Saturday 6/2/2012

Edit: I am not finishing this post, got distracted yesterday and just didn't have time, just posting it in whatever form it is.

Umm, so, these leaf eating wasps or whatever they are are destroying a certain kind of my pond plants and attempting to do in my Taro.  I had enough.  Got some insect killer and started spraying the leaves of the plants that are out of the ponds.

Lo and behold, however, I stood there and watched a Dragonfly going after one of these leafeaters.  Sight to behold.  The leafeater was flying it's brains out, attempting to get away from the thing, the Dragonfly was like a laser guided missile: honed in and not letting up.  I dunno how that ended, they both disappeared.  Dragonflies or not, they are not doing the job in keeping these bastards from eating up my plants and I am now on the warpath.

I saturated the entire swath of plants that are hanging over the side of one of the ponds-  that stuff isn't going to get in the water and kill my fish.  The portion of this very dense and large plant IN the water, I sprayed lightly on top.  These little darlings came spouting out and - I just hope my fish are not adversely affected.  I was spraying roach killer, the only thing I had available.

Verizon Wireless.  Starting to piss me off.  Send me emails after watching 2 movies and a couple of Star Trek episodes while at mom's property saying that I am at or over my month's usage allotment.  In other words, a total ripoff.  I was told if you use a "lot" of streaming video, go for more expensive package.  Yeah.  So, 6 hours or less of movies and "normal" usage - which isn't that much lemme tell ya - should cost me more than the $50 per month charge. I pay $45 per month for unlimited at home use.

I will have them stop the service and will try another company now that I have my "feet wet". Which simply means I have a much greater understanding of this situation and their dealings and - I will play my game on them, since they want to play their games on me.  I am a VERY persistent person when it comes to shams from very large corporations.  Oh, back to the original thing?  I will not be paying them anything for disconnection fees.  They can have their device back.  I will try another company.  Perhaps one that works in the 5th largest city in the United States.  Yep, they sent me a replacement device which  - has to be turned off and restarted frequently for it to work.

So, the question is posed whether we want to ponder about and deliberate it or not: should the government start stepping in and attempt to start forcing upon we-the-people things that will, allegedly, reduce the amount of obesity in our nation?

I dunno.  If you believe the statistics, in the next 20 years there are going to be a LOT of obese people walking around this nation.  If people can't find it within themselves to get up and start exercising and put down the cokes, the fat and calorie laden dishes and the sugar-filled desserts, perhaps it's time to try something new.  The idea of a "fat tax" has been floated.  The idea of paying people to lose weight as well - which I think is a ridiculous and dumb idea, who is going to foot the tab?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

And it's allllll too easy to stop at a McDonald's; Burger King; Wendy's etc. to get a quick bite to eat if you are in a hurry and don't have time. I pretty much force myself to stay away from such establishments excepting McDonald's to get a nice cup of coffee on occasion. I love Big Macs which is all the better reason to stay away from that place.  I envision myself at 300 pounds and don't like that particular thought.  I am at 199 pounds right now.  Anytime I break the 200 barrier I go hog-wild crazy and do whatever to get the weight back down again.

Whatever.  There has to be some response to this situation.  It's only going to cost all of us even more money in health care coverage costs and all that is associated with being extremely overweight or obese.  I'm not sure that it's the government's job to step into such a theater and if not, then what?  Leave it go?  The fast food companies and the soft drink and energy drink companies are making far too much money to suddenly decide that they aren't going to sell the fat and sugar laden foods they are selling and go on the vegan road.  The only way that will ever happen is if America wakes up out of it's slumber.

Just an interesting topic, at least to me.

ben

I was in a good mood all day today at work.  In fact, I have been in a pretty darn nice state of mind since starting this mountain business.  But financial constraints will put a halt to the mountain activities unless, of course, I want to put the fuel portion of it on the Chevron gas card.  But I am not going up there this weekend, I have concluded to around 99% positive at this point.

Tenants definitely need to pay me this week.  Well, one has committed to paying it on Monday - an entire month's worth, that will help immensely.

This is the trouble this country is in.  An MSNBC host is "uncomfortable" with calling fallen soldiers heroes.  Asshole.  The guy's lucky someone doesn't deck him.  What an idiot, making such a stupid, calloused, unbelievable statement on a national forum such as the one he hosts.  How many more like this freak?  Is he uncomfortable also that the entire world isn't under a Hitler regime right now?  Does someone have to bring war to our land for these morons to understand what this world would be like right now if we hadn't taken it to them?  Yes, it pisses me off.  STUPID people.  It reminds me of the shit that went on with the Iranian crap that went on in the 70's and those that live here, in the US, going around saying how bad this country is.   Those people in Pittsburgh where I was a little boy at the time? I'll never forget.  They got their asses kicked upside and down.  They went around spouting off to the wrong folks and those folks that love our country didn't have a problem sending them to the ground and subsequently to the hospital.

A nation of pansies and wimps, that's what we are becoming.

But our nation's military? Oh, I have the highest respect for anyone that has served or anyone that is serving.    You signed on the dotted line and whether you went to war or not, you were fully cognizant that that possibility existed and that you might end up making the ultimate sacrifice. Regardless, you sacrificed your life for whatever time you were in.  You might have loved the entire experience, even better, but it's still a sacrifice.

I just read that junk and about blew a fuse.  Coming back down to Earth now.  I could find nothing on MSNBC about this guy's statement, which may or may not be there, if it is it's certainly not at the top of the list.  Or the middle of it.

Okay.

Local news. RARELY ever watch it, but it was on when I turned the TV on, which I don't do a lot of anyway - just feel like watching a movie.  So, here's this older gent in a neighborhood maybe 7 miles away from me lamenting about his neighbor who recently was forced out of his house and left a bunch of - cats - behind. Yup, he called the ejected person an animal hoarded.  Oh, how I can ever-so-loving identify with that.  Found fresh cat poop in my front yard - again.  Cat hoarders living on 2 properties behind me and another that is in cahoots with them living 2 properties over from me.

I have some things to get done before sundown, later.

I am getting precariously close to the "broke" stage.  Send out mortgage, car insurance payment and keep electricity running?  Fortunately, Friday is payday and tenant money will be coming in soon enough.
I will be considering upping the rent for Mark and Lynnette as well.  She is making money at this point and I gave them a reduced rate because of their situation.  But, if their situation is improving, I need more money out of that room.  2 people with all that entails living in that room would normally get me $150 more per month than what I am charging them.

Electricity, folks, it's all about the electric bills.  And water, for that matter. The heat forces me to have to water much more frequently or I can kiss many of my plants goodbye.

I am also awaiting the lien release for that trailer. As soon as I get it, I'm putting it up for sale.  Selling it would give me a cushion to bounce off of and not have to worry about any potential "disasters" that might arise.  It's that or another 401k loan, which I REALLY do not want to do.

Oops, it's time for work : )

G'day.

ben

Politics.  I have given it little attention in recent weeks because I am already sick of it - and the election is still quite a ways off.  I always love when the liberal media gives a Hollywood actor room in the news with whatever statement they are making about politics.  As if their opinion means a hill of beans.  The latest is Bruce Willis calling Romney "an embarrassment".  What about the Obama administration taking to task Romney on his company for buying out companies, as the ads claim and then loading them up with debt and taking whatever capital out of them.  I don't really care to be honest, I wouldn't vote for Obama if you paid me to, and that's a fact.  As far as I'm concerned, that guy is wrecking America and Lord only knows what kind of agenda he has en-queue if he gets re-elected.  He will not have a third term to worry about making people happy, I would guess his Socialist agenda - or perhaps the creation of his Kingdom more like it - will be rolled out in full furor soon after his re-election if that does, indeed, occur.

Which I hope it does not, but brace yourselves.

Anyway, I won't be going up north this coming weekend, I don't think so anyway, but I will have to make a trip up there the next weekend/Monday after that to take Caleb up to Heber. So I am half considering stopping by the trailer and get some stuff done on it, work on it for a few hours and then leave.  I was shown the water tank yesterday - mom had a huge tank installed up there after using a much smaller one for years.  That big tank is full at 1,200 gallons of water and the small tank is on a trailer which is used to bring water up whenever it is needed.  She won't do it, though, she really can't be hauling trailers around, it's enough that she's driving a vehicle without anything attached to it.

Oh, throw out there the only real reason I won't be going up there this weekend is the price of fuel.  if it was in the 2 dollar range, I could probably go up there whenever I wanted to.  But nearer the 4 dollar range, totally different story.  It isn't a long trip, about 230 miles round trip.  But, that's about 11 gallons of fuel or so, haven't really come up with a precise amount.  That puts a trip up there and back, in fuel alone, at around $45.  Not exactly cheap, though that is the only real cost incurred.  I would have to eat wherever I am at, so that's not a real added cost.  I suppose a little bit of electricity should be factored in.

Well, back to the workday grind.  Plenty to do this morning if I recall correctly in looking at it on Friday.  A good thing, I don't much care to start a new work week with nothing to do.

G'day.

ben

So, I'm driving home from up North.  I see off in the distance a pickup truck with a trailer on it. It has this giant - machine - you could call it a dune buggy Frankenstein style, the thing is huge.  I pass the vehicle by while in Payson, but I pull into a fuel stop to get a cup of coffee for the trip back.

I get out of there, get the dogs positioned - if I don't do that, Duke will take up the entire rear bench and force Prince to have to sit at a very uncomfortable position the entire way back (Sophie takes the passenger front seat and stands up the ENTIRE trip back, panting and looking at me funny) - and off we go.  I don't much care for driving anymore, so I tend to try to get trips done - quickly.  That pretty much means I am passing everything and not getting passed by anyone.  Or, if someone does happen to pass me, I let them get ahead about an 1/8th mile and then speed up to match their speed.  The reason for doing that should be obvious.

Well, no-one caught up to me today - I would rather follow someone else to be honest but I am not going to take my sweet old time getting home regardless.  So, a bit later, here's that pickup and that trailer with that thing on it.  I'm saying to myself, that looks like the thing my brother has when he goes off-road doing not just 4-wheeling, but rock-climbing with it.  And when I say rocks, I don't mean little things, I mean giant boulders that people have these machines they build that can crawl over them.  Well, we're going up a 7% grade and I am going WAY faster than that truck.  About the time I am maybe 100 feet behind it, I see a hand stick out the windows and fingers moving like they are walking.  I gave it no thought at first. But it continued with a waving motion thrown in.  It suddenly dawned on me that that IS my brother's machine and it IS my brother.

I look up just in time to see him sticking his head out the window with a HUGE smile on his face as I go blasting by him, I waved heartily and that was that.  I hardly EVER see him on a planned visit, what happenstance to actually find him out on the highway somewhere, not having any foreknowledge that he was out there.  I made the 115 mile (I think that's what it is) trip back in 1 hour and 45 minutes.  That may not sound like much, but remember there is 7 miles of that on a dirt road going 25 to 30 miles per hour plus going through Payson with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour.

Well I have quite the list of things I want to get done before going back up again.  I doubt I will be going next weekend, on the 11th I am driving Caleb up to Heber to the Salvation Army camp.  I probably will not stop by the trailer on the way up or back.  Or if I do, only to spend a few hours and try to fix a few things.  I am still attempting to decide when to take  maybe 3 days off.  I was going to do it when Caleb goes up to Heber - drop him off up there and just come back to the trailer - but I would have to have the dogs with me .  Further, I would have to waste an entire weekend with time that I could be up at the trailer - he won't want to go spending several days up there.  So, I am not planning an extended stay up there when I have to take him to Heber.  That's just going to be a day trip and without any dogs with us.

On a bit of a sour note, was the incident up there yesterday.  Mother is a black and white person.  You say you're going to do something, then  damnit, you better do it exactly as you say you are. Oh, she lives her life that way, this isn't a hypocritical thing on her part.  So, I got her a Dish Network receiver off of Craigslist.

Little did I know the hell that would ensue.  She spent a week on the phone trying to understand why, exactly, they would not activate that thing and get it going.  She got completely differing stories from people working at the same company, but it ended with them saying they would send someone - yes, I mean sending them up in the middle of the forest out in the middle of nowhere near the Mogollon Rim.  They would get it working and that was that.

Dude shows up yesterday - late.  Sun was going down type of late. He was sent from the Phoenix area.  He got in there and understood what was going on and then declared he could not activate it.  Mother blew a fuse.  Literally.  He started to explain to her why he couldn't do it - the unit belonged to someone else and they would have to call in and deactivate it - she didn't want to hear ANY of it.  She was VERY rude, unfortunately, to this guy and gave him a brush off the likes I haven't seen in years.  He walked off the property, cussing and I was standing there temporarily speechless.

Umm, I haven't seen my mother acting that bad - ever.  I have seen her get into it when I was a kid, but it wasn't anything to this degree.  The dude came back, on the phone and I was intent on playing deference. That guy cannot do anything that isn't authorized, that's all there is to it.  She was taking up the fight with the entirely wrong person.  But, in her eyes (and I totally understand this), that guy IS Dish Network and he was now feeding her the same line of BS that had been fed to her at the beginning of this ordeal and that was too much for her to deal with.

She told him off and went outside of her trailer and sat down on a lounge chair, threw up her hands and told her she didn't want to hear another word from him, either fix it or leave.  Wow!!!

I escorted the guy out of that area and away to a place where we could talk without her hearing.  I apologized, frankly, for her behavior but also stated I could understand her position, just that it wasn't really appropriate for her to be taking off after service personnel.  We talked for a while and shook hands and he left.

But here's where Dish Network totally sucks.  I didn't know this until yesterday.  If you buy a receiver from someone - like off of Craigslist such as I did - and they have an active account and do not deactivate that unit, Dish Network won't reactivate in someone else's name. But that isn't the worst part: if the prior owner of that is in arrears with Dish Network, Dish Network will NOT activate that receiver until YOU, the person that is NOT responsible for that bill, pays the bill in full!!

Now excuse my French, but that is a load of BULL****.  I have NEVER had that problem with Direct TV!!! They don't CARE where you got the receiver.  It's the CARD they care about.  The card makes the thing work or not.  No card, no access to the satellite.  Well, I don't like Dish Network anyway, just one more reason to really not like it.   The receiver I bought?  The customer is in good standing but HE has to call in and authorize the unit to be put in someone else's name.

Gag.  My mother had Direct TV and I still don't understand why she switched.

Whatever.  Here's another weird thing.  I had no idea that she had had a full septic system installed for a cabin or whatever she was going to have built or placed on the property - deal went south and I am not going to go into all of THAT. So, I am in her yard - it's a fenced-in area. There are sticks of sewer pipe sticking out of the ground with adapters and plugs on the top of it.  We SELL this stuff, I know what this is: sewer clean-outs.

WHAT is THIS for?  I ask her.  The full explanation about the cabin.  Oh, well why don't you have it connected to the trailer?!!!  She isn't even USING the thing.  She has to go to an outhouse to use the toilet.
Well, she says, I may get into getting that done this summer.

Okay.  Enough. You don't pay thousands of dollars to have a septic system installed and then, after a deal goes south, you don't use it with the application you already have.  That doesn't make any sense at all. It would take a 20 foot stick of sewer pipe and some fittings and adapters and that would be the end of her using an outhouse. I do hope mother isn't going senile on me, but from her actions yesterday and seeing that unused system in the ground, ummm, I dunno.  And let's just say here that the deal that went south - I'm not so sure about  her story at this point.  I wonder what actually happened.

But, I love my mom and I think maybe she needs help with these things.  She may not WANT the help, but I think I may insist and see what happens.

Well I'm home anyway.  The dogs? Crashed out.  Totally crashed out.  I mean, laying on the floor snoring crashed out.  These trips take it out of them.  I was informed that I can give them Benedryl for motion sickness- ie: the car trip.  But, I haven't researched that yet and I ain't giving them nothing to them, especially Duke, until I am sure that it's safe to do so.  I think Sophie would totally benefit from that as well. She just stands there, in the front seat, the entire trip, she won't - or can't - lay down. Crazy dogs.

This entry? Waxes long.

ben

5/28/2012 Monday - Memorial Day

I wonder if the newer generations coming up even know the meaning of Memorial Day or the great sacrifices that so many of our nation's military made in wars past in order to for us to keep the abounding freedoms that we still enjoy to this very day?

How easily do we give up those freedoms in the name of "security" and "what do you have to hide"?

Rhetorical questions.  The All-Knowing Government has their answers to those questions.

I am still up in the mountains, been here since Saturday morning.  So, quite a nice time away from polluted air and people in my face seemingly 24 hours a day.  I slept better last night than I can remember sleeping in the past year.  I didn't even want to get out of bed this morning, I could have slept another couple of hours.  Dogs, however, have their own schedule and to not meet that schedule within some reasonable time frame means...............a certain liquid or a certain mass left on your living room floor.

Fortunately, my mom has a  large fenced in area around her trailer so I just take the dogs over there and they can roam around for a while while I clean up house, make bed and all that sort of stuff without them in my face.  I do need one of those fences around here, but, money constraints right now will have that put off for some time to come.  Only if I can sell the other trailer, then I will spend the couple hundred it's going to cost to get a good fence up around this thing so I can just let the dogs out at will.

My Direct TV I could not get going yet again.  So, I am taking the whole mess back down to the valley and I am going to get it working down there.  If I bring it up here again and I still can't get it to work, foregone conclusion that I will have to have Direct TV come up here and install it for me. But I think my satellite dish was damaged and I think that's why I couldn't get it to work.  I have 3 more dishes to play with, lol.

There is no doubt that sitting up here and watching a good movie at night before bed is something I want to be able to do.

It is so ever-loving-nice to have a place to come to in such a beautiful setting and get away from people.  I don't hate my tenants, but I have very little privacy at my house.  That's just the way it is, I have gotten used to it over the last years of renting out rooms but..............and better, I haven't received a single phone call from any of them saying that "something" is afoul at the house.

It's almost 7:00am, I am going to be leaving within the hour.  It's been wonderful being up here, but I have plenty to do at the house and I pretty much take care of the plants.  I could ask Mark to help me out with it, but I would rather do it myself and make sure that all is well in plantdom.  I did ask him to feed my fish, but even if that were neglected a few days, the fish would easily survive that.

I may write more later, right now I am getting ready to leave.

ben

I alllllmost left this evening for the mountains.
But, I am too tired to drive that far today.  I woke up in the middle of the night and it took hours to get back to sleep.  Then, the alarm clock went off this morning and I was sleeping heavily.  I never really woke up, apparently, because I was yawning at work all day long.  My manager was as well.

I had to force myself to stop at Fry's and get the food needed for the next 2 days up there.  Not that much really.  I made spaghetti last night and there are plenty of leftovers.  A couple of steaks to share with mother and a couple of the diet style frozen dinners plus some lunch meat.  I have enough dog food up there in that trailer in a plastic container to last them for several trips up there, at least.

Anyway, came home and crashed out for an hour and a half.  Not really helpful to take a nap that long, but I couldn't wake myself up to get back out of bed.  Finally did, obviously or I wouldn't be sitting in my kitchen writing this entry, lol.  I'm ready to go, anyway.  Just have to pack the cooler in the morning, load up the dogs and away we go.  Oh, I had to spend a good hour out there watering plants as well.  Should be good for the 2 day lapse they will get in getting watered.

Strong wind blowing today and the temps have finally come down as the forecasters promised.  For once, they got it right.  Tomorrow's high is only going to be 87 degrees, and that's in Phoenix. Well, the low tomorrow night where my mom's property is is slated to be in the low 40's!! wow!!  I guess I better take a jacket and another blanket up there!

So yeah.  I'm being consumed by bills.  The culprit of the problem is the electric bill, which went way up much earlier in the year than I had expected.
I just sent out the last payment on the other trailer and will be expecting the lien release so I can put it up for sale and try to get my money back out of it.
I think I am going to need that money this summer, to be quite honest about it.
But, at the same time, the expenses I have incurred with the other trailer in fixing it and getting it up to the property are over. There are more things I want and need to do in it, but none of it is pricey stuff.  Well, some things might be pricey but they aren't on the priority list.  Replacing those gear handles that open and close those old-style windows is one thing.
But, I won't be doing that anytime soon.
So perhaps that will allow this situation to improve since the monthly payment for the trailer is now history after that check clears the bank.
Wow, time to leave for work already!
ben

Well it certainly wasn't any fun out there yesterday.  I believe it got to 109 degrees.  The truck AC is not working correctly and does not keep it cool in there. It only keeps it from getting boiling hot.  Well, whatever.  I didn't feel too well after getting home after being out in that all day long yesterday so I didn't really get much of anything done around here.

It takes awhile for me to adjust to the extreme heat, which, by chance, is going to go away starting tomorrow, allegedly and the temps are coming WAY back down.  I'll take it for what it's worth and run with it.

I am going to buy a new smoke detector for that trailer - it has an old one in there but I'm sure it's ready to be trashed and replaced.  Though, it is unplugged when I am not there so I guess not a lot to worry about.  I am glad I wrote myself some emails from up there about the things I need to fix/acquire for it, I would have forgotten the half of it.

Just chattering.  Looking forward to another trip up North and spend a couple of nights there away from all this big city chaos.

Time for work.

G'day.

ben

Absolutely beautiful morning.
The new pump is still going - meaning it's not all clogged up - but going at a bit slower pace.  I'll take it out when I get home from work and clean it.  It has some catching up to do and it may be days or even a week before it gets all the gunk out of the pond and be nice and clean again.

My Elephant Ear/Taro plants are making a comeback as well.  Huge windstorm threw everything into disarray. I tried to rearrange the plants back into some mode of what they once were, but only nature can totally fix it.

Well, just threw that out there. Nice morning, but it's going to get into the 105 range later on today, lol.

G'day.

ben

Exchanged Direct TV receivers with the guy in a parking lot - some 15 miles from here.  Not the end of the world excepting he had just gotten off work and wanted to meet "now".  He backed off a bit when I told him I was 20 minutes away and couldn't get there any quicker.  At least the guy was congenial when we finally met up.  I have no idea if this one is going to work or not and frankly, I am not going to try right now.  IN fact, I am not going to mess around with it until I get it up to mom's property as the card for it is up there, not down here.

I also received my new pond pump today.  That was some FAST shipping and this pump is far better than the one I had in the pond it is going into. That one bit the dust.  Lasted 2 years running 24 hours a day so I am not going to complain about it, but the intake housing design is flawed at best.  It gets clogged up too easily because of a very narrow housing. The one I got today has a very long and wide housing, takes much longer to clog this one up.

Now if I just had the energy to go out there and do all of that.  I can't just dump it into the pond and plug it in, the waterfall filter has to be cleaned now and that takes some effort, to say the least.

Lol, okay, I got the energy and got it done.  I have some very nice Koi in there and I don't want them getting sick from fouled up water : )

G'nite.

ben

Standing Down...........

I wrote earlier how my dad was being kicked out of his wife's house.
I emailed him via reply all to all that he had sent that email to and told him I would be happy to come down and help him move if he needed the help.
He has now replied to me saying that I must have missed his email saying that they are back together and that he is tending to his wife's every need.
No, I did not miss any emails, I never got that one.

But no big deal, reverting back to my original plans of spending next weekend, which is Memorial Day weekend, up at the property.  Nothing is ever set in stone in life, is it?

My Dad........

..........has been thrown out of their house by his wife!
I opened one of my email accounts a few minutes ago to find a reply to his original letter from one of my uncles.   I went searching for my dad's email and there it was.  His wife is sick and he says that she feels he isn't taking care of her.  She's a nice lady and things, but there is one thing that has remained true with all of the women that he has been with since mom and him divorced: they don't really like us, his sons.

I can understand that with my brothers shunning him, but I don't get it with me. I communicate with my dad regularly as well as my mom.

Anyway, this lady has told him to leave and apparently he is going to have to take all of his stuff out of there.  My dad is - 83 I think - and not in that great of a condition.  I read the email about how he has been "thrown out several times before", though I had never heard this from him about this situation, it isn't shocking.  The lady he is married to is still in love with her now-deceased husband and whenever I have been around her that's most of what I hear coming out of her mouth, not about how much she loves my dad.  I thought it odd to continue to hear that long after that man has passed.  She has also spoken very foul of my brothers - though really, they deserve it - still, I always got the feeling that same sentiment was coming towards me.  When I went down there for Thanksgiving a few years back and he grown, adult children were there, the sentiment coming from THEM was very strong as well.  It was a very uncomfortable situation and I really wanted to tell one particular individual who was deeply in love with the sound of his own voice what I thought about his sentiments towards my family, but I decided to keep my mouth shut since it was Thanksgiving and didn't want to ruin the holiday.

Whatever the case, I just wrote him an email and offered to go down there and assist him with moving if he wants the help.  Not that I want to spend Memorial Day Weekend moving dad, but, I will do it if he says he wants the help with it.

Welcome to Monday.  It's about 175 miles down to his place in Sierra Vista.  In reality, if he really wanted the help, I would just ask my manager for "emergency" time off.  In my mind, a situation like this with a man that is that old in the health that he is in is going to need the help right now, not this weekend.

Ummm, wow.  Okay, take one step at a time here.  Just going to wait to see what kind of response I get from him, if I don't get a response then I will call him this afternoon.

Whatever the case, life goes on and I must be off to work.

G'day.

ben

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.