Mea Culpa, life happens, life changes

WOW! I cannot believe its been this long since I have posted anything! Mea Culpa my lazy ass. 

Really now, things have been happening in my life. The first is the major change in my life is in the form a 5 foot tall work of God. Yep, this self avowed bachelor has fallen hard.  She fills my mind all the time, puts a smile on my face and drives  me crazy!

Next up, I had all I could take of working at Home Depot other than that's where I met Sweet Thang.  Really the pay has not kept up with the rising cost of groceries, gasoline, utilities or healthcare. I'm tired of figuring out what to sell every month to make ends meet. I have been treating looking for a job like a job and it finally paid off. I got a very good job with excellent pay (north of 20 buck an hour) AND I get to buy their product once a month! So...... This coming Monday I get a day of orientation and start work the next day. This place has 12 hour shifts and I do not yet know what my schedule will be. I shocked a manager at Home Depot when I told her I was getting a 32 thousand dollar raise!  I will be working a shift I don't like, overnights, but hey, the pay is good, the benefits are excellent and I get work on machines making my favorite thing....ammo!

Back to Home Depot....I was invited to a store town hall. I went prepared.
When the Store Manager got around to talking about the cost of doing business, I brought up the billions they allow, nationwide, to walk, unpaid for, out the front door. Then asked if HD could tolerate that loss why could they not pay their employees a decent wage. I mean home owners and pro's come to us for information, knowledge and expertise. And we don't make as much as their helpers do. When he then went to lecture me on how to manage my budget, ( after telling me he could not make it on the immense wage he makes) that I needed to balance my wants and needs! I stood up and told him I did not need anyone like him lecturing me, who has managed budgets up to 10 million dollars  and then I walked out of the town hall. AND I did not get fired! Two days later I got the offer (after some tests) from my new employer. I started using up my person time and on the last day I took off, went in and handed in my notice, effective immediately.

Recovery... I had my pseudo knee replacement surgery (pseudo as they dont really replace the knee joint now), and I have had many issues with this damn thing. A year and 5 months later it just starting to feel like it's my knee. Starting to. It still clicks a bit, still has some residual pain, yeah I know it's never going to stop hurting, I still get swelling and occasionally fluid on that knee. I took up walking on a local trail but that aggravated the "new" knee so that had to end. I'll never be able run again or kneel on the surgical knee. Still, it's better than what I had by a large margin. AND I do not take any pain pills any more. I was taking large amounts of prescription pain pills, then the government reduced the maximum dosage so ended up using more just to get by.

New type knee surgery only installs new bearing surfaces in the same old worn out joint. So, you are left with arthritic bone, now with screws in it. The old style replacement actually replaced the entire joint. They basically cut your leg off, installed and upper and lower joint and put it all back together, now they use a jig and trim up the chondriles and then glue and screw some plates on them and then put a hockey puck with a stem on it between the plates to act as cartilage

With the new job, I will be able to buy guns again, buy ammo again, resume prepping, AND get out of this crappy neighborhood!

Oh, did I mention there's a woman in my life?

I'll be back regularly, I promise.

Crashing Into A Relationship Or Two

A week or so back I was coming home from work and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of items. I pushed my buggy down the produce aisle and found it block by a fine looking backside. I said "excuse me please" and the backside transformed into a very comely blonde woman. Five seven or so, shoulder length hair, trim but full in all the right spots. She and I exchanged a little banter and I moved on down the aisle. A few rows away I turned the corner and almost ran into her. A little more flirtation exchange occurred. Three or four more rows and SHE almost waylaid me. Once again, heavy flirtation fallowed. Now get this...It happened AGAIN! And yes the flirting was very heavy. She commented that she wasn't really trying to run me over and after giving her the up and down, I said I wouldn't mind her running into me at all. She pushed her buggy down the aisle while looking over her shoulder and giving that proverbial hair toss.
I have been back a couple time just scouting the terrain. Today I made a quick grocery run and low and behold, the Goddess works there! I managed to get in her lane and she recognized me right off. We exchanged names with a little light banter and due to the heavy Sunday traffic in the store that's as far as we got. In addition to the good looks, she seems very nice. I tell ya, I feel good about this. I will try to move this further along with a number exchange and a date request.  I'm really looking forward to this next phase of my new life. Really I am.

   Now for the other news. I have been wanting a dog. I've had dogs all my life. In the divorce I lost my buddy, Evo. Evo was a good looking, highly intelligent German shepherd. When the ex walked out on me she left the dog with me.When the divorce came around guess what she wanted? Yep, the dog she left behind. So, after watching last weeks Westminster kennel show, I started looking for a dog, a companion, a buddy. I was talking about this with a coworker and she told me that the Assistant Store Manager has a few dog he was trying to place and that she had just got a Chihuahua from him. I sought him out and found that he has a five year old English Bulldog to place. His wife is going to call me with some qualifying questions and then the bruiser will be mine. I understand these dogs have there own personalities, needs and problems and the dog is a male and I well know what that entails so I'm going into this with my eyes wide open. I have been doing my research on Bulldogs and am looking forward to this new union.