Good morning! I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving with your family and friends and a great weekend. I spent Thanksgiving with my brother’s family. It was nice to spend some time with everyone. It was also nice having a long weekend, even though I was a little under the weather for a couple days. After a breathing treatment about 4:00 this morning, I’m feeling better now. That’s a plus.
I’ve had a lot on my plate these past few weeks, both at work and at home. As some of you may know, I work in business management, and this is the time when our fiscal and calendar year ends. It’s the most hectic period for me. But in a few weeks, I’ll be taking a break for Christmas. I need an extended break. I’m hoping to have a good weather window during my break to go and see my grandchildren, and, of course, my daughters and their husbands. It’s not worked out too well so far this year. My fingers are crossed. As you may have seen yesterday, the weather in Kansas can get a bit treacherous. And planning anything in northern Kansas is a crap shoot. Here at Rose Rock, we were blessed with a bit of rain last night. The NWS is saying we did get some snow flurries overnight, but nothing like what Kansas or NW Oklahoma got.
The weather this week is milder during the day with highs in the 50s and 60s. Of course, the lows are expected to be around freezing. The next chance of rain will be late next week.
Home Ownership Frustrations
The lawn service came yesterday to take care of the mountain of leaves in the front yard. It was like all of the leaves dropped at the same time. He’ll be back in a couple of weeks for one last pass for the season’s end. I’m really fortunate to have the ability to pay someone to do that work. I’m really hopeful that I’ll be able to do that myself next season. We’ll see.
The outside faucet is leaking again. I noticed it yesterday. This will be the third time the plumber has come to fix it. I told the company to get the right parts and not to show up until they have them. I asked him to change the stem assembly the last time he was here, and he said he could fix it. I just want the damned thing fixed properly. That’s why I’m hiring a professional to do it!
I’ve learned something though. Some of these companies need a firm hand to get things done properly. I had to stand my ground when they installed the foundation piers. They said I only needed half of what I ended up installing. I insisted on getting them all now. He was surprised because it made the price twice as high. I don’t care. I’m sick of shoddy work under the pretense of “saving a buck”. For example: The plumbing company said they could repair the AC unit and the hot water heater in lieu of replacing them. I wasted a lot of money on their repairs and then had to replace both of them within a few months when they both failed. If they can’t do what I want, I’ll find a company that will.
World Events
People have gone off the deep end. Between the wars in Ukraine and Israel growing globally, our leader’s apparent need to continue funding these wars, and the protestors that are supporting terrorism, it’s flipping nuts. What is it going take to get back to a more normal existence? Hate motivated assaults are on the rise and it doesn’t appear things are going to improve anytime soon.
I guess all we can do is try to survive and take care of ourselves. The conflicts aren’t ending. The threats against the United States are increasing. The cost of living continues to rise and there’s no sign of it stopping, let alone decreasing. All of this is out of our control, and I think we need to start accepting that fact begin planning for worst case scenarios. I’ve never been a hardcore prepper, but I’m beginning to think it’s a good idea.
Okay. That’s enough for today. Stay safe and take care of each other.