Catching Up...
As has been the case all too often lately, I've simply been so busy that I keep forgetting to update my journal. A big part of the problem is that I simply don't really have time when I'm at the shop, and at home my poor little P-III laptop can just barely handle the deluge of data from the modern web-pages. I haven't turned on my bigger, but only slightly newer P4 desktop machine in months. :/ The connection out here on the farm is through Xplornet Satellite, and they're piggy-backing off of HughesNet. It's a bit of a kludge, but it's considerably faster than dial-up, and it doesn't tie up the phonelines; Compared to the high-speed ADSL connections in town though, it's pretty sucky... :P So that's my excuse: Lack of time, low-powered computer, and a slow connection. Still, I will keep trying to update this thing more regularly.
Many thanks to corelog and lil'dobe for finding a working verion of the LJ-Archive program! Now I've got my journal backed up, so I'm not quite as nervous as I was. Still hope that this place will be around for a good long while yet, but it's sad to see so many friends leaving; Some have left outright, slamming the door behind them, but most have just quietly faded away, no longer posting. :/
The biggest problem with not updating regularly is trying to remember everything that happened that was noteworthy since the last update. Let's see what I can recall:
I know that there's a lot more, but at nearly 11:30 at night, this is what I can remember most clearly. Tomorrow I have to go with Trixstir to Swift Current; Have to take Elizabeth in for a check-up, pick up some supplies for the bowling alley, and drop off a machine (mini-tiller) that I repaired for Peavey Mart. Of course, tomorrow is also the federal election for the USA, so I'd like to be home so I can watch the news and see what happens. I know who I'd be voting for if I were an American...
Many thanks to corelog and lil'dobe for finding a working verion of the LJ-Archive program! Now I've got my journal backed up, so I'm not quite as nervous as I was. Still hope that this place will be around for a good long while yet, but it's sad to see so many friends leaving; Some have left outright, slamming the door behind them, but most have just quietly faded away, no longer posting. :/
The biggest problem with not updating regularly is trying to remember everything that happened that was noteworthy since the last update. Let's see what I can recall:
- The Kidling has a new job; There's a Subway restaurant opening in town later this month (after much delay) and he secured himself an after-school job there. Here's hoping it works out for him, and hopefully it will also get him to take better care of his personal hygiene!
- Got the winter tires put on Trixstir's van. Must remember to make a note of the mileage in the log-book! We bought a set of winter rims for the tires when we got them, so swapping the tires from Winter to All-Season and back again is fairly easy (though it takes about an hour to do all four.) We keep track of where each time came off, so it's easy to rotate them properly.
- Finally got PoohBear's hooves trimmed. The one blessing about the damp weather all last week was that it softened up his hooves and made them a lot easier to trim! Hard, dry hooves are like trying to carve rocks!
- Spent Saturday tidying up the shop, since no customers were calling. At least, not until one hour before closing when a repeat customer called. This was the golf-course in Eastend, and it's important to keep a good relationship with a potentially large customer like that. They needed an engine fixed ASAP, since the weather was due to return to general nastiness on Tuesday, so they had a very limited window of opportunity to work with it. I went to look at it, and we decided it would be better to re-power with a new engine, rather than trying to repair the 33-year-old engine they had.
- Got the new engine installed down at the golf-course. Kinda screwed myself on the price, since I convinced them to use the expensive Opti-4 oil that would double the warranty, but forgot about their budget limit. So I had to trim the price back on the engine and the oil to bring it in on budget. They said $500, and I hope that they meant before taxes, because with tax the total is $550, and I really can't trim it any lower.
- A long-delinquint customer finally paid his bill - more than three months late! He griped and whined about having to pay interest charges (2% per month, compounding) on the bill, saying he had been to the shop three times and I was never there. Bullshit. The one time he called and promised to come in, I sat in the shop all day waiting for him and he never showed. I had phoned and mailed him invoices and statements; All he had to do (since he was paying by cheque anyway) was to put the cheque in an envelope and mail it. The interest charges? About $8, and some change. He is a repeat customer, and this is the first time I've had a problem with him, but other businesses in town have had bad dealings with him in the past. That cheque had better clear...
- Elizabeth is finally sleeping more, so both Trixstir and I are getting more sleep. It's still not a completely clear night, but it's a vast improvement over a month ago.
I know that there's a lot more, but at nearly 11:30 at night, this is what I can remember most clearly. Tomorrow I have to go with Trixstir to Swift Current; Have to take Elizabeth in for a check-up, pick up some supplies for the bowling alley, and drop off a machine (mini-tiller) that I repaired for Peavey Mart. Of course, tomorrow is also the federal election for the USA, so I'd like to be home so I can watch the news and see what happens. I know who I'd be voting for if I were an American...