I just called my dad and that was a pretty short lived call.  He actually sounded very good in health, but the effects of the dementia are becoming more and more profound.  At the same time, he's 85 years old, so it's not like his life is getting cut short.  I talked  with his wife for a few seconds and then got on the horn with her son who wanted to exchange phone numbers.  I'm, uh, going to have to figure something out here in advance.  Both my dad and her - his wife - are having their own sets of health issues and he, her son, wanted my phone number in case something happens to her and someone is going to have to come down to take care of dad if she ends up in the hospital.

If I were in Phoenix that would be possible, over here?  I dunno. I think there are services that will come in and deal with medications and all of that stuff - but at the same time can you leave a person with Alzheimer's on their own?  I know my brothers won't bother to do anything, so I guess it's all on me if something does, indeed, happen.

I talked to my mom and told her  what I wanted for Christmas and that it's on sale today for less than half price.  She was all over that.  After we got off the phone, she ordered it and that's that.
She has no idea what she wants for Christmas, her mind is on the move, coming quite soon.  The 7th of next month to be exact.  Maybe she'll need something for her new house.

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Moving on and a different day.  My agenda today was to get out of bed, find a shooting range and go fire off my new Taurus.  Which reminds me, I need to take it apart and thoroughly clean the manufacturers oil coating that they put on it - that I thought was part of "good" oil for the gun and found out much differently today.

Well anyway, the first thing that popped up was a shooting range only 12 minutes away.  Got over there to find out it's $20 to shoot. That's a bit pricey, frankly, but I was there.  They have a yearly rate that was $90 today only otherwise $120. I didn't buy the year membership,   But super nice people working the place and extremely knowledgeable including having their own gun smith. Yeah, well anyway, I got out there and I was the only one there.  It had just opened and it was in the 40's outside.  Which didn't bother me a bit, but apparently kept other shooters at home.  I dunno, but shortly after starting using the Taurus - it jammed up.  I got a bit irritated with that considering it's a brand  new gun.  I cleared it and it jammed again.

Well, this old codger opens a door in this old building and took me by surprise.  I didn't know anyone was in there. I mean, it is the building you are at, outside, to fire off your rounds.   He threw some golf balls out onto the range and proceeded to quick draw his gun and started firing at them and yes - he was hitting them!  I think he was putting on a show, but it was cool to watch.  He came walking by and turns out  he is also the gunsmith there, like a dude that knows literally everything about guns?  He takes my gun and disappears with it.  2 of them come back out.  I mean, how many people are in there? rofl

The codger - I don't mean that in a bad way, just a way to describe the look and way that he carries himself - comes out, rummages through my rather large gun handbag without my permission - though I can't say it bothered me, just was funny to see him digging in there - produces my large can of spray oil, slams it down on the table and says, There!  I looked at him funny I am sure.  What?  You need to oil this thing!  But look at it, I replied, there's oil all over it!  The other dude stepped in.  Yes, but that is that junk they put on it at the manufacturers.  It's thick oil and they only put it on there to keep the gun from rusting while it's waiting to be sold, something newer that they are doing, not knowing how long it might sit on a dealer's shelf.

You have to clean all of that sludge off of there or yes, it will jam up your gun.  Well, for a temp fix I sprayed the crap out of the sliding areas of it and yes, it worked.  This gun has a lifetime warranty, if it fails, I need only take it back to Academy and they will ship it back to Taurus to have it repaired.  So, I haven't cleaned it yet, I'll get to that tomorrow.  It was a really nice shooting gun though.  No extreme kickback, but the sights need to be aligned and honestly I am not going to say I am going to be good at doing that.

I think maybe I'll go back and leave the gun with them and have them sight it in.  I would need someone to show me how to do that.  Or perhaps there is a YouTube video. Seems nowadays there's a YouTube video for any and everything. I fired off 110 rounds in the new gun and fired off 100 rounds on my .40.  I like that .40, it's powerful and I have it down now.  I can hit the inner circle probably 50% of the time and hit the next circle out most of the rest.  That's good enough for any "situation". I'd get better if I went more often, but really, if you're hitting anywhere in center mass, you are hitting it where it counts.    

The other show today is when the dude came back out of the shack with a gun with a very long banana clip on, put the butt  end against his leg and started firing it.  Fully auto assault rife, I couldn't count how many rounds went off in a few seconds time.  It was just spraying them out.  I should have asked what kind of gun it was, it wasn't an AK 47, much smaller, just no idea.  I also found a concealed carry holster that also doubles as a open carry.  I  don't really want to open carry excepting if you are out in the wilderness.  Yup, no problem open carry there.

Besides the new gun jamming, it was an enjoyable experience that I will probably do once a month.  I think that's enough and even practice rounds aren't cheap.  I may order 500 rounds online for each gun and save some significant dough there. As it stands I need more hollow point rounds.  And, I could have brought the 12 gauge and the .22 rifle, next time I will bring all of it. It's quite the rush to do the chink-chink on a 12 gauge shotgun and then fire it off.  Really, firing off guns is entertainment in itself.  Just not cheap entertainment, lol.

Well I stopped for gas and a coffee on the way home, this time with the 9mm concealed on my side.  It's a bit large of a gun for concealed, though not that it doesn't conceal well, just a lot of metal pressing up against your side.

Well, upon getting home a guy that contacted me off of my FB yard sale post showed up to rake the lawns.  This a new one, the last one decided to stand around the fire last time he was here for an hour and ten minutes doing absolutely nothing and getting paid for it.  Not with my permission, trust me.  The dude today is just a flat out hard worker.  He thought it would be easy at first but soon realized that the yards are far more work than what it appears.  The front yard hasn't been done in quite a while and was covered in leaves, acorns and fallen, nasty smelling fruit.  It took him much longer than he initially expected.

The leaves are still smoldering out there with occasional bursts of fire.  Likely will be well into tomorrow, it was a huge pile.

I also got busy with this long stalled pond project out front and got most of the blocks cemented into place.  I can only hope it isn't going to rain tonight as the runoff fills that hole right up and that would surely knock that wall over.  I am going to put rebar in behind the wall to fortify it, but regardless I don't suppose the mortar is going to set for quite a while in this cold weather.

After that? Well the bottom of the pond was muddy and I was covered with it on my boots and pants.  I decided that was enough for today.  Day 3 of 4 days off almost over, one more day and back to the work grind. But it's been an enjoyable time off.  I can only hope for some serious OT opportunities this coming week or there will be a small paycheck en-queue.  That's the hard part about taking time off. It's flat 40 and though it isn't  insurmountable, it is a factor to be taken into consideration.

As for the political front, I took a few days off from the debate group, then got tagged back into it from the owner who wanted to show me pics of her Taurus and asking questions about  mine. A totally non-political thread that was enjoyable to be in.  I looked at a bunch of posts saying how racist Trump is and a lot of other bs and decided to not engage in any of that garbage.  Then, the owner of the group tagged me again with pics of her new doggie - of which she hasn't had one since she was in her 20's I think she said and so I obliged her request and told her the story of Adler - on that debate forum rofl - how I acquired him and life  with him since then.

In fact, this lady is tagging me all over the place, I'm only guessing that she needs another moderator for she doesn't do this kind of tagging and hinting to anyone else in the group.  And yes, she needs another moderator.  I "Report to Admin" posts that are blatant violations that also could get the group in trouble with Facebook TOS and also stupid posts that have no bearing in reality, much less a debatable topic.  The racist stuff is getting old and I am ignoring them for now.  The people posting these posts are insufferable and bigoted, some of them reverse racist blacks that hate white people with a vengeance.  I find no good reason to get involved in such threads, for I have been involved in them before.  I have been in that group for a while now and at least have as much respect as one can expect to garner in a group of 16,000 people and the regulars, most of whom I do not agree with and they do not agree with me, but, mostly, it remains civil.

Well, Black Friday is over.  I will try to get my new C-7 lights hung tomorrow.  Just the porch, 3 25 food strands which should be sufficient.

Can I just interject here that John Wayne's horse in the movie El Dorado is absolutely stunning? What a beautiful horse!  They've been showing a lot of Wayne in the last several days.  Still one of my favorite actors of all time.  He made such excellent movies. They simply come up with nothing even remotely comparable today. The trash the Hollywood comes out with now......

Well that's it.  For this one anyway.  I'm in good spirits.

Posted the last one without finishing it because it just dragged on too many days.
So here it is, Thanksgiving Day and I'm off until Monday.  I've been holding out to take any vacation days off because I am still contemplating a trip to Hawaii in January which would entail a week off and other trips I want or need to take.  I have enough hours saved up right now to take about 3-1/2 weeks off.  Likely going to take at least 3 days off during Christmas as well, even if I don't do anything or go anywhere - which I probably won't.

I have no interest in being part of a family Christmas get together that lasts 3 hours or so and sometimes ends in disaster, with at least 2 people who don't get along with anyone in the family save mother and whose interests end - at mother.  Why put myself through the hassle of flying all the way back there, spending all that money for something like that? Yet, I need to get back to Phoenix and visit mom, just not at Christmas.  She's in the middle of trying to find a new house right now so I'm going to save the trip til next month sometime.  Or not, I just don't know yet.

Meanwhile, we have full fledged Thanksgiving dinner going here today with a turkey slow cooking as we speak.  She had it in there early this morning which I thought a bit early even on a slow cook plan.  But, she's a good cook, we'll see where this goes.  Kroger's here didn't have any prime rib roasts on sale.  In Phoenix they have them on sale during Thanksgiving and Christmas week.  I know they'll have them for Christmas.  Such a fine cut of beef.

I'm still seriously interested in making the trip to Indianapolis, but how?  They want so much money for a rather short flight.  Even from Dallas.  All these trips I want to take, all the money they want.  Oh well, pick and choose.

Well, I'm going to go out and piddle with the big 4 wheeler.  Trying to set a goal to get that one done this weekend.  Or at least as much as I can do with what I've got.  If it ends up needing more parts, so beit, but I can at least get the stuff done now that I have the new parts for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm in dire need of a vacation. I just want to pack a bag, get on a plane and fly overseas somewhere.  Hawaii would be cool - but Ireland or Scotland might be cooler.  Been getting hit hard in the financial department, though. Addler's heart worms is going to cost a small fortune, not something eve on the scope of my thinking when I took him in there last week, but it is what it is. I got onto Skyscanner and found round trip tickets to Ireland for $449 - of course that's on their time table and it's a bit longer than I would want to stay, but still, the deals are out there.

Anyway, 1 more day of work and then off for 4.  I'm finally starting to feel better.  It's been a while, A head and chest cold followed by a severe chest cold with sore throat - sore throat lasting over 7 days.  Then food poisoning or whatever that was, it wasn't pleasant I can tell you that.

Anyway, I'm going to hopefully finish my 4 wheelers this coming weekend, not that I can take them anywhere yet, but I want them fixed and over and done with.  If that's possible of course.  Sometimes you take things apart and find more wrong with it than what you originally expected. Everyone here was going to be gone for this holiday but now they are forced to stay here for a couple of reasons One was his truck isn't reliable enough for a trip to Dallas and her plans to go wherever - another state - fell through, so they are both here as well.  I kinda hoped, actually, that they would be gone and have the place to myself.

They're nice people and everything I just need some alone time.  I'll have to figure something else out.  A trip to Phoenix out of the question, my mother has sold the house she just moved into - yes I know it's crazy stuff - and now in the middle of buying another house much more suited to her needs - and her needs are a low maintenance property.  If I had been there  when she was doing this the first time I would have told her that house she bought was FAR too big for her - actually it's the outside of it that was the maintenance issue.  Now, she's getting a place with a couple of trees and a few bits of vegetation here and there but nothing else.

Frankly? A night in a motel - a half decent one at least - would be nice.  I dunno.  I'll probably just stick around here and save the money.  But you can get a pretty decent place on Priceline or similar at one of the casino resorts over in Shreveport.  What's hilarious is that of all of those casinos and such over there, none of the hotels rate more than 3.5 stars.

Well, I applied for a decent credit card that gives zero percent interest on transfers from other cards and I was approved.  So, when I get the card, I will transfer the Capital One balance to that one and lose the interest payments for a year - but I hope to pay it down to zero in a year anyway.  It will also increase my credit score because that particular card I already have has a low amount of credit - like 4 grand or something and I have it half used.  Meaning it will go down to less than 30% utilization, the new card will reflect it at less than 30% utilization and here we go.

The plan to raise my credit score back up may not take as long as I had expected, but we'll see.  I continue to get loan offers for vehicles which would push it up another 50 points, but gag, you can't get into a loan for under an 8 grand vehicle, just don't want to go there unless I am forced into it. Meaning my car breaks down and I have to get another one.  The only thing that would make me stop driving that car right now and getting rid of it would be if the engine or tranny went on it.  Not worth repairing on that car, I would part it out and scrap the rest.


Anyway, here it is Saturday and I have this chest cold junk that is just killing me. Well not literally killing me but I've had a bad sore throat for 4 days now and fire in my lungs.  This lady at the Napa auto parts store gave it to me, I'm guessing since she was coughing everywhere last weekend and not even attempting to contain it, so here I am with the 2cd sickness in a row this year, after having just gotten over the last one.

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Monday mid morning.  Did not  go to work today.  Diarrhea is the culprit and kept me up allllll night long.  Still have this chest and throat thing going too.  Although the sore throat of it part seems to be dying down. I dunno about the chest stuff, I didn't do much this weekend trying to recover and so it's hard to tell until I get up and move around.  I was going to go to the doctor yesterday about the cold but I got caught up in yet another "crisis", that being the furnace quit working.

I had tried to turn it on the night before - Saturday night - and it did come on, but it was blowing cold air.  So, I spent Sunday learning about furnaces.  Watching lots of YouTube videos to figure out the problem.  I finally narrowed it down to the burners being clogged up and when I pulled them off? Yeah, parts of all of them were clogged up. I first put them in white vinegar as one expert said to do, that did help but after 3 hours it wasn't enough.  I remembered that I have a huge bottle of CLR that I had dumped into a very large plastic, sealed container some time back to clean something of which I can't remember.  It was still quite usable so I saved it.  I dumped all 5 burners in there and it cleaned up much nicer, with the aid of a toothbrush and a very small screwdriver to clean out the ports and the wings.

I then found out that the lady tenant had been turning it on without saying anything about it.  I said something to the guy tenant cause' the lady tenant is = easily offended.  I know he said something to her about it.  You don't just start operating the cooling or heating and turning it to levels that are unacceptable.  Like when I found the AC set at 70 a while back. More importantly at least to me, you simply don't go messing with stuff like that without permission.  I don't invoke myself in a lot of stuff as it stands. She took over the kitchen and I gave that up because she cooks dinner and on the weekends also brunch - and - she is an excellent cook  I mean, very good cook.

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Tuesday morning. Decided to not bother going to work.  I have plenty of sick hours available and I'm not 100% so might as well take an additional day off.  I really needed some time off anyway, though that doesn't normally come from being sick and I won't get anything done, but still, it's nice. I'll likely go back to work tomorrow and have a 3 day work week.  Next week will also be a 3 day work week since we're off for Thanksgiving and we aren't working on Friday.

My new credit card had a major impact on my credit score - for the better.  I'm now in the upper fair range. They didn't give me a very high limit, though.  I intend to transfer all of one credit card over to it and then pay it down - it will be interest free for a year according to the disclaimers I read.

Meanwhile, news that really hit me hard yesterday when I took Addler to the vet: he has heart worms.  It's hard to take because as soon as I got the dog, I took him to the vet and got him started on Pro Heart - which is medication injected into the animal that kills off heart worms for 6 months.  You just keep them on that the rest of their lives and you won't have to deal with heart worms.  Well I asked how he could have heart worms since I had him on the medication and he had been tested the first time you gave the medication to him?

They said that he must have gotten the initial infestation right before they had taken the test and that it didn't show up because of that.  Okay, well, what now?  Outlining a treatment plan that will cost around 2 grand over the next 4 or so months.  Wonderful. I got him started on the initial medication - $289 for a giant bottle - but I'm going to consult with other vets in the area.  I've heard one in particular is less expensive.  I believe the dog is worth saving, but I also believe in looking around.  I wanted to get the treatment started immediately, though so I went ahead and got on their plan.

However, is with all things that occur in my life, I tend to research on my own.  The medication I just bought for $289 I could have gotten for around $190 online, called Doxycycline.  The other medication that is going to be used in January after this medication has done it's initial work is called Immiticide and appears to actually be cheaper than the Doxy, but it's only available with a prescription.  Ivermectin is available online, which is what some vets use, but it takes longer - much longer - for it to work.

I'll just have to think about my next step, though certainly calling other vets for pricing isn't out of the question.  I'm not sure dealing with heart worms is a do it yourself project.  It's just so much money.  Is the dog worth it? That question popped into my mind when they started discussing about getting him started yesterday and the immediate answer was a resounding: yes.  The dog definitely can recover from this, it is life threatening I guess but I will remain confident and hopeful that this treatment will work and Addler will go on to live a long, healthy Dane version of a life.

Funny that the same day our 1 year anniversay together occurs we also find out some rather unsettling news.  I'm going to be watching Addler closely for any side effects, as there is a list of them that can happen:

Doxycycline Side Effects

• Nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects associated with doxycycline. This side effect can typically be overcome by providing food along with the medication. While most tetracycline-type medications are not given with food because food prevents the antibiotic from being absorbed, this does not seem to be a problem with doxycycline.
• Loss of appetite is a secondary side effect that goes hand in hand with the nausea and vomiting.
• Diarrhea is an uncommon side effect of doxycycline. It is frequently an indicator that the dosage is too high and your dog should be taken to the veterinarian to have his dosageadjusted or to determine the cause of the diarrhea.
• Doxycycline has a pH level that can cause irritation and eventual scarring in the esophagus should the pill get caught in the throat. To avoid this side effect, ask to use the liquid form of doxycycline.
• Doxycycline can also cause staining or yellowing of the teeth in young animals. Doxycycline binds to calcium, and calcium is the key component in forming teeth.
• There are some very rare side effects with doxycycline. Changes in blood cells, liver damage and sensitivity to sunlight are extremely rare, but can occur.

Well anyway, life goes on.  I don't control what happens in life, I just deal with it as it comes along.
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Okay I'm going to finally post this lol.  It's been like a week in the making.  I just get distracted with both things going on here and the news and the fact that I've been sick basically for 2 months now - finally coming out of it.  I mean really.  Is Trump going out to dinner with his family and not notifying the press corp really a scandal? I just had to throw that in here.  My "ignore" button in my brain is going to start coming into full play with all the whiners disavowing our new president and endlessly whining about the election results.

Let's see. I had the kid over for the 4th time I think it is and he blew it today.  I had him on light duty work just raking up some leaves and duping it on the fire pit.  He worked for about an hour and a half and slacked off for 2-1/2 hours.  I was out there, working on the 4 wheeler - it wasn't too heavy duty stuff and I wanted to get the thing done - and here he was, sitting there for 20 minutes, here, 25 minutes there playing on his phone.  He ended up at the fire and stood there for an hour and 15 minutes listening to whatever with his ear phones, staring down at the fire and twirling a rake in his hands.

I decided not to say anything to him, I'll let his parents deal with it - but - he isn't coming back either.  I politely and respectfully informed his mother via Facebook messaging after he left about the situation -- in detail and said I don't want him back over here. She completely agreed - she is not a progressive, left leaning, coddle-your-child - type of mother and said he will hopefully learn a lesson from this.  I agreed and that was the end of that. Sympathy doesn't cut it in the real world, he might as well learn that now.

I'm starting to come to terms with the heart worm diagnosis, though I am definitely going to get my own antibiotics. I have no need to get them from the vet when I can get them $95 cheaper online.  Addler is such a wonderful doggie, there is no way I'm going to just let this go and hope he survives it.  I still have yet to do my own research on this excepting looking up the particular antibiotic and pricing.  My own research coming very soon.

My newest credit card arrived today, I applied for the transfer from one of the other cards. 15 months of zero percent interest.  It'll be paid off before 15 months is up.  What a lot of that is is airfare and related expenses for coming out here to see Valerie before I moved out here.  It's like, whatever at this point. Pay it, eat it and move on.  I also applied for a credit increase on the card with the balance on it.  Not so I can charge more to it, it's got plenty of credit on it, but to get the percentage of use down.

After this, the rest of the equation is time.

Meanwhile, I went into the refrigerator the other day to find a half plate of food that I had put in there.  I will eat leftovers up to a week after it's cooked.  I guess that's not the norm for most people, as long as it's properly stored, it's good for me.  So, when I went searching for the plate of food and couldn't find it, she admitted she had thrown it out.  After only 2 days?  Oh I won't do that again.  Now it comes to light what is going on with excess food around here. It's getting dumped and I am NOT cool with that.  I would rather eat leftovers and keep food costs down than just keep cooking entire new meals every day and having "old" food trashed.

But instead of making an issue out of it for her - she loves  to cook - I have decided I will just start eating leftovers at work and save myself lunch money.  The food is excellent, there will be far less waste and I will be good with that.

The other thing that came to light is that she has been hitting up my food storage.  A can of this, a box of that, etc.  I was looking at it scratching my head.  These shelves were full.  But it's cool, that food can't just sit there forever, I would have to replace it anyway and certain of that food she won't touch.  I want enough canned/boxed/bagged food to last me several months at any given time, up to 6 months preferable.  Now, if I were alone, I could last at least 6 months on what I got.  But take that down to 2 months with 3 people.   Well whatever.  I guess if I had to go 2 months without being able to buy food from a grocery store then we are in some bad times and by the time 2 months is up and I'm almost out of food I would have learned to hunt by then.

But I'm not going to go into that. We may be facing another recession soon - and progressives will blame Trump - but that  isn't going to be shocking, at least not for me.

Now then.  Oh I could go into politics right now, especially the left, crying and whining.  Good God in Heaven! Baby therapy? Baby therapy in colleges! ROFL!!!!  Dog therapy, cry fests,

I'ma stop. I'm getting burnt out on all of this stuff and I have been avoiding some of it just to get a break from it.

Sunday.  Credit score jumped 60 points after the mortgage company finally posted it.  It will take a while now for anymore change to come.  I need to bring down some account balances and find a new card to open up.  Not so I can charge more but I was doing simulations on a credit tracker and getting another card would help my score substantially.  Taking out an auto loan would also help, but geeze.  I hate auto loans. I'd do it if I had to, but right now, I don't have to.  Car running fine, a bunch of cosmetic problems with it but it's paid for and purrs down the highway.  I'm holding off on another car loan for a while.  I need a year of on time house payments before I can even think about getting some land.

I finally sold the trailer.  Not as much as i wanted but I did get the minimum I was asking for it at $2,500.  I was trying for around 3 grand. But, we kept getting low balled.  One person insisted the trailer was only worth $700.  It has new carpet, new wall paper (fancy stuff, too, I bought more expensive stuff because I was going to spend time in it and I wanted it to look nice, and yes, I did make a lot of trips up to the mountains and spend weekends there). I fixed the AC, roof leaks, put in new roof hatches and fans, all kinds of stuff I did to it.  Still needed more but it was in good shape, including oak cabinets all throughout.  It was a nice trailer and certainly worth more than $700.

Well anyway, now I've got the Jeep computer out and sending it into a company that refurbishes them with a guaranteed life time warranty.  I'm going to have to take it into a shop after that to have it hooked back up because the plug ins came out in pieces and I can't even find the parts to fix it.  I mean, yes, I can start calling junkyards around America, someone somewhere probably has them, but I really want a shop to hook it up to a computer and make sure that everything else is okay with it.

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Start posts and get busy and forget to finish them.  Oh well. Tomorrow is Election Day.  At least the decision about who our next President will be will finally be over.  Or will it? If Polling Maps are any indicator, it's not going to be a landslide by any means, at least I don't think so going either way, and there are going to be a lot of upset people after tomorrow regardless of who wins.

Anyways, my sprocket came in today and that 4 wheeler will be done as far as I'm going to get it done for now until I am confident that spending the rest of the money to get it fully back to form is going to be worth it.  Ie: the engine.  Is it still in good shape?  It fires up and doesn't smoke so I guess I can safely say it's good enough but still.

I saw a tanker refilling fuel tanks at a local gas station yesterday with "now hiring" sign on it and "home every day" sign as well.  I was all into that. But it's based in a town a long ways off from here, I don't know if they are driving that far to refill local gas stations, I would think not actually, that wouldn't be very effective or efficient but who knows.  But after going to their site, it takes relatively very little time to accrue vacation time and you don't have to be there forever to get a very nice reward of vacation hours, either.  The pay, of course, is what I'm interested in.  The home every night is also what I'm interested but obviously they have weekend work.  As I said a while back, I'm not in a hurry for the wrong job and I have weathered the tornadoes that have come through and though I very much dislike working for an extreme authoritarian dictatorship style manager, I'm sticking it out until I either find what I want or I'll eat it and just stay there.  Another year and a month there and I'l be at 200 hours of paid vacation.  10 days worth of sick time and an extra day of floating holiday.

The pond project out front was put on hold - seemingly forever - since I had that hole dug but I finally got out there yesterday after it dried up enough and poured the foundation for the block to be laid. on top of it.  100 pounds of fast drying cement was enough to do the job, it wasn't a big foundation that had to be poured.

Not much else, well there is but I'm too tired.  I woke up with chest congestion this morning though I don't feel sick otherwise, ie headcold or anything.  Just my life with respiratory issues.  I think I"m headed off to bed early tonight.

With the new revelation of "5 digit number" of emails found on a laptop computer, we may see a reverse in the polls - of which I greatly distrust anyway - going for Clinton.  Even as of today, they are showing Clinton with only a few points lead which are in the margin of error meaning it's basically a tie.  Too bad the electoral college can just vote however they want to, in the end.

Well anyway.  In the midst of trying to get that trailer sold.  Getting lots of lowball offers on it.  I'm not going to sell it for less than $2,500 unless time marches on and it becomes obvious that I'm just not going to get that kind of money out of it.  But I've dumped so much into it, I would like to at least break even on it.  I'm going to hold out for a while and see if I can get anything close to what I want.  So far, the highest offer was 2 grand, the lowest was 750 and everything in between.  The interior of that thing is in excellent condition.  The only issue inside really is the cushions at the kitchen table which is a cheap, easy fix.  Well, anyway, Mark has done a good job of finishing the cleanup on it and he is dealing with it on that end.  I can only hope it sells soon.

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch".  I spent yesterday pulling the entire rear end of a 4 wheeler apart.  It was quite the chore because I kept getting stuck at points where something had to come off of something else and it's been on there so long, it took a lot of effort to get it off.  The huge axle nut was the worst.  It simply wouldn't budge. I spent an hour heating it up with a Map gas torch.  When push came to shove, I found a 5 foot long pipe, put it over a plumber's wrench, heated the thing up again and it finally gave way.  You have to screw the nut back to reveal a clip that has to come off to get that whole portion of it off of the axle.

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Well, I got out there today and got stuck on a giant C clip.  I bought a tool to spread it out but it wouldn't spread it far enough.  I ended up in a town 30 miles away to find something to use to getit off - and I might have got the right tool  - but it was getting dark by the time I got back and though there is good lighting out there?  I decided to stop.  I'll get it back together but I sort of figured it would require tools I don't have.  I used to have all of these kinds of tools and then some.  If you want to do mechanics, there is a minimum amount of tools you are going to have to have.  I am slowly rebuilding it to acceptable levels. I at least have a Map gas torch now, not as good as acetylene but it works well enough.
I do not have a bench grinder, mostly because there isn't a bench.  Well, there is one in their big shed but they filled it up with their personal stuff.  Really, in real mechanics, you have to have an acetylene torch and definitely a bench grinder.  And a press. And a lot of other stuff.  But I'm not into "real" mechanics anymore, not the scale I used to be at. However, I am considering a limited reemergence into it once I get enough tools and enough refresher into it

Aspyn is still in heat, but I have effectively removed Addler from her - for days now.  Whether she is pregnant or not, I was getting very tired of it.  Hump hump hump hump hump, endlessly.  He got the point, it took a couple days to get it through to him: Stop It.  Natural instincts, sure.  Does it take over their brains? Yes.  Do I have to put up with it? Absolutely not.  Addler has not spent a night in my bedroom in 4 or 5 nights now.  Aspyn is in there, he is not.  Just not going to deal with it when I need to be sleeping.  And yes, it will go on all night long, all day long.  It's unbelievable, actually.

Well enough. My computer must have a virus.  I don't need to search it out anymore, I know the symptoms.  I'm going to have to do a virus scan and get rid of whatever is attached itself to my files.

So, I am feeling better now so cleanup outside was on the list for today.  First I found another person to come over.  I put a post on a Facebook virtual yard sale group - where numerous people post  asking for people to come and work - and got a large number of replies.  The first one, though was the one I took as is customary on those venues to response to the first person.

Turns out it was a mama trying to find some work for her son who is too young to work at a fast food or similar place.  I kinda had my reservations because the work I wanted done is moving dirt and that is hard work.  But I decided to take a chance.  Do you get a spoiled brat that doesn't want to work or a person that has learned a good work ethic? Cause' that stuff is learned or not learned early in life and people have a rude awakening when the go out into the real world and find out that everyone - including employers - are not going to pander to entitlement, self-serving bs.

Anyway, this 15 year old was good as gold.  He worked literally all day long, only stopping a couple of times to take short breaks and eat a  - peanut butter sandwich.  That was his lunch.  I immediately figured these were probably poorer people and that came out in the wash later on.  How about this?: this boy has never seen his real father, who lives in a town about 80 miles away.  Whatever, obviously bad stuff going on there, not my business.  They live in a trailer park maybe 15 miles from here.

Well, while this kid was doing this, the next door neighbor's son and 2 of his friends come meandering over to the fence.  They trashed my Honda 300EX quite a while back, I got disgusted with it, just left it sit in the driveway.  They decided they were going to come over and fix it.  Oh really?  Well be my guest, yins the ones that broke it.  They literally spent the entire day trying to get the thing going.  They fixed the oil leak, put oil in it, got  the thing running after numerous attempts, but then I pointed out the chain situation. When they had taken it, some adult had "fixed" it by destroying the chain tensioner.  Literally broke the thing. So, they were riding it around with a chain slapping around and spinning off.

Whatever the case, the never were able to resolve the broken chain tensioner. They tried taking the chain up to the Honda dealer and having a link removed.  Well, the dealer took out two links, not idea whose fault that was, the kids giving them wrong information or the mechanic.  Anyway, then the went all over the place looking for extra links since the Honda dealer didn't give them the links back and were closed.  They were determined to get the thing working - I mean, I had given up on the thing.  I didn't want to touch it after I saw what they had done to it - though what happened to it is really a long story and wasn't actually the neighbor kids' fault, but, he was definitely responsible for it.  That was agreed upon before he took it.

It was only today he finally took responsibility for all of that.  They finally gave up near darkfall. The kid that was working stayed until 6.  We feed him dinner. Which he was all-too-happy to partake and after I asked if he wanted more, he said he would like to take some home.

Now, the fire department showed up.  Yup, just now, while writing this.  I was burning leaves out back - have been since this morning - I was informed that it was okay to do that i city limits.  But, I thought, I bet this was called in on the sheriff's house next door.  The kids were out back pouring gas all over the place and lighting it up.  But I admitted I was burning leaves, though the flames were out, it was just smoldering.  They came out back, saw the smoke, no fire.  One of them talking about writing me a ticket.

Well, they had come out a month ago or so while I was at work, declaring to the lady tenant that we had a fire and it needed to be put out. Uhhh, we aren't burning any fires here. It was the next door neighbor kid, had a fire going, somebody called the fire department.  Gag.  In Phoenix? We could have a fire anytime we wanted.  Anyway, I pointed to the fire in the sheriff's back yard.  Oh.  Oops.  They gonna write me a ticket but no him?  I didn't say anything about that, I just pointed out the fire and how it was started, how they had come out here before and blamed us for a fire that wasn't ours to own, and probably that was who the call was actually on. Oh, we're going to go over there, too.  Yeah, right, I thought.  "I'm sure you know **** (name of sheriff). Oh yes, we know him.  The talk of tickets disappeared, informed me I had to get a permit to burn and that was the end of that story.

Don't even try to tell me there isn't a good ole' boy's club going on in between officials like this. I've seen it repeated here for a while now. I don't really care, either, it's life but funny how they were going to write me a ticket until they saw what was going on next door.  I would have called them out on it if they had done that - written me a ticket and not the neighbor for the same exact thing - and I would have pushed it.  Trust me, I have no patience for this kind of foolery.

I dunno what else.  Oh, yes, the RV has been moved to my property in Phoenix.  I have placed an ad, but it is a repost of an earlier ad.  I need to start a fresh one, reposts never get much attention.  I'm not going to settle for anything less than $2,500 for it.  I've just spent too much getting it fixed up and moving it down there and it's definitely worth that much money.  If/when it gets sold, I'm going to fix that Jeep my friends the homeowners here gave me, put a hitch on it, get a trailer and yes, I'm going to go riding on my 4 wheelers. Well that's my tentative plan.  I dunno what I will actually end up doing, but that Jeep is just sitting there.

I'm still watching a few NFL games, but I've mostly grown repulsed by the protests with the kneeling s***, the NFL can go bake.  They can force players to stand if they want to, their stand is costing them money. The NFL won't admit it, but the 11% decline in viewership is definitely related to the boycott.  The NFL is not untouchable, but the NFL put out a message to the teams saying everything but the boycott is the cause of it, they'll weather the storm, yada yada yada.  Yeah, well, when you see some whiny little rich boys out on a field kneeling and dissing our flag and our anthem, they can got rot.  I hope the percentages keep going down in viewership. Get that number to 30 percent and they will have no choice but to tell these a-holes to stand or get out.  Sorry, but this stuff pisses me off.

Whatever.  This election cycle is also growing very old.  Let's get the election over with and then? everyone can complain about the outcome.  If Trump wins, there will be rioting.  If Hillary wins, there won't be rioting but I'm betting the Convention of States idea is going to become much more popular.  Talk of an uprising but so far, just talk.  Really.  I'm not sorry to say there is no way Hillary Clinton should be in the running. How do Hillary supporters simply ignore all of this endless junk that has been coming out against her?

Dog situation starting to level out. After confronting the lady tenant about her over-involvement with MY dogs, she all but stopped all of it.  Addler is coming back around to me.  Heck, I just spent the entire day outside with both of my dogs and that was cool.  However....I didn't know Aspyn wasn't spayed when I got her. Umm so she is 8 months old, in heat and I"m afraid I'm going to have Great Dane/German Shepherd mix puppies coming.  I don't really want that, at all and I only noticed the heat part when I noticed drops of blood on the floor. I'll wait until I see whether she's pregnant or not and then have her spayed.  I don't need or want puppies, thank you.  Too much work.

Not much else.  Continued dire warnings about the economy. Now a warning about a new world currency.  I would call it speculation but a few have accurately predicted previous disasters. Speaking of predictions, the dude that has accurately predicted presidential election outcomes for the last 30 years - in a row - has said his model shows that Trump will win the election.  I would very much like that to come true, but only because in my view? Hillary is a disaster in the making.  I don't have the unction to write out my reasons why now.  I have been working all day long, it's almost 10 pm and I'm done for the day.

I walked in the house today and saw a letter from the Texas Department of Public Safety.  I immediately knew what it was about, I did not know whether it contained good news or bad for me.  What kind of background check takes 5 months? Even if it IS a federal background check.  I didn't open it, I felt it to see if i could feel a card in there.  Yes, I felt something in there.  Getting a little excited, I opened it up.  And there it was, in all it's plastic glory.  A Texas License To Carry Handgun, otherwise referred to here as LTC.  I spsent a few dollars on this and I spent some time on this one.  I find it amazing that I got a passport in a fraction of the time it took to get this thing.

Next?  Look at articles on handguns that are good for concealed carry.  I have no intention of open carry, at all.  I didn't bother to do much research, I wanted the license first.  Then, when ti was taking forever to get  it, I definitely decided to put any handgun purchase on hold.  My next door neighbor should have some good input on what's a good concealed carry handgun and where to buy them.

Anyway, all of these things I wanted in terms of "endorsements" are finally over. The LTC, the passport and the X/tanker-hazmat combo endorsement for my CDL.  What else is there? I dunno, but those were the things I wanted and now I have all of them.  I feel this LTC as a major accomplishment considering what I went through to get the thing and all the time I waited afterward to actually receive it.  On another note, I would have probably gotten this license at least a month earlier if it hadn't been for the instructor of the class' screwup in not dating the forms before sending them into the State.  They sent mine back to me a month or more after that guy sent them in.  I called him and he looked into and found that he had not dated ANY of the participants in that class that day. Well, I said, you are likely in for a lot of phone calls!

Okay, well this makes me happy. Kind of feel like an elite group.  How many people are actually willing to go through all of that? How many people will fail the background check anyway?

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Wrote that days ago. Sunday evening.  Drama here yesterday. The lady tenant was outside smoking and apparently went over to the neighbor's house to tell a man sitting in front in his pickup that his truck's fumes were bothering her and to please shut it off.  The next thing that happened is a bit murky, but apparently the  neighbor's son came over and she shoved him for some reason.  She claims he startled her.  I dunno, but I was sitting here, in the living room, watching tv when the son's dad calls, who is also a deputy Sheriff and was on duty.

He was extremely agitated and started right in on it - me not having a clue what he was talking about.  I missed all of that excitement but, I invited him to come over and confront on it if he felt that strongly about it. I went out there for this one, as she was sitting out front.  I warned her he was coming. Anyway, he comes up in full uniform and basically reads her the riot act, including threatening to haul her off to jail for harming a minor, I guess. The boy wasn't hurt, I"m sure of that, but this was daddy in a law enforcement uniform making his intentions clear.

I dunno what she thought she was doing.  When he left - leaving a strict warning that if she touched his boy again, she was going to jail - I also confronted her. She has no business confronting neighbors on anything.  If there is an issue, you come to me and I will deal with it.  She was very apologetic at least, though she lied to the officer and he called her out on it, which agitated him even more, and agreed that she wouldn't do that again.  Yes, please don't.

I texted the guy and told him I was sorry for her actions and please let me know if she ever does it again, I will find new tenants.

After that, I called her out on her involvement with my dogs.  I'm not sorry.  She has literally taken them over to the point they are about half interested in my arrivals back home from work.  I watched this on Friday and became internally agitated, as I have been watching this for a while. She has no social life besides whoever it is she is talking to on the phone, so her daily life while I am going is interacting with my dogs all day long.  Addler is my dog, I went to great lengths to get him and I'm not going to have some complete stranger come and steal his heart away simply because I am gone all day long at work.

That didn't end too well either, but I was glad I confronted her on it.  I made it plainly clear that she could have her dog living with her here before they moved in here.  But, she sent the thing off to someone she knows in Dallas and I thought at the time, I wonder if she's going to make my dogs her dogs?  Of course. It isn't the end of the world but I have initiated "healthy boundaries".  My dogs are my dogs.  She was giving them treats - treats that I paid for - and giving them to them without my permission.  I limit dog treats for one reason: too much makes them fat.  That's what really started irritating me is when Addler started putting on the pounds.  Another thing that aggravated me is his usual self of running around all over the place all day long was transformed into him laying in front of the door, waiting for her to come and likely, bring him in.  I haven't been able to verify the second part of that, but from the way he's behaving I have to guess that it's true.

After that, she started texting me, to which I totally ignored.  We're all of 40 feet apart, if she wants to discuss this, it's going to be in person.  I was fully prepared to engage her on it the next day, it was Friday this occurred, btw, not yesterday as I had originally reported.  Because this is day 2 and she is acting like nothing has happened but there is one important difference: she is no longer interacting with my dogs.  I have my doubts the same will hold true when I am gone, but she knows my feelings about it now.  She's not my lover, we aren't dating, we aren't married, she is a tenant living here. She is a sweet lady but this was going too far.

Well, as I said earlier, Sunday night.  I didn't get much done this weekend.  I have had lackluster energy ever since getting sick. This happens to me every single time I get sick.  I might get better but my energy takes forever to come back.  It's go to work, try to make it through the day and then come home and do nothing beyond what I have to. I hate it, but it's been that way with me all of my life.  I still wish someone at work would have said this sickness is being spread around, I would have taken special care to wash my hands and stay away from those people.  I've got a lot to do around here but I"m not going to push it.  I'll be trashed on Monday morning and it will be a very difficult day.

I am lucky that I got the truck loaded and ready to go for Monday though.  I literally have nothing left to do but throw more strap over a pallet, fire up the truck, get my paperwork and leave. It's at least a 4 hour trip - going back into the Army Depot again - it's and hour and ten minutes there not counting any stops, it's an ordeal getting into the place.  A back ground check and then driving 20 mile an hour. this place is HUGE.  Miles worth of military equipment, lots of armored personnel carriers.  Cool to see them up close.

My mother has decided that the move from her home of 25 years was a mistake. Well she thought that a while ago but got over it.  She bought a 4 bedroom home on a large piece of land, I'm not sure what she was thinking.  What did she need such a large home for? She's 81 years old.  A 2 bedroom house on a small plot of land would have been much more suited for her but I kept my mouth shut.  Well, she already has the house up for sale, already has offers on it and already looking for a new place.

Well, I can't do anything about any of it.  I hope she gets the place she needs in short order and gets this over with and beyond it.  She also wanted to get the 5th wheel off of her property and sold, but it's turning into an ordeal.  I may just go back for a few days to deal with it myself. I'm not in a huge hurry to deal with it since she's busy with the house, but she is insisting on moving on with it.  I have basically decided to get it dragged down to the valley where it will be much easier to sell and she won't have to deal with it, my landlords at my house will sell it for me.

Anyway, that's about it. A little bit of drama, the regular grind at work and stuff going on with my mom.

Okay. Well I got to work today feeling extremely cruddy.  I didn't sleep a wink last night. I've had those shots of steroids before without any side effects, not this one.  I feel funny and it kept me awake all night long.  I took out a delivery and after I was done with it, wondered how I was going to make it through the rest of the day?  I didn't. 2 hours into work I went into the manager and asked for the rest of the day off, I just can't do this today.  We were very slow, so it wasn't putting anyone out.  Went home and just laid in bed for a long time.  Eventually got up, went to the election office and registered to vote = I thought I had but apparently I hadn't finished the process so I decided to go straight to the place that would take care of this, which is all of a mile and a half away.

The nice thing about living in small towns is that nothing is very far away. At least, if it's in the town.  If it's in another town, then you are in for a drive.  I then went to the ATT store to find a cheap phone for my landlords in Phoenix. I had no idea they were shelling out upwards of $80 per month for cards to refill the phone.  Pay as you go stuff.  Expensive, especially as much as they have to use it when they are trying to rent out a room. I can get a phone with text/calling only, unlimited for $20 bucks a month.  Well, they said at the store that the lowest priced phone that would work with my plan that I could get there was almost $300.

No freaking way.  I know  I can get a phone for around $40 that serves the purpose they need, just to make calls and texting.  But, several of those cheap phones will also get you on the internet if you are in the range of wifi.  I blew them off and went to the post office to send the home owners here their mail.  Which next time I want them to tell me what they actually have to have sent and what can just be thrown in the trash.  I don't even get my mail from Phoenix anymore, they just go through it and tell me what it is and now I just have them read it to me over the phone.

Anyway, then she - the lady running my house over there - sent me an email saying she had to pay to have Sophie put down - I originally got that dog but they wanted her when I left and it was going to be too much to take her out here.  I didn't exactly get the dog in good condition, she had extreme hip problems at an early age and it finally caught up to her.  Then she said she had to buy pond fish food and something else of which I don't remember and she is broke, oh the other thing was the excessive phone stuff - can you please give me some guidance?

Well, it was $280 worth and I figured that the only thing I could really do is excuse the debt considering what they have done over there in keeping the place in good condition and immaculately clean.   I'm not saying that is an easy thing to do - give up that much money as I have things I need to do with it but - I can live without.

There isn't much else.  Kinda sucks that I am still being held back by this sickness but it's definitely the injection and whatever side effects and once that passes I should be fine.  If I can get any sleep tonight I should be okay for work tomorrow though.

Well, I'm fading here, time to stop this.

I don't have much opportunity to speak to the cop next door, but when I do, it's pretty interesting stuff.  He pulled over a car going 91 in a 75 zone today and was talking to the driver.  Black lady, very well dressed, very articulate and intelligent and good kids in the back seat.  Well, he says, turns out, she had warrants out for her arrest.  He had a wedding to go to, but something she said got him interested in looking it up and proving it.  She said she hadn't had a ticket in 20 years.  When he went to look it up, he found the lady had 2 warrants for assault and battery a few towns over.  Pretty much ruined his wedding plans, lol, as she went to jail and he babysat kids for 2 hours waiting for relatives to show up and get them.

Then we got into Obama, Trump and Hillary. Lolol.  Okay, well I won't go into that, but he did say something that has been surfacing everywhere: where are all of these people that are talking about Hillary?  In real life? I don't meet any of them either.  On the internet a different story but still.  Hillary and how wonderful she is isn't the talk on the streets, it's always Trump.

The cop neighbor likes to tell stories of his arrests and tickets.  I don't see him often, he's got 2 jobs and a family.

Anyway, the shot I got yesterday? I've hardly coughed at all today.  Really. I've had these shots before but I didn't really think it would work that well this time for some reason.

I did nothing today. Really. Well one load of laundry that I just now remembered needs to be dried and watered the new grass and that was it.

And now?  I'm done.

Well, day 10 of sickness.  Several people informing me I need to go to a doctor.  I'm thinking, for what? This is a virus, viruses usually take me a while to get past.  I went.  The doc checked me out, said my blood pressure was up a bit, oh well, I'm sure it will go back down.  He didn't say to do anything about it, anyway, since it's normally well below the normal range.

He then asked if I had ever been diagnosed with allergies?  Ummm, I have terrible allergies.  Not a diagnoses but definitely go the rounds with it.  Well, he says, you have some drainage going on so I want to either give you a shot or pills of steroids. I've had this before.  I also have docs asking those questions before - the shot is more effective but I guess a lot of people are afraid of needles.  I'm not one of those people. However, when the thing was pushed into my butt and the stuff was injected, it burned like crazy.  Never had that bad of a reaction to steroids before.

Anyway, he said I should be feeling better by Monday.  If not, he gave me Plan B - a prescription for antibiotics.

To be honest? That's all I did today.  I didn't even get out of bed until 10 am.  I've had zero energy so I've just been resting, sleeping and doing much of nothing.  Which stinks because I really like to take the dogs for walks. The weather is cooling and it's much nicer out there.

Making it through the work week was rather hellish, the only plus was that I had numerous long runs that kept me driving instead of pulling huge orders.  But pulling even small orders was a chore.  Yesterday I had to meet an older gentleman in Texarcana to give him some materials they needed.  He had driven there to a valve company that we deal with to get 2 tapping sleeves that we didn't have.  We get some true emergencies sometimes.  There are always small water breaks going on, but this one allegedly had most of the town of Bastrop without any water.  Louisiana - a lot of it- has an aging infrastructure and very old water pipe under the ground.  They start breaking and small towns try to keep fixing it, but it has a ripple effect.  A lot of these towns are broke but apparently the feds give them grants to fix water supply systems.  Meaning replacing all old pipe, fittings and services.

Anyway, I had to move the stuff by myself from my truck to his, which was no fun.  Still, it was pure overtime, this came up late in the day and I didn't get back to the yard until after everyone went home excepting my co-driver whose truck he was driving broke down and he had to wait at the shop for it to be repaired.  They want that truck loaded and ready to go for Monday morning.  However, he didn't load the truck.  Our board says the truck has to be there at 8 am at the job site.  I think he's fixing to get a bit of trouble coming his way

This is my version of a ruined weekend. Doing nothing when there is so much to do isn't exactly my idea of fun.  I have everything I need except for some cinder blocks to build that pond.  I dunno.  I have to get the blocks from Lowe's and I don't know if I can fit them all in the trunk of my car.

The people that own this house are basically broke.  If there is something goes wrong here, I'ma have to fix it and hope they can pay it back at a later date.  I'm not going to concern myself with the $37 for the AC, but there are things that can cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars, even thousands if you consider a new AC system.  They just had a new roof put on so I don't need to worry about that.  but there are things like the AC, water heater, washer dryer setup, refrigerator - anything else that can cost a small fortune.  Things that can cost a small fortune to replace.

I was talking with her today - wishing I could figure out how to get another tenant in here. She suggested my suggestion from a while back: a travel trailer.

Welp, ;;I think I'll end this one and go to bed.

There is a problem with the new lady tenant.
She has no social life.  Beisdes the people in the house.
She is also obviously wanting to find a relationship with someone.
Now, I don't mind the talking until it starts getting repetitious.

But today, when I got home from work, I just wanted to sit out back, alone, with the dogs, and just think in quietness.
Okay, not total silence, the dogs were going crazy and that's fine, I'm a fan.  Well, their craziness drew her from the from porch to the back, where she began attmepting to invoke her vast amounts of knowledge about dogs to me about the behavior they were exhitibiting.  I was trying to be nice so I just nodded my head and agreed with her.

Nothing she said was news to me. But that wasn't really the bad part, the bad part is when she started saying the same things, over and over and over - and over - and over - 15, 20 times.  I'm just internally getting extremely irritated with this. Make your point, don't repeat it 15 times, I don't care how important you think it is.  I went out there to get away from people.  I don't have the need for being around people all the time.  This is a pattern that has been a part of me since I was a little boy.  I could play with other kids but I was just as happy playing by myself.  Something of that carried over into  adulthood.  I like being around people but I don't have to be aorund them to enjoy life.

I'm afraid I am going to have to confront her on all of this stuff and I guess I would rather do that before it becomes explosive inside of me. I never did get the alone time back there. I was out there for 45 minutes and she talked non-stop.  No, seriously, non-stop. Her male friend lives here as well, but he's a total loner.  He sits in his bedroom all day and night, rarely ever coming out.  He talks on the phone with whoever and he just ordered the Direct TV package that gives you every single channel in their lineup incluidng NFL package.

He talks to her but obviously this isn't fulfilling her needs.  I'm not sorry to say that I dont feel inclined to be that person.  She either needs to find a boyfriend - and that person won't be me - or get her own dog that she can have in the room all day long.

There are always some sort of conflicts with having tenants in a house, which is why I made myself as low-maintenance as possible when my now-friends who own this house were living here and we got along very nicely.  We reeally did.  A few quirks here and there but nothing major.  So what do I do about this?  I don't know.  If you don't respond to her? Ie, sort of the cold shoulder but not exactly that, what does she do? Just talks and talks and talks - and talks - and taaaaaaaaaaaaaaalks.  You can't get a word in edgewide unless you speak over the top of her.

Whatever. I'll figure this out somehow.  I could disappear into my room but I don't have TV in there and can't watch the news and movies.  I could get a receiver in there but I actually like sitting out in this living room.  She mostly leaves me alone in here, at least.  No, I don't invite her to sit down and watch TV or talk. I don't want to bad mouth her or anything, this is really my problem that I need to learn a way to deal with.

Well anyway, i was talking with the lady homeowner - Taylor - yesterday via texting - she is into texting and I can deal with that.  We were discussing the projects I was doing and all kinds of things, really.  She was lamenting having to have to move there.  She then tld me that they had been talking about me the previous night.  Well, we decided that when we return, we really want you to stay with us.  The kids can stay in a single room together and that's too bad for them! I thought it cool that there are people around that actually want my presence around.

I will certainly consider it.  I think if I were to stay, whichever room I end up in will have to have a big time upgrade.  In fact, I'm going to have to do something with the lady tenant's bathroom.  I was going to do that before but once I moved out of there it just fell out of my mind as my head got filled up with the pressing projects outside.  I'm not a fan of living in a house that is an eyesore tothe rest of the neighborhood.  The back yard can be done at whatever pace and be put low on the priority list, but the front yard should be looking good.

I'm tired.  I am not feeling too great, etiher.  Some kind of head cold going around and I started feeling a scratchy throat and general not feeling good stuff.  I took some Vitamin D3 and zinc.  About to take at least 3,000 milligrams of Vitamin C. It hasn't hit me full fledged yet, I dont' even know if it's a cold, it just feels like one.  Anway, going to bed early tonight.  Looks like I have a run down south tomorrow, which if so, I can handle.  If I have to hang out at the yard and I feel like I am now? I'll probably go home.

The only other thing I will say in this entry is that I found my coffee can.  I have no idea how I could have put it in the pantry/laundry room.  I was moving from one room to another and apparently I thought it a good place to put it out of the way while moving. I had forgotten about it until I decided I wanted to put my gold chains on again....and couldn't find it anywhere.  Happy to find it is all I can say considering cahs, rings and gold chians.

As I suspected, motivation levels dwindled this weekend. I feel like doing nothing.  This was a particular busy week at work and yesterday ended with hours of labor pulling a huge order frying in the sun and humidity.  It was so hot, I was begging for the day to be over.  I pulled almost all of that order and then was about to go inside to clock out - when the warehouse dude came out and said no, they are all cleaning in there, you are exempted from that - obviously because I was working and they were not.

He eluded to wanting me to stay longer and finish. I didn't say no, exactly, I just said can't this wait until Monday or does this need to be finished today?  Well, why don't you just come in at 7 am Monday and you can finish then.  Cool. twice this week I came in "early" - which used to be our normal time and here we  go with Monday starting early as well,

I did get  new tires on the front of my car earlier and left my car at a shop to have the oil changed - walked home.  I'm driving highway speeds which aren't slow and I had had thoughts this week that I better get those fronts changed out.  I'm just hopeful to get another 30 to 50 k miles out of that car.  I really don't much care for it anymore, I've just been driving it for like 8 years and wish I could get into something different. While walking home, the next door neighbor's kid showed me his friend's new truck.  A Dodge 4 door cab with 8 foot bed, nice intererior, older but still in good shape.  How much? $1,500.  What? How do you buy a truck like this for that kind of money?

It had a bad engine, they just happened to have a good one at their house. That truck is easily worth 5k. They are replacing the F250 at work with a new one, the old one will be available to buy.  But that thing has been abused.  The tail gate is trashed, the are dents and scrapes on the sides, the driver's side mirror has been destroyed, etc etc etc.  This is our quality drivers destroying the thing.  Depends on how much they want for it, but it's the good ole' boy's club, if a long time person wants it, it doesn't matter how much I offer for it, they won't sell it to me.

I still have this non functioning Jeep Cherokee on the side of the house that I would like to get running and get rid of it.  Sell it for whatever I can get out of it and be done with it. They just have far too bad ratings from very unhappy owners that say the things will break down frquently.  I can see using it to tow a trailer with my 4 wheelers on it - if it stops working oh well, but not to drive to work.

No, I haven't given up on land.  I just can't do anything until I get my credit score back up and the mortgage company still hasn't updated it.

Well, my trip to Lowe's produced nothing. I have yet another dog now that can jump the fence.  i was going to install thosed angled things you put on top  of chain link fence and then wrap barbed wire around it.  Neither Lowe's nor Home Depot sells that stuff.  Or Tractor Supply.  Lol, I gave up looking, but a 25 foot chain and a post you drive into the ground and we are going to start training her.  Get out of the yard? Get put on that chain for an hour.

I did find those arms online though at a good price. Fixing to order enough of them to cover both front portions and partial down the sides. I'm not sure if I'm going to have to surround the entire yard, that would get to be a bit much.  2 rolls of barbed wire (at least) and a large number of those arms, just not really interested

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Much later.  Walked Addler up to the shop to get my car back from getting oil changed - which is an amusement in itself walking that dog and all the reactions - driving back, very short distance and i get a call.  Guy is here to work.  Well that guy didn't bother to shop up at 10:00 am which he said he was going to by his own offering and when he didn't he also didn't bother to contact me and tell me he isn't coming.  Well he was there, standing on the porch so I thought okay, put him to work.

I am not giving him the stuff I don't mind doing, I'm giving him the stuff I definitley do not want to do.  Shovelling dirt and hauling it to the creek out back.  I was in no mood to work today, so I didn't; 15 straight days of buting @$$ and I just decided I needed today off.  The front of he house is slowly transforming including the grass seed  I planted is growing.  There's plenty more to go but today was another good haul. In my world and from my experience, it's rare to find a person that will actually work and take pride in what they are doing.

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Sunday. They sent me the wrong carb kit.
Ugh.  None of the gaskets were right.

Well whatever. At least my new grass is growing out there.  And we now have a hole well on it's way to becoming a pond, something I"ve wanted to do out there since I moved in here.  The one out back is nice but everyone sits out front.  Prolly because the back isn't so nice yet.  I'll get that changed in Spring.  Not a priority right now.

I dunno what to do about the weedeater - I really don't want to buy a new one but the need is growing out there.  It hasn't been done in over a month and though the mower is at least keeping the grass trimmed, the overgrowth from the areas where the mower can't do anything is looking pretty bad.  It's actually a pretty nice neighborhood and most everyone keeps their lawns nicely maintained.

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I bought a new one.  I'll get this one fixed and have a backup.  Just like the mower, there is another one sitting there that they have that hasn't run in a while.  I'm hoping just take the carb apart, clean it and it will fire up.

Next door neighbor kid came over and declared that he wants to take care of Addler when I'm gone.  He loves that dog - but nobody loves my Addler more than me : ) He's my giant baby.  Not that he looks are acts like one, but he is!  Aspyn has learned how to jump over fences.  However, since the new tenants are here, the lady decided to take it upon herself to try and train her not to. Aspyn won't do that when I'm home.  I bought a tie down with a 25 foot chain attached to it.  Aspyn jumps of the fence? She is put in timeout for an hour and then released.  My plan to buy the 45 angles and put barbed wire on it I have put on hold.  We'll see if this works.  She doesn't go anywhere.  She comes up on the porch and sits on the bench where I normally sit.  I'm used to 6 foot fencing, that isn't what's here and much of the neighborhood - though not all of it - is also 4 foot fencing.  Just an expense I am not going to get into.

Well, watch a little TV and then go out and fire up the new weedeater and get busy.

I ran an ad last weekend and has a college kid over in fairly short order.  He did a very good job of doing what I asked considering it was all digging - not easy work especially considering how hot it was outside.  I was impressed and thankful to finally find a person that didn't complain about actually earning the money versus the entitelment minded people that want something - for nothing.  He wants to come back over tomorrow and I still have plenty of dirt work to do so yes, please do.  I have enough to keep him busy as long as he wants to work out there.

I, on the other hand, am going to be doing less laborious work.  I just spent an entire afternoon lifting and moving around heavy fittings in the heat/humidity and I think I'll just let the kid have do the heavy lifting tomorrow. He's not really a kid, he's 22 years old but that's what I call people that age and younger.  He obviously has no extra money but probably doesn't want to work a "real" job - something you are bound to.  That college has dorms and provides meals, but as I have been told from someone else the meals are prety much the same stuff every week and it "gets old".  I have no sympathy.  I really don't.  I have gone through my share of poverty and living without, I know what it feels like, I didn't complain, I just dealt with it.  Well, I wasn't happy that time the water heater went out and I didn't have the money to buy a new one.  I went months without hot water.

Anyway, it's a breath of fresh air to have someone over that actually will work and not complain about it and be happy with the funds handed to him - the agreed upon funds, not some - well I did all of this so I deserve more crap attitude that really annoys me and people telling me that will get my opinion of their attitude directed back at them without tact or courtesy.  My ads say the price I will pay. When anyone contacts me, I repeat it again: You do understand that I am paying $10 per hour?  In this economy? That is good money for unskilled labor.  I also rephrase: this is hard work, you are going to be digging and such.

So, that's that.  My carb kit came in today so I will endeavor tomorrow to rebuild the weedeater carburetor and hopefully it will work and I can get busy with that.  I also found a chainsaw for more than I want to pay but I may get it.  There are plenty of tools over here, but that is one that is sorely lacking.  This property is virtually surrounded by trees - very, very tall and large trees and much of it needs some extreme pruning. Trees that big? You have to have a chainsaw.

That reminds me.  I'm not a slave laborer, the kid likes cranberry juice so I'm going to get a jug of that for him for tomorrow.  Probably buy some sort of fast food lunch as well.  I mean, from my perspective, I'm getting a good deal I don't think it too much to add food and drinks on top of it.

I also need to treat the wood flooring in here.  This stuff is pretty gawdy looking. They never did anything for it.  I mean - nothing but sweep it.  But you are walking on it every day, you have to treat the flooring.  Not a big priority, not sure if I'll even have that kind of motivation.  I wouldn't mind getting a start on it though.  Then there is the wood that was ruined by the water leaking from the AC unit.  Right now? That isn't on my priority list.  It's in the hallway, it's mostly out of sight, I'm not concerned about that right now.

Boy could I write a long post here.  The new lady tenant is - nosy and she freely admits to it.  She gets herself into everyone's business. But there is one thing that I am going to address.  She is having my dogs in during the day and they are growing quite fond of her.  I'm sorry, but I'm not ready or even willing to share Addler's affections.  They can pet him, be nice to him, etc, but having him in her bedroom? Not.  He is an outside dog while I'm at work and I made that crystal clear before they moved in here, but she seems to have other thoughts.  I'm just tyring to come up with a tactful way of putting it that won't come off offensive and right now, I haven't been able to come up with that yet.  She's a nice lady, she is very attention starved, she has no local friends, I understand how a dog can help make up for that, but they are my dogs, not hers.  She is free to get her own dog. She said she gave up her dog to come here, I was like, well get the dog back. A Bassett Hound. I don't really care if she shares the affections of the new German Shepherd, but not my Dane.  He is showing signs of being pulled and I don't like it.  Call me a jealous dog owner, it may very well be true and I won't be ashamed of it.  I went through quite a lot to get that dog, more to go through his initial stages of unrest while adjusting to a new home and owner, I pay for his food, I spend the time I do have at home with him, he is my dog

Is there something wrong with feeling that way? Seriously.  I don't think so.

Onto other things.  I have neard absolutely nothing further about this situation with my brothers basically ignoring mom's birthday.  She will eat it.  She always does. She will hide the pain and act like nothing has happened. She has already done that, texting everyone exactly as if nothing has happened and .... there is nothing coming back from my brothers.  I am growing very unattached to them.  I could care less if I ever see them again.  I text with her every day. I call her on weekends.  But I can't replace the relationships with her other two sons.  I just think they are pathetic losers and vermin. Selfish, self-abosrbed, self-serving.  Ungrateful, uncaring and obnoxious.

She almost had my trailer sold today. The man went up to her property, inspected the thing inside and out, declared he would give 2k for it after starting at $1,700, which is way low-balling it, actually 2k is as well but I wanted it out of there and off my hands.  But, he couldn't get the brakes and tail lights to work, something is probably wrong in the pigtail.  So, after all of that, he decided against it and left.  Mom has a repair guy and I asked if she could get him up there ot fix it? He came up not long ago and replaced a sunroof over the shower and a vent that was leaking for a very reasonabe price.  She said ok and not 5 minutes later she texted back that he is coming on Tuesday.  I know I would be leery of pulling a trailer down the road with non-functioning brake and turn signal lights and also it's illegal for obvious reasons, I can only hope this guy will get it done for not too much such as the last thing he did.

I don't really want to spend any more money on it after this.  If it doesn't sell, then I'm going to have to pay to have it hauled down to the valley and this thing is going to start being a money drain.  Oh how I would love to  have that thing out here, though!

Which reminds me.  There was an announcement at work today that the F250 is going to be replaced.  Meaning that one will be available for sale It runs great, other drivers have trashed the body of it.  It should go pretty cheap.  But it's a good ole boy club, if anyone else there wants it,  they won't even consider me.  But I'm still going to ask the manager about it.

Yesterday we did the Thirsty Thursday thing. Which is go to a local brewery and sample their beers and talk.  It came out from the 2 inside salesman that the new manager actually likes me now.  Well of course he does, I work my ass off and I have been keeping my mouth shut about the things that make him mad, even though those things have nothing to do with him.  He's a strange one and I doubt I will ever figure him out.  In fact, I have been declared the best worker there.  Whoopdee dooo!  Pay me then! Though that is out of the manager's hands, he has actually tried to get us more money but the GM is a stingy freak and so is the district manager.

The other thing that came out is my co-worker that I refer to often enough on this blog.  They stated he talks trash about me behind my back on a daily basis.  Huh?  You didn't know that? No, not really.  I heard from you a few weeks ago he had been saying something about me but I thought it was a one-time deal.  Nope, he talks trash about everyone and you on a daily basis.  If he finds out you are here with us, he is probably going to s*** his pants.

Why do people have to be so incredibly small? I left that get-together with ill thoughts of him, pondering what I should do. "I stay friends to know what my enemies are doing" is a thought that comes to mind.

Well, it's late.  Post more tomorrow.

Thirsty Thursday.  A few of us go to a local brewery and have a few beers.  Interesting revelations came forth form today's engagement.  Mainly, my co-driver that I have written about quite a bit.  Not only does he talk trash about numerous other people, he has also spoken a great deal of trash about me behind my back which I knew nothing about excepting one thing that I had heard a few weeks ago.  Like, constantly.  Makes you wonder about the human race.  How do we become so evil and have such evil intent about others?

It is disappointing to find out he has been talking like that to my co-workers. but not shocking.  He has been sinking his own ship for some time now, as at least 3 people I know of want him gone.  He talks too much, he says too much s*** about too many people and that is that.  I had thought that since we were "friends" beyond work that he wouldn't be engaging in such about me, but I was proven wrong tonight.

Keep tabs on your enemies.  So the saying goes. But we are already at odds.  Numerous new rules. It started with him dumping my pallet on the ground and taking the forklift without asking.  I had just gotten off the thing to go get some paperwork from inside, when I came back out, he was driving off with it.  I asked him what he was doing?  We don't do stuff like that around there, we always ask - everyone- if you are done with it or if you can take it for a few minutes. There is another forklift and he doesn't like that one. So, he had brought the other one up, parked it beside the one I was using and took off with it.  He was yelling at me that he can't do this and that with "that" forklift.

Well, yes he can, but it's more work and he's lazy.

Now, 2 days ago, I left work having had chocked the wheels on the semi. This is a requirement that corporate is putting out. If you are loading or unloading a truck, the wheels must be chocked. At the end of the day, the wheels must be chocked. Okay, well, semi's have spring brakes but I won't go into that.  I had chocked the wheels, only to find the next morning the chocks gone. Yesterday, I put the chalks on the tires again.  Well, lo and behold, the coworker pulls the 10 wheeler in the yard and parks next to the semi. I was in the will call room about 150 feet away talking and just happened to glance out the glass door and see him taking the chalks from the semi and putting them under the 10 wheeler tires.

I'm looking at the warehouse dude, this is why the semi tires weren't chalked this morning, which was yesterday.  He's sinking himself and likely if he continues with all of the stuff he has been saying and doing, he will get his butt fired.  After betraying me like that, I don't know how I will feel about that if/when it happens.  I do know my involvement with him is going to be extremely limited.

Well, onto other things.  nothing else has been said in the text message with my mom and brothers. I expect nothing to change anytime soon.  Little to be said about that.

New tenants want premium Direct TV package and claim they will pay for it including movie channels.  All well and fine, if they are paying for it, I will be all good with that.

New doggy has also figured out how to jump the fence.  What is with dogs and jumping fences? Now I am faced with trying to either figure out how to escape proof the yard - which likely will not be cheap - or finding her a new home. Was just getting to like the dog, too.

Uhh, things aren't really gonig that well I guess.

I did my part.  My mom's birthday is on 9/11.  I sent her flowers on Friday.  I sent her a new thermometer that she wanted that takes out side temp and sends it to a receiver insisde.  I got one that is solar powered so she doesn't have to buy batteries for it.  I wished her happy birthday on Facebook and also wished her a happy birthday on the group mms that she has with all of us - her and 3 sons.  I called her and spent a good deal of time talking to her.

My brothers - sent her no gifts.  They did not call her.  They texted her: Happy Birthday Mother! - not even using mom which I find deplorable but that's just me - and that was it. She moved to their side of town to be closer to the mountains and not have to deal with valley traffic, which can be quite insane.  She is very close to them now.  No mention of visiting her.

I know all of this because when I was talking to her on the phone, I said I would have come over and spent some time with her if I were there which is when she went off - not too much but she did - about all of this.  I've always felt family is the one of the most important things you have in life, my brothers have always felt quite differently.  But my God, at least call her on her birthday.  Texting is okay for trivial stuff that you don't need a phone call for, but not this.

Well, I am planning a trip back there in the next month or two and I will be staying with her.  She lets me use one of her vehicles so that's a nice added plus, but I go to see her and my son and some friends.  I do not go to see my brothers.  They could care less and I'm not going to waste any more of my energy trying to get something going in family that is obviously never going to happen.  It's draining, that kind of emotional energy being spent on people that won't bother to was an ounce of it back on you.  Even if you are related.  I didn't bother to tell them about dad's birthday last month, I knew they wouldn't call him or do anything.  I am giving them no further updates on his health.  If he dies, I won't bother to tell them about that, either.  If they want to know what's going on with him, they are going to have to find out for themselves.  Even though the man has Alzheimer's, they still refuse to talk to him at all.

I am fighting this feeling of despising my brothers and that's not really a good place to be in.  I have to really guard my heart and tell myself that they are the losers in all of this, they are the pathetic people whose insecurities have them not being able to deal with much of anything in life.  Why my mother entrusted my oldest brother with her estate after she dies, I have no idea.  I don't ask her about it, that's her business.  But one thing has changed within me. I came to the point where I thought that I wouldn't want to fight with them over my portion of her estate, I have completely changed my mind on that.  Those bastards don't treat her with the dignity, respect and love that she so freely gives to them.  They sure as heck aren't getting my share and I will fight tooth and nail just because of the way they are behaving now.

Whatever.  I'll get back there in the next couple of months for a 4 or 5 day stay. I will be up to 138 hours of vacation after the beginning of next month and I will have to take some time off or - I will stop accruing.  I take that back, I can go as high as 160 so another month after that won't stop the accrual.
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Wrote that last night.  Since then, all hell broke loose.  My mother did the group text thing and asked why the 2 boys that live near here could only find it within themselves to text her on her birthday?  No cards, no calls, nothing, she went on and ended it with "I am very hurt".

Didn't see any replies until a couple hours later when my oldest brother said "Linda (his wife) had a birthday present for you and we planned to ask  you if you want to go to dinner. You got pissy and shut her down".   Yup, that's when all hell broke loose.  My oldest brother has never wanted to be a part of family anyway, but his tones with mom were a bit surprsiing.  I said nothing, I just sat there and read the exchange between then and it didn't end well.  They appear to be doing the same thing with mom as they did with dad some 15 years ago: cut him off and haven't talked to him since.

I always wondered if they would end up doing that with mom as well.  I dunno if they are or not, but my middle brother never replied to the thread.  How can you live a few miles away and not even call your own mom?  I would have gone over there and brought a cake with candles and took her out to dinner.  My oldest brother just totally blew her off in the text exchange and that was that.  I'm sorta wondering if she is giong to change the executor of her estate if/when she dies.  That would be him and right now I don't trust that he will do any of her wishes.  I don't get my brothers, I never have.  I'm not happy with their deplorable attitudes but I am out of this one.  I'm not going to rescue anyone this time.  They are on their own.

Just mindblowing though. I've always played the mediator but this has gone too far.  Adults acting like babies.

Well, whatever.  Anyway, I got a nice run today which included going back to the Army Depot but also an old abandoned ammunition plant that was also Army long ago. The general contractor said it has been out of operation since 1972 and frankly? It definitely looked it.  Roofs caving in and plants growing up through the woodwork and just completely run down.  But it still was quite intriguing.  You see all that stuff and try to imagine what it was like all those years ago when it was staffed with military personnel and what the walls might tell you if they could speak.

The current forecast is for thunderstorms this coming weekend.  Meaning shutting down doing anything outside.  Perhaps I need the break. But honestly? The hardwood floors in this place need to be treated.  I don't even know how to do that as I haven't lived in a house with such since I was a single digit aged kid, but, there is a gallon jug of the stuff and the directions.  Or, maybe I'll just take the weekend off, go so a movie at the local theater and veg out.  I dunno.  Like my  mom keeps telling me, I don't have an off switch.  I just get stuff in my head and I can't get it out until I do something about it.  So, I pray there really is heavy rain and thunderstorms  - it will nicely water the grass seed I planted and will stop me from working outside and will probably get me to do much of nothing on a weekend.

Well, enough.