West Texas Crazy: Tuesday 30, Aug 2011

West Texas Crazy: Tuesday 30, Aug 2011: Another scorcher here in drought stricken West Texas. I'm up and going early. I call the plumber before 8:00am and he answers! He got the m...

Tuesday 30, Aug 2011

Another scorcher here in drought stricken West Texas. I'm up and going early. I call the plumber before 8:00am and he answers! He got the message from my Mr Helper... wow! He is on his way. Four hours later he is still snaking, digging out a clean out and finally after 1:00pm he announces his victory over the sludgy clogged up, buried, root filled clean out. Phew, its quite stinky around his work area. One quick trip to pick up rent for Mr Boss and back to plumber land. Mr Helper was mowing the lawn and keeping tabs on Mr Plumber. That frees me up to go to a listing appointment. We are in the worst drought ever... the old timers say it has never been this dry... We live in a cattle town and that means trucks, trucks everywhere. Hauling cows, milk, feed, hides and all things related to Agriculture. So, I'm in the Prius, going out to a country property to look at the property. Suddenly the road disappears in a cloud of fine white dirt and just beyond that swirling cloud is a huge simi truck peeking out above the haze. He can't see me... Yikes! I turn on my lights and I can't see the road anywhere. Off roading in a Prius is an experience I never want to do again.. Then my phone rings and Ms Seller asks, is that you in that funny little car, looking lost? Yes, I am just beyond that freight train, is that you I see across the road as I look under the fast moving train? Yep, thats me! I missed my turn, they put a sub station where my turn was suppose to be... hehe the road was just a few feet on the south side of the sub station... Away we go in a cloud of dust. There is a method to driving on dirt roads to keep the car behind you from eating dirt. The lead car drives on the wrong side of the road ahead of the tail end car.. hey, it works... Ms Seller gives me the grand tour of this property. Then lunch time comes and she breaks out the food and we all eat and talk a bit more business. I take off and head back to town, hoping I do not encounter another truck. My car said the temp was 114 degrees... thank goodness it was wrong.. It stabled out at 102. I stop in the real estate office, give Mr Broker the good news, yes two listings.

Back to the town, picking up supplies for staining doors and other things we need. Mr Plumber calls and wants to do the second little item I asked him to do. Off I go to to other property to let him in. Success. Bye Mr Plumber! Time for more chores on another property.. New sod needs water, return calls, make calls...

Storm clouds roll in, the pool closes and not one drop of rain falls. Cheated out of my workout and some sweet rain, I decide to cook Green chilie stew. Earlier I put a whole organic chicken in the crock pot, cool it and I debone. Saving the bones, skin and juice I use them to make stock. Adding yummy spices, I cook it up. Next I peel, wash and dice three organic potatoes and cook them until soft. I add in 1 & 1/2 cup of thawed green chilies and 2 cups of diced chicken. Straining 2 cups of the stock I add that and slow simmer. I have a very delicious stew and non toxic to my body. Next I make a batch of peanut butter cookies. Butter, natural peanut butter, my secret is in the sugar, I use sugar in the raw and when you bite into one there is a delightful texture. I love cooking. My daughter and I were talking about how I cooked as she was growing up and she said, "You never cooked out of a box, everything was from scratch. If I am remembering wrong, don't tell me!" She has it right, I do cook from scratch.

Moanday moanday

Monday or Moan day... 29th aug 2011

I plugged sod, all day in 100 degree heat. Sweat. In my eyes, ears and totally everywhere. OMGosh! Physical labor in the heat, not for me... the ants were melting, it was so hot! jk. I get a brief reprieve from a trusty tenant, "Can you look at this house I inherited and tell me what I can get for i?" Sure I can, off we go for a look see. 15 minutes later I'm back at work, on the ground, plugging sod. Looking forward to listing a property for Mr Tenant!

I work at this with my trusty helpers and at 5:00 pm I get a call from a contractor. Yes! Yes, I'll meet you in 5 minutes to look at the tile job you are going to do for us. Away I go, ac full blast in the Prius. I'm clad in muddy, wet pants adorned with knee pads and my tractor supply tee shirt. Hair a mess and for once I don't care. Just get me off the ground and into the car. I arrive at the Townhouse I am remodeling and I ask Mr contractor to help me unload all the tile samples I've collected. We look them over and decided to talk to Mr Boss. I drag my self home, skip my usual workout,( a mile swim) and crawl up the stairs, run a cool bath, pour in the salts and soak... waking up a while later... hehe jk, I extract myself from the tub and warm up a bit of supper and settle in for the evening. Then! Ring ring ring, Ms Tenant has sewer backing up in her tubs and boiling out under the toilets. OK, I call Mr Helper and he calls Mr Plumber and gets no answer. I walk down and look at the clean outs... they won't open so I call the tenants in that building and advise them not to use any water, because its backing up. Then Mr Tenant son 1, calls and says his tubs and toilets are backing up with black stink water. On and on this goes until I get everyone called and they quit flushing, showering, ... you get the idea, right?