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