A Lot Done These Past Two Days

By nature I think I am pretty pro-active. I might be lazy at times but once I decide to do something I am pretty focused on getting things done. I've been that way for as long as I can remember. Today was one of those days, which I will explain after I show you what happened yesterday.

I called my new internet provider Spectrum Monday night to see if they had any idea when their man was going to stop buy and bury the internet cable they had installed the previous Monday. The installer said it would be within 1-2 days. We were way past 1-2 days. Surprisingly they gave me a date and a time ... this Thursday between 8am-11am. I thanked him and added that to my Reminder List that Apple gives me for free.

Can you see where the cable was hidden underground?

It's good to know and get a heads up when these tech guys from any company come out, so I can corral Watson and keep him from scaring the crap out of someone that is too close to his fence. He WON'T bite anyone but like my friend up the street says .... "if you don't know the dog he is scary when he barks and he is huge".

So it was a shock to me as I got close to my house on my way back from buying groceries. I see a Toyota 4Runner, that was towing a trailer that held a ditch digger for hiding cable lines .... in my driveway. I stopped my car before putting it in the garage and of course as I walked toward the back I could hear Watson introducing himself to a man back by the utility pole.

The ground was so soft it came right up with a shovel and was pressed with a boot to make it flat again.

He was a contractor for Spectrum. Watson didn't scare him because he has outside dogs at home and knows how they react when someone is near their yard. With the soft ground from all the rain he was able to do what I would have done with a shovel. Lift the grass out of the ground about a half shovel worth. It was easy, fast and before he left he asked me if my internet was still working. He did not have to unload this ditch digger from the trailer.

One of the few if not the only professional job I have had since May 26th. I forgot ... CenterPoint Energy did a very professional job installing a new utility pole and getting service back for 150 customers within hours after my call on May 26th. You will notice on this end of the cable and the one out on the utility pole he slid some rubber weather insulation around the cable.

Not only that but he put the rocks back in a better looking shape than what I had them, after he had dug out a hole for the cable to be well inside the ground. Now there IS a story about this corner and why it is like that. In 2021 I had planted some plants surrounded by small lava rock where you see the dirt. 

Watson, as a puppy decided to eat the lava rock, like a treat, along with the plants. The vet found one of those rocks in his stomach the same time Watson was having emergency surgery for a plugged intestine with about 5" of his Mexican blanket wrapped inside his intestine. At that time I took all the lava rock out and made a pile of it on the edge of the berm in case I could use it years from now. Outside the fence on purpose.

So I went plants with no rock but black mulch ... problem was in these hot summers and the dogs forget the patio door is open for them to get out of the sun and inside air conditioned rooms if I am shopping or visiting someone ... all of them at some point in time has dug a hole in that cool corner then lay in that hole of cool dirt and take a nap.

I am not sure what the next plan is with another puppy roaming the backyard.

This morning's plan was to pull weeds but only in areas where there was shade. The temps were okay but the humidity was over 90% even before I went outside. 

Yet before I could focus on pulling weeds ... I had to do something about this. You know how I get when things bother me and I was at that point ... and being pro-active was full speed ahead. For those that don't know, those are a new AT&T Fiber cable spliced into the Old Fiber cable that is in service and still connected to my utility pole. The junction box for that cable is laying in the grass ... blocking my lawn mower.

So think of what I am about to do as a favor to AT&T Fiber Internet Cable instead of being an ass. Now I know since I am no longer an AT&T customer after their lack of work and no internet or wifi tv between July 11th until July 15th when Spectrum hooked me up with my new internet service ... that most likely I am going to see snow this winter on top of that black junction box. IMO they are not coming back to raise the cable back up in the air tie strapped to their internet cable that goes from pole to pole ... like they said they would.

So what I did today was a favor to them ... and for my sanity. :)

That low hanging Astound Internet cable is another thing bothering me after nothing done since May 29th when THEY looked at the issue. I'll get to that story after this AT&T favor I have been talking about.

First of all, that might look heavy but it's not. It's plastic and .. those two cable are light too. 

I took that box and gave it a good toss, no ... a good throw up and into the bushes. No worries, they will be able to see it easy this winter when all those buses have no leaves. 

Now there is no chance for me to accidentally mow their cable with my mower nor mow their cable out of anger ... AT&T and their (*&#(*#$@) cable is well protected.

To give you some idea how low this internet cable is, I stood as close as I could to it and found it to be a little shorter than the top of my head. I'm 5'10, the top of the fence is 5' and the Indiana state law is a minimum of 9'. May 29th was the last time they were out to look at the job.

When he was here it wasn't this good. Their cable only got to this height after the AT&T and Spectrum cables were put back on two utility poles, pulling their cable along for the ride and off the top of my fence and almost on my lawn.

So being a "pro-active" day ... I did something I swore I wasn't going to do. I called Astound with hopes of them coming out and tightening their cable which will raise the cable back to its original height over 12' above the ground. This one is too heavy for me to do anything with so I will just keep leaning my head over as I mow this area behind the fence ... to miss their cable.

New work order was prioritized they said and sent to dispatch. "They will call you within the hour to let you know when they are coming out to fix this." ... Well she said that around 9am ... I add an hour that makes it 10am and one reason that I pulled weeds with my phone in my pocket. I didn't want to miss their call. It is now 4:05pm and no word from the Prioritized work order and the dispatch department.

It was now time to pull weeds. 

This needs some trim work in front of the Azaleas but that is a different day. Today was just pulling weeds. I used a bag of mulch that I had in the shed. I found out you should always use mulch when you buy it not after it sits inside a shed. I had a little mold in the mulch ... who knows maybe that will kill the weeds better than plastic under the mulch.

I wanted to start in front of the porch but started behind that rose bush and then behind all the bushes in front of the porch. It was hotter than hot with humidity but I continued on my hands and knees. For some reason though I wasn't that enthused pulling all the weeds out to the sidewalk because there was something easier I could do on the left side of the porch step.

I needed a change of scenery.

I know someone can tell me what that viney stuff is next to the sidewalk. It spreads out wide. I can slide my fingers under it to expose the center of the week and pull it out by its roots. It's easy most of the time and I could see progress faster than I could from the front of the porch. I will do tomorrow morning.

Same viney stuff, mixed with some wild zoysia grass and small bunches of young clover.

I cannot tell you how many times in my 4th summer here, that I have pulled these same weeds out by their roots or the zoysia grass up near the bush on the left ... I can't get rid of that stuff. But it was a stopping point for me today by noon.

I will finish in front of the porch early tomorrow morning. That is the east side of the house and it does get hot early on that side of the house. By the time I would wait for shade it would be after 5pm and that is past quitting time for me on most projects. After the front is finished I will zip down that left side with blooming rose bushes and Hydrangeas ... "hodgepodge" landscaping I call it.

It was hot ... the photo does not show just how drenched I was but this gives you some idea.

Of course it seems like anymore, I can't do anything without the hounds and the dogs acting up, getting into something or not playing by the rules. I had just finished pulling weeds behind the bushes in front of the porch. All of them were at the small living room windows watching every move I made. That's okay, no problem.

Ava likes to agitate the boys either to get them to play or just to mess with them. At times the older ones have had enough of it and the barking is on. Barking that sounds like a preliminary stage of fighting. I run through the garage and get inside soon enough .... I want Ava crated but Walter beat her too it ... so I crated both of them since they wanted to go in there that bad and neither would leave.

Henry and Watson had the run of the air conditioned house and I went back to pulling weeds. When I snuck a glance into my computer room window ... both of them were laying on the floor sleeping. I didn't hear any sounds from Ava or Walter, they were probably sleeping too.

This photo of them is right before I let them out after I was finished pulling weeds for the day. Ava is recovering well after just a week from her spay surgery. More on that in a later post. Also it has been a little over a month from my Bone Contusion and there is no pain. The lump that was like a small softball the night it happened is a hardly visible golf ball size and no pain when I press on it.

This is an old style blog post here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana today. I use to blog about my days in retirement with fewer hound photos.