So, upon the advice of a foreman at a construction site, I decided to check out sport fishing going out of Ventura Beach instead of San Diego.  I am not married to the idea of San Diego, the reason I would want to go there is because it is COOOOOOOL there.  Well, according to this dude, it's cool on the ocean off of Ventura Beach, too.

Well, I did call the same company we went on last year - it's not like we were treated badly or something, it was a good trip out onto the ocean and the deck hands were very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.  Well, the trip we went on last year is still listed on their site - a 3/4 day trip to some islands - but the Mexican Navy apparently has decided to ban all fishing from that area as of last Saturday.  Yeah, well I'm not too fond of the Mexican Navy stopping fishing boats to check your papers, anyway.  That was a bit unnerving last year to see that - and our boat left out of there about the time they were finishing up with the nearest boat.

We had Mexican fishing licenses, yes, we were legal, but I have had my dealings with the Mexican Army and if it's Navy is the same, no thanks.

So I called a place operating the same kind of thing, only out of Ventura Beach.  I asked if beginners/know nothings were welcomed/okay on their 3/4 day trip to which he instantly replied yes, the boat hands are very knowledgeable and helpful and there is also a little training course they give before the boat heads out. Ohhh?  Hey, that sounds cool! He then extolled the virtues of their full galley that cooks up breakfast, lunch and dinner, serves beer wine and even mixed drinks, on and on.  I asked for a grand total for the tickets, tackle, bait, license and he came up with $100 per person.  The other place as at $135 per person.

I'm reeeeeeally trying to make this work.  Save $70 on the boat, score.  If I can find that coupon, I have a free night's stay at any Motel 6. Yes, I know, probably far beneath most readers, but I don't really care as long as the place isn't noisy all night long and I can sleep.  I don't CARE about hard beds, I prefer hard mattresses and I sleep on one.  That would be one night's worth for free, second night around $70.  $270 so far.  Fuel.  I know, never pay for a vacation on credit cards, but I am not going to worry about racking up some debt on the Chevron card.  I don't use it that much and it would help me make this trip possible.  It's going to be at least $100 worth of fuel after all is said and done.  So, dump the fuel cost on the card, I can pay it off after summer is over and high energy costs are back down again (my electric bill).  So, still at $270 for immediate expenses.  Food.  I got a can full of coins.  I mean, there is at least $100 worth of coins in there.  I have been throwing coins in there specifically for the purpose of using it on this trip.  There's some green in there, too.

Yup, just dump some green  in there here and there but dump ALL coins in there on a daily basis. That can is heavy.

It's a short vacation on the cheap doing something I want to do.  They have a daily tally of how many and what kind of fish are being caught on any given trip, the boat I would be going on had a total of 38 anglers yesterday who caught over 500 fish!  That's what I wanted to see, that we aren't just going on a sight-seeing tour of the ocean, but that there are actually some amount of fish being caught.

Well, anyway.  Get down off of that high.  I have just as much a good time attempting to figure out how to make a vacation work financially and seeking out whatever deals I can as I do actually going on the vacation.  Sounds weird, but it's a challenge and if I am faced with a challenge that I know I have at least a reasonable change of conquering, I am all over it.

Just got home from church - like it's my bedtime now so just a short update.  Well, church was a men's meeting and the pastor was sharing his vision of things he would like to see come to pass in the church.

Got home and found George gone - tenant - and informed he had cut his finger and it would not stop bleeding, so he went to the hospital.

Wind storm tore down a large branch off of one of the Sissoo's, and now it appear I will have to cut the other large branch off of it because the one that tore off took a big chunk out of the other branch that was also coming out of it.  I dunno the future of that tree at this point.

Vacation week has been approved, week of the 13th - 17th.  Whether we go on a fishing trip is still up in the air.  Dunno but not stressing over it.

It's been raining here - like real rain, the likes I haven't seen in quite a long while.

Got a raise.  2%.  I know, doesn't sound like much but that was pretty much across the board for everyone at my company and - in this economy - any kind of raise is a welcome sight, definitely not complaining.

That's it.  No time for more, I gotta get to bed!

ben

I am still up in the mountains.  The sun has all but gone, just a faint light left.  It started pouring rain 6 hours ago, continued raining heavily for about an hour, lightened up a bit for another half hour but it's still, after 6 hours, raining outside.  The  ground was saturated to the point of water running down the hill.  A good thing for the forest in these parts, it's been so dry that people have refrained from coming up here for fear of forest fires.

I am laying in bed - a very comfortable, queen-sized bed - listening to the pitter-patter of rain drops hitting the RV roof.  I turned off the fan so I could listen to it - but that isn't going to last too long, it starts to get stuffy and I can't handle not having air moving around a bit.

I fixed - a temporary job since I didn't have some materials that I didn't know I would need to repair it - the roof today. Early this morning, actually. I put Henry's metal roof goop on there and actually hoped it wouldn't rain.   It didn't start raining for about 5 hours after I put that stuff on there, but I went up on the roof just before the rain started falling and it was still soft.  Nothing I could do, I knew there was the possibility of rain and I would either fix the thing or not.

But, even after the heavy downpour, not a drop of rain has come out of where the leak was.  Note that I went to the trouble of removing layers of white elasomeric roof coating that must have been applied over time.  I have found that covering over an old coating of the stuff  does much of nothing.  You have to go to the trouble of removing the old coating, getting it down to the metal and then starting over.

I made my mom a nice pork chop dinner. She was out of food anyway. Like, time to eat noodles type of dinner.  She had forgotten to bring up several pounds of frozen chicken that she was going to use.   So, a dinner of salad and pork chops and mashed potatoes and corn was a very welcome meal, apparently.

Well that's it.  I'm off to early bed.  Getting up early to leave for town so I can go to church in the morning, which doesn't start until 10:00 am.

Ben

Up in the mountains.  I almost bowed out of it today as well, I was pretty tired but I forced myself to get everything together, get the dogs in the car and get rolling.  Amazing amount of traffic coming up to these parts on the highway.  Extremely inconsiderate drivers as well.  It is amazing how many drivers will block the passing lane for miles and miles and miles, blocking up traffic 20 cars worth behind them.

Then there was the couple in the BMW.  I am going the pace the car can go.  My car is loaded with 350 pounds of dogs, 200 pounds of human and at least 150 pounds of stuff in the trunk. It's got a bit of work to do to keep up the speed I want it to. It also heats up a bit while climbing the hills.  Meaning?  Speed is going up and down, not because I want to do that, but because that's just the way it is. Unlike many motorists in this day and age, however, I will move out of the way of whoever wants to get by me.  We went back and forth passing each other until the dude driving that vehicle decided to gun it and take off.

Which bothered me not, whatever.  I just want to get here as fast as I can.  However, after 30 plus years of coming up to this area and 15 years of sporadically coming up to this property, I have learned the places were Highway Patrol like to hang out.  There are hot spots, what I call them, where you can figure they might be and you make sure you aren't pushing the speed limit there.  Yup, I saw the lights flashing and then, coming upon it, the car pulled over.

Well, I put in for a week's worth of vacation.  August 13th through 17th.  I don't know if I am going deep sea fishing again, but that is the only time I can do it with my son.  I wanted to take a week off this summer, that's it.  Actually, I put it in today and it has already been granted.  So, even if I can't do San Diego, I can definitely come up here.

Yeah, I know, that week isn't that far off from now.  A bit over 2 weeks.  Lol.

Well, I didn't leave until almost 5:00 pm to get up here and then when I got here, spent at least an hour talking with mom - very tired, it's an hour past my bedtime.

G'nite.

ben

Globe, Arizona.
Old mining town, active copper mines all around.
Go up there occasionally with deliveries.
Well, I was to deliver to the city, which I had never done before.
I have delivered to a store; several of the mines and several street projects
going through there and surround towns.
Went to the office. It became immediately obvious that the address on my delivery ticket?
Was definitely NOT the place this material was going to be going to.
No yard there at all, just a building and surround by grass, a park and a kid's playground.

I ask a lady inside where I should take this material, noting to her the name of the person that ordered it.
Oh yes, she replies, you have to take it to such and such a place.
K, how do I get there?

This lady starts going into a litany of different streets that I would have to turn on, making all kinds of turns.  I was writing the information down as she was giving it to me, and asking her to say the names of the streets twice - I always do that to make sure I have the right name.

So, I find the first street she was referring to and take the right turn she instructed.  Old town, spaghetti style streets - just sort of thrown out there like if you flinging spaghetti and that's how the streets end up.  I went down this street looking for the next street to turn on.

I never found it.  I'm in the semi - pulling a 48 foot flatbed trailer?  Yes.  The big truck.  As I progress down this road, it comes to a fork.  To the left the street narrows considerably and is very steep - 15% grade.  To the right, the road also narrows, goes on for about half a mile before it turns out of site.

I had a bad feeling about both of those streets.  I've learned to come to trust those instincts, so instead of going either direction, I put the truck in reverse and started backing up.  Not that there was any place to turn around within a thousand feet at best..........

Well, I have to stop.  A Jeep is coming up behind me, I have my flashers going and my brakes/lights are on.  I just waited and then saw that they pulled into the drive of the house I had stopped in front of.  Good, directions, please.

I turn the truck off and get the attention of one of the ladies that gets out of the vehicle. Why hello there, how are you today?  She is ready to get into whatever kind of conversation it was to be, so I informed her that I had been victimized by bad directions and could she tell me how to get to such and such a place?

Ohhhh, yes, well it's on the other side of .......... that..........point to a deep chasm on the right of me where the road literally drops off and goes well down - at least 30 feet and also some railroad tracks down there. Ummm, okay.  She gives me detailed instructions, I thank her and begin my backing procedure.

I did eventually find a dirt driveway into whoever's property that was large enough - barely - to accomodate a truck to back into and then pull out.  Should have I asked for permission?  Well I didn't, I executed a flawless backing/turning procedure that had me running into nothing back there and had to do no pull-ups  and left.  Well, if I can't do anything else, at least I can drive a truck!  That's all I'm saying.

Now, I get down to the stop sign she told me to go to, turn left and find a bridge that says weight limit 20 tons.  My truck, empty is 26,600 pounds and the load on it was about 3,000 pounds, so I was safe there.
But I did learn why I had missed the turn.  The actual name of the street was nothing like what this lady had told me it was.  I repeated that street back to her twice and she nodded her head in agreement that that was the street name that she had stated.

Well it wasn't even close.  Same first letter after that nothing was the same.  My gosh.  I've had farmers give me better directions by watching for this colored silo and that colored barn to make turns at. I end up at the top of the hill and yes, there is the yard I am looking for.

Just my little Globe trip today.  I was really sweating it because I was driving through residential neighborhoods on narrow streets and wondering if I was going to run into a sign with a picture of a truck, a red circle around it and a line through the truck - no trucks.  I see those signs all over the place in the valley.  I was ON one the other day.  The dummies that put up the sign had it 50 feet down from the entrance to the road.  What was I supposed to do, put the truck in reverse and back out into heavy traffic on a major surface street?  They usually put them right there at the entrance, once you've made the turn it's too freaking late!

Went and got the car's oil changed - 1,000 miles past due unfortunately. If I'm making a trip up North tomorrow, I didn't want to do it with old oil in it.  Got a free wash out of it, too.  Plus, this is one of the few places left that has a rain guarantee: if it rains within 48 hours of getting it washed, they will re-wash it again for free.  I had the owner of a car wash place tell me that NO-ONE in the Phoenix area gives that kind of guarantee.  Bunk, I replied, I named off 2 places and now I know a third.

Went to the food store today instead of waiting until tomorrow and having to waste even that much more time in trying to get everything ready, doing laundry right now and so, the only thing to do tomorrow is come home, load the car and dogs up and go.  That includes having to get out the tools and materials to fix the leaky roof.

But I'm running out of steam.  Have been cranking away since 6:00 am.  Pretty much sat down here and the wind let out of my sails.  Which is okay, just a few more things that I have to get done today, if not, just add a bit of extra time tomorrow.

I'm straining to figure out how to go to San Diego, get on a boat and spend a day at sea fishing.  It may simply not happen this year, or, perhaps later on in the year.  I don't know.  I like to get out of town and do something different once in a while. Going up to the mountains is awesome, yes and it is definitely something I want to continue to do, but a trip over to California would be nice, too.

Well, another entry getting long.

ben

Okay. Well, if we want to go Sport fishing this year, apparently the tab is on me.  College is apparently going to consume the money that my son earned up at the youth camp.
$190 for 2 to get on the boat plus $21.95 per person to rent the tackle/rods.
2 night's hotel stay.
Food/drink.
Gas.
So I dunno yet.
Vacations aren't cheap, end of that story.

They found his body decomposing in the desert.  That was the news I heard in my kitchen from oe of my tenants yesterday when that particular tenant came home.  It was his brother-in-law - who apparently had some mental issues after coming back from one of the wars, which one I don't remember.  What can you say to a person going through something like that?

Cars.  Next door neighbor has I think 8 of them.  He only drives 2 of them, the rest of them sit there and do nothing.  Complete and total eyesore, the newest vehicle in his junk collection isn't even in the 2000 model year range.  They are all old junk.  Well, I was informed yesterday by a tenant that he had been "told" by the next-door-neighbor's son that he was parking "in front of their house" and needed to move his car.

I thought we had gotten past this issue with these stupid people.  First off, there is no law saying I can't park in front of their house - though I certainly have no desire to do so and second, if they're going to start that s*** up again, well.  I got into my old blue Buick, pulled it out onto the street and parked it -  yup - all the way up at the edge of my property and partially in front of theirs.  They had their station parked there but they got in and took off with the thing  These people should know by now that starting a war with me isn't going to go well for them.  I will hold nothing back, including complaining about their entire property, which is filled with nothing but junk and trash.

There's not a damn thing they can do about me parking my car where I parked it, either.  They can call the police if they like, but the police are only going to tell them the same thing they told them the last time we went through this: there is nothing illegal about the way the car is parked.

I am going to start reviewing housing codes and other city codes to find out what gems I might be able to find.

Pretty sure I am going to the property this weekend.  I just need to gather some things together to be able to get up on the roof of the trailer and do the work it needs to fix it.

I have to say this news story tickled my funny bone: a man asked to leave Disney World because he resembles Santa Klause too much!  They have a pic of him, and yes, he certainly does!  But he didn't have a costume on, just his white hair and beard and mustache. Lol.  Too much.  The guy was there on vacation with his family.  I guess it might not be too funny to him, but I just can't believe Disney World would actually ask a person to leave because their striking resemblance of a fictional character.

Well that's enough for now.  I am sitting at a job site, waiting to get unloaded.

ben

I don't own one and I probably never will, but the logic escapes me as to how, exactly, a ban on certain types of weapons would have stopped the incident at the movie theater from occurring?  He would have found some other way to execute his plan - but regardless of whether they are legal or illegal, you can get any kind of gun you want on the black market.  Would it have made any difference, whatsoever, if he had obtained the weapons legally or illegally?  The ending would have been the same: a lot of people dead and wounded.

Well, Monday's here and I am definitely not feeling like doing much of anything.  Crank myself into gear in a few minutes, get in the car and drive to work.  Weekends never last long enough.  But, my manager is coming back from almost 2 weeks off, that's always a wonderful thing to have to face, lol.

Conversation with my mother about Sheriff Joe Arpaio yesterday?  She apparently is a big fan and couldn't understand why I won't be voting for him.  I gave her my explanation which apparently didn't work with her. Which is okay, I don't need my mother's approval to vote for someone else.  I then brought up the fact that the man is in his 80's and isn't going to be around forever, anyway.  That also didn't work with her so, oh well, throw my hands up in the air and - still not vote for him.  Don't know yet who I will vote for, but apparently Sheriff Joe has a huge amount of money already in the bank for his re-election bid.

As with Obama, the Sheriff of Maricopa County can spend as much money as he likes on his campaign and it won't change my mind one iota.  I guess all the money spent must be for those that haven't made up their minds.  So, with Obama/Romney, what percentage of people, I wonder, have not decided?  That's really the only people all that money being spent is directed to.

Well whatever, time to depart hence for thither yonder lands.

G'day.

ben

Okay, I have a person that owns a large pond coming after some of the Taro.  The wind really sent the whole collection into complete disarray, it looks terrible now and there is no way of getting it back to the way it was before that happened yesterday.  Which sucks.  But oh well.  I will get rid of about half of it, then replant - again - the rest of it and try to get it into some semblance of organization and than after that time will fix it.  A lot of time, but time never-the-less.  BUT, I will be planting the smaller Taro away from the larger ones and that will give a chance for a double plantation, so-to-speak.

As for my trip to San Diego next month, totally changing the subject - well the prospects aren't looking very good.  Well, yes, I could do what we did last year and I wouldn't mind that, actually, anything for a change of view and something different.  It was a low budget trip last year and this year it would have to be the same unless I could sell that trailer.  I have not been able to find my camera - I don't know what I did with the thing - to be able to post an ad on Craigslist.

I think I will post an ad without pics and see what, if anything, might become of it.  It would pull me out of the hole.  I need a cash infusion, I usually get one in summertime every year, that hasn't happened this year and it's starting to really affect my finances.  If things do not get better, I will have to take the money saved for the trip and put it into my regular checking account and if that isn't enough, then I will have to revert to whatever to pull me through.

I always have an "answer" to financial problems - well usually anyway - but selling the trailer or at least trying to is the obvious first decision in this case.  I have no "attachments" to it and getting rid of it would - open up my side yard, really, lol.

Eddie - the kid along with his younger siblings came over here and ripped the doorbell button off the front of my house as some kind of joke - showed up again a little while ago.  He started blaming his younger brother for the offense, which is when I shut him off.  PLEASE don't start that shit with me.  You were LAUGHING at the time and thought it was a complete joke to destroy my property, you can either shut up or just leave and get out of here.  He then apologized.  He is a product of his upbringing, yes, but that doesn't fly over here. I am setting boundaries now that that has happened and I will not tolerate any more of it.

My Taro Pond Plants Revisited

Standing down. Replanted 2 of them (Taro plants) but the others were simply a matter of standing them back up and stabilizing them (after the dust storm knocked them all down).  Meaning running some of the plastic drip irrigation tube I have left over - which is almost a 1,000 foot roll - running it around the rather large stalks and tying it up to one of the posts around the pond.  This isn't necessarily a permanent fix, but really, these plants have gotten too large for the pond.

The only way I can see to stabilize them without running tubing to keep them up is to get much wider pots that I can fill at the bottom with heavy rocks to act as ballast against the weight of those stalks attempting to pull the whole thing over.  So, I might try to find something like that this coming week for ONE of the sets of stalks, but I cannot possibly have too many very wide/large pots in that small pond, it will take up too much space for the fish to run around in.  So, I may end up giving even more of the Taro away.

Which isn't any big deal.  It always grows back and perhaps someone has a pond that doesn't have much fiolage in it - I get a lot of people who say they have no plants in their ponds at all. They don't want to pay the exorbitant prices for those kinds of plants at the pond stores - they charge a lot for them and usually not even in that good of a condition.  Yes, I think the solution is to simply give away one of the huge sets of stalks and just replant some smaller ones where those were.  Yes, I have PLENTY of small ones growing.

Again, you don't have to have a green thumb to grow water plants, they will basically take off without any help at all. They will start growing plants outside of the container you have them in once they fill the container up.  They will send out shooters and just start growing small ones in the middle of your pond, without being in any kind of pot!

Severe dust storm came blasting through here yesterday and blew all of my Taro plants over.
There is only one thing I can do to save them: replant the entire lot of them.
That means taking ALL of them out of the water, pulling them out of their pots and redoing each one completely over.
Yes, that means a lot of work and time to get that done.  Not exactly something I wanted to have to do on a Sunday afternoon.

There is no debating, I will get at least some of it done today if not all of it.  The hard part is getting motivated to go out there and do it.  Especially since it's humid and warm out there and only going to get worse as the day moves on.

Just got home from church. That was another battle.  I did not want to go this morning, again, just not motivated to do much of anything today.  But, it was worth going and that's that.

So, going to end this one early, get my shorts and work shoes on and get out there and get at least some of that work done.

What I don't get about this guy that shot  and killed all those people at the theater, besides the obvious question as to why he did it, is why he wanted to live after he was done?  Allegedly, he just gave himself up at the back of the theater without any kind of fight.

He will spend the rest of his life in prison, but I believe he will end up getting the death penalty since Colorado has capital punishment.  Of course, we all know how long it takes between sentencing and actually being put to death.  What possesses a man to walk into a theater full of strangers - people he doesn't know - and then simply open fire on them?  Will this guy ever tell?  Is he psychotic?

Well, the weekend is here in full swing.  I got up at 5am after going to bed last night at 8pm.  I was sooooo tired, I really wanted to go up to the property but driving up there was out of the question yesterday.  I could go this morning, but it would only be one night up there and then have to drive down.  I pretty much have determined that on a regular weekend, if I am going to go, I must go up on Friday and at least get 2 nights out of it.

I believe I have decided on the place to plant the Queensland Bottle Tree.  It is in direct, full sun, which, from what I am reading, is what they want and like anyway.  So, I am going to take out the Christmas plant that apparently does not like full sun - it died regardless of how much watering I did with it - and plant the tree there.  Perfect location for it.    I want to get another one and plant it out front as well.  I can plant it in a location that is already being watered and will not add even more watering to have to be done on the front.  On the back, different story, going to have to run a small line and a dripper or 2.

I will try to get another one of those Christmas plants this year - after Christmas and they go on sale for less than half price - and plant it in the shade. Kind of like the Norfolk Pines I bought 3 or 4 years ago.  I had thought they were regular pine trees and planted 3 of them in full, direct sunlight while the 4th one I planted in front of my house, right next to the wall, which gets no direct sunlight at all.  The 3 in direct sunlight died.  The one that gets no direct sunlight is doing very well.  It doesn't hardly grow at all, maybe a couple of inches a year, but it's a beautiful little tree.  Which contradicts everything I have read about those trees.  I have read that they cannot survive outside in the temps and conditions we have here, that you have to grow them indoors.

Well, that logic can be thrown right out the window since that tree has been there several years now, is very healthy and shows no sign of deterioration.  It does not grow very fast, possible a side effect of the atmosphere here, but that's okay, it's more of a nice little ornamental tree at this point.  I am guessing if I planted the Christmas plant - don't remember the name of it - in a similar location, I will have the same results.

____________________

Long break.  I posted an ad on Craigslist to give away more pond plants, the pond in the ground on the east side of my house has WAY too many Taro in there, it's taking up too much space for the fish to be able to swim around in.  So, a lady and her young daughter came over and we went to work.  I took out 4 of those plants, one of them was huge.  Pulled the Umbrella plant out of it's pot and broke off 3 pieces of that.  Got a couple of Yerba Mensa stringers and gave them to her and then - gave away the pond that has been sitting there for over a year now, not being used.

She wanted to put the plants into pots but mentioned she wanted a pond as well.  I might have been able to sell that pond on Craigslist for some money, but it has a leak and a person is going to either have to buy a patch repair kit for it or buy a liner.  She decided she would buy a liner for it and that would be that.  So, I got quite a bit done out there already today, not just with the ponds but also in the front in dealing with various landscape issues.

Mark, the 30-something year old meth-head who still lives with his parents - was out front of his house, staring at me.  His parent's house is across the street, 4 houses down.  I didn't bother to get into a stare-down with him, I decided to completely ignore him.  He then started making his high-pitched, squealing noises again, aimed in my direction.  I don't know what the significance of those noises are, but he has done this before in the past while yelling obscenities at me, so I assume it's an insult of some sort.

Whatever the case, I was going to go get my cell phone and simply call the police. They don't have to do anything but go down there and start pounding on the windows and doors, as they did last time, to get Mark to stop his behavior.  His parents don't want the police visiting their house because of Mark's bs.  In fact, I doubt they want the police visiting them for any reason. But, as quickly as he started, he stopped.  A 5 year old in a 30-something year old body that looks like he's 60-something because of all the meth.  Nice life there, bud.

Which reminds me, I got all that other stuff done but completely forgot about the Queensland Bottle Tree.  However, it is quite warm out there right now.  It's about 40% humidity and around 95 degrees.  The humidity had me sweating profusely and I may be done for the day. At the very least, taking a nice, cool break and then maybe go out there and see about uprooting the Christmas tree and putting the Queensland back in it's place.  Probably won't take too long, I thoroughly flooded the tree with water and let it get down into the ground so that it should be easy enough to just pull it out.

Whatever the case, this entry waxes long.

Later.

ben

I got home from work too late to head up to the mountains.
But more specifically, I am WAY too tired to drive all the way up there.
It's going to have to wait for another time.  But ohhh, would I love to be UP there right now.
Just sort of click the fingers and I am there sort of deal.
No such magic exists on this earth - except for the realtor who has a huge property up there - he flies up there in a helicopter.  Has been doing it for a couple of decades now.
I mean, as far as I know, he LIVES up there and just flies back and forth on a daily basis.

Oh, the lifestyles of the rich.  Must be nice!

Well, whatever.  I have things to do down here this weekend anyway.  Notably, planting my new Queensland Bottle Tree sapling and also some other small, ground covering plants I bought to fill in some areas out front that are looking a bit barren.  Oh, and the other thing that is inhibiting my drive up there is the car's oil needs changed.

Look, I have been listening to the radio all day long and then watching the news reports about the Aurora theater shootings. It is unbelievable.  It is horrific.

Blog fixed. Went to Google blogger support and someone found the answer - code was added to the left side of my blog that redirected it.  HOW it got on there is a mystery. Others were reporting having the same thing happen. If you are being redirected to Kuniochi, type in Blogspot.com which should take you to your admin control and then go into layout and find the junk that has been added on there and remove it.

Umm, well now that that's over with, it's Friday, 8-1/2 hours from now I should be off work (should be, cause' sometimes I have to stay late)

I have no clue what is going on with my blog.  When I try to come to it, it takes me to some different site. I can access it through typing in blogspot.com and only doing the posts - but I can't see the blog as it is continually redirecting me.  I do hope it's only me that that's happening to.

Whatever.

I will attempt to access my blog via work computer tomorrow to see if it's a situation that - I dunno, apparently blogspot doesn't have much of a support system.

Umm, well, I will continue to write, but if I find out my writings can't be viewed, I will resort back to other blog sites that I already have accounts on, including Wordpress.

Hmmm, I will try changing the password, if I can, perhaps it has been compromised?

I came out here - to my kitchen - this morning - to find JD slumped over the computer keyboard.  Not this computer - no-one but me uses it - but the old one that I let a few people use that don't have computer access.  He woke up when I came out.  We had a long discussion.  I asked him about why he wanted to go to the Army and what he was going to attempt to learn through it?  "I'm going to become a man".  Okay.  Fair enough.  Yes, it will definitely instill some virtues in him - if he accepts that - that will help him out in life - provided, of course, he lives through it.

Not a joke, of course, if you enlist in the nation's military, you are also taking upon yourself the very real possibility that you might not come out of it alive.  But it was cool to talk to him for a while, he comes over here frequently at night, but I am usually not awake for those visitations.  At least he has some kind of plan  = and hopefully will help him get out of the poverty situation that his family has been in for - ever - now.


Well, at least for him.  I don't know that his 3 younger brothers have as much motivation as he does to succeed in life.  JD and Caleb have been friends for quite a long time now, JD will always be welcome over here regardless of what happens.  


Work has been different this week because my manager is on vacation.  First and inside salesman, now the operations manager is there, holding down the fort.  


Friday. Tomorrow is Friday.  I am debating whether to go up to the mountains or not.  I skipped 2 weeks in a row now - perhaps time for another venture up there.  Not sure yet.  I will determine that tomorrow near or when I get off of work. Pretty small window of time to decide, after work is over at 2:00 pm if I am not held late, to go or not to go.  I already have most everything I need so preparation isn't much of an issue.  I do love it up there : )  


I just got through reading a couple of emails from my dad and one of my uncles.  This is the first I have seen any confirmation of it, but they are definitely doing their reunion, in August, in Ashley, North Carolina.

I wish I could go.  The cost of airfare alone is exorbitant.  Then you have all the rest of the costs.  I am not sure I will even have enough money saved up to drive to San Diego and go on the fishing trip with my son.  I am pretty much broke and that's the name of that tune.  The electric and water bills are what's killing my finances right now, but it wasn't unexpected.  Just that I had thought, after paying off that trailer, I would have a bit more than what I have now.  But I don't and that's that.  Oh well and move on with life.  If we can swing a trip to San Diego - even on budget mode - great, if not - dunno what to say.

I'll say that I have enjoyed my trips to the mountains and hope for more of the same : ) I don't pay lot rent and I own the trailer outright. My expenses are confined to fuel getting up there, almost exclusively.  I would have had to eat anyway, no extra there. The dogs would have had to eat anyway, no expense there either.  So yeah, maybe I will make that trip up there tomorrow - but only if I can find time to get the oil changed on the car first. It's past due and I don't much care to let it go.

ben

The Queensland Bottle Tree arrived today.  It is not 2 feet tall, more like about 10 inches.  Not complaining, I just thought the pic made it look taller than it is.
It was very well packaged and was in perfect condition.
Which was quite amazing considering it traveled from Florida to Arizona.  It was starting to dry out - but that was expected.  Watered it nicely and now I have to decide what to do with it.  Many people put them in pots for a few years before ground planting them.

But the information I have been reading is saying that they are extremely hearty trees and transplant well at any age or size, whether young or old.  I would rather get the thing in the ground if it can handle it so it can get it's root system started in the ground versus a pot.  Get a dripper from the drip irrigation on it and get it going.  It's kind of exciting, they say these trees grow quickly in the first several years.  Of course, watching a tree grow?  Umm, on a daily basis not a happening event, but watching it's progress over time is really cool.

So, part 1 of the doom and gloomers dismal outlook on the economy is about to come true: higher food prices. It's all over the news: the drought is causing crops to fail and that's going to mean higher prices for everything in the grocery store.

Interestingly, however, one story also adds that the price of beef should actually come down temporarily as ranchers slaughter massive numbers of their cows because of the high price of feed. But after that?  The price of beef is allegedly going to go way back up.

Other stories are showing a slow down in the economy.  Look, it's not like I want the doom and gloomers to be correct, but they've been foretelling a recession that will be far worse than the thing we saw in 2008.  If food gets out of control, I'm like everyone else: eat the cheap stuff.  My concern is the 401k.  There are options of where to put your money, of course, but it's really quite limited.

I don't know, but if the price of beef does come down even temporarily, I am going to fill up my freezer with it.  I just cooked a ham that had been in there over 6 months a few days ago - tasted great. I just emptied out my upright freezer to defrost it - it's ready now to be stocked up again.  I depleted almost entirely my canned food reserve - gotta use it before it goes bad - so I am going to replenish that as well.  At least, as much as possible with whatever's on sale.

____________________________

The kid that comes over to walk that dogs - infrequently at this point for whatever reason - came over today with his brother.  I have a wireless doorbell.  The button to ding the bell is on the front of the house.  It works, quite well actually.  Well, they were in here messing around, kids, and the doorbell went off. One of my tenants was sitting at the table with me and said he would go out there if I didn't want to.  Nope, I said, it's probably for them - the kids/their parents - and those kids can go out there.

Well he went out there and the doorbell kept ringing. ???  He came back in, said there was no-one out there even though the doorbell was ringing repeatedly - kids.  They had ripped the doorbell button off the wall out front, brought it in and were hiding it from me,  thinking it was a joke.  I mean, laughing and making fun of it.

After explaining to them a few things about life in general and the fact that destroying someone's property isn't funny, I threw them out.

Dogs have been sick.  I DO hope tonight I do not have to go through what I have been with them for the past 2 nights.  I will find out soon enough as..........

................it's my bedtime.

G'nite.

ben

I will be interested, next time I go up to the property, to see what fire condition the National Forest Service has that gauge set at and whether camp grounds along the road to mom's property have been re-opened.  I am wondering this because the State of Arizona is basically being rained on - a very good thing.  I just checked the drought monitor, the entire state is either in an extreme or a severe drought depending upon what part of the state you are looking at.

The rain is expected to go on through Monday.  This will not eliminate the drought, but it should do something about the exceptionally dry forest conditions that are so bad, many campgrounds have been shut down, open campfires have been banned and even outdoor target practice has also been banned.  This because of the nitwits that will start a campfire and not know what they are doing.  Although, in these dry conditions, an ember floating from an open campfire could easily start an entire forest on fire in a very short period of time.

Speaking of trees, I finally found a Queensland Bottle Tree up for sale on Ebay.   I have been looking for one for quite a long time, I was surprised to find one there.  It's a sapling, of course, but for $6.99 plus shipping, I was more than willing to give one a try.  I have a nice place to plant it, too and hopefully it will take.  Though I am not sure if I am supposed to plant it in the ground right away or let it grow in pots for a few years.  Whatever, I don't have it yet but I have read a few sites on people's luck in growing them in pots, looks like if you get the soil mixture right and keep it watered, it should do fine.

Meanwhile, My Chinese Elm tree - none of my trees are "real" trees yet, they are still young and this particular tree is maybe 10 feet tall so far - well it's been spreading it's seeds around. Or perhaps the birds are doing it through their digestive system - or however it's happening, I have several saplings that have sprouted on their own in optimal places where there is plenty of watering going on.  2 of them are 2 feet tall already.  They sort of appeared out of nowhere.  These saplings are nowhere near the actual tree itself.  The wonder of nature.

My "dead" Sissoo is making a remarkable comeback. What unbelievably hearty trees those things are.  They can withstand some of the worst conditions and still survive.  It's now spreading out new leaves all over the tree.  Which is a welcome relief, that particular tree was growing fast and well, it was in a portion of the yard where I really wanted a nice tree to be growing.  Of course, what portion of the yard would I not want a nice tree growing? lol.

The intended purpose for the vines growing on the fence on the east side of my house have all but covered the entire fence area where I wanted the view blocked.  My neighbors are pigs and I don't want to be exposed to their foulness - an eyesore at best, the house and property are nothing but garbage.

I got a view of the "man" that is living with that woman in the shack behind my neighbor's house - which is perched right next to my fence and looking down into my property.  Umm, if you can make any judgments by looks, then this fellow is quite the - character.  Tattoos all over his arms and neck - probably all over  his body who knows - hair halfway down his back, scraggly looking beard and mustache.  Those 2 individuals are now living in a shack that is about 7X7 in dimensions.  Yes, you read that right, it's smaller than most prison cells.  They are already under the understanding - forced upon them - that I will not tolerate them playing that horrific music at obnoxiously loud levels at ANY time of the day.  They probably have also figured out that I will not stand for them looking down into my property, making comments and acting like ******* and ********.  Use your imagination.

Pretty much, I am going to have to save up enough money to buy the block and mortar and put in a block fence and completely block out the view of the pigsty/filthy conditions of that property and now, those people living in that shack.  I AM going to call the city about that this coming week and see if that kind of living arrangement is allowable, I am guessing the City will not do anything about it.  I will have to resort to calling the police if the situation gets out of hand.  I will have to petition the city to allow a higher than allowable fence.  The normal 6 foot fence will not block them from looking down into my property, it would have to be an 8 footer.  Though, now that I think about it, I have serious doubts that shack has proper electrical code compliance - undoubtedly running and electrical cord to supply it with power, that IS a code violation.

Life goes on.  I am sitting here, in my kitchen, looking at 200 square feet of room and what a person could do with it in terms of a "kitchenette" type of structure.  It sounds small, but looking at it, it's plenty of room for one person.  Or a couple.  A small kitchen; a small bathroom with show stall, no tub; a living and sleeping area.  That's it.  I could fetch at least $400 per month for something like that.  The cost of the structure would pay for itself about a year's time.  

Well whatever.  The temps outside right now are tolerable and I need to get some stuff done out there before time to go to church.

Happy Sunday.

ben

Good intentions.
I had them.
Fail.
Took the plunger/seat out of the hose bib - the valve you hook your garden hose up to - earlier this morning. It was not shutting off properly and the last time I used it, I had to crank it down so hard that I knew the next time I opened it? It would never shut the water back off.

I decided today to fix the thing.  I took the handle out of it that has the washers on it to seal it and went to Home Depot.  Bought a whole new hose bib that looked exactly the same, got it home and...........not exactly the same.  Would screw back into the body of the hose bib.

Realize that I had to shut the water off to the entire house to do this job.  That's why there is pressure.  I therefore decided to go back to the plumbing store where I bought the hose bib - Evergreen plumbing - it wasn't only closed, it had shut down, out-of-business.  Umm, that place had been in operation for over 20 years that I know of.

Over to Ace Hardware since it was closer and usually has a better selection of such things.  Bought a hose bib with compression attachment.  Instead of attempting to fix the old hose bib, I figured to replace it.  Got home and found?  Not enough copper tubing available to put the compression bib on there!

BACK to Ace Hardware where I found a different style of valve that would work on the only portion of copper tubing I had - sticking straight up out of the ground.  I figured if THAT didn't work, I would be forced to buy a soldering set including a torch.  Didn't want to go that far with it - or more to the point: have to spend that much money on it.  Got home, cut the copper line, put on the new valve and walaaaaah!

Okay, standing down. The only other thing left to do is return the bib I bought from Home Depot - but I have made enough trips for one day, maybe do that tomorrow or later on.

That was my "big" project for today.  I don't really feel like getting into much of anything else excepting the normal stuff I have to do around the house on weekends, which usually entails some amount of cleaning projects.

I hid my camera and I have no idea what I have done with it.  I remember hiding it some time ago, I have no idea where I put it and can't find it.  I really wanted to post some pics of the properties behind me to give some context as to what I am talking about when referring to either of those pigsties. These aren't normal people I am talking about and they do not live like most normal people do.  Well, I'll find that camera eventually.  I could use my cell phone to take the pics, but it doesn't have very good quality.

Well that's enough for one entry.

G'day.

ben

The drama continues.
The hoarders behind me - that own both properties that both border my property.
The city apparently told them they can't live there anymore, on the property that has no house but is filled with junk and ugly shack looking things.
So, these people - however they are related to my "neighbors" have now moved into the shack behind where my "neighbors" live.
I'm going to have to take pictures of all of this nonsense, in fact, I will.  I'll have to get on top of my house to get pics of the property with all the junk - they put up garage doors to block my view of it. You don't believe me.  Yes, they put up garage doors in the rear of the property in order to block my view of their property.  However, the roof of my house is well high enough to look over the top of those garage doors.

I will do that tomorrow.

Anyway, this shack behind the house is elevated.  I live on a hill,  basically, the properties behind me are at a higher elevation than mine. On that portion of property, there is a 4 foot fence.  The shack and house are well elevated above mine.  These people are now standing there, staring at my property and I am - starting to get pissed off.

I doubt the city will do anything about it, either, if I contact them about it.  The only resort I have to do anything about it if these people are there long-term - which I have to expect - is to build a block wall there at least 8 feet high.

I dunno.

I guess it's time to find the city's codes online and start reading - all of it.  I have had enough of this BS.

Well, I saw an accident today that was interesting.
A young guy - I guess between 18 and 20 - was cranking away on a bicycle.  I passed him while driving down the road.  I was stopped at a stop light a ways down the road, he was cruising right along.  The stop light I was at? An SUV was turning right at the intersection.  He had his turn signal on, it was obvious - at least to me - he was going to make a right hand turn.

It wasn't so obvious to the bicyclist, who came into my field of view as I started moving forward and saw him out of the corner of the eye and then? Saw him SMASH into the side of that SUV that was turning right, his body taking most of the brunt of the impact as he flew off the bike and smashed into the side of it and then slid down onto the asphalt.

I was completely amazed as this kid shook his head on the ground, got up, started looking for all the electronics that had also flown everywhere, went to his bike while the driver stopped and got out of the car.  I had also stopped and was going to get out, but this cyclist wasn't having anything to do with anyone helping him, it was pretty crazy, really.  For as much impact as that kid's body took, I thought he should have been checked out by medics at the very least.

He was having nothing to do with it.  The driver didn't want to call police and I shrugged my shoulders and left.  The driver had damage to his vehicle and frankly, that kid was riding on the sidewalk - not legal in these parts.  Cyclists are required to ride on the street.

Whatever the case, the weekend is here.  Not going up to the mountains.  It rained here today, hard and long.  I was all over the place and it was raining everywhere I went.

Except my area.  I don't get it.  I came home and dug my fingers into the ground - dry.  WHAT?!!!  I asked Mark if it had rained here. He shook his head no, it had dropped a few droplets in the morning but that was it. With all the rain that dumped around here today, and the area around the mountain where I live not getting hardly any of it, I actually ended up having to run the drip watering system today.

Unbelievable.

Oh well.  Becoming  the new norm.  No rain, don't expect it.  At least, not anywhere near where I live.  I don't know if the mountain behind us has anything to do with it or what.

I'm through.  Well, just throwing it out there: Obama campaign saying that Romney may have committed a felony.  Ummm, I am not a fan of Mormonism, but if a person is a devout Mormon?  Crime is pretty much a far-fetched thing besides the rogue mormons who want to engage in polygamy.   If the Obama administration is going to stoop to the levels of calling his opponent a felon, then it becomes obvious or at least apparent that Obama?  Is desperate.

The City of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Division; Planning and Zoning; Waste

The City of Phoenix.  A circus unto itself.  If they tell you they are going to do something, I give it, at this point, about an 80% chance that what they say they are going to do? Will NEVER happen.

Case in point (and I have several of recent versions, not to mention instances from the past) is my discussion with a "manager" in the Zoning division last week.  We had a long conversation about the property in question.  Namely, the 2 structures built on the property that could never pass a city inspector's inspection and the extension cord they are using to provide those structures power from the next property over.

The conclusion of the discussion is that she was going to send someone out to inspect the property and that she would call me back after that inspection was done.

Of course, neither ever occurred, as I just got off the phone with a person at the City that states there is nothing in their system about it and that he knew nothing about it - which this particular individual is in the position to have received this information from this lady that I spoke with since that is his venue.

I got shuffled around for quite a while before I finally got to this guy, btw.  I am not letting up on this, whatever can be done about the property legally, that's what I am intent on getting done.  It's a hoarder's dream and a normal, neighboring property owner's nightmare.  So, this is the determination: if those structures are under 200 feet, there is nothing they can do about it.  Okay.  I dunno how many square feet they are, but I doubt they are 200 square feet.

HOWEVER.  The extension cord running power from their other property to that one?  Illegal.  I know for a FACT there is no power ON that property.  SRP was going to turn the power on until they saw the pedestal and declared that that pedestal would have to be replaced before they turn the power on.  I know this because SRP has to come into my back yard to do such.  SRP told me this.  The pedestal was never replaced, hence, the power never turned on. Yet, there is a stereo blaring loudly over there - well it isn't any more after I called police - and there are lights running over there at night.

The end of the story is that he is going to have someone come over next week and make an initial inspection.  I am going to have to look through my notes and find this woman's name and phone number that I talked with last week and ask what, exactly, happened to her promise of sending someone out there.

Never-ending battle.  But, as one lady I was speaking with today noted, the City of Phoenix has some great employees that do their jobs well and then there are the idiots - her words - that are incompetent and have no business even working there.  Selah.

So last night, this horrific smell comes into my room.  I assume someone out there cooking something - nasty from the smell of it.
Well, I was awake anyway.  There was a thunderstorm with loud booms going off every few minutes, seconds, intermittent - couldn't sleep through all that noise.

After a while, the noise finally subsided and I went back to sleep.

I came out here - my kitchen - this morning and it smells unbelievably bad in here.

The kid tenant - the 22 year old.  This is what Lynnette just came out and informed.
She said she came out here last night after the smell hit their room, found a pot of beans on the stove, the burner was on high, the entire living room/kitchen/hallway filled with smoke, the beans looked as though they were going to start a fire.

Are you serious?  This isn't the worst of it.  That guy just left it like that.  In other words, he turned that all on and NEVER showed back up to turn it off.  Lynnette went and knocked on his door, he didn't answer.  She didn't know if he was in there or had left.  That kid is going to hear about it from me.  I can see - maybe - turning on the burner on low and slowly cooking the beans, but anytime you turn the burner on high, you better be around to watch it because the burner ring turns bright orange and it gets VERY hot.  Whatever you are cooking - usually on that high of a setting you are just wanting to boil water - it isn't going to take long.

The pot is ruined.  He will be replacing that pot and he will be offering some kind of explanation of why, exactly, he thought it okay to turn that thing on and then just leave/disappear - or he will be getting and eviction notice.  Pretty strange, the guy is usually a pretty responsible person.

But, it reminds me of Mary.  A former tenant who was on methamphetamines who did exactly the same thing one night.  The smoke detectors went off, I woke up obviously, went out to find a pot of water, boiling away, burner on high, no-one to be found.  In that case, though, we had already agreed that she was leaving - actually, I had given her an eviction notice because she wouldn't stop the meth - there was already tension between us and she came in from outside and started screaming at me.

Now, that pot of water was at a high boil and she didn't reappear for 10 minutes or more after I turned it off, removed the pan, dumped the water, cleaned the pot, put it away, put her box of macaroni away, wiped down the counters, all that good stuff.  That was the night she called the police on me but I turned it back around on her and had her served with the restraining order papers.

Now, for the kid tenant to do something like what he did, I do have to wonder if there are drugs involved with this or maybe he was drunk or something. I have no idea, but I will definitely be finding out and also looking into why the smoke detectors didn't go off.  They are both hard wired and battery juiced for electricity.  Even if the batteries were dead, they still should have gone off.  It's a damn good thing Mark and Lynnette came out and discovered that mess, cause' Gilbert just left it like that.  Eventually there would have been a fire.

No, that does not make me happy.  I have already had one house burn down, I never want to go through that again.  Gilbert and I are destined to have a frank, curt and unambiguous discussion in the very near future.

My house really stinks right now.  Same kind of thing when that other tenant put popcorn in the microwave and had it in there for 5 minutes.  The house filled up with so much smoke, you couldn't see anything and it destroyed the microwave.  It will smell for days, undoubtedly, in here. It's tooooooo hot to open up the house and air it out.  But, if it smells this bad when I get home from work, I may just have to open up the doors and windows for a few hours and try to get some of the stench out of here.

Gag.

So, manager is leaving town tomorrow and will not be back until 2 Mondays from now.
The person taking his place is an inside salesman.  This person - does not have time - for running a store and doing the work he normally does - at the same time.
When the cat's away, the mice will play?
Hardly.
It means I will be undoubtedly be working overtime hours in shipping and receiving - especially receiving and putting away materials.

I have to be honest here.  I like OT, no doubt, but in this heat?  By the time I have pulled orders; loaded the truck; get the truck to it's destination; help unload; go over the order; get into the truck and repeat - and finally getting back to the yard up to 9 hours later?  I'm done, exhausted, wiped out and ready to go home.

The heat is really getting me this year.  I mean, I endure it while I'm out there and no complaining, sweating profusely I might add most of the day, but by the time 2:00 pm comes around, I'm ready to go home.  The humidity levels are higher and that is what is really making it miserable out there.

Brace myself, right?  Indeed.  I think about the time quitting time comes around and I still have a bunch of work to do, I am going to get a gallon of cold water, go outside with it and dump it over my head.

I came home from work today and just plopped down into a chair. Uhhh, but I had stuff to do, including cleaning out a pond filter.  It's a bit of a job.  The thing was clogged up and no water was coming out of it.  It was filthy - full of fish dung.  There is enough filter material in there that it stops that stuff from getting through there, but it doesn't take too terribly long for it to build up and then clog up.

With fish as big as I have in those ponds, they need good, filtered water with a good movement of water going through that pump and out that waterfall.

It was 92 degrees this morning at 5:45 am.  It's 7:30 pm and it's still 107 degrees.  We don't get the benefit of a huge cooling event during the night. It "cools" down, but not like up in the mountains or other places in the U.S. where much cooler temps come.  When you walk outside in the morning and it's 90 plus degrees outside and it's not even 6:00 am, yeah, there is a bit of a mind game going on there.

Yes, I am commenting on the heat here.  Others can comment on the heat wherever they are.  That's great, but in many of those places, it cools down CONSIDERABLY at night.  I know because I have looked up various cities throughout the U.S.  When you walk out your door early in the morning and it's cool out, it definitely helps with your view of the day in considering being outside most of it.  Yes, it might be getting hot, but at least it STARTS out cool.  I walked out of my house this morning and between the 92 degrees and the humidity, I was dreading the day.

Whatever. The pond filter is clean.  The plants are watered.  The dogs are fed.  I am full.  Life is good regardless.

I could comment on other things, especially politics, but, who cares.   Maybe all those groups on both sides of the aisle could donate all of that money they are spending on negative ads and give it to a charity.  I made up my mind a long time ago.  It isn't necessarily a vote for anyone, it's a vote against the big spender.  Who wants to spend more and tax more.  And reduce our military.  And on and on.

G'nite.

ben

87 was re-opened yesterday. They sent out a huge contingency of hot spot firefighters, air craft and whatever else and had that fire put out quickly.  Drove by it on the way home, I have no clue how it started, but since it was directly on the side of the road, I assume some dingbat threw a cigarette out a car window or something similar.

Well anyway, 5 days off coming to a close, the reality of work and heat back in my face coming soon.  I could take 2 weeks off right now and still not feel like it was enough.  I intend on taking more time off next month.

The dead Sissoo tree.  By all rights that tree was dead.  All of it's leaves were crispy brown.  It was a "victim" of the drip system not working.  I fixed the drip system and spent 2 weeks watering the heck out of that tree.  I figured to give it a try before chopping it down.

My hope was based on the winter 2 years ago where the freeze was so bad, every single Sissoo tree on my property (I have something like 20 of them that I planted as saplings)  appeared dead.  There was NOTHING on those trees.  After watering and watering, every single one of them came back.

Well, happy to say that this tree?  Is covered with fresh, new buds.  It is putting out leaves all over the entire tree.  I caught the problem, apparently, before the roots died.  This tree was growing very nicely before this problem is why I was really going to be a bit sad to see it go.  It's about 10 feet tall at this point.

"Neighbors" - if you can call them that - behind me were out there yesterday and this morning - while I was up at the mountains - cleaning up the cat poop.  I dunno yet if they got it all up or not.  Monday the Neighborhood Services department is coming out, but I am putting more hope on the city's Zoning department inspector.

It's kind of hard to believe some of the temperatures being recorded in places in this country that really shouldn't be getting that hot.,  I wonder how people in those areas that don't have AC deal with it.  I would be going out and buying a window AC unit - at the very least - to keep at least one room cool in the house.  We live in extreme heat, but we expect it and are pretty well ready for it when it comes.  Some folks are stuck with evap coolers - which will not keep a house cool in the hot summer.  It will cool it down about 20 or maybe a bit more degrees, but it isn't going to be 70 in your house.  On a 115 degree day, it will probably be in the low to mid 90's inside a house with only evap cooling.  The advantage of evaporative coolers is they are cheap to run and definitely better than nothing.

Well, nothing to do but pray that cooling comes to those areas and comes quickly. If we could only just fast-forward to October....................

Fire

No, neither my trailer nor my house.
More like, the road, Arizona 87 and more specifically the "Long fire" has shut down the road to go home.
I didn't make this up, my mother called me a few minutes ago to alert me to it and asking me where  AZ 188 is? No clue, I had to look it up.
Near Rye, which is down the mountain from Payson, which is my road home.
K.
Not panicking here.
That area is desert brush.  I am guessing/really hoping that by tomorrow morning, when I wanna head home, the road will be reopened.
It would add at least 100 miles to the trip home to go around it - there IS no alternate route through there.  Not that I know of, anyway.  I would have to go up to Show Low, back down to Globe and on the 60 back.
PLEASE, Lord, let them get that fire contained or at least the road re-opened in a quick hurry.  That road is a major artery to the Payson and surrounding areas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

















!!

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

Or so he says, anyway.

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

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

___________________

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

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

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

lol

Aggressive Panhandling

I've never even heard of this term before "someone" wrote it as a very in-your-face comment here, in my blog.
So anyway, earlier, I wanted something to eat and since I am on holidays - vacation - I decided to have a delivery.  But, no pizza, thanks.

Mr. Goodcents.  I didn't call them.  I ordered on line.  1 sub and 1 cup of chicken noodle soup.  I have never ordered from the before.

When the delivery driver showed up, I took the bag with the food inside, handed him the money including a generous tip and away he went and I - put it off for a while because I was still doing things out front with the pond out there.

I'm assuming the individual that called me an aggressive panhandler will now call me a thief.

That's because when I got inside the house, very hungry indeed, I opend up the bag and found my container of soup and 2 subs in there.  Not one, but 2 of the type of sub I had ordered.  Did I call them and tell them of the screwup? Nope. Caleb had a friend who used to stay that night at our place when they were MUCH younger.  That kid still shows up around here asking me for advice.

He works there. As I said, I ordered online and made no notations of "special benefits".  Either they totally screwed up my order or that kid - now 18 with a daughter, lol - added it in there.

I have no clue, really.  But, to keep it honest, the next time I order, I will put in the notations that I received a second sub last time that I didn't order - and didn't pay for. They can determine what they want to do with it at that point.

Am I still an aggressive panhandler?  No, in fact, I NEVER have been. Thanks.

Hellhole

That was my description to the supervisor that finally called me back today.  The property behind me.  We went back and forth for over half an hour, but the man was adamant that he WOULD take care of this problem.  I am not going into all of that, but I can finally say that I think I have FINALLY talked to the right person to get this situation dealt with. 

Adding here that while we were talking, he pulled up an "aerial view" he called it, more like and probably a satellite picture - of the property and agreed that this property didn't look very good and totally understood why I might have a problem with it.

Meanwhile, all movie channels fell off of Direct TV today.  I by-passed all of the normal routes and went directly to the disconnection department.  You tell the computer that is talking to you who you want to speak to and walaah.  They don't identify them as the disconnection department and you don't have to tell them you want your service cancelled, instead, they ask you what the problem is and you identify it.  

That's "aggressive panhandling" at it's best.  Yup, I have NO qualms, whatsoever, asking for free movie channels. They, actually, don't have a problem with it and go through their system to see what free channels are available.  That's right, there are always free movie channels available with Direct TV, you just have to know that information and understand there is nothing wrong with asking for it.  

But if there WAS something wrong with asking for it, they could easily tell you so! No panhandling, no begging, it's a business transaction.  I have no problem - continuing on with the same thing against the individual that described me as an "aggressive panhandler" in asking for more than what their predetermined price says I should get.  Haggling.  Since when is haggling any portion of begging?  The person that wrote that on my blog can go piss off, and yes, I have a good idea who wrote it.  

Productive day.  Indeed.

ben

I'm reverting it back to a day trip only.
If we even go, the trip to San Diego and Sportfishing.
I was talking with an individual yesterday at the pastor's house git-together who had been on several
of those trips and was commenting on the overnight trips.

The bunks you sleep on are down below, below water level.
That isn't the part that bothered me, I don't care about being below water level, the next part is what got me going:
It gets very hot down there.  The air is stifled.  There is no air movement and it's hot and humid.

Oh.  I'm glad I ran into her.  The pastor chimed in and asked if it's possible to just sleep on the deck?

She didn't know but I thought it probably would be, they don't really care WHAT you do on the deck as long as it isn't dangerous.  But, no thanks. A whole day on the ocean fishing is enough, anyway. Maybe if we can swing it, we can get into SeaWorld and spend a day there as well. Or go for 2 1-day fishing expeditions.

Nahhh, one is enough, lol.

I'm a bit cranky today, which is why I never left for the mountains.  The reason is that the power went out last night around 3:00am.  I wake up instantly when the power goes out because I run a box fan all night long to help me sleep. It was very dark, no moonlight.  I couldn't see anything.  I got my laptop and pulled out the mobile broadband - which at least, usually, works at my house - and got online to find SRP's number.

Upon calling them, they wanted me to check the breakers.  Checked, duhhhhh.  I have a 200 amp board, it would take QUITE a lot to flip the main breaker on that thing.  The woman then instructed me to go outside and read some numbers on the pedestal. ??????????  What are you talking about?  What difference does that make?  I called to report an outage, it's pitch black, I can't find my flashlight, I can't READ numbers in the DARK.

"Well, sir, we will not send out a crew unless we confirm that there is an outage". I have just confirmed that there is an outage,  what do you want me to do? Read in the dark?  She stood her ground, I demanded her supervisor.  I got the same rhetoric.  Are you serious?

I just got off the phone with SRP.  I never want to experience that kind of "customer service" again.  If the power is out, the power is OUT.  It isn't subjective to my will, it either works or it doesn't.  As with Verizon, I did not call for freebies, though I was offered $10.  I said great, I'll take it, but that is not what I want done: I want to be assured, sir, that if there is a next time, this is NOT going to happen AGAIN!!!  BTW, it turns out there was some main breaker somewhere that had failed.  Not on my property, like a breaker that serves  numerous houses.  The man assured me that he would listen to the phone call!!

Yes!!! Must be catching on: record all phone calls.  I didn't know SRP did that. PLEASE DO listen to and review that phone call, I insist!!  So that's that.  The power did not come back on for over 2 hours.  I was awake the entire time.  It finally came on and I fell asleep for a short time but - woke back up and decided to hang it up: I'm up for the day and probably am going to be tired by the afternoon, which it is and I am.

Ohh, and walking out into the kitchen last night?  No noise in the house, ie: ac or other things on to make noise.  I could hear someone snoring LOUDLY in their bedroom.  Lol.  Glad I am not anywhere near THAT at night. I'm afraid going up to the property, at least today, is out of the question.  No desire in this frame of mind to do anything but sit here and watch a movie, which is exactly what I am doing.  It's vacation, if I want to go tomorrow, I can do that instead.  

Ummm, warpath day, I guess. I have now contacted 3 different divisions in the City of Phoenix concerning the property behind me.  That's because with all the issues that property has, I was directed off to differing divisions that deal with it.  The animal feces situation is dealt with by the waste division and they have their own inspectors.  The non-permitted structures and the electrical cord providing those structures with power is through zoning and the rest of it is through neighborhood services division.  There will be 3 different divisions worth of inspectors going out to that property in the next week.  Rather exasperating but the phone calls are done on that situation. 


So, I have had numerous conversations with Verizon and with the City of Phoenix, I might as well go for gusto and call Direct TV and dispute a charge that they have on my bill.  Oh, remember, I am a "aggressive panhandler", ROFL!!!.  


Editing:  I called DirectTV and it's the shortest conversation I have ever had with them concerning my bill.  I told the incoming call center lady at the billing department about the situation - very nicely I should add - and she simply agreed to eliminate the entire service charge.  Nice.

Well isn't that wonderful.  A complaint I filed against the neighbors behind me - junk, filth, cat feces - hasn't even been investigated yet.  I filed that complaint almost 3 WEEKS ago.  I called just now - to the City of Phoenix that is - because I haven't seen anything going on over there in terms of cleaning up the property.

My next move is to call the City's Zoning department and find out how to file a complaint on property encroachment.  The dirt from their property is pushing the wood fence out - into my property - and the fence is beginning to break apart.

Just got off the phone with them.  The first lady told me I needed to speak to a supervisor, fine by me.  Upon giving this second person the address of the violators with the unpermitted structures, she was perplexed. She asked me if it was the correct address?  Yes, I am QUITE sure of the address, thanks, I have already reported this address to your Neighborhood Services Department in the past and I found that address on the Maricopa County Tax Assessor's website.

Continued perplexity.  Well, normally, when I put in an address, it comes up - but there is nothing coming up here.

Ahaaa.  So there we have the problem. They don't even KNOW about this property.  Well they do now and this person is going to do some "research" and will be calling me tomorrow about it.  I believe the situation over there is going to change immensely after I get this rolling with the Zoning department.  There is NO way those structures over there meet ANY city code requirements.

I called the City Neighborhood Services department back and this time asked for management.  I was directed to the manager over the inspectors that are over my area of town.  This individual did not answer his phone.

That's where I have left it, for now.  I am pressing on with this war against them because - they started it with me and they have continued filing false claims with the City against me.  Not to mention the cat feces, which is piling up against my fence and is a huge health hazard.    In fact, the entire situation over there has been more than just an annoyance for quite some time now and it's time to see it change.

I have been battling in my mind for some time now as to what to do about this house/property.  Short-sell or stay.  I wouldn't actually have any problem, whatsoever, in short-selling excepting that I would end up having to rent.

Well, I found out some interesting information yesterday while at the pastor's house.  With Intel building it's new microprocessor plant, there will be 5,000 new jobs come along with it.  Intel is, of course, actively hiring.  Their qualifications are high.  You have to have a college degree AND your grade point average has to have been at least 3.7.  I know this because an individual at church tried to get in - he had a 3.5 grade point average and that isn't enough for Intel, even though he has 2 family members that already work there.

Amazing.  But, that's Intel.  On it's construction site for the new building, they demand a high level of excellence/quality/attentiveness to safety. Companies have, I have heard from personnel working on the site, been kicked off the site for failure in any of those or other categories.  Even with all the safety they have in place, a large number of accidents have occurred on that site anyway.

But, that brings us to the point:  with all of these people being employed, they are moving here and looking for homes.  The East Valley and more specifically Tempe and Chandler - and probably Gilbert - are experiencing a high demand for homes for sale and the prices are going through the roof.  That's because - yes - all of those people have to have places to live.  I am guessing many people are moving here from out -of-state, a job such as that would be worth moving here for.  High paying, lots of perks and undoubtedly great benefits.

This coming from the pastors as they were working with realtors to try and get a home in Tempe.  Every house the put an offer on had many other offers as well, many of them higher than their offer, even though their offer was for the asking price on the house.  This, obviously, does not bode well for a person like me that was thinking about short-selling and finding a rental unit until I can come up with the down payment for another house plus have my credit score recover after the short-sell does a 100 to 200 point hit on your score.

Rentals have also gone through the roof.  It's amazing the turn-around.  Had no clue this was going on in the East Valley, though I did know some time back that the new plant was going to create 5,000 new jobs.  I just didn't correlate in my mind all of those jobs and all of those people needing a new place to live.  The East Valley is the only place I want to live in the Phoenix Metro area.  I have absolutely no desire to live in the West Valley, a place I love to hate, I also do not want to live in Phoenix proper, and housing/rental prices in the northeast valley - Scottsdale - are way too high for my income.

The only real alternative I would have at this point, if I really thought I could handle it, which I am not sure I can, but that would be to move into an RV park, park the trailer that is currently in my driveway there and set up camp for an indefinite period of time.  My monthly costs would be greatly reduced. I could downgrade Direct  TV to a  much lower priced plan; electric usage would go down to less than $100 per month; water usage is sometimes given in the price of the monthly rental fee at some RV parks; the monthly rental I could get around $300.  Car insurance rate would also go down - they do it by zip code and I happen to live in a zip code that is greatly inflated per rates.

It's a non-starter.  For one, the dogs.  Would any of those places take 3 dogs?  2, the size of the trailer.  It does not have slide-outs and it would be pretty cramped living.  3, the fear of never being able to get into a home again.  Could I save enough money to come up with a significant down payment or would I be stuck forever?  But here's the real kicker: I watch a couple of online sites for estimates of what my house is worth, it has come back up over 10k in the last 2 months.  I'm now "only" around 60k underwater compared to the almost 80k it was at the beginning of the year.  Is this due to the Intel situation as well? I don't know.  I am right on the border of the East Valley.  If I thought that in the next couple of years, the value of my house would actually come back up to what I owe on it, at least, this idea of short-selling would vanish out of my mind.  Why short sell when I can wait, sell the house for what I owe and not take any kind of negative hit on my credit score?

But I don't know that that's going to happen. Back to the Intel situation, however, I'm pretty much screwed. I mean, if I could somehow acquire a LARGE travel or 5th wheel trailer with at least 2 slide-outs, then I would give it serious consideration.  Those offer quite a lot of interior room and lots of storage.  I could deal with that, but those things are much more expensive than these 2, older units I bought and I simply don't have the money for anything like that right now (and making payments on a larger unit isn't exactly appealing to me right now, either).

I am slowly winding down, in my mind, the idea of short-selling.  The con's are out-weighing the pro's by a large margin at this point.  I don't necessarily like having all of these tenants in here, at the same time, the crew I have now are very easy-going people and I get along with all of them.  The biggest pro to leaving this place is this ridiculous neighborhood with all the BS that goes on around here.

Dunno.  I'm just going to sit back and stay here a spell and see what continues to happen with housing prices.

Apparently the Verizon Wireless supervisor I tried to speak to, who wouldn't listen to a thing I had to say, interrupted me numerous times as well as talking right over the top of me and then hanging up on me - thought that nothing would come of it.

The issue was the first mobile broadband device I had returned. They had informed me that they hadn't received it yet and my bill was going to stay the same - almost $300 because they tacked onto the bill the full amount for that device plus taxes.

I informed the first lady I was speaking with that I had no intention of paying that inflated bill...........who cut me off.  I stopped talking, listened to her rhetoric and then asked for a supervisor.  She refused.  I simply sat on the line waiting for her manager, who finally agreed to put her supervisor on the line.  She also dished up the same regurgitated substance as the first person, excepting this person was extremely rude and almost arrogant. She informed me that after they do receive it, it will take up to 30 days to "process it" and have the amount removed from my bill.  Unacceptable, was my firm response, if you think I am going to shell out $300 for this service that doesn't work half the time anyway, you are out of your mind.

That is when she went into a litany of everything that must have either been written on her computer screen in front of her, or more likely memorized since she has probably spewed it out to countless individuals.  When I tried to get a word in edgewise, like in a pause in her speech, she would simply talk right over the top of me. When she finally did stop talking, I started asking about making a partial payment - the regular monthly payment, which is when she interrupted me again, told me how things were going to be and then hung up on me.

Big no-no in my book.  I will go to great extremes to have that conversation reviewed by the appropriate individuals. I do not know if Verizon records all of their calls or not, but if they do, that woman is going to have some answering to do.  That's because I found the Verizon Wireless corporate headquarters phone number.  It sends you directly to a voice messaging system - but I kept calling and calling and finally, someone actually answered the phone.  That individual transferred me to their executive offices and the gentleman that I was talking with certainly had the air  and demeanor of higher level management.  When I told him the story, he was appalled, asked for my contact information and told me that someone would be contacting me either later on today or tomorrow at the latest.

I'm not looking for freebies out of this, just that that lady's rude, unbelievable attitude towards her company's customers was too much.  I never said anything to that woman to justify the treatment she gave me and I assume this is her standard, modus-operandi in dealing with customers.

I have since been looking at other wireless broadband plans. I have doubts that any of them work any better, but perhaps one of them at least has some semblance of customer service.

The device itself is a piece of junk.  It will show you have 4G access but no internet access.  Or, you will have internet access and then suddenly it drops out, even though you are sitting stationary, not moving.  It won't show, however, that it has dropped out, instead, the internet stops working. Then, you have to disconnect the connection manually and also shut the device off and restart it.  This is a continual process.  Sometimes I will get 5 or 10 minutes of uninterrupted service, mostly I don't.   The device does not show you how much of a charge it has left in the battery, either.  It's more work than it's worth to use the thing and they really need to come up with a better working device with more options on it.  The only thing it has on it is an on and off button and lights to show whether you are on 3G or 4G network, there is nothing else and you cannot manually switch over to 3G if you wanted to make sure you had uninterrupted access.

The laptop computer becomes a bit useless without internet access. I have my own wifi at home and I sometimes use the laptop in my bedroom, but usually I am sitting at my desktop in the kitchen since it's a far better machine and is directly connected to wired internet access.  At least one company allegedly offers unlimited data, I forget which one but I can find it again, I think the price was the same or near the same as Verizon.

Although, I do wonder if I just get a plug-in for my laptop instead of this router device if that might make a difference. Who knows.

Today?  Not sure yet.  Was thinking of going up to the mountains, but I am feeling particularly unmotivated to do much of anything, much less driving the 109 miles to get there.  Not that that's a long drive, but, I just don't much feel like driving right now.  I have time today to change my mind, it's only 10:00 am.  I guess I'll have to decide by no later than 2:00pm, that gives me time to get up there, get situated and settle the dogs down.

ben