It’s been a crazy year, but then how many of them aren’t?  I admit to not feeling the agony of mankind as much since I’ve moved to the sticks.  I used to suffer with it quite a bit when I hit the casino floor each night at work and on my way to work when I watched the relentless trail of exhaust pipes speeding off into oblivion and those that stood by the intersections with their handwritten pleas for help.  It’s been nice, being out here where the coyotes and a mountain lion or two are about the only threat one has to ponder.  I enjoy being separated from that emotional energy drain known as Sin City.

I’ve managed to step further out of the drama of momparental/dadparental since Riot’s custody is split between the two of them and that has helped immensely.  Riot spent three days with me just after Christmas.  It was harsh.  Trying to explain it wouldn’t work so I won’t.  He seems to go through emotional turbulence where he demands attention and is completely overbearing, like one of the parentals I know.  But we did have a lot of fun and tried to beat donkey kong in the jungle on the Wii, and of course Riot always gets to be diddi kong so he can fly to a degree…yah, it makes the game much easier.  He will NEVER let me be diddi kong.  And he can’t wait to tell me that he’s a much better player than I am.  Sheesh!

I’ll be swallowing dulcolax tablets with miralax chasers on Monday, really exciting times as I get ready to go in for an upper GI and colonoscopy on Tuesday…it’s a routine follow-up…like every 5 to 6 years when you hit the Golden Years the magic of aging.  This brings me to a wrinkle that has crossed my thoughts more than once in the last few weeks.   In the death cycle of my family, when someone dies, it’s on or a few days before or after another family member’s birthday.  And the 4th happens to be my younger brother’s birthday.  Not thinking paranoia or death or injury or pain, but if I don’t make it back, it’s been great meeting everyone that I have met and sharing all the poker and life stories that have crossed my table over the years.  I expect to be back here on the 5th with a post…too many poker hands left to play before I go.

I’m still dragging along in the Daily Dollar at Full Tilt Poker.  I made the mini-money again the other night.  Last night was an A-K fright night.  If I’d folded it 4 of the 5 times I picked it up, I would have had a lot of chips.  As it was, I finally went bust on it.  One hand still has me chuckling where I raised it with A-K and got called by K-7 off.  The flop was q-j-7.  I fired at it, he went all-in and I called due to pot size, and I had him way covered.  He won.  I have to admit being a bit in awe that he would put all of his chips in on bottom pair and calling a pre-flop raise and then a flop bet.  He ricocheted up and down the chip stacks and finally I got to bust him – for a sizable pot – when he went all-in with 10-5 clubs, with no club on the board and no pair and I had bet the flop with a pair of kings.  Right now I’m in optimal poker mode with this $1 buy-in tourney.  I know it’s a donk fest.  I know I have to wade through thousands of players every night.  I know I’m going to bust out much more often than I place in the money…but damn…it’s the only game in town.

I’ve had pump problems at the new digs.  That’s a way bad thing.  It was narrowed down to not being pump almost immediately, but now I have a new pump regulator, new power source on the pump, and we’re back to the original fright night thought, it’s somewhere in the almost 150 feet of direct burial cable from the main power box to the pump.  It all started when my son turned off the shitty looking lever on the back of the house that is the main water control into the house so he could replace the insides to the master toilet.  The shitty looking lever started a drip-drip-drip and the weather was so crappy that we didn’t run right out and replace that with a new shut off valve.  The valve is about 2 feet from the main power box to the house, consequently the ground became saturated and the breaker on the pump blew.  Long story, called a handyman/electrician that neighbor Amy knew.  He replaced the shut off valve thinking something may have dislodged and blocked the water line into the house, plus the shut off valve had to be replaced anyway.

I still had water at the hose bibs in the yard so the thinking went that it was somewhere by the house.  Enter the following day, no water anywhere.  The breaker to the pump looked like it was on, etc.  I called a pump/well company.  They checked everything, the power source was old and shitty but still workable, one went to the house and slammed the breaker.  WOOT!  The pump came on.  The pump guys told me they thought it was possibly a small break or something in the wiring and the moisture created the problem at the main power housing that was blowing the breaker.  UGH!  I had water for one week, then the 5 day rain set in.

Hoping against hope, I had water for a brief time when I reset the breaker.  Sis’s Monte replaced the breaker for me, it seemed to work for the night anyway, and then the same thing happened.  I called Steve, he came out and checked the power supply on the pump, the contacts weren’t doing anything, he replaced that and put in a bigger breaker.  I had water again for the night.  Hey, I don’t know shit about any of this so if you’re a ‘well expert’ sure wish you were here.  Then the breaker popped off again.  Steve came back with a friend he works with and they did some testing.  They replaced the pump regulator, same story, water for the night, and the breaker kept popping off the following day.  Steve and friend came back, did more checking and testing and called some of their wiring/pump knowledgeable friends.  It all comes back to the wiring.  Fug a Dug.

I now have a roll of direct burial cable, waiting for USAN responders to come and mark where we can’t dig.  I have spray painted a direct line out to the pump from the master power control box – even with the wind trying to blow it off into the next county – and checked on the price of renting a trencher.  All I do is dig out here.  Kee-rist!  It’s sick!  But one must have water, especially when one has a Red Eared Slider, and this should do the trick.  My youngest will come out and man the trencher for me as he did when I laid in the drip line over at my sis’s digs next door.  It should be a real fun time.

I just busted out of the Dollar.  *Sniff*  My first table was with a clown that went all-in every hand, proclaiming to be tired and not wanting to play…the tournament had just started when all this went on.  I built up a stack, and then lost it to him when he pushed with 10-7 suited and I had 8-8.  He caught a 10.  Then I was off to another table and managed to drag a few chips with Aces all-in and then lost with 9-9 all-in vs. 10-10.  There’s always tomorrow.  See ya then!