trailer, and yes, he thanked me for getting it for him. I didn't pay a penny for it, though I definitely went out of my way to acquire the thing. It's a NICE mattress, btw, besides the stains. Very comfortable. He got much of the stains out. I take no responsibility for those people or taking care of them, they are on their own. I do try to get things for them if I can find them on CL on free section. They are required to feed themselves, clothe themselves and pay for their use of electricity and water. I have provided many things, yes. The trailer itself for starters. They're decent people and I don't mind having them around, I just don't think I want that trailer out there forever.

Instead of working on the waterfall today, I took the homemade filter apart and cleaned it out. One of the ponds has a leak. I don't know which since one feeds into the other. I had thought I had narrowed that down to nothing, but the water level goes down on the lower pond every day. About an inch. Refilling it is nothing, they are small ponds and refilling it is not that much water.

However. 

I do NOT want a leaking pond.  The only way to find out which one is leaking is to pull both of them out, fill them up with water above ground and find the leak or leaks.  Live and learn: never buy used, preformed ponds from a family that has had kids playing in the empty ponds  like they are playing on a slide in a playground.

My idea?  I have this brand new, much larger pond.  Put it on the cement slab near the ponds that are in the ground, fill it with water, treat the water, put the fish and the plants in there.  Take out both ponds, dig out the ground and put that big one in where those 2 formerly occupied the ground.  The waterfall will go into a larger pond and it will look much more proportionate - size of the waterfall to the size of the pond.  Take upper pond and feed it into the large pond.  Take the lower pond and install it out front as a water feature with plants only, no fish.  Well, mosquito eating fish, yes, but other than that, just a nice plant feature for my front yard. 

I have fairly well convinced myself to do this - lots of work, yes, but I truly feel that the outcome will be a much better setup than what I currently have.  The waterfall will not be connected to the pond in any way, shape or form.  The rock that dumps the water into the falls will over hang it, yes, but touch it or connect to it? No.   The waterfall will not hinder me in removing a pond excepting that it over hangs.

I was totally "wasted" when I got home from work - tired that is, not drunk or high - I ended up taking a very long nap and also bypassed work on the falls. I ended up taking the filter apart instead and cleaning that all out.   Quite the pain, actually, but necessary. 

And.......I have things I need to get to, so........this entry is history.

G'evening.

ben

Friday

BP has spent nearly 1 billion so far on this oil disaster.  Tip of the iceberg, they will end up spending much more than that before this operation is over, even if/when they get that gusher stopped.

Suns got beat last night.  Tie game going at 3 seconds left - Lakers give the ball to Kobe, misses but is picked up and shoved into the basket.  Suns are now do or die next game and if they win, next game after that. 

Whatever the case, my waterfall project marches on.  Today, I will hopefully cement in the first large rock that over hangs the pond.  Built dirt up behind it and get it read for the second tier.  Which would have to be tomorrow to give it time for the cement to set on the first rock.  Then on Sunday, 3rd tier and probably the creation of the pool of water at the top  Or not.  Haven't really determined that part yet and won't be able to until I get to that point. 

Someone from my ex wife's church is paying for Caleb - my son - to get driver's ed.  $150.  I was asked to fork over that much money, I did not have it.  The someone is my ex-pastor who shunned me some 6 years ago from the church.  Not going to go intot that here, too much and too long a story. 

3 day weekend - 7-1/2 hours away from the beginning of it - unless - of course - work takes me over today. 
Which I doubt it will, bit it IS end of month, never know.
Anyway, just a short entry.
Take care.
ben

Waterfall Part 4

Or is it part 5? Well whatever it is, it is at the point - tomorrow anyway - where I can actually start building the falls and not have to continue working on the prestructure.

This is the revised version of my initial plan.  To make a small pool at the top necessitates the need for the block.  I could have used rock - but for that much rock for sides and back?  No.  I am not going to wait forever to get the falls flowing.  Eventually, I will stack rock on all sides of this setup.  That is not a happening event right now.  I am hopeful for trips up north in the semi, eventually, where I can take my break time and gather up rock and fill the side box with them. 

I may remove the 2cd level of block on the tier closest to the front.  Unsure.  That second level may not be necessary.  If it isn't, it's definitely going to go away. 

Notice on the last pic - I used the remaining mortar mix to "stucco" the sides of the block - a better look than plan ole' block for now.  What's missing?  I didn't have a sponge handy - you can take a wet sponge and smooth over the still-wet mortar to give it a very good outcome in looks.  No worries, that was my first attempt - ever - at that.  The right application tool would be helpful.  I have been wanting to try that for a while now - there is still a good portion of fencing on the west side that needs finished.  I'm sure I can do it now, just a matter of time and - yes - money.

I will be working on it every day, one stage at a time, until it's done.

It looks like junk now, I envision the finished product.  May be a long way off, no biggies.  Plastic is the fail-safe - if there is a leak, the water will end back up in the pond regardless.  I am going to triple it for - failsafe on the failsafe. 

I have been watching, totally changing the subject, the live video stream of  British Petroleum's now gushing oil well.  I assume BP is still an acronym for British Petroleum.  Yesterday, I was watching the end of a broken pipe spewing out raw crude.  Today, I was quite surprised to see a cake of - I'm assuming the "heavy mud" that had totally circumferenced the pipe, apparently, and the oil spewing through cracks in the cake.  BP may not be saying it, but it appears to me that the flow has been slowed.  Not stopped, not even close - but slowed.  I may be wrong, but the caking of the heavy mud is all around the pipe and it's outlet. 

More interesting, I left that and came back a few hours later.  They had switched the cameras to a robot that was - doing whatever.  Appeared to be a gauge that was installed.  It was showing 2100 range.  2100 what? Not barrels, maybe gallons per minute? Per hour?  I am totally fascinated by such things, however, I am also extremely alarmed at the environmental impact as probably millions of others like me are as well.  I don't wonder if BP files chapter 11 or other bankruptcy in the end.  Or, is that company THAT rich? 

Regardless, I wished for a narrative to explain what I was seeing.  It then moved to a view of 2, bolted flanges with what appeared to be bearing housings in the middle and a shaft in the middle of that.  Could be totally wrong, but those were definitely flanges I was looking at, bolted to - whatever - couldn't tell.  I dream of such a job - operating robots 5,000 feet below you.  I imagine the operators having a lot of pressure on them to not screw up - there is far too much riding on what happens next.  Which, apparently, is pumping more heavy mud and then the concrete.  Fascinating.

Suns V Lakers game starts in 10 minutes.  I'm - excited and nervous.  Lakers have home court advantage and definitely, that IS an advantage. 

So, I'm outta here.  Gonna watch a few minutes of the pre-game narrative.

G'day.
ben

Thursday

Thursday already!
3-day weekend in queue.
Found what I was looking for for my homemade bio filter on ebay. It's filter media - coarse on one side and fine on the other for filter the water as it passes through my setup - which I am going to change when I get this filter media. Undoubtedly, I also built that thing far too large. I mean, it works and that's not a problem, I just should have bought a much smaller container to build that setup. Oh, the filter media? $2. lol - shipping was more than the product itself.

I didn't know until yesterday that BP has live footage of the oil gushing out of the pipe at the bottom of the ocean. Amazing. Amazing the damage all that oil is causing and unknown problems for years to come.

Don't really have a lot to say this morning, more in the reflective tones today than anything.

Have a great day.

ben

Evening

2 work days left until a 3-day weekend.

An 80 year old man shoots and kills a home-invasion intrusion suspect in Chicago.

There is nothing here about this guy - the invader had a weapon, I would have no problem shooting the invader, either.

There is nothing alarming about this. Kudos to the man that shot the invader. Ex-military, I would guess he intentionally shot to kill - this invader would have undoubtedly held a grudge and come back for - more.

No, the alarming thing here is as follows:

"No charges have been filed against the homeowner, but Chicago currently has a statute outlawing the possession of handguns. Its legality is currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court."

How can any government entity in the U.S. have a statute or law that outlaws handguns? I have NOT seen this in ANY news outlet. QUITE the surprise. It's no wonder it's gone to the U.S. Supreme Court. The implications of the decision of the Court are tremendous. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Chicago, then there goes the guns - to normal, law-abiding citizens, anyway.

The man killing the intruder? This is a normal response to someone coming into your home with unknown intentions but - making the potential intentions obvious with a gun in hand.

The statute outlawing handguns? Outrageous. Unbelievable. I want to hear more about this. I'm dumbfounded that the news media - on either side of the issue - isn't all over this. It's a granted that s*** would never happen in AZ. We just passed a law making it legal to carry a gun WITHOUT any kind of permit. There is NO good outcome to making it illegal to own guns, the criminals will always have access to them and they can get as much as they want, when they want it.

"A high-profile Chicago attorney has already stepped forward offering to represent the man pro bono if he faces charges for possessing a weapon.

"Self-defense isn't just a right, it's a duty," said attorney Joel Brodsky. "If this man is prosecuted for saving his own life it's not just a travesty, it's justice turned inside out."
Amen, brother.

Phase 4 of pond waterfall construction. Sidewalls are definitely warranted for the idea of having a small pool at the top. I poured the foundations for the block on each side a while ago. Tomorrow, I can lay the block and I can also put the first large rock into place - cemented into place I should say.

Getting the water flowing into the waterfall? Hope to have all of these phases done within the week. Getting the walls covered up? Who knows. Not a priority, I want the thing working for now. I will wait until I get another trip up northeast. If/when I go, I will STUFF that sidebox full of rocks. I do NOT want to "buy" rocks. I will empty that sidebox out of all of it's "stuff" before I leave on that trip - if it ever comes - and make sure I can get a LOT of rocks in there.

In reality, the trunk of my car is HUGE. If I wanted to, I could stuff at least 18 8X8X16 wall blocks in there.

Whatever. There is an inside salesman at work whose recurrent, daily, recalicitrant ugliness finally got to me. Call him for info concerning the account I am pulling an order, loading it onto the truck and deliveriing it? UGLY. He is USUALLY in a VERY sour mood. This morning was no different. In fact, it was aggregious. NO need to go into all of it. After a year plus of this crap, I gave it back to him this afternoon when he called me - which is also a frequent occurence, asking me to do something for him.

He is not a team player. His attitude is he doesn't care if it gets done or not. I'm assuming this attitude comes because his uncle is also the general manager. I do not know the general manager, however, to be a person that tolerates this kind of shitty attitude. I am DEFINITELY tired of it. He answers the phone in such a sour tone, you wonder HOW this guy has lasted as long as he has in the position he has occupied. He is ALWAYS in a BAD MOOD. It reverberates in his voice, just answering the phone it enough. You have just irritated him by calling him. You have inconvenienced him. This man definitely has problems outside of work and is bringing this problems with him TO work.

Uhh, get off of that subject - his response to my simple question this morning set me off after listening to this nonsense for quite a long time now.


Well, I stopped at Home Depot on the way home from work, bought a few more wall blocks and some more cement, poured 2 footers when I got home, and that was that. Tomorrow I will lay the block and probably be able to cement the first large rock into place on the waterfall.

I aquired a much larger, pre-formed pond at a very cheap price. Like almost nothing. My rather large goldfish will like that pond much better. I will not have a waterfall - for now - on that pond - until I figure out how I am going to incorporate it with everything else. The smaller ponds will be plant ponds with small fish only. And, of course, a waterfall with a small pool at the top.

I am not installing the larger pond until I have the waterfall finished. The only caveat to that is if the trailer guy wants to do it - but he is still in pain, still taking pain medication, I'm assuming he's pretty much out of hard, physical labor until a later, unknown date.

Anyway, that's it for now.

I'm done with this and I bid you well.

G'nite.

ben

Wednesday

Hump day - with nothing in our truck routing system.
Meaning no deliveries - yet anyway.
Meanwhile, I'm back to eBay.
Craigslist simply doesn't have what I need on there for pond
stuff. I haven't used eBay in ages, but I still have a good
feedback rating and have had the same user id for a long, long
time now.
And I have to say, I probably should have gone there long before now. The thing I started hating about eBay - quite a long time ago now - was that I was selling stuff and eBay was jacking up the fees it was charging to be able to sell.
I ended up quitting buying and selling altogether. Been quite a while since I've done any business on that forum.

So, Obama finally deploys a few troops along the border. McCain says nice, it ain't enough.
Meanwhile, the Suns were scrapping big time last night and they pulled out another win! The energy levels on that court were enough to exhaust a person just watching it! I'm guessing for a MUCH harder go back in LA, unfortunately, but the Suns have proven it to themselves that they CAN beat that team. Last night's game was fun to watch, especially with a housefull of other Suns fans.

I don't have much time, just checkin' in here.

Ava' great day!
ben

Ponds

Feeling motivated, I went outside to start cementing in the pieces for the waterfall.
Ummm, what did I do with the last bag of cement?
Oh, yes, I already used it.
Darn.
No, I don't feel like going to the store, it can wait until tomorrow.
Definitely, this waterfall is far disproportionate to the size of the ponds.
I will redeem that by having a pool at the top of the waterfall. I may actually be able to have it semi-deep - a foot anyway, and have some small fishies in there. The birds can use it as a bird-bath, eat the fish for dinner and have a great time!
Oh, well strike the eating fish part.
Still, it can definitely be a nice looking feature in itself, while aerating the water and cooling it at the same time.

It will have to be a cement lined thing - but the size of it is small enough that it won't take much cement.

However, it will also create more work, now that I think about it. To have a water feature at the top of the waterfall, I will have to also build a retaining wall on both sides of the structure. This isn't a problem, it's just going to cause me to have to spend even many more moons on getting it done.

Well, that means buying a few more blocks while I'm at it. 6 more, to be precise.

I just got news that the older lady across the street - who has lived here long before I moved into this neighborhood - is moving. She is still ill and is moving in with her daughter. Undoubtedly a good move - but - she is selling that old mobile for an attempted 27k.

I'm sorry. What kind of people do you attract for 27k? I've had enough of the trailer trash mentality coming in here, I want no part of any more of them. 2 people were intersted but "failed to qualify". It's a 39 year old, metal walled mobile home.

It isn't a problem with your financial status, it's a problem with some sets of mentalities that go with a certain financial status' group. Meth-heads, pot smokers, trashy properties with garbage and junk laying around everywhere. Weeds and grass growing wild - up to 6 feet and more tall.

Look, this isn't a fear thing that probably won't happen. These old, empty mobiles have attracted numerous sexual predators - those that are on life-time monitoring, basically. 4 of them. 3 of them within 1,000 feet of my house, of those 3, one of them within 200 feet.

Whatever. Not great news. Well, it IS great news if cool people move in there. I don't care if it's a family with a bunch of kids, or a couple or a single person, just be NORMAL people, PLEASE!!!

3 work days until another 3-day weekend. Totally cool.

Just bidiig my time until the Suns V Lakers game starts. This is really a must-win. Yes, the Lakers still have to win 2 more games to win the series, but if we don't win this game, I believe it's all over, as the rest of the games are in enemy territory. It would tie up the series and take some of the oomph out of the Lakers stampede to victory. Definitely - well hopefully - should be an intense nail-biter for both sides of the fan equation.

The news? Just a pathetic mumbling and jumbling of garbage, nonsense, political grandstanding and aggressive nations speaking out more and more of the same rhetoric that they have always spewed forth. Oh, and the oil spilling into the Gulf. I am more concerned about THAT little scene right now than any of the rest of it. I wonder if that much oil could eventually have world-wide implications if that stuff were to eventually spread everywhere? I don't have the answers. I am sure that at this point, the government better come up with some pretty stringent rules for the potential of another catastrophe of this nature to happen again. Failsafes better be just that: FAILURE PROOF. Whatever valve assemblies that should have kicked in better be - inspected closely and monitored at all levels from this point forth. Perhaps new technologies are necessary and prudent.

Well, that's enough. I must go out and water a few plants. I have done 2 good waterings this week and it should be good for several days - but the tomoato plants need daily watering. Nothing major, there are 17 plants, I think 10 of them have tomatoes growing on them.

Anyway,

G'day.

ben

Tuesday

So, yesterday, I pull up to a jobsite. It's a different deal - the entrance is off of the private property of another building's parking lot and/or driveway around the back.
Whatever goes on in the building, there is heavy security. Well, I didn't see the contractor anywhere, made a phone call and was informed that they already left. Okay, buy-bye. I was taking off when I saw a loader and it's operator frantically trying to get my attention.

Long story. I can't get into the site. I can do a lot of things with a semi, but that truck was not going to fit through that space with that kind of turn. The normal truck entrance was blocked. They wanted to unload it in that driveway, fine by me.

I start unstrapping. The foreman comes driving up, telling his workers can't do it there. A security guard comes up and starts grilling me. My name, work, what am I doing, yada yada. Get done with him, the foreman comes walking up. Gets mad. Told the salesman to tell me to come in from the other direction - was mad because I didn't follow his instructions. Gee, if I had KNOWN his instructions, I might have had an opportunity to FOLLOW this instructions. This guy has been getting mad and throwing hissy fits for the 4 plus years I've worked at the company I'm at.

I said okay, I'll go turn the truck around and see if I can make it through there. "Well are you SURE you can?". No, I won't know until I start attempting to make the turn in there, but I certainly can try. This guy is popping a fuse. His circuits are shorting out. The old saying "he has a short fuse" doesn't apply here. He HAS no fuse, just get out the lighter, light it up and kablaam, he blows up. I always try to diffuse a situation, but it wasn't working yesterday. He informed me that I would be leaving and bringing the material back in a smaller truck.

Yes, well our yard has a pickup truck. We are going to transfer the material from the semi to a smaller truck this morning. I went back to our yard and went home - it put me in a bad mood and I wasn't able to shake it. I have no clue about people who are perpetually in a very, very bad mood. I don't understand how those people - enjoy life. Maybe they don't and that's the problem.

Consolation? I don't have to drive the smaller truck back there, someone else does. This guy treats everyone equally - rotten.

Taxes. Phoenix imposed a 2% food sales tax, another 1% sales tax and now they want to hike property taxes. Voters in AZ apparently thought a statewide tax was good, too. Instead of decreasing the size of government - which is what needs to happen anyway (No, I am not a proponent of having huge, excessive, wasteful and very controlling government at ANY level) - they just want to raise taxes. Not withstanding the fact the city has a huge reserve they could draw on.

Whatever. Where does it end? My take-home pay is way down, yet taxes continue to go up? Meaning my take-home pay goes even FURTHER down, or when I visit the grocery store or go to buy something at a retail store, I pay more even though the price never changed. This is a good thing? I think Mesa is the only city left around here that doesn't force you to pay a food sales tax. I'm thinking I should start driving through there on the way home from work - there is a Fry's that IS on the way home, actually.

I really can't dwell on those types of things too long, I start getting mad. Getting mad doesn't do anything, although it will get me to making phone calls to the city council members, I WILL be letting them know what I think about their property tax hike plan and also the fact that they are VOTED in, not assigned to their positions. I think they have already screwed themselves, though, considering the taxes already imposed.

I'm a big fan of doing AWAY with property taxes altogether. Your home should not be put at stake because the government doesn't know how to come up with a budget and stick with it. No-one should ever lose their home because they couldn't afford to pay the property tax that is associated with it forever.

Well, work-day is here and I must be about the company's business.

G'day.

ben

Monday

Okay, well coming into work, I find a message sent out to everyone from the general manager. News of people moving around from one location to another. The one that got my interest was about the inside salesman that is moving out of state. As I said in an earlier post, I put my declaration of interest in the position to the manager who is over such on Friday. I am going to look on the job board and see if that position is listed. It's a fact that almost all of the guys that are working in inside sides right now had absolutely NO previous experience when they moved into the position. Yes, they are "fluent" now but it took them quite some time to get to that point.

Do I have any chance at all? Dunno, but I can always hold out hope. The manager that was here stated that they may not even replace that position at all and just dump the work on everyone else.

Phoenix Suns won last night! Woohoo. Home court advantage made a difference. Okay, what really made the difference was Stoudemire coming out with guns blazing, he was playing and extremely aggressive game, it was obvious from the git-go and it was a much different Stoudemire than the first 2 games of this LA V Phoenix series. It paid off. Fry - needs to go home, permenantly. Lol. Holding out hope that when they go back to LA, it's a tied series.

South Korea is now, finally, making demands of NK. Obama, of whom I have regarded as a yellow-belly when it comes to war and the things of war, apparently is changing his tune concerning this situation in offering the U.S.'s full support to SK and instructing the military commanders to prepare for come what may. I give very little kudos to Obama for much of anything, but, this is one arena where I will. I personally believe we should totally pull out of Afghanistan and let that nation live in the stew it has been brewing for - ever. NK is an enemy that I would support our troops being involved with if war were declared. I am not a big fan of wars, but if we must, it must be something that IS worth the lives of our troops, because there ain't too many wars that I ever heard of where one side has everyone surviving and the other everyone dying.

I haven't heard the NK rhetoric machine pumping out it's filth, I'm sure it's just around the corner

Ponds. I have been looking at the pond ads on CL for quite some time now. The guy with the huge ponds came down in his price - still far out of my reach. Well, not far-far, but $150 is more than I can afford right now, that's all. Another guy who has 9 new ponds also came down in his price. A large pond for $65. IF they are as big as he says they are, that's a steal.

Patience is a virtue. Someone will come on there eventually having a ridiculously low price on a large pond - one did a while back but I didn't want it at the time -- just to dump the thing. That pond? It was 8 feet long. For a preformed, that's a good side and twice the size of either of my existing ponds. My existing ponds could, if I do get a bigger one, simply be used as water plant ponds. Once the plants mature, it is a very eye-catching sight. Plus they will have that nice waterfall - if I ever get done with it, lol.

My son's birthday today. He turns 17. It is a 2-sided coin in seeing him grow up. One side says, wow, where did all that time fly off to, the other says, yes, he's going to off to college! I love my son, yes. Great kid.

I went and looked at an apartment for my friends that are returning to Phoenix from the boonies somewhere in Indiana yesterday. Not bad - not fancy, but it is nice. It's 1/2 mile from my house. They asked me to check it, I didn't know they were planning on coming back until they said the VA hospital where they are living at is 90 miles away. Ouch. There was some bad news: Their daughter (in her 30's) has colon cancer. Man oh man. What life delivers sometimes, it's crazy. All the more impetus to get back here. She lives in Tucson, about an hour an a half drive the way they drive.

Well that's enough for one entry. It cooled down considerably overnight - 53 degrees this morning. I shut the AC off last night - if tenants complain, oh well. I am not running the AC when it's that cool. In fact, the AC won't come on anyway, the temperature will be far lower than that of the setting on the thermostat.

Anyway, have a great day!

ben

Surprising Change

As summer approaches, I assumed any cool days/nights were over with.
To my great surprise, strong winds moved in today and also blew in MUCH cooler temperatures. To the point that the windows are open and it is very cool in here, and yes, I shut off the AC.

It will not last, but it is a nice parting goodbye from mother nature.

Weekend over. Going to bed. Just wanted to throw that in there.

G'nite.

ben

Latest shots.  First rock is put into place - but not cemented.  This is the trial (pain in the rear) run.

Closer view of the same thing.

Even closer view.

Filled in with dirt and put smaller rocks on top of the big one

(this will all have to be cemented into place once

I figure out how I want it).

Frontal view.

Missed a shot somewhere along the way here.

I had the rock on the top left centered on top of the bottom

rock first.  Then, I added that second rock and moved the

top rock to the side.  I'm thinking of taking the left rock

and flipped it over to have a crisper falls.

In reality, I was going to go with a much larger falls until I realized what I was doing. The falls would have been disproportionate to the size of the pond it is falling into. Even this might seem a bit of over kill - oh well, I'm not turning back now. I could maximize the top of the falls when I get to that point and have a small pool of water up there. Who knows.

I'm going to be fiddling with this for a while until I decide how I want it. No sense in getting in a big hurry - once you start cementing stuff together, that's it. Total pain? Yes. Worth the double/triple/quadrupled effort? Most definitely. I really should be moving along with this thing and just getting it done, but I find myself constrained by my own sense of perfectionism: it HAS to be right or I will just look at it every time and kick myself wondering why I just didn't go to the extra effort.

Temp tenant? Staying another week. Benb sighs a deep sigh of relief. Electric usage is going up to higher levels by the week. It becomes a money dump in the summer - keep the power meter fueled with money fire to keep the AC running. Assuming ex-Marine is staying, he has promised that when he leaves, he will give me ample forewarning. He already did once - but then changed his mind after his buddy lost his job.

The newest tenant? Calls me today. Her boyfriend is moving out of wherever he's at next week or something, she's hoping he can stay with her. I've done this before without any problem. Will there be a problem with these 2? No idea. Informed her it would be extra rent - I am not footing the bill for extra utility usage. I have met the boyfriend and have talked with him at length. We get along, is all I am pointing out with that. He landed a job at the WigWam - a classy resort hotel - not too long ago. I'm assuming they will save money and then - move into their own apartment eventually. She wants a place to call home so she can have her kids back.

Can't blame her, however, there is this little thing called recovery that she still needs to be going through for a while, my opinion. Only 3 months out of being a meth user, she needs to let the kids stay where they're at with grandpa and grandma for at least a year - my opinion again - until she proves to herself and everyone else that knows her that she is off the drugs and will be staying that way.

Relapse is easy. Too easy. Life gets hard, take the drug, life is easy again. Sort of. Payment is due. I say that with however we live. We pay a price. For good or bad. Stay tuned for more of BenB's life and ever-changing household situation.

3:00 pm. Lazy Sunday afternoon. Yes, I am through with cementing in blocks, moving dirt and large rocks around for the day. I am feeling a case of "do-nothingness" overcoming me. Nothing left to do around here that is blow-up important. House is relatively clean - still want to mop the kitchen floor today. Suns game in a few hours. Have some Teriyaki chicken to cook up. Yup, except going out there and turning on the valve to water the plants, I am done with that for today.

My dogs are looking gaunt. I mean skinny. Too skinny. I give them as much food as they want to eat. I don't want fat dogs, that doesn't seem likely with any of these giants. I really WANT them to eat more, they simply won't. The goldfish outside, however, are happy to eat as much Koi food as I want to give them. Well, they are looking very large, I am feeding them, yes, but they look like they need to go on a diet. Ex-owner admitted he probably feeds his fish too much.

Anyway, that's it.

Later.
ben

Sunday

Weekends never seem to last very long. 
They come and then just poof, disappear into the thin blue air. 
I do have an agenda for today, but it means going to Home Depot
for one more bag of cement.  It will finish the back retaining wall
for the waterfall setup.  I will be doing that in a little while, this
foundation and retaining wall junk have been holding me up from
actually building the blooming thing.  I should have enough rocks
to actually build the waterfall, but to cover up everything on the sides?
No.  I hope sooner or later to get sent back up north and I can pick
up more off the side of the road somewhere along the way.

Just get the falls built and water pumping, that's my agenda, the heat is
coming and I can't put it off forever.  Not that I'm putting it off, it's just
taking an eternity to get the pre-work done.

Came out to the living room this morning to hear the TV blaring.
I am not a fan of 24 hour a day TV.  I find it quite annoying.  I did
a very unpopular thing and - muted it.  I WILL have some peace and
quiet around here. 

I was particularly amused to find on the news this morning that a Republican has
won a special election vote in Hawaii - Obama's home state where he carried around 70%
of the vote in the Presidential campaign.  Does this send a message? 
Guess we'll find out in November.

Meanwhile, they continue to show the devastation that this oil spill in the Gulf is
producing and talking about cleanup.  Umm, scuse me folks, but you can't really
talk about cleanup until you have the oil that gushing out of broken pipes
CONTAINED first.  I don't wonder if this oil won't make it, eventually, into every ocean? 
What's to keep it from spreading into the Atlantic and then, points further beyond?
Nothing that I can see, especially if it's going to be months before they get this other
hole drilled.  How many millions upon millions of barrels of oil will have been dumped into
the ocean by then?  How does marine aquatic life live in that kind of mess?  This is an incredible
disaster, yet I see the Federal Government doing next to nothing.  They are dumping the blame and responsibility for getting it capped onto BP. 

If I were the President of the United States - which I never will be but for the sake of argument - I would be contacting every oil drilling company in the world, putting the feelers out for the best of the best and bring in
the people that can make this thing happen.  Money?  Some things, such as this and border security, should be dealt with in a different way than say, million dollar toilets sets and $1,000 hammers. It will take an act of God - literally - to deal with this oil mess. 

Anyway, I got a lot accomplished around the house yesterday, intend on doing a "few" more things and then take the rest of the day off.  Suns play the Lakers again today.  If they lose this one, I don't give them any odds at all of winning a fourth game, meaning the Lakers move on and the Suns, once again, fall short.  No idea.  Suns seemed clueless on the court the first 2 games of how to defend against the Lakers.  If they don't come up with a new game plan, then the next 2 games are losses for sure.  I'll watch it - but if we start getting blown away again?  Just shut the thing off. 

For now, I'm going to go spend $3.97 on another bag of cement, bring it back, get those blocks in place and then I can look forward to hopefully starting the process of putting the blooming thing together - the waterfall that is.

Happy Sunday!
ben

Saturday

Faced with the stark reality of having to lug some wall block over here, the further thought was that I would also have to pour a footer for the block as well.
The seemingly eternal project. 
Instead of finishing this entry, I went on a 2 and a half hour work spree.  Went to Home Depot, got the block, cement and rebar.  Went to Fry's, picked up various things there.
Came home, lugged all of that stuff from the front driveway to the other side of the house.
Made and poured the footer for the retaining wall.
Cleaned most of the main bathroom - tub left to go - people were waiting to use it.
Fed the dogs, washed off urine from some of their favorite pissing places - at least that's outside, cleaned up dog poop, came in, was going to go finish the main bathroom but got sidetracked - coming here.

Tis' okay, I needed a break and some serious water, it's getting warm outside and I was glad to get that retaining wall junk done before the afternoon heat gets here.  I will not be able to build the wall until tomorrow after the cement dries enough.  Which sucks, but oh well.  I want to get about the business of getting the waterfall built, not having to seemingly continue forever building the structure for it.  Do it right, the first time, or pay for it later, and not that much later, either. 

I gave up on the guy with the ponds.  They ARE big ponds, but $200 is not in the budget right now.  It is a complete setup, too.  I wish I had the money to burn, but I don't.  Bills - electricity - all that good stuff takes precedence.  If he were, for some magical reason, to come down to $100, I would get it in a flash of lightning's time.  VERY doubtful he will do that. I am guessing he is just going to keep running those ads until somebody bites.  I will wait until someone comes on there that is unloading the things -  they do that frequently enough.  I do not, really, have my hands full with my existing ponds.  The waterfall is a project that simply takes time going from one step to the next.  I need more rocks for around the ponds and probably will be planting some kind of plants around the edges of the ponds as well. 

So far, only one fish dead, and that a free mosquito eater.  Out of almost 20 free fish, not bad.  Plecostomus?  They're in there, somewhere.  Can't see them, they aren't floating, means they're not dead.  The big goldfish are always moving around - until I come out there, they are terrified of me.  Lol.  Probably equate me to a giant bird that is out to eat them.  Dunno, but they have a hiding place right in the center of the pond where they all cozy up to each other in hide mode. 

Plants seem to be doing okay as well.  Not sure about those, I have zero experience with water plants.  The water has cleared up considerably.  The lower pond has more algae in it, so I dumped a 4 quart container full of water mixed with algae remover.  If the Plecostomus live, they will eventually get big enough to deal with the algae problems all by themselves without having to put addivitives in the water. 

So, the existing pond project is going very well, from my estimation anyway, good progress.

BTW, once ponds are established, up, running and you have plants and fish?  The plants eventually take over the ponds.  Weed them out and yes, you sell them on Craiglist.  Pretty cool, actually.  Fish mulitply.  You can get a pretty good price for Koi on CL as well.  No, didn't start this as a money making opportunity, but since such is available, I won't turn it down.  Will be some time before that happens, of course, but the option is there.

Also, for now, water is staying cool.  Shade screen I put up is helping. 

Now? I'm attempting to motivate myself to use the carpet cleaning machine on  the main traffic areas of the living room floor. 

The footer is drying up fast, but as much as I want to lay the block today?  Not a happening event.  At least overnight - unless it looks like it's good later on. 

The trailer tenants are back to their usual thing.  Nothing bad or even irritating for the most part, just that they're back.  I could feel the very cool air coming out of it as I walked past it earlier.  Evap coolers are not designed to use in a sealed environment.  You must have windows open or some place for the air to go - outside though.  It is the opposite of AC in that sense.  AC, you want your house sealed up tight as a drum.  Coolers neither need that or warrant the action.  I have no idea how it will feel when it's 115 degees outside, but I hope it works out for them, if they are still here.  It is obvious that they covet the trailer - I don't mean that in a bad way either - covet in the sense that they are willing to do whatever they need to to be able to stay in the place.  They simply do not have the funds for their own place.  I don't wonder if they wouldn't qualify for rental subsidies and be able to get one for free.  However, electricity; water; cable; all the good stuff? Definitely not free. 

It is true that a lot of housing setups with people on rental assistance frequently have no electricity or running water.  They can't afford it.

That reminds me, I am going to SRP's site and see what alternative plans they have for bringing the costs down.  Electricity that is.  I have heard there are plans that will reduce your electric bill, I am interested in finding info on that.

As for this entry - history.

G'day.

ben

Friday More

I was miserably tired when I got home from work today, so I just went into my bedroom and crashed for more than an hour.  I didn't get off work near as early as I thought I would, either.  In fact, I will have something like 3 and a half hours of "overtime" (stated that way because even with that, it won't add up to 40 hours) - anything helps right now.  No, I stayed later because of a very small delivery that just had to go out to a contractor.  No big deal to me, I always tell management that I am over my hours - if they want to continue to send me out, it's on them, not me.

I found out the other day that an inside salesman is going to be moving to Pennsylvania. The inside salesman manager was working my store yesterday and today - my manager is out of it with marital problems and having to go find another place to live (they are separating again).  So, today, I asked if they were going to replace that position or not?  "We're thinking about it".  Well, his was a good ear to throw at telling him I would throw in my desire for such a position, regardless of the fact that I am totally unqualified for such, but then again, so were the other guys that are in there now when they took those positions.  Our company wants people that have taken a minimum of 4 years of college to occupy it.  He stated they were looking to possibly simply lose the position - and that much more of a salary with it. 

The day will come, sooner or later, where I will simply realize that I am going to go nowhere in life in any company, that I'm stuck being a truck driver and that since that is true, I might as well go after the money, ie: find a very good paying job somewhere and be resolved to being behind the wheel.  I have not arrived at that point yet, especially working in a company that promotes from within.  But, if you never get promoted, and you stay there year after year, that pretty much sends the signal: you are, for whatever reason, no promotable.  Again, I am not there in that thinking, but I am not content at all to be getting the very small paychecks - in comparison with the past - that I am receiving because of cut hours.  I love my job, don't get me wrong, but - in my industry, well, I should be taking home about twice what I am now every paycheck with my experience. 

Having to rely on tenants to make up for the losses is not something I am prepared to deal with for the rest of my life.  You lose a great deal of privacy and you better be an easy-going person that can tolerate a lot when considering having fully 3 unrelated and unknown individuals living in bedrooms in your house plus 2 more living in a trailer outside.

However, the trailer tenants were allowed onto the property for humanitarian purposes, not a money making proposition. They don't live in the house and they only come in my house to use the bathroom, otherwise they are in "their" trailer.  Which also brings up the next subject: they are here.  They just returned about an hour ago.  Mark, the man side of this couple, came in relating his tale of extreme pain until he was given some sort of box that you simply push a button and it gives you a dose of - whatever it is he is on - to take away the pain.  He also handed me $50, the amount owed from 2 weeks ago.  I do charge them $25 per week for the "priviledge" of living on the property, with some semblance of a normal life, security, working and running utilities, the use of the Magic Jack Phone, the use of the restroom, the use of my grill (which is primarily what they like to use to cook).  They aren't subjected to the conditions they were living in before: living in someone's backyard in a storage shed.  They also aren't subjected to the extreme elements: namely the heat that is here.  100 degrees today.  My neighbor behind me gave us a Mastercool evap cooler - pretty much the best on the market. 

He had acquired it from a job he was working.  Regardless that the unit was free, it needed several items to make it work and I spent about $100 on getting that thing up and operational on the roof of the trailer.  It is big enough to cool a small house, meaning they aren't going to be suffering too badly in there.  I say that because when it gets humid, those things work less efficiently.  They still cool, but not to the degree of when the air is dry.  I have made some personal, financial sacrifices to get them something to live in.  I'm not patting myself on the back, I'm simply saying that I do not feel bad in receiving $25 per week from them.  I made it clear from the git-go that once they moved in, I was not going to also be covering their utility usage.  $25 per week may be more than the utility usage actually is - evap coolers use electricity to run a water pump and a fan, not an AC compressor, they are relatively cheap to use.  Oh, and I also got them a Direct TV box.  I think for people that were homeless, it's a pretty good deal, really.  I have lived in trailers like that in the past, not great, but as I say, FAR better than living on the streets.

So, I did take the $50 and no, I won't be feeling bad about it.  Something in me started to give into it - NO - I said, I have done plenty for them, this is hardly abusive. 

Whether it is evident here or not, I am EXTREMELY cranky right now.  3 nights in a row without good sleep.  That long nap sort of helped.  Because of the loss of sleep, it put me in a groggy condition - writing on this computer is fine, having people interrupting me is NOT fine.  Usually, when this happens, my 4th night I'm crashing well. 

BTW, I have been making a bunch of typo errors  - it is this keyboard I bought at Fry's Electronics.  It is a piece of junk.  I am going to have to go buy another brand.  It doesn't like to produce the c letter and I frequently have to go back and put it in and it also frequently simply doesn't give me whatever other letter that I typed onto the keyboard.  It WAS a cheap one, but not the same kind as the others I have bought in the past.  Mistake, I will be correcting that problem this weekend.  It annoys me that I sometimes go back over and read what I have written and see the errors in the type. 

To the news:  it is intriguing, to me if no-one else, that several states are considering adopting the same legislation that Arizona has in it's AZ Immigration SB1070 bill.  It's actually amazing that any state would follow suit considering the negativity that this bill has generated - apparently the world over, not just the nation.  Bunk.  I hope they all adopt such bills.  The federal government is not doing it's job in more than just border security, let the states take it upon themselves to do it for themselves.  It was interesting that states in the northeast were considering the same legislation - this problem is nationwide, not just Arizona.  However, I do believe Arizona has FAR more of these people running around than anyone else, including Texas, New Mexico and California. 

When you get down to it, the Federal Government has very little that is should be imposing itself upon or even attempting to get involved with.  Ownership of private business is a glaring example of the federal government FAR over-reaching it's mandates.  It's ALL about the people WE elect to take the positions to run this country. 

Anyway, it's good to see that another poll has 71% of Arizonans still backing this bill and Governor Janet Brewer's popularity numbers gaining over 30% percentage points in the short time since she signed that bill into law.  Even better that she is not only standing her ground, but has gone on some of the media "circuits" to give the Obama administration some of the medicine it has been dishing out to both her and the state of Arizona.  There are bigots and racists everywhere, but an entire state?  Lucidity, rationale, reason goes out the window when a few loud mouths get national media attention. 

Well, the day is growing to a close - light of day will be gone soon enough and I want to get a good plant watering in.  I'm doing it every other day right now, when the full heat of summer hits, it will have to be every day.

Later.
ben

Friday

Just got done reading an interview that our Governor, Janet Brewer, had with - whoever it was, I never heard the name of the interviewer beforere.
"Do your job".  That is the only thing, I believe, that Arizona has been looking for, for a long time now.  Not just Obama, but definitely included in the Presidential mix since he is obviously ignoring this issue. They spent too much money on healthcare - which is NOT part of the federal mandate, so they have nothing left over for securing our borders, which is DEFINITELY a part of the job of the Federal Government to oversee and do whatever it takes.  It was amazing to read this interview and find out that NO-ONE from the Federal Government has contacted her about the bill or her repeated requests, over and over, to get something done about our wide-open borders. 

Don't want to go off on that too long - this is going to play itself out.  Other states are considering adopting their own version of this bill, what are the boycotters going to do if that happens?  A nation divided cannot stand.  

Meanwhile, it's Friday!  This is only the 3rd day I've worked this week - and I haven't even gotten on the clock yet - and I am 4 hours over my allotted hours.  Meaning - whenever I get the stuff in our truck routing system done, I will be going home early.  Unless, of course, more stuff is thrown my way.  Frankly, wouldn't bother me a bit to have a full day's work and keep the hours, I definitely need the money.

I contacted the guy that has a huge pond setup for sale - $500 - and asked if he would sell them separately. I want the big one.  Yes and no.  Yes, he will sell the big one, but another pond goes with it and a filter and such.  I don't know, maybe this guy paid a lot of money for all of that and that's why he's standing on his prices, but from what I can see, he hasn't sold ANY of it and he has been advertising it for over a month now, every single day.  Oh, he wants $200 for the 2 ponds and the related equipment.  No chance of that for me, I don't have that kind of money to spend right now - though - I am sure that setup is worth far more than that. 

Meanwhile, I have the rather arduous task facing me of having to haul block from Home Depot to my house in my car.  I figure I might be able to get 10 of them in my trunk, at least 2 trips, probably 3.  I bought 2 small plecostomus from Pet Smart yesterday - they were cheap and if they survive the shock of being taken out of an aquarium and put into an outdoor pond, they will also take care of my ponds nicely.  I did put the shock treatment in both ponds to help them out.  I did not see any fish bodies floating this morning - a good sign.

I just realized that THIS - IS - Memorial Day weekend!! Hootinannyholler! 3 more days off! Startling revelation - I thought it was next weekend!!! Yeeeeehawww!!!

Back to reality.  Gotta get this day done first, there is already a freight truck sitting out front waiting to get unloaded.

I must get offa here.

G'day.

And remember, THIS is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!

ben

Almost Here

"When you see something interesting, take pics!!"
My explanation to the site foreman after the truck was unloaded, yes, at that site right next to that huge array of giant satellite dishes. Dish Network. I would have to guess a main location with that much money in dishes and related equipment sitting there. I couldn't possibly guess what that array of dishes must cost, so I won't. It reminding me of the movie Contact where they are using that dish array in New Mexico - I have passed by there many times in the past and actually stopped the semi on the side of the road to get out and gawk.

I have no idea how the technology works, so I can't comment with any experience or knowledge. I can only say that that is a LOT of dishes to be bringing in satellite. Okay, I do ask why they would need satellite dishes since each user has their own satellite dish? One answer was given today, though I was no quite sure of the accuracy of the answer: at least one dish is "shooting" it over to Mexico. I have no idea, I would rather ask someone that works at the company.

Friday, that is, concerning the title of this entry.
I worked solid through the day and got back well after my allotted hours of time.  I am 4 hours over this week and have only worked 2 days - the other days were vacation time off.  Tomorow? Who knows.  There are 4 things to do, but that could blow up overnight as well.

I was quite surpised today to find that my weight is still at 198 pounds.  After the 4 day vacation, 2 days of it eating more than I should have, I thought for sure I would be over 200 again.  Very encouraging.  I'm having a clue that cutting out the cheeses is what is really helping me out here.  It is getting easier and easier to say no to cheese.

Oh, the other 2 pics? Simply look at the mirrors.  I took the pics to show the vast expanse of room they give you to drive in the center lane - in this case I was stopped at a light and waiting for a left turn signal.  Both sides have the outside tire on each axle on the trailer tandems sitting on the yellow line. 

I'm very tired.  2 nights in a row not sleeping well.  I did nothing with the waterfall today, instead I skimmed the surface of the lower pond and started using the cleaner on the bottom.  You sit there and squeeze this bulb thingy which pumps junk up from the bottom of the pond.  A great deal of algae has accumulated - I had to re-read the instructions on the algae removing liquid.  Every 3 days, retreat. 
Read the instructions, stupid.  Me, that is. 

I also stopped by the guy's house that has the 8X5 foot dimension pond.  So he said, anyway.  We walk out to the back of his house and I don't see a pond laying around anywhere.  He takes me to a corner and there this little, itty bitty thing sits.  3x3-1/2.  I summarily dismissed it, in my mind anyway, nothing like what I envisioned from his description of it.  I asked him about the size - he stated it looked that big to him.  Okay, buddy, whatever.  This guy does house remodels can't tell the difference between 8 feet and 3 feet just by looking? 

However, I thought it about and thought this thing would work perfectly in my front yard.  IF it is small enough.  Yes, small is better in the front yard, I don't have a lot of room to work with.  He wants $35 for this little thing that is used and in the ground.  I am thnking more like $15.  A great water garden feature in my yard it would make: yes. Worth $35? I can buy a brand new one at Lowe's for $40.  That is something that is new, I know it won't be leaking and I won't have to worry about it.  I'm going to email him with my offer - if he doesn't like it, good luck.  People put ponds on Craigslist forever, a day and a half at FAR too high prices and they continue run those ads over and over and over.  I have seen the same guy running the same ad every day for over a month now. 

The weekend almost here, I hope to get the block to build the retaining wall for the waterfall.  It's just that it's going to take at least 2 and probably 3 trips to get that block in my car.  Yet, I must get this thing going and get it done, summer is here - close enough.  They said it hit 100 today.  The saving grace is that it is still getting cool at night.  In a month, it will get "down" to 90 at the lowest at night.  The water must be cooled and a good waterfall will help do that AND aerate the water for the fish.  When the temps get well above 100, I will be thinking about freezing a large container of water every night and dumping it into the pond in the morning to cool it. 

Well, I think I'm done with this one.  I continue to look at Craigslist and will until I find a larger pond at the right price.  No hurry, I am content with the 2 I have now.
Anyway, ava great evening.

ben

Thursday

Yesterday was a very long day at work - at least not normal for my hours any more at 10-1/2 hours, non-stop, all day long, running all over the place making delivery after delivery, loading and unloading the truck fully 3 times. This isn't a pickup truck, it's a semi with a 48' flatbed trailer.

Regardless of the fatigue, I went home and started playing with the boulders to see how I wanted to arrange it. I ran out of steam and gave up on it after getting it halfway up.

I then watched the Suns get their @$$es handed to them on a platter by the LA Lakers and wondered if the next 2 games were going to look like that as well, because if they are, there is no point in watching any more of it.

After that comes the "revelation" that, purportedly, North Korea definitely torpedoed a South Korean Naval ship, which killed some 47 sailors a few months back. Is South Korea afraid of the North? I'm just wondering, because as I wrote last night, I don't know of too many people that would think of an act such as that of anything but war. Not that I am all happy go lucky to see us get involved in another war - but American troops are right there and if another war starts, we're going to be in the middle of it.

And why is it that everyone BUT the federal government thinks we need the Guard at our borders? It makes me wonder what sort of dealings might be going on behind closed doors. Obama seems intent only on socializing America - more inflamed statements from individuals call it Marxism. I won't go that far with it, but - the government wants your money, you don't know how to handle it, just give it to them, they'll take care of it.

Meanwhile, a Commissioner from Arizona writes the mayor of LA telling him that he would be happy to encourage the people that would be involved to renegotiate the contracts on the power plants for the power being sent to them from our generators - a whopping 25% of their power coming from AZ. I was amused at the mayor's response. LA owns part of the plant, therefore it isn't helping the AZ economy. Really? I thought a boycott means that you stop doing all business with the entity that you are - mad - at. If they were SO intent on a pure boycott, they would sell their share of the plants, go ahead and do the contract renegotiation and pull out of Arizona altogether. It is hypocrisy at it's finest. It's also a man with a big mouth that wants attention. In reality: where would they make up that 25%? LA is the second largest city in the U.S., one therefore would conclude that that city needs a LOT of power to survive.

My life does not revolve around the news, but I don't want to hide my head in the sand, either. There is the ever-present threat of Isreal getting into it with Iran - the world is kind of messed up right now. Maybe it always is, but with all this oil being dumped into the Gulf and everything else, it seems to be adding up to something greater. Look at all the earthquakes going on all over the place. Yes, I would point to God and ask, (very respectfully, like on my knees): What's going on here?

He is, after all, still in control. It may not seem like it, but this is His earth. I doubt the Lord to be very happy about all this oil contamination that is threatening to spread all over the place at this point.

Well, the work day is almost here. I went out this morning before leaving for work to look at the ponds. For $35, if that guy's pond is what he says it is, I'm definitely getting it. It will complete the effect I am looking for. I am racking my brains on the waterfall. I was going to dismiss the idea of using a retaining wall, but I am now revisiting it. I'm not sure I have a choice in the matter at this point, meaning having to lug a bunch of them home in my car.

Gotta do it right, and I don't see how to keep all that dirt contained without one, otherwise, the thing will be HUGE just because of the mound of dirt necessary. I'm just concerned about how I am going to make that back side of the retaining wall look good. I don't just want blocks showing. I guess I'll build the waterfall and cross that bridge later on.

Anyway, I'm outta here.

G'day.

ben

It's An Act Of War

"You want to deter the North Koreans from doing this sort of thing again, but you also don't want to start a war," said Victor Cha, the North Korea pointman in President George W. Bush's White House and now the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies."

Let me get this straight, everyone believes by proof of evidence that North Korea did, indeed, fire a torpedo on a South Korean naval vessel, yes? This is what I am reading online.

The last time I thought about it - one nation firing upon and destroying another nation's ship is an all-out act of war.

We have become a bunch of wimps, neo-tards, lemonade-bleeding, politcally correct freaks. This isn't the world I grew up in, America is fast deteriorating from the ideals that I grew up with.

I'm not very happy with what I'm seeing in the world today.

But, I"m just a guy, a guy who spent a very long day at work and it's already time for this guy to go to bed.

ben

Wednesay/Dear Governor Janet Brewer

Dear Mrs. Brewer:
Although I fully stand behind your efforts to protect our border that runs along Mexico and I stand with you on the Arizona Immigration SB1070 bill, I will NOT be showing you the same backing for a "temporary tax".

There is NO such thing as a temporary tax. They come but they never go. Just take a look at income tax - which was labelled a temporary tax over 100 years ago. No, ma'am, I don't care if jobs are cut and services are also cut, the State of Arizona needs to learn the same fiscal responsibility as the inidividuals that live in the state have to. Simply turning to the tax generating machine every time you get into trouble is NOT something that I am prepared to live with and will DEFINITELY be voting NO on.

Thank you for your time, and please let us know how you are going to deal with this fiscal shortfall, because I seriously doubt too many Arizonans are much interested in paying yet MORE taxes.

Sincerely,
benb

Thank God that this tax is up for public vote is all I can say about that. It is amazing, however, how many people are actually behind this new tax attempt. They have been duped into thinkiing it MUST happen because of the threat of service cuts all over the state. All well and fine, but we are taxed ENOUGH. They will have to learn to make do with what they receive just as I have had to scrape and scrap through some very tough, personal economic times that have had me wondering at times whether I was going to be able to stay in my house, keep my car and other things. No, we ALL must pay the Piper in this case.

Anyway, I am at work this morning VERY early. It's 4:43 AM right now. I am to start at 5:00 AM. I have not looked into the truck routing system, but purportedly there is more in there to do than I will have hours in the day to do it with. Dunno.
Well I just took a look. NINE deliveries. This is semi truck's worth of stuff, we're not talking a UPS truck delivering single packages. You have to see the difference, to pull that much material for that many deliveries? Well, this will be a long, long day at work, I can tell you that. Now I see why I was wanted in earlier this morning.

Too bad I slept like junk last night :( Oh well, I've been through worse. Drink my coffee, slap myself in the face and get moving. I was supposed to meet up with this guy today to see his 5X8 pond - I don't think that will be happening now. Gonna have to call him later on and let him know my situation, I would REALLY like that big ole' pond. It will cost me no more in pumps than it is already going to cost me - or filters for that matter. My ponds are slowly clearing of algae - however - I don't want the water completely clear. I would like the birds to not be able to see those fish cruising around in there. I did get the shade up on the top of the posts, I did not get any on the sides. JUST short of enough material. It's okay, I have an idea : ) ........and no, it won't be costing me any money, just using what I have.

Let me also just comment on these "new sanctions" against Iran. They won't work. Does anyone seriously believe they WILL? If they had SERIOUS teeth to them, MAYBE, but when Russia and China are opposing big-time sanctions, it's not gonna happen.

Israel had something to say about that this morning on the news on the way to work. Look, I haven't heard them say:"Yes, we're going to engage in a pre-emptive strike" - but they might as WELL have said it without saying it. If you were Israel and you had a nation not too terribly far away making all the threats that that nation has made against your nation and then find out that nation is making bombs that could destroy your nation and thusly, carry out the threats they are making, what would you do? Sit around drinking tea and eating crumpets and wait for the nuke-tipped warhead to take your life out?

I didn't think so. Iran's posturing with all of these war-games is not going to stop a nation like Israel from taking out Iran's nuclear facilities, period. It's going to happen, folks, I believe it. Not necessarily against it, either, as long as it's contained to nuclear facilities and leaves the general population alone. Israel is well acquainted with war, has all the necessary tools and "machinery" they need and frankly, would never have to leave home to send off missiles that would take Iran's new toys out of any near-future action(okay, I'm guessing that Israel has the necessary missiles and technology to simply send them sailing over there without a single of their airplanes having to do much of anything).

Whatever. It plays out as it plays out. Meanwhile, the female tenant is watching some friend's home. The friend is giving her $50 per day to do it. I think she said the friend has like 11 dogs, and cats and birds and horses and all kinds of stuff - she will definitely be earning her pay over there. I was somewhat surprised that she came home yesterday to pay me that week's rent. I will not turn it down, either, simply because she won't be there (as many people seem to think in renting rooms, they aren't there so they shouldn't have to pay) doesn't mean she is not occupying the room.

The trailer tenants called yesterday and were also very concerned about keeping that trailer, notwithstanding the fact that it sounds like he may be another week off from coming back. I gave him some peace on that subject, I wasn't out shopping for new trailer tenants and after those people leave - whenever that may occur who knows - I probably won't be looking to refill the thing with more bodies.

Work day is here, I must be about the company's business.

G'day.

ben