Well....my bacon wrapped chicken and jalapeno poppers turned out very nice, I dunno about the pary.  The man of the house was completely stone drunk by 8 pm and was throwing up 10 minutes ago - 9:40 pm.  In fact, there was no small amount of debauchery going on which finally got me headed back to my bedroom.  It's just that it was the last weekend they are going to be here.  The lady of the house was ignoring him - she is pregnant and not drinking at all I think they were disappointed that a large number of people who were going to come - didn't, including their best friends.  I mean, they're going to be gone  for quite a while, you'd think their friends would show up, especially with that kind of advanced notice.

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But, that's none of my business and last night is  now Sunday morning.  A HUGE mess in the kitchen, just got done cleaning all of that up. The lady of the house would have done it, but I just can't stand seeing piles of plates and pots and pans laying all over the counters and the sink, so I cleaned all of it up, which earned me free breakfast at IHOP so I'm not going to complain.  Not that I would have complained anyway.

This is going to be a busy day and busy week, at least until after Wednesday as they are preparing to move out - almost ready and they are leaving Tuesday night.  I have to move out of my bedroom and into the one across the house, but I can't do that until Wednesday morning.  Actually, I can move some stuff over there but it's the baby's room and even though the baby went home with Grandma yesterday, all of the baby's clothing and furntiure are in there, so I don't want to move anything in there until they are out of it.

It's going to be a lot of work that will need to be done in a short period of time, I wish I could hire someone to come over and help me, but this area is lax on the amount of help you can find with people who actually want to work.  Which just now prompted me to write an ad in Craigslist anyway and see if I get any replies.  I would really like to do a thorough cleaning of the entire house, but that would take more time than I have doing it alone.  The college students are flooding the town again, school must be starting soon, perhaps one of them needs to earn some extra cash, who knows.

After Wednesday things should settle down quite a bit, but adjustment to "new" life without my landlords/friends.  Said goodbye to the baby yesterday - he's 1 going on 2.  I hope these new people are what they appear to be - normal, quiet people.  They know each other which is fine I don't care about that.  It's a large house and plenty of breathing space for everyone to have their own space when wanted.  Everyone will have their own bathroom which is a huge plus.

One of them wants to pay the extra it's going to cost for all the movie channels.  More power to him, we all get to benefit from that but I'm not paying the extra, not even a portion of it.  I'm happy enough with what we've got already and frankly, I don't watch a lot of TV. I like watching movies and I'm a big fan of the Walking Dead - but the next season of it doesn't start for a couple of months.  Other than that, I can live with out it.  I'm more of an internet junkie than anything and I've been trying to taper back on that as well.  Well excepting Bible Gateway - it's got a bunch of versions of the bible and that is one internet activity that I can justify to myself if no-one else in using.  Facebook is starting to get old.  There's too many people full of anger and hate and using far too much foul language for my tastes.  I'm not quitting FB, I have just been cutting back my time on it.

My title for the trailer came in yesterday, meaning I can get that thing sold whenever my mom gets back up there, which she said would be this week.  Well I can try to sell it anyway, it's off the beaten trail and back in the woods quite a bit, not sure how far anyone is willing to go out of their way to buy something like that. But, there are a lot of people that have those things on their property up there, perhaps someone needs one in that area.  I'm giong to advertise in all local venues as well as Craigslist. up there as well as Craigslist in Phoenix.  My mom got a guy up there to fix 2 leaks that had developed in the roof and that guy said the thing is worth $2,500, list it for 3k and come down.  It's got a few minor problems but I really put alot of work into that thing incluidng new wall paper throughout and new carpet.  A good mattress and repairing the ac plus other stuff.  Just not going to give it away.

My LTC - concealed carry - still hasn't come through and fixing to call them again this week. It's been 2 months, I've been told it can take 3, but I'm still going to find out if they've even gotten to it yet.

I also applied for a passport yesterday. I was going to wait until I got my LTC, but forget that.  They said a passport takes at most 4 to 6 weeks but many people get them sooner than that.  I actually don't need it - yet - I just want it.  Bucket list stuff, you know?  If an opportunity comes up, I'll be prepared.  I really want to visit Europe, but more importantly to me, I really want to experience flying over the ocean!  I absolutely love flying, though it's a little much nowadays with crammed full airplanes.  But, I'm happy if I can get a window seat, which always happens.  Many people seem to want the aisle seat so they can get out of there faster? I dunno, but you don't get out faster, lol, you might get a few people ahead but that's it.  I'm not one of those first class flying people - the cost of flying first class is just too much for my wallet.  Still trying to decide whether to go to Hawaii in January.

I've been offered a Great Dane for free - but - one of these new people is bringing a dog so I'm going to see whether Addler and the new dog get along first. But, I'm concernend that the owner is simply going to have the dog in the house all the time, meaning Addler outside alone all day long.  Both of these people are on disability and  they don't work.  The disability check is substantial enough to be able to live off of though.  2 grand a month.  If you spend $500 on your living place you have $1,500 for everything else, which is more than enough, the dude doesn't have  a car payment, so yeah, I know I could make that work if I was forced into such a position.  Well back to the dog, I really don't want to get another dog, but there's no way I'm leaving my big boy out there for 10 plus hours a day alone, he'll go crazy and he may try to get out of the yard.

I'm also considering some options of building a stand-alone "apartment" so to speak.  I could build it with the money from the trailer and live here for free.  It would pay for itself in 5 months.  This is something they already wanted to do anyway so it's not like I"m doing something against their wishes.  But that would be a lot of work so that is just in the consideration department at the moment.
Final payment in the trial run of the mortgage modification coming this week and then I can not only rest easy in a greatly reduced mortgage payment every month, I also will get my credit back up afrter some time of on-time payments show up.  It starts the mortgage over to 30 years, but I have paid it down quite a bit from where it was at at first.  I'm not really concerned about owning that house, I just  want it to get me a good credit score.  I don't really think my landlords are going to stay there forever, no idea. If they leave, I have to sell the place.  So I'm hoping they'll stay at least a couple more years.  I was able to bring their rent down to $175 per month.  They are doing a wonderful job of running that place and they still like the arrangement.

Oh, and I finally had the pleasure of telling Directv goodbye!  After months and months of making phone calls to them to try and get a better deal and get  new equipment in there, I finally caved in.  My landlords agreed to the switch, I had a whole new Dish Network system installed in there under a 2 year contract.  It has a full house hopper that records from any tv in the house, up to 2,000 hours and all tv's can record at once.  I also have a 2 year price lock plus free HD for life.  Directv refused to offer me anything, even told me if I wanted to upgrade they would charge me more per month! They were so rude on the phone plus now you are automatically connected to call centers in the Philippines. The funny part?  When I said I wanted it shut off immediately, THEN they made all kinds of offers.  Helllllllllo? I have been calling since last year trying to get a better deal.  The dude said he wished he could have talked to me before we made the switch, he was offering $40 per month plus upgraded equipment.  I was already done with them at that point, though, the supervisor I had spoken with a few weeks previsouly had hung up on me and that was it.  I invited him to have management review all the calls I have made in the last 10 months and find out how their customers are being treated over the phone......

Now, the best part: the landlords say they love the new system and it's only missing one channel that they were watching.  I offered to upgrade to the next package but she said no, it's the Chiller channel, she hates it but he watches movies  on it sometimes, please don't upgrade!  Good enough, try to keep them happy and they will stay and continue to very nicely maintain my house.

On the job front, still putting in applications here and there at places that look like they might be a good fit for me.  I won't quit for just any job, but a good offer I won't turn down.  My coworker is allegedly putting in his 2 week notice sometime this coming week.  HD Supply is a big company and they have all the paperwork and junk to deal with in hiring a new-hire like all the rest of them.  His final required paperwork was turned in on Friday, now he's just waiting for confirmation of employment and he can issue his notice to current employer.  I would like to think that would help my situation there and it might temporarily, but they will just go out and hire someone to take his place.  The warehouse manager is hating life there now.  He thought it would get much better when the new manager comes in, but intead, the new manager literally gives him hell every day. He's at retirement age soon, it wouldn't be shocking to see him quit.  For 25 years of working there and being a big part of why contractors come in there, they are paying him less than $18 per hour.  I know this because he left his screen up - like he always does - and his paycheck was right there with earnings and everything on it.  I made this case to my coworker who is wishy washy about quitting: there is no future here.  Unless you somehow make it into outside sales, you are wasting your time here.  2 of the outside salesmen are getting up there in age, in their mid 60's, no idea how long they intend to stick around.  There may be opportunity there, even with the new manager.  But if and when are a totally different story.

My newest goal is going to remain in place until/unless something changes it.  That is, a mobile home park.  There's some property I am extremely interested in. Zoning available for MH park.  28 acres, plenty of land. Right on the outskirts of town.  Getting the land would only be part one, though. Hvae to pay someone to disign and draw up the plans for the city to consider and approve.  That's rather expensive from what I hear.  Then the cost of "building" the park, consisting of infrastructure, pads, and road.  Office would be a mobile home or modular structuree.  Have to factor in insurance and taxes. First year would be a write off though.  Lots of trees would have to come down - though it doesn't matter where they fall so I could do that myself, but you still have to get a stump grinder in there and tractor to operate it.

Well that's enough of that for  now.  I am going to have to spend some time educating myself on the business end of it if I am really going to follow through with it.

And with that, I am done with this one.

They are cleaning house today. Party tonight but also just getting ready to leave on Tuseday.  I have spent the morning attempting to find the correct information to fill in the passport.  It hasn't been easy.  The divorce  date is what I was haivng trouble finding and yes, the marriage date.  I went through the court documents that I could find and none of them had the marriage date.  It had the divorce date, which I also needed - 12/2/15. She got a marriage license a month and a half later and is now remarried.  Now can anyone tell me that there wasn't marital unfaithfulness going on when you divorced and less than 2 months later you are remarried?  However, he - Billy Lanier - is likely going to regret that decision for her lack of mental stability so there is that.

Anyway, I finally went through my bank account, found the Expedia deal I purchased to get the room for  the honeymoon, logged onto Expedia and found the date that way.  Yeah, a little brain work.

Anyway, off to the Post Office - they make appointments I found out the other day to do passport apps on Saturday, then over to Kroger's to get some party food, namely: the ingredients to make jalapeno poppers and cream cheese stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon.

And now that I'm looking,; i have to go!  I have to fill out the passport app once again - I goofed up twice now putting in wrong info, but now I have it all good.

Well I got her birthdate, I just need the marriage start and end dates - things I have completely put out of my mind for obvious reasons but should be able to find it easily enough here in my piles of paperwork.

I'm not actually looking forward to my landlord's departure. They are friends and we spend a lot of time talking and hanigng out.  I don't really have any  other friends like that out here.  I have a co worker that we sometimes hang out, but nothing like what goes on on a daily basis here. Hit it off pretty well with the the new tenants that will be moving in, though and they are homebodies, they don't appear to be people that go out doing much of anything, anywhere.  We'll see how that works out, soon enough.

Regardless, They're leaving in 6 days and the new people moving in in 7.  This is going to be a drastic change, to be honest, but nothing I haven't endured before. I don't care about tenants moving in, I just wonder what's to become of me here without any real friends to hang out with?  Church hasn't resulted in any of that and I am thinking of making a change. I love the pastor, he preaches the truth, it's good word.  But it's a huge church and unless you've lived here all your life, you have no chance unless you were imported from somewhere else to be on their staff, in which case, you are instantly everyone's friend.

Well, I've got a lot on my plate, but a church search here in town might find something I like, can deal with and - well it's gonna be a smaller church where you don't get lost.

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Co-worker found a new job - with HD Supply which is our largest competitior - and claims he is giving a 2 week notice on Monday.  We don't need 3 drivers.  We would be kept nicely busy without a 3rd driver, but almost guaranteed they will just go out and find someone else to take his place.  Considering how long it took them to find the last dude, though, maybe there will be a window of extended working hours.  But again, for me, it's so late in the year I think I want to wait until after the New Year - but that's not guaranteed if I get a good job offer from somewhere that would be foolish to turn down, I won't turn it down.  Anyway, my coworker will be making over $3 per hour more, it's a good move for him.

May have found someone to take the new doggy.  He needs to go.  He greeted me out front today.  He chewed through the rope to get free out of the back yard.  Next door neighbor's daughter told her she might want  the dog. Yes! Please come now! Free! UTD on shots! I've completely changed my mind now, if I get another dog, it will likely be a Great Dane. But, one of the new tenants moving in is bringing a mutt with him and perhaps they will get along. But, if he keeps it in all day long, that won't work.  Just going to figure this out as each step is taken.

BUT, I am on a plan now that gets the 30 pound bag of Large Breed Iams dog food for $18.95.  This was a find, it is $28 per bag at Sam's Club - when they have it.  It's a great price, it's medium quality food, it has meat as the first ingredient and importantly, Addler eats less of it to get full and that cuts down on costs and dog poop.  Chewy.com is where I got the deal and they still have it going.  Petco also had a similar deal.

Well, this weekend I'm going to spend some time getting  my room ready to vacate. After a discussion with the new tenants today, they are coming here earlier than I wanted on the 17th, but I warned them the room wouldn't be vacated early and it will likely be late morning or even afternoon before its ready to move in.  The other room, though will be ready to move in.  I just don't need pressure from anyone to do anything. They knew when it would be available from the get go.

So, I've been trying to rent these rooms out for a while.  Now I know from experience that it's a little hard to rent out rooms so far in advance, but still, this is really something that has to be done and over with before they - my landlords - leave.  Now that we're into August and they're leaving on the 16th, I have been ramping up the ads.  Took the price down to $485 in the master bedroom but kept the other room the same.  Have to cover the mortgage or this isn't going to work.  I'll be covering the utilities.  So I ran more ads yesterday and finally scored today.

Called the guy, started talking...and talking...and talking....best to get as much out as you can and find out as much as you can and give ample opportunity for any "slip-ups".  But, he was convinced, they drove an hour out here - 60 plus miles away - and they showed up.  Showed them the house, the rooms, the dogs, everything, they shook hands, gave me $480 to hold the rooms and away we go!  Woohoo! A load off my back.  Nice people, mature, older, this should work out well.  And here I was thinking of options to bring the rent down.

Now, I just got done checking out my new room - which is the baby's bedroom. It's a large room. Not as big as the one I'm in and no personal bathroom -but - the main bathroom will be my personal bathroom so no biggies there.  I don't need a huge room, enough for a dog bed, my bed and my personal stuff.  So, it's good. Make this work and move on with other things. Spending so much time with this that I have put off any job hunting.  The 2% raise was a slap in the face as far as I'm concerned, but that's what they did last year - though I was getting the 50 hours per week so that made up for it.

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Monday. Taking today and tomorrow off from work to get some stuff done in terms of bill  paying here and going to the town to switch the name over to me for the water.  I didn't need two days off, but I have 3 personal days besides all the rest of my paid days off and I wanted to use them before it gets too late in the year.  I'm going to ask for the 17th off as well, for that is the day after the home owners are gone and the new tenants move in and I need to get the rooms cleaned up nicely and more importantly, get all my stuff out of the current room and into my new room.

I just wanted some time off without using vacation hours.  I'm still looking for a new job, albeit only a few applications being put out here and there, regardless, I will get all that vacation pay in a check if/when I leave current company.  But to be honest, unless a really good offer comes along, it's getting late in the year and I want to make a trip back to Phoenix to visit mom.  I won't be able to do that if I get a new job and starting all over again on the vacation accrual.

Meanwhile, 3rd payment on the trial basis for the home loan modification coming up this month.  After that, the modification is permanent, the amount paid per month is almost $300 less and more importantly, my credit score will slowly go back up.  Takes at least a year I've been told. I  was checking my credit score. Some company in Phoenix dumped a $300 unpaid debt on there for a time that i wasn't even in Phoenix, I have to dispute that.  Other than that and the late pays on the mortgage my record is in good shape.  I'm really trying to get it back up so I can attempt to get a small business loan to start a mobile home park.  Some interesting online courses that cover all of this that I am reading through, though I wonder if I dont' need a bachelor's or an associate degree to make a loan like that more appealing to a lender.

I dunno, I just know I don't have the money to start one myself.  My plan is to acquire the land, permits, and install infrastructure and put on X amount of homes already ready to rent out, with extra spaces for RV parking and even more for those that want to move a home into the park.  This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time now, it's time to do whatever it takes to get it going.   I don't have enough in 401k to start it up, though there is enough in there to at least purchase land.  I'm going to devote some time to this endeavor until I figure out how to get it going.  I have to research other parks around here - which are few and far between and there is definitely a market opportunity for it.  There is also opportunity for certain chain business that isn't here yet.  It's a growing community and more and more businesses are being attracted here.

It isn't pie in the sky,  get rich quick. You have to start somewhere and grow  it as you have extra capital to invest.  Which means having a big enough property to do that expansion.  There isn't really that much property available in town, but there is plenty just outside of the main town and at low enough rates per acre.  A tax incentive would help, too, lol.
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Tuesday. The end of 4 days off.  Back to the grind tomorrow morning.  Which may not be so fun if the rain that just fell and flooded everything including taking down a tree in the back yard and a large branch in the front - stops everything at work as well.

We went through the grind of changing accounts over to my name.  Not that way I do it with my house in Phoenix - all accounts are in my name, I really do like to have control over that stuff because I see everything and how much everything costs.  Which, on another note, I got pretty mad when I saw the newest Direct TV bill.  They have been raising the monthly rate since last year.  This time it jumped from $117 to $134.  Unacceptable.  I have called them repeatedly trying to get some kind of deal, they refuse.

This is the by-product of ATT. They were bad before, but not this bad. Well, installation done, called Direct TV.  Channelled over to the Phillipinnes.  Woman insisted on all kinds of information, I simply asked for a manager.  Defiance.  Hung up on them this time, screw that.  Called again, trying to figure out how to get to disconnection like you used to be able to without going through all the hassle.  Ended back up in the Philippines.  This time, though, they switched me over.  Dude answers. Lengthy conversation. "Wish I could have talked to you before you switched".  I've called them a dozen times in the last 8 months, was met with not possible, not going to happen, not even a few free movie channels.

Sounded like the superviser that hung up on me is going to experience a problem at least.  All of their calls are recorded.

I was just looking at property for sale around here.  I have to get something in my mind to get a grasp on some kind of goal  Lots of it for sale, one in particular is 27 acres for $25K. Expected monthly payment with a 5k down payment is $140 per month.  This is much more attainable than I had originally thought.  Of course. Small town, ample amounts of land.  Much more intensive research is going to ensue. Property taxes, business permits and taxes, viability of property pasrameters for intended use, potential problems and costs to fix.  Yes, now that I have this basic information - a bit of a surprise at that - I am going to start doing the research.  What I do about it, can't even begin to say until I come to a total cost of acquiring land and what it's going to take to make a portion of it into a mobile home park.

I'm not going to have enough to retire even if I work another 12 years, there might end up being a few hundred thousand in there, but that's just not enough, not imo.

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Wednesday morning.  My 4 day weekend over.  I used to enjoy going to work, considering the hellish, toxic environment it is now, I do not. I like getting out on the road away from the place when there are longer distance deliveries, but other than that, being at the yard just plain sucks. But, I've endured this "manager" this long, I can probably make it through the Christmas season and on into January, be able to take some time off and then refire the search.

New dog still an issue.  Came home yesterday, he was standing out front.  However, their dog hovers over it and attacks it.  Guess that's a no brainer.  If I were a dog and another were doing that to me I wouldn't want to be in that back yard, either.  They're gone in 12 days, the dog going with them so there is that.  Now, whether the dog will stay in the yard when the other one leaves remains to be seen.  Of course, the new dog actually has to live through the experience. No idea where it goes, what kind of traffic it may be running out in front of, if it will get lost, etc.
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Heat wave continues.  Tried to get the truck loaded before it got too late in the morning, but that was a non-happening event.  Didn't get out of there until after 11am and it was hot.  Humid type of hot.  Anyway, I get a call from the house today - in Phoenix that is - the water heater is leaking.  Wonderful.  Another $300 plus down the drain.

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$447 later and the water heater was purchased - just a few minutes ago actually - now the part about installing it.  Mark says he can do it, I believe he can - but still.  Spent that kind of money and have someone mess it up.  It's an easy install, hopefully he'll get it right. Same exact heater, nothing differnet about the hookups.  Instances like this I wish I was there to do this myself.

I left the tunnel under the sidewalk projecgt go the entire week. Just no energy to even think about dealing with that.  I finally got what was stopping it, for I had the hole coming in from both sides: huge root in the way.  I had to cut the root on both sides of the tunnel with a hacksaw blade, sans the hacksaw itself and in the blind, couldn't see a thing I was doing.  Got that done though and walaah, the holes came together easily.  Now to dig about 28 feet of trench to get it behond the front yard, really should be easy because the trench doesn't need to be deep and it's 4 inch pipe, so a fairly small trench.

Get to that in a while.  Meanwhile, still posting ads for the rooms available after the landlords leave.  Lost of inquiries have occurred so far but.....everyone needing a room right then and there.  Hopefully that changes, but it's still only the 6th, I was just really testing the waters and seeing if there was someone that wanted a place to secure in advance. I may have to reduce the rate and then-have to figure something else out to make up the difference.  I'll remain optimistic until the time comes that the mortgage has to be paid and if there aren't any rooms rented.  Then what?  Reduce the rate, that's all you can do, make up the difference by renting all 3 rooms out and figure out something else to do with me for a room - which I already have 3 ideas, 2 of them easy enough, 1 of them would require turning the backyard carport into a room.  This is something they wanted to do already for a workshop anyway, but the money and time spent.

I could do it though.  2X4's, door, windows, plywood or particle board, plumbing, electrical, dryway, bathroom setup with mini kitchen.  Concrete cutting to install toilet and plumbing.  There's already a roof and it doesn't leak, there's one plus!  Lol but that's not my first option.  Anyway, that's just going to have to be dealt with if the time comes and that bridge needs to be crossed.

Our raises came in yesterday's paycheck. 2% cost of living.  The raise the two of asked for, non-existent.  No explanation, nothing.  There is no future in that place unless you can get to salesman status, but that's the good ole' boy's club, the people that have been there for 20 plus years.  That's just the way it is there, there is no changing it and that isn't even the worst of that situation, the new manager is the worst manager I have ever worked for.  He jokes around with the good ole' boys but gives looks and "sternness" with everyone else.

Well back to the grind I guess. Just happy I have Monday and Tuesday off.  The weekend won't see quite so short.

I got to work this morning and faced a huge amount of material to be pulled, palletized, checked, shrink wrapped, loaded onto the truck and strapped down.  Which is normal. What was not normal was the extreme heat, the humidity was very high and it was HOT out there.  After 3 solid hours of it, I was not feeling well at all.  A heat headache set in, bad one and I lost energy.

I paid for that the rest of the day.  I mean, fortunately I was driving the truck but I was out of it.  Stopped once to close my eyes and nap for 20 minutes back on the road, to a delivery, to another delivery and then a third.  But on the way back, no way.  I had to stop for 20 minutes yet again and close my eyes.  I felt better after that and then it was when I finally looked at the weather app.  Real feel: 112 degrees with a heat advisory.  This morning before I left the yard, a UPS driver came back a 2cd time, went into the air conditioned will call room, sat down, drank several glasses of cooled water and hang his head down.  This wasn't typical heat.

Anyway, it's well before my normal bedtime but I am definitely going to bed early.  I just need to run another CL ad for one of the rooms and call it quits for the day.

Disaster.  Got a new dog for Addler to have a companion after landlord's move out and - this dog can scale a 4 foot chain link fence as if it's non-existent.  Ad already place in Craigslist to find it a new home. It jumps the fence, comes up on the front porch and waits.  Albeit the fact no-one is home.  No, the owners of this dog didn't bother to mention that little fact and it never crossed my mind to ask.  Now, they had a 6 foot fence in their back yard and the dog wasn't trying to scale that.  I dunno, but I have no attachment to this dog at all, so I'm going to find it a new home where it can either run free on a large property or someone has a  6 foot fence or whatever.

Found a trucking company with local hauling that is hiring in my town.  Pay is allegedly 55 to 65k per year.  My compliments at current employment came from auditors.  I put on a stellar show for them while they were there.  I was given 100% and the other drivers failed the entire branch because of their derelection of duty, is what I would call it.  Failure to fill out required paperwork on a daily basis, failure to adhere to safety standards among other things.  Of course, that irritated the new manager, but he still had at least the wherewithal to tell the other drivers to "do whatever Ben is doing".  That's his form of a compliment.

The general manager is in town, but he's sitting in the new manager's office all day long.  No interest to talk to any of them.  So, I don't.

My coworker has found new employment, and is now backtracking.  Supposed he is offered equal pay from the GM here on a verifiable job offer.  I could only refer him to the man that runs a plant down in Alexandria who gave him some very good advice.  That got him thinking but who knows.  I am still looking.  The people that keep calling me, sending me emails and even sending me cards in the mail is Marten transport.  They look like a good company - but - OTR.

Anyway, gearing up for the move of the landlords.  Running ads for the rooms and getting responses.  One person allegedly coming over this weekend to take a look.

I got tired of waiting for my LTC and called the TXDPS and asked them what is going on?  Well, sir, your revised application came through came on June - 15th? - whatever it was, they're telling me a background check can take 2 months and expect another month before I hear anything.  WTH. What kind of background check are they doing?  Moving ahead with my plan to apply for a passport the next time I take off of work, which will be soon enough for I have to go in with the landlord and have the water changed over to my name.  They want everything in my name.  I didn't do that with my house. I still pay all the bills every month - I wanted that, I want to know what's costing what and I have that ability with paying the bills.

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New doggy of course wasn't here when I got home. I posted 2 ads for the dog with no responses.  The previous owners weren't getting any responses, either.  After being at the house for a while, the dog reappeared from who knows where.  Soaking wet, smelly.  Nope.  I just put the dog in the back yard and figured he would jump the fence again and that's too bad.  He's now allowed on the front porch and he found that out straight up today.

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Now I understand why the new doggy doesn't want to stay in the back yard.  Their dog is not a very nice dog - it can be a real pickle - and is attacking the new dog.  New dog's name is Remington, I'm calling him Remmie cause 3 syllable names for dogs is just too much.  I let him out this morning and the  other dog attacked him right away.  I went off after her, but I can't be out there 24 hours a day. At the same time, they are moving the middle of next month.

I placed 2 ads to get rid of the dog and haven't had a single hit.  But, that isn't surprising considering the original owner wasn't getting any hits, either.  Probably because they listed the dog for $200 - I gave them $50.  Yeah, I am not a fan of shelling out big  bucks for dogs.  Addller is an over $1,000 dog that I got for free.  Anyway, I'm going to keep bumping the facebook ad in a local sell group and maybe run another Craigslist ad.  The only other thing I can do is take him to the pound, where they would undoubtedly kill the dog.  So I'm not really interested in that option.

The "cousin reunion" in Australia has been cancelled, at least for our side of the family for an unbelievable blowup initiated by my midle brother who lit off on a group MMS message on the phone.  I'm not even going to go into it, but it was blatant, overly excessive, full of language, accusation and a lot of other adjectives.  I wouldn't even think about spending that kind of money to fly over there for - what? The same thing that happens at Christmas get togethers?  Amazing he can make it in life with that kind of anger issue.

I'm considering the Hawaii trip at the beginning of next year but that is up in the air for me right now with a horid job situation and still looking for a new, local job.  The new manager allgedly has stated that if I go in there and complain about the hours of the pot head who was reinstated - and this is a good ole boy's club going here, nothing less - he is going to change our hour again from 9 to 5.  We were at 7 to 5, I said something about him getting far more hours than me and he changed it in anger to 8 to 5 and now stating if I say anything else, it's going to be 9 to 5.

Anyway, Saturday - morning to be precise.  I was online last night looking at Petco's sale on Iam's large breed 30 pound bags of dog food.  Amazing price at $19.12 per bag. Even Sam's club charges $28 something for that same bag.  How convenient that during this sale, however, Petco is out of stock.  Not only could have I gotten the food at a greatly reduced price, I could have set up repeat delivery for $18 and change per bag, which for that kind of food is simply incredible. Iam's is a sort of in the middle dog food.  It has meat in the first 4 ingredients, with chicken as the main ingredient and it's what I can afford.  The cheaper foods either  meat somewhere beyond the first ingredient and usually by products and usually corn products as the first ingredient.  All I know is Addler doesn't have to eat that much of the Iams and he is very healthy looking. He does get treats, of course, but still.

I was a bit peeved at Petco having this "sale" and not having it in stock.  I called them because I have never seen them out of stock - excepting for this wonderful sale.  They guaranteed me they would sell me at the sale price when it is available. But this morning, I though, I wonder if another online pet supply company has it on sale too? Maybe it's an Iams promotion to it's sellers.  Sure enough, a site I have used before - Chewy.com - has it for the same exact price, free shipping over $49 and repeat delivery for the $18 price.  Yup, signed up for that one.  That's $10 per bag savings.

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Quite a lot done yesterday. Getting the front of this house in good shape to have some eye appeal when a potential room renter shows up.  Numerous projects.  When it rains, the house is on a downhill from the street and the water just pools up right in front of the porch, right on the concrete walkway up to the house.  You can't use it - it's several inches deep worth of water.  So I'm installing a drain and pipe to take the water away, and yes, it rains frequently enough here to make that a project that needs to get done. I also finished up - hopefully, I'll see next rain - the gutter.  Same situation, when it rains the water just pours off the roof right down where anyone wants to walk up onto the porch and also a lot of water added to the pool of water.  Now it's diverted to  the side of the house and away from that area.  Lowe's had fllowers on sale for a buck per pot, small plastic pot thing, and I got several of those to add curb appeal.

Today, if I feel like it of course, I will continue with the pipe/drainage project. The hardest part is the the only place to divert the water is to the south side of the house and  to get it there, the pipe has to go under the concrete sidewalk.  I think I almost have that dug out, hard to tell when you can't really see what you're doing but I'm pretty sure I'm almost there.

Cleaned up the front porch and still, even after I get done with the pipe, more projects to go. The porch cement needs a fresh coating of concrete paint and the wrought iron posts holding up the porch are beginning to rust so all of that needs sanded, primed and repainted.  But, I wanted to get the most glaring things done first.  Who wants to live in a house where the rain water precludes you from actually getting into the house without getting your shoes and feet soaked?

I'm starting to get some interest in the rooms available - or will be available - now that it is starting to get closer.  I was looking at Craigslist yesterday and was surprised how many room rentals are being posted.  I thought this was a smaller market.  My pricing, at least, it right there in line  with everyone else's, that is why I went there looking at ads and saw quite a large number of postings just for yesterday.  So, I need to up my posts to at least once per day as the time to rent it out gets closer.  Earlest move in date is the 20th of August.  The latest I need to; get both rooms occupied is the 1st of September.

Back to the dog - this post has been written over several days.  I just haven't been into writing as much right now for the vast amount of things on my mind, the biggest of which is a very toxic work envirnonment.  I meant, the new doggy, it's a Dane/lab mix, jet black, great personality and finding out, fast learner and very obedient.  I didn't think I could work with a dog that will just jump the fence at will, but a few revelations have halted my desire to find him a new home.  First, "their" dog, the homeowner's.  It is not a nice dog in many respects and attacks the new dog - his name is Remington.  I am calling him Remmie for now.  Remmie is no figher, he's pretty chill, laid back and docile.  He's got an interesting look, I'll have to take a pic and  post it...I haven't done that because I thought I was getting rid of him.

Second reason beyond the other dog attacking him, is that the dog is a fast learner.  First, he would come up to the front door after jumping the fence and wanting in.  I took care of that post-haste: NO, you are NOT allowed on the front porch.  The dog learned that one quickly.  The first time he did it, he was muddy and got on the porch furniture and made all of that muddy as well.  Then, starting Friday, I just took him to the back yard, dumped him over the fence (no harm done to the dog, but I wanted him to go back in the way he came out) and told him NO again, you STAY.  I did that 3 times and then Saturday, he didn't get out at all.  So, if I have even a glimmer of hope that I can train the dog to stay in the back yard, then I am good with it, I will keep him and hope that it works out.  He really is a very nice doggy.

Onto other things.  I originally had decided that I would wait until my LTC license came before applying for a passport, but I have subsequently changed my mind after learning that it will be at leaast another month.  I am going to get my passport photos taken and then, when I take off work to deal with having the utilites changed over to my name I am also going to go in and apply for passport.  Opportunities to do things that require a passport won't necessarily come  along until I have one.

My 3 month trial program for home loan modification is 2/3rds over.  One more month and it becomes permanent and then I can get my credit score headed back in the right direction.  I have different things floating around in my head, nothing I am going to go into here yet, but plans for the future. It would require a good credit score and some business knowledge as well.  Anyway, my monthly mortgage rate is being brought down by almost $300 per month - and the total payment including taxes and insurance  is very doable.  I'm saving money wherever I can.

Along those lines, once the owners are gone, I am going to buy a shed and get my stuff out of storage and save the $43 per month.  I've let it go on indefinitely and it's time to deal with it.  They have 2 sheds but they are stuff full of stuff.  We were talking yesterday after I had done quite a lot of work out front and the lady was like: umm, when we come back is our house going to be all changed? she laughed. I said well if it is, it's going to be a good change! I already have almost everything I need to install a Koi pond out front - a small one obviously no more than maybe 3 or 400 gallons.  The one I put in in the back has been a pain because it's in the line of fire - rain turns the water black after coming through the trees and the trees are always dropping leaves and junk into it.

There is a place right in front of the porch where a small pond would be a wonderful addition and would compliment the appearance of the house dramatically if I did it the way I envision it. I know it's not my house but the cost is not prohibitive and it's more muscle work and motivation than money.  I pretty much expect that wherever I'm living, whether I own it or not, I'm going to leave the place better than when I came.  This will definitely be true here.

The thing that is sorely missing around here is anyone that actually wants to do some physical labor for a fair wage.  One person told me he would charge me $100 to haul a rather small amount of dirt from around back to around front.  You can't really get kids to do that kind of work anymore, they are spoiled, addicted to video games and physical labor is not any part of their MO.  I paid 2 kids in this neighborhood more than I should have to clean up leaves last year and they didn't finish the job.  I was pissed - but - live and learn.  Even putting a Craigslist ad and offering $10 per hour doesn't do any good.  I just resolved to do the work myself and gain the health benefits as well from doing that kind of labor, though I feel I get enough physical labor at work already!

The world of politics - I'm pretty much sick of it.  The bantering, the lies, the propoganda, the endless polls. Been taking a break from it.  I know who I'm voting for and listening to this constant stream of people from all sides is burning me out.  In fact, I'm going to see the new Star Trek movie today, 3-1/2 hourrs from now actually.  That should be fun, I haven't been to a movie in a while.

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Finish this and post it. 4 or 5 days (at least) in the making. Yes, I went to see the Star Trek movie and yes, I thought it was awesome! So glad I went.  A nice diversion from this current state of so many issues going on.  And so glad I saw it on the big screen, just gives such a different view of a movie when you have it on a huge screen with surround sound, it's just cool.  It was also interesting to see so many young people getting into a Star Trek movie.  Perhaps Star Trek still has a future.  Too bad the real Spock - Leonard Nimoy - died earlier this year. Such a great actor.

Got home from that, mowed the back yard and then landlords came home (they're really my friends, but I call them landlords just for reference sake).  Gonna miss them. They are moving in less than 3 weeks.  Gag. They had these HUGE steaks and invited me to dinner.  Sure!  He smokes them - there are 3 grills out back including my propane grill.  The smoker is nice but the part where you get the fire going is rusting through.  The main part of it is still in nice condition. It's fixable.  Ate dinner with them and watched - whatever that new movie is based on Finding Nemo.  I'm done for the day.  Face another week at what I consider to be a hellish work place.

I was getting a bit annoyed yesterday with their cordless drill. It would last 5 minutes or less and then the battery would die. I was attempting to install gutters along the front porch of the house. When it rains here, it just floods the entire entrance area to the house.  This due to the massive amounts of water pouring off the roof of the house and the low area that is there with no drainage.  Diverting the water somewhere else is a start, installing pipe to drain the water out of there is the finish.

Unfortunately, I did not get the rest of the pipe I needed before managers switched at work.  Highly doubtful I am going to get anything free from now on.  I will test the man, though and see if I can get it at least company cost.  If not, I will ask the GM about it.

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Monday.  Upon arrival at work I'm informed a large amount of materials would have to be loaded onto the semi and transported to Corrigan, Texas, a pretty good drive considering they are having us coming in at 8 am and considering the amount of stuff that had to be loaded onto the truck, not to mention several pallets had to be shrink wrapped.  But I thought, well, I won't be stuck in the yard today, that's for  sure and a good deal for a Monday.

Sunday, I noticed a water leak in the bathroom and had to deal with a leaky toilet before going to the store to get a new cordless drill to install the gutters.  But by the time I had all of that done, it was late in the day, I got the gutters up but I did not finish the job.  Not to worry, if it were to rain the gutters are securely in place, just that the drain pipe on the drain hasn't been installed and caulking needs to be put on the joints that currently would leak like a sieve if it did rain. But, nothing different than what was there before - which was nothing at all.

Anyway, I heard about a job opening for chemical tanker truck driver in a small town not too terribly far away so I applied - or thought I did - for the position.  Turns out I applied for some other company that also has a yard in that town.  I'm not sure why but there are a lot of chemical operations going on over there.  So, anyway, a couple of more applications sent out.

Basically, there is quite a bit of work to be done to this place, in my mind anyway, to make it more presentable for room renting.  I put some ads out but this is way far in advance of a move-in date, still, you never know if someone is looking ahead to find a new place to live.  I am hoping that I will get some replies.  The last ad has a man that said he wanted to rent one of the rooms and though we conrresponded back and forth, he seems to have disappeared. The only way I will hold a room for someone is if they give a non-refundable deposit.

I'll definitely have to get Addler a play mate.  He's wayyy to social of a dog to spend 5 days a week outside alone for up to 12 hours a day. I''m not necessarily in a hurry to get that dog, though, because first I don't know what kind of dog I want and second, I would just rather wait until closer to the time they are moving.

Well, long day but want to take the dog for at least a short walk.

Soooo.......a few things today.
First, my iPhone 5s.  Started resetting itself yesterday.  Today, I was dealing with turning the thing back on all day long.
I got home and did all kinds of fixes as listed by various sites on the internet.  I was finally at trying to delete everything and start all over, but - it wouldn't let me.  It won't stay on long enough now to day anything.
I just spent $200 on this blooming thing to allegedly have a good phone for a while to come, now I am stuck with a worthless piece of garbage.  I may take it back to the dude at the store near here and see if he can fix it - but - I am not relying on that.
As much as I did not want to get into a payment plan on another phone, that's exactly what I did.

I'm too addicted to using it while at work and more distinctly, while driving countless miles.  I've gotten ample use out of the thing.  If the guy at the store can get it working, I'll sell it for whatever I can and be done with it.

I now have a brand new iPhone 6S with 64 gigs of memory coming to me.  I looked at the iPhone 6S plus, but after using a ruler, that thing is way too big.  Bigger is not always better, it was only a few dollars more per month for the Plus but I don't think it would work out too well for the way I use it. I really tried everything I could find to fix this thing.  I have to have a phone and I had people at work telling me 2 years and it's done.  Not that I necessarily believe without thought what they are saying, but they had their own experiences.  I was really hoping not to have to get another phone this soon.....

Work today.  Auditors showed up early.  I put on my best act.  Which isn't hard to do because I always try to do my best, but chocking the wheels, for example, is nothing I am interested in doing normally.  Semis have spring brakes.  If the air lets out in the parking brake, the spring brakes automatically engage, the truck isn't going anywhere and believe me, most trucks have some kind of air leak, mostly very minor but after sitting all night long without running, it will be down below the minimum level to keep the parking brake applied.  But, when parking overnight you release both valves anyway.  But I did that all day today.  I the first person they talked to.  I was actually called out to the truck, they always start with drivers.

They wanted to check the truck with it running, after I introduced myself and shook hands with all 3 of them, I ran back to the shop and got the key, fired it up and did their tests.  They had me turn on the lights and turn signals.  Then the dude got up in the truck. What are you looking for?  A certification that they want in the trucks - which we have in all of them.  Next - where do you keep the pin for the fuel card?  I explained that we all had our personal pin codes memorized.  We don't keep them written down anywhere.  Well where is the card? In the cubby hole.  He checked that.

Later, he wanted the fuel card to the pickup.  Okay, here we go.  He asked again with different verbiage about the pin code and where it was kept?  Well, sir, the pin codes we have are all assigned to us and one code works for all cards, we don't keep them written on paper.  He finally admitted that it was a trick question and that many drivers keep the pins written on paper and kept in the vehicle with the card.  I was asked other questions of which I gave ready answers without hesitation.  I then had to load the semi with a large amount of sewer pipe.  The main dude came out and asked if this was the paperwork for everything on the truck.  Uhh, no, the stuff up front is on paperwork in the will call.  Did you load this (pipe soap), I thought I saw it up there? No, I don't do that until the end.

He took a pic of the paperwork and left.  It was a bit later and I was doing my own pre-trip on the truck - I hadn't driven it in almost 2 weeks, the other dude/pothead had been driving it - and found a light burnt out on the trailer.  The auditors never said anything to me about it.  Of course not, they want to see if it's going to be dealt with before I leave.  Auditors or not, I don't drive tractor trailer rigs with burnt out lights/bulbs unless it happens while I'm driving it and then I fix it immediately.  Bringing it to the various levels of management that were there today for this, they said yes, fix it.  That put off my delivery for an hour as I had to drive the pickup to a truck place and get the sealed light fixture, but, I passed that as well.

I was being surveilled loading trucks.  Semi and then the F550.  I knew they would be though, so I didn't falter on the safety stuff.  The yard guy, however....I knew he would screw up before today began.  I almost suggested they just send his @$$ home for the day, he doesn't care.  Sure enough.  The warehouse manager and the ops manager both told him to use the tire chalks on any freight truck that came into the yard.  I got back from the first run and the warehouse dude was pissed. "I JUST GOT DONE TELL HIS STUPID ASS TO CHALK THE TIRES AND WHAT DID HE DO? WENT OUT THERE, UNLOADED THE TRUCK WITHOUT DOING IT AND THE AUDITORS CAME RUNNING OUT!!!" Ohhh, he was livid, but that wasn't near as bad as the new manager's reaction. He was pissed/hot.  I just stood there and said, he doesn't care, referring to the yard man, which is absolute truth.  He doesn't care what he breaks, runs over, destroys. He sits on his @$$ playing with his phone than anything. And no, I do not play on my phone while loading trucks.  I get my work done and then when there is a lull, I can hit the phone and read messages. It's pretty standard for me not to mess with it, though, while at the yard.

I don't know what will become of that.  After a very long day - I got 10-1/2 hours today despite the manager's dictation that we are reverted back to 8 hours only - my old manager, who is now an outside salesman - had nothing but accolades for me.  I certainly didn't expect that.  You've been scrutinized today, including your paperwork, they (the auditors) were happy with your performance. Great, I thought, where's my raise?  I didn't say that, but it was nice to get some kind of affirmation by anyone in that company and getting it from auditors whose sole job is to find fault, basically, that was pretty nice.  Which does nothing to stop my quest to find a new job but still.

I got home and found out they are getting "rid" of the German Shepherd. Still in puppy stage, but Addler is very fond of that dog.  I came out of my bedroom and out front to find a mother and her son standing there with the dog on a leash.  Well, gee, at least I was able to say goodbye to the dog.  She was really my dog, for all intents and purposes, I gave the dog attention pretty much every day. Now, when they leave, they are taking the other dog with them.

That means Addler stuck here all day long alone? That's just not going to happen.  I told them outright that I am going to have to get another dog.  I don't really want to, but I can't imagine a dog as social as Addler is without anything to interact with for that length of time for 5 days a week.  She, the landlady, blurted right out: Well why don't you get a female Great Dane and breed her and sell the puppies?  I really need to deal with that before they leave.  In fact, I think I'm going to go looking in the next few weeks.  I could get another Dane, but such a large dog. I guess I already have one, one more isn't much different than one alone in terms of finding a place to live if it came to that, which is my only concern.  I'm kinda worried about renting the rooms for the amount of money I need to get out of them for them to be able to pay the mortgage.

That's it.

I tend to not post much when there is nothing going on.  I could post about political stuff - all day every day - but I do enough of that in political groups and debating.  It may sound like a waste of time to debate politcs with people that see things differently, but for me it is a learning experience.  You learn about anarchists, minarchist, neo-cons, democratic socialism, on and on and on.  Well you don't actually learn about it from those people debating you, you are forced to look up everything they are saying because much of what they purport is pure and utter fallacy.

I have therefore done extensive research on quite a large number of issues.  I'm not claiming to be an expert, I am claiming to be an informed citizen. The situation in Dallas has been argued to the nth degree from all sides focusing on every conceivable angle.

Anyway, I have heard nothing back from a few companies that I have applied with.  The new manager is simply a total jerk.  There really is no "nice" way to put it.  He's an @$$ and everyone that is subjected to this junk on a daily basis agrees with that.  I got back from an extended run today and it was time to go home.  He's walking through the yard talking on the phone and yells at me for my attention: Don't go home yet.  You can't leave.  Don't leave, don't leave.  WTH. He's not asking me, he's dictating to me. This is my problem with this freak.  He has no social skills, no social utterances, no requests, just demands, continually, like some sort of dictator.

I am likely going to defy him the next time he takes such a ridiculous, outrageous stance about demanding things.  You would think I had stood him up.  In his mind, probably, I have.

As far as current events.  The man's mother and grandma were here this weekend.  They're visiting as much as they can before my landlords move.  It won't be possible for them to drive that far on a weekend visit as they can now once the landlords move to Georgia.

I am intermittently sending out applications as I find places that might be a good fit.

I am working on getting the trailer sold at my mom's property in AZ.  Quite the ordeal that I don't have time to go into ... and lots of other stuff, actually, but my time is up.

Spent much of yesterday just enjoying the holiday.  Cooked 2 racks of ribs on my new grill, my landlords had some friends over that I now know so we sat around and talked for several hours after eating until it got to dusk. We then proceeded to set off a large amount of various types of fireworks.  That was my day yesterday, I didn't really do much of anything else, I didn't feel like it.  Going to work this morning was a chore, anything over the normal 2 day weekend makes it harder incrementally to go back to work, especially in the toxic environment I am now working in.

My coworker driver said he is considering driving a garbage truck, that they actually make decent money and have great benefits. Yeah, I replied, but you have to sit there and smell that smell, allllll day long.  I guess after a while you might get used to it, but it would take me some time to get used to that kind of smell.  He wants out of there, is his point and he doesn't care what he takes as long as the pay is decent.  He also wants to move over here to the town I am in or another, larger town 25 miles to the west of me. I agree, I am not a fan of Louisiana.  I filled out a couple of applications this weekend, just going to keep submitting them. Sooner or later something is going to break.

On that front, my coworker told me he walked into the office building on Friday and overheard a conversation:  "He's just bulls*******, he isn't going to leave".  The new manager and the warehouse dude were having a discussion that I doubt they wanted anyone else to hear.  They talk a lot of crap behind people's backs, not just me.  I shrug it off, I don't really care what they think. They have no idea what my plan is because I haven't told them and have  no inclination or reason to.  If/when I find a good enough, local job, I'm going to take it.  Would it even be prudent for me to tell them that? No.  I might just get an invitation to leave, considering the new manager's rant last week.

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That was 4 days ago.  It wasn't a particularly wonderful week at work.  But, just for context, it definitely isn't just me.  An inside salesman approached me on Wednesday - I was sent out on a late run and got back long after everyone was gone - excepting him.  The discussion went immediately to the new manager.  This guy had not finished receiving everything from the day before and that morning, the new manager reamed him a new one.  He said the manager used the F bomb at least 20 times.  I'll tell you right now, that new manager konws a helluva lot better than to use that kind of language with me.  I'll call his boss right there, in the room and if that doesn't do anything I'll call corporate, yes, right there, while it's happening.

What's the problem? Well, the other inside salesman is on extended leave because of surgery and so all of his duties have been dumped onto this other inside salesman plus his normal, daily duties. But, this new manager is an idiot.  I can't say much else about him besides other, foul adjectives that I won't go into here.  He's too stupid to understand that one man can't reasonably be expected to take on the duties of 2 people that are working all day long, every day, at full speed.  He's an arrogant, stupid, stuck up, bull headed, thin-skinned - well the list goes on.

Anyway, my coworker has likely landed a job at HD Supply.  He's sick of our company and is attempting to move on.  I'm still waiting for the "perfect" job, which simply means steady hours, good pay and a no or little drama manager and environment.  And decent benefits.  Plenty of companies that have that, just have to find one with an opening.

Weekend here, landlord's mother and grandma are here visiting for a couple of days.  It's going to be much more difficult for them to visit once the landlords move ot Georgia, much further away.  It's not too bad a drive from Oklahoma right now so they are making some visits before the move.  I've found a renter for one of the rooms at the price I am asking, just need to find another renter and it's a done deal.

Well, I called my dad and wished him a Happy Father's Day! He sounded good, we had a good conversation.  We laughed and joked and talked a little politics and God and such - and then the call was over.  The hard part is realizing that this conversation that took place 20 minutes ago? He has already forgotten about.  I think I'm going to call him once a week instead of every couple of weeks just to hear his voice before whatever happens with him - happens.

I got full blown into the problems with this Jeep today.  Apparently computer problems are a constant factor if/when people have problems with them.  I was going to buy a used one out of a wrecked vehicle - and then started reading the problems people have with used AND remanufactured.  It's a $50 gamble to buy the computer from the wrecked Jeep.  At least you have an idea that the thing must have been working before it crashed - otherwise it wouldn't have been on the road, right? But it sounds like a nightmare some of what people have gone through with those things.  A few people suggessted to posters on forums to get the thing running and get rid of it.  I'm just sitting here considering my next step with it.

Meanwhile, my landloards are definitely moving.  They  just don't know where, yet, the company hasn't made those decisions yet.  But, it means a lot is going to change around here for me and I'm going to be smack dab back in the middle of room rentals again.  I really wish they had a 4th bedroom in here, it would make paying for the house much easier for I could charge less and not have to try to lure a limited market into a rather expensive room.  Lots to think about there and lots of work to do around here to spruce the place up.

But, the humidity and heat have hit full blown and it's unbelievable.  I don't envy people in AZ right now having to endure 119 degree heat but the humidity here takes a while to get used to.  I have a bit of a break tomorrow morning at work, the truck is loaded and ready to go and it's about a 7 hour round trip run.  That makes Monday morning much easier to deal with.

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Above written last week. Haven't felt much like writing, plus I've gotten heavily involved in a political debate forum.  But, I think I'll take a couple days off of that stuff, it starts to get = aggravating? = unnerving perhaps, seeing the views of people from all sides.  I mean, viewpoints that you - or I anyway - would never expect to even exist in a "civilized" society.  You read these people and come to understand that they actually believe what the are saying.  And then you come to concllusion that if enough people thought that way, our nation would be screwed. As it stands, Trump isn't doing so well in the polls, but then again, I don't give polls a high level of creedence.  I look at them, yes, but I have always had trouble understanding how they could use 1,000 people in a "scientific poll" and then say that that represents the views of hundreds of millions of people......

I finally broke down and bought a grill.  I've been wanting one for quite a long time.  What am I working for if I can't enjoy a few extras in life?  $200 plus propane cylinder, we put it together yesterday.  Because of "bad" instructions, they only have picture instructions with no words so if you have a question, well, you're on your own, put it together and then? Take it back apart because it wasn't supposed to go together that way even though the instructions appeared to show it a different way. Is this the product of an illiterate society? That can't even read a set of instructions so make it all pictures like a picture book in kindergarten? Just curious.

At least all the parts were there, nothing missing.  Couldn't fire it up, though, new cylinder arrives Tuesday.  Though, I could have bought on locallly for the same price and I probably should have just done that.

On the news front, my landlady showed me a pic yesterday on her phone.  It was of a pregnancy test show plus for yes, she is pregnant!  Yay! Told them they need to do it and get it over with.  Not that they were listening to me, lol, but I always thought it better to have siblings closer together in age.  Perfect time for it. Summer just starting, she'll be into the heaver part of it during the winter months and having the baby before next summer.  Only drawback is they are moving.

Which is the other "news" though I have already written about it.  They haven't got their marching orders yet - ie: where they have to move to. I've received several hits on the rooms and some good sounding prospective tenants.  But I don't know if they can wait that long.  It's gonna be a while longer before they get out of here.

Of course, everything that occurs has ripple effects.  Such as them taking their animals out of here.  I can't have Addler in the back yard, alone all day long while I'm at work.  I hate to get another dog but I just don't like the idea of him being along for extended periods of time.  He's a very social dog and I suspect if left under those conditions he would start trying to get out of the yard.  Cross that bridge when I get to it I guess. I don't want another Dane, I don't think anyway, 2 of them would cost a fairly hefty food bill, though I've had 3 of them in the past.  I fed them cheaper dog food.

The upkeep of the house will fall squarely on me, plus making sure the tenants are "good neighbors" and not creating problems in the neighborhood.  Plus the basic rules I impose on tenants - this is stuff that people shouldn't have to be told to do, but in my experience, some of them have to be told anyway.  Electricity consumption and cleanliness being the top 2 on the list of things that some people have to be informed of. Especially when considering a one payment for everything type of situation where some people are tempted to abuse it.

Other than that, I had KAG contact me yesterday.  They are interested in having me come to work for them. The lady said she thought there was a local job available in Shreveport and after a conversation about it, she hung up and then called me back several hours later.  No, she said, I contacted them and found that the only thing available is a regional run. Out 1 to 2 nights and back. Nice, I thouught, too bad this situation here, I could deal with that.

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It escaped me that this weekend is the 4th of July weekend, meaning an extended holiday with 3 days off.  Which will fly by quickly but I'll take it over nothing.  I'm undetermined whether to do nothing and enjoy the time off or fly through some projects and get some stuff done.  Well who knows, I'll decide that then.

Well it came to light today that they are moving. No, it was last night.  I asked cause' there was some talk that was a bit unsettling.  I'm not really wanting them to take off, not that they have a choice.  His dad showed up and that is where 2 plus 2 still equals 4.  I'ma need your help tomorrow moving that motorcycle.  I haven't ever seen the thing, but it's in a shed out back that is locked up.  I saw it today though, lol.

I got into this discussion with the landlord's dad today. It's a 1975 Harley Davidson something or other, not really up on Harleys. .  It had been sitting on a special motorcycle jack for a few years.  It was frozen and wouldn't let down, the jack that is, hydraulics.  They went back and forth about this for quite a while and I got tired of it.  I want done with this, get it off the jack, get it on the floor, get it out of the shed and onto the concrete and then we can move on.  How heavy is this thing? I asked.  It's too heavy to lift.

I've heard this too many times in my life.  I'ma lift this thing up, the front wheel will hit the floor, pull it out when the motorcycle clears the jack.  I wasn't prepared for the weight of it, though.  I got the thing up but the dad didn't pull the damned thing out from underneath. I can't just hold it up indefinitely so I let it back down.  We tried this again.  I lift the thing up, the dude is older, much older, he just doesn't have the umph to move heavy stuff. I ain't holding it against him, but please move so your son can get it out of there, cause' I can tell you right now, that jack doesn't weigh anything even remotely close to this motorcycle.

The thing was deceptive in appearance. Didn't look that heavy.  I don't know what it weighed  but the first try I slightly pulled a lower side back muscle.  Nothing severe at all, but the second try I was in position, the third try, I had to give directions.  When I lift this up, pull it out! Please!!!  After finally getting the thing on the floor, it was getting it out of there.  I pulled that freaking thing but it was giving far too much resistance. When we got it down on the concrete, and pushing the issue cause pushing it up onto the trailer like that wasn't exactly anything I was interested in, he had  the thing in 1st gear.

But this just created a new situation in my life. I don't even know how this is going to go down, they don't know where they are being sent off to yet.  Which is not my concern, the concern is having to move all of my stuff out of this room and into a smaller room so that this room can be rented at a higher rate.  Guaranteed that smaller room won't pan out for as much needed to keep this place afloat.  I don't feel obliged to do this, but I don't mind either.  It's like my house in Phoenix.  I own it but I am not running it. So, they get a lot of leeway to do whatever they need to do as long as the rooms stay rented.

Really.  Just the idea of making friends with people and they are gone.  I'm so tired of life going this way.  It's been happening as far back as I can remember, even in single digit age, several times over just in that era.  I'm going to get to know this person or those people and then they are going to disappear?  Well but they do have a goal of coming back after he has been with that company for 18 months he can come to Texas and work locally.  They are from here, they don't want to lose their house.

Okay.  Nothing new under the sun.  Accept it, deal with it, move on.

Just got off the phone with a rather extensive discussion with mom about the group text message chaos where my middle brother literally blew up.  I mean, he went nuts, lost control of his temper, made all kinds of threats of physical harm against me and basically made himself look like a total a-hole.

That group text has all but been ghost-towned. My mother is still posting in it and I will say something just to try to keep it going, but my middle brother went on a 2 day rampage on there and then said goodbye and hasn't posted anything since.  He also hasn't spoken with mother since. I don't care one way or the other what he thinks about me, but give it a rest.  My mother is the nicest person you will ever meet. When it comes to us 3 boys, she treats it completely equitably, fair and no favoritism shown towards any of us.  She does this on purpose, of course and I agree with it.

Anyway, I braved the waters to call her today and find out what's going on, how she felt about it.  I mean, I have no clue, really.  She didn't go "off" on my brother, but she definitely said he had lost control of himself and that I wasn't wrong to stand my ground in declaring his apology - not an apology at all.  He said he was sorry I felt threatened, not, I am sorry I threatened you.  The texts are unbelievable, rambling and go on for 2 days.  I thought my brother had gotten over his anger issues, my mother corrected me about that today.

She also said this is an issue both of my brothers have been bringing up since I was 5 years old.  What? I didn't understand what she was referring to.  Well, she said, you were extremely sick when you were young and almost died X number of times and you were a full time project, I had no choice.  True.  I had asthma attacks that almost took my life on numerous occasions. We didn't have all of this stuff there is nowadays to deal with it.  I remember counting up to 90 seconds not being able to take a breath.  Try waking up in the middle of the night with that going on in your body and coming to realize it out of dreamland.

So now, I have a bit better understanding of their  resentment.  I thought their beef was against dad, now I am finding out it is against both my parents and me, for having to take up all of - her time - dad wasn't around much - in dealing with my asthma and allergy issues.  I was allergic to dairy and chocolate and whatever else I can't remember plus I had asthma attacks that were brutal and whenever sickness hit me it was far worse on my system with everything else than what occurs in most people.

But now, I realize I am allegedly the spoiled child.  Yet, my mom has always told me: You'll figure it out, you always do.  I don't ask her for anything.  I have never asked my brothers for anything, either.  If I have a serious issue, I do not even think about asking family for anything.  It's just not an option. My dad has helped me out in the past, but again, I didn't ask for it or even allude to it.  If life goes to hell, then to hell it goes.  Nothing I believe for but bad things happen.

Well whatever.  My brother's rantings sealed the deal.  We will never be a family.  It just isn't going to happen.  Or, if it does, it's a miracle of God and nothing else.  I have doubts that I will ever see him again.  I have been dealing with this all of my life, it doesn't have the impact that perhaps it would when someone gets that revelation the first time.  I am used to it, it isn't going away, I still would like to see it happen, but my hope for it to happen in real life is gone.

Mother wants me to come visit, I need to do that so I am going to try to figure out the best time and the cheapest route to do it.  I know the cheapest way there is to drive to dallas and get on a Southwest flight.  But there is gas to get there and back, parking for the car while I'm gone, transportation toa nd from PHX, spending money, trying to get down to see dad if possible, seeing my son, friends and visiting my house.  I'm going to have to take a week off and do this.

Well whatever. I'll figure that out, I just want to get some other things out of the way first.  Plus she's up in the moutains all the time  during the summer so a visit would have to correspond with her being in the valley.  I dunno, but I wouldn't mind spending another night in my trialer up there.  It's so peaceful and serene.  It's a getaway from the noise and confusion of "real life".

Per the Jeep, I was informed that the computer had been "repaired" once before.  Who repairs a computer in a car?  I've never even heard of that, you just replace the computer.  Now I am reconsidering my decision to have it towed. Perhaps the $75 spend on a replacement computer is a good gamble.  I've got 2 considerations pointing towards the computer, though not defnitive.  Still.

I'll decide that this week.

Anyway, time for bed.

Well let's see.  My middle brother's blow-up this week.
I don't really want to even go into that.  Just unbelievable though.

Man coming over today to look at the Jeep.  I'm not going to do anything to it until I find out what's wrong with it. I mean by saying that in cleaning it up and changing the oil and all that. If it's an expensive repair, I may put it off.  Find out soon enough, the guy has the computer hookups to plug into it to find out what's going on with it.

My application was denied for LTC - License To Carry. Well, the statement in the letter was it is held up because....the class instructor forgot to date the paper next to his signature.  Further investigatin - which meant calling him and finding out what's going on - found out that he didn't date any of them.  He signed one of the,made copies of it and that was that.

Turns out this guy has made other mistakes in the past.  He's a bit older and usually has his wife helping him do the classes but that day we were there, she wasn't available.  Not the end of the world, I just dated it myself and told him what I put on there so he could put it on his copy of it and faxed it back to the TXDPS.  I'm sending it in the mail, too, just for good measure.  From the looks of the letter they sent me, though, that  is the only thing holding it up, otherwise good to go.  But, it could take - forever, lol for this to actually get worked out and get sent to me.

Now that California won a ruling from an appeals court on CHL's, apparently the masses are swarming the classes and subsequently swarming states processing centers with applications.  So, who knows when I will actually get the license.

As for my landlords, we are in limbo right now. We don't know what the answer is going to be from his employer as to whether they are going to move or not.  I ran an ad anyway to find out what kind of market there is here.  It's a bit pricey for the rooms at $500 - but that includes everything and the rooms have private bathrooms, which is really what people want.

I'm still reeling from the heat yesterday.  It was 97 degrees with similar humidity.  Just wasn't ready for that at all and I had to spend a good portion of the day outdooors.

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Dude came over to look at Jeep.  Checked the fuel pump, spark plugs and engine compression on all cylinders.  Compression good.  Started digging around and found that there is no igntion coming into the coil pack.  Well that will do it, lol.  He tried messing with some stuff but finally said he doesn't do electrical, that's out of his realm.  Which is fine, at least he admitted it instead of trying to buy stuff and try it out.  He did say it looks like all roads lead to the computer and that I could get one cheap if I wanted to try that out, but that's only  guess.  I did find computers on line relatively cheap.

But I've been down this road before.  Replace computer and sensors and all kinds of stuff and then find out after spending a lot of money it was the wiring harness that needed repaird.  That was with the car I gave to my son.  It worked for a long time after that, but the money spent on such an old car was hard to justify.  It was just that once I got into it, it was hard to just  say, well, I spent this money, it still isn't working, lets' try again and see if we can get it.

If I would have had the thing towed to an electrical shop to begin with, I would have saved a large sum of money.  The vehcile has a good body, a good engine and transmission, tires are good.  Interior is decent too.  It's in pretty good shape.  There is a shop in town that advertises it specailizes in electrical problems, I'm considering using some of my savings and having it towed there and get a definitive diagnostic.  I have already priced  new computers, up there in the $400 range but reconditioned, guaranteed ones are in the $200 range and junkyard versions that are also guaranteed start at $65 and go up.

Okay, well home alone tonight. Landlords were invited to a house warming party that apparently is really a heavy drinking affair.  Which is none of my concern, just that they aren't planning on coming home tonight.  Which is good if they are going to tie one on.  They found a sitter for the baby for the night as well.

Well that's it for now.  I have numeorous drafts - blog entries that I never finsihed or posted - that I want to clean up either discard or finish or merge together into one.

Saturday.  Didn't get out of bed until 9 am.  Just didn't feel like getting up. The 2 days I did work this week were pretty long days, yesterday I didn't get home until 7pm.

Lots of thinking going on here.  My thoughts are of being at a job for 10 years and in less than 2, my vacation hours go up even more, by another week's worth.  What am I going to to do, quit and start from the beginning at my age? By the time I get any vacation saved up again, I'll be thinking about retiring.  I mean, many places give you a week off after being there a year, but that's not really that much.  I've got 160 hours of vacation per year right now, not including personal time, floating holidays and sick days.  It will go up to 200 as of January 3, 2018.

It isn't stopping me from looking for another job, though.  I just wonder if it's worth it to quit and start all over again.  I dunno, but it looks like I can potentially expect around 90 hours per week. I only had 88 as of yesterday but that only because of this week with Memorial Day off and 2 more days of vacation time after that.

My attention went to cutting costs. Can I get a phone plan for cheaper?  Can I get a better plan for both internet and satellite or cable at my house in Phoenix?  My home modification is going through through the HARP or HAMP program, i don't really know which, I just applied through my mortgage company and they do all the work.  Very much in love with the idea of cutting my mortgage payment by almost $300 per month, plus the $86 per paycheck deduction for 401k loan is gone and I am not thinking about doing another one now unless there is some dire emergency.

There are other ways to cut costs, but some of it I am not interested in.  Would be really nice to get a president that would be interested in cutting taxes, I for one am sick of the amount of money being automatically taken out of paychecks for taxes going to what I know are a lot of programs I consider beyond the Constitutional authority of the Federal government.  I dont want this nation to turn into a giant version of Denmark, which is what Socialist propagists are always referring to.  They are heavily taxed, well above and beyond anything we are currently at now, but what we are at now I think is far too much.

So what do I do? Keep putting in applications as I find places to do it with and see what comes up.  That's it.  The problem is, I want to do some traveling and to be able to do that, well, obviously I need plenty of vacation time to do so.  At the same time, I need to be able to afford it.  Anyway, the idea has been floated by one of my cousins to have a cousin reuinion at her place in Brisbane.  I searched out airfare from DFW to Brisbane and the common price for economy was $1, 287 with tax.  There was one that was cheaper at $1,060.  It's quite a distance so I don't expect airfare to be less than a grand, but I am looking at all kinds of sites anyway just to see.  She provides housing and food. Yup, she already guaranteed that, no-one - nobody that's coming - will have to pay for food or housing while they are there.  Obviously that cuts costs substantially.  But on a trip like that, I would want at least $500 spending money.  To be able to see the sights, whatever the Brisbane area may have to offer.  I'm all for the reunion even though I know none of them.

I'm quite comfortable with the idea that if it turned into a  family disaster, I could find other things to do over there, of which I would search out well in advance anyway.  I've already responded to a group email after she posted a quite lengthy statement about our family, the fact that our paretns are not going to be around forever and emphasizing the fact that we are just out there, no one really communicates with each other.  She is proposing a March, 2018 reunion, plenty of time to save up.

I'm getting a huge break this month - mortgage is due  but I don't have to pay it.  New mortgage starts at the beginning of next month.  Due on or before the 1st.  I have to make that for 3 months in a row and then the modification is permanently approved.  No problem on making the payment.  Not a great loss on the 5 years lost either, not to me anyway, as I would be very old by the time it was paid off either way.  I dn't expect to keep it forever, in fact I just plan on keeping it as long as I have the couple there that will deal with it.  They like the arrangement and have been doing a good job at it - but - who knows.  I would like to hope they could stay there at least a few more years and I am going to give them another decrease to help with their being happy with the deal they are getting - and they are getting a good deal.

I also now have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport.  For free.  It doesn't run. It has a new engine.  It's been sitting quite a while.  I am either going to try to find someone to come to the house that has the necessary computer equipment to diagnose it or I will have it towed to a shop.  I looked up Kelly blue book on it - $2,660 low end, almost $6,000 on the high end.  Body in good condition, the rear bumper is missing.  Good tires on it and the battery "was" brand new, but it's been sitting and the battery may be dead and if it is, it's likely going to have to be replaced. Putting my charger on it today to find out.  I don't remember the condition of the interior, going to check it out in a while.  It was free.  I even offered to buy it - they were going to sell it for $700 and then they decided that since I do all kinds of stuff around here - and the fact that they may be forced to move soon - they would give it to me.  It's a very nice gesture.  It used to run perfectly fine so I don't assume it's anything too expensive.  A computer sensor, perhaps, who knows.  I believe it's a 4 wheel drive.  It's not a gas friendly thing but at the same time, I would treat it as a recreational type of vehicle - or - I would sell or trade it for a pickup.  Again, not all news I have received as of lates has been all bad, just the bad stuff? Was really bad.

Well I'm off to the back yard to mow it and put the charger on the Jeep and get the battery recharged if possible.

I dunno. I just had the feeling when I wrote the last post that more was coming.  Things just seem to happen that way in life.  You get a period where you're getting all kinds of input and circumstances and situations going on all at once.

So, my dad has Alzheimer's, my uncle died this week and now I find out my other uncle had some kind of fall and has brain damage, which occurred a while back but I did not know about it and therefore, the reason he also fell off the map. This is basically all of my older generation family going down at the same time.  I don't understand that, I just know it happens.  Just like when you see a movie star die.  You can expect 2 more to die relatively soon after that.  Why? I don't know, it seems to always happen though.

That is a lot of stuff to take in.  But it definitely wasn't the end.  It was my son's birthday this week, my home modification is apparently coming through meaning an almost $300 per month reduction in mortgage rate and a 401k loan was paid off.  That's one week.  Okay, but I still  didn't figure this was over.  I just had that feeling, which I posted about in an earlier post this week.

And that extra thing occurred 30 minutes ago.  Ben, my landlady tells me (though I speak of them as landlords, they are actually friends now), we need to talk to you!  Man, I'm instantly thinking, what is this all about? I'm thinking all kinds of thoughts in computer speed fashion. Am I being thrown out? Do they have a problem with something I'm doing? I had no idea and I got an uneasy feeling, but only because I just didn't know what was about to come at me.

Well, we need to have some shots first, they stated. Shots of Captain Morgan's rum is what I'm referring to. Okayyyyy.  Well they have known about this for awhile apparently.  I am just finding this out today.  Which I can deal with, it's just this week has been a mountain full of stuff going on.  I sit down, brace myself for come-what-may and here we go.

Well, my work, the guy starts off with, gave us some information today.  In a nutshell without going into all of that, the market has slowed down in this area (ATT internet and now DirecTV installs, he is an installer that goes to people's homes).  There are 75 technicians, ATT says it needs to get rid of up to 40 of them.  You can stay, but your hours will likely be reduced, take an offer to move to a different job market or quit and find a new job.  Those were the options given to him.

Well, to all of them.  They are looking at moving to Georgia.  They want to keep their home here.  This is where they're from.  ATT will pick back up in the market he works in in Shreveport area once they get the fiber optics installed.  They aren't sure yet, they will know in 2 weeks whether they have to move or not.  If they do move, Ben.  Would you consider doing here what you do with your house in AZ?  Renting out rooms.

I don't have a problem doing that.  What really gets to me is these are the only real friends I have out here. Well I have one at work, too and a few casual relationships at work.  But it would be like losing good friends and having much of nothing.  I'm not at a loss as to a decision, I agreed to it if it becomes necessary, as long as it's realistic that the rooms available will pay the mortgage and the electric, gas and water bill.  When I heard their utility bills, I was amazed.  I'm used to much higher figures in AZ. The reason I became apprehensive about it is that there are only 3 bedrooms in this house. It's 2,000 square feet, yes, but only 3 bedrooms and I can't see a way to convert anything into another bedroom without major modifications.

Actually there is one option with only putting in a divider if  a person would agree to it and that would help seal the deal.  However, I could move out of this bedroom and rent it for at least $500 per month - walk in closet, personal bathroom, large bedroom.  Move into the smaller room.  The master bedroom is even larger with walk in closet and personal bathroom. It's the private bathrooms that really attract potential renters, they will pay more for that.  I would have a bathroom, not necessarily personal but no reason for either of the other renters to use it since they have their own.

There are a torrent of things going on through my mind in these days.  I'm not losing sleep over any of it, but it's still a lot to take in in a short period of time.