Well, I think I am feeling better than I did yesterday if nothing else, who knows.
The situation here only gets worse as the woman tenant provokes me and is attempting to push my buttons.
I took my home phone out of here last night - there is no way, I thought at the time - that I am going to let her use my phone to trash talk me in my home phone to other people. Although I still feel that, I can't keep the phone because Lynnette uses it and I am not going to punish the entire household for the actions of one - person.
If there is one thing I refuse to tolerate in my home,it's any tenant that refuses to allow me to have peace. This woman is definitely ranking higher and higher on the "worst tenant list". But, I doubt she will penetrate the top 3. I'm guessing at least one long-time reader can figure out at least 2 of the names on the top 3 list, lol.
Well, whatever the case, I am out of time and really, I made 3 entries yesterday, enough.
G'day.
ben
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
More
I am biding my time until bedtime, I am totally exhausted but if I go to bed too early, might as well not go to bed at all. I will wake up around 11/12 and that will be it.
The Neverending Summer. Tomorrow: 102; Thursday: 104; Friday: 104. Some reports have tomorrow at 105.
I was out front of my house earlier looking at the disaster it has now become. Okay, not a total disaster, but there is a lot of work to do out there. Some plants died over the summer, others need trimmed back, a major clean up. Plus cat dung.
The man who told one of my tenants that he was going to have me killed if I catch and dispose of any more cats? One of his cats is on my property, daily. It shits everywhere and thinks of my front yard as it's home. It is going to disappear, very soon. I am going to bait the trap this weekend and I am going to catch it and other cats that are visiting the front of my property and I am going to get rid of them.
If this man is serious about having me killed, well, I now well-armed is all I can say about that. I mostly doubt that he is serious, but who knows. He doesn't give a rat's ass, neither does the neighbor from Michigan that should be coming back soon, as to WHAT, exactly, their cats are doing on and to my front yard, ie: killing plants and leaving shit all over the place. I have caught a few cats out there maybe 6 months ago and stopped.
I am fully revisioned on getting this problem resolved. They aren't going to deal with their cats, I AM. I could care less about their threats, either. Maybe I should take my dogs over there every day and leave behind giant droppings all over the place and see how they feel about it. Better yet, just dump their droppings into a huge box and when it's full, take it over there and drop it into their driveway.
There IS no amiable way of dealing with idiots.
Yes, it does piss me off to get into my car every morning and see numerous cats in my front yard. If they weren't creating destruction and leaving piss and poop all over the place, I wouldn't care. But, that definitely is not the case.
You see, I was standing out there today, looking at all of it while feeding my front pond fish and watering some plants with the hose that need frequent watering, taking in what needs to be done. Well, if I take pics of the destruction those cats have done, you would have a better idea of what I am talking about and what I am referring to.
As soon as the temps drop, I will be out there spending hours on getting things cleaned up, trimmed and whatever needs to be done. Running into cat crap everywhere will only serve to inflame the ire I have against these people that think their animals can run all over creation, doing whatever they please, and when confronted about it, they just shrug their shoulders. Too bad, so sad. When the "Michigan Man" returns and his 2 cats start visiting my property nightly, they will also disappear. I will say nothing to no-one about it, not even tenants, I will simply do it and there will be no-one to point fingers at. They can point them at me if they please and if I am confronted about it, I will shrug my shoulders like they have done to me.
So, cooler temps are coming, even if the beginning of this entry doesn't reflect that. 95 high on Saturday; 92 high on Sunday. Next Friday: 81 high with 57 lows. That's open the windows at night and let the cool, polluted Phoenix air in. That's turn off the AC weather, THAT'S what I have BEEN looking for.
Instead, Mother Nature has not been very nice to me and my property this summer. I have had to do all the watering on the plants because of the extremely dry conditions. Sure, they have had ample rain to the east of me, but we didn't get it. A few drops, that was it. The monsoon season is almost over yet this immediate area hardly saw any of it. What little we did see wasn't enough to last very long in terms of ground saturation and I have paid dearly for it. The city of Phoenix seems fit to continue to raise water rates.
Whatever the case, I am mentally psyching myself up for the rather large task at hand that I will be starting on with the cooler temps. I have a pile of landscaping rocks I had delivered here last week waiting for me to "install" them. Not - not until it cools off. I wanted them here when it DOES cool off, yes, they can sit there until that time. They are on the side of my house not bothering anyone and Coco likes to get on top of the mound and lay there. Crazy dog, that CAN'T be comfortable.
As for work, well, I am - not sure. I work my @$$ off at work, to have an operations manager questioning my work ethic was offensive. I asked him about it in person and then wrote him an email and it's obvious I am not going to GET an answer from him. This isn't something I am going to let go. I will write him again and ask him yet again about where he is getting his information, though I already know where he is getting his information. His wife, who sits on the internet all day long; makes personal phone calls frequently and even leaves the building frequently to take care of personal issues. I am getting that this person tells him what's going on in the branch, yet - if she would have bothered to inquire about the incident in question, I would have given a very solid, concrete answer and I might have also questioned her about her work ethic, looking at the considerable time she spends on the internet for personal purposes.
How do I know this? Because I have only seen it 100 times - at least. Just walking by, she's sitting there looking at Barnes and Noble; Southwest Airlines for tickets to a family event in San Diego; internet sites selling baby stuff. Creating a double-standard and also speaking out of hypocrisy is malice at best.
Should I be writing this on the internet? I don't really care at this point. I will not tolerate my work ethic being questioned, especially after giving away free half hours of my time for YEARS to that company in having their computer system automatically deducting half hour breaks from my time EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TAKE IT BECAUSE I WAS WORKING MY ASS OFF ALL DAY LONG. I worked my ass off all day long today, yesterday, last week. Dunno, don't care. A lame work ethic has never been a part of my background, personality, or makeup. I don't take lightly people saying such bs to me, I don't care what position they hold.
Whatever. I like the company, I like working there, the ops manager? The dude that used my work computer's communicator to write "gay" stuff to another worker at another branch, pretending to be me? Dunno what got into his crawl, but I do wonder what corporate would say about a man in that position that would use that position to harass workers that are under him. I have never liked working under poor management, the only consolation I have in this case is that the man above him, the General Manager, is of far different character and above doing things like that. I have serious doubts that he knows what happened with this communicator junk. I wonder if the recording of "keystroke" is still on corporate file.
Yes, every time I think about it, it gets me going. He got away with it, but only because I didn't say anything to anyone but at the local branch level and obviously, it didn't go any further than that. If it had, this would be an entirely different story right now.
Whatever again. I am probably a bit grumpy because I am not feeling well and because the woman tenant won't shut up and we just go into it. I constantly ask her to not speak to me. She doesn't care and she goes on and on. I just started talking over the top of her voice this time, I didn't want to hear it and I simply said "nothing" words to her to give her the indication that again, after asking her 100 times, I don't want to talk to her, I don't want to hear her voice, I don't want anything. She crossed the line twice over. First with attempting to turn my own son against me and second with accusing me of sexual harassment.
Anyway, almost bedtime.
Outta here.
The Neverending Summer. Tomorrow: 102; Thursday: 104; Friday: 104. Some reports have tomorrow at 105.
I was out front of my house earlier looking at the disaster it has now become. Okay, not a total disaster, but there is a lot of work to do out there. Some plants died over the summer, others need trimmed back, a major clean up. Plus cat dung.
The man who told one of my tenants that he was going to have me killed if I catch and dispose of any more cats? One of his cats is on my property, daily. It shits everywhere and thinks of my front yard as it's home. It is going to disappear, very soon. I am going to bait the trap this weekend and I am going to catch it and other cats that are visiting the front of my property and I am going to get rid of them.
If this man is serious about having me killed, well, I now well-armed is all I can say about that. I mostly doubt that he is serious, but who knows. He doesn't give a rat's ass, neither does the neighbor from Michigan that should be coming back soon, as to WHAT, exactly, their cats are doing on and to my front yard, ie: killing plants and leaving shit all over the place. I have caught a few cats out there maybe 6 months ago and stopped.
I am fully revisioned on getting this problem resolved. They aren't going to deal with their cats, I AM. I could care less about their threats, either. Maybe I should take my dogs over there every day and leave behind giant droppings all over the place and see how they feel about it. Better yet, just dump their droppings into a huge box and when it's full, take it over there and drop it into their driveway.
There IS no amiable way of dealing with idiots.
Yes, it does piss me off to get into my car every morning and see numerous cats in my front yard. If they weren't creating destruction and leaving piss and poop all over the place, I wouldn't care. But, that definitely is not the case.
You see, I was standing out there today, looking at all of it while feeding my front pond fish and watering some plants with the hose that need frequent watering, taking in what needs to be done. Well, if I take pics of the destruction those cats have done, you would have a better idea of what I am talking about and what I am referring to.
As soon as the temps drop, I will be out there spending hours on getting things cleaned up, trimmed and whatever needs to be done. Running into cat crap everywhere will only serve to inflame the ire I have against these people that think their animals can run all over creation, doing whatever they please, and when confronted about it, they just shrug their shoulders. Too bad, so sad. When the "Michigan Man" returns and his 2 cats start visiting my property nightly, they will also disappear. I will say nothing to no-one about it, not even tenants, I will simply do it and there will be no-one to point fingers at. They can point them at me if they please and if I am confronted about it, I will shrug my shoulders like they have done to me.
So, cooler temps are coming, even if the beginning of this entry doesn't reflect that. 95 high on Saturday; 92 high on Sunday. Next Friday: 81 high with 57 lows. That's open the windows at night and let the cool, polluted Phoenix air in. That's turn off the AC weather, THAT'S what I have BEEN looking for.
Instead, Mother Nature has not been very nice to me and my property this summer. I have had to do all the watering on the plants because of the extremely dry conditions. Sure, they have had ample rain to the east of me, but we didn't get it. A few drops, that was it. The monsoon season is almost over yet this immediate area hardly saw any of it. What little we did see wasn't enough to last very long in terms of ground saturation and I have paid dearly for it. The city of Phoenix seems fit to continue to raise water rates.
Whatever the case, I am mentally psyching myself up for the rather large task at hand that I will be starting on with the cooler temps. I have a pile of landscaping rocks I had delivered here last week waiting for me to "install" them. Not - not until it cools off. I wanted them here when it DOES cool off, yes, they can sit there until that time. They are on the side of my house not bothering anyone and Coco likes to get on top of the mound and lay there. Crazy dog, that CAN'T be comfortable.
As for work, well, I am - not sure. I work my @$$ off at work, to have an operations manager questioning my work ethic was offensive. I asked him about it in person and then wrote him an email and it's obvious I am not going to GET an answer from him. This isn't something I am going to let go. I will write him again and ask him yet again about where he is getting his information, though I already know where he is getting his information. His wife, who sits on the internet all day long; makes personal phone calls frequently and even leaves the building frequently to take care of personal issues. I am getting that this person tells him what's going on in the branch, yet - if she would have bothered to inquire about the incident in question, I would have given a very solid, concrete answer and I might have also questioned her about her work ethic, looking at the considerable time she spends on the internet for personal purposes.
How do I know this? Because I have only seen it 100 times - at least. Just walking by, she's sitting there looking at Barnes and Noble; Southwest Airlines for tickets to a family event in San Diego; internet sites selling baby stuff. Creating a double-standard and also speaking out of hypocrisy is malice at best.
Should I be writing this on the internet? I don't really care at this point. I will not tolerate my work ethic being questioned, especially after giving away free half hours of my time for YEARS to that company in having their computer system automatically deducting half hour breaks from my time EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TAKE IT BECAUSE I WAS WORKING MY ASS OFF ALL DAY LONG. I worked my ass off all day long today, yesterday, last week. Dunno, don't care. A lame work ethic has never been a part of my background, personality, or makeup. I don't take lightly people saying such bs to me, I don't care what position they hold.
Whatever. I like the company, I like working there, the ops manager? The dude that used my work computer's communicator to write "gay" stuff to another worker at another branch, pretending to be me? Dunno what got into his crawl, but I do wonder what corporate would say about a man in that position that would use that position to harass workers that are under him. I have never liked working under poor management, the only consolation I have in this case is that the man above him, the General Manager, is of far different character and above doing things like that. I have serious doubts that he knows what happened with this communicator junk. I wonder if the recording of "keystroke" is still on corporate file.
Yes, every time I think about it, it gets me going. He got away with it, but only because I didn't say anything to anyone but at the local branch level and obviously, it didn't go any further than that. If it had, this would be an entirely different story right now.
Whatever again. I am probably a bit grumpy because I am not feeling well and because the woman tenant won't shut up and we just go into it. I constantly ask her to not speak to me. She doesn't care and she goes on and on. I just started talking over the top of her voice this time, I didn't want to hear it and I simply said "nothing" words to her to give her the indication that again, after asking her 100 times, I don't want to talk to her, I don't want to hear her voice, I don't want anything. She crossed the line twice over. First with attempting to turn my own son against me and second with accusing me of sexual harassment.
Anyway, almost bedtime.
Outta here.
Exhaustion
Worked 10 straight hours today. No breaks, no stopping for nothing, grind - grind - grind all day long. I don't mind working like that, mind you, but I woke up with a sore throat; headache and a low grade fever. It didn't get worse throughout the day, but it definitely didn't get any better, either. I was so extremely thirsty all day long - more than normal, I drank a couple of gallons of water. Yes, it's still warm outside and yes, the workload causes you to sweat out in the hot sun and yes, you get really thirsty.
So, I am at a job-site for a municipality that is replacing "trunk-line" water transmission line. I learned something today at that site. When thinking of replacing 36 inch diameter and larger pipe, you can't just shut the water line down. I didn't know that. The city waterworks department has to reroute water through other lines and keep it flowing. It sounded like the principle of electricity, where they re-route lines whenever main transmission lines go down, and yes, they call these waterlines either trunk lines or transmission lines. Interesting, if nothing else.
So, at the end of getting the truck unloaded - which took quite a while and they were using a giant trackhoe (excavator) to get the material off of it with, I finish my conversation with the foreman when I sense eyes. You know the feeling, someone is staring at you/watching you. I did an about face and was almost shocked to see what was there: at least 100 elementary school kids, standing in line, at the fence, with teachers interspersed amongst them. This job-site is directly next door to an elementary school. Apparently they were making it some sort of learning lesson, I guess. I dunno, but I got into the semi and backed out of there. This is more-often-than-not the scenario: go in reverse the way you came in forward. Frequently meaning long backing distances and going around turns and all kinds of interesting things that test a truck driver's backing skills. My statement to new or wannabe drivers is always this: if you are driving a truck but can't back it up, you are in the wrong business. Some of them don't always want to hear that.
Well, I didn't feel like doing anything after work, but not 5 minutes before I left the building, a man calls asking to come over and see the available room. Can't turn it down, gotta get it re-rented. So, he seemed to like it but admitted he was going to look at another place. No problem. Said he wouldn't move in until the 15th if he wanted it, that's a problem. I don't hold rooms, I inform him, without a cash deposit - non-refundable. I am straight forward and out with that. I did say that the other room was going to be available by then if he thought he liked the place and wanted to move in.
So, whatever. Writing up another ad after this entry and get it going, it's the end-of-the-month and this is a good time of year for renting out rooms. The middle of the summer never is, but for some reason, October and November usually bring a lot more prospects to the table.
Later.
ben
So, I am at a job-site for a municipality that is replacing "trunk-line" water transmission line. I learned something today at that site. When thinking of replacing 36 inch diameter and larger pipe, you can't just shut the water line down. I didn't know that. The city waterworks department has to reroute water through other lines and keep it flowing. It sounded like the principle of electricity, where they re-route lines whenever main transmission lines go down, and yes, they call these waterlines either trunk lines or transmission lines. Interesting, if nothing else.
So, at the end of getting the truck unloaded - which took quite a while and they were using a giant trackhoe (excavator) to get the material off of it with, I finish my conversation with the foreman when I sense eyes. You know the feeling, someone is staring at you/watching you. I did an about face and was almost shocked to see what was there: at least 100 elementary school kids, standing in line, at the fence, with teachers interspersed amongst them. This job-site is directly next door to an elementary school. Apparently they were making it some sort of learning lesson, I guess. I dunno, but I got into the semi and backed out of there. This is more-often-than-not the scenario: go in reverse the way you came in forward. Frequently meaning long backing distances and going around turns and all kinds of interesting things that test a truck driver's backing skills. My statement to new or wannabe drivers is always this: if you are driving a truck but can't back it up, you are in the wrong business. Some of them don't always want to hear that.
Well, I didn't feel like doing anything after work, but not 5 minutes before I left the building, a man calls asking to come over and see the available room. Can't turn it down, gotta get it re-rented. So, he seemed to like it but admitted he was going to look at another place. No problem. Said he wouldn't move in until the 15th if he wanted it, that's a problem. I don't hold rooms, I inform him, without a cash deposit - non-refundable. I am straight forward and out with that. I did say that the other room was going to be available by then if he thought he liked the place and wanted to move in.
So, whatever. Writing up another ad after this entry and get it going, it's the end-of-the-month and this is a good time of year for renting out rooms. The middle of the summer never is, but for some reason, October and November usually bring a lot more prospects to the table.
Later.
ben
Tuesday 9/27/2011
I am not speaking to the woman tenant at all, now.
She has made allegations of "sexual harrasment" in speaking with my trailer tenants. Upon asking how, exacty, I did that or what I said which would qualify for such a serious charge, she had no answer. When I was done with the conversation in their trailer, I left and found the woman sitting directly next to the trailer, smoking a cigarette. She attempted to hide the fact that she was listening or trying to listen in on our conversation, I simply said to her to not speak to me - ever again. She has threatened to take me to court on these allegations, though, in reality, she has nothing to stand on. I have plenty of witnesses, thankfully, of her bizarre behavior around here, my son being the best witness of all.
She had asked my trailer tenants to ask me if she could stay until the 7th, when she gets her money. NO, was my immediate reply to Lynnette to tell her. Not that I wanted to drag Lynnette in the middle of this, but this woman goes over there and bangs on their door every day, wanting to talk with them. Not after what she did to my son and not after making false allegations of sexual harassment. She can go piss off as far as I'm concerned. She has no-where to go. Not amazingly at all, the people that are her alleged friends will not take her back, even temporarily. The man of that house told his wife that if she didn't get rid of this nutcase woman, he was going to leave her.
This speaks volumes in itself. I am simply resolved to get her out of my house, whatever it takes - legally - to do that. If it means taking her to court, then so be-it. If she stays beyond the 10 days, I will be down at the courthouse in a flash, filing the paperwork. If she starts ANYTHING with me, I will have her legally removed by Phoenix Police within 24 hours. Further, if she stays here beyond the 10th day, she will find that Direct TV will no longer work in her room, her access to the telephone will be removed and other, legal, things to make a continued stay unpleasant at best.
Drama. I half expect that sooner or later, I will end up with a nutcase and here it is. The woman is bonafide loony tunes material. She makes up stories and convinces herself that it's truth.
Anyway, on a different note, I got the car fixed yesterday. This time, the mechanic said it was a part of the wiring harness and replaced it. He first thought it was the crank sensor, but I informed him that it had been replaced - twice. Ohhhhh, he said, then he would have to get into the wiring because the codes showing up are giving him the clue that it's either the sensor or wiring. I dunno, I hope he has this figured out this time, because I don't really want to continue to spend money like that on this car. He had it running half the day and then drove it around to ensure it was "fixed". No clue, I hope it works.
Work - crazy busy. Yesterday was running around all over the place, today there will not be enough time to finish everything that is in there to do. I pretty much figure that because job sites shut down at 2:00pm. Yesterday, I was ready to leave for a job site at 1:53 pm for a final delivery, but they said they were going home, please bring it in the morning.
Ummm, sorry to tell them, but that isn't going to happen. They aren't starting up til' 7:30am and there is far too much to do to wait an hour into the day to get over there and get the load - unloaded. Who knows. I just do as much as I can get done at as fast a pace as possible and that's that.
My time here has run out.
G'day.
ben
She has made allegations of "sexual harrasment" in speaking with my trailer tenants. Upon asking how, exacty, I did that or what I said which would qualify for such a serious charge, she had no answer. When I was done with the conversation in their trailer, I left and found the woman sitting directly next to the trailer, smoking a cigarette. She attempted to hide the fact that she was listening or trying to listen in on our conversation, I simply said to her to not speak to me - ever again. She has threatened to take me to court on these allegations, though, in reality, she has nothing to stand on. I have plenty of witnesses, thankfully, of her bizarre behavior around here, my son being the best witness of all.
She had asked my trailer tenants to ask me if she could stay until the 7th, when she gets her money. NO, was my immediate reply to Lynnette to tell her. Not that I wanted to drag Lynnette in the middle of this, but this woman goes over there and bangs on their door every day, wanting to talk with them. Not after what she did to my son and not after making false allegations of sexual harassment. She can go piss off as far as I'm concerned. She has no-where to go. Not amazingly at all, the people that are her alleged friends will not take her back, even temporarily. The man of that house told his wife that if she didn't get rid of this nutcase woman, he was going to leave her.
This speaks volumes in itself. I am simply resolved to get her out of my house, whatever it takes - legally - to do that. If it means taking her to court, then so be-it. If she stays beyond the 10 days, I will be down at the courthouse in a flash, filing the paperwork. If she starts ANYTHING with me, I will have her legally removed by Phoenix Police within 24 hours. Further, if she stays here beyond the 10th day, she will find that Direct TV will no longer work in her room, her access to the telephone will be removed and other, legal, things to make a continued stay unpleasant at best.
Drama. I half expect that sooner or later, I will end up with a nutcase and here it is. The woman is bonafide loony tunes material. She makes up stories and convinces herself that it's truth.
Anyway, on a different note, I got the car fixed yesterday. This time, the mechanic said it was a part of the wiring harness and replaced it. He first thought it was the crank sensor, but I informed him that it had been replaced - twice. Ohhhhh, he said, then he would have to get into the wiring because the codes showing up are giving him the clue that it's either the sensor or wiring. I dunno, I hope he has this figured out this time, because I don't really want to continue to spend money like that on this car. He had it running half the day and then drove it around to ensure it was "fixed". No clue, I hope it works.
Work - crazy busy. Yesterday was running around all over the place, today there will not be enough time to finish everything that is in there to do. I pretty much figure that because job sites shut down at 2:00pm. Yesterday, I was ready to leave for a job site at 1:53 pm for a final delivery, but they said they were going home, please bring it in the morning.
Ummm, sorry to tell them, but that isn't going to happen. They aren't starting up til' 7:30am and there is far too much to do to wait an hour into the day to get over there and get the load - unloaded. Who knows. I just do as much as I can get done at as fast a pace as possible and that's that.
My time here has run out.
G'day.
ben
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday 9/26/2011
The (nutcase) woman walked through last night and said goodbye, she will probably be gone by the time I get home tomorrow.
Did someone say it's time to throw a party?!!
Okay, I have to go through the pain of renting that room out again, oh well.
2 rooms available. Hmmm. I don't know about the other room yet, the guy paid for it through the 1st, but he hasn't shown up and he hasn't called or emailed me, I am pretty much assuming he isn't coming for whatever reason - but - I cannot legitimately re-rent that room until his paid days are done. I am still going to advertise it, anyway.
This morning, have that old car towed to the shop and find out what's up with it this time. It went a good, long stretch without any major problems. Dunno if it has a major problem now, or what, my guess is another sensor has gone out. Some sensors are cheap - others definitely are not. Hmmmm, you know, one other thing I didn't even look at yesterday, I wonder if there is any fuel in the car?! I don't drive that car so I didn't even bother to look. Takealookatit before I go to work and make sure it isn't something that simple.
I just went to my son's FB wall, he is thinking he doesn't have a car and it won't ever run again. This is the doing's of my ex, she has that affect. A bit ridiculous. Unless a mechanic pronounces the car dead, it IS going to get fixed.
Well I don't have much time here, so....
g'day.
ben
Did someone say it's time to throw a party?!!
Okay, I have to go through the pain of renting that room out again, oh well.
2 rooms available. Hmmm. I don't know about the other room yet, the guy paid for it through the 1st, but he hasn't shown up and he hasn't called or emailed me, I am pretty much assuming he isn't coming for whatever reason - but - I cannot legitimately re-rent that room until his paid days are done. I am still going to advertise it, anyway.
This morning, have that old car towed to the shop and find out what's up with it this time. It went a good, long stretch without any major problems. Dunno if it has a major problem now, or what, my guess is another sensor has gone out. Some sensors are cheap - others definitely are not. Hmmmm, you know, one other thing I didn't even look at yesterday, I wonder if there is any fuel in the car?! I don't drive that car so I didn't even bother to look. Takealookatit before I go to work and make sure it isn't something that simple.
I just went to my son's FB wall, he is thinking he doesn't have a car and it won't ever run again. This is the doing's of my ex, she has that affect. A bit ridiculous. Unless a mechanic pronounces the car dead, it IS going to get fixed.
Well I don't have much time here, so....
g'day.
ben
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday 9/25/2011
I did a very unusual thing - at least for me - this morning. I didn't sleep well last night, so when I got up extremely tired, I just turned around and went back to bed! I slept for 2-1/2 hours and now I feel much better! I don't normally do such a thing, is the point.
___________________________________
I started this entry hours ago but got busy with getting the dogs together and taking them to a doggy park in Gilbert to meet up with the lady that I knew from my teenaged years. Big mistake. Duke is a trouble-maker and likes to start fights. I couldn't even go into the area where all the other dogs were because of his attitude. Basically, when it comes to doggy parks, the only dog I can take with confidence that she won't start trouble is Coco, the Dane/Catahoula mix. If the Danes want to be @$$***** out there, then they can just stay home next time.
Well, we ended up in a large, covered ramada that had picnic tables. My friend said she would take Coco over to the water area since her dog was already over there. Okay. Again, I have no problems with Coco, she will not start trouble with other dogs. She WILL bite back if a dog bites her, I have no problem with that, either. In fact, she can be a REALLY mean dog if another one starts trouble with her. So, Mary takes my dog over to the water area. About 100 yards away, it's a lake - the ramada I was in on one side, the "beach" on the other side of the lake.
She gets Coco over there and lets her loose. I was watching her. She was looking for me. She couldn't have cared less about all the other dogs or people out there, she didn't know where I was but started running along the beach, stopping at every single person - which were quite a few - sniffing and looking and moving on. She got to the edge of the beach and where the fence stops her from going any further, jumped into the lake, swam around the other side of the fence and started running down the sidewalk. Numerous people were yelling to "stop that dog!", thinking someone on the beach owns it and trying to be helpful. I just made my noise that I use to call her, sort of a squeaking sound. She was trotting along at an even pace, she apparently knew where she was going anyway.
I left. Mary wanted to let her dog play in the water and I wasn't going to even think about taking the Danes over there. Next time - just Coco, no Danes. Not sorry, they want to be trouble-makers, they can stay home.
So, the visit was cut short. I spent hours on the phone with Mary 2 nights ago anyway, so no biggies. I am not sure where, if anywhere, this may be leading. She is a nice girl and hasn't changed a bit since 25 years ago. I am not necessarily sure we are compatible, though, she likes to wear the pants in the family and that usually doesn't set very well with me. I am amiable to going as far as 50-50 in such a situation, but I am not a panty-waist and I will not be bossed around. I already had that situation going in my first and only marriage, one of the big reasons we got divorced. We can be friends if nothing else.
Of course, when I decide to make a goal out of something, I then devote more than too much time thinking about how I can get the goal accomplished. In this case, another travel trailer or an RV trailer. It isn't going to happen in the next month. If I can enmasse enough money in the next 6 months, I figure I will be doing well.
_______________________________________
The old Buick just broke down again. Caleb panics and doesn't know what to do. It's like 200 yards down the street from my house. He can't get it into neutral to push it back to the house. Apparently he suddenly forgot that on that car, you have to push in the brake pedal to move the lever. So, we push the car back to the house. He takes my car to work and then calls his mother - who calls with a ridiculous, knee-jerk reaction. "Is that car worth fixing? Perhaps you should get rid of it". And then - what - exactly - would Caleb have to drive? The car has run for quite a while now without any breakdown. As long as that continues, it's worth fixing. Much cheaper than car payments and also no contracts - just have it towed, have them figure out what's wrong, fix it, done.
So, they are both off on this tangent that Caleb is going to lose the opportunity to continue training for cashier position because he has no car to get to the location where the training is it, at least that's what he told his mom. His mom, undoubtedly, stirred that particular pot and got it brewing nicely. What I don't get is why? As if we can't work out for him a way to get to the location to train for cashier or that I won't MAKE it happen. This kind of thinking is fatalistic, serves no useful purpose but to put people into fear, and makes life much more difficult than it need be.
I already told Caleb that I would have it towed to a shop tomorrow and that's that!
Ahhhh, whatever. It's Sunday afternoon, weekend is winding down. Deal with the car tomorrow. I have a flat rate towing company that tows for $50. Considering where the car needs to be taken, a good deal.
G'day.
ben
___________________________________
I started this entry hours ago but got busy with getting the dogs together and taking them to a doggy park in Gilbert to meet up with the lady that I knew from my teenaged years. Big mistake. Duke is a trouble-maker and likes to start fights. I couldn't even go into the area where all the other dogs were because of his attitude. Basically, when it comes to doggy parks, the only dog I can take with confidence that she won't start trouble is Coco, the Dane/Catahoula mix. If the Danes want to be @$$***** out there, then they can just stay home next time.
Well, we ended up in a large, covered ramada that had picnic tables. My friend said she would take Coco over to the water area since her dog was already over there. Okay. Again, I have no problems with Coco, she will not start trouble with other dogs. She WILL bite back if a dog bites her, I have no problem with that, either. In fact, she can be a REALLY mean dog if another one starts trouble with her. So, Mary takes my dog over to the water area. About 100 yards away, it's a lake - the ramada I was in on one side, the "beach" on the other side of the lake.
She gets Coco over there and lets her loose. I was watching her. She was looking for me. She couldn't have cared less about all the other dogs or people out there, she didn't know where I was but started running along the beach, stopping at every single person - which were quite a few - sniffing and looking and moving on. She got to the edge of the beach and where the fence stops her from going any further, jumped into the lake, swam around the other side of the fence and started running down the sidewalk. Numerous people were yelling to "stop that dog!", thinking someone on the beach owns it and trying to be helpful. I just made my noise that I use to call her, sort of a squeaking sound. She was trotting along at an even pace, she apparently knew where she was going anyway.
I left. Mary wanted to let her dog play in the water and I wasn't going to even think about taking the Danes over there. Next time - just Coco, no Danes. Not sorry, they want to be trouble-makers, they can stay home.
So, the visit was cut short. I spent hours on the phone with Mary 2 nights ago anyway, so no biggies. I am not sure where, if anywhere, this may be leading. She is a nice girl and hasn't changed a bit since 25 years ago. I am not necessarily sure we are compatible, though, she likes to wear the pants in the family and that usually doesn't set very well with me. I am amiable to going as far as 50-50 in such a situation, but I am not a panty-waist and I will not be bossed around. I already had that situation going in my first and only marriage, one of the big reasons we got divorced. We can be friends if nothing else.
Of course, when I decide to make a goal out of something, I then devote more than too much time thinking about how I can get the goal accomplished. In this case, another travel trailer or an RV trailer. It isn't going to happen in the next month. If I can enmasse enough money in the next 6 months, I figure I will be doing well.
_______________________________________
The old Buick just broke down again. Caleb panics and doesn't know what to do. It's like 200 yards down the street from my house. He can't get it into neutral to push it back to the house. Apparently he suddenly forgot that on that car, you have to push in the brake pedal to move the lever. So, we push the car back to the house. He takes my car to work and then calls his mother - who calls with a ridiculous, knee-jerk reaction. "Is that car worth fixing? Perhaps you should get rid of it". And then - what - exactly - would Caleb have to drive? The car has run for quite a while now without any breakdown. As long as that continues, it's worth fixing. Much cheaper than car payments and also no contracts - just have it towed, have them figure out what's wrong, fix it, done.
So, they are both off on this tangent that Caleb is going to lose the opportunity to continue training for cashier position because he has no car to get to the location where the training is it, at least that's what he told his mom. His mom, undoubtedly, stirred that particular pot and got it brewing nicely. What I don't get is why? As if we can't work out for him a way to get to the location to train for cashier or that I won't MAKE it happen. This kind of thinking is fatalistic, serves no useful purpose but to put people into fear, and makes life much more difficult than it need be.
I already told Caleb that I would have it towed to a shop tomorrow and that's that!
Ahhhh, whatever. It's Sunday afternoon, weekend is winding down. Deal with the car tomorrow. I have a flat rate towing company that tows for $50. Considering where the car needs to be taken, a good deal.
G'day.
ben
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday 9/24/2011
I'm sitting here attempting to decide whether I want to drive all the way up to the mountains to shoot off a few guns for a while. Of course, it would also mean visiting with mom, so not just to shoot off guns. It's a bit of driving, though, something I have already plenty of this week in the semi. Around 3-1/2 hours total driving to go up there and come back.
I still have a goal of saving enough money by next Spring to buy another RV or Travel trailer and have it hauled up there for a semi-permanent situation. What would be even be nicer is to get a hold of one of those Park model trailers and have it placed up there. My mother has invited me to put whatever up there, I think she would just like to see more of her family and whatever that entails, so beit. Park model trailers aren't shabby looking trash, I'm just saying.
I probably won't go that route since those things are usually fairly pricey - at least for me - and I can hopefully find another good, older trailer that will fit the bill. Anyway, if I could save at the same rate I am now, or even up the savings as bit, include that savings with whatever tax return I will get hopefully early next year, that might do the trick.
It is pretty much evident that the trailer tenants aren't going anywhere, anytime soon and I am not going to even hint that they leave. As long as the relationship stays amiable and friendly - of which I see no reason that it would ever sour but you never know - they can stay as long as they need or want to. That thing could make for a nice rental unit whenever that time comes. It is lacking a sewer line running to it, a situation I have had thoughts of rectifying. I can get sewer pipe at work at cost. Actually, there is some sun burnt stuff that I could get for free. It's digging the trench that would really not be so much fun, at all.
So, if I get to it this winter - I would have to rent a Ditch Witch machine to do the trenching for me. I'm guessing a few hours or less and one of those machines would have it knocked out. I have no idea what it costs to rent one of those things for a day, plus I would have to have it delivered and picked up. The problem is, we're not talking a few feet of trench. We're talking about 110 feet of trench. That's only 6 sticks of pipe, which we have available actually, but digging that by hand? Gag. Not in THIS soil which is FULL of rocks!
Meanwhile, I can't decide whether to stay on this property or not. There are too many pro's AND con's to staying here. If I could find a way to bring the payment down another $200 per month, I would be comfortable staying here. But, for the rates that housing is going in this area, the payment I am making now - I am including taxes and insurance - is more than I want to pay and frankly, I could do away with at least 1 tenant if somehow I could get the mortgage company to doing something about this situation. Their standard reply when I ask is that I can do a short-sale and would you like to get the process going?
I haven't replied to that question as I am not ready to go there yet. 2 properties across the street from me are for sale. 1 is a ramshackle, old, single-wide mobile home that I want nothing to do with, the other is an old, double-wide that has more potential. I have no idea what they want for it, but it has a realtor's sign out front. There is no bank financing available for a mobile home that old, either the owner has to be willing to take payments or you have to come up with cash up-front. I know, sounds crazy, but I would far rather live in an old mobile home - as long as it isn't falling apart - than even think about moving into an apartment. I will stay HERE before I end up having to take that route.
I wouldn't mind looking into the double-wide to see if there is any financing available. Could rent that thing out to someone for around $650 per month. It does not have AC, though, it only has roof-mounted evaporative coolers.
Caleb - my son- was finally promoted to cashier position this week. He said they were increasing his pay to a whopping $8 per hour. I had thought they were going to give him more than that, at least $10, but I guess I thought wrong. They are giving him 42 hours this week, though. That's a full-time position if that is going to go on "permanently", I will be interested to see what kind of benefits they will give him. I still have him on my company's health insurance and won't be dropping him anytime soon. I have no idea under the new rules how long I can keep him on, allegedly until age 26 but who knows.
It seemed to take an act of Congress to authorize this new credit card this morning. I have had it for several days - at least - I just haven't had the time to stop and get it authorized. Obviously, they are going to ask you a lot of questions to verify you are who you say you are - plus you have to call on the home phone listed on the account. But after that? "Don't you want our protection service" and on and on and on. No, I don't. Thanks but no thanks. I finally had to interrupt the woman on the other end of the line and inform her that I JUST want to authorize the card, I don't have all day long to do this, thank you.
If nothing else came out of this meeting with management at work, one thing that is a plus did occur: the communication between my manager and I seems to have improved significantly, which, in turn, seems to have reduced a lot of the stress that was in the air. He had brought up that I don't communicate with him, I brought up that when I try to communicate with him, he gets irritated and visibly stressed about it. I'm riding this one out and see where it goes.
The 24th of September and the high today? Slated as high as 107. Unbelievable. There is no rain in any forecast I saw for the next 15 days. I am stuck continuing having to water all plants instead of Mother Nature taking up some of that slack. This summer has been the driest I can remember in any recent history. I have had the water bills to prove it, too.
This entry is waxing long.
G'day.
ben
I still have a goal of saving enough money by next Spring to buy another RV or Travel trailer and have it hauled up there for a semi-permanent situation. What would be even be nicer is to get a hold of one of those Park model trailers and have it placed up there. My mother has invited me to put whatever up there, I think she would just like to see more of her family and whatever that entails, so beit. Park model trailers aren't shabby looking trash, I'm just saying.
I probably won't go that route since those things are usually fairly pricey - at least for me - and I can hopefully find another good, older trailer that will fit the bill. Anyway, if I could save at the same rate I am now, or even up the savings as bit, include that savings with whatever tax return I will get hopefully early next year, that might do the trick.
It is pretty much evident that the trailer tenants aren't going anywhere, anytime soon and I am not going to even hint that they leave. As long as the relationship stays amiable and friendly - of which I see no reason that it would ever sour but you never know - they can stay as long as they need or want to. That thing could make for a nice rental unit whenever that time comes. It is lacking a sewer line running to it, a situation I have had thoughts of rectifying. I can get sewer pipe at work at cost. Actually, there is some sun burnt stuff that I could get for free. It's digging the trench that would really not be so much fun, at all.
So, if I get to it this winter - I would have to rent a Ditch Witch machine to do the trenching for me. I'm guessing a few hours or less and one of those machines would have it knocked out. I have no idea what it costs to rent one of those things for a day, plus I would have to have it delivered and picked up. The problem is, we're not talking a few feet of trench. We're talking about 110 feet of trench. That's only 6 sticks of pipe, which we have available actually, but digging that by hand? Gag. Not in THIS soil which is FULL of rocks!
Meanwhile, I can't decide whether to stay on this property or not. There are too many pro's AND con's to staying here. If I could find a way to bring the payment down another $200 per month, I would be comfortable staying here. But, for the rates that housing is going in this area, the payment I am making now - I am including taxes and insurance - is more than I want to pay and frankly, I could do away with at least 1 tenant if somehow I could get the mortgage company to doing something about this situation. Their standard reply when I ask is that I can do a short-sale and would you like to get the process going?
I haven't replied to that question as I am not ready to go there yet. 2 properties across the street from me are for sale. 1 is a ramshackle, old, single-wide mobile home that I want nothing to do with, the other is an old, double-wide that has more potential. I have no idea what they want for it, but it has a realtor's sign out front. There is no bank financing available for a mobile home that old, either the owner has to be willing to take payments or you have to come up with cash up-front. I know, sounds crazy, but I would far rather live in an old mobile home - as long as it isn't falling apart - than even think about moving into an apartment. I will stay HERE before I end up having to take that route.
I wouldn't mind looking into the double-wide to see if there is any financing available. Could rent that thing out to someone for around $650 per month. It does not have AC, though, it only has roof-mounted evaporative coolers.
Caleb - my son- was finally promoted to cashier position this week. He said they were increasing his pay to a whopping $8 per hour. I had thought they were going to give him more than that, at least $10, but I guess I thought wrong. They are giving him 42 hours this week, though. That's a full-time position if that is going to go on "permanently", I will be interested to see what kind of benefits they will give him. I still have him on my company's health insurance and won't be dropping him anytime soon. I have no idea under the new rules how long I can keep him on, allegedly until age 26 but who knows.
It seemed to take an act of Congress to authorize this new credit card this morning. I have had it for several days - at least - I just haven't had the time to stop and get it authorized. Obviously, they are going to ask you a lot of questions to verify you are who you say you are - plus you have to call on the home phone listed on the account. But after that? "Don't you want our protection service" and on and on and on. No, I don't. Thanks but no thanks. I finally had to interrupt the woman on the other end of the line and inform her that I JUST want to authorize the card, I don't have all day long to do this, thank you.
If nothing else came out of this meeting with management at work, one thing that is a plus did occur: the communication between my manager and I seems to have improved significantly, which, in turn, seems to have reduced a lot of the stress that was in the air. He had brought up that I don't communicate with him, I brought up that when I try to communicate with him, he gets irritated and visibly stressed about it. I'm riding this one out and see where it goes.
The 24th of September and the high today? Slated as high as 107. Unbelievable. There is no rain in any forecast I saw for the next 15 days. I am stuck continuing having to water all plants instead of Mother Nature taking up some of that slack. This summer has been the driest I can remember in any recent history. I have had the water bills to prove it, too.
This entry is waxing long.
G'day.
ben
Thursday, September 22, 2011
More
Got my first-ever $1,000 plus credit limit credit card. I found it odd that they would grant me such considering the economy and I am guessing a lot of people not being able to make their payments. Though, I had their pre-paid version of the card for 3-1/2 years and might have been 2 days late on a payment a couple of times. I always regret that - don't do it on purpose, it had an odd due date on the 22cd of the month and I simply forgot about it. Capital One also increased my credit limit as well as Fingerhut, though I am not using Fingerhut right now. I owe them less than $200 and I intend on paying it off before I consider buying anything else from them.
Fingerhut just sent me a letter stating that I am such a good customer, they are increasing my credit limit by $200. Thanks, but I won't be using it anytime soon. I am going to put something on the new $1,000 limit card, but only something I need and nothing over $200. Or less.
The problem tenant is acting as if nothing ever happened. I don't want to go into all of that here, but the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back was a 45 minute lecturing/questioning session of my son in my living room, after I had gone to bed the night in question. I am being completely neutral about this situation at this point. She has her eviction notice, if I have to take her to court, so beit.
Meanwhile, the man that paid for the room he isn't occupying has not contacted me. I will be emailing him sooner or later. I can do nothing with the room until his pre-paid time is over. I can advertise for it's rental, though, if I know he isn't going to be moving in. I'm giving it the 25th or 26th of this month to contact him if he doesn't show up or contact me before then.
The forecast calls for 100's for the next week. Almost the end of September and we are still paying the price? This horrid summer only solidifies my desire to NOT retire anywhere near this place. Actually, I viewed 3 forecasts on 3 separate sites with varying results. Amazing the sometimes substantial difference in forecasts for the same days.
The lady I knew as a teenager contacted me last night. We were talking about Facebook and her desire to delete her account. Why?, I asked. Cause', she replied, my tech son said it's not so safe. Oh. I commented seeing Google's answer to Facebook: their own version of it. The next thing I know, I am talking to a 15 year old boy on the phone. She wanted to "show him off", I guess, for his tech savvy at his young age. Uhhhh, okay. So I conversed with this kid for around 30 minutes before it was too late for me and I was ready to get off the phone and go to bed. Nothing against the kid, but I was sorta, kinda wondering whether I would be interested in a starting some kind of relationship with her and I can't do that if I'm talking to her kid instead of her. I understand completely, though. She neither said or even intoned this, but it was obvious: we gonna like each other, we gonna have to include the fact that each other's kids are part of any packages that might be delivered.
I like kids well enough, certainly intelligent characters that can hold a conversation is a plus. I"m in no hurry. We are attempting to figure out when our schedules will collide with each other's so that we can meet. She is insisting a doggy park near her house, I don't really care. I just won't take ALL of my dogs out there, I have had enough experience with that. We have talked on the phone quite a lot now, if nothing else, there is definitely a good feeling there and this is someone I actually used to hang out with as a teenager.
So put that all together: I am looking for a woman and several have contacted me from the past in the past 2 months. This is the only one that has any appeal to me, whatsoever. Well.........there is another one, but she doesn't live anywhere near here/me and I am not necessarily inclined to such.
Done.
Fingerhut just sent me a letter stating that I am such a good customer, they are increasing my credit limit by $200. Thanks, but I won't be using it anytime soon. I am going to put something on the new $1,000 limit card, but only something I need and nothing over $200. Or less.
The problem tenant is acting as if nothing ever happened. I don't want to go into all of that here, but the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back was a 45 minute lecturing/questioning session of my son in my living room, after I had gone to bed the night in question. I am being completely neutral about this situation at this point. She has her eviction notice, if I have to take her to court, so beit.
Meanwhile, the man that paid for the room he isn't occupying has not contacted me. I will be emailing him sooner or later. I can do nothing with the room until his pre-paid time is over. I can advertise for it's rental, though, if I know he isn't going to be moving in. I'm giving it the 25th or 26th of this month to contact him if he doesn't show up or contact me before then.
The forecast calls for 100's for the next week. Almost the end of September and we are still paying the price? This horrid summer only solidifies my desire to NOT retire anywhere near this place. Actually, I viewed 3 forecasts on 3 separate sites with varying results. Amazing the sometimes substantial difference in forecasts for the same days.
The lady I knew as a teenager contacted me last night. We were talking about Facebook and her desire to delete her account. Why?, I asked. Cause', she replied, my tech son said it's not so safe. Oh. I commented seeing Google's answer to Facebook: their own version of it. The next thing I know, I am talking to a 15 year old boy on the phone. She wanted to "show him off", I guess, for his tech savvy at his young age. Uhhhh, okay. So I conversed with this kid for around 30 minutes before it was too late for me and I was ready to get off the phone and go to bed. Nothing against the kid, but I was sorta, kinda wondering whether I would be interested in a starting some kind of relationship with her and I can't do that if I'm talking to her kid instead of her. I understand completely, though. She neither said or even intoned this, but it was obvious: we gonna like each other, we gonna have to include the fact that each other's kids are part of any packages that might be delivered.
I like kids well enough, certainly intelligent characters that can hold a conversation is a plus. I"m in no hurry. We are attempting to figure out when our schedules will collide with each other's so that we can meet. She is insisting a doggy park near her house, I don't really care. I just won't take ALL of my dogs out there, I have had enough experience with that. We have talked on the phone quite a lot now, if nothing else, there is definitely a good feeling there and this is someone I actually used to hang out with as a teenager.
So put that all together: I am looking for a woman and several have contacted me from the past in the past 2 months. This is the only one that has any appeal to me, whatsoever. Well.........there is another one, but she doesn't live anywhere near here/me and I am not necessarily inclined to such.
Done.
Thursday 9/22/2011
I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday, when I looked at my cellphone and found it is actually Thursday, well, that actually gave me a boost! 2 more days until the weekend: I'll take it.
I handed the eviction notice to the woman last night who immediately erupted into - what is apparently her usual way of dealing with things. I simply smiled at her and said: "I just handed you an eviction notice, that's it", and that WAS it.
I'm pretty much an opponent of the death penalty. I always have been. There might have been a bit of a time where I thought certain people it might be okay to do it with - Osama Bin Laden for one thing - but I pretty much came back to the staunch opponent of it. We are mere mortals, we do not have the power to give life, therefore, we should not give ourselves the power to take it. In other words, we aren't God. From what I have read, it costs more to try a person in court to try and get the death penalty than it does to simply put them in prison and throw away the key.
Is Troy Davis innocent or guilty? God knows. And last night, he went before the Lord, I am assuming and whatever happens then, already a done deal. This whole case, however, only puts this issue to the spotlight: what IF we are killing innocent people? We can gather all the techical, space-age, science driven evidence we can, but in the end? In at least some of these cases, we don't REALLY know what happened. The prosecutors act like they know what happened and perhaps they get a win, but does that equate into actual justice being served? For me, I think not. No-one really gets away with anything: someday we all have to go stand before Him and then, if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, repented and the whole process - you are going to find some REAL trouble, I am guessing if the Word is true and what it says in it is true.
Obama seems to be getting bad news from all over. If, by some chance, the economy rebounds before the November elections next year, then all these people who voted for him but are not questioning his ability to get ANYTHING done will undoubtedly vote for him and he will remain as president for another 4 years (a thing I would dread). If it doesn't, he might as well quit now and let some other democratic nominee make an attempt at it. I'm seriously doubtful that the economy is going to somehow magically rebound in the next year and all these homes sitting empty are going to be filled with happy families that are working and making good money. In fact, many experts in this area predict 5 years - at least - before it gets any better around here.
Anyway, I am thinking of travelling back up to mom's property on Saturday to fire off both guns. I have quite a large number of practice rounds enmassed at this point - I would like to get the feel of each gun and what to expect when shooting it off. I only got one round off the 40 cal. 2 weeks ago, the noise about sent me to the ground. This time, I will have ample ear protection - but only if I even think I can go up there. The problem is having a tenant that I am evicting still living under my roof. It can pose problems - serious problems - especially in considering leaving for a day. But, I have the trailer tenants to look after things, haven't made a final decision, may not make one until Saturday morning to be honest.
Anyway, time to head off to work.
G'day.
ben
I handed the eviction notice to the woman last night who immediately erupted into - what is apparently her usual way of dealing with things. I simply smiled at her and said: "I just handed you an eviction notice, that's it", and that WAS it.
I'm pretty much an opponent of the death penalty. I always have been. There might have been a bit of a time where I thought certain people it might be okay to do it with - Osama Bin Laden for one thing - but I pretty much came back to the staunch opponent of it. We are mere mortals, we do not have the power to give life, therefore, we should not give ourselves the power to take it. In other words, we aren't God. From what I have read, it costs more to try a person in court to try and get the death penalty than it does to simply put them in prison and throw away the key.
Is Troy Davis innocent or guilty? God knows. And last night, he went before the Lord, I am assuming and whatever happens then, already a done deal. This whole case, however, only puts this issue to the spotlight: what IF we are killing innocent people? We can gather all the techical, space-age, science driven evidence we can, but in the end? In at least some of these cases, we don't REALLY know what happened. The prosecutors act like they know what happened and perhaps they get a win, but does that equate into actual justice being served? For me, I think not. No-one really gets away with anything: someday we all have to go stand before Him and then, if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, repented and the whole process - you are going to find some REAL trouble, I am guessing if the Word is true and what it says in it is true.
Obama seems to be getting bad news from all over. If, by some chance, the economy rebounds before the November elections next year, then all these people who voted for him but are not questioning his ability to get ANYTHING done will undoubtedly vote for him and he will remain as president for another 4 years (a thing I would dread). If it doesn't, he might as well quit now and let some other democratic nominee make an attempt at it. I'm seriously doubtful that the economy is going to somehow magically rebound in the next year and all these homes sitting empty are going to be filled with happy families that are working and making good money. In fact, many experts in this area predict 5 years - at least - before it gets any better around here.
Anyway, I am thinking of travelling back up to mom's property on Saturday to fire off both guns. I have quite a large number of practice rounds enmassed at this point - I would like to get the feel of each gun and what to expect when shooting it off. I only got one round off the 40 cal. 2 weeks ago, the noise about sent me to the ground. This time, I will have ample ear protection - but only if I even think I can go up there. The problem is having a tenant that I am evicting still living under my roof. It can pose problems - serious problems - especially in considering leaving for a day. But, I have the trailer tenants to look after things, haven't made a final decision, may not make one until Saturday morning to be honest.
Anyway, time to head off to work.
G'day.
ben
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday 9/21/2011
So, this tenant comes to me yesterday asking me something. I just looked at her and asked her to not speak to me and also don't ever bother my son again. She is the kind of person that doesn't know when to shut up. I repeated myself four times before she finally got the message: do NOT bother my son, ever again. The gall of a person to take someone else's kid and sit them down in a motherly fashion and then start making the outrageous statements she was making.
Whatever. I found a good 10-day notice online and will be printing it up later today and yes, she will be getting it delivered right into her hand. She is not the type of person that can change - in other words, mind her own business, put a zip on the flapper and even attempt to act like a normal person. Not to mention the little tidbit about her only having enough money to be able to pay rent for 2 months. I wasn't informed of that little gem until after she moved in. The people that brought her over had paid for her first 2 weeks here and they made it appear they were going to continue to pay her way.
As for the other room, is rented out and paid for until the 1st. However, the man hasn't shown up. He said he was going to move in Monday. I, uhhh, have nothing I can do but wait. If he doesn't show up by Monday, start the rental process all over again. No notices or court action necessary for a person that has never moved into your house, lol.
The circus that is currently called the 112th Congress rages on. First, of course, is Obama's proposal that we spend another half a trillion dollars of money that we don't have to "create jobs". His modus operandi is to spew these proposals out and then run for cover, acting like he's just another person on the outside looking in. Then there's this possibility of another government shutdown. When we get rid of this President next November, perhaps the appearance of a carnival with clowns will go away and we will get a real leader in there. Until then, I don't expect anything to change.
Well, new schedule and changed morning routine, taking a bit of getting used to. Anyway, I'm off to work.
G'day.
ben
Whatever. I found a good 10-day notice online and will be printing it up later today and yes, she will be getting it delivered right into her hand. She is not the type of person that can change - in other words, mind her own business, put a zip on the flapper and even attempt to act like a normal person. Not to mention the little tidbit about her only having enough money to be able to pay rent for 2 months. I wasn't informed of that little gem until after she moved in. The people that brought her over had paid for her first 2 weeks here and they made it appear they were going to continue to pay her way.
As for the other room, is rented out and paid for until the 1st. However, the man hasn't shown up. He said he was going to move in Monday. I, uhhh, have nothing I can do but wait. If he doesn't show up by Monday, start the rental process all over again. No notices or court action necessary for a person that has never moved into your house, lol.
The circus that is currently called the 112th Congress rages on. First, of course, is Obama's proposal that we spend another half a trillion dollars of money that we don't have to "create jobs". His modus operandi is to spew these proposals out and then run for cover, acting like he's just another person on the outside looking in. Then there's this possibility of another government shutdown. When we get rid of this President next November, perhaps the appearance of a carnival with clowns will go away and we will get a real leader in there. Until then, I don't expect anything to change.
Well, new schedule and changed morning routine, taking a bit of getting used to. Anyway, I'm off to work.
G'day.
ben
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Tuesday 9/20/2011
After traipsing around all over the desert Southwest yesterday in the semi (stops in Casa Grande, Eloy and Coolidge), I got off, came home and wondered what kind of drama I might find waiting at my doorstep. Nothing - that woman I should say - waiting for me. Good. I went to the trailer and asked them if she had come and dumped on them.
Of course. Come to find out that this woman had taken my son into the living room (2 nights ago), sat him down and started asking questions about me. 45 minutes worth. This woman admitted doing this to my trailer tenants and my son informed her that everything that she had said to him he was going to tell me. She actually asked him to not tell me that she had asked all of those questions!
I have already told her she needs to leave, but I am going to have to write up a notice and leave it on her door. I will not tolerate this kind of person living in here, causing trouble, starting arguments and basically making life miserable for EVERYONE, not just me. I have to figure out what kind of notice I can get away with, preferably a 10-day notice, not a 30-day notice. I don't WANT her here another 30 days! I'm just not sure what qualifies under the 10-day notice. Ahh, well now I am fairly sure what qualifies under the 10 day notice and this definitely qualifies. Good.
I'm "waiting" for this week to be over and cooler temps to prevail. Not that it's terribly bad now - the high today will be around 104 to 106 depending on what forecast you read. One of them has tomorrow slated with a high of 107.
Well, whatever. I'm doing the adjustment thing of staying home and doing my online things instead of going to work early. Of course, I have shown up at work early to find contractors either waiting there or showing up shortly after I showed up to buy something..............
G'day.
ben
Of course. Come to find out that this woman had taken my son into the living room (2 nights ago), sat him down and started asking questions about me. 45 minutes worth. This woman admitted doing this to my trailer tenants and my son informed her that everything that she had said to him he was going to tell me. She actually asked him to not tell me that she had asked all of those questions!
I have already told her she needs to leave, but I am going to have to write up a notice and leave it on her door. I will not tolerate this kind of person living in here, causing trouble, starting arguments and basically making life miserable for EVERYONE, not just me. I have to figure out what kind of notice I can get away with, preferably a 10-day notice, not a 30-day notice. I don't WANT her here another 30 days! I'm just not sure what qualifies under the 10-day notice. Ahh, well now I am fairly sure what qualifies under the 10 day notice and this definitely qualifies. Good.
I'm "waiting" for this week to be over and cooler temps to prevail. Not that it's terribly bad now - the high today will be around 104 to 106 depending on what forecast you read. One of them has tomorrow slated with a high of 107.
Well, whatever. I'm doing the adjustment thing of staying home and doing my online things instead of going to work early. Of course, I have shown up at work early to find contractors either waiting there or showing up shortly after I showed up to buy something..............
G'day.
ben
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday 9/19/2011
Last night, the whole thing came to a head.
What am I talking about?
The woman that just moved in here a week or so ago.
She would not leave me alone yesterday.
I took her to church because she asked to go, but when we got home, it was this, that and the other thing, allllll day long.
"You are not a very sociable person, are you?", came out of her mouth at one point for unknown reasons. This person definitely does not know me.
"It's okay to like women". Also out of the blue and to me, a very cutting statement.
It was last night, I was trying to watch some airplane thing online on a video, when she came in and started in on me again. This time, I got up, turned toward her and very calmly but directly asked her to shut up. I informed that she is NOT making a good fit around here, that knocking on people's doors and inserting herself into their lives is unacceptable, on and on and on.
I am only human and I can only take so much. I had said to her a few times in preceding days that everyone around her likes to have their space. I was not attempting to be directly confrontational, I was hoping she would get the message. Yesterday, it was obvious that not only did she not get the message, but she seemed intent on making me mad. After I was done making my statement, she did not stop and the situation escalated. I just got up and walked off to my room, came back a few minutes later after she was gone, only to have her come in again, I got up and left again.
Whatever. I half expected her to be out here this morning, waiting to give me more trouble. I informed her last night as one of my final statements that I have the right to peaceable enjoyment of my property and that she was depriving me of that and if it comes down to it, yes, I will call the police. She huffed off to her room, made more biting statements but that was the end of it. I fully expect to have to deal with this all over again when I come home from work today.
If you eliminated all that junk out of yesterday, then, yesterday was a great day. Selling that trailer was very nice. The church service was awesome.
So, work hours have been changed. But only by half an hour. I have decided to do my pre-work rituals at home and just eat the extra added expense of the coffee. That was the only reason I was doing it the way I was - free coffee at work. Considering the price of coffee, not a bad perk. $10 for a can of that stuff!
So, today, I have to look forward to coming home to - who knows what. I will just simply deal with it however it needs to be dealt with. She undoubtedly has gone to the trailer tenants and puked out some story by now, if not, it will certainly happen today.
Temps this week still slated to be in the mid 100's - gag.
Umm, there's other stuff, but I am off to work. Not sure how long it will take to get there at a later point in the day when traffic might be heavier out there.
G'day.
ben
What am I talking about?
The woman that just moved in here a week or so ago.
She would not leave me alone yesterday.
I took her to church because she asked to go, but when we got home, it was this, that and the other thing, allllll day long.
"You are not a very sociable person, are you?", came out of her mouth at one point for unknown reasons. This person definitely does not know me.
"It's okay to like women". Also out of the blue and to me, a very cutting statement.
It was last night, I was trying to watch some airplane thing online on a video, when she came in and started in on me again. This time, I got up, turned toward her and very calmly but directly asked her to shut up. I informed that she is NOT making a good fit around here, that knocking on people's doors and inserting herself into their lives is unacceptable, on and on and on.
I am only human and I can only take so much. I had said to her a few times in preceding days that everyone around her likes to have their space. I was not attempting to be directly confrontational, I was hoping she would get the message. Yesterday, it was obvious that not only did she not get the message, but she seemed intent on making me mad. After I was done making my statement, she did not stop and the situation escalated. I just got up and walked off to my room, came back a few minutes later after she was gone, only to have her come in again, I got up and left again.
Whatever. I half expected her to be out here this morning, waiting to give me more trouble. I informed her last night as one of my final statements that I have the right to peaceable enjoyment of my property and that she was depriving me of that and if it comes down to it, yes, I will call the police. She huffed off to her room, made more biting statements but that was the end of it. I fully expect to have to deal with this all over again when I come home from work today.
If you eliminated all that junk out of yesterday, then, yesterday was a great day. Selling that trailer was very nice. The church service was awesome.
So, work hours have been changed. But only by half an hour. I have decided to do my pre-work rituals at home and just eat the extra added expense of the coffee. That was the only reason I was doing it the way I was - free coffee at work. Considering the price of coffee, not a bad perk. $10 for a can of that stuff!
So, today, I have to look forward to coming home to - who knows what. I will just simply deal with it however it needs to be dealt with. She undoubtedly has gone to the trailer tenants and puked out some story by now, if not, it will certainly happen today.
Temps this week still slated to be in the mid 100's - gag.
Umm, there's other stuff, but I am off to work. Not sure how long it will take to get there at a later point in the day when traffic might be heavier out there.
G'day.
ben
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday 9/18/2011
Last night, perusing Facebook and minding my own business, a popup comes up on my screen from a face book instant type of message.
It's Mary.
Mary? Mary who? I have a lot of FB friends for that game I play on there and I don't know the half of them.
"What, you don't remember me?". She had given absolutely NO context, whatsoever, for who she was, could have been a man on the moon as far as I was concerned.
Refresh my memory.
This girl is from my FAR distant past, exactly 3 decades ago, to be precise. We used to hang out with another friend and drive all over the place getting drunk and stoned on an almost daily basis.
She had gone into the same ministry I had gone into at the same time, leaving the "old life" behind for something new, different and FAR better. She left after only being there a short time because she had been called back to testify as a witness in some sort of trial.
I never heard from her again, until last night that is.
We got off of the Facebook venue and got on the phone - 2-1/2 hours of talking on the phone and catching up. She is in contact with other friends from that era that I also know and haven't talked to or even knew where they are since - the early 80's, basically.
She wants to meet today, but I am not sure I am going to have the time for it, what with selling the trailer and going to church. I don't really like going out on late Sunday afternoons, I would rather be at home winding the weekend down and getting mentally prepared for work Monday. So, we'll see about that.
I am taking the 59 year old, female tenant to church today. I would rather have not taken her, but I can't just tell a person no in going to church. She definitely could use the 'help', to say the least.
Anyway, must get offa here and get ready.
G'day.
ben
It's Mary.
Mary? Mary who? I have a lot of FB friends for that game I play on there and I don't know the half of them.
"What, you don't remember me?". She had given absolutely NO context, whatsoever, for who she was, could have been a man on the moon as far as I was concerned.
Refresh my memory.
This girl is from my FAR distant past, exactly 3 decades ago, to be precise. We used to hang out with another friend and drive all over the place getting drunk and stoned on an almost daily basis.
She had gone into the same ministry I had gone into at the same time, leaving the "old life" behind for something new, different and FAR better. She left after only being there a short time because she had been called back to testify as a witness in some sort of trial.
I never heard from her again, until last night that is.
We got off of the Facebook venue and got on the phone - 2-1/2 hours of talking on the phone and catching up. She is in contact with other friends from that era that I also know and haven't talked to or even knew where they are since - the early 80's, basically.
She wants to meet today, but I am not sure I am going to have the time for it, what with selling the trailer and going to church. I don't really like going out on late Sunday afternoons, I would rather be at home winding the weekend down and getting mentally prepared for work Monday. So, we'll see about that.
I am taking the 59 year old, female tenant to church today. I would rather have not taken her, but I can't just tell a person no in going to church. She definitely could use the 'help', to say the least.
Anyway, must get offa here and get ready.
G'day.
ben
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday 9/17/2011 - Fin & Bethany/Sky Harbor Airport
I have not had the opportunity to meet too many internet friends, having that opportunity arise today was something I was not going to miss.
I have not been in terminal 4 of Sky Harbor airport in a long, long, loooooong time. It was COMPLETELY different than the last time I was in there. The last time I was in there, it was a pretty sparse affair compared to what it is now and the floors were carpeted, not tiled as they also are now. I got there a bit early - the arrival was late, so I sat down and had a coffee at a bar, called my mother who is still up on her property and chatted with her a bit. I decided that I was going to spend some time doing some people-watching, so I mosied on over to the chairs that face the security area where they are irradiating people and groping their bodies.
I suppose by design, you can't just stand there and see all of that going on. The line curves off to the right and I guess if I had walked up to the entrance I might have been able to see more, but, I have also read about the overly excitable TSA personnel that think if you sneeze funny you are a suspicious person. I didn't go to the airport for trouble today, so I decided to just sit in the chair and watch.
What I found funny were the TSA agents themselves. None of them that I saw - which was at least 40 or 50 of them for the time I was sitting there - were anything I would consider a formidable person to reckon with. Not that a terrorist would want to do anything BUT try to sneak through, still, I just found it hard to believe that these people are taken very seriously. There must some REAL security around somewhere, I did see a couple of Phoenix Police officers not far from the checkpoint.
There were numerous other people around me in this chair situation and there were numerous languages being spoken, one of them I had no clue. Asian language of some sort. While sitting there, Garrett calls. He is the 21 year old that is renting one of my rooms. I hadn't seen him in about 5 days so - I wondered what kind of bombshell would land, such as: I am moving out or something similar. Instead, he stated that he had been staying at a friend's house, had lost all of his keys including his car keys and didn't know WHAT he was going to do, but that he would be home either later tonight or tomorrow. He was, in reality, very concerned about his rent payment, which he emphatically stated would be paid on Monday. I never spoke a word about rent and it hadn't crossed my mind, I was just wondering WHAT, exactly, had happened to him?
After that, 2 black dudes came RUNNING through the terminal at high velocity, full barrel. They bee-lined it for the employee line through security. Guessing they might have been a tad bit late for work. Numerous pilots also going through that line as well. Fin called to inform me the plane had just landed and guess it would be at least 20 minutes before they were actually off the plane and coming through. He was pretty much right on target with that guess. All kinds of harried looking people in a big hurry came through the outlet on the other side of the security checkpoint, I figured I would be looking for people in vacation mode and probably taking a slower pace, and I was not wrong about that, either.
Meeting Fin and Bethany in person was just grand. Marvelous people and a nice looking couple. Fin was hungry, Bethany was not, we ended up at Burger King. I don't get to eat hamburgers on my diet regimen, today I faulted on my diet and had a guacamole burger thing that was just plain delicious. There is nothing wrong with eating a nice burger at least once in a while! Well, I hadn't even sat down at the table and the cellphone rang.
A rather crazy couple - crazy in a good way - had come over to my house earlier to look at the old trailer. The lady was extremely interested in it, much more than the guy. She was using a tape measure and going over the entire thing and talking about the great possibilities of it - they want to move the thing to somewhere in Mexico and have it on a lot they apparently already own or rent down there. You know I don't really give much credence to anything Craigslist until the dollar bills are being placed into my hand. I informed them that I had had a couple of offers on it. The guy said, "Oh, just not high enough for you, I guess?". Well, no, not that, I replied, I was just waiting for the highest offer. I told them that I had told another lady yesterday that if I didn't get any higher offers in the next couple of days, she would get it.
Well, the call was that couple. "This is Diane, etc etc etc". Yes, Diane, how are you? Great, would you consider taking $650 for the trailer? I had it listed at $750 and figured to come down to $650. Sold!!!! were the first words out of my mouth, I want the thing off of my property and I want to take that money and apply it to paying down the other trailer. The caveat - they want to come tomorrow morning to get it. Well, I told her that I would have to find some place to get it notarized and she started talking about banks. Yes, well it's Saturday and though some banks are open on Saturday, they do not stay open that late.
I told her I would call her back. Finally get to sit down with Fin and Bethany, had a great, pleasant and entertaining conversation, replete with watching videos of their goofy, playful hound. That dog reminds me of Duke, my "Merle" Great Dane. As goofy as the day is long. Bethany showed me an electronic gadget she had acuired - I liken it to a mini-laptop though can't for the life of me remember what she called it. I would like to get one of those things, very nice little toy to have while stuck at a jobsite. It was a great visit and I would definitely have regretted missing the opportunity to meet up and shake hands. They are off to the Grand Canyon and other destinations.
Anyway, I left the airport. It is literally a 10 minute drive from my house to the airport or back again. When I say that, I mean 10 minutes from my driveway to a parking spot in the parking garage. So, that was an added plus, as after I left there I was now on a mission: get the title to the trailer notarized. Should have done that when I thought about selling the thing. Anyway, turns out that the UPS store 2 miles away from my house has a Notary Public working there, so I got it notarized for the grand total of $2. I was surprised by the price, I have not experienced much of anything cheap at stores like that in the past.
I came back home after the title affair and headed to the pond in my front yard. It was almost empty!!! I mean, there was 3 inches of water at the bottom of the pond!! You want to talk about shock and then into emergency mode!! What the bleep was going on here?!!! Well, whatever was going on, get water into the pond first and then find out what the problem is. Garden hose in, I immediately discovered the problem: the filter was clogged up to the point that it was causing the water being pumped into it to flow out the top, over the side, onto the tile it was sitting on and then - into the dirt instead of back into the pond. I JUST cleaned that filter a few days ago!! Well, it is a small pond - 130 gallons, didn't take long to fill it back up, the fish were fine and problem solved: clean the filter agents and I guess check them more often. I was just glad that there were no fish floating around, dead and they were all doing very well, that I could see.
As for tomorrow, well, those people said they were coming at 10:00 or 11:00 am after I called them back and told them the title is notarized and what time are you coming? Great. I am telling you that just about EVERY Sunday, SOMETHING comes along to try and cause me to NOT go to church. I informed them that I would be at church, but that the people that help me watch my property would be here and they would deal with it if I wasn't here. I wasn't about to tell them to come earlier or later, let them come when they want to - cash in hand of course - and it will be dealt with.
Sounds like a long day, but it was a pleasant one. My visit to the airport was interesting to say the least. Meeting Fin and Bethany just a very pleasant affair and I hope some day to maybe meet some other folks that I have known from blogging. You never know! As I already knew but certainly left with no less of a view than I did before going to the airport today: Fin and Bethany are fine, wonderful people, as good as it gets. Happy traveling! I'm guessing Bethany is going to be in awe of the Grand Canyon: pictures do not do that place justice. You cannot get out of a picture the depth and width and beauty of that place the same as if you are standing on the ledge, looking out over it. It is truly an awe-inspiring, natural phenomenon.
What's left today? Well, who knows, around this place anything can happen, but hopefully I can spend a quiet evening spending time in the Word, visiting with the trailer tenants and maybe a movie on TV. Yes, I am visiting the trailer tenants nowadays in the trailer since it is MUCH larger and has ample room to sit and visit.
Anyway, enough on this one.
G'day and G'nite.
ben
I have not been in terminal 4 of Sky Harbor airport in a long, long, loooooong time. It was COMPLETELY different than the last time I was in there. The last time I was in there, it was a pretty sparse affair compared to what it is now and the floors were carpeted, not tiled as they also are now. I got there a bit early - the arrival was late, so I sat down and had a coffee at a bar, called my mother who is still up on her property and chatted with her a bit. I decided that I was going to spend some time doing some people-watching, so I mosied on over to the chairs that face the security area where they are irradiating people and groping their bodies.
I suppose by design, you can't just stand there and see all of that going on. The line curves off to the right and I guess if I had walked up to the entrance I might have been able to see more, but, I have also read about the overly excitable TSA personnel that think if you sneeze funny you are a suspicious person. I didn't go to the airport for trouble today, so I decided to just sit in the chair and watch.
What I found funny were the TSA agents themselves. None of them that I saw - which was at least 40 or 50 of them for the time I was sitting there - were anything I would consider a formidable person to reckon with. Not that a terrorist would want to do anything BUT try to sneak through, still, I just found it hard to believe that these people are taken very seriously. There must some REAL security around somewhere, I did see a couple of Phoenix Police officers not far from the checkpoint.
There were numerous other people around me in this chair situation and there were numerous languages being spoken, one of them I had no clue. Asian language of some sort. While sitting there, Garrett calls. He is the 21 year old that is renting one of my rooms. I hadn't seen him in about 5 days so - I wondered what kind of bombshell would land, such as: I am moving out or something similar. Instead, he stated that he had been staying at a friend's house, had lost all of his keys including his car keys and didn't know WHAT he was going to do, but that he would be home either later tonight or tomorrow. He was, in reality, very concerned about his rent payment, which he emphatically stated would be paid on Monday. I never spoke a word about rent and it hadn't crossed my mind, I was just wondering WHAT, exactly, had happened to him?
After that, 2 black dudes came RUNNING through the terminal at high velocity, full barrel. They bee-lined it for the employee line through security. Guessing they might have been a tad bit late for work. Numerous pilots also going through that line as well. Fin called to inform me the plane had just landed and guess it would be at least 20 minutes before they were actually off the plane and coming through. He was pretty much right on target with that guess. All kinds of harried looking people in a big hurry came through the outlet on the other side of the security checkpoint, I figured I would be looking for people in vacation mode and probably taking a slower pace, and I was not wrong about that, either.
Meeting Fin and Bethany in person was just grand. Marvelous people and a nice looking couple. Fin was hungry, Bethany was not, we ended up at Burger King. I don't get to eat hamburgers on my diet regimen, today I faulted on my diet and had a guacamole burger thing that was just plain delicious. There is nothing wrong with eating a nice burger at least once in a while! Well, I hadn't even sat down at the table and the cellphone rang.
A rather crazy couple - crazy in a good way - had come over to my house earlier to look at the old trailer. The lady was extremely interested in it, much more than the guy. She was using a tape measure and going over the entire thing and talking about the great possibilities of it - they want to move the thing to somewhere in Mexico and have it on a lot they apparently already own or rent down there. You know I don't really give much credence to anything Craigslist until the dollar bills are being placed into my hand. I informed them that I had had a couple of offers on it. The guy said, "Oh, just not high enough for you, I guess?". Well, no, not that, I replied, I was just waiting for the highest offer. I told them that I had told another lady yesterday that if I didn't get any higher offers in the next couple of days, she would get it.
Well, the call was that couple. "This is Diane, etc etc etc". Yes, Diane, how are you? Great, would you consider taking $650 for the trailer? I had it listed at $750 and figured to come down to $650. Sold!!!! were the first words out of my mouth, I want the thing off of my property and I want to take that money and apply it to paying down the other trailer. The caveat - they want to come tomorrow morning to get it. Well, I told her that I would have to find some place to get it notarized and she started talking about banks. Yes, well it's Saturday and though some banks are open on Saturday, they do not stay open that late.
I told her I would call her back. Finally get to sit down with Fin and Bethany, had a great, pleasant and entertaining conversation, replete with watching videos of their goofy, playful hound. That dog reminds me of Duke, my "Merle" Great Dane. As goofy as the day is long. Bethany showed me an electronic gadget she had acuired - I liken it to a mini-laptop though can't for the life of me remember what she called it. I would like to get one of those things, very nice little toy to have while stuck at a jobsite. It was a great visit and I would definitely have regretted missing the opportunity to meet up and shake hands. They are off to the Grand Canyon and other destinations.
Anyway, I left the airport. It is literally a 10 minute drive from my house to the airport or back again. When I say that, I mean 10 minutes from my driveway to a parking spot in the parking garage. So, that was an added plus, as after I left there I was now on a mission: get the title to the trailer notarized. Should have done that when I thought about selling the thing. Anyway, turns out that the UPS store 2 miles away from my house has a Notary Public working there, so I got it notarized for the grand total of $2. I was surprised by the price, I have not experienced much of anything cheap at stores like that in the past.
I came back home after the title affair and headed to the pond in my front yard. It was almost empty!!! I mean, there was 3 inches of water at the bottom of the pond!! You want to talk about shock and then into emergency mode!! What the bleep was going on here?!!! Well, whatever was going on, get water into the pond first and then find out what the problem is. Garden hose in, I immediately discovered the problem: the filter was clogged up to the point that it was causing the water being pumped into it to flow out the top, over the side, onto the tile it was sitting on and then - into the dirt instead of back into the pond. I JUST cleaned that filter a few days ago!! Well, it is a small pond - 130 gallons, didn't take long to fill it back up, the fish were fine and problem solved: clean the filter agents and I guess check them more often. I was just glad that there were no fish floating around, dead and they were all doing very well, that I could see.
As for tomorrow, well, those people said they were coming at 10:00 or 11:00 am after I called them back and told them the title is notarized and what time are you coming? Great. I am telling you that just about EVERY Sunday, SOMETHING comes along to try and cause me to NOT go to church. I informed them that I would be at church, but that the people that help me watch my property would be here and they would deal with it if I wasn't here. I wasn't about to tell them to come earlier or later, let them come when they want to - cash in hand of course - and it will be dealt with.
Sounds like a long day, but it was a pleasant one. My visit to the airport was interesting to say the least. Meeting Fin and Bethany just a very pleasant affair and I hope some day to maybe meet some other folks that I have known from blogging. You never know! As I already knew but certainly left with no less of a view than I did before going to the airport today: Fin and Bethany are fine, wonderful people, as good as it gets. Happy traveling! I'm guessing Bethany is going to be in awe of the Grand Canyon: pictures do not do that place justice. You cannot get out of a picture the depth and width and beauty of that place the same as if you are standing on the ledge, looking out over it. It is truly an awe-inspiring, natural phenomenon.
What's left today? Well, who knows, around this place anything can happen, but hopefully I can spend a quiet evening spending time in the Word, visiting with the trailer tenants and maybe a movie on TV. Yes, I am visiting the trailer tenants nowadays in the trailer since it is MUCH larger and has ample room to sit and visit.
Anyway, enough on this one.
G'day and G'nite.
ben
Friday, September 16, 2011
New Tenant
The 3rd room is rented.
2 people showed up today, the first was a woman, with another woman and a small child. It was mother, daughter and grand-daughter. I was mildly interested. In other words, I want the room rented out, asap, I can put the money to good use - but is this worth it? Not that all of them were going to move in, just the mother of the mother. But I got that this probably wouldn't work out too well.
Shortly before this woman showed up, another person responded to my most current ad and said he was ready to come look at the place - right now. I informed him that another party was showing up, when they were gone, he was welcome to come take a look. He showed up, we talked at great length, I had no reservations about renting him the room, he paid up front.
2 people showed up today, the first was a woman, with another woman and a small child. It was mother, daughter and grand-daughter. I was mildly interested. In other words, I want the room rented out, asap, I can put the money to good use - but is this worth it? Not that all of them were going to move in, just the mother of the mother. But I got that this probably wouldn't work out too well.
Shortly before this woman showed up, another person responded to my most current ad and said he was ready to come look at the place - right now. I informed him that another party was showing up, when they were gone, he was welcome to come take a look. He showed up, we talked at great length, I had no reservations about renting him the room, he paid up front.
Friday 9/16/2011
Some stuff happened at work yesterday with this meeting.
I am not going to go into specifics about the situation that brought that meeting about.
But, on a side note, a few other things changed.
My start time has been bumped up a half hour later than my normal start time. This didn't really bother me, I can get up a bit later and that suits me fine.
However, I am contemplating whether I am going to continue to go into work early - the point of that was to drink the free coffee. The free coffee isn't going away, neither is there anything wrong with my drinking the free coffee. But for whatever reason, corporate is apparently paying more attention to things that are being done on their computers. I have permission to get on the computer before I clock in and start the work day, but I am feeling uneasy about writing my entries online on their computer so, I am considering switching back to my morning rituals at home - buy my own coffee and deal with the added expense - show up to work 10 minutes early and that will be that.
The new hours start Monday. So, if it escapes me over the weekend that I am starting new hours at work and show up at my normal time, well, no biggies, I'll just be there an hour early instead of half an hour early.
I did not write an entry this morning because of that and am pretty much leaning towards simply reverting back to doing all of it at home. No-one is awake at that time of day - when I am doing pre-work rituals, it is quiet in here and it is not a problem. I will only have to adjust to going to work later and possibly encountered heavier traffic.
Tomorrow is the 17th of September and also when Fin and Bethany are flying through. I will be there to meet them in person - it's been a long time coming. There are numerous people I have come to know through the internet that I have never met in person but would definitely love to meet up in person and have a chat.
I have yet another individual coming over to look at the room available in about 15/20 minutes. Never-ending story here. Replacing all 3 roommates in a short span of time proves to be a challenge. I think I had to do that once before. It's also a bit interesting in attempting to figure people out - there is so much unemployment and broke/near-homeless people around, you don't really know what you are getting yourself into in allowing people to come into your home.
Enough for now, I have a person coming to see the room. Should be here within the next few minutes or so.
ben
I am not going to go into specifics about the situation that brought that meeting about.
But, on a side note, a few other things changed.
My start time has been bumped up a half hour later than my normal start time. This didn't really bother me, I can get up a bit later and that suits me fine.
However, I am contemplating whether I am going to continue to go into work early - the point of that was to drink the free coffee. The free coffee isn't going away, neither is there anything wrong with my drinking the free coffee. But for whatever reason, corporate is apparently paying more attention to things that are being done on their computers. I have permission to get on the computer before I clock in and start the work day, but I am feeling uneasy about writing my entries online on their computer so, I am considering switching back to my morning rituals at home - buy my own coffee and deal with the added expense - show up to work 10 minutes early and that will be that.
The new hours start Monday. So, if it escapes me over the weekend that I am starting new hours at work and show up at my normal time, well, no biggies, I'll just be there an hour early instead of half an hour early.
I did not write an entry this morning because of that and am pretty much leaning towards simply reverting back to doing all of it at home. No-one is awake at that time of day - when I am doing pre-work rituals, it is quiet in here and it is not a problem. I will only have to adjust to going to work later and possibly encountered heavier traffic.
Tomorrow is the 17th of September and also when Fin and Bethany are flying through. I will be there to meet them in person - it's been a long time coming. There are numerous people I have come to know through the internet that I have never met in person but would definitely love to meet up in person and have a chat.
I have yet another individual coming over to look at the room available in about 15/20 minutes. Never-ending story here. Replacing all 3 roommates in a short span of time proves to be a challenge. I think I had to do that once before. It's also a bit interesting in attempting to figure people out - there is so much unemployment and broke/near-homeless people around, you don't really know what you are getting yourself into in allowing people to come into your home.
Enough for now, I have a person coming to see the room. Should be here within the next few minutes or so.
ben
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Thursday 9/15/2011
Thursday
Today will be interesting.
1:30 slated for this meeting.
I will hold out hope that it can be resolved today and not have to go any further.
At least I slept quite well last night which means I will be nice and awake at that time of day and ready to take on whatever may be unleashed against me.
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers. Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe. On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers. His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines. Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out. Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members. By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Corporal Meyer reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
Unbelievable. I read that and wonder how people can't beleive there is a God in Heaven. I am sure that day for that person was hell, but the mere fact that he survived all of that speaks volumes to me.
G'day.
ben
Today will be interesting.
1:30 slated for this meeting.
I will hold out hope that it can be resolved today and not have to go any further.
At least I slept quite well last night which means I will be nice and awake at that time of day and ready to take on whatever may be unleashed against me.
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers. Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe. On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers. His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines. Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out. Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members. By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Corporal Meyer reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
Unbelievable. I read that and wonder how people can't beleive there is a God in Heaven. I am sure that day for that person was hell, but the mere fact that he survived all of that speaks volumes to me.
G'day.
ben
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wednesday 9/14/2011
There was no time to write this morning, I had to get on the clock pretty much shortly after I got into work.
To answer Fin: monetarily and even scenarily, there are a number of other countries that come highly recommended for retiring in. Low cost of living; low cost of housing - low everything.
I do not, at least at this point, feel very inclined to forsake my homeland to go live somewhere else on the cheap and live nice on the cheap. That view may very well change, of course, but at this point, I am forever an American that wants to live in America. This is regarding retirement and the - idea I guess - that I am not going to have enough at that point in time when I want/need to retire. It's QUITE a ways off until retirement, but I can't not think of it now.
I am now attempting to rent the 3rd room. A complete tenant change in getting tenants for all 3 rooms. The newest is a wonder, that's for sure.
"Big" meeting tomorrow. I suspect I will be dictated to and told how things are. I will be the professional I am in the industry I am in, but I have my doubts this situation is going to end at the local level. It MIGHT, who knows. I will hope that a good answer to this situation will come forth, but again, I think it will be a dictatorial and monologue and that I will "have" to listen. Whatever. I am ready for what-may-come. This is concerning work and I have yet to go into any of it.
I had a 75% expectation that this would occur. What? I cancelled my prepaid Orchard Bank card, which I only got to help boost my score to get the house loan - something I wish I could have waited on at this point - and reapplied today. This time, for a much better card without the prepaid requirement. Not to my surprise, they approved me for a card that is 5 times the amount that I had available credit for on the prepaid card. I don't really want a lot of credit cards, I do want something showing that I am making payments on time and keep the attempt to build credit alive and kicking.
They are attempting to tell me - the forecasters that is - that 2 Saturdays from now, it will get to 107 degrees for a high temperature. I totally and summarily reject the idea that nearer the end of September, it will still be hot enough to call it a day in June or July. Therefore, I predict their prediction is off the wall and and it will be MUCH cooler than that.
I'm tired. More to say but no desire to go into it now.
Later.
ben
To answer Fin: monetarily and even scenarily, there are a number of other countries that come highly recommended for retiring in. Low cost of living; low cost of housing - low everything.
I do not, at least at this point, feel very inclined to forsake my homeland to go live somewhere else on the cheap and live nice on the cheap. That view may very well change, of course, but at this point, I am forever an American that wants to live in America. This is regarding retirement and the - idea I guess - that I am not going to have enough at that point in time when I want/need to retire. It's QUITE a ways off until retirement, but I can't not think of it now.
I am now attempting to rent the 3rd room. A complete tenant change in getting tenants for all 3 rooms. The newest is a wonder, that's for sure.
"Big" meeting tomorrow. I suspect I will be dictated to and told how things are. I will be the professional I am in the industry I am in, but I have my doubts this situation is going to end at the local level. It MIGHT, who knows. I will hope that a good answer to this situation will come forth, but again, I think it will be a dictatorial and monologue and that I will "have" to listen. Whatever. I am ready for what-may-come. This is concerning work and I have yet to go into any of it.
I had a 75% expectation that this would occur. What? I cancelled my prepaid Orchard Bank card, which I only got to help boost my score to get the house loan - something I wish I could have waited on at this point - and reapplied today. This time, for a much better card without the prepaid requirement. Not to my surprise, they approved me for a card that is 5 times the amount that I had available credit for on the prepaid card. I don't really want a lot of credit cards, I do want something showing that I am making payments on time and keep the attempt to build credit alive and kicking.
They are attempting to tell me - the forecasters that is - that 2 Saturdays from now, it will get to 107 degrees for a high temperature. I totally and summarily reject the idea that nearer the end of September, it will still be hot enough to call it a day in June or July. Therefore, I predict their prediction is off the wall and and it will be MUCH cooler than that.
I'm tired. More to say but no desire to go into it now.
Later.
ben
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday
Was unable to do anything on here this morning: had to get to work as soon as I got to work, which is usually around 5:30 am, maybe a bit earlier. Busy day at work today, very busy. Worked almost 10 hours non-stop. Tomorrow looks to be the same.
My dad informed me yesterday that I am no longer the executor of his estate and that he is giving everything to his current wife. Nothing against me, she has paid his way quite a lot even though he has money - she gets a military pension or something from her former husband. The caveat to that is if she dies first, then it goes to me. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about my parent's death. I have seen many others go through it and it looks to be an earthly form of hell, to say the least. When it happens, it happens and I expect to be a basket case for a while. Until then, just enjoy the fact that both my parents are alive, kicking and still moving about.
I think it's when they stop moving is when you start worrying. I think that's true of anyone at any age, but especially the older generation. They stop moving and it seems to me it's pretty much a downhill route after that - downhill to the grave.
My mother also informed me of her already written plans when she dies: A trust. There is no executor, I had thought she had left that to my oldest brother. Not. She left him power of attorney - that is, to end her life if she turns into a vegetable and she has expressed many times over that she does not want to exist in such a state. Pull the plugs and let it go. Easier said than done, I am sure.
She figures that if she left one of us as executor, there would be fighting and hate and this, that and the other thing. I actually wouldn't have cared if my oldest brother had been named executor of estate, it's my middle brother I would have a SERIOUS problem with. He already goes into hysteria when she gives something out of her collection to either me or my oldest brother, exclaiming that he should have received it. The fact of the matter is, I have not asked her for anything, she gives it of her own free will. The REAL fact of the matter is that he, my middle brother, has received some CHOICE things from our family's heritage and he has NOTHING to complain about.
HE is, undoubtedly, the basis of her concerns in this matter. So, she says from much experience dealing with other people's estates, she hopes we can all work it out together. It is really, to me, pretty much out in space to expect that we are all going to be able to work it out, but the caveat in this situation is this: a third goes to each of us. If we can't figure it out, "be prepared to shell out big bucks to take it to court". I've seen this as well. You can spend the money, if you have it and if you want to waste it, in the end, it would be easier and you would probably end up with a lot more if you just sat down at a table and negotiated it. But, my middle brother looks down on me as if I am a 2 year old. I don't expect that that day will go that well.
I got all of this news in the last 4 days, actually.
The only thing this has done for me is to light a fire under my feet: get to saving even more. I am at 5% taken out of my paychecks to 401k, that isn't going to change for now. I am only going that far with it because my company matches up to that point. I do not trust the stock market right now and I am only investing in some - hope - that in the end, it will not all disappear.
I started an automatic withdrawal out of my checking account into a savings account about 2 months ago. This funded by my recent merit-increase at work. I've decided I need to double it. I have had more hours at work on almost every paycheck for a month and a half now. I can do a secondary withdrawal at the same amount I already have withdrawing and if for some reason, it doesn't pan out, I can simply cancel it. Oh, well the extra money from the paychecks has actually gone to funding the under-payments and no-payments from now ex-tenants. The worst of the summer is over, the high electric usage will start to come down now. By the time winter arrives, I will be at least $250 per month less in electric usage and probably around $75 less in water usage.
I have 8 months of payments on the trailer. It will be reduced by 3 months when I sell the old one. I have had a couple of offers on it, but too lowball. I want at least $600 out of it and it will go straight to the people I owe the money to.
My mind is, of course, churning again. It's all about retirement. I guess I take in too much information sometimes about one, particular thing. I read about all the people that are retiring that are broke. They have not saved enough and are attempting to live off of Social Security. I can't even THINK about living off that low amount of money for my retirement years. It's simply out of the question. Not if I can do anything about it, and while I have my health, I am elevating the level of dedication towards it.
The issue is this: to have a place that is paid for when it is time to retire. This property? Not going to happen, but I don't want to retire here anyway. I am going to have to consider about how to get a property, up in the mountains, on payments, that I can afford. Preferably that has water and electricity or has the availability to get it.
I am sort of perplexed at this point. I can't rely on any kind of inheritance, this is what the experts tell you. Don't count on it, it may not happen. My retirement calculations have not included any inheritances. I have, however, done the calculations with SS benefits and without. The difference is substantial. Without SS benefits - of which I am paying a substantial amount of money into on a paycheck by paycheck basis.
I don't really want to go into this issue of whether it will be there when I need it - but it REALLY sucks to think that all of the money I have paid into that system might be totally in vain - and totally forced upon me. This isn't just a waste of my money, I consider it a THEFT of my money.
Not going there in this entry. Only focused on what I can do about my situation as it stands right now. Property, owned out and out, with some kind of livable structure on it. If I don't start focusing on this NOW - even if retirement is 20 years away - I am going to be SCREWED by the time that time gets here. Living under a bridge and asking for handouts. I do NOT live some sort of lavish lifestyle or a lifestyle beyond my means.
For this reason, the travel trailer I bought/am buying is probably going to stay on the property. I will get another one to take up to my mother's property. After that, my focus is going to be on finding and buying on payments a property somewhere that isn't just suitable for living, it's NICE for retiring on. The payments on some of the properties I have looked into are very low - this stuff is going cheap now with low or no down payment.
I'm not really - formulated - on this situation right now. This entered my head after my dad informed me of his intentions. I don't hold it against him, in fact, it really gave me reason to alter even more my plans.
That's it for now. I will considering and researching this issue starting now for some time to come. Hopefully within a year or so come to some kind of formulation of how to get to where I want to be. A second job is not out of the question - never has been - just not much available right now. Building a self-contained "casita" style room has floated around in my mind for some time. The place would be a kitchenette style thing with it's own, very-small bathroom with shower stall; a small kitchen and a living room that is also your bedroom.
I'm in full mode at this point. I have to come up with a clearly defined path of how to get to where I want to be in 20 years and that has proved to be difficult at best, it isn't getting any easier.
Enough.
I am going to bed early, these early-start work times and late end times get me good, though I can't say I don't like it, the paychecks are so much nicer : )
G'nite.
ben
My dad informed me yesterday that I am no longer the executor of his estate and that he is giving everything to his current wife. Nothing against me, she has paid his way quite a lot even though he has money - she gets a military pension or something from her former husband. The caveat to that is if she dies first, then it goes to me. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about my parent's death. I have seen many others go through it and it looks to be an earthly form of hell, to say the least. When it happens, it happens and I expect to be a basket case for a while. Until then, just enjoy the fact that both my parents are alive, kicking and still moving about.
I think it's when they stop moving is when you start worrying. I think that's true of anyone at any age, but especially the older generation. They stop moving and it seems to me it's pretty much a downhill route after that - downhill to the grave.
My mother also informed me of her already written plans when she dies: A trust. There is no executor, I had thought she had left that to my oldest brother. Not. She left him power of attorney - that is, to end her life if she turns into a vegetable and she has expressed many times over that she does not want to exist in such a state. Pull the plugs and let it go. Easier said than done, I am sure.
She figures that if she left one of us as executor, there would be fighting and hate and this, that and the other thing. I actually wouldn't have cared if my oldest brother had been named executor of estate, it's my middle brother I would have a SERIOUS problem with. He already goes into hysteria when she gives something out of her collection to either me or my oldest brother, exclaiming that he should have received it. The fact of the matter is, I have not asked her for anything, she gives it of her own free will. The REAL fact of the matter is that he, my middle brother, has received some CHOICE things from our family's heritage and he has NOTHING to complain about.
HE is, undoubtedly, the basis of her concerns in this matter. So, she says from much experience dealing with other people's estates, she hopes we can all work it out together. It is really, to me, pretty much out in space to expect that we are all going to be able to work it out, but the caveat in this situation is this: a third goes to each of us. If we can't figure it out, "be prepared to shell out big bucks to take it to court". I've seen this as well. You can spend the money, if you have it and if you want to waste it, in the end, it would be easier and you would probably end up with a lot more if you just sat down at a table and negotiated it. But, my middle brother looks down on me as if I am a 2 year old. I don't expect that that day will go that well.
I got all of this news in the last 4 days, actually.
The only thing this has done for me is to light a fire under my feet: get to saving even more. I am at 5% taken out of my paychecks to 401k, that isn't going to change for now. I am only going that far with it because my company matches up to that point. I do not trust the stock market right now and I am only investing in some - hope - that in the end, it will not all disappear.
I started an automatic withdrawal out of my checking account into a savings account about 2 months ago. This funded by my recent merit-increase at work. I've decided I need to double it. I have had more hours at work on almost every paycheck for a month and a half now. I can do a secondary withdrawal at the same amount I already have withdrawing and if for some reason, it doesn't pan out, I can simply cancel it. Oh, well the extra money from the paychecks has actually gone to funding the under-payments and no-payments from now ex-tenants. The worst of the summer is over, the high electric usage will start to come down now. By the time winter arrives, I will be at least $250 per month less in electric usage and probably around $75 less in water usage.
I have 8 months of payments on the trailer. It will be reduced by 3 months when I sell the old one. I have had a couple of offers on it, but too lowball. I want at least $600 out of it and it will go straight to the people I owe the money to.
My mind is, of course, churning again. It's all about retirement. I guess I take in too much information sometimes about one, particular thing. I read about all the people that are retiring that are broke. They have not saved enough and are attempting to live off of Social Security. I can't even THINK about living off that low amount of money for my retirement years. It's simply out of the question. Not if I can do anything about it, and while I have my health, I am elevating the level of dedication towards it.
The issue is this: to have a place that is paid for when it is time to retire. This property? Not going to happen, but I don't want to retire here anyway. I am going to have to consider about how to get a property, up in the mountains, on payments, that I can afford. Preferably that has water and electricity or has the availability to get it.
I am sort of perplexed at this point. I can't rely on any kind of inheritance, this is what the experts tell you. Don't count on it, it may not happen. My retirement calculations have not included any inheritances. I have, however, done the calculations with SS benefits and without. The difference is substantial. Without SS benefits - of which I am paying a substantial amount of money into on a paycheck by paycheck basis.
I don't really want to go into this issue of whether it will be there when I need it - but it REALLY sucks to think that all of the money I have paid into that system might be totally in vain - and totally forced upon me. This isn't just a waste of my money, I consider it a THEFT of my money.
Not going there in this entry. Only focused on what I can do about my situation as it stands right now. Property, owned out and out, with some kind of livable structure on it. If I don't start focusing on this NOW - even if retirement is 20 years away - I am going to be SCREWED by the time that time gets here. Living under a bridge and asking for handouts. I do NOT live some sort of lavish lifestyle or a lifestyle beyond my means.
For this reason, the travel trailer I bought/am buying is probably going to stay on the property. I will get another one to take up to my mother's property. After that, my focus is going to be on finding and buying on payments a property somewhere that isn't just suitable for living, it's NICE for retiring on. The payments on some of the properties I have looked into are very low - this stuff is going cheap now with low or no down payment.
I'm not really - formulated - on this situation right now. This entered my head after my dad informed me of his intentions. I don't hold it against him, in fact, it really gave me reason to alter even more my plans.
That's it for now. I will considering and researching this issue starting now for some time to come. Hopefully within a year or so come to some kind of formulation of how to get to where I want to be. A second job is not out of the question - never has been - just not much available right now. Building a self-contained "casita" style room has floated around in my mind for some time. The place would be a kitchenette style thing with it's own, very-small bathroom with shower stall; a small kitchen and a living room that is also your bedroom.
I'm in full mode at this point. I have to come up with a clearly defined path of how to get to where I want to be in 20 years and that has proved to be difficult at best, it isn't getting any easier.
Enough.
I am going to bed early, these early-start work times and late end times get me good, though I can't say I don't like it, the paychecks are so much nicer : )
G'nite.
ben
Monday, September 12, 2011
More
The "kid" tenant is gone. He called me today while I was at work asking if he could get away with a bit less than he owes. If I said no, I wanted all of it? I was afraid I would get nothing, so I just agreed to it. $39 less than what he owes is far less than what some other recent departures owe me. So, the debt is cancelled. Hey, he left a $10 jug of laundry detergent, I'll take that, too! Not that he either offered it or I asked.
The freshly-turned 21 year old resurfaced. He decided that for his 21st birthday, he was going to go to Las Vegas and drink. Not much gambling, apparently, I would guess some prostitution, but that's just a guess. The use of a prostitute, that is. Dunno, not my business, but lots of guys go up there just for that purpose.
Sold the MasterCool evaporative cooler just 10 minutes ago. I had it for sale on Craigslist and finally had someone show up, said wow, take it, didn't even try to talk me down in price. However, I was only asking $50 for it to get rid of it, I could have posted it at $100 and eventually got that out of it.
The trailer is getting bites on the ad, but no-one has come to look at it yet. However long it takes, I will keep running the ad until someone takes it.
Plenty more, just wanted to update my blog with the basics.
The freshly-turned 21 year old resurfaced. He decided that for his 21st birthday, he was going to go to Las Vegas and drink. Not much gambling, apparently, I would guess some prostitution, but that's just a guess. The use of a prostitute, that is. Dunno, not my business, but lots of guys go up there just for that purpose.
Sold the MasterCool evaporative cooler just 10 minutes ago. I had it for sale on Craigslist and finally had someone show up, said wow, take it, didn't even try to talk me down in price. However, I was only asking $50 for it to get rid of it, I could have posted it at $100 and eventually got that out of it.
The trailer is getting bites on the ad, but no-one has come to look at it yet. However long it takes, I will keep running the ad until someone takes it.
Plenty more, just wanted to update my blog with the basics.
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