Sophie - the new doggy - was supposed to have her coat trimmed today for summer heat purposes.  

At 7:30 am, the woman promised yesterday, she would be over here. Okay.  7:30?  Came and went.  9:00 am this person calls me and tells me she overslept.

Typical Craigslist junk.  I contacted a company off of Craiglist and they are coming on Wednesday to do the job.  

I did not go to church today.  For whatever reason that I cannot explain, it was not in me to go to church.  The whole thought of doing so had completely vanished.  I instead focused my energies on getting the carpet installed in that trailer. I am hardly an expert, but I am doing the best I can.  I have the bath/toilet area - small area but lots of turns - left to go and some trimming to go.  I will also probably get some wood trim.  I knew it would take a lot of time to install that carpet and I was not wrong.   It really is a good thing that the move doesn't take place until 2 weekends from now. 

I set the cat trap out last night replete with tuna fish.  No takers.  It's still out there.  I don't know how frequently cats are out there at night.  I just know the aftermath when they do show up.

4 day work week en-queue.  

Friday off.  I took it off because I was going to lose even more hours in vacation accrual.  But on Friday, I was looking at the new plan.  I am getting 100 hours per year of vacation time.  It was at 80 hours but I have no clue when they upped it by 20 hours.  I'm going to take 4 days off next month and probably a couple in July.  If Caleb and I go to San Diego again this year - he really wants to go, he brought up the subject - then I am definitely going to have at least a 4 day weekend for that.  So, maybe use my floating holidays, though I should still have 40 hours of vacation time at that point.  

So, yeah, I"m ready for some time off.  3 day weekend is nice, but I'm looking forward to 6 days off in a row. I haven't even asked for it - yet - but I will be. Starting on the 12th.  Well there is also Memorial Day weekend, which is another 3 day weekend this month.  The point is that weekends just fly by.  Not that vacations don't either, but there is a good chunk of difference between a 2-day weekend and 6 days off. Or if I just go for it, I'll take the entire week off and that will equal 9 days off in a row.  

Ummm, well I haven't really made my mind up yet.  

What I do know?

It's close to my bedtime and I am retiring to the bedroom for the evening.

ben

Saturday 5/5/2012 Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo.  Another excuse for people to get drunk, akin to St. Patrick's Day.

Started on the carpet in the trailer today.
As I thought, it's going to take a lot of time to do a small area - because of all the corners and turns.  I'm going to try to finish the "living room" area tomorrow.  The bathroom area, though much smaller?  Will take twice as much time.

The trailer is being moved on the 19th.  Which is a good thing. I had wanted it moved on the 12th, but I am certain now that I am going to need next weekend to finish this up and get it ready to go. I have Friday off as well, so a 4 day work week for me this coming week.

I went to Discount Tire today and bought a new tire for the spare.  I didn't want to, but they didn't have any used ones and the idea of running from place to place to find one was not appealing. further, the idea of having a used tire that might not work if it is needed was also not appealing.  Worth the money, thank you very much.    I also bought a Direct TV receiver for it - still new and in the box - for $25.  I don't need anything else for the satellite, I have acquired everything I need for it as this point concerning satellite TV.  I'm not even sure I am going to watch TV up there, but if I want to?  For the intended time I am going to spend up there?  Yeah.  My mother only spends summers up there. I want to go up there throughout the year.  Sure, it gets freezing cold up there in the winter - and snow!......but I don't care about that.  Freeze and enjoy, that trailer has 3 sources of heating in it, I am not going to freeze in the trailer and of course I want to tromp through the snow outside and have some fun with the dogs playing in it.

I was at Walmart today and bought some electrical wiring so I can run a lead from a car battery to the trailer pigtail and find out what's wrong with the exterior lighting system.  I assume the pigtail itself, I have dealt with this stuff on trailers for 26 years and always, when NO lights work on the entire trailer, it's a problem with messed-up connections on the pigtail connector.  I also got Mark - who is celebrating his 65th birthday today - a Walmart gift card, he loves that place, he gets on his bicycle and goes there every day.  No, I'm not kidding, he goes there every single day.  It wasn't a skimpy amount, either. The guy does so much work around here - but also - just wanted to bless him.  I think birthdays are very important.  I have gone through many birthdays without anyone knowing and it really sucked.

So yeah, the date is set for the 19th and the man will do it.  I trust that.  But, I think I am going to have to go up there and make sure of what he is getting himself into.  I told him about the steep driveway and the dirt road getting there. It's all county maintained and in very good condition, but surprises like that without foreknowledge can make a person a bit grumpy about it.  You know, why didn't you tell me?

Unpopular subject with some readers coming up.  Like right now.  I went out earlier to find my bird bath flipped onto the ground with a huge crack in it.  I put huge rocks in the thing a while back because cats are jumping up onto it. I'm not sorry.  The trap is going out tonight.  I will begin catching cats again and moving them to wherever - somewhere else.  I will not harm them, but they are not going to continue to destroy my property.  In the last 2 weeks, my ground covering plants have been trampled on a nightly basis.  Come out and find them in such condition.  Today was the camel's back breaker.  I have had enough. I let it go for a long time because of the extreme controversy it caused in this neighborhood, but I REFUSE to allow OTHER people's animals to continue to destroy my personal property, repeatedly, over and over again.  Yup, I will be armed.  350 man has cameras and high dollar sound capturing equipment.  He has his flood lights shined onto my property at night.  He was standing out there a few days ago - the first time I had seen him in quite a while - when I was leaving for work this week.

Yes, he has flood lights shined onto the front of my property.  The man is a piece of work.  Injunction Against Harassment order is still in effect.  He cannot do anything and if he does, he will go straight to jail.  Again, I have attempted to talk to the people around here that own all these cats and they mock me when I attempt to have a rational discussion with them.  Enough is enough.

I sent an email to my oldest brother a while ago.  He has a cabin not far from my mother's property.  I asked him to come up and lend his expertise to the situation of moving the trailer onto the property and setting it up.  I don't necessarily need his help, to be honest, I am just trying to find a way to reconnect with him.  We are complete strangers by any definition of the word even though we are brothers.  But, also, he moved my mother's trailer up onto that property some years ago, so he should remember what he had to do  to get the trailer up that steep driveway.

I am having a dog groomer come over tomorrow.  The new doggy needs it, bad.  She has a thick coat and it needs to be trimmed for summer.  I am told that a good dog groomer can do a job that lasts up to 6 months. Okay, obviously that doesn't apply to people that want doggy's that look perfect all the time and have money to burn.  I am concerned about the heat - she needs it trimmed down.  She'll like it, I'm sure, whether she does or not, lol.  She's a gentle spirit at least, the groomer will have no trouble with her.

Lord willing.  Say that first and then say I hope this summer is a bit nicer with the ability to get out of this heat and go to a place with all the comforts of home that is out of the heat and into a beautiful wilderness.  The only doubt to be dealt with left is the situation with internet up there.  Will  I get it or not? Assume 3G network, 4G undoubtedly doesn't exist there.  But that's okay with me, as long as it works and the Verizon map says it does. If it does NOT work, then I am going to be talking to Verizon.  A new company for me that I have yet to deal with on "touchy" subjects.

Speaking of that.  Direct TV. I went online today and ordered a pay-per-view movie that Mark wanted to see.  Look, let's try and make a person's birthday as special as it can be.  Especially for a person getting up there in years.  I paid for it with my debit card and then?  It didn't come up on the screen.  My extensive dealings with Direct TV had me immediately going to my bank account online to see whether the transaction had gone through.  Yup, it did.

Do you want to read all of it?  Have you read all of it before?  I know at least some readers have.  4 phone calls.  Well over an hour.  To get a freaking movie that I PAID for to show up on the TV!!!  Oh yes,  I got freebies out of it, when do I not get freebies when I have to spend that much time with them? The movie? Amount paid was credited to my account.  2 months worth of Showtime and that's what I got - so far.  That doesn't include my phone call to corporate headquarters that will occur - Lord willing - on Monday, demanding 6 months free of Starz or whatever.  I don't care.  If their system isn't going to work - which it never does - and I have to spend inordinate amounts of time for something as simple as a freaking pay-per-view movie, then they are going to give me compensation for the time spent.

I know.  EVERY single time I order a pay-per-view online, it does NOT work.  I have to call them up.  I always get freebies out of it because I demand it.  I don't care what their excuses are.  After 10 plus years of it, they should have fixed it LONG ago.   I expect a 6 month freebie on whatever movie channel to come my way on Monday.

Long entry? Yup.  But, I didn't post yesterday and there are things going on needed to cover.  Like coming home from work Friday afternoon.

I sat down at my computer.  A white something caught the corner of my eye on top of my computer tower. There is nothing on top of that tower, one of the computer  fans is up there and I don't want stuff up there. Let's keep the computer cool so it stays happy.  So, that triggered something in the brain and that told me to full-blown look at it.  A piece of paper with 3 folds.  Money. The kid tenant.  Uhhh, a pretty good chunk of change sitting in that folded piece of paper, too.  Umm, yeah, next time?  Slip it under my bedroom door, don't put it up there for anyone to see.  Not that I have a theft problem now, but, who knows.  He hasn't seen what has gone on in this house in the past and I do not have people living here like that at this point and - frankly - will not tolerate that kind of crap from the past ever again.

Well, thankfully, it was all there.

This entry waxes long.

More? Yup, but need not be said here, can wait.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday 5/4/2012

So, the 5th person that was going to give me a quote kept putting me off. "I'll call you back in an hour" - and never called back.  Then it was: "I'll call you this evening", which also didn't materialize.  I called him yet again and he gave me the put-off for the last time.  I told him he could keep his services and that I would be finding someone else to do it, NO THANKS.  The problem is, even if he were to give me a good quote, do I trust that the person is actually going to show up at the appointed time considering the short history I already have with him?

The 3rd person who said he could do it on the 19th also has not written back to confirm, even though I sent him emails asking him to do so.  So I blew him off as well.  Back to the drawing board.

I'm at the office this morning talking to my manager about it and he brings up one of the salesmen's names.  Ohhh? I didn't know he had a 5th wheel on his pickup.  Never saw one on it, though I know you can get those detachable versions.  Yup, my manager states, he has a 5th wheel trailer parked up at the lake. Nice.  Well, I emailed him this morning and offered him what the lowest bidder I had already had was asking.

He writes back and asks when, instead of confirming he has the ability to do it. Back and forth, I finally have someone to move the trailer that yes, I can count on to get it done.  He has to check with family and schedule to see whether he can do it on the 12th or the 19th.  That is a big burden taken care of.  It has been quite the ordeal to actually find someone to do this job.

I still have stuff to get done on it, but it's nothing that can't be done before the 12th, so no biggies.

Anyway, I was sitting here at a contractor's waiting for them to arrive, they are here, I'm offa here.

ben

Wednesday 5/2/2012

Bowling last night was fun.  Of course, it was made funner by the fact that I was getting the highest scores, lol.  It didn't take long to start hitting the spare and some strikes to ratchet the score up enough to win.

Allegedly a trip to Globe today.  Globe is in the mountains - been there many times with this job, but haven't been anytime recently.  My manager doesn't want me to have to do it because there is no profit in it for our store.  Understandable, but I have been grinding in the valley every day at this job for months and months now, a nice trip out of town, even if only half a day's worth - will be nice.

But, I always throw in the "alleged" part because things often change.  There was nothing in our truck routing system as of yesterday when I left the premises to do other than that run.  We'll see.  The delivery is of a giant fusion machine - it is a heat welder.  It welds large diameter pipe together.  This particular type of pipe is widely used in mining operations since it's plastic and does not corrode.  More pointedly, that you can pump sulphuric acid through it and it will do nothing to the plastic.

So, I am hopeful : )

No more time for this entry, gotta get to work.

ben

There is not much going on in my life that is more disconcerting as having people pointing fingers at you for situations that you (I) did not cause.  This morning is one of them.  2 orders to be pulled, loaded and had to be at the job site by no later than 7:00am.  Okay.  Pulled the orders, loaded them onto the truck and yes, was here (I am currently sitting at this job site) right at 7:00am.

When I pulled up to the unloading area, the foreman was visibly upset.  No pipe on the truck.  What pipe?  The orders showed nothing about pipe.  I read and re-read orders over and over because I do not want to be the source of a problem that - in this company - ends up going into everyone's ears.  There are some things about the company that I work for that I definitely do not like, this is one of them.  Every company has it's set of problems, obviously, but I am not a big fan of people going around talking trash about other employees behind their back.

Regardless, the pipe was not on the order.  Yet, my manager and I are being blamed for not bringing out the pipe.  Why?  Because allegedly, it was in a "memo" on the order itself.  Well, I checked the memo's this morning.  I looked at my company email account - a memo in the order will send it to whoever the intended recipient's email address is.  Nothing.  So, how does one get blamed for not delivering a product that one did not know needed to be delivered?  Yes, indeed.  But, that's what happens in our company - there are numerous individuals who will never take responsibility for their actions and always blame everyone else for mistakes.

Whatever.  Bowling tonight.  haven't been in a long time.  Our church group decided that we are going bowling this week for our meeting.  Bowling isn't cheap and when it was decided that we were going to do that, I had the distinct feeling that someone in that group was not going to come because they could not afford it.  I offered to pay for that individual - I had an inkling of who the person was, too.  Yes, well after my offer, the group leaders wrote back and told me that a mom and her kid would like to take up that offer.  Okay.  Anonymous, please, keep it anonymous.  They said they would "try their best".

My son texts my ex wife yesterday telling her that he's going in for surgery. Surgery? For what? I get the call after he texts her from her asking if I knew anything about this (as if I had I had known but intentionally was keeping the information from her).  I decided to take the "high road" and simply not engage her as she had started to engage me.  No, sorry, I know nothing about it but I would guess he's referring to that in-grown toenail that they should have dealt with the second time he went in there.  She had not been able to get him on the phone to ask him what was going on, which is why we were guessing.  Yup, that's what it turned out to be. They numbed it up and cut half of his toenail off, end of story.  They should have done that the first time he went in, but if not, definitely the second.  This was his third visit.

Meanwhile, I am hot on the search for someone or some company to tow the trailer.  I think I may have found one.  The ad says up to $350 for up to 350 miles.  Well, that sounds very promising, the guy is going to give me a quote later on today.

That's it.  Still haven't installed the carpet - procrastinating I guess, lol. Ain't gonna happen today.  When I get off of work I am going to go home, take a nap and try to refresh myself for this evening's bowling adventure.  There are a few other issues with the trailer, but I am probably not going to do anything about it.

Tuesday 5/1/2012

The people that were going to move my trailer up to the mountains?  Are leaving for Colorado on Monday and won't be back until September.  Uggggh.  I contacted the other individual that said they would do it - no reply yet and that was almost 24 hours ago.

Well isn't that wonderful.  I posted another ad on Craigslist.  To use a company to have it hauled up there will cost around $600 to $700.  Yup.  A lot of money.  I have no choice but to start the search all over again and hope that either someone responds to my Craigslist ad or I can find someone - somehow - to do it.  Hmmm.  Maybe I'll stop in at RV World and see if there might be anyone that has left a card or a service that has their service posted somewhere.

Well, that ended my time for writing, lol, as I got involved in searching the internet for any kind of service that hauls RV's.  Found a local one and submitted a quote request.

Anyway, off to work.

G'day.

ben

I called my mother today.
God continues to astound and amaze me.
I don't know what to say.

She is going to church, today, probably leaving anytime soon now.

I could not possibly devote the amount of words and time it would take to go
into all of what that means here.  That my mother is going to any church is a
true miracle in itself.

I am elated, concerned and ecstatic - I am hopeful and believe the best outcome
here.  That she will go - and that whatever needs to happen, God will make that
come to pass and that she will go again and again.

Until.  Need I say the rest?

Until Him.  Until the Lord.  Until our Savior.

This situation will envelop me for some time to come.
It will take up my energy and thought.  My mother - oh my Lord and God, to come
and REALLY know the love of our Lord.

Sunday 4/29/2012

The thought occurs to me - just about every Sunday morning at this time - that I really don't need or want to go church.  I know the source of those thoughts and this morning I simply and utterly reject them.

As for the trailer AC, the temp inside the unit came down to around 75 degrees in there yesterday - that was cooling the entire unit with the front air outlets aimed toward the back room.  I believe it got up to 95 degrees yesterday, so, good enough.  It doesn't get hotter than that up in the mountains - or if it ever does, it certainly doesn't stay up there that long. I am going to get up on the trailer roof one more time and give the coil another good bathing in water to make sure all or as much of the dirt that I can get out of there - is out and call it good.

I don't get much peace around here on Sunday mornings any more, a thing that greatly irritates me.  I don't want to sound petty, but Mark and Lynnette walk in and out and in and out, continuously.  Well, mostly Mark with Lynnette going in and out of the bathroom repeatedly.  It's just one day of the week and just a few hous of the day, I guess that's too much to ask.  I don't get the constant in and out stuff, though.

I wrote up yet another ad for giving away some fish and plants.  I have far too many fish in the ponds - they have been multiplying and it's getting to be too much.  The filters are clogging up too fast and I want to thin out the amount of fish in there. Well there we go, a couple of replies already, hopefully one of them will pan out.

Well I'm not going to drag this one out.  Church in an hour.

G'day.

ben

Saturday 4/28/2012

Snag.
I figured it wouldn't be cheap, but now my suspicions have been verified.  To add freon to my travel trailer's roof ac unit, they will have to install a port.  Well, installing the port means all the freon will leak out while they're doing it.  Meaning they will have to evacuate the system and then completely recharge it.  Price tag? $250.

Now, I am sitting here wondering whether I should think about dumping another $250 into that AC system or not.  It puts out cool air, but not cold air.  Not cold enough to keep the unit cool, anyway, when it's hot outside.    The problem with dumping that kind of money into it is that it is an old AC unit and I have no clue how much longer it will last.  A month, a year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years?  If I knew I could get at least a couple of years out of it, then yes, it would be worth it.

Of course that's figuring that I even have $250 to spend on it right now.  I have the money to move that thing up north stashed away.  I have another $300 in savings on top of that.  Humph.  I am going to have to make up my mind soon about this one because it's getting close to the time to get that thing hauled up there, less than a month away and I do not want to put it off.

________________________________________

I called them back, the service company that is.  The woman stated that it isn't always a freon issue, that the condenser can get clogged up over time and limit the amount of air flowing through it.  Ummmm, okay, thanks for the info, I am going to try cleaning it out before I call you folks to come over.  I'll spend 10 cents on water to flush the thing out before spending a grand total of $316 to have freon pumped into it.

And hootinnannyholler.  After I thoroughly sprayed the condenser out with water, the temperature of the air coming out of the unit is MUCH colder!!!  So, I am going to run it for a few hours and we'll see what happens.  It would be VERY nice if I didn't have to spend anymore money on that unit.  It was also very nice of that lady to give away that information for free, lol.  I did thank her quite nicely for the information.

That was the concern of the day, really.  I have other things to do, but that was the priority.  If it does, indeed, cool it down nicely in there, then I will install the new padding/carpet - to the best of my ability anyway.  It's ready to be installed.  After that?  Well, not that much.  Not anything costly, anyway.  I have my new microwave, coffee pot, nice used queen mattress, the roof is all but done, just a few touch up areas, it has a new refrigerator and the propane system is now working in it (hot water/cooking).

It's been a long, drawn-out project but will be worth the effort once I get it up there.  I'm looking at either the 12th or 19th of May - a Saturday - to have it dragged up there.  Not sure yet.  Mom has already given her stamp of approval to have it towed onto her property whether she is up there or not.  But, waiting until she goes up might be better.

Once it's up there, then the work has just begun.  Will have to install a fence around it to be able to let the dogs out without having to supervise them all the time.  Will have to work out the situation with the satellite dish and running a cable. Thanks for reminding myself: I still need to get a satellite box for it.  Totally forgot about that, going to start searching Craigslist as soon as I am done with this entry.

Anyway, Memorial Day is near the end of May and it would be cool to have that 3 day weekend to spend much of it up there if I can get it up there by then and get everything situated.  Of course, another test is whether I will be able to get on the internet up there or not - no clue yet.  Deal breaker?  No, but I know I will want to be able to get online.  The only other alternative is satellite internet which is both costly and I've heard doesn't really work that well, so probably would pass on that as well.

Whoops!  The price of satellite internet has come down substantially.  New customer offer of $39.00 per month.  But the equipment for $199 or lease it for nothing.  That is a FAR cry different than the last time I looked at the pricing - substantially higher!  But it's a monthly expense I would rather not incur and use that money in savings instead.  I don't want to have to pay for 3 different sources of internet service, I am already pay for 2.  Home service and mobile broadband.

Well whatever, before this entry drags into the everlasting one, better close it down.  Just checked the temp in there, down to 80 degrees.   I have Mark fixing the heavy cover that goes over a big window in it - close that and I am sure the temp will come down substantially considering the sun is shining right through that window, heating everything up.

Later.

ben