I am a bad person because I finally said no

I have a long time friend, let's call him Angel (because that's his name), who alternates between saving my ass and completely pissing me off on a regular basis. He is COMPLETELY unreliable, always promising to do something and then never delivering. He borrows things and never brings them back, or else brings them back after months of me asking for it, broken or otherwise messed up. To date he's borrowed a water heater, a sprinkler, some trailer tie downs, two baby goat blankets, a large dog carrier, a tri folding ladder, and a bunch of other crap I've long since forgotten about. To date, I've gotten the dog carrier and ladder back, and the ladder was covered in acoustical ceiling spray and green paint, and the base was broken. I gave him money to buy pasture seed with so we could partner on some hay, never got the seed OR grew the hay. I bought firewood off of him, only to have him dump a bunch of 6 ft long branches in my driveway and promise to come back later to cut and stack it. Never did. When I ask him, when are you going to do that thing you said you'd do, the answer is always the same. "I'll do it when I have time."

Here's a public service announcement. You have to MAKE time to get things done. Time will never just fall into your lap, and even if it did, something else would come along and take it.

Here's another public service announcement. Don't tell me you will do something on a specific date if what you really mean is, you will do it when that magical free time appears and you have nothing else more entertaining to do while it lasts.

On the good side, when I'm in a total bind because no one else is answering the phone, I can get him to water sheep or catch them if they've escaped. I've borrowed car dollies and trailers from him and his family (and brought them back promptly and with new tires on them I might add). They've jump started my truck and pulled it out of a mudhole a time or two, and gave me a decent discount on some fence work they did for me. I give them free sheep and goats for bar-b-q and breeding. It evens out.

I put him in the catagory of Person I Like, But Don't Count On. I have a lot of friends like that. They're not bad friends, just not ones I like to rely on in a pinch, or bend over backwards for. Great for hanging out with over the grill though.

Over a month ago I told him I was selling my truck. He asked how much, I said 2500 (a full 2250 under book), he said "Oh", and I took that to mean "Oh, I'm not paying that much" because typically he doesn't pay much for anything. Thinking he was not interested, I listed it for sale on Craigslist and Thrifty Nickel. Around the first of Feb, he texts me out of the blue, asking again how much. I tell him, 2500. He wants to know what sort of "deal" I will make him, seeing as how we're friends. That kind of ticked me off. I told him, 2500 cash for a truck that lists at 4750 is a pretty good deal in my book. No no, he wants to know about me letting him pay it off.

I don't know about most people, but I am not a bank. I am not in the business of making car loans. Furthermore, the fastest way to ruin ANY friendship is by letting money come into the mix. Given I already knew how this particular friend was about doing things he said he would do, I was not inclined to let him pay the truck out, especially when you figure I need the money to pay for the wedding.

The next morning my boyfriend texts me to tell me he sold the truck, for 3000, to a guy at work. I figure Angel would understand that 3000 cash makes a lot more sense than 2500 in drug out payments, so I text him and tell him I got a cash offer that morning.

He loses his mind. I am promptly treated to almost 2 hours of guilt tripping text messages, the jist of them being I care more for money than my friends, he thought I was a better person than this but clearly I'm not, I don't appreciate his friendship, I don't care about all the stuff he's done for me over the years. I point out that he is completely unreliable and never does what he says he will, which he tries in vain to argue with his "I'll do it when I get time" logic. At this point he retreats to the "I thought I knew who you were" argument. Tells me to "have a nice life". Oh the drama. It was like arguing with a woman, constantly trying to make me feel bad so that I'll forget why I said no in the first place. I got fed up and told him that he was being childish, and the first time I tell him no he goes off on me, and if he wanted to think I was a bad person, so be it.

Well, after much more whining and bitching, I finally cave in. I told him, 2500 cash by the end of the month, and the truck stays with me. Oh, suddenly we go from I'm a money hungry a-hole to love ya baby. Uh huh.

He's been Johnny on the Spot ever since. Moved a round bale for me without my asking, which was nice. But I've yet to hear anything about any money for the truck. I suspect he will show up at the end of the month with half the money, and want more time. This time, however, I'm going to say no for good. I turned down a cash offer for more money to give him a chance, I won't do it again.

His dad gave me a go to hell look the other day when I drove by. Still wondering WTF that was about.

No I did not fall in

Been a while since I fooled with this. I don't know why I start blogs. First of all, who really gives a crap what I have to blather on about. Secondly, updating a blog is about as attention holding as painting my house, and if you'd seen how many unfinished colors have been applied to my house, you'd understand.

SO, new events unfold. As of Christmas eve I am officially engaged. Imagine that! I had pretty much chalked myself up to a long solitary life spent at the computer eating Triscuits and EZ Cheese with no one but my dogs to complain about the crumbs in the keyboard. I know, I exaggerate. As if dogs complain about crumbs.

Now I'm in wedding planning mode, and OMG these things can rack up a tab. I set up an unused domain in the Google advertising program to help with the expenses, so feel free to head over to www.texas-hunting-dogs.com and visit some of the businesses that are advertised there. I'm hoping between now and Sept 12, that site will make enough to at least pay for all the songs I'm downloading on iTunes to play during the afterparty... er, I mean reception.

Anyway the wedding/reception will be held on a boat out on the lake, how totally cool is that? No stuffy church wedding, no uncomfortable monkey suits, no endless holding in of the breath. Sunshine, a breeze, and unlimited pina coladas. My kind of wedding. And did I mention to wander over to www.texas-hunting-dogs.com and visit the various businesses on there to help fund those pina coladas? :D

I am heading to a sale late March to unload a bunch of the rams to help pay for this, hopefully the market will be good. Sadly I don't have much to take, mostly the dregs, although there's some really nice Dall rams in the bunch. Wish they were a year older though.

WTF McCain's Corky Impersonations

Granted I am no McCain fan but even his most die hard followers have to do a WTF at his apparent penchant for sticking his tongue out. I've seen less tongue hanging on a Saint Bernard after a hard run.






Looking at these pictures, I am suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to find a photo of the latest Palin offspring....





I just want someone in office who will say, look we've got to focus on ourselves for a while. Let's be like Sweden. Let's mind our own fucking business and clean up our own mess here at home, rather than get our knickers in a twist all over the damn globe. Iran? Iraq? North Korea? Fuck 'em. Let those living next to them worry about them for a while. We have our own mess here on the homefront. We got illegals streaming in like it's happy hour at IHop, we got meth on every damn corner, people are losing their jobs right and left while big execs get 45 million dollar severance packages, our kids can't string a fucking paragraph together and think handing out blowjobs on the school bus at 14 is acceptable. No one can afford insurance and no one cares if we get sick, unless of course we've got 4 kids by 3 guys and no job, and that's not fucking right. I want someone who can say, I don't care if you own a gun for self defense or choose not to have a child you know you won't take care of anyway. Someone who can say, let's treat each other like adults for a change, instead of a bunch of homeroom mommies trying to make everyone else on the playground mind us. And preferably, I want someone who can say it without his tongue slapping him on the collarbone.

Dow Panic Will Make Me Rich

Week after week, the stock market is all over the chart. Americans who are only familiar with getting rich in the short term have lost their minds and sold off tons of stock thinking they'll avert a personal financial disaster. I say, keep selling fools. Your panic is causing stocks to drop to lows I've not seen in years, and while you're screaming SELL SELL SELL, I'm burning up the keyboard buying shares for half what they traded for this time last year. Color me Kennedy, cashing in during a crisis, but I prefer to be able to afford to dine on the better quality cat food in my old age, vs that mouse in a can crap, and the way my portfolio is swelling it's looking like Fancy Feast may be on the menu.

I'm holding out buying on one particular energy company, hoping it will drop just a *little* bit lower than it's current $11 a share. It was at $44 before all this panic at the disco ensued, so I suppose I should not be greedy and just snatch it up now. The Asian markets are taking a tumble as well, so I've quadrupled my stock in a Hong Kong based semiconductor manufacturer for what my original handful of stocks cost me back in the spring. I was going to buy into Game Stop, after their stocks dropped from $44 to $21 but I waited too long and they rebounded to $32. I bet they'll drop again though, and that stock should be trading around $66, so it's well worth the price.