I'm finding a huge lack of pics of ponds in the construction stages on the net. I'm not saying there aren't any, but..........I have spent an hour plus attempting to find an article on how to build a waterfall - I have to SEE how it's done, not attempt to decipher a person's writings and how it applies in reality.

Look, installing a pre-formed pond is the "easy" part. Easy, that is, unless you are digging in the rock-filled ground that I do. Just about every time you stick the shovel in the ground, you hit a rock that has to be dug around and moved out of the ground. I have an entire front yard FILLED with those rocks that were unearthed while digging out holes for my plants.

Anyway, I used spray paint with the bottom-most part of the pre-formed pond on the ground and sprayed that outline. I dug that out and when the shelves of the pond hit ground, I painted around that and dug that out until - walaah - the pond holes are dug. Yes, I used sand on the bottom, the rocks here are sharp and pointed, no sense in taking a risk in getting a punctured liner.



This is the "lower" pond. Whatever the pic looks like, both of these ponds are small. Maybe 4X5 feet at widest points.





This is the upper pond. The bio-filter is, obviously, very tacky looking. I have only begun this project, I have a long way to go. That "filter" will be very nicely hidden once I am done with this project. Again, I basically just started this project, I wanted to get the water in and the filtration system going so it can start building up the bacteria needed to equalize the eco-system.




This will be the location of the waterfall, and for me, the most challenging part of this setup. I have looked at pic after pic after pic of waterfalls and still have no idea how I am going to go about this. Okay, I'm getting an idea, but I will only publish those thoughts after I actually try it and see if it works.



View from the lower pond looking back.
Property on the east side of my house is under-construction, hence the messes. It's slowly getting more and more to what I envisioned it to be long ago as time passes and I continue to work on it. Mother Nature will have a great effect on the property as well as the plants mature, trees grow into - trees - and the "look" is established.

Doing projects on the cheap as I have to do them forces me to stretch them out much longer than, perhaps, a person that could simply pay a contractor to come in and do it all for him/her. But, I enjoy the process and I definitely enjoy seeing something coming to life that I have created with my own hands. I also enjoy brain-storming ways to do things with materials I can acquire very inexpensively (cheap, lol) or even free, such as the rock I acquired from up North and you can see I have around the edges of the pond. I need MUCH more of that rock, frankly - I hope sometime soon to be dispatched back to that area and acquire more of it. If not, I may just have to take a trip up there and fill up the rather large expanse of trunk that my car has with it.

Regardless, it's 6:00 pm Sunday evening, the day is winding down and so is the weekend. There was nothing in the truck routing system as of the point I left on Friday - hoping someone might have thrown something in there by the time I get to work in the morning.

I have nothing more to say, except: Praise the Lord!!

Ahhh, yes, I am one of those weird Christian freaks that openly loves the Lord Jesus Christ and have been for some 20 plus years now. Not that that means anything, but there seems to be an utter lack of open Christianity these days - it's not very popular, you know.

G'day.

ben

How Far Is This Going To Go?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starting to get very concerned about this oil that is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico - there's talk now that currents could carry it out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Well, I don't think marine life lives to well in thick oil, meaning if this thing isn't contained soon, it could literally affect the entire planet. How is it that they don't have viable contingency plan if/when something like this happens? How are they going to get all of that oil out of the water? What is with Obama saying it's BP's problem? At the rate it's going, it's going to be the planet's problem and the Federal Government better think again about dumping responsibility onto a company that has limited options when compared to the Feds.

This Obama guy is a real piece of work.

Well, I won't say anymore about it, it's some pretty frustrating stuff to listen to that guy saying much of anything.

I just finished my bio-filter and have it up and running. The pump is only 130 gallons per hour, but that's what these people say it needs, nothing more than that, so, no big deal. It uses very little electricity. I haven't gone to any sites yet to see about whether getting plants right away is a good thing or not.

Long break. Army tenant gone, I decided to take a nap in that room and see what kind of noise filters through the wall from the living room. Nothing great - but you can hear the TV. Hence my rules at night - TV is kept low volume if tenant is here.

I also found a pond club in this area online. Not that I am going to start going to pond meetings, I wanted to see pics. Gawdy. That's all I can say. People using river rocks in their ponds. I am a big-time HATER of gawdy-looking river rocks. They used to be extremely popular in these parts in the 70's, but then the age of exotic looking landscaping rocks came into existence (and a rather large, local industry to facilitate such) and river rocks became a thing of the past.

People who still have them get rid of them. You will see them posted on Craigslist - river rocks, free come and get them. NO THANKS. Well, almost all of these ponds in the pics I was looking at are using giant and medium sized river rocks. Use a little creativity, will ya? I lined my ponds with the rocks I got from up north already. MUCH better looking than those ugly river rocks. I will need at least as many as I brought home to finish the project. I didn't figure I had gotten enough, but the place I had pulled over? I pretty much fished them all out of there.

I'm also using the rock I have dug up out of the ground. Those rocks are good looking, too - just not near as good looking as the rocks I brought from the mountains.

My concern in going to this page was to find out about keeping water cool. As I had suspected, a good waterfall is paramount to cooling water in the summer as the water cascades down the rocks. I may end up building one a bit larger than I first anticipated. They also say to use a lot of water lillies to cover the top of the pond and also to do bi-weekly water changes. Not FULL water changes, 10-20%. No waste of water there, I can pump it directly onto my nearby plants. Shade is also helpful - I might put some posts in the ground and simply use my nursery grade shade screen to keep the direct sunlight off of it.

The point? I have barely just gotten started on this project,really, lots left to do. My ponds will not be good for Koi, but should be okay for goldfish. Not deep enough. I found this out going into this, not a big deal to me. I don't want too many fish anyway. Maybe 2 per pond. I DO want a lot of water plants, of course, me being the plant lover that I am and finding a woman that is selling them $2 each doesn't hurt, either. No, if I end up wanting a Koi pond, I will do that on down the road after I get a little experience with these 2 small ponds. Then I will construct a MUCH larger pond at up to 2,000 gallons.

For now? Very happy with the little ponds, when they are completed, they shouldn't be too time consuming on maintenance and, of course, very lovely to both look at and listen to.

Sunday

Second pond was installed late yesterday.
I did a trial run in filling both of them up and seeing if one will spill into the other without losing water all over the place - intended effect was accomplished. I already started pumping water from one pond to the other. As the project moves forward, it is getting more exhilarating simply because I can see what the outcome of it is going to be and it's going to be totally cool.

Today's doing will be to attempt to put that biofilter together. I still have no idea how I am going to cut out the large hole in the top side of the plastic bucket -maybe try to poke a hole through it and then cut it from there.

The female tenant is gone. She stated she wants to come back after her 60 days with of training exercises are over with. Meanwhile I've had several calls on the room and 2 no-shows plus 3 more people that are in various other parts of the state and are coming to Phoenix in the next couple of days and would like to look at the room.

Whatever. I don't hold rooms for anyone anymore and I tell them that directly on the phone. If the room is rented before they get here, well, there are plenty of other rooms (albeit, there aren't a lot of other rooms being rented on a temporary basis, which is what all of these people were looking for). If they REALLY wanted to hold the room, then back it up by putting a non-refundable deposit down.

Yeah, I didn't think so. Well, hopefully before too long here I will have it rented out for a day - a week - whatever I can get, really.

Sunday. Quiet. No kids bothering me and tenants are either not here or definitely aren't making any noise. Newest tenant may be having financial difficulties. She works, yes, but it has become apparent to me that she needs to learn how to budget. I'm not sure if this person is going to work out or not - when the rent is due we'll see. I'm not interested much in getting burned by non-paying people anymore and I am at the point where I will have very little tolerance for non-payers. I hate to throw people out - it's really not my nature - but something inside of me is being altered enough to simply say pay the rent or please have your things out of here by nightfall, thank you.

Well, I think I'm going to bring that plastic tub in here and start fiddling with it.

C'yall later and have a great day!
ben

First Pond

The first pond is in the ground, repaired, backfilled and only need be cleaned out of the dirt I accidentally spilled in there while backfilling. So, now I am going to have to go back out there and start digging down another 5 inches on the other pond, get it situated, levelled backfilled and the hardest part of this thing will be done.

Waterfall will also be challenging, but I think that might actually be fun. I'm not at that stage yet anyway, this next pond will be a bit more challenging because I want to place it in just such a way that it flows into the other pond. That may be easier said than done. However, I'm up for the challenge. I also have this berm of dirt against a portion of my back fence that I'm going to have to deal with. I will be Googling pics to see what others might have done in landscaping a small, dirt hill basically.

Meanwhile, the trailer tenant built a lean to out back and installed the shade screen material I have - it's for the dogs this summer. They simply will NOT be allowed in the house when I'm at work. I will be putting up the misters and am looking for a small evap cooler. This will sufficiently cool them during the hot summer months and I won't have to tolerate them pissing in my house when I'm not here. That's a sigh of relief, really, to get that done.

So, just a short entry (my version of a short entry, anyway). I'm going back outside to dig out that hole if possible and get it over with.

Then, I'm going to take a nap : )

Saturday

As the anti-immigration hysteria and hype rises, so does my amusement at such. People claiming that the entire state of Arizona are full of racists and bigots. Yessirreeee, that's what we all are, so don't come here because we hate you - all of you. Heck, I even hate people that are of my own color - white - which isn't really a color but who cares?

Okay, a little humor at the expense of all these people expending energy doing all of these marches all over the country, walking out of schools, basically getting hyped up over - what? Okay, let's deal with the immigration issue, but please oh ever-loving please drop the sentiments about Arizona and it's populous being bigoted and racists. Heck, Governor Brewer even came out with an amendment to the law basically making it illegal to engage in racial profiling - which is already illegal and has been for decades.

But people don't want to listen, they hear what they want to hear. It's racist, according to them, and that's that. Well, I doubt any of these people have read this law in it's entirety - or even marginally. I know I haven't, but I'm not against it so I'm not going to waste my time. If I WERE against it, I would definitely read the law, see what it says specifically about racial profiling and make a determination from there.

Well, whatever. I went to Home Depot and spent well over an hour attempting to find all the pieces necessary to build my bio-filter while at the same time keeping the cost of it down. I managed to do both. I will be going back outside in a little bittle to hopefully fill up one of the ponds with water. I can't find my level - I don't want to fill it up and find it's not level and have to drain it out and start over again. Waste of time and water.

The filtering system itself may take some time as I have to cut a plastic grate to size - twice and put a big hole in the top side of the setup which - I really don't have the proper tools to do it with, but I will improvise somehow and git-er done.

Meanwhile, I am running 2 ads per day trying to rent the room. 3 bites so far, one guy was supposed to come over yesterday and look at it - a Craigslist no-show, big surprise there. Another guy wrote me last night, going to try calling him in a few minutes. The room isn't actually available until tomorrow.

That's it. I'm going outside to work for several hours, catchya later.

Written by the racist-bigot:
ben

More

Well these tomato plants want water - every day! Assuming they want so much now, I am imaging twice daily waterings when summer arrives.
Meaning getting up earlier before work, watering them nicely and then getting them again when I get home from work.

This isn't a big issue, just didn't realize how much water they need. I planted one in a plastic planter earlier, but I got busy with installing a pond and spaced the rest of them out - until just now that is.

Looks like 2 bags of sand are good for one hole. Which is really good - I didn't want to have to buy a lot of it for this project.

Changing subject, I went to Walmart today to see if I could find a more suitable plastic container to use for the bio-filter. I haven't been able to find what I have been looking for - there is one available that is much bigger than I need it, but nothing else.

They didn't have what I was looking for, either. I wandered around the store, eventually ended up in the grocery section, got some stuff and then - headed to the meat and cheese portion of the deli. There were 3 people waiting with one employee working it. There were 2 other employees in the back - gabbing away.

I decided that, since these people were THERE this time, instead of asking for management, I would just ask that one of those individuals come up and serve me. The woman helping another person did not actually respond to my request. So I said it again, louder. That was enough for her - she called towards one of the women in the back, I'm assuming some level of management, who asked what she wanted, she replied and the lady came up to serve me. Not begrudgingly, either. In fact, it was superb customer service, albeit it the fact that I had to ask twice to get someone to do something.

I'm home, basically, for the weekend. One pond is now leveled with sand underneath. It's also the one that needed patch, patch done.

Ummm, I am really tired, I just realized and I am going to go take a nap before nightfall arrives.

Later.
ben

Friday

Not exactly sure how we got to the 5th month - well okay, still a day away - of this year so fast?
Well, it's also Friday, which is like totally awesome dude!
I don't have a lot of time here, I just posted an ad on Craigslist for the room that will be available on Sunday which takes precedence over writing blog entries.

Anyway, I didn't get the opportunity to take any of the rocks home yesterday because I wanted to get sand and cement mix to the house instead. Rocks can go today. Besides, I probably won't even get to the rock structure of the waterfall this weekend - but just in case, I'm going to haul as much of it home this afternoon as I can.

That's it for this entry, time's up!
ben

Lovely

Amazing. I mean, really. The UN is off the wall, out of their minds and ......... please.

" Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest.""

This is worse than a fox guarding a hen-house, this is akin to a Killer Whale guardin a fishery. WHERE do these people come off with this bull****? My regard for the UN and the people that are running has just been reduced to a very low place on my scale of things to be respected. What's next? Give the nod to Iran for nukes as well?

I totally agree with Senator Cornyn - BAN that freak from U.S. soil. The president of Iran, that is. Obama doesn't have the balls to do that, I'm sorry, I hate to sound like I am disrespecting our "leader", but this man is simply off on another planet somewhere. I have come to the point that I despise the sound of his voice. On most things, he is so far off the planet, it's hard to believe anyone voted for this man.

Off of that, thank you. Off of immigration, for this post anyway. Ex-Marine just handed me next month's rent. Yes, that is a good thing.
Newest tenant says she's leaving for a week to watch an acquaintence house and was asking, since she won't be here, whether she could get rent off? Lol. No, that was my answer. If you rent a room somewhere, you are renting that room until you move out, regardless of whether you spend 2 seconds in there or 24 hours a day. Next?

My trip to Miami (Arizona) today yieled a large number of very nice looking rock for my waterfall. As I drove up there, I was looking for places to pull over - there were several places but I didn't feel comfortable doing that in a big rig. So, on the way back out, I stopped at the Safety Pullout for big rigs to check your brakes. The find was awesome. Some absolutely beautiful rock - I filled the side box of my trailer up. I found a LOT of flat rocks - perfect for lining the sides of the ponds.

I'm totally losing thought here. The newest tenant has her bedroom door open and the TV blaring. It is so loud it is drowing out the sound of the TV in my living room. Which I am not listening to, either, actually, I don't really want to hear any TV's at this point in my life excepting a very few shows and movies I might want to watch. There is very little time devoted to watching television in my life is the point, hearing it excessively loud is bothersome.

Well, I just went and asked her to either close her bedroom door or turn the thing down. Either way, I don't really care. I don't normally like to get pushy with tenants, but I have parameters on certain things.

The truth of this day's matter is, it's bedtime.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday

First day in several that Arizona immigration junk wasn't at or near the top of the list. The mob mentality seems to be rule with people, CEO's, corporations, entire cities and even Mexico lambasting Arizona's new law.

I could care less, really.

And onto other things, as I have written about this situation nearly every day now.

First, the "man" down the street. Apparently he holds grudges. This is the 30-something-year-old guy that is still living with his parents; doesn't have a job (and didn't have one when times were good, either); is a tweeker (meth user); is under his parent's rules for coming and going (much like you would treat a teenager).

Had to throw all that in there to give you an idea of what I am dealing with here. He and a former tenant "hooked up" - nearly every night until I got sick of it and shut it down - in her bedroom in my house. Mary was living there at the time. When I left for a short vacation to my dad's house, I came back to find out that Mary had started a fight with this lady - long story - ends up Mary gets a restraining order, the woman is removed from the house.

During that period, I was also having my input with this person about her lack of paying rent. It was through email and got very heated because she started the potty-mouth business and basically giving me the finger. My interactions with her, in turn, pissed off this dude down the street. This has been a long time ago now. I don't talk to this guy down the street, I don't normally make tweekers and - losers - as friends. Get a life, do something with yourself, get off the drugs, cut the long hair, start dressing a little nicer, act like a man at least if you can't BE one, and then maybe we'll find some common ground to discuss things.

He also smokes pot with neighborhood kids. This also may be where the problem began, because I have given my opinion of the people in our neighborhood that ARE, simply put: TOTAL LOSERS. Anyway, I'm out there one day several weeks ago, he is cat-calling me through his parent's house window telling me to f off; he's going to kick my ass; etc etc etc. I couldn't see him and after looking at the house and where the noise was coming from, I decided it was the loser and then turned my back on him, completely ignored him and went about my business.

On several occasions now, he has been in front of "his" house, which is about 150 feet away from mine, yelling obscenities, making high pitched noises and other stuff towards my house/me while I'm out there tending to my plants. Yesterday was the same stuff. I was out there pulling weeds and was listening to this high-pitched noise being directed towards me. A 30 year old acting like a 13 year old. Nice.

I won't just live with this forever. If he continues this junk - it's called disturbing your peace - I am going to take videos of him doing it and go file for an injunction against harassment. Very simple to do, very easy to get. Yes, he can fight it in court, hence the need to get some video of him doing it. There is no good reason I can think of to simply tolerate this kind of thing indefinitely. So I won't.

One pond, changing the subject, is fully in the ground now. I only need sand to put underneath it, level it and that one is done. The other one I had thought done, but it is too high. I wanted it higher than the first one, but it's sitting about 7 inches out of the ground and I figure it can come down another 5. It isn't that much work and it will be done, too.

My liner repair kit was available to be picked up at Ace yesterday, got that. Will be working today after work - it has cooled down again and I want to take advantage of it while there is advantage to be taken. I could kick myself for not thinking in advance - take some time off while it is still cool to get things done around my house, not when it's freakin' hot and miserable outside.

Oh well. I have spaced out filling out the vacation request form every day now. Gonna have to change that. I am thinking 2 Mondays from now - take that Monday and Tuesday off - maybe Wednesday. At least a 4-day weekend anyway.

I am headed back up into the mountains today for a delivery, so I'm hoping to find time to take my 30 minute break up there and grab some more rock for my waterfall/s. Okay, I'm going with one waterfall at first. I also need to get the materials to build my bio-filter cause' I would like to get those ponds filled with water, up and running. I WISH I could get a line run to my house with the reclaimed water. There is a main line running down the major surface street, but they do not bring it into residential neighborhoods. Reclaimed water is basically sewer water that has been filtered and treated. It is not good for drinking, but it IS recycled water, it's GREAT for plants and such.

Well, my time's up, must be about the day's business.

Ava' goodun.

ben

Arizona Immigration Law

I can't seem to get past this issue on my blog because - the entire will seems to be invoking it's will upon the great State of Arizona.

Governor Jan Brewer is not backing down, explaining today that racial profiling is against the law, it's illegal, it won't be tolerated. Senator John McCain is also standing behind it and now, Texas is talking about bringing it up in January. Well, if it were THAT bad to "everyone", why would the Texas senate even think about bringing up the subject?

Because, folks, NOT EVERYONE IS AGAINST THIS BILL. And again, a poll taken in Arizona with a error percentage of 4% found that 70% of Arizonans are FOR this bill.

San Francisco is openly bashing the law and Arizona and stating that they are cancelling any bookings to come here - for whatever purpose, but when asked if they would take in any or all of the estimated almost half MILLION of them from our state, they hemmed, hawed and wouldn't answer the question, even though they are allegedly known as a "safe haven" for illegals.

FREAKING HYPOCRITES. Mouthing off about US yet unwilling to do anything about it yourself? Go piss off. Yes, PLEASE take a half million of these people into your beloved city and see what happens to YOUR economy AND your way of life.

The professor who actually wrote this bill is saying that he thinks it will be very difficult for anyone to challenge the constitutionality of the bill because the bill follows what is already federal law. The only thing he came up with is whether a state has the right to right to act on it's own since the borders are the jurisdiction of the feds.

The thing that just makes me gasp is that Obama is all for making all of them that are already here, illegaly, legal citizens. I'll tell you what, you make them get off all federal and state subsidies including using hospitals as free health care and force them to pay taxes and force them to learn ENGLISH, then I MIGHT - START - to think in those terms.

Anyway, I was just reading that the boycott drive could end up backfiring. I'm staying tuned to all the developments as they continue to pour in, I have weighed in against illegal aliens and their presence here in our state for a long, long time now. My stance is echoed by millions, apparently.

Onto other things. Got off work a little early today - I am still 3 hours over on my time this week. I have yet another trip to Miami tomorrow, but so far it is the only thing so even though it will take half a day to do it, it will not cash out the entire day, so it may end up going home early tomorrow as well. Who knows, I would truly love to keep those hours and get that money on my paycheck. My take-home pay is SO low at this point that it feels like I am working for free. I'm not going to divulge my take home, just that I can remember jobs where I was taking home more than twice that amount.

The military female tenant is still $70 behind on her rent. I want every single penny of anything I can get. It's money I need to get back on track and to get some things done around here and try to get the electric ahead. However, I am considering calling SRP and seeing about getting on the yearly power bill thing, where you entire year last year is added up and then divided by 12 I assume and then you pay that amount every month. I do like my winter months where electric use goes way down and I get this huge reprieve on what I am facing right now. It's at least the mid 90's today and yes the AC is cranking away.

C'ya later.
ben

TaDeGe Koi And Water Garden - DIY Filter

TaDeGe Koi And Water Garden - DIY Filter

Wednesday

Undoubtedly, I will be getting off of work early today. I am 3-1/2 hours over from yesterday and Monday. Well, undoubtedly, that is, if today's work doesn't take to my normal stop time, who knows.

Whatever the case, I have rocks to unload from the side box of the trailer : ) I didn't do it when I got back yesterday cause' it was late and I wanted to go home. Umm, I just published - I think - a post that has filter information from another page I was looking at. Disregard that posting as I am simply using it as a reference for my continued pre-planning of my ponds and how to keep them clean and aerated.

I have really, though, decided how to make one and I will hopefully be doing that this weekend, especially considering the price tag of maybe $20-$25 worth of parts to do it plus an $18 pump.

Anyway, this one is being cut short as the work day is almost here, my manager showed up early and off to the races!
ben

More: Arizona's Illegal Immigration Law

"If you look or sound foreign, you are going to be subjected to never-ending requests for police to confirm your identity and to confirm your citizenship," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which is exploring legal action.

Really? What evidence is there of this? You cannot challenge something that "may" happen in court, your challenges must be of something that has already occured. Or, if it's a constitutional issue. Do we REALLY believe the Phoenix police department has the time or resources to beging going around asking everyone for their papers? NO, I do not. The whole world is jumping on this bandwagon, I am, most definitely - NOT and so are a LOT of other people just like me. The bandwagon of claiming that racial profiling will occur.

BTW, Hispanics are HARDLY the only illegal aliens in this country OR Arizona for that matter. Look at all the boatloads of Cubans that try to come over here on a regular basis. Look at the containers that come from China and other Asian nations of people looking to get a piece of the American pie. Where is the outcry from the Chinese/Asian community? Admittedly, there are FAR more Hispanic illegals here than any of it, so what? It's already been outlined that law enforcement officers will go through specialized training in order to enforce this law LEGALLY, without violating a person's constitutional rights.

Of course, besides God-given rights, illegal aliens HAVE no constitutional rights in this nation. Note that nowhere in this bill does it say "to only pick on Hispanics, everyone else is okay", yet you would think that it MUST say such verbage for the heat that is coming because of it. The rhetoric continues to pour in. What I find amazing is this representative or senator, whatever he is, that is from our state telling the world to boycott Arizona because of it. This man is condoning hurting the Arizona economy, INCLUDING that of the illegals - so how does THIS help ANYONE in Arizona?

Lol.

Today. Driving all day long, including a trip to Miami, AZ. PERFECT rocks - well they're small boulders, but whatever - for my waterfall in the yard of the place I was at. No, they weren't free, but they're just rocks and didn't cost that much. They are Shiraz, I think it's spelled - absolutely gorgeous. Perfect for a waterfall.

I am going back up there to a different jobsite on Thursday, hopefully there will be time to take my break up there and grab some more "regular" rocks laying around - good stuff though - to shore up the waterfall project. I would like to put this project into high gear this weekend and get this thing going before the searious (spelling intentional) heat gets here and my progress will be greatly slowed.

New tenant paid today. I wasn't expecting it today, so that was totally cool. Other tenant is behind - but only $70 - and is leaving for that training soon. I really don't want to hold that room for her for 2 months if she is not serious about coming back. I don't know that one way or the other. I have had limited interest in the room on a temporary use basis. I also wonder how often these extended training exercises are going to occur and no, this is the first and only time I will do it, after that, she would either have to pay the rent or "move out".

Mother's day coming up. Gotta do something for mom. Almost forgot about it until I saw an internet ad. One time when seeing and ad was a GOOD thing.

Dogs not happy about being left outside during the day because it is heating up. However, the temps are coming WAY down on Thursday, and the holes for a shade area have been started. Not JUST a shade area, but an area with a mister and hopefully finding an cheap old evap cooler somewhere. THAT will keep them sufficiently cool during the summer, cost very little in energy and keep my house "undefiled". The other alternative would be a very long gate in the kitchen to keep them from the rest of the house.

I have almost enough saved up to get the AC fixed in my car. Within the next month I will be having it repaired as I am not a person that likes to work in the heat all day and THEN have to get into a searing hot car and endure that heat all the way home.

Just covering things here. I sat on the east side of my house enjoying the handiwork I have done over there in the last 2 years. The ponds are sitting in the ground - not QUITE where they need to be but still, it was easy to envision water and water plants, a waterfall making soothing sounds and some fish meandering around in the water. The effort will be worth it. When will it be done? Never, apparently, from what I have read, it is an on-going thing that you constantly adjust and move things around and such. But, to pour water in there? Dunno. I think that waterfall is going to be a challenge. I don't HAVE to have it to put water in the pond and I will probably go ahead and fill them up - BUT - I MUST have that bio-filter built and in operation first.

I have definitely decided on building my own - a small version is MUCH cheaper than anything I could find at the stores.

Yup, I'm easily entertained. Give me a project that is alluring to me and I will go for it. Especially cool when the challenge involves just GETTING the stuff to make it happen, which is definitely true in this case. Top that with financial issues and it's a real hoot. On the cheap doesn't have to equate to on the junk.

My neighbor left a little while ago. I will have to take a pic of this situation to give you an idea of what I am having to look at on a daily basis. He bought this giant, 40 foot long RV trailer some time ago. It is parked from the front of his property to almost the middle, along my fence, totally blocking my views of ANYTHING towards the west. I am SURE he said he was either going to get rid of it or move it back to the back of his property when he left. Well, he didn't and I didn't know he was leaving today.

I have his phone number and will be discussing this with him. I refuse to have to be subjected to such a huge eyesore indefinitely. He should know I don't like this kind of junk going on - I can deal with some of it, I have with him for a long time now, but this thing is HUGE and blocks out most anything to the west of me.

Well, amazingly, the day is getting close to done. Long work days do that. It didn't bother me a bit to spend half a day committed to work from the time I left until the time I got home. Wish I could get a LOT more hours like today and yesterday.

Well, time for bed.

G'nite.
ben

Tuesday

I find it quite humorous the rhetoric, slamming and new-found ways to use old phrases. "Arizona The New Nazi State". All Mexicans everywhere, apparently or at least according to these people, are totally against this immigration reform bill that is signed into law.

Now, the state is being boycotted by all kinds of corporations, the City of San Francisco and leaders all over the country decrying this "abusive" law. There is now a petition drive to get a referendum putting the law to ballot.

"Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who helped write the Arizona legislation, said he anticipated legal challenges and carefully drafted the language. He said the state law is only prohibiting conduct already illegal under federal law."

Of COURSE they knew this thing would be challenged. Note that this professor states that the law only prohibits conduct ALREADY illegal under federal law. Interesting. As the news continues to pour in about this, I continue to be amused. People actually believe the Phoenix police department is going to start going around asking everyone for their papers. If this were an abortion debate, then yes, I would be getting heated up about as I am strictly, totally and staunchly against abortion. You would think this bill that was passed was of the same "caliber" as that, but it is, in reality, just a law making it illegal for illegal immigrants to be in our state. It's ALREADY illegal for them to be here, the part that is getting people riled up is the push to get law enforcement to ask for documentation - WHEN THERE IS REASONABLE SUSPICION TO WARRANT SUCH.

I am supposed to take a trip to Miami today. I dunno if it's going to happen or not. I WANT to go - it would be the last thing on today's agenda and I could stop on the way back, take my 30 minute break and see if I could find some nice rocks for the waterfall. I'm not even sure if I'm still going, though. It's still in our truck routing system, but things can and often-times do change.

Our branch is having a MUCH better month than previous months in terms of sales and it's only going to go up the rest of this coming work week. That's good news, indeed.

Umm, I woke up this morning to find that Prince - the giant, black Great Dane, had had 2 accidents. 1 on the carpet, the other in the bathroom. Yuck. He woke me up in the middle of the night to go outside - a simple thing to do, really, when all one has to do is open the bedroom door and he lets himself out through the doggie door. Finding THAT on your bathroom floor when about to take a shower? Doesn't exactly give you that "clean" feeling, lol. Which - set me behind today on my pre-work rituals, meaning it's time to get offa here, cause' it's almost 6:00 am.

G'day.

ben

Monday More

I wrote a rather extensive entry about my visit to Walmart today - a place I love to hate but love the deals - at times anyways. It disappeared. It was not in my drafts as I was informed I was not signed in. Hmmm, well how did I write an entry without being signed in? The site did not give me an option to ask that question, much less get an answer for it.

Well there are other things to write about anyway.

Long day at work - wrote about that and some extreme driving challenges in getting a tractor- trailer rig into a place where one was never intended to be driven. No big deal - but today had 3 such occasions which made it unusual and also taxing on mental energy.

I came home today to find 4 holes started for doggy cover in an area where I was discussing it with the trailer tenant guy. He also finished the pond hole that I was working on all weekend. Well almost finished, it needs sand and will need to be levelled and also moved forward a bit to be under the other pond so it will feed into it, but he did a bit of work today.

I was exhausted. I got 3 hours of sleep last night and I worked 9, straight, mentally challenging hours - I only watered a few plants that needed it and came back inside.

The bright point? I am going to Miami tomorrow - up in the mountains. There are plenty of areas to pull over and find some rocks. It will the the "last" run of the day, meaning I will have time to stop, take my 1/2 hour break in finding some rocks if I can find what I am looking for. I did not get a break today - I worked straight through even though, as I relentlessly point out on my blogs, that time is automatically deducted from any day's given time.

This is just a short entry, I am not motivated and I am very tired. I forced myself to stay awake after work and am going to bed a bit early and hope to get at least enough sleep tonight.

ben

Monday/Arizona Immigration Law

There is one provision in the new Immigrantion Bill that AZ has passed I don't agree with much: If a person cannot show proof of citizenship or show they are legally here, they can be jailed up to 6 months, amongst other things.

Let's not jail them and waste even more taxpayer dollars on these people, let's just get RID of them. Deport them, send them back on those big INS busses and be done with it. Alright, if the same person gets caught over and over, then a good deterrence is to make them sit in a prison house somewhere, I suppose. Because, if those people REALLY want to be here, they are just going to attempt to come right back and resume living their illegal life here as they were before.

"The Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking Sunday in New York, said that just as freedom riders battled segregation in the 1960s, he would organize "freedom walkers" to challenge the Arizona bill.

"We will go to Arizona when this bill goes into effect and walk the streets with people who refuse to give identification and force arrest," Sharpton said."

Yes, well "Reverened" Al Sharpton is hardly a beacon of light or even a modicum of truth. I have heard what the man has preached - much of it is heresy. This reverend is actually encouraging people to resist police by refusing to cooperate with what will be the law of the land. Well, Mr. Sharpton, this isn't the slavery issue and this isn't the segregation issue, this is an illegal alien issue that is FAR removed from either of the aforementioned issues.

If they go to the streets as they promise, it is highly doubtful that Phoenix or other area police are even going to ask them for their "papers". The whole idea that people would come here in groves to protest this issue through Sharpton's idea is quite laughable.

This Arizona Representative that is actually going around telling the nation to boycott Arizona is a moron at best. Not only that, but already, apparently, his life has been threatened by some freak of nature - there are more out there I am sure. If 70% of Arizonans are saying this is a good bill, then this rep is isolating himself and his chances of getting re-elected are probably going down the tube. Regardless of what you think of this bill, to tell people, corporations, whatever to stay away from the state you are allegedly serving is outrageous.

Well, whatever. I'm not really getting worked up about this nonsense, let those protestors protest away, it's getting warm here - 95 today - go ahead and walk the streets of Phoenix, if you're coming from out of state and not used to the heat, good luck with that. Actually, it isn't even HOT yet, Mother Nature is just getting a warm-up round going here. I'll let my voting fingers speak for me, I don't need to go out there and act like a circus animal to accomplish - what?

Speaking of temps, it is going to go back up during this week but then by this weekend they are saying the highs will be in the 70's. I'm not ready for 110 degree garbage yet, thank you very much, not that I ever will be, but I would rather summer come on in one, fell swoop than take it's time. Just keep it in the low 80's and then one day, it can just jump to 110. Give me 2 weeks to adjust and I'll be okay, I won't like it, but I've been doing this since I was 10 years old (and can't wait until the day I can get OUT of here!).

Meanwhile, I have been digging away at the holes for my ponds, scouring the net for items that I need and sort of wondering where I'm going to come up with the rocks I need. I emailed the Coconino forest authority to find out if it is REALLY true that it is illegal to take simple rocks from forest land. My mother told me that and I just have a hard time believing it. This Earth is MADE out of rocks!!! There are PLENTY to go around! Lol.

I'm also running ads for the temporary room situation. No REAL takers yet, some inquiries, a couple that said they need 2 months to find a place to live but - no dinero to hold the room. Sorry, Charlie, no money, no room. You can show up the day it is available if it IS still available by then, rent money in hand and have it, otherwise, oh well.

Well, the work day approaches. The semi is still loaded - heavy - from all the pipe I picked up on Friday. I mean HEAVY - it is very near 40 tons. Oh, my mom is considering going back up to her property soon, if I find out her rock statement is false, I may just go up there as well and fill the trunk of my car up with what I need. My car will look like a low rider coming back with all that weight in it, oh well. I am looking for large, flat rocks for the cascading effect on the waterfall. I have specific stuff in mind and I just don't know where to find it around here unless I want to buy it. It would be more fun to find it out in nature and adapt it to use in my waterfall instead of paying for it.

Anyway, I'm outta here.

G'day.

ben

Sunday

So, I went to north Phoenix to pick up this water clarifier.
It was unfortunate that when I got there, there was a piece missing off of it. It is a screw on cap that holds the UV light in place inside of the housing. She just gave it to me - the whole setup - said I could buy another UV light. Yes, I found out, you can, but that plastic screw-on cap is not available. Waste of time? Not sure yet, I wrote the manufacturer and asked if they sell those separately.

However, I have read several web sites today that say using them isn't really all the great for your bio system. Well whatever. Everyone says something different about these ponds and how to keep the water from turning pea soup green. What I did find was a VERY simple to put together filter set up - much easier than some of the other sites had - it's a round plastic tub. Place PVC with fittings in it in order to pump the water to the bottom, which goes through filter media and then back out a hole on the top back into your pond. VERY simple and cheap. Cheap being the operative word. I have a pump - but I am going to use that for the waterfall. I will buy another pump for this setup.

Realistically, I could build the filter and get my ponds up and running without the waterfall. I won't be putting fish into it right away - but I will see about adding some plants. People are selling plants that have overgrown in their ponds for VERY cheap at $2 per plant.

So, a plan for these ponds is slowly coming together. One pond will spill over into the other. How well this is going to work, only time will tell. It may be that I will have to have a bio filter for each pond regardless that one is feeding into the other.

Which means that I better get out there and continue with the digging process, now that I have something that I think I can actually make work, I want to get this sucker up and going!

C'ya later.
ben

More/Ace Hardware

So, the missing tenant that suddenly is no longer missing paid me a portion of the back due rent with the promise to pay the rest Monday. I took it without hesitation. There are reasons, legally, not to take it - but I am not going to worry about that. I take my losses with tenants as they come. I'm also posting ads on Craigslist to fill that room while she's gone.

I have a taker who said they would move in the day it is available - and I said cool if you're serious - but Craigslist is so full of flakes - people who make commitments or say they are coming or whatever and then - nothing. The ads will continue until the day the room is open, available and taken - ie: cash in hand, tenant takes the room. Thank you.

Dug out a piece of rebar that was unearthed during the proces of digging the holes for the ponds. It was in a position where it had to be removed. I had to dig DEEP into the ground to get that thing unstuck. Crazy.

I was at Ace Hardware today to pick up a patch kit for one of the ponds. I ordered it online - cheap, yes, but I couldn't find anything available locally. There were 2 huge tables full of clearance items. The items had already been marked down, now they were half that price. I saw a submersible pump at a ridiculous price. LOW price that is. Yes, I got it. A pond without a pump is basically a glob of green goo. Filter next.

Well, I went to the back after finding that pump to get what I had already paid for - I bought it on the net through Ace site and had them ship it there, keeping shipping costs free. I approached the counter, a man came up to the counter from the back as I was approaching. Behind me came another customer with a sales associate who walked around back and started taking care of his customer.

I moved to a position directly in front of the other guy who was standing there, at the counter, fiddling with some papers. He never acknowledged I was there. Not a single word. I was RIGHT in front of him, 2 feet away. He KNEW I was there, yet he totally ignored me. I stood there for 60 seconds waiting for this man to at least say SOMETHING. He did not and I walked. Went to the front, waited in line to pay for the pump. A lady was handing out popcorn, I asked if the manager was available.

She calls him, doesn't show up. My turn comes to pay for the pump - after several minutes - I pay, still no manager. I decided to wait and see how long it would take for this person to actually meander up to the front and deal with it - but I was also quite annoyed at that point. At Ace Hardware, I have almost ALWAYS encountered smiling employees with great attitudes. They are all about customer service, at least in my dealings with them. Manager shows up 5 minutes later. Low-key, wants to know what's going on. I tell him in a couple of sentences, he asks who it is, I said at that point it doesn't matter and I left. Well, I had asked the lady at the front for the number for the district manager before the store manager had showed up, which, btw, is NOT the general manager of the store.

I am becoming less and less tolerant of forgettable or worse customer service. In this case, definitely worse. I don't GIVE service in such pathetic terms at my work, I expect to receive at least mediocre service wherever I am going. I WANT great service, but as we all know, that is hardly likely at many different types of retail stores these days.

I walked out, called the number, was surprised that anyone answered the phone on a Saturday. It was another Ace store in Tempe where this manager also manages a store. No there, no big deal, figured I wouldn't be able to talk to this person until Monday anyway. Manager wanted to know what is going on, I told him and then asked if how I can get my money back on an internet purchase, he said he could do it, no problem. Showed up - done.

Will I go back to Ace Hardware? Of course, I am thinking this to be a fluke, it is certainly nothing like the 100 other times I've been in there (more than that, I am sure) in my lifetime. Will I get the patch from that store? NO. I have already ordered another one from somewhere else. No big hurry, either. The pond setup will not be ready for water until I get everything needed to keep water flowing and aerated.

The newest tenant, completely changing the subject because I am pretty much already at the "water under the bridge" stage with Ace and the manager apologizing profusely - is bringing her kids here tonight. Should be interesting - if I'm even awake for it, cause' my bedtime is in 1/2 hour and she is working. Her daughter is 3, her son is 7. She sat here today - we were talking - we are both talkers so talking isn't much of a problem - saying how she likes it here, thanked me for letting her in and how much of a release it is to be in a home without all the stress.

That was nice to hear. I don't like living in drama and stress - though tenants sometimes certainly cause such for me. Anyway, she went to work, then to her parent's house to bring her kids here and then - here.

Long break and it's time for me to go to bed.

G'nite.

Disappearing Tenant - Has Reappeared

?????
She went to Alabama. I knew she was leaving, but that was a long time ago! She said she left 5 days ago and got back last night. Okay, I can accept that, but where is the rent? Yes, that is my major concern here.

She JUST came walking through here, I had NO idea she was even here. Almost shocking to even see her come through here.

Anyway, she said she would pay me rent today.

THAT was my biggest concern.

We'll see - later on of course.

Saturday/Fry's Food Stores

I went to cook some chicken that I bought from Fry's Food Stores yesterday - opened the packaged - enough to make a maggot puke. It was rotten, VERY rotten. Use-by date was today, not yesterday. In the last few months, I have either thrown away or cooked and given to the dogs at least 4 packages of stuff that has clearly expired before the use-by date printed on the package.

Well, yesterday, I had had enough of this. Keep throwing away $5/$6/$7 packages of meat and get no use out of it? Bunk. I took that rotten meat up to Fry's in a plastic bag, stood in the customer service line, got up to the front. The woman gasped at the smell before I said anything, but I said it anyway: "Fry's is selling rotten meat. Smell this". She wanted nothing to do with it - neither did anyone within smelling distance. One guy waiting behind me was also grossing out at the smell.

I was not happy, by any means. I was JUST at Fry's not 30 minutes earlier on my way home from work. I had to get in my car, drive up there, go get another package, stand in a long line, etc etc etc. Who wants to do that? But if you don't, you lose the money you spent on the meat and I have already done that several times.

They DID make it right, though. I won't besmirch them that. I got the new package for free, my money back, PLUS a gift card. I was actually quite surprised. I was in no mood to ask for freebies, I just wanted my meat, go home and cook it. I didn't ASK for my money back or a gift card, I didn't even intone such. In fact, I had half a mind when I walked in there to leave the rotten meat on the meat cooler in the back, grab a "fresh" one and just walk out. But, I figured I might get into trouble for such so I resisted the impulse. It would be nice, though - rotten meat laying out with all the allegedly "good stuff".

I informed them that whoever is working the meat department giving these use-by dates is wrong. It's happened enough times that there is an obvious flaw in their calculation. From the stench of the meat, that stuff I had was probably 2 days into the rotting process. Regardless, I refuse to lose another penny to rotten meat. Although they compensated me, I was still not very happy about having to drive all the way up there after I had just gotten home for the weekend, settling in, thinking about what I might do and attempting to cook some dinner.

End of that story. If you Googled for the Fry's story, that's it, the rest is just my personal, daily stuff. You are welomed to read it, obviously, but just lettin' ya know.

I have several options concerning work around the house for this weekend, I have not decided on which - if any - I am going to do. I am looking daily for pond items for my ponds. Without a pump and filter setup, there will be no water put into them. They aren't quite IN the ground yet, probably 2/3rd's done with the digging. People are selling stuff on Craigslist - just not as cheap as I'm looking for. I have a set up in the back to put together for shade for the dogs for summer. I have several plants in pots that need put in to the ground - just have to decide where to plant them. There is work to be done inside the trailer - but that is on -hold for awhile. Who knows. I usually get a wild-hair and go out and start in on something.

Meanwhile, the missing tenant is still missing. I would have already moved her stuff out of the room on an abandonment notice, but how does a person abandon a nice pick-up truck in excellent condition? She simply isn't here - but WHERE is she? And why hasn't she contacted me? Oh, how I wish I would remember to get people's phone numbers. I have the other 2 tenant's numbers, I don't have hers. I have held off on the notice, but today I am posting it. Whatever her situation is, I can't and won't wait forever for her to either pay the rent or deal with her stuff in getting it out of here. She doesn't have that much things, it won't take much to empty out the room once I gain legal access to it.

Diet? It's going. Yesterday, I ate a plain bagel in the morning. I was at the main branch at work and there were bagels out on the table. I toasted one of them and ate it without any cream cheese or any kind of spread. 8 hours later, I ate a good sized Talapia filet with more broccoli and just some tomato sauce, onions and spices. Quite delicious. That was IT for eating yesterday. I figure that bagel MIGHT have had 250 calories at most. Talapia is VERY low calorie stuff. A 4 ounce filet is around 100 calories. I figure that meal was less than 400 calories. So, yesterday's calorie count - 650. I'm a bit hungry this morning, but not as much as I thought I might be. Yes, my stomach is growling but I have no motivation right now to get up and make food. I might toast a couple of slices of bread - 200 calories just for that - and eat it plain to tide me over until this afternoon when I will decide what I am going to eat. I have plenty of that frozen Talapia and it is QUITE good, I love fish.

Oh, the chicken I got from Fry's? By the time I got back from Fry's, I was disgusted with all of it and just put the chicken in the fridge. I didn't even cook right away my fish dinner, I just put it all out of my mind for a while. I think dieting and eating in general are all, totally in the mind. If you can change your way of thinking about eating, well, it's importance and impulses to eat go way down or even disappear altogether. Yes, you have to eat, no you don't have to eat all day long and no, you don't have to eat all kinds of junk food that is doing nothing but adding fat to your body. Will I be able to last? I'm sort of taking the AA approach to it - one day at a time. Decide each morning to not give in.

For example, I'm sitting here on the computer, Michael has the TV in the living room on. A Dairy Queen commercial comes on. They have Blizzards on sale. Buy one, get the other for - whatever it was 20 cents or something. I LOVE Blizzards. I also steer way clear of eating ice cream. If I eat it 3 times a year, that would be a generous estimate. My favorite is the German Chocolate Blizzard. Because I eat very little sugar, I get a pretty good sugar high if I do eat one.

But, I put that out of my mind. What do I need ONE Blizzard for, much less TWO of them for? My problem in eating is that I like sauces and creams on my dishes. I also make foods that sometimes have high fat content.

Well, whatever. Do what I can and not beat myself up if I blow it somehow.

As for the Arizona Immigration Law - I read about all these inflamed Latinos, yet I talk to Hispanics personally who have NO problem with this law. Sure, there are plenty of Hispanics against it, but there are plenty that AREN'T against it, either. Simply put, a few voices that are getting media coverage are NOT speaking for EVERYONE. Obama wants to put an end to it. Great, Obama, then DO something about the HUGE problem we have in our state!

"It's going to change our lives," said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. "We can't walk to school any more. We can't be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we're illegal immigrants." This was a great quotation from a punk - juvenile that views cops as pigs. Is THIS the voice of the Latino opposition? ROFL!!!!! Do these people REALLY think the "pigs" are going to start stopping High School students on their way to school? No, I do not view cops as pigs, this was this kid's statement, not mine.

Mexico warned the proposal could affect cross-border relations, with Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa saying her country would have to "consider whether the cooperation agreements that have been developed with Arizona are viable and useful."

Well, dear Mexico, I find YOUR inability to control your own citizens, deal with the drug cartels and your desire to send your people here so they can send BILLIONS of American dollars back to you to be less than useful, too. What's Mexico going to do, stop the "rich" Americans from coming in and spending money over there? Laughable.

This entry has waxed long - I'm ending it.

G'day.

ben