Tuesday

As this week moves forward - towards my Staycation - the news seems to be filled with more and more garbage. I tend to flip past the political junk and get to the meats of the matter. But, I don't really want to go into it, just interesting stuff going on out there - interesting in a good and/or a morbid way, definitely.

I feel like getting my house filled up with tenants is something that really is a major feat. I had visions of having empty rooms well into September - this month now - and wondering how I was going to deal with certain things coming up. It does give a little confidence for any future fiascos, if it happens again - in the loss of all 3 tenants basically at once.

And even better, none of the current mix are going to school, they are all employed. I say better because people looking for rooms for school are only really going to be looking for such during certain parts of the year, such as right now. Some students get fed up with their living conditions and move somewhere else during a school year, but basically they are good where they are at.

So, I am considering taking Pete - a former renter - up on his offer for free airfare to wherever, though he wanted me to visit his new and hometown of Boiston. I haven't been in Boston in 3 decades and I really don't even remember what it looks like. It would be cool to fly out in an evening, stay a whole day and then fly back 2 mornings later. Pete works 7 days a week at the airport, so probably visiting with him will not exactly be a lengthy deal, but there is a lot of history and things to visit and see in Boston, no doubting that.

Another place I have ALWAYS wanted to go back to is Pittsburgh. I've driven by it in my trucking adventures, but not TO it. I want to go to my old stomping grounds on Davis Avenue in Brighton Heights and see how it has changed. I've been told the woods and forest that used to be behind our house is now an apartment or housing complex, not sure which. Oh that place was fun growing up. Deep, dense woods with trails and huge trees to climb.

No telling if that will ever come true or not. Anyway, I'm going to ask Pete how to go about doing all of this and if he actually will send me tickets or just how that works.

Meanwhile, the temps are coming down during my Staycation and I fully intend on getting with the drip irrigation installation. I have simply put it off as I am just sick of this heat and want to bid it a firm goodbye before going out there to do all of that work.

Well, work day is almost upon me - it's almost 6:30am - and I must get prepared for such as there is plenty to do today, which, thankfully, should keep me busy until it's time to clock out.

Have a great day (or evening, depending on where you're at)!

ben

Sunday

I could kick myself - but I won't.
SRP - Salt River Project - one of the local power companies, recently changed their modus operandi.
Recently within like a month ago - more or less, can't really remember.
Well, start with M-Power. It's prepaid power, really. You have a card just like a debit card, take it to an M-Power machine, put the card in there, load money onto the card, bring it home, stuff the card into the card-reader and it tells the rather sophisticated electric meter how much you put on there.

On the weekends, it "used" to be that even if you ran out of money on the reader, the power would stay on until 6:00 am Monday and "Accumulated Debt" would show on the reader. Not anymore. Now, it's just like the rest of the week. If you run out of power after 10:00pm, it stills on til' 6:00am the next morning, not Monday morning.

Yes, my money was low on there yesterday, something told me that I was okay until Monday morning and my habit is to go on Sunday afternoon to reload the card. Power went out at 6:00am, about an hour ago. I was sleeping nicely, too, until it went off and my big box fan went off with it.

Good grief. I immediately get out of bed, get dressed, head up to the store. Half asleep, I walked around the store figuring what the heck, I'm here, might as well do some grocery shopping.

Anyway, that's my trauma for the morning. lol

I am definitely going to try to remember NOT to let that happen again.

Of course, now that I'm awake, sleeping is not an option, I have already delved into the world of coffee with creamer, getting online and thinking about going outside to do my watering chores that I have neglected for a day and a half. I'm trying to cut back on the use of water - but not so much that my plants suffer, of course.

Really, it's Sunday and I would like to delve myself into a good worship service somewhere.

Wonder what kind of disdain I would get from people if I walked into a church dressed as I am now? Athletic short, wrinkly t-shirt, ankle cut socks and tennis.

Lol.

Oh well, it's nice and quiet in here and I think I will enjoy that peaceful serenity for a little while - I have no doubts that it will disappear in the next coming hours.

Happy Sunday.
ben

Wednesday

So, it's official. Ken's family is coming on Saturday to get his things. It's really a relief - his mom told me they're talking MONTHS worth of rehab. I know I've been rehashing this same subject, but it's one that I need to get rectified and behind me one way or the other. As I have been saying, Ken is in a bad way right now and there isn't really ANY progress coming forth now.

Dunno what else to say about it. My mind is so full of getting these rooms re-rented, there is little room for anything else. I did spend some time praying this morning, though for a handful of individuals that came to mind, a couple are fellow-bloggers on KCL.

I have yet to hear from older gentleman that is supposed to move in today. I guess from now on, anyone wanting to hold a room is going to have to give me some kind of deposit money. Not saying this guy isn't coming, I have no clue! That's the trepidation part of it.

Stupid me, I don't know what I did with his phone number, either.

Oh well. I'll go digging in my papers and find it- it's around somewhere.

Really, I'm begging Mother Nature to PLEASE bring some cooler temps. Instead, she's going to throw us 111 degree temps tomorrow and the next day. Gag.

It's abysimally slow at work. I have done one small delivery today, which was really laughable. I had 5, 20-foot sticks of 2-inch diameter PVC pipe on my truck - a whole semi to deliver that and some fittings.

It looks beginning the second day of September the temps are going to cool down into the high 90's - I'll take that over this ridiculous, non-ending nonsense that we have been getting.

Well, still at work and breaktime's over.
ben

Tuesday

Slow week at work so far - seems like it should be Friday or something.

Anyway, my latest ad landed me a tenant. Well, we shook and he's moving in - but. The But? You never know until they actually show up. He loved the place, told me about his situation, looked around several times, decided this is the place for him.

Again, I always have reservations about people until they actually show up and are ringing the doorbell with a U-haul settin' out there.

I have yet another tentative tenat that I might be able to put off until I find out about whether Ken is actually going to be able to get up on his own anytime soon, or, am I going to have to re-rent the room. If you came over here from my Facebook and you are a friend of Ken's, please think about it before making judgements.

My house is currently more than I can afford with hour cuts at work. Tenants are my lifeblood between staying here - or losing the place. Ken is a good guy and we get along great - but I simply cannot afford to keep the room open forever. The rubber meets the road and I'm doing what I have to to survive. The 1st of the month is looming - I could wait it out for a while, yes, if I knew he was going to be on his feet, back at work and doing his thing.

But, at the moment, he isn't even out of ICU yet and he's been there since 3 Saturdays ago. He hasn't fully awakened that I have heard, just a little here and there and then back out of it. The hospital officials have said when he does get out of ICU, he's going to have to go in for rehab. How much, who knows, we aren't even there yet.

Point? I wish I could hold the room indefinitely, reality dictates that I would have to call his family and ask that they come get his stuff, or, if they are so inclined, pay his rent until he recovers.

I hate even saying stuff like that, but my situation is far too immediate and in-my-face to play any kind of games with anyone about my intentions or my needs. I have something of a loan mod going and the first payment is due at the beginning of October. My desire is to be able to actually get some cash stashed in the bank and be able to withstand any unforeseens in terms of finanical calamities, the which I have endured more than once in my lifetime.

If you think that sounds selfish, then slap me upside the head, but it won't do anyone any good, I have played the game of Life long enough, I know what happens, I've been down the paths and the roads where things go, sometimes it just isn't pretty and there is nothing else to be said about it. Life can totally SUCK at times and that is the truth for most people. God never guaranteed His children a rose garden with no thorns, He did say He would be WITH us and that He IS our Provider. I've walked through the thorns and the snares and the traps, the pitfalls, the smoke-n-mirrors and though I don't always see things coming, I definitely can spot SOME of it coming before it happens.

Lord how did I get off on all of this. I'm trying not to feel guilty, I guess. I don't believe that in doing so I would be doing anything immoral, unethical or wrong, but I still struggle with things like that regardless.

Wow. Well, I hope these 2 people pan out - I guess I'll find out tomorrow about the other guy with his Boxer who is allegedly moving in. I haven't heard anything from him, but then again I haven't contacted him. We shook hands and that is all I figure I needed from a man from his generation of upbringing.

I wonder if all of that applies anymore.

What does a handshake on a deal mean to you? If you say "deal" and shake on it, does your handshake - which used to mean your word as good as signing on a contract - mean anything? If something better comes along, do you even think about that shake of that hand with the person you committed to?

For many, I think it's meaningless. If something better comes along, blow that person off that you shook with. What's worse, and really the mind-blower for me, you don't even CONTACT that person to let them know you are history. You just shank it off as a meaningless event. Not YOU the reader - but if the shoe fits, you know what to do with it.

And that's where I left it with both of them: PLEASE just let me know if you find something "better", I will not cuss you out, yada yada yada, I will just move on and find someone else. They both agreed, though the older gentlemen pretty much declared his intentions of moving in over here and that was that for him. Yet.........the current condition of the American mindset...........I don't necessarily trust that, not anymore. Not for a long, long time, really.

I believe in the American spirit - freedom; independence; justice for all; but the grit that this country was based on? Does it still exist? Do we REALLY mean what we say, when we say it? Do we find excuses to not honor our word? Would I include those that are being foreclosed upon? If a person has done everything they can possibly think of to do and still come up short - as in a person that has been laid off due to the worst recession since the Great Depression - no. But at the same time, I don't ever want to allow myself to fall into the mindset of thinking that if they can do it, why can't I. It's a personal choice to try and live my life within the disciplines of being trustworthy; honest; true; loyal. The qualities that I admire in many of our Founding Fathers.

ben

Sunday

I've been writing a lot more on my other blog - but since there are those that are following me here I will continue to write at least one entry a day (try to anyway).
Starting yesterday and finishing just a little while ago, I went and rented a Rug Doctor and went to town.

First I did Mimi's old room because someone was coming over yesterday to take a look at it. It wasn't bad really, at least not in sight, but Pete had told me he had seen her in there several times cleaning up messes. So I did a good cleaning in there just to be sure.

I then did the hallway - that was pretty dirty stuff, I went over that stretch of carpet several times before I was satisfied it was clean.

I then went into a tenant's room whose name shall remain nameless. It was DISGUSTING. A huge trash bag full of beer cans, old rotten food and plastic dishes for frozen/fast food. Garbage laying all over the place, clothing everywhere, it smelled bad and I finally determined WHERE the source of my cockroach problem is.

It is no longer. I cleaned that room up thoroughly, included moving the furniture and doing the carpet cleaning thing all over in there. It was so disgusting, though, that I kept thinking I was going to get sick. I've seen people who live like this numerous times in the past when I was both doing missionary work and work in the church, but I have never had such a person LIVING IN MY HOUSE.

Well, anyway, I got that done - it was easily the hardest part of the cleaning - and then moved onto the huge living room this morning. That took a couple of hours, moving furniture around and going over the carpet endless times until the water was coming clean out of the carpet. Think I let it go a little too long this time - with so many dogs I probably ought to be doing this every couple of months.

My bedroom was easy - just had to go over the area where the dogs sleep quite a few times but I didn't bother moving furniture since the only thing a person might find under there is dust. I can't say that it smells any better in here - I really don't ever get a bad smell going here excepting that particular tenant's room that was probably having that smell being distributed all over the house via the AC system - but it looks better and it's just the "feeling" of clean.

So, this potential tenant showed up yesterday, tookalookit the room and I guess he's pretty much decided he wants to move in, but not so fast, Charlie. He didn't bring his dog with him - he has a dog. I'm good with that part of it, but not without that dog meeting my dogs first. They must be able to get along. My dogs pretty much get along with ANY other dogs, but that isn't always true going the other way - other dogs getting along with mine.

Dogs that have not been well socialized can present a big problem. My Danes are hardly afraid of anything, really - well Duke seems to not know how to get out of his own way - but that's a different aspect altogether - point being they can take care of themselves against most dogs, but I really don't need or want that kind of junk going on in my house. The other thing I want to see is if the dog wants to start trying to mark "his territory" - INSIDE my house. If I see that, I'll shake the guy's hand, tell him thanks for coming, please go find another place.

Yes, I have the brazeness if you want to call it that to tell a person that right to their face, as I cannot STAND an animal that urinates or defecates inside of a house, especially in my house considering I have a doggy door they can come in and out of anytime they please.

I haven't heard from the other guy in a while, but - he's old-school so I assume/hope that his handshake was gold. If not, then that sends me back to the drawing board. I'll find out - Wednesday is the 26th I think. I asked him to PLEASE let me know if he changes his mind or finds another place. He said no cause' my place is in between his kids places.

If I could at least get those 2 rooms filled up, then I could see about possibly waiting a little longer to see what's going to happen to Ken since he is showing improvement daily - albeit he still hasn't fully regained consciousness. As one person intoned, a miracle could happen and he could walk out that hospital today for all I know. It IS possible, I don't put anything past the hand of God, that's for sure. Well, I can't do anything about re-renting Ken's room, anyway, until the 1st of the month, so, a little more time regardless.

Please do not get ratchety with me - I rent out rooms for a reason: I need the income to survive, especially right now that I have lost about a grand a month in income due to lost hours at work. I really need the income from all 3 rooms to make it, 2 rooms is not enough right now. When my income comes back - hours back up to normal at least - I can think about reducing it to 2 tenants. It's much easier with only 2 tenants versus 3, it just is.

Anyway, that's it really. I'm going to make some nice Club Sandwiches for lunch/dinner today - it's a bit of work but the end result is worth it.

I have more cleaning projects I am going to do today, so, can't really linger here -
have a great day!
ben

Open Carry - No Permit

I'm sorry - but I've been reading news blips all over the place about Obama's visit and the fact that people were openly carrying guns at the fringes of the debacle - I mean visit - from Obama.

Is it really any secret that we citizens of Arizona are allowed to openly carry firearms without any kind of permit here? This is the Wild West - you know, the place where the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday had the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" (well, historically it didn't exactly happen there, it happened in the street or so they say in the same town) in Tombstone, AZ?

I went to Tombstone earlier this year with my dad, son and my dad's wife - it's a nice touristy type place but it's really pretty cool. People are drawn there from all over the world - that was easy to tell as people were speaking all kinds of languages of the which I had absolutely no clue where they were from.

But no, I don't need a permit of any kind to grab my 36 long nose, put it in a holster and walk down the street with it strapped to my side. I guess I could grab a 12 gauge shotgun and hold it, barrels down, and walk down the street with it, too.

I wouldn't know because I don't actually, openly carry firearms. I'm not against the ages-old law that allows such, I just don't think it's very smart to do so. I've always been of the thought that it could be inviting trouble for no more reason than you HAVE one. Now, I have toyed with the idea of getting a carry and concealed permit - you can hid the gun on your person legally and go pretty much anywhere excepting probably federal and state buildings and anywhere where it's posted no firearms.

Still, the idea that some travel guru is not going to come to AZ because there were a bunch of protesters that had their guns openly showing for the world to see is ridiculous. Obviously, Obama was never in any danger. Number 1 because those people weren't allowed close enough to be a threat, number 2, even if they were, what do you think the Secret Service was doing, taking smoke breaks and ignoring the situation? You can bet that at any given time there were probably at least a couple of snipers on high perches taking aim at those people -just in case of course.

In case you can't tell, I'm definitely a pro-gun advocate. I do not believe in this pansy idea that private citizens should not be allowed to own firearms. WHAT, pray tell, is going to stop the thieves from going hog-wild like a kid in a candy store if that were to happen in breaking into people's homes and robbery and theft and all of that? Right now, a thief has something to worry about about coming into MY house. If that person comes walking in here with a gun drawn, that's enough provocation right there to cap his stupid @$$ and be done with it.

Or all of those folks that enjoy hunting is a favorite pasttime. Hunting is HUGE in AZ - the elk and deer lotteries are always a big competition to see what, if any draw, you might get for whatever territory.

It may be an age-old argument, but it's a valid one: if law-abiding folks can't bear arms, then only the police and the thieves will have them and we will be defenseless. What, am I going to run at someone with a knife while they're standing there aiming a 44 magnum at my chest? I didn't think so. Well beyond that, it's part of American culture - people own guns, a LOT of people own guns, legally. I have serious doubts that any president is every going to "come and get the guns" from us. There are far too many people in this nation that are pro-gun to allow that to ever happen.

The only caveat I have for it is probably people should take some kind of training - not just how to handle a gun, clean it and all of that, but also the law concerning the use of one. I know that in AZ, if I feel my life or someone else inside of my house feels our lives are legitimately threatened - ie; the robber has a gun or other weapon - I can shoot, and shoot to kill.

Whatever. I have been reading this nonsense - it gets national media attention and only serves to provoke fear in the mind of the reader. Yes, we must get rid of the guns because - what - they were standing there with them at a convention somewhere? Does anyone REALLY think Obama's life was EVER in ANY kind of threat of death?

I've Eaten Once Today.......

I'm trying to lose weight. I was driving into Casa Grande and stopped at Mikky D's for a large coffee - still on sale for a buck. I decided to go ahead and have a sausage McMuffin as well. It's like an english muffin with some butter, a thin slice of sausage and a slice of cheese - the muffin is toasted. It's 300 calories worth.

I got busy and forgot about eating for the rest of today - until now. It's too late to eat, but I"m going to anyway. An egg omelette with a little cheese; onions; mushrooms; tomatoes; and whatever else I threw in there. It won't fill me up to the point I can't sleep is the point, nothing too heavy here. I got on the scale at the main branch again - up to 199. I figure weight will fluctuate - but hopefully if I keep with this, it will eventually fluctuate down - and down.

Speaking of eating....you'll see how this correlates in a minute.....the guy that was supposed to show up today was a no-show (to rent the room, that is). I have had 3 inquiries that I have not replied to since I spoke with him yesterday. I wrote him back a while ago and gave him an ultimatum: if you want the room, communicate with me, if not, I'm moving on as I have 3 other people that have shown interest.

I am not going to wait on people - if they want to procrastinate, they're going to have to do it with someone else cause' I don't have the time or freedom of finances to deal with it. Within 2 minutes of sending that email, he called. He had an excuse - I don't know the man so I don't know if it's valid or BS - but said he would come tonight. No thanks, I go to bed early, come tomorrow. I can write these other people back tomorrow if he doesn't show the second time.

I decided tonight to put myself in the shoes of tenants - I am sleeping in one of the empty rooms. I didn't tell the boys what they could or couldn't do, just do what you normally do. I'm afraid they'll NOT act normal and will be "walking on eggshells" - but, I figure at some point they'll forget and it will be 'status quo'. I have awakened in the middle of the night - well I always do regardless of who's here or not - and went to my bedroom door, quietly opened it and observed. The talk wasn't loud - but maybe loud enough to bother someone that might be sleeping in that other living-room-lining-wall.

Whatever. I actually would like to move into the front room - it has 3 windows, is always bright and shiny in there during the daytime - but I wonder what noise levels might be there in the night. Next to the street, is there a lot of traffic a night? I don't know, but I will be finding out. Figure to do it tonight - if I don't sleep even as good as I normally don't do, at least I can laze around for the next 2 days and catch up with naps and stuff. The reason I wouldn't want to move in there is because it doesn't have my private bathroom and walk in closet and I would have to move a lot of stuff. I'll stick with my room - though afterthought - I don't wonder if I should have had the "optional" window installed in there to let a little more light in there.

I'm a day person in case you haven't figured that one out. I don't stay up late at night, I have no reason to and I don't like being up at night anymore. Maybe if I get caught up in a movie on the weekend - but I always fall asleep cause my body cycle tells me it's time to sleep, so - what's the point.

So, it's Friday night and I'm going to bed in 35 minutes - 8:00pm. Boring life? Hardly. I don't like every aspect of what's going on in my life to be sure, but I am quite comfortable with who I am and what I have done with my life - only a few things in my adult life I wish I could push the rewind button, go back and to it over. Oh well, we all have THAT in our lives, don't we?

G'nite (or G'day depending on where you're at!)

ben

Thursday

My company wants me to come in early tomorrow. Some of our customers just don't get it, they forget about making their orders until the afternoon of the day before they need it. Mostly we can accomodate, sometimes we can't. You'd think they would want to be able to keep their crews busy by planning in advance, and I know many of these people that actually do that - but there are plenty that don't.

Anyway, they MUST have this product there first thing in the morning. No problem, dudes and dudettes, let me get on the clock early and I'll do it. I do wish we could go back to at least normal hours - 40 hours per week - as I don't want to get soft and start getting into the mindframe that 7 hours per day is somehow "normal" for a workday.

I have a potential tenant coming tomorrow. He's desperately looking for a place - to take his 2 dogs. I said - maybe - and included the fact of increased rent for more animals around here. I also included that he MUST help clean up after them outside, if I have to do a repeat of what I went through with a certain ex-tenant who NEVER cleaned up after their dog, I don't want anything to do with it. I also want increased rent to cover cleaning carpet more frequently to keep it smelling normal in here. Actually, I really am laying it all on the line anymore - this is what this place is, this is what goes on here. This is what I expect of you and these are the intended consequences of serious infractions.

Danes. These 2 dogs - my Great Danes - are quite humorous to watch. They are always together - almost always I should say. But when they are sleeping, they are ALWAYS together and some part of their body is touching the other. If one barks, the other one is echoing. If one is being petted, the other is immediately up and coming over. I do not - however - like having 2 giant heads in my face while I'm sitting here at the computer. When they get pushy - which is usually always - for attention in putting their face INTO mine - they are history. GO LAY DOWN!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is ....... da da da deeeeee: FRIDAY!!!!! I would love to have a good night's sleep. I am waking up in the middle of the night for various reasons and having extreme trouble getting back to sleep.

There's nothing else - really - as I've had enough for one day.

G'nite!

ben

Wednesday

Tired.
Smoke detector alarm went off again last night around 2:00am - no clue why they're going off, the house isn't burning down and there isn't anything hot or otherwise would cause the things to go off. Takes me a long time to get back to sleep after that much commotion.

Coming home and having to write a new ad for Craigslist every day is getting old, too, but I don't have any choice in the matter. I can use the body of some of the posts I have made previously, but it has to be "different" or CL won't let you post it, it gives you a message saying you already have a post that is very similar to the one that you are trying to post - yada yada yada.

Tired and grumpy? Not really grumpy, but I was quite irritated to come home and find Michael had not gone to school today, saying he had no clean clothes and therefore "couldn't" go to school. What I am QUITE sure it really was is that I had installed LimeWire and he just plain didn't WANT to go to school, opting to stay "home" and download music. That dilemna was quickly abated: I have uninstalled LimeWire and he now knows that staying HERE on a day off for nothing is not going to continue to happen. He can stay HOME and be a lazy ass, not here.

Regardless, he didn't touch the thermostat, so at least that was mitigated. I am setting it up to 87 while I have no tenants in here during the day while I'm at work - the substantial savings is quite appealing. It's 3 or even 4 dollars less per day in electric use. Seriously. No, even more than that. I was having up to $14 per day in electric use, the use now is in the $7 range.

It would be GREATLY helpful if I could find future tenants that have roughly the same hours as I do so this could continue to occur and save me money on electricity - but - I'll take whatever hours versus and empty room and no money coming in.

A lady claiming to be deaf and dumb wrote to my ad I placed with my company email this morning saying she wanted to know if I would deal with a person that cannot speak or hear. I don't know, I've never tried, I would think there would be many challenges to such an arrangement, but a person that can read and write could simply write out what they're trying to say. Imagine - put that person in Mimi's room, they can't hear so the kids could make all the noise they wanted and it wouldn't affect her in the slightest.

But - I wondered if the ad was real or not. It was a short, to the point statement, there was no way to tell if it was a scam or not, so I replied and said I would consider it, please write back. The writing back part is the part that helps me determine if it's scam material or not. I need only get a person talking in email to come to that conclusion.

I have a headache from not getting enough sleep last night and I'm about to go take a short nap. It's still quite early - 2:00pm, I got off early because I was over on hours and I have to do some training after regular work hours at work tomorrow.

Yeah, think I'll take that nap.
ben

Tuesday

I just tried posting to my KCL blog and it just s*** it out into cyberspace, no draft saved, I was signed in and it told me, after I wrote it, I needed to sign in. BLAHHHHH.

I'm here and whatever, I HATE when that happens !!!!!! Wanna turn me into a grouch, just crap my entry into the toilet for no apparent reason and you'll definitely get my gote.

So much to write about, so little motivation now. The blogging juices are stripped of me when the blogging hosts play games.

I'll bypass all the junk on the field today at work and focus on the homefront. You see, my tenants are GONE. ALL of them. I came home today to nothing - there are no people here.

OHHHH, but there are my ever-loving dogs. Barking, whining, growling and making noises of joy when I come home, today was no different. I unlocked the deadbolt to find - an empty house!!! Oh my gosh, I'm in heaven. My gosh, I haven't been in this atmosphere in ages. I am LOVING it! I don't have to listen to people babbling incessantly on the cellphone, hearing complaints about a drunk that is puking in the bathroom and hearing more complaints - about everything else.

Yayyyyyy! Of course, an empty house means an empty bank account. I am not deterred. A day, week, whatever of a house without all kinds of people around will help me more than vacations to a sandy beach on a deserted island. Hmmm, well maybe not quite that good, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. It's like all kinds of stress has been totally deflated from within me and I am feeling a freedom I haven't felt in a while.

Were that I could just live without tenants, but it's not a happening event, especially not now that my hours at work are cut.

I have nothing else because today has been very busy and because it's getting late.

G'nite!
ben

Sunday

What kinds of thoughts permeate your mind when you go to sleep at night?
Do you ever remember any of your dreams - or nightmares?
When you wake up in the morning, what thoughts greet - or terrify - your mind?
Do you live life to it's fullest every single day?
Are there days when you just "let is slide"?
What is your outlook on life? Is it mostly postiive and energetic...
or is it mostly the opposite - full of dread and fear, negativity in it's purest and yet most raw form.
Do you think about your mortality - ever?
Maybe once a day? A week? A month? Never?
Does life seem to you at some points that it will never end and at other points it's done today?

I was exposed to so much death in my teen years - my friends being killed or dying in so many ways: Murder; suicide; deadly illness; car accidents that it really effected the way I look at life. I couldn't really say today an exact number - it was at least 15 people I knew either personally as a close friend, maybe as a friend - not-so-close but we partied together - or a person that hung out in our crowd that I really didn't know (it was a HUGE crowd of people in the different arenas I hung out in, which was fully 3 of them).

I tend to think about any number of the items I listed above on a daily basis - maybe all of them at times. It isn't sordid, it isn't fatalistic, I've seen reality and the reality is, we all die. You can no more bypass that fact than you can that you were, on one day long ago - born into this life and onto this earth. You may not like how life is going right now - but - we all go through that.

I have been through so much adversity in my life that when I see it arise, I start wondering what message is trying to be communicated to me through the event or events that are going on.

I know, you've seen death too. I have never met anyone that has seen as much as I have in my teen years. Never. Those that are still alive are dying off like flies. They aren't very old. Sometimes I start to wonder when the call will come to my doorstep. It's a sobering thought, really.

The reason I fear it is because I would like to be around for my son for a little while. Dying young - or younger - is hardly my idea of a fulfilling life it if means your offspring growing up without you being around. It is played over and over again every day in real life, but I don't accept that it MUST be my fate.

I did bad things in my teens. I hung around bad people. One crowd was a bunch of bikers - with guns - with attitudes. They were REAL bad-@$$es, I'm not going to deny it. Will it catch up to me in the form of an early demise someday? I can't answer that question, only God can do that. He's the Judge and His word is final. I have tried to live the life I thought He wanted me to live - but I have had so many short-comings and failings, things that have permeated my life since I was a kid and that I have never been able to shake. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see a gross, pathetic, foul and vile human being in the image.

But - I don't hate myself. We all have these little "demons" in our lives that we have to deal with. How we deal with it? I don't want to know, because that is usually a very personal and intimate thing. It may not be dealt with. It might be that we have stuff that we will never be able to shed. This thing calledl life is a rough road. There are lots of potholes and sometimes we find they are giant crevass's that need a crane truck to pull you out of and get you back on your merry way.

I have gone through the myriad of these thoughts today. I think about all of those people, most of them are dead. This isn't one or 2 people, or a dozen, or dozens, this is hundreds of people. I think of the mind diversions I can do to not think about it and make it go away. We all do that. I've never met a person that I got to know that didn't have something from the past that is haunting them.

The only conclusion I can come to is that I am striving in my life to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and stregth" - because, in the end, I have concluded, there is nothing else. There is family, there are friends, there are a lot of things, but - the source of life is the Lord. I cling to that as I have nothing else - been there, done that, bought the farm.
ben

First Room Rented!~!

Yayyyy! I wrote about this in the other blog - but it's enough news to write about in both - if you happen to read both blogs, not much difference in either of these posts, EXCEPT something I'm adding to this one I forgot to include on the last one.

That would be the issue of female tenants. I love the female said of the human equation, no doubting that. BUT - living with them is an entirely different matter. I have had nothing but problems with females - excepting Rosa - since I started doing this stuff. I really would far rather just rent to guys and keep it that way if at all possible. I'm not saying I WON'T rent to another female - when it comes down to the dollar bills and surviving, I'll do whatever I have to.

I can say that Mary was half nightmare-half dream. The work she did around here will have a permanent effect - the landscaping in the front and other things she did was fantastic. I'll take my hat off to her for that. Of course, smoking meth in the house didn't quite work out too well for me............

The Pole-Dancer was another - not-so-great-dream. No need to go into that, but another drug user and pot smoker.

Sheila, the first-ever tenant I had in this house and lasted all of 7 days before I had to have Phoenix Police remove her. Betsy - who just couldn't handle living with the boys in here. She was okay, though, she just couldn't bear it (not withstanding the fact that she has appeared, out of the blue, fully 3 times now looking for a place to live).

Where the rubber meets the road is money, and for that, if I have to take another female tenant, I will certainly spend a good deal of time attempting to explain EXACTLY what goes on around here to the fullest extent so that person can make an informed decision. Again, I ALWAYS say that if they don't like it, they can just up and leave, no questions asked, no trouble, just a deal that didn't work out too well.

I need to run another ad today, but I am kinda of phased at the moment. Meeting new people to move in sometimes temporarily takes it out of me. The wind comes back later on in the day, the effort needed to greet, meet and discuss whatever at great lengths is enough for one morning, plus all the cleaning I did earlier today, plus the dogs meeting each other. Oh, well the morning only has 75 minutes left in it, anyway.

The rest of the day? I thought about just taking it easy. It's going to get hot outside and I won't want to do anything with the drip system, but perhaps later on I can start putting PVC together for the manifold. I actually don't think it will take all the long to put the manifold together, to be honest. I am running 3 stations off of it to begin with, but I will probably end up with a 4th later on. It's just that that sitation is in the direct sunlight and I don't have to have one of those large umbrella type table awnings to keep it off of me - the sun that is.

That's it - and that's enough for now.

Hoping you're all have a great day (or evening depending on where you're at!)!

ben

Blabbing Away

The good mood is giving way to sleepiness - which is a good thing.

I'm just staying awake late enough to hopefully get a good night's sleep.
Pete has been lamenting all day about his desire to not leave. He dreads Boston winters.
I have to wonder if his employer - United Airlines - is going to make it through this recession. I hope it does, obviously, the more companies that go under, the harder it is going to be for people to find jobs when the recession IS over.

I didn't do so well in the diet department today. I was doing good until Pete decided to buy pizza. I rarely buy the stuff because of the unbelievable amounts of calories in it, but, I couldn't resist. I ate 4 slices of it. That's somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 calories worth.

But - in considering dieting - I don't beat myself up for a "bad" day. I just move on with it, there are always going to be days when you pretty much failed and - so what. The point is that I probably consumed about 3,000 calories today - which is FAR more than I have been for any given day in the last several weeks now.

I'm going to bed soon. I have to get up early - which I do anyway so it's really not like it's hard - but I want the place clean when this potential renter comes over in the morning. It will be nice looking and nice smelling in here - like a freshly cleaned home smells.

And when everyone's gone, I'm going to clean the carpets in the entire house. I was going to pay someone to come do it, but that much carpet would cost a fortune to clean. I'll just get a bigger machine that can cover more ground in a shorter time and do all 5 bedrooms plus the hallway and the living room.

Ummm, okay, fatigue just sent in and I think I'm finally ready to go fall asleep.
C'yall tomorrow/Ava G'nite!
ben

Friday

The weekend is here!
I shouldn't say finally, so I won't.
I've been feeling in a very good mood all day long, which is something spectacular considering the last 2 nights I haven't slept very well, which usually makes me grouchy and irritable, especially by this hour of the day.

This week's events have been interesting. It started last weekend with finding Ken unconscious in his room and his evolved into a daily calling the hospital, finding out any progress.

It took on new twists as I have dealt with trying to cover the loss of 3 tenants all at once - well certainly 2 for sure. Tomorrow, when I call the hospital again, I am going to ask about the expected recovery time. These people do this stuff every day, they should be able to give a ball park.

I have talked with an individual that is allegedly coming over tomorrow to take a look at one of the rooms. I ALWAYS say allegedly or something similar simply because you never know if they are actually going to show up.

Now? I am going to head outside and to my copper array that I installed last weekend and think about starting out on the pvc portion of getting this drip system installed. Just takealookatit.

I just got done watching Whale Wars. In this episode, they Sea Shepherd and it's crew are exposed to a full-fledged harpooning of a whale and it's caught on camera. They see fully 3 whales killed and brought to the harvesting ship. They showed a blurp from next Friday's episode - it looks like they actually are going to ram the factory boat!! Wow!!

One ship against that many cannot possibly expect to stop the harvesting of whales. They need to come up with a new plan and from what I can see, they need to get their own water cannons and that sound thing that causes extreme discomfort at anyone you aim it at. And new strategies. I can imagine the cost of such an operation immense even if they are volunteers. I'm not totally against whaling - but I am against the harvesting of any endangered animal/mammal. I mean, I tend to look at it not unlike the slaughtering of cows, chickens and pigs. Cept' I think the whales they are harvesting ARE on the endangered species list or certainly their populations are down significantly.

Lots to do. Lots. I have to get the house cleaned up tomorrow morning for the potential new tenant's arrival. I usually start doing that on Saturdays, anymore, anyway. Not that much to do - clean the vinyl/wipe everything down/vacuum. A good hour and it's done. I'll be up early doing that as it takes priority over installing a drip system that is costing money, not bringing IN money. Mimi is out of here tomorrow. That room will be empty. Ken's room is for all intents and purposes empty and Pete's room will be empty as of Monday evening. So, in 3 days, the house is emptied of tenants.

Next? Move on. Stay strong, fear not, get on with the program. I will get new tenants and I will get the income I need.

And for that, I'm outta here, as I want to look at that situation JUST before it gets too dark to see anything.

C'ya tomorrow (Lord willing, of course) and G'nite!
ben

Thursday

I bought most of the rest of the stuff I need to install the drip system today. I figured while I have the money, get it, especially considering I have already started the project and am well into the nuts and bolts of it.
Set me back a bit, but nothing like what the price tag would have been - almost $300 list.
I could not get anything close to the money I'm paying for this stuff without employee discount at work, anywhere. Employee discount is cost with a 6% bump that corporate automatically adds to any and all orders.

Rained - lightly - most of the day today. Sky was overcast all day long. So, when I got home, took a short nap and went out front to pull some weeds........and THEN, the sun decides to come out! Pleeeeeeease. I pulled out the weeds anyway, regardless of nature's desire to cook my back with glaring sun while doing it.

Tomorrow - Friday/payday/end of work week. I'm hoping to get more done on the drip system this weekend now that I have passed the copper intallation hindrance. Temps are going to be hot - but not excessively so. I can do some stuff in the mornings if nothing else.

Ken - the tenant living here that was found unconscious - has finally underwent surgery. I called the hospital a while ago and they said he had JUST gotten out of surgery, please call back in an hour as they were busy with dealing with him and the doc was still present in the room and wanted the nurse that I was speaking with for whatever reason. Well, finally, we'll get some idea of what his long-term prognosis will be.

I'm facing some stuff right now with tenants leaving that is a little more than I want to deal with, but life goes on. I realized today Ken is actually paid up through the rest of the month, so I am doing nothing about that until his rent is past-due.

I don't have a lot of time here as there is too much to get done today, but definitely wanted to update my blog.
Have a great day/night/life!
lol
ben

Wednesday

Well, the work week is half over, though I only started it yesterday. Tomorrow is payday - and a bit of a repeat from my other blog - the tenant who is being relocated to Boston for work - paid me today for an entire month's worth of rent!

Today's trucking entry brought to you by an idiot driver.

I was driving on a 2-lane highway going 65 MPH - that is the speed limit on that highway. A mini-van came up from a side road. I watch for stuff like this because people do incredibly dangerous and stupid stuff out there. I was about 500 feet from this side road when I saw the van. I was probably 300 feet from that road when this moron pulls out. He takes his sweet old time turning left from his road - to right in front of me.

I'm involved in getting the truck slowed from 65 - to - 35. This person took their sweet old time getting moving as well. Sitting at 45mph on a 65mph road with traffic stuck behind me and I'm stuck behind this guy - not very happy either - I finally see an opportunity to pass. I get beside this guy - and he speeds up! Suddenly, he's going 65mph!! I would have EASILY passed this guy going as slow as he was going.

Well, I have to shut it down - traffic was approaching me and I hit the brakes hard and got back behind him, now I'm starting to fume. This guy did all of this on purpose, apparenlty: pulling out in front of me; going 20 mph less than the speed limit; speeding up after I got into oncoming traffic lane to pass.

Another car that had pulled out before this guy did from the same road - and now going the same direction, was going 50 mph on this highway. We - the van; my semi and a ton of traffic behind me - caught up to this car. Another opportunity arose to pass BOTH the van and the car. The van was on the car's tail. And that I did. When I got beside the van, I saw a balding man in his early 50's with a huge smirk on his face. I decided I better let this one alone, losing my job because I got mad at some damned idiot isn't worth it.

Onto other things. I got on the scale at work at the main branch for the first time since last week. I am down to 197 pounds! Well, I started this diet at 206 pounds, so in less than a month I've lost 9 pounds just by eating smaller portions, eating slower and not eating so late, plus trying to eliminate fat/junk food? Not bad.
I'm drinking a LOT of water as well. Ice water to be exact. Hardly a chore for me, I love ice water especially in the summer. That was very encouraging to see on that scale today - I got on it with a bit of trepidation, wondering after all that has happened since I last weighed on Wednesday of last week, if I hadn't gained my small losses back.

Whatever. I'm dealing with the pressure of trying to get roommates in here and it's been a bit difficult to face it, but Pete handing me a full month's rent today after we had already agreed I would just keep his security deposit and leave it at that? Gave me a lease on time. I will have no more tenant money coming in now until I find more tenants. But - Pete's was a full month's rent, that helps immensely. Ken - well, he wouldn't pay me again until next Friday. Obviously that isn't going to happen and Mimi is outta here, so she stated, on Saturday.

I'm hoping they get Ken's surgery done soon so the docs can give a good statement of how long it's going to take for him to recover and really, when I should land the bomb on the family to come get his stuff. I may be wrong, but I don't really think he's going to be self-sufficient for quite a while, much less be able to go back to work and hold down a job.

I'm treading through summer. I'm looking forward to cooler days which will cause me to want to start exercising again. I'm looking forward to a lot of things. Dunno if I'll ever get - there. Life is pretty strange stuff - the old saying always applies: enjoy it while you have it.

G'nite folks.
ben

Whoda Thought?

........that anything good would come out of this situation with my roommate Ken and his unbelievable, nightmarish condition in the brain and all of the crap he's going through.

We had to go to Facebook to find his family the day I found him passed out on the floor. I mean, we called 911 first and got him on his way to the hospital, of course, but after that, we HAD to find family so they could deal with this and make whatever decisions necessary about what was going to happen with him.

I have had a Facebook account for some time now - and have done absolutely nothing with it. I couldn't even remember my password to get on there, my other roommate ended up doing so, left my phone number as a message with one of Ken's family members that we found and she called me a little while later asking what's going on.

So, my middle brother sent me a friendship request a while back for Facebook. I ignored it, what's Facebook all about, anyway? Didn't understand the format, all looked like a bunch of gibberish to me. Well, after getting on Facebook and getting on Ken's Facebook account and leaving a message to his friends about what happened to Ken, I then found my brother on there - and - walaah, we are actually talking again! Well, I had to accept his friendship request first, of course, but now we are communicating - even though it isn't a LOT of communication - more than I ever talk to him, like in an entire year!

I wonder how many other people are on that site that I know and haven't seen in ages? Maybe none, but - who knows.

I'm just cruising along here, desperately trying to get anyone in here to look at a room to rent it out. I have had several bites, but no-one actually showing up yet. Considering I have 3 rooms to rent, this could turn into an ordeal. I thought for sure that guy would show up today that I spoke with yesterday, but - another CL no-show. Brush it off and write another ad? Already done! I'll give it a week, if I don't have someone in here within a few days after the first one is gone, I'll go to a pay service and try that as well.

I will also try different wording on my posts - sometimes it's all about how you come across to people in what you are writing. I read a lot of other people's ads - but so far haven't resorted to writing almost nothing about the place, instead, I prefer to write about the living conditions here -- nothing negative just a descriptor of the place, and anything else that is pertinent. Personally, I would rather eliminate people coming here that find out something that they don't want to deal with or don't like and then show the room for nothing.

But, since it's free, a short, non-ad (that's what I call them) is worth a try. It's all about my location, I know that, I just have to keep the ad up there for the right people to find it when they are looking.

Anyway, that's a short but sweet entry for this blog for the day.

G'nite and sleep tight (or have a great day for those of you on the other side of the world!)
ben

Final

Ken has been diagnosed, after all kinds of tests, with something different than their original diagnosis. Arteriovenous malformation is the name of the condition, it's congenital and it's a complicated explanation of what it is, I'm not even going to try. I looked it up online and that was enough for me.

I finished the copper project today on the last day of my staycation. The rest of what has to be done for the drip system - well I have never done any of it, so though I don't think it's going to be terribly difficult, it may take time to figure it all out. Getting the copper portion of this thing done was a big hurdle to cross for me and I'm just happy to have gotten beyond it.

I have a guy coming over tomorrow to takealookit a room. Will he show? Who knows, but he works in this area - a FedEx driver to be precise. It's the common theme for tenants moving in here - the location agrees with the closeness to their work. The guy is currently living some 35 miles away - a long drive to work every day and plus hitting 2 rush hours - no fun. Don't wanna go too far into it cause' - you never know if these people are actually going to show up.

I'm looking forward to going back to work - the hours at this point in time are pretty short - 7 hours a day - and all the stuff that landed on my lap during this staycation hardly made it something enviable for anyone. I was thankful, however, to have had the time off while all of this stuff kept coming at me. I did not accomplish near what I wanted to - I just couldn't do it. Too much going on, I was lucky to get done what I did. You simply can't prepare yourself for all of this stuff, just take it as it comes.

I've got a paycheck coming this week - I have to spend about half of it on bills but after that's done I will still be getting ahead regardless of tenancy situation since I have a short reprieve from paying the mortgage on this house.

I'm done for today, this was a short entry I know but I have been busy online doing different things all day long today.

C'ya tomorrow - Lord willing of course - ava' great night! (or day, depending on where you are!)
ben

It Seems To Have Worked For My Parents

The situation with Ken is pretty much in limbo - vast amounts of people are praying for him (I made sure of that by asking for emergency prayers from the prayer group I'm part of that, after the request gets forwarded on and on and on - potentially goes on to tens of thousands of people).

I started thinking about "growing old and fat". I would rather not have to grow old - but if I want to live anymore around here, that's going to have to happen - but this concept of getting fat simply because you are getting old is a club I don't want to join.

I have watched my gut grow ever since my house burned down - a little over 2 years ago now. My life was changed, apparently - but I don't have any of that after-effect (that I know of) going on in my brain now, it's about time to get the after-EFFECTS out of my system as well. Eating a lot of junk food was my mainstay for a while simply because cooking was hardly an option.

There's a REASON it's called junk food, folks. Just start looking at caloric, fat and sodium contents of fast food, especially fried fast food. I've been "dieting" for a couple of weeks now - the weight loss has been minimal, but it has occurred. It seems awfully difficult, though, when I'm hungry and out on the road to just keep passing fast food joint up after another after another, looking for a place where I might get something whose main ingredient isn't fat/garbage/vileness.

Well, skip the vile part - fast food DOES taste good! And yet - when you stop eating the stuff for a while and then go back? Get done eating and my stomach is twisting and turning in knots - the grease and garbage in it doesn't set well with my stomach.

My thoughts about this were magnified watching Ken being carted out of here. He's quite - obese actually - and when you start reading the expert opinions - he certainly racked himself up there for a disaster. Obese/chain smoker/heavy drinker/pot smoker/eating the kind of food on a regular basis that only a goat would like. I'm not dissing the man - but - I am going to use him as a model for my own purposes of what NOT to do in terms of taking things in through the orifice known as the mouth.

The events that unfolded here this weekend only redoubled my desire to get my health back on track. I also have a full-physical scheduled for October. Hey, I would get it done sooner but that was the EARLIEST date the doc had available to do one!

My parents have basically taken care of themselves and the fruit of that is that they have lived relatively healthful lives and certainly, being in their mid-70's are enjoying longer-lived lives. Not that they don't have health issues - my dad had to have stints put in recently enough and that has slowed him down some, but it most certainly hasn't stopped him and my mother has been dealing with fibro-myalgia for 30 something years now.

It ain't perfect, but they are still getting around and they are still enjoying life - albeit separately since they divorced when I was 19 years old. That was a little while back.

Well, anyway. This deal with Ken has served a useful purpose for me and that's simply to get my own health nailed back down as much as possible on the good side of the wall and get to - feeling better really.

As for Ken, I have actually been asking the Lord to speak to his mind and heart - He can do that regardless of whether a person can speak to anyone or not.

I'm outta here - got things to git going today - last day off of the 5-days I have taken off in a row.

Have a great day!
ben

Moving On

Ken will be in my thoughts and prayers, for sure, but - there is so much other stuff going on that I simly can't stop my life for this. I did stop it for a day's worth, for sure, and I hope the procedure is good, that he fully recovers and that he can go on with his life - he's only 48 years old.

As morbid as it might sound speaking about this so quickly, I have now another room that I will have to rent out - meaning shortly, all 3 rooms will be empty. Ken will not be recovering too quickly from this - I have read the stats about this kind of thing, you're lucky to recover enough to get out of a nursing home type of thing in 40 days. I can't hold his room for 40 days - the ONLY way that happens is if I can't FIND someone else to rent it.

I am not, of course, going to bring that up until they find out whether he's coming through this or not - what his prognosis is - in other words, time to deal with the shock of a family member going through such a traumatic, life-changing ordeal. I wouldn't want some landlord coming and bugging me right off the back, I do have compassion. He has a new computer in there and a few other items that are worth something - mostly his life revolved around going to work and playing an internet, pc-based game called Eve with a bunch of his friends. Just saying I'm sure they'll want to come get his stuff and store it somewhere.

At the same time, I am listing all 3 rooms up for rent. I can't "wait" until ANY of them move out - 2 of them are for-sure goners - they have to move on and I fully understand that. At the same time, prudence does not dictate waiting until they're gone to post the ads, it dictates to start right off and put up a future date - which is not that far off in the future - of a room that is available.

I am very thankful that this loan mod is going through and that I have a reprieve for paying the mortgage - the next payment isn't due until October 1st and that gives me ample time to get the rooms re-rented. I hope I can get them filled up quickly - certainly before the end of this month. I have no clue what the market is for tenants right now - I do know school is starting up and people are looking for places to live. There seems to always be people looking for rooms in this area because of the ample amounts of employers that are within a couple of miles of my home. A huge industrial park with hundreds of business is only a little over a mile away.

The tenant that is being transferred to Boston - Pete - also told me today he would pay me a full month's rent. I had called it even since he gave me $200 deposit, is leaving on the 15th I believe, and won't be here a full month, plus is giving me his queen size bed and the portable amoire for hanging up clothes. He is getting reimbursed by the insurance plan through his employer for the full month's rent, so I think that mighty big of him to offer such - I am not going to sit here and say I turned it down, I can't afford to. If he changes his mind, fine, well and good - if I get the check, very good indeed.

Ummm, I am being "forced" to start doing something with Facebook. Friends and family have added me as a friend, I decided today - after have Facebook save the day, literally in finding some family members of Ken's and being able to get the message to them about the aneurysm - that I might as well use my account there. My brother - of all people - added me as a friend a while back, I never did a thing about it or the other friend requests.

I'm done for now. I'm going to go outside and look at what it's going to take to cut that line and get the beginning of the drip system installed. IF I go through with it, wish me luck!
ben