the coolerator's emptiness is beyond a vacuous void. I guess I'll stop off at a fast food joint and get breakfast large enough to parse into two meals, eat one, then fill the man purse (lunch box) with the leftovers *plan*.  I did this last night as well.  I bought me a footlong sub.  had them cut it in half and wrap the two halves individually. it worked good, for that 'one now, one later' meal deal...

ok, last night we had our first torrential downpour since the 'Squatch bent my passenger door back into shape, and I'll be damned...IT WORKED!.  no more big puddle of rain water submerging my passenger side carpet.  that's way cool!  that was the one thing that discouraged me from sinking any more money into the ol' shrimpy wreck, now   I have renewed interest in keeping these wheels.  my next fix really ought to be that damn leaky power steering.  I don't even wanna know how much that's gonna run to replace, but it needs it in a bad way....

got home (from the stalag) this morning, and it was raining (as I said earlier), so the dog and I didn't do our first day's pooperdog walk.  I let her outside, but she didn't wanna go off from the porch into the slosh, so I let her back in, thinking maybe mid day we'll do our walk-about.  it was about 2 1/2 hours into my sleep that she woke me and led me to the door, showing me that it wasn't raining anymore.  we take a quick walk (two bagger), then I go back to sleep.  about 4 1/2 hours after that she's ready for another (two bagger).  this dog shits alot (hence, then name; pooperdog).  she's all crashed out now, listening to 'ovals' on pandora radio, and the hum of the dishwasher. I do a load of warsh, as well, and eat me some Raisin bran crunch, then hit the shower and get ready for another fun filled evening at the stalag.   I get my welding sleeves and Kevlar gloves, and an empty man purse (to be filled with leftovers, as described above), then grab my keys, just to realize I got about a half an hour to kill before actually leaving, so I sit down (Squabber laying down next to me, purring), and jot these words...It's still a bit early, but I ran out things to say, so I'll put the laptop down, give me critters a hug, and split anyway.  getting to work early isn't so bad when there's free coffee (shweet!)

the biker neighbors (a couple doors west of here) have peeps over.  one of them parks their 80's something hearse on the street out front. upon closer inspection (walking past during one of our pooperdog walks), I had to laff when I see a clear decal in the back window showing two bloody hand prints.  nice day today (75 and pleasant), too bad I had to sleep most of it away in order to work tonight's shift.  oh well, two more 12 hour stints and the mid-week weekend is upon us (yay!!)  and speaking of the stalag, we ran out of product last night (again...yeah, it happens a lot) about 8 hours in (yep, the big push to get product out the door, just to come to a complete halt when we run outta shit).  I'm thinkin' they should just let us go home, but instead we cleaned, and built up stock at the sub assembly stations for the remaining 4 hours.  we'll prob'ly have work tonight, and the boss will give us the big push speech again (seems they've hired helicopters to land in our parking lot to expedite what we build, in order to keep our customer from shutting its line down), just to run out of something else.  it's frustrating! it's a wonder this place hasn't folded yet.  some of the disgruntled workers (and there's many of us) simply slow down the line on purpose when they hear we're almost out of supplies, just so we don't have to clean (understandably so).  anyway. I gotta hit the shower, and get ready for the madness.

alright, Saturday, it being the 24 hour swing shift thingy thing, I drink me some beerses (a good 9, or so, of 'em whilst watching a couple good movies out on the porch via Netflix). then later,  I'm awaken ('round 3am) by what sounds like a huge outdoor party.  seems the new neighbors that bought the new place the next street over, happen to have the loudest kids by day, and the loudest drunken adults by night.  don't get me wrong, it's Saturday night.  please, be as loud as you want.  I don't mind.  really.  but being the nosey neighbor that I am, the pooperdog and I take us a walk (we simply walk by, not looking or saying hi)....it seems the overtly loud Mexican rant seems to turn from Espanol   (tilde over the 'n')  to Ingles (that slanted accent mark over the 'e') quickly as we walk by, describing me (in a daft way) wearing shorts in the 40 degree weather, then just like that they all get quiet, maybe realizing just how obnoxiously loud they were, and by the time we turn the corner, they must have all went indoors.  I didn't mean to throw cold water on their fiesta, but I'm almost sure I'd get thanked by the neighbors for my nosiness, had they known...or not?

awaken from an excellent power-nap, by a little kid wanting to sell chocolate, then 3 other kids (with adults) separately knock selling the same thing. I should carry a couple bucks just for this purpose.  I do love me some chocolate.

leftover lasagna for brunch, polish kielbasa and wax beans for supper along with a half of a beer (beer didn't even sound good today, after the boat load I consumed over the past couple nights...it'll prob'ly be next week Tuesday before I have another, what with 48 hours of work jammed into this coming weekend ...). I stumble across a website that plays pirated movies, and of course, they only let you watch the first 70 minutes of said movie (70 minutes of viewing per day), then stop with a banner showing the charges for seeing the rest of the flick.  I did enjoy the first 70 minutes of "cowboys and aliens"...maybe tomorrow I'll watch the end.   I'm a bit leery of these sights to begin with, but this one you didn't have to sign up for, or download anything, so I'm guessin' it's half OK.  

it's been a pretty good weekend, tomorrow brings more fun at the stalag (hurray!).  good gawd, I can't wait for those 8 hour days...

cool, mostly cloudy and in the 50's...perfect sleeping weather!!

man, I'm still struggling with my bank's new online bill-pay set up.  how do you set these payments in order for them to recur? it drives me up a tree trying to figure it out.  after an hour or so, I finally just write the bank and let them know (politely) that their new is confusing, and ask why they got rid of a good thing with the old? It'll prob'ly take them a week to reply, if they reply at all.  the last couple messages got no replies. that's ok. they get my feedback whether they want it or not.

well, they got rid of Pablo (from our line, at the stalag).  he was a bigger slacker than most.  he's a temp, that couldn't find his way in everyday, so now he doesn't have to come in at all...now, if we could just get rid of Phil. nice guy and all, but he only knows one speed; snail.  and this is after a couple months when you've acquired the knowledge and should be up to speed. our boss just doesn't have the balls to let him go, I guess?   on top of that, we have about 3 newbies, and not enough of a skeleton crew to train 'em properly, because we're concentrating on making that (almost unattainable) 1200 piece goal.  over and above all that, we have another snap team that hovers (once again) to see how the line can improve (amazing! did we gain anything from that last "snap team"? I'm still waiting for that free lunch that the other shifts got...).  anyway. I guess I'm writing about work, because finally (Monday) we beat that 1200 mark (yep! it's a first, since I've been there anyway).  the boss offers free pizza, but I'm not gonna hold my breath on that claim either.  also, I write about work, because you know my home routine by now; sleep, burn coffee, pooperdog walk, watch a movie (or two) on the laptop, out on the porch with an old dog and some beerses [...rinse, repeat] *fart*  last night was a bit different, and that 'across the way, Jay' and the nice hippy neighbor lady visited and porch sat with us, watching some stand up comedian shtick....and speakin' of the nice hippy lady, she asks if I can come over today and replace the new fan with the old (since she asked nicely...I said yep).  I guess I should head over now and see if it's a good time to swap 'em out *plan*

later:  the nice hippy neighbor lady had a dentist thing when I called, so I get a couple items from the store [oops, she just called and said she's back, I'll finish this thought when I'm done over there]. 

[...] while I wait, I rehang my shed doors, like I said I was gonna do weeks ago

it took a good hour or two to replace the new with the old, just to find out that the fan motor no longer works, so I yank the old and put the new back in...after completely installing it (or so I thought), I realize that there's 3 bolts left.  god dammit!! I didn't put all of 'em in the swing down bracket (for lack of better words).  I tell her that she'd have to swing from the damn thing for it to matter, so she just hangs on to the bolts (in case).  she buys me a sixer of suds for my time, and makes some of the yummiest spaghetti ever with delicious garlic bread.  (mmmmmms!!) afterward, I came home, did us a pooperdog walk, then proceeded to drink more beerses and watch Dave Attell (stand up comedian) on youtube.  that guy is stupid funny!  I make some midnight lasagna (stouffer's), eat a good sized chunk, then realize this morning that I hadn't put the rest in the coolerator (dumbassss!!). it should be ok, the temp got down into the 40's last night, so the whole wood-panel submarine acted like a giant fridge.   it's currently (Thursday at noon) in the low 50's.  here comes fall!

I'm already grumpy from a long night of work, why do I try and attempt my online bank's new bill pay set-up bullshit (what was wrong with the way you had it for the past 10 years?!.   good gawd! I may delete the whole mess and start sending bills in by snail mail, but before I go and do that, I suppose I ought to get some rest, clear my head, then when I'm in a better mood, tackle this new format *plan* 

sleeeeep!!

and there ya have it, we had us a company update that pretty much spelled out the end of these grueling 12 hour stints.  seems they're trying to figure out how we can pull a 40 hour week out of everyone.  it's gonna piss off the peeps that volunteer for 40 hours (over and above their already 40 hours that they normally pull), but hey.  it's good news for slackers like me.  I'll have to budget for 8 hours less per week of time and half pay, but it can and will be done!!  I can only dream of how gravy an 8 hour shift will be...it's been that long.  this is exactly what I've been wanting to hear forever now...I'm sure the transition will be disastrous, but once things die down and fall into place...wait, what am I talking about?!  they better have a weekend shift because we're behind now, busting our asses during the weekend, and they want to do what?!  this ain't gonna work.  wait, it better work, I want my 40 hours, and maybe watch some football on the weekends, please?? alright.  sleep. I need sleeeeep.

up by 9, burn some coffee, pooperdog walk, then jet out to McDonald's for a no. 8/ black coffee and stop off at the store for a 55 gallon barrel of night time cold stuff (ok, 16 oz, they were all out of the barrels).  I promptly go home (passing my favorite beer store), drink the elixir, then sleeeeeeep 'til about 3:00, let Rosie out to pee, then take another hit and sleep another good 2-3 hours.  it's pretty much under control, but I'll do another shot just before bedtime tonight.  currently I'm browning some meat (and drinking lots of water) for some black beans and rice meal (Zater-whats-it), to be eaten tonight, and use for my next two (or three) stalag lunches.  mmmmmmmms! I love me some black beans and rice with hamboogers!

the cool hippy neighbor lady just popped by and handed me some punkin' bread (mmmmmmmmmmmmms!).  I thank her a ton, but don't invite her in for a beer for fear she catch my sicky's.  she's good with that. anyway, my food needs stirrin'...

so, as I'm finishing the last sentence of yesterday's entry, I throw on some shoes and grab the mower from under the porch, just then, Brian comes back into the yard, and asks once again if I can help him with installing his shocks (this guy doesn't take no for an answer).  I end up spending a good 4 hours underneath his truck, trying to break free the rustiest of bolts grumbling "this is the reason why I didn't wanna help...".  my hydraulic jack (that he barrowed, along with a bunch of tools) breaks a seal and slowly loses its will to lift (I guess for $20 I got a good 8-10 years out of it). my attitude started to change after a good couple 5 beers, and it did feel good to accomplish the job, so I wasn't in a grumpy mood for long.  btw, it's amazing how much free instruction one gets by simply typing "how to change shock absorbers...Ford explorer" within Youtube.com search. it's better than any high paying trade school in auto mechanics if you find the right vids.   Afterward, I look at the shocks on my shrimpy truck.  they look easier to replace than the Explorers, but I don't wanna sink anymore cash into my ride unless I absolutely have to, and so far, I'm not bottoming out or bouncing to the moon with each pot hole...

another partly cloudy day, cool and windy. I wake up this morning half froze with all my windows open last night, it got down right cold. I wake up with a low grade cold (minor snotty head, hackin' goobs, and coughing fits).  just when I completely forget about my "cracked throat", I go and get a cold to remind me.  I take a mid-day power-nap and feel better.  still kind of weak. hopefully, whatever it is, is gone by Friday.  we'll see. working at the stalag with a cold bites hard. maybe I'll get some good otc drugs to try and blast it away. [...] man, my shoulders are feeling yesterdays wrenchings.  it's quite the claustrophobic workout scraping knuckles underneath an SUV. oh well, I'll be fine...

[...]

just as I'm finishing my thoughts on that last paragraph, look who wanders over. the neighbor chick from the street over, who made the uncomfortable advances, and who's dog pooped on my porch (while I was trying to enjoy my Kung Fu movie.  see about 4 entries ago). this time I don't invite her onto the porch for a beer.  she stands by the stairs and asks me for a favor.  can I drive her to the gas station in town, so she can buy some smokes?  "nope. sorry. I already started drinkin' and I can't afford another DUI".  alright, so it was a white lie (as my coffee cup sits on the rail that she's leaning against).  she can find a willing victim somewhere else...

anyway, upon rechecking my schizophrenic to-do list, I'm reminded that I need to rehang my shed doors.  they've slumped a bit, and drag against the grass while opening 'em, making it twice as hard to open once the snow flies . it looks like a nice day to fix that (ready...GO!)

later: you gotta love it, Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) that couldn't take no for an answer yesterday, asks today if I can help him take that ceiling fan down that the 'Squatch and I installed a couple days ago, and put up the old fan. "damn dude, do ya gotta put me to work everyday on my weekend?  there's 400 people in this park and you constantly pick me? you gonna change your mind again tomorrow and have me help you put up the new one again?!", I know, selfish, right? but he has no idea how much I like to slack on my days off, and I still have my to-do list to hit...it used to be worse back when he needed a ride to pick up/drop off (Russian cabby: Piko Pandropov)  his car 5 times a week. anyway.  I take a huge power-nap to try and shake this cold.  it seems to be nearly gone-ish.  I thought sure the nap would have been interrupted by an insistent neighbor who wants a fan replaced.  nope.

silly cat wakes me up 'round 6am, by pawing on the door jam to my bedroom.  he does this often when he thinks I'm over sleeping and should get my lazy ass up and get ready for work (or he's just bored and wants to play).  I'd (currently 6:15) still be at work making double time and a half, but chose instead to slack hard.  I still get paid 10 hours straight time, for both Sunday night and Monday night so all is good!

it's currently a nippy 43 degrees out (sitting on the porch with the laptop, watching a silly dog lay out in the wet grass looking up at the stars). that first biting chill of autumn, and right on cue comes that sore throat (that I usually blame the heater on, but haven't thrown it on yet).  maybe today, I'll vacuum the heater blower, open the windows and run it for awhile.  that first blast of heat from the dormant unit smells bad, and prob'ly kicks up a bunch of stale cruddy duct air from last winter's run, almost as if it burns fuel oil *gack!*

yesterday, 'across the way Jay' stops by looking a bunch less anemic than he did the visit before. I had to get nosey and ask about his hospital stint. he tells me that he had spells of passing out.  his girlfriend would ask "how long do you gotta be out and not breathing before I call an ambulance?", and he'd be all "what? did I pass out?!".  seems between his high pressure meds and his booze drinking (and who knows whatever else?)  he became a victim (for lack of a better word) of seriously low blood pressure and had bleeding in his intestines.  the hospital fixes him up and gives him a blood transfusion, he seems to be back to his grumpy old self.  he says he's had a good run, him being 50 years old, and this being the first time he's had to spend an overnight stay at the hospital.

checking account seems a bit low (online banking) as per normal for the first-ish of the month, with lot rent and a couple 3 bills taken from it. I'll play catch-up in the coming 3 weeks, meanwhile I transfer some from savings into checking to get me by 'til this Friday...I used to be ahead of the game, writing down every transaction in a ledger, and paying bills way before hand.  I guess I'm gettin' lazy...or maybe I'm actually making more money than I spend, so I don't have to be so diligent (maybe both?)

oh, btw, my sandals survived being washed. I didn't dare to dry 'em, so I let them air dry in the sun. perfect!

I'm still looking at autotrader.com by the day, will my shrimpy truck make it thru this winter? *crosses fingers* I also peruse the online stores for some good winter boots.  maybe today would be good for boot shopping here in town.  they'll prob'ly put Halloween stuff out before cold weather gear.  anyway, it's gettin' too cool to sit out here in my shorts and T.  gotta find my sweatshirt and maybe do a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs...

later:  man, it's weird not to see Ron "working" on his car.  they came and towed it away on a flatbed.  I imagine one day he'll find something to do, by maybe grinding small triangles on the outer skin of his mobile home.  pooperdog and I take a Sunday drive (I know, it's been forever!). I stop off at the hardware store and get completely the wrong size elbow that I need and some pipe dope.  determined to make it work, so I don't have to go back, I search the wood-panel submarine for something PVC that would work.  I find a leftover female to female that's just too small, so again, being determined, I use a carpet knife to trim both sides.  when enough is trimmed I glue the snot out of the elbow, and where I'm connecting it to (which, by the way, is putting an elbow on the water heater overflow, so if the water heater drains...again, it's not directly onto my insulation/heat tape job, but diverted away).  

Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) just wanders over and barrows my socket set.  seems he's gonna tackle changing the shocks on his Explorer. he asks if I wanna help?  I say "...nu-uh, sounds like a pain in the ass" to which he responds "fag!"  (what? I'm not gonna tell him that I will and not show up...I guess not wanting to help suddenly turns me gay).  anyway.  I've gotta bust out the lawn mower...

"You're more likely to die from a toaster accident than a shark" was a quote from a shark expert, on a bit done about the alarming number of shark sightings off the east and west coast (on World News with Dianne Sawyer via Hulu.com).  I had to laugh, because it wasn't but a couple hours before that that I used my toaster to check my outdoor outlet....

up by 9am, burnt some coffee, barefoot pooperdog walk (with a hooded sweatshirt, it being only in the 50's today).  the cooler weather reminds me that I should heat tape and insulate my water main under the trailer.  I tore off all the old earlier this year when I redid the plumbing to it.  the little light wasn't even working on the old heat tape.  it's prob'ly been a good couple years since I did it last (these $26 heat tapes only lasts a couple years anyway), so I bought a new one and some insulation, along with some pumpkin ale and got down and dirty widdit.  it's not a pleasant job, underneath the wood-panel submarine, with all the spiders, old wet insulation, etc., but it's better than working on a burst water pipe when it's 20 below out.

on the way to doing this, I step in the biggest pile of Rosie doo ever.  I bang off most,  then throw my sandals in the washer (do sandals wash? I prob'ly will kill the velcro, but hey,  they were free).

oh yeah, I forgot to post a pic of my new toy (toy....? how about $800 shovel). it's currently cable locked to my porch post, to deter would-be criminals (I suppose they could take both it and the porch if they want it bad enough, or just unscrew the snow blowers handle...), then covered with a tarp to try and keep it out of the elements

this ought to make winter more bearable, now I need to get a good pair of mittens, and boots, then I should be all set

so after grumbling for 2 days about having to maybe work labor day, my boss comes up to me, literally at the last minute on Saturday, and says because I took a vacation day (Sunday) before the holiday, I have the option to work labor day if I want...why didn't he specify this Friday morning? it would have saved me a lot of grief. oh well. shame on me for not askin' him, I guess.  anyway, I'll choose to not go in.  meanwhile, I get an email from the 'Squatch telling me he's not feeling good today, so there goes my planned day of watching football and playing Tiger woods golf.  no biggey.  get mo' better soon. it'll just give me more time to practice up....

I think I'll tackle that outdoor outlet again today.  I know, I've said it before, but this time the 'Squatch gave me some helpful hints on how to go about it (when he was here the other day working on the neighbors ceiling fan).  it's easy for me to get discouraged when it comes to electricity. I don't understand a damn thing about it, other than it's not pleasant to get a shock.   and speakin' of the 'Squatch, he's so damn practical in the way he thinks, I told him that my truck floor gets wet when it rains, he simply opened the passenger door, rolled the window down, placed a 2x4 between the door and the cab around the area near the bottom of the window and bent the top of the door inward (simple, right? why didn't I think of that?!).  he then rolled up the window, threw the 2x4 in the back of the truck, closed the door, and said "fixed!".  I'll see if that did the trick, next time we have a big rain.

the hippy neighbor lady's ceiling fan is still acting up (the one the 'Squatch and I replaced).  seems, when turned on, it doesn't work until one walks thru the bedroom door (??).  I suggest that maybe a wire is lose on the wall switch closest to the door, she thinks it's wiring under the trailer...who knows.  it's weird!  she's a little mad that she had to spend her last $20 on a new fan, simply to find out it wasn't a bad fan to begin with (oh well, she could have, and may still have to call a real electrician where I'm sure she'll spend a lot more than that.  one way or the other, I hope, for her sake, that it's an easy fix.  she's a cool hippy lady!)

I don't know if I was playing catch up, or what the deal was, but last night I polished off an entire subway foot-long sub (with everything including jalapeno's and spinach) and sweet onion dressing, as well as a bowl of mac and cheese (dayum!)...of course a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs and a couple peanut butter and jelly sammiches ain't a lot of food for a 12 hour work day, so why not, right? it was delicious!! it went well with the oatmeal stout.

Netflix movie last night (along with a 6'er of oatmeal stout) out on the porch (with an old dog) was a Michael Rappaport (sp?) movie called "Special".  it's a completely goofy spin on experimental drugs (and there adverse effects).  I liked it! some funny parts, some just plain awkwardly sad. 2 thumbs up...

up this morning 'round 7:30, burn some coffee, barefoot pooperdog walk.  set my Pandora radio to "submarine mammal milk", do some laundry, now I'm off to clean the kitchen [ready...go!]

later: OOPS!! l get a letter in the mail (on the way to the store for some grocery shopping) from the bank stating that that last check I deposited was an in-store rebate...haha!! I guess I should put on my glasses when I sign the back of what looks like a check.  that's kind of sneaky how this hardware store promotes mail-in rebates, just to only be able to use at their store.  no matter.  I buy $62 (-$57 rebate) worth of tools.  I needed a cordless drill, some tin snips, and a good pair of big channel locks anyway, so why not?  I still have rebate checks coming via snail mail for other store items as well (I sent in for 6 of them, this first one was for 3...)

later still: shut the main power off on the breaker box, cut a 3 foot piece of Romex , stripped both ends, tore apart the indoor kitchen outlet, drilled a hole thru to the outside wall (with my new cordless drill), tin snipped (with my new tin snips) the drilled hole just big enough for the back fitting to fit, threaded the wire thru the outlet box itself, screwed the box to the wall, wired the outlet in, put the face plate on, then wired the other end into the kitchen outlet.  once all done and caulked, I turn on the main, listen for the breaker in case it pops (due to a short), try the light switch (it works), try the outlet that I tapped into with the toaster, it works, then bring the toaster outside to see if the new outlet works...yep!!  cool!  after all is said and done, I pull the 100 foot extension cord running from the back of the trailer to the porch, wind it up and hang it in the shed.  one more project to cross off my schizophrenic list of things to do.  the place looks less trailer trashy by the day.  now I believe it's time for a cold beer

holy crap!  here we go!  so, I mention the fact that we (the stalag) have Monday off for labor day.  it says so right on the list of holidays that's on the wall by the break room. now, what I assumed is that we have that day off, but it just says "holiday schedule" (nothing about time off).  today, at the beginning of the day, the boss tells me that he's not sure if we work that day or not?  I'm fuming, I took Sunday off so I could have both night shift days off.  I guess the good news is, if we do work it, it's double time and a half, so it won't be too hard to struggle thru...I'm still takin' Sunday off to watch a little football, etc., at the 'Squatches.  the boss will prob'ly let us know a 1/2 an hour before tomorrow's shift is done.  my gripe is, how can anyone plan around holidays if there's a good chance that ya gotta work?!  and why do they tell us what's up at the last possible minute?!  I'd rather they took volunteers like smart companies do.  alright, that's enough bitchin' (for now) about the stalag...I gotta find something to eat

the 'Squatch stops by today.  well, he did after helping the nice hippy neighbor lady out with her ceiling fan installation.  seems her old ceiling fan was acting quirky,  effecting the lights thru-out the house, like it was shorting out, but after helping the 'Squatch put up the new fan, it was determined that she had a bigger problem that requires a real electrician...trouble is, she's on her last dollar (literally),  she's beyond stressed wondering if/when this short will maybe start a fire,  how can she afford an electrician, etc..the 'Squatch didn't even notice the new paint job on the wood-panel submarine!  he kicked my ass in some Tiger woods golf. then offers me to come over on Sunday to watch some football and have dinner with a couple beers. *plan*.  I'll also try and get revenge on today's tiger woods loss

Ron (aka Chas Manson) stops by yesterday and tells me that 'across the way, Jay' got picked up by an ambulance, and wondered if I knew what's up?  nope.  Jay doesn't come over near as often, since he's got himself a girlfriend.  here's hopin' he's ok.  I did see him pull out of his driveway today, so who knows...

I got a little pooperdog starin' at me to take her for her walk....I best finish this when I get back

[...]

we're back...where was I?  oh yeah, Jay.  it's not uncommon to hear that guy pukin' his guts out in his back yard.  he drinks hard liquor and smokes like a damn chimney. at 55 years old and overweight, he's lookin' for health problems.  anyway, here's hopin' he's ok. I'll be nosey and ask what happened next time we talk...

that 5 liter Heineken keg (that I bought instead of a 12'er) makes it hard to lose track as to how many beers one has...I got pretty ripped last night (which is fine. I wasn't driving anywhere).  I've been paying for it today (not a traditional hangover, so much, but more dehydrated and sleepy).  I'll save the rest of the mini keg for Saturday night.  I gotta work tomorrow, and once again, I only gotta work 2 days, then have me a 5 day weekend [shiggity shweet!]. 

for some odd reason (maybe due to me not visiting the site in quite some time) my windows live account no longer exists!!  it was much like this xanga account in that it had a couple years worth of journaling from '05 and '06...lost forever.  Xanga has the option (within its settings) to  save and download all entries, so if Xanga itself ever collapsed, you still have a text copy on your hard drive (cool feature!).  the down side is, it saves both 'public' and 'private' with everything readable, so one should be careful and store these files (as I have) within a password protected safe.  not that there's anything Earth shattering within my 'private' files, but...

as I've mentioned many times, that 4th 12 hour work day seems to drag for weeks (even a change in attitude can't deter that).  I come home,  do a quick barefoot pooperdog walk, and sleep for a good 5-6 hours. I'm kind of geeked to get my new toy (snow blower), so I head out to Tractor Supply and grab me one up.  the guy shows me how to start it up, we throw it in the back of my shrimpy truck, then stop off for some beers at my favorite beer store.  once home, I settle in for a day of slack, drinkin' on the front porch with an old dog, and my laptop streaming a good Kung Fu movie (via netflix...being in a huge Japanese/kung fu mood lately, for some reason?).  later, Brian stops by to help me grab the snow blower out of the truck.  I read the manual on it, plug it in to the outside outlet and fire it up (it's got electric and pull start).  it runs good!  Brian splits for home, but then another neighbor stops by for a visit.  this time it's the goofy neighbor lady from the next street over.  she brings her dog 'Charlie' who immidietly poops on my porch, she doesn't notice and steps right in it, then blames Rosie for the mess.  she says "my dog wouldn't do such a thing..." (I watched him do it).  I break out the bleach cleaner and paper toweling (which was a bad move, now I got bleached spots on the deck) I offer her a beer as we watch the movie. she ask how many beers she can have (what?!).  I tell her that I only have four left, two for me, two for her (as an 18 pack chills in the fridge).  she drinks her two beers while yacking about her miserable marriage with her husband of 11 years, and starts askin' some pretty bold questions..."you smell good, what kind of cologne are you wearing?", "you can invite me inside your house if you want", "do you have any vodka?", "you're kind of sexy for an older man, don't you wanna go inside?". I let her know that it was time for her to leave so Rosie and I could take a walk.  her advances were getting old quick.  even if she were single that kind of pushiness is a huge turn-off.  she goes away, the pooperdog and I take our walk, then bust out the laptop on the porch, once again, and continue on with the movie I had been watching before she interrupted.  later on, I order a 12" pizza (delivered, of course, because by this time I was half in the bag). I sat down and ate the whole damn thing...it was beyond delicious! and I guess it's been awhile since I actually ate something (thinking back).  I crash out around 10:30 and sleep like a rock.  I wake up this morning 'round 5:30, burn some coffee, do some more front porch sittin' with an old dog.  it's an overcast cool morning...supposed to rain today?  I gotta look at the local weather and see.  meanwhile, more coffee, and maybe a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs *belch!*

day 3 (of 4) at the stalag goes by without a hitch.  these three twelvers have been fast ones. I guess I decided to change my attitude about work, trying to have a more positive outlook, and not gripe about the long days, etc.. it seems to be working.  I was wondering how many others attitudes I was bringing down with me.  still rumors rampantly fly   about 8 hour shifts.

the time off between Saturday's day shift, and Sunday's night shift gave me plenty of time to throw down a sixer of Shiner Bock beer, and enjoy a couple of good Kung Fu movies via Netflix ('the Iron Monkey', and 'Wing Chun'...both subtitled in English.  both excellent flix!) out on the porch.  and life is good!

I put in for another vacation day on the Sunday just before labor day.  I didn't think I'd get it, assuming a bunch of peeps would try and take that day off.  he ok'd it today! so next weekend I only gotta pull the two day time 12'ers, and have the next two night time twelvers off.  maybe I can watch some football that Sunday *plan*.  first I gotta find someone with a TV

sleeeeep.  4:30 pm comes around far too quickly.

added later:  the nice hippy lady (Brian....my almost room mate/neighbor's mom) asks me if I need any floor mats for my truck, I explain to her that I threw the ones I had away due to the floor getting wet during a heavy rain (ever since I tweaked the cab during my wipe-out). I don't need floor mats covering wet carpet, but thanks anywho.  the next day, the floor mats are sprawled out on my living room floor.  I guess she didn't get the message.  Brian then comes over, I explain to him that I don't need floor mats blah, blah, blah, and after the whole explanation, he looks inside my truck and says "oh see, you could use 'em" (he doesn't get the message either.  just one example of several...it's like talkin' to a brick wall).  on top of that, these mats are the same dark gray color that Squabber is,  and he just happens to be laying on one of them while I'm walkin' around in the dark. he's camouflaged so well, that I end up stepping on him.  turns out that he's ok, but it's just one more thing that happens because someone chooses not to listen to me... I throw the mats in the shed, so as not to injure the kitty further.  I'm about sure I'll now get asked why I'm not using them.

I wake up around 3pm today and throw the load of wash I did this morning into the dryer, then promptly fall back asleep.  it wasn't long before I start hearing some monster clunks coming from said dryer.  it wakes me up from a dead sleep.  my first thought is maybe the kitty climbed in when I loaded the dryer and didn't notice (you know, half foggy horrible thoughts when you're half asleep).  I sprang out of bed and quickly opened the dryer, just to see that it was only the dryer sheet bar had come unattached from the tumbler wall (phew!!). I visit the kitty and pet him as I calm down from my self created nightmare.

I do some online banking this morning before heading into the stalag.  it's a bigger check than I normally get for 48 hours.  I ponder all day as to why?  maybe I got my $.40/hour raise? it's been almost 6 months. I stop off to the mail box on the way home to find a hard copy of my check stub.  seems, for whatever reason, there's $35 in the "bonus" gross amount section (shweet!).  after counting the months I've been hired in, I gotta wait 'til September to get my raise...anyway, I place a good $300 from this check into savings (toward that snow blower).  then move another $600 from savings to pay down my "solid gold gem encrusted brake" master card account (I've been using the card for, not only brakes, but house paint, groceries, gas, etc., back when we weren't getting solid 48 hour weeks [July slow-down] so the balance quickly rose to near $1300, in no time flat.  now it's down near a more manageable $500, soon to be eliminated all together....by, say, Sept 26th, sounds like a good goal).

after coming home from the stalag, the pooperdog and I do a quick walk so she can do her thang (2 bagger), then 'across the way, Jay' stops me and asks if I can bring him to the beer store? "sure!". he pays me $4 for bringing him to a store about a mile away.  I gladly accept, being I brought him here a dozen times with no compensation, so it all evens out in the warsh.  I grab a four pack of 16oz Chilada's (Bud Light and Clamato...essentially carbonated V8 juice), and a pack of gum for work.  once home, I change out of my work cruds, and into some shorts and a T-shirt.  now I'm contemplating what I should make for supper.  maybe some hambooger helper *plan*

yesterday, after writing briefly about winter time in my xanga entry, I thought of how much easier winter would be if I had me a good snow blower.  that old POS that I sold to Ron (aka: Chas Manson) for $35 was more work than picking up a damn shovel to begin with.  I peruse the snow-blower reviews for a good 2 stage model that gets the best bang for the buck.  seems Tractor Supply Co. offers a Cub Cadet 524 we model, 208cc 2-stager that seems to fit within that 'best bang' parameter.  it's a whopping $700, but I figure that's cheap compared to the cost of a heart attack that a shovel will eventually cause, and if we have another winter like last year, I'm gonna need a good powerful snow-blower.  I found an online store that's willing to ship it to my house for FREE!  good gawd! that's a big item!  it's hard to imagine what shipping would normally cost on a snow-blower.  maybe a good couple hundred bucks??.  I'll prob'ly just ramble over to the TSC and throw one in the back of my shrimpy truck...when I decide to make the plunge. 

speaking of Ron (aka; Chas Manson), he stops over today, and scares the crap out of me, by (once again) staring into my storm door to see if I'm home (if you seen this guy, you'd know what I mean, he looks like a homeless dude with long gray dirty hair and beard, rotten tombstone teef, and dirty ass mission clothes.  he's a harmless enough guy, just scary lookin').  seems he wanted to share another dumpster dive porno mag with me.  "I'm done with it, I don't want it back...it's yours for free" [thanks?].  I throw it in the trash as soon as he's  gone.  all's good in the trailer-hood!

nice day all day.  it's just now lookin' as if it may rain soon.  I spend a good 45 minutes relaxing out in the lawn chair with a beer (or 3).  it's not for that GQ tan (I'm not that vain, plus I'm too old to make it work), it's more for therapeutic purposes. it's nearly a religious experience to have a half a beer buzz and feel the suns rays bake me like a butterball turkey.  I'm thinkin' there won't be too many days left to absorb the UV, being as close as we are to autumn, and all.

I never did get to that electrical box project.  I keep putting it off because I'm too busy drinkin' beers and slackin'.  maybe next week...

seems as soon as I inquire about a used car via the email area provided by autotrader.com, the reply always seems to be "sorry, this car is sold".  you'd think they'd follow that up with "what can we help you find?" (or something of that sort), but nope.  I even described what my preferences were to the local Ford dealer along with an inquiry, just short of asking if they could help, with the same answer "sorry, this car is sold".  do they feel as though an internet lead means that little?  I found my shrimpy truck online...oh well.  I keep looking anyway.

today, I'm awaken by some monster painful leg cramps.  good gawd! it's about 15 minutes of agony. it isn't just one cramp, it's several, and severe. I find I can do nothing to quell the pain.  I even try standing up, but that's not an option. this is about the third bout within as many weeks. do I got fuckin' Rickets?!.  I guess it wasn't worth mentioning here figuring one or two times is no biggey, but now it's getting somewhat routine, and I'm not likin' it. 

ooof. the breeze out here on the porch blows at an angle that I can smell cigarette stink from the trash can (the neighbors are huge butt-heads, and use my trash can).  I best move it to the other side of the porch.  that reminds me, I haven't collected $15/month for their half of the trash bill in quite some time...maybe I'll pay 'em a visit. then again, I don't like to go over there due to their yappy dog, and his girlfriend works nights. I'd hate to wake her up.   did I mention I'd make a lousy landlord? It feels most bothersome to collect what's owed me. if you read far enough back, you know what I had to deal with when Sasquatch lived here, and I'll be damned if I've seen a penny for storing Brian's stuff here (but to be fair, he's taken my dog for walks while I'm at work, given me plates, cups, silverware, and clothes that no longer fit him, so barter works good too).  

...cutey oriental neighbor waves at the dog and I as she pulls from her driveway.

last night, the stalag seemed to drag (once again, as it always does, it being our Friday).  12 hour night shift from Hell!  oh well, again, I survive it, knowing the mid-week weekend is near. I'm not alone, most everyone's eyes have that zombie factory burn-out [ummm] glow (for lack of a better word). 

I wave to Ronald as he looks my way, and catches me looking his way, in wonderment of what he's up to next.  it looks as if he's picking stuff off from his well manicured lawn (because it's important for the grass to look nice around that junkyard of a trailer of his, with two undrivable pieces of shit in the driveway).  alright, I'll back off...

man, the wind is whoopin' up.  it's somewhat overcast.  rain comin' our way?  maybe.  it's a comfy low 70's. and that wind (sans the cigarette smell) feels good.  I'm thinkin' it won't be long and I'll have to bust out that rake and herd the crispy brown leaves toward swamp things forest.  then, of course, the proverbial shotgun comes out for a good 5-6 months when the snow flies...wait. we still got a good couple months to go of summer.  no need to speed things up by writing about them.

anyway.  I guess I ought to find something to chew on, and maybe get started on this electrical outlet project *plan*

on a routine barefoot pooperdog walk, I do some small talk with Ron (aka Chas Manson).  while yackin', I passively inspect his car (the one he's been "working" on forever). again, the trunk is open (he's always messin' with something in the trunk, but I can't tell what because the car is backed in to the drive). I see now he has a log lodged under the rear axle, and the gas tank is off.  curiously, upon closer look, he seems to be grinding small triangles out of each door panel (why?!).  he's got all the break lines hanging from the chasis.  he's not trying to fix it...I want so badly to ask what the hell he's doin'? I'm guessin' it's the only form of "work" that he remembers.  anyway. he's  an eccentric duck...

one more day at the stalag, then I can start my weekend.  I'm thinkin' maybe I'll get to wiring that external power outlet onto the porch (or maybe grind small triangles in my truck doors).  meanwhile, I, once again, start an entry far too close to when I gotta get ready to work (blah, blah).  gotta hit the shower, and run...

some more things to bore you with about the stalag...we're on our, let's say 4th, but officially lost track, supervisor (on this line).  we go thru 'em like water (as every line apparently does).  seems one just barely learns what we do, throws us typical supervisor rhetoric that mostly doesn't apply, only to quickly get replaced by someone else who is clueless.  this last one was also my old boss on the welder line.  he'd show up at the beginning of the day, to give his rah rah shpeel, then you wouldn't see him for the rest of the night (which was kind of better than one who's constantly looking over your shoulder...we had one like that too, but he got fired for sleeping on the job).  also, we had a big meeting with some outside company big wigs about 2 months ago, promising that they'd turn this place around, and make things streamlined.  finally!  let's get these machines and work standards updated!  they wanted to work with our line first and needed everyone's cooperation.  fine.  it was a group of about 6 guys who would study our every move with hopes of figuring out what can be bettered.  they were hot and heavy with the questions, writing down (whatever) on their clipboards.  they offer each crew to do lunch with them and discuss what's what.  it was a move in the right direction (even though there were some who fought it).  anyway, A and B crew got their lunch.  we were supposed to get ours, then they mysteriously moved on to the next assembly line...hey wait?  you're not even close to being done with our line!  where's our lunch?!  I guess we did get some new fans out of the deal.  there are two old fans already broken and in need of replacement, but that's for another crack team in the future (who by the way are prob'ly getting paid huge for this 1/2 assed process of streamlining). we also got some pretty containers for our gloves and sleeves at each station, some colored tape on the floor, along with making downtime easier to track (does anyone do anything with this new data?).  we still have many o' problems with the machines themselves causing a lot of scrap and downtime, so overall, I call it a big failure.

I'm not sure when the deadline is for our line to move to Mexico, but there was a rumor yesterday that they already make the rails for us there, and we got a good sized shipment of unusably bad ones (nice! this company can't be making money...really?)

anyway, just some thoughts about work.  I woke up a bit early and thought I'd bore ya with more stalag goodness. now, to get ready to pull another fun filled 12'er. oh, and speakin' of 12'er, did I mention rumors of 8 hour work days?  I'd dig that a lot, as long as it wasn't 7-8's in a row.  I still need a couple days off to call a weekend...please? I don't care which days...

once again, due to a heavy thunderstorm, the cab floor carpet on the passenger side of my shrimpy truck is soaked.

a couple things about the stalag; first, more rumors about changing to an 8 hour shift (maybe because of the guy who lost his leg, or they aren't able to keep and hold peeps on 12'ers...or both?), secant;  we have a person who is supposed to handle everything (let's call her 'second in command') including production handling, yet it's common place to run out of supplies due to her being busy with 'first and last piece' test parts, and chasing alarms, leaving the next thing down the line starved, etc.. I suggest to our line support that if she's too burdened with everything else under the sun, that we should, at least, have one person who's offline make sure everyone is well stocked the first and last hour of the day.  she simply reiterates that it's her baby, and leaves it at that.  meanwhile, I can't put out more product, so I clean for the rest of the hour.  the same thing happens the last hour of the day, but instead of cleaning, I take it upon myself to restock every work station, so B crew doesn't have the same hassles. I think I'll do this everyday that I'm offline and run out of stock...and thirdly; we have a rotation.  everyone rotates to the next station every hour, on the hour, but sometimes when they change to a different part number online some of the work stations aren't required, bumping someone offline to clean (or whatever).  Ohmar got nasty today because he wasn't in a cleaning mood for an hour and insisted on being at a station when it wasn't his turn.  he pissed some peeps off, including line support, who now threatens that we may have to be assigned to a work station and be there the whole twelve hours. she has no idea how this will destroy morale. thanks Ohmar, for being the uncooperative dickweed that you are and ruining things for the rest of us.  it's gonna piss certain peeps off if they get assigned a station, say, that has a broken fan (there's a couple of those), or is simply a harder station to run...anyway, enough garbage about work.

after work, a quick pooperdog walk, some beers, "that Mitchell and Webb look" comedy sketch show on Netflix, then a couple of good bad movies.  first, "the good, the bad, and the weird" (a subtitled Chinese modern day cowboy movie), and a Rutger Hower movie called "a hobo with a shotgun".  both entertaining B movies, although, I fell asleep during the end of the second one, so I'll revisit that on another night, right now, I'm too sleepy to re-watch it.

must sleep. I have to be alive and awake for tomorrow nights shift *fart*

dude, I hadn't seen my cutey 30 something oriental neighbor chick in quite some time (she's more of a recluse than I am).  I ran into her yesterday, during a barefoot pooperdog walk.  she gained a ton of weight and still insists on wearing the tightest of  clothes.  oh well. she's still a cool neighbor! I don't mean to be all shallow Hal, but wow....  who am I to talk, right?  I got up to a good 210 lbs when I was laid off *fart*.  thankfully, the stalag is just enough exercise to now keep me at my target weight (170-175).

I'm awaken last night by a silly dog who wants to crawl into my bed.  I assume she had to go potty, so I let her outside and see what she was really spooked by.  the impending storm rolling in from the west.  she's a big chicken when it comes to thunder.  she peed real quick then pulled hard on the leash toward the door, as if to say "let me in quick, before the thunder swallows me").  she continues to be a spazz for an hour or so more, then she calmed down. I'd have kicked her out of my bedroom if it were a work night (meany!), but since it wasn't, I try and calm her with pets and reassurance that the thunder isn't gonna get her.  she's a good dog! meanwhile, the cat finds shelter in either the bathtub or under Brian's bed, as always...

I didn't do much of anything again yesterday.  I straightened the shed out.  I had placed everything near the shed door for easy snake free accessibility.  now that they appear to be gone, I rearrange things back to an orderly fashion, did a small amount of food shopping, searched cars.com, autotrader.com (and the like) for a good used bomber, and mowed the lawn.  otherwise, I did some lawn-chair/beer drinkin', then some front porch beer drinkin', and power-nappage

up this morning 'round 8.  barefoot pooperdog walk, burn some coffee, Pandora radio on 'Mouse on Mars', take a shower, and make some bacon unt franch toost to start the day.  now, what to do for the rest of the day? I need to put an electrical box out on my porch.  maybe it's a good time to hit the hardware store for a box and some Romex *plan*. that sounds like a cheap fix...

my running 'to-do' list is as schizophrenic as I am, but things are slowly getting crossed off....

later (4:30pm-ish): I hit the hardware store and get me some Romex, an outdoor ground fault electric outlet, and a quart of white exterior paint to finish the trim work, along with a 1/2 gallon of milk, and a couple other items.  once home, I put a second coat of white on the back door, then wait 'til it dries a bit to razor the excess paint off the window.  I take the time to razor the blue tape off from the skirting as well (the tape that hadn't come off when initially peeled).  it looks a bunch nicer!  now, I can safely say, I'm done with the painting (good gawd!  I'm so sick of painting).  I'll prob'ly mess with the electric box on another weekend...meanwhile, I'll drink a couple more coldey's and call it a day.  I'm thinkin' maybe I'll grill me some brats and maybe watch another Godzilla movie out here on the porch *plan*

Monday night at the stalag seemed (as it always does) to drag forever (it, being our Friday, and all). I was beyond whipped! I often wonder why there aren't more car crashes from peeps falling asleep at the wheel while driving home, pulling these long-ass days.   then I hear about one of the maintenance guys (who works a different assembly line) who did just that, losing one of his legs....

cool morning.  the pooperdog and I are waiting for the coffee to brew, sittin' out on the porch, listening to the tree frogs, trying to recall, as I type, where I left off with my last entry...I'll just start with where I began my first paragraph.  after my dragged out "Friday", I come home, take a quick pooperdog walk, clean up the pee spot on the linoleum, light the scented candle to mask the now heavy bleach smell, take a shower, and change into something comfy to sleep in.  I crash for a good 4 hours, then feel wide awake enough to drive to my favorite beer store, and grab a chicken sammitch at Burger King (wow! it wasn't 'til just now, while typing "Burger King", that I remembered that I had put them on my shit list.  oh well...short attention span).  I then head home and proceed to start my mid-week weekend in slack mode.  catch up on some Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, ABC World news shows (via hulu.com), that I had missed over the weekend.  drinkin' coldey's and enjoying the slack.  later, I watch me a couple more Kung Fu movies...

I find a sports page in the breakroom at the stalag, showing that the Lion's win their first preseason game against the Bengals 34-3.  wow!!  I wonder how they did this past weekend?  I'm not gettin' too excited just yet.  it seems the Lion's have done good in the past couple preseasons just to tank it bad during regular season.  my work schedule sucks when it comes to football.  oh well. one day I'll have a "real" job.  for now, I guess I should just be thankful for work of any kind

during our last pooperdog walk for the night, I do a little catching up with the cool hippy neighbor lady (Brian's mom.  Brian, being my almost room mate/neighbor).  she's out of work, and can't get unemployment, being she worked under the table at her sisters (now closed) gift shop.   we talk about her situation for a spell, then I ask about Brian's new job.  she can't keep things straight with his jobs and cars (he's the guy that totaled 2 cars within a month, now he's got himself a used Explorer).  last I talked to him (just last week), he had a brand new job in Grand Rabbits, at a food distribution warehouse, now (she says) he works here in town at similar place, just waiting for September to roll around so he can start yet another new job at the battery plant (yep, the same one Obama visits).   good gawd!  between switching cars and jobs, I'm gettin' dizzy just askin'

pooperdog just launched herself away from the porch toward a kitty passerby.     she vaults at full speed toward her victim, just to have that lead line come to a dead stop, almost flipping that 50 lb mutt completely over. I'm tellin' ya. I gotta put a trampoline spring on my shopping list before she breaks her neck right off. 

anyway, the laptop battery's low, and I need another cup of mud, so I best go plug this in, grab some coffee, and maybe do us a pre-dawn barefoot pooperdog walk.  *plan*

man, I go back and forth about buying a new used car.  right when I'm content with maybe riding this one into the dirt and replacing it next spring, something else adds to the trade-in noises.  I don't know if it's the muffler itself or the shield that protects it, but it's making an awful loud rattle, and it seems, the cooler the weather (cool mornings lately) the rougher first gear wants to act (as if the plugs are fouled, but it wasn't that long ago since I replaced 'em, although I did have that truck on it's side since, so who knows?). just the simple fact that I can't get NPR news with that cheese encrusted shish-kabab fork replacement...that power steering leak seems to be getting worse too.  damn! but with all of this (and so much more), I'm still worried about getting stuck with a car loan whilst having that sinking feeling about the economy taking another shit.  I'll decide to make a purchase, then get laid off again (wouldn't that suck!).  I'm sure a lot of peeps are holding out for some good news before buying big ticket items, making the economy even more stagnant.  oh well.

one more day at the stalag, the a couple three days off.  I mentioned that my projects are pretty much done, but I prob'ly ought to build a small staircase for the back door (like my insurance company wanted me to do a couple years ago.  it shouldn't take a lot of time, and maybe $50 worth of material to build.  let's see how motivated I can get on my days off...

last time I wrote, I was interrupted, once again, by  the sound of helicopters...I thought it most strange that it was the same grouping I saw when Obama was in town, but figured it was just a fluke (he couldn't be in town again for the second time in a week?  could he??) yep.  seems he revisited that battery plant south of town (or maybe the first visit was a dry run...?  who knows? I can't keep track). this morning, I was, once again, completely not ready to get out of bed (I went to bed early last night, without any beers.  so, why so dead tired?).  I try a good 15 push-ups, then follow that with a sausage and egg McMuffin combo and some coffee, then I also added some munchies to my lunchbox, such as granola bars, ranch flavored wheat thins, and some dry roasted peanuts to help provide additional sustenance.  that along with plenty of water during the day, and I was able to stay a bit more alert and alive.   I take a quick pooperdog walk after I get home, then a shower and some chicken helper (creamy broccoli with spiral noodles), followed by a good many beerses.  I search netflix for a good Karate movie, and find that there's an 'Ip man 2' (shweet!! the first 'Ip man' was the shitness! wait, shizznit).  it's a Chinese movie version of Rocky (pretty much), with a surprise ending (I'm wondering how much this Ip man story is real?).   the other day (speaking of Kung FU) I watch a movie called "Chocolate", about a retarded girl who learns Kung Fu simply by watching (sort of an idiot savant type story).  it's an excellent flick!!  both movies are subtitled in English... anyway, it's now going on 1am.  I guess I should go inside and crash...first, maybe something to snack on.  peanut butter and raspberry jelly sammitch perhaps?

a second coat of white on the porch overhang, around the front bay window, and the back door pretty much completes the paint job...I spend the rest of the day taking a power-nap,  watching a Godzilla movie (via netflix), and grilling hot Italian brats out on the porch.

alright, well, it's kind of overcast outside, but here's a couple of pics of the wood-panel submarine sporting it's new coat (I've still yet to put up some white shutters, but that's for another day).

nice day for sunburn on top of a sunburn.  I am turning somewhat brownish instead of that beet red thang, so all is good.  anyway, this morning, I stop off at Supercuts for a hair chop, but it looks like a 45 minute wait, so I put my name on the list and do me some breakfast (eggy burrito thingeys at McD's...they're darn good!).  it takes a bit longer than 45 minutes because the lady ahead of me is hugely picky, but that's ok.  it's still early.  I get my head chopped, then head to the local hardware store for some more brushes and a new front porch light.  after I get home, I start on the white trim and paint the back door a first coat, then it's on to painting a second coat gray that butts up to the white trim.  after that I scrape, wire brush, and use some TSP (krud kleaner) on the porch roof sill, then commence to paint that white.  I'm hammering some Schlitz in the meantime.  now it's 5:30-ish, and nuke me some leftover hambooger helper and tator salad, then back out to the porch to jot down some drunken words describing my day *belch*  [good gawd! I'm that "run-on sentence" kind of guy when I've been drinkin', but who cares, right?]

alright, I haven't seen across the way Jay since I started this project, yet he was all "dude, holler if you need help".  I hollered, but I left it open-ended,  maybe I offended him somehow.  don't matter.  he's still a cool hippy!   I'll help him when his roof needs fixin' (which is the project he's doing next, once the weather cools down)...

I'll attempt to install the new porch light next...

I got maybe 4 hours of sleep (after work) before I got up and mowed the lawn (thinking it was gonna rain soon after...it didn't). I also borrow the neighbors lawn edger and pulled weeds from the cracks of the driveway.  I mean, why put all kinds of money into repainting the wood-panel submarine and completely ignore the lawn care part, right?  again, tomorrow and Thursday looks nice, weather wise, so I'll, once again, bust out the extension ladder and finish the exterior.  I gotta measure and price shutters.  I may pay off my paint job first (I put that purchase on my 'solid gold and gems brake job account' Master Card) before getting too crazy with the trimmings,  then I can relax for a bit, 'til I find myself another project...maybe I'll add a second floor with a spiral staircase, or better yet, an escalator.

I hit the grocery store for some staples (and me, without a staple gun), and return a bunch of beer can empties (did I mention, my cat drinks a lot of beerses?)

later tonight, I watch me a couple good movies whilst drinkin' a couple coldeys.  first, there was 'Jakob, the liar' (Robin Williams in a WW2 concentration camp scenario...good flick!  very sad!), then, I watch 'Law abiding Citizen' (action, revenge, and sophisticated weaponry!) on netflix.  it's currently time (I'm thinkin') to crash out and catch up on that sleep I missed out on earlier *plan*

so, as I'm on my way to work, there's a gaggle of large blue and white helicopters heading west (I'm traveling west as well, and stick my head out the side window to see what's up).   I stop off at McDonald's for a big mac meal and eat it right there in the parking lot, just to see the same entourage  of choppers heading east.  I wasn't aware Mr Obama was supposed to show his face at our work, but  I guess he did.  those was presidential choppers (who knew?!). ok, now.  I say he stopped off at my work.  not exactly.  he did visit our company, but it was the car battery plant on the south side.  I work the car seat plant on the west side maybe 3 miles down the road.  same company, different plant...

last day of the work week, and we work a full 12'er.  I get out of work, we do us a pooperdog walk (4 bagger), then do a load of laundry, clean and mop the kitchen floor where Rosie had peed in front of the fridge (easy clean linoleum), then grab me a beer, and jot down the days uneventful events.  looks like it may rain today, so no outside painting for me, but tomorrow and Thursday look good (so far) to wrap this exterior up (pictures to follow).

that beer (that I just had) made me sleepy, but I think I'm gonna try and make some bacon and pancakes before hitting the rack *plan*

3 of 4 work days/nights done.   our line's supplier of the rails that we needed was down half the night for repairs, leaving us starved for parts, so most of us got farmed off to different departments.  I was sent to the beer/orgy dept (yeah< it's been awhile since I worked that one).  they got out at 5am, so I was able to split early too (shweet!).  came home, did a quick pooperdog walk, had a beer, then a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs (topped with a drizzle of honey. mmmmmmmms!), and I'm strongly contemplating crashin' out, 'cause 4:30pm comes around far too quickly.

I had some pretty wild dreams last night!  one was about my brother getting too close to a woodchuck, the next thing you know, I'm trying to pry the chucks jaws off from his arm (twisted right?!).  I tried to warn him not to get too close...did he listen? nope.  another dream (not so wild) consisted of me and pooperdog playing in the snow.  she acted all super puppy dog like.  it was a cool dream.   let's hope she sticks around for this winter.  and of course, I had a version of my typical getting lost inside a giant house with confusing hallways, and claustrophobic rooms (I have different versions of that one, often), etc..  dreams are so weird!

anyway....sleeeeeep!

two more night shift gigs, then the weekend begins! 24 hours...I can do this! (just a small amount of self talk to get motivated. the second half of the week is tougher, being it's a graveyard shift, and all).  it must have rained today (observing the sun shining off wet pavement while on my second cup of coffee).  wait, why'd I start an entry?  I best hit the shower, and get ready for the stalag

Thursday (recalling 3 days back, half wiped out after 4 beers and 12 hours of work), I pretty much have to lay flat on my belly on the roof and reach over the overhang (not "overhang" so much, maybe 'eaves trough' would be a better word) to paint the trim above the porch roof...I know the porch roof can hold a good 170 lbs of snow or more, but to concentrate all that weight on one spot scares the shit out of me  (as far as possible porch roof collapse goes), so ninja roof belly painting it is (the whole 70 foot length), and if that's not bad enough, I had to do the whole trim again (second coat), the same way,  I felt muscles I didn't know I had, the next day.  I also paint the entire front of the trailer all battleship gray, with many ideas on how to trim it in white...I ask the neighbor.  he gives me the best advice, pointing out trim work on other trailers nearby.   I still have to paint the porch roof eaves, and the front and back door, then look into measuring for shutters (again, the neighbor suggests white shutters and doors, instead of burgundy.  ok, his vote's been entered).

Friday,  it takes all I have, to get up at 4:30am.  I just spent 10 days waking up at 9:30 (or the like) every morning.   my first day back was mostly uneventful.  afterward, I yack with the neighbor (yeah, the same one who gave me advice above) about putting an outdoor plug on the porch wall (he's a certified electrician, so he walked me thru it).  that's a project I'll be looking at next.  this extension cord business from the rear of the trailer just doesn't cut it. anyway, I make the mistake of using a couple Tylonal PM's as late as 10pm knowing I only got 7 hours 'til I wake up, and already being 1/2 exhausted from the days work (I like natural sleep, but can't always rely on it on work nights), making it that much harder to wake up Saturday at 4:30.  0nce again, I make it thru the day, this time spending the last hour and a half on the next assembly line over.  the guys on that line suggest that I maybe try out for C crew (the weekend shift I pull now) on their line, saying further that the Dodge Ram line (that I've been on all along) will soon be dropping their peeps once it moves to Mexico.  good call.  maybe I'll talk to HR on Monday, otherwise, if I take no action, I'll be at their mercy, come that moving day,  as to where I get assigned, and it might just be at a welding post again....anyway, tonight, after coming home, the pooperdog and I do a barefoot walk, then I hit the shower, do some dishes, do a load of laundry, sweep the kitchen,  vacuum a bit, and watch a documentary on North Korea [Seoul train] (I stray from my normal zombie/horror fest, and do me some documentaries, including the aforementioned, as well as a movie called "gashole", and another called 'the age of stupid' via netflix.  I do love me a good documentary! 

as I'm typing, the trailer a couple 3 west of me, on the same side, rev their Harley's as if to show the park that they are bad asses. this happens often.  they'll sit and rev/idle, rev/idle, rev/idle, rev/idle for 10 to 15 minutes before they bust out of the park at full throttle.  I feel bad for the double wide right next door.  it's a young couple with a baby that has to put up with that crap daily.  why do these modern day hippies gotta be so thoughtless to their trailer trash neighbors?  is this the damn '70s?  they make mufflers now,  but still they gotta be all loud and rude, shrouding themselves in dirty sleeveless leather vests and flat black 1/2 helmets that have that stereotypical "helmet laws suck" stickers.  amazing!  can't a Harley rider just wear "normal" street clothes?

so, here I sit, listening to 'Caribou' radio (pandora), gazing at the 1/2 moon out on the porch, around 11:30 pm, with the pooperdog by my side, writing...then a "7 minute remaining" laptop battery warning rears it's ugly head *fart*

dammit!  wrong place, wrong time... I just happen to be pooperdog walking in front of that trailer that's for sale ($2000.  I imagine they sold it, I forgot to ask), when they pull into their driveway.  the normal small talk happens, then Diane asks "what are you doing today?".  "well, today and tomorrow look good enough, weather wise, to finish painting my trailer..." I should have left it at that and continued walking, but instead, reluctantly asked "why, you guys need help?" [bad move].  "all the people that we asked to help us move have backed out, we just need someone to help us with the heavy stuff, fridge, washer, dryer, etc. can you help?" [dammit!!  you know when you have your heart set on finishing a task and someone comes along and pops that bubble...] "yeah,  I'll be over in about in hour".   as I'm walking Rosie home, I'm thinkin' 'I hope they don't expect me to unload said items at there new house too.  dude!  it's gonna be a longgggg day'  don't get me wrong, if it were friend or family, it'd be much easier to say yes to, but when it's a vague trailerhood acquaintance (such as this) it's that much tougher... oh well. I'll make the best of it.  I got tomorrow to finish painting, then it's back to the stalag on Friday. 

later:  as it was, one of the peeps did show to help move, so it was easier for me, once the u-haul truck was full, to say "I hate to be a party pooper, but you guys can handle the unload at your new place, right?".  they were beyond grateful for my help.  it only took a good 2 hours to load up that 20 footer...so, came home, did up some homemade frozen lasagna leftovers, drank about a gallon of water, and commenced to paintin' what needed paintin'.  I work a good 4 1/2 hours getting things almost wrapped up.  I prob'ly gotta spend another 3 or 4 hours tomorrow, finishing roof trim, painting the porch roof overhang, completing the front and back.  chances are pretty good, I'll be able to do all of what's left (in blue/grey) with the 1/4 paint can that's left (if not, I'll grab the color sticker off the top, and go back to the hardware store). 

so, Jay was here the other day, and I was looking in the direction that the cat was staring (he's always staring at something cool!).  it was the biggest horse fly I've ever seen on the outside screen of the front bay window.  I point it out to Jay, and he's just as amazed.  it's huge!!  anyway, while I'm up on the extension ladder today, this same fly (I assume...unless there's more like it.  scary thought) was buzz-bombing me.  now, normally I'm not scared of flies, but this damn thing was fast and loud.  I know how hard a normal horse fly bites, this mofo would prob'ly leave a volcano welt.  I came close to dropping the paint bucket while swatting at this thing.  seriously, if you see this thing coming at ya, you'd swear it was a super sonic humming bird! he (or she) didn't end up biting me, so all is good, but man, the damn thing....why does he gotta hang around my trailer.  go bug someone else....amazing!

the forecast yesterday, said no rain until Tuesday evening, so I bust out the paint, paint brush around windows, porch ceiling and door frame, thinking I, at least, wanna get the porch area done, so I can have it back (without stumbling over tarps and shit all pushed out of place).    so far, the trim work has been the biggest pain in the ass, once I busted out the roller, I was able to cover some serious ground!  I got 3/4's of the trailer painted using 3 of the 4 paint cans, before feeling a bit wobbly from the heat.  I'm guessin' workin' under the sun with little or no food, drinkin' beers (and water), didn't help.  I still feel a bit out of it.  I can't do any painting today, 'cause of a storm headin' this way, so I do some shopping.  I just need a couple items. also, I find me an aluminum roasting pan that fits nicely under the grill to catch grease (the old way was to let the grease spill into the small metal cup that the grill provided, then when that got full it'd drip onto the piece of Masonite that the grill perched itself on, then every so often, clean the Masonite. it was a messy routine, and I'd sometimes catch Rosie licking up days old grease from it *gack!* (that's prob'ly how she got sick).  this new grease catcher will be perfect, no more greasy grill pad, or gooey propane bottle, and the dog can't reach her head that high.  I throw away the old 1/2 rotten greased covered Masonite pad, and call it good.  I take off the porch light to paint around it.  it's not worth saving.  it kinda fell apart in my hands while dismounting it.  next time I'm at the hardware store, I'll have to pick up another porch light like the one I replaced last year for the back door *plan*.  maybe get one that has a motion thinger on it (just because)...tomorrow, and Thursday look like nice weather once again, so I'll try and wrap things up, then post some pics [old vs. new]...

added later: the day was pretty much a wash, I mean, other than a good couple o'barefoot pooperdog walks, and a good (yet restless) power-nap,  nothing else got accomplish the second half of the day.  maybe I'll quick mow the lawn before the storm hits, but otherwise it was most uneventful.  Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) just stopped by and said they may total his Subaru.  this will be the second car within a month or two that he's totaled (and I let him borrow my truck...should I be scared?  nah). he's amazed, simply because there's only a small wrinkle in the hood, and the radiator got damaged, then he points at the roll over damage on my shrimpy truck, and says "that's worse than what my car got, and they wanna total it!!!" (maybe I'm lucky that I only had PLPD, or they might have totaled mine?).  anyway...

Bambi Mittens randomly sends me an email (yeah, there's a person I haven't talked about in some time.  I sure did flip over that dumb chick *cue: everybody plays the fool sometime* (you read enough angst riddled posts about her).  it wasn't anything personal, she sent one of those funny emails called: "why women live longer then men" showing a series of pics of guys on precariously angled ladders high up on buildings, etc., where ladders don't belong.  does she somehow know that I've been wobbling around under the baking sun on my extension ladder painting the wood-panel submarine?  yeah, prob'ly not.... 

netflix movies lately, include a french Zombie flick called 'Horde', and a japanese film called 'I saw the devil'.  both subtitled, both entertaining, but very rated R, for brutal murder scenes, and of course, zombies gorging on flesh.  meanwhile, I make one of those $12 Stouffer's lasagnas, then freeze the movie when it's time to eat.  then it dawns on me, Lasagna is the closest thing [to what the movies depict] as human entrails while being scooped from the tray *gack!*.  it doesn't bother me once I start eating because nothing can deter me from mawing the home made goodness of a Stouffer's frozen lasagna.  it's supposed to feed 12,  but it's about 4 meals for me.  once stuffed, i go back to my movies...

Pandora radio set on 'Amon Tobin'...good stuff!!

alright, the mystery of the missing decorative tree stump is solved.  this morning, while making a beer run (for across the way Jay and myself), his girlfriend asked if it was by the road to get rid of it. I just said 'yeah', it was a good accent piece while it lasted, but the hippy's girl can have it.  alright (again, with "alright" starting a sentence...whattup widdat?),  I'm convinced that no matter how much the paint and the paint brush says "one coat", it ain't gonna happen.  I painted the trim on the back side of the trailer.  I swear, I could touch the sun from up there (holy Hell, it's hot!!).  I bought the more expensive paint because it says "one coat" and the guy said it has the "primer" mixed in, so one coat is all you need, I bought the more expensive brushes for the same reason.  you'd think they'd stop being liers (wait, how do you spell "liers"...the spell check is saying it's wrong), and  tell it like it is...or I could stop being so naive?  or both.  it's supposed to rain come midnight tonight, so I'm not gonna paint anything else today.  I may do some repairs on some broken eaves trough instead.  I got all summer to paint.  it was a good start.  ok, one more beer *belch!*

so, last night I make me some quarter (plus) pounders (where you take a pound and a half of burger and make it into 4 equal thick patties), then fry 'em with a mid flame for 9 min. on one side, 7 on the other (something I learned from one of those cooking shows).  it's deliciously browned (almost burnt) on the outside, and just the right amount of pink in the middle (mmmmmmm!).  anyway, I have some leftover cooked bacon in the fridge, so I nuke that for 30 seconds as the burgers are getting done.  then, I'm looking for some ranch dressing, but I gotta be careful about the condiments in my fridge  (when WAS the last time I used some of these?!), so I look for my reading glasses...."april of '09" was the due date on the ranch.  ok, throw that one out.  how about the Blue cheese dressing?  "dec of '10".  dammit!! next the salsa.  I guess salsa lasts a bit longer, this one says "mar of '13" cool!!  I do me some salsa bacon bigger than 1/4 pounders.  good gawd, they rawked!!  now if I only had some chili cheese fries to go with 'em I'd have been in heaven (my perception of heaven, that is, where, exactly what I had said, the burgers are huge, and the chili cheese fries rawk!!).  today, I have the remaining two cooked patties (nuked) with Ketchup for lunch along with a cold beer...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmms!!

I'm thinkin' maybe I'll accent the place with burgundy shutters,  and paint both doors burgundy as well.  it looks nice on a place right around the corner that's also blue gray with white trim *plan*.  speakin' of the place right 'round the corner, as the pooperdog and I are taking our walk last night, that trailer that just sold to the peeps that own a blinged (hard 'g') out black Escalade with a Texas license plate had a county squad car sittin' in front of it, with a dude in the back sitting funny, as if he were wearing cuffs.  his wife (or girl friend) at the front door looking toward said car, prob'ly thinking they should have taken that extra step to get into Canada, instead of hiding out in Michigan (I don't really know what she was thinking, but it makes for an interesting chapter).  good luck, Texas Escalade duder!

ok, one more beer! *belch!*

later tonight, I watch a bad Steve Buscemi (sp?) movie (13 moons), take me a shower, clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, roll up the hose I busted out earlier to clean the porch wall, rolled in the trash can, and was ready to throw the old pine stump back where it belonged (leaning against the front of the house), and it was gone!  I guess I placed it too close to the edge of the road [oops!]. it was pretty rotten anyway.  it broke in half when I moved it and there was a big ol' bees nest in it, so no worries. it was rather decorative, maybe I'll replace it with a Tiki statue, or a totem pole. I'm thinkin' once I get the place lookin' sharp, maybe I'll ditch these van seats on the porch and get me a good used set of something to sit on....something more porchy, and less trailer trashy.  maybe Ron (aka Chas Manson) will want these van seats, or I can bring them to the junkyard.  that's for another day.  right now, they do the trick.

Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) just got back from borrowing my truck.  seems he got his UFO (Subaru SVK) in a wreck and it's sittin' at the shop. he's been having some bad luck lately with autos (see earlier post).  I guess they (the insurance agency) are going to provide him with a loaner so he can start his new job on Monday, but for now, I'm not using mine, so go for it dude....it truly feels weird that I didn't have to work this weekend!  the even better news is I don't have to be back until next Friday!

speaking of autos.  we had a hard rain the other day and I wanted to see if my caulk job on the windshield kept the water out.  nope. once again, wet carpet!  dammit!  I'm not sure where the water comes in?  I must have tweaked the cab hard when I rolled it.  I guess it's time.   this ol' bomb has been making trade-in noises for long enough (the cab leaks, power steering pump leaks, the "check engine" light randomly comes on when the plugs fowl, the antennae's broke, etc, and so on).  I prob'ly won't get very much money selling it outright, but I'm thinkin' I need to upgrade soon, or pump another million in it to bring it up to date.  it's nickel and dime-ing me to death. I guess it might sell fast, due to the fact that it still runs pretty good, and it has new solid gold with gem encrusted brakes (those are good selling points).  alright, now I went thru the electric motorbike, Royal Enfield motorbike, and sports car convertible phases, now I need to simply look for a newer step-side Ford Ranger, with 4 wheel drive, and manual transmission, that won't cost me $400/month in payments (practical, right?).  first, I better find out if I have a job to return to (see earlier post)

I never did get back outside to paint.  my sun burnt back dictated I stay inside and catch up on the news, Jon Stewart, South Park, etc (via hulu.com). I sit and write out a good $50 in mail-in rebates.  I'll have to bring those along with next months rent cheque to the main office/mail box on one of our barefoot pooperdog walks tomorrow *plan*

wow!  I guess I had a lot to write about today.  cool!  BEER ME!!

Ron (aka Chas Manson) comes over yesterday upon seeing me rip off the shutters from the front bay window.  he asks if they're any good and that a friend was lookin' for a pair.  I guess I could have been more gentle so as not to tear the screw holes bigger, in case someone....wait, I know what he wanted, he was probl'y wondering if they were aluminum (he takes anything and everything to the scrapyard for some cigarette money.  well, what ever his motive, I'd have given them to him if he wanted). he decides he doesn't want 'em, so I bust them up and throw 'em in the trash can.  then he changes his mind and wants the screws (good gawd! I think he gets a bang out of dumpster diving...watch out for those full pooperdog bags).  we then get into a discussion about how cheap the place across the street is selling for ($3500).  he rants on to say they could prob'ly get 4 times that amount, and that he paid $17,000 for his dump.  JESUS! I hope he bought the place brand new?  anyway, it looks as if the place already sold.  I see a good lookin' chick moving stuff in. 

I dry roasted my back pretty good yesterday (sunburn from Hell!).  maybe I'll paint the wall under the porch roof first, then maybe paint the east side as the sun sinks into the west *plan*.  it's supposed to rain tomorrow....how long does paint have to dry before getting wet?  It prob'ly sez on da can *fart*

I gotta make another run to the store to pick up a couple more items and finish off this to-do list.  first a smallish pooperdog walk is in order...

later:  I plunk down a good $250  for 5 gallons of paint (what happened to the price of good paint?!?!  good gawd! it ain't cheap! $170 for 5 gallons. dayum! oh well, if it lasts 10 or 15 years, it'll be worth it), rollers, more TSP, brushes, paint pans, etc. (stuff I prob'ly already have in the shed  but are too chicken to look for fear of snakes...wait!  'chicken' was yesterday's word of the day).  I finish TSP-ing the area around the deck.  man!  I had no idea how gross and dirty that deck wall was until I TSP'd it.  yikes!  grubby!!  the good news (financially) is that I get a $5 rebate for each can of paint, as well as mail in rebates for other stuff.  I gotta take the time and write those letters. I'm a bit apprehensive about starting to paint.  it looks like rain tomorrow (40% chance), then a nice day, followed by more rain, then two nice days in a row.  maybe I'll wait for the two nice days.  just to be sure. *plan*

Squabber taking a drink of milk before bedtime

I mention that I'm gonna paint my place the same color as my shed, but I don't think I ever posted a pic of the finished shed...

good example of the once salmon colored wood-panel submarine bleeding thru the baby blue

TSP'd (ummmm....aluminum siding cleaned) the whole of the exterior of the wood-panel submarine (while drinking many o' beerses).  it brought about a less faded look.  it's a strong baby blue now....it won't matter soon.  I'll be painting a blue grey (more gray than blue) to cover everything soon enough to match that of the snake house (da shed). I rip off the remaining few old shutters to expose a couple 3 bees nest.  after all is said and done, I grill me some chickens, and watch "the ghost and Mr chicken" (Don Knott's at his best) via Netflix out on the porch (I guess today's theme is "chicken".  maybe tomorrow's will be "cabbage"?)....before ya know it, it's 1am. I guess I ought to crash, so as I can paint the place tomorrow...

wake up 'round 9:30, do a barefoot pooperdog walk, then hit the hardware store to try and buy some of these items on my to-do list.  I find some TSP (aluminum siding cleaner), a couple of duraflame butane utility lighters (like a regular lighter, but with a trigger and a long lighty part...the one I have now is half broke from lighting the water heater way too many times). they were a dollar a piece (normally $9.99), so I bought two.  a brush with a long handle (to pre-clean the trailer before painting it), etc..  I looked for another 3" vent cap for the water heater, but all they had was the one I currently have, so maybe I'll hit the local HVAC place tomorrow, and see what they have, and maybe pick their brain for advice...I also flag down the parks manager (who happened to be talking with the neighbors across the way), and ask him what he thought about me painting the trailer the same blue/grey (with white trim) as I did my shed.  he ok'd it, so tomorrow I'll pick up a few cans of latex, then hope there's a good day or two with no rain, so as I can get 'er done *plan*.  let's see.  otherwise power-nap and watch some good comedy via netflix ('that Mitchell and Webb look'...funny shizz!  check 'em out)

oh, the crap I write when I'm drinkin'..."gateway" drug?? isn't that the term someone who's never used drugs before pins onto marijuana use?  and why would I use it linking beer to hard drugs?  just plain silly. there's no "gateway" to be had, your either a user or your not. the end.

currently, it's rainy and in the 60's.  very comfortable porch sittin' weather. I'm glad we got our barefoot pooperdog walk out of the way earlier [...] WOW! it's really coming down! here's hopin' the porch roof doesn't leak..  I gotta try and coax Rosie onto the lawn, so she'll at least pee before I head to the store.  I'm about out of everything (food wise).   as the thunder rumbles in the distance, Rosie demands more and more attention.  she gets to the point of growling at me if I'm not taking a minute to pet her.  anywho, my laptop is getting misted upon due to the slanty wind.  best I go inside...

later:  the rain dies down enough to take a smallish pooperdog walk.  the neighbor kids know Rosie by name, they come up and inundate her with pettings.  it's always the same little girl that points to poop filled sammitch bags that I'm holding and asks "what's that?".  this will be about the 19th time I tell her what it is, but will somehow feel disappointed if she doesn't ask the next time.  I hit the store and do $117 worth of damage.  that's way over my weekly budget, but I couldn't resist the "10 items for $10 plus the 11th is free!" sale.  I'm a big fan of hamburger helper, so that's the first thing I grab; 11 boxes, then onto the soup dept.  11 cans of soup, and so on.   I mean 90 cents per item beats the stuffing out of the original $1.57, right? so why not...my pantry looks well stocked once again.  once home, while putting the groceries away, I start tapping a cadence on the "I can't believe it's not butter" tub, and hummed a bass line to it.  it got me motor-vated to maybe plug guitars and mics in and fire up ACID 4.0 to record it, but just as I'm ready to hit record, there's a huge downpour outside (making quite a racket against my metal roof of this ol' wood-panel submarine).   I'll try again later.  meanwhile, maybe I'll catch up on some news and Jon Stewart (via Hulu)

dude!  I've seen 'across the way Jay' hosed off his ass before (many times) but this time he stops by looking all grayish and incomprehensible...I think he's passing that "gateway" that they tell me alcohol can lead to, into something much harsher (and it ain't pot).  I' m even trying to feed the hippy in him, by playing some youtube some LedZep, but he seems beyond that. I've never seen the guy so "out of it".   here's hopin' that he hasn't gone all Amy Winehouse, as so many have [news at 11]

of course, the last day before a 10 day vacation is gonna seem to last forever.  I started gettin' sleepy with 4 hours to go!  near the end of the shift, I ask one of the girls (who were replacing old "visual factory" tape on the floor) if we're having a tour (seems that tape always gets ripped up, and replaced everytime a big wig is about to show up).  she tells me that the owner himself will be visiting to determine whether the place will be shut down or not.   now there'd been talk, back when I started as a temp, last September, of either this place, or the one in Battle Creek being crucified (for lack of a better word), but rumor had it Battle Creek was the one.  I hadn't held my breath since that news, and it's no shock if we are "the chosen one", being many a top dog from our shop transferred to Battle Creeks facility, so who knows?  wait, why do I trust the rumors of the tape girl.  she's just one of us peons who happened to get elected to spruce the place up, why should I give her any credence?  anyway, true or not, I'm gonna be wondering if when I get off my vacation and go back to the stalag will my badge open the door?  but, ya know what, another rumor has it that half the shop is on it's way to Mexico soon, so who really knows what's truth and what's just plain shillack?  I'm not gonna worry about it.  these are uncertain times (economically) so I'll just wing it.  maybe I'll get me another 2 years of unemployment *crosses fingers*...

washing clothes, debugging my bedroom some more, doing some dishes, adding things to my "to do" list, including fixing my shed doors (they be slumpin' a bit), adding a 'real' drip pan to my grill, finding an industrial strength grill pad (for the grill to rest on),  and maybe having my truck looked at to get the power steering from bleeding to death (as it has been forever now...thank you Lucas power steering stop leak for garunteeing that it'd stop the leak with one bottle or my money back.  I'm on my forth $20 bottle).

anyway.  I just made me beer run and it's nice outside, so maybe I'll mow da lawn *ready, GO!*

hehe....wow!  I reread my last post snickering at how aggressive I can be after consuming 7 or 8 New Holland brews (normally me being laid back, and all).  I don't really care that much...I seemed to turn it into a big deal, then topped it off with a "capish?!".  confirming, once again, that I am a dork!

yesterday's stalag stint was just another [super hot] day.  we've now worked a good four 12 hour working days in a row (none of this going home after 8 or 10 hours).  I guess the "july slowdown" is over.  I got one more day to pull tonight, then a good 10 days off.  I'm gonna use 40 of my 65 hours of vacation, and slack!  I start a list of possible things I can do while slacking.  maybe drink a beer first, then the trailer's exterior could use a good coat of paint (this faded baby blue with white trim is looking mighty old!). I guess It'll need a good cleaning first, then I wanna fix the vent cap on my water heater, so as to prevent the AC from blowing out the pilot.  a set of new shutters for each window would spruce up the place.  I'll try and look the place over with that "fresh set of eyes" approach and see what needs to be done...

but, for now, I gotta get ready for another stint at the stalag *fart*

alright, as I'm coming home from the stalag, I'm flagged down by the almost room mate (Brian...neighbor) and told exactly what the letter said; pretty much, it doesn't matter what I think, it must be Jay's fault that the trash man didn't pick up my garbage due to overfill, and not his use of my garbage can  filling of yard waste because he's used many neighbors cans before for the same thing...then it dawns on me, just what bugs me about this guy.  he never just owns what might be his mistake, and calls it good, he passes the blame to someone else, and omits any wrong doing.   dude, I called the garbage peeps.  they said the trash wasn't picked up due to your yard waste dumping...admit it, and maybe apologize, and I'll be cool with the whole scene, or don't apologize and simply comply with my request for dumping yard waste in the back yard instead of fighting me...it's almost as if he owns my place and I gotta comply with his requests...NO. don't turn this shit around dude.  you're my tenant (even though you're not actually paying me to store your shit in my place...I own your respect. not the other way around.  why you gotta be all controlling and what-not?? simply comply with my request and call it good.  capish?  thank you!).

[Ed. note added on 7/25.  I guess I get pretty aggresively silly after 8 New Hollands.  apparently I turn into a 1930's Chicago mobster who demands respect...now if I can only remember where I misplaced my Tommy gun.   DORK!]  

I get home after another 12 hour day at the stalag, do me a shower,  and have a chicken sammich using leftover chicken from the store bought pre-cooked chicken from yesterday's purchase, and some leftover 'tator salad as well, sharing, of course, with the dog, then busting out some beers and a good pooperdog walk before watching some 'Futurama' episodes out on the porch, followed by some half drunken 'RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE' vids. (...and life is good!).

...suddenly the dog is all tweaked by some rustling in the woods behind the wood-panel submarine...could it be the swamp things return??  maybe.  dude, what? it's already 3 am?! *back yard rustling gets more aggressive...*

up at 4:30, hit the snooze button 'til about 5.  burn some coffee, and try and get Rosie's lethargic ass outside  (she still seems major league out of it at this point).  I end up dragging the big pillow she lays on to the door, then coaxing her outside with food, then I hit the shower, only to find out that the water heater isn't working again (dammitt!!).  I have to turn the air conditioner off in order for the pilot light to catch and the burner to work properly.  I then wait a good 15 minutes for the water to heat up enough...meanwhile, Rosie just sits on the porch.  I can't get her to pee, so I let her sit while I take a shower, throw some spaghetti in my lunchbox, and grab my gloves and sleeves.  once I got everything in order, I have to pretty much help Rosie inside, and child gate her into the kitchen (so when she does pee, it's on the linoleum).  I leave a letter for Brian (almost room mate), letting him know not to take the old lady for a walk if she's not up to it, then explained the lethargy, barfing and the like that she went thru the day before.  I shoot off to work, but then it dawns on me about 3 hours later...did I turn the air conditioner back on after lighting the water heater?!  if not, the little mammals will surely bake.  I call the hippy neighbor lady, but I only got an answer machine. I'm not comfortable with her maybe getting the message on time, so I asked my boss if I could sneak home (after explaining the whole thing).  he was cool about it.  turns out, I guess I did turn on the air after all.  I try one more time to get Rosie to go outside to pee, but once again, she wouldn't go down the porch steps.  I put her back in the kitchen and split for work.  I felt better knowing the critters weren't gonna melt in that oven of a wood-panel submarine (when the air is off, windows closed, and the sun bakes the roof).   I come home 'round 7pm and I'm amazed at how Rosie has bounced back.  she's her silly old self again.  we did our barefoot walk, she even pooped.  when we got home I shared some chicken with her, then we watched yesterday's 'daily show' and 'ABC world news' (via hulu).  I'm so glad she's back!  I was hugely concerned...

 gotta hit the rack, 4:30am comes around way too soon...

today's netflix movie was called "Rubber".  it's  about a tire (named Robert) that goes around on a killing spree.  the damn movie's a hoot! the opening and ending dialog go over the reason (the reason being 'for no reason').  it's a dorky cult klassic!  I gave it 5 stars

Rosie was acting all twitchy last night.  I take her outside, then when I figure she'd done her thing, bring her back in, just in time for her to barf a good couple times on the rug (maybe that moist food was a bad idea?  or she's being overdosed with bedbug insecticide?, or it's the heat? or her age is finally catching up with her,   who knows?).  today, she's been pretty lethargic, all crashed out for most of the day on the kitchen floor. I can't get her to eat, drink or even entice her to take a small walk with nums (that's unusual).   she's been like this before, and eventually shook it off, but meanwhile I get all concerned like...I'm not gonna rush her to the vet, 'cause what can they do for a 100 (+/-) year old dog, other than give me bad news.  I'll just try and keep it comfy for her and see what tomorrow brings...it's truly sad to see her in this state.  here's hopin' she bounces back soon.

I load the dishwasher, hit the 'go' button, then clean the floor, and counters in the kitchen.  I notice, in a nick of time, that the sinks were almost overflowing (for whatever reason, the dishwasher drain sometimes mildly backs up into the sinks...this time it had almost over filled before I quickly turn it off).   I guess it's been a couple years since I've had the sinks drain plug on me, so I may have to rent me a roto rooter thinger and snake the pipe again.  meanwhile, I use a more primitive method. I try plunging the sink drain over and over again.  finally, after getting a lot of water on the floor and counters, the plugged pipe seems to break free (shweet!).  I restart the dishwasher and watch it like a hawk.  good!  no overflow! I spend a lot of time doing my Howard Hughes best at completing my bug eradication, by  emptying one drawer from my clothes dresser at a time, and washing the contents.  meanwhile the drawer itself gets sprayed (inside and out) with bug spray, so as the little varmints are less likely to live in my clothes.  I reapply said spray on the fold out couch, and my bed (washing the bedding once again).  it's a routine that must be done until they're completely gone...fun, fun, fun! 

bacon, scrambled eggs unt franch toost for brunch (Rosie barely touched her portion),  leftover spaghetti (that I made a big vat of yesterday) for supper.  I'm currently roasting out on the porch with a beer and the laptop (Rosie's normally out here with me, be she's still crashed on the kitchen floor).  anyway.  batt'ry is going dim.  I guess I ought to bring the old laptop in and re-plug it into da wall  *fart*

ROSIE UPDATE:  she finally lifts her head, looks around, and appears to breath normally (she labors so hard to keep her lungs going while at rest...poor dog!).  I once again try and entice her to go for a walk.  she has trouble getting up (hind legs seem weak lately), but seems raring to go for a walk (that's good news!).  she tries several times to poop, to no avail, but she did seem to wanna continue on with our smallish walk, and the better news is, that when she got home, she drank some water (good dawg, Rosie!).  maybe tomorrow she'll feel good enough to eat again *crosses fingers*.  I try giving her a treat, but she just looks at it, the good news, once again, is that she's drinking.  I give her about 10 minutes of praise, petting and hugs hoping she'll get better and stick around for awhile [sniffle...I got something in my eye].

all this talk recently about this whole week being in the 90 to 100 degree range, and currently it's rainy and 72. 

alright, yesterday, I mention that the bedbug thing is mostly handled, I can safely say the situation is 99% taken care of.  I'll still vacuum, wash, and spray a couple 3 more times to try and become completely bug free. I've even been showering with the dogs "Happy Jack flea shampoo" so as I didn't bring the shit to work (or anywhere else, for that matter).  all I know for sure is that I'm getting a lot better sleep than say a week ago.  I can only hope that the Kid didn't bring those bugs to his moms house, or his friend to his own apartment.  they'll need a good amount of cash (currently I've got a running $175 bug control balance, plus the price of the pillow top thinger that I threw away), and an OCD damage control mentality to fight back...good gawd!  what'd people do a hundred years ago (and beyond)?  simply put up with 'em?! !

my sis hints at the fact that I may have ADD like she had just possibly been diagnosed.  I gotta read up on what that means before making any type of comment. I know I ain't right in a lot of ways, but didn't know there was a title for it.  lemme do some research than get back to ya on it.  she mentions some sort of test one can take.  maybe I can find that on the web as well...

do some online banking yesterday. I wrote them an email about a week ago (and then a follow up a couple days back that seemed half scathing about the fact that they didn't answer my first) about the fact that I couldn't get anything to work on their "transfer funds" page.  finally, yesterday I called the 800 number because a payment was due and I felt rather helpless that I couldn't make said payment.  the lady was nice about helping me out. it turns out that it was simply a browser issue.  the bank updated their website to only be IE friendly.  firefox doesn't wanna play nice with it.  problem solved. I'll use IE for banking and firefox for everything else (firefox seems so much faster).

anyway, I gotta return a bunch of beer cans (did I mention my cat drinks a lot of beer?), and do some food shopping (maybe pick up a sausage McGriddle along the way *plan*)

so, the trailer directly across the road from me (the one that used to house the couple that I nicknamed 'the Bickerson's' due to the huge arguments they'd have, then followed by a nice Mexican couple with a little kid) is, again, for sale.  the sign says $3,500 but being it has no central air, I'm thinking that's a bit high...but you're supposed to start high and hope someone will offer you what you really want, right? right.  all I really know is for the price of a good used car you can get yourself 800 to 1000 square ft of living space.  not a bad thing....

the stalag was super rough to endure these past couple days.  the heat's unbearable!  once your clothes get drenched in sweat, it makes for a long uncomfortable work day.  there were a couple times where I felt a bit whoozie, and had to stop off to the bathroom and splash water on my face, as well as refill my bottle with ice water.  anyway.  12 hours seem more like 30 in these conditions (and it's only July...we got August to go yet too). 

once home,  we take a small barefoot pooperdog walk, then I peel my sticky clothes off and hit the shower.  cereal for breakfast, leftover lasagna for lunch, prob'ly more leftover lasagna for supper.  I'm still on a huge cleaning regimen.  the washer and dryer have been going non stop all day, I do the dishes, sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom, vacuum the living room, etc.  those bedbugs (that I initially thought I didn't have) went all ballistic the minute I applied the powders and sprays that were sent to me.  It simply made 'em angrier, I guess.  each night the bugbite intensity, seems less and less.  every day I wash and re-wash the bedding, and reapply more pesticides.  seems I couldn't save my pillow top down feather thinger.  it harbored too many hard to reach bugs, and I couldn't wash it (dry clean only), so I wrap it in plastic and through it away.  seems no matter how long I throw my pillows in the dryer, they too are hard to shed these demon spawn bugs.  I order a couple bedbug proof pillow cases.  maybe that'll control 'em.  anyway.  it's mostly under control now, but I'm not gonna let my guard down. I'll continue to clean and spray, spray and clean until they are no more *cue the movie 'naked lunch'*.  the residual powder the bedbug supply sent me is supposed to kill bugs for another 17 weeks, so I think I got a good handle on short term and long term.  k, 'nuff about bugs....snakes!  I have no update on snakes in the shed.  I haven't had to go in there since I last worked on my truck.  the guy at the hardware store ensures me that they find a cool place to have a ball of babies, then scurry back into the woods in no time.  I'll let them do there thing.

Ron (aka Chas Manson) stops by again today with another porno (this guy's a nut case). I let him know that he can stop sending them my way, then when he leaves, I simply throw it away  (these aren't your classy 'Playboy' type mags. I'd imagine they're called 'Skank', or the like, but I'm not even sure of that, because the cover has been torn off each one.  once again, your typical gas station dumpster dive mag).  otherwise, the guy spends the majority of the day in his yard (long sleeve shirt, long pants) staring at his car.  he has no evidence of a window air conditioner, and no central air unit attached to his trailer. it's gotta be 400F in there, so he spends most of the day outdoors, looking like he's working on something important, or staring into space...I'll have to get a picture of this guy on here. then you'll get a true feel of how scary this guy is with his long grey hair and beard, rotten teef, dirty clothes and all around disheveled look.  I can't seem to not talk about him.  he's an interesting case study... nice enough guy (personality wise...exept when he becomes preachy in an all of the sudden southern slang), but just plain "off" in too many ways. ...I'd like to read what he would write about me.  maybe I'm just as odd in his eyes.

I buy Rosie some canned food (did I write about this?), because she hasn't been eating her dry food as regularly as she used to (maybe she's just bored with the current dry).  she snarfs down the moist morsels, then whines, as if she ate too much, too fast.  I bring her outside incase she's gotta barf.  I do a couple beerses on the porch while I wait for her to do her thing in the grass, but she seems fine, so I bring her back into the house.  minutes later, she's hackin' a good pile of moist dogfood on her pillow.  I clean it up, and she seems content enough to take one of her long old dog naps.  she's a good dog. I guess I gotta be more careful on the portions I give her (a lesson I should have learned the last time she barfed).  then again, I may never learn.  I noticed Squabber likes this moist dog food as well (it's called: Alpo's Hidden Goodness). I'll have to buy it more often....

'Bichi' on Pandora radio!  good stuff!!