Tomorrow marks the day that the GM comes up.  To do what, I don't know exactly.  I don't know what others have told him about the manager's behavior.  I don't know if they will come forth honestly and say what has actually happened or if they will try to support him through the very real fear of losing their jobs.  Can the GM offer anonymity that won't go any further than him?  He can, but it seems like stuff gets leaked out all the time.  My email to him was spun off all over the place. No-one knows what I said in it, exactly, they just know I sent it and the GM is coming up here because of it.

Which doesn't mean anything will change.  At all.  This GM really doesn't have any good idea of how to resolve these kinds of issues, as evidenced from the past.  He knows how to run the business, but employee altercations and problems with management he seems to not have the stomach to take on. There's nothing I can do about that, I can just feed him with the facts of what has occurred and hope he'll find some way of dealing with it, if he does, indeed, want to deal with it at all.

The GM comes up in the last few visits and doesn't avail himself to any of the employees. He sits in the manager's office all day long, obviously you aren't going to have a private conversation with him in there, especially if the crux of the conversation is about the manager himself.  So, when he said "I wish you would have said something sooner", I replied you haven't availed yourself.  He had no reply to that.  I would rather discuss these kinds of things in person, but he left me no choice.  Still, the email only went to him - so far.  I have neither shown it to other employees nor have I escalated it by sending it up the chain of command.

So, I have really no idea what will happen tomorrow.  I likely will  be shuttled off into a corner room and have a meeting with both of them.  They will undoubtedly try to establish a narrative that it's me having an issue with him, which if that does occur, I will come back with numerous examples of the manager coming up against all of us, in a group, called together, at once and belittling the whole lot of us at the same time, replete with threats against everyone.

I've prepared myself as much as I possibly can for likely inevitable scenarios, my only other thing is simply keeping my cool and engaging calmly but decisively. I would very much like if I could catch the manager off guard and "provoke" - in a factual way - him to becoming angry and forgetting where he is or who is present.  People that have that much of an anger problem sometimes do that.  It gets the best of them and they can't keep their mouth shut.

Enough of that.  I have a week off coming up soon.  I haven't decided whether I am going anywhere or doing a stay home thing.  My finances are a bit tight right now for flying off over the ocean.  I jsut want the time off.  A change of scenery would be nice, but not mandatory.

So. Monday morning (today) hits.
I wrote a letter to the general manager about the situation with the manager here.  I sent it off to my own company email instead of sending it to him from my personal account. I wrote the letter over the weekend, forgot to add.

I got to work this morning and pulled it up.  Read it over. Very detailed, somewhat lengthy but had to go there to make sure the full story was told.  I then thought about the potential consequences for clicking on the forward arrow, inserting the general manager's email address and hitting the send button. Loss of job?  Dunno, maybe.  Manager getting pissed at me for doing so?  Granted and expected.  Potential discord with certain other (@$$ kissing) employees?  Yup, a couple of them. One in particular the warehouse dude that throws everyone under the bus anyway.  Also, what if no one else confirms what I am saying? What if they are too in fear of losing their jobs that they will keep their mouths shut?

But the hell that this man makes work? Over-rode all of that.  The authoritarian fear-based "leadership" he doles out through threats and insults came to a head with me, I can't do this anymore without speaking up.  So, after a few minutes of consideration, I did hit the send button and come what may.

I went out on a run.  I figured when I got back, I would hear something.  And sure enough.  The first thing that happens is the manager comes into the showroom and asks me about my phone call to the GM today?  The look on his face spoke thousands of words.  Uhh, nope, I didn't speak to him.  He gives me "his" look.  I volunteered that I had sent him an email.  Though I didn't really feel the need to give him any info.  If the GM did, good for him.  So, he told me that the GM was coming up next week and we were going to have a meeting - him, the GM and me.  I said great, let's do that!  While thinking, what good is that going to do? This isn't about me, I'm not the only one thinking this way. But whatever.  He avoided me the rest of the day.  A coworker said he appears to be butt-hurt. Great, please take a dose of your own medicine.

Regardless, he was visibly upset but stayed away from me.  And when I checked my email at the end of the day,  I found an email back from the GM saying he was coming up and would do a "state of the store" meeting and have everyone there.  Well, I do hope that that is productive, but I am not confident that many people will speak up.  They are in fear for their jobs.  I don't want to lose my job, no. At the same time, I am driven by this man's illiteracy in "emotional intelligence" as the company puts it.  And yes, I am more than willing to push this up to corporate.  I didn't do that last time, this time I am resolved to see this through to the end - whatever end that may be.

So, I have no idea what is going to happen day to day now.  I've set myself up against this manager, rightfully so though - but still.  Upper management needs to see through all of this. The GM visits once in a while, goes and sits in the manager's office, you don't see him.  All is hunky dory.

I am going to write down every incident that I can remember on paper.  I have a dozen of them in mind and I am going to ask a few others if they can remember anything.  Yup. it's all going to be brought up. I'll do it alone if I have to.

Meanwhile, my birthday is on Super Bowl Sunday.  Steelers got run over yesterday by the Patriots so my team isn't going to be there. But, it got me to thinking: take some time off.  So, last week I asked for a week off and I at least didn't get an issue about that.  I have 141 hours availablle.  I haven't decided what to do. I don't feel much like doing anything, but then again, a drive to Fort Worth and a flight somewhere.  Just get me out of here.  Or get in the car and drive.  Just away from here.  I'm just thinking.

Ahh, life.  Well done with this one.

Been taking a break from blogging.  I just kinda lost the desire to do it.  Happens occasionally.  But I haven't posted in a while so I'm going to do an update.
As for today, the kid next door begging to let him borrow the 4 wheeler so I let him.  But, you can't take it out on the street.  What does he do?  Takes it on the street.  Both his mom and I put an end to that quickly, but the damage was done.  Maybe 30 minutes later, 2 police cruisers come through the neighborhood, but by that time the 4 wheeler was put up.  They just drove on by slowly.  10 minutes after that, his dad - a sheriff and on duty - pulled up first to their house but then quickly came over to me.

His first words? 6 more days......rofl.  He was referring to Trump taking power in the inauguration.  And cops apparently are very happy about Trump coming into power and legitimizing law enforcement again.  Then I saw this awesome AR rifle in his car and started talking about that which of course he was delighted to go into, but the boy - cannot ride the 4 wheeler in the neighborhood again, which I totally agree with. The uncle has a huge swath of land outside of town and that is where they normally take it.

Christmas was good if uneventful.  I can't decide whether I missed being with family for it or not.  They didn't have it on Christmas Day anyway, so no loss there, but the event usually lasts only 2 or 3 hours and that is it.  Bye bye, c'ya next Christmas.  I almost made it midnight New Year's but I fell asleep like 15 minutes before 12, lol.

Ummm, really now.  I am still a bit absorbed in the political realm.  The unending "conflicts" dems/liberals/progs are bringing up against Trump are rather amusing to me.  The "final" one, providing another one doesn't prop up between here and Friday (which it probably will so not holding my breath), is they are allegedly going to dump up to 750,000 protesters in DC to attempt to actually stop the inauguration. Seriously, when have you ever seen this kind of nonsense after a president has been elected and before he was inaugurated? I dunno if this level of fruitcakery has ever happened, I certainly don't remember it.


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Well, it's a bit hard to finish a post around here.  A lot comes up.  I was watching the Steelers game on Sunday and at 1 minute 55 seconds left in the game, Steelers up by 2, someone comes to the door.  Gag.  I was like, uhhh, yeah, one moment while standing at the door, looking at the tv. But the ending to the game nothing grand.  They just ran the clock out to win the game.  Still, that puts the Steelers in for next Sunday to play for the conference win.  Which would take them back to the Super Bowl if they actually do win.

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Well now I'm going to do some venting.  For when I came back from a run today, the warehouse manager showed me a ticket - from a month ago, and asked me what happened with a hand written in backorder.  In other words, the quantity had originally showed shipping and then I had changed it to show it had not shipped.  I don't remember, I know we shipped them though.  5 minutes later, the "new" manager, not so new now, comes out, calls everyone together and then starts in on me. And I got right back in his face.  He started cussing, calling m e out personally and telling me "You'd better think hard. You'd better be thinking hard for a looooong time until you remember".  Talking down to me, getting angry, I had had enough.

You can't even think to remember something from a month ago when someone is in your face talking like that to you.  Apparently the look on my face spoke more than my words, for I was getting angry. I've had enough of this a-hole getting angry about petty s*** and then coming up to us and talking to us like we're 5 year old in Kindergarten.  We fired back and forth at each other for at least 10 mintues.  Finally the thing came back into memory and then I got very vocal.  Yes, I remember now. I brought this ticket in there, informed those two - the warehouse manager and the inside salesman - that this ticket needed to be changed because I couldn't fit the material that was showing backordered onto the truck, pointing at the two the entire time.  Those two have NO problem throwing all of us under the bus, they can get a dose of their own medicine.

But I wasn't letting off this fake manager that gets mad over stupid stuff.  He stood there and said I'm getting angry, apparently thinking I would intimidated by it. No and no thanks (and if I would have thought about it, I would got out my phone and called his manager on the spot).  I did everything that YOU said to do.  When I got to the jobsite and saw they hadn't changed the ticket (this was a HUGE order, filled the entire truck up and much of it double stacked with pallets), I placed the non-shipping material on backorder.  When I got back, I took the ticket into them again, showed them the error and told them it needed to be changed before being billed.

I have tried and tried to just let the man have his way, keep my mouth shut but this was the straw that broke the camel's back.  I had had enough and everyone there knew I was at bursting point.  Seriously, if that man had continued on with it, I probably would not have a job right now.  But, I kept my cool enough to deliberately give him his stuff right back at him in calm tones.  Don't read this wrong. I didn't blow up.  I didn't cuss back.  I didn't mouth off, but I wasn't backing down - at all - either.  I basically kept speaking up the entire time until he finally backed off. He stopped himself, realized what kind of s*** he was pulling. Got a strange look over his face, and then actually apologized to everyone.

That wasn't enough for me though, for he had singled me out and it was completely and totally unwarranted.  So yes, I kept bringing up the pertinent points to his petty ranting that led to unwarranted anger on his part.  He finally changed his tones and said okay, okay.  Let's just work towards getting this better and offered alternatives.  Yes, let's do that. And btw, when I say something to someone about changing a ticket, it goes in one ear and out the other.  That got his ire but that's exactly what goes on.  He finally settled down after he saw I was having none of it and I was definitely not backing down.  I'm a man, not a child and I'm not going to let this person talk down to me like this anymore.  The next time this happens - and yes there will be a next time because this dude can't stop himself - I'm calling the general manager and he can hear how this guy is acting out.

There was one marked difference after this exchange.  5 minutes after it happened and everyone walked off, he came up to me an profusely apologized.  Perhaps there is hope for the man after all. Who knows.

And, after that, everyone else was commenting on me.  I'm not going to say I wasn't getting extremely agitated with his behavior, they saw it on my face.  They all thought I was going to bust.  And in fact, that what was what was happening internally.  I at one point had to look down, gather my thought quickly, calm myself down and then continue on.  They all saw that and knew what was going on.  It actually ended on a much better note than any of these interactions with this man has occurred before.

Okay. It's Thursday night, tomorrow is the Inauguration of Donald Trump.  Projected up to 750,000 protestors showing up, including talk of rioting and violence, human chains and all kinds of garbage.  I hope and pray that violence doesn't occur.

Well, haven't posted in a while. I have been absorbed in my new moderator rule in this huge political debate group I'm in.  BTW, anyone interested in joining let me know and I'll post a link to the group. It's a closed group and there are some fruitcakes in it, but there is some real debating that goes on in there too. I'm getting my feet wet at the mod role and dealing with a large variety of issues, though the most sticky ones are getting in between people that go into anger and start the stupid name calling and such. Almost every single time, I end up having to boot a person from the group.  So, that's part of what I"ve been doing.

The rest is buying Christmas gifts and getting them sent out, sending out Christmas cards, raking and burning leaves, going to work and dealing with the daily grind.  I got a wonderfully nice sized rib roast yesterday at Kroger's.  I went in there to find these small little roasts out in the cooler and I don't like getting a cut of beef like that in such a small size.  It doesn't cook right, at least not for me, it gets over-cooked too easily.  A good roast like that is going to be nice and red on the inside, not pink or medium or anything else.  Usually the small end of the cut will brown nicely for those that want more well-cooked beef.  Well I knocked on the butcher door and asked if they had any larger roasts?  Nope, but we can cut you one to size.  I said about 10 pounds.  They got it very close to 10 pounds and I was very happy.

My new credit card turned out to actually lower my credit score more than it was at before. Why? Because when I asked for a balance transfer from one of my other cards,  I asked for X amount to be transferred.  Well, they transferred the entire amount which was well above my credit limit on that card.  Meaning it's showing I'm over the limit to the credit agencies and that automatically dumped my newly found increases, at least on Experian.  So,, I have asked them to at least increase the credit limit to the amount I owe on the account.  There is no risk to them for that, it's not going to give me any ability to spend anything on it, so I am hoping they will do it.  This credit score business is turning into a real headache.

Posting this one even though unfinished. I have too many drafts in there, got to post something! lol

Okay look, I have zero experience transferring balances from one card to another.  So, it was rather shocking to see my Platinum card with Capital One at zero balance and the Barclay card acquiring the entire amount of the balance.  The reason is surprised me is because I originally put the request in with only taking out a portion of the balance.  This is about credit building first, for me anyway. Saving money is also right up there.  I wanted the amounts on both cards to be at or less than the limit experts say you should have any given card at - 30% - in account balance.  Second, because the balance on the Cap One card is more than the  credit limit Barclay card gave me to begin with.

The good news of this is that I now have 15 months of interest free payments to pay that amount off and I definitely intend on doing that much faster than I originally intended to.  A $200 payment - is worth $200 - not $120 or whatever with interest added.  In 10 months I'll have that card down to near zero.   I was charged with 2 fees to bring the balance over for some reason, they did it in two transactions of which I don't understand but will be asking them about.  However, the fees are negligible to the amount of money paid towards interest over that same 15 month period if it were still on the other card so I'm not going to complain. I just don't understand why they even bothered to do that when it went over their limit for my account.

I'm also curious if they are going to try to add over-limit fees.  We'll be having a long conversation about that since it is irrefutable that my request was for X amount, that was less than the credit limit of the card.  But I am not going there tonight. What I need now is Capital One to increase the credit limit on the now zero balance card.  Not so I can spent more money, but so that my overall credit use is lowered.  Fingerhut just gave me an increase to over 3 grand, of which I have a $200 balance on it and no plans to buy anything  from them anytime soon.

Well enough of that for now.  Just my current "fad", I guess. Get the credit back in shape, at least get it into the 700 range and then explore my options.  A few owner financed properties available, but unappealing.  Including a 10 spot mobile home park with a site built home for the owner to live in. They want far too much money for it.  I could start a 10 unit park just outside of town instead of out in the boonies for a fraction of the cost. I also found a lot of owner financed homes at really good prices.  A huge house on 5 acres for 150k.  You have to wonder about a property like that, though. Always appraisals tell the story.

Well, nothing new around here.  Rain, rain and more rain.  All day long, everywhere.  Driving in it, working in it, getting wet in it. The pond project at a stall, just have to wait until next weekend, that is, weather permitting.  Mom's Christmas present to me should be arriving some time this week. A large enough tool box on wheels.  She declared today she is the owner of 2 homes - but soon to be in her new place which she claims she really likes.  My brothers.  I don't hate them, but they are some of the most selfish people I know.  Why couldn't they lift a finger  to help her?  I almost wish I was still living there to have been around to help her through all of this.  Operative word being almost.

Well, the end of 4 days off.  I know it's barely noon Sunday, but it goes so fast.  I got  up, let the dogs out, enjoyed a large breakfast - something I really don't get into but she loves to cook and this really was tasty - then headed up to Lowe's.  I have been working on the pond project this weekend, with the wall mostly built and mortared in.  However, I forgot about rebar and though I couldn't stick it inside the blocks as you are supposed to do, I was at least able to drive them into the ground directly behind the blocks and up against them and then cement them in.  This has turned into a much more involved project than I expected.  It's because  of the proximity to the house. OtherI pwise, I would have been able to just dig a hole and no have had to put up any retaining walls and it would have already been done.

But, getting too far out into the yard would have defeated the purpose of being able to sit there and enjoy a pond while sitting on the front porch.  And my water run-off drainage pipe limited how far away from the porch I could put it. It would have been ideal at around 2 feet.  Instead, it's about 10 inches, which is good enough.

Anyway, I  got my materials and got up to the contractor's check  out. I'm not a contractor but that never stops anyway.  The young lady running the counter had a foul attitude, which was obvious before even got up to her with the way she treated the people in front of me.  I thought, well, I just have a few things, get this over with and get out of there.  However, she rang everything up and and gave me the total, which I thought was way higher than what it should be.  I decided to say nothing, if I need a refund I'll go to the customer service counter instead of dealing with her.

But, it didn't happen that way.  First off, she was complaining about the purchase itself with the rebar.  Do you know how much these are? No, I replied.  There was no prices on most of it.  She got upset at that while talking to this other young employee standing there.  I kept my cool while enduring her foulness.  She rang everything up, I paid for it, she handed me the receipt.  I stood back from the register and turned slightly to head out the door.  I was looking at the receipt, there was a $22 charge for something on there that I definitely didn't buy and was the source of the conflict.  She grabbed the receipt out of my hands without asking and said: "let me look at that".  That is where she crossed my line.  I still said nothing while she issued a refund and then demanded that I sign a paper for it.  Huh? You make a mistake and you want me to sign for it?  She just looked at me.  I then stated: You have an attitude problem.  She got a pissy look on her face, said okay and then walked away from the register.  I asked her her  name.

No reply. I asked the other employee's name.  No reply. An older guy had just walked up and I was asking for a manager.  Well what's wrong? She's getting an attitude with me  because of her mistake!  Enough.  Note that this lady never once apologized for her error.  Nothing even remotely close to it.  I walked out of there before I was going to lose my cool, loaded the stuff into the car and went into the other entrance, to the returns counter and asked for the manager.  Is there something I can help you with?  A lady with a clearly Texas drawl asked.  No, I want to speak to the general manager of this store, is that individual here?

She calls her up, meanwhile attempting to try and pry info out of me  It was more  curiosity on her part so I accommodated her with a piece of the information. I then quickly said, no, it's not you anyone standing here.  Ohhhh, she said, okay.  The manager came up, listened to my story and started trying to explain away the receipt and what happened.  I quickly stopped that line.  I don't care about that, it's that lady's attitude that I am complaining about. I didn't make this mistake, I didn't get the bad attitude, I don't expect to come to  Lowe's and get treated like this for no good reason.  This lady wouldn't give me her name, grabbed the receipt out of my hands  without asking and never apologized for her error.  She has a bad attitude and I expect you to deal with this in whatever way you find appropriate.

The manager got the hint and the clue, profusely apologized for the other lady's actions and said she would deal with it. Thank you!  And I left, wishing them all a good day.  I forgot Merry Christmas, I started doing that after Thanksgiving.  It didn't ruin my day, I just made my point and got out of there.

The block is in, the rebar pounded in, the mortar poured, now I have to wait for it to set.  Then I am going to fill in with dirt up to the level of the foundation of the house.  After that I can set the final block in place.  So, this is going to be resumed next weekend.  I get home from work now and it's almost dark already.  Yes I could run a light out there but I"m not in a huge hurry.  I would like to get this done, but it's a step by step process and it can't be rushed.

That's it for today.  The leaves are all but burned.  Once those are done I have a huge ash pile to dump over the back fence.  The next rain will wash it all away down the creek. I was informed, though, that those ashes are good for flower gardens. Hmmm, well if true, I will have plenty more.  The ash pile is over two feet high now, I need to get it back to ground level and then I can start over again.  I really need a high powered leaf blower.  But they are expensive.  I dunno if there are any Christmas specials on such, supposedly Black Friday deals are going through the weekend  - but - Cyber Monday is almost here.

I'm determined to get my own property out here.  There is very little public land anywhere.  Ie:places to go to enjoy yourself with dogs running free or firing up the 4 wheelers. It's a culture of land ownership.  I'm hopeful by sometime into next year my credit rating will be out of fair territory and into good zone.  That will be good enough to secure a low payment loan on a medium sized piece of land, I"m thinking around 50 acres.  Unless you have cash, you can't do anything without  good credit.  I'm not going to get burned by high interest/high payments.  Cattle would be in the equation as well.  I do need to save up the money for the down payment.  Which I have started.

Well, back to the Lowe's fiasco. While sitting here contemplating things, I checked my bank account.  The money was not refunded back into my account.  That required an immediate call to Lowe's, where I was informed "he" was not available, the store's manager.  Now we are going into more lies.  He? I replied. Yes, he's on the phone. I'll wait, thinking what is this? The lady that I spoke to said she was the store's manager and that after I pressed her about being the store's general manager.  I was hung up on.  I called back.  Again.  I called back.  Finally, this guy answers the phone.  I dumped all over him.  What is going on  there?

Finally,  a sensible person.  He profusely apologized for all of it.  He said there are cameras all over  the store and he would be reviewing the video of it. PLEASE do, I replied, you will see her snatching that receipt out of my hands.  He offered to refund my money in cash, but I am not going back up to that store today.

Well I'm going to put that out of my mind.  The Shepherd is getting bigger.  I wasn't really looking for another large dog, so I hope that stops soon enough.  She is finally getting accustomed to my way of doing things and is starting to blend in - excepting her penchant for jumping the fence.  Now, I've been letting her out without being chained up for the last week or so while I"m home, but I just can't do that when I'm at work. The last time she got out I caught her in the act and that was potentially a turning point.  Whatever the case, I do hope she isn't pregnant. So far, there are no signs of it.

Nothing much else around here worth going into.

I just called my dad and that was a pretty short lived call.  He actually sounded very good in health, but the effects of the dementia are becoming more and more profound.  At the same time, he's 85 years old, so it's not like his life is getting cut short.  I talked  with his wife for a few seconds and then got on the horn with her son who wanted to exchange phone numbers.  I'm, uh, going to have to figure something out here in advance.  Both my dad and her - his wife - are having their own sets of health issues and he, her son, wanted my phone number in case something happens to her and someone is going to have to come down to take care of dad if she ends up in the hospital.

If I were in Phoenix that would be possible, over here?  I dunno. I think there are services that will come in and deal with medications and all of that stuff - but at the same time can you leave a person with Alzheimer's on their own?  I know my brothers won't bother to do anything, so I guess it's all on me if something does, indeed, happen.

I talked to my mom and told her  what I wanted for Christmas and that it's on sale today for less than half price.  She was all over that.  After we got off the phone, she ordered it and that's that.
She has no idea what she wants for Christmas, her mind is on the move, coming quite soon.  The 7th of next month to be exact.  Maybe she'll need something for her new house.

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Moving on and a different day.  My agenda today was to get out of bed, find a shooting range and go fire off my new Taurus.  Which reminds me, I need to take it apart and thoroughly clean the manufacturers oil coating that they put on it - that I thought was part of "good" oil for the gun and found out much differently today.

Well anyway, the first thing that popped up was a shooting range only 12 minutes away.  Got over there to find out it's $20 to shoot. That's a bit pricey, frankly, but I was there.  They have a yearly rate that was $90 today only otherwise $120. I didn't buy the year membership,   But super nice people working the place and extremely knowledgeable including having their own gun smith. Yeah, well anyway, I got out there and I was the only one there.  It had just opened and it was in the 40's outside.  Which didn't bother me a bit, but apparently kept other shooters at home.  I dunno, but shortly after starting using the Taurus - it jammed up.  I got a bit irritated with that considering it's a brand  new gun.  I cleared it and it jammed again.

Well, this old codger opens a door in this old building and took me by surprise.  I didn't know anyone was in there. I mean, it is the building you are at, outside, to fire off your rounds.   He threw some golf balls out onto the range and proceeded to quick draw his gun and started firing at them and yes - he was hitting them!  I think he was putting on a show, but it was cool to watch.  He came walking by and turns out  he is also the gunsmith there, like a dude that knows literally everything about guns?  He takes my gun and disappears with it.  2 of them come back out.  I mean, how many people are in there? rofl

The codger - I don't mean that in a bad way, just a way to describe the look and way that he carries himself - comes out, rummages through my rather large gun handbag without my permission - though I can't say it bothered me, just was funny to see him digging in there - produces my large can of spray oil, slams it down on the table and says, There!  I looked at him funny I am sure.  What?  You need to oil this thing!  But look at it, I replied, there's oil all over it!  The other dude stepped in.  Yes, but that is that junk they put on it at the manufacturers.  It's thick oil and they only put it on there to keep the gun from rusting while it's waiting to be sold, something newer that they are doing, not knowing how long it might sit on a dealer's shelf.

You have to clean all of that sludge off of there or yes, it will jam up your gun.  Well, for a temp fix I sprayed the crap out of the sliding areas of it and yes, it worked.  This gun has a lifetime warranty, if it fails, I need only take it back to Academy and they will ship it back to Taurus to have it repaired.  So, I haven't cleaned it yet, I'll get to that tomorrow.  It was a really nice shooting gun though.  No extreme kickback, but the sights need to be aligned and honestly I am not going to say I am going to be good at doing that.

I think maybe I'll go back and leave the gun with them and have them sight it in.  I would need someone to show me how to do that.  Or perhaps there is a YouTube video. Seems nowadays there's a YouTube video for any and everything. I fired off 110 rounds in the new gun and fired off 100 rounds on my .40.  I like that .40, it's powerful and I have it down now.  I can hit the inner circle probably 50% of the time and hit the next circle out most of the rest.  That's good enough for any "situation". I'd get better if I went more often, but really, if you're hitting anywhere in center mass, you are hitting it where it counts.    

The other show today is when the dude came back out of the shack with a gun with a very long banana clip on, put the butt  end against his leg and started firing it.  Fully auto assault rife, I couldn't count how many rounds went off in a few seconds time.  It was just spraying them out.  I should have asked what kind of gun it was, it wasn't an AK 47, much smaller, just no idea.  I also found a concealed carry holster that also doubles as a open carry.  I  don't really want to open carry excepting if you are out in the wilderness.  Yup, no problem open carry there.

Besides the new gun jamming, it was an enjoyable experience that I will probably do once a month.  I think that's enough and even practice rounds aren't cheap.  I may order 500 rounds online for each gun and save some significant dough there. As it stands I need more hollow point rounds.  And, I could have brought the 12 gauge and the .22 rifle, next time I will bring all of it. It's quite the rush to do the chink-chink on a 12 gauge shotgun and then fire it off.  Really, firing off guns is entertainment in itself.  Just not cheap entertainment, lol.

Well I stopped for gas and a coffee on the way home, this time with the 9mm concealed on my side.  It's a bit large of a gun for concealed, though not that it doesn't conceal well, just a lot of metal pressing up against your side.

Well, upon getting home a guy that contacted me off of my FB yard sale post showed up to rake the lawns.  This a new one, the last one decided to stand around the fire last time he was here for an hour and ten minutes doing absolutely nothing and getting paid for it.  Not with my permission, trust me.  The dude today is just a flat out hard worker.  He thought it would be easy at first but soon realized that the yards are far more work than what it appears.  The front yard hasn't been done in quite a while and was covered in leaves, acorns and fallen, nasty smelling fruit.  It took him much longer than he initially expected.

The leaves are still smoldering out there with occasional bursts of fire.  Likely will be well into tomorrow, it was a huge pile.

I also got busy with this long stalled pond project out front and got most of the blocks cemented into place.  I can only hope it isn't going to rain tonight as the runoff fills that hole right up and that would surely knock that wall over.  I am going to put rebar in behind the wall to fortify it, but regardless I don't suppose the mortar is going to set for quite a while in this cold weather.

After that? Well the bottom of the pond was muddy and I was covered with it on my boots and pants.  I decided that was enough for today.  Day 3 of 4 days off almost over, one more day and back to the work grind. But it's been an enjoyable time off.  I can only hope for some serious OT opportunities this coming week or there will be a small paycheck en-queue.  That's the hard part about taking time off. It's flat 40 and though it isn't  insurmountable, it is a factor to be taken into consideration.

As for the political front, I took a few days off from the debate group, then got tagged back into it from the owner who wanted to show me pics of her Taurus and asking questions about  mine. A totally non-political thread that was enjoyable to be in.  I looked at a bunch of posts saying how racist Trump is and a lot of other bs and decided to not engage in any of that garbage.  Then, the owner of the group tagged me again with pics of her new doggie - of which she hasn't had one since she was in her 20's I think she said and so I obliged her request and told her the story of Adler - on that debate forum rofl - how I acquired him and life  with him since then.

In fact, this lady is tagging me all over the place, I'm only guessing that she needs another moderator for she doesn't do this kind of tagging and hinting to anyone else in the group.  And yes, she needs another moderator.  I "Report to Admin" posts that are blatant violations that also could get the group in trouble with Facebook TOS and also stupid posts that have no bearing in reality, much less a debatable topic.  The racist stuff is getting old and I am ignoring them for now.  The people posting these posts are insufferable and bigoted, some of them reverse racist blacks that hate white people with a vengeance.  I find no good reason to get involved in such threads, for I have been involved in them before.  I have been in that group for a while now and at least have as much respect as one can expect to garner in a group of 16,000 people and the regulars, most of whom I do not agree with and they do not agree with me, but, mostly, it remains civil.

Well, Black Friday is over.  I will try to get my new C-7 lights hung tomorrow.  Just the porch, 3 25 food strands which should be sufficient.

Can I just interject here that John Wayne's horse in the movie El Dorado is absolutely stunning? What a beautiful horse!  They've been showing a lot of Wayne in the last several days.  Still one of my favorite actors of all time.  He made such excellent movies. They simply come up with nothing even remotely comparable today. The trash the Hollywood comes out with now......

Well that's it.  For this one anyway.  I'm in good spirits.

Posted the last one without finishing it because it just dragged on too many days.
So here it is, Thanksgiving Day and I'm off until Monday.  I've been holding out to take any vacation days off because I am still contemplating a trip to Hawaii in January which would entail a week off and other trips I want or need to take.  I have enough hours saved up right now to take about 3-1/2 weeks off.  Likely going to take at least 3 days off during Christmas as well, even if I don't do anything or go anywhere - which I probably won't.

I have no interest in being part of a family Christmas get together that lasts 3 hours or so and sometimes ends in disaster, with at least 2 people who don't get along with anyone in the family save mother and whose interests end - at mother.  Why put myself through the hassle of flying all the way back there, spending all that money for something like that? Yet, I need to get back to Phoenix and visit mom, just not at Christmas.  She's in the middle of trying to find a new house right now so I'm going to save the trip til next month sometime.  Or not, I just don't know yet.

Meanwhile, we have full fledged Thanksgiving dinner going here today with a turkey slow cooking as we speak.  She had it in there early this morning which I thought a bit early even on a slow cook plan.  But, she's a good cook, we'll see where this goes.  Kroger's here didn't have any prime rib roasts on sale.  In Phoenix they have them on sale during Thanksgiving and Christmas week.  I know they'll have them for Christmas.  Such a fine cut of beef.

I'm still seriously interested in making the trip to Indianapolis, but how?  They want so much money for a rather short flight.  Even from Dallas.  All these trips I want to take, all the money they want.  Oh well, pick and choose.

Well, I'm going to go out and piddle with the big 4 wheeler.  Trying to set a goal to get that one done this weekend.  Or at least as much as I can do with what I've got.  If it ends up needing more parts, so beit, but I can at least get the stuff done now that I have the new parts for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm in dire need of a vacation. I just want to pack a bag, get on a plane and fly overseas somewhere.  Hawaii would be cool - but Ireland or Scotland might be cooler.  Been getting hit hard in the financial department, though. Addler's heart worms is going to cost a small fortune, not something eve on the scope of my thinking when I took him in there last week, but it is what it is. I got onto Skyscanner and found round trip tickets to Ireland for $449 - of course that's on their time table and it's a bit longer than I would want to stay, but still, the deals are out there.

Anyway, 1 more day of work and then off for 4.  I'm finally starting to feel better.  It's been a while, A head and chest cold followed by a severe chest cold with sore throat - sore throat lasting over 7 days.  Then food poisoning or whatever that was, it wasn't pleasant I can tell you that.

Anyway, I'm going to hopefully finish my 4 wheelers this coming weekend, not that I can take them anywhere yet, but I want them fixed and over and done with.  If that's possible of course.  Sometimes you take things apart and find more wrong with it than what you originally expected. Everyone here was going to be gone for this holiday but now they are forced to stay here for a couple of reasons One was his truck isn't reliable enough for a trip to Dallas and her plans to go wherever - another state - fell through, so they are both here as well.  I kinda hoped, actually, that they would be gone and have the place to myself.

They're nice people and everything I just need some alone time.  I'll have to figure something else out.  A trip to Phoenix out of the question, my mother has sold the house she just moved into - yes I know it's crazy stuff - and now in the middle of buying another house much more suited to her needs - and her needs are a low maintenance property.  If I had been there  when she was doing this the first time I would have told her that house she bought was FAR too big for her - actually it's the outside of it that was the maintenance issue.  Now, she's getting a place with a couple of trees and a few bits of vegetation here and there but nothing else.

Frankly? A night in a motel - a half decent one at least - would be nice.  I dunno.  I'll probably just stick around here and save the money.  But you can get a pretty decent place on Priceline or similar at one of the casino resorts over in Shreveport.  What's hilarious is that of all of those casinos and such over there, none of the hotels rate more than 3.5 stars.

Well, I applied for a decent credit card that gives zero percent interest on transfers from other cards and I was approved.  So, when I get the card, I will transfer the Capital One balance to that one and lose the interest payments for a year - but I hope to pay it down to zero in a year anyway.  It will also increase my credit score because that particular card I already have has a low amount of credit - like 4 grand or something and I have it half used.  Meaning it will go down to less than 30% utilization, the new card will reflect it at less than 30% utilization and here we go.

The plan to raise my credit score back up may not take as long as I had expected, but we'll see.  I continue to get loan offers for vehicles which would push it up another 50 points, but gag, you can't get into a loan for under an 8 grand vehicle, just don't want to go there unless I am forced into it. Meaning my car breaks down and I have to get another one.  The only thing that would make me stop driving that car right now and getting rid of it would be if the engine or tranny went on it.  Not worth repairing on that car, I would part it out and scrap the rest.


Anyway, here it is Saturday and I have this chest cold junk that is just killing me. Well not literally killing me but I've had a bad sore throat for 4 days now and fire in my lungs.  This lady at the Napa auto parts store gave it to me, I'm guessing since she was coughing everywhere last weekend and not even attempting to contain it, so here I am with the 2cd sickness in a row this year, after having just gotten over the last one.

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Monday mid morning.  Did not  go to work today.  Diarrhea is the culprit and kept me up allllll night long.  Still have this chest and throat thing going too.  Although the sore throat of it part seems to be dying down. I dunno about the chest stuff, I didn't do much this weekend trying to recover and so it's hard to tell until I get up and move around.  I was going to go to the doctor yesterday about the cold but I got caught up in yet another "crisis", that being the furnace quit working.

I had tried to turn it on the night before - Saturday night - and it did come on, but it was blowing cold air.  So, I spent Sunday learning about furnaces.  Watching lots of YouTube videos to figure out the problem.  I finally narrowed it down to the burners being clogged up and when I pulled them off? Yeah, parts of all of them were clogged up. I first put them in white vinegar as one expert said to do, that did help but after 3 hours it wasn't enough.  I remembered that I have a huge bottle of CLR that I had dumped into a very large plastic, sealed container some time back to clean something of which I can't remember.  It was still quite usable so I saved it.  I dumped all 5 burners in there and it cleaned up much nicer, with the aid of a toothbrush and a very small screwdriver to clean out the ports and the wings.

I then found out that the lady tenant had been turning it on without saying anything about it.  I said something to the guy tenant cause' the lady tenant is = easily offended.  I know he said something to her about it.  You don't just start operating the cooling or heating and turning it to levels that are unacceptable.  Like when I found the AC set at 70 a while back. More importantly at least to me, you simply don't go messing with stuff like that without permission.  I don't invoke myself in a lot of stuff as it stands. She took over the kitchen and I gave that up because she cooks dinner and on the weekends also brunch - and - she is an excellent cook  I mean, very good cook.

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Tuesday morning. Decided to not bother going to work.  I have plenty of sick hours available and I'm not 100% so might as well take an additional day off.  I really needed some time off anyway, though that doesn't normally come from being sick and I won't get anything done, but still, it's nice. I'll likely go back to work tomorrow and have a 3 day work week.  Next week will also be a 3 day work week since we're off for Thanksgiving and we aren't working on Friday.

My new credit card had a major impact on my credit score - for the better.  I'm now in the upper fair range. They didn't give me a very high limit, though.  I intend to transfer all of one credit card over to it and then pay it down - it will be interest free for a year according to the disclaimers I read.

Meanwhile, news that really hit me hard yesterday when I took Addler to the vet: he has heart worms.  It's hard to take because as soon as I got the dog, I took him to the vet and got him started on Pro Heart - which is medication injected into the animal that kills off heart worms for 6 months.  You just keep them on that the rest of their lives and you won't have to deal with heart worms.  Well I asked how he could have heart worms since I had him on the medication and he had been tested the first time you gave the medication to him?

They said that he must have gotten the initial infestation right before they had taken the test and that it didn't show up because of that.  Okay, well, what now?  Outlining a treatment plan that will cost around 2 grand over the next 4 or so months.  Wonderful. I got him started on the initial medication - $289 for a giant bottle - but I'm going to consult with other vets in the area.  I've heard one in particular is less expensive.  I believe the dog is worth saving, but I also believe in looking around.  I wanted to get the treatment started immediately, though so I went ahead and got on their plan.

However, is with all things that occur in my life, I tend to research on my own.  The medication I just bought for $289 I could have gotten for around $190 online, called Doxycycline.  The other medication that is going to be used in January after this medication has done it's initial work is called Immiticide and appears to actually be cheaper than the Doxy, but it's only available with a prescription.  Ivermectin is available online, which is what some vets use, but it takes longer - much longer - for it to work.

I'll just have to think about my next step, though certainly calling other vets for pricing isn't out of the question.  I'm not sure dealing with heart worms is a do it yourself project.  It's just so much money.  Is the dog worth it? That question popped into my mind when they started discussing about getting him started yesterday and the immediate answer was a resounding: yes.  The dog definitely can recover from this, it is life threatening I guess but I will remain confident and hopeful that this treatment will work and Addler will go on to live a long, healthy Dane version of a life.

Funny that the same day our 1 year anniversay together occurs we also find out some rather unsettling news.  I'm going to be watching Addler closely for any side effects, as there is a list of them that can happen:

Doxycycline Side Effects

• Nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects associated with doxycycline. This side effect can typically be overcome by providing food along with the medication. While most tetracycline-type medications are not given with food because food prevents the antibiotic from being absorbed, this does not seem to be a problem with doxycycline.
• Loss of appetite is a secondary side effect that goes hand in hand with the nausea and vomiting.
• Diarrhea is an uncommon side effect of doxycycline. It is frequently an indicator that the dosage is too high and your dog should be taken to the veterinarian to have his dosageadjusted or to determine the cause of the diarrhea.
• Doxycycline has a pH level that can cause irritation and eventual scarring in the esophagus should the pill get caught in the throat. To avoid this side effect, ask to use the liquid form of doxycycline.
• Doxycycline can also cause staining or yellowing of the teeth in young animals. Doxycycline binds to calcium, and calcium is the key component in forming teeth.
• There are some very rare side effects with doxycycline. Changes in blood cells, liver damage and sensitivity to sunlight are extremely rare, but can occur.

Well anyway, life goes on.  I don't control what happens in life, I just deal with it as it comes along.
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Okay I'm going to finally post this lol.  It's been like a week in the making.  I just get distracted with both things going on here and the news and the fact that I've been sick basically for 2 months now - finally coming out of it.  I mean really.  Is Trump going out to dinner with his family and not notifying the press corp really a scandal? I just had to throw that in here.  My "ignore" button in my brain is going to start coming into full play with all the whiners disavowing our new president and endlessly whining about the election results.

Let's see. I had the kid over for the 4th time I think it is and he blew it today.  I had him on light duty work just raking up some leaves and duping it on the fire pit.  He worked for about an hour and a half and slacked off for 2-1/2 hours.  I was out there, working on the 4 wheeler - it wasn't too heavy duty stuff and I wanted to get the thing done - and here he was, sitting there for 20 minutes, here, 25 minutes there playing on his phone.  He ended up at the fire and stood there for an hour and 15 minutes listening to whatever with his ear phones, staring down at the fire and twirling a rake in his hands.

I decided not to say anything to him, I'll let his parents deal with it - but - he isn't coming back either.  I politely and respectfully informed his mother via Facebook messaging after he left about the situation -- in detail and said I don't want him back over here. She completely agreed - she is not a progressive, left leaning, coddle-your-child - type of mother and said he will hopefully learn a lesson from this.  I agreed and that was the end of that. Sympathy doesn't cut it in the real world, he might as well learn that now.

I'm starting to come to terms with the heart worm diagnosis, though I am definitely going to get my own antibiotics. I have no need to get them from the vet when I can get them $95 cheaper online.  Addler is such a wonderful doggie, there is no way I'm going to just let this go and hope he survives it.  I still have yet to do my own research on this excepting looking up the particular antibiotic and pricing.  My own research coming very soon.

My newest credit card arrived today, I applied for the transfer from one of the other cards. 15 months of zero percent interest.  It'll be paid off before 15 months is up.  What a lot of that is is airfare and related expenses for coming out here to see Valerie before I moved out here.  It's like, whatever at this point. Pay it, eat it and move on.  I also applied for a credit increase on the card with the balance on it.  Not so I can charge more to it, it's got plenty of credit on it, but to get the percentage of use down.

After this, the rest of the equation is time.

Meanwhile, I went into the refrigerator the other day to find a half plate of food that I had put in there.  I will eat leftovers up to a week after it's cooked.  I guess that's not the norm for most people, as long as it's properly stored, it's good for me.  So, when I went searching for the plate of food and couldn't find it, she admitted she had thrown it out.  After only 2 days?  Oh I won't do that again.  Now it comes to light what is going on with excess food around here. It's getting dumped and I am NOT cool with that.  I would rather eat leftovers and keep food costs down than just keep cooking entire new meals every day and having "old" food trashed.

But instead of making an issue out of it for her - she loves  to cook - I have decided I will just start eating leftovers at work and save myself lunch money.  The food is excellent, there will be far less waste and I will be good with that.

The other thing that came to light is that she has been hitting up my food storage.  A can of this, a box of that, etc.  I was looking at it scratching my head.  These shelves were full.  But it's cool, that food can't just sit there forever, I would have to replace it anyway and certain of that food she won't touch.  I want enough canned/boxed/bagged food to last me several months at any given time, up to 6 months preferable.  Now, if I were alone, I could last at least 6 months on what I got.  But take that down to 2 months with 3 people.   Well whatever.  I guess if I had to go 2 months without being able to buy food from a grocery store then we are in some bad times and by the time 2 months is up and I'm almost out of food I would have learned to hunt by then.

But I'm not going to go into that. We may be facing another recession soon - and progressives will blame Trump - but that  isn't going to be shocking, at least not for me.

Now then.  Oh I could go into politics right now, especially the left, crying and whining.  Good God in Heaven! Baby therapy? Baby therapy in colleges! ROFL!!!!  Dog therapy, cry fests,

I'ma stop. I'm getting burnt out on all of this stuff and I have been avoiding some of it just to get a break from it.

Sunday.  Credit score jumped 60 points after the mortgage company finally posted it.  It will take a while now for anymore change to come.  I need to bring down some account balances and find a new card to open up.  Not so I can charge more but I was doing simulations on a credit tracker and getting another card would help my score substantially.  Taking out an auto loan would also help, but geeze.  I hate auto loans. I'd do it if I had to, but right now, I don't have to.  Car running fine, a bunch of cosmetic problems with it but it's paid for and purrs down the highway.  I'm holding off on another car loan for a while.  I need a year of on time house payments before I can even think about getting some land.

I finally sold the trailer.  Not as much as i wanted but I did get the minimum I was asking for it at $2,500.  I was trying for around 3 grand. But, we kept getting low balled.  One person insisted the trailer was only worth $700.  It has new carpet, new wall paper (fancy stuff, too, I bought more expensive stuff because I was going to spend time in it and I wanted it to look nice, and yes, I did make a lot of trips up to the mountains and spend weekends there). I fixed the AC, roof leaks, put in new roof hatches and fans, all kinds of stuff I did to it.  Still needed more but it was in good shape, including oak cabinets all throughout.  It was a nice trailer and certainly worth more than $700.

Well anyway, now I've got the Jeep computer out and sending it into a company that refurbishes them with a guaranteed life time warranty.  I'm going to have to take it into a shop after that to have it hooked back up because the plug ins came out in pieces and I can't even find the parts to fix it.  I mean, yes, I can start calling junkyards around America, someone somewhere probably has them, but I really want a shop to hook it up to a computer and make sure that everything else is okay with it.

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Start posts and get busy and forget to finish them.  Oh well. Tomorrow is Election Day.  At least the decision about who our next President will be will finally be over.  Or will it? If Polling Maps are any indicator, it's not going to be a landslide by any means, at least I don't think so going either way, and there are going to be a lot of upset people after tomorrow regardless of who wins.

Anyways, my sprocket came in today and that 4 wheeler will be done as far as I'm going to get it done for now until I am confident that spending the rest of the money to get it fully back to form is going to be worth it.  Ie: the engine.  Is it still in good shape?  It fires up and doesn't smoke so I guess I can safely say it's good enough but still.

I saw a tanker refilling fuel tanks at a local gas station yesterday with "now hiring" sign on it and "home every day" sign as well.  I was all into that. But it's based in a town a long ways off from here, I don't know if they are driving that far to refill local gas stations, I would think not actually, that wouldn't be very effective or efficient but who knows.  But after going to their site, it takes relatively very little time to accrue vacation time and you don't have to be there forever to get a very nice reward of vacation hours, either.  The pay, of course, is what I'm interested in.  The home every night is also what I'm interested but obviously they have weekend work.  As I said a while back, I'm not in a hurry for the wrong job and I have weathered the tornadoes that have come through and though I very much dislike working for an extreme authoritarian dictatorship style manager, I'm sticking it out until I either find what I want or I'll eat it and just stay there.  Another year and a month there and I'l be at 200 hours of paid vacation.  10 days worth of sick time and an extra day of floating holiday.

The pond project out front was put on hold - seemingly forever - since I had that hole dug but I finally got out there yesterday after it dried up enough and poured the foundation for the block to be laid. on top of it.  100 pounds of fast drying cement was enough to do the job, it wasn't a big foundation that had to be poured.

Not much else, well there is but I'm too tired.  I woke up with chest congestion this morning though I don't feel sick otherwise, ie headcold or anything.  Just my life with respiratory issues.  I think I"m headed off to bed early tonight.

With the new revelation of "5 digit number" of emails found on a laptop computer, we may see a reverse in the polls - of which I greatly distrust anyway - going for Clinton.  Even as of today, they are showing Clinton with only a few points lead which are in the margin of error meaning it's basically a tie.  Too bad the electoral college can just vote however they want to, in the end.

Well anyway.  In the midst of trying to get that trailer sold.  Getting lots of lowball offers on it.  I'm not going to sell it for less than $2,500 unless time marches on and it becomes obvious that I'm just not going to get that kind of money out of it.  But I've dumped so much into it, I would like to at least break even on it.  I'm going to hold out for a while and see if I can get anything close to what I want.  So far, the highest offer was 2 grand, the lowest was 750 and everything in between.  The interior of that thing is in excellent condition.  The only issue inside really is the cushions at the kitchen table which is a cheap, easy fix.  Well, anyway, Mark has done a good job of finishing the cleanup on it and he is dealing with it on that end.  I can only hope it sells soon.

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch".  I spent yesterday pulling the entire rear end of a 4 wheeler apart.  It was quite the chore because I kept getting stuck at points where something had to come off of something else and it's been on there so long, it took a lot of effort to get it off.  The huge axle nut was the worst.  It simply wouldn't budge. I spent an hour heating it up with a Map gas torch.  When push came to shove, I found a 5 foot long pipe, put it over a plumber's wrench, heated the thing up again and it finally gave way.  You have to screw the nut back to reveal a clip that has to come off to get that whole portion of it off of the axle.

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Well, I got out there today and got stuck on a giant C clip.  I bought a tool to spread it out but it wouldn't spread it far enough.  I ended up in a town 30 miles away to find something to use to getit off - and I might have got the right tool  - but it was getting dark by the time I got back and though there is good lighting out there?  I decided to stop.  I'll get it back together but I sort of figured it would require tools I don't have.  I used to have all of these kinds of tools and then some.  If you want to do mechanics, there is a minimum amount of tools you are going to have to have.  I am slowly rebuilding it to acceptable levels. I at least have a Map gas torch now, not as good as acetylene but it works well enough.
I do not have a bench grinder, mostly because there isn't a bench.  Well, there is one in their big shed but they filled it up with their personal stuff.  Really, in real mechanics, you have to have an acetylene torch and definitely a bench grinder.  And a press. And a lot of other stuff.  But I'm not into "real" mechanics anymore, not the scale I used to be at. However, I am considering a limited reemergence into it once I get enough tools and enough refresher into it

Aspyn is still in heat, but I have effectively removed Addler from her - for days now.  Whether she is pregnant or not, I was getting very tired of it.  Hump hump hump hump hump, endlessly.  He got the point, it took a couple days to get it through to him: Stop It.  Natural instincts, sure.  Does it take over their brains? Yes.  Do I have to put up with it? Absolutely not.  Addler has not spent a night in my bedroom in 4 or 5 nights now.  Aspyn is in there, he is not.  Just not going to deal with it when I need to be sleeping.  And yes, it will go on all night long, all day long.  It's unbelievable, actually.

Well enough. My computer must have a virus.  I don't need to search it out anymore, I know the symptoms.  I'm going to have to do a virus scan and get rid of whatever is attached itself to my files.

So, I am feeling better now so cleanup outside was on the list for today.  First I found another person to come over.  I put a post on a Facebook virtual yard sale group - where numerous people post  asking for people to come and work - and got a large number of replies.  The first one, though was the one I took as is customary on those venues to response to the first person.

Turns out it was a mama trying to find some work for her son who is too young to work at a fast food or similar place.  I kinda had my reservations because the work I wanted done is moving dirt and that is hard work.  But I decided to take a chance.  Do you get a spoiled brat that doesn't want to work or a person that has learned a good work ethic? Cause' that stuff is learned or not learned early in life and people have a rude awakening when the go out into the real world and find out that everyone - including employers - are not going to pander to entitlement, self-serving bs.

Anyway, this 15 year old was good as gold.  He worked literally all day long, only stopping a couple of times to take short breaks and eat a  - peanut butter sandwich.  That was his lunch.  I immediately figured these were probably poorer people and that came out in the wash later on.  How about this?: this boy has never seen his real father, who lives in a town about 80 miles away.  Whatever, obviously bad stuff going on there, not my business.  They live in a trailer park maybe 15 miles from here.

Well, while this kid was doing this, the next door neighbor's son and 2 of his friends come meandering over to the fence.  They trashed my Honda 300EX quite a while back, I got disgusted with it, just left it sit in the driveway.  They decided they were going to come over and fix it.  Oh really?  Well be my guest, yins the ones that broke it.  They literally spent the entire day trying to get the thing going.  They fixed the oil leak, put oil in it, got  the thing running after numerous attempts, but then I pointed out the chain situation. When they had taken it, some adult had "fixed" it by destroying the chain tensioner.  Literally broke the thing. So, they were riding it around with a chain slapping around and spinning off.

Whatever the case, the never were able to resolve the broken chain tensioner. They tried taking the chain up to the Honda dealer and having a link removed.  Well, the dealer took out two links, not idea whose fault that was, the kids giving them wrong information or the mechanic.  Anyway, then the went all over the place looking for extra links since the Honda dealer didn't give them the links back and were closed.  They were determined to get the thing working - I mean, I had given up on the thing.  I didn't want to touch it after I saw what they had done to it - though what happened to it is really a long story and wasn't actually the neighbor kids' fault, but, he was definitely responsible for it.  That was agreed upon before he took it.

It was only today he finally took responsibility for all of that.  They finally gave up near darkfall. The kid that was working stayed until 6.  We feed him dinner. Which he was all-too-happy to partake and after I asked if he wanted more, he said he would like to take some home.

Now, the fire department showed up.  Yup, just now, while writing this.  I was burning leaves out back - have been since this morning - I was informed that it was okay to do that i city limits.  But, I thought, I bet this was called in on the sheriff's house next door.  The kids were out back pouring gas all over the place and lighting it up.  But I admitted I was burning leaves, though the flames were out, it was just smoldering.  They came out back, saw the smoke, no fire.  One of them talking about writing me a ticket.

Well, they had come out a month ago or so while I was at work, declaring to the lady tenant that we had a fire and it needed to be put out. Uhhh, we aren't burning any fires here. It was the next door neighbor kid, had a fire going, somebody called the fire department.  Gag.  In Phoenix? We could have a fire anytime we wanted.  Anyway, I pointed to the fire in the sheriff's back yard.  Oh.  Oops.  They gonna write me a ticket but no him?  I didn't say anything about that, I just pointed out the fire and how it was started, how they had come out here before and blamed us for a fire that wasn't ours to own, and probably that was who the call was actually on. Oh, we're going to go over there, too.  Yeah, right, I thought.  "I'm sure you know **** (name of sheriff). Oh yes, we know him.  The talk of tickets disappeared, informed me I had to get a permit to burn and that was the end of that story.

Don't even try to tell me there isn't a good ole' boy's club going on in between officials like this. I've seen it repeated here for a while now. I don't really care, either, it's life but funny how they were going to write me a ticket until they saw what was going on next door.  I would have called them out on it if they had done that - written me a ticket and not the neighbor for the same exact thing - and I would have pushed it.  Trust me, I have no patience for this kind of foolery.

I dunno what else.  Oh, yes, the RV has been moved to my property in Phoenix.  I have placed an ad, but it is a repost of an earlier ad.  I need to start a fresh one, reposts never get much attention.  I'm not going to settle for anything less than $2,500 for it.  I've just spent too much getting it fixed up and moving it down there and it's definitely worth that much money.  If/when it gets sold, I'm going to fix that Jeep my friends the homeowners here gave me, put a hitch on it, get a trailer and yes, I'm going to go riding on my 4 wheelers. Well that's my tentative plan.  I dunno what I will actually end up doing, but that Jeep is just sitting there.

I'm still watching a few NFL games, but I've mostly grown repulsed by the protests with the kneeling s***, the NFL can go bake.  They can force players to stand if they want to, their stand is costing them money. The NFL won't admit it, but the 11% decline in viewership is definitely related to the boycott.  The NFL is not untouchable, but the NFL put out a message to the teams saying everything but the boycott is the cause of it, they'll weather the storm, yada yada yada.  Yeah, well, when you see some whiny little rich boys out on a field kneeling and dissing our flag and our anthem, they can got rot.  I hope the percentages keep going down in viewership. Get that number to 30 percent and they will have no choice but to tell these a-holes to stand or get out.  Sorry, but this stuff pisses me off.

Whatever.  This election cycle is also growing very old.  Let's get the election over with and then? everyone can complain about the outcome.  If Trump wins, there will be rioting.  If Hillary wins, there won't be rioting but I'm betting the Convention of States idea is going to become much more popular.  Talk of an uprising but so far, just talk.  Really.  I'm not sorry to say there is no way Hillary Clinton should be in the running. How do Hillary supporters simply ignore all of this endless junk that has been coming out against her?

Dog situation starting to level out. After confronting the lady tenant about her over-involvement with MY dogs, she all but stopped all of it.  Addler is coming back around to me.  Heck, I just spent the entire day outside with both of my dogs and that was cool.  However....I didn't know Aspyn wasn't spayed when I got her. Umm so she is 8 months old, in heat and I"m afraid I'm going to have Great Dane/German Shepherd mix puppies coming.  I don't really want that, at all and I only noticed the heat part when I noticed drops of blood on the floor. I'll wait until I see whether she's pregnant or not and then have her spayed.  I don't need or want puppies, thank you.  Too much work.

Not much else.  Continued dire warnings about the economy. Now a warning about a new world currency.  I would call it speculation but a few have accurately predicted previous disasters. Speaking of predictions, the dude that has accurately predicted presidential election outcomes for the last 30 years - in a row - has said his model shows that Trump will win the election.  I would very much like that to come true, but only because in my view? Hillary is a disaster in the making.  I don't have the unction to write out my reasons why now.  I have been working all day long, it's almost 10 pm and I'm done for the day.

I walked in the house today and saw a letter from the Texas Department of Public Safety.  I immediately knew what it was about, I did not know whether it contained good news or bad for me.  What kind of background check takes 5 months? Even if it IS a federal background check.  I didn't open it, I felt it to see if i could feel a card in there.  Yes, I felt something in there.  Getting a little excited, I opened it up.  And there it was, in all it's plastic glory.  A Texas License To Carry Handgun, otherwise referred to here as LTC.  I spsent a few dollars on this and I spent some time on this one.  I find it amazing that I got a passport in a fraction of the time it took to get this thing.

Next?  Look at articles on handguns that are good for concealed carry.  I have no intention of open carry, at all.  I didn't bother to do much research, I wanted the license first.  Then, when ti was taking forever to get  it, I definitely decided to put any handgun purchase on hold.  My next door neighbor should have some good input on what's a good concealed carry handgun and where to buy them.

Anyway, all of these things I wanted in terms of "endorsements" are finally over. The LTC, the passport and the X/tanker-hazmat combo endorsement for my CDL.  What else is there? I dunno, but those were the things I wanted and now I have all of them.  I feel this LTC as a major accomplishment considering what I went through to get the thing and all the time I waited afterward to actually receive it.  On another note, I would have probably gotten this license at least a month earlier if it hadn't been for the instructor of the class' screwup in not dating the forms before sending them into the State.  They sent mine back to me a month or more after that guy sent them in.  I called him and he looked into and found that he had not dated ANY of the participants in that class that day. Well, I said, you are likely in for a lot of phone calls!

Okay, well this makes me happy. Kind of feel like an elite group.  How many people are actually willing to go through all of that? How many people will fail the background check anyway?

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Wrote that days ago. Sunday evening.  Drama here yesterday. The lady tenant was outside smoking and apparently went over to the neighbor's house to tell a man sitting in front in his pickup that his truck's fumes were bothering her and to please shut it off.  The next thing that happened is a bit murky, but apparently the  neighbor's son came over and she shoved him for some reason.  She claims he startled her.  I dunno, but I was sitting here, in the living room, watching tv when the son's dad calls, who is also a deputy Sheriff and was on duty.

He was extremely agitated and started right in on it - me not having a clue what he was talking about.  I missed all of that excitement but, I invited him to come over and confront on it if he felt that strongly about it. I went out there for this one, as she was sitting out front.  I warned her he was coming. Anyway, he comes up in full uniform and basically reads her the riot act, including threatening to haul her off to jail for harming a minor, I guess. The boy wasn't hurt, I"m sure of that, but this was daddy in a law enforcement uniform making his intentions clear.

I dunno what she thought she was doing.  When he left - leaving a strict warning that if she touched his boy again, she was going to jail - I also confronted her. She has no business confronting neighbors on anything.  If there is an issue, you come to me and I will deal with it.  She was very apologetic at least, though she lied to the officer and he called her out on it, which agitated him even more, and agreed that she wouldn't do that again.  Yes, please don't.

I texted the guy and told him I was sorry for her actions and please let me know if she ever does it again, I will find new tenants.

After that, I called her out on her involvement with my dogs.  I'm not sorry.  She has literally taken them over to the point they are about half interested in my arrivals back home from work.  I watched this on Friday and became internally agitated, as I have been watching this for a while. She has no social life besides whoever it is she is talking to on the phone, so her daily life while I am going is interacting with my dogs all day long.  Addler is my dog, I went to great lengths to get him and I'm not going to have some complete stranger come and steal his heart away simply because I am gone all day long at work.

That didn't end too well either, but I was glad I confronted her on it.  I made it plainly clear that she could have her dog living with her here before they moved in here.  But, she sent the thing off to someone she knows in Dallas and I thought at the time, I wonder if she's going to make my dogs her dogs?  Of course. It isn't the end of the world but I have initiated "healthy boundaries".  My dogs are my dogs.  She was giving them treats - treats that I paid for - and giving them to them without my permission.  I limit dog treats for one reason: too much makes them fat.  That's what really started irritating me is when Addler started putting on the pounds.  Another thing that aggravated me is his usual self of running around all over the place all day long was transformed into him laying in front of the door, waiting for her to come and likely, bring him in.  I haven't been able to verify the second part of that, but from the way he's behaving I have to guess that it's true.

After that, she started texting me, to which I totally ignored.  We're all of 40 feet apart, if she wants to discuss this, it's going to be in person.  I was fully prepared to engage her on it the next day, it was Friday this occurred, btw, not yesterday as I had originally reported.  Because this is day 2 and she is acting like nothing has happened but there is one important difference: she is no longer interacting with my dogs.  I have my doubts the same will hold true when I am gone, but she knows my feelings about it now.  She's not my lover, we aren't dating, we aren't married, she is a tenant living here. She is a sweet lady but this was going too far.

Well, as I said earlier, Sunday night.  I didn't get much done this weekend.  I have had lackluster energy ever since getting sick. This happens to me every single time I get sick.  I might get better but my energy takes forever to come back.  It's go to work, try to make it through the day and then come home and do nothing beyond what I have to. I hate it, but it's been that way with me all of my life.  I still wish someone at work would have said this sickness is being spread around, I would have taken special care to wash my hands and stay away from those people.  I've got a lot to do around here but I"m not going to push it.  I'll be trashed on Monday morning and it will be a very difficult day.

I am lucky that I got the truck loaded and ready to go for Monday though.  I literally have nothing left to do but throw more strap over a pallet, fire up the truck, get my paperwork and leave. It's at least a 4 hour trip - going back into the Army Depot again - it's and hour and ten minutes there not counting any stops, it's an ordeal getting into the place.  A back ground check and then driving 20 mile an hour. this place is HUGE.  Miles worth of military equipment, lots of armored personnel carriers.  Cool to see them up close.

My mother has decided that the move from her home of 25 years was a mistake. Well she thought that a while ago but got over it.  She bought a 4 bedroom home on a large piece of land, I'm not sure what she was thinking.  What did she need such a large home for? She's 81 years old.  A 2 bedroom house on a small plot of land would have been much more suited for her but I kept my mouth shut.  Well, she already has the house up for sale, already has offers on it and already looking for a new place.

Well, I can't do anything about any of it.  I hope she gets the place she needs in short order and gets this over with and beyond it.  She also wanted to get the 5th wheel off of her property and sold, but it's turning into an ordeal.  I may just go back for a few days to deal with it myself. I'm not in a huge hurry to deal with it since she's busy with the house, but she is insisting on moving on with it.  I have basically decided to get it dragged down to the valley where it will be much easier to sell and she won't have to deal with it, my landlords at my house will sell it for me.

Anyway, that's about it. A little bit of drama, the regular grind at work and stuff going on with my mom.

Okay. Well I got to work today feeling extremely cruddy.  I didn't sleep a wink last night. I've had those shots of steroids before without any side effects, not this one.  I feel funny and it kept me awake all night long.  I took out a delivery and after I was done with it, wondered how I was going to make it through the rest of the day?  I didn't. 2 hours into work I went into the manager and asked for the rest of the day off, I just can't do this today.  We were very slow, so it wasn't putting anyone out.  Went home and just laid in bed for a long time.  Eventually got up, went to the election office and registered to vote = I thought I had but apparently I hadn't finished the process so I decided to go straight to the place that would take care of this, which is all of a mile and a half away.

The nice thing about living in small towns is that nothing is very far away. At least, if it's in the town.  If it's in another town, then you are in for a drive.  I then went to the ATT store to find a cheap phone for my landlords in Phoenix. I had no idea they were shelling out upwards of $80 per month for cards to refill the phone.  Pay as you go stuff.  Expensive, especially as much as they have to use it when they are trying to rent out a room. I can get a phone with text/calling only, unlimited for $20 bucks a month.  Well, they said at the store that the lowest priced phone that would work with my plan that I could get there was almost $300.

No freaking way.  I know  I can get a phone for around $40 that serves the purpose they need, just to make calls and texting.  But, several of those cheap phones will also get you on the internet if you are in the range of wifi.  I blew them off and went to the post office to send the home owners here their mail.  Which next time I want them to tell me what they actually have to have sent and what can just be thrown in the trash.  I don't even get my mail from Phoenix anymore, they just go through it and tell me what it is and now I just have them read it to me over the phone.

Anyway, then she - the lady running my house over there - sent me an email saying she had to pay to have Sophie put down - I originally got that dog but they wanted her when I left and it was going to be too much to take her out here.  I didn't exactly get the dog in good condition, she had extreme hip problems at an early age and it finally caught up to her.  Then she said she had to buy pond fish food and something else of which I don't remember and she is broke, oh the other thing was the excessive phone stuff - can you please give me some guidance?

Well, it was $280 worth and I figured that the only thing I could really do is excuse the debt considering what they have done over there in keeping the place in good condition and immaculately clean.   I'm not saying that is an easy thing to do - give up that much money as I have things I need to do with it but - I can live without.

There isn't much else.  Kinda sucks that I am still being held back by this sickness but it's definitely the injection and whatever side effects and once that passes I should be fine.  If I can get any sleep tonight I should be okay for work tomorrow though.

Well, I'm fading here, time to stop this.

I don't have much opportunity to speak to the cop next door, but when I do, it's pretty interesting stuff.  He pulled over a car going 91 in a 75 zone today and was talking to the driver.  Black lady, very well dressed, very articulate and intelligent and good kids in the back seat.  Well, he says, turns out, she had warrants out for her arrest.  He had a wedding to go to, but something she said got him interested in looking it up and proving it.  She said she hadn't had a ticket in 20 years.  When he went to look it up, he found the lady had 2 warrants for assault and battery a few towns over.  Pretty much ruined his wedding plans, lol, as she went to jail and he babysat kids for 2 hours waiting for relatives to show up and get them.

Then we got into Obama, Trump and Hillary. Lolol.  Okay, well I won't go into that, but he did say something that has been surfacing everywhere: where are all of these people that are talking about Hillary?  In real life? I don't meet any of them either.  On the internet a different story but still.  Hillary and how wonderful she is isn't the talk on the streets, it's always Trump.

The cop neighbor likes to tell stories of his arrests and tickets.  I don't see him often, he's got 2 jobs and a family.

Anyway, the shot I got yesterday? I've hardly coughed at all today.  Really. I've had these shots before but I didn't really think it would work that well this time for some reason.

I did nothing today. Really. Well one load of laundry that I just now remembered needs to be dried and watered the new grass and that was it.

And now?  I'm done.