What did you do today?

[Zanne]

Got blood drawn for regular checkup bloodwork early in the morning. Was too tired to get anxious before it was drawn.

Friend has a clogged sewer line and no one can figure out where his line ties in to the city sewer just yet. They thought it was cleared but then it clogged. Toilet will only flush once every 30 min.

Mayor showed up with the cops at my friend's house this afternoon and told him he had until next Tuesday to get his yard cleaned up or he'll be charged a $5400 fine. Most of the yards in the area are full of debris and many are worse than my friend's. The mayor just happens to run a landscaping/lawn cutting/ yard clearing business. We knew him back in the 80s before he was a mayor and he was a greedy scumbag even then. According to city ordinance, they need to give 10 days notice in writing. But this was all verbal and no specifics. So he called on us and some other friends to go help begin the cleaning. I reminded him that the local towtruck guy owes him a yard trimming bc he traded a truck for it and the guy never did the job. So he called the guy and told him mayor was breathing down his neck and is saying he'll be fined $5400. Not sure how the law works bc he technically doesn't own the property-- his mother does. But he pays taxes on it so it's "in care of". But he should have more rights to it if he's liable for fixing it up. I really wish I had throat-punched the mayor that one time he came to the door without a mask after I told him to back off and not come near us without a mask.

I'm still exhausted, my shoulders and right knee hate me, and tomorrow there's more work to do. Hopefully we can get around to fixing my waterlines after this.

 

[havasu]

I think I would be placing a call to your state attorney General.

Extortion is the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or intimidation to gain money or property from an individual or entity. Extortion generally involves a threat being made to the victim's person or property, or to their family or friends.

 

[Twowaxhack]

They’ll fine you here for a junky yard or not keeping your grass cut.
The mayor doesn’t come out though.

They send a guy to give you a ticket and summons to court.

A lot of “ government “ relies on fines and penalties to operate.,

Like our state plumbing board. They survive off fees, fines and penalties. In other words off me......

 

[matt.mena]

Cleaned up the ‘05 4Runner to sell on Auto Trader. Never sold a car before. Hard to let go of such a reliable good driving vehicle. Oh well. $5,000 if anyone is interested. That’s blue book in fair condition for a 2x4. Charlotte NC.

 

[Jeff Knecht]

Cleaned up the ‘05 4Runner to sell on Auto Trader. Never sold a car before. Hard to let go of such a reliable good driving vehicle. Oh well. $5,000 if anyone is interested. That’s blue book in fair condition for a 2x4. Charlotte NC.

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[/Q

 

[Twowaxhack]

You’ll sell it......in fact you need to raise the price.

people are getting stimulus money from the government. 1400 per child and 1400 for each adult.

Raise your price to 6500 and negotiate to $6,000.

Then send me $100 for the hot tip bro.......

Trust me

 

[Twowaxhack]

I’d buy that Toyota if you were close to me. I swear

I like those and it looks well kept. Plus I know a good mechanic that can fix anything.

 

[matt.mena]

That’s cool, bro.

I really appreciate the exceptional advice you give to all these people with random questions. Plumbing or not, just like selling my car for $6,500 cause it’s tax time. That didn’t even cross my mind. And I can’t imagine how much money you have saved families by accurately diagnosing a problem AND explaining the solution in layman’s terms. It’s quite a noble way to spend your time.

With everyones busy lives I’m sure it’s not said enough after you’ve helped someone save hundreds of dollars, all because your here, Thank You.

 

[Zanne]

I think I would be placing a call to your state attorney General.

Extortion is the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or intimidation to gain money or property from an individual or entity. Extortion generally involves a threat being made to the victim's person or property, or to their family or friends.

Thanks. I'm not sure if him bringing the cops with him was to intimidate my friend or if he was afraid my friend would drag him in the house and beat the crap out of him. He said if my friend doesn't pay the fine he can go to jail. State AG is an a-hole but I'll encourage my friend to call the DA's office & speak to the clerk about it. She's very sweet and helped me out before when local cops wouldn't do anything about another friend of mine getting robbed. Knew who the person was, she was on probation. Local cops didn't report it to her probation officer and claimed they didn't know who he was or how to contact him. I got in touch with the DA, then got in touch with probation officer, used FB to track the skank, and reported it to them. Got a nice call from the clerk later to let me know when she was arrested.

I'm going to put out feelers and see if the mayor pulled this with other people so we can establish a pattern.

Twowaxhack, I understand the rules on keeping property clean enough that it isn't a danger or eyesore, but it's the way the mayor went about it and the timing that is suspect. Lots of houses in the area have debris still from the hurricanes and a bunch of trees fell during the winter storms. That means cleanup crews have been busy and haven't been able to get to people. I truly think the mayor is just trying to get $ out of my friend and probably other people.

I'm waiting for my friend to wake up so we can go to Lowes and pick up supplies for more yard clearing and pouring gravel in his driveway (not the hole thing, just some of the deeper pits) and front yard where people walk and have trouble bc it is too muddy.

Friend also called another friend to tell him to get his broken down unregistered uninsured car off his property. Other friend said "just push it behind the house". I wonder if he can have it towed at the owner's expense if he doesn't come get it. Friend told him it needed to go. It's been there over a year.

At least I'm not as exhausted as I was yesterday.

 

[Zanne]

Picked up my friend late morning. Brought brother along to help. Went up to Lowes to get some shovels & a rake (got 3 different types of shovels-- trench, regular, and flat). Got 10 bags of 50lbs quickcrete gravel & put them on a tarp.

Got back to his house and he quickly dug a shallow trench to try to direct water away from his porch and toward the ditch. It slopes downward toward his house and there's a lip right before the ditch that makes water stay in his yard. Bro unloaded the sacks of rocks while I tried to fill in some of the pot holes in the driveway. We both worked on that while friend was digging. I helped my friend dump the gravel in. Cats think it's a litterbox. LOL.

I suggested moving the remaining dirt that was dug out toward the house to try to reduce the slope a little. Friend is trying to order a dirt delivery but can't seem to find anyone who will do it. The term "dirt cheap" was made up by someone who never had to buy dirt. It's an oxymoron.

Friend took my advice that I passed on from Havasu about reporting the mayor to the state AG. Still trying to get a contact # for him. Found his FB page. Friend's mom confirmed that the mayor did this to a whole bunch of people- including businesses. Went around door to door with cops to extort people. Friend is also planning to contact some lower tier people all the way down to the town's judge.

Stopped by Tractor supply to get a wagon to haul stuff and grabbed some cattle feed.

Made lunch for mom and am now resting. Took naproxyn and going to nap soon.
Houses across the street are rental properties & owners could afford to hire contractors to fix them up. That one watery pot hole was filed with 100lbs of gravel as well as a bunch of dirt.

 

[matt.mena]

I guess the appliance covid lead times are affecting faucets too. Three kitchen sink faucets. Ordered them almost 3 months ago. I got a final inspection with temporary faucets installed three weeks ago. These fancy things showed up on the truck yesterday and I’m Putting them in now.

Here’s an example of a cheap spec suite break room sink with a Zern 3/8” carbonated backflow preventer required for coffee makers here. I’m currently in an older high rise.

More than likely whichever company that ends up leasing this space is going to gut this brand new break room, carpet and all out to start from scratch. I’m sure they’ll already have an architect planned. Money In, Money Out.

Nice faucets though.
Hopefully I get the demo

 

[matt.mena]

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I guess the appliance covid lead times are affecting faucets too. Three kitchen sink faucets. Ordered them almost 3 months ago. I got a final inspection with temporary faucets installed three weeks ago. These fancy things showed up on the truck yesterday and I’m Putting them in now.

Here’s an example of a cheap spec suite break room sink with a Zern 3/8” carbonated backflow preventer required for coffee makers here. I’m currently in an older high rise.

More than likely whichever company that ends up leasing this space is going to gut this brand new break room, carpet and all out to start from scratch. I’m sure they’ll already have an architect planned. Money In, Money Out.

Nice faucets though.
Hopefully I get the demo

first time I’ve seen plumbing grease come in a pill form

 

[Zanne]

I had trouble getting to sleep and was up at 3am washing dishes. Had to boil water in my electric kettle. My brother had left stuff in the pressure cooker for a month. I put tissues up my nose so I wouldn't smell it, dumped it outside, scrubbed the pressure cooker lid, the edges of it and soaked the pot part in boiling water and detergent. I let my brother know. So he came out to rinse it later and made beef stew with carrots and mushrooms. He went a little too heavy on the corn starch. I think he used an entire container or possibly more.

I was supposed to take my friend to Lowes again and help him with his yard but I racked out hard. Didn't wake up until 4:30pm. Saw he'd sent a message 5 hours earlier to let me know he was up. I felt bad and apologized to him. He's cool with it. He knows I have chronic fatigue. I think I've only slept through once before when I was supposed to take him somewhere. He's done it multiple times with me since he had his wreck. I don't blame him for it. I know he can't help it. I'm going to set an alarm to get up tomorrow morning.

 

[matt.mena]

I had trouble getting to sleep and was up at 3am washing dishes. Had to boil water in my electric kettle. My brother had left stuff in the pressure cooker for a month. I put tissues up my nose so I wouldn't smell it, dumped it outside, scrubbed the pressure cooker lid, the edges of it and soaked the pot part in boiling water and detergent. I let my brother know. So he came out to rinse it later and made beef stew with carrots and mushrooms. He went a little too heavy on the corn starch. I think he used an entire container or possibly more.

I was supposed to take my friend to Lowes again and help him with his yard but I racked out hard. Didn't wake up until 4:30pm. Saw he'd sent a message 5 hours earlier to let me know he was up. I felt bad and apologized to him. He's cool with it. He knows I have chronic fatigue. I think I've only slept through once before when I was supposed to take him somewhere. He's done it multiple times with me since he had his wreck. I don't blame him for it. I know he can't help it. I'm going to set an alarm to get up tomorrow morning.

Zanne!

I just got a second call! Another friend of mine growing up died! Two in two days!

I’m serious, I wasn’t going to mention that my high school friend Sammy got shot yesterday. Apparently he’s been into drugs and his body was found, shot twice.

I didn’t want to be a downer so I stayed up beat.

I found out today he is being buried in the same cemetery as my dad. I’m going there tomorrow at 2. But, in the same phone call my friend just found out Robert is dead! He’s from the neighborhood growing up, only 2 years younger than me. I don’t know How!

I’m in a little shock, I’m taking a break from work right now.

I’m only telling you because I was really into posting good reply’s with you all. This is nice. I live alone and, well, I’m talking with you aren’t I? Which, I’m only telling you this because I can tell your a good person. And share your stuff.

I haven’t seen dad in a long while. 1-3/4 hours north is where I grew up. Dang...

 

[matt.mena]

Zanne!

I just got a second call! Another friend of mine growing up died! Two in two days!

I’m serious, I wasn’t going to mention that my high school friend Sammy got shot yesterday. Apparently he’s been into drugs and his body was found, shot twice.

I didn’t want to be a downer so I stayed up beat.

I found out today he is being buried in the same cemetery as my dad. I’m going there tomorrow at 2. But, in the same phone call my friend just found out Robert is dead! He’s from the neighborhood growing up, only 2 years younger than me. I don’t know How!

I’m in a little shock, I’m taking a break from work right now.

I’m only telling you because I was really into posting good reply’s with you all. This is nice. I live alone and, well, I’m talking with you aren’t I? Which, I’m only telling you this because I can tell your a good person. And share your stuff.

I haven’t seen dad in a long while. 1-3/4 hours north is where I grew up. Dang...

should have private messaged, huh.

 

[Jeff Knecht]

should have private messaged, huh.

Yes. I tend to make friends easily and felt a bond to a fellow S. Californian.

 

[matt.mena]

Then my friend says, “Things come in three, better be you next and not me!”

ha, a little.

man, just two people I knew growing up at once is weird. That’s why I posted it I guess.

Anyway, keep it up, y’all rock.
thanks.

 

[Twowaxhack]

About a month ago I went through a two week stretch that my aunt died, my uncle died, old neighbor, and about 5 customers. All in two weeks. That’s like one every other day.

It’s tough and it reminds us that we are all here temporarily.

 

[matt.mena]

Then my friend says, “Things come in three, better be you next and not me!”

ha, a little.

man, just two people I knew growing up at once is weird. That’s why I posted it I guess.

Anyway, keep it up, y’all rock.
thanks.

I haven’t kept up with my friends from growing up like I should. This isn’t a devastating

About a month ago I went through a two week stretch that my aunt died, my uncle died, old neighbor, and about 5 customers. All in two weeks. That’s like one every other day.

It’s strange, but not un common. A contractor i know had similar the same thing happen to him. No fun.

 

[Zanne]

I lost my father, my plumber, an elderly friend, and the owner of the local hardware store all within 30 days. I was friendly with the plumber and contractor-- very nice guys. I know their sons (who have taken over their businesses). Plumber's son is a bit of a jerk. Contractor's son is an absolute sweetheart. He and my father were friends. The elderly friend was 91 and got a brain tumor.

It's ok to not be upbeat at times and to find the humor in situations. Got a friend from middle school days that I only ever see at funerals now. Every time we see each other we say "We have to stop meeting like this!"