Sunday 10/2/2011

I woke up last night around 11:30pm. My head was pounding, it was such an intense pressure that half of my head was in some serious pain. I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't sleep and eventually got up, wondering if I should be heading to an emergency room. I took 2 of the cold medicine pills I bought yesterday and eventually the pain subsided, though didn't go away entirely. I deduced that it was probably sinuses, though I have never in my life felt anything like THAT coming from sinuses. I came out here - my kitchen - and of course JD was out here on my old computer. Said hi to him - coughing and hacking away and then proceeded to get on my computer and check open hours for Urgent Care.

Not until 8:00 am. Gag. I decided after a while that I would try to go back to bed and just wait it out. I slept - on and off - and finally just decided to get out of bed at 6:00 am. At around 7:00 am, the yodels across the street started making a LOT of noise. They want to tear down that house, fine, I don't care, but NOT on a Sunday morning. I seriously doubted they had gone down to the City offices and got a demo permit, I further doubted that they had the special permission you have to get to do it on a weekend.

Well, city is closed on weekends, the only alternative was to call the police, which I did. They came out in short order and stopped all of that nonsense. IF they would have waited until later in the day - like this afternoon or even lat morning - I wouldn't have cared. But 7:00 am, Sunday? Forget it. When I had my house torn down, I went through all the permit junk to make sure no-one would be stopping us in the middle of it with a complaint - that's the way this neighborhood is. I wouldn't have done it on a Sunday, though, anyway. It's the kind of people who don't give a damn about anyone else but themselves that irritate me when it comes to neighbors.

After the police showed up, I saw that guy out there, throwing his hands and fists towards my house, obviously intoning to the officer that he knew who had called. Couldn't have cared less. The city has regulations and especially when it comes to construction, they are dead serious about it. They send out inspectors during any building process, sometimes they also send them out during the razing process. They want their fees paid, that's what it all boils down to. But, of course, when building a new house, they want city code to be followed to the T and they will stop construction and make you do things all over again if it's not to their liking.

In reality, I could make a lot more trouble for that guy - that's the guy who told Mark that he was going to have me killed if any of his cats disappeared. That's what set me off and I will never let go of it. The guy wouldn't say that s*** to my face, he instead said: "if something happens to my cats, something is going to happen to you". That is also when I called the police for the threats. The police could not, of course, do anything but go over there and give him the riot act. The point - after he said those things, he set off within me something that he should not have. I am not going to have my life threatened by an ex-con/idiot.

I continue to forget to put bait in the cat trap. One of these nights I will remember and when I do, almost guaranteed that guy's orange Calico is going to be in it. That cat comes onto my property EVERY single night. Trampling my plants, sh****** and pissing everywhere. I already caught it once, but it got out when the trap opened while I was putting it into my car. I will not be killing the cat, not into that, just relocating it to a place far enough away.

Anyway, I left while the cop was still there. It was almost 8 and I wanted to be at the Urgent Care doorstep when it opened. I felt REALLY bad and sitting there in that doc's office was earthly hell. The doc said my blood pressure was a bit high on the bottom one at 120 over 90, I dunno, when I get sick, my blood pressure always goes up. Long story short on the doc's visit: cough syrup with codeine; antibiotics and some sort of steroids. I'm not sure I will be taking any of the cough syrup just because it has codeine in it and I don't want to get nailed with a drug test at work that shows positive with that codeine in my system. I have no idea how long it takes for that stuff to clear out before it won't show anything, but boy I sure would feel a bit better if I COULD take it!

Frankly, if I don't start feeling better by late afternoon, I will be calling in sick for work tomorrow. I am not going to torture myself attempting to go to work feeling like this.

Umm, nothing else really. Just trying to get that room re-rented. Have some prospects but nothing concrete yet. I am too weak to do anything today. I walk around and start thinking about getting something done and bammm, that's it, time to go sit down.

Yuck.

ben

House Razing

So, the bully 2 houses down and the meth user 2 houses down across the street are tearing down this old, single-wide mobile home across the street. I do wonder if they have a permit - I had to get one when mine was being torn down - and I will be contacting the city about that. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't care, but these 2 individuals have started too much trouble with me over the past couple of years, long story not worth going into.

So, I'm standing out on the side of my house, behind my gates, looking at this stuff going on. The meth head leaves 'his' house to go to the mobile with some equipment. He starts staring at me, slowly turning his head as he is walking towards the house. He does this all the way down until he gets in front of the house. I guess he was attempting to intimidate me, which doesn't happen easily. A 37 year old juvenile, that's all I can equate him to.

Regardless, I now find out my son was accosted by that woman again last night, J.D. as well. Good thing she is gone. I would have let her know how I feel about her talking BS to my son and JD after I informed her to NOT talk to my son - EVER again, earlier this week. She is the type of person that cannot keep her mouth shut and spouts off all kinds of bile. She told the trailer tenants that at one point in her life she had done - everything apparently. She also told them that she "knows" that I really didn't want her to leave. Gag. I have no after effects now excepting it made me mad that she had started this s*** up again with my son and then, I found out, she was putting some kind of drops in my dog's eyes!

Ummmm, whatever. I am not feeling well - haven't all day but now night time is closing in and I really am feeling it - time to go to bed. I guess I should ante up the $50 and go to an Urgent Care place tomorrow and see if they can offer any kind of help..........

ben

Woman Tenant Is Gone

I will be happy to say that I did not have to take this woman to court, did not have to incur the court costs - around $210 total to get a person physically removed though that probably has gone up by now - and she has left on her own volition. I did not have to give her the rest of her rent money back, but to get her out of here? Yes, indeed, I handed it to her 5 minutes ago and this is over. Unless, of course, she is going to follow through with this phony "sexual harassment" claim of hers, one good reason to have a lot of other people around in this kind of living situation. Lots of witnesses.

I posted the room for rent a few hours ago, first person has responded. I would rather get it rented out quickly, if possible, versus waiting until the 15th for a person that I don't know will show up. He - the proposed tenant - was going to drop of money yesterday, instead, I heard nothing from him. That almost 100% always means that the person has changed their mind and not worth waiting around for.

I made my trek to Walgreens as soon as they opened. 2 for 1 cold medicine and 2 for 1 Tylenol on sale, got both. I'm not a big fan of Tylenol because of the problems it can cause on your body, more specifically your liver, but, apparently that isn't necessarily the case if you just don't take too much of it. The cold medicine already has acetaminophen in it and "vigorously" warns to not take acetaminophen capsules while taking this medication - I guess meaning a double dose. Yes, well I had no plans to. In fact, I am only taking this cold junk this morning, if I really need to take it this afternoon I will, but I am not really into all kinds of pills and medications and junk.

I couldn't help but look: there are a large number of travel trailers advertised right now at some pretty good prices! $2500 for one that looks almost identical to the one I got for the trailer tenants. In great shape, too. It's axles have also been turned upside down - they do that to give it more clearance for dragging them off-road and not bottoming out on rocks or whatever - just like the other one is.

I wonder if this is the best time of year to buy these things since it is the end of the season? Well, I don't know, but I only have $740 saved up for a trailer so far. Gonna take a bit more than that to get a decent unit, I was figuring between $2500 and $3000, probably not far off on that guesstimate. Looking at late 80's/early 90's units that are pretty much going in that price range. Well, just gets me to wanting to save even more. I just hope that early next year, providing I have that kind of money saved up by then, there are some decent units available. Savings mostly depends on whether I have rooms filled with tenants. No tenants, definitely no savings.

It isn't such a big deal to have to deal with a tenant here and there leaving and having to find a new one, it is a really big ordeal to have to find 3 of them in a very short time period and in this case, find 3 of them, get rid of 1 of them and then have to find another to take that person's place.

Well I am done with this. The pills have helped the headache discomfort come down considerably plus stopped the running nose junk and helped with the coughing, so, money well-spent as far as I'm concerned.

G'day.

ben

Saturday 10/1/2011

I would like to know what, exactly, is going through a person's head when they are clanking around, making all kinds of noise on a Saturday morning? OH, the woman. She is getting ready to leave. Bye-bye, please don't let the gate hit you in the @$$ on your way out.

Actually, it was Mark, one of the trailer tenants, that got me going this morning. He came in here at 6 something AM, went to the bathroom door and pounded on it LOUDLY. He came back out, explaining that he was trying to wake her up and get her moving. Oh, and what about everyone ELSE in the house? What kind of thinking goes on in a person's mind to do something like that? If they are awake, so should everyone else? But, Mark definitely does NOT like that woman, either. She comes banging on their door relentlessly. They won't, apparently, be as blunt as I have been with her and ask her to please leave them alone. Oh well. She will be out of here soon enough. I haven't heard back from the guy that wanted that room on the 15th, so I have already posted a fresh ad today. It's the first, people will be looking for rooms, if I get lucky, maybe I can re-rent it quickly.

I have determined that Roommates.com is a complete waste of money and I will not be using it again. I paid for a month subscription to it. I get all of these "you have a new match" emails, but the people don't contact me and when I contact them, I don't hear anything back. Craigslist is free, albeit a lot of flakes, I am sure there are a lot flakes on ANY venue you are trying to rent your rooms through, so whatever. I've got 2, decent guys in here right now that don't seem to want anything to do with anyone else in the house - which is fine by me if that's the way they want it.

Whatever. I am still sick and as grumpy as I was yesterday. It's cause my head is still pounding and I'm not liking it, at all. I don't have any Tylenol in the house, just ibuprofen which isn't really doing much for the headache. I will be heading to Walgreens in a few to get some. I will spend the weekend resting as I don't have much energy to do anything else, anyway and I don't want to go into next work week feeling like THIS if I can at all help it.


I wanted to start on some serious yard work this weekend, but illness has put that little idea aside.

And with that, well, it's almost 8:00 AM. Walgreens opens at 8 and allegedly, the woman is moving out around that time. I have no desire to be in here, the kitchen area, AT ALL while she is moving out. I will go to my room with the dogs, watch TV, sleep and be done with this nonsense.

Items Of Interest

Of course, nothing about how I am feeling has changed from this morning. In fact, by the time I got off of work, I was REALLY ready to get home, sit down and take a breather. Our store did over 400k in sales this month, we are sitting pretty and no-one is going to legitimately say that a 2-man crew running a store and making the deliveries were sitting around on their @$$es, doing nothing to get that kind of numbers between - all 2 of us.

I freely admit that when I get sick, I get grumpy. I tell people in the house that before any bugs hit me - cause' I want them to know that information in advance. I pretty much disappear into my bedroom or, if I'm out "here" - my computer setup is next to the kitchen area - and I don't seem very talkative, there is a reason for it. The woman tells me the phone isn't working. I don't want her speaking to me for any reason, at all, at this point. I simply told her to leave me alone, thank you. She beelines it for the trailer tenants and then Lynnette comes in - not making demands of course - but I wasn't real happy that this woman was using other tenants to try and somehow force me into doing what she wants.

However, turning the phone on was the only thing to do. Not that I turned it off - who knows what happened to it. It's a VOIP phone - run by broadband - and it subject to things happening from time to time. In reality, if that woman being on the phone means getting her out of here, please use it until the battery dies, thank you.

Meanwhile, the newest tenant comes in and hands me money. That's always a good sign. I was giving him the last days of this month free. It worked out well for him since he's going on vacation this weekend but needed to have a new place by - the end of today, of course, this is the last day of the month.

Across the street. That home has been vacated for a couple of months now. Unfortunately, the owner is dying of cancer and left to go live with her daughter - a couple of months ago. That house has been up for sale, though there has been no for sale sign in front of it.

So who buys it? Let me apply the term "neighborhood bully" here. That's right, the ex-con, felon who was dealing drugs out of his house and spent 9 years in prison. Actually, his mother is buying it, even though he is braggadociously going around to everyone (excpet me, I want nothing to do with this freak of nature) that he bought it for 13K. His mother is rich. This is NOT the person I wanted to be buying this property. However, he has a brand new house, so what he is going to do with this property is a mystery. If any part of the plan is to harass me, the police will be involved. He has NOTHING else to do but mess with other people. He doesn't work, couldn't get a job if he DID want to work and hangs out with the 37 year old meth user who is still living with his parents that has NEVER left home - who lives across the street from him - both 2 houses down from me.

The absolute bad part about this whole deal is that his mother believes he is a lily white angel, even IF he spent 9 years in prison. If it weren't for her, he would be living on the streets or in shelters. Whatever the case, I had had thoughts of trying to get the place - for around that amount actually - but I didn't have that much money on hand. Mother lives in a rich area of town, I know this because I have looked all of this up on the tax assessor's website - completely free and lo and behold, gives out all KINDS of information. This dude says he owns the property. NIX. His MOTHER owns the property, it is in her name.

So, if he starts his junk with me again, I am going to bring up the fact that he pays for nothing, it is common knowledge that his mother pays his way in life. I'm not sorry. I keep to myself around this neighborhood excepting those few, normal people that do live here. People call this a mobile home park. There are old, trashy mobile homes - 30 years and older - dilapidated and falling apart. It doesn't LOOK like a mobile home park, however, we all have much larger lots than any park will ever give out. My plot of land is 8,000 square feet, I have never seen any mobile home park giving out that much square footage per lot. Regardless, there are "stick-built" (regular) houses here as well, they started building them when the city of Phoenix decided to give tax reductions to those that would build such here.

The people that bought the 2 story house across the street? Are out there making their Harley's howl. I have been listening to this for about 45 minutes now. These people moved in maybe 2 years ago now, wanted nothing to do with anyone on the street and have their one - rather large group - of people from a small town named "Guadalupe" who come over on a regular - nightly basis. I wouldn't care but those motorcycles make a lot of noise. Right through double-paned windows and 6 inch exterior framing. I get sick of it and am considering calling the police. There is no HOA here, if you have a problem, you have 2 alternatives: go to the people and politely ask them to quiet down or call the police. I have found that asking people politely in this neighborhood equates to talking to a brick wall.

They have people coming at night as well. These people have those deep-woofer/obnoxiously loud stereo systems blasting at 2am. 3am. Whenever-they-feel-like-it-AM. I am also quite sick of that. My room is approximately 85 feet away from the street, yet that noise wakes me up frequently. I don't want to start another neighbor war, but I am not willing to let this go on forever. If I start calling the police about noise, they WILL show up and they WILL tell them to lower the volumes.

Cats. Tonight. I am putting out tuna fish in the trap tonight. Another intolerable situation, I am going to rid my front yard of cats. They will be taken to the river bottom or some other suitable place where they can hunt for their own food or they can find new residence. I won't kill them, but they aren't going to continue to s*** and piss on my property anymore.

Other than that, it's been a great day!

ben

Friday 2/30/2011

"Tell me when September's gone".
It's gone - almost. Today and we officially head into cooler temp October. At least in theory. Or perhaps more accurately: historically.

I woke up early this morning, like an hour early. Congested lungs; mucous coming out of my nose - hope you weren't eating, lol - felt like crap. Nice way to start a work day, aye? Got in the shower, turned it on hot and breathed the steam in for a while. I actually don't feel one iota better after taking that shower, oh well. One thing that does seem to help, though, is drinking a LOT of fluids, all day long.

So, I see in the online headlines that this al-awlaki character has been killed. Good riddance, that's all I can say about a "man" that is born in America, then turns on his own homeland and tries to have some of it's citizens killed. Treason is one of the few things that I will give a nod to - just kill them. This is worse than treason, imo, because of the nature of what this man did. This guy was an arrogant, cocky, SOB, sitting in front of cameras acting as if he were invincible.

Weekend is almost here, I am spending it doing much of nothing, I guess, to help try and get past this bug. New tenant moved in last night, don't remember if I posted that last night or not, the woman is allegedly moving out Saturday morning (and I'll be sure to steer well clear of her during that time/good riddance).

G'day.

ben

More

I felt VERY bad today at work. When I have congestion in my lungs like I do now, it's hard to make it through a day's work. I did a bit over 6 hours, got everything done that had to be done and went home.

But not before being greeted by a surprising sight when I returned back to the branch from my second and final run. In the parking lot were the General Manager's car; the Operations Manager's SUV and the Credit manager's vehicle. As well as some salesmen's vehicles. No clue, whatsoever. I haven't said anything more about the situation that was going on with the missing pallet and then the work ethic accusation since the last email I sent to the Ops manager, which was - early last week.

Lots of thoughts ran through my head, but I was feeling so s*****, I didn't really get too deep into it. In fact, when I feel THAT bad, it really doesn't matter if I am about to get shoved in the face with bad news. I neither expected that kind of news nor did I "unexpect" it. When push comes to shove, I will speak my peace and whatever the consequences are, I will live with it.

I walked in - people were in conversations which I didn't want or even feel like getting involved with. I do my thing and wait for the opportunity to say hello arises. Well, the General Manager was sitting in my manager's office, which is directly behind where I use the counter computer. I was doing my thing when they decided to head outside, the GM said hello and asked how I was doing - then heard me say hello back in a very gruff, scratchy, dried out throat type of sound - which is what I sound like when I get this way - and he immediately replied he was probably doing better than me considering my voice, lol.

Ummm, so anyway. They went outside. I finished up my paperwork and computer work and then - well as I said, I wasn't feeling well at all - decided to go out and ask if I could go home early. Just standing there was enough for me, sitting down I am fine but doing any physical work? Git'er done, and git'er done quick because I will run out of energy quickly.

I go out there, they are in a conversation about various business things of which I was listening to and soon got involved with - but finally, after 10 minutes of it, I just said "I don't want to interrupt, but I am not feeling well at all, will it be cool to go home a bit early?"

Well the GM went right into the reason he had come out: to talk to both of us about our bonuses. Bonuses? Coming out to deliver the news personally? It's not like the man doesn't have anything to do. Every time I go to the main branch - which is quite frequently - he is in his office talking to all kinds of people, on the phone or doing whatever on the computer. He works long hours and so, one would have to consider it a privilege to have that kind of attention from such an individual.

He goes into an explanation of how the bonus system works in our company, the pool that it comes from and the fact that this year, the bonuses were derived completely and totally on the sales generated by our area versus the help that corporate had to give last year. I'm not going to sit here and complain about the bonus, it was the same as last year, which is the highest I can get at my tier, so happy I was and am. Profusely thankful, I conversed with him as much as I could - I was getting weaker and weaker standing there and I was ready to sit down somewhere. Mostly, the only place I am sitting at work is in the truck, other than that I am working. Not that driving isn't working, it's a different kind of work.

So there it is. That money is going directly into the savings account when it arrives, piggy-backed on a paycheck next month.

I headed home. Remembered that it is the end of the month, tomorrow is the 30th. My car's registration will expire after tomorrow night. I figured I wouldn't feel any better tomorrow than I do today - this junk usually lasts a while - and that if I didn't do this today - the emissions testing that is - I would have to wait in an incredibly long line tomorrow with all the other procrastinators. But, just sitting down in my car's leather seats, I was feeling much better. So I went over there. It only took 15 minutes and I was out of there. My favorite place to get the oil changed is right around the corner - so yes, I did that too and regretted it. It took too long, I was feeling crappy all over again and wanted to just go home.

They took their friggin' lunch break in the middle of doing it. If I would have been told that when I first got in there, I would have left. Come back another day. I mean, really. The manager then goes into his spiel - you need this, that and the other thing. Yup, I'm sure, please just finish this up, I don't mean to be rude, but I am not feeling well and just want to go home. It needs an air filter. When do they NOT say your car needs an air filter? I will look at it on Saturday or Sunday and if it needs replaced, I'll go to AutoZone and get one at half the price I would pay them and be done with it.

He then noticed the car is a thousand miles short of 60,000 miles. Do you want to think about doing the maintenance schedule for it? Replace all the fluids. They do need to be replaced, yes, I won't deny it, it is something you need to do, especially transmission fluid and also engine coolant at the intervals specified. He quote $320 to replace the transmission fluid; coolant fluid; engine oil; brake fluid; power steering fluid and what was the last one? I can't think of it right now. Those services would cost a LOT more than that if you have them done individually, I can guarantee that right now. More than double that cost and even triple that cost at some places. So I left "thinking" about it.

It is going to wait. My house will hopefully be full of paying tenants soon, that will help with that situation. The woman tenant has declared that she is moving out on Saturday morning. She has apparently found a free place to live, the only thing she needs is a bed. I wasn't told this by her, this came through the trailer tenants. I don't WANT to speak to her, so beit. I'll be glad that she is out of here and that will take care of that problem. I was NOT willing to just tolerate and live with her junk forever. I have done that with other people and I came to the conclusion that it is not worth it. People that can't mesh with everyone else in the house - need to leave and leave immediately.

Back to the bonus. That money will hopefully be able to be kept for a travel trailer for up north. But - if something comes up/emergency, so beit. If I can keep out of warning trouble with the DOT (Department of Transporation/Highway Patrol Commercial Vehicle Enforcement) until January, I will get the safe driver award which is a week's pay. I will also get a tax refund whenever that happens. All of it will hopefully add up to buying a decent trailer to place on my mom's property up north. The electric use is about to drop significantly. Temps are going to drop next week to something that is much more like fall should be.

That will mean - when I can finally turn off the AC for the winter - my electric use will drop by 2/3rd's and I will have even more money available, plus less water usage to water plants meaning lower water bills. Less money to bills equals more money to savings.

Update: the new tenant just moved in. Probably not everything, but he wanted to get started on it because he is taking off with some buddies this weekend to San Diego - the Phoenicians vacation land/summer getaway place - to do whatever. He wanted to get his living arrangement taken care of before the 1st. I was glad to get the room rented and to what seems to be, at least, a responsible young man. His sister helped him and she also seems to have a good head on her shoulders. First impressions, that's all.

And this would be the end of this entry. I have plenty more, actually, but my head is banging around and that's enough to send me to bed early.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday 9/29/2011

Both rooms are tentatively rented.
1 to a guy that works at South Mountain Community college - all of 2 miles away and the other to a guy who works 2-1/2 miles away. Both want to be able to ride bikes to work/school. If they both end up moving in, I am guessing this house will be back to normal in terms of people just letting each other live out their lives instead of sticking noses into other people's business.

The woman is allegedly attempting to find a new place to live. She puts on a good enough act at the beginning, finding a room to rent somewhere else should be easy enough. It's after she moves in that I feel sorry for whoever takes her in. Good luck with that.

I have full blown chest congestion that doesn't feel so great and kept me up last night. Not fun, at all. Not enough to make me call into work sick, but at the same time, enough to make me ask if I can go home as soon as whatever work is done - is done. Breathing becomes a chore when I go through this - which I have many times throughout my life - antibiotics do nothing for it since it's a virus and the only thing that helps is turning on the shower and making the room steamy or taking decongestant liquid. Yes, I have tried the inhalers in the past for the same thing: they do absolutely NOTHING to help.

Anyway, almost time to leave for work. Outta here.

ben

Rentals

I do get sick of renting rooms when you get people in like this woman from - wherever. I don't want to say hell, I just don't know how these people make it in life. How to do you get to be 59 years old and treat other people, especially people living in the same house you are living and - and ESPECIALLY your landlord - like that?!!!!

That room is rented. Well, tentatively, anyway. A guy came over yesterday and looked at the house and room and then called a while ago and said he wants to move in - on the 15th. This gives me ample time to get this woman out of here if there is an issue.

The room that is already vacated? A guy is coming over to look at it now. It is unfortunate, but at least 50% of the women that have moved into this house have turned out to be bad news, VERY bad news. 2 of them were meth users, 1 was a prostitute (using my house/bedroom to serve her product). The first tenant I ever had was a woman, who turned out to be a lunatic. I have had some great women in here, too, and even now, Lynnette is probably the best female property occupant I have had since the beginning and considering she's been here 19 months, well, she gets the prize. I only say all of that to say that I am pretty much leaning towards favoring guy renters over women whenever the possibility arises.

Who knows. It would be nice to get both rooms re-rented and not have to worry about it. It is interesting that both of these guys have contacted me since I ran my latest room rental ad - which might have been an hour ago. I wonder if they were looking at the ads and saw mine up there. I make it plain that I will not hold rooms for anyone unless they want to put a cash - non-refundable - deposit down.

One thing that has happened at an amazing pace this summer if nothing else comes out of it: my little fishies have grown at an incredibly rapid pace. The Butterfly Koi I bought - was it earlier this year? Has grown several inches and gotten much wider - not fat looking but very nice. I fear for that fish, though, it likes to jump and I'm afraid I'm going to find it jumped out of the water, onto dry land and dead some day. The little fry that ended up in the ponds, especially the one out front, have grown to 1-1/2 to 2 inches. I think those fish are going to have to come out of that pond this winter, but I am not sure yet.

Update: Empty room is rented. Nice guy and his sister came over, they looked at the room and the place and sold, it's a done deal.

The woman, finally, is not talking to me. It took as long as she has been living here to get it down to that point.

I did not feel good today and that's because whatever it is I have caught is down in my lungs now. This is the worst it can get for me, respiratory problems have plagued me since I was a baby with asthma, any kind of illness that has to do with lungs/respiratory simply kicks my ass. I don't call into work sick, but I do ask that after everything is done, I can go home, even if it's short on hours for that day. This week, I am almost 5 hours over already, so that is not an issue, though I did not ask to leave early today, I was half an hour over. My voice is raspy, very deep - gets that way when I have this stuff going on - but it really FEELS bad.

Life always goes on, so what's a person to do? Keep on moving until you can't move anymore. Renting out rooms is a high priority on my list, trust me, it is. I would have to be bedridden to not get up and show a room and the house to a potential renter. Then, I would ask the trailer tenants to show it for me! lol.

G'nite.

ben

Wednesday 9/28/2011

Well, I think I am feeling better than I did yesterday if nothing else, who knows.
The situation here only gets worse as the woman tenant provokes me and is attempting to push my buttons.
I took my home phone out of here last night - there is no way, I thought at the time - that I am going to let her use my phone to trash talk me in my home phone to other people. Although I still feel that, I can't keep the phone because Lynnette uses it and I am not going to punish the entire household for the actions of one - person.

If there is one thing I refuse to tolerate in my home,it's any tenant that refuses to allow me to have peace. This woman is definitely ranking higher and higher on the "worst tenant list". But, I doubt she will penetrate the top 3. I'm guessing at least one long-time reader can figure out at least 2 of the names on the top 3 list, lol.

Well, whatever the case, I am out of time and really, I made 3 entries yesterday, enough.

G'day.

ben

More

I am biding my time until bedtime, I am totally exhausted but if I go to bed too early, might as well not go to bed at all. I will wake up around 11/12 and that will be it.

The Neverending Summer. Tomorrow: 102; Thursday: 104; Friday: 104. Some reports have tomorrow at 105.

I was out front of my house earlier looking at the disaster it has now become. Okay, not a total disaster, but there is a lot of work to do out there. Some plants died over the summer, others need trimmed back, a major clean up. Plus cat dung.

The man who told one of my tenants that he was going to have me killed if I catch and dispose of any more cats? One of his cats is on my property, daily. It shits everywhere and thinks of my front yard as it's home. It is going to disappear, very soon. I am going to bait the trap this weekend and I am going to catch it and other cats that are visiting the front of my property and I am going to get rid of them.

If this man is serious about having me killed, well, I now well-armed is all I can say about that. I mostly doubt that he is serious, but who knows. He doesn't give a rat's ass, neither does the neighbor from Michigan that should be coming back soon, as to WHAT, exactly, their cats are doing on and to my front yard, ie: killing plants and leaving shit all over the place. I have caught a few cats out there maybe 6 months ago and stopped.

I am fully revisioned on getting this problem resolved. They aren't going to deal with their cats, I AM. I could care less about their threats, either. Maybe I should take my dogs over there every day and leave behind giant droppings all over the place and see how they feel about it. Better yet, just dump their droppings into a huge box and when it's full, take it over there and drop it into their driveway.

There IS no amiable way of dealing with idiots.

Yes, it does piss me off to get into my car every morning and see numerous cats in my front yard. If they weren't creating destruction and leaving piss and poop all over the place, I wouldn't care. But, that definitely is not the case.

You see, I was standing out there today, looking at all of it while feeding my front pond fish and watering some plants with the hose that need frequent watering, taking in what needs to be done. Well, if I take pics of the destruction those cats have done, you would have a better idea of what I am talking about and what I am referring to.

As soon as the temps drop, I will be out there spending hours on getting things cleaned up, trimmed and whatever needs to be done. Running into cat crap everywhere will only serve to inflame the ire I have against these people that think their animals can run all over creation, doing whatever they please, and when confronted about it, they just shrug their shoulders. Too bad, so sad. When the "Michigan Man" returns and his 2 cats start visiting my property nightly, they will also disappear. I will say nothing to no-one about it, not even tenants, I will simply do it and there will be no-one to point fingers at. They can point them at me if they please and if I am confronted about it, I will shrug my shoulders like they have done to me.

So, cooler temps are coming, even if the beginning of this entry doesn't reflect that. 95 high on Saturday; 92 high on Sunday. Next Friday: 81 high with 57 lows. That's open the windows at night and let the cool, polluted Phoenix air in. That's turn off the AC weather, THAT'S what I have BEEN looking for.

Instead, Mother Nature has not been very nice to me and my property this summer. I have had to do all the watering on the plants because of the extremely dry conditions. Sure, they have had ample rain to the east of me, but we didn't get it. A few drops, that was it. The monsoon season is almost over yet this immediate area hardly saw any of it. What little we did see wasn't enough to last very long in terms of ground saturation and I have paid dearly for it. The city of Phoenix seems fit to continue to raise water rates.

Whatever the case, I am mentally psyching myself up for the rather large task at hand that I will be starting on with the cooler temps. I have a pile of landscaping rocks I had delivered here last week waiting for me to "install" them. Not - not until it cools off. I wanted them here when it DOES cool off, yes, they can sit there until that time. They are on the side of my house not bothering anyone and Coco likes to get on top of the mound and lay there. Crazy dog, that CAN'T be comfortable.

As for work, well, I am - not sure. I work my @$$ off at work, to have an operations manager questioning my work ethic was offensive. I asked him about it in person and then wrote him an email and it's obvious I am not going to GET an answer from him. This isn't something I am going to let go. I will write him again and ask him yet again about where he is getting his information, though I already know where he is getting his information. His wife, who sits on the internet all day long; makes personal phone calls frequently and even leaves the building frequently to take care of personal issues. I am getting that this person tells him what's going on in the branch, yet - if she would have bothered to inquire about the incident in question, I would have given a very solid, concrete answer and I might have also questioned her about her work ethic, looking at the considerable time she spends on the internet for personal purposes.

How do I know this? Because I have only seen it 100 times - at least. Just walking by, she's sitting there looking at Barnes and Noble; Southwest Airlines for tickets to a family event in San Diego; internet sites selling baby stuff. Creating a double-standard and also speaking out of hypocrisy is malice at best.

Should I be writing this on the internet? I don't really care at this point. I will not tolerate my work ethic being questioned, especially after giving away free half hours of my time for YEARS to that company in having their computer system automatically deducting half hour breaks from my time EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TAKE IT BECAUSE I WAS WORKING MY ASS OFF ALL DAY LONG. I worked my ass off all day long today, yesterday, last week. Dunno, don't care. A lame work ethic has never been a part of my background, personality, or makeup. I don't take lightly people saying such bs to me, I don't care what position they hold.

Whatever. I like the company, I like working there, the ops manager? The dude that used my work computer's communicator to write "gay" stuff to another worker at another branch, pretending to be me? Dunno what got into his crawl, but I do wonder what corporate would say about a man in that position that would use that position to harass workers that are under him. I have never liked working under poor management, the only consolation I have in this case is that the man above him, the General Manager, is of far different character and above doing things like that. I have serious doubts that he knows what happened with this communicator junk. I wonder if the recording of "keystroke" is still on corporate file.

Yes, every time I think about it, it gets me going. He got away with it, but only because I didn't say anything to anyone but at the local branch level and obviously, it didn't go any further than that. If it had, this would be an entirely different story right now.

Whatever again. I am probably a bit grumpy because I am not feeling well and because the woman tenant won't shut up and we just go into it. I constantly ask her to not speak to me. She doesn't care and she goes on and on. I just started talking over the top of her voice this time, I didn't want to hear it and I simply said "nothing" words to her to give her the indication that again, after asking her 100 times, I don't want to talk to her, I don't want to hear her voice, I don't want anything. She crossed the line twice over. First with attempting to turn my own son against me and second with accusing me of sexual harassment.

Anyway, almost bedtime.

Outta here.

Exhaustion

Worked 10 straight hours today. No breaks, no stopping for nothing, grind - grind - grind all day long. I don't mind working like that, mind you, but I woke up with a sore throat; headache and a low grade fever. It didn't get worse throughout the day, but it definitely didn't get any better, either. I was so extremely thirsty all day long - more than normal, I drank a couple of gallons of water. Yes, it's still warm outside and yes, the workload causes you to sweat out in the hot sun and yes, you get really thirsty.

So, I am at a job-site for a municipality that is replacing "trunk-line" water transmission line. I learned something today at that site. When thinking of replacing 36 inch diameter and larger pipe, you can't just shut the water line down. I didn't know that. The city waterworks department has to reroute water through other lines and keep it flowing. It sounded like the principle of electricity, where they re-route lines whenever main transmission lines go down, and yes, they call these waterlines either trunk lines or transmission lines. Interesting, if nothing else.

So, at the end of getting the truck unloaded - which took quite a while and they were using a giant trackhoe (excavator) to get the material off of it with, I finish my conversation with the foreman when I sense eyes. You know the feeling, someone is staring at you/watching you. I did an about face and was almost shocked to see what was there: at least 100 elementary school kids, standing in line, at the fence, with teachers interspersed amongst them. This job-site is directly next door to an elementary school. Apparently they were making it some sort of learning lesson, I guess. I dunno, but I got into the semi and backed out of there. This is more-often-than-not the scenario: go in reverse the way you came in forward. Frequently meaning long backing distances and going around turns and all kinds of interesting things that test a truck driver's backing skills. My statement to new or wannabe drivers is always this: if you are driving a truck but can't back it up, you are in the wrong business. Some of them don't always want to hear that.

Well, I didn't feel like doing anything after work, but not 5 minutes before I left the building, a man calls asking to come over and see the available room. Can't turn it down, gotta get it re-rented. So, he seemed to like it but admitted he was going to look at another place. No problem. Said he wouldn't move in until the 15th if he wanted it, that's a problem. I don't hold rooms, I inform him, without a cash deposit - non-refundable. I am straight forward and out with that. I did say that the other room was going to be available by then if he thought he liked the place and wanted to move in.

So, whatever. Writing up another ad after this entry and get it going, it's the end-of-the-month and this is a good time of year for renting out rooms. The middle of the summer never is, but for some reason, October and November usually bring a lot more prospects to the table.

Later.

ben

Tuesday 9/27/2011

I am not speaking to the woman tenant at all, now.
She has made allegations of "sexual harrasment" in speaking with my trailer tenants. Upon asking how, exacty, I did that or what I said which would qualify for such a serious charge, she had no answer. When I was done with the conversation in their trailer, I left and found the woman sitting directly next to the trailer, smoking a cigarette. She attempted to hide the fact that she was listening or trying to listen in on our conversation, I simply said to her to not speak to me - ever again. She has threatened to take me to court on these allegations, though, in reality, she has nothing to stand on. I have plenty of witnesses, thankfully, of her bizarre behavior around here, my son being the best witness of all.

She had asked my trailer tenants to ask me if she could stay until the 7th, when she gets her money. NO, was my immediate reply to Lynnette to tell her. Not that I wanted to drag Lynnette in the middle of this, but this woman goes over there and bangs on their door every day, wanting to talk with them. Not after what she did to my son and not after making false allegations of sexual harassment. She can go piss off as far as I'm concerned. She has no-where to go. Not amazingly at all, the people that are her alleged friends will not take her back, even temporarily. The man of that house told his wife that if she didn't get rid of this nutcase woman, he was going to leave her.

This speaks volumes in itself. I am simply resolved to get her out of my house, whatever it takes - legally - to do that. If it means taking her to court, then so be-it. If she stays beyond the 10 days, I will be down at the courthouse in a flash, filing the paperwork. If she starts ANYTHING with me, I will have her legally removed by Phoenix Police within 24 hours. Further, if she stays here beyond the 10th day, she will find that Direct TV will no longer work in her room, her access to the telephone will be removed and other, legal, things to make a continued stay unpleasant at best.

Drama. I half expect that sooner or later, I will end up with a nutcase and here it is. The woman is bonafide loony tunes material. She makes up stories and convinces herself that it's truth.

Anyway, on a different note, I got the car fixed yesterday. This time, the mechanic said it was a part of the wiring harness and replaced it. He first thought it was the crank sensor, but I informed him that it had been replaced - twice. Ohhhhh, he said, then he would have to get into the wiring because the codes showing up are giving him the clue that it's either the sensor or wiring. I dunno, I hope he has this figured out this time, because I don't really want to continue to spend money like that on this car. He had it running half the day and then drove it around to ensure it was "fixed". No clue, I hope it works.

Work - crazy busy. Yesterday was running around all over the place, today there will not be enough time to finish everything that is in there to do. I pretty much figure that because job sites shut down at 2:00pm. Yesterday, I was ready to leave for a job site at 1:53 pm for a final delivery, but they said they were going home, please bring it in the morning.

Ummm, sorry to tell them, but that isn't going to happen. They aren't starting up til' 7:30am and there is far too much to do to wait an hour into the day to get over there and get the load - unloaded. Who knows. I just do as much as I can get done at as fast a pace as possible and that's that.

My time here has run out.

G'day.

ben

Monday 9/26/2011

The (nutcase) woman walked through last night and said goodbye, she will probably be gone by the time I get home tomorrow.
Did someone say it's time to throw a party?!!
Okay, I have to go through the pain of renting that room out again, oh well.
2 rooms available. Hmmm. I don't know about the other room yet, the guy paid for it through the 1st, but he hasn't shown up and he hasn't called or emailed me, I am pretty much assuming he isn't coming for whatever reason - but - I cannot legitimately re-rent that room until his paid days are done. I am still going to advertise it, anyway.

This morning, have that old car towed to the shop and find out what's up with it this time. It went a good, long stretch without any major problems. Dunno if it has a major problem now, or what, my guess is another sensor has gone out. Some sensors are cheap - others definitely are not. Hmmmm, you know, one other thing I didn't even look at yesterday, I wonder if there is any fuel in the car?! I don't drive that car so I didn't even bother to look. Takealookatit before I go to work and make sure it isn't something that simple.

I just went to my son's FB wall, he is thinking he doesn't have a car and it won't ever run again. This is the doing's of my ex, she has that affect. A bit ridiculous. Unless a mechanic pronounces the car dead, it IS going to get fixed.

Well I don't have much time here, so....
g'day.

ben

Sunday 9/25/2011

I did a very unusual thing - at least for me - this morning. I didn't sleep well last night, so when I got up extremely tired, I just turned around and went back to bed! I slept for 2-1/2 hours and now I feel much better! I don't normally do such a thing, is the point.

___________________________________

I started this entry hours ago but got busy with getting the dogs together and taking them to a doggy park in Gilbert to meet up with the lady that I knew from my teenaged years. Big mistake. Duke is a trouble-maker and likes to start fights. I couldn't even go into the area where all the other dogs were because of his attitude. Basically, when it comes to doggy parks, the only dog I can take with confidence that she won't start trouble is Coco, the Dane/Catahoula mix. If the Danes want to be @$$***** out there, then they can just stay home next time.

Well, we ended up in a large, covered ramada that had picnic tables. My friend said she would take Coco over to the water area since her dog was already over there. Okay. Again, I have no problems with Coco, she will not start trouble with other dogs. She WILL bite back if a dog bites her, I have no problem with that, either. In fact, she can be a REALLY mean dog if another one starts trouble with her. So, Mary takes my dog over to the water area. About 100 yards away, it's a lake - the ramada I was in on one side, the "beach" on the other side of the lake.

She gets Coco over there and lets her loose. I was watching her. She was looking for me. She couldn't have cared less about all the other dogs or people out there, she didn't know where I was but started running along the beach, stopping at every single person - which were quite a few - sniffing and looking and moving on. She got to the edge of the beach and where the fence stops her from going any further, jumped into the lake, swam around the other side of the fence and started running down the sidewalk. Numerous people were yelling to "stop that dog!", thinking someone on the beach owns it and trying to be helpful. I just made my noise that I use to call her, sort of a squeaking sound. She was trotting along at an even pace, she apparently knew where she was going anyway.

I left. Mary wanted to let her dog play in the water and I wasn't going to even think about taking the Danes over there. Next time - just Coco, no Danes. Not sorry, they want to be trouble-makers, they can stay home.

So, the visit was cut short. I spent hours on the phone with Mary 2 nights ago anyway, so no biggies. I am not sure where, if anywhere, this may be leading. She is a nice girl and hasn't changed a bit since 25 years ago. I am not necessarily sure we are compatible, though, she likes to wear the pants in the family and that usually doesn't set very well with me. I am amiable to going as far as 50-50 in such a situation, but I am not a panty-waist and I will not be bossed around. I already had that situation going in my first and only marriage, one of the big reasons we got divorced. We can be friends if nothing else.

Of course, when I decide to make a goal out of something, I then devote more than too much time thinking about how I can get the goal accomplished. In this case, another travel trailer or an RV trailer. It isn't going to happen in the next month. If I can enmasse enough money in the next 6 months, I figure I will be doing well.
_______________________________________
The old Buick just broke down again. Caleb panics and doesn't know what to do. It's like 200 yards down the street from my house. He can't get it into neutral to push it back to the house. Apparently he suddenly forgot that on that car, you have to push in the brake pedal to move the lever. So, we push the car back to the house. He takes my car to work and then calls his mother - who calls with a ridiculous, knee-jerk reaction. "Is that car worth fixing? Perhaps you should get rid of it". And then - what - exactly - would Caleb have to drive? The car has run for quite a while now without any breakdown. As long as that continues, it's worth fixing. Much cheaper than car payments and also no contracts - just have it towed, have them figure out what's wrong, fix it, done.

So, they are both off on this tangent that Caleb is going to lose the opportunity to continue training for cashier position because he has no car to get to the location where the training is it, at least that's what he told his mom. His mom, undoubtedly, stirred that particular pot and got it brewing nicely. What I don't get is why? As if we can't work out for him a way to get to the location to train for cashier or that I won't MAKE it happen. This kind of thinking is fatalistic, serves no useful purpose but to put people into fear, and makes life much more difficult than it need be.

I already told Caleb that I would have it towed to a shop tomorrow and that's that!

Ahhhh, whatever. It's Sunday afternoon, weekend is winding down. Deal with the car tomorrow. I have a flat rate towing company that tows for $50. Considering where the car needs to be taken, a good deal.

G'day.

ben

Saturday 9/24/2011

I'm sitting here attempting to decide whether I want to drive all the way up to the mountains to shoot off a few guns for a while. Of course, it would also mean visiting with mom, so not just to shoot off guns. It's a bit of driving, though, something I have already plenty of this week in the semi. Around 3-1/2 hours total driving to go up there and come back.

I still have a goal of saving enough money by next Spring to buy another RV or Travel trailer and have it hauled up there for a semi-permanent situation. What would be even be nicer is to get a hold of one of those Park model trailers and have it placed up there. My mother has invited me to put whatever up there, I think she would just like to see more of her family and whatever that entails, so beit. Park model trailers aren't shabby looking trash, I'm just saying.

I probably won't go that route since those things are usually fairly pricey - at least for me - and I can hopefully find another good, older trailer that will fit the bill. Anyway, if I could save at the same rate I am now, or even up the savings as bit, include that savings with whatever tax return I will get hopefully early next year, that might do the trick.

It is pretty much evident that the trailer tenants aren't going anywhere, anytime soon and I am not going to even hint that they leave. As long as the relationship stays amiable and friendly - of which I see no reason that it would ever sour but you never know - they can stay as long as they need or want to. That thing could make for a nice rental unit whenever that time comes. It is lacking a sewer line running to it, a situation I have had thoughts of rectifying. I can get sewer pipe at work at cost. Actually, there is some sun burnt stuff that I could get for free. It's digging the trench that would really not be so much fun, at all.

So, if I get to it this winter - I would have to rent a Ditch Witch machine to do the trenching for me. I'm guessing a few hours or less and one of those machines would have it knocked out. I have no idea what it costs to rent one of those things for a day, plus I would have to have it delivered and picked up. The problem is, we're not talking a few feet of trench. We're talking about 110 feet of trench. That's only 6 sticks of pipe, which we have available actually, but digging that by hand? Gag. Not in THIS soil which is FULL of rocks!

Meanwhile, I can't decide whether to stay on this property or not. There are too many pro's AND con's to staying here. If I could find a way to bring the payment down another $200 per month, I would be comfortable staying here. But, for the rates that housing is going in this area, the payment I am making now - I am including taxes and insurance - is more than I want to pay and frankly, I could do away with at least 1 tenant if somehow I could get the mortgage company to doing something about this situation. Their standard reply when I ask is that I can do a short-sale and would you like to get the process going?

I haven't replied to that question as I am not ready to go there yet. 2 properties across the street from me are for sale. 1 is a ramshackle, old, single-wide mobile home that I want nothing to do with, the other is an old, double-wide that has more potential. I have no idea what they want for it, but it has a realtor's sign out front. There is no bank financing available for a mobile home that old, either the owner has to be willing to take payments or you have to come up with cash up-front. I know, sounds crazy, but I would far rather live in an old mobile home - as long as it isn't falling apart - than even think about moving into an apartment. I will stay HERE before I end up having to take that route.

I wouldn't mind looking into the double-wide to see if there is any financing available. Could rent that thing out to someone for around $650 per month. It does not have AC, though, it only has roof-mounted evaporative coolers.

Caleb - my son- was finally promoted to cashier position this week. He said they were increasing his pay to a whopping $8 per hour. I had thought they were going to give him more than that, at least $10, but I guess I thought wrong. They are giving him 42 hours this week, though. That's a full-time position if that is going to go on "permanently", I will be interested to see what kind of benefits they will give him. I still have him on my company's health insurance and won't be dropping him anytime soon. I have no idea under the new rules how long I can keep him on, allegedly until age 26 but who knows.

It seemed to take an act of Congress to authorize this new credit card this morning. I have had it for several days - at least - I just haven't had the time to stop and get it authorized. Obviously, they are going to ask you a lot of questions to verify you are who you say you are - plus you have to call on the home phone listed on the account. But after that? "Don't you want our protection service" and on and on and on. No, I don't. Thanks but no thanks. I finally had to interrupt the woman on the other end of the line and inform her that I JUST want to authorize the card, I don't have all day long to do this, thank you.

If nothing else came out of this meeting with management at work, one thing that is a plus did occur: the communication between my manager and I seems to have improved significantly, which, in turn, seems to have reduced a lot of the stress that was in the air. He had brought up that I don't communicate with him, I brought up that when I try to communicate with him, he gets irritated and visibly stressed about it. I'm riding this one out and see where it goes.

The 24th of September and the high today? Slated as high as 107. Unbelievable. There is no rain in any forecast I saw for the next 15 days. I am stuck continuing having to water all plants instead of Mother Nature taking up some of that slack. This summer has been the driest I can remember in any recent history. I have had the water bills to prove it, too.

This entry is waxing long.

G'day.

ben

More

Got my first-ever $1,000 plus credit limit credit card. I found it odd that they would grant me such considering the economy and I am guessing a lot of people not being able to make their payments. Though, I had their pre-paid version of the card for 3-1/2 years and might have been 2 days late on a payment a couple of times. I always regret that - don't do it on purpose, it had an odd due date on the 22cd of the month and I simply forgot about it. Capital One also increased my credit limit as well as Fingerhut, though I am not using Fingerhut right now. I owe them less than $200 and I intend on paying it off before I consider buying anything else from them.

Fingerhut just sent me a letter stating that I am such a good customer, they are increasing my credit limit by $200. Thanks, but I won't be using it anytime soon. I am going to put something on the new $1,000 limit card, but only something I need and nothing over $200. Or less.

The problem tenant is acting as if nothing ever happened. I don't want to go into all of that here, but the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back was a 45 minute lecturing/questioning session of my son in my living room, after I had gone to bed the night in question. I am being completely neutral about this situation at this point. She has her eviction notice, if I have to take her to court, so beit.

Meanwhile, the man that paid for the room he isn't occupying has not contacted me. I will be emailing him sooner or later. I can do nothing with the room until his pre-paid time is over. I can advertise for it's rental, though, if I know he isn't going to be moving in. I'm giving it the 25th or 26th of this month to contact him if he doesn't show up or contact me before then.

The forecast calls for 100's for the next week. Almost the end of September and we are still paying the price? This horrid summer only solidifies my desire to NOT retire anywhere near this place. Actually, I viewed 3 forecasts on 3 separate sites with varying results. Amazing the sometimes substantial difference in forecasts for the same days.

The lady I knew as a teenager contacted me last night. We were talking about Facebook and her desire to delete her account. Why?, I asked. Cause', she replied, my tech son said it's not so safe. Oh. I commented seeing Google's answer to Facebook: their own version of it. The next thing I know, I am talking to a 15 year old boy on the phone. She wanted to "show him off", I guess, for his tech savvy at his young age. Uhhhh, okay. So I conversed with this kid for around 30 minutes before it was too late for me and I was ready to get off the phone and go to bed. Nothing against the kid, but I was sorta, kinda wondering whether I would be interested in a starting some kind of relationship with her and I can't do that if I'm talking to her kid instead of her. I understand completely, though. She neither said or even intoned this, but it was obvious: we gonna like each other, we gonna have to include the fact that each other's kids are part of any packages that might be delivered.

I like kids well enough, certainly intelligent characters that can hold a conversation is a plus. I"m in no hurry. We are attempting to figure out when our schedules will collide with each other's so that we can meet. She is insisting a doggy park near her house, I don't really care. I just won't take ALL of my dogs out there, I have had enough experience with that. We have talked on the phone quite a lot now, if nothing else, there is definitely a good feeling there and this is someone I actually used to hang out with as a teenager.

So put that all together: I am looking for a woman and several have contacted me from the past in the past 2 months. This is the only one that has any appeal to me, whatsoever. Well.........there is another one, but she doesn't live anywhere near here/me and I am not necessarily inclined to such.

Done.

Thursday 9/22/2011

I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday, when I looked at my cellphone and found it is actually Thursday, well, that actually gave me a boost! 2 more days until the weekend: I'll take it.

I handed the eviction notice to the woman last night who immediately erupted into - what is apparently her usual way of dealing with things. I simply smiled at her and said: "I just handed you an eviction notice, that's it", and that WAS it.

I'm pretty much an opponent of the death penalty. I always have been. There might have been a bit of a time where I thought certain people it might be okay to do it with - Osama Bin Laden for one thing - but I pretty much came back to the staunch opponent of it. We are mere mortals, we do not have the power to give life, therefore, we should not give ourselves the power to take it. In other words, we aren't God. From what I have read, it costs more to try a person in court to try and get the death penalty than it does to simply put them in prison and throw away the key.

Is Troy Davis innocent or guilty? God knows. And last night, he went before the Lord, I am assuming and whatever happens then, already a done deal. This whole case, however, only puts this issue to the spotlight: what IF we are killing innocent people? We can gather all the techical, space-age, science driven evidence we can, but in the end? In at least some of these cases, we don't REALLY know what happened. The prosecutors act like they know what happened and perhaps they get a win, but does that equate into actual justice being served? For me, I think not. No-one really gets away with anything: someday we all have to go stand before Him and then, if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, repented and the whole process - you are going to find some REAL trouble, I am guessing if the Word is true and what it says in it is true.

Obama seems to be getting bad news from all over. If, by some chance, the economy rebounds before the November elections next year, then all these people who voted for him but are not questioning his ability to get ANYTHING done will undoubtedly vote for him and he will remain as president for another 4 years (a thing I would dread). If it doesn't, he might as well quit now and let some other democratic nominee make an attempt at it. I'm seriously doubtful that the economy is going to somehow magically rebound in the next year and all these homes sitting empty are going to be filled with happy families that are working and making good money. In fact, many experts in this area predict 5 years - at least - before it gets any better around here.

Anyway, I am thinking of travelling back up to mom's property on Saturday to fire off both guns. I have quite a large number of practice rounds enmassed at this point - I would like to get the feel of each gun and what to expect when shooting it off. I only got one round off the 40 cal. 2 weeks ago, the noise about sent me to the ground. This time, I will have ample ear protection - but only if I even think I can go up there. The problem is having a tenant that I am evicting still living under my roof. It can pose problems - serious problems - especially in considering leaving for a day. But, I have the trailer tenants to look after things, haven't made a final decision, may not make one until Saturday morning to be honest.

Anyway, time to head off to work.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 9/21/2011

So, this tenant comes to me yesterday asking me something. I just looked at her and asked her to not speak to me and also don't ever bother my son again. She is the kind of person that doesn't know when to shut up. I repeated myself four times before she finally got the message: do NOT bother my son, ever again. The gall of a person to take someone else's kid and sit them down in a motherly fashion and then start making the outrageous statements she was making.

Whatever. I found a good 10-day notice online and will be printing it up later today and yes, she will be getting it delivered right into her hand. She is not the type of person that can change - in other words, mind her own business, put a zip on the flapper and even attempt to act like a normal person. Not to mention the little tidbit about her only having enough money to be able to pay rent for 2 months. I wasn't informed of that little gem until after she moved in. The people that brought her over had paid for her first 2 weeks here and they made it appear they were going to continue to pay her way.

As for the other room, is rented out and paid for until the 1st. However, the man hasn't shown up. He said he was going to move in Monday. I, uhhh, have nothing I can do but wait. If he doesn't show up by Monday, start the rental process all over again. No notices or court action necessary for a person that has never moved into your house, lol.

The circus that is currently called the 112th Congress rages on. First, of course, is Obama's proposal that we spend another half a trillion dollars of money that we don't have to "create jobs". His modus operandi is to spew these proposals out and then run for cover, acting like he's just another person on the outside looking in. Then there's this possibility of another government shutdown. When we get rid of this President next November, perhaps the appearance of a carnival with clowns will go away and we will get a real leader in there. Until then, I don't expect anything to change.

Well, new schedule and changed morning routine, taking a bit of getting used to. Anyway, I'm off to work.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 9/20/2011

After traipsing around all over the desert Southwest yesterday in the semi (stops in Casa Grande, Eloy and Coolidge), I got off, came home and wondered what kind of drama I might find waiting at my doorstep. Nothing - that woman I should say - waiting for me. Good. I went to the trailer and asked them if she had come and dumped on them.

Of course. Come to find out that this woman had taken my son into the living room (2 nights ago), sat him down and started asking questions about me. 45 minutes worth. This woman admitted doing this to my trailer tenants and my son informed her that everything that she had said to him he was going to tell me. She actually asked him to not tell me that she had asked all of those questions!

I have already told her she needs to leave, but I am going to have to write up a notice and leave it on her door. I will not tolerate this kind of person living in here, causing trouble, starting arguments and basically making life miserable for EVERYONE, not just me. I have to figure out what kind of notice I can get away with, preferably a 10-day notice, not a 30-day notice. I don't WANT her here another 30 days! I'm just not sure what qualifies under the 10-day notice. Ahh, well now I am fairly sure what qualifies under the 10 day notice and this definitely qualifies. Good.

I'm "waiting" for this week to be over and cooler temps to prevail. Not that it's terribly bad now - the high today will be around 104 to 106 depending on what forecast you read. One of them has tomorrow slated with a high of 107.

Well, whatever. I'm doing the adjustment thing of staying home and doing my online things instead of going to work early. Of course, I have shown up at work early to find contractors either waiting there or showing up shortly after I showed up to buy something..............

G'day.

ben