What did you do today?

[zannej]

Flyover, sounds like you've been busy. And I'm entertained by the way you describe things. I hope you find a better job soon. It really is sad when companies don't realize they are losing good employees with stupid policies and allowing people who create a hostile work environment to stay.

My brother is getting fed up with his job. It's low pay and there are a few slackers at work so he has to do their jobs for them and then he's the one who gets yelled at by the boss- even though the boss has noticed which ones are slacking. He was due for a promotion and got the training for it, but either someone said something to the boss or the boss somehow got it in his head that my brother was the one responsible for a lot of the problems at work-- but the other co-workers have said that he's not. So, the boss is not giving him the shift-lead position he promised and the extra hours my brother put in for training were a waste. The boss is also drastically understaffing so there aren't enough people to do things. My brother has gotten to the point where he stopped caring about things getting done and is just leaving things that are other people's jobs to do for them to do (which is ironic because it's what happened at home when I got tired of constantly picking up after my brother and doing his share of the chores because he wouldn't do them)-- one of the slackers had a major temper tantrum about it because he doesn't like to actually do his own job. The work cuts in to his playing games on his phone and listening to music at work thing. So, my brother is looking for another job now.

I'm considering looking in to see what sort of training/certification I would need to officially be a caretaker for my mother. She constantly gripes about how I need to get a job, but I can't leave the house for more than an hour or two without her freaking out that I'm not there to take care of her. This state won't pay people to be caretakers for family members-- but if I've been told if I get some sort of certification, her insurance will pay for me to take care of her. And maybe I could learn something useful that could end up saving her life some day.

 

[Flyover]

Thanks zannej. I felt a little bad complaining back there since other people have much tougher problems than me--at least I have a job, I only have 4 lawns to mow and not 6, I didn't lose any beloved pets, etc. I guess sometimes I'm just in the mood to complain, and thanks to the internet nothing's there to stop me.

I'm sure your brother finds a better job soon and I hope you can get whatever certification you need so that taking care of your mom can be a sustainable option for you.

PS. My work situation might be improving--my supervisor hustled and now has gotten 3 new projects interested in using me. We'll see what happens.

 

[zannej]

Flyover, nothing wrong with venting if you are frustrated about something. Sometimes just venting about even the little things gets them off your chest-- and so long as you keep them in perspective. As much as I gripe, I recognize that I'm lucky to have loving family members (even if we drive each other crazy sometimes) and a home. I have friends who have lost their homes and have family members who steal from them.

I'm still trying to find out what I would need to become an official caretaker. Medicare doesn't pay for it, but she has blue cross blue shield and she is also a veteran's widow so she qualifies for some military benefits.

I hope the new projects turn out well for you.

I have almost 32 acres of land (land was cheap here when my parents bought the place back in the 80s) so there is a LOT of lawn. LOL. I used to be able to use a riding mower for smaller areas and the bush hog on the tractor for larger areas-- but I can no longer be out in the heat/sun due to medicine I take. Before my health took a dive I used to be able to use a push-mower for some of the yard.
To give an idea of my yard's size, I've attached some pics. 2nd one shows the outline of the property line (rough sketch really). The tree in the middle of the front fell down and the one hanging over the house was cut back so none of it hangs over the house anymore. Tree that died was 300 years old. One we had cut is around 400 years old.

 

[bud16415]

Last night I was forced to do something I didn’t want to do. Her sister in law and a bunch of friends and family 10 people in all only 3 guys. Went to see a medium / psychic for a 3 hour of drinking wine eating finger foods and talking to our dead relatives.

My desire to do this was absolutely zero. I have no belief in any of this stuff and I actually felt this whole concept is praying on people’s feelings giving some crazy false hopes etc. so for a few days before I did some research to learn some of the tricks they would use etc and was warned by friends at work to just go along and not to spoil it for the other 9 people. I kind of viewed it as going to a magic show only in the case of magic the person doing it is not claiming to really saw the woman in half just to amaze you at how much it looks like he did. These people want you to believe they have this power.

Well after she collected 45 bucks from each of the 10 people her powers were turned on. 150 per hour for standing in your bare feet talking is not a bad gig. I actually started enjoying the show. The true believers were going thru piles of tissues eye makeup was flowing as deceased parents and grandparents were letting all know they were well.

I found myself enjoying the show and I don’t know if this woman was the real thing or not but she didn’t seem to be doing any harm. She was doing exactly the tricks I read they use starting out vague and then homing in as she gathered more information. I will say I couldn’t do what she did and she had an amazing ability to know when to pass on a clue and when to home in. In all this she threw out a few zingers that were dead on (no pun intended) that she had really know way of knowing. Lucky guesses maybe. If you throw a pot of noodles at the wall a few have to stick right.

After it was over we all talked about what happened and I was called out as it was clear I was the biggest sceptic going in. I had a thousand things I could have pointed out but I took a look at how calm everyone was and how much better they felt and figured if it made them feel better and like they had closure to some longtime feelings that were bothering them why not let them enjoy the peace of mind. I was never going to convince them different anyway. So I just said however she did it. It was amazing.

No hurry to go back but it was nice talking to my mom again.

 

[oldognewtrick]

If physics are real, why can't they give you this weeks lotto numbers. Or tell you where Jimmy Hoffa and Emilia Erharth are?

 

[bud16415]

If physics are real, why can't they give you this weeks lotto numbers. Or tell you where Jimmy Hoffa and Emilia Erharth are?

I said all week I was going to get the power ball number when I went. She said the number 67 about 20 times and no one had anything to say that that number was relevant. Can’t even play the daily number with two numbers.

 

[Chris]

I'm right there with you bud, I put in line with hypnotism. I don't believe in either yet somehow I was hypnotized to quit smoking 12 years ago. I smoked 2 packs a day and a guy I worked with went in and got hypnotized and quit, I went a week later and I have no idea how it worked but it worked. Never had a craving after and remember the whole thing. It's magic I tell you.

Well yesterday I spent about 10 hours on my tractors mowing, ripping and tgem doing some grading on my property.

 

[zannej]

oldog, I don't know if it is true, but when I was on the island of Saipan, the locals claimed that Amelia Earhart was captured by the Japanese and held prisoner there. They took us to the remains of the prison camp. It was basically a concrete shell with the roof missing and parts of the walls gone. Names were carved in the concrete above the doorways and the one they claimed was for Amelia had a hole/cavity where the name would have been. There was a carving of a woman's face on one of the far walls. Locals claimed that when the US was invading Saipan, the Japanese killed all of the prisoners and made the Chamorros bury the bodies. They claimed to have buried a red-haired woman and her co-pilot who wore a leather flight jacket. They didn't say where the bodies were buried though. These were the children/great grandchildren of the people who told the story.
Could have been a lie to attract tourists, but still an interesting thought.

My mother buys in to the whole psychic thing. She was a big fan and believer of the John Edward guy from "Crossing Over". But apparently, there is a long waiting list to get on his show/audience and they gather extensive information about the people and people are told exactly where to sit. So, his producers or he can pick which people they want to "read" and know exactly where they are sitting and start calling out to them.

I do think one valid skill they definitely have is cold-reading. They know how to read people's microexpressions to tell if they are on the right track or not.

I don't think it is absolutely impossible for someone to be psychic, but I know there are all sorts of tricks to make people appear psychic. Some of them make people feel better and that is ok, but I abhor the ones who either give people false hope or tell them someone is dead when they are not. IIRC, a notable "psychic" who used to appear on Oprah told some family their daughter was dead but she was actually alive and being held captive.

On a side note, the city paved more of the road and they also smoothed out the mud and put down gravel the end of my little road so it is not such a pain to drive on anymore. It had huge ruts and was a complete mess. Saw one of the neighborhood people out on what used to be my father's old tractor. He was smoothing down the edges of the road (bc the road people left huge lumps of mud) so that he water would be able to run off of the road if if it rained instead of being trapped on the road. He told me that next year they will pave more and get to the part that goes by my little road. I don't know how he could be out there in that heat-- it was 93 degrees but felt like it was over 100. Was like a sauna. I couldn't stand to be out there for 30 seconds.

 

[Flyover]

Zannej, after seeing those aerial photos, I will never complain here about mowing my lawns again.

 

[Gary]

I just got back from installing a sign. Did it after hours so I wouldn't block the office door, or get run over by the truck traffic.

 

[zannej]

Flyover, it's fine. Each person's experiences are unique to them and if something is annoying to you, it's annoying. I do have a couple of cows, but when we actually did mow the lawn in the fields it was with a tractor with a bush hog attachment and it took several days. I had a riding mower for awhile, but it went kaput and now I can't be out in the sun for more than 5 minutes. I'm not supposed to be in direct sunlight at all.

Which is why it was fortunate that yesterday it was very overcast but not raining. My friend needed the rear end off of my brother's old truck and his truck didn't have enough gas to get out here so I picked him up and brought him here and tried to help as much as I could. Had to use an old tie down strap hooked to the back of my truck to tug on the thing to move it. There were hornets on one side so I got to watch my friend and his helper freaking out about the wasps. The really funny part came when the helper (who is justifiably afraid of stinging insects) was approached by a big fat bee and started freaking out. I guess his cologne attracted it because he ran 30 feet away and it followed him. My friend had a vape with some sort of fruit flavor juice in it and the bee started flying toward that, so I watched the helper hopping around trying to dodge the bee and my friend blowing vape smoke at the bee to try to make it leave him alone and both of them "dancing" around trying to get away from it. I wish I'd recorded it, but I didn't have my camera. I eventually told them it's the harmless type of bee that doesn't sting. Those bees aren't aggressive-- I don't know if they even have a stinger-- but I learned a long time ago that sudden movements and freaking out will only agitate bees and wasps. Had to loan my friend some tools to cut a bolt that was stripped and wouldn't come out. Then I drove my friend back in to town and got him some food.

There was a little bit of unpleasantness with the helper. I think he's about 20 or 21 years old and I believe he has some form of autism or just wasn't raised properly (or both). He's a nice kid, but he's at that stage where he thinks he knows more than he does and tries to tell people things when he doesn't know WTF he's talking about. He tried to lecture me about something and I had to explain to him that it was something I had actually studied a long time ago and I gave him more info. I think that sort of thing is normal for kids his age (and yeah, I think of people that age as kids).

The problem with the kid is that he doesn't understand how to behave appropriately in other people's homes. He touches things and picks them up without asking. He also will start wandering around their homes and go in to other rooms even when doors are closed and snoop around at all of their stuff. The first time the kid came over to my house (when my brother brought him) he noticed my mother's laptop and made a comment. My brother asked if the kid could use it- she very clearly said "No" in front of the kid. The kid proceeded to pick up her laptop and start using it.

Anyway, this time the kid was essentially shopping in our home (which I've been told he does in every home he goes in to). He looks around and sees stuff that other people have and informs them that if they don't want any of the stuff, he'll take it. He was snooping around our house when he was supposed to be taking a tool I'd handed him to my friend outside while I was taking care of feeding the pets. He set the tool down and picked up something that belonged to my mother. My brother came in and saw him looking at it and the kid was asking how much it cost and saying how he could really use one of those. My brother then started to seem like he was going to offer it to him. I reminded him it belonged to our mother. He asked me if she would mind if the kid had it and I said "Yes, she absolutely will mind-- she wants to keep it." The kid wanted to go ask her. I said "No, she's sleeping. Put it down." And then I handed him the tool and asked him to take it out to our friend. I went back to handling the pets (needed to refill the waterers and such). So, what does the kid do? He sets the tool down, picks the other thing (which happens to be relatively expensive) back up and walked further in to the house and stood outside my mother's bedroom door. Her little dog started going berserk so she got up to let him out and the kid was standing right there and started asking her if he could have the thing. At this point, I was fairly annoyed with the kid and my mother didn't want to be rude but she told him she wanted to keep it. The kid tried to argue a little and said he needed it. I was rather annoyed and I told the kid no and asked him what he did with the tool my friend needed, while taking the thing away from him and putting it somewhere safe. He finally decided to go get the tool and take it out to our friend, but he stopped to play with one of the dogs on the way. 10 minutes elapsed between me asking him for the first time to take the tool to my friend and when he actually brought it to him. If I'd known ahead of time, I would have just taken it myself. My mother was fairly pissed off about the whole thing. She doesn't like people messing with her stuff and she found it very rude of the kid to ask-- especially since she's never liked him.

I've been told that a lot of people don't like him after he goes to their houses and they are polite to him, but really don't like how he behaves.

Sorry for the long rant..

I don't know if anyone has ever told the kid that his behavior is inappropriate and he just doesn't care/understand, or if nobody has told him and he doesn't realize. I've been told that even when someone tells him they aren't interested in a topic of conversation or asks him to be quiet, he'll keep talking though. So, I think he probably just doesn't respect people's boundaries.

I'm tempted to have a talk with him and explain to him that his behavior was inappropriate and that if he's ever going to come over to the house again, to not touch anything and not to ask for stuff. If someone wants to get rid of something they would offer it, put it up for sale, or throw it away.

 

[Flyover]

Gary, the big apparatus suspended over that building in your picture is totally throwing off my perspective. It's like my eyes can't figure out whether it's in front of or behind or way up over the building. Funny how that kind of stuff works.

Zannej, I think you should talk to that kid (yes, he's a kid. Some 20 year-olds are adults, some aren't). At first you can try just making jokes like "Hey, why don't I come over your place next time and ask you if I can keep whatever I find laying around." Stick to a friendly tone but see if he gets the hint. If he doesn't, then it's probably a good time to be more direct.

I'm speaking from experience here because I'm pretty self-absorbed sometimes, and there have been times when people had to deal with me in a polite but firm way! But seriously though I think that kid might have some form of autism, at least based on your description.

PS. I mowed 3 of my 4 lawns again yesterday. I also tried using the edger the previous owners left in the garage. It's an electric B&D model, same kind I had when I was a kid with my own "lawn care business". The edger I had back then didn't work at all, and this time wasn't much better...I think it probably needs a new blade, and maybe a first pass with a trowel! Apparently the previous owners never edged. Not sure why they even had the edger in the first place...the neighbors keep telling me horror stories, which is kinda nice because it means the bar's not too high!

 

[nealtw]

I just got back from installing a sign. Did it after hours so I wouldn't block the office door, or get run over by the truck traffic.

Flyover can't figure what it is. And the missing belt is what caught my eye.

 

[zannej]

Flyover, remind me to take a picture of my front yard so you can see the weeds from hell. LOL. Some of them are taller than me and they kill most of the tools I try to use on them. Had to go get a machete to chop some of them down. We have a bunch of tools for cutting the weeds and stuff, but the batteries don't last long and they are often too weak.

The kid has a very weak sense of humor. He can make jokes sometimes, but he doesn't seem to get jokes. Just the other day I was joking with him and he did not get it at all. He seems completely clueless to cues both verbal and nonverbal from other people. He can't seem to follow conversations and he will just interrupt people in the middle of a conversation. He will also walk away from people during a conversation-- even when he's the one talking. Part of it is that he just doesn't really listen or pay attention. He say she has ADD. He's also rather slow. He got a job at Walmart but didn't even last a month because he was too slow and wasn't learning. And I have to tell you, someone has to really really suck to be fired for being slow at this Walmart. They still employ some utterly useless employees.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my friend to find out if his mother will give him the deed to the house he wants to fix up (it would cost him less than half of what it will cost to fix his house that burned to fix this house up). If she does, I can help him with transporting materials, painting, and take him to the surplus warehouse for some stuff. I'll also help him with plumbing layout to make sure he doesn't use the wrong fittings and actually puts in plumbing vents. It's a smaller house but has a much larger yard-- which gives room to expand.

 

[Gary]

Flyover can't figure what it is. And the missing belt is what caught my eye.

I'm not sure what's going on with the conveyor belt. It's actually built into the building, or maybe the building is built around it? It's a very very old facility. I think there's a more modern set up in the backyard where the quarry is. I did the job after hours, because that place is a beehive of activity during the day. Trucks are lined up to get in. There's a huge multi year 4 lane highway project just a mile away from the quarry. I suspect that could be the cause, although they supply a large area beyond that project, not to mention an asphalt pant next door, seen in the background of the photo.

 

[Gary]

Started the day like any other. Then I guess I turned wrong and pinched a nerve ''Sciatic'' and spent the rest of the day in pain. I've had this before, but have been able to walk it off , not so much this time.Finally went to the ER tonight and got it checked out. I'll be out of commission for the next few day it looks like.
I had a doc. appointment this morning too, and managed to get that done before the pain got too bad. Seems I have:
Acid Reflux ( knew that for a few years now)
New findings from test results.
Hiatal hernia
Colitis
Fatty Liver Disease
Gallstones. Surgery to follow in Sept.

I'm the guy that marks "NO" on all the medical forms. Take no drugs prescription or otherwise, don't drink or smoke.


Gettin' old ain't for sissy's I guess.

 

[Chris]

On your nerve pain, I can usually get mine to go away by taking some Motrin then hot and cold packs for about an hour. I had one so bad once I couldn't move. Had to lay down in the back of the SUV to get to the specailist, couldn't sit or move much. Worst pain of my life then gone. Might be worth a try.

 

[zannej]

Gary, its weird how there are people who eat well, exercise, take care of themselves, etc and still have all sorts of health problems. And then you have people who eat poorly, smoke, and are rather sedentary but are still healthy. I think sometimes it's genetic.

Yesterday I was exhausted and in pain all over for no apparent reason. I tried to sleep it off but still feel very tired. I was able to get up long enough to do the nightly ritual of washing Mom's feet and putting the fungus cream on her toenails. The podiatrist used some sort of grinding tool to grind down her nails and accidentally went too far and made her bleed. I think her big toe is infected now so I put triple antibiotic cream on the injured spot. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get worse.

I 2nd Chris' suggestion of Motrin. Sometimes it can take inflammation down and help. And I'm sorry to hear about the sciatic nerve pain. I once got hit with it in the middle of a store and it was so bad that my brother had to half-carry me out to the car because I could barely move my right leg. Back pain sucks!

 

[Gary]

Sorry about your Mom zannej.
I tried alive, a little over the MAX dose to no avail. That's what prompted a trip to the ER. They gave me a shot of Steroids and Morphine . That fixed the pain. I'm still on a prescription pain med now, but I hope I'm off that by Monday. No driving with this stuff and my ride (wife) goes back to work then.

 

[Chris]

Aleve is naproxen sodium, very different than Motrin. Aleve does nothing for my pains. Motrin is ibuprofen and I think is the best anti-inflammatory