Well, In Texas where I am at. Its been spring for the past several weeks. Ahead of Schedule. Still, I've had to cut my grass already. Going to get it done this week again. I did do some prep last fall. I spread two bags of wildflower seeds. Sadly, The ones in the big pots came up in the middle of winter and the cold snap we had killed them off. Luckily, I have had a few plants grow this year. That was a surprise. Nope on the bluebonnets I tried. Never had much luck with them. They are just random. I also began my first raised garden this year. I did pick up plants. Several tomato and jalapeno plants. Some flowers and such early. Most of them ended up in the large pots I have. They are doing great. I already have tomatoes showing up. I planted late last year and did not get any till late fall. I am happy. All of the plants I put in already have flowers. So, I am expecting some nice flowers and fruit from them.

The Raised Garden is a first for me. I got the special blocks and the 2x6x12 pressure treated wood for the sides. So its 6 inches tall and with two cut 2x6x10 boards I have a darn big box. Thirty plus bags of dirt was not even close to filling it. I have a couple of really nice Grass cutting Dudes that cut my grass. They also work at the local Nursery. So, I have been having them help me. They built the box for me. After finding that I was so short on dirt they brought me barrels of the tossed stuff the nursery uses. If a plant dies they toss the dirt into a pile. He just takes it by the truck load and uses it for his outside work. It was a boon for me. So, tomorrow I will be going and buying the rest of the plants I need to make my new home nice. Plant the garden out. I'm looking forward to improving things and myself by being active caring for my new plants.

Yep! Here I am. Over a month past my Near death experience. Somehow the Ozzy song "Going through Changes" rings true. 2023 has been a very Tumultuous year to say the least. From Leaving my old place of almost 14 years. A place I should actually be owning now. Sadly, After my friend died all of the promises and such made went to the grave with him. So, I embarked on purchasing my friends fathers land that was located next to her home. I spent a whole year watching her drag her feet on clearing out her fathers trailer which was now on my land. I had stressed to her over and over it had to be gone by Jan first. Nope. I finally got rid of the thing late January this year. Then I had to clear the land and cut down seven nearly dead trees. And Re-clear the land again after they removed the trailer.
Along with the trailer movers destroying the power line to the garage and they refused to pay for it.

All In all. My friend cost me around 30k by dragging her feet. It also laughably cost her extra taxes this year because the trailer had not been moved by the end of 2022. I purchased my new trailer in late January. It was done by April first and I had already moved in. Then I had to spend some more money Reworking the land and removing several stumps. I know wish I had removed the three remaining ones. Oh well, This year I do plan on more work like a covered porch. It would be nice to sit out in the evening watching the world go by.

Nearly dying has made me change lots of things. Not only do I have to do the finger prick two times a day. I also have to give myself two shots of Insulin. I also have to take two Pills of Metformin a day with food. Getting used to the changes is never easy. I am trying to stick to a schedule of 7:30 Am and 5:30 Pm for the shots. The pills have to be taken with food. Mainly breakfast and Dinner. That's getting to be a pain but I will manage to keep it up. Hopefully. I can get off of all of it in a year or so.

That means being more active. Loosing the weight I carried around after not being active when I got hurt. The new diet is a challenge. The No White foods diet is hard. Everything has Bread, Pasta, Potatoes and Rice it it. Everything has to be done carefully. White bread is a big no no period. The things that nuke your sugar levels are everywhere. I have plans and been getting better on eating. Lots of salads and more meat.

I have been working at it and getting out of my relationship with my former Live in friend was super hard. I had to do it for health reasons and more. She is such a pain and entitled person. She does not realize boundary's and personal space. January first I will be dropping the boom on her ass. Since the move. I told her Absolutely no more sleeping at my home. She has her own home and has had 6+ years to clean it up and make it livable. To Have her show up with laundry and do it in my place is just outrageous. "I have not tested my own washer and dryer" Is no excuse to do it in my home. Nor is cooking in my kitchen or expecting me to cook her dinner anymore. She has her own place. I almost exploded when she said she has not even tried using her own Microwave.

I'm tired of being her doormat and place to come and watch TV all day. Use my bathroom and more. She has new TV's sitting. Her Computer is still set up here. Why the hell cant she get her own Internet? Its a free Installation. Nope, Easier to leach off of me. That all stops at the end of this week. It's my new years resolution's.

I also have a garage of her shit. It needs to go. That will be a fun situation and that will happen in the next months. Yea! I want to use my garage....

Welp, here I am back from my 4+ day tour into Diabetic kesotosis. Yep, I nearly died. All my fault. After I was hurt at The Texas Juvenile Justice Department. I was all tore up. I had surgery to Put my shoulder back together after it got tore up bad at the Giddings State School. The State Made me go to Physical Therapy. The Clowns there were Frauds. About 2/3 way through my recovery this clown said. " We need to check your range of motion. He pulled my arm up over my head and ripped all of the sutures open totally destroying my shoulder. The Part that sucks.... They made it so you cant sue the State of Texas.

So, After being denied Workers comp. "You need to be missing a limb to be even close to getting any.
I finally went through the Gauntlet to get Social Security Disability. I had to deal with lack of sleep and daily constant pain. I spent the next years working on getting something out of life. In a nutshell . I was a very active person and turned into a chair potato.

Now, I had been slowly and not so well working on improving my health. You know you get that "No White foods Speech from your Dr. About 2 years ago I was borderline diabetic. Last year, I was put on two drugs. Metformin and Glybuderyde. Pardon my spelling. I was sort of taking them. Not exactly consistent but I guess enough to not have any serious issues.

Two months ago I passed a wonderful kidney stone. During that fun time I stopped taking the two Diabetes meds. Not exactly a smart thing. I slowly went down hill. Lost a good forty pounds.. "Not an advised Weight loss program". I got weak. Things were blurry. My friends noticed and Last Wednesday. I went and did a pee test and then later had blood work done. "Go to the hospital now". Was what My doctor told me.

I got to the hospital and I was in pretty bad shape. They got me on a couple of IV's Water to help my super dehydrated body. (Can you say fishing for Veins) insulin. Brenham Texas is a mid sized city and way huger than Tiny Giddings. But, They had no room for me. Yea! Ambulance drive! Pick Austin or College Station. This is a No Brainer. Austin Traffic is so bad its Frightening. So, good old me had a fun bumpy ride to College Station.

At the hospital, I was moved to the top floor. Sitting in a room on this Magical bed that constantly adjusted for my movements. I was on a couple of IV's. They finally got my level down. Apparently their Readers only went to 600 and I had that pegged. On Day two, They had gotten me down and I was a living pincushion. Its no fun getting blood draws and finger pricks every hour. But I was hopeful I could go home.

The next morning.... My Potassium and another phosphate. Had totally tanked. "Welp, There goes getting home. That Bed was killing me. It was narrow and I am a side sleeper. Along with the checks and such. Sleep was fitful and fleeting. I also now had my own Christmas tree of IV bags. I counted 4. Still I was hopeful. That after 5 horse pills for my phosphates and the bags. I might go home the next day.

Welp, That did not happen. Doc said I could head home. After the IV bag was done. That Didn't happen till after 5pm. It was a dark miserable day. That's when I found out that my friend cant see when it got dark. So, No ride for me. On top of that It was Sunday. And no one could or was able to get me set up with Meds. And they were definitely not letting me go without any to be picked up when I got home.

So, It was such a wonderful time sleeping on that bed. Granted the finger pokes and blood checks were much less. I managed to get some sleep only to be woken up by an alarm and Nursed Piling into my room. Now, I know I have a touch of sleep Aphenia. So, Sleeping on that narrow bed. I had managed to get my head crammed between two pillows and the bed rail. My Heart fluttered. And the Crash team rushed in.

Now I had at one point three IV's stuck in me. I had two left the last two days. Nope! Not removing them till your about to leave. (Makes for fun sleeping and heavy and tired arms) They ended up doing a sonogram on my heart. I told them I was fine. But they had to check. (Watches $$$ disappear) I had to do all this talking and discussing to get my meds figured out. It was all set up. I got prices and what my Medicare would cover.. They came in and Removed my IV's and Released me around 1pm Monday.

I'll have to say that you should never ever use Walmart for any meds or such. I arrived home and everything I was told From prices to such Was Fracken Denied! Here I am tired and frack and the hospital and Wally World could not communicate. I did manage to get my Insulin. "However," instead of the 25 dollars that My Dr had worked on finding me something I could afford. It was 161 dollars. And I had beg for needles. I had to get my shot by 5:30 pm. So, no Glucose meter. No strips. Nothing. Now. That's all covered by Medicare.. "They have the code wrong. " I wanted to become a World class Karen. I was too tired to fight. I got home and called the hospital on their hotline. I got a call back that everything would be ready in an hour or so.

I just took my shot and pill and crashed on my bed for a couple of hours. It's amazing how sleeping in your own bed helps you. Anyways. I ended up doing a lot of sleep. I went in the next morning around 10 am and Guess what? Yep Still denied! WTF! I ended up sitting there grumbling at them till everything got worked out.

I'm like a bruised peach. Bruised all over. Feeling better. And Hopefully wiser. And! Lots poorer..

Well, I am in my new home. Its a super mess with boxes everywhere. The last week was one of the worst I have had to deal with in my life. My original plans were to be out of the old place on April 15th. I had already been mostly living in the new place at that point. However, My roommate has done nothing but dragged her feet all the way to the last day. I ended up asking to move at the end of the month instead. Just to give her time to get her act together. I still had things in the home I wanted to remove. Like the Spare bedroom set. My couch and some other things in her room she had buried under her Hoarder stash of crap.

Not only did I have to hire people to help pack and move things. I also hired a cleaning crew to go through the home. After all I wanted it to look ok when I left. However, Roommate constantly caused issues with them. Delaying things and in all cases costing me money. I finally managed to get the bedroom set out with three days to go. I managed to take down the TV and mount in her room also. Still right up to the last day I never had access to the closet where I had my record collection and stereo equipment and other things I had From my past life.

On the last day she had tons of stuff still unpacked. Her state of mind has her putting certain things in certain boxes. So I came into two rooms full of boxes all open and not ready. She had kept the cleaning people from finishing as I had planned on Saturday. The movers I had used could not be there on Saturday.. Sunday was the last day period. I called them to come help and the Cleaning people also came late Sunday. However, the Moving dudes never responded to the call all Sunday. I had to call in favors from friends. They came and helped take loads to the storage she had rented. Finally, I gave up on the couch and the end table and shelving I had in her room. They left and I thought it was all over.

I am not the most healthy of people. I still have a torn rotator cuff that never got fixed. (Thanks State of Texas) A bad back from Dell. I was in such pain it was bad. I had gotten home and still had piles of her stuff in my truck. An hour later She called crying for help. Sadly, I am such a person I went back to find she had at least a truck load and a half of stuff to take out of the house... I finally lost it. I just blew up at her like now tomorrow about her sickness and what it has done to us and me. I told her that I was going to leave at 11:30 to turn in the keys to the home. After that she was on her own. I was in such pain. Even the friends helping were very worried about me.. I loaded up my truck with what I could and left. I told her flat out I needed time away from her. She is not allowed in my new place for good reason. It was Tuesday before I managed to stuff her Junk into the now stuffed garage... "My Garage!" Somehow I bet she never gets around to moving and selling and getting stuff out of it. I just shake my head.

Today I went out to take care of things.. Stop the utilities on the old place... Stop the cable and internet. That was fun. I had to drive 25 miles and turn in the router box to the company. I also went down to get my Homestead credit and my Disability one.. Just great. They want me to show a drivers license with the current address on it. I also have to find or get from Social Security my Disability award letter. Just great! I have an appointment to TexDot and I need to visit Social Security dept in Brenham. When this is all done I am going on a vacation....

My Journey to becoming a land and home owner is almost done. The past weeks they delivered the home. After they did the pad. Then a crew showed up to put the two halves together and set it on blocks and level it. It was an interesting couple of days watching. A crew showed up and started working on the inside. The lead said that some other guy would show up on Monday to do more work. Surprisingly he showed up that day and worked Sat and Sunday doing his thing. This past week the same crew was again there on Monday. Tuesday I sort of missed it and the Electrical guys came and went. The Air Conditioner dudes came and got half done. Only to find they were told the wrong heating cooling unit. They ended up coming back the next day with the correct condenser for inside the furnace. That day the Clayton Finishing crew arrived and worked on the flooring and trim in the place. Nice guys. They finished and left Wednesday. Thursday a clean up people arrived to clean up after all the workers and get the home ready. I also got a call that next Tuesday in the afternoon I will be given the keys to the home. I was hoping this week but well things do take time.

Right now I am waiting on the plumbers and the people to do the skirting for the place.
When I get the keys I can start moving and give notice to my greedy landlords. Shame that they did not honor their dead fathers wishes to sell me the current home. but Meh. I'm gone and they can get people that will not be reliable or nasty to deal with.

Things are getting down to the end of the line. I had people show up to check out the old pad where the old trailer was at. I had set a certain budget for this Endeavor. I was happy to get such a decent price on the home. That included the delivery and setting up the air/ heating.

But,
There are the hidden costs.
For me it was eating up my money from the start. Clearing up the land and removing all the trash. Not once but two times! Removing seven large and at the end of life trees. Dealing with cleaning out the Garage full of Horder junk. Getting in Dumpsters to haul off the stuff. Finally dealing with my Horder friend that had to check every microbe on the trailer that was her former parents. This lasted for 8 months plus.

Now the end of the road is coming. And of course the Hidden fees! Yep, The additional costs you have to spend to put your home on your land. Now I had a former not so well done pad. So, Another decent pad has to be done. (Cost one) The electrical guy came out and looked. Not only do I need him to hook up the electrical. The old box from the old trailer was toast. All corroded and you cant get anything loose in it without breaking it. Top that off with the other movers wrecking the power line to the Garage. All that has to be done (Huge cost #2)
The next thing I have to pay for is to Reconnect the trailer to the Sewer and water lines. Not to bad for cost but its (#3)

Now, you need to get into the trailer and they quoted me do put a small deck and steps and cheap steps off the back. Cost #4 way to much. For now all I need are two sets of steps with rails. I am doing a Deck with roof and will be screened in so I can sit out on the deck and watch the world go by and well watch my TV I will have out there.. So I am passing on that cost since my Friend will build me the steps and make them movable to attach to the new deck later.
Cost #5 is putting the Skirting around the bottom of the trailer. Its not exactly cheap but It will match the trailer and have been told it will last a good number of years...

Add it all up and Fall over! 15k!

I hope I can eat after this....

My journey to get out of flushing my money down the toilet is almost over. Last Friday I went and put a grand down on a decent Trailer home. Its not the best out there but Clayton homes make decent ones. I liked the looks and how it was laid out. spending 79300 is a big bite out of my budget. Now for the story up to this point. I had spent months cleaning out the garage of the stuff that my roommate's father had horded. Pretty much a garage full. As I did this. My roommate cleaned out her parents old dilapidated trailer home. Sadly, My roommate is a Serious Horder so she had to go through every microbe of stuff. There were times I wanted to just slap the shit out of her for what she does.. It dragged on for months. I made the mistake of giving her permission to do this at the start when I purchased the property form her. I had a schedule with about two months built in to cover this bullshit. Still I managed to not strangle her and deal with the Stress she was putting me through.

There was the help she had and god bless her for putting up with her also. During this time from August to November or so She tried to sell the trailer and make some money. In my eyes it was just junk to be hauled off along with most of the crap inside it. Thanksgiving we went to the Adopted family we both have for Dinner and more. It was fun after spending three years not going out and being careful. I had lost My Second Life Husband and best friend there during this time. I also lost the friend that I had built the home I have been renting from at the very start. I knew his kids and wife were not as nice and good matured as him and the rent going up every year after was no surprise. The fact when My family trust finally came in I had offered to buy the home. They turned me down saying they needed the income. Welp, they can try and get some from someone else. Hopefully by the end of March I will be gone and living in my new place.

I had hoped to have the old trailer off the land by December. That did not happen because both of us came down with this Lung Scum. It literately laid out out and stopped things for My roommate dead in the water. They had gotten to the last room in the trailer. I did what I could and actually sold her crappy trailer for a grand. Had she not dragged her feet and gotten greedy thinking she could get more. I had is sold for 5k.. In the end I would have had it hauled off for junk January about the middle of the first week guys showed up to move the trailer. Of course roommate was still sick. I ended up paying them 500 bucks to clean out the trailer and drop it in the Garage I had cleaned out. Yep, She is costing me thousands.

When the guys eventually moved the home they caused such a mess and wrecked the fence next to the garage. they also wrecked the power cable that ran from the utility pole to the garage. I am still pissed about that. But the decapitated old trailer is gone. I had to pay another 700 dollars for cleanup. I'm Pretty sure I have spent a good 30k just clearing up the land and clean ups. Tomorrow I have to spend another 150 dollars to have some guys come and cut down and remove the giant Satellite dish that her father put up like 30 ye4ars ago it seems. It's like an Albatross or local icon in town.

The contractor that is doing the new pad and hooking things up was at the property today and I will get an estimate of how much he will charge for things. God I hope he is reasonable. I am running out of money. Granted when I move in I will not be flushing 1100 dollars a month down the toilet. Time will tell. Wish me luck this will be my last move. I plan to stay there till I die.. I hope maybe 20 more years...

Yep, there I said it. Most of us really fail to realize how thankful we should be. Considering my crazy life and how I lived it. I am one that gives thanks for what I have and have done along gone through. Lets just say that my journey has had its ups and downs. Their were times I was on top of the world and others I wondered why I was still here or alive.

Take inventory and look at yourself. Then give thanks. Look around and see the world. You survived Covid. Perhaps more things. As A transgender person I have survived so much of the bad things people have to offer. The hate. The discrimination. The threats. Even physical attacks over the years. I endured and learned to forgive and understand that when people hate most times is because they do not understand. Sadly, Many of them never try or want to learn. Just hate. Its that simple for them. Forget them! Move forward. Do not look back to them. Its not worth it to fight.

All the years I have endured and I fought battles for others and myself. I'll never make the news or be famous but I have caused change in things. just like i said before I had to deal with all of the nasty of people and corporations and even the State.

So, I am thankful for the fact I have Friends. And adopted family. Nothing beats doing Thanksgiving with family. My real ones stopped when my Mother passed. My family never did deal well with my change. Mom understood. I have retired to a smaller town and over the years people accepted me and Its been many years since anyone had issues with me and my change.
I am Thankful.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time is flying past fast. I had hoped by this time I would have my newer used Trailer home on the land I had purchased. Sadly, I made a deal with my roommate and I am regretting it badly. She sold me the property for a decent price. I knew that the Huge garage and carport was on the land I was buying. There are a few things that I ended up sadly agreeing to.

Over time and before I came into the land situation the two properties were owned by Roommate and her parents. Her last living parent died about five years back this past Saturday October 22nd. During that time the Garage was connected to her home and it was what I call a catch all for things. With a ladder into the attic of the garage lots of Horder stuff is put up there and in the room. I cant wait (Heavy Sarcasm) to clean that mess up later. I agreed to let her Use part of the Garage and use the driveway. Even if it is on my land now.. I also gave her time to clean out her parents trailer..

Sadly, Letting a Horder clean out a room is a mistake of epic proportions. I learned the hard way that what most of us Normal People Consider total trash is Gold to a Horder. (We might need it. It will be useful later.) are many of the catch phrases she used. So, It has been taking months to do what most of us would do in maybe a week or maybe a month if you were taking your time. Because of what I agreed to. This process is waking months and months. What I hoped to have done by July is now almost November.

My rental lease runs out by march first I believe. I need to be in my new place before that. I am certain that this next rent contract will be in the 1500 a month and that is more than I can afford even with the money I have. I want to stop flushing my money down the toilet and put into something I own and will be worth something.. Instead of tossing cash to them I can save it and improve things..

At least I have done my goal of cleaning out the garage. This past Friday the Band saw was loaded up and the huge pieces of metal that was used to keep the rolling table in place is gone. All I need to do is get rid of the torch stuff that is in a box. Right now I can easily put my Truck into the garage. But for now that empty space is set aside for roommates stuff she wants to save from the trailer home.

Maybe this week the trailer home will be cleared and sold.... One can only wish...

As I continue with the saga of the Property and hopefully the removal of the beat up double wide on it. Roommate and friend have almost gotten to the last room. A good load of junk is nearly ready to be taken away. Still, with the arrival of the ID plates and Title for the Trailer. It can now be sold. The past couple of days were spent cleaning out stuff. Today was a day of me doing a bit in the garage. The reason roommate did not do any work in the trailer was because her friend was going to bring by some people to look at the trailer. Welp, I spent my time removing the stand that the Welder was sitting on and cleaning out the area. With the sale of the welder and the associated cables and mask. It has cleared up things in the corner by the door into the garage. I remember when I first tried to get in the place was stuffed full of junk. And it was even hard to get at the light switch. Now. you can see the fuse box and the walls are clean. All the junk stuffed in the corner are gone. The welder and its stand and the junk under it are gone. It actually looks nice now..

Its amazing how much the garage looks now. I also managed to move the Band saw and the table its bolted too. It was on wheels but moving it proved to be a problem. It seems that Hans managed to find a nice chunk of Railroad tie connector. Topping that off was a nice big and heavy chunk of metal. It was about 3 foot by 3 foot and about ten inches tall. It and the tie were so heavy I cant move them. Talk about Heavy Metal....

The Friend got my key to the Trailer. She is showing it. I hope she gets what she wants for it. I do have a time frame that needs to happen. It really needs to be gone in a month. It will give me time to shop and get a new Trailer put on the land. The current market is really good if you have Cash. I do not plan to have payments. This is going to be my last stop in life. I own the land and if I own the home outright then all I have to come up with is the taxes and my utility's. I also plan on doing some Solar and maybe a couple of cute wind turbines. Water collection and more of that self sustaining stuff. Raised bed garden hopefully this coming spring also.

One thing that has helped are friends from my breakfast group.. Both are well off so to speak. One has been hauling off the scrap and Yes I have gave him stuff worth $$ to make it worth his while.. Another is the Owner of the restaurant. It appears that he has a lot of things about. His son has a trucking company. He also would like the trailer and pay a couple of grand for it and haul it off. Granted the aluminum roof is worth that. I just want the thing gone... So I wait a bit to see if My Roommates friend sells it if not then I go to my friend and get it gone...

I have been slowly working on my story. Book three has a cover done and Character art is in the works. It should be soon and I can post it here..

After a week of heat and one cooked fox. Things are approaching the finish line. The Garage is getting emptier and more open. I ended up selling a bunch of the tools and larger ticket items. A friend that was picking up the scrap and dropping me a few bucks picked up the Large metal cutter that took up a large spot on the workbench. That was a hundred that I split with my roommate. I also sold the huge socket and ratchet set. That was another hundred and fifty we split. This past Saturday I sold off another two hundred in tools and a bonus two hundred for the Miller stick welder. I just need this friend to pick up the welder and pay for his tools.

Getting a bit of money back helps. I've sent lots on things. Including a new Stainless steel 5 gal canister vacuum to use in the garage to suck up stuff I cant reach and believe me there is tons of stuff yet. Its almost a job sorting and putting stuff up and away. I am working to make it clear enough to put two cars into the garage. I am at one and one half now. Things will need to be moved and the band saw needs to go. Now I have to find someone or ones to help me remove some really heavy steel items. Hans used a piece of a railroad tie and a big block of metal to keep the band saw from moving. I can't budge them at all.

Roommate finally received two plates from the State housing dept. This was a several month journey. Two visits to Austin and lots of red tape and more. As far as I know, her parents purchased the Trailer out of Houston and paid it off in like two payments. But we could not find the Title nor could I find any ID plates on either side of the double wide. She did find a letter that they sent to the seller threatening them with a lawsuit if they did not get the title. Years have passed and well we have no clue if it ever happened. That is why the journey with the State. She Received the new title for the trailer today.....

Cleaning in the trailer is nearing the end. They are almost done with Han's Office. Its hard to imagine how much Junk and stuff he had stuffed into it. I am thinking that another full truckload of junk will be removed tomorrow. Today we had rain and sticky conditions. Not ideal but not very hot. The next few days the weather is supposed to be clear and cool. Fall like cool for once. I hope by the end of the week the Trailer will be ready to sell. The Garage empty enough to handle the items she wants to keep. And be ready for my stuff when I have to move come next year.

Just a few more days I hope!

Life is Fickle.
Nothing has any grantees. Non of us arrived with a Warranty. Life can be long. Life can be blazeingly short.
One thing as I have gown older is the fact that People die. Grandpa, Grandma, My Mother. My real father I only seen two time in my life died only a couple of years ago. Real life is just that. You never know.

Like I have said. I lost my Internet husband, A good RL friend to Covid. I also lost another good friend to a heart condition. All good people. People you like to have around. Trustworthy people.

This week has been another one where I lost people I knew. Joe Rizzo, he was a regular at the Local eatery for many years. He sat beside me at the Breakfast table where the Locals would hang out. Joe had a long and interesting life to say the least. Fought in Korea. Went to two colleges. UT being the last. Worked for the Government and was stationed in Italy. Joe was retired and maried. He used to drive to breakfast and later his wife dropped him off. Joe was a person that had a Good Dry Whit. He did even on the last day I sat next to him.
The past couple of years he had a stroke and that did not keep him down. Slowed down yes but he still would make his way in using a cane now. This past Tuesday Joe did not show up.. By now we knew that he might miss a day or so. He was down to two days a week by now.. It was Wednesday that I found out that he had passed.
He had his 90th birthday only three months ago. Over a hundred people showed up. Tuseday his wife woke him up to go to eat with us. She went and got dressed. When she came back he was gone. I'll miss him and his chair stands empty.
Gatherings of old farts like us sort of has reserved chairs. I sat on the end. I had taken over Danny's seat when he passed on a few years back. Joe sat next to me all that time. I guess in a few months someone else will come and fill his spot. Though I doubt he will not have the same dry whitt Joe had.

Natalie Burns, She was a good friends wife. She passed yesterday. She was amazingly a Mail order bride from Ukraine. James married her and they were together for all the years I knew them. I often ate lunch or dinner with them in town. She also cooked me food for fixing her TV. She was one that could not understand a Remote other than punching the channels. Still connecting to the net and getting Russian and Ukrainian shows to load on the TV is not exactly simple.
When I got the news I was totally surprised. Granted its been a few months since I have seen them or visited to fix either Jame's computer or her TV.. So when James called me that she was dead I was shocked.. Apparently her liver began bleeding and she died. Now I am not being nasty or saying I told you so. But I have learned that Most Russians and such drink Vodka like fish. And It was rare she was sober.

Well In a half an hour or so I will be heading to the Funeral home to say goodby to a friend and a friends wife.
Life is fickle........

Ever since I decided to travel down this path of more self reliance and Ownership. I knew that there would be roadblocks and speed bumps along the way. I had hoped by now to be moving a newer trailer on the property I had purchased back in April. Life is full of stuff that you can not pan for or get around. First was the Extreme wet and rain we had when I planned on cleaning up the land. First it slowed down the clean up and Second it also kept me from cutting down three trees I wanted gone. So the first month went by and I had hoped that My roommate would have gotten further along in her cleaning and clearing up the Trailer her parents lived in which is now on my land.

Then came the heat. Not just warm but super warm. Temps in the hundreds normally are reserved for Late June to the first week of September. I managed to find some help for my roommate in her cleaning of the Trailer. Still the heat and her health were not great. I still cant figure out how my chair and couch potato roommate can hurt herself just walking. Not once but two times in this process of clearing the Trailer.

During this time I worked on the large shop/ garage that was on my land. Hans (Roommates father) Was the town tinker. He fixed tools. Made things and well was a hoarder. He cant compare to his daughter. But I was greeted to a garage that had a leaky roof and then it repaired. Nothing was done to the inside. However, the Drywall ceilings started to warp and fall down. I spent days pulling down pieces and removing insulation that was mouse infested. After the initial start. I began the progress of clearing out this mess of a garage. Tools everywhere. More half used paint cans and spray cans than you can imagine.. Hazardous chemicals. I literally had to dig a path to the back of the garage.

This was not a one week operation but Months of three hour days maybe two to three days a week. Heat and health kept us from doing it like a week long job. I can tell you that you loose a bunch of want to do things when by ten am its already in the mid ninety's and humid. Heat index ran into the dangerous zone more than I can say. Time dragged on and the next injury to my roommate put her out of commission for nearly a month.
She severely sprained her ankle just walking to the kitchen. I gave up trying to tell her not to walk on it at all but she just cant seem to use her brain to hold up the hurt leg while using the Crutches.

Its now October. We are waiting on the trailer Title. for the trailer. It seems that it cant be found and we now believe that when the parents purchased it they never received it. We found a lawyers letter to the seller threatening a lawsuit and nothing more. Now imagine the BS and hoops we had to jump through and proof we had to do to get a Title issued for the trailer.. This is important because we cant sell or have it hauled away without one. It should arrive any day now.

I am at the end of cleaning the main part of the garage. I found many interesting things as I cleaned.. A Mega huge Socket set and Ratchets. I am guessing from his Oil field days. A large Rigid pile cutting set. I remember using such things back when I was a plumbers assistant. Stacks of drills and other hand tools he probably worked on and repaired. One large Makita Disk Cutting tool which he used to cut pile and metal. He did have a nice lathe but It was sold off years before I started cleaning. A Mid sized band saw. Its mounted on a table. A large Miller Stick welder. With a mask and extra leads and lots of Welding rods. More tools then you can shake a stick at.

Still these had to be moved cleaned and some have sold in the past days. The Makita cutter. The Sockets and ratchets. The Rigid pipe cutting set. I have hopes that the band saw and the Welder will poof making more space as I clean and find stuff. Its gone from a full garage to almost half empty now. The cool days are helping and so are friends that helped me haul truck loads of metal and junk away.

I hope by the end of this month to have the trailer cleaned and in the process of being sold. So I can shop and get a newer one on the land and moved into it. Being disabled and on SSI and long term disability has paid my bills for now but the past few years my rent went from 800 to 1100 dollars and I can guarantee now that my friend has passed from Covid that his wife and kids will raise it to 1500 and that's beyond what I can afford to flush down the toilet as rent,

Tomarrow is another day at the property and big things will happen perhaps another truck load of stuff will be hauled off. Then one room to clear in the trailer...... The light is getting closer...

Another day at the Property.
This time a friend helped my Roommate. She has been helping from about the second week of clearing the property. Between her and Roommate they have gone through the trailer and have either set aside to sell or keep and toss the rest. I believe we are on like six truck loads. There are two rooms left to clear and her fathers office is a huge mess. I wish she would just toss it all instead of sifting through all of the junk and it is junk. He has a couple of CRT monitors and one LCD and two old Dell computers. One is very old. The is perhaps a few years newer. The newest one that I updated a couple of years back is occupying a spot on the shelves in my Shop/ Shed here.

At least another truck load of junk went away today. I also managed to get the overloaded Trash bins down to the street. I hope the trash dudes don't have any issues with them. I believe I will have two more full ones to go come the next days once they empty the ones and I haul them back to the garage. My progress has been good. I have been unloading the cheap metal shelves and filling the previously cleared back shelves and cabinets. I am probably over half way with the clearing and moving. Hopefully tomorrow I can start removing the metal shelves. Some of the issues I will have to deal with is all of the heavy things left on the bottom and also a couple of very heavy tool boxes..

I suppose having Ginormous Mega huge Ratchet and sockets is maybe the pinnacle of Mechanics dreams. However having four plus ratchets and even huge breaker bar stuff along with sockets more than three inches across make for one hell of a heavy box. Even when I removed all the ratchets and sprayed them with PB blaster to make sure they will still work. I could not move the box with the extensions and bars and sockets in it. I'm guessing that Proto and SK tools are not top of the line but they still would cost a bundle to purchase. Someone will get one hell of a deal when I sell them for like 50 dollars.

I did get my roommate to give up this huge metal rowing thingie that weighs a bunch. I will be happy to see it go to the scrap yard. It will make removing the shelves easier since its leaning on them. I also will get rid of a big air tank with a motor on it. Because the Compressor head is gone. So basically its just taking up space. I already have a same sized one that works there in the garage.

Oh well tomorrow is another day and I will be starting later than I did today. It is nice to eat at the local eatery and have maybe one of two of the friends come over and remove some of the junk.....

Well,Here we are in October! Ghosts and ghouls and more?

Perhaps this will be the last year I hand out candy at my present home. Last year I actually had 10 kids show up. That was a new record. Normally I get two to five kids. And I am in a good neighborhood. I always give out decent candy. All the better since I spend the next few months slowly eating it. It does not pay to get cheap candy. Getting stuck with it turns into tossing it which is a waste.

I've been at the Property the past week and days. Work is slow but I am getting it done. Its finally cool in the mornings and the humidity is low. It does not heat up till around noon now. My past project was to clean and clear out the shelves in the back of the garage. The previous owner had so much stuff that to me and most people would be unless. So I have been filling up our large Trash bins with the stuff. Some of it was brand new but, Meh I cant use it and I do not have to time to look up and figure out what its worth and sell it on ebay. I have time constraints and As soon as the trailer home is done. A bunch of that stuff will end up in the garage I am cleaning up.

Now I am in the process of cleaning up the last row of cheap metal shelving. All of the press board shelves are warped and worse from the exposure to water years back. I have been finding things that should have been tossed years ago. Boxes of sand paper that had gotten wet. Ugh. Still you do find some good stuff. Its mixed in with the bad at times. I found complete Survey equipment. From the tripod to the top glass they look through and more than one. I suppose it will sell. Just have to take pictures and list it. I found a brand new tool box. One of the kinds that have the snap up top areas. It was yellow and black. I also found more meters and crap that I kept the good looking ones and tossed the rest.

I also found lots of mold in the back corner behind the shelves. I doused it good with Clorox cleaner. I hope to keep any stuff it puts out down if not dead. Later when things are settled down I will see about tearing out a lot of the drywall and replacing it Since a good third of the ceiling drywall has come down. I hope to pull it all down later and replace it with the silver sided OSB making it a lot stronger.

Tomorrow is another day at the property and More shelves to clear and more stuff to move and clean. I hope by the end of the week to have all the metal shelves cleared and torn down.

I have been slacking a bit on my Writing but one ends up rather tired after working and at age sixty two I am no longer a spring chicken. I am extremely happy with the Art work for the cover of book three of the Red Fox of change. valery91thunder always a great job. I highly recommend her.

Whew!
Wipes sweat from her forehead.. Just finished four half days of work at my new property. As my roommate clears out her fathers trailer. I am clearing and cleaning up the huge two plus car garage with an attached two car carport.

In a nutshell it was a rather daunting thing to work on. Previously before "Han's" passed on things were getting out of hand in many ways.. Add in Horder tendency's and roofs that leaked. The roofs were replaced with tin roofs. However, I found out as I dug into this full garage of stuff. Things were damaged and ruined. My first project was to clear a path to the back and make more room. As it continued. I tossed things and more. into the dumpsters that I brought in as they cleared the land. Huge rolls of Naugahyde for boat seats. That had fallen through the ceiling drywall that had gotten wet and weak. Cleaning out the attic will be a later project and I suspect it will be a good dumpster of stuff. Moving on I dug and checked and saved and tossed things for Months and months. My roommate had actually gotten a friend to help her but doing one to maybe three days a week made things drag on. I had hoped to have had the trailer clear and gone by now. I am a good two months behind my schedule.

It seems that My roommate has a distinct issue with her health. The last thing that happened was her severely spraining her ankle "Walking to the Kitchen" Rolls eyes. In a nutshell she can not walk. As I watch her health slowly slide down. She will prob die in the next few years. Diabetes and more along with her weight problem is doing its number. This week I got three days of her working on clearing out the trailer. Oh! I forgot shes putting Horder's to shame with her Hording problem. I am actually scared to walk in her home. So , she has to look through everything. Again this is dragging things out and out and out.

I have done pretty good in the Garage. I finished clearing and removing a full set of shelves of junk her father had accumulated. Being the Town Tinker he had more stuff than you can imagine laying around. I moved to the back of the garage and cleared shelves and Cabinets. Now that I finished that today. I can start removing things from the last set of crappy shelves he had in the garage. This clean up will prob produce another two or more full Trash bins. Still when this is done I should actually have a good car and a half of the garage cleared. Maybe I can put my classic truck in it for the first time. Oh well Monday starts another day of working......

I guess I best start posting in my journal again. I think it would be good to let people know what the Old Fennec is doing these days.

It became apparent at the start of this year 2022 that the Wife and Kids of my good friend are going to price me out of the home I helped build. 1100 dollars is way to much for someone on Disability. In a couple more years the supplemental Long term disability will stop when I turn 65. That ends up being a massive 600+ dollars on top of my barely survivable Disability Uncle Sam gives me. Granted I did pay in some good years so I get enough to survive the situation for now. But I know when the next Lease comes up they will raise it at least 4 to 500 dollars more. That is beyond my means..

I did get a lucky break last year in November. I was contacted by the Attorney that my Asshole Step Dad had employed. His second wife got him to release My mothers Trust that hes been Draining Since she died in 2000.
I figure he took over two thirds of the money she had in there for himself. Still it was a decent amount of money divided between us four kids. I received a check for 150k. First I did try to purchase the home I helped build for the price he told me he would sell it for.. It was turned down. (I do laugh since the taxes jumped a huge amount this year) I am glad to let them pay it. I will hopefully be gone.

So, My Roommate had her fathers property which is next door to her land. I bought the property. It needed work a lot of work. It has a huge garage which is in sort of decent shape. You can easily park two cars in it. Along with a decent work area. And a two car car port. Texas is a good place to keep cars out of the sun and thunderstorms that drop Hail... I have kept my 1972 Cheyenne there for several years.

I had to have 7 trees cut down. They were 40 years old and slowly dying and one was hit by lightning and is very dead. Sadly, It was to wet when I got it done they could not get to the back three trees. One was the dead one. Then I had to have the property cleaned up. That included a decent sized shed that had been burglarized over and over. It had fallen over. Again it cost me a bunch. We had tornado's that took up all the large dumpsters for tossing things into. I spent 1500 dollars alone for them and No big ones were to be had.

Then there is the Double wide Mobile home that He lived in. It is old and needs lots of work. Floors are soft and it stinks of dogs and mouse pee. It is just to much work to fix it up. So we went through a gauntlet of BS and paperwork to get a title for the trailer. Apparently They paid cash for it and never got a title. Never found one in all the papers and stuff. So, all this BS and trips to Austin and more and more information that had to be notorized and more. I think its all done now. Once the papers show up we can sell or get the trailer hauled off.
I believe that some enterprising young person could fix it up. It had a new metal roof about 7 years go. Once it is gone I can shop for a decent used Trailer home.

I've been looking and there seems to be more and more showing up on Facebook market place. All in my price range and way newer. I am praying to get it on the land by Christmas.

Finally, I have begun to write again. It has been a few years and I have several sort of maybe close to finished story's That includes Part Three of The Bitchsuit story with art work by Ota I also just paid for art to be used on book three of The Red Fox of change Nobles and Assassins. I had finished book two not long ago. Both book one and two need to be edited and gone through. All things take time. Smirks maybe I should Poke Ota for some art again,..

Yes, It has been a long time since I posted a journal here. I believe it was at the beginning of the pandemic. Since that time my world has gone from doing ok to total hell in some spots. Not long after the pandemic started I lost my in game Husband. Red and I were married even. Second life does things and some people do consider it their life. Red did. He once explained it enabled him to walk again. Do things you cant do in real life in some spots. Still Red and I were together for many years and chatted and did things daily. I tried as best as I can to get him to get better care and more. It hurts watching your partner slide down the slope that ended in his death. I am certain after he was put in a care facility he got Covid and died in just a few days. All I could do was send flowers to his funeral. Crossing the Atlantic to Germany was beyond my means and you could not anyways do to the Covid Pandemic.

Covid also took away my good friend in Real Life. I worked with him for several years and he and I built the home I live in. I was ready to purchase it when I got hurt and work and ended up on disability. He was a great and generous person and he allowed me to stay in the home as long as I could afford the rent which was at 800 dollars.. At the start of 2019 He finally raised the rent to 1000 dollars explaining that the county literally doubled the taxes on the home. Yep Here in little old forty five miles east of Austin they began to treat our housing market like it was Austin and its inflated and overblown taxes and prices.

I still managed to pay the rent which is over half of my Disability income. I had told him that I was very afraid that if he died his family would sell the house out from under me. I asked him how much he would sell the home to me and he said 120K . I knew I had family money in a trust coming some day but well it happened after things came down. Less then a month after he raised my rent His family all came down with Covid. He died in three days, His wife's Father also died. All of the fears I talked to him about he said he had talked with his family about what to do with me if he passed. Sadly, Death changes people. I know that next year February. My recently raised rent to 1100 dollars will balloon to over 1500. On top of them jerking me around for three months about the contract and such. His son claimed that houses like mine were all renting for more.
So its a given that Next year I will be moving. I will loose all of my investments in the house and property.

I had offered to purchase the house at the price he said he would sell it to me. I had received my share of a family trust. They turned me down (Mother needs the income) he said. Well this year they again jacked up the property taxes. To bad I have a full year before they can raise my rent.

January 2022 My best friend and partner in Second life Merjeni died. She was a great friend and helped and even protected me from attacks of other Net trolls and assholes in Second life. We co paid for a sim. Her passing was the death knell of the sim we held for close to 9 years in second life. My current situation I could not afford the cost of 350 dollars a month on my own. It hurt closing down the sim. It also ended the fun and want to be on line in Second Life. A friend hosts part of our sim these days but I am not active anymore.

Finally. the good news. My mothers trust fund set up before she died finally sent me my share . It was a decent amount of money. I had tried to purchase the home I helped build. That was a nope. Shame they could have had Cash in hand. So I spent weeks and more than a month thinking how to solve my housing in 2023. My roommate had land that her father left her when he passed about 5 years back. I ended up purchasing it for a bargain price. However, the place needed a cleanup and the Old trailer he lived in removed. Its been an issue getting this all done but I hope to get the trailer gone by October. Then I can purchase a newer used Trailer to put in its place and move.. Rent? No more. Insurance and taxes.. way affordable. Cross your fingers as things progress.

Well, the Good Old US of A has been having its Pandemic for about three weeks now give or take a few days. It's been eleven days since my last post. If anything. Its gotten worse in many ways. People just did not listen or even give this situation any real thought. From idiots still gathering around public swimming holes in the hundreds... (Barton Springs in Austin for example) To gatherings that still went on. To people going to Funerals which spread the Human Malwere to several small towns which are being devistated by it. People are proving Darwin is right. The sad thing is that one of these Darwin pioneers might just end up getting you killed also.

Listen to your local and Goverment and what they have to say. Read the Net. Get smart. Do the protocalls. Wash your hands. Stay away from others. Use the 10 foot rule. I doubt that 6 is enough. Try to be smart about things. You can go outside. Enjoy the weather. Just stay away from people and gatherings. It will get worse before it will get better and it prob will last past the start of summer. Estimates that a vaccine will be out prob next year for it so there is not going to be any kind of shot to provide resistance.

People for Gods sake! Stop buying up all the Toilet Paper! You do not need a warehouse of it. Nor do you need boxes of Maskes. Cases of handwash. Sheeze been two weeks and if your not there when its being put on the shelf your not getting any. Dam are people not keeping any back up supply of stuff. Any household should have at least two weeks of food and supplies normally. Did no one learn as a kid to do this? Even in the winter it was wise to have such stocks incase of snowstorms and blizzards. One has to consider this event very much like a huge Storm that you should have stocked up for. Not run out and buy it all up because you were sadly unprepaired.

I have to thank my Grandparents and well My Mother for teaching me to keep a supply of Rice, Beans and Pasta. A pantry of canned food. I wisely years back moved to having a water filter because of the hard water. Keeping jugs of water around is not an issue. Having a fridge and freezer full of food is normal for me. So going a week or more with out visiting the grocery is not an issue. Still, Food is not an issue now. The stores seem to have plenty of food. Maybe not some things still like Pasta, flower and rice. If you actually had a Pantry of food already its not such an issue for now.

People play it smart. Shop smart. Watch the news and what is on the net. And for Gods sake. Do not become a Darwin test subject!

With all this Crono virus shit going around The Tech industry calls it the Human Malware.. People these days just have no idea of what happened perhaps 70 + years back.. Whole towns shut down States and even the country for another issue.. Polio! Yes I remember my step dad telling us kids that there were summers where you stayed home. No running around outside or going to the beach or the Quarry where we swam often when I was a young kid. Todays Modern medicine has virtually removed Polio from our society. Even as a child we had days and weeks when school was closed.. The Measles and the Mumps were still out and going around. Every year around Basketball time Most of us got the Flu from the others returning from the tournaments with it. So at least my Generation still have memorys of the nasty things that can happen from a Virius or Desease that is passed around.

One thing that saved most of us from having such Epidemics going around was that back then the world was more Remote. Contact was not as massive as today.. We did not have people flying all around the world on a daily basis. I once asked about what was so different now than when my Step Dad was a kid. He sat and thought for just a moment and said. "The world is Smaller now." I was puzzled for a moment and he said. "When we were kids a volcano blew up on the other side of the world and it would take weeks or even months for us to find out about it if at all. These days The world knows about it in seconds." It was more than true. Today if Our presiden Farts loudly the world knows.

So, our Pandemic is a problem because when it started people ignored all the warning signs. People infected Traveled not knowing they had it because the Goverment authoritys did not want to let everyone know there was a problem.. In just a couple of weeks it had spread to many other countrys. Our own country brought infected people back. Instead of Banning Travel to or from the USA. We openly let it happen here. I cant say enough about the Stupidity of goverment and other goverments covering up and then letting this spread across the world. It shows that the people in charge really do not give a shit about the people they govern and are only reactive to save their jobs and themselves.

At this point in the Pandemic the gates are wide open and the flood can not be stopped. Maybe people will learn to not be so stupid. Perhaps we can get new people in our goverment that have Brains and want to protect our citizens. I hope that I do not get the virius. But Darwin is out there and there are more canadates to join his crew. Be Smart, Wash your hands. Stay away from others. Use your head and what your great grand parents did back in the polio days..

Its been two days now since my old cat Yashiko Kun has passed. He was a good pet and fiend in his own way. Now all cats love to be held but he sure did. I held him daily up to the time he was put to sleep. I still cry over it but the circle of life moves on. He had gone down hill in health the past few months. His eating and going to bathroom on the furniture and his places of sitting had gotten bad. the last days he was barely getting around and It was time. The vet was uber busy so I had to wait till Wednesday to bring him in. I cried when he was put down and I held him till the light went out in his pain filled eyes. Kun was by far the oldest cat I have ever had.
Back in I believe 1997 he arrived on my porch as about a 4-5 month old baby kitty and being the softy I was I took him in and raised him with the rest of my cats. A year later or so I moved to Bastrop and brought the cats I had with me. Two passed when I lived there. I was down to three cats when I finally moved into my new and present home in Giddings Tx. Only a couple of months later Zippy passed at 18. Two years later Cassandra passed. that left me with just Kun.. I was sad and he looked so lonely so I adopted a shrimp of what they said was a mane coon from pets mart. She was two years old. Kun and Ce Ce never did get along. Their were fights off and on till his last year.

The past couple of years I ended up adopting three more cats. The first was Gin or Junior we call him. He was with his mother and 4 kittens we fed at my friends home. After two of the kittens vanished I derided to capture the mother and both of the kittens and have them fixed and maybe take them in. I spend the next month feeding them in a pet carrier till they did not get all scared when I closed the door. When it was time I managed to catch the two kittens. After a couple of weeks in my shed living and being held and fed I took them in to be fixed.. I was shocked when the vet called that one of them had died. Junior was a brown tabby and the other was an orange one. They claimed it reacted to the meds and just died. I also noticed that they had a new vet trainee there that day..

When they called me early to pick up my dead and fixed cat I was sad and When the office person took me to pick up the carrier and the dead cat she was talking payment. I almost exploded on her. I looked at her and said "I already paid your bill." she was surprised and said what? "Yes I paid my bill with a dead pet." I stated and left. They never bothered to send a bill.

A couple of weeks later I trapped the mother kitty and took her in to be fixed and later I took her in after living in my shed because it was cold now and I did not want to let her out still healing up. I noticed a bump on her head behind her ear like a marble. I ended up taking her in to a new vet I found (Hell of a lot better one) and he removed a Round cyst like thing from her. After she healed up I took her in. My Roommate named her Munchkin because shes small and has rather short legs.

This spring I was leaving the local Restaurant after breakfast. It was cold wet and windy. Sitting at the door trying to get in was a dark ball of skin and bones of a kitten. I looked at the door and then at the waitress and she shook her head no! Opening the door I scooped up the poor thing and took it home and out to my shed. My shed/ workshop is heated and has air conditioning. It was so starved I found it trying to pull the dried food out of the old cat dish on the floor when I got back with a can of fresh food. I fed the kitten for two weeks and then brought it to the vet. its health had massively improved. A week later she was in my house and playing happily with junior and munchkin. The three Amigo's The Toritiice shell calico ended up being named Trouble. She sure gets into stuff.

I Buried Kun under the large oak tree in the back yard. Hes not far from the others that has passed. I still have pictures and remember him well having been with me for 22yes is a feat for a male cat.. Rest in peace Kun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.....psqazawouf.jpg

yes Christmas is over and the end of the year approaches. Most of us look forward to that New Years party and not the morning after hang over. Still I want to Wish everyone happy Holidays and more.

When your older. Well I am.. You often take the time in the days before New Year to reflect upon what has come to pass in the last year and often you can go Wow, or WTF, along with more things as you realize what has happened for you.

For me it was another year of getting by on SSD and long term disability. I'm certain that when I reach retirement age it will get worse since Long term disability prob will stop paying me. The past year I at least did lots making sure I had certain things for when that happens. I had gotten a newer Truck. Not that my 1972 Chevy Cheyenne is not a viable way to get around but lets face it. Having a nice newer truck is much better. Air-conditioning and much better gas mileage along with more room to haul things and people is a benefit. I ended up also having to put new tires on it since I was not that careful to notice that they were old and 2/3 worn down. by September they were gone and I had to get new ones. $$$ over 800 dollars is a big bite out of my budget. I still have brakes for later this new year.

I took care of my bi yearly health care. Doctor has to fill out my papers for Long term disability. They are not like Uncle Sam and want a yearly check to make sure I cant hold a full time job. Its a pain but I doubt I will ever do so do to my lack of a good arm and other issues.

Speaking of issues. My health is slowly getting worse. Lack of decent sleep and my teeth falling apart has been most of my fun. I have already scheduled a dentist visit and I bet I will have dentures soon.

Ah the good times and more are best looked at as accomplishments and more for the past year.

Life and what you make of it is always the best reason for keeping on living. Hugs her new kitty Gin.
Make plans..
Help others.
Be kind.
Share your experiences with others.
Have a Fantastic New Year!

Yes its that time of year where people are supposed to be jolly, happy, helping one and another. All that preached bullshit of giving and receiving. The wonders of Christmas stopped for me early in life. Our early family gatherings were wonderful and we had such nice interesting people that came. From my step dads cheap as dirt brother and his family to the wonderful Aunts that you would see only around Christmas. Grandma's cooking and the rest of the food always were in my view the real Christmas present.

Growing up in a very German Polish community in Wisconsin had its quirks. Typically we celebrated Christmas with the extended family on the 24th. Starting around 6pm the family would slowly arrive. Normally the Aunts were the last. Aunt Vi and Eve were what I often considered a bonded couple. They always came together to things. Later in life they lived together supporting each other as their health declined.

The weekend before Christmas they always took out the family to a dinner at Riverdale. A golf course/club on the south west side of town. Wisconsin was fickle back then and often we had some snow Often on that day of the first dinner. Still it was a wonderful time and the food was always good.

Some years we literally had snow storms at Christmas. Several times I remember Dad having to go out and bring in the Aunts. Family gifts were given out around 8pm to 9pm with some things almost expected from our extended family. I cant remember how many years I received socks from our Uncle. But the Aunts were something else. I always received books. Aunt Vi always would say to me. "Reading is Power." She fed my reading for years. From fold out kids books to the Nature books she gave me. None of it went to waste on me. Years later in Jr High during testing I was reading and understanding at a college Graduate level already.

Santa often visited us later that night. What he left us was interesting. From normal toys to some very cool and unique ones. I found out later in life that Aunt Vi's dead husband pioneered much of the modern heart medical procedures. He died leaving her very well off. She owned part of Riverdale and part of the Local Manufacturing company in our area Garton Toy company. This is where the strange and often really cool toys came from. Like the Sled I got one year that had a mechanism that enabled you to steer it rather well down hills. Another year the Saucers that you slid down hills on that were made of some brilliant florescent plastic. Back then kids had metal ones.

I very much remember the last year of the Riverdale dinners. Aunt Vi barely recognized me. It only was after a long time talking that she finally said "Brandy" she was loosing her mind. By the next year both of them were gone. Eve died of heart attack and Vi of pneumonia in nursing home. I do miss them greatly.

Once Grandma passed the family gatherings changed. As I grew up tensions between Step dad and myself grew. It made going to the family gatherings by the time I was in and the last years after going to them a huge Cluster of stress. Dad always pulled some kind of shyt that made me want to pound his sorry ass into the ground. The last few I walked out early. One year I did not even stay for the meal. When Mom passed gatherings stopped period. My oldest Sister tried but it was a waste because of Dad. I left it all behind in 1992 When I moved away for the last time. I have not looked back.

My RL family pretty much wrote me off when I changed. I had been dressing and such since a child and no shrink and such that my father forced me to changed how I felt. I was just built wrong. In 1998 I started my change to Female. My last visit to Wisconsin and the last before I watched Mom die from cancer. Mom noticed instantly that I had changed. I was still play male since I was perhaps a few months into my treatments and such. She just smiled and said. "I knew this would happen eventually." She said. And she got serious and said. "Be careful around your father." And I did.

Mom Passed in 2000 and I visited Wisconsin for the last time. By then everyone knew I had changed. I still played male for the funeral and carried moms casket to the grave with my brother. Three days later my Step Dad started talking nasty shit about Mom in front of me. I knew he was goading me to pound him. I also realized that jail time as I was would not be pleasant or healthy. That night I visited my sister and told her I was leaving for home. "You have not grieved stay and take the time you need." She said. "I told her that burying dad after I killed him was not needed nor was it getting into a fist fight with her dumb fuck husband. because he gave me that look that all homophones do to gays. I left that night and I have not been back since.

So Christmas reminds me of how fucked up life can be. With people feeling entitled to gifts and more. To me just a wonderful meal and some talk is enough.

These days I have an adopted family. The Lopez's. They come from my Partner. She grew up with them as almost brother/sister. What makes me happy is that they do not Judge me for what I am. At this point in my life I really do not give a rats ass what people think. I am what I am and that's not changing. Boobs and body changes after years of Hormone Replacement Therapy do not change back. The past years I have been Donating the Turkey and ham for the family meal. This year the family all went to Odessa to be with the new addition that just got out if intensive care. So Thanksgiving my partner and I spent in a local restaurant eating there.

This year I only had to donate a Ham for Christmas. Seems the turkeys they got for Thanksgiving were still in the freezer. It was good since money is much tighter on SSD. I did find a bargain of the Figit spinners at Wally World. I picked up 10 of the Ninja delux ones for 20 dollars. The past few years The extended family has had lots of kids. I think it numbers 17 or so. Roommate does not like going to the gatherings do to the noise and kids running around. I just enjoy watching and of course the food...

Have a Merry Christmas!
Cotton Candy.

Well after a week of in the air-conditioned shed and visitations. I brought Gin into the house Dog Cage and all and put it in the kitchen. Their Gin spent two days with the other to hopefully getting to know him. At the end of Day three I let Gin out and well he never really was put back in. I have to say I have a way of picking up the best purring and attentive pets. Gin is all that. Of course the other two are doing the growl fest do to one kitten zooming about getting to know the place.

One thing I had to do was to switch to long pants since Gin knows little about retracting claws yet. Legs are a great way to climb into your lap. OUCH! Owie! Still he will learn eventually to not use them on us when a lap pet is needed. Gin has adapted fast and well this shows how well and fast..

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