I had a -black - woman last night on Facebook insinuating that I am a racist because I don't like Obama and because I am blaming him for the wrecked economy. The posting that I had made stated something to the effect of "On it's present course, America will eventually become a third world nation".

Note that I did not speak of president Obama or any other president for that matter.

I immediately unfriended her.  If people want to debate politics, all well and fine, but to throw the race card into it is a non-starter with me.  I will simply end the conversation, make the assumption that the person cannot engage in an adult conversation without throwing out all the dirt and muck, and that is that.

But, my statement was more about the sad state of America and it's rapid march into declining morals and godlessness. The idea that much of the newest generation is not receiving a good work ethic.  The idea that living off the government is more acceptable than earning a paycheck.  The concept that crosses should be removed off of government property because of "separation of church and state".

Whatever. I found a refrigerator. Looks to be in good shape, cold one side freezing the other with a functioning ice maker : )  Being delivered today.  Actually, while I'm at work.  Mark will be here, though.  He doesn't actually have to do anything, just direct them, it's an actual moving company that the seller has to bring the unit over here.  I'm guessing they won't want to remove the old refrigerator to put the new one in, though.  I would have moved the old one outside yesterday, but I don't have a dolly.  I can borrow one from work.

I am definitely only half awake here.  The alarm clock went off and I was in the middle of a deep, deep sleep.  It really sucks when you are sleeping that well to have to wake up to go to work.  The only good thing I can say is that it's Friday and after today?  9 days off : )  I'm sure they'll fly by but I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

The debate at work, however, continues on with my manager and the main branch warehouse manager arguing over whether a temp driver should be sent to my branch or sent to the main branch.  My manager's argument is that a temp driver does him no good.  He won't know how to pull the product and most of the accounts we service out of our branch they want an experienced person to deal with.  If the temp driver is sent downtown they need only load the truck for him and give him directions on where to go and be put on less "delicate" deliveries.

The Operations manager was CC'ed on all of it and finally intervened, lol.  I do hope they aren't trying to dump guilt on me about taking a vacation, cause' it won't work.  I earned those vacation hours and I am going to use them.  I usually only do a week long vacation once per year.  Before and after that, it's a day or two here and there.  If the company wants to have an operation that only 2 men are running, all well and fine, but it's going to have to figure out how to acceptably deal with these situations as they come up.  I am going to thoroughly enjoy myself on this vacation, even if I am doing absolutely nothing at all, though the fishing trip is a 99% go.

Well whatever.  Time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

It's one of those things.  You know you are on the cusp of an extended time off of work, so the week leading up to it - drags on, lol.  2 more days including today of work and it's done.

I'm debating whether to head up to the hill tomorrow or wait until after I get the fishing trip done.  I'm sort of pushing more for the other side of the trip than before.

The issue is the money spent on gasoline to get up there and back and the fact that I am going to be paying for around 850 miles of driving when considering the drive to Ventura and back.

Not to mention I don't really like putting all that mileage on the car, but that was inevitable upon the idea of putting a travel trailer up on the property.

Well, anyway, search for a refrigerator moves on.  I asked one guy whether he could deliver or not - I do that right off the bat along with my offer.  He didn't say, he just said the offer was good enough.  So I asked him again.  No reply.  He then contacted me yesterday and said: "Do you want the refrigerator or not?" I replied to him that he hadn't informed me whether he would/could deliver it or not?

The guy had a temper tantrum.  Informed me that "I ain't selling you nothing".  Declared that he had told me he would deliver it in the very first email and that I am a "Craigslist beginner".  Lol.  I went back to that first email and there was, of course, nothing in it that indicated whether he would deliver it or not, only that he would take my offer.

That's the world of Craigslist.  A LOT of flakey people on there.

I just laughed at the guy, told him his first email said nothing about delivery and that there are 1,000 refrigerators for sale on CL, no big deal to me.  Very odd, though, that a person that is trying to sell something on there would just blow up like that and turn down a cash sale.

I have been burning up out in the heat at work every day this week.  I am REALLY sick of the heat.  It gets so hot that after being out there for a while, your feet start to burn with the amount of heat on the asphalt going up through your boots.  VERY uncomfortable.  By the time work is done, I am out of it.  Yesterday, though, I went to the doc's anyway as I had a physical appointment.  He was going to do an EKG but then found out they had run out of the special paper, lol.  I have to go get some blood taken and he gave me a prescription for some other type of sleep aid.

I haven't tried sleep aids in quite a while, they don't work, at least not on me. This one, he declared, will work.  Okay. I'll try it once.  But not until the work week is over. If it keeps me AWAKE rather than putting me to sleep, I want to be able to not have to get up the next morning and just sleep in after the drug wears off.

Ummm, time to go to work.  At least there is something in there to do today.

ben

Work has been really, reaaaaaaallly slooooooow.
Hardly any deliveries and when there are, not taking a lot of time to do because they are small.
This is always a bad sign - not just for our company but for the outlook on the economy cause' when construction starts plummeting, it seems like everything else tanks right along with it.

Regardless, it also makes for a very long day at work when there  is very little to do and all the cleaning projects have been done, leaving nothing but sitting around waiting for something to come up.  We pretty much have the new place dialed in at this point.

There was nothing in the system for today when I left yesterday.

Well whatever.  I have the refrigerator situation to deal with.  But I'm not going to get in a rush about it.  The tenants have their refrigerator and I can live on frozen - the low calorie good kind - dinners until I get the situation resolved.  Meaning getting another refrigerator.  Meaning finding someone that is selling one that is what I am looking for - think big like at least 24 cubic square feet - and can deliver it.

Well, 4 more work days including today til' 9 days off vacation : )

Small group tonight at church.  They have asked me like 5 times now if I will come to this one.  So, gonna go but leave before it's over and told them as such: if it's gonna be a problem for me to get up and leave before it ends, then I won't be coming.  The last request they gave me to come included that they didn't care what time I had to leave and it's no big deal to just get up and go when you need to. Maybe, but when you're the one doing the leaving before a meeting is actually over, it doesn't actually feel like it's not a big deal.

Off to work.

ben

My refrigerator is biting the dust.  The freezer is still freezing but the refrigerator side is starting to get warm.  Gonna lose my food in there.  Not the end of the world, just took all the meat out of there and put it in my up right freezer.  That refrigerator went through that house fire and I was surprised the thing worked after being exposed to that high heat.  I'm guessing the fan quit working.  I'm not sure it's worth fixing.  A fan motor for the thing is probably at least $100.  I good used refrigerator - around $200 if I score, $250 if not.  Oh, you can get them for less, I am talking about something decent that isn't 15 years old that still looks good and you won't have to worry about it for a while.

It is, however, the worst time of the year for something like this to happen.  What it puts in jeopardy is my planned fishing trip next week.  I have the money saved for that trip, I have been saving for it for a while now.  It's also the only money I have available to replace it.  Note that I am not referring to the tenant refrigerator.

I have options.  Not necessarily desirable options, but I can probably get a fridge on payments.  Or take out a small loan to get one.  I have wanted to try and sell the travel trailer, I think it's time to get on that.  Tomorrow - I would do it today but the sun is going down and lighting not good - I will take pics of it - yes I finally found my camera! - and post an ad in Craigslist.  I dunno, though, how long it will take to get a buyer for it.  I'm not going to take less than I paid for it.  Or at least, at first I won't. If it stays on the market too long and no buyers, I will bring the price down.

Umm, but anyway, I don't really want to buy a brand new refrigerator - too expensive.  I have always bought used refrigerators and only once did I get a dud - after about 3 months it died.  Same with washer and dryers.  I just buy them used.

Well, whatever, got some thinking to do.

I gotta figure something out here.  These "people" living in the shack behind me are spending great quantities of time yelling at their kids.  I am talking 2 and 3 year olds here.
Screaming, yelling, that kind of thing.  It goes on and on and onnnnnnnn...........
I just sent in an internet complaint.  I start with that. Then, when the City of Phoenix's Neighborhood Services department completely ignores my complaint, I can then call Zoning department directly, tell them what's going on and then have them send out their own investigator.
The issue I can get them with is the numerous extension cords that are being used to send power into the structure.
If these people are THAT poor, then they qualify for HUD housing and the City will - or should - direct them  in the appropriate direction to get that kind of assistance.  I am not without compassion, I just am not going to tolerate this kind of nonsense going on 24 hours a day, completely disrupting my right to "peaceable enjoyment of my property".  WHY they are screaming and yelling at little kids that are that young I have no idea...........


I pretty much wrote my heart back to the ex about our son.  A person has to find their own way in and through life.  Parents can be there to support them - your offspring that is - but let the kid make his own decisions and let him reap the results of it - for good or bad.  Not that I wouldn't give some advice if I saw him doing the "jump off the cliff" type of thing where his actions are obviously going to bring him some bad results, but even then, didn't we all have to learn in life from our bad experiences as well as the good ones?

She has not replied to that email.  In her view, I'm guessing, she will be thinking I am opposing her and that I am doing it to spite her.  In reality, I want what is the best for our kid, but I am not going to be around for him forever, meaning he is going off on his own and eventually he probably won't even be in the same country as I am. Sure, we can email back and forth from just about anywhere on earth, but he's GOT to learn to live on his own, by himself.  To coddle him along is doing him a dis-service.

One more week of work and then I get my week off, which actually translates into 9, full, consecutive days of not having to go to work. I really need some serious time off.  I enjoy the day off or two here and there, but a good amount of time away from work is definitely called for.

I mean, sans any circumstances that would prohibit it, we are definitely going on the fishing trip.  The money out of my change bucket was enough to send it over the top.  I was really relying on that being enough to pay for the shortage and it more than surprised me in the amount that was there.  I am going to start all over again with it, this time hoping to cash in around Christmas.

Uhhhhhh, wow.  Well, I am not really a fan of interjecting my desire for my son's life in what he should do with it. He is a man now, he needs to find his own way.  Parents attempting to guide their children in such thing, I believe, really do them a disservice.  They aren't your 7 year old son or daughter anymore.  If you don't give them the opportunity to find out for themselves - including potential failure and learning from it - I think you are setting the kid up for ultimate fail.

So, the ex writes me a long email about how she feels he should go to a certain ministry to learn about God.  I read the entire email and shook my head.  "She" feels this and "she" feels that about his life.  That's nice, but in a walk with the Lord, each person has to do that for themselves, no-one can walk it for you.  Her intent is to tell him that he should go to Teen Mania - which is a good ministry, I am not saying it isn't but I don't necessarily agree it's the direction the Lord has for him right now - and that's that. "She" prayed about it, therefore it should be.

Yeah, maybe it is, but from my perspective, probably not.  He is going to school.  He is learning Japanese.  He is also doing other courses that he feels he wants to end up doing with his life.  He feels called to Japan.  He is IN school, I mean he went down there and signed up again and it's all paid for.  If you are learning a language, to take a year off and go off to a ministry to do something else is not going to be conducive to you learning that language.  I am guessing a lot of Japanese actually speak English as a second language. English is taught around the world.  But if you are going to minister in the name of the Lord to a foreign land, how much more effective are you that you can speak their language and speak it fluently?

So, I will have a very long conversation with my son when he comes back.  The conversation will not be about whether he should or should not go to Teen Mania, the conversation will be about how to seek the Lord and find his direction for your life.  We have been having several long conversations in recent times - not because I am forcing myself on him - he actually starts these conversations and I throw in my life's experience.  Always easier to learn from someone else's mistakes and observe someone else's successes and perhaps glean something from it.  We spoke at length last night before he headed off to his mother's house and then this morning, off to a week long ministry experience in California, all expenses paid for by the Salvation Army.

We have been having some interesting discussions.  Especially about the Bible and what it has to say.

_________________________________________


So some suggestions were floated around on how to make the view of those people disappear.
One was to get some oleanders and just let them grow big.
No thanks.  It would take too long for them to get that big, number one and number two, I'm not a big fan of those things.

But, it did give me thought that I could just stick 10 foot long 2x4's in the ground and put some sort of material up that would at least temporarily get rid of the view of them - or more to the point - them looking at me.

Or, perhaps, put up large trellises back there and buy a bunch of vines from the nursery and start growing them out of view.  Much cheaper than a block wall and eventually it would definitely remove their ability to see me and my ability to see them - which is the point, I don't WANT to see them and I don't WANT them looking over my fence.  Not only that, but it would look good.  It wouldn't be an eyesore and would actually enhance the aesthetics of my property, not degrade it.

I could also put up an 8 foot chain link fence, cheaper than block and easier to install.  Then, get the vines and start growing them on the fence itself.  I have that already on the east side of the house and it has done the job of almost entire blocking out the view of those people.

Well, whatever the case, I can't do that right now.  Well, I could, skip the fishing trip and use that money on that project instead, but - I am not going to do that. Whatever I end up doing about it, it's going to have to wait.  But the seed has been planted.  It's time to simply remove their ability to be looking into my back yard.  I will be thinking of ways to deal with this situation in the next coming weeks - though the trellis idea really sounds nice, actually.  I think 4x8 trellises are something around $20 to $25 each and I would need probably  8 of them.  I already did this on the back side of my house.  I put in 10 foot 2x4's, cemented them in to the ground and then attached the trellises to the 2x4's.  I think planted some vines - but the vines I bought are REALLY slow growing, I gotta get something else for it.  But it looks good is the point.  They are redwood looking trellises.

Oh, and another thought that crossed my mind is that I could remove the axles off of that 5th wheel trailer and effectively turn it into a permanent structure by putting it on blocks and then dressing the area between the bottom of the trailer and the ground with some skirting.  No longer a travel trailer.  I don't know that I am going to actually do that, but I bet the city couldn't do anything about it if there was another complaint filed by, who else, the idiots behind me.

Whatever.

Well I was just out there, tending to my fish.  The summer monsoon winds are really messing with some of my pond plants : (     They were out there again.  Apparently, they have 2 kids - very young kids at that. Maybe 2 or 3 year olds.  So, a guy, his wife/girlfriend and 2 kids living in a shack that is about 6 feet wide by 8 feet long.  They were making a LOT of noise as well.  I'm going to call the city on Monday - I just plain put it out of my mind yesterday - and get it dealt with on the fact of them running electricity into the shack with an extension cord, a definite no-no by the city's Zoning standards.  If that doesn't work, I can call CPS and have them check the welfare of those kids and I can call the Neighborhood Services division again and see what they can do.
____________________
Last segment I wrote earlier today, got busy with other stuff, but posting it anyway.

As for the rest of today?

It's cashed.

Later.

ben

I'm just going to have to build an 8 foot tall fence there, where that shack is behind me and that's the end of that story.   Ummm, so that means gonna have to save up the money for the block.  A regular 6 foot tall fence will not blot out the view of them, not with their property being higher than mine and the fact that they are standing on a deck, which shoots them up another at least 2-1/2 feet.

Interesting. I just found an entire section in the city of Phoenix code of things that do not require a permit.  I noted that a structure that is less than 200 square feet doesn't need a permit, but at the same time, it does not allow for persons to be living inside of it.

Well whatever.  It's Friday and I am just going to go to work, come home and see what happens.  These people should be getting the message that I am not going to just sit back and allow them to mow me over, standing their like a doormat with printing that states: Please Trample Me.  People that start trouble with their neighbors but, somehow, don't quite correlate that that trouble can and probably will come right back at them - are not very intelligent people.

I can only say that it is a good thing, when this kind of situation is going on, that there is someone here 24 hours a day.

Anyway, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

The long and short of it is that I handed him a copy of the insurance card some time ago to put into the glove compartment of the car.  I also warned him a few days ago that that registration is expiring and the car needs to be taken into an emissions testing station before I can re-register it.

This is regarding the old Buick and Caleb driving it after getting back from the summer youth camp.  He was pulled over yesterday by a Mesa police officer - the plates had expired as of, yesterday, lol and apparently the insurance card I had for it was not in the glove compartment.  Well, the cop told Caleb that the car is not insured, this apparently coming from his database on his computer.

Yeah.  The State of Arizona.  They screw all kinds of things up all the time regarding motor vehicles and driver's licenses, it's not surprising to me that they don't have the insurance on file, even though it's been sent to them twice now.  Caleb got off lucky, though, he only got a warning.

Whatever. Caleb called earlier and was waiting in line.  I haven't heard back from him whether it passed emissions or not. It passed with no problem last year after I took it into the shop and had some work done on it, I am really hoping that carries over to today as I really have no spare money to be spending on it.

Well whatever. Paying the mortgage today wasn't so much fun.  Like - ouch.
________________________________________________

Wow!  Double wow!  I walk out of the door on the east side of my house - my little private domain with the ponds and a very nice setup. I'm feeding the fish in one of the ponds when I feel something unnerving.  Eyes. I can ALWAYS feel eyes on me.  I look up and there is this freaky looking dude in the neighbor wars porch - at the shack - standing there, facing me, arms folded.

Nope. I am not putting up with this kind of shit.  WHAT are YOU looking at? "I haven't figured that out yet",  spoken in some sort of strange sounding voice as if he weren't all there and an obvious insult.

Who are you and what are you doing back there?

This is my PARENT'S house and I can do whatever I want!

This guy is in his 30's.  His face looks like the face of a meth user.  He has tattoos going all the way down both arms.  He is wearing a muscle shirt and you can see tattoos all over the exposed parts of his flesh, going up to his neck.  His hair is hanging halfway down his back.

OH, nice, so you are living with your parents, in a shack that is smaller than the size of my bathroom, in your 30's at least and this is your life?  Nice, buddy.  I freely admit I pushed his buttons right back after attempting to press mine.

He got mad, of course, but I wasn't listening to any more of his shit and started piling it on.  He disappeared. 5 minutes later, Sam - the guy that owns the house - came out, looking over the fence.  "Howdy neighbor".  I  wasn't falling for it this time.  I could go into the elongated history of him and his wife making up complete and totally fabricated stories in order to get me into "trouble", but I don't have the time or more importantly, the desire to go into it again on this blog.

I have held back for over 6 years now.  I let it all loose today.  The hoarding.  The cats.  On and on.

Yeah, I got past that conversation quickly and went about my business out there - it's my property, I AM entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of my personal property.  I will not tolerate some freak of nature standing there glaring at me.

Well, I go into my house.  I am in and out a lot.  I come back out maybe 5 minutes later.  I was repairing a blown water line on the drip irrigation system - it's hot out and the rains a few days ago were good for a few days, but there are certain plants that start drooping if they don't get enough water.

Well, this time, that guy is out there, with Sam and a woman and some other dude out there.  This guy starts in on me and goes ballistic. He's yelling, beating his chest like and ape, throwing his fists around and telling me he is going to hurt me and that he shouldn't have "messed with my parents" - on and on.  I seriously though the guy was going to jump the fence and try to assault me!  I did NOT threaten this man, at all.

Well, I just went into the house, got my cellphone, came back outside and called the police.  Gave a full description.  Police came to my house first.  I relayed the entire event and then they went over there. This guy took off his muscle shirt and put on a long sleeve shirt to attempt to hide his tattoos!

Whatever.   These people are not going to intimidate me, they are not going to get away with threatening me and yes, I had my gun in my pocket.  Not that I want to use it or even bring it into view, but with this kind of shit going on, I am going to have it available.

I'm pretty much bound and determined at this point to make this fishing trip happen. Why? Cause' I want to go fishin' on the sea!
Umm, it only made me want to go more after talking with another driver from our company that works for another division today.  We were both at one of our company's plumbing stores  - he works for fire and I work for waterworks.  We run into each other here and there.  We started chatting and I told him about my plans to go seafishing.  He was all bright-eyed after that and declared he had just gone last weekend.

The dude knows a lot more about fishing than I do.  I used to love fishing when I was a kid, but I just haven't done much of it in my adult life.  He figured we should go on an overnight trip.  Great, but the company I found isn't doing overnighters  the week we are going to go.  The day I want to go is a 13 hour trip - the entire week has only 13 hour trips.  I will continue to look for different sportfishing companies, but I am not going to look forever.  An entire day on the ocean will be fun and that's good enough for me.

Anyway, besides suggesting the type of lure I should use - which was good information - he also suggested going to a doctor and getting a patch that you put behind your ear to eliminate any possibility of getting sea-sickness.  You know, I am confident that if I were on boats often enough, it would never happen. But last year, when the boat was anchored in very choppy waters around the Coronado Islands, that boat was getting heaved all over the place and I eventually started to feel it.  I took a dramamine pill, which helped, but  I would rather not have to even think about it.

Oh, and I would think about the company we went with last year, but they raised all of their rates.  The overnight rate went up by $40 per person and I am not interested in paying that much money for an overnight trip.

__________________

Nice. I have been dumping change into that big container for months now.  All the time, every day: whatever's in there, dump it in there.  I handed the thing to my son today and asked  him to go and take it to a Coinstar machine and see what happens.  I figured at least $100.  There was $170 in change plus $85 in bills.  I also found the Motel 6 coupon for a free night's stay.  Good til' the 27th of this month.  Yup, we'll be staying on the 13th and the 14th - I am not driving home after a whole day on the ocean, just like last year, I KNOW I won't want to drive home and will be staying in a hotel.

The end.

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.