So, I come home from work, greet the dogs who are already greeting me and then proceed to go out to the ponds.  I can't believe another dead fish!  I'm thinking, geeze, not again!!

But then I look at the fish.  Oh my gosh - GROSS!

That fish had been dead a LONG time!!  I am not going to describe it, suffice it to say it was absolutely disgusting.  It's body must have come up under the huge Yerba Mensa plant and had been lodged under there - until today, that is.  Got it out of there immediately.  That dead thing could not be helping the eco system in that pond - at alllllll.

It rained yet again last night and I just saw my water bill.  It's down about $40 right now and next month it should be down even more than that - from previous months that is.  Today's high 91 degrees.  The plants are not being subjected to scorching heat so they aren't sucking so much water out of the ground but even if they were, the now-frequent rains have been keeping the ground wet.  I'll be happy to see the water bill (which includes sewer and trash) get below $100.  I'll be really happy to the electric bill go down to somewhere around $150.

As I figured, 9/11 shows are on tonight, the night before the anniversary.  But of course my mom's birthday is also tomorrow.  I am going to call her and attempt to keep the conversation away from the dogs and her property at this point.  Pretty much losing interest in going up there at this point.  Not going to walk on egg shells around her, it's her property, she can do what she wants with it.  If I had some extra funds every month, I would definitely be looking into buying some property somewhere up in that area.  But I don't have any extra fund and an extra 3 or 400 per month for -ever - is out of the question.

Just did a search.  One lot for sale at 130k.  Nothing on it, not even improved.  Another lot for sale at 100k. Same thing, vacant lot.  Then I find another lot with an A frame cabin on it for $79,000!  Just dreaming.  Would be awesome to have a cabin like structure up in the mountains.

Put that thought on a shelf in the mind and let it sit there for a while.  Probably a long while.

Meanwhile, life goes on.  Reading the Bible and attempting to get a foot in the door of church to find some place to serve.  Whatever position that is is irrelevant to me, just to have the opportunity to serve again in some way.

The old Buick failed emissions about a month ago. I have been telling my son to get the car in to a shop and have it fixed.  Probably the charcoal cannister.  But whatever, I am not going to just start buying parts out of a guess and hope that it works.  Found a place right down the road from his college that has rave reviews in an online search.  Customers not only stating they were happy with the service but that they had compared prices and this place was cheaper than those they had inquired of.  It also happens to be a place that specializes in emission repairs.

I am, frankly, tired of dumping money into that car.  At the same time, it's been a while since I have had to do anything to it.  So, if it's been something like 5 or 6 months since I had to dump anything into it, and if I can get out of it this time for $200 or less, then I still consider it a good deal.  Monthly payments on a newer car are much more expensive.  You are enslaved to a contract for however many years - trust me, I am soooo sick of paying on my current car, I have been paying on it for like 4 years now -Newer cars equal higher insurance payments and you are forced to have full coverage insurance on a financed car.  That old Buick has minimum liability coverage and that's that.  I told my son if he totals that car, that's it, it's done and he will have nothing to drive.

I'm sorry, it's a vapor canister.  I just know it has charcoal in it.  That's what I am guessing is causing the trouble, that or perhaps it's just a bad line, which would be awesome since that would be a cheap fix.

He's taking it in in the morning, waiting until the 30 day permit runs out - which is today.  I told him he could get a pretty hefty ticket if he's caught.  Whatever.  You can only get 1, 30-day permit on any given vehicle per year.

Speaking of vehicle problems, the window assembly on my car that raises and lowers the window broke - for the third time now.  That's right.  I heard a cable snap inside the door when I was lowering the window and I knew it was trash.  I took it back to the shop for a 3rd time and had them fix it - they did it for free again since I paid them almost $900 last year to fix both windows.  The question is: how is this track breaking like this?  I asked the owner of the shop, he shrugged his shoulders, no answer.  Well it's a pretty good bet they aren't going to keep replacing this for free forever, even if they are getting comped for the part from the parts store, they still have to give free labor to repair it.

I'm thinking maybe don't use that window?  I dunno.

Been keeping tabs on the presidential election race? Yeah, right.

Alright.  I'm in a left hand turn lane (in my car) with the "Turn On Green Arrow Only" sign sitting up there.  There is a girl in an SUV in front of me who is at the front of the line.  The light turns green.  The inevitable cars that are running red lights to make THEIR left turn LONG after the light had turned red come through, but after that, this girl is still sitting there.  Yes I did honk my horn and no I don't have any regrets.  Get your eyes OFF of the freaking cellphone and DRIVE YOUR DAMNED CAR!~!!  \

Down the road, she gets RIGHT on my bumper.  Temptation: hit the brakes she isn't paying attention, she has that stupid cellphone in her right hand on top of the steering wheel, I could see it in my rear view mirror.  But, that would be illegal to try to cause an accident and unethical, so I instead hit the gas.  Whatever the case, I had checks to deposit at Chase bank and I got into a turning lane.  This girl starts honking her horn on the way past me.  I guessed she wanted me to look up to see her middle finger, so, I completely ignored her.  The honking went on until well past me, I continued to ignore her, lol.

On the freeway today, I-10 Eastbound in Phoenix near 40th street to be precise. I am in the semi this time.  A lady in another SUV is swerving back and forth in her lane, going around 70.  I was attempting to guess: is she drunk, on drugs or texting?  I guessed texting.  A few hundred feet more, she had to slow down for traffic in front of her and sure enough, another texting phone, on the steering wheel, this woman paying far less attention to the road than to that stupid phone.

What is it going to take for it to become a socially unacceptable thing to text while driving?  People are dying on America's roadways every day from it, so that's not really an effective motivator - everyone already knows it causes accidents and many times horrific accidents yet they still do it.    I don't know, really, but if I were King, I would have enacted a ban on texting while driving long ago.

That's it for now.

ben

So let's see.  Nothing grand done this weekend. The lady that I gave some pond plants to and the hard shell pond liner came back - with more people in tow - to get some of the mosquito eating fish I have. I mean, there must be 150 to 200 of them things in there.  They are very small fish so it doesn't do anything to the appearance of the pond itself.  We sat there for a while catching the little fish and putting them into a coffee pot container.  I'm waiting to hear back whether they are doing their jobs or not, but, I figure those little things were pretty hungry so I am assuming they would eat as many mosquitoes as they can find.

Other than that, I went to church and not much of anything else.

Mom's birthday tomorrow - 9/11.  I am expecting to see a lot of stuff on TV going on today and tomorrow about 9/11, of course.
Ummm, it's early, looking at quite a lot of work today and just going to get up, get out of here get to work and get it all over with.

Later.

ben

It's Friday, albeit the fact that it's almost over.
It's been raining on and off throughout the week.  My flowering plants are going crazy with new blooms for all the water.  Honeysuckles have orange blooms all over them and - ummm - lol I can't remember the name of the other one - are also well abloom.  The only ones that aren't producing are the vines, which, when they feel like it, put out hundreds of beautiful yellow blooms.

It rained most of the day today.  Which, when driving a semi in heavy traffic, isn't really all that fun.  Not because of the rain itself, but because of the effect it has on other drivers on the road who are already not paying enough attention to the driving task at hand.

Noteworthy is the totally trashed pickup truck on the freeway.  I was on a transition ramp from one freeway to another.  I saw near the end of a median that has plants and landscaping rocks a decided scraping of tires.  Looking up, I saw it.  A pickup had slid across that dirt area, onto the next freeway, across 4 lanes and slammed against the concrete, rebar-reinforced median wall. The front end of that pickup trust was TRASHED.  This was coming off a steep turn and I surmised that he was going too fast coupled with wet roads.  There were no other vehicles involved.

Or other accidents I saw today. I try hard to stay out of accidents.  It isn't a matter of right and wrong - well that guy was at fault and I was in the right.  Who cares. Accidents cause a lot of problems if nothing else.  For a truck driver, employers don't want to have to deal with accidents that you are involved with, regardless of who is at fault. Accidents happen, definitely, I just try my best to avoid them even if people are driving completely stupid.

I was at one of our better contractor's sites today and I was speaking to one of the foremen.  In recent times, his eyes have turned red and are always red when I see him.

They are working 6 or 7 days a week - depending on the whims of the corporation that is paying for the construction of the new plant.  Their schedules are changed weekly.  This week, they are working through Sunday and have Monday off.  They have been subjected to this for about a year now.  I haven't bothered to tell them the life of an OTR truck driver and the relentless, grueling hours they spend on the road.  I did that for years.  I know what it's like - long before the CDL license and extreme rules - in driving well over hours and spending 7 days a week for months on the road.

Instead, I sympathized with them. They are away from their families alot and when they are home, they are tired, worn out and can't spend quality time with their children and spouses.  Oh, I said them, them being foremen that I frequently encounter at this particular jobsite who are getting burned out, yet know that the economy sucks and this is their only life-line right now. The foreman I was talking to today is abused by his company.  This I know for a fact.  Yet, he isn't going to say anything to them about it because he is making good money and he knows the prospects for an unemployed construction worker in the Phoenix area right now.

Regardless of what Obama, Michelle or Clinton had to say in their speeches, the economy is tanking and a LOT of people are out of work. A LOT of people have given up looking for jobs.  A LOT of people are on food stamps.  Well, that's all political, I didn't vote for Obama the fist time around and I will definitely not be voting for him this time. I'll write in Donald Duck before I vote for a man that made as many promises as he did in 2008 that have yet to be delivered.

Well, that man walked away from the conversation shaking his head at his plight.  This particular foreman hates to be told (not asked) to work on a  Sunday.  I would too, if it was an on-going thing. If it happened once in a great while, I wouldn't care that much.  In fact, I was called by my company on a Sunday night, at 9:00 pm, JUST as I was about to go to sleep.  Get to the shop, get the truck, drive to Tucson, get the pipe, bring it back to a site in Chandler.  It was after 8:00 am the next morning before I left work and went home to go to sleep.  I actually enjoyed that trip, it was a challenge and a change of pace.

In fact, I wouldn't mind being sent across the country on some wild trip to pick up something that for some reason can't be delivered any other way.  Lol, probably not  going to happen.  I don't miss the days of endless OTR driving, but a road trip here and there would be nice.

Nothing going on this weekend besides the normal.  Church, mostly.  I had thoughts of going up to the mountains, but, the situation with my mother constrains that.  It isn't a hopeless cause, but there is a at lease some chance that I will end up moving that trailer off of that property and back to my driveway.  Actually, a pretty good chance unless my mother is going to offer something different than what she has already said.  I wish I could afford monthly payments on a property up in the mountains somewhere, but I have enough as it is.

Well, it's just about my bedtime, even if a Friday.

ben

I finally found the source of the problem that doctors could not.
Not going into particulars here, but I have already been to the drugstore and found
extreme relief.
Doctors.  I hate going to them.  They mostly do not listen to anything you have to say
and recommend doing things that you do not want to do.
Such as the physical I had last month. The doctor wanted a chest x-ray for no more
purpose than to see what my lungs look like since I have a history of respiratory problems.

Is there really any good reason to subject yourself to even more radiation than what is
absolutely necessary?  I don't think so.

I thought I had found a good facility, but, I have changed my mind.  When their blood tester
to check for diabetes had quick working and then the rest of them also weren't working, that
sort of made me curious.  When they told me they could not do an EKG for the physical because
they had run out of the special paper, umm, wow.

When they told me they would call me right back after going to the drugstore and finding out that
I would need the doctor to call the insurance company to get authorization - and they did not call  me
back - that was the final straw.  5 days later, they still had not called back which is when I called them.
They did not want to deal with me.  Fine, I said, who is the doctor that started this practice?  He is not in,
I was informed.  I called their other facility in Phoenix and lo and behold, there he was on the phone.

I asked the guy how I would be treated if I had a serious problem?  Would I be forgotten about then, as well?

It was a rhetorical question as I had already made up my mind: this place isn't going to get another penny
in insurance money from me having had visited their office. Time to start looking for another new doc.

Well, whatever.  I don't find doctors, generally, to be all that caring of people.  They have too many patients and are overbooked to be able to do that all day long.  They might actually care, to be honest, but they simply don't have that much reserve in them to be able to dish that out all day long.


Whatever the case, ti's time to leave for work.

Soooo, only 2 days of work left and the weekend already.
Nice.
I've started a light workout routine again.
Summer got to me, the heat and working outside all day long, come home, just
didn't feel like it.
Just starting with pushups and sit ups - or crunches I guess they call them.
Plus a light diet regime, nothing too overwhelming.  We are on the cusp of fall and
I can't wait.  I will get much more into the mountain hiking again and do a lot of
cardio type of exercise to get the heart pumping and blood moving.
I think the point is that I have put on some body fat and it does not look appealing
and it also simply isn't good for you.

Nothing too intensive to start out with, just start getting back into the rhythm of it again.

On another health note, however, my allergies have gotten so bad that even to some extent
they are keeping me up at night.  Sneezing throughout the day.  It doesn't matter where I'm
at, either, so one location or perhaps a physical allergy to something isn't really the issue (to
be honest, I was beginning to wonder if I were becoming allergic to the dogs, but I could be
away at work all day long around no dogs at all and still be sneezing and sniffling).

In fact, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it at all.  Comes and goes all day long. About
2 months of this going on so far.

Well whatever.  I was attempting to watch Clinton and see how he would try to distort facts,
but I got 5 minutes into and - turned the channel, lol.

This will be a short entry, mostly due to time constraints, the fact that 3 days off and Labor Day weekend is over and I must be leaving for work shortly. Which isn't a bad thing, btw.

But, I have started to get back into the Gospels after sort of hodging around them and reading just about everything else in the Bible.  I had forgotten how incredible those times must have been, Jesus actually walking on this earth, doing miracles, rebuking the religious and reaching out the the lost and destitute.  Some of the words he spoke about what we are to do with our lives had gone onto a dusty shelf in my mind somewhere.

No longer. I am finding myself slowly - ever so slowly - but still - coming out of the darkness and being in the light is a FAR better place to be.  I feel a clarity of mind I haven't had in quite a long time.  I feel some regret for having had wasted so much time and not fully engaging myself in my walk with the Lord.  But God is gracious and merciful, if not for that, we would all be doomed.

Okay, time to get to work.

G'day.

ben

A bit of a dilemma.
I have 1 large plant out front that has completely up and died.
There is one that is even larger that is dying off.
I have no idea, whatsoever, why the one plant has died and the other is dying.  It isn't for lack of water, I can guarantee you that.

What's the dilemma?  Summer.  Heat.  Humidity.  Oh, no, it's not a dry heat.  There has been enough humidity mixed with high enough temps to make it feel very uncomfortable out there.  I am soooo sick of the summer that I just want to be outside as little as possible until cooler temps come.

At the same time, that big, brown, dead and now-ugly plant needs to go. It actually isn't that big of a deal that it died, I have fresh ideas about what to do with that area once I get that dead thing out of there anyway.    I mean, I didn't WANT it to die, but it's okay, I'm cool with it, find something else to do with that area and maybe take a completely different route with it.  The other plant next to it I am not real happy about it's slow, gradual death, due to what I have no clue.  But it's turning brown with the exception of  a few branches that are, inexplicably, very healthy looking.  I'm waiting that one out.  I want to see if it's going to completely die out or if there are some parts of the plant that are salvageable.  It is about 8 feet tall and maybe that much in circumference.  It was a really nice plant that I had acquired from one of the nursery auctions that started out as a twig in the ground.

I'm sure I will get out there and get the dead one cut down.  I'm waiting for one of the tenants to come home, he has an electric chain saw in his car that he said he would let me use.  Make that job MUCH easier.

I also have yet to put any fish in that front pond after all of them died off in there.  Another inexplicable event.    I had been suspicious about neighbor involvement in poisoning the ponds and I still haven't ruled that out, to be honest.  I may never know.  But, if one of the "war" neighbors did do something to my ponds, eventually that truth will be spread around the neighborhood and get back to me.  That might be a long time.  Meanwhile, I am leaving that pond void of fish for a while.  I still have nice plants in it and I am still running the small filtering system for it - can't let it stagnate and turn into a cesspool of mosquitoes.  I could just use it as a plant water feature and leave the fish out of it.

My other 2 ponds have apparently recovered from whatever happened to them.  I did lose fish in them, but not near as many as the amount of fish lost in the front pond.  I have been forcing myself to clean out the filters much more frequently than what I had been doing.

As for today, it's Labor Day and why bother doing anything, anyway.  When the temps come down, I will be doing some major work outside, especially on the east side of the house.  Cooler temps will help with the amount of trimming and de-grassing under the vines that needs to be done.

_____________________
Just took a trip to one of the largest tree farms in the entire county, which just happens to be 2-1/2 miles away from my house.  I found some interesting ideas and definitely found some plants that would replace the dead one and actually look much better.  One of which puts out beautiful, yellow flowers and grows up to 12 feet tall.

However, after coming home, I found the answer.  Something that will work much better than what I have out there now: Indian Laurel Columns.

I'm actually ready at this point to go out there and cut that dead thing down - however - the tenant is not here yet and I'm going to wait for the ease of us of an electric chainsaw versus having to it down and into small piece by hand.

Well whatever.  Work back in the queue again.  It doesn't matter how long time off can be - a day, 3 days, a week - it just disappears soooo fast.  Lol.

ben

So, Sunday almost gone.
I bought 2 racks of pork ribs at the grocery store - on sale greatly reduced price - and slow cooked them for 3 hours on the grill this afternoon.
Yummy.

Church this morning?  You bet.  I was a little surprised to hear the pastor using a conversation that I had had with him earlier this week incorporated into his sermon.   Not opposed to it and he didn't point me out, just used the "speaking with a brother on the phone" statement.  But the conversation  he was mentioning was unmistakable.

Well anyway.  Just riding out a nice, 3 day weekend and looking forward to some new things in my life.

Talk about that another time.  Bedtime for me.

ben

My original plan some weeks ago for the Labor Day weekend - which is now - was to go up to the property and hang out for a couple of days. 

Well, I am not going up there again until mother and I have a conversation about my dogs and whether she is going to be able to handle it, cause' if she isn't, I will go up there without them sometime this month, pump  the water lines full of RV version of anti-freeze and it will sit until Spring, which is when I will have it hauled out of there.  I will sell it, wash my hands of the entire situation and move on with life.

Instead, I went to a men's meeting at church this morning and heard some interesting ideas about starting up a men's group and doing various types of outings and such.  Breakfast was also served, very nice egg casserole, the likes of which I had never had before, was severed along with other basic breakfast foods.

Good meeting, was glad I made it.  

No great plans for this 3 day weekend.  Not that I need any.  

Time's up.  Bedtime, lol.

ben

Spent almost the entire day out in the heat and humidity.  108 today.  You know it's humid when even if you aren't doing anything, you start sweating profusely.  However, I wasn't not doing anything.  I was drinking water and tea all day long, but I finally succumbed to a heat-induced headache that will probably stick with me until bedtime, which will undoubtedly be earlier than normal today.

On the way home, I stopped at Fry's Food Stores.  Meandering through the store looking for the things I needed, I happened by the deli.  A girl working behind the counter, I walked over to the where the fried chicken was and was about to ask for an 8-piece of it until I saw the price.  It jumped from $4.99 to $6.99. I simply said, oh, the price has gone up.  The girl "informed" me that it has been that price for the last 2 years now.  No, I replied, it has not, I have bought a lot of that chicken at $4.99.  Oh, yeah, they had that on sale for like 2 weeks.  No, I relied again, it was at that price for about 8 months.  No, she stated, it has always been $6.99.  

I was getting irritated.  Number one because I knew I was right - I have bought a lot of that fried chicken at the lower price and 2, that this girl of whom I had never seen before and therefore concluded she hasn't been working there all  that long was giving me  impudent, obnoxious and argumentative tones.  The fact that I had a heat headache and exhausted from busting my @$$ in the heat all day long didn't help matters.  I just decided to end that conversation and walk away from her, chicken be damned I can get some some other day.  The next thing I know, this girl is talking trash about me to another customer who had just walked up.

I was going to just let it go, little girl with attitude, the world is full of them.  But when she made the snide remarks to the customer, who also turned to give me a look, that was it.  I went up to the front, paid for my groceries and then asked for Christine, the current store's general manager.  Unavailable.  Fine, I'll call when I get home.

Turns out, after getting home and calling, this isn't the first complaint against that girl and her stupid attitude.  You can't work in a customer service venue and expect that, with a bad attitude, you are going to get away with it forever, or very long for that matter.  I was asked what she could do for me to keep me as a customer.  "Deal with her, that's all I want".

I'm out of it.  I was informed a few minutes ago that it rained for an hour last night - completely missed it - which gives me a pass on having to water plants. I don't feel like doing anything at all right now.  It's way too early to go to bed at 4:30, if it was even 7:00  I would be hitting the sack.

Yeah, ending this one.

So, I watched this "guest" in my house washing their hands the first time. First pouring on the Dawn dishwashing liquid - which is a big no-no in my house since I have anti-bacterial pump hand soap available even at the kitchen sink and since Dawn dish washing liquid isn't exactly cheap - and wash their hands for about 3 minutes.

About 20 minutes later, this individual comes back to the kitchen sink and does the same thing all over again.  And again.  And again. And again.  I could hardly contain myself, I wanted to question this person as to what, exactly, it was the caused them to want to wash their hands 10 times in a 5 hour period of time?  One of my tenants who also observed this behavior simply labelled it as a compulsive disorder and that was that.

To live with someone acting in that manner all the time would drive  me crazy.

Whatever, just the odd things you see in life that I just have to comment about.

Meanwhile, I am cleaning out the larger fish pond filters every couple of days now.  They get full of fish waste pretty quickly.  It may be that I was allowing too much time to elapse between cleanings and they were wallowing, literally, in their own waste.  Without researching it online one would conclude that can't be good for any living thing.  But, after doing the research anyway - had to look - it's even worse than I thought.

Let's just say here that cleaning out those filters isn't exactly the first thing I want to do when I get home from work.  Yet today, I spent an hour cleaning out both of them thoroughly.  IF that is the reason they were kicking the bucket, that potential problem is going to be eliminated.

I am considering going up the hill this coming weekend.  I really need to have a discussion with my mom about this dog situation.  It really hinges on her.  I am firm with my dogs, yes.  Great Danes are obstinate and stubborn.  They push the limits.  Not just once or twice, they just like to push the limits.  Prince especially.  She doesn't get what having 3 dogs is like, she has one that is a complete handful but it's only one dog.

I like my dogs, if I didn't they would be goners.  I have always loved my dogs.  But, they aren't going to just run me over and do whatever they want.  There are doggy rules and these dogs are WELL aware of those rules.

The political scene is beginning to humor me.  The idea that Romney is now leading - barely - in the polls with all the negative ads coming from the Obama camp is entertaining at the least.

An appropriate ending not possible, time for bed.

G'nite.

ben

I am sitting here in this absolutely magnificent hotel room - don't get this kind of treat very often -
with the AC turned down to 65 and enjoying the beautiful views out the french glass style doors up
to the north towards the mountains. It is perfectly quiet in here save the sound of the AC system.

I have absolutely no intention of leaving before the final minute of check-out time, which is 3 hours and 45 minutes from now.  I won't be staying at a place this luxurious again for some time to come, I am guessing, might as well take advantage of it.

Not only that, but this room is an upgrade, the likes of which I did not ask for neither did I expect.
I showed up after the company party and simply started the check in process, which is when the
man apparently was reading the notes and determined that if available, a room upgrade should be in
order.  Well, I'm not one to turn down that kind of offer.

The aspect of this room that is really awesome is the absolute quiet.  There are no dogs barking; no humans asking me endless questions; just peace and quiet.  Even better that i have 4G access on my internet.  No need to pay the $11 or whatever it was internet fee, lol, got that on my Hotspot.

The party was awesome fun as well.  They rented out the entire bowling alley at the Dave & Buster's that we were at - 12 lanes worth and all of them were being used.  We bowled pretty much the entire time we were there.  The only drawback was the limited selection of bowling balls and I could not find one with holes big enough for my fingers.  Anyway, there was a raffle and I won a $25 gift certificate to Home Depot, which I thought odd because in many respects, they are
our competitor.  Not that I'm complaining, I go to Home Depot all the time, lol.  The general manager was handing out the prizes and he was mocking my voice my entire walk up to the table for the prize.  I kind of have a deep, gruffy voice which gets even deeper and raspier if I am tired.

One of the drivers from the main branch that was bowling with us got so drunk, he couldn't get the ball down the lane, it was a gutter ball every single time, lol.  His wife was just sitting there, shaking her head and not drinking at all.

  I am skipping church this morning just so I can sit here and enjoy the serenity of this place.  The weather outside isn't even that bad, must be in the low 80's.  Yup, 84 with a high today of 103.  We are approaching the end of August, thank God Almighty, meaning the temps should start coming down in September and the electric use along with it.  Not that September is cool by any stretch of the imagination, just that the temps are not near as high as the worst 3 months of the year which include June, July and August.  We have to get into October before we can actually say it's getting cool outside, lol.

There is this large-screen TV sitting in front of me that I have yet to turn on. I just don't care that much for TV as much as I used to.  I get my news off the net from a variety of sources - try to get all the different takes on the same story and then meet them all up somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, I'm outta here.  Happy Sunday.

ben

The laughing Marriott customer representative.
Specifically, the J W Marriott Desert Ridge Resort And Spa located on Tatum road in North Phoenix.
It is within walking distance of the Dave and Buster's where our company's end-of-fiscal-year party is going to be held.
I stayed there I think 2 years ago at a discounted rate and now for the life of me cannot remember how I got that rate, but I was asking for it again anyway.
So, I inquired of the lady who - laughed at me.
She thought it was some sort of joke that I should be asking for a lower rate than the lowest advertised rate of $160.
Yeah, that didn't go over too well with me.  "What are you laughing at?".  "Excuuuuse me?  I didn't laugh at you".  "YES, you did".  She began to get argumentative with me which is when I asked for her manager.

I said nothing to this woman to warrant the kind of behavior I received on the phone from her.  NOTHING. I was totally respectful and was ready to move on and try to find something else if they simply had said no, we don't have anything cheaper, we're sorry. I'm of the mindset that it "never hurts to try" and the worst they can tell you is no.

I'm guessing that woman is regretting that response to me last night as I not only informed her manager, I also wrote in a complaint, but figuring it would be forever before I got a reply, I decided to call corporate headquarters as well.  And no, I wasn't aggressive panhandling.  I simply did not, up until that encounter anyway, associate J W Marriott hotels with that kind of condescending, haughty and spiteful type of behavior coming from anyone working there.  Normally, at least for me, one connotes the Marriott name with complete and total professionalism.  I have no idea whether calls are recorded but I was informed that the person I was dealing with whose name is Sharon will be having her calls monitored.

Indeed.

Whatever the case, the party is tomorrow afternoon and I intend on enjoying myself.

Onto other things.  If you came here on a Google search, well, that's the end of the Marriott tale and the rest is just my day to day life.  Such as my fish ponds.  Today marks the first day that I did not find any dead fish in any of the 3 ponds.  I am not declaring the problem over, but it is a good sign that I didn't find any very large fishies floating around on the top of the ponds today.  Fortunately I have not lost any of the large Koi, it's mostly been goldfish and some smaller Koi.

I have been aggressively dealing with the problem in emptying out large amounts of the pond water and replacing with fresh tap water. Taking the filters apart, cleaning them out frequently and then putting them back together again.  Yesterday adding pond - stuff - whatever it is - that helps with fish stress.  I can only do so much.  It is still a bit puzzling that all 3 ponds had the same problem all at once.  That indicates something external was introduced, not a naturally occurring event inside the ponds.  Again, the rains and the potential of all that chemical that has been sprayed all over the property is the number 1 "suspect".  Number 2, though unlikely but certainly not inconceivable, is that some sort of poison was added to all 3 ponds.  I find it inconceivable because they would have had to jump my fence and take another risk of me catching them in the act.

The thought of catching someone dumping poison into ponds that are  behind fences in my back yard is - a bit troublesome indeed.  But I'm going to put that idea on idle and hope that it was just the poison from the exterminator, who last time was out sprayed a lot of that stuff onto the rocks and plants - no problem there, but I am guessing she must have gotten too close to the ponds.  From this point forth, the exterminator will not be coming over here unless I am at home so I can monitor where that person is spraying the poison.

I am going to church tonight, though I definitely do not feel like it, it's the weekly prayer thing.  I am very tired and I am not feeling particularly well for some reason.  But I am not going to allow that to stop me to go as pastoral staff is encouraging everyone to get into those Friday night meetings and join in the prayer celebration.  I'll go for at least an hour.  There is no one telling anyone that they have to stay for X amount of time. I figure an hour good, come home and go to bed.

So that's it.  Church starts in less than an hour.  Time to get ready both mentally and of course my attire, lol.

G'day.

ben

Finally, after 4 days, the people that sold me the refrigerator wrote back.  Blah Blah Blah.  Their word in their garage obviously didn't carry over to reality. I have spent $450 on a refrigerator that at best is worth $200, that of which I paid for it.  I found the address for small claims court and will be stopping by there tomorrow after work.  I'm getting very tired, in life, of people that say one thing and then do something completely different.  

My mother called me 2 nights ago after we had had the fallout about the dogs/Prince.  I wasn't near the phone and didn't know it had rung, much less a message left on it.  I listened to the message and listened to my mother asking me if she wants me to pick up some RV antifreeze, acting as if the confrontation on the phone on Sunday had never happened.  She hoped for a reply by 8:00 the next morning, or Tuesday.  I called her at around 7:30 am and wondered how this conversation was going to go.  Awkward, at best, yet her thing about the dogs never came up.

I didn't say anything about it, it was a short conversation and that was that.\

Went to church small group last night.  Nice little service, but by the time 7:30 hits, I'm starting to yawn, getting tired and dreaming of bed.  

I have not yet replied to my ex-pastor's who sent me the letter last week.  I did write a reply to them but have yet to send it.  Sort of sitting on it and pondering.  

Going to another survey thing today.  30 minutes for 30 dollars.  It's 5 miles away, if it were far away I wouldn't have agreed to it.  But what the heck, 30 bucks is 30 bucks.  

Umm, there's more but I have to leave soon for the taste testing thing.  It's been raining here, a good thing except - my fish are dying off. I think I finally figured out what's going on. The exterminator came and last time flooded the property. I am guessing the rain is washing that poison right into the pond.  It's one of a few possible answers. That or the neighbor wars are coming into my back yard and pouring poison into the ponds, but if that were true, one would think they would all die all at once.  I'm leaning towards the idea of the exterminator, especially consider the amount of poison that was dumped in there last time.

Anyway, outta here.

The situation:

I was up at mom's property, I dunno, was it 3 weeks ago?  I was leaving, getting the dogs in the car to take them home.
There is only one way those giant dogs fit into the back seat of that car to make it comfortable for both of them.  It takes quite a bit of "arranging" to do and it also takes the cooperating of the dogs to get it done.

So, I had put Prince in first and had him perfectly situated, telling him to stay, stay, stay while I went and got Duke.  When I came back, Prince got up, turned around headed out of the car.  Now I have Duke in hand and Prince needing to be put back into correct position.

Prince is a big baby.  He whines and sometimes "cries" when things aren't going his way.  I just let go of Duke, got back into the car and had to move the dog physically because he refused to move back into position.  It does NOT mean I was hurting him, but he starting his whining/crying junk again.  Loudly.  A big dog, a big mouth.  Mother was walking by the car as this was happening.

I knew she had taken issue with it when I got the dogs in and left - she just kept walking with her back towards me.  I hadn't called her in almost 3 weeks because I knew that the next time I talked to her, she was going to say something and more to the point: it was going to be a caustic interaction even if I tried to avert it.

Which I did try.  I really did.  I called her today and got the conversation rolling, we talked a few minutes and then? She went there.  Blah blah blah.  You were hurting Prince, I didn't feel comfortable with it.  I did cut her off once and nicely tried to get her to take this conversation elsewhere, because I can tell you right now that I take extreme offense to anyone even remotely insinuating that I am some sort of animal abuser.  I have had dogs all of my life and have always taken very good care of them.  When Coco was dying a while back I poured my heart and energy out to doing whatever I could to save her, including draining my bank account and running up credit card debt which I am still paying off.

The conversation did not end well.   I decided that if she doesn't like the way I treat my dogs, then my presence up there on her property and bringing my dogs up there is not going to work out. I informed her I would not be coming up there anymore and that when I could, I would have the trailer moved off the property.  I was very offended at the way she was talking to me.  She didn't give me the opportunity to explain what was actually happening in the car, instead she just concluded that I was intentionally hurting the dog.

So that's it.  It will undoubtedly be quite a while before we talk again.  We have had issues before about different things in the past and this is pretty much modus-operandi.

It hasn't really been such a great ending to my vacation. Besides that, I have spent 3 hours today sweating my @$$ off attempting to get the pond situation rectified.  More fish have died.  I had to remove the fish and then I had to find that small pump I have and try to get it to work on the big waterfall filter.  I figured that any kind of filtering at all is bettering than nothing.  It's a 125 gallon per hour pump, so every 3 plus hours that pumps the entire contents equivalent through that filter.  I emptied out about a third of the water in it and replaced it with fresh water and rearranged the aerators so that they would hit a larger area of the water.  I had to clean out the other larger pond filtering system as well.  Plus I had the refrigerator I bought off of Craigslist which died on me and spent another $200 getting it fixed.  It IS working well now at this point, I finally get the temp to stay at a constant 37 degrees, pretty much in the target range.

But it has all worn me out.  Instead of going back to work refreshed, I guess it will be pretty much the same as when I left for vacation.  I think, actually, I am ready for the "distraction" of work at this point.  I may not be ready to get up at 4:30 am, guess I'll find that out when 4:30 rolls around and the alarm clock goes off.

The situation with mother is troubling.  Had I had any thought that there would be this kind of problem, I would not have bought that trailer and spent the months I did in fixing it up.  I now have yet one more situation on my hands that has to be dealt with.  But I don't have the money to spend on moving it down here right now and if she wants it off the property badly enough, she will have to pay for it's removal to wherever herself, the nearest towing yard I guess, which would be in Star Valley.  It would be a lost cause for me, as paying for the tow there, plus storage, plus moving it to wherever else temporarily would be out of the question right now.  Would she do that?  Uhhh, yes, if it irked her enough, she would.

ben

I don't hardly make any claims to be the most spiritual person in the world, in fact, at this point, I freely admit that I am FAR from any title that would make that claim.  So, when I looked at that logo on a piece of mail I received today, a familiar logo and one that is associated with extremely negative thoughts, I can also attest that spirituality was from the list of adjectives that were running through my head.

The letter-head was from the church I used to go to.  When I say that, I mean the church that shunned me when I was getting divorced.  I didn't even want to open the letter at first, I wondered what kind of miserable, negative, accusatory statements I would read within the confines of the letter.  What possible purpose would they have in contacting me NOW, after all of this time?

I didn't know but eventually, curiosity killed the cat.  I opened the letter.  It wasn't a form letter - I would have immediately trashed it if it was.  You know, a pre-scripted letter sent to who knows how many people?  

I can't and won't write the entire depth of the letter on here.  It basically stated they missed me, that they realized there was a huge, gaping hole in their lives - we were best friends for over a decade and we did a LOT together - and basically asking me to let them back into my life.  My thoughts went straight to the shunning in front of everyone at church, a thing I realized today I thought I had gotten over: I have not.  My reaction was proof of that: I began firing off a letter of how they treated me and how they had dissed me, shunned me and actually turned their BACKS on me at CHURCH, at a SERVICE!!

I got 4 paragraphs into that letter and realized what I was doing - and stopped.  If I were to seek the Lord about this for even 2 minutes, I would realize that this is not the course of action He would have me take.  Christians are instructed to forgive.  I know, it isn't easy sometimes. In fact, in circumstances such as what I went through with these people while going through a divorce, their actions only made it 100 times more hellish.  I found myself without ANY support from anyone save my mother.  Bless her heart : )  Oh, my dad was there for me too, now that I think about it : )

So, I put the letter down and sought some spiritual backing from my pastor.  Not that I can't figure this out myself, that's not the point.  I want to know that there is a support system available for me.  I am not trying to get them to hate those people, rather, to pray about it and give me a detached, third-party input. I really need that because I really would like to get past this.  He wrote back quickly and gave me his thoughts and then advised me to give it a few days and pray over it before responding and that he, too, would be praying about it and he would get back to me.

So that's where this is being left for now.  I am not going to reply to them until, at the earliest, next week.  I'm  going to pray about it, seek the Word about it, sit on it and dwell on it.  Give it enough time to give me any kind of thought that perhaps - some kind of reconciliation is actually possible here.  I dunno, yet.  Maybe I will get some direction at church on Sunday.

ben

“We have customs, we have cultures. We want to share this with this country, and those who criticize us and who hate us, we invite you to get to know us.”

That from an illegal "immigrant" who, along with 40 or so others, is "touring" the country and openly stating that they are here illegally.  These people - and millions like them - feel that they are somehow being wronged.  They run around saying how bad America is - I have been hearing this for decades now - yet, they continue to stay here. 

The statement  about their customs and cultures?  My extensive knowledge of many of them are that they do not even attempt to blend in with our society at all.  Instead, they want to change it to their way of thinking and living to the point that many of them refuse to even attempt to learn how to speak English.  They demand spanish speaking customer service reps and want all signage and literature to be printed in Spanish. 

I'm not sorry to say that this is NOT the United States of Mexico.  I have no sympathy for people that are here illegally, none whatsoever AND I completely agree with Governor Brewer's executive order to deny them access to social programs that should be there for legal citizens/residents.  Many of these people make a calculated decision to have babies here so they can therefore make the excuse that they have kids that are legal citizens. This doesn't excuse the fact that they came here and ARE here illegally!

Whatever the case, it's Friday and 9 days off of work is slowly coming to a close.  It always passes by far too quickly.  I had thoughts of going up to the mountains but I am not sure I am going to do that.  If I am, I'm going to have to leave within the next 4 or 5 hours, so, guess I better make up my mind.  I'm opting for not, though.  The 900 miles of driving earlier this week sort of took the desire to drive anywhere right out of me, lol.

Plus I definitely want to make church on Sunday and basically try to get a bit of rest and relaxation going so I don't feel stressed going back to work on Monday.  

I will answer the comments in my last post here.
Got to the place at 3:30 am.  Paid up everything for the trip and then went outside to wait
for them to signal the okay to board the boat.  Maybe 15 minutes later, they fired the boat up and then?  It stalled maybe 15 seconds later. I joked with some others that the boat was broken
and now there wasn't going to be a trip.

Umm, unfortunately, the joke became reality.  Ruptured fuel line.  We got the news
and started to contemplate what to do.  There were 12 of us out there for this boat.  A group of
4 made a phone call to some other fishing place that must have been near there and they took
off after confirmation that there was still just enough spots left for them to come.

Then another group of 4 made phone calls to wherever, where they apparently scored and they
left post-haste.  Well, Caleb and I are left with 2 others. 1 had decided to go home, the other hadn't
made up his mind, I was in "aggressive panhandler" mode. I just drove 455 miles to get on that
boat, they knew I was from out of state, they had called me the night before to confirm I was
still coming and yes, I informed them, I'm en-route, about 100 miles out.

Well, they had another boat going out 2 hours later.  The problem with that boat - that I had heard
from people - is that it only goes out by some islands which are over-fished and may not bring in a
good haul.  Yeah, but we were up, awake and I just decided to get on that boat and whatever
happens, happens.  It was a full boat, unfortunately, meaning there were too many people and
lines were getting crossed all day long.  The worst part is that there weren't many fish caught.

I only snagged 2, Caleb gave up after an hour of it.  I subsequently learned that Caleb doesn't care
one way or the other about the fishing part of it, he just likes being on the boat and out on the
ocean. Well that didn't bother me and I made the best of the day regardless of lack of fish.

I can only say that if we go again?  Back to San Diego, not Ventura.  The San Diego trip a bit more
pricey, but if I can catch a lot of fish, I don't care.

I was actually going to go for a second day of it, but, I decided to go home instead.

Caleb probably would have liked a second day, I was just too worn out from the previous day's
endeavors on that boat to do much of anything but drive home. 10 hours of fishing sort of creeps
up on you, lol.

It was good.  I was glad to get out of town.  It was MUCH cooler over there.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened here at the house while we were away.  The only oddity was Duke.  He just could not stay away from me. I told him to go lay down, he did and just got bacvk up and got right back in my face. He has some pretty extreme separation anxiety issues.

I'm thinking of heading up the hill tomorrow and getting some mountain time in.  Maybe stay up
there until Saturday.  I'm not sure yet.  The weather around these parts is conducive to either
staying inside your house in the AC  or getting out of town.  I have to admit that I much  greater
like going up to the mountains in the tall pines with cool, fresh air than going to the ocean.

Not saying I don't like the ocean, just that most of my life in outdoors it's been in the mountains
camping yet at the same time, our family spent plenty of time at the beaches as well.  It would help
if I had a "significant other" to go to a beach with : )

So, a great time really.

ben

Well we're here.  I made the first 250 miles in about 3 hours, but when we hit the outskirts of LA we ran into rush hour traffic. 2 of us in the car, we were able to get on the HOV lanes and fly past most of it.  Until we got to whatever freeway that we had to merge on to - this place is loaded with freeways and suddenly? The traffic came to almost a standstill. That went on for over an hour before finally getting onto the 101 and it loosened up quite a bit.

Uhhh, the Motel 6.  Well, it's nothing like that horror-house Motel 6 in San Diego from last year.  It's just a regular old Motel 6 and so far I don't hear any noise that will keep me up.  Which is a good thing, cause' it's 8:30 and I am going to bed in a few minutes.  Brought my fan and my ear plugs, though, I can't really sleep without them.

Caleb was amazed that you can drive through the middle of the desert, out in the middle of nowhere, and still have access to the internet via the Verizon hotspot. It's all 3g out there, but it still works.  I have had this patch on for motion sickness behind my ear all day long - the instructions say to put it on 24 hours in advance. I felt kinda funny for a while but that passed and it's all good now.  Though, the doc did say it might cause' some fatigue and I am experiencing that - but I don't know if it's the patch or still left overs from that sleep aid medicine I took last night.  That stuff really kicked my @$$.  

That's it.  We got here in time to get about 6 hours of sleep after all is said and don. Not sure about being able to sleep on the boat, but it does have bunks and there won't be any fishing until they get out to wherever they are taking us to drop the lines in the water.  The point is I will try to get a little more shut eye if possible when the boat takes off. I am definitely NOT forgetting to take my warm clothes this time, either.  I FROZE last year most of the day out on the water.  I was kicking myself all day long for forgetting to bring the sweatshirts with me.  Oh, I brought them on the trip, I just forgot to pack them in the bag to take on the boat.

Anyway, precious time's a wasting, gotta to to sleep!

ben

Monday morning.
Took one of the "new" sleep pills last night at around 8:00pm.
It hit me in less than 15 minutes.
I was still trying to get stuff done before going to bed - not a happening event.  I was stumbling around like a drunk man and finally decided to just crash.
Here we are, 11 hours and 20 minutes later and I'm still dazed from it.

Although it works, I couldn't possibly use this stuff during the work week.

It's now almost 16 hours since I took that stuff and I am still feeling a bit groggy.  But not too bad, thankfully, as I am leaving in around half an hour.  Just had to go to Bass Pro shops and find a lure to try out on the ocean.  The fishing company gives live bait which usually works well enough, but I still want to try a lure anyway.

Well that's enough for this entry, I still have some things to do before I leave.

Later.

ben