Lifes a Train wreck

I thought I really ought to get around to an update here… I started a new job this last week, yup I am five days into my new/old career.

I worked for this company before, about four years ago, but traded up or at least thought I had until the condo crash.

I am back in heating and cooling sheet metal again. Building and installing duct work in whatever job I am on at the moment.

It took a four dollar an hour raise from what I made with them before to lure me back in, but it was also more than I was making in the roofing business! Plus it is much closer to home and the savings in gas is enough to count as another raise….

Now if only our Government can keep from driving small businesses bankrupt I will have a “solid” career for awhile.

It feels good to put what I know back into use again, and exercise my years of experience before they rust away.

Hopefully I can get back to writing again soon, the physical stress of holding a construction based job at 50+ takes its toll, as does leaving for work early and returning at the height of the Florida summer heat and humidity.

At least we are surviving again and the lights are on….

Tom

After working all week, nothing is better than a day spent clearing out, and trimming down the debacle inside of our storage shed!

We want to cut the bills down and one way is to lower the storage shed fee… The only way to do that is to get a smaller one, and the only way to do that is to get rid of some junk.

Junk is the appropriate word here as much of what I am paying for would be much better served in a trash can or a yard sale.

I really didn’t have time to go through it before I moved it 2,000 miles or I may have gotten away with a smaller U-haul trailer the last time. Besides, I had already tossed, or gave away, or sold several semi loads of junk treasures by that time.

 So here I am, after the fact, gleaning through our history and trying to decide what stays, and what goes!

Tom

This weekend was not the best of weather by a long shot! It rained, it was cloudy, and we had thunder and lightning….

The thunder rolled from the time I went to bed last night until I rolled out of it this morning.

The sky cleared off and on yesterday, but guess what? It is clearing off this morning! Just in time to go back to work… I’m so excited.

Here it is, the weekend, and its raining and stormy… thunder and lightning with raindrops, oh my! You would think the weather would have the simple dignity to wait until Monday to wreck havoc on my mood.

No sitting outside this morning on wildlife watch, sipping my coffee, cradling the camera in the off chance something would swim by and pose….

I was hoping to get up to the creek today and take some pictures for a new article, fresh water springs are new to me, and I am sure that I am not the only one.

We had also hoped to clean out the storage shed today, in hopes of shrinking our vast array of junk, as well as the bill to keep it… life’s junk, and all the memories that go with it.

One of the guys caught a grass snake at work on Friday, it might have been a foot long if it stretched hard. The area the shop is in is heavily wooded and full of fauna: we see lizards, snakes, you name it, we probably have it marauding around there. We even have a “shop” pet, a tarantula that pops out on occasion to say hi, and scare the dickens out of the unwary!

The new job is going well, most of the people are great, and the work is steady. Hopefully the economy, or the Presidents new health bill will not destroy it. Thankfully there are a few intelligent people in politics that bothered to read the bill enough to catch the horrendous ignorance within and stall its passing.

The thunder is rolling, time to go…

Tom

This week seemed very long indeed, and by comparison the weekend hardly began before it was nearly over.

I am learning to use an computerized electric metal brake for the first time. It requires a different approach than the old style hand brakes, but if you have alot of pieces to bend up it really is a good thing to have.

I massacred a finger Friday right before quitting time… really made my day let me tell you. Smashed the tip between a metal coil and the spool it goes on while loading it up on the machine for Monday morning. It peeled the tip back and bled all over, yay! Then when it was time to bring in all the trailers for the night it started pouring rain. A great finish to a crappy day.

I finally wrote a new article that was published on AC today. It was on the visitors I had in the backyard this morning, a momma and child Dolphin pair, swimming around in the bayou in our backyard! I even managed pictures….

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1935318/dolphins_in_the_backyard_.html?cat=7

The yard is nearly mowed since last I wrote, the repair shop finally finished the carb rebuild and I got it put together last weekend. Now if only I could get Robert to volunteer to finish the job….

It has been cooler here, cooler as in the mid 90’s… funny how that doesn’t sound cooler, but it is.

Tom

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

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