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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| I haven't been doing to best at logging in here, or making my daily entries. I just don't get the time very often, and when I do get a little, it seems like nothing works right. This past week we have been training a new persom n at work, which always burns up a lot of time. We also had unforseen problems this time around. I just hope the guy works out. This is tthe first time in a very long time that we have had a full crew, and if everyone does alright, we may just have a good summer at work. I hope so, I need to take some time to heal up, and if things are working smoothly here at work, I should have it pretty easy, as well as a nice break each week, too. If that's not enough, I can take the time to see a doctor and likely end up in a cast and have to take some time off, likely a couple of weeks, or maybe even more. I reckon it will depend on whether they have to rebreak anything to set it. I'm hopefull, however, that the boot thing will be enough and I wont need any further medical attention. Since I'm writing this at work on my Kindle, and have to stand in the doorway to catch Targets free wifi, I had better save and close out. I hope to get back in here and add a bit more later this afternoon. |
| I should be at work right now, since my shift starts at eleven today. However, we now have a new guy trained in and working to get more on the job training. Rhonda opened this morning, and I can either go in or stay home. Of course it's not as easy as that, I would be relieving Rhonda so she can come home. It would also give me a chance to work with this new guy, and help get him ready for his own shift on Tuesday. I would have already gone in, but I'm not doing the best today. One big problem is my foot. The one I messed up a while back, that I thought was finally healing up. I went and over worked it two days ago, and I think I may have done more damage to the fractured area. Apparently, it wasn't healed well enough to handle the extra work load I put on it. I have one of those funky boots to wear on it, but my other foot has some problems, and it puts more strain on that one. Also, I'm sick to my stomach. It started yesterday, and it hasn't gotten any better, maybe even worse. Things are staying down, but there is a lot of burning and pain. Rhonda thinks I may have an ulcer, but I'm not sure. I tend to think it's some food or spice that causes the problems and the reflux. Besides, they are so inconsistent and this is much different than normal. One of the guys at work has been having something similar, so I may have gotten his bug, too. I should have gotten in here sooner, since I had the morning off, but I took a nap and slept right through my alarm, again. I tend to do that every now and then, when I get over tired and bordering on exhaustion. I'm sure that also has a lot to do with my feeling a bit sick, lots of stress and little sleep. And, it's not always my fault, I should add. I have been doing better about getting to bed on time -- most of the time. But, with our messed up schedule, it's often late when we get home and even later when we eat. Getting up at three has me going to bed around seven or eight, and we don't usually get home until around six, eating around six-thirty or even seven. Going to bed with a full stomach makes for bad sleeping, and also adds to my problem. On top of that, being late, we tend to find something quick and easy, or to put it in layman's terms, junk food. Anyway, I would love to stay here and write more, maybe even read a bit and review, but again, I just don't have the time. One day, and one day soon, that will become reality again, but for now, there's no rest for the wicked and there's little for me; time to get ready to drag my ill and aching self off to work. |
| How can things fall apart so quickly? Yesterday I wrote that we were training a new guard, and he was schduled to train in the afternoon. Even though it was my day off, I was up early and in at nine in the morning to get things going. This is off the clock, so unpaid time for me, but part of the job. Of course, they don`t expct us to train new guards very often. Another part of the job is all the paperwork, so after everything was completed I took the packet home, checked everything, and faxed it. During the time I waited for things to get filled out, and while the fax sent, I worked on the new schedule; I needed to add the new employee. That burne up a good four hous of my day, five with driving time included. At four-thirty, I returned to see how he did on the test, and pick Rhonda up. I did not plan on being here long, since I needed to get home, eat, and get to bed early, since I opened this morning at five; I have to be up at three to get ready and make it here on time. When I got to the site, I learn that the store did not complete any of their required training, did not give the video, and did not test. So, we have no new guard, as planned. When I talked to the guard in training, he was tired and ready to call it a day. But when I talked to the store manager, he wanted to do the video and the test then, after five in the afternoon. I explained that it would work better to tet today, after a short review. I did not add that I did not desire to hang around for another hour or two and lose the rest of my day off, I also did not mention that I had plans for the evening, it`s none of thier damn business. Besides, all that mattered was I had requested he be tested on Friday, since they had not done their part on Thursday, as protocal dictated. Instead of setting this up as I askes, the front manager started to argue with me about it. I did not want to argue it, and I thought it very unprofessional of him to sit there and argue in front of the store guests, so I just told him to call the general manager. nce the general managr arrived, he asked what was up. I explained my desire to finish the training today instead of last night. He did not understand why the other manager had made a fuss ver it, and told him to set it up however I desired to do this. So, instead of getting done with woek early, as scheduled, I now have to work another two or three hours. If I had gotten done on time, I could have ran home and done something, but sice it will likely be to or three this afternoon, now, there won't be time to drive home and accomplish anything before returning to pick up Rhonda. In just a few hours, one person,because he does not know his job, has messed up two days for me. More if this messes up the person who was training. I think, with a good review, he will do fine, but already it has him shorted on his on the job training. Each incident like this brings me closer to just resigning from my job, it's just too much for the little they pay me. Now, on top of being the security supervisor for our site, I have to butt heads with store personal and enforce them to follow their own policy that they hold us so tight to. |
| Where does the time go? I was just looking through my mail and seen, off to the side, it's been four days since I blogged in here! I knew I didn't get in here the last couple days, but four? It's been a busy week, and I know that has a lot to do with it, we are training another person this week, and of course the week started out poorly with a guy not showing up for work. Sometimes it seems the problems just wont end. Every time it seems we have things working smoothly, something comes along and messes it all up. It's been four weeks now that I have finally been able to take a couple days off each week with Rhonda. And, each week it's been interrupted with problems. This week was no different, we had Tuesday and Wednesday off together, and then I also had today off. Monday we had plans to go out to eat, then come home and enjoy a fire, with the week looking like it was going to start off well. I had opened and was done by eleven. Rhonda and the new guy were doing the afternoon shift, and were scheduled to work until five in the afternoon, but being slow, may have gotten out early, around three or four. I had come home and taken a nap, so I would be rested up for dinner and the fire later that evening. I woke to the phone ringing, and found out when I answered it, the closing guard had not come in to work. I was still in a fog, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and drove in to see what was going on. The new guy offered to work the closing shift, making his shift twelve hours long. Rhonda and I both tried calling the other guard, but did not get any answer or return calls to our messages. I drove over and sure enough, he was at home. I suppose I should have fired him on the spot, or at least informed him he did not have to worry about coming in on Tuesday. Instead, I had a good conversation with him about work, and some of the problems he is having. We worked out some schedule changes, and hopefully have a solution for him and for myself. Since we are training this week, it would have created a lot of problems had he quit or been terminated, and he did have some legitimate issues. So, we worked out a solution, and new schedule, open to some minor adjustments, if needed. By the time we finally had things resolved, it was getting kind of late, and since the dogs were along for the ride, it made it difficult to go out to eat. We had kind of missed the opportunity because I had to go discuss things with this guy. So, we ended up picking up some steaks and going home to cook. This made for a late dinner, but we enjoyed it, then sat out on the patio and enjoyed a fire and a few drinks. By the time we came in, it was about one in the morning, so of course we didn’t want to get up early on Tuesday. We had plans to get an early start Tuesday, but then we had plans to eat out and have a fire until ten, maybe eleven at the latest. Sleeping in was nice, but it got us started late on our chores we needed to get done, and to top it off, the temperature went over one hundred by early afternoon. Even so, I got the grass mowed, and Rhonda emptied the pond, cleaned it, and refilled it. We had to take frequent breaks as a result of the heat, so it ended up getting pretty late by the time we finished. This resulted in eating late again, and since it was a nice night and we had not had much for a relaxing day, we decided to have another fire and a few drinks, again. We did get to bed earlier, but not much. Wednesday we slept in again, then worked on some more of our projects, but made it more of a lazy kind of day. Today, it was up early and drive Rhonda in to work, and get training going. The new hire will test this afternoon, and I needed to get his paperwork all finished up and faxed. I didn’t have to do much, Rhonda had most of it done for me, but I still needed to sign things off, and fax them to the office. So, after the paperwork was done I brought it all home, worked out the next schedule in accordance to the changes the other guard and I had discussed, then signed and checked the hire packet, faxed it, and went outside for a break. The fax sent and everything was looking good, so I decided to tackle another job that has been needing doing, splitting up a bunch of firewood. I got it done, and restacked it all, leaving some out for a fire this evening, maybe. After, I drank a glass of cold water and sent a text or two off to Rhonda to see how things were going. After a nice break, I came in and washed up, then logged into here. A busy week, but it’s more than just the busy part, it’s the stress and problems from work following me home and not getting a clean break from them. I hope the new guy works out, passes his test, and does a better job than the other guy was doing. I also hope he is more reliable, and I can take a couple of days a week off and not have my phone ringing with work related issues. It’s looking brighter and brighter, but it’s still not certain. One way or another, however, it is going to calm down and I am going to restart my crash course in editing and get back to some writing. Either the job and writing will balance, or one of them has to go. Oh, and I can’t give up writing, there just isn’t any way. It isn’t just a matter of want to, I need to. It is a part of who I am, and it always has been. So, either they balance, or I may just have to lay myself off. Can I do that? |
| Once again, thanks to the new schedule, I'm home instead of at work this morning. For how long, I don't know, that depends on how busy it gets at work. I talked to my wife, who is currently on the job, and it's been a slow morning, so far. Sunday mornings do tend to be slow, but the afternoons can become quite busy on occasion. So far this season, it's been typically slow on Sundays. If it holds, I may not have to go in until noon, or not at all. But, I likely will go in at noon, just in case it does get busy. I live twenty five miles from where I work, and it tends to take at least a half an hour to get there, more if traffic is heavy. My intent is to bring my netbook along in, and if I am not required to work, I can park next to Target and use their free wifi to log onto the internet and do some work. That way, if things pick up, I am right next door and can clock in and be out to the guardhouse in about ten minutes. At the same time, I can get some work done and free up more of my time at home, after Rhonda gets done. That also depends on how busy it gets, if it's slow, she will be done by three-thirty or four, but if it gets busy, she may well be there until five or six this evening. The next task I need to take care of is getting our van back on the road. The transmission is acting up, and we dare not drive it for fear of causing even more damage. I don't know very much about transmissions, or the modern automobile, for that matter, but was once quite handy at doing self repairs. Electronics have left me in the past, but I can still do quite a bit, if I know what needs to be done. The problem seems to be something electrical malfunctioning, and not the actual transmission. So, the first step is to talk to some transmission repair shops to find out what is likely wrong and what it will cost to fix it. Depending on what they say is wrong, I may or may not be able to do the work myself. If it is just a module that is malfunctioning, and it's in a location I can access, I will purchase and change it myself. But, if I cannot do this, I will have to take it in and pay someone to do the work for me. Since money is limited, I'm hoping I can do the work myself. As things tend to go, it will likely cost between fifty and one hundred dollars for parts, but two or three times that for labor. Not only does this make it very difficult for me to finance, it also will mean it will be in the shop for some time, as it seems there is always a waiting period before the work can get done. Of course, even if I can do the repairs myself, I will still need to bring the vehicle in and have the fluid and filter changed, it's past due, and I would also like to have everything checked out to ensure there are no other problems that need attention. This all will require more of my time, and since I have so little, why things are all running behind schedule. But, if I can get it fixed and back on the road, it will save me a great deal of time that I spend now running back and forth from work. It will also save me money, in gas and mileage wear on the one vehicle we are now using double. As it stands now, I drive in for work in the morning, or bring my wife in if she opens. Then, whoever is not working yet drives back home. When the next shift starts one or the other of us drives back in for work, and the other drives back home until it's time to pick up the person at work that means three round trips at fifty miles each instead of two if we ran two vehicles. Also, the van gets much better gas mileage than my old GMC does. Time, it seems, is mans greatest enemy. We never have enough to get done all that requires doing. It passes very quickly when we are enjoying ourselves, it robs us of our youth and vitality, yet when life becomes difficult and we are involved in an unpleasant situation, time slows to a crawl, dragging on forever. I'm just glad that time is not a physical commodity that is similar to money, I'd be consistently overdrawn, and forever indebted! But, luckily, each new day starts the clock afresh and we do what we can with our daily allotment. |
| Sometimes it's just difficult to adjust, even to good changes. Today was like that, and it's still kind of got me off kilter to some degree. It started yesterday, even though the change actually took two weeks ago. The change I'm speaking of is in our work schedule. Normally, and for a long time now, I have worked Saturday mornings. When we revamped our schedule after the last person was hired, I ended up switching around with my wife, who also works at the same site. Now, she opens and works the long shift on Saturday, I do a six hour seven to eight hour shift through the afternoon. On a typical, summer Saturday, it's busy so I would be starting work at a quarter to ten in the morning and then work straight through until five in the afternoon, unless it's still busy, then I stay until six. But, if it's slow, I don't have to go in until it gets busy. That's the way it's going today, nice and slow. In fact, it's been so slow, I may not have to go in until noon, if at all. But, since Saturdays tend to be the busiest day of the week, It would be wise to go in at noon and just stay the afternoon. Today this is especially true, since Rhonda is giving an interview this afternoon. Yesterday, after I returned home, I was still thinking in terms of the old schedule that had me opening on Saturday. It's been so long that I have, it's difficult to just think I'm getting up and going to work before the sun rises. So, we had a light dinner, then watched a little M.A.S.H. on Netflix before turning in for the night. I took few minutes before turning in to get my stuff ready, since I was thinking I would be out the door about quarter after four the next morning. Then, it was up the stairs, set the alarm and get into bed. Rhonda was brushing her hair out, and then slid in next to me. We talked a few minutes, then she said she needed to give the dogs their bed-time snacks and get to sleep since she had to get up and go to work in the morning. It wasn't until she said it, that it registered in my brain that I did not have to go in this morning. Even though this brought a pleasant surprise, it did little to drive the sleepiness from me. I had been up since three that morning after a very restless and sleepless night, and I was exhausted. Within a few minutes, the snacks were gone and the two dogs were in their favorite sleeping spots. Rhonda turned the lamp off, and we snuggled close as we drifted off to sleep. I was sound asleep in minutes, and woke after what felt like hours. I opened my eyes and noticed it was light outside the window. Not bright, but dim light shown outside the bedroom window. I had been sleeping deeply and it did not register correctly, so to my semi-conscious mind, it was early morning, the sun not quite up, but high enough to bring that predawn glow to the landscape below. Struggling to understand, my mind tried to explain why it was getting light outside. I should be at work by now, but the alarms had not sounded -- or had they? I got up, feeling a slight panic as my mind tried to convince me I was late for work. But, then I thought it was my day off and I was sleeping in. No! My subconscious mind yelled out of the fog in my head, it's not your day off it's Saturday and you have overslept. About that Same time I remembered I did not have to work, but Rhonda did. I was starting to walk to her side of the bed, to wake her gently, but quickly. I needed to tell her we had overslept, then get downstairs to the phone and call in. At this point, my mind again grasp that something wasn't right; if Rhonda had not arrived at work, someone would have called by now. How come I didn't here the phone? I was still too far gone into the fog of deep sleep to understand all of this, but it needed to be clarified. I returned to my side of the bed, sat down, and turned on my netbook. I use it as an alarm clock since it has a fully programmable alarm app I downloaded to it. At night, I just turn the screen off and when the alarm sounds any touch to any of the keys illuminates the screen. Then, a tap to the space-bar and the alarm is turned off. With the screen lit up, I could see the time, it was after nine. Surely someone would have called a few times by now. Being a bit more awake, I understood that I may have not put my work phone out where I would hear it, but if they did not get an answer they would have called the home phone, and that would not only wake me, but Rhonda as well. No, there had been no call, so there had to be more to this than what was registering. I needed to see what day it was. I had not come to the conclusion yet that it was still Friday evening, but had instead continued to have thoughts on it being one of my days off. Perhaps I had dreamed something about having the day off, I don't recall, but the thought was there, and it continued to haunt my groggy mind. I was now about half out of the fog and swiped down my screen, revealing the little bar at the bottom. There was the time, and when I touched it, the day and date appeared just above my finger. Friday, 6/5/2015. This absorbed more quickly into my mind since I was now about half, maybe even three-quarters awake. It was not time to get up, I had only been alseep for about an hour and a half. I turned the screen back off and was about to let myself tip over and then lift my feet back on to the bed when another sensation pushed into my awareness -- I had to pee. Reluctantly I got up and took care of this minor inconvenience, then I was back into bed, snuggle up to Rhonda, put one arm under her neck the other over her side, pulled into her a little tighter, and then I was back asleep. This morning when her alarm went off, I remembered I did not have to get up yet. She let me sleep until she was about ready, then woke me gently. I got up feeling great, the first real deep sleep I had gotten for some time. We had a cup of coffee together, then I took her to work and returned home. I've been enjoying my morning off. I made eggs and toast for myself, as well as one egg and a piece of toast for each of my four legged family members, then it was coffee on the patio. They didn't have coffee, although Hannah has tried to get her muzzle into my cup a few time. Not only would it not be good for either of them, but the one thing Hannah does not need is caffeine! While enjoying coffee, I also enjoyed my Kindle out on the patio. I downloaded an app for You-tube and one for Netflix while I listened to the birds sing. After the downloads completed, I started You-tube, found some Garry Rafferty and started one of his albums, turned down low enough it did not block out the sweet songs of the birds. With soft music playing, birds singing, and two dogs lying by my feet, I relaxed with my coffee. After a while, it cooled down, the wind picked up some, and the sky grew darker. I had been enjoying a partly cloudy sky, but it turned gray and dark as i watched. I finished my coffee, then put plants in to protect them from any storms that may happen along, and came inside to get online for a little while, before work. Speaking of work,it's time to get ready, and then drive in. Rhonda called earlier, it's slow and I don't have to go in until noon, but I want to stop at the Post Office before I drive in to work. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| I don't know if this is going to work or not. I`m at work and tapping into Targets wifi, but the signal is very weak. Most days I cannot get it at all and may lose it before I get this saved. I know stop and save often, but if I get busy I`m not going to have time and will lose some of this. Even so, I have a start and if I don`t get time later, all I have to do is finish this up. I just finished three days off and should be rested up, but I didn`t sleep well at all last night. I would just about doze off, and then find myself wide awake again. Also, today is one of my longer days. All that may change soon, since we are having problems with a new hire. Hopefully we get another person hired before things fall apart completely. We have one person to interview, and hopefully h will work out and we can move on to hiring, training, ang getting things working right. So far, I`ve had everyone of my time off periods interrupted, and the problem employee is the cause and usually the source of the interruptions. For now I suppose I should get ready for things to pick up and get busier. I`ll save again, but wait until after to do a spell check... just in case. It's looking like a loy of mistakes and editting needed, but the signal is getting weaker. Sorry for the mistakes, but I`ll have to wait until later to fix this. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| My last day off today, then back to work through the weekend. I shouldn't have quite as tiring of a work period this time around, ionly work nine hours tomorrow, not twelve. I'll still have to wait for Rhonda to get done, but at least I'll be enjoying myself. Also, I receaved my Kindle cover and keyboard today,so I can get more done with it now. Maybe not more, but it will be easier to do many of the things, as well as faster. In fact, I'm using it right now, and typing much faster than I was with the on screen keypad. It's still kind of difficult, since the keyboard is small, and some of the keys are combined to save space. But with time and practice, i think I will be able to type pretty well on this. Besides just the typing, it also has many of the home functions to assist in navugating around. It also has both numbers and the qwerty keys so I don't need to switch back and forth. It uses bluetooth, so no cords, it charges with the same cord as my Kindle, so I don`t nned anything special, and it's easily removed if I don't want to use it. The case is nice, a pretty blue, closes and protects both the Kindle and the keyboard, and also stands the Kindle up for easy viewing. All in all, I' very satisfied with both the case and the keyboard. I'm also happy with the price, it was much less to purchase the case and keyboard combation than it woud have been to purchace them seperately. And, this way thet match in color and fit together as one unit. Now, I'm going to complete this entry and move on to other things. |
| Another day passes, and night falls upon us. The problem is, it passes much to quickly! Not all the time, in fact, just less than half the time as far as days of the week go. Currently I'm working four days a week, and taking three days off. The four days I work put me up to full time, and it's through the weekend, the busy part of the week for us. So, the time should pass quickly, being busy; it drags by so slow, taking what feels like weeks to get to my next three days off. Those three days, however, pass so fast, like hours instead of days. I know, it's relativity, and the story is that Einstein was asked to explain his theory on relativity, which went something like this. Sit and talk to a pretty woman, and hours pass like minutes, but put your hand on a hot stove burner and minutes pass like hours. I know, that's far from an exact quote, but the main part is there, as is the meaning. The solution, of course, is a time machine. No, not one that whisks a person to another place in the timeline, forward or back, but a machine that manipulates the pace as which time passes. Three settings, fast, normal, and slow, are all that are needed. On the first morning I get up for work, switch that mechanical wonder over to fast and the day passes in minutes, then I'm back home and turning it down to slow, enjoying a nice, long, and relaxing evening. Then, the next morning, back to fast, and so on. The last day of work, after getting home, it's switched to slow until the clock on the wall indicates it's time to drive in to work, then back to fast. What about normal? Well, we all have those times both at work and at home, when normal would give ample time to complete something that is not really pleasant or unpleasant, but just a fact of life. Oh, and it needs to be the size of a pocket watch or wrist watch, so it can go everywhere. This machine, like spell checkers, would be a marvel of modern science, and put cell phones down to second place on the list of gadgets to have. In fact, maybe someone could just design an app for the smart phone, and tie it right into the calendar and clock, so it could be programmed in advance. Until then, I'm going to be running short on time and late getting in here when the day just flies by faster than I can keep up with it. Maybe such a gadget will never exist, but just think of the possibilities of a few good story=ies developing from the idea... |
| It's late and I'm not going to get much more time to write today. I spent most of the day working on the roof above the window seat, and I'm beat. Besides working on a Ladd, I also must have gone up and down it at least a hundred times. The worst part is, I'm not even close to finished. The wood under theshingleswas all bad and I don't have the right size on hand. I was able to cover it and put down some tar paper, so it's good enough to keep the rain out. Once it was opened up, I discovered the is no insulation inside, so I'll have to I sulfate it,the put the right thickness boards down, tar paper it, and the new shingles. It turned into a lot bigger job than anticipated. For now, it will have to do as is, and hopefully next week I can get the materials to finish up the roof part. Then the next part will be to open up the sides and insulate the rest. |
| Once again, it's late and I will be making a short entry. Also, I am again pecking away at keys that do not exist. What is, I'm writing from my Kindle. In a couple more days, I'll have a real keyboard, but for now I'm taping away poo n a virtual one. I finished work early today, but had to wait around for Rhonda. So, even though it is was done early, I didn't leave early at all. Then, it was off to pick up a few groceries before coming home. Once home, we let the dogs out, put stuff away, and then took a little time for us. Weekends tend to be long, tiring,work days and we see very little of one another outside of work. Afterwards, we both just snuggled and drifted off into slumber. We both needed sleep, but I slept the longest. What was meant to be an hour and a half nap turned into three hours. Now, I wonder, "Will I sleep tonight?" I hope so, but will likely be up a bit later than normal. That's alright with me, I needed the sleep bad, and it seems if I plan on getting caught up until me days off, I end up getting called in and even further behind on sleep. Now, I'm rested and ready,if something was to come up. It would be best if not, but just in case, you know. |
| It's been a few days without an entry, so I better get with the program. I've been busy, but it's more than just time preventing me from getting in here. I must have really done some damage when I fell. I thought I was healing pretty well until I worked on the Jimmy, and had to lie across the engine a couple times. Now, I'm right back to where I was when I first fell. In addition, it seems I've re-injured my old hernia. I have the pain back, especially when I cough, but I don't have anything bulging or pushing through the tear. I suppose it's the patch they put in,tearing away from th tissue. I'm being hopefully that it's a small tear and will re-attach on it's own. But, if it does not, I'll have to go in for surgery. I'll hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. On a side note, I have a lot set up on my Kindle and am in Writing Dot Com right now on it. It's slower writing, but not too bad. I know I'll get better at this on screen typing with practice, I also have a blue-tooth keyboard on order. That should speed up writing a lot. Now, if I can figure out how to use my word processor when I don't have internet,I could still write and save my entry then copy and paste it here later, when I can connect. In time, I know. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Where to start this... I suppose with yesterday, since I did not make an entry for the day. Yesterday was my first of three days off for this week. Well, as long as nothing happens that changes things, and so far, nothing has. I slept in, which did me a world of good, but still was up by eight-thirty. Both Rhonda and I lounged around for the better part of the morning, then started our days activities. Number one on my list was to do a tune-up on the Jimmy. I had purchased all the parts on Monday, just over a hundred bucks for everything; plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Rhonda helped me get set up and then I dug into the task, knowing it was going to be slow going and difficult. The actual tune-up is easy enough, but on this vehicle there just isn't any room to work. I had to jack up the driver side and remove the tire to get at the plugs. The passenger side wasn't as bad, but still a pretty tight fit for my arms. I probably would have had an easier time by removing that tire, also. I had just got a good start going, two plugs and wires changed when company showed up. I had forgotten she was coming over to pick rhubarb with Rhonda. I had stopped working and taken a short break when she showed up, so I prolonged my break and visited for a short time. Then, I went back to work on the Jimmy while she and Rhonda went down to the rhubarb patch and cut a bunch. It took most of the afternoon to change out all six plugs, wires, cap and rotor. It was difficult to reach, and I really taxed my arms getting it done, but I got it. The cap sits in the back of the engine, however, and I just could not reach, so I ended up stepping up on the bumper and lying across the engine. This part didn't take real long, but it was enough to keep me there for five minutes or so. It was also long enough to completely re-injure my abdominal muscles. My stomach is so sore today I can barely touch it, and even without touch, it hurts. I had bruised it badly when I fell on the gate, but it seemed to have been healing well. Now, I'm not sure, it should not have been this painful and done as much additional bruising as this if it was healing. But, I did get it done and it runs nice. We went for a short ride, just to try it out, then returned to finish up the day mowing grass. After we mowed, it was past time to eat so we ordered a pizza and ran into town to get it. We are too far out for delivery, so we had to drive in, but we also needed to get a few things at the grocery store anyway. Once we had completed our shopping and picked up the pizza, we returned home, lit a fire and enjoyed the pizza on the patio next to an open fire. We ended up out there until midnight. Then off to bed, once we had let the fire burn down and carried everything in. We had a quarter bag of marshmallows left, so we toasted them and made a revised version of the popular some-mores. We used those delightful Keebler shortbread cookies, the ones covered in chocolate, and just put a toasted marshmallow on one then added another cookie. They were terrific. Eventually, we just became too tired and had to call it a night around midnight. No entry, but only because it was a busy day and a wonderful evening. We put things away, then went to bed, to sleep sound until seven-thirty this morning. Up early for coffee on the patio, since it was a beautiful morning. Both Rhonda and I kind of took it easy all day, but still got a lot done. We figured out a way to filter out the pond, so that's much cleaner again, we set up the screen tent and put the glider in it, and I worked on part of dinner while she showered and she is working on the rest now, while I write. It's been a very relaxing day and would have been wonderful except for a call that came in just a few minutes ago, from the office. Last week, mid way through my time off, a situation came up and the calls started. We pushed on and made the most of the time off, but it was interrupted, last Wednesday and a mess to return to work. Now, mid way through my time off, my boss is calling me after seven at night. I could understand if it was during business hours and an emergency, but I doubt it. I did not answer, but will check my voice mail to see what he is interrupting my time off for. It only cements the decission I made to resign from this madness. I mean, a person needs time off from work, right? Of course, when I asked him about turning my phone off, he said it's advised to keep it on all the time and with me, so I can take care of problems right away. I don't think so, not for just under eleven bucks an hour. Even when I was in the service, we had only one weekend on standby, the rest we were free to enjoy some down time. So, my writing was once again interrupted and now I'm off to see what the hell he's calling for on my day off. |
| Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember and honor our brave who gave all in service to country and freedom. So, why am I at work? If there was any specific holiday that should require everyone to have the day off, it’s today. After all, our country, as we know it would not be here if it were not for the brave souls of th9ose who serve and fight for freedom, especially those who gave their very lives to earn and preserve that freedom. But, that’s also why I am here, at work, today. Yes, because they preserved freedom, and that means it’s by choice whether businesses are open today, instead of mandated. It’s been a very wet weekend, and today is more of the same. To wet for camping, or much of anything outside, but the winds aren’t bad, the temperature is fair, and we have not had any severe storms. Today it’s light rain, and from the forecast this morning, no storms at all today. Of course, the weather forecast here is updated and changed every couple of hours, as if they look out the window and change it to meet the current conditions. I have never read or heard such terrible weather forecasts, from the wording to the accuracy, they are just wrong. I don’t know if this national or just local, but around here the forecasts stink, and the wording is horrid. I was scheduled for a longer day today, but once again our newest guard has asked to work the afternoon for more experience. That means I’m done at eleven, and since it’s a Holiday, the store didn’t open until six-thirty, a pretty short day. Because if that change, I would have had to wait for six hours for Rhonda to finish and give her a ride home. Normally I would drive home and come back to pick her up, but our van is suffering trans-axle problems and I don’t want to put any extra mile on it until we get it in for repairs. So, I drove the Jimmy in today, even though that also is not running very good. I’m pretty convinced it just needs a good tune-up, but have not had time to do anything other than work. It had not been run in two weeks, so it didn’t want to start and stay running, butt after a couple of tries it smoked, choked, and misfired, but stayed running. After a few minutes, it smoothed out pretty well, but was still misfiring a bit. After driving about half way, it smoothed right out and ran pretty good again; better than it was running when I parked it. This convinces me even more, it just needs some new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor. I’ll pick them up before leaving town today, then tomorrow I should be able to work on it and give it a good tune-up. It’s a miserable thing to work on, there just isn’t any room to reach for anything, but I did change plugs once before and know I can do it again. The wires may be a bit more difficult, but I think I can reach them all. It may require taking the front tires off to reach in, but whatever works, right? Other than working on the Jimmy, I have no real plans for my days off this week, except mowing grass. That’s going to be a twice a week ordeal if it keeps raining like it has been the last month. I do want to set up our screen tent and see if it needs any repairs. It’s pretty nice, but does not weather strong winds at all. Even so, it’s not bad to put up and take down, and I may find a way to just drop the tent part and leave the supports up. I’ll have to look it over, though, it’s been a few years, well actually quite a few years since we had it up. I’ve also reached a conclusion from these things I mentioned, as well as many other things. I need to resign my position as supervisor and drop a few hours from my schedule. The reason we have not used the screen tent for so long is the same reason why we have only been out camping two or three times in the past few years, and why we have only mad a couple of trips outside of our home area over the same period. I just don’t have time. Because o9f the nature of our job, it requires me to bring a lot of work home and be on call when I’m not at work. So, I go to work in the morning, then clock out and go home, to work. On my days off, I’m interrupted by my work phone almost all the time, I am coming in to cover for people, talk to people and serve corrective actions on people. It leaves no time for much of anything else. Of course, my wife is supportive, but it cost us time together and leaves much left undone that she just is not able to do. What little time I do get off from work is spent taking care of the worst of the situations at home, whether it’s mowing grass or fixing a leaking pipe, There is zero tie for writing or studying, and I need to do both. I need to study up on grammar so I can edit my writing, and do better on future writings. If the company will permit it, I will train Rhonda to take over all supervisory tasks, freeing up a lot of time for me to keep things working at home, and providing more time to study and write. It will still require a lot of time from her, but her shift is better situated for her to see everyone, meaning less time spent driving in, and less of her off work time spent talking to anyone. Also, I have already begun to set up a new procedure that will put another guard in charge in our absence, so we can go and do without being harassed by that damn work phone. All in all, these changes will provide me a lot more time for things other than work, less stress, and more time to do things at home, besides my studies and writing. Because I know the job, I can offer a lot of assistance, when needed to keep things easier for Rhonda, and with the new procedures, it will provide her more time off from and the ability to get away. I’m reluctant to resign, but it’s the only way. I can work part time, maybe even full time and still study and write, but I can’t have a career as a supervisor and a career as a writer at the same time, they both require to much, and there is only so much in me to go around. The writing is very important to me, and I’m not willing to give it up, therefore y career as a supervisor must go; it’s the only way. If working as a security guard full time is too much, I will look into reducing hours as well, but for now, it’s just a step down to see if that frees up enough time for everything else. |
| Well, here I sit, waiting for Rhonda to finish work so we can go home. If I had my vehicle fixed, I'd be home already, instead of sitting in the van, in the Target parking lot, abusing their guest wifi. If I wasn't at work so much, and then have so much work to do after work, I could get some of this work done. That sounds like a lot of work. It probably does not make any sense to anyone other than those who know first hand what I'm writing about. I work at my job, then as supervisor, I get off work but still have to do a bunch of stuff for work. I'm up at three in the morning, and most of my free time after work is spent working on some problem or another. This leaves very little time for me to do anything else, including keeping vehicles up. We have been working on some options, and today it became clear, when the van, our only other vehicle, started t have transmission problems. I need less to do for work, or more time. The only choice of course, is less to do for my job so I announced my intent to step down as supervisor. I'll keep working, at least for the present, but I have had enough of the demands they require I have not set a date yet, but will once I talk to my boss and announce it officially. The key factor is me stepping down and Rhonda picking up the baton. I believe the company will go for it, but if they say no, she cannot assume the position, then I may just quit completely. Now, I need to get stuff ready to go, so another short entry. |
| Once again I missed a day, yesterday. Friday is now my twelve hour day, and I ended up working the full shift. But, it worked out nice for today. I was scheduled to work from ten until five this afternoon, but one of the new guards wanted some extra training and asked if he could work some of the double coverage this weekend. Sunday was out, but he wanted to work this afternoon and Monday afternoon. It gave me a chance to open this morning and be done by eleven, and the same for Monday. It also meant Rhonda didn't have to go in early and open, a plus for her, too. He didn't even realize he was giving me a half a day off for my birthday, but that's just what he did. Because of the long, and busy day yesterday, I ended up going to bed pretty early, and I slept all night for a change. I could have done with a few more hours of sleep, but I feel pretty good today, am not too tired, and am enjoying the afternoon. Even so, I'm trying to get a few things done, like uninstalling MS Office 365 and re-installing it, in hopes it will work right this time around. I'm also spending a little time with my birthday present, a new Kindle Fire. I also wrote for my journal at work this morning, bright and early before it became so busy, so I'll have to add that part to my post. I don't have access to the internet at work, so I just write in my word proccessor and then copy and paste once I'm home. once i finish up here, it's more time with the Kindle, then off to pick up Rhonda and out for dinner. She said I have to pick where I want to go, so I'm going to look at a few places we have not tried yet. XX Entry From This Morning XX |
| Not that I know for sure, but I suspect I won't have time later to write my journal entry. I base this on previous experience, and just knowing who things go. See, it's just going on noon here, and I have the rest of the afternoon and early evening to do what ever I please. What I plan is taking my wife, Rhonda, and our two dogs, Hyko and Hannah, on a picnic. We made some potato salad for this yesterday, and today we will stop by my step-daughters and visit for a little while, seeing her newborn twins. Then, it's a stop at County Fair Foods for something to drink and dessert before heading over to the diner that will provide us with our broasted chicken. Once we have picked up all the goodies, we will head west, to a state park on the James River, enjoy a peaceful afternoon of hiking along the river, and dining. It will also give us a great opportunity to check out the camping sites and determine if we want to spend a few days camping here. We have fished along the James, but further to the south. It's a nice spot, but limited access for fishing, and with the higher waters, not as productive as it had been. This campground may just provide us with another fishing area along the James as well as a camping area. That just may be our next outing, a couple of days in a tent, along the banks of the James, enjoying the beauty of nature, fishing, and hopefully dining on our catch. Unfortunately, we will have to rely solely on our camp-stove because there is a burn restriction in place there, do to the very dry conditions. If we do camp out there, I will have to investigate further the use of our fire-ring. It is a bowl shaped container with legs, and a screen mesh that fits on top. Since it's enclosed, it may be permitted even with the ban. For now, we don't need a fire, just a place to sit down and enjoy the food and the beauty of nature around us. |
| Gosh, I didn't make an entry yesterday. Darn it anyway! Alright, enough of the gosh's and darn-its. It isn't that bad. After all, I had the day off and just put in a full day, not leaving time for a journal entry. I could have made time; pulling myself away from other activities, but no, I didn't want to. I started my day off with a nice sleep in. I was up numerous times throughout the night having to get up out of bed and walk cramps off. I don't know why my legs insisted on cramping so badly, but they did. I seem prone to leg cramps, but have been doing pretty good. I know too much sodium is a factor, so I try and limit how much salt I ingest. Also, water is a contributing factor, a big on. Here I don't always do so well. Of course, lately we have been so busy and limited on time, I have not done well with limited salts, either. It's difficult to cut back on sodium when eating out and grabbing fast foods. Also, being cold and wet outside, I have not had a desire for water, but instead have been drinking more coffee again. Recently, however, I have again curbed my sodium intake, cut back on coffee and have been trying to drink more water. That's why I was surprised to have my legs cramping through the night. I must have been up a half dozen times as a result, and did not sleep very well at all. But it did feel good to sleep in, and I was fairly rested through the day. It was decided that we should cut the grass right off, since it was cut a little long the week before, and with all the rain, it has grown fast. So we spent the better part of the day mowing and cleaning up around the yard. Once that was accomplished, we set down and took a nice break on the patio. I started a fire, and we sat and enjoyed it. It was a two-fold fire, one part was to sit and enjoy, relaxing and unwinding. the other part was to get rid of all the sticks we had picked up. By we, I mean Rhonda, except for a few that I grabbed after we finished mowing. It would have been perfect, except the neighbors dogs kept barking. They put them out about noon, and they bark constantly through the day. We have tried talking to them about things before, but they run inside and won't even come to the door to talk. The dogs run and get into garbage, bark, and are a general nuisance. to top it off, they went from one little dog, to a little dog and a big dog, then the little one must have died, but they replaced it with a German Sheppard, and recently added a black lab to the mix. Of course, they are the worst possible neighbors anyway, never a considerate thought for anyone else in the neighborhood, trash blows into everyone yard, and just general inconsideration of others. After four hours of listening to the dogs yapping and barking, we finally decided to call the sheriff and see if he couldn't get them to hush up the dogs. He did, for a while. As soon as I seen his vehicle exit town, she put the dogs back out and it started all over. But, eventually she brought them in for the night and it was quiet. Well, except for the birds. The Robins were making a heck of a ruckus for a while. We have an owl in the area, and they go ballistic when it settles into a local tree. But, we did not see the predator last night, although I heard him several times. The afternoon before he settled into a high branch in the back yard, and it was a sight to see the Robins harass him as they cried out for him to vacate their nesting area. We enjoyed the show, Mr. Owl, or Mrs. I'm not sure, did not seem to mind at all. The only thing that chased the owl away was Rhonda trying to take a picture. With darkness came peace and quiet, just the occasional distant sound of an animal, or fowl. It was a cold night, but the wind was out of the north, blocked in part by the house and very mild anyway. The fire was hot, and it felt good, as we relaxed and savored the quiet of the night along with the flickering flames and the sweet smell of birch on the fire. It was this peaceful escape that kept me from writing in my journal, but only by my own choice. With it being another beautiful evening, and the neighbors gone, it will be an even more relaxing evening to enjoy the backyard, the patio, the fire, and another journey into that blissful escape of a fire. We do not have to get up early again tomorrow, and knowing how difficult it would be to pull myself free, I am writing this now, before venturing back out to enjoy the rest of the evening. |
| Glad I did this different today. If I hadn't I wouldn't have had much time to write, again. But, today I did some writing for my journal at work, in Word, saved it, and now can just copy it over. It wasn't as long a day as the past three, but I had a lot to do from home, and worked on that until it was time to go get Rhonda. I wish I could say i have it all done, but I'm so far behind my shadow just lapped me. I'll get it caught up, but in the meantime, here's my entry from this morning: Monday I’m trying something new today, I’m writing this at work, on my little netbook. The biggest problem is the keyboard is kind of small and it’s difficult to hit the right keys. Of course, practice will correct that problem. The other problem is interruptions. Of course that’s to be expected since I’m at work. But, mornings tend to be pretty slow and it gives me time to get some work done. In fact, I just finished some work, and am now clear to spend some time for my personal writing. I had most of this work done, but still needed to print out. I tried to last night, but being tired was making it difficult. On top of being so tired, nothing seemed to work right. Of course it didn’t take long this morning to figure out what was wrong. Last night, however, I couldn’t figure out anything, being so tired. It’s frustrating, to say the least. Things need ot be done, but once a person crosses that line between being functional and being exhausted, things just won’t work. At least that’s how it works for me. I don’t have much to write about, having been at work for the last four days, and spending most of those days working. I've done long shifts since Friday spending over twelve hours either at work, or waiting to go home. We are currently down to one vehicle, so I drive in, Rhonda rides with and goes back home. Then she comes in for her afternoon shift, which overlaps with mine. We get done about the same time, unless it’s slow, then I get to clock out a bit early. But, since we are riding together, and it’s too late for me to drive home; I’d have to turn around and come right back, I wait for her to finish and then we drive home together. I spend pull up to Target and hook into their free Wi-Fi and try and get some work done, but I usually am so tired I don’t accomplish much. Then I pick Rhonda up and we do a little shopping, if needed. Once we are done, we go home, make dinner, eat and sleep. Once we get caught up on things, we can cut out the shopping after work. That will get us home about an hour earlier. Why is it, a quick stop to the store will ultimately result in one hour? Anyway, having everything on hand would make it nice, and our plan is to have a lite meal after work, instead of trying to cook and eat a full dinner that late. It’s not late, around seven when we eat, but since I get up at three in the morning, seven-thirty or eight is our bedtime. Eating late means not sleeping sound, resulting in being tired. That means we take short cuts and put things off, resulting in more of the same. Kind of a cycle we want to break. Now that we are actually getting some time off, we should be able to do some proper shopping, have items on hand, and pick up specific items for our light dinner on the nights we need to get to bed early. Once we get that fixed, and are in bed by eight, I won’t be so tired, and can get more done while waiting after work. Of course, one of the things we have been putting off is working on the Jimmy and getting it back on the road. Once we get that running again, I won’t have to wait for Rhonda, I’ll be free to drive myself home as soon as I am done. Also, if we do need to pick something up, I can stop on my way home, leaving Rhonda free to drive right home. This means we eat earlier and can be in bed on time. It’s interesting how quickly things start to pile up when a person is working seven days a week and has no time for anything other than work. But, once things start to fall into place, it takes forever to get back out from under it all. I’d say the only good thing is we are earning more money. We are putting in about ten hours more a week, so it’s not a lot more money, but the checks are nicer. Unfortunately, we are putting most of it into gas. What we don’t spend extra on gas seems to get used up buying foods we shouldn’t be buying, but they are fast and convenient with our lack of time. So, in the end, we probably break even or end up with a little less spending power. Now, it’s getting to the point where it’s going to start getting busy here, so I should save and close. I’ll paste this into my journal later and have a little more time to do other things in here. |
| Glad I did this different today. If I hadn't I wouldn't have had much time to write, again. But, today I did some writing for my journal at work, in Word, saved it, and now can just copy it over. It wasn't as long a day as the past three, but I had a lot to do from home, and worked on that until it was time to go get Rhonda. I wish I could say i have it all done, but I'm so far behind my shadow just lapped me. I'll get it caught up, but in the meantime, here's my entry from this morning: Monday, 4/20/15 I was going to add a little more to my journal entry but couldn’t get logged into Writing.com. I was also enjoying a nice chat when things went down, so I was unable to say goodnight to her. Hopefully I can get this posted relatively soon, since I will be headed for dreamland shortly. In anticipation of the site being back online… “Goodnight, Shelly, may your dreams be pleasant.” Someone just mentioned that the asparagus was up and they had already picked some. We also have an asparagus patch in the yard, and I was meaning to go clean it up and pick some as well, but forgot all about it. While chatting, Shelly mentioned sautéed asparagus and I was reminded to go pick some. But, when I dug through the overgrowth to see what was beneath, I didn’t find anything; ours is not up yet. This may be a good thing, with the weather we have. In checking the forecast, I see we are going to be below freezing the next few nights. I won’t have to worry about frost, since it’s not up yet. Also, I was going to clean the area up, but I think I’ll wait another week. All that cover is protecting the ground from frost and snow, and it may be too early to clear it away. No asparagus for dinner tonight, but soon, very soon Now, it’s a quick dinner, then off to bed for me. Rhonda won’t be home until after eleven, and I know the dogs will wake me. I’ll get up and visit with her for a little while, until she is ready to come to bed, then get a few more hours of sleep, before getting up for work again. Luckily, it will be a very short day for me. On the down side, I have so much work to get caught up on I will have the rest of the morning and the afternoon used up. But, I want to get this stuff done before my day off. |
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