Lifes a Train wreck

It is only two days, but hey, I’ll take it! We don’t get any frilly holidays off, or benefits beyond that all important paycheck so two whole days off is nothing to shake a stick at.

We will watch the fireworks as usual, and with any luck I’ll be swimming in a fresh water, spring fed creek by tomorrow afternoon! The water tha boils up from underground into the creek is COLD! Just when I had thought all of Florida was 100 degrees, I discover natures refrigerator lurking in the woods….

This week was full of long hours at work, but since overtime is not allowed, it resulted in a short Friday. A four and one half hour workday that didn’t start until 10:00 am… oh well.

I sat outside watching the water this morning, and it was full of surprises here by the house. Jumping rays, large fish, and sailboats! Yup it is the holiday weekend.

I hope to have the push mower working today, the carburetor was at the small engine shop for three weeks. We got it back on Thursday, but today was the first time I have the chance to put the mower back together. The weeds are loving the lack of lawn maintenance, but the vacation from spinning blades is nearly ended. Once the push mower is up and running I will work on getting the lawn tractor running again… never leave gas sitting in your gas powered equipment, it really does not pay!

Tom

The winners of Accentuate Services “Reality” Theme contest were announced Friday afternoon.

First place was filled by Lindsay Maddox.

Second place went to Terrie Schultz.

There were three thirds awarded

Chris Williamson, Robert Arend, and Gillian. I am unable to find Gillian’s last name to announce it, my apologies for that.

Congratulations to all these fine authors! I am looking forward to reading their stories when the book is in hand, and anticipate many more from each of them.

Thomas H. Forthe

Today took forever to get over with at work, eight hours seemed to last twenty… but in the end it was all worth it!

Not only are my bosses very happy with me and liking my work, but I came home to a very pleasant surprise as well.

Accentuate Services has an on-going short story contest that is a blessing for beginning writers, with cash prizes, contracts and royalties that end up in a printed book.

I had entered the “”reality” themed contest, and after much refreshing of the page as, Michy tortures us playfully with the results, I was chosen for the editor’s choice!

I have joined the ranks of other member authors in being published in an anthology of short stories! I will give the full results tomorrow on the blog, listing all of the winners for this contest. I am stunned by being chosen, the caliber of writing in the anthologies is amazing as are the authors.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Tom

Well I have managed to survive into the third week of the new job… They suddenly found out I am a sheet metal worker by trade and transferred my butt into the shop to work! Pretty sad that it took them that long to read an application, after I had the job.

It was a hundred degrees all week, so moving out of the field and into the shop was a blessing. I have only spent two days in the shop so far, but I am hoping it works out.

Every shop is different, with different equipment to learn to use. This is the first time I have ever seen a computer controlled metal brake, so that ought to be interesting.

Mystery (our cat) got his little butt evicted to the great outdoors, he decided that the litter box was too far to walk and started using our bed….

That is about it for now,

Tom

I haven’t posted in quite a while now, but I do hope to get to the point where I am posting far more often. I am up at 4:00am on workdays and seldom make it home before 6:00pm… not a great recipe for writing.

Add in the tired and sore factor and little gets done with the blogs.

I worked on the lawn tractor today, it is still flooding though I did manage to get it to run a while. I think I will need to order a carburetor for it to get it running again.

We started watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and I like it, there are some amazing dancers on there. One young man seems to be boneless when popping and locking. The grace that these people exhibit is worth a look and makes me wish I had tried dancing when younger….

It’s back to work tomorrow, so it is early to bed tonight. At least this old body is starting to get it together and I am not hurting nearly as much as I did the first week nor am I as tired by the time I drag myself home.

Take care and I will post again.

Tom

I hate when things go amok, and today if they had only picked a single direction….

My new boss was trying to teach me to install metal roofing, and just like the old adage, the third time was a charm. Not that it took me three tries to get it right, but it took him two before he allowed me to fix it right once….

Nothing went like it should have and at this point I think it will only be a matter of time before I go back to what I know best. But it is a job that will help pay the bills.

They also want me to invest in a large number of tools, which would be fine if I was looking at staying a roofer, but that is not very likely to happen.

I got the lawn tractor running on Sunday, but it is still flooding the cylinder with raw gas so I will be replacing the carb as soon as I can. It will be very nice to mow down the weeds and pretend I have a lawn again….

Time to get in the shower and hit the bed…

Tom

Well here it is, my day off, the pain and cramping have eased, but the sunburn is still pretty lively! We worked a half day on Saturday to get the job caught up and were allowed to go home early because we did it quickly….

Nothing says ‘fun’ like: working until you want to drop in high heat and humidity, while untangling safety ropes and electric cords, and trying to stay out of each others way with eight men performing several different processes at once.

Even though I do hurt it feels good to be able to say I have a job again even if it is not in my field of expertise. That will come again in time and I will be ready for it when it gets here, or at least my body will….

Adam called last week, and my granddaughter is arriving around September 22 or so… I haven’t heard him that excited in a long time. Maybe now that I am working I at least have a chance of seeing her, though it probably will not be on the day she is born. Sometimes life is terribly unfair you know.

Hopefully I will get the cell phones turned back on in the near future, strange how much a part of my life they had become in so few years of having them. It is funny how being able to call Jo anytime of day or from nearly anywhere is comforting beyond description.

Until next time,

Tom

Ouch! Yes that is right, I need my head examined… I became a roofer today. Well maybe not became one… more like became a learnee, or a trainee of sorts.

Mostly what I learned was that I really got out of shape since I have been unemployed! Right now I’m hoping the adage that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is true, but I might consider cremation….

I had forgotten about certain body parts being attached. Don’t worry though, they reminded me that they are still attached today, and I am sure they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

I have to get up at 3:30 am to make it to the job site by 5:30 am, so I may be posting late if at all until I acclimatize myself to this torture. Did I say torture? I thunk that compared to what I did today the detainees at Guantanamo should all face the rising sun and be very thankful that they aren’t eligible for training….

Tom

It was 7:30 pm before we finally gave up and headed for Burger King last night, starving and filthy.

The piping was all finished, but the leak testing was not.

 The person who changed out the plumbing had used PVC plastic on all of the in house water lines. PVC is fine for the main line in, but it is rated to only 140 degrees and will soften and come apart if heated above that. It can even balloon and pop if enough heat and pressure is applied.

The reason this lasted as long as it did is the low pressure here from a well system, a 30 year old system. It has been leaking under the kitchen sink for some time without being noticed due to the amount of crap stowed away down there was hiding it very well.

I had to switch the PVC out for heat rated CPVC pipe, which is good for 180 degrees at 100 PSI. By the time I had the leak testing done  I was exhausted and with one tiny drip, the water was left on, the water heater turned back on, showers were taken, and that wonderful bed was sought!

The leak is at the kitchen sink hot water valve, and will entail loosening the line to the sink and giving the valve a turn or two to tighten it, I hope….

The same person that installed the water lines moved the water heater and electrical. Upon closer examination he had skinned a wire at the wall and had a bare copper wire waiting for an accident. I am glad I saw that little gem. Especially with a leaky water line in the same hole….

Just when you thought it was safe to sit down and relax… I have been ignoring a problem for a while now, hoping it would go away while I focus on the central air system, among other things.

The kitchen faucet is leaking, and now it is worse than a small leak… time to put on the plumber’s cap. I should know better, but in ignoring it I really did myself no favor since that water was not all going down the drain.

I seldom look under the kitchen sink as there is little in the way of items that I use under there; however, having looked under there last night I noticed things are awfully wet down under….

At least I am not going to get bored around here.

Tiger is thriving outside and strangely enough she even rules the great outdoors! Leo backs down from her and will leave the food bowl when she stalks up on him. She is moving around constantly and getting exercise, something she rarely did in the house. Go figure.

Time to crawl under the sink….

Tom