Quality Time............

............outdoors. It is currently 93 degrees and it is only 2:00pm, meaning more than likely it will go up higher. I was just outside digging holes for the next trellis installation. I am, of course, sweating like a pig - more info than you needed I'm sure.

Regardless, welcome to my reality: Earthly Hell.
It isn't here in full force yet, of course, but a stark reminder of what's coming certainly was applied in liberal doses to me for the last few hours.

I also started my foam insulation project. In fact, it's half done. I have the foam cut to size, I decided to wash the fabric before gluing it with special glue onto the foam. So, I'm waiting on the fabric to dry completely and get wrinkle free. I have this fear of having my house even hint remotely at the idea of "Trailer Trash", so - I am covering the foam with some material I bought not too terribly long ago off of Craigslist specifically for the project.

Next? Go out to the car and haul out 1 of 2 bags of concrete I have in there for the trellis project. Well, I'll need both, I'm just doing one at a time, of course. Cement the posts into the ground and after work tomorrow I will be able to screw the trellis onto the posts.

Meanwhile, I've been scrubbing my master bathroom, doing a thorough cleaning in my bedroom and scrubbing the kitchen. After that - well, I'm going to scrub the utility room and clean it up.

Basically, this is a busy Sunday as I accomplished next-to-nothing yesterday besides watering plants. I do, however, have this FINE cigar that I acquired at work. These are known as some of the finest cigars to be found in any parts around here.

I'm halfway decided this next paycheck to pay off the 401k loan and get another. I have little funds if something comes up - I would like to take whatever I can get out of the account and - put it into savings, actually. I have no emergency fund per se, and if something breaks around here, ie: AC/refrigerator/washer-dryer - I have really no way to get it fixed or replaced besides very high priced/financing options. Although, the AC is still under warranty. As it should be.

Anyway, have you folks seen this phenomenon from "Britain's Got Talent"? I don't watch that show and don't even know if it's available to watch in the U.S. However, the Sharon Boyle story fascinates me to no end. Basically, that show is their equivalent of the American show American Idol - a show I don't watch and have no interest in.

My attention was caught to this woman because of all the activity on the internet about it. So, I went to YouTube - and here is the URL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0h1NNk1Ik
and watched that video. I was amazed, to say the least. The woman - is not the prettiest creature on earth, just to put it that way. She walked on stage and Simon started asking his usual rounds of questions. The crowd was mocking her, the male judges were shaking their heads and obviously thought this was going to be a waste of time - or possibly entertaining to the though of how bad the performance she was going to make was going to be and it was all a big joke.

It was a few seconds into the song and Miss Boyle began to sing that the judges were visible shocked. The crowd got up onto it's feet along with 2 of the judges and began clapping. What an amazing story. I love it. This woman will undoubtedly end up getting rich - and I hope she does. She's a plain, simple person, nothing fancy, obnoxious or "glamour" about her. Her performance was stunning.

Anyway. It was a good story in the midst of all the garbage and junk going on out there.

I do not, however, have time for any more of this, as I am headed back out to sweat into the 90's, grab an 80 pound bag of concrete, mix it up and set another post.

G'day to you.
ben

Sunday

So - I skipped a few days of journaling. I'm not opting out of journaling, I'm just going through a phase here.
First, I've been driving all day every day this last week and - it takes it's toll. We have hardly been busy for quite a long time now - I get home from work and just want to go lay down. Driving doesn't just entail driving, it means pulling orders, palletizing and shrink wrapping them, loading the truck and helping offload the truck. When we're busy, I have a very physical job, actually.

The truck is loaded for an early Monday a.m. job. It's a new job starting up at an Intel plant - they are building some sort of brine pond - whatever that is - and there is a lot of pipe and fittings involved with this job. There was another job that is in our territory that I also would have gotten - but they want the material out there first thing, so I couldn't talk my way into it. My boss is gone on vacation and - they just don't contact us with what's going on so I basically inserted myself to help insure our store isn't losing any sales in the process.

Today? It's going to start heating up quite a lot. Prediction of 95 degrees today, 98 degrees tomorrow and breaking 100 on Tuesday. :(
I'm not ready for this. Of course, anymore, I never am. I have grown weary of living in a desert with hell-hot conditions and look forward to the day when I can more out of this town and entire area. My son and my mother are the only things that are keeping around. Mom's not getting any younger and I wouldn't even think about moving away from her at this point. I would love to hope that she can stay mobile all the way up until "The Day" - certainly there are people who DO stay mobile until that day.

I have thoughts of getting out there and digging some holes - and I guess I'll force myself to do at least one trellis worth of holes today.

Mary just came out and invited me to breakfast.
How can I refuse that?
Ummm, I won't.
Have a Great Sunday!
ben

Thursday

Today - was going to be a totally slow day, but I ended up driving all over the place instead. There are, apparently, some huge orders going out next week - I picked up 10 fire hydrants from a place I had dropped them a few weeks ago to get repainted and those are going out next week, I believe. There is a 16 page order in the system for a Monday delivery - that is a good deal of money and there are other deliveries allegedly going out next week that will also bring in the bucks for our store.
Today - a driver came to take our 10-wheeler away. A dealer in Tucson bought a bunch of our trucks that we are ridding ourselves of - they must have been selling them things cheap for a dealer to want to pick them up. I actually liked that truck - but - we only need 1 truck for our store since there is only one driver - me - and in this kind of business, you MUST have a semi with a flatbed trailer if you have nothing else. We simply haul too much pipe and heavy stuff and larger orders to be able to get by with a smaller truck only.

I picked up 2 1X4X8 sheets of styrofoam today and also another trellis. Just buying the stuff as I can afford it. I also sent out 2 payments: child support and the mortgage. Those 2 payments will leave me with less than $100 in my checking account - but fortunately, Mary paid me this morning and I expect 2 more tenants worth of rental payments tomorrow. My car payment is due today - so I'm now only a week out from paying it on time. It does not affect my credit score - has to be over 30 days late for that. In fact, I have it close enough that I don't even get dinged with a late fee.

Ummm, yes, I had the exterminator out today. It's been 3 months. I had cockroaches in here - but "Roach Prufe" has already done away with them. There have been dead roach cockroaches laying around in the last few days. The exterminator sprayed this place inside pretty darn good - just in case - but he said he couldn't find any evidence that there are any still around. In other words, the problem was nipped in the bud. I do NOT tolerate that kind of nuisance around my house. He stated that warm weather is going to necessitate him coming every month. This guy is pure gold - he would not tell me something that isn't fact. His rates are quite reasonable at $40 per visit and he totally saturates my entire property with the poison. His treatments are quite effective - just that I let it go for those 3 months because they never called me to come over, I ended up calling them.

Turns out they have a new secretary and it was an over-sight. I don't really WANT to pay for pest control every month - but my hands are tied, I have no choice. It's that or have bugs.

Oh - and it's going to start warming up considerably. In the 90's this weekend. Fun fun. Not looking forward to the 90's/100's/110's and up. NOT at ALL.

Ummm - nothing much else. I got my water bill today - $98.00 for ONE month? Oh - that's because Mary spaced out and left the hose running for about 12 hours at full blast one night. I'm going to show her the bill and politely ask that that doesn't happen again. Well, it's not just water - it covers sewer and trash as well, but that is about $38.00 higher than my normal bill. I guessed when she left the water on that night that it will probably cost me at least $30 on my water bill - I was almost dead on.

Okay, I'm done. Just the daily report.
Hope everyone is doing well.
ben

Wednesday

The last 2 days have been extremely busy work-wise. Show up for work, load the semi and take off.
Today I was running at an incredible pace - and all over the place. By the time I got back to the yard from my first run, which took over 7 hours, I was already bushed. I had to go out on yet a second run - and then I started feeling bad.

Something hit me and took the wind right out of me. I was very glad to get home today, sit down and take a load off my feet.

Switching gears had the small cans of tomato sauce on sale this week - 7 for a buck. That's a GREAT deal - and for my storage program, I'm going to buy at least 70 cans. I just buy things here and there and dump it into my food storage. Whatever is on sale, I buy a lot of it. I have been using some of it - but still - I have accumulated quite a lot of canned and boxed food in there. We are most certainly not out of the woods yet as far as this economy is concerned - I am not stopping my food storage plans for a while to come. You can do quite a lot with tomato sauce - a very versatile food and has about a 2 year shelf life span. Fry's does not put a limit on the number of cans you can buy when it comes to vegetables, tomato sauces and stuff like that. They definitely put a limit on meats.

I ended up confronting the tenant - via written notices as I have found that the best way to deal with such things versus in-your-face confrontations - I do believe the situation may work itself out.

Anyway, I'm just not feeling well right now, so I'm ending this one.
ben

Monday

I had 5 deliveries to make spread out all over the place today. Mesa; Queen Creek; Florence; Casa Grande. I was very surprised that it didn't take much longer than it did for me to do all of that.

My boss is leaving Wednesday ona week long vacation. So - he's missing at least 5 days of work - possibly more. He had mega-hours saved up of vacation time. Me? I have enough to take off 132 hours. That's what, 14 days? - or in terms of weeks - almost 3 full weeks of time that I can and want to take off.

Since I highly doubt I will be able to afford even a mini-vacation this year - opting instead to spend whatever monies I may run into on house projects - I am going to put in my bid for a vacation in June. June is, in Arizona and historically - the hottest month of the year. Last year's electric bill for that month proves it, too. June was a $410 total amount of electricity used, July and August were at least $50 per month less. I don't mind taking a vacation where I just stay home. Get up late, do some work around the house, take a lot of siestas, maybe rent several pay-per-view movies as my treat to myself.

I have thoughts running around in my head as to how to gain more income on a monthly basis. I would love to create another opportunity for another rental. Not in this house - well anyway, it's only in the "think about it" stages so I'm not really going to go into it right now.

So, coming home today, I see Duke limping. He did something to he left front leg and it definitely is not because of a dog fight. He go into something and it's hurting him - to the point that I gave him a couple of ibuprofen to relieve the pain. His face is starting to bloat up as well. I have managed, however, to keep the wound open so I can press the fluids out of it. Antibiotics should be here Wednesday. Now that I've found a place to buy it from, I'm going to keep a 100 count bottle on-hand for any occasion that warrants antibiotics. I have not even yet determined that Duke needs it - it just depends if his face continues to bloat or not.

Oh, hooray/kudos/awesome job! to the U.S. Navy that took out those pirates. The report I read said that Navy personnel on the warship saw a pirate lift an AK-47 to the back of the captured captain, and that's when the commander gave the order for the snipers to take them out. I'm going to tell you right now that I have absolutely NO problem with the deaths of those pirates. Going around acting like nothing can or will stop them - they need a dose of their own medicine. I don't know what they expected, playing cat and mouse games with the U.S. Navy and Navy Seals. Now the pirates are making brash statements that Americans are going to "pay for it". That's only going to cause the end of their subsistence. They start killing people - and especially Americans - do you think we're just going to sit around and take it? HIGHLY doubtful. I was elated to see the captain freed without harm! This was a MUCH better ending to this BS than I anticipated.

So, onto the negative crap. I have to write about it - it gives me some sort of outlet. I know, I bring this upon myself. Some people will think or even say that. So beit. I am a landlord with people living in rooms in my house that I don't really know or are related to me (though honestly, after 9 months of having Mary living here, I can pretty much read her like a book). The male tenant is causing me problems that I will not tolerate. Mainly, taking food out of my refrigerator and my pantry without asking, without permission, without even a thank you for the food he just stole from me. He took my mother's Easter ham that she gave me - a lot of it - and ate so much that my plans for having ham yesterday were quashed. I was going to feed myself and the boys with that and some potatoes and such. I ended up BBQ'ing chicken - which was quite delicious, but still.

I was going to just get in his face - I found the portion of video surveillance which shows him in the utility room, at night, with the utility room door closed and no lights on. My newest tenant - fortunately because it fully identified without doubt who did it - walked into the kitchen with a pile of clothes in her hands, she was going to the utility room to do some laundry.

Now, all the interior doors in my house have about a 2 inch gap at the bottom. This is for the AC - the AC system draws the air out of the rooms and back into the system to recool and then redistribute throughout the house. Well, my surveillance camera shows if there is a light on in there or not at night. Actually, that door is always open - it was closed earlier that day because we were watching a movie in here and didn't want to be disturbed by the noise of the washing machine.

There was no light on in there when she opened the door. When she DID open the door - surprise, surprise - there was the male tenant, standing there in the dark, eating my friggin' ham. Instead of getting in his face, I tried the "diplomatic" way. I left an extremely hostile message - inside of my refrigerator. Tenants have absolutely NO business being in that refrigerator, so if they see that message - well - they have no defense.

But, the situation is even worse. I was quite sure today I smelled cigarette smoke in my house. The new tenant has the phone in his room - that's my excuse to go in there - I use my home phone and not my company cell phone when I'm home. Sure enough, the room reeks of cigarette smoke.

Enough. I won't tolerate people smoking in my house, period. It's spelled out on my Craigslist ads that smoking is OUTSIDE ONLY - yes, in capital letters to exaggerate and make it stand out that I do not want anyone smoking in my house. I will be leaving him a written notice under his door. If it doesn't stop, I will evict him.

And enough of that. Just had to dump that somewhere, my blog is usually better than getting mad at someone and saying things I may later regret. Mary is gung-ho to do the tile project I want to have done in the living room, kitchen and utility room. I am hoping the stock market keeps going up - it will further increase the amount of money in my 401k, which is what I will use to fund the project. I have definitely decided that this is NOT my lifelong home. At the same time, to make it as appealing as possible, I want to do the things around here - inside as well - that make it very desirable to potential buyers. I'm going to have to change the oven and the refrigerator in here eventually as well. I imagine right now would be an awesome time to find very good, used versions of it - but - I only have so much.

Duke is already passed out - so to speak - on the floor after giving him 500 milligrams of ibuprofen. I will give him more tonight before we go to sleep and in the morning before I go to work and will buy another bottle tomorrow afternoon.

As for now? I'm done. With this entry anyway. I have thoughts of going outside and getting some work done - but those thoughts are fleeting, lol.

Hope you all had a great day!
ben

Easter

I think of all the holidays there are, Easter is the most important to me. Maybe not to everyone else, but - because Christ was resurrected, we have the hope of eternal life through Him.
Well, of course, the death and shed blood are obviously highly relevant to that factor as well - but the awesome thing is that Christ is not dead, laying in a tomb, nothing more than bones and hair somewhere. He is arisen and He is Lord!

Yes, that does excite me. The Lord has treated me very well in this short span of life that I have lived and I owe him my life, literally.
So, I just want to bid everyone a happy Easter and hope that folks that are so inclined, will take a moment to reflect on what Christ has done for us.

I have no great plans for today. I don't feel like doing anything. For some reason, the motivation levels have tapered off. Maybe I'll get some energy up later on to do some things that I want to get started on. I want to start jumping rope to add to the mix of things I am already doing. It sounds juvenile, but jump roping is GREAT cardio exercise and yes, it will burn fat if you are doing enough of them, continuously, for at least half and hour a day - 5 days a week.

I STILL have another trellis to put in the ground. Lol - just like I said, I'm really not at all motivated. However, that's a project I want to get done before the hot summer gets here - then I REALLY won't want to do it! Yesterday it rained a good portion of the day here and the ground is nicely saturated. I shouldn't have to water my plants for several days at least.

We all sat here last night and watched the movie: Knowing. Rather strange movie - very intense. I don't know how that website gets movies that are still in the theatres, but as long as it isn't illegal it doesn't bother me in the least.

Anyway, I'm done with this one as I have several things I want to check online and start the housecleaning rituals.

Happy Easter!
ben

Iran: We've Mastered Nuke Fuel Production

Here comes Armageddon.
The Bible speaks about 1/3rd of the earth being burned in the great Tribulation.
I often wonder if that will happen in my lifetime.

I mean, is anyone else concerned about Iran making this statement? They continuously make statements about the "need" for destroying Israel and America.

Israel, undoubtedly, is taking this as a serious threat to their national safety.

I wonder what the Obama administration is doing or going to do about this? A nation such as Iran would not just give up this capability - and frankly - I have no doubts they are seriously considering the use of warhead armed with a nuke to send over to Israel. One imagines Israel already having nukes aimed at various points across Iran already.

If it happens, it will be World War III and undoubtedly the end of life as we know it - if it's the Biblical future of a Great Tribulation.

Of course, I'm a religious nutcase. Well and fine. But if Iran sent nukes over to Israel, do you think Israel isn't already going to be sending nukes right back to them? And how will the world respond? Parts of the world will back Iran, other parts will back Israel.

I'm not going to get in fear - life will end for all of us in one way or another. It's just that it seems that this threat is only - really - being seriously considered by Israel, the nation that has the most threat of being on the receiving end of Iran's threats.

Ummmmm, whatever. Been reading this stuff for a while now, and now Iran comes out and makes this statement.

A nice time at mother's today. My middle brother showed up - and talked the entire time. I don't go to family get-togethers to get into fights, so I mostly keep my mouth shut at this point. My middle brother looks at me as some sort of inferior being. In fact, he looks at everyone that way, including my mother. I have no problem speaking my mind - but - in this case - it's pointless. Anyway, the food was quite good and my mother is always an excellent host. I wish she would consider moving this way - not that it's THAT far away, but - I have a hate for driving that cannot be fully explained in words. How can you be a truck driver and hate driving? Exactly. The idiot drivers in this town surpass all of America. There are deaths and horrific accidents on our freeways on a daily or almost daily basis. The callousness of people cutting off other drivers is nothing short of incredulous. I don't mind driving outside of the metropolitan area - but I absolutely HATE driving on Phoenix freeways.

I came home, unfortunately, to Duke having a couple of slices in his flesh on his face. I reviewed video surveillance to see if it was the 2 dogs fighting - I did not see any of that. I couldn't see, exactly, what caused it. Whatever the case, I used a garden hose and cleaned out the wound with running water for quite a while. If it is a bite wound, though, it's going to need antibiotics. I cannot afford $100 vet visits - I found an online site for antibiotics and immediately ordered a 100 count bottle. I want to keep antibiotics around here at this point. The dogs get into things and get cuts - and though I definitely do very good cleanings and keep cleaning the wounds, they sometimes get infected and then - you must have antibiotics for it.

Well, I'm not doing anything else today. It rained all night long and half the day today and is still raining periodically. Meaning the ground is saturated and I won't need to water plants for several days - 4 or 5 at least - excepting the plants I still have in pots from the nursery auction.

Anyway, I'm going to watch a movie - thusly ending this entry.
ben

Saturday

So - I'm going to my mother's today in lieu of tomorrow because of my brother's screwed up schedule. Just another sore spot with me - we are all expected to revolve around his schedule indefinitely. It's been going on at least 20 years now. I respect what he does for a living - but I don't expect that every single holiday that we get together that we should all have to deal with this. Today is NOT Easter, tomorrow is and that's the day I would rather get together with family.

Sounds petty - maybe it is, but as I said, it's been going on for over 2 decades. Then there's my oldest brother who isn't even going to bother to show up - he's going to his cabin up in the mountains.

I'm very edgy, unfortunately - quite moody is more like it. Since the day I found out my friend/co-worker was laid off, it's definitely not something that has just disappeared out of my mind.

Well, enough dumping. It rained last night - wish I hadn't missed it. It's still overcast and the sky is quite dark with a 40% chance of continuing rain - should be a great day, actually. In fact, days like this I just want to stay home, openthe windows in my bedroom and hang out. Another nice plus for rain is that my plants don't have to be watered, the sky did it for me!

I really have nothing else - just doing laundry and getting ready to go to mother's house - in about 4 or 5 hours from now. I'm opening up the house, letting in "fresh" air - Phoenix version.
Wishing you all a happy day.
ben

For Whatever Reason...........

..........I haven't really felt like writing much, lately, so I have just done short posts (well, they're short by my standards) and have given minimal information. I think my mind is on overload at this point with the situation at work and wondering on a daily basis if, when I arrive, I will leave in the same condition as I arrived: employed.
It's eating at me and I am losing sleep over it. I have strange dreams at night and wake up sometimes in a panic from the horror of the dream I just awoke out of. It's reminiscent of when my house burned down and I was seeing fire in front of me - visibly seeing something that wasn't there. Having horrific dreams about people burning up and all kinds of aftermath. This isn't near as bad as THAT, but it's bad enough.

It is also self-inflicted. When I wake up out of one of these dreams, I force myself to settle down, empty out my mind, and go back to sleep. The process of pointing fingers at entities, people and corporations isn't worth the energy spent. Though, I certainly look at particular people in the news and wonder. Greed, selfishness and self-centeredness are certainly adjectives that identify the psyche of some of these people.

Regardless, this is my explanation of why I haven't been my normal self on here. I have also been dealing with a certain tenant's "stuff" - which is basically an on-going thing. Get one person dealt with and something pops up with another. Someday, I won't need tenants. That day is not near in the future, that I can see, anyway. What it has done for me, however, is solidify the idea that I could be successful at renting out houses, or even owning a small apartment complex or even a room house. After having so much go on, you tend to gain a certain - view - of things about people living in your rooms and at least for me, tend to get very blunt with people doing things that are totally unacceptable. I have developed a modus operandi that works quite well for me, which 99% of the time starts with a notice given to the offender - or less in-your-face - a notice on the appliance or place that a certain mishap is occuring.

The newest tenant is a real gem in terms of treating my house and respecting it. Were that all people were that way. Mary is good, though, too, she likes a clean place and does her share. It's the 3rd tenant that doesn't much care for cleaning. He's on the line in terms of slobbishness.

Anyway, if I get to the point I don't want to deal with the s***, I end up going to my bedroom, plopping myself on my bed and watching TV with my dogs - who have their issues - but always show me a dog's version of "love". My dogs are always laying in view of me. Not because I make them, but because they want to be able to see what I am doing - for whatever reason I cannot fathom. Tenants have become very wary of disturbing me in my bedroom, mainly because I highly and openly object to it. If I'm in there, it's because I DON'T want to be bothered. People that might have knocked loudly now knock very lightly - and it better be something that needs immediate attention. This is very rare anymore. People walking into my room either with or without knocking without my permission is a past issue. I mean, really. You're laying in your bed, enjoying a show, petting a dog, minding your own business and a tenant comes barging into your bedroom? My reaction is not pretty - I will freely admit that.

Now, for those readers that have been coming here forever and I haven't done any updates - Michael and his family. Michael is undoubtedly going to flunk several, if not all, classes. I really don't know that for a fact, but he has missed far too much school for various "reasons". His mother approves it, gives him permission.
Anthony? ....is doing absolutely nothing but getting stoned all day long and watching TV at his mother's expense. His friend - the kid that burned down the house in exchange for marijuana - is out of jail and is living with them as well. I know these people very well, so I am guessing that there are more people living in that place than is - I don't know the word. I have a count of known people living there: 13 which includes Michael. I don't know if the grandfather is out of jail yet. I do know that always, they end up with various people I have no clue who they are living with them as well. So, I would be very well within reason to expect that at least 15 people are living in a 3 bedroom townhouse.

Michael was forced to start living there again - at Christmas now that I think about it. However, he talks his way into coming over here during the week regardless. He spent all of one night at his family's house this week - the rest was over here. That gives an idea of what must be going on over there. I remember being a teenager - I most certainly wanted my privacy and I definitely did not want everyone getting into my things. Which is non-existent in an environment such as theirs.

Caleb - got 2 D's in school. Which annoyed me greatly. He has his excuses and I summarily reject them. I don't accept the modern-day analysis of - conditions and drugs that correct them and all the bs that the "experts" assess. That shit didn't even exist 30 years ago - you were a lazy ass that didn't want to apply yourself and your parents would make you pay. Think that abusive? Think what you will, I'm old school and I don't accept all this crap of - the endless list of conditions that they have invented to disguise why a person "can't" do something and should be put on some kind of friggin' drug to fix it. Caleb will pay for it, is all I can say about it. Quality time alone in his room without TV or anything else for that matter always helps a person to think about why they are sitting in there with nothing to do - it's much like prison.

Me? Stressed. Definitely. Not helping things, either. Driving a semi is something better done relaxed. I have to force myself into that state of mind and put appropriate music on to help me get there.

More distractions with people/interupions and this is done cause' it's now time to go to bed.

G'nite!
ben

Friday

A truck driver that gets a truck stuck? Not the first time in my life!
I was attempting to turn around at a construction site and - there was about a 1 foot drop off on one side of the truck. I went over that, the frame of the trailer sat right down on one of the tires on the driver's side, the passenger side tires - all of them - weren't even touching the ground!
lol. Fortunately, construction sites have lots of heavy equipment all over the place - got out my chain and a backhoe pulled that sucker right out of the predicament.

I have, however, gotten trucks stuck so bad, that they had to use a bulldozer on one end of the truck and a giant excavator on the other end. I was pulling a belly dump and they were making us drive through thick mud in an open field. Almost every truck was getting stuck.

Anyway, it was all good. This was a fairly busy week - and Monday is more of the same, I already have the semi loaded with 5 different deliveries going all over creation. It will be about a 17k day - not great, but definitely not bad.

Ummm - so - it's Easter weekend and I'm still waiting to find out which day we are celebrating it. Our holiday feasts usually revolve around my middle brother's whacked schedule. If we want him there, we have to accomodate for him, which we always do - and which at least half the time means we don't actually celebrate whatever holiday on the day it's supposed to be celebrated. He's supposed to get his son from his ex-wife - who isn't going to let him have him, even though my bro has court orders showing that he gets him this Easter.

Not worth going into, a long story and it's been going on for years now.

So, I'm reading about pirates who are "not afraid of the Americans" and will "fight them if we have to". ???? ROFL!!! So, a small group of punk pirates are going to take on a Naval warship? What kind of weaponry do you suppose is aimed at that little boat that is holding that captain hostage right now? Enough to blow that thing and everyone on it into nothingness. What an unbelieavbly stupid statement to make. Now, when is the world going to get sick of this s*** and go into that country and establish some sort of government? I figure about the time people start getting killed. That's undoubtedly what it's going to take to get the ire of nations around the world up enough to want to go in and do something about that garbage.

Easter aside - whichever day we celebrate that - I am going to dig out the holes to install the other trellis. I should hopefully have that done by this weekend. I have decided to put trellises up in front of a couple of windows that get tormented by searing heat from the sun glaring through them. Or - if I find something else that has a different look that I can put up in front of it, fine and well. If it's all trellises, then I need 7 more of them.

Anyway, I figure Easter with family and putting in some trellises? That's going to be the extent of my weekend - the rest will be lazing around doing nothing as I am not very motivated at this point.

Today is Good Friday - which I doubt half Americans even know what that means anymore - but, definitely, it is for us, the gentiles of the world of whom can find salvation through Christ for the sacrifice He made at the Cross of Calvary. I am always thanking God for the cross and the death of Christ - without which - I believe anyway - I would be facing a not-so-pleasant eternity. Thank you, thank you Lord! Even more awesome - Easter - His Resurrection!

Have a great - and blessed - day!
ben

Thursday

Another busy and long day at work.
And a good day for sales, too - almost 40k worth.
Although no more news of continued layoffs - which is a good thing - there was news of some of the trucks being sold off. No need for them since we have gotten rid of some drivers. I think the company mandates that you don't have more trucks than drivers. Duhhh, of course. What I mean is, if you have 5 trucks, but are forced to layoff a driver, you can't keep 5 trucks, you have to sell one of them. So, a semi is getting said goodbye to and 2 10-wheelers.

I dunno. I was just glad to see that there was some sort of actual numbers coming into our store today. The boss had to let go of one delivery - which sucked, but what are you going to do? I'm the only driver and he can't take off - he has to run the store. I'm ALL for taking every single delivery that comes our way. But, I was making a delivery to Williams Gateway Airport and then to a jobsite in Casa Grande, and then back to Phoenix for pickups and then back to the yard. No time for a 3rd delivery. Oh, I forgot about the flat tire on the trailer - had to stop and get that fixed, too.

Anyway, it wasn't bad news about the trucks - our store is keeping the semi so no big deal to me. We couldn't get along without a semi. Sure, there are plenty of smaller deliveries, but there are also plenty of deliveries that only a semi can carry. Perhaps you could make multiple trips with a smaller truck - but then you are dooming yourself to losing money by both having to pay for fuel and man-hours for more than one trip and also possibly losing another delivery because you're caught up trying to get everything to a jobsite in 2 or even 3 deliveries worth. And then there's the 40 foot long pipe we deliver. That simply can't go on a small truck.

It was very cool this morning - which always puzzles me later on in the day - ie: right now because it's very warm and the AC is running.

I guess I'm saying that right now? I'm tired and I think I"m going to take a nap. I could get used to having these busy days again on a permanent basis - the energy spent is awesome!

C'yall later (or tomorrow).
ben

Wednesday

What a day! Downtown to pick up 40 foot sticks of HDPE pipe; Coolidge to deliver it; Florence to deliver yet even more pipe; back downtown to pick up MORE pipe and fittings for a delivery tomorrow.

That cashed the entire day. I have been going since 5:30 this morning and just now am finally able to slow down and take a break.

I'm definitely not complaining. Today's deliveries were small in terms of the money, but tomorrow looks to be a 35k day, which in these times, is quite good. The funny thing about tomorrow's deliveries was the boss's call about it. I had already pulled most of an order for tomorrow - a 20k order - this morning before I left. I can't show up to work and take off anymore in one of the trucks - there are only 2 of us running the store. My boss shows up later than I do, usually at least by an hour-and-a-half while he goes downtown to pick up parts and does whatever running around that needs to be done. So - if there are orders to pull - even for a week away, that's what I will do until the boss gets there and then I take off.

Anyway, he calls and is sounding hesitant about a second order that came through. Close to 15k worth, let's do it. I'm all for saving my job, anyone else? The more money that comes through that store, the greater potential that corporate might keep it open and - I don't get laid off. It also sounded like yet another order might be put into the system for our store tommorrow - as I say, the more the merrier. Get the number to an even minimal level is better than the stuff I've seen for the last 2 months, the lowest numbers that store has put out since it opened, I think.

Well, anyway, I took part of my break time after I made the 2 deliveries and was heading downtown to pick up a roll of fabric in Gilbert. A lady had it advertised on Craigslist. It took me all of 10 minutes to execute that - and I was very happy with the fabric as well. It's a southwest decor and there is enough there to cover at least the entire area of the sliding glass doors - in attaching it to styrofoam sheets. C'mon, styrofoam sheets would like so very tacky, more like trailer trashish, I just wasn't going to do it like that if I didn't have to. I don't even have the styrofoam yet, but I hope to get it in the next week or so. I just can't haul it home on my car - it would tear apart in the wind and try to come off the roof of the car even if I have it tied down well.

Anyway - I have always loved long days at work where there is no time to do anything but keep on moving. The day passes quickly and it's over before you know what happened to it.

Here? Nothing at the moment. My Leopard dog was, for whatever reason, very happy to see me come home today. She was dancing around and jumping up and down and going hot crazy. I thought maybe she had gotten into something, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The weekly grocery ads came today - and I'm gonna kick back and takalookit them.

Hope you all had a great day!
ben

Tuesday

Well, we did a little bit in terms of deliveries today - but hardly enough to say it was a great day in terms of sales. It isn't really affecting anything - yet anyway - in terms of too few people - all 2 of us - in order to get everything done. Costs are continuing to be cut at every corner. I won't be surprised when the free coffee is taken away. I drink a pot a day - regardless of whether it's hot or cold outside. I will either have to buy my own for work if/when that happens - or try to quit altogether. The latter doesn't sound particularly fun.

It's pretty warm outside right now. It's 90 degrees right now and obviously, I have to run the AC in such conditions.

My thoughts are running rampant in the area of how to survive all this mess. I am EVER so tempted to just pay off that loan and then take out as much as I can in a new one. Not so I can blow it, but so I can have some money in case of a dire emergency - such as getting laid off. I hope that doesn't happen, but I certainly have no guarantees. I also need to buy more stuff for outside to block the sun from hitting the house. As warm as it is right now - the sun is greatly heating the kitchen area by ramming it's heat through the sliding glass door. The thermostat is all of 16 feet away from that door, directly in line with it. It's just a waste to let the sun continue to come in like that and not do anything to block it out.

I just have no real direction right now - which is usually a pretty good sign to really seek the Lord and ask for His direction. I don't want to do something that will blow up in my face.

Anyway, I have more but I have been draining myself lately in the thought department and would like to go take a little nap.
Later.
ben

Trepidation

I was at Subway today - a frequent haunt for me. I have done away with a lot of stuff as far as excesses in my life - I have not done away with the trips to Subway to get a salad. I told the manager that my coworker had been laid off. She said wow - and then commented how he had told her that he was going around submitting resumes all over the place for part-time work. Further stated that he didn't want management to know about it.

Odd. When I decided that I was going to look for a second job, I told management first. "Is there a problem with me looking and maybe finding a part-time job to supplement my income?" - after I lost my OT hours. Nope. Even more odd, to me, because he never said nothing to me about it. We talked a lot about everything.

Uhhh, whatever. The company is desperately looking to find a way to keep the stores open. They have tried to re-negotiate the lease at my branch - the result was an offer of lessor monthly rent payments. Don't know that the offer is enough. Don't know that, in these times, landlords of warehouses should be getting to strict about it. They're going to have to pay the penalty as everyone else is. It was a fairly substantial amount of reduced rent - but not as much as our company demanded. The point? If it isn't low enough, talk about moving to a different building somewhere.

Now, that doesn't bother me greatly - excepting the fact of the amount of material that is sitting at our yard. To move ALL of that? I dunno - 20 truckloads at least. Yes - that's at least 20, 48-foot flatbed trailer-loads loaded to the gills with material. If we have to move, we have to move, I'm in for the game. My only statement was: I hope we have help.

Ummm, I'm done. I did not sleep well last night. I went to bed at 8:30 only to wake up at 10:30. I woke up several times during the night - and - it's just not fun trying to sleep with a brainful of junk that needs to be unloaded somewhere.
I'm hoping I can stay awake this evening for today's episode of 24.

I hope you all are doing - as well as you can depending on your circumstances.
G'nite.
ben

Monday Morning

It's a strange day here.
My now laid-off co-worker isn't here. Kind of eerie - we got along well and worked side-by-side for a couple of years now. I can't imagine what must be going through his head right now.
The change was certainly justified by the lack of numbers at this store - but it's true at all of our stores right now. I just can't help but think he and a million more like him are going to have an awfully difficult time finding a new job. It's getting pretty scary out there.
I'm definitely getting the gears grinding in my brain: what if the same thing happens to me?
Unemployment line would be first order of business, of course.
After that? I don't really want to think about the potential consequences.
But - I do want to get my old car in running order in case the unthinkable happens.
It needs a new battery, a harmonic balancer and some other, minor repairs.

I'm still considering paying off the 401k loan early and getting that money into a savings account where I can access it in case "something" happens. It's only 3 months away until it's paid off - but a lot can happen in the span of 3 months.

Meanwhile, I'm definitely moving forward with the stuff I'm doing to try and keep energy bills down this coming summer - which is just around the corner.

I just have this sick feeling in my gut this morning that I can't seem to shake. My mind tends to deal with extreme negativity in terms of news received in ways that are shown outwardly in a physical way.

Well, I'm just going to go about my business today and - eventually get over it.
ben

Final

Tomorrow marks the first day I have worked at this company I am working at at a store with only 2 people manning it. That isn't a lot of people to take on that much duties. It isn't impossible right now, though - workload has been relatively light. I do figure that my workday will increase in volume to the point that there will be no - inventing things to do - type of scenarios.

I spent the afternoon visiting with people. It is very nice outside and I would far rather spend a weekend outside than sitting indoors. Those of you that are stuck inside during the winter? I do the same thing during the summer. I mean - really - the heat just gets too intense.

I also cemented 2 - 2X3X8 pieces of wood into the ground. I'll be able to hang my first trellis tomorrow or the next day and then work from there.

I'm just - not quite here. I'm still in the ozone about the things going on at work. Undoubtedly, there will be announcements tomorrow about everything that may be going beyond the "staff reduction". I dunno. I'm just happy to be employed right now and at the same time, loving the job I am working at.

Hope you all had a good weekend.
ben

Sunday

Always lovely to come out to a nice, quiet kitchen and living room. Only other living creatures in the area are dogs laying at my feet : )

My agenda today is nothing too terribly grand. I have to go buy 3 more bags of concrete for the posts I am putting in the ground to hold up the trellises. I decided to concrete them into the ground so I don't have to put the 2X4's too far in. That leaves the post far enough out of the ground to be covering most of the vertical portion of the wall they are intended to cover. Really, the hardest part of this "job" is just putting in the posts. Hanging the trellises will be easy - some wood screws up and down the trellis going into the wood beam and that's it. I will also treat the wood with some stuff I already have to keep it from rotting away too quickly due to the elements.

Other than that - I decided on an impromptu little get-together. Nothing grand, just a few people coming that want to eat. I still have some meat left-over from last weekend and want to use it. Which reminds me - I must get that stuff out of the freezer and start thawing it. There wasn't any great response - maybe 20 emails of which 10 were comments about what I am doing (good comments) and the rest saying they would like to come. Figure half of those won't show so, yes, just a small little gathering.

I also still have sodas leftover, plus some very good potato salad. Meaning I don't have to buy anything, just get it out, cook it and it's done.

Whatever. I have laundry and other duties to do today as well - gonna get at it.
Have a great day!
ben

Afternoon

I sat outside for much of the afternoon.
I dug some holes for the trellises but decided I wanted to coat the 2X4's with some stuff to help preserve it before sinking it into the ground. They won't last forever, but - 5 - 10 years anyway. I also want to cement them into the ground, and I only have 1 bag of cement.

I also discovered that a 4X8 trellis stood upright is perfect for the area it's covering. I have 2 trellises, I will need at least 4 more plus 2X4's - but no hardware besides wood screws.

I'm still pretty dazed about today's revelation at work. There is, undoubtedly, more to come. I won't be "getting over" it this weekend, I will, instead, be thinking about the ramifications. It's not all bad. There is always opportunity. My opportunity is to shine even more - do whatever I can - work my ass off - get good attention versus negative - towards my efforts to make things work. I will be busy at this point. There will be no more boring days, I don't think anyway. Between my driving duties and undoubted new warehousing opportunities, it should get better in terms of day's spent working versus days spent trying to invent things to do.

3 boys laying around sleeping. Are they on drugs? Extremely doubtful. More like they stayed up way too late last night. Michael is vehemently opposed to drug use. My son and J.D. are all on the same page. Probably one of the reasons they hang out - they don't smoke weed like a mass of other kids are doing nowadays and have something in common. I am not naieve - obviously any or all of them could give into. I smoked pot in my teens for 7 years straight - I have a very keen sense of who's smoking. The signs are fairly obvious. No. J.D. is the straightest kid around - he sleeps alot. He comes over here and dozes off frequently. Currently laying on Michael's bed, totally passed out. Michael - currently laying on the couch - sleeping. Caleb - currently in his bedroom - sleeping. Not a normal event, no. But - I observed all 3 of them intently and saw no sign of drug use. I only say that because it is so very rampant - the free flow of drugs - in these parts.

As for me, I'm going to bed early. The day has had enough toll on me. I called my now ex-coworker - he had his cellphone turned off. Can always tell when it goes immediately to voice mail - that or the person is on the phone at the time of the intended call. I left a message and offered my condolences for the loss of his job and my hopes that he will be able to find another in short order. I feel very bad for him. He is married, doesn't have any kids, so - not that bad. His wife works and there is still income. I have listened to him talking about his home life intently for a couple of years now - he could definitely cut out more stuff and still be doing okay. Not that I wish that upon people - but when times get tough, it's time to toughen up. I have to sit here with a hide of alligator at times. The stuff the sometimes comes at me can be hard-to-take.

I mostly just let it bounce off of me and respond according to what the situation dictates. I only say that because I have 3 tenants - equating to strangers - living in here and the mix of personalities goes to all ends of the spectrum. Toughening up means doing things you don't want to do. That's all I'm saying.

And all I'm saying now? I'm heading to my bedroom cause' I want to get some stuff done tomorrow which doesn't leave room for idling around the kitchen.
ben

Saturday - Layoffs

I JUST got a call from my boss. My boss calling me on a Saturday morning at 11:00am is definitely not a normal thing - I braced myself. But not too much - if I were getting laid-off, they most certainly wouldn't do it over the phone. My company has a lot more class than that, I do believe.

So, I'm thinking - maybe an emergency that needs some material delivered somewhere? Or - the really bad stuff.

It was the really bad stuff. My friend/co-worker was laid off Friday after I left work for the weekend. I kind of had to sit down on that one. 2 reasons: I hate to see him lose his job - his family is already struggling, and 2, because after I listened to my boss, I realized I have just dodged another bullet. Kinda took the wind right out of me. Literally.

I'm really kind of phased and dazed right now. I don't know what to say. My friend and I have talked about the possibility of losing our jobs - the writing was on the wall. I have talked on here - just yesterday or the day before in fact - well it was in regards to the manager's meeting. I knew something was coming down the pike, and here it is. I don't know if anyone else was let go as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened as well.

So, I'm just sitting here absorbing this. Our store is down to 2 people: my boss and I. The store has to have a driver - they don't operate without one. If one of our stores doesn't have a driver, that's cause that store is being shut down, which hasn't happened yet. I will be taking on alot more responsibility, undoubtedly, in counting freight and putting it away, pulling orders, and doing most everything. The boss is a worker - he won't just dump it all on me, but if we get busy, it could get interesting. Regardless, I'm going to rise to meet the challenge and hopefully continue to prove myself someone worth keeping, if that possiblity exists. The company is going to continue to downsize as the market "adjusts".

I'm glad I got some thing cleared out today, because now? I'm not going to do anything. I'm not sulking, it's more like I bullet just grazed my head and I survived, but now looking at what could have happened. My only response is that I'm a survivalist and I will do whatever I have to - within moral limits - to survive. I don't much care for that word - it has some sort of stigma with me in my mind for whatever reason - but - it's my reality and a lot more people's right now.

Well, anyway, I'm going to kick around the house and try to do some things that might just take all of this off of my mind. Wish me luck with that.
ben

Friday

Not a bad day at work. I had to load the semi this morning with 1180 feet of storm drainage pipe and some fittings to go with it and then deliver it to a jobsite in Casa Grande.

This is a new startup, so I hadn't been to this site before.

There was a HUGE problem with the entrance to this place. I got to the site and stopped in the right lane of the street with flashers blinking - very low traffic so no big deal. I look at the entrance - there is NO WAY - ANY vehicle is getting through there besides earth-moving equipment.

A loader operation looks at me and waves me down the street. Oh, okay, there's another entrance. Blaaaaaaahhhhh. The entrance? A friggin' dirt driving with barriers on either side and only wide enough for the truck. I had to swing into oncoming traffic lanes to make that turn. I go down 100 feet and am greeted by a fence with gate.

Problem? Yes. The gate is on the right side of the "road". The road is only barely wide enough for the truck. There IS no room to swing to get the trailer in there. I'm always game for a new challenge, I love that stuff. I got the truck and trailer angled in such a way that I got the truck in there - with less than an inch of space on one side and maybe an inch on the other, it was that tight.

Managers and big bosses were all in a meeting at the main branch today. I could guess what was being discussed and I'm 95% sure my guesses would be correct. I heard a bit of news, but - there is confidentiality in what is being discussed in those meetings, it's not being let out. "Stuff" is coming down the pike, that's a given. I'm bracing myself for whatever is to come. It's just granted that there are going to be more layoffs. I don't wish that on any of my co-workers - or myself - but - it's going to happen. I don't know who, I didn't hear this from anyone, I just feel it. Just like I felt it the last 2 times.

I'm also guessing they're going to be closing down the store in Buckeye. Purely a guess - but unless they get their numbers up out there, it's a given. As I said, I'm bracing myself. Plan B - would be move out of my bedroom, leave the furniture in there and rent out a furnished room for $500 a month. Plan B would include unemployment benefits if it came to that. Plan B would probably work for a while, anyway. Yes, I would be moving into my son's room, and I would be leaving it up to him whether he wanted to continue to come over or not. I will not lose my property without a serious battle first. To lose this property would mean losing the ideal of owning property - probably forever. My entire lifestyle would change dramatically. I would also have to lose the dogs, or at least the Danes and maybe the Dane mix.

I'm not scared - I have been in these places before. But I am apprehensive. There was obviously stuff talked about today in that meeting that is going to affect all of us, somehow. I can't get information that can't be given, so I'm just going to go to work on Monday and hope - I still have a job. As I said, I have been preparing my mind and being for whatever comes my way. Whatever is doled out, I will take it in, and if it's extremely negative - absorb it, dwell it on for a short time - and dump it. I simply can't afford emotion in such an economic atmosphere - certainly when it comes to finances, emotion is on hold. A clear thinking head is the only way through such things, emotion can so greatly taint the way a person thinks. I have been guilty of it in the past, but right now, not.

I will undoubtedly spend my weekend thinking about this. There is not getting around it. The news that another 600 hundred plus thousand jobs were shed last month was hardly anything to get joyous about. It just means the economy is nowhere near coming back to life, regardless of what Bernanke says. My company is no different - they're in survival mode. I am in survival mode. I am putting certain projects on hold and am going to dump at least a couple more hundred bucks into my savings account. The rainy day is coming - I feel it - I want to be at least somewhat prepared for it.

But, I already have those trellises and everything I need to put that stuff together, so I'm definitely going to do that. And the cheapest thing to do for blocking out the sun's hot rays on the west side of the house is the styrofoam, so I'm also going there as well. That wont' cost more than $40 or $50 total, money WELL spent to SAVE money on electricity.

There are other things, but I am rather consumed by what's going on at work right now. Then again, so are alot of you/us. Money is so tight, that I am going to switch semi-trailers on Monday instead of them buying new tires for it. They have a trailer sitting there that is not being used and it has very good tires on it. The trailer I'm dragging all over creation right now has tires down to the wear bars. Wear bars are simply a piece of raised rubber stuck in the grooves of the tire. When you get to that bump, your tires are out of DOT specs and if you are caught, your truck will be put out-of-service and you will have to have that vehicle either towed out of there or have the tires replaced right there on the side of the road. I don't really care which trailer I pull, so no big deal to me. As long as it has slider rails for the winches on both sides of the trailer. If it does not (I don't remember on that trailer), it's a huge pain in the @$$ to work with. Maybe see if they could just take the tires off of that trailer and put them on the one I am using now.

Anyway, my son called, it's time to go pick him up and Michael just called wanting to be picked up at the Jack In The Box just down the street from where Caleb is.

Hasta la vista!
ben