Thursday 4/12/12

Got the new microwave yesterday at Walmart for $65.  1.0 cubic foot and 1,000 watts.  Good enough and brand new.  Whittling this project down.  I need to find a good, used spare tire for it - though the rubber on it's good, you don't want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a flat on a trailer.

Still have to yank out the carpet.  One of those "don't feel like it" things, I'll get to it in the next couple of days depending on how tired I am after work.  You know, one of things where you go to work all day and then come home to - go to work again? lol

The dog got out yet again yesterday.  This time the kid that walks them was leaving and she darted out.  He was much better at catching her than I will ever be, had her back in about 5 minutes.  I wasn't particularly happy with the dog doing that, to be honest about it.

I also installed a new tub faucet set in the main bathroom yesterday.  The thing broke the first time I turned it on, meaning taking the thing back out and going to Home Depot to get another one, only to find out they were out of stock.  This is the kind of thing that can reeeeeeally irritate me when doing home projects.  A project that should have been done in 20 minutes ended up taking over 2 hours.

Sending out the next to last payment on the other trailer today.  One more payment after this and it's over with - and I can't tell ya how glad I'll be to have that thing paid for and out of my hair.  It will probably go up for sale as soon as I get the lien release on it.  I just want to get back what I paid for it, which should be easy enough - it was sold for less than it's worth in the first place to help out Mark and Lynnette in having a place to stay.

That's it.  Off to the races - ummm - work that is.  There was nothing in the truck routing system yesterday, I do hope there is at least something in there this morning or this is going to be an awfully long day at work!

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 4/11/2012

They had put a run in our truck routing system to take 2 large machines up to a contractor up in the mountains for delivery tomorrow.  And then 2 hours later, they removed it. Ouch!!! I haven't been out of town in the semi in quite a long time now.  In fact, most of the runs I am doing take me no more than 10 miles away from the yard.  Kinda gets old after a while, a little mix-it-up once in a while would be nice.

But I guess that ain't happening this week.  

I came home from work yesterday and Duke was sick. I was like, NOT AGAIN.  He was very warm, like he had a fever so I gave him a couple of low dosage aspirin, fed him some treats because he wouldn't touch his regular dog food and then thought about the possibility of yet another dog going down.

So with great relief this morning to find his temp back down and an extremely hungry dog.  Hopefully whatever it was is gone and no longer a factor.

Getting warm again around these parts, but I guess the temps are supposed to go back down.  Yesterday's high was 93, today's is slated to be 81.  I heard news commentators complaining about the "cold" - my gosh, do these people LIKE 115 degree heat?!!

I attempted to find a microwave yesterday for the trailer that would fit into the cupboard that is made for it.  Well, unfortunately, the only thing that is going to fit in there is a smaller unit with lower wattage.  If I were going to live in the thing, I might have an issue with it, but since it's just a getaway trailer for here and there usage, I will just have to go ahead and get the smaller, lower wattage unit.  Hey, it's only $60 for one of those compared to $149 for a much nicer one.

I am also still looking for a refrigerator.  Tenants have that small one packed full of their stuff.  Not that I can actually afford a refrigerator right now, but maybe if I can get a bigger one in here I can sell the smaller one for $100 and recoup most of the loss.  That refrigerator is only 4 years old, plenty of life left in it, just that it's only an 18 cubic foot (or 16, I can't remember which) and that is tiny for 3 people using it on a daily basis. 

Ummm, time to be off for work.  Have to go in earlier than normal for - what else - another run into the Intel plant.  

G'day.

ben

Monday 4/9/2012

Well it appears it's that time again.
What time is that, Ben?
Time to pull out the cat trap.
The situation had improved by itself for quite a while now,
not finding any cat poop or destroyed vegetation.

Which has completely changed in the last few days.  Poop
in my decorative landscaping rock but more to the point: trampled
vegetation, ie: my ground covering plants that are currently flowering.
That is maddening - at least to me - and I won't allow it.

I know, it's just cats destroying your property, right?  Why bother?
Uh-huh.  Maybe if it were your property that you had spent countless
hours/afternoons/weekends and money and energy going out and getting
all that stuff and then, after all the hard work of digging holes into ground
that is full of rocks, watching them grow, then installing a drip irrigation system
to water them with - perhaps if you had spent 3 years doing all of that, you
might think a bit differently as well.  Walk a mile in another man's shoes..........

My neighbors - the people that own or feed all those cats - could care
less, as they have let it be known exceedingly well.  No worries on the
cats, I am not going to harm them in any way, shape or form.  If I catch one,
it's simply going to be relocated to a completely new area where it can set
up shop and do it's thing somewhere else : ).  Probably an industrial area,
where there are usually plenty of pigeons and mice to feed on.

As soon as a cat disappears, the s*** will start all over again. Oh well.  I am
simply not going to let a bunch of hoarders - which includes animal hoarding -
dictate and rule my life.

I am hoping Mark will get in the trailer today and tear out the old carpet.
He did that with the ruined section without my asking him, though we had \
discussed it.  But if not, I will do it myself.

Lynnette is in a mode again.  Not a mood, a mode.  Perhaps the mode is linked
to a mood, but still.  This will go on for a good month at least.  I will not go into
the details but it's kind of ridiculous to have to tolerate that around here.  Whatever.

In any case, it's almost time to be off to work and I wanna take a glance at the news.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 4/8/2012

Happy Easter.
Nice day, today.
Went to church and saw a lot of new faces there.
But, that's typical with Easter.  People will go to church
for Easter and not go any other time.
There was a huge dinner after wards - I mean there was a
lot of food and it was all good stuff.  Good fellowship, great day at church.

I have decided that I am going to take a week off in June - if I am still employed lol -
and spend most of it up there with the trailer.  I would like to take some time off sooner
than that, but I would end up spending it here, at home, and I have had more than enough
of "staycations".  A couple 3 years of it not including the short trip to San Diego and going
sport-fishing last year.  It will cost me in fuel and whatever electricity I use up there, it
will cost nothing more since the dogs have to eat wherever they are at and so do I.

I have officially been invited to visit and old missionary friend that I haven't seen in years and didn't even know was still alive.  Just one problem with it, though: he now lives in the Philippine Islands, lol.  I would love to visit the Philippines and definitely would love to visit my friend, but my goodness.  How much does a round trip flight to the Philippines cost? Not in any current budget, I can guarantee you.  Back-burner material: not completely out of the question but right now or anytime in the next coming months - probably not.

2 Easter dinners today.  Just got through with the second one after consuming a nice portion at church.

I was looking at this rather heavy, small, rectangular box thing with Coco's ashes in it.  No, I'm over the grief.  But I'll never forget, just after Coco was put down and I was leaving the facility, a lady that was in the waiting room out front.  It probably didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what just happened in my life with tears running down my face and blood red eyes (which is why I was extremely glad they took payment in the room instead of having to deal with that after the fact, up front, at the main counter).  She gave me the most endearing smile I have ever experienced or seen in my life.  Like she knew what happened and was attempting to convey that knowledge and empathize with me, all in a smile and look on her face that conveyed more words than an encyclopedia.  It will never leave me - and in a very good way.  There is still good in the human spirit in this world.

Facebook.  I started looking for people after people started finding me in Facebook. I had no idea that I would end up talking with so many people from my past.  In fact, I didn't even think it possible - what is Facebook, anyway?.......at the time.  So, one of the persons I attempted to find was a kid that used to live with us when we were living in the mobile home park.  He spent 2 years living with Caleb and I.  He has Aspberger's Syndrome; is bi-polar, has ADD and something else that I don't remember.

Yes, quite a cocktail making up for a person that has a very hard time dealing with even the most elemental things in life.  Well, he ended up leaving, his mother couldn't take care of him and he went to live with his dad.  I found out a month ago that they moved to Alberta, Canada.  No clue.  I found him on Facebook and contacted him.  He couldn't remember who I was.  This kid lived with me for 2 years and couldn't remember me at all?  Yes, I thought, they have him so drugged up he probably can't remember yesterday, much less several years ago.

Well, I just let it go.  Then today, he writes me back as if we had been talking forever - most people probably haven't been around people with Aspberger's - it's a VERY unusual disease/condition/whatever that makes people with it think much differently than you or I.  He was fully cognizant of who I was and told me he is coming back next year and will want to visit me.  He should be in his 20's at this point, but I guess that kid is not really destined to do much but live under his parent's roof.  Which is kind of a shame, in some respects, he is an extremely intelligent person, very focused on ONE thing.

Just interesting stuff, at least to me.

However, this one's growing long.

Happy Easter - again!

ben

Saturday 4/7/2012

Well anyway.
I have been working outside most of the day.  A few spurts on the internet here and there and a trip to the bank and a couple of stores.  Specifically: Home Depot. I wanted to get started on revamping the drip irrigation system out front - though I must admit I like standing out there and water the stuff with a hose.

I also found a nice stretch of carpet for the trailer.  It was one that was already cut, rolled up and sitting in a bin with a several other rolls of carpet that were marked down.  The trailer doesn't need a lot of carpet.  I got enough to cover the area that needs to be covered for $44.00 - marked way down from it's original price.  It's high quality carpet, too.

Installing it, of course, will be a completely different story.  I had too many other things going on to deal with that, though.  I spent the entirety of my gift cards on that carpet and all that material to fix the drip system, which has various problems throughout the entire system both front, sides and back of yard.  I had enough of that stuff leftover from the material I had bought from my work to be able to deal with problems for a long, long, time but that entire bag full of a lot of money's worth of stuff "disappeared".  A conversation with a particular individual here leads me to believe it was thrown in the trash by mistake.

My son finally showed up - he has been staying at his mom's house now for whatever, unknown reason and I am not pushing him on it.  She tends to do guilt trips - I lived with her for 16 years so I pretty much know how she operates - I am guessing pressure from her. I am going to have to get used to not having him around, anyway, sooner or later he will leave both of us to head out on his own.  That is the natural way of things, yes?

They're Leaving?

So, I'm at work this morning, around 9:30 am.  I was done with deliveries for the day, actually.  There wasn't much today which really didn't bother me.  A freight truck came in with about 16 crates and pallets FILLED with material.  I knew what I would be doing for the next several hours, at least.

Well we're trying to get the crates out of there - they were turned sideways and a pallet jack cannot pick up a pallet from the side, whoever loaded that truck like that must have - well anyway, I go get the chains. I have enough chains in the trailer sidebox on my truck to stretch out at least 200 feet.  Then I get a phone call.

First, it was Josie.  My now-passed best friend's wife.  I could not take that call, I was busy and I can only guess how long it would take, so I just let it ring and go to my messages.  Right after that, I get a call from my home phone.  I took that call, I don 't get calls from home unless there is a problem.

Lynnette is on the phone, sobbing and crying and telling me how she had opened the gate and how Sophie- the new doggy - zipped past her from "out of nowhere" and ran down the street.  I didn't have the time for this, I couldn't drop what I was doing and go home and start looking for the dog, I just hoped that the dog would eventually come home like she did last time.  I got off the phone with her quickly, I didn't need to hear this sobbing and crying stuff, though the reason she was sobbing and crying wasn't about the dog directly, ie: it's gone.

It was the last time this happened.  She has let those dogs out by spacing out and not paying attention or just blatently leaving the gate open at least 5 times now.  The last time she did it, I got mad because it was a stupid mistake - she should have learned long before that that you don't leave the get open, not even "just a little bit".  I told her if it ever happened again, they would be leaving.  I said it out of anger, but I never retracted it.  I figured a good motivation for her to pay more attention and keep the freaking gate closed.

She calls back not 5 minutes later, the dog had been caught, brought her home, end of story.  I didn't get into a discussion with her - I was extremely busy at work and I am not paid to stand around talking on cell phones when there is work to be done.  I CAN talk on the phone if I"m sitting  in the truck, waiting to get unloaded, that's legitimate, but not at the yard.  There is always something to do at the yard considering it's a 2 man crew working a rather large facility.

Fast forward to getting off work, wishing my manager and the lady that uses one of the offices to do her work for a different division in our company a Happy Good Friday and happier Easter and go home.  Mark comes out of his bedroom and walks by me.  I say "Hi" loud enough to make sure he hears me.  Nothing.  Doesn't even slow down.  I then observe that they have removed all of their coffee stuff and other things off the small counter top that they had been using all the way up - until now.  I further observed that he apparently has decided not to help out around here at all.  I then see a note from Lynnette - they are moving out but it will take a week or two to get their stuff out of here.

In other words, without even discussing it or even giving me a chance to ease the tension, they flat decide they are moving out because of my past words, apparently.  Which made me angry.  They have been living here getting close to 3 years now and this is how little they think of me?  Unless they change their tones towards me, I am not going to say anything, they can just leave.  I have been in this situation with other tenants before - people who are intent on leaving and acting pissy - I don't even talk to them unless they talk to - or confront - me.  Then all bets are off.

I have absolutely no problem, whatsoever, taking care of the things that need taken care of around here.  Not having them here will mean having to lock the house up, yes.  I will no longer have the peace of mind of having someone watching over the place when I am not here, but I have ONLY treated them well for them to be acting this way to me.  I have made more than enough sacrifice in my personal life to give these people a place to live, it's just sickening.

Whatever.  I'll get over it quickly, unless, of course, they change their tones.  Anyway, after I observe all of the lack of help I had around here today - which I dug into and got done quickly in daily duties - Kyle comes through the door. The ex-heroin addict, ex-con, 18 year old kid that used to hang out with us long ago before he turned to a life of crime, drugs and whatever else.  The brakes on the car he is using were not working right, he says and needs help with putting on new brake pads.  Aiy yai yayyyyyy.  Friday afternoon, weekend here and I have to go install brakes on someone else's car?  Gag.

But, Kyle has turned to the straight and narrow.  He has been working, he is off the drugs and he doesn't live the life of crime anymore.  I had decided not too terribly long ago that as long as he stays on that course, I will help him however I can.  Do you have the new brake pads? No, he has to go get them.  Okay.

30 minutes later he comes back with pads in hand.  Okay, let's go fix the car.  Well, turns out, the car is not HERE, his mother dropped him off.  Gag again.  Fortunately, he lives all of 2 miles away, so I decided to go ahead and help him out.  I did the driver's side first and that was where the problem was and partially still is.  One side was pure metal on metal.  I mean, it had BEEN metal on metal for a while, there was NO brake lining left and the rotor was nicely grooved.

I informed him that he probably should replace the rotor - but not mandatory.  A brake shop obviously wouldn't tell you that, but I can.  I have done it when I didn't have enough money to replace a rotor.  The pad eventually wears into the grooves and though it isn't perfect, it still works.  He didn't have the money for a rotor and I simply told him the pad would not last near as long and the braking would probably be pulling to the left, but, it will work.  He didn't care.  Okay, we replace that.  I get to the other side- yikes. One of the bolts holding the caliper in was on so tight, nothing I could do would budge it.  I asked if he had a hammer - put a wrench on the bolt, hold it tight and pushing down on the wrench and start hitting the wrench with the hammer at the same time.  The vibration usually, eventually, will cause the bolt to break free.

He brings me this piece of junk hammer the broke into pieces after a few good hits on the wrench.  Yeah, whatever.  I put a bar on the socket to get lever and used my LEG to push down on it, not even budging.  I finally gave up on it.  The pads on that side still had good lining on it, actually, so, no biggies. Optimal?  Obviously not.  I told him to get some WD-40 or similar and spray it on the bolt head and another part where it might get in and bring it back Sunday - afternoon I guess - and we will try again.  I will have a REAL hammer this time, I should be able to get it off of there.  Well, I have him pump up the brakes - he has no clue.  NO clue about cars, even something as simple as pumping the brake pressure back up.

Anyway. I come home again.  Gilbert, his brother and cousin are in my living room. The cousin and younger brother are visiting from California, going home tomorrow.  Cool peoples.  Yes, I got extra money for the extra use of electricity and water and such. No biggies on that one.

Next?  Lynnette comes in from wherever she had been at - work I guess.  She says hi in an almost inaudible tone, I gave a hearty hi back, but that was it.

I have no clue.  They don't want to talk, this is obvious.  I will play the "note" game with them.   Or, they will leave while I am in bed or otherwise not here and there we go.

Whatever again.  Another tenant paid today.  I tend to accumulate money in my wallet in this scenario - more than I am comfortable with carrying.

There was church tonight, actually, but events today?  I just didn't go.  I will be going Sunday for sure - hopefully for sure, lol, anyway.

Tomorrow I hope to get some more done on the trailer.

As for now, it's getting close to my bedtime.

ben

Friday 4/6/2012

Mother finally threw in a concession last night while I was on the phone with her, a concession I had given up on.
She said: "You know it takes 3 days for the electricity to get turned on up there?", totally out of the blue.  Uhhh, okay.  "Well, I know you, you might just get a wild hair and want to go up there".  Yup, I do get wild hairs sometimes, no doubting that.

I replied that though the weather up there might not be so great for her, it's already perfect for me.  So it gets cool at night, no biggies to me or the dogs.  So, that sorta puts a bit of a fire under my feet: she's cool with me taking the trailer up there earlier than when she wants to go up there.  Maybe I'll shoot for the 1st weekend in May.  There are still plenty of things to do with that trailer, though the only really time consuming thing left that I know of is to replace the carpeting.

So, this weekend, I think I'll see about getting that carpet from Home Depot and getting it installed.  I informed Mark of my intention of replacing all the carpet instead of just a portion of it, I'm sorta hoping that will get him to working on removing the old stuff as he did with the carpet in the bathroom area.

There is quite a bit of minutia to buy for the thing as well, but that wouldn't take terribly long.   I would like to get the carpet done and then start getting that thing situated in there.  I just scored a vacuum cleaner at work - a salesman was throwing it out because he doesn't like it.  Lol.  Works perfectly well, thank you.

Oh, I am at work.  I sometimes get stuck waiting at contractor sites or vendors and if I have enough time, yup, I'll turn on the mobile broadband and start surfing the net.

Well, I have my work laid out - at least for Saturday. Sunday is going to be a wash, going to mom's will probably take up enough of the day that getting anything done on that trailer is probably going to be a happening event.  She wants us to go with her to Shooter's World to try out her new gun, lol.  I'm not sure that place is going to be open on Easter Sunday?

Well, time's up.

Later.

ben

Easter

I have been feeling a bit funny the last several days: I have heard nothing about Easter from my mom.  She always does Easter, she invokes often to remind me - all 3 of us I am sure - that she would like to see us then.  Well, my brothers basically don't give a damn about anything but what they are doing anymore.  That takes precedence over a twice yearly visitation with mom and the rest of the family.

So I called her today.  I started out with the fact that I had bought a mattress for the trailer and then I waded into the Easter waters.  My middle brother doesn't call her at all now and apparently won't answer or even respond to her phone calls.  Mom doesn't push herself, when she feels that there is no interest, she will just back off from it.  My oldest brother and his wife have already been down this road of abandoning his mother and his father.

This is completely unnatural to my way of thinking.  I don't understand it.  I have talked to my mom 3 times in the last 7 days on the phone.  I may be 48 years old, but I still love my mother and I don't care what anyone thinks about that.  My brothers have been inciting my anger towards them for some time now for the fact of forsaking my/their dad, who has done nothing to them to deserve them completely abandoning him.  But now my mother?  I have seen it coming for a while now, but I heard it in mom's voice tonight.

She is - heartbroken from what I could infer into it from her voice, intonations and what she said, especially about my middle brother.  No, at this point and for some time now, I don't think too much of my middle brother and I have told him quite frankly about it.  He deleted me as a Facebook friend going on what, 2 years now?..........because of an interchange where I was sick of his superiority, ego attitude and also sick of the way he was absolutely refusing to return any kind of communication from my dad.

But mom?

How can you do that to your own mother?

I had to ask her what she was doing for Easter since she wasn't going there.  This sent her into a tizzy of emotion, to be quite honest about it and I was a bit shocked because of her response.  This was the first I had heard that both of my brothers have stopped calling her and stopped talking to her.

I won't say what kind of emotion that invokes in me or what desire that makes me feel to want to take action upon considering the already foul state between them and my dad.  I have to let it go.  I can't do anything about them - except pray for them and hope that somewhere, somehow, God gets a hold of their hearts and clues them in on reality.

I was definitely planning on going to church for Easter, but I let it go instantly.  Oh well.  I think the Lord would rather me visiting my mother anyway, in honor to Him as well as to my mother, as the word succinctly states to honor your mother and father.  Ohhh, but church was going to be so good.  Yes, special speakers and a nice brunch afterwards.  I will miss that, but, I will have no regrets. There will be other special events.

That's it.  I love my mom.

ben

Thursday 4/5/2012

Yikes.  Another miserable night's sleep.
That always makes for a lovely day at work.
Well it's a beautiful day, so I will just drink a lot of
coffee and get with the program.
I attempted to sleep in an extra 20 minutes which did
absolutely nothing for me since once the alarm clock
goes off, I'm awake and that's that.

Well, I got started late so, this one's ending early.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 4/4/2012

I still would just love to hear any of the Supreme Court's justices thoughts on Obama's - threat really - to uphold his "signature bill" - Obamacare.  I mean, really.  Just pure arrogance to hear this guy - I listened to 2 videos yesterday of him actually making the comments - mouthing off to the Supreme Court.  I still want to know what, exactly, he is going to do if they strike a portion or the entirety of the law down?

Whatever.  Mark somehow got that mattress in that trailer bedroom yesterday.  I dunno if he had Lynnette helping him or what, but it's done.  That mattress is WAY thicker than I envisioned it looking in there, but hey, at least it will be extremely comfortable.

I'm getting closer now to getting down with the major issues on the trailer.  Which is good, cause' it's already April and May will be here before you know it.  I had an offer on an ad I posted almost a month ago for someone to move the trailer: $300.  You can't beat that with a stick.  125 miles pulling a trailer for $300?  I wonder if the person is just looking for an excuse to get paid to drive up to the mountains, lol.

I am going to measure the "hole" for the microwave and then go looking.  It's going to be too much to ask people to give the dimensions of one they might be selling on Craigslist, I'm probably going to opt for a new one in this case.  Not that I really want to buy a brand new one for something that will get relatively small amount of use, but I know if I ask people to give me the dimensions of a microwave they are selling on Craigslist?  Uhhh, I don't know, maybe a foot and a half wide by a foot tall?  Will be most of the answers if not even more vague than that.

And then there's the carpeting issue.  I am half tempted to just take on the project myself.  Probably about $50 worth of carpet that I can get at Home Depot with the gift cards I got for Christmas.  I tend to hang on to gift cards for a long period of time until I finally remember that I have them and then light pops up:  Oh, hey, it won't cost me anything out of pocket, I'll just just my gift cards! I have had gift cards for 2 years before using them and fortunately, they didn't "expire" as some of them apparently do.  Isn't that convenient?  The card, which was paid for with cash, apparently loses it's "value".  I've only read about it in the news, I have never had that happen to me.  If it had, it would open up a firestorm of communications with whatever levels of management I would have to speak with until I got the issue resolved - in my favor of course.

There are still a few issues on the roof, but the big stuff is done.  Which it certainly took me long enough to finish, lol.

The situation at work has not changed.  But, I am now comfortable with whatever happens.  My life will not be over if something negative happens and that's that.  I am getting the cold shoulder from certain individuals at the main branch, don't really care to be honest.   I'm already almost 4 hours into OT for this week and 3rd day hasn't even started yet.  I would like to get off a bit earlier today, hope that happens actually.  I might just stop in at Home Depot on the way home from work and takealookit some carpeting and see if they have anything that catches my appeal.

Time to head off for work.

G'day.

ben

I Have A 55 Gallon Barrel...............

.............was the lady's reply to my question of whether she has a pond.  I see.  Well, I mean, whatever.  I am thinning out the excessive amounts of plants in one pond.  I gave her the entire plant.  I have another one right next to it that is just as large.  So no biggies.  I realized, however, after removing a large amount of fiolage, ie: that large plant, that it had created a large void in the pond for the fish to hide in.  So I moved the remaining plant into such a position to give cover for the fish.  I am going to thin that plant as well, but not too much since fish really WANT to have hiding places.

It's just the way they are, natural instincts, prolly in their DNA.  The need a place to hide in the natural against predators.  They actually ARE predators here that can be a serious threat, namely: Heron. They love pond fish.  My horse trough pond is immune to them, they can't walk into that pond.  But the pond I am thinning the plants in? No such luck.  A heron could walk in there and feast to it's heart's content and come back the next day for more.  Fortunately that hasn't happened.

So, my water lily in that pond needs to come back from it's dramatic loss a year and some months ago in a deep freeze that affected all plants on my entire property to some extent or another.

Well anyway, if that lady doesn't end up using all of that and discarding some of it, so beit.  But I would have rather it gone to a pond that needs as much plants as I can give.  She wanted to take my giant leaf Taro's - like break off a round of it - not happening.  I gave her some small ones that are offshoots of the larger plants.  It's amazing how water plants will send out "shooters" all over the place and start growing in the middle of nothing.  Those offshoots usually thrive, BTW, but it gets to be too much so I give them away.  I told her that with time and patience, those little plants will grow as big as those that she wanted.  Hey, I might have offered her a big plant - for a price and not a cheap price, either.  But it would have taken away from the appearance of what I have going with that clump of plants and I really have no desire to get rid of any of it besides maybe the small ones.

Okay, well another long interlude.  Eddie came over, walked the dogs and meanwhile, the clan came out of the bedroom.  Uhh, so a bit preoccupied.

Whatever the case, time has passed and it's time for bed.

Nite.

ben

Tuesday 4/3/2012

Another day, another mind full of things that I am contemplating.
Actions not taken because of consequences unknown - or - consequences known and not quite ready for what will come.
Not going there right now.
Anyway, now that I have the mattress for that trailer, the next thing on the list is a microwave - one that will fit into the hole that was made for it.  Dunno how that is going to work out, really. I'm not a fan of small microwaves that don't have enough room for large plates or much of anything, really.
Also definitely not a fan of low wattage microwaves that take twice as long to nuke your food as, say, an 1,100 watt or higher will do.
No hurry I guess.  Still have some time.  I was glad to get that mattress and get it in there - though I still have yet to squeeze it through that narrow doorway to get it into the actual "bedroom" itself.  I couldn't do it alone because I will have to fold the thing down in the front while someone else is pushing it from the back.  I should be able to get it in there.  Well, I BETTER be able to get it in there or I just wasted money for nothing.

Then there's the flooring. Replace the carpet or simply clean that which is left and only replace that which was  damaged and removed.  I dunno.  It isn't that much carpet, really, when you think about it, it's a travel trailer and the amount of carpet actually need to cover the areas that are already carpeted?  Not really much at all.

Well, that wasn't what was on my mind that I'm contemplating and considering, that's just another thing.

Time to go to work.

ben

Who the BLEEP is Obama to tell the Supreme Court what to do?  What a big, ugly joke this President is.  This is WHY we have 3 branches of government, the check and balance system, remember?  You know, the Judicial branch, the Executive Branch and the Legislative branch?  Obama must be sweating it to make the statements he was making today.  What is he going to do, send the Marines to the Supreme Court if that court doesn't bow to Obama's demands?

I have no idea what kind of ruling is going to come out of the Supreme Court, but the so-called experts, judging from the questions the Justices asked, are leaning toward an overturn of at least one part of it and if so, potentially all of it.  Here's what I am 99% sure of: the Justices in the Supreme Court could care less what Obama attempts to dictate to them, they are not there to appease a President, they are there to uphold the Constitution of the United States.  I don't care what side of the political realm they are on, they SHOULD be completely unbiased, using no bias for something simply because it agrees with their political viewpoint.  They undoubtedly see things different when it comes to interpreting it, so beit.

One month's rent just handed to me, waiting on the cowboy to come home and hand me some rent money.  He just called me. I haven't seen him in almost a week. He had to jet home to California - which he does frequently - but this time a family emergency.  No details on that, but then asked if he could bring his cousin and his younger brother to stay for a week.  Apparently the younger brother would have had to stay home alone while his parents are off on whatever emergency it is.  I hated to tell him no, but I wanted more money. Didn't ask for it, he offered it after I said okay.

Nice that people understand that more people in a house equals more money spent on electricity and water usage.

Umm, well it's really windy.  REALLY windy.  Like, my hard hat, which I have adjusted tight for snugness on my head - blew right off today when a wind gale hit, with tons of dust blowing with it.  Nasty dust blowing everywhere, but especially out in the open areas where there isn't a lot of buildings and houses.

So whatever.  I slept miserably last night and am extremely tired.  I kept waking up from bad dreams, the likes of which I won't even bother going into.  One of the dogs has the runs and woke me up to let him out - give him a big time pass on that one, wake me up anytime you gotta go.  Then Sophie had another one of her dreams and started making that weird noise dogs make when they are in some sort of dreamland.  As for the situation at work: who knows.  I am just going to work, getting the job done with a good attitude and that's that.  If someone tells me something differently, whatever.

Monday 4/2/2012

One of the Danes definitely could not hold it all night long.
Fortunately, he woke me up before he did anything on the floor.
Poor doggy.  When either of those Danes gets the runs, it usually
lasts several days.  Whatever the case, I let him out of my bedroom and
he high-tailed it for the doggy door.  I decided that he can just stay out of
my bedroom for the night in case that little bit of misfortune was going to hit again.

Been doing some serious pruning of most trees on the property.  Also driving
in lodge poles to help keep the trees growing in the right direction.  The rope I
bought yesterday to tie down the mattress to the car will now have a secondary
use: tying up trees to those poles.

Umm, well anyway.  I continue to see people posting the "date of their death"
all over the internet, as has been the case for some time now.  A program that
predicts the date of your death and people asking if I am going to do it?
Are you kidding?
Why would I want to give some piece of electronic, software junk that much credence in my
life?  No, is my absolute answer, no thank you.  I'll leave that in God's hands.  I can't
imagine the mind games that some people might go through once that date approaches
if it does, indeed, approach anytime soon.  I know I am going to die someday, that's
enough for me.  Sorry, but some of the stuff going on on the internet with people I know
is a bit off the wall, putting it mildly.

Well, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 4/1/2012

April Fool's Day on a Sunday.  Fancy that.
I was going to post something on FB - totally not true thing - but decided against it, lol.  Something like McDonald's having free food all day long if you give them the code word of Mikkey Q's (not Mikki D's).

I went to church today and came out of that completely enlightened - or at least - feeling like a load has been lifted off of me.  WHATEVER happens at work concerning a current situation, I am comfortable that the Lord is in control of my life and that I only need trust in Him.  I will hope for the best.  If it doesn't work out the way I would like it too, then it must be time to move on.  To what, no clue and not going to worry about it.

Life is what it is - and it doesn't go on forever, at least not on earth.  I have always had to remind myself of that little factor when things start getting a bit rough.  I could live in one of those trailers on the side of my house on a farm somewhere and be as happy as I am in this 2,000 square foot house with all of these people living here.

Speaking of that, I scored the queen sized mattress today - finally.  Someone finally posted a good looking mattress on Craigslist and I was all over it.  Put that sucker on the top of my car, tied it down nicely and brought it home : )

Apparent pregnant fishies in all 3 ponds.  That time of year.  I don't really need any more fish.  The front pond is loaded with small fish and several medium sized.  The pond in the ground on the east side is probably good where it stands, the horse trough pond has a lot of large fish in it and could use some thinning out. IE: give them away.  No, I am not giving any Koi away, just goldfish if anyone that comes for plants might want them as well.

Work tomorrow. Interesting subject for me, but totally changing my view of it.  I already said that, but the weekend is coming to a close and here we go again. I will have peace at work regardless of what happens.
If someone is going to try to belittle me - such as I have heard the drivers at the main branch are already doing - well, don't come knocking on my door.  They have their OWN widely known issues from the past from within the company.

Won't go into those particular details, suffice it to say I haven't received any kind of ticket in at least 13 years.
Not boasting, but people that want to try to mock me behind my back that have such and other infractions - could do well to shut their mouths up.

Hmmm, well that was a bit negative.  Lol.  One of the dogs has the runs.  Nice. It hasn't happened in a couple of hours, so hopeful I don't wake up to it in the middle of the night.  Yikes!

Okay.  Well, other things not worth going into.

G'nite.

ben

Care And Treatment Of Small Ponds - Starting Up A New Small Pond

I am a small pond enthusiast and have been doing it for going on my third year now.

If you are just starting out with ponds and especially if you are doing small ponds, then perhaps I can help you bypass a lot of guesswork and get what you need right from the get-go.

First off, I live in the Sonoran desert in southern Arizona.  It simply means during the summer, the temperatures in my ponds go up substantially, especially my pond out front of my house that can hit 95 or even high degree water temperature.

Amazing how Koi and Goldfish can withstand such temperatures.  I do throw in ice during the summer, but it's not like it's a cool swim for those fish in there after I throw it in there, just brings the overall temperature of the pond down a couple of degrees.

Well, let's get started.  First off, the filtration system.  If you are going to have fish in your pond, you are going to need filtration.  I spent quite a while reading all kinds of information about this particular subject before I just threw my hands up in the air and started looking for a waterfall filter.  Basically, it's a plastic container maybe a foot and a half tall and a foot or so wide.  It has an inlet at the bottom for water to be pumped into it and then the water "falls" off a large lip at the top of it.  I have 2 of them.  They both have  bio balls in them - you will need those - and they both have the thick filter media.  I also buy much thinner filter media on eBay to help further filter the water.  

This and the pump that supplies the water to the filter are the most important parts of your pond.  Without them, your fish are probably not going to do very well.  BTW, you can be hard-plastic liner pre-formed ponds or you can buy a liner and dig a hole in the ground.  I have the preformed liner WITH a liner in it.  I also turned a 400 gallon galvanized metal horse trough into a pond as well.  

The waterfall filters are the best, IMO, but there is also a much smaller, compact filtering system you can buy on eBay or wherever that will also do the trick.  The point of the waterfall filters is that the water is streaming off the top of the filter into your pond and yes, you get the nice sound of water falling into a pond with them.  

The pump is the other half of the equation.  Smaller is not better, especially with fish.  More Gallons Per Hour (GPH) is always better.  In all 3 of my ponds, I have pumps that are sized large enough to cycle the entire contents of the ponds twice per hour.  That's my equation after fooling with this for quite a while.  So, if you have a 400 gallon pond, I will buy an 800 gallon per hour pump for it.  Sounds excessive, right?  Not at all.  It is, as far as I'm concerned, the perfect sized pump for the amount of water in your pond.  You can go ahead and buy, say a 150 gph pump for a 400 gallon pond and you are going to have a small trickle of water.  If that's what you want, then go for it, but it probably won't work with your filtration system too well and if you want that pleasant sound of falling water, you are not going to get much of that with such a small pump.  I WENT that route.  I started out at 75gph, then 125, 150, 200, 350, all the way up until I got to 800gph and then? I was definitely happy with the results.

That was the hardest part of this setup that I had to deal with.  How big of a pump. Well I just give you some good advice.  A larger pump will pick up all the junk that floats to the bottom of the pond as well.  There IS no buildup down there to have to fool with.  If you have enough fish, they stir up the stuff on the bottom and that pump sitting down there sucks the junk - fish poop to be precise- right out of the water.  

Next?  UV sterilizer.  Not all ponds need them. I have one pond that doesn't have an algae problem, my other 2? The water turned pea green.  You couldn't see an inch down into the water.  I bought the smallest UV sterilizer I could find and they both work great!  I don't WANT green ponds, is the point. I want to be able to see my fishies in there.

You can get new pumps and UV sterilizers at great prices on eBay.  That and sometimes Craigslist.  I bought both my waterfall filters from 2 different people who were shutting down their ponds and were practically giving the filters away.  I will never buy a used pump, though, all of them I have bought new on eBay and haven't had a problem, same with the UV sterilizer.  

Fish?  Took me quite a long time.  I wanted Koi.  I acquired a lot of pond sized goldfish for free, the Koi were a bit more elusive.  But, I kept going to Craigslist, day after day after day, looking for the deals on Koi, all of them were deals made from individuals that were shutting their ponds down permanently.  They wanted to get rid of them but wanted them to go to good homes.  Your small pond can accommodate a large number of fish.  The more fish you have, the more fish food you are going to go through and you will also find you will have to clean out that filter more frequently.  

Fish food.  I buy large bottles of Goldfish flakes at Walmart, I buy 20 pounds of Koi pellets at a time off of a supplier on eBay. 

Additives.  Well, if you have just filled your pond up with fresh city tap water and then are going to put fish in right away, I would suggest you get some liquid that is sold at Walmart amongst other places that helps remove chlorine from the water and also reduces stress in fish. I mention Walmart cause' I did my ponds on a budget. I didn't skimp, but I did buy some used stuff.  

Plants.  You don't need a green thumb to grow water plants and they do amazingly well with out ever doing anything to them.  My Taros in one pond have grown incredibly large (elephant ear plant).  My Umbrella plants are growing in all 3 ponds.  I have Yerba Mensa in one pond that grew from a tiny plant into a behemoth!! Water lillies are also good for keeping your pond a bit cooler if you have direct sunlight hitting it and the water is heating up in summer.  I have all of those and also parrot feather in one pond.  With my ponds, it was hit and miss.  Some plants grow better under shade, others grow better in direct sunlight.  I got all of my plants off of Craigslist locally from people either selling them or giving them away.  

When an owner of a large pond decides it's time to clean up the plants, many of them will write up an ad on Craigslist.  They almost always give the plants away.  90% of my plants were free, only the water lillies did I have to pay for.  You really WANT plants in your pond. Natural beauty and helps keep your pond clear.  Actually, I don't have large ponds but I occasionally have to prune back some plants, just posted an ad for freebies today and have had several inquiries.  

Once you get your pond or ponds going, they aren't much maintenance.  Clean out the filtering system once in a while and sometimes the pump gets clogged up with junk that it has accumulated.  Feed the fish and make sure the water level is good in the pond.  Fish are fun to watch and it's cool to see your plants grow over time. 

Also, one last thing about the plants.  Whatever kind of container you have, that's what you can use.  Cut a milk jug in half and there you have a pond planter.  Put the plant in it, fill it with dirt and cover the dirt with rocks.  It's as easy as that. This is not complicated stuff, but there is a bit thrown at you at the very beginning, I do hope this article will help.

Edited:  Aeration.  I found that my small ponds with lots of fish in them were not sufficiently aerated in the summer months by the act of the waterfall filters alone.  I ended up buying small air pumps either off of Craigslist or yes, at Walmart, the same you would use in an aquarium. How did I know that the ponds weren't sufficiently aerated?  The fish were up at the surface, gulping at air.  It was pretty easy to determine the problem and even easier to address it. A pump with at least 2 outlets, the air tubing and yes, air stones.  As soon as I did that, the fish were no longer sitting at the surface.

Water changing. Well there's a lot on the net about it, some say to do it once a month and some say to do it twice per month. They all vary on what percentage of water to change out.  I haven't needed to change out any water in my small ponds.  Evaporation makes the water go down enough that I have to refill it periodically with fresh water.  I do think it good to have to put in fresh water here and there, I have no scientific reasoning behind it, I just think that the fish do better if they get fresh water infused here and there.  Well, my ponds will go down a couple of inches per month in the winter and a lot more in the summer due to evaporation alone.  So, that's all I do. Just refill the ponds.  

Saturday 3/31/2012

Last day of March.
Temps are just starting to move up here.
Nothing horrendous yet, but it's definitely getting a bit warm out there.
Just spent quite a bit of time on the east side of the house pruning more trees and putting poles into the ground to help keep them standing straight up.  Rosemary was out of control, pruned those 2 bushes back quite a lot as well.
Front yard looking good.  Front yard pond doing very well.  The water lily plant I have in it is sending lots of new leaves - good thing because that is the only thing the fish have to hide under in that little pond.  I have it directly in the middle of it and it provides good coverage for them, will get even better as more leaves pop up out of the water.
Next pond needing attention is on the east side of the house.  Umbrella plant has also sprouted out of control and am going to need to cut out a lot of it.  I might run a Craigslist ad and see if anyone is interested in them.

Besides outdoor activities in working on my property, I have little interest in doing anything else this weekend.  I am still pretty much under a bit of a weight with this situation going on at work.  The conclusion? I may not know for some time. Or, I could find out Monday, who knows?  When you don't know what's going to happen with something that could dramatically up-end your little world, well, sit down, breath, relax. At the same time, brace.  Think of what I will do if the worst possible scenario happens.

If the worst happens, it won't be the end of the world but it will certainly have a dramatic effect on my life.

But, whatever.  Tough it out.

Ready made family.
My manager got a call from a lady while at work yesterday: she was bored and was coming to visit.  She brought one of her kids, a 6 or so something year old girl. My manager is like: she's pretty good looking, why don't you date her? Before she comes over.  Yeah. 6 kids?  This lady has 6 kids.

Well they show up and the lady goes into his office while the little girl is out at the counter - asking me 50 questions - at least.  Mostly it was about whether I was married, do I want to get married and finally: "Well you can marry my mom if you want to.  You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you want to, you can marry her".  Talk about a girl desperate for some fatherly/male type of attention.  This little girl sat out there for 30 minutes going on and on like this.

No, I am not going on a date with the lady.  We never got that far.  I might actually be interested, but - no kids on a date, thanks.

Next door neighbor.  You know, the one that is sort of building a house?  Well, he finally got the slab poured and started putting up the walls.  Used lumber.  All of it.  Whatever makes him happy, I guess.  It's going to be a very small house.  He already has a sign up out front: house for sale.  He's selling a house that hasn't been built yet.  Nice.

I haven't seen 350 man in over a week. Not that I want to nor do I care.  In fact, very nice. The house going up next door is now starting to block out the view of 350 man's house.  Very nice again.

I'm about to go out front again and water my plants.  I am taking Sophie out there, but, this time, she will be leashed.

Later.

ben

Friday 3/30/2012

Well, that was fun.
I had Sophie out front - have had her out there several times now - but this time? She took off.  Fast.  Fast little doggy.
She's gone, too.  I chased her in the car, caught up to her several times and got out, only to have her look at me as if I were a complete stranger and take off running (which I will admit here pretty much pissed me off that she wouldn't even give a hint of recognition).  She finally got into an area where my car wouldn't go and I can't catch that dog on foot, she is far too fast for me.  I tried driving around the area for a good hour, but, she's gone.

Good thing I don't have any great attachment to that dog yet.  She has a collar and it has a number to call if she is caught, so, maybe I will see her again some day, who knows.  She was running right out in front of cars on a busy street, not so sure she is going to last too long running around doing that.

Situation at work is in limbo.  No idea, really.  I am going to try to get my mind off of it cause' it isn't going to do me any good to worry about it perpetually.

Back to the dog, the neighborhood kid comes walking in here 15 minutes ago saying he had seen Sophie back in this neighborhood and tried to catch her.  Yeah, good luck.  She isn't listening to anyone.  I got in my car again and drove around this entire area several times, didn't find her.  Even if I did, though, I have doubts that I would have been able to get close enough to her to grab her collar.

Another extremely long interlude.  I gave up on the dog, the dog apparently did not on me.  She came back - an amazing feat in itself, a dog that can actually find it's way home. She was next door, the neighborhood kid lured her with a piece of meat and then grabbed her collar and brought her back in my gate.  I gave him a $5 reward. That kid smells to high heaven. He comes in here smelling so foul, I can hardly stand it, I have to cover my nose the smell is so strong, as if he never takes a bath.  The dog is laying there with this pathetic look.  If that isn't a dog that knows she has done something wrong, I dunno what it is.

Whatever.  I'm done with this.

ben

A Problem

It is interesting to watch people who take pleasure in other people's nightmares.  I'm not talking politics here, that's a whole different story.  To "take pleasure in another man's calamity" is something I have never quite understood. You know, a person hates another person.  The hated person has something horrific or very bad happen to them and then the hater laughs and mocks the person either behind their back, to their face or both.

I mean, okay, Osama bin Laden.  There's a guy you can say good riddance to.  Well, whatever.

All plans are on indeterminate length of time hold right now.  Situation at work and the potential to - not be employed anymore.  Can't and won't go into it on my blog.  I can only say that I still love my job at my company, there are a good share of problems but, you find that at any place of employment.  I would have liked to have been promoted by now, but, I do like the responsibilities that determine my job description.

So, if it happens, it happens.  I will remember the good things, such as all the employees that helped me out when my house burned down. Gift cards and furniture and all kinds of stuff were given to me.  The company itself helped me out with a fund they have designated for emergencies.  I have received the highest level of bonus money that my "tier" can receive every year I have been there.  I have received the Safe Driver Award 4 years out of 6.  But, I do potentially face a new reality: becoming one of the millions of Americans that are unemployed.  

I have a couple of co-workers, referencing the beginning of this entry, that talk smack about me behind my back.  I'm not the only one they talk smack about, but I recently heard from one of our VENDORS about their malicious speech.  The guy at the vendor is totally cool and I actually get emails forwarded from him here and there with comedic things he has gleaned from wherever on the internet.  It's funny how you can uplift your fellow employee - which I have done with both of these individuals numerous times in the past - and the find out they have been trash talking you.

I dunno, but I work at 2-man branch.  That's my manager and I.  We are going to hit somewhere near or maybe even over 600k - $600,000 for this month.  That will be more than the main branch's warehouse will have put out in terms of truck deliveries, where they have 2 full time drivers plus several individuals that work down there that they use to send out product as well.  I am the ONLY driver.  I take pride in my work; I strive for excellence and I try to keep a good attitude. It is, actually, the 2 full-time drivers over there that talk the crap about me behind my back and then talk a sweet and nice to me face-to-face. Don't you just despise people like that?

I am not going to go into the details that have led to this point, I am not terminated yet and it may not happen, but, I am preparing for the "worst".  I can probably find another job, but, who knows what, how much it will pay, the working conditions, etc.  I'm one of those people that will stick around for a long, long time.  I probably get too comfortable in my working conditions, but when I have an expertise of what I am doing, I tend to enjoy it as well.

It IS even more interesting, however and getting back to the main point of this entry, to find out who IS on  your side.  Quite a few people, I find out.  This includes members of management, I might add, which is refreshing to say the least.

Well, anyway, I put in a 10-1/2 hour day today and was totally burned out at the end of it.  A LOT of driving.  When I  got back to the yard, done with the truck and all paperwork in hand, I walked into the building to hear my name being mentioned. They didn't know I had pulled in with the semi.  We have a "dinger" that sounds of when anything passes through the gate on the side of the building, but they had a lunch for contractors today and they blinded the dinger so it wouldn't keep going off repeatedly, incessantly, forever.

I had no idea what was going on, but it came to light quickly: the lottery.  It's over half a billion dollars now.  22 people in our company had pitched in $5 a piece to create a pool.  A salesman came out of the kitchen - totally cool dude- after hearing, oh, Ben's here, he just came back! and asked if I wanted to be included in the pool.  Of course I do.  How would you like to be the sorry sap in your company that didn't pitch in 5 bucks and then find out everyone else has their part in 540 million dollars?  Even spread out 22 ways, that's still a LOT of money per person!  27 million? Minus taxes and in my case, 20% up front to the Lord's work. At least 20%.  What are you going to do with that much money anyway?  Buy a house and set up a fund to pay for property taxes for the rest of your life and after that, who cares.

Others would care, of course, I don't.  If I owned a property flat out, that would be the end all for me.

You know, I haven't been terminated from a job since I was 16 years old.  It would be a blow to me, frankly, to get that kind of thing handed to me now just because of that if nothing else.

Oh well.

ben

Thursday 3/29/2012

Ouch.  Large mortgage payment went through - 2 month's worth.  Coco situation sort of aggravated my financial position, but I had to pay that down to zero.  I haven't made my mind up about short selling the house and until I do, the mortgage obviously must be paid.

I got off work late yesterday - didn't get home until after 5:00.  Long days equal getting much of nothing done around the house, especially on that trailer.  My manager didn't bring in his grinder because, he stated, he couldn't find it.  I am just going to go buy another one from Harbor Freight - though this time I will buy one with a bigger motor and hopefully last a bit longer.

Regardless, I got caught up in reading the news this morning and just realized that..........it's time to be off to work.  Another full day, perhaps, dunno, but this morning is definitely going to be quite busy with all kinds of orders in there to pull, load and take out to jobsites.

Later.

ben