So, the question is posed whether we want to ponder about and deliberate it or not: should the government start stepping in and attempt to start forcing upon we-the-people things that will, allegedly, reduce the amount of obesity in our nation?

I dunno.  If you believe the statistics, in the next 20 years there are going to be a LOT of obese people walking around this nation.  If people can't find it within themselves to get up and start exercising and put down the cokes, the fat and calorie laden dishes and the sugar-filled desserts, perhaps it's time to try something new.  The idea of a "fat tax" has been floated.  The idea of paying people to lose weight as well - which I think is a ridiculous and dumb idea, who is going to foot the tab?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

And it's allllll too easy to stop at a McDonald's; Burger King; Wendy's etc. to get a quick bite to eat if you are in a hurry and don't have time. I pretty much force myself to stay away from such establishments excepting McDonald's to get a nice cup of coffee on occasion. I love Big Macs which is all the better reason to stay away from that place.  I envision myself at 300 pounds and don't like that particular thought.  I am at 199 pounds right now.  Anytime I break the 200 barrier I go hog-wild crazy and do whatever to get the weight back down again.

Whatever.  There has to be some response to this situation.  It's only going to cost all of us even more money in health care coverage costs and all that is associated with being extremely overweight or obese.  I'm not sure that it's the government's job to step into such a theater and if not, then what?  Leave it go?  The fast food companies and the soft drink and energy drink companies are making far too much money to suddenly decide that they aren't going to sell the fat and sugar laden foods they are selling and go on the vegan road.  The only way that will ever happen is if America wakes up out of it's slumber.

Just an interesting topic, at least to me.

ben

I was in a good mood all day today at work.  In fact, I have been in a pretty darn nice state of mind since starting this mountain business.  But financial constraints will put a halt to the mountain activities unless, of course, I want to put the fuel portion of it on the Chevron gas card.  But I am not going up there this weekend, I have concluded to around 99% positive at this point.

Tenants definitely need to pay me this week.  Well, one has committed to paying it on Monday - an entire month's worth, that will help immensely.

This is the trouble this country is in.  An MSNBC host is "uncomfortable" with calling fallen soldiers heroes.  Asshole.  The guy's lucky someone doesn't deck him.  What an idiot, making such a stupid, calloused, unbelievable statement on a national forum such as the one he hosts.  How many more like this freak?  Is he uncomfortable also that the entire world isn't under a Hitler regime right now?  Does someone have to bring war to our land for these morons to understand what this world would be like right now if we hadn't taken it to them?  Yes, it pisses me off.  STUPID people.  It reminds me of the shit that went on with the Iranian crap that went on in the 70's and those that live here, in the US, going around saying how bad this country is.   Those people in Pittsburgh where I was a little boy at the time? I'll never forget.  They got their asses kicked upside and down.  They went around spouting off to the wrong folks and those folks that love our country didn't have a problem sending them to the ground and subsequently to the hospital.

A nation of pansies and wimps, that's what we are becoming.

But our nation's military? Oh, I have the highest respect for anyone that has served or anyone that is serving.    You signed on the dotted line and whether you went to war or not, you were fully cognizant that that possibility existed and that you might end up making the ultimate sacrifice. Regardless, you sacrificed your life for whatever time you were in.  You might have loved the entire experience, even better, but it's still a sacrifice.

I just read that junk and about blew a fuse.  Coming back down to Earth now.  I could find nothing on MSNBC about this guy's statement, which may or may not be there, if it is it's certainly not at the top of the list.  Or the middle of it.

Okay.

Local news. RARELY ever watch it, but it was on when I turned the TV on, which I don't do a lot of anyway - just feel like watching a movie.  So, here's this older gent in a neighborhood maybe 7 miles away from me lamenting about his neighbor who recently was forced out of his house and left a bunch of - cats - behind. Yup, he called the ejected person an animal hoarded.  Oh, how I can ever-so-loving identify with that.  Found fresh cat poop in my front yard - again.  Cat hoarders living on 2 properties behind me and another that is in cahoots with them living 2 properties over from me.

I have some things to get done before sundown, later.

I am getting precariously close to the "broke" stage.  Send out mortgage, car insurance payment and keep electricity running?  Fortunately, Friday is payday and tenant money will be coming in soon enough.
I will be considering upping the rent for Mark and Lynnette as well.  She is making money at this point and I gave them a reduced rate because of their situation.  But, if their situation is improving, I need more money out of that room.  2 people with all that entails living in that room would normally get me $150 more per month than what I am charging them.

Electricity, folks, it's all about the electric bills.  And water, for that matter. The heat forces me to have to water much more frequently or I can kiss many of my plants goodbye.

I am also awaiting the lien release for that trailer. As soon as I get it, I'm putting it up for sale.  Selling it would give me a cushion to bounce off of and not have to worry about any potential "disasters" that might arise.  It's that or another 401k loan, which I REALLY do not want to do.

Oops, it's time for work : )

G'day.

ben

Politics.  I have given it little attention in recent weeks because I am already sick of it - and the election is still quite a ways off.  I always love when the liberal media gives a Hollywood actor room in the news with whatever statement they are making about politics.  As if their opinion means a hill of beans.  The latest is Bruce Willis calling Romney "an embarrassment".  What about the Obama administration taking to task Romney on his company for buying out companies, as the ads claim and then loading them up with debt and taking whatever capital out of them.  I don't really care to be honest, I wouldn't vote for Obama if you paid me to, and that's a fact.  As far as I'm concerned, that guy is wrecking America and Lord only knows what kind of agenda he has en-queue if he gets re-elected.  He will not have a third term to worry about making people happy, I would guess his Socialist agenda - or perhaps the creation of his Kingdom more like it - will be rolled out in full furor soon after his re-election if that does, indeed, occur.

Which I hope it does not, but brace yourselves.

Anyway, I won't be going up north this coming weekend, I don't think so anyway, but I will have to make a trip up there the next weekend/Monday after that to take Caleb up to Heber. So I am half considering stopping by the trailer and get some stuff done on it, work on it for a few hours and then leave.  I was shown the water tank yesterday - mom had a huge tank installed up there after using a much smaller one for years.  That big tank is full at 1,200 gallons of water and the small tank is on a trailer which is used to bring water up whenever it is needed.  She won't do it, though, she really can't be hauling trailers around, it's enough that she's driving a vehicle without anything attached to it.

Oh, throw out there the only real reason I won't be going up there this weekend is the price of fuel.  if it was in the 2 dollar range, I could probably go up there whenever I wanted to.  But nearer the 4 dollar range, totally different story.  It isn't a long trip, about 230 miles round trip.  But, that's about 11 gallons of fuel or so, haven't really come up with a precise amount.  That puts a trip up there and back, in fuel alone, at around $45.  Not exactly cheap, though that is the only real cost incurred.  I would have to eat wherever I am at, so that's not a real added cost.  I suppose a little bit of electricity should be factored in.

Well, back to the workday grind.  Plenty to do this morning if I recall correctly in looking at it on Friday.  A good thing, I don't much care to start a new work week with nothing to do.

G'day.

ben

So, I'm driving home from up North.  I see off in the distance a pickup truck with a trailer on it. It has this giant - machine - you could call it a dune buggy Frankenstein style, the thing is huge.  I pass the vehicle by while in Payson, but I pull into a fuel stop to get a cup of coffee for the trip back.

I get out of there, get the dogs positioned - if I don't do that, Duke will take up the entire rear bench and force Prince to have to sit at a very uncomfortable position the entire way back (Sophie takes the passenger front seat and stands up the ENTIRE trip back, panting and looking at me funny) - and off we go.  I don't much care for driving anymore, so I tend to try to get trips done - quickly.  That pretty much means I am passing everything and not getting passed by anyone.  Or, if someone does happen to pass me, I let them get ahead about an 1/8th mile and then speed up to match their speed.  The reason for doing that should be obvious.

Well, no-one caught up to me today - I would rather follow someone else to be honest but I am not going to take my sweet old time getting home regardless.  So, a bit later, here's that pickup and that trailer with that thing on it.  I'm saying to myself, that looks like the thing my brother has when he goes off-road doing not just 4-wheeling, but rock-climbing with it.  And when I say rocks, I don't mean little things, I mean giant boulders that people have these machines they build that can crawl over them.  Well, we're going up a 7% grade and I am going WAY faster than that truck.  About the time I am maybe 100 feet behind it, I see a hand stick out the windows and fingers moving like they are walking.  I gave it no thought at first. But it continued with a waving motion thrown in.  It suddenly dawned on me that that IS my brother's machine and it IS my brother.

I look up just in time to see him sticking his head out the window with a HUGE smile on his face as I go blasting by him, I waved heartily and that was that.  I hardly EVER see him on a planned visit, what happenstance to actually find him out on the highway somewhere, not having any foreknowledge that he was out there.  I made the 115 mile (I think that's what it is) trip back in 1 hour and 45 minutes.  That may not sound like much, but remember there is 7 miles of that on a dirt road going 25 to 30 miles per hour plus going through Payson with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour.

Well I have quite the list of things I want to get done before going back up again.  I doubt I will be going next weekend, on the 11th I am driving Caleb up to Heber to the Salvation Army camp.  I probably will not stop by the trailer on the way up or back.  Or if I do, only to spend a few hours and try to fix a few things.  I am still attempting to decide when to take  maybe 3 days off.  I was going to do it when Caleb goes up to Heber - drop him off up there and just come back to the trailer - but I would have to have the dogs with me .  Further, I would have to waste an entire weekend with time that I could be up at the trailer - he won't want to go spending several days up there.  So, I am not planning an extended stay up there when I have to take him to Heber.  That's just going to be a day trip and without any dogs with us.

On a bit of a sour note, was the incident up there yesterday.  Mother is a black and white person.  You say you're going to do something, then  damnit, you better do it exactly as you say you are. Oh, she lives her life that way, this isn't a hypocritical thing on her part.  So, I got her a Dish Network receiver off of Craigslist.

Little did I know the hell that would ensue.  She spent a week on the phone trying to understand why, exactly, they would not activate that thing and get it going.  She got completely differing stories from people working at the same company, but it ended with them saying they would send someone - yes, I mean sending them up in the middle of the forest out in the middle of nowhere near the Mogollon Rim.  They would get it working and that was that.

Dude shows up yesterday - late.  Sun was going down type of late. He was sent from the Phoenix area.  He got in there and understood what was going on and then declared he could not activate it.  Mother blew a fuse.  Literally.  He started to explain to her why he couldn't do it - the unit belonged to someone else and they would have to call in and deactivate it - she didn't want to hear ANY of it.  She was VERY rude, unfortunately, to this guy and gave him a brush off the likes I haven't seen in years.  He walked off the property, cussing and I was standing there temporarily speechless.

Umm, I haven't seen my mother acting that bad - ever.  I have seen her get into it when I was a kid, but it wasn't anything to this degree.  The dude came back, on the phone and I was intent on playing deference. That guy cannot do anything that isn't authorized, that's all there is to it.  She was taking up the fight with the entirely wrong person.  But, in her eyes (and I totally understand this), that guy IS Dish Network and he was now feeding her the same line of BS that had been fed to her at the beginning of this ordeal and that was too much for her to deal with.

She told him off and went outside of her trailer and sat down on a lounge chair, threw up her hands and told her she didn't want to hear another word from him, either fix it or leave.  Wow!!!

I escorted the guy out of that area and away to a place where we could talk without her hearing.  I apologized, frankly, for her behavior but also stated I could understand her position, just that it wasn't really appropriate for her to be taking off after service personnel.  We talked for a while and shook hands and he left.

But here's where Dish Network totally sucks.  I didn't know this until yesterday.  If you buy a receiver from someone - like off of Craigslist such as I did - and they have an active account and do not deactivate that unit, Dish Network won't reactivate in someone else's name. But that isn't the worst part: if the prior owner of that is in arrears with Dish Network, Dish Network will NOT activate that receiver until YOU, the person that is NOT responsible for that bill, pays the bill in full!!

Now excuse my French, but that is a load of BULL****.  I have NEVER had that problem with Direct TV!!! They don't CARE where you got the receiver.  It's the CARD they care about.  The card makes the thing work or not.  No card, no access to the satellite.  Well, I don't like Dish Network anyway, just one more reason to really not like it.   The receiver I bought?  The customer is in good standing but HE has to call in and authorize the unit to be put in someone else's name.

Gag.  My mother had Direct TV and I still don't understand why she switched.

Whatever.  Here's another weird thing.  I had no idea that she had had a full septic system installed for a cabin or whatever she was going to have built or placed on the property - deal went south and I am not going to go into all of THAT. So, I am in her yard - it's a fenced-in area. There are sticks of sewer pipe sticking out of the ground with adapters and plugs on the top of it.  We SELL this stuff, I know what this is: sewer clean-outs.

WHAT is THIS for?  I ask her.  The full explanation about the cabin.  Oh, well why don't you have it connected to the trailer?!!!  She isn't even USING the thing.  She has to go to an outhouse to use the toilet.
Well, she says, I may get into getting that done this summer.

Okay.  Enough. You don't pay thousands of dollars to have a septic system installed and then, after a deal goes south, you don't use it with the application you already have.  That doesn't make any sense at all. It would take a 20 foot stick of sewer pipe and some fittings and adapters and that would be the end of her using an outhouse. I do hope mother isn't going senile on me, but from her actions yesterday and seeing that unused system in the ground, ummm, I dunno.  And let's just say here that the deal that went south - I'm not so sure about  her story at this point.  I wonder what actually happened.

But, I love my mom and I think maybe she needs help with these things.  She may not WANT the help, but I think I may insist and see what happens.

Well I'm home anyway.  The dogs? Crashed out.  Totally crashed out.  I mean, laying on the floor snoring crashed out.  These trips take it out of them.  I was informed that I can give them Benedryl for motion sickness- ie: the car trip.  But, I haven't researched that yet and I ain't giving them nothing to them, especially Duke, until I am sure that it's safe to do so.  I think Sophie would totally benefit from that as well. She just stands there, in the front seat, the entire trip, she won't - or can't - lay down. Crazy dogs.

This entry? Waxes long.

ben

5/28/2012 Monday - Memorial Day

I wonder if the newer generations coming up even know the meaning of Memorial Day or the great sacrifices that so many of our nation's military made in wars past in order to for us to keep the abounding freedoms that we still enjoy to this very day?

How easily do we give up those freedoms in the name of "security" and "what do you have to hide"?

Rhetorical questions.  The All-Knowing Government has their answers to those questions.

I am still up in the mountains, been here since Saturday morning.  So, quite a nice time away from polluted air and people in my face seemingly 24 hours a day.  I slept better last night than I can remember sleeping in the past year.  I didn't even want to get out of bed this morning, I could have slept another couple of hours.  Dogs, however, have their own schedule and to not meet that schedule within some reasonable time frame means...............a certain liquid or a certain mass left on your living room floor.

Fortunately, my mom has a  large fenced in area around her trailer so I just take the dogs over there and they can roam around for a while while I clean up house, make bed and all that sort of stuff without them in my face.  I do need one of those fences around here, but, money constraints right now will have that put off for some time to come.  Only if I can sell the other trailer, then I will spend the couple hundred it's going to cost to get a good fence up around this thing so I can just let the dogs out at will.

My Direct TV I could not get going yet again.  So, I am taking the whole mess back down to the valley and I am going to get it working down there.  If I bring it up here again and I still can't get it to work, foregone conclusion that I will have to have Direct TV come up here and install it for me. But I think my satellite dish was damaged and I think that's why I couldn't get it to work.  I have 3 more dishes to play with, lol.

There is no doubt that sitting up here and watching a good movie at night before bed is something I want to be able to do.

It is so ever-loving-nice to have a place to come to in such a beautiful setting and get away from people.  I don't hate my tenants, but I have very little privacy at my house.  That's just the way it is, I have gotten used to it over the last years of renting out rooms but..............and better, I haven't received a single phone call from any of them saying that "something" is afoul at the house.

It's almost 7:00am, I am going to be leaving within the hour.  It's been wonderful being up here, but I have plenty to do at the house and I pretty much take care of the plants.  I could ask Mark to help me out with it, but I would rather do it myself and make sure that all is well in plantdom.  I did ask him to feed my fish, but even if that were neglected a few days, the fish would easily survive that.

I may write more later, right now I am getting ready to leave.

ben

I alllllmost left this evening for the mountains.
But, I am too tired to drive that far today.  I woke up in the middle of the night and it took hours to get back to sleep.  Then, the alarm clock went off this morning and I was sleeping heavily.  I never really woke up, apparently, because I was yawning at work all day long.  My manager was as well.

I had to force myself to stop at Fry's and get the food needed for the next 2 days up there.  Not that much really.  I made spaghetti last night and there are plenty of leftovers.  A couple of steaks to share with mother and a couple of the diet style frozen dinners plus some lunch meat.  I have enough dog food up there in that trailer in a plastic container to last them for several trips up there, at least.

Anyway, came home and crashed out for an hour and a half.  Not really helpful to take a nap that long, but I couldn't wake myself up to get back out of bed.  Finally did, obviously or I wouldn't be sitting in my kitchen writing this entry, lol.  I'm ready to go, anyway.  Just have to pack the cooler in the morning, load up the dogs and away we go.  Oh, I had to spend a good hour out there watering plants as well.  Should be good for the 2 day lapse they will get in getting watered.

Strong wind blowing today and the temps have finally come down as the forecasters promised.  For once, they got it right.  Tomorrow's high is only going to be 87 degrees, and that's in Phoenix. Well, the low tomorrow night where my mom's property is is slated to be in the low 40's!! wow!!  I guess I better take a jacket and another blanket up there!

So yeah.  I'm being consumed by bills.  The culprit of the problem is the electric bill, which went way up much earlier in the year than I had expected.
I just sent out the last payment on the other trailer and will be expecting the lien release so I can put it up for sale and try to get my money back out of it.
I think I am going to need that money this summer, to be quite honest about it.
But, at the same time, the expenses I have incurred with the other trailer in fixing it and getting it up to the property are over. There are more things I want and need to do in it, but none of it is pricey stuff.  Well, some things might be pricey but they aren't on the priority list.  Replacing those gear handles that open and close those old-style windows is one thing.
But, I won't be doing that anytime soon.
So perhaps that will allow this situation to improve since the monthly payment for the trailer is now history after that check clears the bank.
Wow, time to leave for work already!
ben

Well it certainly wasn't any fun out there yesterday.  I believe it got to 109 degrees.  The truck AC is not working correctly and does not keep it cool in there. It only keeps it from getting boiling hot.  Well, whatever.  I didn't feel too well after getting home after being out in that all day long yesterday so I didn't really get much of anything done around here.

It takes awhile for me to adjust to the extreme heat, which, by chance, is going to go away starting tomorrow, allegedly and the temps are coming WAY back down.  I'll take it for what it's worth and run with it.

I am going to buy a new smoke detector for that trailer - it has an old one in there but I'm sure it's ready to be trashed and replaced.  Though, it is unplugged when I am not there so I guess not a lot to worry about.  I am glad I wrote myself some emails from up there about the things I need to fix/acquire for it, I would have forgotten the half of it.

Just chattering.  Looking forward to another trip up North and spend a couple of nights there away from all this big city chaos.

Time for work.

G'day.

ben

Absolutely beautiful morning.
The new pump is still going - meaning it's not all clogged up - but going at a bit slower pace.  I'll take it out when I get home from work and clean it.  It has some catching up to do and it may be days or even a week before it gets all the gunk out of the pond and be nice and clean again.

My Elephant Ear/Taro plants are making a comeback as well.  Huge windstorm threw everything into disarray. I tried to rearrange the plants back into some mode of what they once were, but only nature can totally fix it.

Well, just threw that out there. Nice morning, but it's going to get into the 105 range later on today, lol.

G'day.

ben

Exchanged Direct TV receivers with the guy in a parking lot - some 15 miles from here.  Not the end of the world excepting he had just gotten off work and wanted to meet "now".  He backed off a bit when I told him I was 20 minutes away and couldn't get there any quicker.  At least the guy was congenial when we finally met up.  I have no idea if this one is going to work or not and frankly, I am not going to try right now.  IN fact, I am not going to mess around with it until I get it up to mom's property as the card for it is up there, not down here.

I also received my new pond pump today.  That was some FAST shipping and this pump is far better than the one I had in the pond it is going into. That one bit the dust.  Lasted 2 years running 24 hours a day so I am not going to complain about it, but the intake housing design is flawed at best.  It gets clogged up too easily because of a very narrow housing. The one I got today has a very long and wide housing, takes much longer to clog this one up.

Now if I just had the energy to go out there and do all of that.  I can't just dump it into the pond and plug it in, the waterfall filter has to be cleaned now and that takes some effort, to say the least.

Lol, okay, I got the energy and got it done.  I have some very nice Koi in there and I don't want them getting sick from fouled up water : )

G'nite.

ben

Standing Down...........

I wrote earlier how my dad was being kicked out of his wife's house.
I emailed him via reply all to all that he had sent that email to and told him I would be happy to come down and help him move if he needed the help.
He has now replied to me saying that I must have missed his email saying that they are back together and that he is tending to his wife's every need.
No, I did not miss any emails, I never got that one.

But no big deal, reverting back to my original plans of spending next weekend, which is Memorial Day weekend, up at the property.  Nothing is ever set in stone in life, is it?

My Dad........

..........has been thrown out of their house by his wife!
I opened one of my email accounts a few minutes ago to find a reply to his original letter from one of my uncles.   I went searching for my dad's email and there it was.  His wife is sick and he says that she feels he isn't taking care of her.  She's a nice lady and things, but there is one thing that has remained true with all of the women that he has been with since mom and him divorced: they don't really like us, his sons.

I can understand that with my brothers shunning him, but I don't get it with me. I communicate with my dad regularly as well as my mom.

Anyway, this lady has told him to leave and apparently he is going to have to take all of his stuff out of there.  My dad is - 83 I think - and not in that great of a condition.  I read the email about how he has been "thrown out several times before", though I had never heard this from him about this situation, it isn't shocking.  The lady he is married to is still in love with her now-deceased husband and whenever I have been around her that's most of what I hear coming out of her mouth, not about how much she loves my dad.  I thought it odd to continue to hear that long after that man has passed.  She has also spoken very foul of my brothers - though really, they deserve it - still, I always got the feeling that same sentiment was coming towards me.  When I went down there for Thanksgiving a few years back and he grown, adult children were there, the sentiment coming from THEM was very strong as well.  It was a very uncomfortable situation and I really wanted to tell one particular individual who was deeply in love with the sound of his own voice what I thought about his sentiments towards my family, but I decided to keep my mouth shut since it was Thanksgiving and didn't want to ruin the holiday.

Whatever the case, I just wrote him an email and offered to go down there and assist him with moving if he wants the help.  Not that I want to spend Memorial Day Weekend moving dad, but, I will do it if he says he wants the help with it.

Welcome to Monday.  It's about 175 miles down to his place in Sierra Vista.  In reality, if he really wanted the help, I would just ask my manager for "emergency" time off.  In my mind, a situation like this with a man that is that old in the health that he is in is going to need the help right now, not this weekend.

Ummm, wow.  Okay, take one step at a time here.  Just going to wait to see what kind of response I get from him, if I don't get a response then I will call him this afternoon.

Whatever the case, life goes on and I must be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Pics

If you click on a pic, then it enlarges and all the other pics end up in thumbnails below it so you can just scroll through full-screen pics.

That's one view from my trailer door.

View to the right of the first shot, again from trailer door and then a view to the west underneath.

These are the stumps my oldest brother took me to shortly before he left.  He said he used to sit there and watch some awesome sunsets.

This is the view towards the west, from the stumps, that you will see the awesome sunsets.  I took these this morning, hence, no sunset. You can the dirt road below, it's the only road in and out of this community.  People frequently stop there during sunset to take pics and enjoy.

This is the exact same view towards the west, but zoomed in.  See the mountain? A HUGE swatch of the trees on that mountain are gone, fire consumed them a few years back.

From the stumps, looking back towards my trailer.

View of my trailer.  You can see one of the nice, chrome hubcaps is missing, fell off on the way up.

My mom's water tank.  It's pretty big, if you use it conservatively, yes, you probably can make it through a summer.  Trailer to the right, you can also haul the thing down to the local cement company and fill it up - with a garden hose, lol - for a small fee.

This is a view to slighty north and east.  It's the rim.  It's from the top of the property.

The trip would have been 117 miles one way, coming back, but I did 2 loops looking for that missing hubcap.  I did find it.  Some scratches on it but not dented or otherwise ruined.  I figured to find another cap like that?  Probably next to impossible so, worth the extended search for it.  Trip was 2 hours, but I could have made it in about and hour and forty or forty-five minutes without the hubcap search.

Dogs are plain worn out.  I took them on a good, long hike this morning and they are absolutely crashed out on the living room floor.  Yesterday, on the first hike, Prince got tired and decided to............sit down under a tree.  Yup, he just sat there, staring at me.  He was telling me he had had enough. Sorry, buddy, but we gotta hoof it back to camp.  He begrudgingly got up and made the rest of the trip back, lol.

I let Sophie off the leash this morning.  It was a gamble to say the least, but, it was at the property, not while on a walk.  She started to take off in a big, big hurry.  She didn't listen to me the first 2 times, the third time I quietly walked up near where she had stopped and called her name again. This time, she came trotting up.  Goooood doggy! I told her and then immediately put her back on the leash, lol.  We'll take this slow and eventually I won't have to worry about her running off.

My brother and his wife showed up yesterday to help out.  Though we were already done, he did have a few tidbits to offer.  He then informed me that mother undoubtedly had a large list of things she is going to want me to do.  Oh???  Listening to him talk, I gathered why he doesn't go up and visit her too often.  Apparently, she was asking him to do something every time he visited.  It also became evident why he eventually moved his trailer and then his motor home off the property and built a cabin down the road about 7 miles.  I think mother has learned from the experience, she isn't being as pushy as she used to be, but I also think it must be too late in the case of my brother.

I am not sure I could live up there year round.  I am used to being around people.  I love the quiet and the fresh air and beautiful scenery, yes, but, dunno about actually living there.

Anyway, good trip, glad the worst of this is over, still plenty to do to the trailer but it's all good.

ben

The World of Craigslist

I bought a Direct TV receiver from a guy a few weeks ago and when I tried to hook it up, well, it didn't work.
So I contacted the guy and told him about it and asked if he still had the other receiver he had for sale.  Yes, he does.  We went back and forth and he finally said to go ahead and throw the receiver I have in the trash and he will just give me the other one.

Fast forward.  Time constraints. I have not had time to meet up with this person and get the other receiver because I have been too busy working on the trailer.  So, I contacted him again this morning and he writes back and tells me: I have had 4 other offers on it but I have been saving it for you.  If you do not show up on Monday to get it, then I am going to sell it".

In other words, screw the fact that he sold a defective receiver, he's going to make his money regardless.  Which pretty much tells me when he gets this receiver back, if he indeed does honor his word, he is going to sell it.

I'm not sorry to say: whatta jackass.

Whatever.

Took the dogs for a long walk/run this morning in the woods.  I was able to let the Danes run free, but I cannot yet let Sophie run wild.  I did let her go, on the property, this morning to see what she would do.  She took off.  I followed after her, giving her firm voice commands to come back.  She did, indeed, finally listen.   So, just giving it more time and some day I will also be able to let her run without have the fear of her just running off and never seeing her again.

It felt good to get a good heart rate going and enjoy the cool, fresh air and hear the breeze whispering through the pines.  Lord willing, I will be coming up here next weekend and probably staying Saturday through Monday morning.  There are quite a number of things I need to do and fix next time I am up here, or at least get started on.  I forgot coffee cups.  I would like a wall clock.  This, that and the other thing. Some air fresheners will definitely help.

Well that's it.  Time to pack it up and head on out.

ben

So, I am just below the Mogollon Rim right now, on my mother's property, attempting to get situated.
I had totally forgotten about internet and such in the business of getting things set up, but here  it is.
3G network, yes, I expected that.  Does it work? Well, I just go on Blogger and pulled up this page to write an entry, so, so far, so good.

It's a good 3G connection, too, not a weak one.  3G works well enough for me, if it continues to work, I will be happy.

We had 2 mishaps coming up.  1st, one of the nice, chrome moon rims came off the trailer.  I know where it landed and it is possible I might be able to retrieve it on the way back.

But 2, one of the bedroom windows mounting latches on the bottom broke, sending the window flying straight up!  It was still attached to the trailer, but it was only a matter of time .  Well, we got it taped down and it worked fine the rest of the way up. The only other thing was to get this trailer into a rather tight hole.  That took some doing, but we got it in here.  It's absolutely beautiful up here.  I knew I wouldn't regret this.

Anyway, break time over, I have a lot to get done before dark.

ben

What is there left to say?
I will be leaving within the hour.
I hope to be able to make an entry from the property.
Nervous about that one!
We'll see.
A long time has passed since this situation first began.
A lot of time, energy and money dumped into it.
Hopefully, it will pay off.

G'day.

ben

Just spent several hours on the "final countdown" to tomorrow morning.
I have a couple of hours worth of stuff left to go.  I was REALLY freaking out when I was
told I would have to make a trip to the Intel plant at 2:00 this afternoon.  NOOOOO.
I pretty much talked my way out of it by calling the salesman on the account and asking him to please take this delivery, that I was calling in a favor - I have stayed WAY late on several occasions because of his customer.

He started out with how I am the delivery driver, this that and the other thing.  But, I remained calm and just slowly talked him into it.  I might just be getting off of work right now if I had had to make that run.  I told him I normally don't care if I have to stay late, not normally an issue, but just this once can you please cover this for me?  So, yes, I got out of it and got out of there.  Headed to several different stores.  First up was Petco, I wanted to get a tag for Sophie, the new doggy.  Put my cell phone number on it.  In case she gets away from me up there, at least have something on her that gives more than just the option to call the pound.  Yes, I am also putting on her license today.  Plus she has yet another ID tag that has the number of the rescue that I got her from.

No, I don't want her to run away, yes, I am facing a very real possibility that she will somehow manage to do just that.  I have 2 different collars on her and ID's on both collars at this point.  She's a sneaky doggy. She will run herself out and then try to find her way back.

PetSmart, however, wanted $9.50 for one of those things!! Unbelievable.  I just left.  I went to Walmart after that and found a machine in there that does it for $5.  More reasonable, more like it.  Then off to other parts of Walmart to get the rest of what I need.  Of course, I forgot something: ice.

Oh well, get it at the local convenience store later, right now, I need to go out and water everything, including filling up the fish ponds. One of the pumps failed yesterday, bad timing on that.  Just what I don't need, a $50 expense.  No choice, ordered one online, going to be several days before it gets here, like sometime next week.  The water? Going to get a bit foul, I think, by then.

I've still got the wiring party to do as well, going to get to that pretty quick here as well, while there is still daylight.

Lots to do, really, best get to it.

Later.

Final Day

Ugh.  I should have taken today off, now that I think about it.
I have a LOT to get done today and I am afraid I might get to all of it.
It really has a lot to do with how early - or - late - I get off of work.
If I get off at normal time, I can probably get to all of it and have it done by evening.
If I get off late, then I am going to have to pick and choose what is going to get done,
and what is not.
2 priorities, though: Get another electrical adapter and switch the wiring on the pigtail.

After that, it's anyone's guess.  The electrical adapter is at Camping World and the pigtail
will probably take anywhere from half an hour to an hour to get done.  The guy wants brake
lights on the trailer and I don't really blame him.  I will be following him, yes, but I understand
a bit of apprehension when brake lights don't work and also the potential for getting pulled
over and getting a ticket.

Ooops, one other huge priority: water the plants well.  Top off the ponds.  Ask Mark to keep an eye on that stuff.  Okay, I have to realllllly hope that that Intel situation and the contractor there isn't going to call us at 2:00 pm demanding materials to be sent out there.  If they do, that is going to be something that will take away hours that otherwise I could be using to get stuff done.

Well that's it.  There are other things on  my mind, but, this situation is sort of taking the stage in my life and will be that way until sometime late tomorrow morning (Lord willing and hopefully) that it's up there, parked, leveled and ready to use.  It will be interesting to see how well this guy can maneuver that trailer up on mom's property considering the space to maneuver it - is pretty tight.  There is only one place it can really go and that is in a stand of trees with just enough space to put that trailer in there.  I am very glad I did not opt to buy a much longer trailer, I was looking at a 35 footer and there was also a 40 footer that I had been looking at when I was looking to buy this thing.  I don't think either of them would make it in there, honestly.

Okay, it's time to leave for work.  Off to the races!

ben

Moving Trailers

It took a while to move those 2 trailers around.
It was hot.
Crank one up on the truck, move it out, crank it back down, crank the other one up - repeat repeat.
But it is done.  Filled up the fuel tank on his truck - a crew cab Ford pickup with 8 foot bed, big long thing with a diesel engine and we parted ways.  The wiring on the pigtail on my trailer is hooked up wrong, hence the reason brake lights weren't working.
Will have to do that tomorrow after work, along with several other things.  He is coming over at 5:30 am Saturday to hook up to the thing and haul it out of here, meaning I have to have everything complete by tomorrow night.  Which shouldn't be a problem - shouldn't, lol.

Time for bed.  Need some good sleep tonight for what's to come tomorrow.

G'nite.

ben