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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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| Wow, what a crazy weekend. I worked all weekend, as is normal for me, but usually Saturdays are busy and then Sundays tend to be a bit slower. They kind of pick up early in the day, around ten or so, and peak around two or three, then start to slow down as the afternoon unfolds. By four, I'm usually wondering if I should stay or go home, since it's not busy enough for two people, but I stay just because there may be a rush around five. Most of the time, the rush isn't enough to warrant two guards, but sometimes it is. This weekend started getting kind of crazy on Friday. It seemed like it was not just a bit busier, but it was nuttier; if that makes sense. It's like along with the normal weekend shoppers, there were a lot of out of the area people coming by, too. Then to top it all off, it was like there was a full moon, or the gates got left open at the asylum. And, this was Friday afternoon. Normally Fridays can be a little busier, that's why they have us schedule double coverage for the afternoon. But, it's kind of the opposite of Sunday. It starts out pretty normal, except there is a little more traffic from the contractors who want to get their stuff before the weekend. It makes it a little busier, in the morning, and by noon some of the early weekend shoppers may be showing up, but not much. A lot of times we could get by with just one guard, but there are times when two are needed. As the afternoon passes, the traffic in the yard tends to pick up a bit at a time, and by mid afternoon it's nice to have two guards working. By the time the night guard comes on, it's usually a good thing there are two working, as it can be pretty busy. But, by five thirty or six, it's slowing down, again. Saturday is quiet in the morning, and picks up as the day goes on. The mornings are typically slower than during the week because there isn't any vendors coming in, no packages, as a rule, and a lot of people don't get up and get an early start. But, by eight or so, there is a little traffic, and it just picks up as the morning goes by. It's not real busy, but it keeps a person jumping through the morning, and by ten it's usually getting busy enough to need two guards. It normally stays busy for the rest of the afternoon, and even on into the evening. But, around ten to about two is the busiest part of the day, then it slows some. It's still enough to keep two guards busy, but there is usually time for one to take a break, or eat some lunch while the other covers everything. Sundays are kind of messed up all the time, or so it seems. There may or may not be freight coming in, and sometimes there is a semi or two waiting when I open at eight. The same with guests, it may be quiet when I get there, or there can be three or four guests waiting to get in the yard. Some are shopping, some are returning things. No matter, if they are there around eight to eight thirty, they are in a big hurry. It's kind of funny, some guests will show up right at opening with a huge return, no paperwork to help list items or SKU numbers, and it's all just piled in a heap on the trailer or in the box of the pickup. They will not have any idea what they have, and how much of anything. They are either waiting when I open the gates, or show up shortly after, while I'm still logging and doing my paperwork, and get all upset because they are in a big hurry. Of course, it takes a while to just write everything down, and since there is no reference for any of it, it takes even longer. Because they didn't bother to put the items in any kind of order, it slows it down even more, and as I'm digging through the pile trying to find everything they are getting hotter and hotter because they are in hurry. Sometimes they actually start yelling at me and making it even more difficult because it's taking so long and they are going to be late for church. I don't bother to ask them why they decided to do a return before church, I just stick to the task at hand. Then, I finally get the forms filled out, and explain to them that someone from Menards also has to verify the counts and items, sign off on the forms, and then they can get unloaded. Of course, the yard doesn't have much for help yet, since it's opening time, and if there is freight in the yard, they are unloading the truck, so it takes a long time to get someone over there to sign them off. Then, they have to take the paperwork up to the service desk to get the money refunded for the return. Of course the same thing is true inside the store at this time, there is hardly no help there yet. Since the mornings are kind of slow, they don't want to have a full crew just standing around. So, it takes a while to get someone at the service desk to authorize the return. So much for being in a hurry -- but a week or two later they will do the same thing all over. Anyway, Sundays start out kind of slow, but they can also be kind of busy. By ten it's picking up some, and by eleven it's busy enough to need two people. It stays busy through the noon hour, then about one it kind of slows right down. But, depending on what's going on, it can be kind of steady and keep both guards busy, or it may die out and then they all come in a rush. Most times it's kind of slow through the afternoon, but there are big rushes that hit about once every hour or so. But, by later in the afternoon, it's slowing down, and by four it's not busy enough for two guards, but they both stay just in case there is another rush at five. Sometimes there is, other times there isn't. It may stay kind of busy up to six or so, but really not enough for two guards, but enough to keep one pretty busy. By six or six thirty, however, it just dies right out, and then it's slow for the rest of the night. But, this weekend it was busy on Friday, Busy on Saturday, and even busier today. It started earlier all weekend, and it never slowed down. Today seemed busier than yesterday, and it continued right up to closing. In fact, some guests were still showing up as Rhonda was trying to close down the yard. On top of being busier, there was just a lot of crazy people and nuts mixed in with the normal weekend crowd. I almost got run over three times today, and I can't even begin to count how many times someone just did some totally off the wall crazy thing. And it wasn't just out in the yard where we had to deal with it, they were showing up all over the store, and town. I don't know why the weekends are so screwed up this month, I suspect it has something to do with the unfavorable weather we have been getting, but then again, it could be because it was nice out today. The biggest reason I don't understand, I reckon, is it doesn't make any difference if it's nice out or not, sales or not, or anything at all, that could cause this. All I know is, by the time I get done work, I'm shot and I just want to come home and get as far away from the craziness as possible. |
| Not sure what to write about today, but I'm sure something will come to mind as I type. It's Saturday, and my long day. I got up at three thirty and was at work by five this morning, but didn't get done until five thirty tonight. I had some shopping to do after, and I needed to put gas in for Rhonda in the van, and for me in the Jimmy, so it was real late by the time I got home. Then, it was relaxing for a few minutes with a cup of coffee, then in here to write this entry. But, I'm so tired I can't think. I should take a short nap while I wait for Rhonda to get done, but I need to write first, or I may forget. I don't mind taking naps, especially short ones, but unfortunately, I seldom get a short nap. It seems once I fall asleep, I want to sleep for the duration, and it's almost impossible for me to get myself woke back up. When I do, I feel so out of it and half asleep, that I probably would have been further ahead to just stay up and not take a nap at all. Anyway, Rhonda will be done in a little while, or at least should be done in a little while. She calls before she leaves town, so I anticipate her call around nine thirty or close to it. That gives me enough time to write this out before she calls, if I can think of something to write about. That's the problem, and it's just because I'm so tired. That and I didn't really have much of a day, since I worked all day. I could talk about work, but it wasn't anything different than any other day, so I really don't have anything to write about on that subject, either. For that matter, shopping was uneventful as well. Normally there is something that goes on while shopping or even at work, but if there was today, I missed it. Yesterday we did a little bit of shopping as well, and there was a little something that happened that I could have written about yesterday. We parked next to a little fella that was bouncing against the steering wheel, and every once in a while, the horn would honk, and the little fellow would jump and then laugh. His mom was supervising the whole affair, and he found it even funnier when she would jump as well. Even as we walked past, another couple got out of another car, and the woman seemed to understand and know what was going on, but the guy she was with didn't have a clue. He kept insisting it was a vehicle alarm going off. This made it all even funnier for me, and I had quite a laugh over it all. Even as I type I try and think if there was anything at all that took place today that I could write about. But still nothing come to mind. It wasn't real busy, and most of the guests where real nice to work around today. I guess there was on person who came in with a huge trailer behind his pickup. Rhonda scanned him out, and found he was missing quite a few items. She informed him and instead of him being thankful we seen this, and thankful we saved him from having to make another drive in, he got mad. He was in a big fired rush to get going, because he had a crew hired to start working, but they didn't have any material for them to work with. Even so, it would have wasted even more time had he left and then had to come back in. Also, since he had everything in an enclosed trailer, it would have been almost impossible to get any items added back on to his ticket, since the cameras can't see into an enclosed trailer. But instead of being happy we found he was missing items, he got mad. He did go back and get the items he missed, so I know the items were important. But instead of saying thank you, he started to wine and complain. We usually see a lot of this behavior, when it should be just the opposite. Like the guy who come in with his crew to get patio block. He does landscaping so he buys bulk. But, instead of him having one pallet of 350 patio block, one pallet of 350 retaining wall block, and one pallet of 180 edgers, he had two of the edgers and only one of the others. We seen this right off, informed him, and he had his crew take it back and get the right stuff. He was happy I found he had wrong items, and most guests are. It saves them the hassle of returning things, and trying to convince the store they left with the wrong stuff. But, there always seems to be one person who goes contrary to every thing/ Well, that's enough for now... |
| Eight o'clock on a Friday, and I'm writing in my journal while I wait for dinner to get done. After dinner it's a little television and then off to bed. I already know I'm going to be late getting to bed, because tomorrow I have to be up around three in the morning. That means I should be in bed already, if I'm going to get enough sleep. That's the way the weekend goes, but there is relief on Sunday, since I don't have to be up until six. Monday it's beck to three, then three days off. We tore up the patio and redid it over our three days off, and we almost have it done. After work we picked up a couple more concrete steppers, and some more mulch. They did not have any paver locking sand, so we will have to get that later. With the rain moving in, I won't get much chance to do anything on the patio anyway, so it's not like waiting a few days is going to be a problem. Also, I just won't have much time to anything the next few days. When Tuesday comes, however, I want to get most of the rest of the patio wrapped up. I will have to wait for the privacy lattice panels, but hopefully only a week or so, until payday. I also have to get some kind of cap to put over the top of the wall, but not sure what yet. I need something that can curve as well as be straight, but the wall caps don't look like they will work out the way I want. There are some small retaining all blocks that will work, but they are thicker than I wanted. I'm not sure just how I want to cap it, either. See, what we have is a bunch of second hand stuff that we got from our neighbor when they redid their house and yard. We purchased some pavers and edgers to redo what we had down, and we moved the wall and added on to it. The wall is built out of a retaining wall block, made to angle slightly back as it goes up. This would be fine if it was holding dirt or something similar behind it. But we just used them to build a wall, and of course, it angles slightly back, making the wall a bit unstable. This is mostly do to the ground not being completely level, and from the weight slowly tipping the wall more and more with time. We moved it out some when we added on to the patio, and I filled in some where it needs to go with a pea-rock gravel. It made a good, solid base, and it also is a little bit higher on the back and a little lower on the front. Only where the wall is built up to four feet high, however. The purpose is to make the wall angle a little bit forward, to counter it's natural nagle backwards. I didn't put so much under the back that the wall is straight up and down, this would have look odd. But, it did keep the angle down, so there is only about three inches difference from the front of the wall to the back. I also drove some heavy fence posts down through the holes in the block, to anchor the wall in place. It should stay up and in place for quite a while. Now, there are only a few things left to finish this project up. We want to put a privacy lattice up around the patio. The idea is to put a two foot high section on the four foot part of the wall, and a four foot section on the rest. This should have the panel up about six foot, enough to provide some nice privacy. Of course, it's only semi private, since anyone can see in through the openings, but it's going to be enough for what we require. I also have a bunch of bricks, and I want to build a brick wall behind the fire ring, and on one side. This, if it turns out, should create a corner built of brick about four feet high, and about three feet by three feet on two sides of the fire ring. Then, with the lattice patterned concrete we set up in place, it's like having a privacy panel in front and on the side of a fireplace. Only, it's not a fireplace, it's just an enclosed fire ring. If I put another wall up and a top over it, it would look much like a fireplace, but ours is fully open on top and on two sides. Not too much left, but the brick work will take a little while especially since I have not much with brick. The panels should go up fast, once I figure out how to attach them and purchase them. Then, it's just a little bit of odds and ends and it will be done. Next on the project list is the pond and fountain. |
| What a messed up day. It turned out well, but it sure didn't start out that way, and part of the reason I'm late getting in here again tonight. Not as late as last night, but still later than it should have been. Let's start things off at the very beginning, but we will shorten things up a bit. I had three days off, like usual, starting on Tuesday. We had plans to rip up the deck and put it back down with some alterations and improvements. We had been up kind of late on Monday night, since Rhonda did not get home until a little after eleven. That, and working our butts off over the weekend had us pretty tired come Tuesday morning, so we slept in quite late. Of course, we had not gotten to bed until late, so even though we didn't get up until almost noon, it still wasn't like we had slept for twelve hours. It was closer to ten hours. We had a nice relaxing cup of coffee, did a Bible study and then started to get set for working on the deck. We did need to pick up some materials, so we planned on figuring up what we would need, then running in and getting everything, so we could get a good start. I had planned on getting most of the deck tore up that night, but changed my mind later. I had decided we should have one last fire and sit out and enjoy the old patio before we tore it up. This worked out good, since it was getting pretty late by the time we got home. This is were things first started to go wrong. The person who works mornings needed to take off early on Thursday to take her child into the clinic. This was kind of a surprise, since she only works Tuesday through Friday, and only until eleven each of the four days. But, things sometimes work out so that you just can't set the appointment for the time your not working, and I understand that. Even so, I need two weeks to schedule anyone for time off. Once the schedule is posted, any changes require me to redo the schedule, find someone who can pick up the hours, and then I have to update the store where we work, and the company in Iowa. It's a big pain in the butt, and takes a lot of time. I should add, the time I take to do these things, including most of the scheduling is off the clock. I can't use my cell phone or computer while working, so I have to do most of my supervisory work after I get home. So, when things like this come up, the policy is simple and clear. The person who needs time off is required to contact another guard, arrange the switch and ensure their shift is covered. Then, once they have it all set up, they need to contact me to get it approved, and so I can notify the people I mentioned. This person however, just called my cell and wanted me to set up the entire switch. It was like, "I need to leave early on Thursday, deal with it." I should also add, if you cannot find anyone to switch with, or to cover your shift, you are required to fill it, as scheduled. If that means you can't get to the doctor or what ever it is you needed, tough luck. But, I try and make sure that the guards can get the time off, if it's not all the time. But, do it the other way and then if no one will help you out, let me know. If she had done it this way, I would have been fine with things, but she didn't, and it got me a little riled. It wasn't much time that she needed, and I would have covered for her if I had known sooner and could have made plans, but she didn't leave any message until Tuesday afternoon. She called, but I had my phone turned off, since I was off work and didn't want to be interrupted; another reason it's best to schedule any time off more than a two days before you need it. But, if anyone cannot get a hold of me on my days off, which is seldom the case, they can call the office and explain it to them. I should also add, this persons son or daughter has gotten her phone and called everyone in the address book before, so when I didn't see any messages on my cell and nothing on my home phone, I just kind of blew it off. But, then I did get a message and I got a bit worked up. Rhonda stepped in, as my assistant and took care of the return calls and stuff so I could try and get my day off without having to deal with things for work. Even so, I had to talk to another guard to see about the switch and ended up going in for that. I also had to get some materials, so it wasn't a wasted trip for just work, but it still kind of messed up my first day off, since I had to do work on it. But things got worked out and everyone was happy, I had my materials and Wednesday Rhonda and I ripped up the old patio and got a little bit of a start putting it back down. We worked until after ten, and it was well after midnight before we got to bed. I'm guessing closer to one thirty, maybe even two this morning. So when the phone rang this morning at six fifteen, I didn't hear it right away. I did eventually wake up and got up to answer it, but by then the answering machine had picked up. I heard the store manager leave me a message, no one had shown up to open the guardhouse. The person who had switched with the other gal had reassured me he would be able to open, and was even going to have a wake up call just in case. This was discussed because a month ago he had been late a couple times to open and cost the company money. I got my butt chewed out and had to do a verbal warning on him. Now, a month later, he want's to prove to me I can let him open again. So I took a chance and he did not show up. When I got another person called to get over there until I could come in, I called the store manager back. He had seen who was scheduled to open and called, gotten through and the guy who was suppose to be there by ten to five was on his way. He clocked in at six thirty, an hour and a half late. I did call the other person back and had them just stay home, and I decided not to go in and take corrective action, since I needed to get things done here so I would be ready to go back to work tomorrow. Even so, I spent a couple of hours writing up a corrective action form, so that I can give this guy a written warning on Monday when he works again. I also had to file a report and send an e-mail off to my boss explaining what had happened. Once I had this done, I ate a light lunch and finally got started on our project around noon. Rhonda had started while I worked this morning, so we did manage to get it pretty well done. There is some little things to finish up, but they can wait until next week. It turned out alright, but even so, three days off and I worked two out of the three. What makes it even worse, it cut into my time and my projects, and I didn't even get paid for any of it. And, it's all just a result of people not following procedures and not being responsible. I try and treat the guards as well as I can, but when things like this come up, I have no choice except to do whats in the best interest of the company. That means the person who just messed up again, is now only working a summer job unless he can get his stuff all together. I should add there are other problems I have talked to him about that he has not corrected, too. This means that he cannot open anymore, and if he doesn't shape up, I may have to put him on reduced hours. This means Rhonda and I will not get our days off together anymore, and I will have to take time to hire and train another person, to replace this one. If he shapes up, there still is a chance he can hold his job after the temp position ends, but right now, that's a pretty slim chance and he is going to have to work hard to earn it. |
| It done went and got real late on me tonight, and I'm just getting in here to write my journal entry now, at eleven at night. By WDC time, it is now after midnight, so once again the date will be wrong on my entry, but technically I was in here, 750 words writing my entry at eleven o'clock. Today was another busy day, and I'm about shot. We got up a bit earlier, had coffee and relaxed for a bit, then had a nice breakfast and did a Bible study. This took us up to just past noon. We started setting things up to get busy outside and by one this afternoon, we started ripping the patio up. It was a pretty big job, moving a lot of patio black and retaining wall block, but we had it done by mid afternoon. Since it was still early, we started leveling out the area, and got a good start on putting the new and improved patio back down. Hopefully we will have it done tomorrow and get a good start on putting the retaining wall back up. It is suppose to be a retaining wall, that's the kind of block it is. But, we are actually using it to build a wall on the outside of the patio. We got the materials for free, so we are using them instead of purchasing the correct type of block. We did buy some more block, to make the patio bigger, and we also bought some edgers to work into the patio and add a nice pattern while also making the patio larger. We have it almost half done tonight, and it's enough to see that it is going to be nice. But, working on it all day used up all our time, so I did not get a chance to do anything on the computer today. Well, not until now. Tomorrow may be another long day, since we have a lot to do yet. We have to put down the rest of the patio blocks and edgers, put the wall back up, and then work on doing the brick work around the fire ring. We have a bunch of used brick we cleaned up, so we plan on building up kind of a fire place, but with a fire ring in it's center, and open on one side. There is not any type of top to it, being fully open, and there won't be anything even close to a chimney. Just brick on two, maybe three sides. Once we get that done, we have to dig out a bigger area for the pond. We tore the old one out and threw the linger away. Instead of buying a new liner and doing it over, we had a different idea. We will dig out the area and use a swimming pool for the pond. It will be six foot across, and about three feet deep. The plan is to set it down into the ground a ways, but no fully. Maybe half submerged and half above ground. Hopefully the swimming pool will stand u a little better than the pond liner did. So, we have a lot left to do, but only one day left to do it all. So, I suspect we will not get the whole thing done before it gets too late tomorrow. But, we should be able to get the patio done, put the wall back up, and maybe even get a start on the brick work or the pond. As it sits right now, we have just enough room to go out in the morning and have our coffee. We will be using just one corner, but it's enough to set the table and two chairs up, and if the weather permits, we will enjoy a cup or two of coffee on our partially done patio. Next week, if all things work right, we should be able to get the rest done, and maybe even get the pond set up and put the fountain back in. For tonight, it is just a bit of time to relax, maybe eat a sandwich or something, then off to bed. I'm tired from working, sore from the lifting and handling the block, and relaxed from being outside most of the day. I have a feeling I may not be moving very fast come morning, so the plan is to get up a bit early and take a little time to relax with coffee and stretch out these tired, and over worked muscles. Then, a light lunch and finish up what we can before going back to work on Friday. |
| It is another late night for me, but only because it was a pretty busy day. For starts, I didn't get up until noon, or very close to it. Kind of surprised me, since I had a three hour nap yesterday after work. But, we were up past one this morning, so I reckon it wasn't real crazy to sleep that long. I also know I was running real short on sleep this last week, so my body needed the rest, too. After I got up it was coffee out on the patio. It was kind of sentimental, since we, Rhonda and I, built this patio from materials we got from our neighbor when they added on to their house. We had built our first version out of brick when we happened on a bunch of used bricks. They needed the mortar cleaned off them, which was kind of a tough job, but then we put them down and built us a small patio. Then, the following year, the new neighbors decided to add on the the house, and they tore up all the blocks and patio stuff. They were just going to haul it all to the landfill, so we took them off their hands and rebuilt our patio. We did some inter-laying with some of the brick, and used the yest to build up around the fire ring. It turned out nice, and we had a little pond and fountain, a bit of a privacy wall, and enjoyed it a lot that summer. The second summer was also nice, but we had to repair holes in the pond liner, and a lot of the patio blocks had settled. The block wall is also leaning more and more, and it all needs some redoing. We did get some use out of it last year, but the pond just won't hold water, the blocks need attention, and we have gotten more of the retaining wall blocks now that the neighbors have finished the work on their lawn. So, we decided to redo our patio this summer, put in a new pond, and see how it goes. This morning we had coffee out on the patio, and tonight we will have one last fire and drink a few bottles of beer. Then tomorrow, after coffee, we will begin tearing down the wall, then taking up the blocks. We picked up some more today, and we also picked up some edgers, to do it a little different this time. We will follow the same general look but instead of inter laying bricks, we will use edgers, which will fit better and give us more room. Also, we needed to pick up about twenty more patio blocks to finish the pond side, but they don't carry this kind anymore. So, we picked out some that are the same size, but they are a different color and have a texture to the top. We will put a row of these along the side by the house and the side by the sidewalk to outline the patio. Then, we will put down a row of five by four patio blocks, outline them with a row of edgers, which also match the outline blocks, then another square and border, et cetera. We will repeat this pattern through the whole patio, and with the edgers it will be about a foot wider, and we will add one more row of squares to give more depth. So the plan is, when we are all done, to have a bit bigger patio, have the fire ring at an angle to the patio, a bigger pond in place, and build the retaining wall back up, with some supports in it. We are also going to build up a brick wall along the inside of the retaining wall, then back fill it with dirt and pea-gravel. Part of the problem is, the privacy wall is built out of retaining block, and they off set about an inch instead of going straight up. This makes a nice looking wall, that leans gently into the patio. But with the brick work behind it, there is about a five inch space between the retaining wall block and the brick wall. Garter snakes have taken up residence in this space, and even though they are not really hurting anything, we would prefer they take up residence a bit further away from the house. No, I do not mind snakes. In fact, these are a very pretty snake with bright yellow stripes down their back, and they eat a lot of mice and insects. But, they are in danger anytime we build a fire, because they may get trapped behind the bricks around the fire ring. Also, the dogs try and catch them, which also doesn't do them any good. They are just living in the wrong area, and could just as well move out further in the yard, since there is plenty of habitat around the yard for them. But, the snakes are not the problem. It's getting a bunch more block for the retaining wall, so we can finally close in the patio more. It will provide more privacy for us, since we can't really sit out at all without having people drive past to look and see what we are up to. For some reason, most people around this area sit out in the front yard, and tend to be openly displayed. My wife and I, however, came from other places, and we enjoy having our privacy when we sit out. Of course, there is the possibility of Rhonda wanting to do some sunbathing as well, and now, even in a one piece swim suite, she gets way more attention that is comfortable. So, with the new wall up, we intend to put up some privacy panels on top to keep nosy people from seeing what we're doing, whether it's just drinking morning coffee, having an evening fire and drinking a few bottles of beer, or sitting out in swim suits and getting some sun. We really aren't doing anything to draw warrant all the attention, it's just the way of things around here. To us, it's a pain in the butt, to sit out on the patio and have first just a couple vehicles drive by, then a few more and then a few more until eventually, more vehicles go by in back of the house on the dirt road than what's going by out front on the blacktop highway. Yes, it is that bad. Well, I have this done, it's nine thirty, and time to have one last fire on this patio, then off to bed and an earlier rise to get started tomorrow. |
| 9:30 on a Monday night, and I'm just getting in here to get my entry written. But, this time it's not a bad thing to be in here late. See, I worked the last four days, and they were some long days. I also did not get nearly enough sleep, and was getting pretty run down. Today, traffic was slow except from about ten thirty to eleven thirty, then it just kind of died right out. So, I actually got out of work an hour early and was able to spend a couple hours with Rhonda before she had to go in to work. Normally on Mondays, I open and work until two in the afternoon, Rhonda comes in at two so I can go home, and stays to close up. That means I'm there by quarter to five in the morning and she's not done until around ten thirty at night. The only time we see each other is a little while in the morning before I leave, a few minutes at work, and late at night when she gets home. Of course, we are both very tired by then, so it's just a few minutes of talking and then off to bed. Saturday and Sunday are also like this, but on Saturday she is done an hour earlier, and on Sunday I don't have to be to work until eight in the morning and she is done at eight thirty at night. Also, we work together for about six hours on Saturday and Sunday, so we do get some time together, even if it is working. But Mondays just don't give us any time, normally. Today was different. It started out the same, I was up around three thirty this morning, got a cup of coffee, checked the weather, got ready and left for work. We spent about a little while together drinking a cup of coffee before I had to leave. But, it was slow at work all morning. I had another guard coming in at eleven for double coverage, and knew that if traffic did not pick up, we would not need two guards at work. I started to get my hopes up, but at ten thirty I got a big return in the yard, while I was assisting the guest with the return paperwork, I got a swarm of yard traffic entering the yard, and another return. More traffic and more returns continued. Normally, the heavier traffic would not have been too bad, but with all the returns coming in, I was quickly getting backed up. We start out with twenty return slips for the day, and very seldom need to get more. Today, I used up fourteen of them before half the day was done, and twelve of the fourteen in less than one hour. I was working up quite a sweat, and thinking my chances of having Rhonda come in late and me leave early had been dashed to pieces. The other guard showed up, he had car problems and needed to talk to me for a couple of minutes, and I barely had time to talk to him. He did have a ride to work and clocked in a little bit early, which was great since it was so busy now. He also had to drop off his bicycle to ride home after work. He helped me get caught back up, and by noon, it was pretty quiet in the yard again. the yard traffic was steady, and we both kept busy, but it was just at the point of being too light for two guards, and yet enough to keep one guard running pretty steady. By twelve thirty, it had died right down. There was still some yard traffic, but it was slow and not enough to keep us both on the clock. I stuck around until one, just in case, but it didn't pick up at all; it may have gotten even slower. So, one hour early, I clocked out and called Rhonda, telling her not to come in yet. Mondays tend to be like this, never sure if we will need both guards for the afternoon or not. So, it's only fair to switch back and forth with who stays and who gets a couple of hours off. Last week Rhonda stayed, so this week she was her turn to get to come in a couple hours later. I was surprised that I actually to cut out an hour early, too. It was especially nice since it gave Rhonda and I a little time together this afternoon, and to talk, have a nice lunch. Now, another hour or so and she should be home, we will have a fire and enjoy a nice evening, since she went back to bed and slept in most of the morning, and I got a nice three hour nap this afternoon. For a Monday, it turned out to be a pretty good day. What makes it even better is that we get three days off now, together. I'm not sure what we will do for the three days, stay home and work or maybe go someplace just to get away for a while. We want to tear up the patio and redo it, and it's sounding like a nice three days to work on that project. At the same time, it's nice to take a day and just get away from everything. If the weather cooperates and things work well, we may just get the chance to work on the patio and still take one day to make a road trip -- somewhere, maybe a picnic, or just off to the lake. We'll see. I know, it sounds like way to much time for a husband and wife to spend together, working together and off work together. For some, it would end in disaster, for others, it would be rough. But I know there are other couples out there that are best friends as well as husband and wife, and that's how it is with Rhonda and I. It does get a bit difficult at times, since I tend to be an introvert, and it's my self time I need to refresh and recharge, as well as to write. But she's a great friend and understands, and even though she tends to be more the opposite and refuels on time spent together, she gives me my time. Of course, I also have to give her our us time, and we maintain a balance that works great. Now, I have a little more to wrap up before she get's home, then it's time to relax and enjoy a fire... |
| Tonight I'm in here kind of late again. I was also an hour later getting out of work, then after I got home. It was just kind of a crazy Sunday for some reason. It was also pretty hot out, very humid, and a very tiring day. Sundays tend to be a bit slower and calm at work. The morning can be kind of busy, but as the afternoon passes it gets slower and slower. Not today, however. Today it was busy right from the start. Not super busy, but pretty steady; enough so that I couldn't get my morning routine done right. First of all I open the outside doors, then do the paperwork and logs. After, I go down and fill the stapler and check the string and flags at the flagging station. This morning I got out to the guard house and set the stuff down to wipe the counter off. I just barely had the stuff set down when a vehicle pulled up, with returns. I had to hurry and check the return forms, log the first one and then while the guest filled it out, count them and record the numbers. By the time I got that done, another guest was at the gate and another coming up the road. I got one scanner set up, got my radio and earpiece on, and then had to check the first persons vehicle as they left the yard. Then, another vehicle was at the in gate, and by the time I cleared them to enter, another was coming out. It stayed like that through the morning, and by the time Rhonda got to work I was feeling tired and ready for a break. But, I had not had a chance to fill the stapler or check the flagging station, yet. It was a bit slower at the moment, and only two or three people in the yard, so I hurried down to fill the stapler and check everything. Then, it was hustle back up and help Rhonda out, let a few more in, and then take a quick bathroom break. It got busier, three or four vehicles would come in at a time, then a single one or two would show up as a couple left, then it would seem like it was going to slow down a bit, as we got the yard emptied out, and another group would come driving up the road. I don't think there was a time all afternoon that the yard had less than three vehicles in it. This would be normal for a Saturday, but not Sunday. Sunday afternoons tend to get slower and slower, and by the time five o'clock rolls around, it's pretty dead. It stays that way through the night, with only a handful of vehicles for the last three or four hours. This weekend was just backwards. For one thing, Saturday was busy but not nearly as busy as a normal Saturday. There were a few times I thought I would not have to stay the entire shift. But, then it would pick up and I would stick around for a while. It did this all through the day, but by five o'clock, it was pretty quiet and I clocked out a few minutes early. It never did get busy enough to really need two people working, but with our long hours, it was nice to have two. Besides, I never knew if it was going to pick up, so I kind of had to stick around until it got closer to the end of my double coverage shift. Today, I anticipated it to be even slower. For one thing, it was cloudy and a pretty good chance of rain and thunderstorms. Secondly, if Saturday was slower, then it only was expected that Sunday would be slower yet. That's just the normal pattern. Thirdly, not very many people start their projects on Sunday. If anything, the majority of the people coming in usually are picking up one or two items to finish up the weekend project. Of course, there are also some returns that come in, as people finish their weekend projects and have a little bit of material left over. But, by late afternoon, things are slowing down as everyone wraps up the days activities and get home to get things ready for another week of work. Today, however it was more like a Saturday. Many of the guests were getting large orders through the entire day. We had a few returns, but not many. Yesterday we almost ran out of return slips. Yesterday we had a lot of people that made two trips to get things hauled, because of weight and not having enough cargo space, but today there were only a few returning customers. Smaller loads yesterday, larger ones today. It was like the two days of the weekend just got reversed. I know most of these people were not needing to get this stuff to start working in it today, and may not get a start on anything until next weekend, now. Sure, some of them will work through the week, doing a little each night after they get home, some were finishing up projects, and stuff. Some were just the regular Sunday guests. Some -- but the rest were Saturday shoppers a day late. It's been kind of a screwy spring and summer, weather wise and work wise. I imagine the two are related some odd way, but there is more involved, too. I don't know what it is, but something is bringing the cooks out of the woodwork. For example, I had one guy come in to the yard, cussing and saying that our gate set-up is the dumbest thing he ever saw. I politely explained that it was the same set-up as all Menards stores have. He cussed another string of them at me saying he knew that. But you don't have to drive twenty miles to get to the gate at other Menards. I didn't bother to explain that it wasn't anywhere close to a twenty mile drive, I just told him they had to move the entrance when they added the garden center on to the store, and this was the only access available. He slung another foul load of profanities at me, then said they could have come right down the side of the store, right there. He was pointing to the side of the store, and I nodded, saying that would have been nice, but Target wouldn't let Menards tear up their parking lot to make an entrance to the yard. He hurled a few more obscene remarks my way and something I could do with Target and their parking lot. He then drove into the yard, picked up his board, and came back out again. Most of the people are pretty good, a few need some manners, but there are those who just make a person clench their teeth to keep from saying the honest truth. For some reason, there seem to be twice as many of these coming through the yard nowadays. |
| I'm getting in here a little earlier again today, before I up and run out of steam. I worked a long shift today, starting at five this morning and not getting done until five thirty this evening. It was kind of busy, but slower than it has been, which was good. It was also very muggy out. That's a phrase my parents used a lot in the summer. We lived in northern Minnesota, and the summers were hot and humid. Of course, with 10,000 lakes, it's bound to be kind of humid, and if you figure at least two swamps for each lake -- well I think you get the picture. We would have some hot weather for a few days, up in the 90's, then a mass of cold air would move down out of Canada and the storms would be filled with high energy and a lot of water. After, as the clouds broke up and the sun came back out, the temperature would hike back up and the humidity would race it. That's when the term muggy would get used the most. Hot, humid, and little or no breeze, that's what muggy is. Muggy also meant we would likely go to the lake so everyone could cool down. After, we would stop at A&W and get something to eat, since it was to muggy to cook anything, and of course, we always got a big mug of root beer. Often, we would get a jug of root beer to bring home, and maybe even get to have a root beer float. Once in a while it was just muggy enough that dad would skip right past the local A&W and take us over to Hibbing for ice cream at the Dairy Queen. Most of the time it was just for a cone, but once in a while we would get to order anything we wanted, and then it was a banana split. It was on these occasions when we went to Hibbing for ice cream that mom would mention it was terribly hot to cook, and nobody would be hungry for a while after eating so much ice cream. Dad would agree, and then it was off to Kentucky Fired Chicken for a bucket of chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and of course, coleslaw. By the time we got home, we would all be hungry from smelling the chicken and dig right in. Mom would pick out a breast for dad's lunch the next day, then it was just a matter of passing the bucket around. This was a rare occasion, and it didn't happen often at all, but when it did, what a treat! Of course, there were other times we would go out to a cafe to eat if it was real hot, especially if we went to Grand Rapids shopping. We lived in Nashwauk, and it was closer to drive to Hibbing, but mom and dad never liked to shop over in Hibbing. Instead it was always a half hour drive into Grand Rapids, every weekend. Most times if dad stopped by the bar to talk with friends, we would get to go out to eat. Sometimes it was at Kentucky Fried Chicken, others it would be Burger King. Most times, however, it was one of the cafes in town. There were two that mom really enjoyed, Mickey's Cafe and the Marlin Cafe. I think Mickey's had better food, but mom favored the Marlin Cafe. They both were good, but the Marlin Cafe was right next door and connected to the Marlin Bakery, and they had the best pies. Mom's favorite was pumpkin pie with whip cream, and the Marlin Bakery made a very scrumptious pumpkin pie. Of course, they made all sorts of scrumptious pies, cakes, rolls, and any other yummy bakery item you can think of. As kids, we didn't care which we went to, it was just special to go out to eat. Once in a great while dad would join us, but not often. Most of the time it was just us kids and mom. Of course, we would go in to Grand Rapids pretty early on Saturday morning, and we never got back until afternoon. Most of the time it was late afternoon at that. Dad would stop for a drink or two, and we would wait, and wait. Mom would go in to get him after a while, and then it was more waiting. Then, Mom would come out and we would go do our shopping. First stop, get something to eat, since it was now after lunch time. Then it was off to buy the rest, getting the groceries last, since we may still have to wait for dad. And we would; he was never ready to go until closing time. So, we would wait for a while, mom would go in and have another drink with him, then try and get him to leave since we had groceries in the car. Sometimes he did, but most times he stayed and we went home. Later, he would call and need a ride, but that was well past our kids bedtime. After I was older, it became my job to drive back in and pick up my, now very drunk, dad. Memories, how they flood back and wash you off onto topics you had not even thought about writing on. Some good, some bad, but all a part of my past, and a part of who I am today. |
| Getting an early start in here today, only because I worked such a short shift today. I was suppose to work for six hours, with Rhonda, but they needed to train a new manager in and either Rhonda or I would lose three hours, so I clocked out and worked on the next schedule. Since I have that done, I have extra time to write in here now. See, Rhonda and I work the same shift on Fridays, so we both come in together and go home together. But, since I would only work for three hours today, I could either drive myself in or wait for Rhonda to get done with her shift. I opted to come in together and wait. It saves a bit on gas, and it's nice to ride together on Fridays. It also gives me a chance to get online for a little bit, which I did, and to get some work done, which I also did. I also drove over to my brother's house to visit for a little while, but nobody was home. It would have been nice to see him, since it's been a couple weeks, but at the same time, I would not have gotten anything else done. So, it worked out good, and maybe tomorrow after work I can stop by and visit for a little while. It was pretty steady at work today, but not as busy as it has been. I hope this is a sign for the rest of the weekend. Saturday has been a crazy busy day for the whole month. Actually it started on Memorial Day Weekend and has not settled down yet. Normally it get's busier on the weekends, but not as crazy as we have seen it. Part of it is the spring rush when everyone wants to get started on outdoor projects, but this year it just keeps going. The weather has a lot to do with it, but again, this year it's been just crazy, even when the weather should make it slow down. I don't understand it, but then, I don't understand how many people reason anymore. In fact, I can't say they reason, it is a complete lack of reason, and would be more likely whimsical behavior. For example, last Saturday we had a lot of guests coming in to get items for the weekend. Normally this would be typical, pick up items for the weekend project and get an early start. But, it was forecast for rain all day on Saturday, and through the week. It finally ended today, after a short but drenching rain burst, this morning. So, the forecast was calling for rain, thunderstorms, and more rain for a week prior, and by Saturday morning, it was clear that the forecast was right. I drove in to work in rain, with winds and lightning. It stopped, but it did not clear off, it just looked like all hell could break loose at any given time. And numerous times through the day it did. And again on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and even on Thursday. It was predicted, it came, and everyone should have known it was not going to be fit to do much of anything outside for the next week, yet here they came buying entire deck packages, patios, roofing, and siding materials. And they all stated that they were n a hurry, wanting to get started, and hoping the weather would cooperate. Uh, it's looking like the entire sky could erupt into rain, lightning and funnels, and it's predicted to last for a week, I don't think it's a good idea to plan much for outside activities. I don't know, it's like they just pretend it's going to be nice, and then when it isn't, they get mean and ornery. Completely out of touch with reality, that's all. Not everyone, now. There are plenty of people that come in to pick up items to have on hand so they can start their projects when the weather gets better, and have thought out the entire thing. But others are not equipped to haul the stuff they bought, don't have any plans, and just don't have a grip on reality. For example, people driving one hundred miles or more to pick up gypsum or cement, with an open trailer, no tarps, and it's raining the entire trip. They show up and get the items, make me work out in the rain, and then complain because the stuff is going to get wet. Didn't they look at the weather before they left? Besides, isn't there someplace closer to buy these items? I know there are Menards closer to where they live, as well as other stores that carry these items. Sure, it may be cheaper here, but by the time you haul that big, heavy trailer this far, you spent more in gas than you saved. And, by the time you get it home, it's going to be trashed. Anyway, that's a daily ordeal, having these types of people come through the yard, but weekends seems to bring them out in hordes. It makes mo difference to me, except it's busier. It also makes things more difficult for the people who have plans, thought things out, and are serious shoppers. For one thing, they have to put up with the rudeness and bad attitude these others always seem to have, and on the other hand, these others tend to mostly bring in big trailers that they really can't maneuver, especially if they need to back up. I suppose it's like this most places, but to me it seems to be getting worse or at least it is this spring. Hopefully by summer they are about done and can vanish once again into the woodwork. I doubt it, but it's something to hope for. |
| It's almost nine in the evening and my last day off for the week. Kind of sad to see them pass so quickly, and not have much done. But, the weather wasn't the best for doing much of anything, and the mosquitoes are so thick because of the wetness that you get eaten alive in just a few minutes outside. Hot and humid with some severe storms moving by, but we were lucky and didn't get much for rain, wind, or storms. Sixty miles south west of us another town was devastated by a tornado, and a lot of weather related damage all around us. It's cooler tonight, and hopefully the bad weather is over for a while. I'm not sure what the forecast is, I haven't looked at it yet today, but with cooler air, there's less likely hood of any severe storms. We did get a some stuff accomplished over the three days off, Rhonda more so than I did. She got a lot done upstairs today, I just kind of spent a lazy day and didn't do much at all. I did get the grass mowed on Tuesday, but I kind of got my back hurting in the process. Not bad, but pretty stiff and sore today. I think the weather has a lot to do with it, too. We went in for dinner at the Pizza Ranch yesterday, and we both enjoyed a nice dinner out. We managed to time it out almost perfectly for dining out at a buffet. The dinner hours started at five and we got there about four thirty five. By the time we went in and paid, it was about twenty minutes to wait, so we enjoyed a nice salad and conversation. We were the only two guests in the place, so it was quiet and nice. Then, about ten minutes before the buffet started, they set up the tables and brought out a few dishes. It was nice and hot, fresh, and no competition to get to the food before it was picked over. I got some chicken strips and waffle fries to start out, then a chicken thigh and a couple of slices of pizza. It was now just a few minutes after five and a few people were coming in and paying as I sat back down. Rhonda came back from the buffet with some chicken and pizza as well, but she also had gotten a couple of slices of dessert pizza. This item goes very fast, and it's difficult to get a slice at all when it's busy. I followed her lead and went back, got another piece of chicken and some potatoes and gravy. Then another slice of pizza and a couple of slices of dessert pizza. I topped off my plate with a couple more chicken strips and returned to the table. By now it was getting kind of busy and more and more diners were showing up. I enjoyed my hot food while I watched people at the buffet with kids, letting them stick their fingers in the foods, I watched adults who didn't seem to understand the idea of the buffet pile plates as full as they could, using the same u tinsel in all the different foods, I watched as some people actually picked up an item and ate it while they filled their plates, and thought about how we had our food before anyone else had gotten a chance. Hot, fresh, and uncontaminated. I guess I had not ever really watched how some people act at a buffet, but after seeing them yesterday, I will be more picky about what I take. I know I will be watching for fresh foods to be put out if the containers are low, and not take anything that people have had their hands in. Normally we eat at the buffet at HyVee. It's a grocery store with a nice buffet that serves a combination of foods; Italian style foods, like pizza and some pastas, Chinese style foods, and then the country style foods like chicken, ribs, and all sorts of side dishes. They also have a nice soup and salad bar, complete with fruit, puddings and deserts. Except for the salad bar, it is not a self serve buffet. The main foods are behind glass and you have to ask for different items. This is nice, because you know that nobody has stuck their fingers in anything, the foods are all dished with clean utensils, and kids can't get at anything. They also have smaller amounts out, and fill them more regularly. The salad bar is open to the public, but not many people actually take anything from the salad bar, except for the desserts and fruits. Even this is watched close, though, since it is right across from the areas where you get your hot foods. Also, it is higher up and more difficult for kids to get at, and I have not seen much for people putting their hands into the foods or tasting things before they dish them up. All in all, it's a nice buffet. It's great they offer Chinese foods, too, since the local Chinese Buffet is terrible. They started out fine, with good food, hot, and fresh, but it went down hill fast. The foods are usually warm, not hot, they don't put fresh out very often, and it's dirty and run down inside. They had one uptown for a while, but that kind of sent down hill, like this one. In fact, it's the same people, and the one uptown was nice at first, but started to run down pretty quickly. As this one began to lose business, they opened a second buffet across town and at first it was clean and nice. By this time the one uptown was closed and shortly after, the second won began to deteriorate. It was the same thing, it was getting dirty, the foods were not as hot, and items didn't get filled as fast. As business dwindled, they opened a new one up out by Walmart. It was fancy and nice at first, hot foods, a large selection, and foods came out frequently to replace the ones that had been out for a while. The second buffet soon closed, or was shut down, and then the third one, out by Walmart began to go down hill. At first it was just afew little things, like grubby finger prints on the brass works that never seemed to go away. Then one time while we were eating I seen one of the workers using a wisk-broom to sweep the carpet. I noticed this, and while I noticed, I seen how dirty and stained the carpet was. That had me looking more and I noticed everything was kind of gungy looking. We finished our meal and have not gone back. If the eating area is this dirty and dingy, what is the perpetration area like? That's behind closed doors, and I can only image how clean they keep that. I did not know at the time that it was the same people that run them all, but learned that later. I suppose they will open a new buffet someplace close by, maybe across town or something, and shortly after, this one will close. It seems to be how they run then, around here at least. The Chinese Buffet in Grand Rapids Minnesota was just the opposite. They kept the place up very well, it was always clean, and the foods fresh and hot. If something was low, the container was pulled and a fresh container of the food was put in it's place. There were always a couple of employees walking around the buffet area checking foods, temperatures, and filling items, and they always had a couple of employees checking on tables to see if anyone had any complaints. Good food, hot, and fresh, and very much in touch with the customers. Here it's just the opposite, they just don't seem to want to put anything back into the place and soon start taking short cuts on everything. Even the types of foods offered change, getting cheaper and cheaper as time passes. Well, now I went and made myself hungry, so I'm going to get a bit to eat and relax in front of the television for a bit... |
| It feels kind of weird to be in here this early in the day. Not that I'm always running late, but most of the time it seems I am. Last night was terrible, I had forgot to sign in here to write my journal entry and almost missed the midnight deadline. I don't write this in WDC, but in a site named 750 Words that is set up for just writing anything and everything, as long is it's 750 words long or longer, and your suppose to write daily. Not that anything bad happens if you miss a day, but it does count your words and days that you write and complete the 750 word challenge. If I had missed a day, like I almost did last night, I would have a nice record of where I was, but my daily counter would have reset and I would be writing for my first day, again. I had done pretty good when I first signed up here, making a whopping one hundred and twenty nine days in a row. That was pretty good, but then I started my new job and things got kind of hectic and messed up, so I stopped writing in here. It wasn't intentional, I just missed a day and decided to wait until the first of the next month to start writing again. But, when the first came I missed it, problems at work again. I did start writing a few times, but always something came up and I didn't get in here to write before midnight and I would find myself starting over. This was pretty frustrating, and I finally just gave up. I didn't log in or do anything in here for quite some time, and kind of put the whole idea on the back burner. I had a lot of stuff going on at work, had been promoted to supervisor and inherited a whole lot of problems, and just did not have time for much of anything. In the process of cleaning things up at work, I lost a few employees, which was fine, it saved me from firing them, but it also left us very short on help, and again I did not have time for much of anything outside of work. I didn't get much done in WDC, either, but was trying hard to get in there as often a I could, just too look around and I did manage to get a few things done. It was around Christmas time that I had to renew my membership, and I was having a difficult time coming up with the money. I did manage and at the last minute renewed my membership. I received a thank you from both the Storymaster and the Storymistress, and in answering them, explained how I had so little time, and barely managed to get my membership renewed because of the cost, but wanted to eventually save up and upgrade to a premium membership. I was very surprised when I logged in the next day to see I had been gifted an upgrade and my membership fee had been converted to gift points. I had also received a message from the Storymaster telling me to save up for a renewal of the upgraded membership so that I could continue enjoying the upgraded benefits. It was a wonderful gift, and I decided that I would not waste this awesome act of kindness. I had not had much for time to read, to review, or to create anything, and I did not see this changing anytime soon. So, I decided to start a journal and write in it everyday. I could record events, ideas, anything and everything that floated around in my head. It was easy enough to create the item and I started writing, trying to get in everyday. I did good, but did miss a day here and there. Most of the time I didn't actually miss a day, I just got in there after midnight WDC time, but before midnight in South Dakota time. There were a few times I missed completely, but not many. I had all but forgotten 750 words, and what I did remember was buried under a lot of other thoughts and concerns. November came and I decided at the last minute to try my hand at Nanowrimo. I managed to come up with a last minute outline for a story and Rhonda set about proving as much time and support as she could to me writing and winning at Nano. I did get my novel written, but as yet, unrevised. I also received an e-mail from 750 Words, stating they had changed things a bit, but because I was a member already, I would receive a lifetime free membership. It also had some information on Nano, and I checked it out. I'm not sure just when I decided to combine the two sites into one task, but I did eventually put it all together and started writing my journal entry in 750 words. The reason was two-fold. First, it would hold me accountable to write everyday, something I wanted to do very much. Secondly, it would require me to write at least 750 words in my journal entry. This is important, because it's pretty damn difficult to write 750 or more words without putting a lot of thought into it. I will admit there have been times when I was half asleep and what flowed out was probably pretty confusing and scattered, but the fact remains, I tried and succeeded at writing at least 750 words, and I did my best to make it make sense. It may not mean much to anyone reading this, but it does to me. I have received a very wonderful gift, and I don't want to waste it, so I write in WDC every day, or at least I give it a good try. Some entries, as I said, came in later than midnight, but they made it in. I can't say I haven't missed a day, but I do know, by my counter in 750 Words that I have not missed a day in the last one hundred and forty -- and counting. Also, I'm a writer. I may not be creating anything right now, and I don't know when I will get an opportunity, but when it comes, I know I can write a novel in a month, and I know I can write at least 750 words a day. I almost lost my count last night, but at midnight when the site saved my writing and closed out my day, I was just over 750 words, not by much, but I had made the deadline. It may not mean much to anyone else, but it means a whole lot to me. |
| I almost did not get in here to write in time. I had a great day, got some work done and then relaxed and watched a little Netflix, and in the process almost forgot to log in MFP and write in 750 Words. That would have been kind of a downer, since I have written every day for one hundred and thirty nine days straight now. Of course, the time zone is different in WDC and that means I missed the day in there, but that's not as critical as missing in here would have been. I'll still log this under Tuesday June seventeen in WDC but it will be after midnight for the post. Today was my first day off for the week, and I slept in. In fact I slept in way to late and was pretty stiff and sore when I did get up. Part of the problem was not getting enough sleep the last few days, and then putting in some long hours at work. The other part was just being so busy over the weekend at work. We ran our butts off Saturday and Sunday but yesterday was pretty slow compared to the weekend. It was kind of busy starting out around eight thirty, but when the rain and storms hit around noon it died right down and never did pick back up. The rain and wind did take a lot out of me, since I was already beat, but I managed and finished my shift without any problems. By the time I got home I was ready to fall asleep sitting up, I was cold, and I was hungry. I heated up some chili and a couple of hot dogs, ate and then went and snuggled into bed. Hyko and Hannah both snuggled up to me and I was soon fast asleep. I didn't sleep sound, but instead dozed off and on for a couple hours. Then I had to get up and go to the bathroom, after which I thought about staying up. But, I was still so tired, and changed my mind. I crawled back into bed, Hannah snuggled me and Hyko jumped down. I think it was just too warm for him. I wasn't cold anymore, so I didn't bury myself down into the blankets, but just pulled the sheet over my and was soon sound asleep. I didn't sleep for long, about an hour, but I slept sound and when I woke it took a few minutes to get my bearings again. It was still light, and I soon had myself right with the day and the time, and thought about sleeping a little more, but decided not to. I was tired enough, but knew if I slept too much I would not be able to sleep later. So, I got up and fixed a cup of coffee. Not anything special, just a hot cup of water with some instant added in, but it tasted good and helped me clear the cobwebs and get woke up again. I finished it while I got the computer started and logged into a few sites like MFP and stuff. Then it was a second cup of instant coffee and I checked out Facebook. After I had my coffee done, I logged in here and wrote my journal entry and then looked into my work page and checked everyone's times. Everything looked good, and I seen that Rhonda was going to be working until close. I had a little time then before she would be home and spent it looking at some things online and then took the dogs out for a little while. But, the mosquitioes were bad and I was soon back in. I kind of just messed around online, looking at some images and stuff until Rhonda called, then talked to her for a few minutes. She was on her way home and I closed my browser and logged into my email application. I looked through a bunch of mail and cleaned things up a little and had just gotten done when Rhonda pulled up. I let the dogs out to see her and then waited for her to come in. She soon was in, had her stuff put down and got some hugs and kisses. She went to change out of her work cloths and I went out to get the dogs in, she joined me right about the time they came, and we all came in and spent a little while talking, then off to bed. That's why I was so late getting up, it was late getting to bed. Now, it's time to call it a night and write the rest tomorrow. |
| Another long day coming to an end. Not just long but tiring, too. I worked from five this morning until two this afternoon. Another pretty busy day, but nothing like it was on the weekend. It started out slow, a typical weekday morning, but it started to get busy around eight and stayed pretty steady up until around noon, when the weather turned nasty. It was still very slow when I left, but the weather was getting better, so it may have picked up some. Not a lot, if the guards time-clock readings are any indication, however. Rhonda worked after me, and another guard provided double coverage. With it so slow, I clocked out a little early, and then talked to Rhonda and the other guard. I let them know that if it stayed real slow, Rhonda would stay on, since she is closing, and the other guard could clock out and go home early. If he didn't want to lose any hours, he could come back in and close up so Rhonda could leave a little early, but that was up to them, and especially up to him. I seen by the readouts that he left around three this afternoon, so it must have stayed slow. I also see that Rhonda is still clocked in, and it's after nine. The store closes at ten tonight, so I assume that she is staying to close and the other guard did not want to come back in tonight. Not that I blame him, I really wouldn't want to come in again, either. Of course, it's a fifty mile round trip for me, he lives about a mile away. Even so, he probably didn't feel like going home for the afternoon and then getting dressed and coming back for an hour or two. On top of just not wanting to come back in, the weather my be worse there than here, too. It was bad this afternoon, from about eleven thirty to one thirty. It started getting dark, and there was some bright lightning off to the west. Then the rain hit, and it came down heavy. Not long after the rain hit, the lightning and thunder moved in, then the wind. We had guests still in the yard, and a few showed up during the storm. Since I was going to be done at two, I donned the raincoat and took care of the yard traffic, letting the other guard stay inside and dry. It was like being in a hurricane, the wind was so strong I could barely stand in place, and even with the raincoat on, the water blasted through the front snaps, into the hood, and up the sleeves. anything under the protection of the coat was instantly soaked, and I had plenty of wet areas were water got past the protection of the raincoat. I couldn't keep the hood up, and even with it up for the short time it was, it didn't do any good. The rain pelted my face and blew into the hood, running down my neck and shoulders. It's kind of funny, the people in the yard could have stayed under the warehouse roof and dry, waiting for the worst to pass. Instead they needed to get loaded and leave in the worst part of the storm. Of course, they didn't get out of the vehicle, but stayed dry inside. The yard people had some shelter, loading them in the warehouse, but for me, I was right out in the open checking the load. Of course, they had everything covered with tarps and tied down, making it even more difficult for me to look, identify, and count the items, but that's my job and that's what I did. We do have a roof over the area, but do you think anyone would stop with the loaded area under any shelter? No, they park so they are in the shelter but the trailer is out in the weather. Of course, it didn't make any difference today, the rain was coming in sideways, and there was no shelter except inside. I don't know for sure, I have no means of measuring the speed, but for the wind to push me around the way it did, and to move items around the yard the way it did, I would have to say the winds were in excess of sixty miles an hour with gusts even higher. The scanners we use are pretty resilient to-water, but they didn't stand up to the conditions today. I think the wind was the problem, it drove the rain and wetness into every little opening. I had mine freeze up in about a minute and then took the other one, logged into it, and tried to keep in under the raincoat as much as possible, but it also quit working in a couple of minutes. I ended up having to keep the guests paperwork and enter the information on that, as best as I could. I checked the load first, then enetered the information on the paperwork, had the guest sign it and then got it inside the guardhouse. In the few minutes this took the paper was soaked, and I had to hang it from the clipboard to let it dry out before I could drop it in the safety box. On the way home, the country side looked like a whole different land, standing water in the ditches and all the low areas, yards flooded, and streams and standing water in the fields. It was still plenty wet from the last rain we had, now there is even more standing water, and my sump pump is running almost steady. We are suppose to get more thunderstorms, some severe later tonight, and there is a good chance of more thunderstorms and heavy rain through the rest of the week. I was planning on mowing the grass tomorrow, but now it's going to be too wet. If the weather cooperates, I may be able to get most of it cut, but about one third is under standing water. If, however, we get anymore rain, the whole yard will be too wet to cut, and it's already about six inches tall. It's been one week, and it should have been cut about three days ago. But, it was raining and too wet then, too. Saturday was pretty nice, but after twelve hours at work, I just didn't have the gumption to do much of anything. Yesterday, was pretty nice, but again, I was beat and just could not motivate myself to do much of anything. I knew this was going to happen, too. A while back, it got unseasonably warm, lots of sunshine, and it started to get pretty dry. Everyone was complaining we needed rain, and now we have it. It always seems to happen like this -- everyone complains we need rain and we get it. The problem is, it doesn't stop, and now they are all complaining it's too wet. Of course, if they keep it up, we may end up going from flooded to a drought, but that's how it is. Of course, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the people around here just can't be happy with the weather, no matter what it is. No matter what the weather does, they complain and gripe about it. A handful of years back, we had a perfect spring, early and nice. The hay was ready for a first cutting by early May, and they crops could have been planted in April, early April. Then we had a nice summer; it was hot, very hot, but we got light rains two or three nights a week. It didn't get wet, and a lot of the standing water was finally drying up. Roads, signs, and fences began to appear in slews that had been flooded for over twenty years. The crops were doing great, and everyone was complaining it was too hot, the season had come too soon, and we would have an early winter. But it wasn't too dry, the crops grew fast and good. We had a long summer, then went into a very mild fall. Harvest came early, and again, everyone complained. They didn't get any silage up, it was too dry. Of course, these same people did not harvest by the state of the crop, they went by the date on the calendar. Even so, we had a record year, with one of the best harvest ever recorded, and still they griped and wined because they had to harvest too soon, and it was too dry, and anything else they could find to wine about. We didn't have much of a winter that year, either. We did get a little snow in November, about mid-month, but it was gone by the end of the month and we had no snow for Christmas. In fact, I have pictures of me holding the thermometer in January, reading in the fifties. We had an early spring again, and then a nice start to summer. But, the flooded areas were almost dried up, everyone was screaming for rain, and cursing because they thought we would have another year like the one before. Why? It was a record year, and they had record harvests, isn't that a good thing? Well, it didn't matter, they soon got what they wanted. By mid July it started to rain and it rained and rained. We had one road left into town, and it had a stretch a good ten feet wide under water. It was about four inches deep, and flowing slowly, but for a while it looked like that road may also wash out. We still have not recovered from the flooding that year and some roads are still under water. Even so, if it doesn't rain for a couple of weeks, and it dries out enough to make dust when someone drives on a gravel road, they start screaming we need rain. And we get it, lots and lot's of it. And, I suspect we will keep getting it for a while, since they are all finally screaming it's too wet. But, in time their screaming for it to dry up will result in just that, a big, long dry period. I don't mind wet or dry, I make the most out if each day the Lord grants me. I prefer dry, there are less bugs, and with all the standing water, we have swarms of bugs, especially mosquitoes. I even heard on the radio, we have one of the highest rates of West Nile here, in the state, and our state is one of the highest in the nation. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's because there is standing water everywhere. Not just standing water, but slimy, stagnant, and stinking water. Perfect breeding for mosquitoes, and like I said we have plenty. I suspect it will be a very bad year for them, and every other type of bug that likes it wet. I guess we will stock up on repellents and make sure we have our insect netting on when we ride our bikes this summer. |
| It's getting pretty late and I'm just getting in here to write. Weekends are tough, since we work long hours and it's always real busy. Monday will be another long day, but then there's a three day break, making it all worth while. I had intentions to log in and write earlier today, right after work, but by the time I got home I was beat. I had clocked out of work about five thirty, then stopped and talked to Rhonda for a few minutes before leaving. I stopped and picked up a few groceries, then drove home. It was getting on towards seven o'clock when I got home and got things put away, so I heated up some dinner and sat down to eat while I checked my e-mail. By the time I had my dinner finished, I was ready to fall asleep in my chair, so I put off my journal and any other online activity, snuggled into bed, and closed my eyes. Hannah pounced on me, rubbing her nose under my hand, wanting to be petted, so I gave her a little attention, got her stretched out beside me, and again closed my eyes. I no more than started to drift off into sleep when Hyko pounced up on the bed, and pawed at me. He seldom gets on the bed anymore, so I knew he was feeling lonesome. I turned towards him and petted him some, and he rolled over, asking for a belly rub. After a few minutes he settled down and I again closed my eyes, sandwiched between our two dogs, and drifted into a light slumber. I would have slept harder, but every time a car went by, both dogs popped up and listened. This was just enough to wake me up again. They were missing Rhonda, and eager for her to come home. Normally, she would be home around six, but today we started our new schedule, and she closed instead. We have it figured out so we can get our hours and still get three days off each week. That's fine, but the dogs don't understand, and until she got home, they were up with every car that passed by. Now, they are relaxing, knowing we are both home safe, and things are peaceful and quiet. It was kind of busy today, I find it hard to believe that so many people buy home improvement items on Sunday. I know Saturday is busy because they want to get the items and work on things over the weekend, but by Sunday afternoon, it usually slows down some. Not the last few weeks, however. Add to it the fact that today was Father's Day, and I would have thought most of the dad's would be watching sports, fishing, or doing something with their families. Not so, or at least for a lot of them it was buying boards, sheet rock, siding, and roofing supplies. I was also surprised by how many returns are coming in over the weekends. In the past, most people waited with returns until Monday. But this weekend was just crazy for people returning items. Some I understand, but there are others that just don't make any sense. For example, leftover items after a project is finished. Of course it's going to get returned. Likewise, if something is damaged or parts are missing. But this weekend it was full orders being returned. We had a little of everything coming back in, items just purchased earlier this week. And, it would be the full order coming back in. It's like they bought the lumber, then turned around and brought it back. And not just one or two people, but a lot of people. Then there are the ones who claim to be contractors. They should be able to bid a job and know pretty close how much materials will be needed. Nope, they are always bringing back large amounts of product. It makes me wonder if they bill the customer for the full amount of product and then return a lot to make more money. I mean, most of the items they return are common items that they will be able to use again on the next job, so why return them at all? I have known some contractors and they always have extra stuff left over, not a lot, but some. They store it away, so if something comes up on another job, they have some extra lumber they can use without having to purchase more. Like I said, some items are going ot be left over, a little of this, a little of that. But when a contractor returns 70 bundles of shingles from one job, something is wrong. Of course, I don't understand how anyone can make a living as a contractor around here anyway. There has to be over a hundred of them in this area. Seriously, just about every other customer is a contractor buying for a job. I understand why there are so many, the vo-tech here offers a carpentry and construction course, so there are always plenty of them entering the market. Even so, there just can't be enough business to support them all. It makes no sense at all, but that's life, I guess. Anyway, it's late and I have to be up early for one more day... so goodnight. |
| Saturday, the first day of the weekend and two days off for most people. For me, it's the busiest day of the week at work, and one of the longest most of the time. It's kind of funny, all the people that are off work today and trying to get a project underway come through the yard at work, to get building materials. They ask why I'm working on a weekend, and that it's just not right to make someone work on a weekend. Don't they understand, if someone did not work on the weekend, they would not be there purchasing materials? Of course, some people coming through on days like today, when it's cold, windy, and raining, will also say something along the lines of, "Well, try and stay dry." Uh, don't they understand that they are the reason I'm out in the rain? Not only that, but they are sitting inside the vehicle out of the rain, talking to me and holding me up, so I have to spend more time in the rain getting wet, while they tell me to stay dry. Cognitively underdeveloped, that's what I say. I could use the term mentally retarded, which is the same, but now days, there are so many people that get upset when this term is used. I can understand if it's used in meanness, especially towards someone who suffers from some type of mental disability. But when used in the sense I just did, it's just a fact that some people just do not develop very fast mentally. In some cases, I would have to say they may have even degenerated some. This also leads me to another question, if a person is upset when someone uses the term retarded, or any related term, do they get mad when they look at a package of beef jerky and see a preservative that states, "retards mold,"? It's called politically correct and it's stupid. I wonder if we can still use that word? Seriously, if a word does not compliment a person, then it seems it should not be used. For example, you need to describe a robber to the police, and say, "He was six foot tall, brown hair, clean shaven, and pretty fat." The person is then caught based on your description, and in court tells the judge that you called him fat, hurt his feelings, and verbally bullied him. The next thing you know, your in court and sentenced to twice the time he is, because you called him fat. I know, it's not that bad -- yet. Of course, if you tell the police you seen the burglar and he finds that term upsetting, your still wrong. It's like we have to find a nice way to describe bad things about a person. I just don't agree. I was raised in a time that stated, "If the shoe fits, wear it. I mean, if a person is fat, they are fat. That's the term, and it is not to say they are bad, or anything other than they are fat. But, that sounds like they are some kind of lard-ass, so we don't say fat, we say over weight. Then it just sounds like they have a pound or two of excess weight. I am too heavy, because I like food, ate too much of it, and put on some fat. I need to lose the fat, and I'm working on losing the fat, but until I do, I'm fat, plain and simple. Of course, if I could get everyone to tell me I'm not fat, just over weight, then I wouldn't have to work so hard at getting rid of the fat. No, I'm fat and I need to lose some of this fat. In fact, I need to lose a lot of this fat, and then I'll feel better, have more energy, and won't be fat any longer. I'm also kind of tall, but I haven't heard anyone get upset at this term. I have heard a person or two get worked up because they were called short. In fact, one short, fat person was mad because the doctor told him he was too short for the weight he carried. I don't remember the way he said it, but it basically said, your short and fat, that's what your problem is. The person who was told this got mad and quit seeing that doctor. He insisted that he wasn't short and fat, he was naturally stout. He doesn't say this anymore, he passed away some years ago, his heart gave out. He was a nice person, and we were friends, but his health was terrible, and it was 90% a result of his being fat. He ate the wrong foods, too, but had he admitted he was fat, he may have realized that he needed to lose the fat, and to lose the fat, he needed to change his diet. But he did not do anything. Why? Because he wasn't fat, he was just stout. Well, that's enough of this for now... I need to get my self to bed, get rested up, and finish off this weekend. Tomorrow is Father's Day, and even though I have kids, I'll be working. If the kids are great, it's an honor to being a dad. But, if they are little brats, it's kind of like being fat. The only difference is, you can diet and lose weight, but the kids stick around forever... Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful dads out there. |
| It's seven thirty and my day is about done. Tomorrow will be a long day, starting around three in the morning. That means it's about time for bed for me. That's the one thing I don't like about opening shift at work, I have to be up so damn early. The yard gates open at five so I have to be there about a quarter to the hour, which means I have to leave home around a quarter after four, or a little sooner, when possible. The good part is I get done with work early and have my full afternoon to do what I want. That's how it works out on paper, but in reality things tend to be different. For example, I may get done with the job at eleven, but it's usually closer to eleven thirty when I get out of work. Then if I have to stop and pick anything up, it's another hour. Add in the time to drive home and I'm back at the house around one in the afternoon. Still a lot of the afternoon left, and it's mine to enjoy. Unless someone has plans for the afternoon, but even then, it's usually something enjoyable. Of course, some afternoons I have to send my e-reports off, send faxes, make calls, and do interviews. Other afternoons I have to go back in to talk to someone about a problem, or to discuss schedule changes or a hundred other reasons a supervisor needs to speak to someone; and lets not forget about training and retraining people. This is done on my time, off the clock and for free; well not free as in no compensation, I get paid a little more per hour because of the demands on my time off the clock. So much for the old adage that says it's not good to take work home with you, or home problems to work. In my case, it's a big part of my job to bring work home with me. For instance, if someone can't get clocked in or out over the phone system we use, they call me to make the corrections. If they can't make it to work, or if they have problems, they call me. After all, I am the site supervisor. But, since we cannot have our phones at work, and even if I could take calls while working, I wouldn't be able to do anything until after work. So my cell phone rings all hours of the day and night as guards call in time corrections, schedule needs, and any problems they have. I also have to send reports, faxes, and make phone calls, all of which I can't do while at work, so they get done at home. When we take applications, I screen them on my time, I set up interviews on my time, and I often do some of the training on my own time. For example, the guard we just re-hired needed to start doing an opening shift this week so I could get a few days off. Since she had not done an opening shift in over six months, I came in on my day off and met her at work, did a quick refresher for her, then came home to enjoy the rest of my day off. It gets kind of frustrating sometime, but it comes with the position. I do wish they paid more for all of this, but like my boss pointed out, most of the supervisors don't do a quarter of the tasks I do, they just sluff it off since it's on their time. Still, a raise would be nice; I mean if they are being honest about how well I'm doing my job, and how well our site performs, that is. Luckily, I know a few doctrines and understand that as a Christian, I do not work for man, but should do my job as unto the Lord. I also understand that my promotions and advances do not come from man, but from God. I also know that His timing is perfect; I may not understand or agree at the time. It's difficult to wait, even though we are commanded to wait on the Lord. After all, I'm just a mortal, and I stumble along quite a lot of the time. In the end, however, his plan and timing reveal that the timing is in fact, perfect, and had I had my way, blessing would have been suffering instead. I had recently received a comment on my blog, a nice comment from someone who also does security work, only they will not be doing that after a couple more weeks. I don't know how I would take such news. I mean, our company is in a different state and fills a lot of sites with security guards. But if they lost the contract they have with the business I work at, I would likely be out of a job just like that. I kind of stumbled into my job as a security guard, and was very unsure at first. But I soon found out that I enjoy the work and had made a good career change. I have a business degree and I have done quite a few different types of work, but never anything like this. In a few short months I found myself promoted to supervisor, which surprised me, but I accepted the promotion and found I had finally found a job I enjoy and could also apply my business knowledge. Sometimes I question whether I want to continue on as a security guard and a site supervisor, but the answer is always the same, "Yes." It can be hard at times, it's trying at times, and it can be overwhelming at times. Some days I put in over twelve hours, and then have to come home and put in a few more. Sometimes it's a real pain in the butt to have to come in on a day off, especially when I only get the one day off and then have to fill in for someone. There are headaches and stress that come with the job, and sometimes it seems like the entire crew is so ungrateful, and have not a clue what their supervisor has given so that they can get the hours they wanted, or a day off when they want. But, in the end, I have to admit, I like the position, and I like the job. The pay is too little, the demands too high, and the hours too long. But, it's my job, I do it to the best of my ability, and I know, when the time is right, if I have done my job well, I will be rewarded. |
| Another day about over. This is the end of my three days off, but out of the three, I really didn't get much for time off. My first day off I had to run into work and do a few things, then came home and got some work done around the yard. I had intended to send my report and fax the next schedule, but time ran out before I got that far. Wednesday we had intended to do a road trip and head over to the James River and just take a day to enjoy and relax. We started out a bit later than intended, but not a problem. We got our running done, grabbed a bit of food to eat on the way and headed out. We had a nice ride over, and got set up just as planned, but later than we had wanted. Not a problem, however, since there was some thunderstorms and bad weather in the morning. the forecast was for sunny skies with a few clouds and an all around nice afternoon and evening. We fished a bit, then tried a new location, but shortly after we got moved, the wind came up. It was much too strong to sit it out, so we packed up and got in the van, waiting for it to pass. I was thinking it was just the storm clouds that had moved in, causing the wind to pick up, and as they passed, the wind would die down again. But it didn't, it stayed windy, so we drove over to another little lake close by and checked that out. It was nicer, but still too windy. Not a problem, we would check out another lake not too far away, and a bit closer to home. We found it no problem and drove around, looking it over. There were some places to fish, but not with the wind blowing so hard. All the areas we found for fishing had us exposed to the wind, and most of them did not provide much room for the dogs to run, and they would be very close the road. So, we decided to call it a day and head home. It was getting late and we had put in a good day anyway. We drove home and started to unpack, and that's when we realized that I had forgot out net at the river. That was kind of a pain, since it was a nice net that folded down and stored so easily, and it was a pretty expensive item, but we had lucked out and found it on sale for half off. Now, I can only hope that who ever finds it gets some good use out of it. I don't know if I will find another quite as nice, and if I do, I doubt I can afford it. Times are tight for us, and money is even tighter. But, shit happens, as Forest Gump said. I let it go and we made the most of the evening, then it was off to bed. Rhonda had to go in to the clinic this morning and have a few things looked at. We got up and headed out, with a full day of relaxing and enjoying life ahead of us. Once we got to the clinic we got in right away, and they asked the routine questions and did a few tests and drew some blood. Just an infection, right? No, it didn't appear to be much of an infection at all, and there must be something more wrong, but it will require more tests. Tests they cannot do there, so we will have to go someplace else. Great, this is not in the budget, but what can we do. We don't get insurance of any kind through work, but with Obama Care we have a policy that we really can't afford, but limited as we are, we had to get it, it's the law. The only plan we could afford doesn't pay much, and considering the few options we had, I tried to pick the best I could. Only we pay everything for the first 1100.00 each, or a total of 2200.00, each year, then it picks up everything. Only, we cannot come up with enough money to replace a fancy net, how am I going to pay for these tests? Not to mention the van is still not running right and should get taken in, the Jimmy is in dire need of a tune-up and oil change, as well as tires, and there is a lot of work needed on the house. We can barely afford to eat and pay for gas to get back and forth to work, and I went and splurged more than I could afford so we could take a one day vacation, now this. I just don't know how I can keep things going, and not lose my mind. I had gotten a wonderful gift in WDC of a premium membership. I was trying hard to save up enough to pay for another year of premium membership, but now I don't think I dare spend the money. I guess it doesn't matter, in order to get enough hours in at work while I get paid, and then do all the supervisor stuff after I get off of work, I didn't have time or energy to do anything in here anyway. I kept holding out, thinking it would get better, but I am starting to see that was just a pipe dream. It's not getting better, and at the rate things are falling apart around me, I may have to look for another part-time job to try and get by. The irony in that is, I would have the money to do a few things, but I wouldn't have any time to do them. Besides, I'm literally on call from five in the morning to ten at night and if someone can't make it, I'm suppose to get things covered. How would I be able to take a second job if I need to be accountable all day for this one? I'm about at my wit's end and still don't have any idea how to resolve any of the problems. I know, we all have them and it could be worse. That's my biggest concern, is that it will turn even worse. I know that's being very negative, but that's how life has been for a long time now. I'm an optimist by nature, so this negativity is tearing me apart, but at the same time, I don't know how to stop it. I do know that when life gets me down, my refuge has always been in my writing. If only I could go there, and just lose myself to my writing, but that isn't happening, either. The demands and problems interfere with this, too. I'm in a rut, and I know I need to break free, but I don't know how. I keep hoping for some lucky break that will provide me with the means -- but if it's coming, I sure hope to hell it hurries up~ |
| I almost forgot to log in here today. Not into WDC, but into 750 Words to write this entry. Actually, I kind of forgot to log into both sites. But, since I write my entry in 750 Words and then copy it into WDC, I would have remembered to log in to WDC had I remembered to log in here. Besides, I had logged into WDC earlier today, but not for very long. Today is Wednesday, my second day off of three this week. We ended up not getting to bed until after one this morning. It was a nice evening with a fire, and then a lot of passion afterword. I slept well, and woke this morning around ten. Rhonda was still sleeping, so I made some coffee and then went in to wake her while it brewed. After a few minutes we were both up and soon enough the coffee was done. We enjoyed a cup and then started getting things ready for our road trip. We had intended to get an early start, but after being up so late, we had changed plans at the last minute so we could get a good night of sleeping first. We still had to get things ready, so it ended up being quite a bit later than we had originally intended, but we did manage to get going by early afternoon. We had to pick up a few items before we headed out, and we grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald's and ate on the way. We had a good hour and a half drive ahead of us, and it was already after noon. The food was alright, and the drive nice. It was kind of cloudy and starting to rain as we hit the highway and headed west. Soon enough the sun was back out, but there were enough clouds to give plenty of breaks from the sun. We drove west, then south, then east again. Soon enough we reached our destination, the old Spink County Dam on the James River. The water level was still pretty high from when we used to fish over there, so we had to set up a little different, but soon enough we had a bite. In fact, we had a couple, or I should say, Rhonda had a couple. I didn't have anything even resemble a bite for the first half hour, but then I did get a bite and caught a Bullhead. It had swallowed the hook pretty bad, and it wasn't a bad size, so it went into the cooler on ice. We had a couple more bites, but then a big snapping turtle moved in right about where the fish had been biting. That put a stop to any bites there, so we moved to the other side of the old dam, and fished by the boat landing. Again, we had a couple of bites, and were just going to try something different when the wind picked up a bit and the clouds moved in again. At first it looked like it may storm, but then the wind picked up even more and it was looking like it may get real bad out, so we hurried to load everything up, and get away from the water. The storm passed over, but no storm developed on the ground. We still had the wind, however, and fishing from the river would have been very difficult. So, we went just down the road and checked out another little lake, but again the wind was coming in at us and would have made fishing very difficult. It wasn't looking like the wind was going to let up, and there were more storm clouds moving in, so we decided to drive over to another lake and see how it looked over there. We had never been to this lake, and it took a while to find it, especially since we did not have a map. But we did find it, and it may be a good place to try on the future, but not today. Not with the wind blowing like it was, and the weather looking like a big storm could hit. We took a long drive home, just kind of heading in the general direction and enjoying the drive home. It took us longer, but we got home around nine this evening, after enjoying a very nice day. We didn't get much for fish, just the one Bullhead, but it was something, and we had fun. Hyko got kind of excited at first, but then he settled in and found a nice shady spot to lie down. Hannah, on the other hand, just could not get enough sniffing all over. She minded pretty good, but kept wondering off and we had to keep a close eye on here. She was so excited, she was following her nose all over, and snorting. Yes, snorting, like a pig does. It was funny to see her, and even funnier to hear here. We all had a terrific day, but once we were home and unpacking things, we realized in our haste to avoid the storm, we left our net behind. I just hope that someone who can really enjoy it will find it. We or I should say I, thought about driving back over. But, Rhonda pointed out that it was late, and a three hour round trip. Besides, I don't know if the net would still be there or not. It's kind of a quiet spot that isn't fished very often, but there are some that drive in and back out, just to look around, and if someone seen our net in the grass, they would have figured out quickly that some knucklehead had forgot it and left it behind. In other words, it very likely would have been gone. Besides, for what it would cost for gas, I can buy a new net. So, the day comes to an end, and it was another full, but fun day. Now it's time for bed, then one more day off for the week. |
| Tuesday draws to an end, but it's not over yet. We had a full day but a good day, and now I just got out of the shower and am going to relax around the fire for a while. We haven't had dinner yet, so we will roast some brats over the fire and enjoy them with chips, sour cream, and a cold bottle of beer, maybe even two. Then, it's off to bed so we can get up early and head out on our road trip. I was up around 3:45 this morning and went in to work. I didn't have to work, it's my first of three days off this week, but I have a new person opening on my days off. Not new, she worked for us last summer, but it's been over six months. A refresher would be more accurate, but hey, this isn't written for points. Anyway, I went in and met her about a quarter to five, went through the opening with her, and then did a little work on site. Not job work, but I had to find a bracket in the store and put up out in the guard shack for the radio batery and charger. I was done a little after six and drove back home. Once home, I spent a few minutes with the dogs getting them settled down, then used the bathroom and snuggled back into bed. Rhonda was sleeping peacefully, on my side, Hannah was sideways taking up most of her side, and Hyko was on his bed at the foot of ours. I should have taken a picture, but I was tired and just wanted to snuggle into the sheets, wrap my arm over Rhonda and feel her warm body pressed against mine as I let myself drift back to sleep. I had not got much done after work on Monday, getting home kind of late. I worked until four, then did a bit of shopping at the store we work at, but did not find what I needed. I drove around to the yard and picked up my dear, talked to Rhonda for a few minutes and then drove over to HyVee to get the stuff I needed. Once I was done I drove home, getting here about seven. I had to settle the two dogs, Hannah and Hyko, down, let them out to potty, then bring in the groceries and put them away. After, I grabbed a bottle of beer and stripped down to my boxers, sat down in my recliner and fired up my laptop. I didn't get much done but did check a few sites quickly while I drank my beer. By the time I finished it, I was tired, so I took a nice nap and didn't wake up until almost ten. I had to write my journal entry yet, so I fixed myself a cup of coffee and set about getting my entry written before Rhonda got home. I finished it, logged into MFP and FB, then grabbed a bit to eat. I didn't bother with much, just a couple of pieces of cold chicken. By the time I finished them, Rhonda was home and it was now almost eleven thirty. We talked for a little bit, enjoyed a brandy and went to bed, getting to bed about half past midnight. Of course, with the long hours over the weekend, we had not had much time for each other, or anything else. Tonight we could stay up a bit later, since we both had today off, and it was nice to take a little time to enjoy our loving passion. After we snuggled and fell into a deep sleep until my alarm went off this morning. I didn't even wake up to the alarm, Rhonda woke me so I would turn it off. She had hers set a little later, and it would not take as long to get ready this morning since I wasn't going in to work. When her alarm went off later this morning, she hit the snooze and we got a few more minutes of sleep before getting up and getting some coffee. I had just enough time to drink a cup before I left; Rhonda had a few sips of mine and went back to bed as soon as I was out the door. I slept hard after I got home, and didn't even know Rhonda had already gotten up. She had coffee ready and we enjoyed a couple of cups, did a Bible study and then got started on our day around two this afternoon. Yes, I said two. I did not get up until a little after ten, and of course, I had to jump back into bed and have the two dogs jump up, one on each side of me. I made enough room for Rhonda, too. We gave the dogs some loving, since they also had been kind of put on the back burner with the long work hours over the weekend. Then we had a cup of coffee and talked. After one cup we set up to do our Bible study and had another cup of coffee. This had us almost to noon by the time we finished, then it was time to eat something, since we had just had a banana for breakfast. We cooked up a couple nice slices of ham, some seasoned fried potatoes, and a couple of eggs with toast. Then we sat and enjoyed our brunch and fed the dogs their lunch. Once we had this done, we got dressed for mowing and working outside, and it was after two. We got the entire lawn mowed, the grill moved, and the landscape block in place at the new location for the grill. After we set up the landscape blocks we enjoyed a bottle of beer and then came in and took a shower. Rhonda washed me up, I washed her, and then I came out to get my entry done while she finished up shaving her legs and doing all those little things that make it so difficult to not just smother her soft perfumed skin with kisses. But we still have to eat something, since we have not had anything other than a few bottles of beer since brunch. We have a fire going and since I'm about done here, I'm going to enjoy the fire, cook my brats over it, and then slip into bed and maybe just cover that beautiful woman with kisses. Of course, we can't stay up too late, since we plans for tomorrow... or can we? |
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