Wednesday

Wiped out.
Was sleeping like a log last night and woke up in the middle of the night and just woke up for no apparent reason - and then was awake for a while.

Work was kinda slow today - got through it, came home, conked out for an hour and literally dragged my @$$ out of bed, got the leashes and forced myself to take those dogs on the hike - get it over with.

The newer tenant informed me today that Mary said to her that she "doesn't care how much electricity she uses, she's going to have it cold in here".
That referring to when the newer tenant came home and it was freezing in here. I've had thoughts of putting a locking cover over the thermostat in the past - but - it's easy enough to prove whether she's fooling with it or not.

Simply adjust the camera. Instead of seeing what's going on in the kitchen proper - I now see the computer, the table, the living room - and yes - the thermostat. I don't wonder if they sell an electronic thermostat that can be set to have to use a password to be able to change the settings. Anyway, the lock cover costs all of $20.00 and I have been thinking about installing one for some time now.

Look, I knew allowing Mary to stay would probably have issues in the future. The issue is - how great an issue?
My other thought is something I should have done long ago. Really, I should have. Renting out rooms is a learning experience. Charging a flat rent for everything sounds wonderful - as long as the people that are in your house are conscientious about electric use.

You are not guaranteed that with all people, and probably a good percentage of people aren't going to give a hootinannyholler about their electrical consumption since they are "paying" for it. This isn't an issue limited with Mary. Ken has his computer on and running right now - he left his door wide open so it's pretty easy to see what's going on in there - but he's not here. There is absolutely no point to leaving a computer running when a person is not here to use it - unless, as for me - you are running a program on it that needs to have it on. My program is my video surveillance.

So - from this point forth, I am going to start charging percentage utilities to any new tenants. And I am going to give Mary the required notice and start charging her percentage - 33% - utilites including water/sewer and electricity. She's going to love this. Lol.

Actually, it won't be that bad. I am not trying to get rich off of tenants, just pay my bills. Meaning I will bring the rent down to where their percentage of utilities will equal the $400 I am already charging everyone. If the utilities go up and beyond that - then they have the same problem I do: paying high electric bills because of careless use of electricity. Now, I am not saying the AC shouldn't be on on warm days - I AM saying that having it "freezing" in here is careless, wasteful use of someone else's money by throwing it away for no more reason than they want to - freeze I guess.

For now - I have moved the camera to view the thermostat and this weekend I will install a locking cover over the thing. The temps are supposed to come down substantially this weekend and the use of AC should not even be warranted. Open the windows and cool your room that way, thanks. If you don't like opening your windows, hope cool air from the outside finds it's way in.

How much am I willing to take in terms of Mary? Not much. She's paying her rent now, yes, but - starting trouble with tenants - nope. Wasting electricity as if I'm a bottomless pit of money to pay for it? Nope. Speak crap behind my back? Nope.

Ummmm- well, I'm going to head to the bedroom. I just ran up to Walgreens and got some Theraflu for the temp tenant - she is still quite sick and didn't want to go anywhere. I bought some Zycam for myself - if the symptoms of anything start hitting me, I'm all over it. At least give a "valiant effort" to try and circumvent what might be hitting me. So far, so good, I've been washing my hands like crazy and I've tried to stay away from these sick people. Zycam is a last resort - take it and if nothing else, it does reduce the severity of the illness - at least it seemed to do so when I got that cold last time. I stopped taking it too soon, though - it's rather expensive for my budget.

I'm going to watch some TV - G'nite and sleep tight!
ben

Illness

Michael is here - and is coughing and hacking away.
The new tenant is sick as well.
I am staying far away from them and announced such fast as well. I have had more than enough of getting sick from people that are sick around me.

That's the way it works, of course, but I would like "the works" to stop. I HATE getting flu and cold crap. I HATE IT. I'll be coughing MONTHS after the rest of the illness has departed. Happens every time, and it's quite miserable.

Yes, tomorrow I'm getting a box of Zycam and hope it can help stave this stuff of.

A thought hit me that I could put up portable canopies in front of most of the western wall of my house and keep the sun off the house in the summer - until/if/when I can ever afford to put up an awning. I already placed the ad in Craigslist and found pricing on several sites for new. Rather find someone that has one that doesn't use it - several someones as I would need more than 1 - and get them used at next-to-nothing prices.

Yup, that was the extent of this entry and now? Going to bed!
G'nite
ben

Tuesday

Apparently Monday's entry - is lost in cyberspace somewhere.
Today, after leaving a vendor's property and coming up to a major surface street from a side-street - I saw a shoe in the middle of the road. I then noticed a backpack, a carry bag and other items all sitting in the middle of the road. Turned my head and saw a pickup truck with a trailer stopped in the street.

Then I saw the body. It was crunched up underneath the trailer along with the destroyed person's wheelchair. The body and wheelchair had been dragged for 30 feet apparently while the driver of the vehicle slammed on the brakes to stop the truck. Phoenix Fire had just arrived, went and checked for a pulse - I could see the person's head and arms sticking out the side of the trailer, the way the body had ended up after the collision.

I get some pretty stark reminders of how frail our lives are frequently - yes - but this was gruesome. I assume a lifeless body - that person wasn't moving and they weren't in any hurry after checking for a pulse to do much of anything.

Well, anyway, the mortgage company advised me to NOT do the loan modification if I could keep from doing it. Their reason is that almost always, your monthly payment goes up. My monthly payment ALREADY went up almost $100 per month - I most certainly can't afford it to go up even more. The man stated on the phone that you don't even get recommended for foreclosure until after 3 months of non-payment occur. I'm nowhere NEAR that.

I tried yet again to get through to their refi department - turns out it's only one person in that "department" because they are only doing refi's in all of 2 states: AZ and Oklahoma. Why? Who knows. I never get through, I leave a message and I never get a return phone call.

It got very warm yesterday - 90 plus degrees - but thankfully, the temps are supposed to come WAY down by this weekend. I couldn't even imagine starting into the summer in MARCH - GAG!!!! I can't take the dogs for walks anywhere without having some way to carry sufficient water to keep them hydrated - that's another thing I have to buy: a pack for one of the Danes to carry their water for them.

My new doggy door is installed. The man did a great job on the installation and I immediately removed the doggy door in the sliding glass door. The dogs didn't like it. I had to repeatedly show them the new door in the back door of the house. They are starting to get used to it - I'm just glad that I got that out of the way. Next is to put sheets of styrofoam insulation over the sliding glass doors - well - I may wait now that it's cooling back down. If it gets as cool as they say it's going to get, there will be no need for AC use at all.

Have to wait until next month to get the windows fixed - I assessed greater priority to the dog door than the windows which aren't going anywhere.

Flu. Michael has been sick for a week now - I know when he's sick because he actually sleeps and doesn't do anything versus when he's faking it and just sits around playing video games all day long - skipping school in the process. Now, the new tenant has acquired the flu - I'm just hoping I don't get any of this nonsense. I am going to go buy some Zycam and start using it at least once daily until everyone gets through this junk and hopefully - just hoping here - I don't get it, too. I'm the only driver at our store now, getting sick would entail having to go to work sick, unless they could get a driver from downtown to take my place.

The D word is starting to get thrown around more and more now. Depression, that is. At least some analysts are now saying they figure we are IN a depression, just that no-one wants to say that word and apparently, you don't really know about being in a depression until it's history and you can look back at all the statistics and data.
Another person was laid off from work. 2 people were demoted to take on jobs now vacated by demoted personnel. What's next? I just thank the good Lord for having a job and hope my employment status stays that way. I dread having to go line up in the unemployment line to get benefits. I worse dread having to go out and try to find a job in this chaos we are calling the economy.

Well, I don't want to bring anyone down, just the reality of what's going on.

I've got numerous things I want and need to get done around here before the sun goes down, so I'm gonna get at it.
Have a great day!
ben