Tuesday

I have done my version of absolutely nothing today. I have zero motivation, I don't care, really. I put my mind into vacation mode and decided - for today anyway - that I would enjoy a nothing existence for a spec of time, if only a spec.

Does it set well with me? Well, when it's 107 degrees outside it's easier to do nothing than to go out and start sweating. You know the problem with me writing posts like this? I'll sit here and read what I just wrote and then something will spark inside of me, suddenly, I find myself outside, digging, weeding, whatever.

I know, it's crazy but that's the way it seems to work. It just popped into my mind that I wanted to put another dose of Dawn dishwashing liquid on the plants - yes the stuff works, you just need enough of it and you apparently need to do it several times if the "invasion" is severe enough. I also just remembered that I was going to to out front and trim several plants out there.

So, who knows. Maybe a little later on I will be out there doing some of this stuff.

I haven't decided, now that time has passed, whether to engage in a time of casino activity with my change money or not. I'm now leaning towards not. If I lost the money and had nothing to show for it, I would hurt myself. I could go buy that giant pond with it's accompying feeder pond and all the hardware for that money, have something to show for it and have a GREAT pond setup. Or, I could pay bills. Or, I could use it towards fixing the car's AC. Or a lot of things, really.

Better to nothing in this particular case. Time gives me the opportunity to figure out whether I need the money for daily bill activity or can waste it as it was intended over the year plus I have been dumping change in there.

One thing for sure, I don't want to get "used" to doing nothing. That is not a great life, I am sure. I wouldn't know, but - obesity, diseases and illness, lethary, sluggardishness, sloth, nothing good can come of it for an extended period. I do not, however, have any problem with doing it for a day or two during a planned, nothing, vacation. The boys - all of them - a whole slew of them now that summer is on and school is off - have no understanding of how a person can take a vacation and go - nowhere.

But, their minds don't quite wrap around the stark reality of the current economy, or, in my personal situation, lost hours and having tenants. All they understand is that I have a house with a refrigerator full of food, a Playstation III which they dearly love (and I could care less about), Direct TV and lots of soda. The mind of a child. Okay, these are teenagers, hardly an innocent 8 year old mind. Still, a person has no real concept of what it's like to live on your own, pay your own way and face the reality of life until- they do it. I'm still quite impressed with Michael and his desire to make his own money. I suppose I should save my delight until I see whether he can stick with it. Same with my son - though I suspect he will have a bit easier time with it, he has never had a problem with the extensive amount of requests I make for getting things done around here. JR ROTC has also instilled some very interesting - realistic - and GOOD ideals in him.

Wait and see.

Oh, hey, I have something to do, I must walk out front and get the mail!! Hard work, I'm sure. Unfortunately, I can feel the call of the plants out front. If I'm going out there, why not spend and hour or 2 tending to them, even if it is 105 degrees out there right now? Oh, those people on the east coast. If you are not accustomed to 100 plus temperatures, you are in for a hellish experience. I do feel for them. I remember the house I grew up in Pittsburgh didn't have AC. No duct work, open the windows and put in a dual window fan, that's what my parents did for me during the summer. I honestly don't know what my brothers got. I think my parents had a window unit AC in their bedroom, I am, just now, after 46 years of life, remembering, if correctly, that I was the only one in the house that had to endure summers with only a fan to cool me.

You know what? I didn't care then, I don't care now. I remember thinking it perfectly normal at the time. I imagine some "counsellor" somewhere would try to tell me that I was neglected and abused because of it - they got the good stuff, I got the shaft. Yes, if that's the way you want to look at things, be my guest and carry it on your back for decades. Surely THAT will help you in life. No, I actually remember our years in Pittsburgh as both fun and very scary for a little boy. Fun - there were woods in the back of my house to play in and lots of friends to play with. Or not. I was able to have a great time whether playing with other kids or totally alone. Scary - bad part of town. Always looking behind your back. Always having to fight or get beaten up. Definitely a factor in my mentality today, some of it negative. I don't like being jerked around and I don't tolerate people mouthing off to me. My natural instinct - which surely came from a childhood of beat the s*** out of the other kid or get beaten up - is to land my fist squarely in their jaw, break their nose and knock them out with a blow or several blows to the head.

I fight that sometimes. I never carry those thoughts out - but they do rise their ugly little heads sometimes. Especially with punk 18 to 20 somethings that think that I'm an "old man" and start mouthing off over something very petty that they have started. Yeah, when I'm 60 or 70, I'm in my 40's and can outwork many people 20 years my younger. Will that last forever? Obviously not. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

If you're a person on the east coast and you are experiencing that heat right now - totally changing the subject, here a few tips from a dude that works outside in 110 - 115 degree heat on a daily basis both at work and at home:
1. WATER. WATER WATER WATER. I have a giant, plastic cup I fill with ice and water. I drink it all day long whether I am thirsty or not.
2. Just because you are not yet thirsty does not mean you shouldn't be hydrating. Drink, drink, drink. All day long. I can do that in this heat and not go to the bathroom all day long - sweating it out, not peeing it out.
3. If you are drinking a LOT of water, make sure to get a dose of Gatorade or some other drink that replenishes electrolytes. Water does not do that and if you are really sweating a lot and drinking a LOT of water, yes, you need to periodically replenish the electrolytes.
4. Hat. Wear a large brimmed hat if the heat inludes direct exposure to the sun's rays.
5. Umbrella. Yes, lots of people around these parts carry umbrellas to keep off the sun, not the rain. It makes a HUGE difference if you are standing or walking in the direct sunlight.
6. Some people carry water bottles with them and spray mist in their faces to keep them cool.
7. Wet rag. Put it around your neck, the difference it will make will be palpable.
8. Shade. As often as possible, get in the shade.
9. MORE WATER!!!
Those are tips for being outdoors, the best tip, of course, is to be indoors in the AC and you will suffer no consequences of heat related illnesses at all.
10. If you see a person that is failing and succumbing to the effects of heat, ie: heat stroke, get them in the shade immediately. Take off their clothing. Pack them in ice. I know, it sounds crazy, but I have heard this over and over again from the experts, there IS no down side to packing a person in ice that is suffering from the effects of a heat stroke - which can and will kill you if left untreated. You MUST bring the body core temperature down immediately. Call 911, the first thing they're going to do on-scene is put a needle in them and start administering fluids through an IV.
Now, what do I do? Those are just some of the things above that I have heard that others do. Me? Water. Ice water to be precise. I drink it all day long. I don't do the electrolytes - well very rarely. If you are sweating profusely and drinking large quantities of water, well, yes, I will drink a half a Gatorade. Otherwise, I have learned how to deal with the heat. I'm driving around in a car that is much hotter inside of it than the ambient temp outside.

It's more in the mind, folks, than anything. If I don't sit there feeling sorry for myself because of how hot it is, I therefore don't think that it's so terribly bad. I think: Yeaaah, I started sweating, now it's cooling off in here! Really, that's what I do. Outside? I have a huge brimmed hat on that keeps the sun off my head and a very large glass of ice water and sometimes, yes a beer. Oh, yes, I know what the experts say about alcohol and heat. I've lived in this stuff since 1974, I've learned how to deal with it, what to do and what not to do. I didn't say I'm getting DRUNK, I just said a beer. WITH water.

It sounds all so easy, in reality, I remember my first days in AZ heat, my first years, really, it took some getting used to.

Anyway, I have now talked myself into going out front, with a glass of water of course, and trimming some bushes. I am just not an inside person, I can only take so much of it.

G'day.

ben

Dilemna

I have been saving my pocket change for quite some time now. Take it all out, dump it into containers in my (locked) closet, forget about it.
Now, I am on vacation. I can stay home for vacation, yes - I really have no problems just - sitting here doing nothing, getting some things done, cleaning, continuing on with projects.

My finances dictate that.

Yet, I took a little over half of my coins in today and netted $182 and change. I knew I some money in there, I had NO idea I had THAT much in there. I bet I have at least $100 more in that closet that I did not take.

What did you have in mind, ben? Ummm, well, I haven't been to the casino in at least 5 months. I have the feeling - it's there. I have always had the philosophy with gambling that you don't gamble away money when you can't afford it. You can't afford it, you don't go. I haven't gone.

At the same time, I have been saving this money for - whatever. Not bills. Vacation, water park, whatever.

I look at my finances right now and prudence says to spend it on bills.

I look at life and life says you only live once. If you lose the house, you were going to lose it anyway without this money. If you don't lose the house, you weren't going to lose it anyway.

But then you get to more touchy subjects. Electricity; child support; water; satellite TV and internet.

Please, please do not think or lecture me about getting rid of internet or satellite. I have those things for tenants. I could EASILY live without satellite, tenants would have nothing to do with this place without it. A recurring theme in luring tenants is the fact that I have over 200 channels of Direct TV in here. I have not had a tenant in here yet that didn't have the TV on the entire time they were in their room, watching it and complimenting me for having it available.

It's $80 plus per month that is a granted, I must spend it to keep them. Internet is not as popular - I always have people that do not have a computer, but at the same time, I always have at least 1 that does. That "at least" one person wants wifi. That's internet access broadcast through the air from your router for those that don't know (and when I started in on this wifi thing for tenants, I most definitely did NOT know). In fact, it took quite some time to figure out this wifi stuff, how it works and how to set it up in my house. I was totally clueless at the beginning and really, wanted nothing to do with it.

I have gotten off the subject - or not. I'm still in the dilemna. I was going to go today, I think I will sit on it. I have an entire week off. I can wait until Friday to go, if I do decide to. I could also go anytime during the week - but - I am not a fan of empty tables. I like play with half to full tables at blackjack.

Okay, writing this? To my detractors - bug off. I am going to go. Not today, but sometime this week, I'm headed over there. I will put the usual $100 on the table for $5 chips and I will enjoy the adventure whether I am winning or losing. I love my casino visits and they are now so infrequent, even that much more the pleasure.

Too bad they don't let you smoke cigars in those places, as they did ages ago.

G'day.

ben

Monday

Everyone - well a lot of people anyway - have today off to celebrate yesterday's holiday.
This is really my first day off - since last weekend. Spent over 16 hours spread out over 3 days helping my manager move. I went to bed last night at 9:00 and didn't get up until 7:30 am. I am totally lacking motivation to do anything, yet I have PLENTY to do around here, I'm drinking coffee and I be forcing myself into action here very soon.

As for finances, same old story, but getting worse. After I pay the mortgage, I will have $300 left to pay for internet, Direct TV, child support, water bill. I have not received the rent from the ex-marine who is out of town (but definitely returning since all of his stuff including his SUV are still here) and I am hoping my dad continues to send money - which will go straight to paying up the water bill if I get it. If he did send it, I should be receiving that tomorrow.

I have been spending money on nothing out of the "ordinary" and am forcing myself to stay on that track. I think I have $150 in my orange savings account - it's going to be transferred back to my checking account. I was saving that money to get the AC in my car fixed, tough. I am just succumbing to the idea that this summer, I am going to be sweating my @$$ off in that car whenever I drive it. I suppose it's a good thing: I don't want to drive anywhere, hence not spending money on gas.

Unfortunately, I have no choice but take a trip to Home Depot. I was going to do it the other day but moving my manager sort of blew getting anything around here done out of the water by engaging my physical exertions in helping him move (not complaining, just my explanation). I have to replace the toilet seat in the main bathroom and also the door lock for that bathroom. The lock - doesn't lock. I have female tenants, I don't think they appreciate that they cannot lock the door in there.

That's going to be around $30 - money I call ill afford to spend, money that can't be avoided BUT to be spent. Oh well. I do what I can and have to to keep tenants happy, certainly those things being kept in good order are mandatory.

I am set for food, however, for the next 3 weeks or so. If I just sit around here doing nothing but projects or just whatever - I think I can survive this. I'm not complaining, at all. I don't like to sit around and whine and have pity parties, it's not my style and it accomplishes absolutely nothing good at all.

I did write my mortgage company and yes, I did ask for further reduced interest rate and also a principle reduction. It may fall on deaf ears, but I had to try - I HAD to try, definitely. I'm guessing their rely is that I already got a modification and that a full year has to pass before they can/will do it again. Wait and see on that one, meanwhile try to figure out how to survive until this summer heat passes - another 2 full months of extreme heat and a couple of months beyond that of moderate heat. It isn't really until October that it REALLY cools down, sometimes not even until November. It's 6 months of great weather and 6 months of not-so-great weather around here, that's the way it goes. If you get lucky, the weather cools down at the beginning of October adding another full month of nice weather (also where you have no expenditure on cooling and very little on heating).

The boys want to go on a vacation. I told them it's absolutely out of the question. I have no money for such and will have none in the foreseeable future. What escaped me is both Michael and Caleb are working now. Yes, amazingly, Michael landed a job somewhere. I WAS amazed. His parents are always broke and if he wants something, well, he really doesn't get it. This came up yesterday. I told Michael if he saved $100 out of each paycheck, in 6 weeks his and Caleb's money combined would be enough to take a trip over to Six Flags.

I am not a fan - at all - of California - anything California - right now because of all their boycotting of us. But, if the boys want to spend their money over there, that's their business.

Oh, and I did find a place that will fix the car AC on payments. I almost went for it. I'm glad I didn't. You give them a small down payment, probably $100 and they take the rest out of your paychecks until it's paid off. Problem? I obviously cannot afford even that right now. Truly sucks, but I have to live within my means. I was halfway there to getting my AC fixed, I just checked - no more, I just put in a request to transfer most of the money out of it and into my checking account. A rather deflating experience, there is nothing I can do about it.

Umm, that's enough of this entry, if I continue to focus on this junk it's going to start getting depressing, considering I am on "vacation" for the rest of this week, this is no time to be going there. Happy happy happy, joy joy joy. Lol.

ben

Sunday

I have absolutely no desire for day 3 of this moving business. Do I have a choice? Sure, I could say no, but I committed to it, so here we go again. Leaving in 20 minutes for our store in Chandler, meet up with the manager there, go to the place he is moving out of, back to his new apartment, lug that stuff upstairs.

As for invovlement, this is absolutely the last day of this for me. I am on vacation and would like enjoy it as such. I don't mind helping people out, just that 3 consecutive days of it is as much as I'm going to do. I'm hoping today is around 3 hours instead of the 6 and 5-1/2 it was yesterday and the day before.

Besides, I have a lot to do around here. A broken toilet seat, a bathroom door handle (the main bathroom) that won't lock, cleaning stuff, laundry - the list goes on. Also, my car's ac is not working and driving around in this heat is hardly my idea of fun. The high today expected to be 104 - which does make a difference versus the 112 it was 2 days ago.

I have had zero opportunity to get caught up on the latest news - something I like to do - well, to a small degree. Mostly negative junk, so I keep it to a minimum. A precursory glance at a news source reveals- the same old stuff. Figure there is going to be Independence Day stuff all over the place.

My new TV is jammin'. I love it. As I said yesterday, if I got nothing else out of this deal, that little gem right there is more than enough. Now I have a 32 inch tv that - I'm going to get rid of.

Time running out. Just jumping in here to make an entry. I've been going through all the food I got from yesterday and determining where to put it - need it now goes one place, need it later goes another. A good sized box of it is going to my food storage - I checked the dates on almost all of it, good for a minimum 2 years most of it. Plus, this lady threw in 5 bottles of VERY fine wine. Yummmmmmmm.

Try some of that later on, when I'm home and don't have to drive anywhere : )

G'day.

ben

Today

Pizza and I have a love hate affair: I love it, it hates me. Or, more specifically, it hates my system. I have not been able to eat more than one or 2 slices of pizza since in my early 20's. If I do, I'm toast. Eating that before bed - any amount - I won't be sleeping that night. It will just sit there, in my stomach, churning around and making me naseous.

Yesterday, my manager comes over - I was going to help him get some furniture from a house that a lady was selling out - and I do mean selling out - everything. She wasn't home yet to meet up and get the stuff, so he wanted to order pizza. I didn't want pizza because pizza and a diet have no correlation with each other. He insisted, so - we get the pizza. I eat 2 small slices and one larger one. We leave. In about an hour, I am feeling very - sick. My stomach is going crazy. I feel the urgent need to go to the bathroom. Here I am, carrying both light and heavy furniture items and this has to happen.

I spent an extended period of time in the bathroom. Didn't get home until 1111:30, didn't sleep - hardly at all.

Get up today, sit out here in my kitchen musing the day's doings: going to move even MORE stuff. In extreme heat. Well, by the time I got to the manager's new apartment to move all that stuff we had packed onto the trailer the night before, I was feeling okay. It was HOT and somewhat humid. I had no desire to drag this out - I have been moving people and families for decades now, I don't want to take breaks, I don't care how hot it is, get it OVER with as fast as possible.

I will keep a pace that guys 20 years younger than me will not be able to keep up with. I am like that. I have always been like that. Not trying to outdo everyone, just trying to get the job DONE. Today was no different. I have no idea how many times I climbed those stairs - up and down, up and down - carrying that stuff. I do know that it was about 10 minutes into it I was sweating and breathing heavily. Good, a good workout, my diet will love it, especially considering the extreme calories consumed the day before in that pizza. Pizza is one of the most fat calorie filled foods around.

The boss? He basically told me he couldn't keep up with me, had to take a few breaks. No problem, I kept carrying stuff. He came back around, we got it done. THEN, back to the lady's house for MORE. 5-1/2 hours of it yesterday, 6 hours today. I haven't had a workout like that in quite a long time. I mean, I work and it's a decent workout, but this was extended aerobic type stuff where the heart rate is up and the breathing to go along with it.

I'm now going to honestly admit that I am totally exhausted. If I don't sleep well tonight, there is nothing on earth that is going to cause it to happen.

Tomorrow? Yes, more of it. I wanted to get all of this done today, but there simply wasn't enough time unless we wanted to be out til' midnight, a thing I most certainly wasn't prepared to do, thank you very much. It's going to be about 3 or 4 hours of it tomorrow and it is done. Strange way to start a staycation, but - it's good to help people and it's good to keep the body moving. Prove to yourself that you are still around, still kicking and can still hang with whoever, wherever. I even got what I considered a compliment from my manager. He told me that a salesman - a guy that works out daily, in great shape - but - I know this guy - can't hold a candle to a working, blue collar guy that has been busting @$$ for his entire life - pushed him, my manager, a while back in moving stuff and sisaid I basically blew that guy away.

Not to be arrogant or cocky, but I did state that I know I can blow him away in work. He might be able to outlift me on the weight bench, there is no way he has near as much stamina as I do in the work field. Being able to lift a lot and being able to press yourself at a constant, heavy rate are 2 completely different things.

Regardless, I am probably going to be sore tomorrow and getting there for one more day of it may not actually be too fun, but he needs the help so I committed to doing it.

Well, I'm done. I have no energy to think about things and write out things. I'm just done. I did score: the lady selling out gave my manager - who gave me a 36 inch Sony Triniton TV that, in 2003, cost her $2,000.00. So she says, I have no context to know one way or the other, but everything else in her house was pricey stuff, no reason to disbelieve her. That TV weighs at LEAST 200 pounds. AT LEAST. It is sitting in my living room, on a specially made TV stand also sold by Sony that I also got for it. It is a VERY good quality TV with GREAT sound. Love it. Free? Well, not exactly, but I will say if that is all I got today, it would have been worth it.

It is not all I got. The lady gave me a ton of NICE Christmas stuff. A lot of canned food. 5 bottles of extremely fine wine. A $50 extension cord. Hey, I got hundreds of dollars worth of stuff today plus a very good lunch, what have I to complain about? Nothing. I was glad to help. My Staycation starts a little later than I thought - working like this is like working a job, but I have no complaints. The heat, the stairs, the lifting and carrying? Great stuff.

G'nite.

ben

Friday

8 hours away from the beginning of a very long vacation. Or less. If there is nothing going on today, I will ask to leave early and start it even earlier. There is only one thing to do in our truck routing system and that's a pickup going to the main branch in downtown Phoenix.

Perusing the news this morning:
I still find it unbelievable that a person that has never been a judge is being considered for a spot on the Supreme Court. For that alone I hope Kagan is not put into that position.

More sanctions against Iran? "Tough new sanctions" as the news put it as Obama signs the - whatever - decree I guess. Meaningless, totally and absolutely meaningless. Iran's stupid president will get on some talk show somewhere around the world and spout off about it and brush it off. There will be no change from Iran. You want to get Iran's attention, go over there and bomb the nuke facilities - that's the ONLY way. I'm not into war, I'm not into the terrorism that might ensue on our own soil, but they're going to bring it to us sooner or later, we might as well start now. A nuclear Iran? Unacceptable. Time is running out, I'm sure the Israeli government is well aware of that and I'm just as sure they have plans on the table to do what we apparently are too yellow-bellied to do ourselves: take out the nuke facilities, all known locations.

I sort of like Schwarzenneger as governor, but I'd rather he do a few more movies before his "time" is up. He doesn't back down, from what I can see, to any of this rhetoric going on over there with their state budget that is at an impasse. His latest move to reduce state worker pay to minimum wage? Interesting. Once the budget is passed, those workers get their back pay - back. Dunno, I have serious issues with CA anyway right now with their boycotting our state. More and more people are jumping on the reverse boycott bandwagon. Boycott them back. 2 billions dollars per year are spend by Arizonans IN California on tourism related activities alone. Take some of that away and see how they like it.

Speaking of that, Obama's worthless immigration speech yesterday. I caught about 2/3rd's of it. It's the same rhetoric that has been spewed out by presidents before him for decades now. Nothing will change, nothing will be done, hence AZ's new law. It's only a start, but it IS a start. I am reading about a bloody shootout that occured overnight on the Mexico side of the border, but very near AZ's border. 21 killed, it says, in Mexican drug gang battle.

It's not going to get better. Mexico's president wants a say in a lawsuit against the Arizona bill, the freak should get his head out of his @$$ and start dealing with his nation's OWN, very severe problems going on right now instead of attempting to interfere with the internal dealings of another nation.

Well, the news, as always, full of cheery, rosy stuff. No biggies, it's been going on forever - violence, hatred, political grand standing. I get a little concerned about the border violence because I'm less than 200 miles away from the border.

Anyway, work day approaches. I have a mind full of things that I am thinking about, especially how to pay for this month - homewise and all related bills. It'll work out if all of my tenants pay - if one of them doesn't, it's going to be a rough road. Very rough road, indeed.

G'day.
ben

Process Service In Arizona

Quite amazing. My doorbell rings a little while ago, dogs go crazy. I can't see the person on my video surveillance - strange. Bad feeling - well - just a feeling, something isn't right. I walk up to about 10 feet from my gate.

Remember, I have no front door on my house. I have block fences with gates. I have a doorbell button out there. I have video surveillance, on the gate and another on the general area.

I ask who's there. My Catahoula is going crazy, I can't see anyone. Man finally appears - I removed one of the slats from my gate so that - shorter - people could reach through the gate to remove the lock. I can see the man through the slat.

Tim? Dunno any Tim, what do you want. "Well come here and see". I don't think so. I'm thinking go back in the house, get the gun, call 911. Paranoia? No. No-one comes to my house talking in such secretive tones or trying to get me to the gate. Then I think: process server. This is the kind of game they play. He's looking for a guy that doesn't live here. He stayed here with his girlfriend for ONE week about 2 months ago, that was it. I don't know the guy, I don't have contact with him, I have no responsibility.

He realizes I ain't coming to the gate and I flatly tell him I'm not taking anything from him. He says he has papers for this guy, so what? I don't care what papers he has, go find the guy, get the bleep off of my property. He says he's leaving the papers on the fence. I inform him he's on video surveillance. He starts attempting to recite law to me - I KNOW the law on process serving, the papers actually have to be handed to the person, not left on a gate. Notwithstanding the fact that the person they are attempting to serve must ACTUALLY LIVE THERE.

He's on video surveillance, the papers are left on the top of a 6 foot block wall. I already went inside and am watching this nonsense. The wind blows the papers off the wall and onto the ground. THIS is legal process serving? Whoever the State of Arizona is using to serve these papers is using a low-life company. That man is going to have to lie about the service, there is no way he can recite verbatim what actually occured and have that be declared as a proper, legal service.

What to do? Contact the attorney general's office for one. I have read that these companies are bidding $8 per service on these photo radar situations. They can do that because - obviously. They don't care what they do with the papers, it's a done deal, it's done with impunity. It's totally outrageous that this company - or these companies - are getting away with this shit.

Thursday

"Who would give out free food this day and age", a question posed by a Craigslist dissenter of another CL'ers post. The lack of intellect that is showed all over Craigslist is appalling. The Dumb Mill grinds them out and apparently are hatched on Craigslist, is all I can think of. Yes, I wrote a dissenting post back to that person.

Well whatever. Iran is back in the news with their alleged hand-over of a sophisticated radar system to, of all places, Syria. Or course, Iran and Syria in bed with each other, whoda thought? The implications - well you will just have to read about it yourself on the news or see it on TV. Of course, both Iran and Syria deny that such a transferrence took place.

Meanwhile, "gobs" of oil have washed up on the coastline after Hurricane Alex hit land. Okay, okay, I'll try not to get start on this oil disaster - I think the people that held a day of prayer for that situation had it right: at this point, it's going to take God's intervention to do anything about this.

Thursday. Love the ring to it. 2 full work days to go, including today, before 9 full days off of work. Very nice, indeed.
My time has run out. I was reading a rather long string of posts on Craigslist - people running off their mouths. Amazing those ads haven't been flagged and deleted.

Anyway, have a great day!
ben

Dawn And I

No, unfortunately, I have not found a girlfriend. Dawn is referring to dishwashing soap. It is a hundred million degrees out there, I'm sure of it. Well anyway, I was just out there using my Miracle Grow applicator to apply a coating of the Dawn liquid on the problem plants - those plants that are covered with white flies. I'm hoping it's now Miracle Death versus Grow. I put several tablespoons worth of the liquid in there and I could see the whitish layer on the plants I was spraying.

Did it work? I have no clue. I will go out and check in a while. I'm thinking that it takes several applications of the stuff to get rid of them completely.

I have 2 Koi left out of the 10, I think. I did not see any fish bodies floating around today, but, I couldn't locate them either.

A shocker.
I put the dogs outside - I do that when they are getting ancy and wandering around and starting to irritate me with unending visits. I mean, when you have dogs that big, their visits are giants head RIGHT in your face. I can only take so much of that.

Well,they bark at everything that moves by the house. I have found that they ARE barking at something, you just have to catch it. A kid on a skateboard? Bark. I click on video surveillance to catch it. To assure myself that they no, they aren't barking at blades of grass growing. A person on a bicycle, anything where humans are moving on foot or a method of motorvation that doesn't include automobiles. Fortunately, they do not bark at every friggin' car that goes by.

So, they're out their barking about 30 minutes ago. I click on video surveillance - it's always on, I just have to bring up the screen.
There is a familiar red pickup on my screen. It's the Army Reservist! In full blown military uniform, she comes walking up to the gate, ignores the barking dogs (my dogs can be ignored, they won't bite anyone, but, people that don't know them wouldn't know that), walks to my back door, knocks and walks in.

Yup, for now, she's back. A bit of a discussion ensued - I'm very interested in this life of hers in the Army Reserve and what it entails. She calls it part-time military. She stated that her unit is slated to go to Afghanistan in April of 2012, but she is volunteering to go before then. She is true blue military, she knows nothing else she wants to do in life. My hat's off to her and everyone like her. Without those people, what would the U.S. be like? She isn't there because she has to be there, she is there because she totally LOVES it.

Here's the part that, at least temporarily, saves my @$$: she hands me a full month's rent. That money will all be going to bills. There is nothing else to do with it. Well, there is, obviously, there is nothing else that I can RESPONSIBLY do with it.

If I want to do something during my staycation, which starts after work in 2 days and goes on for 9 days straight, I will be hitting up my coin stash. It's enough to go to a waterpark, the movies, whatever. Any money handed me by tenants is going to eletricity, water, bills. No, really, it is. I'm not into losing the house, car, electric going off, water being shut off, whatever.

I do remember one time, years ago, my water was shut off - non-payment. They turn the valve off out front and then put a lock on it. The lock was too big for the hole, it was easy enough to turn the ball valve head enough to get the water back on - at full pressure even if the thing wasn't turned to a fully on position.

Stealing? They thought so. I did not, I have to have water to survive and I fully intended on paying up the bill on my next paycheck after they had done that. They came back a few days later, turned the valve back off and left a note in the meter box - where the meter and valve is - to NOT disturb the valve or "serious" consequences" would ensue. I cared not. I turned it right back on. The next day, I came home from work and they had shut it off again, with a much more dramatic note - I don't remember what it said because I didn't care.

I turned the water back on. Note that turning the water back on did not mean breaking their lock, it simply meant turning the valve as far as it would go with their lock still being in place. Which doesn't actually condone my actions, but, again, a house without water is not a house. The toilet use is the first thing that comes to mind.

They shut the water off again the next day with some vivid not of police and this and that. I again turned on the water, but now? I had the money to pay off the bill, which I did. They informed me on the phone that they would be by the next day to turn the water back on, I informed them to take their time, the water was already on. Well, sir, you aren't supposed to do THAT. No, I replied, I'm probably not, but have you ever lived without running water?

The conversation was moot, I in no way tried to hide the fact that I had repeatedly turned the water back on after they had shut it off, but, again, my conscience was clear enough: I was going to repay them fully.

Well, whatever. I have "fond" memories of doing whatever in the past. In another place I lived, they shut off the gas. Yes, I have had financial issues in the past, severe. It was winter, the house was cold and shutting off the gas also meant no cooking in that particular place.

I learned, that night, how to turn the gas back on. First off, I did have to cut a lock this time. There was no getting around it. I took a Sawzall, cut it off in less than 30 seconds. Turned it on - nothing. No idea.

Unhooked that big meter from the unions that attached it to the pipe - there were rubber stoppers they had installed to keep gas from flowing in case someone like me came along thinking they were going to turn it back on. I removed those, rehooked the thing, turned the gas on, sprayed everything with a soap formula to check for leaks, no leaks, re-lighted everything, walaah.

I dunno, I guess they check up on such things, because they were back at my doorstep one night, not day, late, asking me who turned the gas back on. I said nothing, if I recall correctly. They said if it happened again, they would remove the meter. Okay, whatever.

I'm not going to say I was feeling GOOD about what I had done, but, with a kid and trying to survive and with full intention of paying up the bill, I wasn't losing sleep about it, either. They did come back - and they did remove the meter. Yes, I cut the new lock off and yes, I turned it back on after they left.

Their meter? No problem. A vacant lot across the street had a meter - all of those meters are owned by the gas company, not the lot owner, so, I justified to myself if no-one else that I was only transferring something they owned from one place to another. I installed that meter.

They apparently did not come back checking. I dunno. I finally got the money and paid up the bill. They said they would send someone out. They did. The man that showed up came knocking on my door. "I was sent out here to turn on the gas, but it looks like someone from my company already did so, the meter is installed and flowing". Did I dare tell this guy what I had done? No, I think not. I smiled and said thank you for coming, guess it's all taken care of.

Could you call it unethical? Yes, I suppose you could. Many people I know have never been in survival mode. They have had all the money and then some that they need. Their biggest worry is trying to get the new iPad, not keeping utilities on. I'm not condemning them, I'm simply saying, there is a totally different mindset when it comes to dire need. Need does not necessarily condone deceit or theft, in fact, it doesn't really. But, when it's 110 out and the electricity is off, or it's 10 degrees out and the gas isn't on, or it's WHATEVER temperature and the water isn't running, the mind can conjure up many things to justify something you normally wouldn't even think about.

Which isn't my mindset now. I have no desire to have anything shut off. Pay the freaking bill. If I can't, call them. If that doesn't do anything, figure something out. If that doesn't work, down the line of thought/analysis until whatever - it's all out. Then the lines have to be chosen to cross or not cross.

Whatever. I don't know how I get on that subject, but I do.

Monsoon season is here. Rains haven't come yet. I would like that to start, but traditionally not until next month. The sky watering my plants would help immensely. Do you remember when you could stand outside when it's raining, look up towards the sky and open your mouth? I do, as a little kid. I also used to eat raw beef. Yes, totally uncooked. Then came the age - pollutants and chemicals and this that and the other thing.

That's enough for one entry. I am finding more and more readers - not that I'm looking for them - but people I know, have known or people that found this place - however. My Cafe World posts are all over the Google internet. Other types of postings as well. Amazing some of the messages I am getting. Not comments on here, messages.

Anyway, good evening.

ben

Wednesday

Last day of June.
I would like to hear - knowing it is impossible so a rhetorical question - a date/specific day when this oil gusher is going to be turned off? Anyone have an answer to that question? Does anyone not believe that there is enough oil down there to eventually pollute ALL of the water? You think millions and millions of gallons of oil is just going to stay in the Gulf of Mexico, that it won't eventually start heading out? If it ALL heads towards GoP's shores, the world should count itself lucky, really, the shorelines are already devastated.

I keep hearing that BP is the world's leader in knowledge about these things. Great, they haven't exactly done much of anything to stop this shit, there are other oil drilling companies and there are also companies whose sole business is to stop gushers. Is there not some other expertise out there, anywhere, that might have something to put on the table? Look, I am not opposed to drilling for oil, but what happens if this happens again? And again? Perhaps we should reconsider this technique of drilling a mile underwater and then drilling miles down under THAT. We can't exactly go down there and deal with it.

I'm getting a little spooked, I guess, about this gusher, I think a lot of people are. There is no end in sight. Meanwhile, apparently people are boycotting BP gas stations. I had no idea that Arco is owned by BP - plenty of those around here. I don't use Arco stations, if I were inclined to boycott them it would have zero impact on me. I don't use them because they charge 50 cents to use the debit or credit machinery to pay for your fuel - a thing NO-ONE else does around these parts.

Meanwhile, I remain amused at this guy who is relentlessly running an ad, day after day after day, attempting to sell his used, pre-formed ponds for $500. He has a large pond I would love to get my hands on. I really have no money for such right now - but for the right price,I would go through my change in my closet and come up with it. Yes, I have a lot of change in there. I'm guessing minimum $100, probably more worth. I have been saving it for a while now. I just empty out my pockets and dump it all in there. There are 4, good sized containers filled to the top with change, and much of it is not pennies.

He will not, however, come down to a good price. Well, I got him down to $150 for a 2 pond setup with the sump and bio filter. It's actually a killer deal, but - whatever. If I offer him $100 he will probably be insulted. At the same time, those ponds are just sitting there, in his yard, doing nothing and HAVE been since he started putting those ads up some 2 MONTHS ago. Lol.

No, money is tied up in bills right now. Better off leaving those coins in there for emergency backup if it becomes necessary. Actually, I am now seriously considering paying off one of the 401k loans and then getting a larger loan in it's place. Still in the consideration phase, I would rather not. If I can make it through the summer, my electric bills and water usage will go back down - shedding some $250 at least per month. No, more than that, minimum $300 down including water. I have 2 months of hell heat to go to make it to where the temps just start to creep back down. 100 degree days are far better than 112 - today's expected high - in terms of electricity used to cool the house.

The white flies are not gone - at all. The exterminator said when his man came out that they would put Dawn dishwashing liquid in the mixture and it would kill them off by suffocating them. Well, it didn't happen and those damned things are slowly killing off my lantannas. I bought a huge bottle of it on sale yesterday at Fry's - $2.99 was the sale plus a coupon I was given at the register. I don't know if the guy just didn't put enough of that stuff in the mixture or what, but I can't continue to watch my plants dying off. They are still quite salvagable if I can get those freaking flies out of there. I'll be doing that today or tomorrow when the sun starts going down, I want the moisture to get everywhere and stay everywhere for a while. In the direct sunlight, that stuff will just dry up - too fast - and I don't wonder if that's part of the problem.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow if this Army reservist is coming back or not, since I haven't heard a single word from her. I have had a dilemna in whether to return her mail or keep it for her waiting for her to come back. One of those pieces of a mail is an IRS tax refund that's been sitting there about a month now. If she doesn't return tomorrow or at least contact me, all of that stuff is getting returned to sender.

Umm, work day approaches and there is plenty to do. It's the last day of the month, so they will be pushing to get whatever is in the system - delivered and on the books.

Later.

ben

Tuesday

Another child has died in a pool drowning. I was writing about this yesterday and then, later on, I see that news. Unbelievable. Kid "somehow" got into the pool area, gets into the pool, dies. Again, every single year we go through this nonsense in this area. Lots of homes have pools in the back yards, replete with kids, some of them with very small children that don't know how to swim. Recipe for disaster. If I had small kids, I simply would not have a house with a pool. I don't have a pool anyway. They're a lot of work to keep clean and keep the ph levels balanced and keeping algae out of them.

Besides the fact I already have enough water being used on the property.

The pirates are at it again - well they never stopped, I should say they're back in the news again. This time, 19 sailors are captured on a chemical tanker ship carrying some sort of poisonous chemical used in making antifreeze. Nice. I'd like to see another raid of one of these pirate-held ships and see a good outcome - they die the sailors live and everyone excepting the pirates go on with their lives.

Yesterday, an old friend that I know from my missionary days wrote me a message on my Facebook account. Says Bill Lowery is doing services at a renowned Atlanta church. I write him back and tell him that I have absolutely no respect, whatsoever, for Bill Lowery and that he is a piece of garbage whose god is money.

I know, harsh words, but the name brought back vivid, vile memories of being under the "leadership" of a man whose actions caused no small amount of grief for unknown amounts of people - I say that because the implications of some of the things he has done are far-reaching. I started looking up this guy - he is STILL at it? The last I heard, he had bought a dude ranch in New Mexico and was doing some sort of cowboy stuff.

Come to find out this dude is living HERE, in Arizona!! I could go into the amazing amount of things that he did to me personally, but it would take too long. I'll relate just one of them, and this isn't even the worst of it.
I was preaching in a shopping mall in Decatur, Illinois. Long story short: I was arrested for trespassing on private property. Went to court/trial, I lost, but not really, I spent the time in the court room preaching as I had no defense and didn't really care. The judge was nice about it but still gave me a $200 fine if I recall the amount correctly. We - there was another guy with me that had also been arrested - were in jail and the ministry was taking up offerings for us so we could be released.

Bypassing too much information to go into, when I got out, I went up and asked Bill Lowery about these offerings and was he going to pay these fines with that money? Yes, was his rely. I asked him several times after that to ensure I wasn't going to end up in jail again for contempt of court. He told me it had already been paid.

Skip forward several years, I'm back in Illinois visiting a friend. I get pulled over in my pickup for having a busted headlight. I'm sitting in 10 degree weather waiting for these police to write me the ticket and I'll be on my way. Instead, I'm taken to county jail and then the next day hauled down to Decatur some 150 miles away. The sheriff that was transporting me remembered me from the incident at the shopping mall. He told me that my actions had created quite a stir and that one of the officers had actually quit the force because of the things I had told that officer who had claimed he was Christian.

I get down there, eventually get before the judge: 2 bench warrants for same thing, contempt of court, the fine had never been paid. I call Bill Lowery - he happens to be at the main headquarters in El Paso with the entire world's leaders that had come in for a conference from, yes around the world. Instead of dealing with this himself, he puts me on speakerphone. I begin to relate the story of what Bill Lowery had done. A huge argument erupts from the leaders to the point that I couldn't tell what was being said. I called Lowery a liar and a thief who had taken money that was specifically donated for my jail costs and used it for himself.

I have to tell you, I wanted to hit that man, hard, several times. I was glad we were not face to face or I would have also gone to jail all over gone for aggravated assault.

Last night, I find this guy has started a ministry in Tucson. I speak to some people that are at what used to be his old ministry and they say he is still banished from that ministry and has no part in it whatsoever, even though he was the founder of it. The reason? Money. It was always about money. The guy is a used car salesman with minister's clothing on. This is confirmed by people that know him the WORLD over.

I wonder what kind of scam he is using now and look into the website. It all looks good "on paper", but once you know a person and that person does the same thing, over and over for decades running, you know there is more to the story. Well, Lowery has his personal cell phone number posted on the site! Yes, I called it. He was sitting in a room with the pastor of that church, they were going over notes just before the service was about to begin. I wondered why he even bothered to answer the phone with that kind of impending schedule going on. I spoke to him, he didn't recognize me. He WOULD remember my name, oh yes. I started in on him, he actually hands the phone over to the pastor.

So, I started telling the pastor about his past. The pastor informs me he has known him for 36 years. Yes, well not like I and others that were WITH him know him. It went on for awhile - the man said he would call me back, love to discuss with this guy this person preaching in his church.

Yes, it stirred up old memories.

BAD memories. Like the time I went to the airport here in Phoenix to pick him and his assistant up. My ex-wife had been in a serious car accident and was in a hospital not 3 miles from the airport. Note that she had been with the ministry for something like 15 YEARS at that point. This guy? "I don't have time to go see her". I got mad. Then, we're leaving the airport, he tells me he needs the car. Huh? It was a ministry car, yes, but they had given it to me to use while she was recovering from the accident. This guy wants me to pull over and - do whatever - to get home. I was appalled. I got REALLY mad. I took the keys out of the car, I was going to throw them into the desert, if he could find them, good for him, if not, I didn't give a damn. Again, another situation where I had to walk away from this guy because I was infuriated. His assistant, a man I knew very well, got out and apologized for Lowery's stupidity and handed me enough money to take a taxi home. Lowery was just going to leave me STRANDED there. ASSHOLE. Not sorry to say it. Again, that's just one OTHER story, I could go on.

I am going to revisit this with this "man". He picked the wrong state to move to and try his shit in. I live 100 or less miles from him now. Not that I'm going to DO anything, isn't worth it. I am going to be calling him. He will have to get his cell phone number changed and will have to keep it off his website.

Anyway, the work day looms, I'm outta here.
ben

Arizona, Heat, Summer And Death

All of them go together here. Every year, people come here without a clue as to how to survive living in the AZ sun and heat, have heat strokes and die. Every year, kids are left unattended by swimming pools or find their way into the back yard, fall into the pool and drown. The massacre has begun.
A 2 year old was left in the back of a car after a family coming home in 2 separate vehicles from church on Sunday. One thought the other had the baby. Dad went out to go to the store, put the car in reverse and yes, saw his 2 year old baby slumped over in the back seat. Dead. Man is going to be charged with - I think they said involuntary homicide.

Today, the owner of a large chain of movie theatres in these parts left his dog in his car, outside of course, while he went in to watch a movie. Okay, the dog didn't die. He left the windows open and allegedly came out several times to make sure the dog was okay. But, somebody flagged down police and he was cited anyway. Sometime sooner or later, somebody is going to see either a child left in a car at supermarket, bar or casino and somebody's going to see a dog left in a car at same said places and they are going to bust a window out of the car to save the child or dog's life.

It happens EVERY single year. A car can get up to 140 degrees inside with windows closed. I have only left my dogs in the car unattended a couple of times. In those cases, the car was left running, the emergeny brake was applied (heavily in case a dog accidently hit the shift lever) and the AC was cranking away. I was always within 50 feet of the car. Sounds crazy, well, the other folks around me at the time were commenting on the large dogs, not on me leaving them in the car unattended.

I won't do that now that my car's AC is not working. I won't even take them with me anywhere right now because they are large dogs and they get hot quickly. They are not left outside during the day now, either. I put them out in the morning before anyone gets up, but after that I call here and ask that they be let in. IF by some chance they were not to be let in, I have shade and a LOT of cool water for them to drink. They will survive - uncomfortably - and it's not against the law. Still, I do not like leaving giant dogs out in this heat.

The point is that this is all common sense, and the further point is that these people that engage in such must not have very much common sense. The family that just lost the 2 year old? An unimaginable price they are now paying for that man's forgetfulness, I don't wonder if that is sentence enough - he will never forget it, it will haunt him, he is probably having thoughts of suicide, he is in a hell that none of us can understand and none of us ever want to experience. The fires that are licking at his feet and coursing through his very being are more than any prison sentence will ever be able to attain in terms of punishment given.

Don't get me wrong from above statement: I am not saying the man is going to hell, rather, the man is already IN hell, an earthly version of it. These people LOVED that baby, this is apparent from the news stories. I don't wonder when the man gets to court if a jury wouldn't find against any prison time. He is already sentenced to a life of regret, hate towards himself, misery, grief - a list of adjectives combined together to make this man's life a walking hell, that's all there is to it.

But, how can you forget your own baby in the back seat of your car? To me, this unfathomable. It happened last year here, but - after hospital care and stay, the baby survived and is healthy. It happens EVERY year here, that's my point: where do these people come from? Still, instead of punishing him with prison time, the judge could make him serve thousands of hours of community time with the theme of going around talking to groups about the "importance" of making sure all of your kids are accounted for.

Well, whatever. I grieve in my own small way with this family. The throes of anguish right now in that family and extended family members is unimaginable.

The dog, however, survived. Is the dog as important as a human life? NO WAY. In fact, I thought about that baby's last - 30 minutes, hour. Can you imagine sitting in what is the same as an oven, roasting to death? No, I can't - I can't imagine the suffering that baby went through. But, is a dog's life important? Well, I love dogs, I can easily answer that: yes, to me, a dog's life is important, if nothing else, to the owners of that dog. It just doesn't equate to the life of a human being. You can easily get over the death of a dog compared to human death. There IS no easy way to get over the death of a loved one - human loved one - and especially in a circumstance such as this.

Moving on. Heat related. I had returned from doing a delivery early this afternoon and decided to go ahead and continue work on sweeping the asphalt. It was hot at the time - 105. When you are standing on asphalt, the sun bakes you from above. The asphalt is absorbing the heat and radiating it back up. After some 45 minutes of this, I started feeling funny. I had plenty of water, yes, but I was in the full sunlight.

I got out of the sunlight - got a lot done but I wasn't about to cook myself for the sake of keeping busy and having something to do. It became evident that I am still not quite acclimated to the heat yet. I CAN take that kind of abuse - but it takes a while.

Moving on. 6 of the 10 koi are dead. Since I have living goldfish in that pond that are in excellent condition, I am going to contact the seller and tell him these fish have died, please replace them. I had aquariums for years and years as a kid, I am accustomed to the care of fish. No, the trip those Koi had from NC to here, the water getting hot, that is what killed them. I do expect the man to replace them - if not - live and learn. I am not even sure any of the rest of them are still alive, only that their bodies aren't floating on the top of the water.

That's it for this one.

ben

Monday

There are times when Monday comes rolling around - Monday morning that is - and I absolutely do not feel like getting out of bed, much less going to work. Today is definitely one of those mornings. I dunno if it is just because I have been doing it for decades, but something automatic within turns on and forces me to go through the motions without thinking about it. In my situation, not going to work is not an option. Calling in sick when you're not sick? I don't think I've ever done that once in my entire life. Not about to start now.

News: North Korea is going to bolster nuke capacity. Just what, exactly, are they going to do with nuclear weapons? Bomb South Korea? Won't that destroy the environment on both sides of the "border" between them? Just curious. They spout off rhetoric to anyone that will listen, which apparently is enough for the news to report about it.

Funny that the BP oil disaster is falling off the main headlines - yet, the last time I heard anything, there is still a LOT of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, it's still there, it just isn't main headlines anyomre for some reason. The virtual destruction of pristine shorelines is guaranteed at this point. How do you clean that junk out of the sand? Perhaps they can - but - they will be doing it for a long, long time. No, this is a catastrophe at best.

Our Governor Brewer definitely made a gaffe this time in her statements that most illegals coming over here are drug runners. Gonnnnnnnnng!!! Remember the Gong Show? I used to love that show! They're coming over here to find jobs, earn money and either send it back to families in Mexico or bring them all up here and live. I was reading a story yesterday - it was the story of a family of illegals that decided to move to Pennsylvania after this new immigration bill was past.

Amazing that the story tried to invoke sentiment for people that don't belong here. I read the entire story, some reporter had followed their plight from the beginning where they were throwing all their belongings away excepting what they could carry with them in their vehicle - to the trip to the ending in Pennsylvania. It was a "heartbreaking" type of story - I felt nothing. I didn't feel sorry for them, their words didn't evoke any anguish in my soul. If they don't want to feel like they are always on the run or that they may get caught at any time, all the time, I have 2 words for them: GO HOME.

These people continue to stay in the states and apparently feel they have some sort of right to stay here. It's truly amazing not only how these illegals think, but also the bleeding hearts that want to just allow all 11 million of them complete, free amnesty. Just let them have citizenship, notwithstanding the fact that there are a LOT of people from all over the world that would love to move to our country - legally - and are trying to do just that.

Whatever. When this week is over, I have a full week off. I haven't done that in ages. I am looking forward to getting up late. Doing nothing. Or doing something, who cares, it's staycation. I think I'll spend the week getting the house really clean - dun't want a dirty house for vacation, not that it is dirty now, but I want it sparkling and smelling nice just. Yes, that's the ticket, mind now filling with "wonderful" cleaning projects that I can start doing after work every day. Lol.

Work day is here, g'day.
ben

Sunday

Stepped outside and started to cook. More like melt. Decided to no stick around out there too long and came back inside. Curiosity - I had to go back out and see if any more of the little Koi had died. I couldn't find any bodies, I saw about 4 of them moving around. The lone Koi I have in the other pond? Well, I can't just leave him in there alone so I'm going to try and catch one of the others and put one in there with him. I also had to run down to the store and get some stuff that helps with stress - those Koi were flown in 2 days ago from North Carolina.

The man said the water was hot when he got them and that over 100 of them were dead. Transported home and into his tank, then transported to my house and into my pond. Yeah, I'd say that calls for a bit of shock treatment, I should have thought of that yesterday, perhaps I wouldn't have lost the one Koi. I'm already preferring Koi over Goldfish because of the longevity of Koi - up to 75 years. Goldfish, this guy claims, good for about 6 or 7 years and they're dead.

Hugely long interval. I mean, half the day and a trip with my manager to a person's house who is selling everything. He does not trust people and was apparently fearful of going alone - it was a Craigslist deal - with CL, who knows what's going to happen.

And now? I am going to bed early, I am tired and just want to go to sleep.

G'nite.

ben

Saturday

A person in Carefree is giving away his Koi and Goldfish today. I wish I had the desire to drive 40 miles one way to get them, free is always good.
No biggies, I just wanted to add some Koi with the goldfish I have in there already.

I haven't eaten since sometime yesterday afternoon, about 17 hours ago. No way do I want to get off track the weight that keeps falling off of me, I tend to kick it into high gear by not eating for a while and then eating very small portions. It has been working so far, see if it does any good by the time the weekend is over. I will not be able to weigh myself again until work Monday morning.

Female tenant left for 2 weeks. She is watching her mother's house while they are away on vacation. Gotta love the people that rent out a room in your house, then tell you they're going to be gone for 2 weeks and then hint at not paying rent since they won't be there. Not the first time, probably not the last. I refuse them every time. The room is rented whether you are staying here or not, that isn't my problem. I'm sorry you're having finanial difficulties, tell me about it, I have plenty and consistent, on-time payments are the only thing that are going to do anything for me right now.

Great sales on food at various supermarkets right now. This is when I wish I had a freezer, I would fill the thing up with cheap - but good - chicken breast and other goodies that are on huge sale. I will buy some, of course, but not that much.

There isn't much more I can do right now to save additional money on electricity. Only if everyone leaves - then I can turn the thermostat up 4 or 5 degrees. I do have a standing, posted rule at this point that no laundry is to be done between the hours of 10:00 pm and 6:00 pm to help keep the indoor heating down.

Well, the first month of hell heat is almost over - and from the records, June is the highest use of electricity, it tapers down a bit in July and August. Still, 2 more months of excessive energy use - this is going to be a struggle to make it through this unless, by some miracle, my company decides to give us our hours back. From the looks of it, that is one of those things you might all a pipe dream.

For the news, although it is going to be hell for many people, I am in full agreement with this money train running out and not extending unemployment benefits. Is anyone in the Federal government even the slightest bit afraid of the consequences of unbridled, runaway spending? Obviously not - excepting those Republicans that stood up against the unemployment free for all. Look, I have great sympathy for those people, but you're talking people that have been on unemployment for a long, long time now. Sooner or later, the gravy train has to end. I hope I don't ever have to face such, even gave some consideration to that before even writing this - I have contingency plans if it ever happened. Very unpleasant contingency plants, yes, but I do have a nuclear fallout plan that includes living in my own back yard and renting every room in the house.

Preposterous, maybe. If you have no money, you can't stay anywhere. You live on the streets. Well, I would rather live in my back yard than on the streets. Renting all 5 rooms would pay the mortgage, electricity and water. I don't know about anything else - keeping on internet and satellite might be a difficult road to ho.

However, in the industry I am in, junk, cheap jobs are available if nothing else. OTR is always there as well. Yup, life would suck, but it would be better than the alternatives. I can't imagine driving a big rig for $10 per hour, but there are those that are doing it.

Enough of that - though I expect the desperate people posting on Craigslist here, locally, to multiply exponentially. As for me, I am still considering paying off one of the 401k loans and getting another one. I owe around $800 on one and $1,200 on another. I have enough money in my 401k account that I could turn around and take out around $2,500 or so. You can only take out a percentage of what you have and that percentage drops every time you get a loan. Minus the $800 to pay it off to get another one, that's $1,700 left over. I have absolutely nothing for an emergency - which really, I'm in the middle of one right now. Financially, that is. I will be doing a new budget - again - haven't done one since the beginning of this year - and see what I need to do to stay afloat. Food is always a thing that can be "adjusted". Mac and cheese; cheap tuna fish; peanut butter that's on sale. Ramen noodles and hot dogs. Most of that junk is high sodium, fat calories and pure garbage, not so good for your health, but it is food. I am not saying I am there yet, I am going to do a realistic budget as soon as I'm done with this entry.

Temp tenants are headed to Walmart to cash a check and give me money. They are outta here today or tomorrow morning, apparently they found an apartment. It's $75 I didn't have, they have only been here 4 or 5 days and they haven't been here that much. Straight to electricity is where that money plus the money the female tenant gave me last weekend will go. I hate living like this, but, I know that I am most certainly not in this boat alone.

And, I'm very glad not to be an occupant of another boat: unemployed and benefits running out this month. That would TRULY suck is all I can say about that. I truly feel for those people. I wish I had some extra funds that I could start up the feeding thing again, it's going to happen - people that at one time were bringing in 5 and 6 figures will be so desperate they will literally beg on Craigslist for food help. I can't currently justify spending the money it takes to have a large group of people over eating, I can't afford it right now.

Anyway, the bug is in, I must get to scribbling out my budget, what I am getting and what I need to do to float.

G'day.

ben

Weekend

Seeds.
I have been wanting to get some Australian Bottle Tree seeds for a while now. Well, actually I rather wanted a sapling, but - I just can't spend money right now. I am dumping money into electricity like a incinerator burning trash, it just disappears. It totally sucks, but right now, there is nothing I can do about it. If there are no tenants around, I turn the AC to a higher temp - like 5 degrees higher. I'll bring a fan out and aim it at my if I get warm, I don't really care that much. Take a cold shower. Whatever. But, there is pretty much always tenants around here. The ex Marine lost his job (due to his own lifestyle) and has no plans to work. Umm, lost the thought here - I bought some Australian Bottle Tree seeds on eBay for $4.99 today with free shipping. That came out of the refund from the bio-filter that eBay decided in my favor for the dispute I opened through eBay with the seller. Cheap and I am totally into this kind of thing. Plant some seeds and hope they grow!

He gave me this news several days ago with a grimmace on his face. I hope he doesn't think he's going to - get away with not paying the rent like he did last time this happened because I will tell him that it is unacceptable. He gets money from the military at the beginning of every month, he is leaving at the end of next month, there is no good reason that I can see to give leniency. A freebie month is out of the question. He didn't SAY that, I just got that feeling. A BAD feeling at that. Wait and see.

Hard day for dieting. Resistance is futile, what came to mind, anyway, but - I didn't give in, at least to the donuts. I absolutely LOVE cream filled donuts. The Bavarian cream stuff, not that white junk that tastes like your pouring sugar down your throat.

I was at the main branch - fully 3 dozen donuts including several of the cream filled style sitting there for whosoever. I envision myself drooling. I haven't had one in a long, long time. I had to make several trips into the area where those donuts were - I resisted.

Before that, I had eaten a Subway ham sandwich - no cheese, no heavy dressings. I wasn't hungry, but - I had plenty of room for one of those donuts. I got out of there. Later on, I was back at my branch. MORE donuts. Inventory today, several people there, they brought all kinds of goodies. It was pure heck to resist eating one of those things. They were buying lunch, did I want any? Yes, I could only say. I had a low fat/calorie fare but - I thought at the time and still thinking now - this is the extent of my eating for today. I can't eat anything else and still think I had a good day.

So, 3 more hours of awakedness. I cannot get my mind off of food. I look at the gains that I have made and THAT is what is keeping me on track. I will NOT eat again today. I last ate at 1:00 pm - but I have HAD my calorie limit for the day, I can't afford to eat anymore. BTW, it's almost 7:00pm and it is also past my 6:00 pm limit for eating. Yes, I have several restrictions on my eating - not TOO many but the restrictions I have simply cannot be crossed. Eye on the prize: get lean again. 6 or 8 pack belly. Obesity related medical problems - negated. I am not obese, I have no intentions on letting myself get anywhere near that. I was close, I guess, at 212 pounds - a full 30 pounds over my life-long adult weight before I started gaining. I hit that weight on the scale and reality set in: either do something NOW or turn into - something you don't want to look like, be or have to deal with.

I came home today and saw a large river rock propped up next to the trailer outside my house. Entertaining, lol. It has professionally scribed numbers on it: my street address plus "1/4" next to it. They're saying another 2 months before they leave. They also told me the other day that "I saved them". They were headed for the streets and literally had nowhere to go when I bought that trailer for them to live in. I'm glad things are turning around for them. I bid them well. No hard feelings them leaving, I would do the same thing in their situation. Yes, I am considering helping someone else that would want the thing.

The situation is not going to be given to the first taker. I don't want a lazy-ass person wanting to mooch. It was months before I got these current folks this trailer. I had 25 conversations with them plus a coupl days of him working over here before they EVER got the nod to move onto the property. Work ethic is mandatory. Whether they are working or not, not the point, they must have that attitude and lifestyle. There are still VERY few jobs to be had in this area - one of the worst hit in the nation.

Ponds. I have 4 large goldfish. One of them is much larger than the rest. When it comes feeding time, he/she is a bully. They all go FAR away from this character while he's going crazy going all over the place looking for the food. He is, in fact, a total pig. I have compensated for it - I put food at both ends of the pond when feeding them. He cannot be at both places at the same time. It's fun to watch, regardless. Pond was cool enough to not have to worry about floating, fried fish when getting home from work.

Heat. I am slowly getting re-accustomed to extreme heat. It was 113 today. I both worked in it and sat out in it when I got home from work. I have to "reorganize" my mind. Heat is a good thing, I tell myself. Driving home in a hell-hot car, I imagined how nice it was. I was lightly sweating and the air moving over my flesh from the open windows kept me cool. I thought that and believed it, that's all I needed. Tunes turned up, drown out any negativity in the thought realm. Enjoy the ride, who cares how hot it is. It's ALL in the mind, really. Car AC may not even get fixed this summer - my finances are that bad - might as well get used to it. I'm not complaining or whining - just writing in my diary. It is what it is. The house is cool, the electricity is on, the water is on, there is food in the refrigerator, for that, I am grateful.

A week away from my 1 week vacation. Mom said her property is available if I wanted to get out of Phoenix. If she's up there, I will take a day trip to visit her. Maybe stay overnight. Not necessarily desirable as I no longer have tents. Yes, I would rather tent out than stay in a small trailer with mother. Nothing against mother, but - it would just be more "comfortable" that way.

It's Friday evening and I'm done with this entry.

ben

Friday

Friday! Not only is it Friday, it is also our company's bi-annual inventory. Meaning everything is counted, all of it. I am exempt. All drivers in our company - for whatever reason - are exempt as well.

"Singapore sentenced a Swiss man to three strokes of a cane and five months in prison on Friday for spray-painting graffiti on a subway car."

I wonder what would happen to the crime rate in America in general if we did such things here? Remember the teenaged kid that was over there and got hit with the cane for vandalism?

Interesting stuff. The Obama administration, however and which is plastered all over the news every single day, is not interesting stuff to me. Maddening at times, yes, interesting, definitely not. How much damage to the economy, deficit and national debt will this guy inflict before he finally leaves office?

The weekend: dunno. I got off work yesterday, drove home in a hot car and I felt sick. I still haven't adjusted to the heat yet. It was, allegedly, 114 degrees yesterday. I was working in it most of the day. I did nothing outside yesterday after I got home excepting to water plants that needed watering. Some of my tomatoes are starting to turn red. Dunno when to pick them. Maybe leave them on the vine until they are ripe, not sure. I just don't want bugs getting into them and such.

I have plenty to do outside, that's a fact, just don't know if I will gain muster to actually do any of it, especially the D word - digging out that hole.

Some dude sent me an email through Craigslist yesterday saying he has an 8x11 pond kit for sale for $800. R U serious? This guy is out of his mind. I must have left an ad up because I haven't run any lately, that just came out of the blue. What I found amusing is that you can get the same, exact thing on eBay for less than $200. Lol. I mean, it's the EXACT same thing - it's pic and manufacturer on eBay are identical to the pic the guy sent me. Funny the scams people attempt to put on others. I neither have $800 OR $200 to spend on such, so it was a moot point to me anyway.

Well, work day approaches. Haven't looked in truck routing system, dunno what, if anything is in there but I'm about to find out.

Have a great day!

ben

A Mexican, an Arab,and an Arizona girl are in the same bar.

When the Mexican finishes his beer, he throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol, and shoots the glass to pieces.

He says, 'In Mexico , our glasses are so cheap we don't need to drink with the same one twice.'

The Arab, obviously impressed by this, drinks non-alcohol beer (cuz he's a Muslim!), throws it into the air, pulls out his AK-47, and shoots the glass to pieces.

He says, 'In the Arab World, we have so much sand to make glasses that we don't need to drink with the same one twice either.'

The Arizona girl, cool as a cucumber, picks up her beer, downs it in one gulp, throws the glass into the air, whips out her 45, and shoots the Mexican and the Arab. Catching her glass, setting it on the bar, and calling for a refill, she says, 'In Arizona , we have so many illegal aliens that we don't have to drink with the same ones twice.'

God Bless Arizona!!

Thursday

Grinning and bearing it.  The heat, that is.  I'm in it on and off all day long.  Yesterday after getting home, I went outside to water stuff - like walking from the inside of a refrigerator into a blast furnace.  I caught myself again leaving the water on - this time 20 minutes past the necessary time instead of 10 hours. 

Anyway, newest temp tenants are interesting individuals.  To say the least.  Young, too. Like late teens or early 20's, didn't ask, don't really care that much.  The trailer tenants gave an approximately 2 month move-out date.  So, no bother to run an ad, I did once to see what kind of response I would get - quite a lot actually for a junky old trailer (and it was described exactly as it is, which is why a surprising response).  Well, it's not total trash, not at this point, but there still isn't any carpet in there.  I have passed by a few ads in Craigslist to get some for free - just didn't feel like and all of those people's stuff is in there, it would be a major ordeal to get all of their belongings out of there and to put carpet in it.  Might as well wait until they move out.

I am not even sure I am floating in the financial sense right now.  Sorta of a below water and come up for air type of deal.  Not a pretty place to be in , really.  I still have not heard from the army reservist - which will, definitely, start eating at me because I need the income from that room.  Sure, these temporary people are going to hand me some money on Saturday (allegedly, anyway) but I need a long-term person in there, especially facing the fact that the ex-Marine is moving out at the end of next month. 

The electric bill is what's totally killing my finances right now. I can't just not have electricity and I ain't turning off the AC, though it isn't exactly winter in there it IS cool enough.  I figure eventually I am going to get a Mastercool evap cooler and think about using that when it will cool the place enough to do so. 

Anyway, I got started late today - meaning I'm ending this early : )

G'day.

ben

So, Mexico is going to sue Arizona, aye?


Good, let the lawsuits being. First, let’s sue Mexico for not stopping the flows of illegals coming from their borders over into ours. The suit will be for the money it is costing us to deal with it – if ever so ineffectively as it currently stands. It’s just a ridiculous notion that another country is suing a neighboring country for that neighboring country’s, state’s, laws. They have absolutely ZERO iota business sticking their nose into our own internal affairs and I hope whatever documentation that are attempting to pass through the courts is simply thrown out.

However, in today's news, a real concern to me is Iran's plan to send a "blockade busting ship" to the Gaza strip.  Does Iran believe Israel is simply going to roll over and play dead when that ship attempts to go through there?  Is this going to be the official end to the word war and beginning of a real war between Israel and Iran?   There is NO way Israel can let that ship go through there, period.  It would give Iran all that much more the belief that they can simply roll over Israel.  It's guaranteed that if Iran really does send a ship through there, the entire world is going to be watching.  I imagine U.S. ships being not too terribly afar off, either.  Far enough to not be involved in the engagement, close enough to - be ready for whatever.  No, this is troubling news at best. 
 
Diet.  I'm stuck around 195 pounds.  This has happened 2 or 3 times now on this diet - get to a plateau and then figure out how to bust through it. Usually a few days of starvation are involved.  Today I will try eating half a sub sandwich instead of the full sized thing and probably having a light, chicken based meal late this afternoon.  The goal will be to shed another 7 pounds and get my body back into the 180 range.  If I do that, I will throw myself a little party.  Lol.  189 - that's the next goal, get it to 189.  I definitely have the motivation.  Plus, it's hot and I lose my appetite when I'm outside working.
 
"Good Samaritan".  That's what the ad said on Craigslist.  2 people came into town, one of them is going to sign up with the Navy, they need a place until Saturday when they are getting their own apartment and will be able to pay whoever for the days they spent at their house.  I bit.  Why not? If they pay, great, I got 5 or 6 more days worth of room rental out of it, if they don't, then I lose a bit of water and electric use.  Gruesome as it sounds, I like to give a sidebar to these temporary people: there are guns in the house, if you intend on being the next Craigslist killer, intend on dying while attempting it.  I say it sort of jokingly, but I do say something to that effect.  The ex-Marine has a gun that will do the Dirty Harry "blow your head clean off" style.  I have a much smaller gun - but - a gun is a gun.  The only problem with these people is the fact that they showed up so late.  I was ready to go to bed, and actually did.  Had to show them the whole rigarmoroo and get full names and ID and all that junk.. .....yes, I want ID in case they do something I have at least something to give to police besides video surveillance footage. 
 
My weeklong vacation is starting to appear on the horizon.  The end of work next Friday will be the beginning of it, the end of it will be returning to work 10 days later.  I have no plans, it's definitely a staycation considering my financial situation - doesn't bother me.  I haven't taken serious time off in several years now.  A couple here, 3 there, yes, but a good, week's worth of no work?  I need it.  I mean, I might take Caleb and some friends to Big Surf - both Caleb and I love that place.  Ride the waves all day long on rafts and crash over top of people, it's great fun.  The only bad part is at the end of the day and your skin is all chafed and bruised because of the collisions.  I do wear a t-shirt, though, to keep from getting sunburned.  Of course, Caleb should be starting his new job anytime now, I have no idea what his schedule is going to be.
 
Well, the work day approaches and I have plenty to do today including a trip to Casa Grande  - haven't been there in a while.
 
G'day.
 
ben