Pics

If you click on a pic, then it enlarges and all the other pics end up in thumbnails below it so you can just scroll through full-screen pics.

That's one view from my trailer door.

View to the right of the first shot, again from trailer door and then a view to the west underneath.

These are the stumps my oldest brother took me to shortly before he left.  He said he used to sit there and watch some awesome sunsets.

This is the view towards the west, from the stumps, that you will see the awesome sunsets.  I took these this morning, hence, no sunset. You can the dirt road below, it's the only road in and out of this community.  People frequently stop there during sunset to take pics and enjoy.

This is the exact same view towards the west, but zoomed in.  See the mountain? A HUGE swatch of the trees on that mountain are gone, fire consumed them a few years back.

From the stumps, looking back towards my trailer.

View of my trailer.  You can see one of the nice, chrome hubcaps is missing, fell off on the way up.

My mom's water tank.  It's pretty big, if you use it conservatively, yes, you probably can make it through a summer.  Trailer to the right, you can also haul the thing down to the local cement company and fill it up - with a garden hose, lol - for a small fee.

This is a view to slighty north and east.  It's the rim.  It's from the top of the property.

The trip would have been 117 miles one way, coming back, but I did 2 loops looking for that missing hubcap.  I did find it.  Some scratches on it but not dented or otherwise ruined.  I figured to find another cap like that?  Probably next to impossible so, worth the extended search for it.  Trip was 2 hours, but I could have made it in about and hour and forty or forty-five minutes without the hubcap search.

Dogs are plain worn out.  I took them on a good, long hike this morning and they are absolutely crashed out on the living room floor.  Yesterday, on the first hike, Prince got tired and decided to............sit down under a tree.  Yup, he just sat there, staring at me.  He was telling me he had had enough. Sorry, buddy, but we gotta hoof it back to camp.  He begrudgingly got up and made the rest of the trip back, lol.

I let Sophie off the leash this morning.  It was a gamble to say the least, but, it was at the property, not while on a walk.  She started to take off in a big, big hurry.  She didn't listen to me the first 2 times, the third time I quietly walked up near where she had stopped and called her name again. This time, she came trotting up.  Goooood doggy! I told her and then immediately put her back on the leash, lol.  We'll take this slow and eventually I won't have to worry about her running off.

My brother and his wife showed up yesterday to help out.  Though we were already done, he did have a few tidbits to offer.  He then informed me that mother undoubtedly had a large list of things she is going to want me to do.  Oh???  Listening to him talk, I gathered why he doesn't go up and visit her too often.  Apparently, she was asking him to do something every time he visited.  It also became evident why he eventually moved his trailer and then his motor home off the property and built a cabin down the road about 7 miles.  I think mother has learned from the experience, she isn't being as pushy as she used to be, but I also think it must be too late in the case of my brother.

I am not sure I could live up there year round.  I am used to being around people.  I love the quiet and the fresh air and beautiful scenery, yes, but, dunno about actually living there.

Anyway, good trip, glad the worst of this is over, still plenty to do to the trailer but it's all good.

ben

The World of Craigslist

I bought a Direct TV receiver from a guy a few weeks ago and when I tried to hook it up, well, it didn't work.
So I contacted the guy and told him about it and asked if he still had the other receiver he had for sale.  Yes, he does.  We went back and forth and he finally said to go ahead and throw the receiver I have in the trash and he will just give me the other one.

Fast forward.  Time constraints. I have not had time to meet up with this person and get the other receiver because I have been too busy working on the trailer.  So, I contacted him again this morning and he writes back and tells me: I have had 4 other offers on it but I have been saving it for you.  If you do not show up on Monday to get it, then I am going to sell it".

In other words, screw the fact that he sold a defective receiver, he's going to make his money regardless.  Which pretty much tells me when he gets this receiver back, if he indeed does honor his word, he is going to sell it.

I'm not sorry to say: whatta jackass.

Whatever.

Took the dogs for a long walk/run this morning in the woods.  I was able to let the Danes run free, but I cannot yet let Sophie run wild.  I did let her go, on the property, this morning to see what she would do.  She took off.  I followed after her, giving her firm voice commands to come back.  She did, indeed, finally listen.   So, just giving it more time and some day I will also be able to let her run without have the fear of her just running off and never seeing her again.

It felt good to get a good heart rate going and enjoy the cool, fresh air and hear the breeze whispering through the pines.  Lord willing, I will be coming up here next weekend and probably staying Saturday through Monday morning.  There are quite a number of things I need to do and fix next time I am up here, or at least get started on.  I forgot coffee cups.  I would like a wall clock.  This, that and the other thing. Some air fresheners will definitely help.

Well that's it.  Time to pack it up and head on out.

ben

So, I am just below the Mogollon Rim right now, on my mother's property, attempting to get situated.
I had totally forgotten about internet and such in the business of getting things set up, but here  it is.
3G network, yes, I expected that.  Does it work? Well, I just go on Blogger and pulled up this page to write an entry, so, so far, so good.

It's a good 3G connection, too, not a weak one.  3G works well enough for me, if it continues to work, I will be happy.

We had 2 mishaps coming up.  1st, one of the nice, chrome moon rims came off the trailer.  I know where it landed and it is possible I might be able to retrieve it on the way back.

But 2, one of the bedroom windows mounting latches on the bottom broke, sending the window flying straight up!  It was still attached to the trailer, but it was only a matter of time .  Well, we got it taped down and it worked fine the rest of the way up. The only other thing was to get this trailer into a rather tight hole.  That took some doing, but we got it in here.  It's absolutely beautiful up here.  I knew I wouldn't regret this.

Anyway, break time over, I have a lot to get done before dark.

ben

What is there left to say?
I will be leaving within the hour.
I hope to be able to make an entry from the property.
Nervous about that one!
We'll see.
A long time has passed since this situation first began.
A lot of time, energy and money dumped into it.
Hopefully, it will pay off.

G'day.

ben

Just spent several hours on the "final countdown" to tomorrow morning.
I have a couple of hours worth of stuff left to go.  I was REALLY freaking out when I was
told I would have to make a trip to the Intel plant at 2:00 this afternoon.  NOOOOO.
I pretty much talked my way out of it by calling the salesman on the account and asking him to please take this delivery, that I was calling in a favor - I have stayed WAY late on several occasions because of his customer.

He started out with how I am the delivery driver, this that and the other thing.  But, I remained calm and just slowly talked him into it.  I might just be getting off of work right now if I had had to make that run.  I told him I normally don't care if I have to stay late, not normally an issue, but just this once can you please cover this for me?  So, yes, I got out of it and got out of there.  Headed to several different stores.  First up was Petco, I wanted to get a tag for Sophie, the new doggy.  Put my cell phone number on it.  In case she gets away from me up there, at least have something on her that gives more than just the option to call the pound.  Yes, I am also putting on her license today.  Plus she has yet another ID tag that has the number of the rescue that I got her from.

No, I don't want her to run away, yes, I am facing a very real possibility that she will somehow manage to do just that.  I have 2 different collars on her and ID's on both collars at this point.  She's a sneaky doggy. She will run herself out and then try to find her way back.

PetSmart, however, wanted $9.50 for one of those things!! Unbelievable.  I just left.  I went to Walmart after that and found a machine in there that does it for $5.  More reasonable, more like it.  Then off to other parts of Walmart to get the rest of what I need.  Of course, I forgot something: ice.

Oh well, get it at the local convenience store later, right now, I need to go out and water everything, including filling up the fish ponds. One of the pumps failed yesterday, bad timing on that.  Just what I don't need, a $50 expense.  No choice, ordered one online, going to be several days before it gets here, like sometime next week.  The water? Going to get a bit foul, I think, by then.

I've still got the wiring party to do as well, going to get to that pretty quick here as well, while there is still daylight.

Lots to do, really, best get to it.

Later.

Final Day

Ugh.  I should have taken today off, now that I think about it.
I have a LOT to get done today and I am afraid I might get to all of it.
It really has a lot to do with how early - or - late - I get off of work.
If I get off at normal time, I can probably get to all of it and have it done by evening.
If I get off late, then I am going to have to pick and choose what is going to get done,
and what is not.
2 priorities, though: Get another electrical adapter and switch the wiring on the pigtail.

After that, it's anyone's guess.  The electrical adapter is at Camping World and the pigtail
will probably take anywhere from half an hour to an hour to get done.  The guy wants brake
lights on the trailer and I don't really blame him.  I will be following him, yes, but I understand
a bit of apprehension when brake lights don't work and also the potential for getting pulled
over and getting a ticket.

Ooops, one other huge priority: water the plants well.  Top off the ponds.  Ask Mark to keep an eye on that stuff.  Okay, I have to realllllly hope that that Intel situation and the contractor there isn't going to call us at 2:00 pm demanding materials to be sent out there.  If they do, that is going to be something that will take away hours that otherwise I could be using to get stuff done.

Well that's it.  There are other things on  my mind, but, this situation is sort of taking the stage in my life and will be that way until sometime late tomorrow morning (Lord willing and hopefully) that it's up there, parked, leveled and ready to use.  It will be interesting to see how well this guy can maneuver that trailer up on mom's property considering the space to maneuver it - is pretty tight.  There is only one place it can really go and that is in a stand of trees with just enough space to put that trailer in there.  I am very glad I did not opt to buy a much longer trailer, I was looking at a 35 footer and there was also a 40 footer that I had been looking at when I was looking to buy this thing.  I don't think either of them would make it in there, honestly.

Okay, it's time to leave for work.  Off to the races!

ben

Moving Trailers

It took a while to move those 2 trailers around.
It was hot.
Crank one up on the truck, move it out, crank it back down, crank the other one up - repeat repeat.
But it is done.  Filled up the fuel tank on his truck - a crew cab Ford pickup with 8 foot bed, big long thing with a diesel engine and we parted ways.  The wiring on the pigtail on my trailer is hooked up wrong, hence the reason brake lights weren't working.
Will have to do that tomorrow after work, along with several other things.  He is coming over at 5:30 am Saturday to hook up to the thing and haul it out of here, meaning I have to have everything complete by tomorrow night.  Which shouldn't be a problem - shouldn't, lol.

Time for bed.  Need some good sleep tonight for what's to come tomorrow.

G'nite.

ben

2 days and counting.
Lots to do.  Completely spaced out getting insurance on the trailer.
It's a 1986 model and I only paid $2,500 for it, so hopefully fire insurance on the thing won't cost too much.  I'm not really sure what kind of insurance I can get on it, but I will try to find out today through my auto insurance broker.
They should be able to tack a policy onto my existing policy without too much added expense.  But who knows.  Fire and theft insurance, now that I think about it.

Anyway, Mark will be working on the thing today.  He was complaining how hot it is in there.  I showed him to close the bathroom door and yes, the front half of the trailer will cool down very nicely.  Like in the mid 70's.  It's just getting hot here now, plain and simple.  It will not get up into the 100's up where the thing is going.  If it ever does, then look out down here, cause' the temp difference is at least 20 degrees.

So, still a bit left to go here.  I was making a list and though what is left to buy isn't expensive, per-se, there is still much that I had forgotten.  Thing that I don't want to do without, frankly.  But, if I forget something or even several things, no biggies.

Salesman coming over at 4:00 or so to move around the trailers today.

Which is cool, that gives me tomorrow to do whatever finishing touches before the trip Saturday morning.

Time for work : )

G'day.

ben

Just a few more things here.  My replacement Verizon Hot Spot mobile broadband router.  Jury is out.  Was working at a jobsite yesterday and then just quit.  It was working at another place today where it had NEVER worked before and I had tried at least a dozen times at that location.  I'm still not convinced, but Saturday will be the tell all for me.

Zimmerman.  I had wondered, when this shooting occurred a while back, how everyone in the news media and hence, everyone with an opinion, could possibly jump to the conclusion that Zimmerman committed murder, not  an act of self defense.  Do we know all the facts? I remember a local talk show trio - not just one host but a threesome of them - declaring him guilty.  Really?  Now, some very interesting, new facts have come out.  That Zimmerman had 2 black eyes.  A broken nose.  A laceration to his head.  That Trayvon had bloodied knuckles.

I'm not going to sit here and say this situation should have ended the way it did.  If the 911 operator really told him to stay away from the kid, maybe that's what should have happened and Zimmerman should have just waited for the police to come.  But, when you look at the newly released evidence, it certainly should at the very least, sway people's opinion back to a neutral position.  Oh, he might really have acted in self defense.

I was not going to take the dogs up with me to move the trailer up there this weekend, but I have since changed my mind.  The new doggy can be roped to a tree and the Danes can run free.  They won't run off or if they start to, they will come back when I call them.  The new doggy, not yet.  She IS settling down, but I think she would still just take off and not even blink an eye if I called her to come back.  She's a sweet girl, though, very nice doggy, glad I got her.

I'm Not Going To Say That............

...............I regret not doing the bedroom with carpet, but it certainly would have been nicer.  I thought the carpet cleaner would get it looking pretty good, it really did nothing for the appearance of it.  That carpet was filthy.  At least I got it clean if nothing else.  I CAN say that I would have been REALLY unhappy if I had not replaced the rest of the carpet in the thing.

I went to Walmart today and bought a bunch of stuff for it. Toiletries - all of them I will need.  Kitchen stuff: plastic wrap; aluminum foil; a new cutting knife; paper towels; stuff like that.

I bought a plastic container that I figured would hold enough dog food that if I filled it up, it would last at least several weekends worth.  I was not wrong. That small thing actually can handle a 40 pound bag of food, though I put about 2/3rd's of a bag in it.  I also scored a nice, 100 foot extension cord today.  I've asked Mark to do one of his infamous clean jobs.  That guy can really clean.  If, for example, he cleans a vacuum cleaner, that doesn't mean just emptying out the container that receives the dirt.  In his mind, that means taking the entire thing apart and doing a clean, clean job on it.  That's how he cleans EVERYTHING.

Anyway, the salesman changed the parameters on me and he is coming tomorrow to jockey the trailers around instead of on Friday.  Which isn't that big of a deal, especially now that I have a long enough cord to reach the outlet.  Point being on Friday, since we aren't moving it on that day, I am going to want to be in it, looking around, feeling it out, what else does it need?  What else can I AFFORD right now, lol.

I still have left a trip to the dollar store and maybe Anna's linens if I can't find cheap throw rugs at the dollar store.  I forgot to buy a fan for it today as well.  Good thing I still have 2 full days left to go.  I have 4X8's to level it with.  It will be parked on a hill, one side of the trailer is going to have to have it's wheels on top of boards to level it.  I bought coffee and creamer, I wouldn't mind stocking it with some canned and dry goods as well.  I got the dog's food bowls - cheap ones - and I will be taking a 5 gallon, plastic bucket for their water, just like they have here.  Just happen to have 4 of those.  I will be taking 2 of them.  One for water and the other to empty out the waste water holding tank.

My mother has her ways of doing things when it comes to that, I will have mine.  I am not going to haul off to the outhouse in the middle of the night if I need to go.  The toilet works just fine, thank you and I will not be using it enough to have to haul much waste very often.  Just dump it into the outhouse hole and that's that.

That's enough of that situation for now.  Tomorrow get the trailer in the front of the driveway and ready to be hooked up to and hauled up there.  I will have to ask Mark to look after things when I am not here.  More specifically and importantly: my plants and my fish.  In the hot summer, you have to water the plants either every day or every other day, every day is best.  The fish obviously want to be fed every day as well. Feeding the fish is no big deal. Watering the entire sides and back of the property also no big deal: turn on the valves and let it go for 15 or so minutes and that's it.  I did not finish hooking back up the drip system out front, so that is going to have to be done by hand.

I am planning on going up to the property, when I do go, on Friday afternoons and be there at early evening.  Then have a full Saturday to spend up there and either leave on Sunday morning or at the latest Sunday afternoon. I still have that to work out.  I am definitely not going to be spending every weekend up there, but I do intend on spending enough of them up there to have made all this effort, time and money spent worth it.  3 day weekends are a foregone conclusion that I will be up there unless something is going on down here that I need to be here.  Memorial day is coming up soon.  That's a Monday, so I will probably leave early Saturday that weekend and miss church, yes, but go up there and stay until Monday late morning.

The heat is already here, the AC in the house is already costing me a lot of money.  Much earlier than normal.  The temps are 10 degrees above normal for this time of the year.  It will be paramount at this point that tenants pay the rent on time and if they don't, they will not be getting a notice from me, I will be visiting with them personally.  Just can't afford late pays or people that start going downhill with it. So far, it's all good.  This trailer, however, has cost me some money, much more than just paying for it.  Fortunately, I am at the end of that road or at least very near it.  Definitely, the expensive stuff is over with.  There are only a few issues with it that do not have to be fixed right now, save it for the future when I have more money to deal with it.

I do have one caveat:  I am about to make the final payment on the other trailer.  I will ask Mark to clean it up real nice and then I will try to sell it for what I paid for it. I haven't dumped any money into it, well very little anyway.  It's in decent condition.  It has some issues, but I bought it with those issues.  Nothing huge but still.  I might sell it on payments, but would be very cautious about it.  I have had trouble with making the payments on some months and I wonder what would happen with a person in an even lessor financial condition than I am.  The point: I need that money, really, for backup.  If something goes foul, I need something to make up for it.  Next month I am paying down the second 401k loan to zero balance since it's almost there.  But I would REALLY rather NOT have to use retirement money to pay for anything.  Yet, in the reality of life, if my back's against a wall, I will do whatever I have to do to make life work.

Excited? Yes, but not getting too carried away with it yet.  I have been cranking away on it and on the property for days and days now.  The wind storm REALLY messed some things up on the property and I have been working to clean it up and straighten it back out.  Not much fun, really, but a necessity to keep the place looking nice.

My Butterfly Koi - which has grown about 8 inches since I got him to a whopping 12 inches - came up to me a bit ago while I was cleaning out the pump and actually let me touch him!  Talk about knowing the hand that feeds you!

I just got done reading a report on some research that said that 8.5 million adults had sleep-walked in the last year.  I find it intriguing cause' as a kid, I did a whole lot of sleep walking.  The report said that if a person was going to fall down some stairs or something dangerous, then yes, wake them up.

There were many times I would wake up in the basement.  To get there from my bedroom, I had to walk across the house, down a flight of stairs, around a landing, down another flight of stairs, around another landing and another short set of stairs, back across the house, open the basement door, walk down yet another flight of stairs, across a 20 foot entry way and then another flight of stairs.  I walked down stairs so many times without ever falling while sleep walking I guess I don't  necessarily agree  with that particular portion of the study.

It was strange, though. Waking up under the piano; the dinner table; the kitchen floor; in the attic; the bathroom; all over the house.  Even stranger that my parents never knew I was doing it.  I had to walk right past their bedroom to go anywhere from my bedroom.  There are a couple of times I can remember doing the sleep walking.  Your eyes are opened but honey, the lights ain't on.  I remember it as if it were a dream, though, not while it was happening.

Well, whatever, speaking of sleep, I didn't do so well in that department last night and just got done with an hour nap.  I am undecided on small church group tonight, if I don't wake up a bit more than what I am now by then, I probably won't go.

With that, I am out the door.  I have some stuff to get done today on the trailer - namely the roof.  Just need to get the old screws and stuff that are still up there, off of there from when I was replacing the roof vents.  Make sure everything is hunkered down and ready to go up there.  Then back inside the thing to sit there for a while and think of what I need and write it down.  I have a list, but it's not finished yet and I am running out of time here!! lol

Later.

ben

Spent a couple of hours after working putting trim - wall and floor - in the trailer.  Just a bit of that left to go and call it done.
My oldest brother finally emailed me back.
He said he was waiting to tell me whether he could be there or not.  He apparently does not go up to that cabin every weekend.  I think his work gives him overtime if he wants it and at the rate of pay I am guessing he is making, that is probably hard to turn down.  But, he said it looks as though he can go.

I wish I could get a job there!  Pension and 401k?!!

Oh well.  Don't get me started on retirement stuff.  That thing sits in my mind all the time.

Gonna start writing up the list tonight - like right after this entry. What do I need.  Gears will be cranking: what will I need that I am not remembering?  Foregone conclusion I will forget something - or several somethings - but I would rather remember as much as possible so it can all get into the trailer and not have to haul a bunch of stuff up there.

Dunno why the lights didn't work on that other guy's truck, I patched a line and juiced it, brake lights came on.  No clue.  Not going to worry about that one at this point.  Down to the nitty gritty.

I was engaging in a "family" wide email started by my dad.  I responded to him and replied all and then was informed that I and one other should start the plans to get a family reunion going in North Carolina.  Good ole' rich uncle Bob.  Great guy, actually.  He didn't used to be.  Money seemed to be his god at one point in life and arrogance his companion.  From what I can tell, he has gotten over all of that.  Well, whatever, I have no means to start or engage in much less GET to a reunion in North Carolina.  I missed the last 2 because of budget constraints.  My cousin then jumped in and said we should have one in Australia, where she is currently living!

Lol.  Would LOVE to go to Australia.  What the rest of my family lines doesn't understand is that a person in my position - not exactly rich - can't just make plans to go jetting across the country or the world for that matter in a couple months notice.  It would have to be more like NEXT YEAR for me to be thinking about saving up enough money to make such a trip.

That's it for today.

5 days.  The countdown has started, at least for me, the clock is ticking.  I still can't figure out what is wrong with the lights on that trailer.  Going to keep on trying.  I don't want to have to buy a set of lights that attaches to the rear with lines running alongside of it.  I doubt those are too cheap.  I am not sure the guy that is going to move the trailer will want to move it, though, without at least brake lights working.

Well, whatever.   The only other "thing" I need to buy for it besides that situation is a box fan.  The rest of what I need is just the basics - toiletries; bottled water; etc etc.

That's about it.  Just counting the days and trying to get all this stuff done before Saturday morning.  I have a bit of help with Mark doing things in there as well.  He is going to paint the new little table I made for the TV today.  Just to keep it from splintering, it is going to have a small table cloth draped over it.  Yes, we're talking dollar store stuff here.  If I am going to spend any amount of time up there, I am not going to haul stuff back and forth between the house and there.  It will need to be completely stocked with the everyday things that you need, but for me, that means getting a lot of it at the dollar store.

Time to leave for work.

G'day.

ben

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Well, I did some things today and contemplating more. First, I cleaned out one of the pond filters this morning - it was pretty full of fish junk, yuck - but I pour it out around trees and plants, great fertilizer!
Went to church. Nice time there, about 2-1/2 hours worth.
Went to Lowe's and bought the brass fittings needed to put a cap on the hose inlet for the trailer.
Went to the Chinese buffet and got lunch - for everyone here.

At dinner and now contemplating getting more done on the trailer.

Though, I really don't feel like it.  About this time Sunday rolls around and I start getting that lazy feeling.  I've spent the last 2 full days working on that thing.  I'm guessing I will find the motivation soon enough, just a few things I would like to get done in there today and then maybe resume tackling it tomorrow.

Oh, bought some hummingbird feeder concentrate, so I am definitely going to get the feeder inside, clean it out nicely and put fresh liquid in it.

Meanwhile, I am being subjected to a VERY loud phone conversation with Lynnette in my living room talking to her mother.  No, not fond of listening to loud conversations of other people on the phone, have some respect and take it somewhere else if you can't find it within yourself to just talk at normal volume when on a phone.  It never ceases to amaze me at how many people think that you, the person that ISN'T on the other end of the line, wants to hear every last word you are saying.

Well whatever.  Pond pump was already clogged up again, had to turn everything off and clean it out.  There was a big-time wind storm here a few days ago and it blew all kinds of junk into this particular pond.  The other 2 ponds seemed to have survived without a lot of junk, this one did not and it is taking up some time trying to clean out all the leaves and stuff in it.  Oh, that is the pump, not the filter.  I cleaned the filter this morning, that will be good for quite a while.  But, the pump will get clogged up and nothing or very little will be going through it.

Called mother today.  She went up to the property as of this morning. Wished her a happy Mother's Day.
She was a bit hyped because her goofy doggy took off.  But then she said the dog has done it before and always come back. Well I certainly hope it does this time, too, that dog and she are quite the pair.

I have nothing else.  Life is good.

ben

Dry Run

I've worked a long time for this, it was time to do a dry run, figure out what's going to work and what needs improvement, an adjustment or a whole new approach.

What am I referring to?

The trailer, of course.

First off was getting the satellite tv up and running.  I had no idea I was going to have to spend quality time with Direct TV this afternoon, but I should have known.  I have a DTV card that hasn't been used in a while - though I have been paying for it.  I knew in the back of my mind to get it working again I would have to contact   DTV, but today the issue was forced.

I am not going to go into all of that, but I will throw in here 2 things. 1: a call to headquarters will be enacted Monday.  2: I actually got a pretty cool chick on the other end of the line - after talking to 6 other people.  I didn't get her once, either, I had to call more than once, of course.  She remembered me and I immediately recognized her voice.

The card is out of "sleep" mode and is working.   I am sitting in the living room of my trailer, laptop in - lap - and my flat screen TV I bought on Black Friday last year is functioning with Direct TV playing.  I am positive I will get Direct TV working up there, I am not so sure about the internet.  I am running off my house WiFi, not the hotspot device from Verizon.

Yes, all 3 dogs are in the house.  Prince and Sophie on the folded down couch and Duke - on the floor.  That's Duke's preferred place anywhere so no problems.

I am glad I did this today. First off, I would NOT want to be dealing with Direct TV up there - though I would if I had to. 2, The way I want to sit on this couch with it folded down to accommodate dogs?  I am going to need a giant pillow to make it comfortable.

Today's doings?
1:  Went to a yard sale and scored a bunch of stuff for the kitchen in the trailer, plus a mattress for Duke (for my bedroom, not the trailer).

2.  Finished the carpeting.

3.  Filled the fresh water holding tank up and turned on the pump. Water came out of all facets - but there is a connector for a hose on the side of the trailer and it was also pumping out of there. Apparently, you have to plug that thing up to make it work well.

4. Many finishing touches with more to go. A strip for where the carpet meets the linoleum - yes I also went to Home Depot; Autozone; and several other places as well.

Umm, the Direct TV situation and trying to get it work actually took up several hours.  In the past 2 days, I have got quite a lot accomplished on the thing, but there is still more to go.

So, that's it.  Oh, I got all the lights working on the inside of the trailer excepting the one over the bathroom sink. The connectors are broken on it and need replaced. No priority right now as I have over-spent on this thing and that can wait, I have another ceiling light in the bathroom that I fixed today and is working perfectly so no problem there.

I have not figured out what the problem is with the brake and running lights on the outside of the trailer yet.  Well, I will continue to search that one out for the next few days and see what I can do with it.

Going to spend several hours in here chilling.  Figure out what needs to be figured out. Large dogs in a smaller space is obviously a bit of a - problem - but we are getting it. Sophie moved out of the way of Prince and is at the other end of the couch. Duke looks very uncomfortable but only because he hasn't laid all the way down yet, I will help him with that in a moment - he tends to need that kind of help to understand what he can do in any given situation.

2 days spent on this thing, 2 days well spent.

Whatever the case this coming Saturday, it is what it is and it's going.

ben

Verizon

So the battle with Verizon begins.
I am not going to pay for a service that does not work, and more importantly, I am NOT going to pay to disconnect a service that - does not work. I don't CARE if there is a contract, any contract whose services are rendered useless is not an enforceable contract.

Verizon customer service?  No different.  I have heard the same BS from everywhere before.  They have their regurgitated puke memorized.  They spew it out to whoever is on the line with them. Yada, yada, yada.  It is also no different than any of these other companies that, when you first call, you give the computer all this information and then when you speak to an actual person? They ask you the same information.  Then you get switched to another person that asks you - the same information.

This is my first real confrontation with this company.  But I have this kind of thing down.  They are all the same. Or mostly the same.  After I heard the attitudes, I just decided to cancel the contract.  Of course, I knew there was going to be a lot of "conversation" to get to that point.  The first lady said yes, we can do that.  Is there going to be a fee to disconnect?  We will send you a final bill.  Is there going to be a fee to disconnect?  Yes, there is going to be a disconnect fee.  "Management, please".  I did not get a manager.  I got some kind of "specialist".  I didn't listen to her for more than 2 sentences once that became clear.  "I'm sorry, I didn't ask for a specialist, I asked to speak to management".

This went on, and on, and on.  The phone I was using finally ran out of power and that call was ended.

I called back. This time, I told the computer system I want disconnect, thanks.  3 people later, I am talking to some level of management.  He offered to replace the unit and remove this month's bill.

This is the preliminary stages.  My new unit will be Fed-Ex'd to me by Tuesday, since the weekend is here. If it works - everywhere I go - I'm good with it.  When I say that, I mean, anytime it says I have 4g or 3g access, I should have some kind of internet access.  If the blooming thing doesn't work here, in the Phoenix metropolitan area, what makes me believe it is going to work up in the mountains, where it shows they have coverage, but probably 3g coverage?

I want to throw in a gem here, that has nothing to do with Verizon wireless.  My son comes to me last night and asked for advice.  Okay.  He starts telling me about this girl that wanted to go out with him.  She smokes pot and she is "loose".  He didn't know how to deal with it, but he told her flat out that if she wants to "go there", he is not interested.  He's asking me if what he did was the right thing.

Wow.  Well, he says, you have dated a lot, how would you have handled that situation?  Ummm, son, I can't tell you how to live your life, but if you are asking me?  You did EXACTLY the right thing!  That boy has a destiny in the Kingdom of Heaven and he is intent on following hard after the Lord to the point that he - maybe tempted - but not giving into it.  Amazing.

Well, whatever.  Lord willing, tomorrow going to continue to do the finishing touches on the trailer.  I may have had a day off of work today, but it was a day full of work anyway.  I did take off the cover on the trailer light pigtail and found nothing that would show cause for why the lights aren't working.  Next is to check the lights themselves.  If the bulbs are good, then off to AutoZone to buy a light tester - you touch it to the power source and a light comes on if there is power.  Ahhh, and I just found an internet sit with the pigtail clearly identified on which location does what.

Very nice.

G'nite.

ben

Thwarted Plans

My plan to take off up to mom's property today was put off.  I would have already left by now and be 2/3rd's of the way up there - at least.
Instead, I get a call from Caleb yesterday proclaiming that the car has a water leak.
Okay.
Well, something has been making noise under there, but there are so many things so close together in that general area, it was impossible to tell what, exactly, was making the noise - at least impossible without buying a stethoscope.
Well, I do believe the noise issue has been identified: water pump.
Water is pouring the little hole at the bottom of the pump.
So, new water pump: $26.  Installation: $85.

Just arrived, the mechanic that is, full fledged into it.

But, too late now to make a trip.  Either do it tomorrow or just blow it off and talk with mom about it - she's going up on Sunday so she can tell me what's needed, if anything.

So, just waiting for this guy to get done so I can get started on the trailer again.  Shouldn't take too much longer to finish putting in the last piece of carpet.  Make a list of things I need and off to Walmart, dollar stores, wherever I can find stuff on the cheap.

_____________________________

Yes, extremely long "interlude".  The man is done with the car.  I flushed out the cooling system again and put fresh coolant into it.  I then drove it for about 10 miles to make sure there are no problems. The noise that that car had is completely gone and there are no leaks.  The car is purring like a kitten and the AC is pumping out EXTREMELY cold air.

____________________________

Interluditis.
I went to town on the trailer.
1.  Good thing I had today off from work.
2.  Better thing I did not go up to the mountains today because,
3.  There is more to do in there than I realized.
But let's face facts, when you are attempting to work with carpet in such a small, confined area, it's going to be a hassle.  I have all day tomorrow to try and finish it up - though I am going back out there again in a while and start looking for what the problem might be with the brake lights not working.  I'm not necessarily sure that the dude that is going to haul it up there will want to do it without them working, but, money is money and I will be following right behind the trailer all the way up.

Anyway, I built a small table where another had been torn out by the previous owner.  It's just a piece of plywood with shelving hangers holding it up.  I will find a nice table cloth to put on it to make the ugliness of the plywood disappear.  There is no where else in that trailer where a TV can really go.  TV is not a priority, but I have the entire setup gathered and ready to go.  After I finish this entry, I am going to start making a list of the things I need to search out and get for it. I'm torn between buying plates and cups and all that or just getting paper plates and plastic throw away cups.  I'll figure that one out, though I will probably opt for throw away since I am not really going to want to hand wash a bunch of dishes up there.

I'm still a bit apprehensive that the internet is not going to work up there.  I am not having much luck down here, it's not working right again.  I live in the 5th largest city, whoops, the site I just looked at ranks it as 6th, well whatever - and I don't have internet access? No, that's not the problem.  It SHOWS 4G network on the device, it just isn't connecting again.  If this is a simm card issue again, I am going to start getting very annoyed with Verizon.  Which doesn't bode well for whoever I end up getting on the other end of the line if I start getting a bunch of BS dished out to me...........

It's starting to get a bit exciting for me.  I have always loved the mountains - well mountains with dense stands of tall pine trees anyway.  I have never gotten bored in the mountains, it is always an adventure to go out hiking and view nature in it's raw form without anyone else around - well dogs but that's different - I absolutely love it.  Sitting around the RV all the time is not going to be a happening event.  I will go on at least 2 hikes on any given day I am there.  I have one canteen, I guess I better get another with the dogs - though heat isn't as much of a factor up there as it is down here, still, humans and dogs get thirsty when exerting large amounts of energy.

Finally, mother is going to find that my presence up there is going to make her life a whole lots easier.  I will be cooking.  I will take her pickup and haul as much water as necessary.  You take the tank to a place that sells it and fill it up = with a water hose! ROFL!! It's funny because of the time it takes to fill a 500 gallon tank with a freakin' water hose, but whatever.  It's MUCH cheaper than having it brought in by a water truck, though I didn't know she would let me drive her truck until just recently.

Well I could talk about this all day long, but, I am in the middle of another break.  This has been a 3 part entry and it's done, make another one later if I want to yak on about it.  It should be apparent that I am definitely getting excited about all of this.

ben

So, yesterday, this couple comes over to groom the new doggy.
They had their own equipment, but not one of those mobile grooming vans.
So, they are pointing at the sky to the north and saying it's going to rain.
Rain?!!  Sure enough, the sky was very dark.
And sure enough, a wind storm came through, knocked all kinds of stuff over followed by rain.

By the time the rain showed up, however, they were down with the bath part and we went inside
for the hair cutting.  The dog looks completely different now, lol.
They say every 2 to 3 months for the grooming.  Okay.  Maybe.  3 months from now we'll still be in August, so probably, since it really doesn't cool down until October around these parts.

As for the rain?  I went outside and got wet.  : )

Today is my Friday concerning work.  I have tomorrow off and still considering whether I want to drive up there or not - to mom's property that is.  Dunno, guess it will be my mood tomorrow that will determine whether I go up there or stay here and continue to put the finishing touches on the trailer.

Unfortunately, the wind blew the roof ac plastic cover onto the ground yesterday.  It was already old and cracked, now it's not only old, but REALLY cracked.  The worse part about it is they want unbelievable money for a plastic shroud.  Like well over $100.  It's just a blooming piece of plastic, for crying out loud.  Not sure what I am going to do about that, but another cover is not in the works right now.  Maybe next month.  Affordability is the key word and right now? I can't afford it.  Too many bills to pay plus paying to have the trailer moved.  It needed replaced anyway, just that now it's vamped up a bit in priority.  I didn't want to spend $100 or whatever on one of those things until I was absolutely sure the unit was going to work. So far, so good. I have had several days now where I have run it all day long and it is keeping it nicely cooled in there.

Whatever the case, I am definitely going to finish installing the carpet this weekend and then buy all the cheap stuff it needs.  Plastic bags; paper towels; maybe go on Craigslist and see if anyone is unloading kitchen ware; a couple of throw rugs - well probably 3 or 4 of them, stuff like that.

Stock it up with bottled water, coffee, coffee creamer and some basic, cheap-version spices from Fry's. You know, the dollar spices.  Works for me.

I also have to figure out the trailer lights and so, I will definitely have my hands full on Saturday if I don't do anything tomorrow, ie: making that trip up north.  I may opt out of the trip now that I think about the amount of work I still have left to go on it.  Umm, but boy it would be nice to take a day trip up there and get out of this polluted valley.

Well, whatever the case, about 9 or 10 hours from now I am done with work until Monday.

Speaking of work, time to go!

G'day.

ben

What conditions are necessary for you to sleep? 

Do you have to have it pitch black or a light on? Or no light on, but outside light coming in through a window?

Do you have to have dead silence or do you need a white noise maker? Or something in between?

Do you sleep with the TV on or off?

I personally would love to sleep in true, dead silence.  I would sleep so well in such conditions.  In reality?  i have 3 dogs in the room while I am sleeping.  They scratch themselves; lick themselves; get up in the middle of the night and go drink out of the bathroom toilet (gross, I know); get up and rotate around in circles and lay back down.  Then there is Sophie, the new doggy, who will bark at people she hears coming through the back door.  

Of course, there are the tenants. Some of which are up all night long and are in the kitchen at varying times throughout the night.

Then there's the child-hood factor.  Our house in Pittsburgh - when I was a young kid of course - did not have air conditioning in it of any kind.  During the summers, my parents would place a 2-fan thing in the window and it would blow air into the room and on me while I was attempting to sleep.  These 2-fans-in-one made a lot of noise.  It stuck with me.  

I have to have a fan running at night regardless of winter of summer and I have to wear ear plugs.  

It's just interesting to me to hear the different things that people have to do to get a good night's sleep, or at least try to get it.  

Ummm, so.  I had to tell the guy at work today that he would have to shuffle trailers around to get the one that needs to be moved up north out of my driveway.  I decided to sweeten the pot to get him to do so, with a tank of fuel thrown in on top of the cash.  That kind of "swaying" was enough to not even have him having second thoughts.  He will come over the day before we move it and do the switching around so we don't have to fool with it early in the morning.  

Well, I'm tired and it's my bedtime.

Nite.

ben

Road Rage!

I thought I had seen it all on Phoenix freeways, but this one takes the cake and puts the icing on the top.
I was cruising back from our main branch on I-10.  Heavy, heavy traffic.  Moving, though, maybe 55 mph, amazing traffic that thick was moving that fast.  I got off the transition to the Superstition freeway, but was observing a red, Chevy pickup behind me weaving in and out of traffic, making very aggressive moves, attempting to past everyone.

This isn't, actually, abnormal behavior to be seen on the freeways around here, there are many drivers that are in a big hurry and they don't care what risk they take in order to get ahead.  Well, I am in the inside lane.   That would be the "high speed" lane on 3 lanes on a huge ramp that curves around and turns in to the US 60 - Superstition Freeway.  If you don't believe the name of the freeway, you can just Google it.

Well anyway, there is a silver pickup coming up behind me in my lane.  The red pickup is 2 lanes over and jumps in front of a vehicle - cutting it off quite nicely I should add - and then, jumps into my lane.  The problem? He cuts that silver pickup off so badly, the silver pickup has to slam on the brakes and it starts fishtailing from such heavy braking and attempting to avoid a rear-end collision with that red pickup.

Here's where the road rage beings, folks.  I have never seen anything like it except in the movies and forgive me of my telling of the story isn't NEAR at vivid and unbelievable as what actually happened in real life this afternoon.  Only a video of it would adequately convey what happened.

The driver of the silver pickup becomes infuriated.  Not just mad or angry, he was raging mad.  He was pumping his fists and mouthing words which I can imagine the content.  He floors it, gets in the lane next from me, screams past the red truck after HE cut off a vehicle in his attempt to pay the red truck's driver some revenge. I'm glancing in my rear view while - driving my vehicle and paying attention to what's going in front of me.  In that millisecond of time that I looked ahead and then looked back, this driver of the silver truck was RIGHT on my bumper, slamming on his brakes to avoid rear-ending ME, because the red truck was RIGHT behind me in my lane.

This guy is driving like a madman, rage had overtaken him.  He was swerving back and forth for what seemed like a long time but in actuality was only a second or two while attempting to force the driver of the red truck to back off or force him into the emergency lane.  When he had accomplished that, he SLAMMED on his brakes!! The driver of the red truck is now in the emergency lane, his entire truck swerving all over the place, came within inches of slamming into the median concrete wall.  The driver of the silver truck then slows down even more and goes into the emergency lane, hitting his brakes hard again.

Now, we have 2 drivers that are enraged.  The dude in the red truck is going to have his revenge, even though it was his stupid, dangerous driving that started this nonsense in the first place.  Oh, and I didn't include all the smoke coming from screeching tires that are locked up!  Now, I had no choice, I wasn't going to get into this, I sped up and got over into the second lane.  The driver of the silver truck then accelerated and was coming up beside me, so the driver of the red truck REALLY sped up and was probably going 90 mph or more attempting to catch up, try to come around me, then come in front of me and then whatever was going to happen next.  I was having NO part of that, so I sped up even more, which unintentionally gave the driver of the silver truck next to me room to move over and...........do what?

Cut that red truck off again!!!  That silver truck was going WAY slower than that red truck.  The driver of the red truck slammed on his brakes again to avoid a collision, but he was going so fast it sent him going SIDEWAYS on the freeway!!  I watched that pickup slide sideways over 3 and a half lanes - smoking tires and all -  we were off the ramp at that point and the freeway widens out to 6 lanes - I had no clue how that truck did not roll over.  I did have a clue how it didn't run into any other vehicles: everyone else driving out there saw what was going on and no-one else wanted any part of it, either.  They were all slamming on their brakes to make sure they weren't going to be a part of a potential fatality at this point.

This wasn't getting out of control, it WAS out of control.  I pulled out my cellphone and acted like I was dialing 911.  The red truck sped up in front of me and was pointing at his license plate and also the silver truck's - they were both in front of me but stuck in traffic at this point, separated by 1 lane between them with vehicles that they could not penetrate.  I was able to come up beside them and acted like I was talking on the phone and making hand movements and looking back and forth both vehicles.

I backed off and acted like I was reading license plate numbers.  Look, I could have called 911 but by the time police are there, the damage is done.  Let's just get the fear that cops might even be coming and that someone is going to follow them and maybe that will put a chill on this situation.   They weren't just putting their own lives in danger out there, which is bad enough, they were putting a lot of other drivers and vehicle occupants lives at stake as well, not the least of which was mine since that driver of the silver truck almost slammed into the rear of the pickup I was driving.

I made it VERY obvious to both of them what I was doing and suddenly?  One of them pulled over to the outside lane and the other stayed in the inside lane.  The driver of the silver pickup backed WAY off, slowing down to probably around 60 mph and the driver of the red pickup was going around 65.  After a mile or so, the silver pickup sped up but did not change lanes.  Another 2 miles after that, the driver of the silver pickup moved over to the outside lane and the driver of the red pickup moved to the number 2 lane.  Silver got on the same ramp as I was getting on to transition to the Loop 101 south while the red pickup continued east on the Superstition.

You wonder why I don't want to live in the Phoenix area.  I see this kind of stuff frequently on the freeways, though nothing ever this exaggerated.  Aggressive, outrageous driving acts abound all day long.  People treat each other like they are at war when they are driving around here.

Iamastupiddriver.com
There should be a website with that or similar name with a registry of people that drive vehicles who believe that engaging in texting, fixing your hair, reading blueprints, getting into deep conversations on the cellphone and a host of other things is safe, a-okay and won't ever have a problem.

Gruesome motorcycle accident not an hour ago.  Car on top of motorcycle.  You could see where the rider had flown off the bike and head first into the windshield of the car that struck it or it struck, with a huge hole in the windshield.  I see stuff like this pretty much every day while driving.

But whatever. Verizon Hot Spot mobile broadband device is not working that great again.  Another simm card gone bad?  I dunno, but it's gonna get old having to deal with it if that's the case.  Having to start up the "argument" with Verizon such as I have had to do with Direct TV over the years is not a very appealing idea, at all.

Scored a Direct TV receiver for my trailer  - brand new still in the box, still in the plastic for $25 and scored a Dish Network box for my mom for her trailer for $20.

Got my spare tire, almost done with the carpet, Mark put a piece of wood in the cabinet where the microwave goes to lift it up higher.  I have left to figure out the trailer brake light problem, finish the carpeting - another hour or two, and buy the knick knacks the trailer will need.  Cooking utensils, toiletries, plastic bags, stuff like that, plus probably some throw rugs to put over the new carpet.  I've got til the 19th to get all that done, shouldn't be an issue.

Also spoke in person this time, with the salesman who is going to move it  up there.  He's good to go, wants gas money up front.  No biggies there.  He's good on his word, I have known him for about 6 years now.

So, getting down to the nitty gritty.  Getting excited, too.  I'm pretty still tinkering with the idea of going up there on Friday and get a gander of the situation, but, not a definitive idea yet.

Well, time's up, at a contactor's and they are here to pick up the part I have.
Later.

ben

Sophie - the new doggy - was supposed to have her coat trimmed today for summer heat purposes.  

At 7:30 am, the woman promised yesterday, she would be over here. Okay.  7:30?  Came and went.  9:00 am this person calls me and tells me she overslept.

Typical Craigslist junk.  I contacted a company off of Craiglist and they are coming on Wednesday to do the job.  

I did not go to church today.  For whatever reason that I cannot explain, it was not in me to go to church.  The whole thought of doing so had completely vanished.  I instead focused my energies on getting the carpet installed in that trailer. I am hardly an expert, but I am doing the best I can.  I have the bath/toilet area - small area but lots of turns - left to go and some trimming to go.  I will also probably get some wood trim.  I knew it would take a lot of time to install that carpet and I was not wrong.   It really is a good thing that the move doesn't take place until 2 weekends from now. 

I set the cat trap out last night replete with tuna fish.  No takers.  It's still out there.  I don't know how frequently cats are out there at night.  I just know the aftermath when they do show up.

4 day work week en-queue.  

Friday off.  I took it off because I was going to lose even more hours in vacation accrual.  But on Friday, I was looking at the new plan.  I am getting 100 hours per year of vacation time.  It was at 80 hours but I have no clue when they upped it by 20 hours.  I'm going to take 4 days off next month and probably a couple in July.  If Caleb and I go to San Diego again this year - he really wants to go, he brought up the subject - then I am definitely going to have at least a 4 day weekend for that.  So, maybe use my floating holidays, though I should still have 40 hours of vacation time at that point.  

So, yeah, I"m ready for some time off.  3 day weekend is nice, but I'm looking forward to 6 days off in a row. I haven't even asked for it - yet - but I will be. Starting on the 12th.  Well there is also Memorial Day weekend, which is another 3 day weekend this month.  The point is that weekends just fly by.  Not that vacations don't either, but there is a good chunk of difference between a 2-day weekend and 6 days off. Or if I just go for it, I'll take the entire week off and that will equal 9 days off in a row.  

Ummm, well I haven't really made my mind up yet.  

What I do know?

It's close to my bedtime and I am retiring to the bedroom for the evening.

ben

Saturday 5/5/2012 Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo.  Another excuse for people to get drunk, akin to St. Patrick's Day.

Started on the carpet in the trailer today.
As I thought, it's going to take a lot of time to do a small area - because of all the corners and turns.  I'm going to try to finish the "living room" area tomorrow.  The bathroom area, though much smaller?  Will take twice as much time.

The trailer is being moved on the 19th.  Which is a good thing. I had wanted it moved on the 12th, but I am certain now that I am going to need next weekend to finish this up and get it ready to go. I have Friday off as well, so a 4 day work week for me this coming week.

I went to Discount Tire today and bought a new tire for the spare.  I didn't want to, but they didn't have any used ones and the idea of running from place to place to find one was not appealing. further, the idea of having a used tire that might not work if it is needed was also not appealing.  Worth the money, thank you very much.    I also bought a Direct TV receiver for it - still new and in the box - for $25.  I don't need anything else for the satellite, I have acquired everything I need for it as this point concerning satellite TV.  I'm not even sure I am going to watch TV up there, but if I want to?  For the intended time I am going to spend up there?  Yeah.  My mother only spends summers up there. I want to go up there throughout the year.  Sure, it gets freezing cold up there in the winter - and snow!......but I don't care about that.  Freeze and enjoy, that trailer has 3 sources of heating in it, I am not going to freeze in the trailer and of course I want to tromp through the snow outside and have some fun with the dogs playing in it.

I was at Walmart today and bought some electrical wiring so I can run a lead from a car battery to the trailer pigtail and find out what's wrong with the exterior lighting system.  I assume the pigtail itself, I have dealt with this stuff on trailers for 26 years and always, when NO lights work on the entire trailer, it's a problem with messed-up connections on the pigtail connector.  I also got Mark - who is celebrating his 65th birthday today - a Walmart gift card, he loves that place, he gets on his bicycle and goes there every day.  No, I'm not kidding, he goes there every single day.  It wasn't a skimpy amount, either. The guy does so much work around here - but also - just wanted to bless him.  I think birthdays are very important.  I have gone through many birthdays without anyone knowing and it really sucked.

So yeah, the date is set for the 19th and the man will do it.  I trust that.  But, I think I am going to have to go up there and make sure of what he is getting himself into.  I told him about the steep driveway and the dirt road getting there. It's all county maintained and in very good condition, but surprises like that without foreknowledge can make a person a bit grumpy about it.  You know, why didn't you tell me?

Unpopular subject with some readers coming up.  Like right now.  I went out earlier to find my bird bath flipped onto the ground with a huge crack in it.  I put huge rocks in the thing a while back because cats are jumping up onto it. I'm not sorry.  The trap is going out tonight.  I will begin catching cats again and moving them to wherever - somewhere else.  I will not harm them, but they are not going to continue to destroy my property.  In the last 2 weeks, my ground covering plants have been trampled on a nightly basis.  Come out and find them in such condition.  Today was the camel's back breaker.  I have had enough. I let it go for a long time because of the extreme controversy it caused in this neighborhood, but I REFUSE to allow OTHER people's animals to continue to destroy my personal property, repeatedly, over and over again.  Yup, I will be armed.  350 man has cameras and high dollar sound capturing equipment.  He has his flood lights shined onto my property at night.  He was standing out there a few days ago - the first time I had seen him in quite a while - when I was leaving for work this week.

Yes, he has flood lights shined onto the front of my property.  The man is a piece of work.  Injunction Against Harassment order is still in effect.  He cannot do anything and if he does, he will go straight to jail.  Again, I have attempted to talk to the people around here that own all these cats and they mock me when I attempt to have a rational discussion with them.  Enough is enough.

I sent an email to my oldest brother a while ago.  He has a cabin not far from my mother's property.  I asked him to come up and lend his expertise to the situation of moving the trailer onto the property and setting it up.  I don't necessarily need his help, to be honest, I am just trying to find a way to reconnect with him.  We are complete strangers by any definition of the word even though we are brothers.  But, also, he moved my mother's trailer up onto that property some years ago, so he should remember what he had to do  to get the trailer up that steep driveway.

I am having a dog groomer come over tomorrow.  The new doggy needs it, bad.  She has a thick coat and it needs to be trimmed for summer.  I am told that a good dog groomer can do a job that lasts up to 6 months. Okay, obviously that doesn't apply to people that want doggy's that look perfect all the time and have money to burn.  I am concerned about the heat - she needs it trimmed down.  She'll like it, I'm sure, whether she does or not, lol.  She's a gentle spirit at least, the groomer will have no trouble with her.

Lord willing.  Say that first and then say I hope this summer is a bit nicer with the ability to get out of this heat and go to a place with all the comforts of home that is out of the heat and into a beautiful wilderness.  The only doubt to be dealt with left is the situation with internet up there.  Will  I get it or not? Assume 3G network, 4G undoubtedly doesn't exist there.  But that's okay with me, as long as it works and the Verizon map says it does. If it does NOT work, then I am going to be talking to Verizon.  A new company for me that I have yet to deal with on "touchy" subjects.

Speaking of that.  Direct TV. I went online today and ordered a pay-per-view movie that Mark wanted to see.  Look, let's try and make a person's birthday as special as it can be.  Especially for a person getting up there in years.  I paid for it with my debit card and then?  It didn't come up on the screen.  My extensive dealings with Direct TV had me immediately going to my bank account online to see whether the transaction had gone through.  Yup, it did.

Do you want to read all of it?  Have you read all of it before?  I know at least some readers have.  4 phone calls.  Well over an hour.  To get a freaking movie that I PAID for to show up on the TV!!!  Oh yes,  I got freebies out of it, when do I not get freebies when I have to spend that much time with them? The movie? Amount paid was credited to my account.  2 months worth of Showtime and that's what I got - so far.  That doesn't include my phone call to corporate headquarters that will occur - Lord willing - on Monday, demanding 6 months free of Starz or whatever.  I don't care.  If their system isn't going to work - which it never does - and I have to spend inordinate amounts of time for something as simple as a freaking pay-per-view movie, then they are going to give me compensation for the time spent.

I know.  EVERY single time I order a pay-per-view online, it does NOT work.  I have to call them up.  I always get freebies out of it because I demand it.  I don't care what their excuses are.  After 10 plus years of it, they should have fixed it LONG ago.   I expect a 6 month freebie on whatever movie channel to come my way on Monday.

Long entry? Yup.  But, I didn't post yesterday and there are things going on needed to cover.  Like coming home from work Friday afternoon.

I sat down at my computer.  A white something caught the corner of my eye on top of my computer tower. There is nothing on top of that tower, one of the computer  fans is up there and I don't want stuff up there. Let's keep the computer cool so it stays happy.  So, that triggered something in the brain and that told me to full-blown look at it.  A piece of paper with 3 folds.  Money. The kid tenant.  Uhhh, a pretty good chunk of change sitting in that folded piece of paper, too.  Umm, yeah, next time?  Slip it under my bedroom door, don't put it up there for anyone to see.  Not that I have a theft problem now, but, who knows.  He hasn't seen what has gone on in this house in the past and I do not have people living here like that at this point and - frankly - will not tolerate that kind of crap from the past ever again.

Well, thankfully, it was all there.

This entry waxes long.

More? Yup, but need not be said here, can wait.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday 5/4/2012

So, the 5th person that was going to give me a quote kept putting me off. "I'll call you back in an hour" - and never called back.  Then it was: "I'll call you this evening", which also didn't materialize.  I called him yet again and he gave me the put-off for the last time.  I told him he could keep his services and that I would be finding someone else to do it, NO THANKS.  The problem is, even if he were to give me a good quote, do I trust that the person is actually going to show up at the appointed time considering the short history I already have with him?

The 3rd person who said he could do it on the 19th also has not written back to confirm, even though I sent him emails asking him to do so.  So I blew him off as well.  Back to the drawing board.

I'm at the office this morning talking to my manager about it and he brings up one of the salesmen's names.  Ohhh? I didn't know he had a 5th wheel on his pickup.  Never saw one on it, though I know you can get those detachable versions.  Yup, my manager states, he has a 5th wheel trailer parked up at the lake. Nice.  Well, I emailed him this morning and offered him what the lowest bidder I had already had was asking.

He writes back and asks when, instead of confirming he has the ability to do it. Back and forth, I finally have someone to move the trailer that yes, I can count on to get it done.  He has to check with family and schedule to see whether he can do it on the 12th or the 19th.  That is a big burden taken care of.  It has been quite the ordeal to actually find someone to do this job.

I still have stuff to get done on it, but it's nothing that can't be done before the 12th, so no biggies.

Anyway, I was sitting here at a contractor's waiting for them to arrive, they are here, I'm offa here.

ben

Wednesday 5/2/2012

Bowling last night was fun.  Of course, it was made funner by the fact that I was getting the highest scores, lol.  It didn't take long to start hitting the spare and some strikes to ratchet the score up enough to win.

Allegedly a trip to Globe today.  Globe is in the mountains - been there many times with this job, but haven't been anytime recently.  My manager doesn't want me to have to do it because there is no profit in it for our store.  Understandable, but I have been grinding in the valley every day at this job for months and months now, a nice trip out of town, even if only half a day's worth - will be nice.

But, I always throw in the "alleged" part because things often change.  There was nothing in our truck routing system as of yesterday when I left the premises to do other than that run.  We'll see.  The delivery is of a giant fusion machine - it is a heat welder.  It welds large diameter pipe together.  This particular type of pipe is widely used in mining operations since it's plastic and does not corrode.  More pointedly, that you can pump sulphuric acid through it and it will do nothing to the plastic.

So, I am hopeful : )

No more time for this entry, gotta get to work.

ben

There is not much going on in my life that is more disconcerting as having people pointing fingers at you for situations that you (I) did not cause.  This morning is one of them.  2 orders to be pulled, loaded and had to be at the job site by no later than 7:00am.  Okay.  Pulled the orders, loaded them onto the truck and yes, was here (I am currently sitting at this job site) right at 7:00am.

When I pulled up to the unloading area, the foreman was visibly upset.  No pipe on the truck.  What pipe?  The orders showed nothing about pipe.  I read and re-read orders over and over because I do not want to be the source of a problem that - in this company - ends up going into everyone's ears.  There are some things about the company that I work for that I definitely do not like, this is one of them.  Every company has it's set of problems, obviously, but I am not a big fan of people going around talking trash about other employees behind their back.

Regardless, the pipe was not on the order.  Yet, my manager and I are being blamed for not bringing out the pipe.  Why?  Because allegedly, it was in a "memo" on the order itself.  Well, I checked the memo's this morning.  I looked at my company email account - a memo in the order will send it to whoever the intended recipient's email address is.  Nothing.  So, how does one get blamed for not delivering a product that one did not know needed to be delivered?  Yes, indeed.  But, that's what happens in our company - there are numerous individuals who will never take responsibility for their actions and always blame everyone else for mistakes.

Whatever.  Bowling tonight.  haven't been in a long time.  Our church group decided that we are going bowling this week for our meeting.  Bowling isn't cheap and when it was decided that we were going to do that, I had the distinct feeling that someone in that group was not going to come because they could not afford it.  I offered to pay for that individual - I had an inkling of who the person was, too.  Yes, well after my offer, the group leaders wrote back and told me that a mom and her kid would like to take up that offer.  Okay.  Anonymous, please, keep it anonymous.  They said they would "try their best".

My son texts my ex wife yesterday telling her that he's going in for surgery. Surgery? For what? I get the call after he texts her from her asking if I knew anything about this (as if I had I had known but intentionally was keeping the information from her).  I decided to take the "high road" and simply not engage her as she had started to engage me.  No, sorry, I know nothing about it but I would guess he's referring to that in-grown toenail that they should have dealt with the second time he went in there.  She had not been able to get him on the phone to ask him what was going on, which is why we were guessing.  Yup, that's what it turned out to be. They numbed it up and cut half of his toenail off, end of story.  They should have done that the first time he went in, but if not, definitely the second.  This was his third visit.

Meanwhile, I am hot on the search for someone or some company to tow the trailer.  I think I may have found one.  The ad says up to $350 for up to 350 miles.  Well, that sounds very promising, the guy is going to give me a quote later on today.

That's it.  Still haven't installed the carpet - procrastinating I guess, lol. Ain't gonna happen today.  When I get off of work I am going to go home, take a nap and try to refresh myself for this evening's bowling adventure.  There are a few other issues with the trailer, but I am probably not going to do anything about it.

Tuesday 5/1/2012

The people that were going to move my trailer up to the mountains?  Are leaving for Colorado on Monday and won't be back until September.  Uggggh.  I contacted the other individual that said they would do it - no reply yet and that was almost 24 hours ago.

Well isn't that wonderful.  I posted another ad on Craigslist.  To use a company to have it hauled up there will cost around $600 to $700.  Yup.  A lot of money.  I have no choice but to start the search all over again and hope that either someone responds to my Craigslist ad or I can find someone - somehow - to do it.  Hmmm.  Maybe I'll stop in at RV World and see if there might be anyone that has left a card or a service that has their service posted somewhere.

Well, that ended my time for writing, lol, as I got involved in searching the internet for any kind of service that hauls RV's.  Found a local one and submitted a quote request.

Anyway, off to work.

G'day.

ben

I called my mother today.
God continues to astound and amaze me.
I don't know what to say.

She is going to church, today, probably leaving anytime soon now.

I could not possibly devote the amount of words and time it would take to go
into all of what that means here.  That my mother is going to any church is a
true miracle in itself.

I am elated, concerned and ecstatic - I am hopeful and believe the best outcome
here.  That she will go - and that whatever needs to happen, God will make that
come to pass and that she will go again and again.

Until.  Need I say the rest?

Until Him.  Until the Lord.  Until our Savior.

This situation will envelop me for some time to come.
It will take up my energy and thought.  My mother - oh my Lord and God, to come
and REALLY know the love of our Lord.

Sunday 4/29/2012

The thought occurs to me - just about every Sunday morning at this time - that I really don't need or want to go church.  I know the source of those thoughts and this morning I simply and utterly reject them.

As for the trailer AC, the temp inside the unit came down to around 75 degrees in there yesterday - that was cooling the entire unit with the front air outlets aimed toward the back room.  I believe it got up to 95 degrees yesterday, so, good enough.  It doesn't get hotter than that up in the mountains - or if it ever does, it certainly doesn't stay up there that long. I am going to get up on the trailer roof one more time and give the coil another good bathing in water to make sure all or as much of the dirt that I can get out of there - is out and call it good.

I don't get much peace around here on Sunday mornings any more, a thing that greatly irritates me.  I don't want to sound petty, but Mark and Lynnette walk in and out and in and out, continuously.  Well, mostly Mark with Lynnette going in and out of the bathroom repeatedly.  It's just one day of the week and just a few hous of the day, I guess that's too much to ask.  I don't get the constant in and out stuff, though.

I wrote up yet another ad for giving away some fish and plants.  I have far too many fish in the ponds - they have been multiplying and it's getting to be too much.  The filters are clogging up too fast and I want to thin out the amount of fish in there. Well there we go, a couple of replies already, hopefully one of them will pan out.

Well I'm not going to drag this one out.  Church in an hour.

G'day.

ben

Saturday 4/28/2012

Snag.
I figured it wouldn't be cheap, but now my suspicions have been verified.  To add freon to my travel trailer's roof ac unit, they will have to install a port.  Well, installing the port means all the freon will leak out while they're doing it.  Meaning they will have to evacuate the system and then completely recharge it.  Price tag? $250.

Now, I am sitting here wondering whether I should think about dumping another $250 into that AC system or not.  It puts out cool air, but not cold air.  Not cold enough to keep the unit cool, anyway, when it's hot outside.    The problem with dumping that kind of money into it is that it is an old AC unit and I have no clue how much longer it will last.  A month, a year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years?  If I knew I could get at least a couple of years out of it, then yes, it would be worth it.

Of course that's figuring that I even have $250 to spend on it right now.  I have the money to move that thing up north stashed away.  I have another $300 in savings on top of that.  Humph.  I am going to have to make up my mind soon about this one because it's getting close to the time to get that thing hauled up there, less than a month away and I do not want to put it off.

________________________________________

I called them back, the service company that is.  The woman stated that it isn't always a freon issue, that the condenser can get clogged up over time and limit the amount of air flowing through it.  Ummmm, okay, thanks for the info, I am going to try cleaning it out before I call you folks to come over.  I'll spend 10 cents on water to flush the thing out before spending a grand total of $316 to have freon pumped into it.

And hootinnannyholler.  After I thoroughly sprayed the condenser out with water, the temperature of the air coming out of the unit is MUCH colder!!!  So, I am going to run it for a few hours and we'll see what happens.  It would be VERY nice if I didn't have to spend anymore money on that unit.  It was also very nice of that lady to give away that information for free, lol.  I did thank her quite nicely for the information.

That was the concern of the day, really.  I have other things to do, but that was the priority.  If it does, indeed, cool it down nicely in there, then I will install the new padding/carpet - to the best of my ability anyway.  It's ready to be installed.  After that?  Well, not that much.  Not anything costly, anyway.  I have my new microwave, coffee pot, nice used queen mattress, the roof is all but done, just a few touch up areas, it has a new refrigerator and the propane system is now working in it (hot water/cooking).

It's been a long, drawn-out project but will be worth the effort once I get it up there.  I'm looking at either the 12th or 19th of May - a Saturday - to have it dragged up there.  Not sure yet.  Mom has already given her stamp of approval to have it towed onto her property whether she is up there or not.  But, waiting until she goes up might be better.

Once it's up there, then the work has just begun.  Will have to install a fence around it to be able to let the dogs out without having to supervise them all the time.  Will have to work out the situation with the satellite dish and running a cable. Thanks for reminding myself: I still need to get a satellite box for it.  Totally forgot about that, going to start searching Craigslist as soon as I am done with this entry.

Anyway, Memorial Day is near the end of May and it would be cool to have that 3 day weekend to spend much of it up there if I can get it up there by then and get everything situated.  Of course, another test is whether I will be able to get on the internet up there or not - no clue yet.  Deal breaker?  No, but I know I will want to be able to get online.  The only other alternative is satellite internet which is both costly and I've heard doesn't really work that well, so probably would pass on that as well.

Whoops!  The price of satellite internet has come down substantially.  New customer offer of $39.00 per month.  But the equipment for $199 or lease it for nothing.  That is a FAR cry different than the last time I looked at the pricing - substantially higher!  But it's a monthly expense I would rather not incur and use that money in savings instead.  I don't want to have to pay for 3 different sources of internet service, I am already pay for 2.  Home service and mobile broadband.

Well whatever, before this entry drags into the everlasting one, better close it down.  Just checked the temp in there, down to 80 degrees.   I have Mark fixing the heavy cover that goes over a big window in it - close that and I am sure the temp will come down substantially considering the sun is shining right through that window, heating everything up.

Later.

ben

Thursday 4/26/2012

When one sets out to get off the road that leads to destruction and back onto the path that leads to eternal life - through the narrow gate - one is then, I am finding out, attacked in so many different ways from the enemy that it becomes glaringly obvious that the enemy is behind all of it and that he isn't exactly happy that - God is greater, thank you Lord.

After much reflection, I realize that I had completely given up even attempting to walk with the Lord, just do my own thing and keep to myself.   The carnal nature of man is not in love with the Word of God - you know, the words written in the Bible.  It loves to do whatever it wants to - those things that are evil; worldly, anything that is not of God.  Raising my hand: guilty.  

I started reading through the book of James.  If you want to find printed words, from God, that will rile your flesh, simply start reading in that book.  Faith without works is dead.  Count it all joy when you are confronted with trials and tribulation.  It's a lot of admonishment, to be honest about it.  These are the parts of the Bible that are oft times ignored by those that just want the gooey-good feeling and not all the idea of "taking up your cross daily and following after Christ" that leads to a disciplined life in the Lord.

I have a long ways to go, that's what I can say about it.  But, continuing reading in the Word is the answer, at least for me.  It is a habit I am attempting to form to simply turn on the computer and pull up the BibleGateway site every morning and start reading.  And yes, I am in the book of James and it may take a while to work my way through it.  I don't want to just glaze over all the "hard" stuff, I want to absorb it and let it become a part of my every day life.

Well, anyway.  At some point, I will find it within myself to volunteer in the church.  Whatever that may mean, even if it's vacuuming carpets.

Rain. That was the forecast for today.  Yet, looking at the radar, it is raining - well north of Phoenix.  Whether it makes it's way here?  Who knows. God causes it to rain on the just and unjust alike, so, please Lord!!!    lol

There isn't much else going on, really.  I am going to attempt to find someone to come over that has the necessary equipment to recharge the trailer ac's freon system.  If I do find someone to do it and it still doesn't put out the necessary temp of air to keep it cool in there, it may be a losing battle to spend any more money on it.  I don't want a gawky looking window ac unit mounted on the thing, but to buy a new roof air unit for it is pretty expensive stuff.  The thing IS pumping out cool air, just not cold ENOUGH.  Which hints to me a need for increased amount of freon.

Well, whatever the case, it's time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 4/24/2012

We took a video this weekend of Duke eating a loaf of bread.  It's hilarious.  The dog doesn't chew bread, he simply swallows it whole.  Completely spaced out loading that up to YouTube, gonna have to do that today after work.

A change is coming into my life - more like a reversion to the ways and the walk with the Lord I once had and shook off.  Bad thing to do, I can tell you, leaving your walk with the Lord, that is.  Not that I consciously told the Lord one day that I want nothing more to do with Him, more like allowing the world and it's ways to creep in and become a way of living.  There is, in reality, nothing good in this World, at least those things that are void of Christ, which are most things.

I don't have anyone to blame but myself.  The divorce was a nightmare, yes.  The church shunning me was the icing on a rotten cake, definitely.  Old friends moving on to other churches and never seeing them again? I brushed that one off.  I learned long ago that if that's the way a "friend" acts towards you when the going gets rough, then they were never your friends to begin with.  I never treated them that way, I can assure you, and I was always there for them.

But I was not guiltless.  But as I start to get back into the Word much more than anything I have been doing in the last 7 years, well, it's certainly enlightening - if you believe, of course.  If you read the Word and don't believe, then it may not do any good - though God says His word shall not return unto him void.  Well, I believe.  God is good.  I can finally say I believe I am coming out of it.  Whatever I have gone through with the church is the past.  The current church I am in is a very good one, I just haven't seen it that way because I have been viewing it through tainted eyes, ie: the church that shunned me.

Whatever the case, this walk with the Lord is good.  I have missed it so much.  God is so good to us.  I am hungry for the Word again, a thing I haven't really had in a long, long time now.  I am hungry to fulfill my purpose and destiny - whatever that may be - on this earth and then, finally, move onto to be with Him.

G'day.

ben

A short one.  It got to 105 yesterday.  That's 105 degrees in APRIL.  What, are we going to have a 130 degree summer? I mean, seriously.  Running the AC in April, what fun.  I have no idea if this is a pre-cursor to things to come, but I sincerely hope it is not.

Regardless, it's Monday morning, early and I have to leave for work.  Mind swimming with things all over the board.  A little restless at this point, I am really seeking the Lord and attempting to get beyond some issues in my personal life.  Changing things in your personal life that you have lived with for - a long time - is not necessarily the easiest thing to accomplish, but certainly it's not impossible.

G'day.

ben