Author: Gary Kessler

Well, it’s Friday. Time to post since it’s been a while since my last post. Today is 9 years since my Dad passed. I miss him terribly. I miss my Mom and my brother too. It’s hard being away from my kids and grandkids. I miss them all. Even though we didn’t see them much while we lived in Seattle, it was always good for me when we did see them. And we had the option of planning something, which we never did often. If I had advice, I’d say stay close to your family, it brings satisfaction and keeps your mental health positive. Okay, enough wallowing.

Let’s see, the last couple of weeks have been busy. It seems like we have a weekend free and it gets swallowed up. So let’s start with the house. Electrical is on its way to being done, hopefully today. We will not lack for outlets, lights or switches!!! Our stucco guy started work today on the house. I expect to have the house wrapped over the next week. We got the Kiva fireplace installed yesterday. Turns out that the design our architect used for the chimney isn’t to code. The spark arrester at the end of the chimney needs to be either out in the open or if it’s enclosed, then the enclosure needs to be metal. Soooo, that means we need to remove the wood enclosure and fabricate a metal version. Here’s picture. The red circle is the part that needs replacing.

So, we’re working on finding a fabrication shop that can provide a chimney cap that replicates the style. Frankly, a chimney cap would be better than the original approach. A chimney cap will provide rain protection and keep the critters out of the chimney space. Guaranteed that a bird would nest up there. Still nothing from Pella about the windows. Wendy is livid and so am I. We’re close to having the windows ripped out and replaced by Anderson or something else that is better. The downside is that would set the schedule back 6 weeks. And the front door is a debacle. Our contractor isn’t comfortable with how it goes together or that it will have any structural integrity. Our architect wants to try it and see how it goes. I’m not keen on that approach as I don’t want any more digging into the SIP panels to make fixes for crappy manufacturing.

Alright enough with the house for now. Hoping to get electrical rough in inspection done next week, Pella repairs done and doors installed. The sliders should be delivered next week. We should also finalize the cabinets next week. My last lighting quote was 20k, most of it was lighted medicine cabinets for the 3/4 and master bathrooms. With the lack of space, we needed the lighted mirrors and medicine cabinets – especially in the 3/4 bath.

So, we took my brother-in-law to the hospital last Sunday. His oxygen level was at 62%. The emergency room doctor told him that if he had waited, he would have passed out and died. Fortunately, they got him on oxygen and are working on getting the excess water out of his legs and lungs. He as congestive heart failure due to his weight. His hospital doctor was very straight forward with him. Told him that if he doesn’t take this seriously and make changes, he was going to send him home and free up bed space because why waste it on someone who isn’t interested in helping themselves. I think that shook my brother-in-law up, a lot. He’s working on getting his O2 levels up so he can start walking with us. Our goal is to take the side-by-sides to Red River at the end of next month. Hoping that works out. This is why we moved here – to take care of Wendy’s family now.

It’s been hot here even though monsoon season cools off in the evening. Makes it difficult for me to get much done during the day as I get too hot. Freaking aging sucks from the standpoint of being active. I have to get stuff done in the morning or evening. Things will cool off in September. I’m going to try and get our well water analyzed on Monday just so I know what’s in the water and if I need to filter it. We’ve been drinking it with a charcoal filter since we arrived here, and the water tastes good. More worried about chemicals that you can taste, like arsenic.

I’ve been spending the last couple of weeks doing project management and sourcing for the house. Making decisions about where outlets go, thermostats for the heated flooring and a million other things. Work seems to be getting in the way and I’m seriously contemplating just retiring. I need to get the house built and occupied before I do that. I’m so underutilized at work and have so little responsibility now. If I was challenged or had a position that used my skills where I could see line of sight to results, it’d be awesome. But for now, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until they don’t want me anymore. Once I retire completely, I’m going to volunteer more, take advantage of my time and golf, read more and learn Spanish (so I can understand what the workers are talking about!) and finally get my Part 107 drone license so I can do gig drone work. I’ll spend more time in the workshop, build out my office in there and do more wood working. There will be a lot of work to do around the property too. Fencing, mowing and building out the landscaping. I don’t think I’ll lack for things to do. I’m actually looking forward to a change of pace. I think it’ll be really good for my mental and physical health. We’ve started trying to attend a local church on Sundays to build more community and a better mental attitude. With the state of our society today, church helps overcome all the negativity and polarization. It provides a better framework for living.

Well, that’s probably enough for today, Friday. Next week will be a heart test for my cardiologist. Hoping that goes well. I’ll post next Friday and summarize house progress, progress toward starting to build a new life here and anything else that might be interesting.

Take care and enjoy the weekend.

-Gary

Sometimes after a trying day it’s just humbling to go stand in the pasture and watch the goats nibble on the ground cover.

It’s been a bit since I posted last. As expected the house building is slowing down from a visible perspective. We’re in the rough-in stage now. We’ve got all the plumbing and HVAC rough-in work done, now for the electrical. This is the most difficult as it’s all about where outlets go, switches go, which switch controls what lights, how many switches control the same lights, lights in the bathroom, so on and so on. Lots of small details that need attention.

An example. We had floodlights on the exterior of the house that were motion activated. After getting the house built and all the intrusions that have been made to the SIP panels, I decided to NOT put in anymore lights on the exterior of the house that would require cutting into the insulation and putting in a lighting can. Instead, we deleted all the exterior cans and floods from the plan and put in two outlets for low voltage lighting to replace the floods. We originally had sconces for hallway lighting, we removed all of those and went with Brio LED cans instead. There have been so many lighting changes, especially after visiting the lighting store, that we finally scrapped the original plan and started over. It’s been an experience trying to get all the lighting right. Once it’s done, you really can’t change it. Locating the outlets for the built-in appliances is a challenge as you have to coordinate with the cabinet maker to make sure everything lines up. It’s crazy.

Last post I believe I talked about the mess Pella made with the windows. Well, we have a resolution but it’s going to set us back at least two months on the build. Thank you, Pella, for screwing up everything. I will NEVER use Pella again for windows. They have TERRIBLE manufacturing and customer service. Not like I’m every going to build another house….. Here’s the plan, Pella is sending a crew out to inventory the windows, fix what they can and replace what they can’t fix. Problem is the crew won’t start until the 29th of July. So, house wrap, stucco and all the exterior stuff that needs to be done is delayed a couple of months until the windows and doors are installed. And that means the framers will have to reframe the windows and make a mess of the SIP. We’re so pissed off about this. I’m trying to be level-headed about this, but it’s hard. We’ll see what the end resolution is for us.

Otherwise, things are moving along. The electrician is about 2-3 days away from finishing the rough-in work for the electrical. Monday all the soffit framing will be finished and the doors installed. We’re trying to move and not be too affected by the Pella screwups.

On a different note, Wendy is interviewing for jobs. Her current job is a mess, and the owner has to micromanage people. Typical startup owner whose business has grown, and he isn’t capable of letting go or trusting people to run their departments. His business will never grow beyond where it’s at now. He’s a genius at organic formulas and creating supplements, but terrible at running the business. He’ll spend a dollar to save a dime, then change his mind again. And his staff thrives on chaos and generates chaos just for the sake of excitement. We’re hoping that she hears something positive end of this week or next.

It’s been a crazy week. Wendy’s brother called us on Sunday with low blood oxygen level (60) which is fatal if left unattended. We took him to the hospital, and they’ve been treating him. He has congestive heart failure happening because of his weight. 436lbs and he’s 5’10”. His cardiologist has been really straight forward with the impact of his weight on his health. In the past, he’s been really depressed which has contributed to his issues. He’s finally coming out and starting to be more socially connected. We’re hoping this doctor’s tough message to him that if he doesn’t course correct, he’s a dead man, will make an impact. I think it’s making an impact, but time will tell. Hopefully, they let him out on Friday after cleansing all the CO2 and excess blood from his lungs and water in his legs. It isn’t good. He’s on oxygen now, so we’ll see how things play out today and tomorrow. Scary, scary stuff.

Well, that’s enough craziness for today. I’ll close out now and blog more later once things settle down and move forward on the house.

Take care and have a good weekend.

Time for another post as it’s been a while since the last one. As you can see, things have slowed down on the house. We’ve managed to get all the rough-in plumbing done, HVAC rough-in’s done, and all the vents finished. The roofers came on the 4th and sealed up all the penetrations so there is no leaking during the monsoon rains.

Our HVAC guys will need to move one vent as it’s too close to a Canale. That should happen this week. Yesterday our electrician started, so there was a lot of discussion about where switches are placed, how to power the house, running ethernet cable and small changes. We’re still discussing about fireplaces in the living room. Wendy wants a wall-hung fireplace, and I don’t want one at all. I’d rather use the space for furniture or entertainment center as this house has limited wall space. I can’t see the point of having a fake fireplace in the living room, especially since we have a Kiva fireplace on the patio. I’ll have the electrician wire in an outlet, and we can decide later.

We got all our windows and doors yesterday. Now our framing crew gets to install them today and tomorrow in 100-degree heat. Totally sucks. As we’re in monsoon season, it’ll be hot for the next few days and then storms move back in on Saturday with rain (which we need). The framing crew needs to do some more soffits down the long hall and a step soffit on the living room outside wall to cover an HVAC setup. I should have eliminated the beams on each wall of the great room which would have made things easier. And we have a Canale that drains over the door to the garage, so we need to move that at some point or figure out a way to redirect the water. 90% of the time it won’t be a problem, but when it rains during the summer, it will be annoying.

Saturday we have the cabinet lady coming to do final measurements for the cabinets. And I’ll order all the bathroom trim for the 1/2 bath from her. And finally, we have a meeting with our light fixture person on Thursday at noon to pick through light fixtures, switches and outlets. We still need to find a fireplace option for the living room.

Generally, things for the house have been pretty mild and not a lot of drama. Most of the drama will be figuring out how to fund the final costs once the funds from the house sale run out. The payment for the windows and doors will pretty much drain things, but we do have funds to finish. It’ll be a question of taking out a small loan or just paying for it out of savings. All about tax advantages.

On a different note, we are slowly getting settled in the community. Los Lunas isn’t a bustling city like Albuquerque where there is most everything available. We are in a rural area, so there is limited availability for shopping, doctors and vets. We did go to church this last Sunday and I really enjoyed it. Nice people, small congregation and low key. I’d like to figure out a way to make that a weekly thing and still have breakfast with my brother-in-law. I think it would be good for my mental health and attitude to keep going to church. I’ll talk to Wendy and my brother-in-law about moving breakfast to Saturday or early Sunday.

Today will be too hot to do much in the day. Need to get stuff done in the morning or evening. During the day it’s super-hot and humid during the monsoon season. I know it’s high desert, but 25% – 40% humidity here is killer. Today will just be work stuff and killing the darn fly’s. I’ll need to chat with our electrician to talk about the fireplace in the living room and light switches and outlets.

Wendy is looking to upgrade her job now that she’s been here a while. Her current company is a revolving door as the owner can’t let people he hires do their job. He and his “circle” micromanage everything. The issue here is that jobs as so “gate kept” that you have to be related to someone or know someone to get the good jobs. She’s been turned down for several jobs where she is the best qualified candidate but didn’t have the right last name (Hispanic) or knew someone. Albuquerque Public Schools is the worst as they actually rewrote a job that was exactly like her job in Washington for Lake Washington School District because she was better than the candidate APS wanted to promote. This place will never grow because they suffocate innovation and reject new thinking and the people who bring that to the table. New Mexico is very ladened in Hispanic and Indian thinking. Arizona, next door, is growing leaps and bounds because they welcome innovation, new thinking and the people who bring that. New Mexico rejects that and continues to embrace legacy thinking and anti-growth. It’ll always be poor but rich with “Heritage” which is another way to say “we don’t want progress”.

Okay, enough soapbox. I need to get ready for the day. Lots to do.

Take care everyone.

Last day of June, Wow. It’s gone so fast. House is making progress, just not visible externally. Plumbing is done and inspection is scheduled for this week. Hopefully, HVAC will start today and electrical will start this week. Once we have all that done, then the framers will come back and build out the soffits and move a couple of walls 3/4″ away from the toilets. We have a couple of other modifications that need to happen with a pony wall in the primary bathroom. After the HVAC is done, and all the penetrations are done in the roof (we have a boat load), the roofers will come back and seal them up to make them waterproof.

Once we’re done with the all the wires, plumbing and HVAC we can start with the wallboard inside. We’ve picked out carpet, flooring and tile for everything. We’re still fine tuning the cabinets, but we have the kitchen appliances purchased and on order. Hoping to get the cabinets ordered second week of July. Then we have to pick out paint, cabinet knobs and stuff. We still haven’t done lightening fixtures but hoping to do that next weekend. This is definitely tiring. Stucco will be the last thing. Still waiting on windows and doors from Pella. They are terrible at delivering.

Yesterday it was 98 degrees here. Hot with humidity as the monsoons bring afternoon rain which propagates clouds late afternoon. I took our camping chairs to the back patio of the house sat out while watching Wendy’s cousin’s goats in our pasture. Fun. Drove the dogs nuts. Discovered Juni can’t leave the lizards alone. She’s so curious and it drives the lizards crazy. I do need to get after the ants, so I’ll be going to the store to get some ant bait and kill those annoying insects. Ants and flys, two insects that deserve to not be on this planet. I’m sure there are others, but those two. And one of the big ants actually bit me yesterday, which hurt like heck. They are going to die.

Today is Monday, so it’s laundry day – clothes, towels and sheets. I’ll spend all day doing the laundry, so it’s a wasted day. I was hoping to take out the Can-Am and see if I liked the new windshield. Rick and Wendy tell me that it’ll be awful on a group ride, which it probably will be. Too dusty and constantly cleaning it.

Well, it’s time to get ready for the day. Need to clean up, feed the dogs and generally get ready for laundry, store run and trying to get stuff done before it gets too hot today. Only in the upper 80’s today but the humidity will be high. More thunderstorms and rain this afternoon. Fun…. Take care. More in a few days.

It’s been 10 days since I last posted. A lot has happened and not a lot has happened. Confused? Me too….

Let’s take things by order of importance. The house, things have slowed down from a visual standpoint. The framing is done, now for the work that doesn’t show a lot of progress externally. The roofers have finished the first pass on the roof. Parapets and Canales are done, so the house is water-proofed from rain coming in.

The last two weeks have been slow as the contractors were wrapping up other projects and we’re waiting for parts. Today starts the plumbing rough-ins for the in-wall fixtures such as faucets, showers. We’re also starting the electrical and HVAC this week. If things go as planned, the next three days will be running plumbing, electrical and HVAC lines inside the house. As we’re expecting monsoon rains for the next three days, I’m hoping to avoid penetrations in the roof until Wednesday, when the rain lets up and the roofer can get back to seal the pipes and lines. That will keep the water out of the roof and house.

We should be seeing windows in the next week. The doors aren’t scheduled until late July, which is fine. Pella is behind. We’re finishing up cabinet designs and working on finding flooring, tile and all the stuff that takes forever to decide upon. We have another appointment for tile in showers, hardwood floor and carpet. I’d love it if someone just made those decisions for me. I have enough to worry about with all the house things that need to happen and cash flow.

I’m thinking we’ll get a small loan to complete the house and then pay it off over the next two years or so. I’m really trying to keep the debt down.

Other stuff. So much going on with the house, it’s hard to think about anything else. Still need to work driveway, landscaping, pest control, keeping the RV in good shape…

Our youngest is officially a Forest Service Firefighter. He’s deployed on the French Canyon Wildfire and will be on a break in a couple of days for R&R, then redeployed. He’s loving it for some crazy reason. It’s been in the 100 degrees with 20-50 mph winds, so the fire is dangerous and keeps jumping over them. We’re following it pretty closely. He checks in every evening, so that helps with the anxiety. And there’s an arsonist loose in Los Lunas that’s been setting fires in the Bosque preserve. Had a huge one yesterday that’s still being contained. Burned homes and lots of property. They need to catch the idiots and put them away forever. I’m starting to be a proponent for giving the mentally disturbed a frontal lobotomy to make the docile and then we can put them to work doing jobs keeping our cities clean maintained. Yeah, I know, it’s not cool, but it would keep the crime down, give the mentally disturbed and ill work and a sense of belonging and keeps our infrastructure better maintained. Our society does a lousy job of helping the mentally disturbed and disadvantaged. Needs to change, but it will cost a ton to make the change. So sad.

I need to do a better job of checking in with my other kids. I’ve been talking to our daughter and oldest. Things are normal there with them focusing on their jobs, kids and living their lives. I am worried about my oldest and his family. Microsoft is laying of a lot of people and they both work there. Hopefully, nothing happens, and they stay employed, but it’s always nerve racking.

I’ve been living in this trailer since February and haven’t really done much to create a friend group or integrate into the community. It’s hard as there’s no room to enjoy get any of the toys out. And it is now summer here, so the temps are in the triple digits, which makes it difficult to get out in the afternoons or do anything physical. It’s mornings only to get outside things done. I get chores done in the morning, then just sit in the trailer until it cools off. I really need to get more engaged during the day and more mental stimulation as it is wearing on me. Even my vocal cords are atrophying as I don’t talk during the day, so they aren’t used. I’m getting old persons voice and I HATE IT.

Since it’s Monday, today is laundry. I’ll do my exercises (such as they are in the limited space), get laundry going and get some yardwork done. I want to get the rest of the pasture grass seed planted so the rain helps germinate the seeds. It’ll help keep the dust down. And I need to get the tractor back to my father-in-law. I’ve been trying to do that for the last 3 weeks by the weather has been ridiculously hot and I’m not liking working in it.

Well, enough whining today. I need to get going and get moving before the heat sets in and the thunderstorms and rain start. It’s clear and beautiful right now, but time slips away so it’ll be afternoon before I’m organized.

Take care, have a good day.

Welcome to Friday the 13th! It’s been about a week since I last blogged about our life in New Mexico. Let’s start with the house build.

Not much has happened since the roofers finished. Today the roofers are coming back to finish the parapets, so the house is completely waterproof. Plumbers are running late, so hopefully they start on Monday. The painters were here yesterday to estimate the paint work. On Wednesday I have a walk-thru with the electrician to get the work started on wiring the house, so that will be important. Our electrical plan has way too many lights, especially with all the windows. Our windows should arrive in the next couple of weeks. The doors are delayed until August. Pella is a mess. They make good product but are really having difficulty getting their act together around production and delivery. We’re meeting with the cabinet lady tomorrow to pick cabinets and get our cabinet plan moving. I’ve got all the plumbing fixtures picked out, so those are getting ordered. Still need to get stucco color finalized. Garage doors are picked out. We’re still on schedule for Thanksgiving occupancy. We need to get framing inspections done, then plumbing. Our HVAC is ordered and in progress.

Life stuff. Worked on our Can-Am yesterday and today. I’m installing an Audio system for Wendy. It’s actually a pain as the speakers are huge and it’s hard to find space in the cramped cabin. I should have mounted the speakers in the dash but that is a pain to take apart all the body panels. I did get the power to the GPS navigation system and mounting brackets done. Today will be wiring up the speakers and amplifier then paring everything to make sure it works. I need to wash the truck today also. It’s supposed to be 95 degrees moving to 100 on Sunday. Getting hot for monsoon season.

Monsoon season starts next week. Hopefully they will get the house wrapped and siding tightened up. I need to get the tractor up on the pad and level out the dirt piles. I’ll move some of the extra dirt over to the driveway and make it a bit less steep. Then I’ll return the tractor to my father-in-law. I wish I had my own tractor, but I really don’t need one. I have to talk to my plumber about building out a lean-to on the side of the workshop so I can park the vehicles under it for protection from rain and sun. He’s super capable.

I’ve noticed that time seems to be getting away from me. As I get older, I need to be more focused on tasks at hand or things take forever to get done. Days are so compressed that it’s late afternoon before I realize it. Today the task list is getting wire for the Can-Am, finishing the Can-Am, calling our appliance rep, washing the truck and if there is time, working the dirt on the driveway.

Last night, my wonderful wife took me to a live music concert with her work friends at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens. Great venue and good music. Local artist that does blues with Afro punk undertones. Really nice and good music. Fun evening and beautiful weather. I really needed that break to sorta recharge and get my head reoriented.

Well enough for now. I need to get going. We’re going to have to go shopping as our food supply is out. Maybe I should start eating dog food!?!?! Just kidding – we’ve been so busy there’s not a lot of time for shopping. Sunday we’ll hit Whole Foods and Sprouts. We’ll see if the food distribution company is up and running after the hackers hit it. We need a way to eliminate those people – they are useless and a parasite on society. There’s no need for them and not use for their crap. Sorry, just a rant.

Have a great day and enjoy Friday!!

House stuff is slowing down a bit. I tested the cars in the garage to make sure the truck fit. They all fit, but I should have added about a 1′ in each direction. The truck takes up most of the length of the garage, making it difficult to add cabinets and safes. A little late now. Roofers were working over the weekend to add membrane and start the work on getting the roof ready. Still more work to do, but at least most of the leaks will stop. More monsoon storms later today, so hopefully the roof will stop most of the rain from getting inside of the house and keep it dry.

Over the weekend we made a poor attempt at trying to make our trailer life more palatable. We added some pots and plants to the trailer space. Now we look like we live in a trailer park but can’t afford to make the space liveable.

If you look carefully, the pot at the front corner of the trailer has an interesting profile. Courtesy of my wife, she couldn’t resist. We added a ton of lemon grass and plants the discourage flys and mosquitos. We’ll see how they work over-time. We are going to add more lemon grass as it discourages Flys which are the main pest. We’ll plant a bunch along the south fence to keep the Flys in the pasture next door. I added some red and orange flowers to the mix to attract the hummingbirds, which we have quite a few of them.

This week is doctors’ appointments and getting medications right. I never suspected in my younger days that as I got older, I’d be dealing with all these drugs. It’s such a drag. Frankly the diabetes is a silent killer as it causes all sorts of problems with your heart. I did find a supplement that shows clinical results that helps repair hardening of the arteries, which is one of my major heart issues. The results show a 46% improvement in blood flow in 6 weeks for Type 2 diabetic patients that take this supplement. I have some coming today, so I’ll start it. I have a Transthoracic Electrocardiogram test at the end of July to check blood flow through my stent. This test should show if the supplement helps with this issue and starts repair of the arteries.

I started using the 24/7 glucose monitors that go into your arm last week. The first one stopped working after 5 days. The company is sending me a new one. I actually like them as I can monitor my glucose levels. It keeps me motivated to keep the glucose in range. It also helps me see the effect of the foods I eat on my blood sugars. Since Express Scripts screwed up my Ozempic delivery, I need to monitor my glucose carefully until my new delivery arrives. I’ll have Wendy put on the new patch tonight. I HATE poking myself. I really need to get over this issue, but for now Wendy is a good sport. I can’t imagine my life without her.

Okay, enough about me crap. Off-road stuff. The Can-Am is becoming a way of life. Love driving it. Finally got a front light bar on the bumper. I need to get a clear light guard for it. I’m debating about putting in windshields. I have a half-windshield but it’s terrible for mud and rocks, so thinking a full windshield for the front and one for the back will help with crap in the cabin. They are expensive though. I’m not keeping track of the cost of add-ons as I don’t want to know…. I’m sure it’s in the 5k range though. I would like to add the windshields, some tunes and eventually 4-point harnesses. Wendy wants to add side screens too, which is a good idea. I’m adding a Garmin Track 2 to document all the trails for us so we can recreate some of our routes. We’re at 250 miles, so I’m getting close to an oil change. I need to get some air filters too as it’s so dusty. I just need the weather to be a bit cooler. Hard to work on the vehicle when it’s 95+.

Well, enough for now. Gotta move the cars outta the garage so the works can access the house.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful week.

Today the framers are finishing up and cleaning up the house. The excitement of watching the walls go up, interior framing and roof structure being built will slow down. Now it’s about adding the roof membrane, plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Then wallboard and finishing work. My little drones are packed, so I’ll have to document the finish work manually. Below is a posted fly around of the house. It starts at the garage, then goes to the entrance, living spaces, back patio, bedrooms and finishes at the garage. It’s so different seeing the house built after seeing it on paper for 2 years. We’re still waiting on windows and doors. Pella is taking a long time to get this done and no one is happy about it.

We’re starting into monsoon season this month and it appears to be arriving early this year. I was hoping that it would delay until after we had roofing on the house, but no it’s been raining the last two days. The inside of the house is wet with some puddles which is concerning but nothing to be totally worried about. We’re scheduled for dry weather for the next week, so hoping the roofers start Monday. Once the membrane is on the roof, then the inside will stay pretty dry.

This weekend will be devoted to rearranging the workshop storage, so it makes some sense and is easier to find things. We need to clean the dust off the furniture and unpack some things that we need. We bought some plants to put in pots around the 5th wheel to help with fly prevention. Great idea, just need to FIND the pots. We’ll get the lemon grass and lavender planted and see if that helps with bug repellant. At least it’ll make the 5th wheel look less sterile.

On a different note, the culture and job market here are really different. The joke is that if you don’t have a Hispanic last name, forget about applying for a job. It’s actually true. New Mexico is an example of reverse DEI and racist hiring practices. It’s rampant. Wendy applied for a Director of Purchasing position at Albuquerque Public Schools. The job description fit her perfectly and she had tons of experience with recommendations from 3 superintendents. She applied online. Three days later APS pulled the job, rewrote the requirements so she was missing one skill set and reposted. She didn’t even get a call or an interview for the position. Well qualified, sterling recommendations and not a peep from APS. From an observer’s perspective that’s clearly discrimination using normal hiring procedures to change the game in the middle of the process. But this practice is typical here. Apply for a job and if your name is European or Caucasian forget about getting a phone screen or interview – even if you’re perfectly qualified. DEI is a joke in this country. It’s not about the best qualified candidate anymore, it’s about your last name or skin color. It’s no wonder the US is going downhill in innovation, manufacturing and education. It’s not about people who can make a difference, it’s about people who can fit in and have the same look and feel as the existing workforce. Change is constant, it’s a good thing and forces adaption or extermination – life and death of a company or society.

Humans are intrinsically programmed to be comfortable around other who like them – homogenous tribes. To survive, companies must embrace change and differences and have mechanisms to ensure evolution happens in a transparent and consistent manner that creates superior results. Transparency is the way to gain trust and concurrence to support the decision. Consistency creates recognition of the process for evolution and change and builds trust. Simple yet difficult because of all the human fragilities that are part of our existence. Greed, friendship, nepotism, favoritism and any other “isms”. All met to derail how humans evolve.

Enough of the preaching/ranting. I just wanted to vent on how ridiculous the culture is here and other places I’ve lived. It’s everywhere in world unfortunately. Something you have to learn to live with, but you don’t have to accept it.

On the brighter side, today is about Itron work. I will finish up the got-to-market stuff today. I’m really getting to the point where I think I should just retire as the work I’m doing isn’t engaging or fun. It has no merit and doesn’t affect the success of Itron. I have more fun working on tractor and around the property. I do need to start engaging in with the Gun Club and volunteering. I’m waiting for elections as I volunteered to help. I think once the house is built and we’re living in it; it’ll be easier to get out and about without having to worry about the dogs.

My youngest, Jaret, has decided to register and become a citizen of Utah. He’s loving his job as a firefighter and wants to establish himself in Utah so he can continue working in his small town. He’s building his support system and finally getting himself established. It’ll be hard for him to take his dog back, but I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to keep her happy while he’s on call and on fires. Fillmore seems to be a great place for Jaret. As a first responder, the town is pretty supportive as are his co-workers. Once he settles in, we’ll make a trip up there to see him. We’ll take the side-by-side and do so off-roading.

Well, I need to clean up and get going. It’s already later than I wanted today. I’ll post more pictures next week once the inside work has started.

Take care and have a great day.

It’s been a while since I posted. Lots of progress on the house. As you can see from the picture, the exterior is up and most of the framing is done. There are a few things that need to be addressed, but overall the framers should finish on Tuesday. There is a laminated beam that goes above the garage door that should arrive today and get installed. The house gets wrapped in the next few days and prepped for stucco. Our plumbers start tomorrow or Wednesday with the inside plumbing.

We have a lot of decisions to make on plumbing. For the water heater, the plan was to get a hybrid, but the cost is crazy expensive. I’m thinking it might make sense to have a gas heater installed in the garage as it’ll be a lot cheaper. I need to talk to our plumbers about it. And a gas heater will take up a lot less space. Today we get an HVAC estimate and I’m going to talk to my GC about the wall for the outdoor fireplace. I have to have our framers put up one more cabinet board in the kitchen.

As we’re getting dark brown windows, we’re thinking that the trim on the house should be dark brown, and the stucco should be a lighter cream color. Apparently, the lighter stucco colors perform better in the weather here and also are easier to maintain. We have a list of stuff we need to get figured out ASAP, so this week will be decision making week. Cabinets and plumbing fixtures are the big choices. We’re going with all Dacor kitchen fixtures to the tune of $40k ish, and that’s not out of normal range. These should last 20 years, and they are what Wendy wants – so the kitchen will be a show place. We’re doing a darker kitchen, graphite appliances with dark counter tops. There are so many windows that face West that the kitchen has a ton of natural light.

On a personal note, I’m trying one of those constant glucose monitoring devices that is tied into my Oura ring. It’s actually helping as I’m monitoring my glucose more carefully and trying to avoid glucose spikes. The data enables me to walk and burn glucose when I’m having a spike, and it tells me what the food I just ate does to my glucose levels. For example, we had a healthy dinner last night, chicken, beans and salad. I had a glucose spike, and it was from the mango dressing on the chicken and the salad dressing and Orzo pasta. Not something I would have expected. Data will always drive outcomes – so I’m learning what my body does with food and how to control the diabetes better and drive down the A1C.

Today is about planting some pots around the RV so we can repel the Flys. The trailer is letting in Flys somewhere and it’s impossible to find where they are coming into the living space. My guess is around the slide outs. The sport is killing them with the fly zapper, repelling them with stinky plants and trapping the outside with some fly traps. I probably have about 15 to 20 of them in the afternoon in the living space. They come from the rancher next door so we’re working on planting lemongrass along the fence line. Good for the cows and repels the Flys. And we’re going to plant some plants to attract the birds, which will eat the Flys. Always something when living in the country.

I’ll empty the garage so I can find the planting pots today and get the Lavendar and lemon grass planted around the trailer. That should help repel some of the Flys.

Well, time to do my exercises and feed my dogs. Then for personal grooming! Take care and more later.