About 50 to 60 feet to go. That's the drain line I am installing for diverting away storm water that accumulates on the sidewalk directly in front of the steps to accesst the front porch.  Other areas of pooling water have also now been identified once I got that done and I will have to T off the line I have installed and put drainage in those areas as well.  Then there's the driveway.  Who would build a driveway on a slope and then have the water pooling right there in the middle of it?  This only lends to cracking - which it has done.

The driveway part isn't on any priority list, far too many other things to do long before I ever do that.  To fix that, I will have to cut the concrete to be able to dig out a trench underneath, install a drain with solid brass drain grate and then pour concrete back over the top of it.  Now, the rest of the water diverts down the sidewalk to the aforementioned steps to the house, with pooling along the way.  I can easily add onto the exiting line and have a drain next to the sidewalk at the deepest point of pooled water.  The project so far hasn't cost anything but a drain, the rest is time spent and paying hte college kid ten bucks an hour to dig out the rest of the trench.

Whether he comes back or not remains to be seen.  I could use him to haul off dirt from the front and a planter that was installed in the back that I tore down but dirt remaining.  The learning experience about brick is that you should never have dirt piled up against the side of your brick house.  Which is yet another project I could have him do - dig away all the remaining dirt and grass that is up against it.  Bricks can be replaced, but costly and not anything I would want to get involved with.  Well I guess there is probably a YouTube video showing you how to do it but that is nothing I am currently interested n doing.  Just get rid of the threat and hope the damage isn't too bad.  So far, the damage has been the facing of the brick but not enough to have to replace any of them.

A bit interesting that my landlords/house owners didn't figure all of this out and put it on their priority lists.  They're young but that doesn't really excuse, at least in my book, the idea of not understanding what you have and what you need to do to take care of it.  All the dirt that needs to be dug and hauled is really quite a lot of work and I'm going to do it for them.  At the moment just trying to get the serious issues out of the way, which besides the AC problem last week, is all outdoor stuff.

I took the carb apart on the weedeater yesterday and found the rubber diaphragm breeched and that is the cause of the problem.  I sprayed out the carburetor anyway and got the thing to run for a minute but the diaphragm allowed fuel to dump into the cylinder and that was that.  I'm going to tryto find a replacement in town today, otherwise I'll have to order it online.  Just didn't want to wait for the replacement part to show up and also the part would be much cheaper locally in not having to pay shipping costs.  $15 for this little bitty diaphram, because you have to buy the whole kit and you have to spend as much on shipping as you do on the kit.  I can tell ya right now, that little kit doesn't cost $7.50 to send.  O'Reilley's sells some parts, I'm going to check there first.

I need more grass seed and also some wood stain and laquer.  I'm getting the front of the house tidied up and eventually looking good and then I'm likely to stop spending my money on these projects.  I'm keeping tabs on it as well. They are broke at the moment as she isn't working and his is their only income.  She is pregnant and likely qualifies for food stamps and WIC at the very least.  But that's none of my business.

Hmmm, I think I better take that gasket out of there and take it with me.  I know what it looks  like but you start trying to tell a counter person the part and they are just going to look at you blankly.

And then there's the back yard.  Their dog destroyed everything so at some piont, I quit even cleaning up back there. It would get into literally everything.  It just became frustrating to clean it all up and then that dog destroying everything and leaving it laying all over the place. I cleaned it up last weekend including using the pressure washer and so far, it's all the same as I left it excepting leaves falling from the trees.  But to fix that yard and make it nice......ugh.  A lot of time and labor to start with and then trying to find stuff to do it with on the cheap and still have it nice.  Not a bridge I am crossing right now but it's in the back of my mind.  The fact that I don't have a pickup to pick stuff up is a huge detriment to much of what I am trying to do.

Well time to get this show on the road.

Goodness gracious, I have very little desire to do much of anything but sit around on a couch and vegetate.  I've been going, going, going between work and home and it has depleted me.  But, if I'm going to get the grass planted it needs to be this weekend.  The directions say it takes 3 weeks and I figure we have at least 3 weeks if not more of warm/ish weather so it's now or next Spring.  Since I bought the stuff yesterday, yup, today is the day.

Looks like it may rain this afternoon which would be helpful.  I really need to clean up the north side of the house as well. They let it go and there are piles of leaves over there, I found 2 baby Copperheads - now among the deceassed, as I am not a snake lover though I will let non-poisonous ones live - in that mess last week while presssure washing.  I just have to decide what I want to get done today as the list is huge and you just have to pick the highest priority ones and get going with it.

However, the hose end came off yesterday and I can't plant grass without a hose to water it after it is planted so a trip to Lowe's is in order.  I really wish they would build a Home Depot over here, Lowe's is not my first choice.  It's better than a 30 mile drive to the nearest town that has one, but I just have always like Home Depot better.  Anyway, it's a hundred foot hose with no leaks so it's worth fixing it, the cost of a new one is around 50 bucks.

The weed eater is also a priority.  I got everything mowed yesterday all well and fine, but the weed eater is necessary to give it the finishing touches.  Gonna try taking that apart and see if I can fix it.  These problems are almost always carburetor related. Open up the carb, spray it out with choke cleaner.  That solves the problem at least 50% of the time.  Actually more than that.  Everything gets gummed up and the needle doesn't seat properly and there you have it, a constant flow of gas flooding out the cylinder.  They claim it is a newer weed eater.  I don't know but I don't feel like spending my own money on a new one. I'll take the non workijng one into a shop before i do that.

Well.  Sitting here on the living room couch trying to motivate myself.  Looking at airfare in January to Hawaii. It's gonna be a bit costly.  The airfare is around $700 which doesn't include hotel, food or transportation.  I'm just waitng for them to pull the trigger on tickets and then I can figure out the dates and try to find the cheapest airfare available.  But even cheap hotels add up after a week's stay.  And nothing in Hawaii is cheap.  A tent on the beach lol.  Be quite the flight if it's a full plane. No first class for me unfortuunately.

I'm still reeling after this home loan modification fiasco.  They make you jump through a lot of hoops.  It may be worth it to have almost $300 dropped from your monthly payment, but it certainly leaves a bad taste in your mouth after going through all of that.  They still haven't started showing on time payments.  I guess they won't do that until after they get the paperwork I just sent in and make it official.  In fact, my credit rating on Experian dropped 18 points last month and that with no changes either good or bad.  That one was a bit perplexing.

Well, the new doggy is a bit of a chewer.  Nothing like the owner's of this house dog who chewed literally everything including glass bottles.  In fact, Aspyn is a very fast learner.  Oh, I"m keeping the spelling.  I was going to change it and then everyyone came along and said how nice a name it is, Aspen-Aspyn, it all sounds the same so no biggies.  She's very eager to please but at the same time has a bit of a stubborn streak.  She won't listen - yet - when I call her.  That will come with time, she is completely untrained and I count myself lucky she doesn't pee in the house when I bring her in.  But, large dogs seem to have that trait much more than smaller dogs.  For whatever reason, they tend to want to keep their bathroom activities outside.

Anyway, I decided to run an ad in Craigslist  and see if I can get someone over here to do some digging and dirt hauling.  That's exactly what I don't want to do.  It is stuff that I need to get done - that won't this weekend anyway if it's up to my efforts to  do it.  I've just expended myself too much in the last week or so.  We'll see what becomes of that ad.

Meanwhile, guess I'll head to the stores and get the things I need to proceed with the day.

Wow. Got home today from work and already had decided to mow the lawn as soon as I got home.  No ifs, and, buts or any other excuses, the mower is now working, let's git'er done!  You now, pushing a mower is actually some decent exercise, especially a yard that big.  Sweating profusely, I finished the job and the front lawn - looks much better.

However, there are bare spots and spots with some kind of weeds that sorta look like grass if you aren't up on top of it looking at it.  Which prompted me today while I was running around after work to stop at Home Depot #HomeDepot to get some of those stuff you use to fill spots.  3 weeks, it claims and the spots are gone. We shall see about that.  I did mow the lawn, I made no claims about doing that grass stuff today.  I'll get around to that tomorrow - hopefully.  But honestly? I'm about ready to take a weekend off.  Still, I promised to get that grass going so I will.  I'll probably take a couple of hours to get that done.  I've also got a bathroom faucet to replace.

But, I had to take off early from work.  I went into the manager and asked him about it and he said no problem, but was discussing Monday morning.  Ohhh? What's Monday morning? We gotta run to Ferriday.  Oh. Ferriday is a 3-1/2 hour drive - one-way - and it's a perfect start to a week.  Get into a truck, turn it on and drive all day long.  Well, there was a lot to do and there was only 2 hours to do it before I figured I was maxed out and had to get my stuff done.  They talked about giving the load to the pothead and I said no, I can get this done.

Getting it done included pressure washing 41 sticks of 40 foot pipe that came from a jobsite, pulling 69 sticks of 4 inch sewer pipe, 15 manhole covers and a plethora of fittings.  But I was determined to get it done.  And that I did - but not without paying a price. For it was very humid and warm out there today and it got me pretty good.  But I got that truck loaded and that guarantees me the run on Monday morning.  Well, it should guarantee it, it usually does.

Now, getting off work early to deal with the loan modification.  They gave very little notice of a short deadline and that didn't set well with me.  What's the hurry and why the short notice? I called the on the way to the UPS store to discuss that subject with them.  They didn't send the package to my house as the email claimed, they sent it email on the 29th, they claim.  I check my email several times a day and I don't remember seeing anything from Midland Mortgage.  I did see the email 2 days ago from them saying I had til' the 12th to get this done.  Big whatever moment.  I had to make an appointment for the notary to show up.  Strange place, Louisiana.

I got all of that done and then headed to Home Depot for the grass and then, the Wow! I started this entry out with.  For when I finally came into the living room, I saw a package from my mom.  What is this?  Pics, a lot of pics, of my son from babyhood on.  Pics that I had lost during the 2007 house fire that my mom had copies of.  I shared liberally pics with her not to mention she took a lot of her own.  I feel like a long lost connection has been re-established.  Seriously, I feel like a part of me has been put back into place.  I haven't seen any pics like this in many years now.  So yes, it was a wow moment to open up that package and find all of those pics in there.  Learn from the past, I'm going to have them duplicated and keep them somewhere - else.  And have them digitally recorded onto a disc and put them on Putlocker as well. A digital back up and a real paper copy.  I still like real photos, to be honest. It's nice to take pics and upload them to the internet, but family pics are a different story.  You can do both.

 That's my day.  I"m ont doing anything else, I don't think anyway. I don't want to do anything else, I'll put it that way.  There's plenty to do but I pace myself.  There is too much to do here and it isn't my doings that things got the way that they did.  I make no claims to have this place fixed up overnight and frankly? I figure the 2 years they are gone? That's about how long it's going to take.

And a new revelation today: Donny fell out of his bed last night.  Like, while sleeping and a hard hit.  I saw him at dinner, he didn't look good and he wasn't talking.  Ugh.

It's 6:30 and I feel like going to bed rofl.    My leg muscles are aching. I'm hopeful this ordeal with the loan modification is finally over  At least the weekend is here.

This morning I was apparently, obviously, not happy.  The pot-head came back late yesterday and then was told to come in at 7:00 am.  This has been going on, on and off, for weeks. However, we realized today there is a simple way to find out his hours since we obviously can't just access his online timesheet.  We are all required to print out rolling 7 reports every day.  It shows the hours works for the last 7 days. We had no idea, actually, how long he was out yesterday. He is clearly engaging in "clocksucking", taking much longer to do a run than it should.

He was out 11 hours.

Welp, I decided today on my 3rd run and being sent 120 miles away that I would just take my good old time.  As much as I try, it's not in my nature.  The pedal to the metal - don't worry, the truck is governed at 70 mph and the speed limit on that Interstate is... 70 mph .... I just crank it the whole way there. But....I got there and no-one there even though we callled. 4 phone calls to the same person later with no answer and I call my company.  Let me try, the warehouse dude says and then, just after he hangs up, the dude calls me. Yup, I'm herew with the truck ready to get loaded. Okay, I'll be right there. I learned over a decade ago, when  a contractor says he'll be right there? Time to take a nap.

Exactly what I did. 30 minutes later, he shows up.  Ummm, the backhoe has a leak, do you have a crescent wrench? Yes I do, showing it to him. Oh, that's not big enough.  Well it's all I've got.  He leaves for another 30 minutes.  Shows up, spends another unending amount of time fixing the thing - all the while burning up the clock - and finally - he leaves! rofl well another dude shows up and it took a long time to load that truck.  Construction workers are not forklift operators, they don't load trucks.  They unload them, yes, but it's a far different story to unload a truck than it is to load one.

So, I have to stand out there and direct the operation.  By the time I got the thing strapped down and ready to go, it was 5 pm.  That's quitting time.  I'm thinking, okay, by the time I get off the clock, it's gonna be around 7 pm and sure enough.  So, I got 11 hours in today.

But, the place is a toxic work environment, as I have been saying and though I hope to just stick around until somewhere around the middle of January, I don't know if I'll last that long.  Today, I pulled into the yard after the 2cd run and was going to pull up next to the freight truck parked there, but the man that runs the forklift into everything was over there and I thought, no, if I do that, probably an accident going to ensue.  Sure enough.  Let me preface, this is a HUGE forklift he is on.  It has rear tires that you would find on a backhoe, not a small forklift.  He puts the thing into reverse and backs up approximately 35 feet without ever once looking back. Not even a sideswipe of the head.  He then proceeded to pull out a giant pallet full of fire hydrants, ran into the freight truck with it and then ran over the chain that was being used to pull that pallet to the back of the freight truck.  This morning, I caught him attempting to fix the damage he had just done by running same-said forklift into the overhead bay door to the shed - the shed is a 75 by 100 foot structure with giant doors on tracks that lift up with chains and sprockets.  He ran into the door frame and I caught him at that as well. It's funny how often I catch him running into the things and yet I am not even in that yard that long.

He admits nothing, ever.  A deacon in a church, carrying around a Bible and yet denies everything.  There are so many facets to the toxicity of that place, you can't just name one thing, you have to name all of them, which would take too long in one writing so I just picked this guy today.  He's the same one that has been in accidents in all 4 trucks, the pickup he wrecked 3 times.

This morning, I was talking to the inside salesman who is now relegated to the will call "showroom".  It's hilarious they call it a showroom, it is absolutely, disgustingly filthy and always is.  It smells like hell in there and looks worse.  We were talking about something and I said, yup, well he leaves his screen up all the time.  Huh?  His timesheet.  Referring to the warehouse dude.  This dude was shocked to find out he isn't even making $18 per hour.  Well that isn't surprsiing the warehouse dude goes around talking as if he's making bank at that place when in fact, he really isn't.  He could have retired long ago with the 10, fully owned, rental houses he inherited from his mother.  He let them to go to s***, he lost them and her house as well. A lot of real estate let go to nothing.  The income from 10 houses

We've got some real braniacs over there.

Oh well, I could go on but today I've had enough. Its Thursday, it's almost bedtime, I'm tired but content.  Didn't get home in time to mow the front yard, but it isn't that bad, it just isn't "perfect". It can wait til' tomorrow or even Saturday morning.  I have a list for this weekend, but toning it down from last weekend which was really a marathon.  Sent my mama some flowers that should be delivered to her doorstep tomorrow plus a gift that should also arrive tomorrow.  Her birthday is on Sunday so getting stuff there ahead of time was imperative.  Apparently my brothers didn't bother to ask her what she wanted for her birthday, I hope they rememeber, but if they don't the group text that we are all in will suffice.  My text Sunday morning early will be "Happy Birthday Mom!", which all of them will get and if they did forget, they will have ample time to make up for it.  If I were there, I would be taking her out somewhere to eat or at least visiting her at her house.

The dysfunction between us brothers does not include me not reminding them about their mother's birthday.  She would be devastated if any of us 3 didn't at least wish her a happy birthday on her day, but I think she would be let down if none of them visited her, either.  I'm going to remind my son about her birthday, he will go over there without having to ask.

Umm, yea, I was going to end this and so it shall be.

The new male roommate - Donnie - is in very poor health.  He is getting a lot of encouragement to get up off his rear and get to a gym and get some exercise.  He's on a large listed cocktail of drugs.  He was out talking to my neighbor today and he was having trouble standing there talking to her, even showing his hands shaking from the pain.  I'm not judging him, at all. I just wish the best for him and really the only way to stay healthy especially in older age is to make sure you stay active.

My neighbor suggested a gym that is half a mile away that has an exercise pool that almost virtually elminates any stress on joints.

I have watched people over the decades in their old age become inactive and I have watched them grow increasingly in ill health and I have watched them die. Genes obviously play a role in your health and longevity, but still you can take steps to live a good life until the day you exit life on this earth.

Whatever the case, my 3 day marathon is over.  I went until around - 2 pm - and then quit.  Loaned the pressure washer to the neighbors.  They also want to improve their property but finances are an obstacle.  Well, the black driveway created from years of no cleaning is gone.  They did the entire length of it and it looks spectacularly better. Literally, it was black.

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Interlude. Just got done eating a spectacular dinner.  Literally.  Smokes brisket.  Donny (I had his name mispelled earlier) started early this morning thinking it would take longer than it did.  It was done around noon and he brought it in. But it's almost 6 and we just now got done eating including BBQ'ed onions and squash and salad.  No potatoes.  Thought there was going to be some but no.  No biggies but it was utterly delicious.  Ended with a homemade blackberry cobbler.  I eat sweets infrequently, but this I had to try.  Unbelievably awesome.  The lady here - Rene - is a very good cook.  I spent 5 hours in unrelenting work outside, they gave me a pass.

I'm very happy with what I accomplished this weekend.  Pressure washed the walls on the entire house.  Both porches. The sidewalk leading to the front porch and the rear concrete below the back porch.  Fixed the drainage probem on the AC and primered and painted the front porch.  Around 17 hours of work and knocked out a good dent of what needs to be done.

But there is so much more. They really let this place go.  At least the outside.   Well I can only do make-up maintenance and repairs as I can get to it, which is mostly the weekends.  I'm not fretting about it, I don't own this place, I didnt let it go. Whenever my landlords tell me there is something wrong at my house I have them have it fixed immediately.  When I was there I - well - it's here on this blog, several years ago and maybe on another blog.  Nothing I want to go into again.

Meanwhile, the invite to go to Hawaii is still there and I am seriously thinking to go on that trip.  January, during MLK holiday week. I'm planning a visit to mom's in the next month or so, I'll skip Christmas because of the contention my middle brother brought up several weeks ago. My oldest brother sort of chimed in on it as well but I have come to the conclusion that both of them are very insecure people and they are very uncomfortable with the fact that I am not an insecure person and I don't really need all of this s*** in my life.  If what appears to be happening continues, these new folks will be here and I will suffice and be happy to spend it with them.

I have never flown over the ocean.  I really, really want to make a trip to Ireland now that I have my passport.  $600 and change round trip to Dublin.  I actually want to go there more than Hawaii. However, Hawaii is one of 2 states I have never been two and I would be in very good company.

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Well, here we are, Monday morning. Blah.  Glad I stopped early afternoon yesterday with all that working stuff.  The bright side is it's a 4 day work week versus 5.  I guess I'm going to try and grow grass out there before the end of the season, apparently there is enough warm weather left that it can be done.  Which is fine, it doesn't look good out there.  It has been let go as other things and I really would prefer to have a nice coverage out there before fall/winter.  THe landlord did try to start gorwing grass in some of the bare sports, but she got the wrong kind of grass, for one thing and she wasn't diligent enough to water it at least twice a day.

I mean, grownig graas, lol, you have to keep it well watered.  I'm actually glad much of it didn't come up because it isn't the St. Augustne grass that is out there already - which looks far better than
Bermuda.  It grows thick and tight and chokes out weeds and anything else that might try to grow in there.

Time for work.

Well. I didn't know today when I arrived at work that the manager would be gone.

The warehouse "manager" - which he isn't a manager at all because he's a drama queen that throws people under the bus and talks trash about everyone behind their back every single day - decided to get a serious attitude.  After he said something to me - and I seriously had to bite my tongue to keep from responding in kind - I avoided him the rest of the day.

But, that wasn't hard to do.  He took out 4 deliveries.  He isn't supposed to do any deliveries but apparently because the manager was gone, he could do and say whatever he pleases.  I really have to try to remember to keep my phone and video available to turn on at a moment's notice from now on and get this stuff documented in an undeniable, irrefutable venue - video recording.

It was a loooong day because there was very little to do and I go stir crazy.  They all know this, which is one of the ways they "get" me if they think I am worthy of some sort of "discipline". Excepting, nohting has happened.  I have been keeping my mouth shut.  I have done everything I have been asked to do and then some.  I have been watching my p's and q's and there was no reason, whatsoever, for this treatment.  Excpeitng the fact that this is the way this dude is.  

I try to just consider the source.  He is an infant in a man's body, but sometimes I really have the urge and temptation to give it right back to him.  

I am at least trying to make it to after the beginning of the year to start up my search for a new job. I'm guessing when the manager reappears on Tuesday, this dude's attitude will disappear.  His behavior will be reported to the manager anyway, but not by me.  I'm attempting to stay low-key and keep my mouth shut.  It's kinda hard when the amount of unbelievable bs that is going on continuues on like an endless parade.  

Anyway, just a few monents ago, I looked at the mail that came in today. The new lady tenant - is like a dream.  She cooks, cleans, I mean, you couldn't ask for anything better in a tenant.  She also gets the mail everyday. I forget to look at it until late usually, which is the same as today.  I saw a large envelope from the government and I knew immediately it was my birth certificate being returned to me.  

But, I was shocked.  I really was, to see another envelope from the government, much smaller.  I felt the envelope, it had something in it.  I knew immediately what it was.  My passport!  I actually became giddy.  How fast was that!  I must not be on any no-fly lists, lol.  I really must fly over the ocean.  

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Saturday morning.
Dogs woke me up. Actually Addler who decided he was going to join me in my bed.  You don't just slleep through an event like that.  Sometimes I allow it to pet him for a while before getting up.

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Day over, lol.  I was informed they were going to Tyler - the new tenants that is - much earlier than I expected.  Which interrupted what I started writing this morning.  Turn off the AC, pull apart the drain set up and exactly what I thought: completely clogged up drain.  Walmart, get a sink snake, run it through it, walaah.  Problem solved.  Off to get haircut and do other things.  Back to the house, fire up the pressure washer and away we go for the next 5 hours.  Bad.  Algae, moss and mold build up on the bricks.  After all of that time, I managed to get 3 sides of the house done and the sidewalk.  There is still much left to go and I will pick that back up again tomorrow.

Well I'm too tired to do any more writing.

Well, Aspen's life has obviously been turned upside down being taken from one place to another with people she doesn't know, I knew this wasn't going to be "fun" by any stretch, the first days even weeks never are.  Actually, it takes a good year for a dog to fully integrate into your home and mesh, that's my experience and that's what I pretty much expect.  So, anyway, my automatic shipment from Chewey's just shipped and so, I think the 2 bags per month will work.  But I may end up having to get a 3rd bag added to that.

Well, anyway, I was warned the dog is not housebroken so I just figured to get up, clean up whatever mess this morning and move on.  I have no idea what I did with this training pads I took to the register at Walmart, I think the cashier simply didn't ring them up thinking it was the next person's.  Turns out, at least for last night, I didn't need them.  She woke me up multiple times, tried to crawl into bed once, which neither I nor Addler were having any part of, but there was no pee on the floor and yes, I checked the entire carpet.

The dog is used to be kenneled at night, I simply don't do the kennel thing.  Just seems like the dog is being put into prison.  I know some dogs get to liking them, I don't.  I think a big bed is far more comfortable and I know wshe will eventually calm down and figure out that I don't do dogs waking me up at night and also that she can settle down and go to sleep, just like Addler.

She's a sweet, gentle dog, but she has the Shepherd guarding type of quality and femaile dogs aren't to be fooled with once they get protective of people and property.

Well, we'll see how she does a full day out back yard today.

How exasperrating is it to try and text someone who says something and then disappears?  Voice texting, btw, not fingers.  I went to Dallas today, got the pipe and heading back I couldn't get either dog nailed down for picking it up. Finally, the first dog I posted on my FB wall texted me - I had emailed her several times and finally just left my phone number - saying she really hopes I haven't passed by Tyler yet? No, I was still 30 miles out.  Got it done in a Walmart parking lot.  I wasn't exactly impressed their reasoning to get rid of this dog.  They don't want to take the time to finish house training it to pee outside.

Ooooookaaaaaay.  I'm not necessariliy looking forward to it, but they sell pee pads now you set down by the door in your bedroom, for example, and the dog hopefully pees on that.  I don't remember the rest of how to get them to pee outside, Addler wasn't house trained but he refuses to pee in the house, I had nothing to go through there.  This dog is still very young and has a lot of growing to do.  It did not like getting into the truck and it was attempting to get out of the closed door on the passenger side - a virtual impossibility but she tried anyway.  It would be a little difficult to bring a tractor trailer rig into my neighborhood - not impossible but  if I can avoid it, yes, avoid it.  So the new guy living here came and got her from a parking lot 2 blocks away.

Well the Dallas drive took all day long because it's not only 400 miles of driving, there was quite a bit of ridiculousness to go through just to get the truck loaded.  1st stop the will call. Well you walk through the door and there is a sign in stark, bold letters telling you to push the ringer and wait.  So I did.  Even though there were 2 forklift  drivers and a man walking around the floor and then a minute later even more employees - right there.  After 10 minutes of waiting and being ignored, I walked to the office. No one in there. Back to the waiting area, where I finally got irritated and pushed the ringer - a very LOUD ringer - and held the button down.  Yup, just like that, I did it.  What kind of customer service is it to have will call associates ignoring their customers?

So some dude with an "air" of authority appears around a corner some distance away, waving his hands at me while he walks into the office.  Ringer kept right on going.  He's in the office, waving his hands.  Ringer kept right on going.  Come over here and tell me something.  Yes sir, we know you're here, one moment.  Yes sir, what do you need. Something!  Finally some other dude comes up to where I'm standing and says: well, I see you like to hold down the ringer.  No, dude, I hit the ringer when I first came in here and you and those guys on the forklift completely ignored me.  He looks around, says he didn't even see me standing here. How could you not? We may EYE contact.  Whatever.  Then there was an issue with the Purchase Order which took an additional 15 minutes.

THEN, I am sent out of that yard to  a guard shack down the street.  Sit there and watch a safety video, fill out all kinds of forms and sign them and get my paperwork.  THEN I am sent to yet another gate off the main street.  If they wanted to make this any harder for customers to wade through their maze of gates - 3 of them I ended up going through by their instruction - well I dunno.

Well whatever.  An hour and a half to get 5 sticks of pipe and a fitting.  The only good thing about it is that by the time I got back to the yard, it was time to go home.  I'm surprised the manager didn't just waste another thousand dollars having a hot shot driver bring it over.  That's what they do. Instead of giving us some real gravy runs that we could do, they hire hot shot drivers to take materials down to Baton Rouge or Sulphur and other places, trips that could be made in a day in any of our trucks, we get the run, we get the hours and the company is saved a significant amount of money.

Anyway, I'm home with the new doggy, Addler is a bit jealous, he'll get over it with time, the new doggy a bit skittish, I would have rather have gotten the dog at the beginning of this coming weekend and had 3 days to work with it getting it settled in, but I didn't want to lose the opportunity to get it so here we go. Tonight? May be a very long night, who knows.

However, one good sign: Addler and Aspyn (I don't really like that spelling, I may change it to just plain Aspen) are playing.  So yeah, that is what I wanted to get this dog for, hopefully it will pan out.

Meanwhile, I still have the ac problem to deal with and frankly? It will probably wait until the weekend.  It's obviously been going on for quite a while now, the floor is water-damaged around the AC closet, the wood flooring is buckled up and it has been that way for a long time and getting worse.  I'm pretty sure the man of the house saw what was going on here and just did nothing about it.  Because I remember some time ago walking through there and seeing the floor buckled, but not near as much as it is now.  And then, finding out they have never had it cleaned since they moved in here.  Ugh. This sounds like it's going to turn into a project. My plans were to try and borrow the pressure washer this weekend, not spend it trying to fix a plumbing problem and trynig to clean coils while I'm at it.  But, I watched the dude doing it when it was done at my house - and charged a fortune to do it.  All he did, really was spray some stuff in there and then wait a while and flush it out with water.

But, the charge was probably worth it.  You see, they guarantee the AC is going to work for a year after that. So, they do have a stake in it.  But, funds are kinda tight right now after that water heater deal and a few other things that came up, I'm guessing minimum $250 for them to come out and clean that thing and who knows how much they would charge to fis the plumbing problem.  There are things I won't deal with on AC units because I don't have the equipment, but this is stuff I can do and being careful, I won't damage anything.  I remember long ago when I caught Mary, a former tenant in the Phoenix house, vacuuming the evaporator coils.  She was using a hard plastic tip and was smashing the fins in on the coil.  Uhhh, Mary, do you see what you are doing?

She got mad at me because she was "just trying to help me". Yes, but you are damaging the unit and when the air can't flow through those fins, the air doesn't cool and the volume of air is reduced.  You are suffocating the system by doing that.  Oh.  She thought I was stupid and didn't know what i was talking about.  My first rounds at dealing with AC was in cars long, long ago.  It's the same principle.  Liquid gets heated as it passes through the evaporator, it is pumped to the condensor outside which cools it and reverts it back to a liquid and then back to the evaporator - back and forth.  Now that I know the coils haven't been cleaned, I also know that that is what probably has clogged up the drain.

Oh well.  Just not looking forward to it.

Well, long day.  Call this one done.

So, I purportedly have a run to Dallas today and I also have a tentative pickup of a German Shepherd.  Neither of those things are set in stone, I never really know where they are sending me until they hand me the paperwork.  The whims of the warehouse dude change from day to day and though I have done my best to work with him, he still talks a bunch of trash about me behind my back.

But then again, he talks trash about all the blue collar workers behind their backs so at least I'm not alone in that grouping.  I take that back, he also talks ghetto about the inside salesmen.  One of which has deccided he can't take the new manager's crap anymore and is seekng emloyment in greener pastures.  I watch the manager giving him hell, frequently, over minor, small issues that don't warrant anger and vitriol in terms of a reaction.  

People are going to leave sooner or later and it's all going to come down on the manager's head.  The only people that won't leave are the outside salesmen because the gravy train is very nice right now, they are making money hand over fist and they aren't going to care what kind of bs they have to put up with.  However, we are now losing customers beacuse of the manager's reputation.  Yeah, he's been around for 25 years in this business and ran the store long, long ago when - they lost business then as well.

However, per my previous statement, I have also done my best to treat him with respect and simply brush off  the frequent railings such as yesterday monring when he started in on everyone first thing Monday morning.  This gives a little more credence to the theory being floated around that his wife wears the pants in his family and that he comes to work to take it out on everyone.  Because every Monday morning? It's the same crap.  

I identified the problem in the AC last night but have to take panels off and take a look at what it's going to take to repair it.  It's obviously a clogged drain, but why is the drain clogged? I texted her - the lady that owns the house - and asked when the last time was they had the coils cleaned?  They hadn't.  They're young, they don't know alot of this stuff, I am going to make sure they learn. Especially with the AC, preventative maintenance is worth it's weight in gold.  I don't even have to call it a guess, I know the coil is going to covered with dust and dirt and whatever has accumulated in there and I really prefer a professional AC person to come in and clean it - but they want so much money to do it.  

I've watched several videos on how to do it and really, I may just have to tackle the job myself.  Vacuum it first and then there is a special foam spray you can buy at Home Depot to spray into it, let it sit in there for a while and then wash out.  But first, fix the clogged drain problem, which could be a nightmare, who knows.  I just know what it costs to have AC professionals to come out and I would rather try myself and this is a drain problem, not an AC problem.  

Well, time to go to work! 

Well, the termite guy came out to my house (in Phoenix), drilled a bunch of holes, filled them with poison, filled them again with poison and then sealed it up with mud.  I mean, every time I've ever seen termite exterminators going out to a house, that is exactly what they do.  The questionning is on my Facebook wall where several people said that if it doesn't cost $800 or thousands of dollars to deal with, it hasn't been dealt with.

Well, I'm not going to spend that kind of money on termites.  I have found Craigslist to be a viable alternative to many pricey services where people do side work from their regular jobs or they are advertising their services for cheaper.

My problem is, my house is surrounded by a sea of hoarders and slobs.  This is no exaggeration, not even slightly.  I have been informed that the Hispanic neighbors have so much junk piled up now (I am not living there and therefore my calls to the city to come out and force these neighbors to deal with this crap is also gone) that it's several feet high all the way around the house.  The bugs of various nature are coming from my neighbors.  I really despise having to pay for these services to be done because my neighbors can't see fit to keep their properties clean.  I am full tilt blown into cleaning up the current property I am at.  And then, upgrading landscaping and curb appeal.

Whatever.  It's just something I have had to live with, though I used to call the city out on all of them because it's against city ordinances, constitutes a health hazard, degrades the property values in the neighborhood and personally affects me because of their cats and the bugs coming over onto m property and also the animal poop loading up on their property that eventually the smell gets so strong, yup, another call to the city.  Why do people live like this?  It's a simple thing to just clean up. I'm not asking them to install nice landscaping as I did, I just want them to keep their properties clean as city ordinances require.

So, I have to have an exterminator come out TWICE a month now.  I am only paying for one visit - I was going to cancel it because Mark said he would deal with it himself.  But the exterminator lady said please keep the account and I'll come out twice a month and deal with this problem for the same price.  Okay, I mean, it's 30 bucks per month, you really can't beat that, especially considering the scope of the problem there.  It certainly isn't her fault that the bug problems on adjacent properties are so bad that the only way to deal with it is twice monthly visits.

Over to this side of the world, I spent about 9 hours yesterday doing cleanup outside.  Now that their dog is gone, I can do that and not have to worry about it getting all trashed again within a few days.  The previoius owners of this house had expended a great deal of time and money from what I could tell in upgrading the landscaping and eye appeal, but it had been let go and the wood used for many of the projects was completely rotten.  I took all of it down and burned all of it.  It burned into the night as I kept adding stuff as I found it.

There are trees that need to be cut down as well. They are trees that started growing long after the giant trees were planted. These "natural" trees - meaning they started with the droppings of seeds by the big trees - should never have been allowed to grow. They are growing at extreme angles and over the tops of structures and fencing.  Bringing down such trees would require a professional with a crane. I can't do that, but I can cut off "offending branches"  which are hanging down almost to the ground and also the ones that are hitting the roofs.  I started that yesterday as well.

There is still alot of work to do.  Moving dirt being the largest thing right now and I will do that instages.  I don't need to wear myself out on weekends making the work week even that much more difficult.  It's next to impossible to get anyone over here - as I have said before but lamenting now - to help do that kind of work.  "Back in the day" you could hire neighborhood kids and they would work hard and not complain. Now, they start complaining before the work even starts. Why bother?  I don't.

Now that I have the freedom to do what I want - I sort of had that before but now I'm running the place and I will pull the levers on what I think needs to be done - it's going to get greatly improved.  It's more about the labor in getting things done than it is large amounts of money.  For example, the walls are covered with algae. 2 to 4 feet up from the ground.  It's ugly and it needs to come off.  This week I am going to ask the manager if he will let me borrow it over a weekend. Others have done so with him so I expect him to say yes.  Okay, I really don't expect him to say yes, there are huge double standards at that place now, but I'm going to ask anyway.

And, the next door neighbor has come around now.  She found a boyfriend and didn't want the appearance of helping a neighbor who is also a single man.  We got over that yesterday as I introduced myself to the man and we chatted about home improvement projects. She, the neighbor, pointed out the algae and I thought, yeah, that's pretty unsightly.  After looking it up, it also appears it can eventually damage the brick by holding in moisture and eventually causing the brick to come apart.  The entire house has either mold or on the vinyl parts, a huge amount of dirt accumulated.  It would be a day long project, maybe an entire weekend, to deal with it.

They want $250 for a decent, gas-powered pressure washer and I am just not going to spend that kind of money on a house that i don't own and will get nothing back out of it.  Well, excpeting that I have a nice place to live versus having to go somewhere else, start over and not know what kind of environment I'm going to end up in.  Not to mention having a Great Dane, which is an obstacle trying to find places.  I'm really considering staying in this area because of housing investment opportunities.  I need to get one going and get my feet in the water. Eventually having 10 of them would provide a decent income on it's own.

I am going to spend some time today investigating the options that are available to people who want to get involved in such ventures. However, I want to get outside and do a limited amount of work today.  Really, the pressure washer and the dirt moving are next on the list.  Well that and cleanup on the north side of the house.  Perhaps that is what i will start to tackle. They have accumulated a large amount of junk over there. I burned what was burnable from there yesterday but there are wet leaves piled up and it's very unsightly.  Oh, and I still have trenching to dig, that is hard work though.  Maybe I could do enought to get one more stick of pipe in at least.    Well, now that I have loaded myself up with a list, I'll pick one and try to get it done and the rest can be taken up again next weekend.

Well, that was interesting. Reading some things.  My room rental endeavors seem to be far more profitable than renting whole houses to individual families.  When the landlords lives in the residence, it is unlikely that a bad tenant is going to get away with anything for very long.  Damage, noise, nuisances? Goodbye.  You're IN the house, you SEE what the people are doing, they are kept  u nder check.  Plus, you are renting the rooms at a higher rate than what would occur if you rent the whole house.  I'm not against renting a house, I just know you incur less damage and loss with a live-ine landlord.

I dunno. Lots to ponder.

Oops, forgot about the lawn. The mower won't start and I don't have the right sized socket to remove the spark plug.  Gonna have to go get one.

Time to get something done.




 

I would like to announce this work week is over.
I have, patting myself on the back since I know no-one else will lol, done a very nice job of ignoring the new manager's unbelievable lack of any kind of social graces and have made all kinds of genuine, amiable gesstures in terms of greetings to him all week long.  How about I just do whatever I can within reason to win him over and that will be that.  Well I'm trying.  Yesterday, my 8 hours was "here" and I told the guy filling in for the dinosaur-aged-minded warehouse dude who is on vacation that I have been here 8.  Well let me go find out what he - the manager from now on, I'll get rid of the new part - says.  Yup, better to cover your @$$. He comes back, the manager says what's an hour?

Well you hear him say that every day, never.  Today was perplexing to me with him, though. We were audited not long ago by corporate and we failed because of the drivers. And not me, thanks and patting myself on the back again, I was the only one that was given a pass, the other drivers failed the entire store and the auditors will be back and who knows when.  Well, one failed part none of us had any knowledge of and that was forklift checklists that are supposed to be performed every day before you get on it.  A useless waste of time, if the thing works, it works if it doesn't call the repair service - but whatever.  I spot stuff wrong on everything. If it's broke, I point it out.  So, today, after a month of  all of us doing it everyday, we lapsed on a series of events that occurred as we came into the yard to deal with that included using 2 forklifts to unload a freight truck that had been unproperly loaded and we had to deal with it.

The perplexing part was him talking about "only one perfect man" that walked the earth, referencing Christ and a few other references to our Lord.  How can a man treat people the way he does in such an abhorent manner and reference the Lord?  Just extremely strange.  I am in a different land and people think differently here and I have tried to integrate myself into this regional thinking, but I'm hardly going to lose myself in it.  Some of it is bizarre and very foreign to me.  I still have trouble understanding what people are saying here.

Whatever the case, I was given the okay to take as much damaged pipe as I want out of the pile.  Thanks. I need more to complete the drainage project but I have no way to get it over here. I have no way of getting it over here, lol, but maybe we'll get another run this way. Actually there's a run to Dallas next week but it won't be my turn on the semi.  I wish it was because there is a dog over there that I really would like to get I just have too much going on here to leave for that length of time.  Still, I need a break from all of this stuff.  I have so much vacation hours saved up now I'm considering a week off soon.  No idea.  I just keep saving them up because I don't know what I want to do.

__________________________________________

Now Saturday morning.  Got up, put the rest of my stuff away that I had laying out.  I just find that that kind of thing is a weekend job, not really interested in doing that when I get home from work.  so now, the house is all cleaned up and the new lady here wants to scrub the floors.  Be my guest, there's the supplies!  Lol.  Seriously, I have so much stuff to get done outside that having that kind of help inside is a big plus.  I still have some things to arrange in my room but not really that muich.  I seriously want to dig out a small pond out front.

But, that isn't a priority though if I wanted to do it I would really have to get it done before winter. There's just a big mess out there right now from recent heavy storms that came through from the south - where all that damage was done in Baton Rouge and accompanying areas. We've been getting hit hard.  I also have more ditch to dig and I now have to mow the front yard every weekend since the next door neighbor won't do it like she used to when the owners were living here.  She found a boyfriend and that dude is over there right now, actually, helping her do the yard.  But, we have a new mower and it doesn't take that long. Still, another chore on the list lol.

The front porch really needs to be recoated.  I'm not sure that's anything I want to do this weekend though it doesn't look good out there. But I'd have to buy primer and the concrete paint and that would run the bill up to around 50 bucks. I kinds spent a lot of money on that water heater for m  house in Phoenix and I don't necessarily want to spend that kind of money.  In reality, I really would like to figure out another room so I could rent mine out.  The "extra" money every month would pay for the home improvements instead of  coming out of my pocket.

Anyway, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced if I could get a hold of 4 or 5 rental properties that would provide monthly income that would fund my retirement when I get there.  My credit should start going up in  the next few months, meanwhile I"m going to read up on people that are in the business and have the knowleedge.  I found another property so cheap, I would have loved to jump on it.  But, the house is condemned meaning either raze the house altogether or spend a lot of time and money making it livable.  I dont want a huge project house.  Replacing some drywall, fixing up kitchens and bathrooms are okay, but having to redo roofs or broken central ac units is not in the cards.  Too much money and too much time.

There is a very strong rental market in this area, I'm sure I could rent out houses and make a reasonable profit on them.

Well, I got a lot to do today, best to be getting offa here.

Well I wore myself out today. I was determined to get that ditch dug beyond the house and make the turn,which I did.  It's dug out over there and the 90 installed and that was it for me for today.  I have enough pipe to make it to the back yard but not to the creek, if I'm to ever finish the project I need probably 3 more sticks of pipe and likely I won't get them free as I did with the previous manager who just wrote it off and let me have them.  Wish I would have gotten all of it back then when I could have.

Speaking of that, my coworker got into trouble this week at work.  He apparnetly has been telling contractors that he is quitting and going over to HD Supply. One of them came into the will calll the other day and asked if he was still working there or had he departed to HD Supply yet?  It's one thing to look for a new job in greener pastures, it's entirely another to be looking at your current company's direct competition. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but keep your mouth shut until you make up your mind and you are actually working over there.

But, a few of my applications have called over there and asked for references.  Funny, they haven't gotten back to me at all.  But, the new manager told my coworker the other day that there  is no guarantee that he is going to give either of us a good reference.  Hmmm, well, that's interesting, because I am not asking him for a reference, but companies normally call current or previous employers and ask.  The thing is, if he's giving false statements intentionally, there have been a large number of lawsuits that companies lose because of it.  I would love to find out he's saying something ill of me, for I have done nothing but give stelllar work performance to keep myself clear from any negatives against me.

__________________________________

So, with that revelation, I can give my old manager as a reference.  He won't give a load of bs.  Or nt a reference, just the person to call. Regardless, it's Sunday and upcoming Monday.  I don't really know what's going on at work tomorrow, but I do know I don't really want to be there.  So, I am going to look at more job listings today.

Meanwhile, the transition here is going better. Addller is getting used to have free house roam - with me of course.  We are now hanging out in the living room instead of the bedroom. Sundays I do like to watch a bit of TV, usually whatever movies might be on.  I am at the moment decided not to get a receiver in my room since I have full access to this one out here, and frankly, it's cooler out here than in the bedroom.  Much more space as well, though Addler doesn't have his bed to hang out on out here.  That's up to him, the bedroom door is open he can go in there and lay down if he wants.

Friday at last.  Get this work day over with and head home, relax tonight probably and then spend the weekend trying to get some of this situation here finished.

Addler is still pretty agitated I guess you could call it.  He is barely eating and running all the place. If I leave him out too long he will start crying, literally. It's a bit much for him I guess.  Time will deal with it.  He'll at least eat the treats I am giving him so there is that.  I don't think I'm going for  the deaf Great Dane for the owner revealed it is also an escape artist without elaborating how it escapes.  Sorry, I don't need one of those. It really doesn't have to be a Great Dane at all.  A medium sized dog that eats a lot less food would also suffice.

I did get a new bathtub faucted that has an attachment on it to put a hand held shower to it.  You hit the diverter valve and walaah, instant shower.  All well and fine - and installed - but there was only a thing to screw onto the regular shower head threads, which I don't have.  So I am going to go back today and see if they have some kind of bracket I can buy to have it mounted  to the wall.  I don't want to sit there hold the thing the whole time trying to take a shower (but I must admit it is far better than nothing at all or taking a bath).  After skipping a shower yesterday since I couldn't take one, it felt mighty good to get in that shower stream this morning and clean up.  It also helps wake me up, hence the reason I take my showers in the morning.

I expect things to start normalizing around here pretty quick. The new tenants are getting used to my ways - I don't want the front door left open all day long, thanks.  I'm trying not to actually "say" "negative" things to them, I just show them.  There are 2 doors on the front: a normal wood door and then a glass door.  The lady wants to leave the wood door open and the glass door closed.  Sounds okay but in reality the glass door doesn't have near the insulating properties of the wood door and it is summer time and the AC is on.  So I just started closing it.  They are here all day so the AC is set at lower temp all day.

The only thing that may help combat the extra electricity is that she does all of the dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher that was run once a day, every day when my landlords were here.  They also don't have near the electronic devices to keep charged/running as the landlords did.  It may offset it, I don't know.  I already did say something at the get go about laundry.  No 7 loads per week stuff.  Keep it to a minimum, please, do large loads.

I mean, I know I'm going to have to say some things about electric use behavior, maybe, but still, they already declared they are very conscious about electric use and that at least made me happy to hear they don't just believe because they are paying rent that the have the "right" to use as much as they please.

Well, writing time over. Off to work.

One thing you learn when it comes to many co-workers: you can't really trust them.  You can't really confide in them unless they are real life friends as well.
Anyway, my coworker calls me today and starts complaining about how the new manager called him into his office and said that he had heard from outside sources that my co-worker was going around telling everyone he is switching over to our competitor.

I think he suspected that I had said something to someone, which I had not.  I know how this new manager works now, you don't give anything away to him at all.  Nothing. Some things are better left alone that most other managers wouldn't have a problem dealing with.  Not this guy, he's a real winner.  I think the thing that passed the manager off is that my co-worker is going to HD Supply which is a major competitor of ours.  Just to see what they would say, when I got back to the yard today after the second run I non-chalantly asked why he had gone home early?  Oh, he got himself into trouble.  Oh?  Yeah, he's been going around telling people that he's quitting and going over to HD Supply.

Who did he tell? Everyone. Actually, that does fit my co-workers MO. He talks a lot, too much, gets himself into trouble.  The problem is, there is some kind of glitch with HD Supply and they told him they may not be able to hire him after all.  Oops.  If I find a new job, they aren't going to find out about it until I tell them I'm quitting.  The new manager came in several weeks ago, lambasted everyone and then told us all that if we want to quit, he doesn't neeeeeeed no advance notice, just get your stuff and leave now.  Notwithstanding the fact that no-one had said anything about quitting.

I intend on calling the General Manager and telling him instead.  No need to burn bridges though I really kinda want to.  So anyway, the new manager took my co-worker's keys from him, told him to go home.  As I said, I just smile at everyone now and say hi and go along with whatever.  So far my searches have come back with negatives, even though they are advertised on the online job hunting sites.  They don't have any positions open and when one does comee available, hundreds of people apply for them almost instantaneously.  It's not really a driver's market for local jobs, it's always a driver's market for OTR or Regional.  I'm really glad, though, that I didn't jump on that.  I wouldn't have been able to stay here at this house for they would have sold it.  I can't be out on the road for a week at a time and attempt to oversee their house, just wouldn't work too well.

Electric use is going to go up here and they have agreed to pay for it. They are home all the time.  The ac was set at 78 when everyone was gone at work. I set it at 74 and I was informed they lowered it to 72 today.  Well nice and fine.  Just help yourself.  That's one of the no no's I have with tenants.  Do NOT touch the thermostat. If it is too hot or cold, we can discuss terms, ie: you pay the difference.  Otherwise, live with it or there are plenty of places up for rent around here - referring to Phoenix though, not here.  I told my landlords to install a locked cover over the thermostat because one particular tenant was turning it way down during the day.  Which in turn was jacking up the electric bill by over $100 per month.  He and his girlfriend had been there for  years, actually, but they decided to get their own place after that.

Another oops on their part.  They found out how much their appetite for electric use was costing and they said that I had spoiled them.  No, they had taken advantage of me and now that they are gone, we aren't going there again.  I won't allow it here, either, without the person or people compensating for the extra electricty.

I have definitely decided to let my stuff wait until this weekend.  Saturday I will deal with the rest of it and the house will look normal again. Another rainy day today and rainy days make me sleepy.  I am like ready to go to bed and it's not even 7 pm yet.  Oh, my stuff that is still out in the main areas of the house.  Nothing worth stealing, lol, my room doesn't have a locking door anyway, though I am considering changing that.  Not that I think these people are thieves, but I find more peace of mind knowing that no-one can go trifling through my stuff.  There are plenty of nosy people in this world that will do stuff like that for no more reason than to just be snoopy.

My checks have been cashed for the passport, though I don't know that that is any guarantee that I'm going to get one. I'm a little leery now going through this stuff with Texas and still not getting any word back on whether I will get the LTC or not.

Addler is still pretty skittish about what's going on here, but I suspect the loss of his pack is the real thing that has unnerved him.  His companions are gone and they aren't coming back.  Well one of them may eventually come back, but honestly? I do not like that dog.  It chews up everything. Plastic pots, plants, trees, garden hoses, you name it, even glass bottles.  It does this all day long and makes a huge mess out in the back.  I got so sick of cleaning up after that dog that I just started only doing it once per week.  They wouldn't clean up at all and I just wantd the place looking at least somewhat presentable. The back yard is basically a disaster and it will take quite a bit of doing to make it something appealing.

I have the stuff to put in a small pond out front. Really, I do. The underliner, the liner and the pump.  Well I don't have the filter, no, wait I do have a filter too! Would have to dig up a lot of dirt to do it. But we spend our time on the front porch, not out back where the pond I put in is at.  So, anyway, I might get around to doing that since I have already spent the money quite some time ago, it was gong to go to do something else but that plan was halted with the dogs tearing everything up in the back yard.

Well, enough.

A rather grueling day yesterday.  I knew I had a lot to do, but I didn't realize had that much to do until I started in on everything.  Hindsight being 20-20, should have given myself at least 2 days to deal with all of this. Started at 6:30 am moving out of my bedroom, much more there than I thought. I had been storing up food for any kind of natural disaster or whatever else may come along that deprives us of the basic necessities of life and that  food had been taking up a lot of space.

Well, I have an entire pantry now! HUGE pantry at that.  All of that food is neatly tucked away in there at this point and that's numerous large boxes full of food that I don't have to have in my bedroom now.  That is a big plus.  The lady that was supposed to show up at 8? No show and I got back on my computer and found an email from her from the previous day stating she had some sort of family emergency in Houston and wouldn't be able to make it.

Panic mode, sort of.  Started sending out messages to all the other people that had replied and got a reply back almost immediately from one of them: can't be there right now, but in a couple of hours.  Well, it would have to do. Too much cleaning and moving things around for me to be able to get all of that done in the short time period I had to do it.  He did show up, though, about an hour and a half later and he went straight to work.  Nothing against men, but I had wanted a female person to do the work for I just find that they are the better cleaners and more eye to detail.  He did a great job, though and helped me clean up my room and move out of it and then on to other areas of the house.

And of course, the new tenants showed up way too early.  I told them it would be after noon - at least - before ready to move into my old bedroom, though the master bedroom was vacated and they could move in there.  They kept wanting to take stuff in to my bedroom and I kept saying no, we aren't finished in there yet.  Anyway, I still have stuff laying out in both the dining room and the living room and really dont' care.  I just had too much to do and I didn't have time to sort through all of it.  They will have to deal with that stuff being there until I can get to it, which ain't today because I'm back to work this morning.  In reality, it's just stuff on the dining room table and a corner in the living room with a pile of my stuff in there.

So, my new bedroom.  Well, it's a tad smaller but it's pretty nice actually.  I'm happy I agreed to stay and take over the house.  The biggggg drawback right now is a bathroom that doesn't have a shower, it just has a bathtub.  I don't do baths.  I don't like sitting in bathtubs and it takes too much time.  I am a hopper - hop into the shower, scrub down, hop out, 5 minutes and it's done. You can't even fill up the tub in 5 minutes, can you? Much less  sitting there...well anyway, just not for me.  But, the problm is, it's not set up for a shower.  There is no shower head.  The wall is going to have to be opened up to install one, gag.  Worse, I don't even know where the other side of that wall is, but I think it's the master bedroom closet.  This is a headache that I'm going to have to try to deal with this coming weekend.  Until then, I guess I'll be forced to take baths after work, I just don't have the desire to do that in the morning.

Oh now wait a minute.  Just saw a tub spout that has a divertor to attach a hand shower attachment to.  Yes!  Oh thank God. I don't want to tear out walls and install all that junk and spend all the money.  Good deal, hopefully that old one will come off easy enough and I can just install the diverter setup and walaah, instant shower.

Of course, nothing seems too easy in an old house, such as even turning off the ball valve at the street. We even have the tool to do it with, but that thing wouldn't budge.  I was giving it more and more pressure until I stopped, I was afraid I was going to break it.  We had a hose outlet that was leaking and I wanted to replace it, but you have to shut the water off to the house first.  The city came out and turned it off and yes, it started leaking.  They would have charged us $100 to fix it, too, if we hadn't called them to come out and turn it off.  So now, they have to install a new one and then it will turn on and off easily.

So anyway, there is a lot to do here in the next few weeks not the least of which is to find the drain on the pan for the ac unit and unclog it.  It's leaking everywhere and I have no idea how long it's been doing that.  I mean, the wood flooring is buckling up from the water, they must have known about this? I never came over to this side of the house, this is all news to me.  I'm assuming the drain is clogged and I will attempt to find the pipe, get a small drain snake and clear it out. Unless the pan itself is leaking, this ..... well I don't want to predict an easy fix.  It could be a nightmare for all I know.  Maybe it's why they didn't deal with it, but you can't just have water leaking in your house.

Alright, well off to work.  I am not really looking forward to work today, but then again I never do anymore, not at that place. Just that i would rather be at home and dealing with all of this stuff and getting it over with.

Rubber meets the road time.
They are gone, left at 2 pm.  By the time I got home, Addler was definitely an unhappy camper. No other dogs in the back yard with him, no-one in the house, not happy at all.  I am going to have to find another dog for him soon.  The Dane that was offered apparently is no longer being offered, they didn't like the fact that i couldn't drop everything I am in the middle  of and drive 150 miles to go see if that Dane and Addler are compatible and bring him home.

Found another one.  But, I am going to peruse the local Craigslist ads and see if there is another breed that might be a weeeeee bit smaller and go that route instead.  I am just a Dane lover, but I have had several other breeds of dogs as well that I really liked and loved.  I've had my share of mutts that all turned out to be great dogs.  I just don't want to start from scratch, ie: housbreaking and obedience and all of that.

There are a large number of breeds I don't want, including Beagles, Labs, Bassett Hounds and Greyhounds, but many more really.  I like other people's small dogs, I don't want one.  I want a dog that has a good temperament and not known to be aggressive by nature.  Which eliminates numerous other breeds including Pitbulls, Dobermans and Rottweilers.  I also don't want a known escape artist.  I have no patience for that and those dogs usually end up lost or dead, in a pound or someone else takes them home.

Well, the only night I'll have the house to myself.  Which matters not either way. I had no energy to move anything tonight, which is what I had given half a thought about anyway.  Meaning tomorrow is going to be gruesome getting everything out of here. I do, however, have a cleaning lady coming.  I put in an ad on Craigslist for $10 for cleaning and got probably 30 responses.  One of them was from a lady that claims she does tenant home cleaning, charges $10 per hour and has her own tools and cleaners.  Well howdy do! She'll be over at 8 am.  I would have had her come earlier but something tells me that getting up in the morning isn't going to be fun and since I don't really have to be up that early, I: won't.  It was extremely intense, 300 miles of driving in heavy downpouring rain today and that takes a lot of focus and wears me out mentally.

Whatever the case, I need to get to bed early cause' I know this is going to wear me out tomorrow.

I'm not sure what I"ve gotten myself into.  Do I really want to take care of someone else's house for 2 years?  Welp, I agreed to it though stipulated that "anything" can happen but promised to give well advance notice if anything happens that I need to skidoodle.  With that, I'm off to bed.

I was very happy to get to work this morning and have a run that was gonig to take up most of the day. Red River Army Depot was the destination in Hook, Texas.  You have to fill out an application to get into the place and they do a background check on you then and there.  The place is massive.  Lots of Army personel carrier trucks all over and all kinds of military vehicles parked alongside dirt roads on both sides all over the place.  2 hours just inside that place getting the truck in there, unloaded and back out again.

Tomorrow is going to be just as good with an even longer trip down to Corrigan.  I don't much care for the inevitable passing by the CMV inspection station which is almost always open and trucks are pulled in at random.....

Anyway, I got off work and headed to UPS store, got the documents notarized and shipped out to mom's place up in the mountains.  Hopefully the trailer will sell quickly, or even at all considering where it's parked. I'm hopeful someone will be willing to buy it and go up and get it out of there.  Otherwise, I'm going to have to pay to have the thing hauled back down to the Valley and that's about $300 bucks to do so.  Ugh.

Got home, there is a rental truck in the driveway and it's almost loaded.  This thing is growing wings and about to take off.  Helped the dude carry a king size mattress out to the truck.  Huge thing!

I'm stressing, I can tell, with everything that is going on.  And irritated with the LTC license.  I mean, even if they reject it, they must send a letter, right?  Out a good deal of money if they don't approve it. Passport, no idea what kind of parameters they use to determine who can get one and who doesn't.  They have my birth certificate and I will be happy when they send that back, it was quite a bit of doing to get that thing.

And, I'm trying my best in the spirit of Christianity if nothing else to be nice to the new manager and treat him with the Golden Rule, which he doesn't give back but there are plenty of scriptures about how you are to treat people regardless of how they treat you.  So, trying to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.  Where the rubber meets the road is also where you find out how much you are really willing to do the things that Christ and the disciples spoke and walked and lived in the New Testament. The man is rather self absorbed, putting it mildly and numerous other adjectives that would aptly describe him. But, no point in dwelling on that stuff forever.  I say that, but then he'll do something else and I'll be back on here writing about whatever it is.  My only recent complaint to him was today and that is about the semi trailer.  We trade it with the store down south and they - destroy the thing.  I mean, it's unbelievable.

Well enough. I'm going to get out of the bedroom and see if they need any more help.

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.