STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21930: Sin City Sloth

The title of this post is actually a misnomer. I did accomplish something during this stay, but I waited until my last day home to do it. I installed a CyberTrucker computer work station in my truck. I bought it over a month ago, so it was about time. It took most of the afternoon, but most of that time was used in the “planning stage”. I went from this:
 
to this:

The first thing I had to do was make a run to Home Depot for a #T50 Torx bit. Things being what they are today, I naturally couldn’t buy just the bit I needed. I had to buy a whole set. During the installation I discovered the need for 1 more “L” bracket. Off I went again to Home Depot. They didn’t have what I needed, so I tried Pep Boys and Auto Zone. No luck there either. I finally remembered that I probably had what I needed in my storage shed. Many CB mounts use similar brackets. Sure enough, I found one in my “bucket o’ stuff”. With the proper number of brackets, I completed the installation in short order when I returned to my truck.
After I finished, I went into the Casino. Friday is “drawing day”. With all my playing lately, I had 47 entries in the 3 drawings. I won $25.00 and 1 entry ticket for a drawing for a Saturn Vue. I didn’t win anything in the second drawing. In the final drawing, I won another $10.00 and 2 entry tickets for the car. Yeah!! I could use a Saturn Vue.
As far as the time since my last post, it was mundane and at times frustrating. The frustrating part came on a load from Salt Lake City to McCarran, NV. I had to wait 21 hours to pick up the load because the had they wrong pick-up date on the order. When I finally got to McCarran, I was to simply do a drop/hook and take a load of water back to Corinne. The problem arose when I weighed the load on the way out the gate. It was 2100 lbs over gross (80,000 lbs). It took them 15 hours to re-work the load (more wasted time). I finally made it back to Corinne, but I lost a full day’s driving. My very next trip was a little frustrating too. It had a stop in Las Vegas, (which went smoothly), and a backhaul which picked up in San Bernardino, CA. I arrived in San Burdue Sunday afternoon about 1500, well within the pick up window of 0800 to 1700. The place was locked up tight as a drum. After a while, they decided to just send me back to Corinne empty. They added another backhaul the next day that picked up in Salt Lake City. That one went smoothly. En route from SLC to Corinne, the Planner called me and asked if I had enough hours to do a “local delivery”. I said I could and would do it. To return the favor, she sent me home to Vegas. I arrived early Wednesday AM. From then until this morning, I accomplished absolutely nothing productive. That’s why they call it “time off”!!!

Life Day 21928: Uncle Emery Remembered

On Monday last, I recieved a voicemail from brother Donald that our Uncle Emery had passed away. He had been in a nursing home in Palm Springs since having a stroke. I didn’t have a chance to respond until I arrived in Las Vegas this morning. At the time of this post, there are no services planned. In called Aunt Mary (Emery’s wife) and had a nice chat with her. She is taking his passing as well as can be expected. He was 84 years old. I remember Uncle Emery fondly. He worked hard, and retired to Landers, CA some 20+ years ago. He had a teriffic sense of humor. I enjoyed my infrequent visits with him.
WHY IS EVERYONE EXCEPT ME GETTING OLDER??????

Life Day 21917: Sitting around Sin City

I took yesterday off after delivering my load here in Vegas. I took a nap until about 1000 then got a room. After a nice rejuvenating hot shower, I hit the casino. I had a ½ lb bacon cheeseburger w/ potato salad for lunch.  When you get a room here, they give you a few coupons to use during your stay (hence the bacon Cheeseburger, it was 20% off). Among the remaining coupons was one for $5.00 match play. This coupon, I took to the Crap table. With the assistance of the croupier, I turned $40.00 into $115.00. Not bad for a beginner. I took a short break at the bar, then hit the Blackjack table with yet another coupon, this time a 2 for 1 payout on your first Blackjack instead of 1½ to 1. I again started out with $40.00. I went through 3 different dealers before I finally got my Blackjack, but in the interim, I had amassed a sizeable (for me) fortune of a little over $100.00. I made another $40.00 by doubling my $$$ at the Video Blackjack machine, and as an afterthought on the way out, I put $20.00 in the Megabucks Slot Machine. In 6 spins, I had accrued a cool $30.00 profit, so I walked away. All in all, it was a good day at the tables and machines.
Today is storage shed laundry and day. I have to take to the storage shed, all of the stuff that I removed from my truck and put in my jeep on my last visit.  Then, I have to either do laundry or buy more new clothes. Oh well, I’d better get to it.

Life Day 21915: Corraled in Corinne

Today, I’m going to open with a trivia question. There are 10 (ten) body parts that consist of only 3 (three) letters. What are they? E-mail your answer to me if you are of the mind.
While I’m on the subject of trivia, today is the 60th anniversary of the day I was wrought upon this world. I jokingly say that it is the 21 anniversary of my 39th birthday. At any rate, i’ll be spending most of it loitering around the terminal in Corinne. They couldn’t get a load to Las Vegas for me yesterday so that I could celebrate properly. All of the loads going to Vegas had a “backhaul” , which means that I would have to return immediately to Corinne and not take any time off. I do have a PrePlan to Las Vegas now, but it won’t pick up until after 1800, so I won’t get to spend even a small part of my birthday there. Oh well, it would have been nice, but it is of no consequence that I didn’t make it. At my age, it’s better not to keep track anyway. The math gets too hard.
Since my return from Cody, WY on the 4th, I have been to Grand Junction, CO (twice) and Great Falls, MT. I’ve also done numerous “local” deliveries. They keep you busy either way, but I, naturally, prefer the longer runs. No loads are more than 1200 miles (one day driving there and the next driving back), which is nice.

Later:
I went to the Walmart in Perry, UT and bought a pint of vanilla ice-cream and a raspberry swirl loaf cake with whipped cream frosting drizzled with chocolate. I consumed all of the ice-cream and about 2/3 of the cake. A hearty and nutritious birthday dinner if there ever was one. The rest of the cake I took in for the office staff to finish.
It is now 1700 and my load just came out. I’ll be finished with the load about 0400. Then i’ll take a nap. Then it’s PARTY TIME!!!!!

Life Day 21906: Coming to you from Cody, WY