A Few Pics Of Graduation Night

Cousins

I'm home for the weekend.
Sitting here minding my own business.
The doorbell rings.
I have no idea.
I mean, I am not expecting anyone, but tenants
might be.
Or maybe the neighbors called the police again, even
though there haven't been any interactions since the last time
the police were called some weeks ago.

It's Anthony's cousin and a friend. Now, I KNOW by
now that kid knows what's going on and that they don't
live here anymore. What does he want? I know this kid
well, he turned 18 not long ago, he was brought up in
hellish conditions and yes, he is definitely a product
of his upbringing. Drugs, pot, theft. That's his life.


I have some sympathy for the kid because his mother
didn't do anything to raise him right. She is a thief
and is currently in jail. She is also a meth user, again,
the kid hasn't really been brought up in an atmosphere that
would nuture a life with morals, ethics and respect for
fellow man.

This conversation didn't get beyond my gate, I was not
letting him in. Not even into the back yard.

Remember, I said he is a thief. He has a bag full of stuff.
All kinds of electronics. I knew it was stolen without him
telling me. I wanted none of it. I was nice to him, didn't
try to start getting into his face, it wouldn't have done any
good at all. He needs intervention in a big way and it's going
to happen on it's own.

We talked for a while. I just wasn't going to budge, no, I don't
want anything you have. So, what is this kid doing with his life?
Well, first off, he was as high as a kite. He was obviously stoned
or on drugs. He pulls out a scale. "Selling weed?". I had a scale
when I was young, yes, I sold marijuana when I was a teenager. I don't
talk about it much because I don't particularly think it was the greatest
period of my life and certainly nothing to be proud of.

But that's also why I can have empathy with the kid. I know what he's
going through. I've been there and done all of that. I broke into houses;
I sold drugs and weed; I was living a sordid, even evil lifestyle: I knew
it then and I know it now. I was into destroying people's homes, cars and
physical body. I didn't care and that was that. How I EVER made it through
that and OUT of that into the life I am living now, I will never know. Oh,
wait a minute, I DO know: the intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say
that with all seriousness, that intervention happened 27 years ago and I still
stand by it.

But, having empathy does not equate to encouraging the lifestyle. He'll need
to be at Hell's gates, undoubtedly, before anything can happen. That's where I was
at when I gave it all up and turned to the Lord. After we talked awhile, he asked
if I could give him a ride. Yes, to be honest, I did. Get him out of the neighborhood
and away from my house. He isn't ready for the kind of help I can give him. He isn't there
yet. I don't know where he is at internally/the heart, I just know he isn't there yet.

So, I took him to an intersection that is all of 2 miles away, that is, apparently,
where he is living with yet another cousin. This particular family lines has a LOT
of people in it. I know this from personal experience - 6 years of it.

Something is always going on around here. Always. I'm not about to say that all of it is good, either, with all these tenants and the junk that can occur. I'm just saying that there never seems to be a lack of "excitement", if you can call it that.

Friday 6/10/2011

Friday

Well, the Army Reservist tenant is certainly going through it. She apparently "took" a sandwich from work yesterday - she works at Subway - and they fired her for it. She didn't bother to tell me about it, of course, she told someone else in the house.

When I worked in restaurants, they used to give out a free meal every shift. I am hearing now that many restaurants don't do this anymore? I think she gave most of her money to me for rent - she was a month behind and I had issued her a 5-day pay or quit/eviction notice as I was prepared to take her to court and get her out of my house. Umm, but she should be able to collect unemployment and there's always emergency food stamps in such situations.

I am wondering how long it is going to take her to find another job and more importantly: how long before I see another dime from her. Currently, she is 10 days past due on this month's rent. Will I just up and throw her out? No, but she does have a very viable option, one that she should be seriously considering: school. She should just go back to school. She will start receiving almost $1,400 a month from the military for doing such and she NEEDS an education, anyway. The schooling is also paid for by the military, the only expense she has is to go and learn.

Now, if I were in her situation, which I'm not, but if I were, I would drop all ideas of finding another job immediately and just go re-start the schooling up. Then I would go find another part-time job. But that's just me.

On the other tenant front, the "family" is desperately trying to find their own apartment. Bad credit, apparently, is holding them back. Honestly? I can't wait til' they leave. I have heard enough complaints about their levels of cleanliness - or lack thereof - including having sex in the bathroom - that they are prime candidates for the fence action: don't let it hit you in the @$$ on the way out. Nice people, yes, but seriously.

The OTHER tenant - the one I got into it with about computer use the other day - is not speaking to me. I don't wonder if this entire lot of tenants are on their way out now. Which wouldn't bother me in the least, start over fresh and new. But, I am definitely going to have the big room available again, wonder what kind of person I will end up with in there this time?

So, that's that. The reason I am not concerned about any of this is because I have all that tax money sitting in the bank. I don't have to worry about whether I can pay the mortgage or not. Not that I am going to leave those rooms empty, but, I am not going to be robbing Peter to pay Paul type of thing here, either.

Umm, what else? Like, what am I doing this weekend? I dunno, but I have been working out like crazy of lates. I have been sitting on that diet, too, meaning I have been watching the calories closely. Yesterday was a total of 1,200 calories on low fat, low calorie meals. I'm finding it easier to just buy the Weight Watchers frozen meals or similar type to keep track of calories than trying to do it myself. I am only feeding myself now, so no big deal, plus I always find one of those brands of frozen meals on sale, so I am not paying a fortune for them, either.
June 10, 2011 6:05 AM
Anonymous said...
Yesterday, I finally was able to take the semi in to get the AC fixed. It will probably be in the shop until Monday. Meanwhile, we also got a brand new pickup with a rack on it - meaning I can do deliveries in a pickup truck more often than in the semi. We didn't have a rack on the old pickup, it was only a half ton truck and it was pretty worthless for deliveries. Meaning, anyway, that I am not going to have to spend next week in a very hot semi truck. It is going to start getting hot next week, at least according to the weather reports, I was making quite a fuss about getting in. It's the only way to get something like that done - otherwise, they "need" for the use of the truck out weighs the need for the comfort of the driver.

Yes, well I am at an age - or mindset - now that I don't WANT to sit in a hot truck, burning up. I guess my constant prodding about it - whether that is advisable or not I didn't care - finally got the situation taken care of.

The Wallow fire finally is at 5% containment. Considering it has been at 0% containment for all this time, that's at least a foot in the door. When this thing is done and over with, I want to go up there and look at what it looks like now. I have seen it - 50 times at least on camping trips - in the beautiful, pristine state it WAS in, then to see what it looks like after an idiot or idiots left a camp fire burning, unattended.

I will be calling my son tomorrow to see how things are going. But I am guessing the real excitement doesn't start until Sunday or Monday, when actual campers/kids show up. It isn't some regimented thing, it's a fun camp with all kinds of fun things to do. Which is cool. Caleb hasn't called for a ride back, which I wouldn't give to him anyway, lol, he made a commitment and I would try to talk him into keeping that commitment regardless of how "hard" it may be. I didn't think he would, though.

I remember my first year on the mission field, conditions were pretty bad and I could only think about quitting. The ONLY reason I stayed is because of a thing my dad planted in my head: I suggest you commit to staying there for at least a year. I also suggest that no matter how hard or bad things get - unless beyond reasonable - you stay and tough it out.

Those words have really stuck with me my entire adult life. Usually, you get to the other side of something difficult and you are a better person for having had gone through it. You also feel good that you didn't quit and there is relief - whatever it is - that made the struggle worth it.

Anyway, the final work day of this week is upon me, must be offa here.

ben

Thursday 6/9/2011

Thursday

Week is flying by, which is a good thing.

Well look, the biggest news around here is still the fire, actually more than one fire is burning in this state. But the Wallow fire is the biggest news, considering it's enormity and apparently grasping the attention of the nation.

I was surprised to learn that the 747 super tanker was just now scheduled to be brought in. I mean, they don't make 'em bigger than that. I have seen the 747 Evergreen plane parked at the Mesa/Phoenix Gateway airport on numerous occasions. http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/index.html
Take a look at THAT thing spewing out fire retardant! Who'da thought they would ever be able to use an aircraft that large in that capacity? Not me!

Fire officials are still fearing the possibility of any one of a number of small, mountain towns possibly being burned up and several of them have been completely evacuated. This is crazy stuff going on up there - and it just happens that this is definitely not the rainy season. If it was, this fire would not be an issue, the forests would be soaked and fire control would be easy.

It makes the point to ban camp fires completely. There are too many idiots going up there that don't give a hootinanny's holler about whether they trash the natural beauty of our forests or not. Go up there and find trash and beer cans laying all over the place. It's not surprising that some moron left a campfire unattended and burning, a BIG no-no, something I learned as a little kid in the cub scouts, much less going on frequent camping trips with my family.

I imagine a push to ban open fires is going to come at this point. It's ridiculous. Go buy a camp stove and cook on that thing, you want to sit around a campfire and sing songs, tough, it only takes a few instances like this to figure out that there are too many know-nothings going up there that don't have a clue.

I mean, really. I learned at a very young age that you smother fires with dirt if you don't have water and you stick around and keep smothering it until you are absolutely sure the fire is out. Not just the fire, the hot coals that feed it from underneath. Smother it or drench it, but get it all the way out.

I used to think everyone knew this, but experience over the last several decades proved otherwise. Coming upon smoldering camp fires with no one around and obviously not coming back. It really ticked me off, though, when I started seeing dozens of beer bottles and cans in otherwise pristine forest laying all over the ground.

Well, whatever. The work day is almost here and I must be offa here.

ben

Wednesday 6/8/2011

Wednesday

I've pretty much caught a break this week: the temps are staying down, less than 100 degrees. Driving around in a semi with no AC in 98 degree heat isn't exactly fun, but it's nothing like what it would be if it were 110 out there. That truck is going into the shop no later than Friday afternoon and that's the end of the story, at least if I have anything to do with it. Next week, they have Friday slated with a high of 112.

Speaking of semi's, we're smack dab in the middle of a nationwide effort to stop commercial vehicles and do inspections. They set up 1,000's of stations all over the country. I have been avoiding the roads and areas where they are known to set up such stations, but that doesn't mean I won't hit one today, unfortunately, as I am heading south to the Indian reservation and one of the areas I have no choice but to drive through goes right by an area where they love to pull over trucks.

On the theme of heat, we are getting it lucky, apparently lots of the rest of the country is not. The bad part about that is, is that when high heat hits areas where people are neither used to it nor are prepared for it, you often read about heat-related deaths in the news. We used to get that at the beginning of the high heat here, every summer as well: construction workers who have just moved here thinking they can just go all day long as they would in some other region and not hydrating or cooling off properly. Heat stroke, baaam, goodbye. Used to, because construction work around these parts is almost non-existent compared to what it used to be before the housing bubble.

I haven't heard from Caleb since I dropped him off, but then again, I wasn't expecting to. I will call him on Saturday or Sunday and see how things are going. I'm sure the leader of that camp uses this training week to figure out who is going to do what in levels of importance and yes, stature. I fully expect that Caleb will excel and thrive in whatever role he is placed in.

As for me, I have stepped up my search for a churchy. I MUST get back into church, I feel almost as if I have isolated myself from the world in not going, not making new friends and basically giving up on the whole thing. It was easy to do during the divorce - quit that is - now it's not so easy to start all this up again.

I am not the most trusting soul after that ordeal and the idea of having to start from the beginning in yet another church isn't very palatable. That is mostly why I haven't really gone, I won't know anyone and I will be starting from scratch. I will have to put forth more energy than I want to to get involved and start building new relationships.

But I am still looking at a couple of places, anyway.

Umm, Rey had a cousin over last night. This was obvious in what was attempting to be done here: hook me up. Problem? This girl is like 20 years old, lol, and has a 4 year old kid! I was polite and visited with them, but clearly made no "advances".

Anyway, that's enough. The fire up north(east) is still out of control, though they seem to be getting it controlled enough to not burn down entire small towns. Hundreds of thousands of acres are already burned. Gag. Our forests are turning into blackened wastelands. I mean, great that they are saving the communities, bad that everything around those communities is going to look like a scene from one of those movies where earth has become a nuclear wasteland.

I'm done. Preparing myself for the day's work ahead.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 6/7/2011

Tuesday

Well, one thing I have pretty good grasp on: there area where Caleb is, is not threatened, whatsoever, by the Wallow fire. There may be a lot of smoke, I dunno about that. My ex spoke with him yesterday and he is doing well. I am not going to bother him until this coming weekend when all the learning/training is over and he is on the verge of kids showing up and doing - camp stuff.

He will be so engrossed in what he is doing, I suspect, that the idea of getting "homesick" will undoubtedly not even cross his mind.

Anyway, the fire is the big news around these parts and rightly so: many of the communities threatened are Phoenician summer getaways. Go up there to camp or get a room at a lodge and enjoy the mountain fresh air, cooler temps and scenery - which apparently is going to go to pot. Instead of tall pines there's going to be blackened earth. Even if those communities survive the fire, I wonder what kind of tourism it's going to be with that kind of view?

Dunno, can't do anything about it. The only real thing that would stop this fire right now is a good downpouring of rain.

Well, a drive to up to - the mountains. Nowhere near the fire, fortunately as I don't want to be exposed to breathing in all that smoke. My system does not do well in such situations.

I'm also weighing whether I should even take a vacation. Just when you think maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the economy, some of the finanical "gurus" start talking a double-dip recession and even a few of them suggesting a depression just around the corner.

Dunno. Maybe get some camping equipment and just go up to the mountains - where there is no fire, thank you, still plenty of that around just in a different direction - and enjoy something other than sitting at home all the time, especially with summer. I dunno, though, about taking all those dogs with me, I think that might be a handful. 1 dog?

Work day approaches and already before starting time there are have been 2 people in here - in grumpy moods, to say the least, about their situation for today.

Fortunately, I neither had anything to do with their mood or have anything to do with what they are going to have to do today, lol.

G'day.

ben

Trouble In The Mountains

The fire - called the Wallow fire - in the northeastern section of Arizona is growing and they are still saying it is zero percent contained.

My curiosity was piqued when Lynnette comes in and tells me heard "something" about Heber and Showlow being evacuated on channel 10 news just now. Huh? That fire is over 100 miles away, that can't be right. I couldn't find anything on the news about THAT, Heber was already burned out, so to speak, some 9 years ago. A lot of land was burned and there isn't enough fuel for a fire to rage through there, I don't think anyway, as it is in the woods.

So, alerted for a moment, standing down. Now, there might be a problem with smoke and breathing problems, who knows, I read online the smoke is being seen as far north as Iowa! Rest assured if there was some sort of evacuation called for Heber, I would be up there in a hurry to get my boy.

In other news, I was just asked by a tenant that is moving out for a $245 loan. I gave it no thought, whatsoever: no. I'm going to loan money to a tenant to move into his own apartment? And I am going to see the repayment of this money, when, exactly?

I haven't seen the kid tenant since I - finally - gave him an overdose of his own medicine last night.

About the usual stuff going on over here.

Monday 6/6/2011

Monday

JD shows up early last night.
What's up? I ask him, you're hear early.
Well I wanted to ask you about that note you left the other day.

The note was to the kid tenant: stop telling people to get off of the computer, thank you. He will tell people flat out to get off the thing because "I need to use it".

Not in MY house that kind of s*** isn't going to happen. Well, I started explaining it and then the kid tenant (he's like 23 years old, I think) comes out and interjects himself into the conversation. He got instantly into "in your face" mode and I was having none of it. I got right back in his face and then he left the F bomb drop.

I was all over that. Hey dude, let me offer this proposal to you: STAY THE **** OFF OF MY COMPUTER. I got flaming mad at the point he let the f bomb drop and yes, I raised my voice considerably. No need to go into all of it. He lost, I won. He backed down, still tried to argue, I just said the same thing: my way or nothing. It's MY computer, I will have done with it as I please.

The problem with this kid is he doesn't ever try to see things through another person's eyes. He ONLY sees things through HIS rather tunnel-visioned eyes and he seemingly doesn't CARE what is going on with anyone else. I did try to get that through his thick skull last night: try just for once placing yourself in someone else's shoes.

I'll just get off of that now. I just read an email from my manager: apparently Monday has blown up. Too much to do, too many people wanting things done at such and such a time, are we going to be able to do it, please try to be ready to leave by the time I get there. He shows up later than I do by design.

June 7th through June 9th. The commercial vehical safety alliance. This is an annual thing, I think. They pull trucks over and do inspections. When I say an inspection, I mean open up the hood, get out the creeper and crwl under the truck, THAT kind of inspection. Besides the AC not working the thing, everything else is cherry. Working AC is not, obviously, required as a functioning part of a tractor trailer rig. I do not, however, want any part of any inspections and I will avoiding their favorite places to pull trucks over, even if it means going out of my way to get somewhere. I have HAD that truck inspected, 6 ways from Sunday, it's in excellent condition. Inspections take time, too much time.

Umm, well anyway. The Big Weekend is over, Caleb is up in his temporary new life in the mountains, I will wait until the weekend and see how it's going. He's only doing training this week, kids don't actually start showing up until Monday. I'm sure he'll do fine, in fact, I fully expect that he will excell in his position and that they will love him up there. He is great with kids and he has already been in a leadership role through the JROTC as a commander over 60 kids. I expect in life that he will be management material wherever he goes, if that's the case and if he "succeeds" in life - then my job is over. He will have done better than I and that is good with me.

Bad news: the Wallop fire may take down both Greer and Alpine, AZ. I have spent some time in Greer, it's a popular vacation spot for Phoenicians to go up into the mountains and get out of the heat during the summer. They are evacuating both towns. The fire is out of control, has zero containment and God help those people that live up there. Pray for rain, that's all I can say.

Well, time is up and I am going straight to work.

G'day.

ben

The Trip

Ummm, it was a good day and a an odd day at the same time.
The new tire I put on the car took care of the vibration problem - a good thing considering a 300 mile round trip.
Caleb and I talked most of the way up there. I knew I wasn't going to see him again for 2 months unless I make a trip up there and I don't even know if he wants that kind of intrusion. It was a nice drive and I was glad I was able to do it instead of someone else doing it for him.

Such as my mother, who wanted to take him up there. No, mom, I'm doing to do it, I WANT to do it, but thanks for the offer. It isn't any kind of inconvenience for me, at all. I hadn't been up that road in quite a while, I had forgotten all the construction that was going on a few years ago - and still is. They are turning a long stretch of 2 lane highway into 4 lanes, divided. I don't really like it, to be honest. My memories are of a small, narrow, 2 lane highway surrounded by the woods. Now it's 4 huge lanes with a huge divider and the woods are well off to the side.

But, that is neither here nor there, just saying.

We got to Heber and went to a steak house for lunch. Not giving him up quite that fast, lol. He had a buffalo chicken wrap, I had a rib eye steak.

We spend some time talking there as well. We also watched a group of bikers pull in. One of them put out the kick stand, got off and started walking away. The bike - a Harley - fell over and smashed the pickup truck next to it. Ouch!!

Then came the time to go to the camp. Just a few miles down the road. We pulled in. I was in awe of the size of the place. Very clean, kempt and very nice layout. 15 buildings I am guessing, anyway. We got out of the car, went to an out door covered area where there was some people sitting at picnic tables with laptops. They were part of the staff who introduced themselves and we introduced ourselves back. Led inside the building where the real management was, apparently. One man was obviously the dude over the entire place.

Very charismatic and definitely in charge of the place. He introduced himself and we all got into a conversation, though I didn't want to interject myself too much, this is Caleb's deal, not mine, he is going to have to figure this one out on his own and this is what life is about.
I do feel he is going to fit right in with that crowd and I believe he is going to do very well, but that, of course, coming from a potentially less-than-objective viewpoint considering I am his father and I am very proud of what he has done and what he is doing with his life. FAR better than what I did at his age.

So, anyway, got done with the paperwork - he can sign for himself now that he's 18, lol, and then he got into a golf cart thingy with that guy and another leader and I got into my car to follow them to his new living quarters for the next week. A LONG drive, too. Passed all kinds of buildings, including a huge mess hall, a large church and numerous smaller buildings that were designated for varying purposes.

We finally pulled up to a grouping of 3 large buildings. "Cabins", if you can call them that, for the girls. The boys and the girls are separated by QUITE the distance in their quarters. One thing that did hold true, though: large rooms filled with bunk beds. Reminded me of when I was a kid. I have to admit, though, my memories of staying in real cabins struck me as better than staying in modernized buildings. I am a true camper at heart, I can stay in a tent, sleeping bag and have all my own stuff and not have ANY of life's modernizations around me besides what I brought with me and be PERFECTLY happy.

The time was rapidly slipping away, I knew I would have to bid him good bye and I didn't want to do it. Call me sappy if you want. I won't see him for 2 months, but it's a taste of things to come, he will be gone soon enough into his own life and I will be a very small part of it. I will always be there for him as long as I am alive, of course, but the natural course of things is for the offspring to depart from their parents. We took his things in there and then back out onto the porch, where I asked the guy in charge to snap a pic of us. He said he would be honored to and snapped off 2 photos.

We then left those buildings, Caleb got back into the car with me and we drove back up front. We got out, I hugged him and said goodbye, as did he. My son is a gift to me, I will always think that way about him. There are certain things in my life that I consider extremely precious, Caleb is one of those. The only thing I can do now is pray for him. My mother is going to go up there and take him out to lunch sometime during his stay - he doesn't have to work 7 days a week, they get free time on odd days and she asked him if it would be okay, of which he said of course.

And that was it. I watched him walk off to the picnic tables where we had started this out with and then walked into the building. He looked back and waved, I waved back, turned the car on and left.

It was a "nest is empty" moment for me. But, I am happy for him, I hope he has a good time up there.

I wasted no time, though, getting out of there when it was time to leave. Sunday afternoon, people heading home from the mountains, popular thing to do when it starts getting warm. The highway was already getting filled up and I didn't want to get stuck in a huge traffic jam. Admittedly, however, that thought hadn't even crossed my mind until I had actually left and saw what was going on out there. It took a bit longer to get home than going up there with the traffic, but it was a nice drive so no biggies.

That's it.

ben

Sunday 6/5/2011

Just a quick note here.
Taking off to Heber/White Mountains in just a few minutes.
Arizona is on fire again, but Heber looks to be at least 70 miles from the flames.
I hope it stays that way.
Just looked it up, much further than that, the fire is threatening the town of Alpine - been through there many times in the past - it's 111 miles from Heber.
Heber already was partially subjected to the largest wild fire in AZ history early last decade when a firefighter that "needed work" intentionally started a blaze at one place and a woman who was lost intentionally started a blaze at another. Eventually, the two came together and burned over 500,000 acres of forest.
I don't think they pressed charges against the woman, though they certainly gave her a hard time about it, the ex-firefighter is in prison.
So, I haven't been up there since that fire and it will be interesting to see how Mother Nature has worked to bring it back. My mother's property was subjected to fire long ago, before she bought it, trees were growing back, brush, it's the way of the wild, I do believe.

Anyway, I think my son is excited about the adventure, I do believe that he is going to find it isn't ALL fun and games, especially dealing with troubled youth. I am going to encourage him to stick with it regardless of how hard it gets. He is getting paid for his time up there, I think a couple of grand for the 2 months. Not great money, but not bad, either, considering room and board/eating. Plus, I am going to take some pics,it's really majestic views.

Later.

ben

Lookit' What The Cat Dragged In

Caleb brings home an old friend - one we both know from years past. Like at least 6 years now.
His name is Kyle. He has been in and out of trouble. Last I had heard of him, he had disappeared. He became hooked on heroin and that's - about as bad as it gets. He had turned himself into the authorities, who put them on their style of detox: lock him in a room. No drug to help detox and get over it, either, too bad, so sad.

I get the tough approach and tough love and all of that, but a person that is hooked on heroin? The drug helps the person not throw up and have convulsions, basically.

Well, he came over with Caleb to talk to me. Yup, I know this kid pretty well. We used to talk, a lot. I asked him some pointed questions, to be frank and honest about it. He impregnated a girl and yes, she is going to have the baby. Bad? I don't think so. I think it's bad to kill a kid because the parents are messed up. Let the kid live, if the parents can't deal with it, plenty of folks are lined up to adopt babies. I am pro-life, definitely. That was an interesting conversation to say the least.

Caleb doesn't want to leave Saturday, I figured he wouldn't. Sunday will be a long day of driving. Not quite so bad while up in the mountains, and in my newer car and now the AC works in it, but still, the map says 140 miles, I don't believe it. It's 123 miles to my mother's property, which is well before you get to Heber. Same roads, shorter distance.

So, one thing I am going to spend money on with this IRS money (my money) is to get the windows on the west side of the house windows covered with solar screen. It dramatically cuts down on the amount of heat that the sun is generating coming into your house - thus - lower electric bills. Especially the kitchen sliding glass door. This is money-spent, money-saved deals. Pay for itself in a short period of time.

The non-paying tenant finally paid up - all of it - for last month Yayyyy! Which leaves this month.......

I just told the family of people that they can leave whenever they want, don't stay if you don't want to. I thought about it today: it gets to the point where there is no upside to having people living with you that don't want to be there. Numerous complaints about them have suddenly surfaced. Amazing. I ask frequently: are there any problems? Is there something going on that needs to be dealt with? Talk about opening a can of worms - but in this case, the can was opened by someone else, I am left to deal with the aftermath of a situation that I have absolutely NOTHING to do with.

AC in the semi is out. It has been for over a week now. It hit 100 today, I think. I was in that truck and it was not pleasant, and that's only at 100, what will it be like at 105? 110? Oh, yes, I know, I have done that before. It's MISERABLE. We have permission from upper management to get it fixed, problem is, we have to use it, lol. Umm, so, if it doesn't get in the shop by the end of next week, I am going to propose we get a rental truck, thank you very much. Should only need one for one day.

I am NOT going to drive around all summer long in hell heat without AC, period.

OH, last thing. Michael and Anthony. Caleb said they were just now at the black kids house down the street. I simply told Caleb to not say anything to them. I don't want them coming over here destroying things while I am either sleeping or not here, just let it go. However, it does tell me something that Michael was over there: they aren't doing so well. Michael never leaves home, hardly for anything, from home. He plays his games and that's it. If he leaves, it's because there are bad times. I figured by now that would be the case, in fact, I figured long ago that would be the case.

At this point, however, I have zero sympathy for them. That's all I am going to say about my feelings about this stuff that went on for almost 6 years. Long-time readers undoubtedly know why I am saying this at this point in my life, washed my hands of it 10 months ago and haven't looked back. I have reminisced - there were some good times - but - the last year or so of them being around? No thanks.

That's it. Tomorrow, since I am not leaving for the mountains, I am going to finish some of the pond issues. I have no other plans and don't really intend on doing much besides that. Well, I am contacting some people about solar sunscreens and getting that done soon. Pay bills online, clean house, normal stuff.

ben

Friday 6/3/2011

Friday

Came home from work yesterday afternoon to find 2 cop cars parked in front of my house. Good grief, WHAT now? I'm not even THERE and the cops are being called? It was the tail end of the call, the cops were leaving.

One tenant allegedly threatened another with a box knife over cleaning the bathroom, or so the cops told me. I'm sure they believed that as much as I don't believe it.

So, Rey comes out and starts telling me this story about Mark going after him with a box knife. I didn't believe him and I told him flat to his face: I seriously doubt Mark would do anything like that, at all. The man is pretty much harmless.

Rey changes his story. It was over the bathroom and he started yelling at me in front of my girlfriend's daughter - yada yada yada. I still wasn't buying that the cops were called over the bathroom and whether a person is cleaning it or not.

I brushed him off, I was in an instant bad mood and didn't feel like hearing more bull**** from the man. Much later on, Lynnette comes in and asks me to go meet Mark "by the ponds". Alright, let's here his side of the story.

I can't even print here what he told me what the real reason was. So I won't. It had nothing to do with the bathroom, it something to do with money and money owed is as far as I am going with it on a public venue. Okay, it ended with the bathroom because the 2 were pissing on each other, from what I can tell and it ALL came out, apparently. Mark cleans the bathroom, Rey doesn't clean anything. He SAYS he does, but he really doesn't.
June 3, 2011 5:57 AM
Anonymous said...
So, the end of the story? Rey, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's daughter who has been staying with them for the week (school's out, a 10 year old) are leaving. No sweat off of my back. Sort of a bad time of year to be trying to find tenants, but, fortunately, I have that IRS check sitting in my bank now. Plus I get paid today plus the money that was already in there.

Speaking of the IRS, they now want 2009 taxes. No problem, another 3 to 5 grand coming from them isn't going to bother me at all. But I thought I had turned that in? It wasn't an audit notice, whatever, no biggies, I have "all" of that information on hand - a W-2 and mortgage interest payment. But I'll have to re do 2008 to get the house fire loss to carry over through 2008 on to 2009. I dunno what kind of time limit I have, I'll call them and find out when they think it is due.

Umm, the weekend is almost here. I still haven't hashed out whether I am taking Caleb up to the White Mountains tomorrow and spend the night in a hotel or just drive all day Sunday - up and back. I would rather not drive all day Sunday, really, but I am guessing Caleb is going to want to spend his final night with his friends on Saturday night before leaving town for 2 months.

When he comes back, some of his friends who graduated will already be out of town. One of his best friends will be in boot camp somewhere, I think a couple more off to college.

Anyway, work day almost here. The workload has doubled since I left yesterday. There are 2 deliveries that I already knew about, but now there are 2 more that I didn't know about. And those 2 deliveries mean picking up stuff on the west side of Phoenix and then driving clear out to the far east valley.

Oh, yes, back to the incident with the tenants. I have been there and done that with fighting tenants in the past. The guy calling the cops was just stupid. I found out from Lynnette yesterday he was going to give me a 30 day notice - he told her this earlier this week. I assume calling the cops was his way of trying to snake out of rent. He can go piss off. I got really cranky with that guy yesterday after he lied to me. Gag. Well, I am not going to let that ruin my trip up to the mountains, I haven't been in a few years. I just hope while I'm gone that peace can be had, cause' I don't want to get an ugly phone call about the cops being there again while driving on a 2 lane road in the forest up on the Rim.

I think I'll quit there, the potential story only gets worse..........

G'day.

ben

Thursday 6/2/2011

Thursday

Normally, the bank would put a hold on a check that large. Not an IRS/government backed check, apparently. Instant credit. I haven't seen that much money in my checking account since my house burned down and my dad wrote me out a large check to help me out.

Anyway, Thursday. Inching closer to Caleb's departure day. He's been hanging out with friends quite a lot - it has come to all of their attention that soon, everyone is going their separate ways and probably won't be seeing each other again for a while - quite a while. Maybe never. That's the way it goes in life.

But you never know. Facebook wasn't around when I was that age, computers weren't even that popular now that I think of it.

Anyway, I haven't been up in the White Mountains in years, it will be just as good a trip for me to get away as it is for my son to get jump started into adult life. Welcome to the real world, now go to the mountains, lol.

Ummm, well I got busy again, time to end this one.
Later.
ben

Wednesday 6/1/2011

Wednesday

Well the work week certainly cruises right by when you start it on a Tuesday. Not to mention working until 4:30 pm yesterday.

I'm kinda excited about this weekend coming up, taking my son up to the mountains for his 2 month deal going on up there. But, get the work week done.

Had a "kid" contact me yesterday - I have had ads in the past with free food - he wrote me and told me he hasn't eaten in 3 days. There is one thing I will never turn down to anyone if I have any to give away, and that's food.
So I will be dealing with situation directly after work today. However, work looks like it's going to be busy. I was supposed to go back up to the mine today, but they mining operation sent their truck here. Seems that somebody goofed and we were supposed to send the material up to them yesterday, not today.

Fortunately, not my goof and had nothing to do with it.

I feel like I have won a mini lottery with this 5k check sitting in my wallet. The only thing I can tell myself is: don't spend it right away. Yes, fix and repair the things that need fixed and repaired, but beyond that, give it a few days or even a week - or even longer.

I am definitely going to go on vacation. I would love to go to the Atlantic side of the country as I haven't been in - a long time - and I love Atlantic beaches FAR more than Pacific beaches. But, of course, a trip to the Pacific would be far cheaper. Plus they have what I have heard are some great fishing boat trips.

Meanwhile, I am going to get the mortgage interest paid information for the year 2008, 2009 and 2010 - well I have the one for 2010 and I may have the one still for 2009 - and then I am going to do the taxes over. The carry-over from the house fire will be no small chunk of change, the effort will definitely be worth it.
June 1, 2011 6:10 AM
Anonymous said...
I was chuckling on the way to work, though, thinking of the list of things that I lost in the fire that I was claiming. A mop, bucket and broom. Lol. I claimed everything down to the frozen food that was in my refrigerator at the time. A guitar and expensive cowboys boots. I seriously thought for sure that the IRS would contest some of those things since I had no proof, whatsoever, that I ever owned any of it, but, I really didn't come up with a huge figure in total losses. Why? Cause' I wanted to be honest about it, including honesty in figuring what it would have cost to replace that stuff. If there was anything that I thought the IRS might get a bit ancy about, though, definitely it would have been that list. Nothing untrue - all of the things I listed I actually owned - and lost - during that fire.

Oh, just before the Obama administration gets it's way and starts attempting to force gun control on American citizens, I am definitely getting at least a 9mm handgun. What brand I don't know, really don't care that much. And yes, for the sake of not getting myself into trouble, I am going to take the concealed/carry course which I don't really have to take but they teach you the law: what you can and can't do in most situations.

Here's a question, for example, that I have no idea whose side the law would be on. Several years ago, when I was living in the old house that burned down, I was sleeping in the living room. A bullet came through the front window. A firefight erupted between two rival gangs that just happened to be driving on my street at the same time, coming from opposite directions. Since I was basically being fired at, would I have had the right to start firing a gun back at all of them? I wasn't the target, but that bullet came within about 4 feet of my head. The police came in, found the bullet and eventually found ALL of the people involved. I think one of them died and several were wounded with gunshot wounds.

What a bunch of morons, shooting at each other because of rivalry or turf issues?

Ummm, anyway, putting that aside. What I REALLY - NEED - on my house is an awning the covers at least most of the west side of the house to keep the summer sun off of it. I'm guessing I could find an out-of-work carpenter to do the work and pay him hourly wage.

Well, whatever.

Oops. Got busy - time to end this one.

G'day.

ben

Tax Check?

I am not often shocked.
But today, opening the mailbox after getting home MUCH later than I normally do from work, I saw it.
It was a road made out of gold. It had shiny..............well I'm exaggerating a bit there. Lol. It was obviously a check from the IRS and it had my name on it.

I just looked at it. I wondered how much was there? It couldn't possibly be the amount that I came up with through the online software I used. Could it?

I wondered how they had sent me anything without disputing it. We're not talking $200 here, we're talking 5 grand. I had sent in all the necessary paperwork, yes, including proof of the fire from the fire department and the only thing I could find that would show any value for the house coming from the tax assessor's office. I hated that, they always undervalue - great for taxes - not so great in this case. Oh well, something is better than nothing.

I just walked into the backyard, greeted my waiting doggies and then decided to tear the envelope open.

Stunned. The entire amount, there. 5 thousand dollars. Pocket change to some, a small fortune to me.

I have already decided, as I was discussing yesterday in another entry, that a vacation is long overdue. I'll wait til' summer. Oh, summer is here. Yes, but I just took 3 days off plus the weekend plus the holiday day, so it will have to wait. I have always wanted to go on a fishing boat out to sea and fish - for whatever it is they say is out there. Talking sometime in July, before my son gets out of his mountain high adventure with the Salvation Army and in the middle of what will undoubtedly be miserable, unbearable heat.

At least 1k of that money will go into savings account for emergency use. A small portion for decorative purposes in my house. Probably around $200 to find out what's wrong with my black Great Dane - Prince - who is going on his third week of diarhea. Get rid of 2 pieces of furniture in my living room and replace it - though there is such incredibly high dollar stuff available on Craigslist right now for cheap, no need to buy it new. One of the mattresses in a tenant bedroom - is whacked, get another one of those. I have an almost-endless list of stuff I need, I am going to proceed very cautiously, but...........I really need at least sun screen window treatments on the west side of my house. The money spent will be the money saved.

That is the list of things I will get done. After that? Well, it's nice to have money in the bank. I will spend whatever else it takes to modify previous IRS returns, there is a lot of money there in "carryover" from the house fire, which gave me this 5k to begin with. I mean, a LOT of money, at least to me. Another 10k anyway if my calculations are correct - let a certified accountant figure that one out.

The old saying that money doesn't make you happy? No, if you have inner voids that need to be filled, millions of dollars won't do anything about that. But in MY situation? With all the stuff I need to get done? I think I will be happy to have some things rectified around here, yes I do.

So, that's it. My head is buzzing with the ideas of prudence vectored by ideas of doing what needs to be done triangulated by things that I want to do. Sit on it for a while - yes indeed. That's prudence. Let it sit in the bank and collect dust for a bit until I get over all of the initial excitement of having some money and then figure it out.

G'nite.

ben

Monday's Tuesday 5/31/2011

Tuesday

Back at work.
Alarm was set at it's usual time to go off this morning, it did not. I looked at the thing, half an hour late getting up and still couldn't figure out why the blooming thing hadn't gone off. Fortunately, I get up early enough that even losing half an hour is still enough time to jump in the shower, get dressed, etc etc, get to work and even write a short entry.

Could I have taken another week off and not missed work? Darn straight about that. It's not even open hours here and the uniform guy is already showing up - a thing that annoys me greatly. They KNOW our open hours, why can't they show up THEN? I like the peace an quiet in here which I will not have. Oh well.

I still have my hands full with stuff to do today in finishing up the pond scenario. The filter for one thing needs to be installed. One day of no filtering with water that is fresh out of the tap isn't going to hurt it. The fishies seem to love their new digs.

Still trying to figure out what to do this weekend in terms of getting my son up to Heber, AZ. In other words, leave on Saturday, spend the night up there or just leave on Sunday morning? Hmmm, I think an answer to that would be easier if I knew whether my mother was going to be at her property - which is along the highway up to Heber - we could stop in on Saturday and visit for half a day and then move on up to Heber.

Dunno - she hasn't made up her mind, don't know what the hotel availability is up there, I do know there are at least 3 of them and the prices from I saw are quite reasonable.

Well, time almost up. Unfortunately, I don't think they got the AC in the semi fixed yet. I am going to start getting a bit cranky about it as I have been asking for a while now to get it fixed. It doesn't seem to matter to those that don't have to drive a huge honking truck in 100 degree heat, only to those - me - that have to drive it.

Anyway, have a great day.

ben

Monday 5/30/2011

Final day of 6 days off vacation. Also final less than 2 hours. I have been busy today with the new pond setup.
Okay, okay, okay: the real truth. Syfy channel showed every Star Trek movie that exists, I think, over this Memorial Day weekend. Instead of getting caught up in war movies, I have been totally engrossed in these Star Trek movies, some of which are my all time favorites. I recorded almost all of them.
Well, let me say that I was working on the horse trough yesterday and today, getting it ready to put the liner in. This morning, after the finishing touches, I pulled out the liner and put it in there, unfolded it and left. I wanted it to get warmed up by the sun and help it to be more flexible and get situation into it's final resting spot.

Came back in and yes, watched more of Star Trek.
Around noon, I remembered my 2 slabs of ribs, bought on sale from Fry's, needed to be put on the grill. I seasoned them and put them on there on low heat - about 220 degrees.
A bit less than 2 hours later?

I couldn't take it. I went out there and got SERIOUSLY busy on the pond setup. I had to empty the old pond, catch all the fish, put them in a very small, temporary home, plus pull out all those plants. This was NO small amount of work in itself, especially catching those fish. I knew this was going to take time and energy, I pretty much got in over my head, time and energy wise- today with this. Started too late on it.

But, too late it too late, once I got started, it was a no-return situation. There is more to doing this than I care to even get into here. It would go on forever, needless to say this was far more work than I even expected. I got all of that done, removed the pond, dragged the horse trough into place, put 2 hoses into it and started filling away.

The poor fish - 17 large fish cramped into a small tub - were at the surface gasping for air. I didn't waste much time - as soon as there was a minimum level of water in the new pond, I put them all in there. One of them couldn't even swim there wasn't enough water, but the water was fresh, had been treated with shock treatment and 2 very large air stones were pumping away.

I forgot to say that this morning I went to the 99 cent store and picked up some plastic, square "things". Filled with large holes, exactly what I was looking for. Prop up my plants and have water flowing through there at the same time, versus the previous setup. I cut out openings on either end of each square so that fish could swim through them.

So, those plastic things that I spend considerable time cutting out this morning were placed in the pond and the plants on top of them. I bought them out, they had no more of them. I could use another 10 or so.

3-1/2 solid hours of non-stop work to get the situation done? I'm done. I haven't gone to work in 6 days, I am taking it easy the last 2 hours before bed and then hopefully wake up - uggh. I haven't gotten up that early, either. I've been sleeping in, every day. Sleeping in as in getting up at 6 or 6:30 am instead of 4:30 am.

Caleb finally got the information I was looking for: they want him to show up between 2:00 and 4:00 pm (this coming Sunday afernoon). Sooooo, be up there at that time on a Sunday, an almost 3 hour drive? I don't think so. Can we show up earlier? Noon would be better. Get a lunch, say goodbye and get home at a reasonable hour. He said they just needed advance notice if we are going to show up early. Great, noon it is, then. Not too much earlier, but not too late to get home before 5 or 6 pm.

I don't care, though, I will do it regardless of the imposition. I'm still thinking getting up there Saturday late afternoon, spend the night in a local hotel, get up, have a breakfast, take him over there at noon and that's it. Goodbye for the summer? Hardly. If he wants a daddy visit, I'll be up there. It's absolutely beautiful, forested area. I mean, a camper's delight.

Ummm, this is going to get long, so I will quit. The 6 days have been good, but busy. Not exactly a vacation, but then again, I haven't had one of those in about 3 years now. If I get the tax refund, I am considering a trip to the Pacific ocean and a trip out on a fishing expedition. Sounds expensive? Not exactly. Drive over there, book the thing in advance at reduced rates, probably be alone so do things the cheap way without worrying about people who want "the best" and totally overlook the whole reason you are going: for the adventure, not to spend as much money as you can. I can go up to the mountains and spend nothing more than the fuel to get up there and food and such and have a total blast.

Just don't have camping equipment anymore to facilitate that.

Oh well.

C'you tomorrow.

ben

Saturday 5/28/2011

Day 4 of 6 days off.
Although it was a good time, I am glad to have the graduation stuff behind me. A bit draining when you have to chauffeur company around for 3 days - just me I guess.
I'm trying to get the motivation up to get that horse trough pond going today, or at least get a good start on it.
I have to do some metal patch work on the interior of the trough before I do anything. Cover up some holes with small sheets of aluminum I bought at the store and then put duct tape around the edges of the aluminum so there aren't any sharp surfaces to puncture the liner with.

Then, line the walls and floor of the trough with some plastic I got from work that was going to be thrown away. I figure a good double layer. I just don't want anything puncturing that liner and causing it to leak. Finally, of course, put the liner in. Move it close to the pond I am replacing and pump the water from that pond into the trough - while catching the fish and moving them into the trough as well along with all the plants I have in it.

Empty out the pond I am replacing, move it out of the way. Okay, pump the horse trough water back into the now moved pond and all the fish and plants yet again. Move the trough to where the old pond was. Yes, then pump the water back out of the old pond into the horse trough plus move the fish and plants again. The fish undoubtedly won't like it, but I have a bottle of fish stress relief to help them with the move.

I am also thinking of just catching the fish and putting them into a 40 gallon plastic container I have so they won't have to be moved around quite so much. I would just pump the pond water in the old pond out into trees and plants and just put fresh water in the horse trough, saving a lot of moving, but the water in the pond is conditioned - it's better for the fish than an entire new fill of fresh water. That's the only reason, otherwise I wouldn't care as the old pond only holds 160 gallons of water and I could simply water plants and trees with it.

I don't know yet, I'll make those decisions when I get there.

I am assuming there will be some good war movies on this weekend, I intend on watching some.

As for the house - the problem in the main bathroom persists. In fact, has grown worse. The trailer tenants informed me that they are sick of cleaning up after everyone in there. I didnt know they WERE cleaning up after everyone, which really makes me mad. I don't LIKE slobs living in my house. I thought about it - what action to take, but, my thoughts were interrupted: we will deal with this. Ohhhh? Yes, Lynnette states: I have already confronted one of them that isn't doing anything and I am going to post a schedule in there.

Very doubtful that it's going to do any good. Summer is upon us. High electric bills. A bit of a hard time to be kicking people out - but - I will do it if it comes down to that. I have almost $300 on the electricity card reader. I am at least somewhat set for June - which is forecast to turn hot starting the very first day and getting much hotter after that. What joy.

I figure close to $500 for electricity in June, the same in July and a bit less in August.

Anyway, they will try their method, if it works, great, if it doesn't, then I will have to have individual conversations with everyone and put them on the spot: clean the freaking bathroom or get out of my house. It's not like I haven't already sent out notices about this same issue a couple of times now. Let them move where there are a bunch of slobs - their bathroom can be covered in human piss and the toilet filled with both blood stains (you know where those come from) and crap particles. Get some mold and junk growing in the shower/tub. Unbelievable.

Oh well. I wash my hands of it - temporarily - since they want to try to deal with it and are putting me out of the picture. They have my full backing, of course, I hope they are successful.

As for this entry? Getting long.

Later.

ben

Done

Just got back from taking my dad to the bus stop. I stood in line with him while waiting for them to open the door and allow the boarding process to begin. It was a good 3 days with him. He spent part of the morning and all afternoon over here and we visited most of the time.

It was good to be with him again. It was also good to see that his health is doing much better than I had anticipated. Another comfort is that soon, he will be living in Tucson - it's not a long drive down there. I am 2 miles from I-10 which is a straight shot down to Tucson. I can drive there in about an hour and a half. Sierra Vista is much further away. I think a day trip here and there will be in order - whenever they are up to it of course, which won't be anytime soon. They are still getting their house ready to sell in Sierra Vista - but they already have most of their stuff at the assisted living center in Tucson.

Anyway, another chapter in life is over, the page is turning and who knows what's next. Something, that's for sure. Preferably something good, btw. Is there ever a time in life when there is nothing? If there is, it's only the prelude to what's coming next.............

Friday

Just short of halfway through my 6 days off. However, the first 2 days did not really feel like vacation with everything that has been going on.

The graduation yesterday was excellent in every sense of the thought. It did NOT go on for 3 hours, which was a blessing in itself. More like about 70 minutes. There were various student speakers, some of which had some rather corny things to say, but the final student speaker spoke something the silenced the crowd. He got up there and started talking about the future, what it means to him and the fact that he has learned to see each day as a priceless commodity. You might think that odd for an 18 year old until he got to the part about having cancer and doing chemotherapy treatments.

I felt heart-sick for that kid. Graduating High School, just getting into the mode of thinking of starting a life for yourself and then bammm, hit with something like that.

My dad is doing much better than what I thought, to be honest. Yes, he has arthritis, yes, he has slowed down but he climbed up and down those bleacher stairs pretty well considering. It was an awkward moment at the end when we all met up - my middle brother, my mother, dad and even a gentleman I used to know from church years ago. THAT was a shocker! We used to spend hours in prayer together when meeting together in prayer groups. Even more shocking, he is in his early 50's and he retired 2 years ago. Wow. Well, he is a brainiac and was part of some sort of team of people at Intel that would be sent around the world doing research for possible plant locations. I never knew how much he made in terms of salary, but, to retire that young he obviously did quite well for himself.

Anyway, my middle brother actually spoke with my dad. As is par for the course with my family, acted as if nothing was wrong and nothing had ever happened. Remember that my brother hasn't spoken to my dad in almost 6 years: would not respond to his emails; telephone calls or snail mails. Get the picture? My mother shook hands with him - those 2 hadn't seen each other in about 28 years. My mother was looking very good, too, she dressed very nicely for the occasion and had had her hair done.

Off to my ex-pastor's house for the reception, undoubtedly this would be the most uncomfortable spot of the evening, and certainly it held true. Caleb hadn't shown up yet - he had my newer car and was helping his grandmother to her truck after the event was over which took awhile, not to mention that she gave him his new computer. Oh, gotta throw this in here: I just found out my oldest brother and his wife actually showed up for the graduation. They had to leave early because of early rise for work. Neither I nor anyone else from the family saw them there, but they had pics to prove it, I guess.

So, dad and I went into the house. I waited in the foyer for him to use the restroom, I figured if I was going to walk into a "hornet's nest", might as well take company. Lol. I knew everyone there. Although I expected them to show a bit more hospitality than they did, it wasn't surprising that the men were rude about it. I had to go to them to shake hands, they were not interested in talking to me and they only stopped their conversations long enough to shake hands and - that was it. Remember, I have known these people for about 2 decades.

I can read into it, however, that they were as uncomfortable with me being there as I was going into a man's house that used to be my pastor and one of my best friends. My ex-pastor came and gave me a half hug, spoke a few words and then disappeared. Only the other halfs - the wives - of these men excepting one made me feel at home. My ex-wife was definitely attempting to try and make us feel welcome, I'll give her kudos for that I guess.

Well, Caleb eventually showed up, which changed the atmosphere dramatically since he was the man of the day. He is a man, but he'll always be my kid, lol. After he made the rounds, he came back into where dad and I were and sat down with a huge plate of food and we started talking. You see, I love my son and he knows it, we get along well, I'm not a stranger to him and I do not go out of my way to try to make his life difficult. I have given him as much leeway as I thought appropriate for his age, which expanded more and more as he grew older. Now, he's an adult and has a lot to learn in life - as we all did at that age - I am stepping pretty much completely out of the way. The only thing I am going to push on him is my rules around the house, which aren't many and are mostly restrained to noise levels at night and cleaning up after oneself in whatever part of the house a person might make a mess in.

Anyway, that forced all of those people to have to come into the room we were at because the pastor's wife wanted to do a presentation. I was impressed. My son is like a 3rd son to them. Caleb is very comfortable over there as he has spent as much time there as he has at either mine or my ex wife's house. She explicitly stated that as well. Then, one of the guys that was - quite cold to me when I shook his hand - came in with a poem that my ex had written when Caleb was born. I had completely forgotten about it. It's framed and has a picture of him shortly after he was pulled out of her womb (C-section, late birther, too big to come through the birth canal).

I hadn't read or heard that poem in many years, it was touching. It was about Kim, the pastor's wife. Because my ex and her are good friends, well, Kim was around alot while Caleb was in the womb, growing. The poem basically stated that when he came out, he was looking around for the faces of the familiar voices. My ex's, me and then Kim's.

It was cool. I was put on the spot to say something - so I did. Nothing grandiose, just how proud I am of my son, the direction his life seems to be going in and the fact that he has grown a lot in terms of discipline and taking responsibility in the last year.

That was it. It was a good night despite the coldness from a few individuals. I pretty much expected it. We didn't stay long - maybe half and hour or 45 minutes. I was informed when we were leaving that I was a part of the family and always will be, that coming from Kim. Coming from her, I might believe it, but her husband? Not in the slightest. But I don't want to go there.

Took dad back to his hotel and came home. It was about 10:30, late for me. It's over. The excitement and the apprehension of the "what-if's". It's all done. I discussed with the ex last night about who is going to take Caleb up to Heber. Heber is up on the Mogollon Rim. It's forested, beautiful country up there. This is in reference to his 2 month stint to be a youth counselor for "troubled" youth going to the Salvation Army camp in Heber. Do a Google image search for Heber, AZ, you'll get what I am talking about. It's the type of place I would love to retire in. Unfortunately, alot of it burned up in early 2,000 due to 2 man-made fires.

The first fire set by a firefighter who wasn't getting enough work, so he decided to set the forest on fire. The second fire set by a woman who was lost in the woods and started a fire to get smoke up so that she would be rescued. The firefighter is in prison. I think they eventually let the woman off the hook, even though it was an extremely stupid act. She hadn't been lost for days, it was like an hour and instead of trying to find her way out of it or do ANYTHING a normal person would do, she lights a fire in bone-dry forest that hadn't seen enough rain to keep a huge fire that eventually met up with the firefighter's fire from starting and burning around 500,000 acres. I haven't been up there since that fire, but I do know that at least part of the Heber area was hit by that fire.

Anyway, Caleb has to be up there on a Sunday - 2 Sundays from now. I am thinking of going up the day before, getting a cabin and spending the night there. I'm going to throw that out to my son because if he wants to do it, I need to make the reservations soon. Like today, lol. I feel like he is going to be very busy from this point forth and probably isn't going to have a lot of time for his parents. When he comes back from that adventure, he is going straight back to work and will be going to a community college as well. I am feeling a bit of "separation anxiety" I guess you would call it. It's very possible that if he gets promoted as they say they are going to do when he gets back - he will be making more money and he might consider doing an apartment share with other guys. I don't know that for a fact, it's just the natural progression of things.

Well, that's it. I got the AC in my newer car fixed yesterday, it's blowing 40 degree air out of the vents. It cost as much as I thought it would, a bit over $400. I will be taking my car back after he leaves for the mountains and he will have the option of driving the older Buick if he wants it when he comes back. If he doesn't want it, I am going to sell it cheap and just get rid of it. I've gotten my use out of that car, it's served well, the engine is strong and has lots of miles left in it. If I ever get my tax return back, I am going to have a cheap paint job thrown on it, fix whatever issues are left in it and it's done. A couple more tires and the power steering pump is whining - yes it's full of fluid - pretty much tells me it's going to go out soon.

I took some pics and a video of the Graduation, maybe post that later today or tomorrow when I get around to it. I have to get my dad from the hotel in a few hours and bring him back here - he will be spending the afternoon here before I have to take him to the bus station. My last chance to visit with him. Pretty much make the most of it, this life has no guarantees given, he is getting old and...well....you know.....life can end at anytime without forewarning.

I'm looking forward to doing much of nothing today, to be honest, relax and take it easy. Tomorrow I intend on starting on that horse trough to get it ready for ponding.

G'day.

ben