On a whim a few days ago I entered an iPhone photo contest on a website with this photo:

I got it submitted just a couple of hours before the deadline. There were some really nice photos people submitted. I did not win, but the top pick was a really good closeup of a bee on a flower – you could even see the little pieces of pollen on it.

However, I got co-second place! That was pretty cool to have happen, especially since it was my first-ever submission to a photo contest. There are no prizes or anything but I just did it for fun.

📱

I used to have Verizon Wireless but a few years back I got tired of the cost and lousy customer service so I changed. Verizon still keeps sending me flyers in the mail trying to lure me back…they are kinda like the guy in a van down by the river with a bag of candy and box of puppies.

Even after I moved a few times I kept getting them, addressed to me and not “Resident”. It happens every few weeks and I finally found something interesting on the flyer – it says “Electronic Service Requested”. That means when you file a USPS Change of Address, they get notified so they can continue to send you junk mail whenever and wherever you move to. Rat bastards.

What kind of underhanded bullshit is this? Why is it legal for a business to use mail forwarding from the USPS to continue to load your mailbox with junk mail? This means either I do not put in another change of address and hopefully I have let everyone know my new address. I would also have to let the current resident deal with my mail. Or I file the address change and keep dealing with the issue.

I called them over a month ago to get this to stop, but I got another one today. What did I do? I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau that’s what I did. I might even contact the the local state Attorney General’s office and USPS Inspector to see if there is anything they can do. I want this to stop.

If you are seeing something similar check around your address label to see if it has that on it, or something about forwarding. I will start checking my other junk mail for that forwarding request and will deal with those bastards as well.

🧹

It was a nice day today so I got outside and trimmed the mulberry trees away from the roof and front porch. At some point those two trees are going to have to come down. They have bent to chase the sun and one will uproot and fall over at some point. The other one has branches growing in odd directions and a broken branch. The dogs love to eat the mulberries off the ground but there is another one they can graze under. I hate cutting live trees down but sometimes you need to for safety, disease, or if they are too close to the house.

After that fun I opened up the garage door and moved Meghan’s cats over by the dogs so I could go through all the junk on the garage workbench. They were in the way to do that plus I could blow the hair and dust out afterwards. I was able to get the work bench pretty well cleaned up, tools put away, metal sorted out to recycle, and the trash tossed. It looks much better now.

It is just more of the process of going through the remaining stuff my parents had. I will be so glad to have all of this sorting and boxing stuff up done with. Even after this long it is still difficult; not as much as it was, but it still gets to me sometimes. Luckily I don’t think there is too much left in the garage since I went through a bunch of other stuff last week.

The finish line is within sight as far as going through stuff. I have a few more tubs downstairs and out in the shed and that is pretty much it. I guess I have made good progress.

Tomorrow morning I am going to get the spray paint for the trailer undercarriage and get that off my list while the weather is nice. Rain is forecast tomorrow afternoon/night so I may have to wait a day or so otherwise the paint won’t dry.

I need to pick up a can of fuel for Meghan’s trimmer so I can use it before they pick up their dogs and their stuff to take back to Montana. It has a lot of power and I have some rose of Sharon plants I cut down and they are trying to re-grow. Not on MY watch…

That is it for now. I am headed to bed. See you next time.

Shawn