So hot!

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I did an hour of weed whipping today. First the machine ran out of gas. After filling it, the machine quit again and would not start. Still, I did a solid hour of work and that part looks much better. That fence line, though, will take a long time to work. The good news is, being as late as it is in the year, the weeds will not come back. I will try to figure out a way, next year, of battling the weeds early. I do not like the idea of chemicals, for many reasons. It may be the most reasonable option though. After that, I went to my appointment. I was running too late to take the pictures in to the insurance company. After the appointment, I stopped at Wal-Mart and now have four mini-spray bottles. Those are now filled and will be set around. Sassy does not seem to bothered by them though. Odd. I did not stop into the insurance company on the way home. Traffic was down from 50 mph to 35 mph, being far heavier than usual. As well, I read on two different signs that the temperature was 99 F. That may be why the weed whip quit. I started it up when I got home, to see if I needed to take it in. It started well, so I used it to clean up some of the area I had already hit, mostly to check it. It worked well.

Beside not taking the pictures in, I also failed to remember to fill up the gas tanks. I have an appointment tomorrow with the veterans' advocate. I am not sure what is on the menu tomorrow, work wise. Some of that is because today is not finished. I am cooling down and letting the world cool down before hitting it again. I am hoping to move the boulders and move the last dirt pile. I think I can, I really do. If I do those tasks, tomorrow will be weed whipping. If it does not storm. There is a chance of that. If it storms, tomorrow will be all about business. Then again, depending on what happens with the veterans' advocate, I may end up running from office to office after that visit, in order to do a bunch of other business type work. Everything is up in the air.

I will be calling the electrician tonight. The insurance company received nothing from him and I have heard nothing from him. I am pretty sure I put the material in correctly and I know I used the number he gave me to send the fax (and the material was sent and received somewhere). I will also call the Mr. I am hoping this Saturday will see some of the more troubling trimming completed and give me an idea of what I can and cannot do regarding trimming these giant trees myself. If that goes well, I will be quite pleased. Though that will mean I may need to buy a chainsaw and a ladder to do the work much more completely. I would not care to do that myself, or at least alone, so I may ask my friend to come over and be here should I fall, cut off the wrong limb, or have a heart attack.

I am almost not sure what to do after this. I have some notions, but money has become an issue. Even the purchase of a chainsaw and a ladder is dubious. For one, I do not purchase bottom dollar items. I do not by top dollar items either. What I like to do is research the items, look at variables, and make an informed reasonable decision. For example, with the chainsaw, how well does it cut, how much it weighs, whether it is balanced or how it is balanced and why that would be advantageous, cost, how easy it is to sharpen the blade and how much blades cost, and how simple the machine is to maintain. That is a whole passel of variables. There is, truly, no perfect purchase. There is only better for certain applications at a price point and lesser quality or higher price point. It is messy. The ladder... some review, talking to several people who know, discussions with a few sellers, but not as much investigation. Still, I am guessing I need two ladders. A story and a half step ladder and a two story extending ladder. I would guess the ladders could cost as much at $600 (more like $400), and the chainsaw... perhaps another $250 to $400. I have not looked, but... and that could be another $1,000.

Other things on my list include tracking the water supply in the house, tracking the electrical system, and diagramming those. It would be good to include as many components as possible too. Corners, tees, switches, valves, outlets, and all. This, at least, is free. However, it will require a lot of crawling around in questionable areas under the house. Before I get in too deep, I will make sure my cell phone works under there. Barring that, I may have to ask my friend to visit. The other thing I can add to my free list is checking out the hen house. Now, with wasp spray, I feel more comfortable checking those out. I have seen no wasps, but I have seen plenty of nests. I need to see if the hen house is worth spending money on. If I cannot afford an actual roof this year, I can afford thick plastic sheeting with the hopes of keeping it dry this winter. From what little I have seen, I think the thing is worth the work. But I need to know for sure. Money is becoming scarcer and I have to watch my step.

I had not realized how hot it was. That is why I did not understand why the weed whip up and quit earlier. It is still hot, even with cloud cover that has come over. If it is simply too hot, I might even have to call the rest of the work off today. We will see. I will just go out and get the tomatoes watered and see.

Hey, you know what though? This is amazing. Just go back a few years and read. There were times were I could not take care of grooming, could not stay up for more than a few hours at a time, could not think. Sure, this is relatively short term. Sure, this last winter I shut down for periods. But the level of work I am getting done, the daily chores I am doing, the care and tending of a pair of little friends, and the ongoing plans and such... This is very good. Another year of this, at this level and on, might really see me back in college. I will not go back unless I can actually stay awake, work regularly and heartily, and am in better physical condition than I am even now. This is very good.

Well, enough of my blathering. Work is on my mind. I need to sort it all out. That is what this whole post is about.

Good day!