Saturday 4/28/2012

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

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

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

________________________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later.

ben

Thursday 4/26/2012

When one sets out to get off the road that leads to destruction and back onto the path that leads to eternal life - through the narrow gate - one is then, I am finding out, attacked in so many different ways from the enemy that it becomes glaringly obvious that the enemy is behind all of it and that he isn't exactly happy that - God is greater, thank you Lord.

After much reflection, I realize that I had completely given up even attempting to walk with the Lord, just do my own thing and keep to myself.   The carnal nature of man is not in love with the Word of God - you know, the words written in the Bible.  It loves to do whatever it wants to - those things that are evil; worldly, anything that is not of God.  Raising my hand: guilty.  

I started reading through the book of James.  If you want to find printed words, from God, that will rile your flesh, simply start reading in that book.  Faith without works is dead.  Count it all joy when you are confronted with trials and tribulation.  It's a lot of admonishment, to be honest about it.  These are the parts of the Bible that are oft times ignored by those that just want the gooey-good feeling and not all the idea of "taking up your cross daily and following after Christ" that leads to a disciplined life in the Lord.

I have a long ways to go, that's what I can say about it.  But, continuing reading in the Word is the answer, at least for me.  It is a habit I am attempting to form to simply turn on the computer and pull up the BibleGateway site every morning and start reading.  And yes, I am in the book of James and it may take a while to work my way through it.  I don't want to just glaze over all the "hard" stuff, I want to absorb it and let it become a part of my every day life.

Well, anyway.  At some point, I will find it within myself to volunteer in the church.  Whatever that may mean, even if it's vacuuming carpets.

Rain. That was the forecast for today.  Yet, looking at the radar, it is raining - well north of Phoenix.  Whether it makes it's way here?  Who knows. God causes it to rain on the just and unjust alike, so, please Lord!!!    lol

There isn't much else going on, really.  I am going to attempt to find someone to come over that has the necessary equipment to recharge the trailer ac's freon system.  If I do find someone to do it and it still doesn't put out the necessary temp of air to keep it cool in there, it may be a losing battle to spend any more money on it.  I don't want a gawky looking window ac unit mounted on the thing, but to buy a new roof air unit for it is pretty expensive stuff.  The thing IS pumping out cool air, just not cold ENOUGH.  Which hints to me a need for increased amount of freon.

Well, whatever the case, it's time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 4/24/2012

We took a video this weekend of Duke eating a loaf of bread.  It's hilarious.  The dog doesn't chew bread, he simply swallows it whole.  Completely spaced out loading that up to YouTube, gonna have to do that today after work.

A change is coming into my life - more like a reversion to the ways and the walk with the Lord I once had and shook off.  Bad thing to do, I can tell you, leaving your walk with the Lord, that is.  Not that I consciously told the Lord one day that I want nothing more to do with Him, more like allowing the world and it's ways to creep in and become a way of living.  There is, in reality, nothing good in this World, at least those things that are void of Christ, which are most things.

I don't have anyone to blame but myself.  The divorce was a nightmare, yes.  The church shunning me was the icing on a rotten cake, definitely.  Old friends moving on to other churches and never seeing them again? I brushed that one off.  I learned long ago that if that's the way a "friend" acts towards you when the going gets rough, then they were never your friends to begin with.  I never treated them that way, I can assure you, and I was always there for them.

But I was not guiltless.  But as I start to get back into the Word much more than anything I have been doing in the last 7 years, well, it's certainly enlightening - if you believe, of course.  If you read the Word and don't believe, then it may not do any good - though God says His word shall not return unto him void.  Well, I believe.  God is good.  I can finally say I believe I am coming out of it.  Whatever I have gone through with the church is the past.  The current church I am in is a very good one, I just haven't seen it that way because I have been viewing it through tainted eyes, ie: the church that shunned me.

Whatever the case, this walk with the Lord is good.  I have missed it so much.  God is so good to us.  I am hungry for the Word again, a thing I haven't really had in a long, long time now.  I am hungry to fulfill my purpose and destiny - whatever that may be - on this earth and then, finally, move onto to be with Him.

G'day.

ben

A short one.  It got to 105 yesterday.  That's 105 degrees in APRIL.  What, are we going to have a 130 degree summer? I mean, seriously.  Running the AC in April, what fun.  I have no idea if this is a pre-cursor to things to come, but I sincerely hope it is not.

Regardless, it's Monday morning, early and I have to leave for work.  Mind swimming with things all over the board.  A little restless at this point, I am really seeking the Lord and attempting to get beyond some issues in my personal life.  Changing things in your personal life that you have lived with for - a long time - is not necessarily the easiest thing to accomplish, but certainly it's not impossible.

G'day.

ben

I may start scaling back my entries a bit.  Not quitting, but I didn't write one yesterday. Seems like I am pretty much saying the same things over and over and that makes for some boring reading.

But, today was a bit different day for me. I went to church Friday night - and was up so late that I was pretty tired on Saturday - but definitely worth going.  Today, the same prophets were in the church.  I sat there and listened to the message and then they started calling out people.  I didn't realize that these prophets know many of the people in the church.  I have only seen one of them attending the church - once, the other couple I had never seen before.

Well, anyway, the went through all of that and then called up everyone who hadn't been prayed for on either of the 2 days, which I had not.  I had already prayed and asked the Lord for one specific thing to happen if I were to get prayed over.  Not that I am dictating terms to the Lord, but certainly, what I was asking was definitely not out of line with anything found in the Word of God.

So, when I went up there and stood in line, I contemplated the scenario.  Kind of getting into mind games, I guess, while listening to them ministering to other people near me.  When the prophet got to me, he didn't ask me anything.   Instead, he put his hand on my chest and began praying and speaking forth exactly what I had prayed and asked the Lord earlier.  I know people have a hard time with the idea of current-day prophets, but they certainly exist and there aren't just a handful of them out there, either.

I am not going to go into the details of what I had asked the Lord for and/or what the man prayed over me, really, quite personal stuff to be honest and even I am not divulging that kind of thing on the World Wide Web. But, a great fog lifted off of me this morning.  The joy of the Lord filled my inner man and I found myself laughing heartily.  I went and sat back down on my chair and felt as if I had taken some drugs.  I sat there until they were all ready to leave, the ministers that is, as I couldn't find it in myself to get up and go.  Not because I wanted to hang out with ministers, but because the presence of the Lord was so unbelievably powerful there today.

That has been, for the most part, my weekend.  Yesterday I did much of nothing, too tired.  Though I did find out that the AC unit on my trailer - is working - but not putting out cold enough air to bring the temp down that much.  The air coming out of it is cold, but not cold enough.  It needs freon, I am guessing.  They don't have ports on those older units - well I don't know if they have them on newer ones, either - to add more.  You actually have to cut into the copper tubing and install a port, I guess, to be able to add it.  If I had access to a torch and brazing rods, I could probably install my own port - but I do not have access to such.

I don't have the money right now to pay someone to come out and do that for me, so that's kind of up in the air at this point.  I dunno.  If I am determined to have it fixed, that's going to put off moving it for a while.  Push comes to shove? Might take it up there, anyway.  We'll see.

Well whatever.  I'm going to bed early tonight - which is really early for most people, lol.

Nite.

ben

Friday 4/20/2012

Just got home from church - it's 11:20 pm, hours past my bedtime.  But I am awake and need to wind down a bit.
I took Caleb with me who got a very concise word from the Lord through one of the ministers that was there.  It was a great service, haven't spent that much time in a service since I was - shunned some years ago now.

Well, at work, they didn't want me to go over 40, but ended up with almost 45 anyway.  A 2 man operation with a lot of work and very high GP?  It really shouldn't bother them that much, it is what it is.

Mark removed the carpet out of the trailer 2 days ago, which made me very happy.  I need only to buy some carpet glue and some staples and away we go.  When I get that done, it will be the home stretch, baby.

It's warming up.  Near 100 degrees today.  AC on most of the day.  Not much fun, but what are you going to do?

Nothing much here.  Just throwing things out there.  I'm tired - but I am REALLY tired of these stupid polls that keep coming out daily of the "race" between Obama and Romney.  The election isn't until when, 7 months from now? Do they keep putting these polls out to try and sway people's vote?  I don't trust polls that much, anyway.  They can word a poll in such a way to get whatever results they want out of if, from what I have seen.

I am having a person over tomorrow - if they show up that is - to take some more pond plants.  I really need to weed out some of it.  That particular pond is a bit overgrown with plants and some thinning is definitely in the plans.

Nothing more to see here.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday 4/19/2012

I don't particularly care for checks floating around that aren't cashed.  So it is every time I send these people a check to make payment on the trailer.  They've had it for 2 weeks and finally it went through last night.  ONE more payment on that and it frees up $200 a month.  Which is good, cause' summer is almost here and that money will be needed for electricity.

I'm definitely leaning more and more towards selling it if I can get what I paid for it out of it.  It's in good condition but who knows what the market for such things is right now.  I won't take less than I paid for it, that's a fact.  So it might sit there for a while if that's the case.

You see the corruption going on with that Federal agency with the lavish parties and then you come online in the morning and find a woman that has allegedly stolen 30 million from a small town, apparently over the course of a long period of time and then you wonder: how much MORE of this is going on?

Pay taxes so thieves can live a lavish lifestyle and wave it in our faces?

Whatever the case, the work day is here, must be leaving now.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 4/18/2012

Tired.
Just not sleeping well.  Considering trying the newest sleep aid that supposedly helps you sleep through the night.  I hate waking up at midnight/1:am/2:am/whatever.  I don't lay there trying to go back to sleep anymore, I get up or get the laptop and sit up in bed and try to tire/bore myself back to sleep - which works far better than tossing and turning.

Onto other things.  Caleb.  He was given the green light: they are definitely having him up there at that kid's camp in the mountains again this year.  He called and told me the good news this afternoon.  He also asked if I could take him up there again.  Sure, why not?  What day?  The 12th of June.  Falls on a Tuesday.  I will simply ask for the time off I wanted anyway - which in this case would be 4 days off.

I am, of course, hoping/assuming that trailer will already be up there by then. Unfortunately, taking Caleb up to his place and taking the dogs along with us so I can just go back to the trailer instead of all the way back to the valley?  Lol.  Caleb's mountain "resort" is about - I don't know, maybe another 40 or 50 miles beyond where my mother has her property.

I don't know, really.  Driving all the way up there, back to the valley and back up again sounds quite tedious and expensive, fuel-wise.  Gonna have to think about that one.

Caleb continues to remind me of our fishing expedition date after he gets back.  I had NO idea that he loved going on the ocean that much.  He doesn't let on much about what it is going on inside of him.  He insists we are going this year and that this time, he will have money to help out with it. I do hope so, cause' right now? It ain't happening if the tab is all on me as it was last year.  Though, the one trailer will be paid off next month and the other trailer is almost finished in terms of spending money on it.  I am hoping to sell the trailer I am not using.  Who knows.  He says he is going to save most of his earnings up at the kid camp and that is going to pay for the trip.  I want to go, no doubting - San Diego in the summertime?  Wonderful : )

I dunno.  Secret service agents getting fired; the GSA continuous news about the unbelievable amounts of wasted, taxpayer money; this that and the other thing.

I do know one thing, God willing: I am going to to church on Friday night and I am dragging my son with me. They are having prophets come in and I definitely want to be there.  No current-day prophets, you say?  Well, you are certainly welcomed to believe whatever you want.

That's only 2 nights from now.

Other things on the mind.  No need to go into that here.

G'nite.

ben

Tuesday 4/17/2012

I was AT work at 5:00 am this morning.
Contractor at Intel wanted me out  there with their stuff that early.
I don't know, I just do whatever they want.
But it's 8:00 pm and I'm exhausted and going to bed after I write this.
Which won't take long, cause' I'm SO tired I am easily irritated and there
are so many people walking through here making "comments" right now?
I'm outta here shortly.  Finish what I was doing and get gone.\

Friday night at church?  Prophets are going to be there.   I am going. I asked
my son via Facebook to go, too, I would be VERY interested in what
the Lord might have to say to him through them.

Ahhh, blahh. I would love to write out an entry like I normally do, but I am too
tired for it.

Hope you all are doing well.

ben

Monday 4/16/2012

What I would like to do is take a trip up to mother's property this weekend and check out whether the internet is going to work up there plus walk around the property.

It's how I work, folks.  I need sustained motivation in some things to keep on moving forward.  Going up to the property; getting a fresh taste of fresh air; hiking through deep woods? Yup, that will get me going.  Or keep me going.

I don't have much time here.  Since I left work, I have received numerous phone calls about tomorrow morning. The contractor at Intel wants their stuff there at 6:30 am.  Most of the material has NOT been pulled yet.  Do you know what it takes to pull and order, shrink wrap it, load it on the truck and strap it down plus get paperwork done not to mention opening up the building/gate/bay doors plus closing them again after you are done?

Yeah, thanks. I'ts almost 8:00 pm and it's time for bed already!

No time to go into things today.

G'nite.

ben

Sunday 4/15/2012

Getting ominously close to May, unfortunately.
May means distinctive increase in temps leading up to hell in June.
Well whatever. I am attempting to mentally prepare myself for another hot summer.  It isn't exactly working out too well and I am not going to like the adjustment period.

Well anyway.  Went to the shooting range yesterday and opted to leave the shotgun at home. Once there, I wished I had brought it, though.  I like to shoot off a few rounds out of it every here and there to get and stay used to the feel of it.  But no biggies.  Ran about 100 rounds through the .40 caliber  and even more through the rifle plus even more through mom's guns.  She has a brand new .38 which is surprisingly more powerful than I thought it would be.  Nice, small gun too, easily concealable.

Not in the market for guns right now, however, I have other fish to fry.  Namely, starting on getting money built up on the M-Power/electricity reader for the hot summer to come.  It costs at least $100 per week to keep the AC on around here in the summer.

Long interlude. I wrote the rest of this entry and it disappeared as soon as I tried to post it.  I forgot that I had logged onto another Google account which automatically logs you out of the one you are currently on. I am not writing that all over again.

But, I will encapsulate it.  I was taking the 3 dogs out for a walk.  Sophie was going crazy and I was attempting to calm her down.  We go out of the gate. She jumps all over the place again, the stupid collar the lady that insisted I use when I got her came right off. No more.  I HATE those collars.  I should have ditched when I got home with her. I took Prince and Duke for a walk anyway and did not chase after that dog, it is futile. She is way too fast.  When I got their walk done, I got in my car, found her and amazingly, she jumped right into my door after I opened it. She now has Coco's old chain collar on her neck and that situation won't be happening again.

As for tonight? It's time for bed. Work week looms.

G'nite.

ben

Saturday 4/14/2012

So, we're going to mom's this morning and hopefully get home early afternoon.  I have a lot of things I need to get done around here, kinda precludes spending the entire day over there at her place.

I bought a cleaning kit a few days ago and took the .40 Sigma apart (it's basically a Glock wannabe) - which isn't terribly difficult to do. In fact, you can have thing in 4 pieces in less than 30 seconds.  I watched a video on YouTube - well a couple of them - to make sure I wasn't going to do something wrong and maybe have a gun exploding in my face next time I attempt to fire it, which would be this morning.  I still haven't cleaned the shotgun, but it is a new gun and has had only 5 rounds shot through it, so no biggies.  I don't think I am going to shoot that thing this morning anyway.  There isn't much to shooting a shotgun: aim in the general direction of your attacker and pull the trigger.

So, cleaning out the bore and oiling everything and then wiping off the excess, I was happy enough that I had done a thorough and correct job of the cleaning and oiling and reassembling.

So, in about 15 minutes, we're taking off - gotta stop at Walmart first though, I only have one set of ear muffs and eye glasses and I need 2 if Caleb and I and mom are going to be in there shooting.  Last time, mom didn't shoot, she just waited for us, but I am hoping this time she will go in and fire off a few rounds.  I have never seen my mother shoot anything but a small caliber handgun that had snake shot in it, she was attempting to kill a rattlesnake with it and it was doing absolutely nothing to the snake.  I was laughing at her while I took a shovel and cut the snake's head off and that was the end of that problem.

There are all kinds of snakes up at her property - Garter snakes being most populous. Sounds bad, but they keep the rodent population down which is a good thing, because rats or mice like to find ways into trailers and do some damage.  I'm hoping that with all the doors locked shut and everything closed I won't have to deal with that problem, I guess I'll find out.

Yesterday, after work, I decided to stop at a "new" place to get my hair cut. This time I decided I would be having it cut well down for the summer.  I sometimes let it grow a wee bit long during the winter, but it becomes a hassle and a chore to deal with it.  Anyway, walking into this somewhat dilapidated place-  the floor was not exactly appealing in it's coloration and there was a huge crack all the way down to the other end of the structure in the concrete foundation - I was greeted to the sight of 5 ladies.  3 of them hair stylists and 2 of them customers.  Well, there was a guy in there as well getting his hair cut, but who cares about that, right? lol.

I got my hair cut down and looked into the mirror, rather shocked.  My hair is going from grey to white now. I am only 48 years old, thank you.  I thanked her for the nice cut but started grumbling about the lack of color in my hair.  Suddenly, I have 2 ladies in my face attempting to talk me into getting my hair dyed with this "great" product for only ten bucks the first time.  I hesitated.  I have given it consideration but it seems such a drastic thing to do - going from grey and white to brown hair in the matter of 20 minutes time.  However, I got over it, especially for that price and decided to give it a try.  If I didn't like it, I figured I would get a military cut and have practically no hair on my head to get rid of the new look.

It actually looks pretty good, but it isn't dark enough.  My brown hair - or what used to be brown anyway - was much darker than this color and I think it would look better with a deeper shade of brown, but I am happy enough with it.  I have certainly been getting some double takes from people and I am sure that Monday at work will be no different.

It was supposed to rain today, but the sun is shining and I don't see any clouds from where I am sitting.  So blah to the weather man who usually doesn't get it right, anyway.  Of course, I was just looking at the radar: it's all out east, nothing over where I am at right now.  Blah again.

So, Caleb starts asking me some questions last night about a presentation he had gone to.  A man had invited a small group of him and his friends to show them how they could make a lot of money very quickly.  Yup, that sent alarm bells off instantly.  He then said the man wanted "just" $500 from each person to start their own "business".  More alarm bells.  I listened to the whole thing and then educated my son about scams, scammers, smooth talkers who can make a piece of dog dung sound likes it's a precious gem and gee, doesn't seem a bit odd that you are going to have to pay him to start working for him?

He then gave me the name of the company, which I looked up on the internet. Of course, multi-level marketing, they pyramid scheme.  What else could it have been.  I asked him if he had given that man $500? No, but his friend had.  I informed him that his friend basically just threw away 500 bucks and if you - Caleb - are smart, you won't follow suit.  Just watch what happens with your friend and you will see for yourself. He will do a lot of work and make very little money.  The complaints about that particular company online are numerous and not few.  Well, you know the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, IT PROBABLY IS!!

I fell for one of those scams when I was much younger, but I had given the guy so much money - almost 3 grand - that I became infuriated when I found out 1: how stupid I had been giving him that much money for nothing in exchange and 2: the man laughing at me on the phone and telling me he wouldn't be giving me my money back.

I guess he thought that since he was in Las Vegas and I was in Phoenix, nothing could happen.

Yes, well it's only 3 or 400  miles to Las Vegas, and yes, I stormed into that man's office and I pretty much told him - well I won't say what I told him here, even though I am sure the statute of limitations is long since over with - I didn't actually DO anything to the man, but at that time in my life?  I would have knocked the guy silly if he hadn't given me my money back.  He got that impression quickly and I was handed a check.

I went straight to the bank and cashed it.

Well, anyway, I have to be outta here.

Later.

ben

Friday the 13th - 4/13/2012

Supposed to rain this weekend, that would be awesome!
I called Direct TV yesterday and got connected with the disconnect department.  I decided that I was going to cancel Direct TV and get Dish Network - Direct TV keeps raising their prices and I have had enough of it.  I like Direct TV far better than Dish Network, but since I don't watch that much television anymore, I really don't care what's in the house as long as tenants have something to watch.

I figured I would call them before making that step - contacted Dish and "signing" a contract and give them one final opportunity.  The best department to get anything done in that scenario is disconnection.  The guy was all over it.  He took off 2 charges which brought my bill down $12 per month and then suggested I take a look at a different programming package.  Said I would lose some sports channels but would keep most ofthe rest of it and would drop my monthly rate by another $14.

I was very happy with getting it down immediately $12 per month without having to change programming and told the man that I would compare the other package with the one I have and decide at a later time if I want to change it.  Not sure, didn't look yet.  I will have to make sure first that changing it doesn't automatically give me another 2 year contract.  Direct TV is sneaky about that junk and I always ask before doing anything if they are going to try to corner me into that.  They have told me no in the past only to come back and find out that they did anyway - of course, that sends me over to HQ and however long it takes for them to remove it.

Well, whatever.  I have to get off to work.

Happy, lucky, Friday the 13th!

G'day.

ben

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