Saturday

A short entry.
I'm headed out soon for the Koi - foot longers - another pond being shut down. 2 of them. Fortunately, pond fish food is cheap. A huge can of it for $5 that lasts - well about 3 weeks now.

It rained again last night : ) I could do that every day and I wouldn't complain. It SHOULD do that everyday that the humidity is ridiculous out there. After getting the fish today, I intend on going out there and pulling grass and any weeds I might find. The expected high today is supposed to be in the low 90's.

I can't imagine what the humidity must be, but I'll take low 90's with humidity over 115 and no humidity ANY day of the week. My AC system loves it too. $13 used yesterday, compared to $20 on those days when it was 115.

I have been "barely" watering anything/everything for the last several weeks in hopes that the rains would come, drench the ground and I wouldn't have to spend hardly anything on watering plants this month. Mother Nature finally came through. So, not only does my electric usage go down, my water usage is already way down. If I get another high water bill then it can only mean one thing: there is a leak somewhere in my fresh water system - between the street and everyone on the property where the lines are running.

And I am thanking God that two of the 3 worst months of summer are done and gone. August - let's get through August!

Well, I'm going to leave early and get a coffee from somewhere - maybe McDonald's, it's the only thing at that restaurant that I can consume that doesn't have a kajillion fat calories in it : )

G'day.

ben

So, My Electric Use This Month...........

.........it's the 30th, 1 full day left to go and my assumption was correct: a $500 month in electricity. I have never, personally, had an electric bill that high, ever. It's stunning to see such numbers posted on the reader. Right now at $486.00, but the end of tomorrow, definitely $500.

The humidity here right now is atrocious. If I'm going to live in a DESERT, with high heat, at least give me the occasion for being able to live in a "dry heat", as EVERYONE from around the country continually reminds us.

No, my friends, it is NOT a dry heat. This morning it was 80 degrees at 86% humidity. I don't know what that feels like to people that always live in high humidity, I can say that it felt cool this morning. Yes, it really felt quite nice out in that.

However, as the day wore one, the sun popped out of the cloud cover and the temperature increased, it became quite uncomfortable. Now? The humidity going down: 95 degrees at 36% humidity. Getting better. However, the AC at the temp I have it set at - isn't enough. It does not come on enough an then, you have humidity in the house. Well, I don't LIKE humidity and I'm not going to sit here feeling like I'm sitting in the middle of a swamp. Yup, turned it down a couple of degrees and it feels much better in here.

Monday, I am finally getting a trip to Miami again. Arizona,that is, not Florida. Why does this excite me? Because I can use my 30 minute break time to pick up more rocks. And now, I know that it's legal to do so up to a certain amount. Well, I am not trying to bring back 10 tons of the stuff, just more for my ponds. Plus I love the out of town trips up into the mountains, ESPECIALLY during the summer.

Weight still in the 195 to 196 area. I am not concerned about it. It is WELL down from what it was. People continue to tell me I don't need to lose more weight. Yes, I do, but at the same time, I also need to start working out again and start building a little muscle mass again. Pushups are the only thing I am going to do. I am not going to join a gym - I have no extra finances for that, and I am not going to use my weight set outside, I just don't have the motivation to do so in the sweltering heat. But, just to say I am still off the cheese; creamy dressings; watching fat content on most everything; denying the impulses. Today, I DEARLY wanted to stop at a Dairy Queen that was RIGHT there where I was at at a delivery. A large, German Chocolate Blizzard. Yummm. NOPE, it took everything within me, but I got in the truck and drove.

Interestingly, later on, a man that OWNS a DQ right down the road from our shop came INTO our shop looking for plumbing parts. Unbelievable. Not the man, the idea that whatever it is you are trying to avoid on a diet, it seems to come plant itself, uninvitedly, on your doorstep.

Donuts. Get back to the shop and there are a dozen Entenmann's donuts sitting in the break room. Are you serious? I'm looking at that stuff just shaking my head. Again, when you are dieting, this stuff comes at you from all sides. When you are not, you never see this kind of thing around. Crazy stuff. I ended up cutting less than a one inch sliver off a donut just because.

Home. The ex-Marine who is going to chef school starting next month has cooked a HUGE thing of lasagna. I LOVE lasagna. Cheese? Diets hate cheese.

However, I did not resist this time. I ate a chunk of that stuff and didn't feel bad about it. Not near as calorie laden as a German Chocolate Blizzard, yet full of calories anyway. OH well, after an entire day of resisting, I gave in. My breakfast and lunch were a Subway ham sub - no cheese, no fat filled dressings. Just vinegar and honey mustard - which may have some calories, but no fat calories.

It's a battle, that's all that I can say about it, it's a huge battle.

The trailer tenants got their SS check today. They are welcomed to stay as long as they need to, but it seems to me that spending money on all kinds of stuff is going to inhibit their ability to get out of that trailer and into an apartment. Okay, so the stuff they are spending it on are necessities, still. He came in and handed me $40 to help me out. Great, I'm not turning it down, above and beyond the normal rent of a grand total of $25 per week. I'm guessing I'm losing money on the deal, frankly. That Mastercool is running 24 hours a day and there is small refrigerator in there plus DirectTV box and TV, microwave, whatever else. I hoped I was breaking even but I'm not sure about that at this point and also probably what is pushing my electric bill over the top.

That and SRP getting a 5% increase approval earlier this year, obviously dumped onto it's customers, one of which happens to be me.

No biggies. July is almost over, the 3rd month of earthly, Arizona hell to come and then, it starts to slowly cool down. 100's. 90's. 80's and then - paradise.

I have other things I would love to write about, but I have yet to replace this keyboard and it is getting VERY annoying. The c and d tabs are not working properly and it just isn't a good keypad. It sucks, frankly and (I just punched that and that and that several times to get the d to work) I am at the point that I MUST replace it if I'm going to keep writing anything.

I'm done (2 tries on that d).

G'nite.

ben

Friday

Friday.

Appears to have poured rain again last night, very nice. Yes, I checked the ponds this morning to ensure the circuit breaker wasn't popped, still in good shape.

I was also - pleasantly - surprised to come into work this morning and find a lot of stuff to do in the truck routing system. Mostly pickups and 1 delivery in Coolidge.

So, the big news? "Hundreds protest as Arizona's immigration law takes effect".

Hundreds? ROFL!!! That's all these mouthy people could muster, 500 or so protestors? If so many people, as they claim, are against this law, then how is it they couldn't even must a thousand people? When the government is taking some eggregious action that "most" people don't like, thousands of people show up to protests, not hundreds.

A bunch of those people were arrested yesterday, they were warned in advance that they would be arrested, good riddance to them. That law's teeth were taken out of it and they are STILL complaining about it.

The funny part about all of this is Sheriff Joe. Love him or hate him, he is STILL out there conducting his sweeps to find illegal "immigrants", basing his activities on 2 state laws. I neither love him or hate him. I love what he's doing with illegal immigration, I hate the fact that he has been sued so many times and lost millions of dollars in damages against him/the county, which, of course, the county has had to pay out. Still, anti-immigration law people hate him and apparently a drug cartel or smuggling cartel lord has placed a huge bounty on his head to kill him.

It's just beginning, there is no end to this nonsense. So, I sit back and find entertainment in it, somehow, though I certainly don't want to see our Sheriff killed by some crackpots - it would still be nice if Mexico, it's president and some of it's politicians would SHUT THE BLEEP UP and deal with THEIR issues instead of wasting time coming over here attempting to influence the inner workings of OUR country.

ENOUGH. Work day approaches. Weekend almost here. A full day's work (which is awesome, I HATE slow days) ahead, no clue what I'm doing this weekend, but I am sure pulling weeds and grass will be in that picture since the ground is saturated and makes for pulling that stuff out much easier.

Perhaps I'll force the boys out there to help me : )
Oh, and, of course, continue on with digging the pond.

G'day.

ben

Pond Trouble

It rained last night. It dawned on me today that I had left the property without checking the ponds. I do that every morning to make sure the pumps are on and the water is being aerated.
I spaced it out because I was checking out the ground to see if it was saturated - would I need to water plants today or not? NO, was the definitive answer.

Not checking the ponds this morning? BIG mistake. I'm guessing those pumps were off since early last night. Trailer tenants said it started raining shortly after I brought the dogs in for the last time last night, which was right before I went to bed - which - was at 8:30 pm.

The point is that the pumps are running on a GFCI circuit - the outlet has it's own circuit breaker which will shut off electricity to whatever right then and there if something is wrong, compared to having to have much more disruption and possibly, yes, even fire, if it has to wait for the main circuit breaker to shut it off.

Well, a little rain will in one of the outlets will shut off that GFCI breaker in a heartbeat. It's actually the recommended setup, yes, but...........then you have fish in water that isn't being aerated. Fish cannot live in stagnant water that has no means for the water to have air circulate in.

I was worried when I got home, went out and - yup, the pumps were off. I had the strip outlet covered, but, it wasn't good enough. The fish, however, were not dead. In fact, they were at the bottom of the pond. NOT moving around, but definitely not dead. Pretty easy to spot a giant, dead goldfish floating around a 165 gallon pond.

The bad sign would be them at the top of the pond, attempting to "gulp" air. That means the air levels are SO low in there, it isn't going to be much more time and they are dead. Ahh, yes, I checked on them, they are moving around as normal again - which for them, is VERY active. They are always moving all over that pond.

Well, that answers a nagging question I have had for a while now: if the pumps go off, how long will those fish survive in there? Should I think about finding a way to get a second breaker going on these ponds to have a failsafe?

Well, I'm guessing around 18 hours on the first question, I'm thinking I don't need anything more since the fish are doing quite fine - now, that is. So, breathing a little easier. However, these are goldfish, a very hearty creature, from what I have been reading and from what I have seen. They can with stand, from what I have read, MUCH more than any Koi will ever dream of being able to accept as livable.

Well, the point is that I want some Koi. I see them advertised for free - frequently. They do not, however, at least from what I have read, endure harsh conditions nearly as well as goldfish do.

Whatever the case, it has started pouring rain, and I do mean, pouring. I haven't seen it rain - well I haven't seen it rain in any amount for 4 or 5 months? 3 months at least. But yes, it IS pouring. The pond with the fish will be overflowing onto the ground. Not a problem, however, the water isn't tainted with chemicals and garbage, no big deal.

What IS good is that the ground is getting saturated. Totally. For free. Don't have to pay the City of Phoenix to do it, Mother Nature is doing it for me : )

Bad part about heavy rain? Satellite goes off, and though I don't watch a lot of television, I recently fell in love with "Kitchen Nightmares" with chef Gorden Ramsay, it's freaking hilarious. He goes into some pathetic, gross, vile places that are named as restaurants and gives the chefs, cooks, managers, owners - everyone - total hell.

So, I'm making frequent trips to the "back, side, door". The door is not used by anyone but me. It opens to the east side of the house - which - no-one else is interested in. That's my future little paradise. It's coming along. The bigger pond is right there, on the cement slab in front of that door. I can still walk in and out, yes. I wouldn't have done that if people were using it, but, again, I am the only soul that goes over there besides Great Danes and Catahoulas that are following me, or, people that are trying to find me. Yes, if I am not in the house and my car is out front, you'll probably find me over there.

I am checking my new setup to eliminate water from getting into electrical outlets, I am pretty sure it is a good setup and I won't have to worry about that again....but.....of course, you never know. Rain all but done. Pumps running. New setup to keep electrical outlets dry - working.

I have other things - especially the stuff that was going on in downtown Phoenix today - all the people being bused in from all over demonstrating against the new immigration law that has had most of it's teeth stripped from it anyway - highly amusing. I was listening to the radio while driving the semi and hearing all the screaming and chanting and - bs - while the reporter was giving his report. I dunno how many of them got arrested.

I was further amused that supposedly, 11 Greyhound buses full of opponents were going to be dropped off. Do you know how freaking unbelievably, miserably hot and humid it was out there? Unless those people have been here before, they were in for a wondeful surprise: Mother Nature handing out hell.

I have no current information to say whether that actually happened - those people all showing up - or not. I'm sure tomorrow, or perhaps even right now, I will find out the end results.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday

If FINALLY rained over my house last night. I didn't hear it - I wear ear plugs and have a large fan near my head to help me sleep. The ground looked saturated. I put off water plants for another 2 days simply because I was hoping it would rain - the water is free, thank you very much. MORE rain would be welcomed.

Key portions of the Arizona Immigration Law were struck down, but, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is still all over one particular portion of it where it says it's illegal to pick up day laborers from the side of the street. Yes, portions of the law WERE let through, in fact, in reading one portion of it, I'm wondering if the judge actually created a loophole. I'll wait and see what the experts have to say about it before I comment further on it. The portions that were denied are, of course, going to the appeals court.

The judge claimed that the law places and undue burden on the federal government. In other words, the federal government's mandate to secure our borders is an undue burden, apparently, in dealing with the illegal aliens that are coming through those borders.

Huh? Health care bill can go to crap and that money can go to protect our borders. A trillion bucks would MORE than do that very nicely. Obama's money tree doesn't extend to dealing with this issue, that the feds ARE mandated with, instead dealing with all kinds of other issues, which the feds have NO business getting into, AT ALL.

No need to rehash all of that, I have doubts this judge's ruling is going to stand in an appeals court. Who knows, I just don't see how the federal government is overly burdened by dealing with a thing that is it SUPPOSED to be dealing with.

Yes, I did more digging out there yesterday. The high heat and 50% humidity combine to make some rather hellish conditions. Wherever this humidity came from, it can go back. You say you are at 99% humidity. Yes, but I doubt you are at 105 degrees or higher. I got a lot done on it is all I'm saying, there is plenty more to go, but the progress is encouraging.

The non-paying, paying tenant showed up yesterday. She is behind in rent, but not enough to make me evict her. She just started school and allegedly has been applying all over the place for a new job. I believe she had real opportunity at the place she was at. Mistakes are one thing, intentional acts are another. If 2 weeks comes and goes and she is behind that much, then she gets the eviction notice. I'm sorry, but - not that sorry. Just have to take care of myself. I have not seen my financial condition this low in a long time. Electricity - eating up everything. The lowered temps this week should help bring the usage down by $5 or more per day. Every little bit helps, is all I can say about that.


I am going to look into leasing a solar panel array. Allegedly - that's all I can say without first-hand knowledge - it will take care of your power needs and actually cause the meter to run backwards, giving you credit. Well, since it obviously doesn't work at night, I assume the credit goes to the hours in the day that it isn't working since the sun ain't out. I dunno, just going to look into it and see what the costs are. I'm sure there is an elongated contract, which means that I am going to have to find out beforehand whether it REALLY does everything they say or not. The only way to do that is to find people that are in the program and see how it is working out for them.

As for everything else? Michael is still around, allegedly has found a job starting today. I informed him that showing up to work late usually gets a person fired. He and his entire family have this idea that you can show up to appointments, school - whatever - whenever you want to. It might work for everything else, it won't work at your place of employment. I threw that little tidbit of advice out to him in case he was serious about KEEPING the job, not just getting one.

I have my doubts, honestly. He has no clue. If he sticks it out, it will be a great reality check for him. Caleb has already gotten a reality check - working out in the sun, pushing all those carts around, yes, nice life-wake-up-call.

Yesterday at work was very slow. One delivery and then nothing. Today, there is a pickup and then delivery. That should consume around 2 to 3 hours and then.......nothing in the system.

Oh well.

Have a great day!
ben

Wednesday

1 Day To Arizona Immigration Armageddon

Now, there is an anti-immigration group that is demanding that Obama ensure that illegal “immigrants” – we used to call them illegal aliens (love that term far better) – are allowed peaceful, safe, DEPARTURE from the U.S.

Elton John – slams musicians that are boycotting Arizona by not coming here to perform concerts.

Arizona Tourism is UP, not down, even IF there are boycotts coming from all over the place.

Desperate anti-immigration law people are threatening civil disobedience.

Keep your eyes/ears tuned to the news, cause’ it should get interesting tomorrow, very interesting indeed. These people have marched and marched and marched out in this Arizona heat. Can I say there aren’t that many of them? I laugh just because of the waste of time it is for them to be out there in sweltering heat and high humidity, a toxic combination that undoubtedly kept emergency personnel busy handing out water and inserting IV’s to rehydrate people.

The judge has not ruled yet whether there will be an injunction, though, she certainly could at any time.

Look, I find this stuff to be at least mildly amusing. The fact that so many people are for this bill is one reason why. The other is simply that these folks continue to speak about racial profiling, yet, this law isn’t even in effect yet. How can they possibly know if there will be rampant racial profiling until after it is in full force and arrests start being made by using this law? They can’t. The loudest voices, sometimes anyway, are from those that are not here legally. Well of course you are against the law, you are a criminal, you broke the law by coming in here – illegally!

Yes, tomorrow should be very interesting and I hope the judge does not issue a temporary injunction.

Changing the subject, I walked out of my house this morning to be greeted by a few, fine droplets of rain. So small and so insignificant, it’s as if there wasn’t anything happening at all. This isn’t my idea of a monsoon. Let it RAIN!!!!

My diet is stuck around 195 to 196. I worked my butt off yesterday outside after work – well during work too, but after work intentionally to try and give this thing a kick start in the @$$. Dunno if it did any good and probably won’t look on the scale today to find out. I think I’ll try to get some good old fashioned shoveling labor another try after work today to give it a 2 day punch. In fact, several days in a row and then check the scale.

Well, work day is here and I must get signed in and get started on the day.
G’day.

ben

Thursday Is Coming.

Unless an injunction is set forth by the judge, the AZ Immigration law goes into effect Thursday. You cannot believe the hype and even declarations of civil disobedience that are coming from the - what amounts to in relativity - handful of opposers. That's because the supporters of this law - again - are in a LANDSLIDE majority.

More later. I lost an entire entry that I was writing, even the draft had nothing.

So, tomorrow, or more probably, Thursday.

I worked my @$$ off today. Besides all the driving and loading and unloading the truck, I had a finale of having to do a return. Doing returns in the direct sunlight in this heat and humidity? Yes, I can handle it, but, I ran out of water. Sweating like a running water faucet, that isn't good. I was starting to get a headache and not feeling well when I finally got it all done and drove out of there. First convenience store I saw? I stopped and got a bottle of water.

Drive home in a car with broken AC.

Get home. I promised myself that I would get that huge chunk of concrete out of there - TODAY - when I was hacking away at it yesterday.

Yes, I got it out, no, it wasn't a 10 minute thing, yes I am totally, absolutely trashed right now. Getting that thing out of there was MORE than enough.

I cannot write anymore because, I simply don't have it in me. I am going to bed today 2 hours earlier than normal, it's the only thing to do at this point.

G'nite.

ben

Monday

My entries - for now anyway, will no longer be in the morning with the occasional afternoon addition. I have no access to my blog at work anymore. That, after 3-1/2 years. I was only getting on before work, before signing in, but, it has been blocked by my company.

Well, no big deal. I'm eating frozen Talapia - okay, sounds bad but it's really good, actually and was my price range. Yes, delicious.

Onto other things. This morning, my first delivery, these people at a construction site I was delivering to had no equipment to unload the one stick of pipe I had on my truck plus a pallet full of fittings.

That one stick of pipe weighed 360 pounds. Those 2 plus me - equals 120 pounds a piece, I can do that. However, their idea was to take off one end of the pipe and set it on the ground and then get the other end off. Okay. We lift the pipe, turn it, set it on the ground.

Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the pipe to be able to do anything about what happened next: it started sliding down the rail of the trailer. I would have jumped over there to save the truck from being hit, but, I couldn't and those guys? No idea. Was it amusing to see the pipe crashing into the battery box cover and destroying it, along with one of the batteries under neath it? They made no move whatsoever to stop it.

99% of unloads are customer unloads. I always help, yes, unless they either don't want my help, or need it or - they are being reckless. Loader operators that have no clue take the top of that list. NOT that all loader operators are reckless, but when I see one that is, I just back off, however, if the equipment is going to be damaged by that recklessness, then I do intervene.

Well, the battery is probably $200 and the cover is more than that.

I have been out twice this afternoon hacking with a pick and digging with a shovel a VERY stubborn area where I am digging out the pond hole. I found the reason why, too: a huge chunk of cement. NO idea how it got there, none of my doings, but it's a pain to see the least. I am digging around it and will get that sucker out of there.

LONG interlude. I have been out there hacking with the pick, digging with the shovel and hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from point A to point B. Sweating profusely. Felt good - heat be damned.

G'day.

ben

Sunday/KCL

Look, folks, I am NOT the type of person to take delight in another man's disaster. I don't care if we had our differences, I feel very bad for Matt and Susan and all that they must be going through. I don't know if they lost their entire home or what, but I HAVE and I can tell you that going through that is right up there with going through divorce or a death in the family, it is THAT traumatic.

Someone left a comment on my blog yesterday saying something like "an act of God" took down KCL. I had no idea what they were referring to. The Bible plainly says "do not take joy in another man's calamity lest the same thing befall you". I believe that's the wording, anyway. I hope they didn't lose their entire home and I hope that they can get on with their lives in relatively short order.

Sunday mornings. I always love them - if - the boys are still sleeping and the tenants are either not here, or here and in their rooms. In other words, sitting out here in my kitchen/living room area with some degree of privacy/solitude. And such I presently have and hope to for at least an hour or so. It's amazing what sitting here in peace and silence can do for the heart and soul. Even IF the boys come out, I have a long-standing Sunday morning rule: NO TV's on and if they are going to play video games, sound will be turned all the way down. I normally push that rule until noon. The point is that there is more to life than TV, video games and constant "background noise" going on. In fact, there is much to be said to being in an environment where, at least at times, there are NO noises and the constant buzzing is eliminated.

I admit that I am going pathetically slow on getting that pond hole dug. I dig some out, water it to help dig out the soil, then leave it. Come back to it later and so on. At that rate, it will be weeks before that single hole is dug. I can honestly say that I am good with that. As long as I am getting something done on it, no big deal. I was tearing my bedroom apart in between digging episodes yesterday cleaning it. It is about 2/3rd's done. I wanted to vacuum and then use the carpet cleaner on the carpet.

Yesterday, I sat out with the fish for about an hour, just sitting there, listening to the sound of the water, watching these giant fish swimming around. I can envision myself putting an air mattress out there in the fall and sleeping out there a few nights. Way too hot to do that now. One very nice thing about my property at this point is that there are virtually no mosquitos and no flies. The flies were getting to me - oh yes, they were. We got even more vigilant in cleaning up an keeping clean any dog dung out there and that was the course of action that virtually eliminated them from the property.

The trailer tenants, well, they are wishing they had double checked the address that that SS check was sent to, because, of course, getting the government to reissue a check is like telling the moon to go bounce off of Mars. More like talking to brick walls, really. Yes, it can be done, yes, there is a very LENGTHY process to getting it done, not my fault is all I can say. They want to get into their own apartment - badly. I don't blame them, but that trailer is better than homelessness.

The female tenant that lost her job left yesterday evening saying that she was going to ask family for help with rent. I did not even bring up the subject, but I did make it clear when she moved in here that I am not very tolerant at this point with late payers. I have been burned too many times. If you can't pay your rent, please find someplace to live - I assume she would have to move back in with her parents - free up the room and let me get someone else in there. It may not sound very compassionate, but it's the difference of keeping this house or not. When MY back is against the wall, rest assured I am going to do whatever needs to be done to rectify any situation.

I'm still waiting for these monsoon rains that are hitting the valley every day, just not hitting HERE. I am watering the plants bare minimum. They show signs of drooping, they get 15 minutes of drip watering. A couple of plants are good for showing me if they are not doing so well. I am not going to experience another water bill like last month's if I can at all help it. RAIN would GREATLY help.

Well, that's it. I started my Sunday cleaning rituals early - a stack of laundry that needs done. Kitchen floor.....on and on.

Have a great day!

ben

Saturday

I haven't been to KCL in weeks, I just tried going there - several times actually - "Internet explorer cannot display the webpage".
Has it been shut down, is it a problem with my puter (though,I can access any other site I try), has my ip been blocked? Dunno.

I'm waiting for North Korea to shut up and back up their statements. Now, they are threatening nuclear war against the U.S. and South Korea if the military exercises occur in the South Sea. That's right, folks, they're going to drop nukes on - what - the ships out there? I'm sure they have at least a clue what would happen to them if they started using nukes on ANYONE.

Pretty much: annihilation. Certainly: all nuclear facilities being destroyed and possibly a takeover of the entire country (better idea than annihilation, since I personally doubt all those people living there in abstract poverty are in agreement with their government's stance, rhetoric and the fact that the sanctions ARE working, the government just doesn't want to admit it - yet).

The military exercises are going to occur whether NK likes it or not. Put up or shut up. This crap about SK being turned into a sea of flames?

Alright, enough of that. Meanwhile, "everyone" is still up in arms about the Immigrant Bill. No word yet on whether the judge will grant the temporary order to stop the law from being enforced starting Thursday. I haven't seen any polls yet that show anything different than a LANDSLIDE majority of Arizonans being FOR the bill. The liberal media showing people in tears because - they came here illegally, started a new life here, illegally, have had their entire families here, illegally, and now can't understand why we don't want them here - illegally. One lady, in thick accent, crying profusely about her repeated attempts since the 80's to become a legal citizen and her case has been closed.

Well, maybe go back to Mexico and try it the legal way. Or, wait until Obama gives all of you carte blanch citizenship. There is absolutely nothing in me that has one iota of sympathy for any of these people. If I wanted to move to another country, you can be rest assured that I would want to do the whole thing through whatever legal process I would have to go through, not just go there and hope I can somehow survive without being caught.

As bad as it is getting here with Obama and his idea that the bigger the government, the better, it still isn't near as bad as it is in MOST other nations around the world. Obama will not be in that office forever, hopefully whatever damages that have been done can be reversed. He wants to spend even MORE money. Apparently, he also wants to raise taxes. Well duhhh, you can't just spend trillions of dollars that don't exist and not have to somehow PAY for it.

Whatever the case, Saturday is here, I have done absolutely nothing and it's already 10:00AM. That will be changing shortly, I don't know what the expected high is today, hol'on, I"ll check: 104. Good. Not great, but FAR better than the 116 it got to last week. Yesterday, "only" $13 was used cooling this house - along with the rest of the electric usage - because the temps came way down. I can deal with $13 per day, I cannot deal with $20 per day.

Oh, well I'm going outside to work. I have grass to pull, more digging for the pond hole, all kinds of stuff going on out there. I also want to clean areas of the carpet that need it this weekend. Dogs need a bath, but I think I'll make one of the boys do that. Yes, I have an agenda and sitting here isn't getting it done, so, with that, adios!!!

ben