I'm going to stop blogging for a while.  Or just post random stuff that has nothing to do with my personal life.  

Or whatever.

So, I text her last night. Almost scary to do so for who knows what kind of reply one is going to get from a person like that.  She apparently wanted to get into a conversation, I did not, not after the last texting we had where she emphatically stated "I really don't want to get into any kind of conversation with you at all".  I have learned that she has a boyfriend and apparently had one long before we got divorced.  It wouldn't really bother me if she had one after the divorce, but before?  Just letting it go, though, I want nothing to do with her at all.  Just get the last thing back from her and lose her number.

Friday morning.  Leaving for work early.  Have to make a delivery near our yard - but then I have to head down to Sulphur to pick up a load of pipe and bring it back. That's going to take all day long.  So, I just want to be at the contractor's site this morning at or before they show up so I can get the stuff off of the truck and get headed south.  It's a long drive because the route there goes through numerous small towns with slow speed limits and lots of cops everywhere to make sure you aren't going over that in-town speed limit.  In fact, the last time I drove down there I saw dozens of cops along the way.

Going down I-49 doesn't work, it takes you too far out of the way.  Anyway, I get my other 4 wheeler back and get a hold of a trailer I can start taking them things out to a place that has trails and have some fun on them.  I have all kinds of parts to replace things on the big one, a project I am going to try to motivate myself to do this weekend.  Next door neighbor kid helping since he has been taking the thing with some friends to a property not far from here and riding it.

Anyway, nothing really new here.  I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, it is what it is.  I'm not really looking for drastic changes right now, though, excepting would like more opportunities at church.  I have some ideas, however, to do something on my own outside of the church.  I dunno yet but sitting around doing nothing isn't particularly appealing to me.  It gets boring.  I get bored of the internet, too. Especially those Facebook political groups.  I was participating in some of them but some of the people in those groups are absolutely - crazy.   There are people out there that just dont' have a clue.  Which is fine but then they come back at you and go into attack mode when you try to give a differing view of something.

Anyway, off to the races.  And off to Phoenix too, pretty soon, to see my son and my mom ; )

Caleb is flying off to New Zealand on the 29th. This means that if I want to see him before he leaves, I will have to fly over to Phoenix before then. 

Airfare purchased, flying over the week before he leaves.  Round trip $119.  Not bad, but the day of the departure will be interesting. Go to work, get off, drive home, say goodbye to dog and landlords, head to Dallas and fly off to Phoenix.  3 hours from work to Dallas plus the stop at home at 30 minutes.  I could stay home longer and visit, for the flight doesn't leave until 10:45 pm but I want to show up early for any possible problems. 

Besides, I like airports, airplanes and the whole atmosphere.  I am considering getting a passport, finding whatever flights I can to anywhere worldwide and making a trip here and there just to go.  Or even just flights around the country.  You can find some pretty low priced airfare to numerous places. But, a pickup truck and a trailer and my 4 wheelers up to the nearest high coutry is just as intriguing.  

Well, anyway, airfare taken care of, parking near airport including free shuttle also a done deal, landlords will take care of the Addler, I am now working on finding travel from airport to mom's house.  She will let me use one of her vehicles while there, but - she is not confident in heavy traffic.  I have to find my own way out to her.  Bus system isn't operating that late, a shuttle is likely my best option. I know a large number of people there but I don't want to ask anyone to come drive me out there at that late of an hour.  Hmm, I could post that on my Facebook wall and see if there are any bites - but I think mom will not be happy that she couldn't do it and has to see that there.  I think I will find my own way.

Anyway, mom's 80 years old and so, good idea to go visit. Still in pretty good health, things can change rapidly in life.  I am going to try to make it out there again sometime later this year to see her.  But take a whole week off.  I'm taking 3 days off work this time around, didn't want to spend too much vacation hours this early in the year.  My new manager is making a good attempt to change his old ways and I am still responding accordingly.  So, when I came to his office today to get that written into the giant calendar behind his desk, he stopped the vendor that was visiting and took the time to write it up there and was very amenable. The stories about him making threats and assaulting one of salesmen are true - but - he has changed his ways, at least apparently.  Time will tell, but I am not hoping for his failure, I am hoping for his success.  Yes, please do thrive in your new position. 

Please do not try to make my or anyone else's life miserable  Have a new outlook on life, it's not worth it to just look at everything jaded and find no pleasures in the basic things in life.  Please.  Try. Please.

I didn't say any of that to him, of course, but those are my thoughts.  He didn't try to oppose it, in fact, when he heard me talking about seeing my son before going to New Zealand he want into a thing a flight over there. Isn't that a long flight?  Well, yes, now that you say it, it is.  It was his way, I am guessing and hoping, of trying to bridge the gaps, be a nicer person and treat employees more like family than like - what? Your worst enemy?  Never figured that out.  

So I'm psyched anyway.  Just looking at my vacation hours though.  I want some time available for this summer.  That is providing I am even still working there this summer.  I am trying to remain optimistic on the matter.  Well I have ideas for summer. Like having a pickup truck and having means to transport at least one 4 wheeler to nearest mountains - which are allegedly in Arkansas - and taking a week camping adventure with the dog and a tent.  Alone or not alone, I don't really care.  I need the mountains.  I grew up in a mountainous area, moved to a desert at the age of 10. Took frequent trips to mountains at that age and then when I had a driver's license, took almost weekly trips up north into the mountains. It isn't something that just goes away.  

So, changing the subject, I show up to work this morning.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I never do.  I am handed tickets and that is that.  Go here, go there.  Well, I go about my business but come to a point where I need to get into the "shed" they call it.  It is not a shed.  It's a metal building approximately 80 feet by 50. That's a lot of square footage to call a building a shed, but, that's Louisiana.  No-one has opened the bay doors which I thought odd, but I needed to get in there to get the banding machine out - someone mishandled a bundle of pipe - which happens quite frequently there - and broke the banding that keeps it together.  I tried and tried my key to get in there.  It would partially turn but not open the door. The driver that is now not a driver because of his last truck crash said he had tried as well. Well, I thought, get some WD-40 and see what happens.

Nothing. Well, after half of everyone trying with their own keys, everyone gives up.  I did not.  The subject comes up about the hole at the top of the building in the back.  I did not bring up the subject, but I had thought about it  The warehouse dude says well a small man would have to get through there.  This all passes and I'm stuck.  Can't band the pipe, gotta get in there. I go around and look at that hole, it's up there alright and no way to get a forklift there to lift a person up. Well, I put a 2 foot tall fitting there which just got my hands on the edge of it.  I pulled myself up there -- and I ain't saying it was easy for I am not in the shape I was 20 years ago - grunted and pulled and etc got up through that hole, onto a high shelf inside the building, climbed down some poles and walaah.  There was a group of people trying to get in and here I am opening the main bay door. Warehouse manager looking at me in bewilderment.  How you get up there? I just climbed.

You know, it was a liberating moment. I can still do that stuff.  Not as easy as in days of "old" but I got up there without any help. Umm, well, you know when you get to a certain point it's a point-of-no-return thing.  You ain't going back down the way you came up, you are gonna fall and it isn't going to be pretty. Which gets adrenaline pumping which helps you out nicely, lololol.  

Well that's enough for now.  

Well ain't that just fancy.
New manager calls for a meeting yesterday morning - Monday mind you - at 7:30 am.  What came out of his mouth was totally unexpected.  We are going to be cutting back hours to 8 for everyone ..... blah blah blah.  I just listened for quite a while until he got to the: " If ANYONE has a PROBLEM with THIS, I want to know about it RIGHT NOW".  You see, my mind instantaneously went through a whole realm of things when he first started talking and making his announcement and I had already made all of my conclusions long before he was done with his monologue.

I spoke up instantly. Yeah, I have a problem with it.  Remember, this is the dictator that everyone is afraid of, that won't say much of anything to because of his reputation.  I could care less about his reputation and if he's going to treat me like a pile of dog****, I will find myself a new place of employment.  I simply said: so, you are cutting our pay?  This set him off.  Of course.  I don't care about that, either. He's talking cutting my pay by over a grand a month, I'm not going to keep silent.  I will fight for my pay until I either get it or am forced to move on.

He set off.  Well what do you want to do, Ben? OBVIOUSLY inferring that I should just quit and leave.  I'll have nothing to do with that at HIS intonations, I will talk to his management about this situation - as I already did anyway before he became manager - before I quit.  I didn't reply to him, I just looked him in the eye.  He then repeated 7 times "I don't want to argue with you", notwithstanding the fact that I was saying nothing to him.  I remained firm after all his attempts to intimidate me.  Once he started figuring out I wasn't bowing to him, he then attempted to try to talk to me on a "little bit" lower level. I simply told him I came out here taking a huge pay cut, the hours I have were compensation for it, it was agreed to, that's that.  Well, you have a 50 hour situation? No.  Do you have a contract? No.  I have a verbal agreement with Matthew (Matthew won't lie, he's a bonafide Christian and he will own up to whatever he said to me before I moved out here).  50 hours per week .

Not that I want to work 50 hours per week for 8 hours pay, but that's  what I agreed to so I could come out here, marry a woman that ....well we need not go there ....and that's that.  He toned down after I applied logic to his emotion - this individual is run by emotion.  At work, I am run by dollar signs.  If I am not going to make a minimum amount, goodbye.  Taking away 40 plus hours per month of OT is not going to work - at all.

So let's fast forward to todayI went into the "ex-manager's" office and got into a conversation with him about what this man had stated the day before.  He immediately said yeah, he didn't understand the situation with what you came over here in but we are going to have a conversation about that today.  Okay.  Fairly short conversation, I turned around and - tried to leave.  The new manager, I dunno if he was eavesdropping (and I don't care) came barreling around the corner, said to me and the other driver that showed up to go back into the office, we are going to have a conversation about what "he" said.  He being the other manager.

Then we had it out.  I'm not going to back down to some extremely self-centered, high-minded dictator who thinks the world of himself and in love with the sound of his own voice try to stand there and intimidate me, which is exactly what he tried  to do..  Several times he tried to stop me after asking me a question so that I would answer the way he wanted me to answer.  No, I would just come back and answer in my own word.

Well, he says, I'm sensing some friction here between us. No s*** Sherlock, I wonder why.  I was prepared to lose my job yesterday. I truly didn't care. They aren't paying me NEAR enough money to put up with that kind of garbage, an authoritarian who thinks he can just speak a word and we all come running and bowing.  Not my style, I don't @$$ kiss, just ain't going there.  We went back and forth, I wasn't holding anything back, I tried to keep any hint of anger or angst out of it, but it really came down to money and hours.  I'm not going to take a thousand dollar per month pay cut, period.

I'm not going into the details of his ridiculous words because it just isn't worth it.  I expressed myself quite nicely and now it is all in their hands.  Cut my hours, don't cut my hours, raise my pay, don't raise my pay.  They don't seem to act very fast about anything. This dude is the good ole' boy idealogy.  A lot of people there have been working together for 20, 25 years.  The "newbies" - which is me and the other driver, not including the new temporary driver, - are pretty much left out, likely not to get any favors excepting my old manager was pretty good to us and this feeling not likely to subside any time soon.

Well whatever. It's now Wednesday morning - time to be off to the wonder land of work!

I absent-mindedly put my debit card in a bag with stuff in it I got at a store and left it in there.  And threw it out.  And yes, it ended up in the landfill before I realized my mistake. Fortunately, Chase bank now has card makers at many of it's locations.  You need only go in, prove who you are and they make you a new debit card right then and there. Amazingly better than the "old" days of having to wait days for it to arrive in the mail and having to try and deal with daily life without it.  Meaning, go to the bank and carry cash around with you.

I don't much care to carry around cash, excepting maybe 20 bucks and that only because some places in Louisiana either don't take debit cards or you have to spend a minimum amount to use it.

Anyway, while I was at the bank, I was speaking with a very distinguished and very smartly dressed bank officer that was telling me all about the mountains around here, after we got into a discussion about it.  What mountains? I asked politely.  Well, Texas has mountains! You have to drive a good distance but they are here.  Better, though, she says, there are plenty of mountains in Arkansas with hiking and 4 wheeling trails and only 2 hours away. I'm going to check with online 4 wheeler clubs to find some suggestions/advice on that particular subject.

Meanwhile, my desire to take Addler to the large doggy park remain altered. It is shut down for repairs and there is no statement as to when they are going to reopen it.  Caddo State Park is 16 miles away and I am considering taking him there instead.  I don't know if there is anywhere where I can let him run free, though and it is a risky proposition.  I have never let him do that and I don't know if he'll take off or come back when I call him?  I've had other Danes take off on me in the past and trust me, it's no picnic trying to catch up with them.  In fact, you don't catch up with them until they get distracted and stop running and start sniffing.

Monday marks the day of the new manager taking over.  So far, I remain unimpressed.  He's a helicopter hovinering, micro-managing mess.  But, who knows.  Maybe he will surprise all of us. The real trouble maker now is the warehouse manager, but apparently he's being put in his place.  Who knows.  The man is an antique that needs to retire and do something fun with his life besides coming to work and being miserable all day long.

Anyway, I got back to the yard yesterday around 3:45 pm.  Long day of driving.  I was informed there was a run to a town about 60 minute drive and I needed to take it.  No biggies, I wanted some OT anyway.  Well, more OT than I have been getting.  I'm trying to save up some emergency funds here. Anyway, it took forever.  Get the truck loaded, trying to get a hold of the contractor, going to a vendor to get more of  the product - we didn't have enough - getting down there, getting unloaded, getting back.  It was 7:45.  Well, I'm driving home - I mean I am 3 miles from the house when I get a call.  Where are you right now? My manager, a water main break in a town and they have to have materials to fix it, houses with no running water.  Ummm, I'm almost home.  Back and forth I just offered to go back if he couldn't find anyone else.  Well, 30 seconds - literally 30 seconds - later he calls me and asks if I will?  To make some points, I got back on the Interstate, drove all the way back, spent 30 minutes getting the customer what he needed and then drove all the way back to the house.  It was around 10:00 pm by the time I got home from work, put in a 15 hour day and was totally exhausted.

Went to church today - which was good and then helped set up for a women's meeting that is going to happen today at 6.  I then finally remembered about the doggy park and it turns out it is directly across the street/loop from the church.  They have a small dog enclosure - which is very small, not even worth taking a dog into - and then there's the large dog enclosre.  It's HUGE.  I mean, a dog could run wild and free in that place.  My goal was to find out what hours it's opened and closed - no sign at all saying that.  Instead, there was a sign saying it's closed for fence repairs.

Well, the gates weren't locked up, I could have gone in there if I had wanted to.  But, I didn't have Addler with me and I just wanted to check it out before heading home.  Iwill definitely be taking him there sometine in the future - though realistically that's a Saturday or Sunday thing considering a 35 minute drive each way.  Addler gets plenty of exercise in the back yard running all over  the place with the other dogs and on walks - though I haven't been walking him since I got sick.  I'm still coughing all over the place and I won't do any kind of strenuous activity that I don't have to until it's gone.

Valerie - on a different note - was complaining to my landlady about my decision to take my other 4 wheeler back. Did you say anything to him about what I said?  No, the landlady said.  Well I heard some of it, actually, but I had already made my decision long before that, I just was having trouble really solidifying that decision in my mind. The thing that made me go ahead and finally say it  is time.  A lot of time has passed since we have been divorced and I didn't want to  let it go on forever.  As for her statements about me - all complete lies or volumous exaggerations - I am looking into seeing what the early termination fee is for getting the Dish Network shut off  over there.  It should be getting down there by now as there is only 6 months left on the contract.  I would like to get out of it, get their equipment out of her house and back to them and wash my hands of it.

Work. Friday was the bi-annual physical inventory.  Meaning counting everything on the property which is no smalll undertaking.  We got it all done on Friday and then came back Saturday to do second and third counts.  Stuff that is showing we have in the system but is missing.  Which is always a lot there because of their  poor accounting practices, something I noticed the day I started working there.  But, I am not responsible for having to rectify all of that at inventory time and I have nothing to do with the bad practices that lead to it, so I don't care one way or the other.

The new manager starts tomorrow.  The man seems to be going out  of his way to come across as something different than what his reputation - truthful reputation - has him pegged as.  We''ll see.  That's all I'm saying about it right now, I'll see.

Caleb is back in Phoenix.  He announced on FB that he is going to New Zealand in a month.  Well that wasn't shocking, but idea that he isn't really communicating with me is a bit disturbing.  I just came out and asked him if there is a problem? Nope, he says, just trying to raise money to get to New Zealand with some obvious hints that he would like dear old dad to help out. He has $700 of it, he needs about $400 more for the airfare.  I might help him out with $100 or so, but I think if God is really in it, then he needs to have some faith in God that He will supply the need.  I'm trying to determine a date to go back and visit mom and see Caleb before he leaves.  I really need a definitive leave date so I can make plans. Seems the further out  you try to get airfare, the better deals you can find.

Life at the house I'm living in is going pretty well, actually. Addler is slowly coming around.  What I mean by that is he is starting to act like a Great Dane more and more.  He was lacking in many attributes of Danes when I first got him - which doesn't mean I wouldn't want him if he didn't start showing them - but he wasn't a house dog at all and I conclude that to be the reason.  Yesterday, I woke him up out of an apparent deep sleep and he growled  at me, but he immediately put his ears down, jumped out of bed and came over and put his head on my legs.  As if to say I'm sorry! Lol, apology accepted.  He is doing much better around the baby as well. No growling there at all now.  I still don't want him around the boy unsupervised and neither do my landlords.  They DO trust him around the kid, but it's the potential for accidental injury that is  of concern for all of us.

I was going to try to mostly take it easy this weekend and try to get  past this sickness, but work brought me in for 3 hours yesterday and church took about 3 hours today as well.  I would have left work after 2 hours, but I was informed that a contractor wanted their materials early on Monday and that I would need to load the truck on Saturday.  And church - I helped set up for the lady's meeting so time spent there went on much longer than normal.  I'm taking it easy now, but it's already 3:35.  I don't really feel like I've gotten much rest this weekend and I am intent on watching the NFL games today, one of which is in progress right now.  Broncos - v - Patriots.  I hope the Patriots win only because the Broncos beat the Steelers last week putting us out of the playoffs.  It's a close game right now.

I'm keeping my eyes open for any companies that have need for CDL drivers that are local runs, home every night, no or little weekend work and good benefits.  No desperation here, just looking.  No applications put in, either.  I don't think there are many like that out there and I don't know where the economy is headed.  The Dow tanked quite a lot this week and my 401k went down a couple of thousand, but it must have made some kind of comeback because mine came back up a grand.  If there's one good reason I want more money it's my retirement.  I'm putting in around $700 per month but it's not enough.  I'm too far behind and I have a lot of catching up to do. I would like to be able to double that if I could.  I also need to be able to save cash for emergencies.  I depleted my savings account back down to $100 and it's going to take time to get it back up again.  I need reserves in case something goes wrong at the house, something goes wrong with the car, dog or me.  I wouldn't mind getting another vehicle as well.  401k loan is almost paid off, I will at least have access to money when it is - only takes a few days to get a check - but I would rather not touch it again if I can avoid it.

Enough for now. Halftime and I am sleepy. Nap time.

Well isn't that fancy.  She ignored 2 emails and then blocked me on the third one.  Thank you AOL for sending me a rejected email delivery telling me exactly why it was rejected - she had my email sent to spam.  That was 15 minutes ago.  I immediately sent her a text message. Either agree to me coming and getting my 4 wheeler or I will file a motion in the divorce court - for the 4 wheeler is specifically stated as my property in the paperwork - and you can explain to a judge why you are refusing to give my property back.

Well isn't that sweet. She wrote back a - nasty for her - version of a text.  So, I went further with it. My shop vac, pellet rifle, battery charger, missing pair of roller blades, drain snake and a $100 check she gave me which I didn't cash because she was broke when she took charge over the phone I bought for Nathan.  Really, if she wants to get nasty, I can go there for I am not happy about a lot of things, but I can deal with it. The idea, though, that she would completely ignore my emails about my 4 wheeler was crossing the line.

Let's dance. After hearing what she has said to my landlady, what she said to me in that text message was completey false.  But it's whatever. Just give me my 4 wheeler back - wouldn't mind my battery charger too since 4 wheelers sometimes have dead batteries - but it's whatever.

Getting a bit fired up. All she had to do was agree to my getting the 4 wheeler, instead, she chose to ignore 2 emails and then spam block me on the one today.  This is childishness, but not unexpected from her.

Well, I've got lung congestion and I have no idea whether I will go to work tomorrow or not.  I do know that I have the truck loaded with pipe, I pulled the fittings for the order on Friday but didn't get them shrink wrapped.  It was past 5 pm and I just wanted to get the pulling stuff over with for Monday morning.  I'll see about whether I am going to work or not in the morning, but at this point, as crappy as I'm feeling, I'm still thinking I am going to go.

I thinkI accidentally deleted an entry while I was fooling around with trying to get the Great Dane entry right.  Oh well!

I have been thinking about this one for a while now and finally decided that I did enough for her and their family, I want my ATV back.  So, I wrote her a one line message politely asking her for it back.  No reply, so the next day I wrote her a 3 sentence paragraph - still polite- but getting a little more firm.  It doesn't belong to her, she has no legal claim to it, it's written right into the divorce orders as my property before we got married.

But, once I brought that up to my landlady she went off.  Valerie's been in 3 times this week and I have been trying to avoid her at all costs!  In where she works, that is. Val has an account there that she has been trying to finish off and get over with.  Well what's up?....I don't bring her name up around here anymore as I have put her out of my head and heart and am moving forward.  Well, she says Ben this and Ben that and all this about you all the time.  Really? lol, I had to laugh because she apparently thinks all of that is going to get back to me and then I'm going to what - get mad or something? She divorced me, it's over, I don't care anymore, I realy don't.

She had started hanging with her ex husband before we officially got divorced anyway.  Did I get mad about that? No.  I asked her about it, but that was all.  Her description of their interaction was likely false, but again, I don't care.  In fact, I actually told her, now that I think about it, that if she was really seeking God's will, she really had no good reason to divorce him in the first place.  The dude really seems pretty cool. I guess he doesn't always treat the kids right, but from what I have seen and heard, he has tempered that down quite a lot since they got divorced.  He makes 135k per year at a very kick back job that entails doing nothing more than watching computer screens and making sure the plant is running smoothly.  From a financial standpoint, she would do herself well to get back with him.  However, she is the endless victim - she has literally been victimized by everyone she has ever met including her own children and her best friends.

That is NO exaggeration, either.  I have literally sat there and listened to her complaining and going on about every single person that was ever important to her.

Whatever the case, I think I said in a pervious post that I have temporarily stopped looking for a lady, but in case that was the entry I deleted, saying it again.  It is just too much energy and time spent sending endless messages and getting much of nothing back. Many of these people have these accounts on these dating sites and they never check their messages.  I know because I had a premium membership to POF and it shows whether they've even been online, much less if they've actually seen or read the message.  I am in no hurry to make the same mistake as this last catastrophe.  I don't need another suicidal person, such as the lady that was over here 2 weekends ago who showed great interest in me - but - kept going off about how life sucked and how suicidal she is and if she didn't have a young daugher, she would have offed herself a long time ago.

I can sympathize with such people, I can talk to them about it, but having another relationship with a suicidal person? No thanks.  Everything is bad, according to them, there is nothing good in life.

Anyway, I have come down yet again with another reespiratory illness and it isn't pleasant.  I put off doing much of anything yesterday and today will be a nothing day as well excepting to watch the Steelers hopefully beat the Denver Broncos.  Not sure about that one, the Broncos are a force to be reckoned with this year and that should be an interesting game to watch.  One of our key players is out for injury - and that from a player that hit him hard after the fact.  I do hope they fined that idiot.

Anyway, my landlady bought a car just before I moved in here - getting rid of her pickup - and now decided she doesn't like the car and is getting another pickup. I can understand totally.  I really want out of my car and back into a pickup truck, but.....a decent truck is expensive, my car won't get much in trade in value and the payments will be high and likely 5 years.  I thought about taking out a 401k loan and getting a vehicle through that method, but then I hurt my retirement by taking out money that otherwise could be earning interest and dividends.

Of course, as time plows forward, more economists are jumping on the recession bandwagon saying it isn't if, it's when and likely worse than what occurred in 2008.  I'm really trying to hold out buying another vehicle, but I am severely limited by not having a pickup.  Hauling things to the house, hauling my 4 wheelers to an area where you can ride and ride and not worry about neighbors calling the police (which I don't do anyway, not worth the risk).  I've given some consideration to putting a hitch on my car but that's expensive because not only do you have to install a hitch, you really have to also beef up the rear suspension with airbags or extra springs.  For an old car, I don't know that the expense would be worth it.  So, I just sit here and contemplate it, but at the moment, doing nothing about it because it's truly wonderful not having those monthly payments and much higher insurance premiums.

Work is unchanged. We are being warned of a "firestorm" coming when the new manager takes over the beginning of February.  I will not stick around for an abusive manager.  I'll file a complaint with corporate if it is really as bad as several that know the man say it's going to be and if that gets nowhere, I'll be forced to start looking for new employment.  Some contractors who have known him for over 20 years love him and some of them say he's a total jerk.  I've given up on the raise, we obviously aren't going to get it.  That's another bridge I need to cross.  Stay or look for a new job? I've been looking.  There area several opportunities out there, but, you start at the bottom of the totem pole and have to work your way back up in terms of benefits such as vacation time.  It's a tough decision.  I'm putting it off to see what this new manager is going to be like.  He could be the tipping point to just say the heck with this, time to move on.   Just that I'm 51 years old and starting over at a new company isn't all that hot of a prospect for me. The only other thing I can do is go back to school - but - that costs money and though I would love to be doing something else, it would take at least 2 years to get a bachelor's degree.  It is an intriguing thought, though, one that I have also seriously considered, but then again, I have no idea what I would want to actually do.

Well that's enough for one entry. : )

You Might Be A Great Dane Owner When.....

When you wake up to a giant snout licking your face.

 When you get home the first thing you do is see your doggy rofl.

 When you have a separate bed for your dog that is at least the same size as your bed.

 When you walk him down the street and you know you are going to be stopped at least once with the usual question.

When you have more pics of your Dane in your phone than anything or anyone else.

You find out your private conversations with your Dane are public knowledge - and they quote back to you what you say to your dog.

 When it's time to go to bed and the dog looks at you with longing eyes, pleeeeaaaasssseeeeee let me sleep with you?

 When you go to buy dog food and your usual purchase is 2 or more 50 pound bags of food and people are giving you the crazy look.

When dinner becomes a publicly traded commodity - with your Dane.

When sitting in your Lazy Boy and the dog comes up to you and his head is higher up than yours!

When you go to Tractor Supply and buy a flat shovel - to clean up your Dane's cow sized poop
.
When you go to the bathroom and - the Dane is trying to stuff himself through the door to be with you - in the bathroom while you are doing your thing. No, I don't allow THAT! LOL

When you're walking down the street with your Dane/s and people come out on their porch and start a long distance shouting conversation with you. "What kind of dog is that?" being yelled at you from a minimum of 100 to over 300 feet away.

Or do it like Jeff Foxworthy and rednecks:

YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU..... MIGHT BE.....A DANE OWNER.................when you're walking the dog down the main street and people stop in the middle of traffic to take photos of the dog!

YOOOOOUUUUU.......MIGHT.....be a Dane owner if you take him to the vet and he REFUSES to get on the scale no matter how many people are trying. "Uhhhh, sir, we have to have his weight to determine how much heart worm medicine to give him" "Well what do you want me to do, the dog is sitting down like a donkey, he won't budge!" "Can you pick him up? We can weigh you both and then weigh you and then subtract the weight". Have you EVER picked up a 150 pound dog? That doesn't want to be picked up? I found out that day how much overweight I am!

 YOUUUUUUU...MIGHT....Be an Dane owner if the roast you just pulled out of the oven and have resting on the kitchen counter mysteriously disappears. Everyone is looking at everyone else? Huh? What happened to the roast? And thennnnnn.... you look at a giant dog.....licking it's chops with the MOST pathetic look you have ever seen on anyone or any dog!

YOOUUUUUUU..... MIGHT>>> Be a Dane owner if when you pull up to a drive thru window and the window in the back is open - of course - the Dane's head is sticking out the window and the worker at the window inncoently looks out to recieve the payment and gasps - either in horror, disbelief or delight - when they see the dog. Amplify that by a thousand if you have 2 or more Danes in the car! And I'm sorry, but I can't avoid the nasty stuff.....

YOOOOOUUUUUUU.....MIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHTTT....BE A DANE OWNER....if you wake up in the middle of the night and have the most foul smell you have ever smelled curling your nostrils. You get up, you already know what happened, you just have to find it. You walk into the bathroom cause it ain't in your bedroom and find out the dog has diarhea. That after you just stepped in it in your bare feet while walking into the bathroom. You look at the floor, the walls, the toilet, the shower and everything else - covered with it. It is 2 am and you spend almost 2 solid hours cleaning up the mess. You look at your Dane with sympathy - and then realize he could do it all over againt - OUT! Get thee thither!

And on a little more sober note, when your dog brings great joy to a person that is depressed, going through hard times and the encounter they have with your dog gives them at least a moment of brevity and a glimpse back to when times were better. I could go on...and on...and on..it's the fun and wonder of being a Dane owner!

You Might Be A Great Dane Owner If......

 When you wake up to a giant snout licking your face.
 When you get home the first thing you do is see your doggy rofl.
 When you have a separate bed for your dog that is at least the same size as your bed.
 When you walk him down the street and you know you are going to be stopped at least once with the usual question. 

When you have more pics of your Dane in your phone than anything or anyone else.You find out your private conversations with your Dane are public knowledge - and they quote back to you what you say to your dog.

 When it's time to go to bed and the dog looks at you with longing eyes, pleeeeaaaasssseeeeee let me sleep with you?

 When you go to buy dog food and your usual purchase is 2 or more 50 pound bags of food and people are giving you the crazy look. 

When dinner becomes a publicly traded commodity - with your Dane. 

When sitting in your Lazy Boy and the dog comes up to you and his head is higher up than yours! 

When you go to Tractor Supply and buy a flat shovel - to clean up your Dane's cow sized poop.

When you go to the bathroom and - the Dane is trying to stuff himself through the door to be with you - in the bathroom while you are doing your thing. No, I don't allow THAT! LOL 

When you're walking down the street with your Dane/s and people come out on their porch and start a long distance shouting conversation with you. "What kind of dog is that?" being yelled at you from a minimum of 100 to over 300 feet away.

Or do it like Jeff Foxworthy and rednecks: YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU..... MIGHT BE.....A DANE OWNER.................when you're walking the dog down the main street and people stop in the middle of traffic to take photos of the dog! 

YOOOOOUUUUU.......MIGHT.....be a Dane owner if you take him to the vet and he REFUSES to get on the scale no matter how many people are trying. "Uhhhh, sir, we have to have his weight to determine how much heart worm medicine to give him" "Well what do you want me to do, the dog is sitting down like a donkey, he won't budge!" "Can you pick him up? We can weigh you both and then weigh you and then subtract the weight". Have you EVER picked up a 150 pound dog? That doesn't want to be picked up? I found out that day how much overweight I am!

 YOUUUUUUU...MIGHT....Be an Dane owner if the roast you just pulled out of the oven and have resting on the kitchen counter mysteriously disappears. Everyone is looking at everyone else? Huh? What happened to the roast? And thennnnnn.... you look at a giant dog.....licking it's chops with the MOST pathetic look you have ever seen on anyone or any dog! 

YOOUUUUUUU..... MIGHT>>> Be a Dane owner if when you pull up to a drive thru window and the window in the back is open - of course - the Dane's head is sticking out the window and the worker at the window inncoently looks out to recieve the payment and gasps - either in horror, disbelief or delight - when they see the dog. Amplify that by a thousand if you have 2 or more Danes in the car! And I'm sorry, but I can't avoid the nasty stuff.....

YOOOOOUUUUUUU.....MIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHTTT....BE A DANE OWNER....if you wake up in the middle of the night and have the most foul smell you have ever smelled curling your nostrils. You get up, you already know what happened, you just have to find it. You walk into the bathroom cause it ain't in your bedroom and find out the dog has diarhea. That after you just stepped in it in your bare feet while walking into the bathroom. You look at the floor, the walls, the toilet, the shower and everything else - covered with it. It is 2 am and you spend almost 2 solid hours cleaning up the mess. You look at your Dane with sympathy - and then realize he could do it all over againt - OUT! Get thee thither! 

And on a little more sober note, when your dog brings great joy to a person that is depressed, going through hard times and the encounter they have with your dog gives them at least a moment of brevity and a glimpse back to when times were better. I could go on...and on...and on..it's the fun and wonder of being a Dane owner!

Posting will be limited on here since there isn't that much going on.  I coudl talk about issues of the day that interest me, but I find it more engaging to do that in groups where both like-minded and opposing minded people gather to debate.  Which is usually quite entertaining because many of them usually have no clue what they are talking about, but speak with emotion so that they would sound to the uninformed as IF they know what they are talking about through their limited powers of persuasion.  When someone like me comes along with facts and hands them - facts without the emotion - they go off the deep end. They cannot come back with a logical response and so, they have to revert to getting angry and letting loose with expletives and all kinds of non-endearing rhetoric.
BTW, anyone that wants to engage in such groups, I have links to several of them. I don't take it too seriously though.  It's a lot of race stuff and groups full of blacks and a few whites, whites always being attacked and ganged up on.  Thick-skinned type of thing.

Onto things of current interest.

Addler is doing well, though he has started to try to chew on things he shouldn't be chewing on.  I am very much aware of the puppyhood phase of his growth right now - which if you looked at the dog you would wonder how an animal that big could still be considered a puppy, but he's only 13 months old and in Danedom, that is still a puppy status and still very much growing to do. He is now at 128 pounds, I would be a little surprised if he doesn't reach mid 150's to 160's range.

I have him on almost constant supervision when he is in my room in the house, for I do nto want that dog chewing up things he shouldn't be. Thankfully I am there at the moment it happens and I can tell him NO firmly but still being nice cause the dog is too loveable, lol, he gets the message.  Oh, I can't chew on socks, shoes or blankets.  No damage done yet excepting a hole in a pair of tennis shoes. I have my $350 cowboy boots out of dog range, I did that form the git go knowing a Dane's propensity for chewing things when they are puppies.

New Year's Eve was home, but I was part of the festivities here.  They have close friends - they being my landlords - that come over frequently.  They brought copious amounts of alcohol.  Again and as usual, I had a few drinks but nothing even remotely close to being called drunk.  Not into that.  But it was fun, even if the guys were completely bombed out of their minds by the time it was over, they weren't acting stupid. If you get drunk and you act stupid while being in that condition, I likely won't want to be anywhere near you, for I am repulsed by that stupid kind of behavior.

I went to church tonight (Saturday) instead of tomorrow morning because I was asked to show up to help serve Communion.  They just recently started a Saturday evening service versus 3 services on Sunday morning (church has grown well beyond it's ability to seat everyone that would potentially show up at one service only).  I won't turn down an opportunity to serve in the church, even if it is short- lived. However, they informed us that next week, the Hospitality workers need more people and the leaders are going to have a short meeting after service.  I likely will show up to that to see if I can fit anything into my schedule.  Hospitality is all kinds of stuff. Setting up and tearing down for special events; visiting families with dinnner/food and helping them out with certainly functions to ease the load in cases of a tragedy (death) or someone in the hospital.  Stuff like that.  I used to do quite a lot of that in various churches, I would like to get involved in that capacity again.

Actually, the message was soooo good I may go back tomorrow as well.  I need to get myself motivated and out of this funk.  I'm sitting around trying to find a lady on dating sites and so far it's just a bunch of people that are doing nothing more than looking for sex partners.  To each his/her own, I'm into relationships.  Maybe if I just get far more involved in church I'll meet someone there? Who knows, but I am setting goals for myself - note that that is not New Year's resolutions - goals I can deal with for they don't necessarily HAVE to be done in a certain time frame excepting those kinds of things that once you start them you really have to keep with it until it's done.

This week, I am headed to Planet Fitness and force myself back into at least  3 day per week workout regiment.  There are just things that I have gotten out because of my situation with Val and her demand to have all of my time and nothing "extracirricular".  I don't really think that working out is a frivolous waste of time.  I don't really WANT to do it, either, I just have the need to lose about 20 pound right now.  I was shocked at the vet's off the other day.  Addler would NOT get on the scale and I ended up having to pick the dog up, weigh both of us and then put him down and weigh me and then subtract.  I'm at 214 pounds which is quite unnacceptable.  My eating habits are to blame - not eating enough throughout the day, starting too late in the day to eat and ending too early.  Metabolism killer.  The dog is at 128 pounds and growing.

My car is still running well - albeit numerous minor problems - I'm just trying to wait it out and save some money up.  I really do not want to take out another 401k loan.  I'm killing it by doing that even though the last loan was taken out of dire necessity.  I"ve gotten through quite a lot now without taking out loans, but I never really get ahead.  Save up a grand and have to spend it on this and that. The obvious necessity - to me anyway - is more money and I still have yet to hear back about that.  But, the holidays are over and this coming week I will ask yet again about it.

I can't think of much else.  Caleb is still in Portland so going to Phoenix is on hold til' he goes back.  My living situation remains very good - at least as far as I can tell. I dunno, I don't really think these people would just throw me out, but this is life and in life, you just never know what is going to happen.  We all get along well with each other is what I can say about it.  I spend almost equal amounts of time out "there" in their living space visiting with them and hibernating in here, my bedroom, chilling out. Addler is hilarious.  I'll have to get a video of him playing with his squeaky toy.  He throws it in the air, jumps across the room to get it, picks it up, throws it back across the room, the dog is incredibly goofy! And quite entertaining, lol.  And very clingy now.  Ever since visiting Fin and Bethany, he has been far more inclined to follow me all over the place than before we went there.  Which there is nothing wrong with that, not what I'm saying, actually he's acting much more characteristic of a Dane that wants to do nothing but follow his humans around all over the place and be involved in every single thing his humans are doing.

______________________________________

That was yesterday.  I'm considering taking Addler to a very long walking trail that appears from the overview to be in well wooded area. I am trying to find a place to take him where I can take him off of the leash and let him run. There is also a large and small dog park near the beginning of the trail.  Just not sure if I want to drive clear over there today. Kinda started looking into the a little late, it's already 1 pm, would have rather found this earlier and already had it done and over with.  There is a dog park here where I am living but it has restrictive hours.

______________________________________

More time passed. I decided to simply take Addler on a nice long walk around the various neighborhoods here. This is an older community with older houses.  Some of them are beautiful and nicely maintained, others are dilapidated and falling apart - and finding this all lumped together on any given street.  I was looking at other people's landscaping ideas, but there wasn't much going on.  Green here doesn't really work, lots of natural greenery. What is needed is the bright, bold colors of flowers or flowering plants and trees.  There was one house that had a nice floral arrangement in front of their house - it was pretty nice looking actually, but that was really the only one I saw out of hundreds of houses. Amazing more people aren't into landscaping here.

Well enough for this entry.