I went to bed early

I have to go to work early this morning. 6:30. It's really not a stretch for me, I go early every day, but I do need to get moving.

I heard it was supposed to rain today.

Have a great day.
MsAmber

Sparkle sparkle...

It's a Monday again. I made it to another payday. Any day now I should start seeing the fruits of my labors. Any day now...
Gosh I hope it's today.

First off: I'm going to buy milk, bread, cheese, dogfood, and toilet paper. Then I'll see what's left over for bills and gasoline and portion that appropriately.

My tummy is acting all crazy today. Howling and moving around. I feel like I have two ferrets in there fighting. A little bit of a tummyache. I have to go to work today just to get ready for an image inspection tomorrow morning. It shouldn't take too long, I've already cleaned and organized my truck. They are supposed to have the rest of my company issued tools today and some company shirts for me.

I got most of my laundry done, so I have plenty of clean clothes. Everything is coming along just fine. Slowly, but fine.

Oh yeah, and the truck's starter acted up for the first time Saturday. I crawled under the truck and tapped it a couple times and then it worked. If I remember correctly, that's evidence of the bendix sticking. The good news is that it didn't just go out completely: I'll still be able to convince it to work and that buys me enough time to save up for a new one. Starters aren't very difficult to replace, and fortunately aren't all that expensive either. This will be a brand new truck someday at this rate.

Well, I'm going to get dressed for work. If it works out that I have a little time at the shop, I'm going to wash the truck today. If not, it will wait until Wednesday.

This coffee sure does taste good this morning. Mmmmm.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Rain.

Experienced some intense gully-washers for the last two nights. Good hard rains accompanied by thunder and lightning. So wonderful for sleeping. I slept like a log last night.

Gosh I'm getting tired of fish-n-rice or beans-n-rice, or peanut butter sandwiches. I need some real food in my gizzard. Like a pork chop with green beans and mashed potatoes... mmmm. After my peanut butter sandwich last night, I dug around and found a can of peaches. I opened that and ate the whole thing. It was a nice surprise.

I got my first 360 yesterday. My inspection report said I didn't change the fittings, change the tag, and the grounding tag was painted over.
I pulled my work order and remembered: Oh Yeah. I was rushed through this job by the customer because she had to go pick a kid up from school, so I checked her signal levels and they were +10.7, and I installed her MTA and phone. She already had HD cable installed. I did not have access to her backyard, it was padlocked.
I got busted for taking a shortcut, so I will be backcharged.

Oh well.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Yayy. The truck really does run good.

Now we'll see if I improved my gas mileage with that little repair.

I finished my three work orders timely yesterday, so I was given two more troubleshooting tickets. Those were really cute. An elderly lady plugged her phone into the wrong jack in the back of the modem. Easy to fix. She was so embarrassed about it. I like troubleshooting tickets. Give me more, please.

This morning looks beautiful, but I know (or hear tell) that it's going to rain today. I might just have to open up the house and turn off everything electrical and just enjoy the rain. Maybe it will rinse the pine-tree pollen off my truck. I have a layer of green pollen all over the truck and can't afford to wash it right now. Besides, it's fixin' to rain, right?

I'm soaking a pot of red beans for supper. I have no meat to go in them, but that's ok. Red beans and rice. Mmmm mmmm good.

Besides the cacophony of the blackbirds swinging on rusty swingsets, there is an owl around here who I guess is practicing his hooting. He sounds so cute, kinda like a baby rooster practicing to crow. One thing about this place: there are plenty of birds. Four blackbirds are perched in the fig tree right outside my window. I think they feel sorry for me in my cage, they are looking at me through my window. Very curious about me, I think.

My back aches a little this morning. I'm glad to have the day off. My tummy is rumbling, it's making a lot of noise like a thunderstorm in the distance.

Well, I gotta go.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

The truck runs just fine

Whew!
I looked at the vacuum schematics and found where some important (I think...) vacuum hoses had been sealed off. I bought some tubing and re-ran most of the hoses, and replaced the base gasket. She fired right up. What a relief. I drove around the block a few times. Here's to hoping she fires up this morning. Well, actually, I won't know until this evening. I have the company truck to return.

I bought coffee yesterday, so to celebrate I made a pot yesterday evening. Like a dunderhead: I drank it all. So I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling.
Think I'll learn my lesson? Probably not.
It's funny being me.

Well, the house is clean, the truck is fixed, I have coffee, the company truck is organized. It looks like I'm ready for another week of work. The only thing missing is clean laundry. Oh well. I'll live.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Monday - workin' on the truck

Saturday was a long hard day. I loved it. I did 5 good jobs on Saturday (or was it 8? maybe 10?) I cleaned out and completely organized my company truck yesterday. That took most of the day.

Today I get to finish the carburettor on my truck. Yayyy.
Here's to hoping I get it done right the first time!
Wish me luck.

MsAmber

Is it really the First Day of Spring?

I had jobs to do yesterday. I crawled under a trailer and did a full rewire. Laying on my back in the gravel reminded me of my sunburn. Thanks. Nah, it really wasn't bad. I enjoyed my day yesterday.
I finished my early jobs so I called my 5-7 job and asked if I could do it earlier. The guy said he'd meet me there after noon. Cool. I got there and did the pole work and tagging before the guy showed up, then I wired up his whole trailer. It was groovy, and I got done and was back at the shop by 2:30.
Since there was no-one else around the shop to ask for a ride, I started walking. It was sunny and the birds were singing. Traffic was a bear. I stopped at Autozone and asked about the part. Couldn't be found in their automotive bible, so therefor it must not exist, even though I have it in my hand...
I stopped off at a brake shop and asked if they could flare the tubing. The first guy was clueless and tried to tell me that he doesn't know anybody who can flare tubing. I gave him my famous one-brow-up look and said: "..and you do brakes?!" So he went back into the shop and asked the mechanic. Yes, the mechanic said he would do it for me, so I left it with him. Man, I can't believe how many people have no freaking clue! I've been told three times that nobody knows anybody who can flare tubing. So I went to a brake shop where I KNOW they flare tubing, and the front desk guy tries to tell me no. UnFrackingBelievable.
Maybe I'll buy the tools and advertise myself as "The Only Tubing Flarer In Lafayette (Apparently)" That'll get some attention.

Ah, what a hoot!

You have a great day.
MsAmber

C'mon Coffee!

My computer has been doing weird things lately. Like when I'm logging in to a secure page and I get my password halfway typed and the cursor jumps back to the username field and I finish typing my password in the username field. Not just once, but every time I go to my online banking it does this. I have to backspace out the extra characters and start all over on the password. Then, just a moment ago I hit enter and it told me that my blog had published correctly. I had to edit my post to finish this entry.
Sometimes left shift key doesn't work. I try to capitalize a letter and I have to do it three or four times before it takes. It's a USB keyboard plugged into a docking station, so I kinda understand if it hiccups now and then. I'm not tempted to believe that the keyboard is causing all these problems, although I do use my keyboard almost exclusively, I rarely use the mouse. I'm old school. I learned computing when we had no mouses and Wordperfect had four-level function keys. I am determined to find the keyboard shortcut for almost everything.
Maybe... I just type too much and I've used it up. Yeah, that's it.

I'm still cold-turkey off the cigarettes. I felt like having a meltdown yesterday. I turned in the old truck battery for the core charge and bought the base gasket for the carburettor. As I was removing the carburettor from the truck, I twisted off a metal vacuum line. It goes from the back of the carb to the brake booster. I called around to see if there was a co-worker in the area to take me to the parts' store. No luck there. So, the truck is down. I called Nicole for a ride to work this morning. Gonna try to get to take the company truck home today, since I can't walk to the damn parts store every time I need something. I also mowed the lawn yesterday and got quite a sunburn on my shoulders on top of being aggravated at my truck.
I never wanted a cigarette so badly in my life.
I turned on my air conditioner to cool down, fed the dogs, and put Pirates Of The Caribbean in my DVD player (I figured something funny would help?). I wound up going to bed halfway through the movie. I just wasn't that into it.

Well, I gotta run through the shower now.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

The chill has subsided

and the rain has stopped.

I don't think I took my jacket off once yesterday.
I found a lady who will dye my hair back pink... when I can afford to get my hair done again. That's going to be a while, though.

Yesterday's paycheck was disappointing. It's my last "training" paycheck, then I will start getting "production" paychecks. Only one day of training on it. Damn. I nearly had a cow. It won't even cover my gas this week, much less smoking or eating. (see where my priorities lie?) I put $5 in the truck, and I suppose I'll just limp along like that this week.

Incredible that a person can work so hard and yet still struggle to pay her tiny little bills. If people don't believe we're in a recession - just send them to me. I'll smack them around a little bit and make them believe it. Heck, just send anyone to me to smack around a little bit. Maybe I'll feel better afterwards.

Smacker for hire! Cheap! Just $5 per smack!
bulk discounts available, some restrictions may apply, author is not responsible for location of smacks, offer not valid in Alaska or Hawaii

At least I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. That's good. My money situation should be set straight by the end of April with all back debts paid. I can see it on the horizon - I just have to get there.

The lead tech with the bad attitude stepped-down yesterday. I was sympathetic, but happy inside. He really didn't have the "wit" (Whatever It Takes) mentality to be a good lead tech. I was hoping Nate wouldn't ask me, and I'm glad he didn't. I just want to be a technician. I've had enough stress and responsibility to last me a while, and it doesn't pay well enough to embrace the stressful lifestyle again. Besides, my crews were usually put together for me and I already had the position of authority. It would be very difficult indeed to get hired and rise to the position within an already established crew. These guys are a little rough around the edges and they like to buck authority at every turn. Wearing improper clothing and neglecting company property is just the beginning of the issues(drive it like it's rented). I'd have to break my foot off in some asses right off the bat! Not a position I want to be in. Nope, I'm happy to be a flunkie right now. Easy cheesy, go home and don't worry about a thing. I sleep very well at night, thank-you-very-much.

Crap! It's after 6 and I still need to shower.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Still raining.

Can you believe it's still raining?
It rained Saturday, Sunday, and it's raining right now. A full downpour.
Gosh I'm gonna get wet today!

I have a raincoat - somewhere. I need to find it. I thought it was behind the seat in my truck, but it's not. I'm seriously gonna need that bugger today.

I didn't want to watch anything on television last night, so I got out my Foxfire book and read about animal care and hide tanning. I find it interesting how the old people used to turn their hogs out to run wild in the woods. I also read some old hunting stories and stories about hunting dogs. I got a kick out of one:

"...And Oscar said he had a dog one time that you could just blow your horn and he'd come up. He'd know you was going a'huntin' when he heard the horn blow. Said he'd come up, and you could take your board (to stretch the hide on) and just hold it out there and let him look at it, and said he'd go off into th'woods and he'd catch you a possum that'ud just fit that board.
"But said he lost th'dog one day, and he didn't know what in the world come of his dog. He never had done that before, and he always come back home; but he said this time he hadn't come back and he didn't quite understand.
"And he heard his wife a'talkin' in there tellin' about so'n'so that had come over t'their house t'borry an ironin' board. And said she went and got th'ironin' board and brought it out there, and they'uz standin' at th'door talkin' - she had th'ironin' board up on her hip just standin' there talkin' t'th'lady - and said she looked out in th' yard there and that dog'uz actin' kinda funny. Said he'd look around, and look around. then finally after awhile she said he just went off up thataway. Said she didn't think anything about it. But he never did come back.
"And Oscar said, 'you know, only way I ever figgered out - that dog never could find a possum'uz big enough t'fit that ironin' board and he's still a'huntin'."


This story just tickled me. I stopped reading and had a good laugh. My next chapter is on Summer and Fall wild plant foods. Canning and preserving.
I do love my Foxfire books.

It was nice to sit and read while listening to a rainstorm last night. I really enjoyed it.

You have a great day. I gotta get ready for work.
MsAmber

What a week.

It's rainy and cold here. Man, I thought spring had sprung and I was getting used to the warmth.
I've learned that guppies are cannibalistic. I had bought a yellow one, orange one, yellow with spots, and orange with spots. They all ganged up on the yellow with spots and I kept seeing his tail fins getting shorter and shorter. Finally they chewed away his entire tail fin and he laid on the bottom, unable to swim, for a whole day until he died. I scooped him out and threw him unceremoniously away. Damn Cannibals! The little pigs are getting plenty to eat: shoot, I feed them twice a day. I'm so distraught now, I don't know how I'm ever going to look at them the same way again.
Damn cannibals!

Seriously.

I got an invite to be Jas Rutherford Miller's friend on facebook a long time ago and since I didn't recognize him or have a facebook account at the time, I just deleted it. Then the other day I got an invite from my niece to facebook, so I signed up. There was a pending invite from Jas Rutherford Miller, so I accepted. I read his profile - he's a musician in California and he has over 800 "friends". I browsed through and saw a lot of cool names like Will Smith; Arlo Guthrie; Liv Tyler; Bruce Willis; etc. I thanked him for the invite and he responded with a thanks for helping him with his cable.
I've been racking my brain trying to remember if I ever met this person. He has friends in Oklahoma, as do I. Where do I know this person from? When did I help him with his cable? Strange. I do have a tendency to purge things from my brain, so it's not a complete surprise to me that I might have completely forgotten someone, but he doesn't look familiar at all to me.
Oh well.

A Bluejay just stopped on a branch outside my window and gave me a full appraisal. He cocked his head and looked me up and down for a few minutes before flying away. Or maybe he just saw his own reflection... looked like curiosity to me.

Yesterday Leon called me and asked if I had a tow rope. I said yes, so he told me that the new kid, Travis, had slid into a ditch and would I go pull him out. I drove up Ambassador Caffery to I-10 and got lined up to pull him out and a police officer pulled up and told us he couldn't let me tow him out. It is the interstate. I tried to argue a little, that this was the entrance ramp, not really the interstate, but the officer insisted. So we waited for an hour in the rain. The tow truck finally showed and the charge for pulling Travis out was $140.00. If Travis didn't come up with the money before it was done, the driver was going to take the car. Yeah, that's the purest definition of highway robbery I've ever seen. Travis called his brother and got the money, but the tow truck driver totally screwed up his exhaust. Plowed the tailpipe into the dirt by about 4 feet and bent it completely under the car. So, Travis has to pay for a new exhaust also. In retrospect: I'm glad I didn't attempt the tow myself because I wouldn't want to be responsible for the exhaust pipe plowing into the dirt like it did. But come on, $140 to pull someone out of a ditch?

I was cold and soaked to the bones when I got home, so I took a hot 3-minute shower (which is how much hot water I have) and made a cup of hot cocoa and snuggled up on the couch with a plush blanket. I tried to watch a DVD but started yawning about halfway through and went to sleep. It's cold in here now, but I don't want to waste the propane. I have my little electric heater on low to bust the chill out. I can't turn it up too high or I'll pop the breaker. I'm running off a 20 amp breaker on the same circuit as a deep freezer. Even my hairdryer pops the breaker if the deep freeze decides to kick on.

Well, I've got dishes to do and a floor to sweep.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Why I haven't blogged

I had nothing good to say for the last couple of days. Frustration.

I FINALLY got my company truck yesterday and I went out and did three jobs. By myself! Wonderful. I had a good day yesterday. All of my jobs required work on the pole, I hoisted that ladder like a professional. It wasn't so bad, and I'm not too sore today.

I am, however, getting ready to start my period. Based on how my back feels, it will probably be today. Congratulations everyone: for surviving me during a fierce case of PMS. And kudos to me: for not getting a gun and going postal this week. Yayyy.

After my last Tetra committed suicide and leaped to his death from the fishbowl, I decided to try Guppies. I'm happy to report that all 4 guppies have survived this week. No suicide attempts. I have decided that I am a guppy girl. They look pretty, have tolerance for temperature fluctuations, eat like pigs, and stay in the bowl. Yep. I like guppies.

The house is a mess. Mainly the floor and some dirty dishes in the sink and dust on the desk, but still, it's a horrible mess. My back aches and my tummy is cramping, and I wish I could just close my eyes and have it all clean itself up. I have yet to find a way to dump my blackwater. I called a porta-potty place, and I may just have to pay to have them empty it this once, that will buy me a couple more weeks until I have to purchase a 30 gallon dump tank or manufacture something that will do the job.

Well, I gotta run through the shower. You have a great day.
MsAmber

Yesterday was so obtuse.

It was one of those days where nothing goes right.
I was rushed through my jobs, every job had difficulties built right in. My co-worker was a panic-monster and she played brain-rattling music at an earsplitting volume whilst driving like a maniac - constant quick lane changes and acceleration/braking. I'm feeling quite belligerent today. It was a long day yesterday. I put in a full 12 hours. I will not - repeat - will not have another day like yesterday. I feel like my experiences yesterday put me in "kill" mode. If there is such a thing as setting the mood to switch people into aggressive kill mode, I found it. I'm downright homicidal this morning. Katie, lock up the guns!

Then, this morning, I looked at my finances. They are quite morbid also.
Is this a conspiracy to drive me insane?

Well, I gotta run through the shower and go to work.
Joy, joy.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Wednesday Morning

Well, my new company truck is ready to roll. Got the new ladder rack installed.

I got the exhaust leak on my personal truck fixed, and found out that I'm sucking air from the gasket under the carburettor. Tightened it down, but I'm going to need a new gasket. The transmission is leaking a little around the pan also. The truck sounds real good. Found two vacuum leaks and plugged them, maybe that will fix the cold-start and idling problem. Will find out this morning when I fire it up cold. I really just took it in to get the oil changed since I'm 2000 miles overdue, but since I had a captive mechanic; I used the time to have him look over a bunch of stuff for me. (I'm so sneaky sometimes.) It's overdue for the inspection sticker also. Need to get that done before I get a ticket.
I rebuilt the carburettor on the lawnmower and it runs perfectly. Just needs an air filter now and it's ready to roll. I may tackle the rebuild of my truck's carburettor also. It's been a number of years since I rebuilt a quadrajet, but I think I still remember how. I just need a picnic table and some peace and quiet on a sunny afternoon. I can't have the truck down for more than a day, so I'd have to remove it, rebuild it, and replace it in one day. I remember it took me two days last time, but that was the first time I'd ever done it, and setting the floats was tricky. No room for mistakes this time.
I don't have to be at work until 8:00 this morning, but I went to bed early so I'm up early. I'm just sitting around drinking coffee. I'll be nice and tanked up before I get there.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Weird.

I paid my Sprint bill over the phone like I usually do. Something strange is going on there. I used to pay $120.00 month for my air card and my phone bill. All throughout the month of January, it said I had a negative balance - meaning they owe me - of $60.00. I paid $120.00 on the 30th of December. Then it kept saying that I had a negative balance, and just now my bill was $74.00 due on March 4. What happened to January's bill? How did I get a credit? Why has my bill dropped significantly?
I don't get the paper bills, I have them sent to my Dad's house. I should probably ask him to send my mail to me here so I can see what's going on with Sprint. Not that I'm complaining; it's a wonderful thing to have a lower bill and to skip a month, but I don't understand how it happened: that's what's bugging me. I was thinking that maybe I airheaded out and paid Sprint twice in December. I do crazy stuff like that sometimes. (rarely).

Yesterday I actually got dispatched to jobs. My first one was a reconnect aerial and my second one was a trailer, which needed recabled inside also. I don't understand why our uniforms are light colored pants when we crawl under trailers and get dirty. We should wear dark brown or black pants. But it was fun. I handled that ladder just fine. It was all the way extended on a pole, and then I had to reach, and look into the sun. It always bugs me to be on a fully extended extension ladder, but soon it will just be habit. I can't wait. My shoulders were sore last night, so I went to bed early and put the concussive massager on my shoulders. I fell asleep with the massager on. I missed a lot of phone calls, didn't hear a thing.

I got the needle valve and seat for the lawnmower. As soon as it's warmer and/or I have the time, I'm going to rebuild the carburettor on the lawnmower. Spellcheck doesn't know how to spell carburettor. Therefor, neither do I. Carburettor, carburator, carbuerator, carbuerettor. Nah, nothing looks right except the first one. Eh, what the hell. You know what I'm saying anyway.

I gotta run through the shower now and get moving.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

It's Monday!

...and it's March.
I feel that spring is right around the corner.
I'm ready for spring. Gardening and playing in the dirt.
I'm going to fix up the shed and see if Rinea will let me store some stuff out there so I can empty out the back of my truck and take off the campershell. It's best for hauling dirt and stuff. I really want that shell off for a while, anyway.

I had a good dinner last night. I made a steak, mac-n-cheese, boiled okra-n-tomatoes, sliced kumquats with a sprinkling of sugar, and pink lemonaid. Oh it was delicious. I read an article yesterday that said drinking lemonaid with dinner was a good thing because it stimulates the digestive system and regulates acid production. I didn't know that, but I feel like it really works. I've been drinking pink lemonaid with my dinners for a couple of months now and I haven't been bothered by my stomach. I just thought I was finally getting better and the ulcer problem is going away. I may have stumbled upon a permanent cure for my stomach issues. It made sense. Usually tomatoes kill me, as does peanut butter; salsa; cayenne pepper; soda; iced tea; greasy foods; etc, etc. A person who lives with constant stomach pain and suddenly finds it relieved is a very grateful person indeed. But still I'm leery. I don't know when (or if) it will pop up again. The article extolled the benefits of and listed 15 uses for lemon. It cures halitosis, eczema, bunions, insomnia, thirst, acne, the common cold, viruses, tonsillitis, whitens the teeth, sharpens the mind, and it's a pretty color too! ha ha haaaa.

Anyway, that was fun to write. I've got to run through the shower and get ready for work. You have a great day.
I know I will.
MsAmber

I got to play small-engine mechanic again.

I had fun yesterday. I took apart a lawnmower and got the engine un-seized, fuel cleaned out, oil changed, everything greased. Then I discovered that the needle valve was clogged. Of course I damaged the valve seat in the process, but I got the mower running. I need to get a carb-rebuild kit, or just a needle valve and seat. I bought a new fuel hose for it. I would like to scrape off the rust and hit it with some rustoleum also. I went around looking for a valve seat and couldn't find one anywhere. The one small-engine repair shop closed at noon. I'll catch them this week and see if I can't get one.
The mower sat outside for a few years. Yeah. Rust city. Smelly water in the tank and the oil was as thick as tar... Gross.
I had fun though. I just love a puzzle.

The dogs are doing wonderfully in their new home. I moved across town to a nice housing district. Inside a fenced-in yard. The boys don't have to be tied up any more. They were getting used to it, but now they are thrilled with their freedom. Spot doesn't carry-on like he used to. I've pretty much put the kibosh on his barking.

Yesterday got real windy, and the temperature dropped to cold last night. There is a little frost on my northern windows this morning. Glad I refilled my propane tank on Friday. The other tank went empty on Saturday morning. Talk about timing...

My new friend/landlady and I have a lot in common. We won't really get a chance to bond until probably next weekend or so. But we both have a creative spirit, we are both in survival mode, and we like naturalistic and aesthetic things. We've got some gardening to do... woo hoo.

There is a tree full of ripe kumquats outside my window right now. I'm going to look up some good things to do with them. Waste not... want not.

You have a great day.
MsAmber