(Last updated: 6-03-2025)

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Welcome to my crappy website. It truly is a bootleg bunch of crap, but I don't care. Not at all. I'm not doing it just to entertain you scumbags; I'm doing it because writing is fun but I am too lazy to actually write a real book. Don't laugh because I'm serious.

If you want to know who the hell I am and why I spent my hard-earned $18.17 to register this domain and to share my thoughts with the world then you can click here to find out. I have no update schedule so if you don't like it then you can ggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt oooooooouuuuuuuuttttttttttttttt!

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: Why are you still here? Chances are pretty damn good that I WILL insult you in some fashion if you choose to continue beyond this point. The purpose of this site is to entertain me, and I am often entertained at the expense of others. Therefore, prepare to be slandered. A lot. It's still not to late to leave with your feelings intact!

Tuesday, 6-03-25: Things don't suck this week as much as they did last week.
We had another dumpster-fire weather pattern this past weekend with rain, drizzle, and cooler temps. (I think there wouldn't have actually been a dumpster fire with all the rain of course.) It was the tenth weekend in a row with rain around here, or so they say on the news. It really feels like all damn year what a bunch of crap!

The rain Saturday didn't really bother me, though. I worked indoors all day on the downstairs finishing sheetrock install and mudding/taping. I've spent some time over the past few days doing more mud and tape, but yesterday and today I worked outside more than I worked inside. The garage-job was yesterday and I have a couple photos from Friday:

^I had a helper for the first time all year there Friday. My helpers from last year also worked for us at the restaurant, but I heard they moved out of state and I don't want them back anyway. I enjoyed working with them, a father and son, but they quit on the restaurant one week before we were scheduled to close anyway for good and that really hurt us. A lot.

On Friday we got part of that roof actually sheathed. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Tomorrow we'll get most of the remaining rafters in place and a few more pieces of plywood top-side. Shingling probably won't be until mid-late month because after we sheath the entire roof I need to install some trim and do a little more other prep. Shingles should go quickly on that 12-3 basic roof. Maybe? Hopefully!

^You can see my helper up there. He's a friend, a really good guy, and his chick worked for us at the restaurant and was one of our best employees. We still hang out with them from time to time including last Saturday night when we went to the new Mack's Restaurant and Tavern that opened in our failed spot. That place... I had to sign legal stuff so I guess I can't really say, but F that only two people ever come here because this site is a bootleg piece of shit. Their 1-star Google reviews are very telling. I actually felt badly for them on Saturday because we did have a good time, but there were maybe 10 customers there all night INCLUDING US OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! On our bad Saturdays there with Mad Kat we'd still get 4 or 5 times that many.

The problem with the new restaurant is they have no real brand. They don't know who they are or what they are as a business. Simply opening as a RESTAURANT isn't enough here. What's the theme? There's no decor and it's drab inside. We had posters and other decor related to our music theme. That ended up being a popular place with a huge following. Can they do the same? Right now it's not looking good for many more reasons than what I already wrote.

The ducks are HUGE now so thankfully we almost have their coop-area ready. If all goes as planned we will move them outside Saturday. Chickens will stay in with us for a bit more; they are also growing very quickly. Revielle every morning for my awesome wife is 0500 so she can start cleaning their cages and the entire kitchen. I usually get up a tad after her and help. I don't want to get up at 0500, F that! However, sometimes I do get up that early when I rack out early. Light comes in before 0500 this time of year even with dark curtains and I actually like it because it tells me to gear up for a productive day. Then half the time I fall back to sleep what a bunch of crap! It's rare I sleep past 0600 on weekdays, though.

^We do have 6 chickens, but the other three were out of the frame. The ducks and chickens were about the same size when we first got them and wow the ducks just grow so quickly. I took that picture Friday and I think the ducks doubled in size since then as well!

The weather today was a 10. I went for a 2-mile jog before lunch, but I walked some as usual. I've had a right calf strain for over a week, but these past couple days it's improved a lot. It really didn't bother me too much during the jog what bothered me more is how much of a pussy I am. I get so out of breath now my cardio is embarassing. What a bunch of crap! Hey, I did jog over 1.5 miles of the 2-miles so that's better than nothing. I am a little less sore than I was last week so maybe my bootleg body is making the needed adjustments (I could just say I'm getting in better shape.) It's a small step forward, but I do notice and appreciate it.

I need to take some pictures of the downstairs area. I actually have a big area almost ready for paint, but it's only about 1/4 of the entire space. I'm certainly over 25% done with the remodel in that spacious room, but I'm under 50%. I don't think I can finish it before the end of this month like I want to do. 27 days left in the month, who knows, but the odds of my not finishing it are above the last two percentages I just posted COMBINED. What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 5-28-25: My life kinda sucks again.
Life isn't really good anymore here. Can it change for the better? I sure hope so or I will have to leave. Things are DEFINITELY not as bad as they were last fall with that stupid fuckin' restaurant so that's a small win. I think?

The main problem is two-fold. First, I feel scattered and like nothing is done anywhere. We have TONS of work to do here and I can't do it all myself. The tick-problem here is off the scale bad, too. I let the dogs out to run along the mostly-mowed driveway for about 5-10 minutes Monday and the end result of that was epic fail when they had about two dozen ticks on them. I'm not even joking about that either. I was peeling those little fuckers off left and right then more fell off in the house so down the toilet for those evil and unfortunate ticks. If we can't get it under control I won't want to live here anymore and I believe my wife is also in agreement. I had a couple ticks on me yesterday as well after being in the dog-area to scoop up the poop. What a bunch of crap!

We did have a guy knows as "The Tick Sniper" come this morning to spray everything so we are hopeful that will make a big difference. He seemed like a really cool guy, Marine veteran and I always like doing business with fellow veterans if possible. He was showing me some nice buck photos in his phone before the blackflies got bad and it was time to get to work hehehe. I paid him, left him to it here, and I scooted down to Brewer to work on this garage:

^That picture is a few days old and since then I've made more noticeable progress. I've only worked there 7.25 hours so far this week what a bunch of crap! I have a huge load of shingles and more lumber coming Friday as well as a helper. I am planning to have that garage roof sheathed and shingled in June. Maybe? Hopefully! It's only 9 square with a 12-3 pitch so I can walk it and move relatively quickly. However, the sheathing and venting will take a while before I can actually shingle.

The second problem is how much precious... precious money we spend each month in relation to what we actually take in. We fail! We do have money in the bank from the sale of our Parkway N Brewer house in early January, but it won't last forever. We blew through quite a bit of money over the past week. Construction supplies for the house, dog grooming, Daniel's birthday, etc. We went out last week Thursday night for a bit and blew through some more precious... precious money that night. Oh well it was kinda fun.

The ducks are getting HUGE now so we need an outdoor area for them ASAP. Kat told me earlier she was frustrated I'm not here working more and all I wanna know is why? Why do I have to even have a chick sometimes I'd just be better off on my own like I was a long time ago before my life started to suck. HEY LOVING WIFE I'VE ONLY WORKED 7.25 HOURS THIS WEEK FOR COMPENSATION THAT'S GREAT AT $100 PER HOUR BUT I'M NOT MAKING EVEN CLOSE TO THAT GODS DAMN IT. I should be working at least 20 hours a week doing carpentry for compensation to cover basic life costs, but I haven't hit that number probably all month due to weather and other obligations. What a bunch of crap!

^We cleaned out that "carport" area, rear side of the house, and I started the coop area for the ducks yesterday. I got a lot more done on it today and I think I only have a few hours left working on it before we can get them out there. Maybe? Hopefully! I worked a couple hours today after working on that Brewer garage and I did the same thing yesterday. Monday I worked here at the house all day and we've finally hit a great stretch of weather for working outdoors so that is a gift from the gods who don't really exist hehe.

Oh great and perfect timing, Pet Shop Boys What Have I Done (To Deserve This?) plays on Youtube. What did I do to deserve this life? Simple answer is the most obvious: I MADE BAD DECISIONS AND I 100% MADE MY OWN LUCK.

We had a very bad stretch of weather last week with lots of cool and rainy days so this good weather really feels nice. On Monday we got up to around 70 with low humidity and a nice breeze, perfect for a jog. Problem: I made it about 1/3 of a mile before I felt a strain in my right calf. NOOOOOOOOOO! Every fuckin' year these past 3 or 4 years I've had a calf strain that has really set me back so maybe jogging just isn't for me anymore? Last year was my left calf so at least that one seems okay. It's not a terrible strain and I could still gimp along so out of spite for my failing worthless body I kept going. I was slow and pathetic, I walked some, but I did 1.25 miles and I did the same yesterday. No jog today as planned so the calf can heal more. I was out of CBD cream and I bought more today so that should help. I'd like to try another jog tomorrow, but most of all I'd like to NOT FEEL SORE AND BANGED UP ALL THE GODS DAMNED TIME WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I have been getting great exercise lately from all the carpentry, some yoga, pathetic jogs/walks, and more carpentry. No lifting weights in a gym I don't have, but that's okay. Sadly all the great exercise was a bit of too much too soon hence feeling sore and having a friggin' calf strain. It's good training for blueberry raking, though! I'm very tan already, too. Now all we need is a good crop and with all the dumpster-fire weather last week, a prime week for crop pollenation, that is a bad sign. I'm just hopeful the bees are double-timing it this week since the weather has been so great. The bees do not pollenate well when the weather is very cool, wet, windy, etc. Days like today with light wind, sun, and 80 are great for it.

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Monday, 5-19-25: More dog-shit rainy weather. Lyme diseases?
We had a good stretch of weather last week, but that ship sailed Saturday and now we're pwned. Saturday was passable, just some drizzle and a couple showers, but it wasn't great and the threat of bad weather was constant. We had drizzle and showers yesterday and today has been a wreck. Barely 50 degrees with rain showers and steady rain. Mid-50s and cloudy the next three days before more garbage weather at the end of the week. What a bunch of crap!

Oh well, I made the most of the bad weather today by working all day downstairs. I got a lot of sheetrock installed as well as some framing, insulation, and electrical. It's 1839 and I might go back down and work a bit more before my awesome wife gets home. She went to dinner with some friends and former Mad Kat staff and I decided to stay here to get some work done and to shower/shave/cut my hair. I was pretty grubby after working downstairs all day. Since I'm freshly shaved and clean if I do work more downstairs I'll do easy stuff, relatively speaking, so I don't get grubby again before we bivouac.

I worked too hard Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I was wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket yesterday minus the bullet-holes hehe. Thursday was my most arduous day, but I didn't slack off Friday or Saturday either. The forecast for both Thursday and Friday was mid-70s and cloudy, but there was hardly a cloud at all both days while I was working my 5 hours each day on that garage in Brewer so I got cooked a little by the sun. What a bunch of crap! I'm not badly burned and it's mostly tan now because I kept my shirt on enough to not fry my torso. Ears and back felt it the most, but it's a nice start for blueberry raking in 2.5 months. I'll get a lot more sun this spring, summer, and fall as well because I have a lot more work left outdoors. A LOT.

Just a few years ago the work I did over those three days would not have wasted me like it did so I'm losing my mojo and that sucks. A lot. I'll be 50 this year so I need to either get back into better shape, if I even can, or wind down the carpentry work and just focus on other things that are physically less taxing. Blueberry raking will really be telling and I have time to get into raking shape still. Maybe? Hopefully!

On Saturday I took two huge loads of debris to the dump and then I cut a bunch of brush around the house before quitting-time. I didn't feel totally beat to shit Saturday evening, but I woke up Sunday in a world of hurt. Entire body sore, especially my lower back, and I felt like this as well:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I was too sore to do any work at all on the house. Gods damn it! We did go to Lowe's to buy some supplies, but even that was arduous for my ass. Poor Kat wasn't feeling well either so we spent the afternoon talking about our former restaurant and watching a great series called Landman on Paramount TV network (or Hulu? I get them all mixed up and can't even use them without my awesome wife.) I don't miss owning a restaurant but she misses it and hopefully one day she can find a path back to it if she wants.

We didn't finish Landman; there are 10 total episodes and I think we watched 6 of them. We tried to use the "air fry" feature on the oven to cook the turkey I shot last week, but that was difficult to use and supper was essentially an epic failer. The fried mushrooms we tried to include turned to mush and for some weird reason the temp of the turkey was 162, we put it back in, and it dropped to 155 a few minutes later. All I wanna know is why? Why did it stop cooking? I never used to even temp meat I'd cook at home, but owning a restaurant changed my ass in many ways. Good or bad? Jury is still out, but most likely bad. I liked the turkey but who knows if it cooked enough? Kat thought it was terrible hehe.

Landman is about the oil indusrty in Texas, and it's the same writer/producer who created Yellowstone. If you don't like Yellowstone I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. Same goes for Landman because it's great!

Poor Kat, her blood test results came back positive for anaplasmosis and babesia. Stupid fuckin' TICKS! She's had that in the past, but it seems she got it even more and I think I have it as well. I actually think I've had some tick-borne crap in my system for a long time but I never get tested so I'm just guessing. I did get a test many years ago that came back negative and I was shocked at the time about the result. I need another test just so I know.

All the signs point to my having lyme and related bullshit in my precious... precious body. I have a very hard time being 100% and I don't think 100% is even an option for my ass anymore, ever. What a bunch of crap! I wanted to play racquetball this weekend, but Saturday I was a little beat up-feeling and busy so I thought I'd try for Sunday, but nope no chance in hell. If doing 3 days of carpentry and yard work does this to my body then I'll need a miracle to survive blueberry raking...

There are days I just feel depleted even if I get a good night sleep. Thankfully I was able to do yoga this morning with a very stiff back and I did loosen up and make it all day doing work downstairs. Today wasn't arduous like working on that garage has been, though. Hanging insulation and sheetrock is easier than lugging 2x6x12 and 2x8x10 lumber up a ladder 15 feet in the air. I don't move all the lumber up all at once, I take a little here and there, but it's a workout. I didn't realize how much of a workout it is until I got so friggin' sore!

Not having a gym for the last 6 months put me off my usual conditioning so that does factor in. No more running around a restaurant like I had for years as well. Over the winter I only did yoga 3-4 times a week and played racquetball one or twice a week. It's better than nothing, but it's half what I used to do. I barely even jog anymore because either the weather is too terrible or I just don't have the energy. What a bunch of crap!

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Friday, 5-16-25: I can hear again! Ducks, chickens, turkeys, ticks, etc.
I was planning to go down to the ol' homestead Monday to visit Mom for a belated Mother's Day and to turkey hunt with Dad, but I had to cancel that plan later Sunday because I felt like ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag. My left ear was plugged again after what seemed like a couple days of hope where I thought it was getting better. What a bunch of crap!

I made an appointment for walk-in care but that still took a couple hours because medical visits are never fast. I really didn't want to go to a doc, but my left ear was plugged for 2.5 weeks and I was feeling like something was wrong so I am glad I went. Not only was my left ear badly plugged but my right ear was also blocked with wax and junk. The chick used some ear-blaster 5000 machine-thing (not actually called that hehehe) to water-jet the crud out. It took a while, but she got it and holy crap has my hearing improved! I think my ears have been partially blocked for a long time because I can hear better than I have possibly since I was a kid. I'm not even joking about that.

Having my ears unplugged did help how I felt, but I have a left ear infection so I was prescribed a week's worth of amoxopillians and I'm about 2/3 through that now. My last 5 are one tonight and 2 each day tomorrow and Sunday. No booze for my loser-ass this weekend! No worries I don't drink that much anymore anyway. We did have some drinks with a few friends Friday night last week, but I didn't overdo it and I was fine to work on the house over the weekend.

So instead of going turkey hunting and to visit Mom and Dad Monday I went Wednesday. I got an early start and it was a great visit for morning hunting with Dad and a nice lunch with Mom and Dad before I helped Dad cut up some old RR ties for a shooting setup and headed home. On my way home I looked at this used mower just up the road that I think we will get soon:

The guy sells and services that stuff and he's supposed to be getting it tuned up for us and I'm just waiting for his call. We had the place bush-hogged Tuesday morning so I want to keep it managed before it can grow into a small forest again. The ticks are still BAD here so I've been picking away at clearing around the house. I have to take more trash to the dump tomorrow so I'll load up later today after I'm done working in Brewer on this:

^I busted out a solid 5-hours of wall framing on the side against the existing house yesterday and it was a VERY productive day. Beautiful weather, mid 70s, so I'm already getting a nice tan. After that I came home and busted out some work at our place as well so I went BEAST MODE yesterday and I'm feeling it some this morning. I still plan to do some yoga before I get back to work on that garage.

I did finish that fence he had me on last week. I got that done Tuesday PM before I started back on the garage:

I am pleased with how the fence turned out, but I'm not sure how it will survive after strong NW winds. It seemed ok after last Sundays very windy day so that's encouraging. The homeowner wanted to "cheat" and use metal poles instead of posts with concrete so that saved a ton of precious... precious time but I'm not sure it's the right play long-term as far as strength of the entire thing.

I'd guess the fence took 25 hours total, maybe closer to 30. It was a good side-project for my ass because code had shut down the garage again for a few days mostly due to a neighbor complaint about its location. It's REALLY close to the 15-foot minimum setback from the neighbor and I don't think he's too happy having to look at it, but that's not my problem I'm just the guy building it. Code also wanted an engineer to sign off on the trusses, but I'm planning to build my own rafters so I dodged that bullet for the homeowner and we are now good-to-go.

I did shoot a thunder-chicken Wednesday when I went to visit Mom and Dad. Dad and I were in his blind out behind their house, lots of memories at that place and in those woods, and we were hunting for about an hour before things got going. At first we had a Tom gobbling back to us, but he never came in and I think he was a tad spooked because he saw us walking down the path to the blind. What a bunch of crap! No worries there are plenty of turkeys around and sure enough three jakes came in all together from the right, Art's old junkpile side, and I was able to get a clean look from only 15 yards away on the larger trailing bird and down he went. I actually could have shot a second turkey, but F that it didn't seem fair. It was a beautiful day and a fun hunt and I'd like to go one more time before the season ends, but we'll see since I'm so busy up here...

Our ducks and chickens are getting big and soon I need to start building their outdoor coop-areas. Here they are as of a couple days ago:

My awesome wife gets up between 0500-0545 to clean their cages and get them fresh shavings, etc. I get up early as well to help some but today I didn't get up until 0600 so I was 20 minutes later than her. We have limited precious... precious time to get it done before Debbie brings the baby over at 0700 so chores are the priority.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg site, it's 0745 and the fog is burning off so I better do some yoga then get to work on that garage. Today should be another decent weather-day before things get shitty again for the weekend and into next week. This is an epic-long streak of poor weather on weekends. What a bunch of crap! Makes it really hard to work on the house when it rains outside every gods damned weekend. Next week the high temps are supposed to only be in the 50s as well most or all of the week OMG EPIF FAILER.

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Thursday, 5-08-25: Finishing a fence, getting ready to build a pen for the chickens and ducks.
I've been picking away at this fence in Brewer and it's finally nearly done. I probably have a few more hours left on it:

Today I worked on the gate, and it's definitely not quite done yet. I need to install a latch and get it leveled. A small adjustment on the left post should get it where it needs to be. Maybe? Hopefully! I thought I'd be building a garage on that property, but the owner wanted a fence more and code is making us jump through hoops to get final approval on the garage anyway. Get this, I can't build my own trusses without a certified engineer signing off on plans and that should cost over $1000. What a bunch of crap! We might just buy prefabbed trusses, not sure yet and waiting for a quote to come back for the trusses.

I'm beat to shit right now. I'm not sick; it's a good feeling after two epic racquetball games earlier with Mike and Gavin. Two cutthroat games took 1.5 hours OMG. Great workout and close scores both games. I'm feeling it now and I surely will be tomorrow. Our games rarely last that long normally a couple cutthroat games would take about an hour. I didn't win, but I don't care I came close and it was redemption after last Friday's games that nearly made me want to retire from playing at all. I didn't feel that well and we got CRUSHED by Gavin last week. What a bunch of crap!

My awesome wife is getting her hair done this evening so I have a little precious... precious free time before she gets home. I should call Mom and Dad to see how they're doing and lay the foundation for a trip down their way next week. I'm considering going turkey hunting again either Monday or Wednesday but I'm not sure what day works best yet. I should get there and start hunting by 0430 but F that it's a 100-minute drive one-way so revielle would have to be about 0230. I might do that, but it seems very unlikely.

Next week I should probably start building our outdoor coop for the chickens and ducks. We have an area picked out for the two different coop areas right next to each other. They grow really fast! Here are the ducks as of a few days ago:

It seems they are double that size now wow. We can't put them outside in an enclosure yet because they are too young still. I think later this month they will be ready for outdoor living. Maybe? Hopefully! My awesome wife puts in a lot of work keeping them maintained. Fresh water, shavings, food, etc. They are too stupid to poop in one specific area they really need diapers hehe. She puts the ducks in water and they IMMEDIATLY drop deuces in the fresh water then drink it what a bunch of crap! Birds shit a lot. A LOT.

The weather for Saturday is looking about as bad as possible. Rain starts tomorrow night and we get over an inch, possibly over two inches of rain, before it ends Saturday night. This is ridiculous! Every gods damned weekend we get punched in the face by Mother Nature. Sunday looks better, but that's Mother's Day so no guarantee I put in a full day working on the house that day as we might end up doing something with the kids for part of the day. I also need to fire up the mower and weedwacker because what little lawn we do have is really taking off. I also need to replace the stairs leading from the downstairs up to our living area so I'm hoping to do that Saturday if things don't go to shit. Bad weather weekends = what a bunch of crap! I wouldn't care if not for the fact that during the week Kat watches the baby so weekends are our only days to do outside work around the house, and this place needs tons of outside work still. I did take another load to the dump earlier so that helped just a tad.

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Wednesday, 5-07-25: Guess I should have had booze before I watched that epic fail disaster game.
The defending NBA champs, the Boston Celtics, had another great season. However, they suck now in the playoffs against the New York Knicks. They just blew a 20-point lead for the second consecutive game AT HOME. They lost at the end by one point after playing most of the 4th quarter without making any shots. What a bunch of crap! It was actually embarassing to watch. I only watched the last half of the game because I was hanging out with my wife earlier, and in hindsight I shouldn't have watched any of it. There is nothing worse in sports than seeing the team you cheer for take a huge lead and then fuck it all away. Gods damn it!

Funny enough the Cleveland Cavaliers also lost their first two games at home so the number 1 and number 2 seeded teams all lost at home. In the west the same thing happened in games 1 of those series OMG. The Celtics aren't eliminated from the playoffs yet, but they better get their shit together and start winning a lot from here on out. Shooting a pathetic 25% from 3-point range is not going to get the job done. They just set an NBA record for most 3-point shots missed in game 1 and now they have the record for most 3-point shots missed in two playoff games OF ALL TIME. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

The vibe is off in my life again lately and not because of basketball games that I rarely watch. It's nowhere near as bad as it was last fall dealing with that stupid fucking reastaurant, but it needs to get fixed ASAP. There is just too much to do and not enough time to get it done. The yard is really overgrown and we were supposed to have it bush-hogged yesterday until more rainy weather moved in. Now that won't happen until next week and we have ticks all over the friggin' place. I let the dogs out for a very short run up and down the long driveway (not all the way to the road of course) and they don't know any better so they veer off into the bushes just a bit, only for a minute, and next thing I know I'm peeling ticks off Groot and finding them on the floor. Dillon and Debbie have them in their house next door as well so maybe moving here was a bad decision after all. Can't enjoy anything outside at all on the rare occasions when the weather has been decent.

Oh, my allergies are as bad as ever although not so bad the past few days thanks to the rain. My left ear has been plugged for close to a couple weeks, but it is getting better. Maybe? Hopefully! I wish it was plugged when I was watching the last hour of that shit-show Celtics game so I didn't have to hear the announcers taking about the epic fail / epic comeback (if you are a New York fan and if you are I hate you.)

I just don't understand how the days can fly by so quickly. I still have tax clients needing my ass some, I'm trying to get code to give final approval for this huge garage I plan to build for my customer, and here at our house the list of things needing to be done is 1000 pages long. What a bunch of crap! I can't work here sometimes because the baby needs to sleep so that makes us scramble more on weekends to get things done so there are no real days off. I did take Monday off to go turkey hunting with Dad, but the days I go down to see my family don't seem like days off because it's always a long day with the drive to and from and trying to squeeze everything in. I left just after 0700 Monday and got home around 1700 so bye bye 10 hours. I don't regret going to visit my family I just hate the feeling after that now I'm another day behind on all my projects.

I won't go so far as to say my life sucks, but it's not great. How can I fix it? Sadly I think the only way is to actually finish some project or hire them all out. We are hiring out the bush-hogging, but I plan to do most everything else either myself or with help from my awesome wife and sometimes Dillon next door. He's busy as well working 50+ hours a week and he has a ton to do so I won't ask him for much help. If we hire stuff out there is no guarantee it gets done right and bye bye precious... precious money making it happen. We still spend more than we make and that will be the case for the rest of this year. I'm hoping 2026 is the year we actually make more than we spend.

^This is the gym. Yeah, we won't have an actual functional gym here for quite some time and I'm thinking not until the fall. What a bunch of crap! See all that booze? We had a lot leftover from the restaurant, stuff that we didn't sell or return, but I really don't drink as much as I should. I wanted a couple drinks tonight and I regret not having them. Too late now bedtime soon after my edible takes effect. I'll drink some tomorrow and Friday. Maybe? Hopefully! I don't need to drink a lot, just some to help my mind. People who say drugs are bad are fucking idiots because I'd be lost without some booze, caffiene, and pot (edibles I don't smoke.)

Blackflies were out today around the house. Thankfully I didn't spend too much time outside here because I was outside working on a fence for the same customer for whom I'm building a garage with a second floor office/utility space. The weather started off rough with drizzle and fog that didn't burn off until probably 1000 or so. I was able to work some downstairs before I headed into town. Then when I was done Kat wanted me to go into town with her but F that I wanted to go for a 2-mile jog/walk. I hadn't gone for a jog in 6 days mostly due to the weather. What a bunch of crap! I think Kat was mad at me for not going but I would have been mad at myself if I had gone.

Honestly the cons of living in Maine are starting to outweigh the pros. Doug probably got it right moving out to AZ. I doubt he has allergies out there in Tucson. I texted with Tommy and he also seems to be doing well out there. I'm not really planning a move to AZ, but if things trend for the worse here then it might become an option in the future. Funny many years ago I loved being in Maine and when I was in the Navy I really missed Maine as compared to other places I went. I was a dumb kid back then 30 years ago and now I'm a dumb adult hehehe.

Winter is too cold and snowy/icy. Spring brings out allergies that I didn't even have just over 10 years ago. Summer lately is too hot (It is 100% fact that our summers are warmer now than they were when we were kids.) so that really only leaves a small 6 or 8-week timeframe ALL YEAR when things are at their best late August through September and into early October. After that it starts to get cold again, but at least I can look forward to watching football and going deer hunting this year in the fall...

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Saturday, 5-03-25: A slider and a funny Google review.
It's damn early for a Saturday night, but we are pretty much toast. My awesome wife already fell asleep and I'm not far behind here at 2030. We worked pretty hard today and we stayed up a little past our bedtime last night. We had a few drinks, didn't get trashed and no hangover today, and it was fun. Kat sang some karaoke and I just hung out. We talked a lot about the restaurant and how things are going with the new place that just opened two weeks ago. (Two weeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssss hehehe.) Kat was planning to have a couple friends over, but it was just her and I and that worked out perfectly because we didn't feel obligated to stay up half the night to entertain people. We probably fell asleep just after 2300 so it wasn't a super-late night, but for us that's beyond the norm these days hehehe.

The new restaurant that took our place is REALLY struggling to get it right. Doesn't help the owner already got busted for drugs. What a bunch of crap! Innocent until proven guilty of course, but the court of public opinion will probably damn them forever in the restaurant and bar business. When Kat and I were at the place Thursday evening/night it wasn't busy at all, they toally fucked up our food, and a cop came in to patrol the place. He came over to Kat and I probably thinking we were the owners as we were in the past, but nope sorry not us. He wanted to introduce himself to the owner and wow that's not a good look for the patrons at their BRAND NEW BUSINESS.

I was in the tax office yesterday checking out their website as well as some Google reviews in between two client meetings. It's awful, epic fail, and what a bunch of crap all rolled into one! They have some 5-star review that they did themselves, you can tell from the names, and then there are some really bad ones including this review that made me laugh out loud:

^This is a one-star review and they wrote the place didn't even deserve one star. OMG! The best part "Mad Kat was the older brother to look up to. The bar was set very high by Steve, Kat and staff. Mack's, well I give them 2 weeks to close."

WHAT A SAD BUNCH OF CRAP FOR THEM!

Channel 1928 rips out Tina Turner We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome.) WHO RUNS BARTERTOWN?! I asked Kat to sing this last night hahaha. I love this song it's definitely Tina Turner's best one. Great movie, too.

We got motivated today and got a lot done before rain washed our asses out. Oh well it didn't start raining until mid-afternoon and we were mostly done by then. I took a fifth and final trip to the dump today so I went every single day Tues-Sat this week and got A LOT of debris out of here. Literally tons. It would have cost at least $700 and very likely over $1000 to rent a huge 40-yd rolloff and fill it up and my 5 trips cost just under $200 total. The Brewer Landfill is by far the cheapest option, but they only open for an entire week once a year for spring cleanup. Other than that it's only open the 1st and 3rd Sat each month so those hours SUCK.

When I got home my awesome wife started loading boards into the trailer so we could relocate them from the side of the house over to a cleared and dry area beside Dillon and Debbie's shed. I put that dump-trailer to work this week and it paid off huge for us for this week. I got to work filling in the opening where the garage door was located getting it ready for a new slider that we had delivered a couple weeks ago:

^Kat and Dillon helped pull out the old garage door and they helped install the new door as well once I framed it in. I used two tubes of roof caulk along the bottom edge before I installed a lot of flashing-tape:

^Thankfully that lip is pitched down to help shed water, but we had one rainstorm in the winter that caused a lot of water to come in through there. The ground was frozen solid so the rain ran right in as it couldn't absorb into the ground. That's why I elevated it 3" off the ground, just in case. The inside will be finished space so water infiltration would be all-bad.

^Lots of flashing tape (like ice and water shield for a roof but on a smaller roll) along the bottom as well. It took about 4 total hours and it's not quite done yet, but it's close enough and functional. I plan to reverse the door so it opens right to left and the right panel would be the entry whereas the left panel is the entry now.

Getting that slider done was a nice win for the day and now I have a whole interior section I can sheetrock. I'd love to start that tomorrow, but instead I plan to do the steps leading to the upstairs. Maybe? Hopefully! I might play rball as well tomorrow, but it's likely I won't play because we played yesterday and I kinda sucked. Gavin won both games and he dominated Mike and I in game 2. I felt a slight left calf strain (again) and my head was so plugged up that I couldn't breathe right and I just fell apart at the end. What a bunch of crap! It's so hard to feel 100% these days that I don't even think it's possible anymore, ever.

I did feel better today. My left ear is still plugged up, but it's not as bad as yesterday. No allergy effects today either. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Sadly rain will wash out 2/3 of the weekend when it rains all day tomorrow, but at least that will kill the pollens and I'll work inside anyway. We all pulled ticks off us again today so that sucks ass. We are clearning the place out slowly but surely but it takes forever because it's a sizeable property with junk all over the place, relatively speaking.

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Friday, 5-02-25: Failed meal at Mack's. We have ducks! Fence photo and a water-softner that I don't understand.
My awesome wife found three ducks yesterday morning at Tractor Supply while she was out running other errands. I didn't take a picture, but I will next time. Now we have 6 baby chickens and 3 baby ducks in the house and they are really awesome to watch. Especially the ducks wow they are adorable and this morning they were following Kat around so they've seemingly "attached" to her as their mom as they are prone to do. How awesome is that?! They won't stay in the kitchen forever and perhaps later this month will be time to move them outdoors. First I need to build coops for them so that's one more thing on the list of 100 things we still need to do this year. Not a complaint, though, and some of the bones for their outdoor area are already in place.

Speaking of outdoors, I worked outside a lot this week. I have a bit of a tan now so that's awesome, and my ears might have burned just a tad. Not only have I been working on this fence for my garage-job customer but I've also been working at our place:

^I need to swing by Lowe's today after a dump-run to grab some more parts for the fence. He wants a gate between the edge of the house and the long-fence straight run where that ladder is located so that will use up several more precious... precious hours. Good job security getting on these side-missions for them, but at some point it would be nice to get back to work on the garage.

His budget is somewhat limited so that's a win for me. He can afford me (at his current pace) for around 15-20 hours a week so that frees me up to do work here at our place. I've put in 3-4 hours on that fence and garage most days this week and more time here at our place. I have another full truck and trailer load of trash to take to the Brewer Landfill for the 4th consecutive day. I'll head into town in a couple hours (it's around 0900 now), do those errands, then I need to be in the tax office for about 3 hours before I play rball at 1600 and come home for the day.

I've hauled a lot of trash out of here already. A LOT. It's great getting the place more open, but these gods damned ticks are everywhere and I keep pulling them off me. It won't be so bad when we get the place more cleared, but getting at some of this trash means beating around in some bushes until I can clear and knock them down. This will help as well:

^A badass weedwacker-thing that Dad loaned to us last week. I haven't used it yet because I need to change the oil and put in fresh gas. Dad hadn't used it in a few years, but he said it worked awesome when he did use it. We also have our plow-guy coming to bush-hog a lot of the property hopefully as soon as next week. That will help with the ticks, too. Right now this entire property is a tick-paradise. We've found them in the house and even had one bored into one of our little chicken's heads two days ago. What a bunch of crap!

We had Bruce install a water-softner system for us a couple month ago because we had around 3PPM Iron in the water and that's considered very hard water. I do think the softner helps as I notice my hands don't crack as much, but who knows maybe all that iron was good for us? The system cost over $3000 including a bunch of salt. Bye bye precious... precious money. I don't really know how to use it so I was reading the directions but the directions suck so that's an epic fail.

^Probably a really badass piece of equipment that I don't understand. What a bunch of crap! The digital display flases the time and another number that I guess has something to do with regeneration. All I wanna know is why? Why does it have to grow its body parts back? When do I add more salt into the tank? Google was not very helpful so I guess I'll just ask Bruce when he comes again. I need to reach out to him anyway to find out when he can do Dillon and Debbie's place because they plan to do the same thing.

So my awesome wife mustered up the courage and fortitude to go to the new restaurant that opened 12 days ago where our Mad Kat venue was. It was weird going in there and seeing the place. We arrived around 1930, there were only about 12 people in there, and it took forever to get food that they messed up. What a bunch of crap! The kitchen definitely needs some improvement if they want to stay open more than a few months. When we first opened our place 4+ years ago we had isses as well, but nothing as bad as what these people have going on. Kat ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and they made a fried one. Fail. The appetizer platter wasn't so great and not all the food came out at the same time. One item they couldn't get right so somehow we ended up with 3 mini-burgers that we didn't even order hahaha.

Oh, a 16oz Downeast Cider beer was $8 and a shot of Espalon was $10. We spent $50 just on drinks gods damn it! (Two 16 oz beers for me and three shots for Kat.) They need to fix that pricing or they really will fail in a hurry. I plan to politely write down some of this so the owner can take it into consideration. Whether or not they take my advice is not my concern; I just want to help them succeed for two reasons. First it's the right thing to do to share what we learned with them. Second they still owe us monthly payments for the equipment so of course I want them to make a go of it so we can get paid!

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg site, I should go do some work. I have a couple hours before I need to head into town for most of the afternoon so I can work downstairs since it's rainy outside. I was going to turkey hunt with Dad today, but not with rain showers everywhere. I'll do see Dad Monday. I actually might turkey hunt up here as well since we've had a couple hens in the yard recently. I got a FoxPro call that needs batteries so once I fire that up and learn how to use it I should be good-to-go. Maybe? Hopefully!

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