SOS- same old saturday

Today was kind of a lazy day, what the hell, not like I have anything important to do by since my weekend is extended to a couple months lol. I cleaned a bit downstairs, set up the brooder for the chick's arrival tomorrow, and pretty much just sat on the couch watching a dvd and reading the new Countryside that came in the mail yesterday. The brooder sat with the heat lamp on for 2 hours,. and read a steady 95 degrees, so it's ready to go....just gotta wait for the call tomorrow from Tammie to go pick 'em up.
Tomorrow I'll be starting a few other projects around the house that have been on hold since early winter. Nothing huge, just door casing, re-hanging a few doors in the basement, and maybe start patching some drywall that the kids cats had shredded while they still lived here. UGH... I am so happy to be cat-free now. I'm hoping it stays warm tomorrow and more of this snow melts off, I want to try to get a few things done outside too. I'm thinking about using the carport frame for a chicken run and just cover that in wire fencing. Right now I'm looking at saving $ anywhere I can, and not having to buy fenceposts would be a small help. I'm not sure about it yet, but I'm gonna look at it tomorrow and decide if its feesable. Right now, it's 8 ft wide x 16ft long by 8ft tall. I think IF I use it, I'll cut it down to 6 feet tall, just enough to get in there for cleaning and what-not. It's not as big as I had planned on making, but right now I gotta do what I gotta do......

sprinkler fitter for hire

Well I got the dreaded news today, unless there is some miracle of jobs popping up in the next 2 days, I'll be layed off starting next Monday. As I've said, job bids just aren't coming in, and the ones that are, are VERY cut-throat between contractors. Some are even taking jobs at a loss to ensure their guys have paychecks. When I worked with this same guy 4 years ago, I ran the inspection and service department, that was my baby. I set up the appointments, and went to these buildings with no more than a clipboard and flashlight. "Yep, your system works fine, here's your bill for $250 for my 20 minutes of work. "..........we've been trying to get that going now again lately. (long story but the origional company went bankrupt, and my old foreman bought the name and re-opened as a new company with him at the helm) We've made a few dozen calls, and have been completely shocked by the responses. Most are holding off on even spending that small amount unless they are caught by a fire marshall/inspector and forced to do so. It REALLY shows how much our economy is in the crapper when $250 is put on hold. I was offered a part time job for a few bucks at a 100 acre farm. The superintendant on this hotel job owns it and needs help, so I jumped at his offer. It won't be much, but anything will help now. Unemployment benefits max here at $265 a week, that's just under HALF of my normal TAKEHOME pay, it's gonna be a very rough and tight spring.....


Other than that giant kick in the $#@!, our new chicks will be here Sunday. Tammie got 25, but only wants to keep 15, so we're taking 3. That will put us up to an even dozen, just enough to have here, but not quite too many. Before things got tight, we went today and got a bag of starter feed, chick grit, a chick waterer, and a 50lb bag each of layer feed, cracked corn, and mash. It'll take a week or 2 for benefits to kick in, so rather than run out with no paycheck, we decided to get it now. I may run back this weekend and get bunny feed since it's cheap, I just didn't think about it while we were there. I priced rubber muck boots and leather work gloves while I was there, for when I start this farm job. I normally just wear workboots and thin jersey gloves, but working around cattle, horses, and pigs, I wanted something a bit better. Let me tell ya, it SUCKS being an ogre!!!!! Size 14 muck boots are $40 for the cheapest pair, and XL leather gloves (that barely fit) are $17. Grrrrrr what I wouldn't give some days to be 5'6" lol.

Thank you all.......

Thanks everyone for your words, it means a lot to me.
Quick cliffnotes story about dad. Dad will be 72 this year. He retired early in '99 from nearly 40 years of raking concrete, talking non stop of fishing 5 days a week. He had a checkup not long after,and the doc recommended a colonoscopy, and they found pre-cancerous polyups. A simple surgery and it was over on the medical end, but on dads end it was too much of a scare. From that day on, he sat on the couch and did nothing but watch tv. No matter what we tried, he just quit. His arthritis got worse, his heartrate only rose when he got up to get coffee or go to the bathroom. He fell into a slump, occasionally admitting that he was just waiting to die. Now jump to last January. He goes in the ER and we find out he's not only fighting pnemonia, but he also has COPD and emphisima, along with low blood pressure. He's dealt with that ok since he got home, his mood got better, and he has went from 114 lbs to 165 since.( at 6 feet tall, he looked awful at 114) Now he has cellulitis, and is on meds for that, along with all the other pills, plus oxygen 24/7 and his breathing treatment 3 times a day. He's in decent spirits, but scared and feeling sorry for himself. I sit over there and talk every chance I get, and give him the occasional kick in the ass when he makes a stupid comment. We tell the same old hunting and fishing stories over and over, but neither of us seems to care.

It's just tough for me to see him this way. Dad was always the tough guy, the one that came home from work with a broken finger wrapped in duct tape, (he actually did that!), or yanking a fishhook out of his own forehead and continue fishing looking like he was mauled by a bear. He was always active, and now he's just a tired old man watching tv all day. I'm always happy when I'm there talking to him, but always sad on the way home knowing he isn't half the man he once was. I guess facing the fact that my parents will never get old or pass away is a hard pill to swallow.

Thanks again everyone.....Chris

still alive

Just letting everyone know I'm still kickin'. I haven't had much time to post lately. Minor things going on here, and my dad was in the hospital again last week at the same time we got hit by that snowstorm. He's in better shape, but feeling old, helpless and somewhat depressed. So I've been spending a lot of time there with him and mom. I'll be back to posting someday this week, but for now I have other things to concentrate on......