(Last updated: 12-12-2024)

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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!

Thursday, 12-12-24: This is a fuckin' joke!
Sales for the week at the restaurant are around $1300. It's Thursday at 2200 and that was taps, taps, lights out all hands maintain silence on the decks in a life a long time ago on a really big ship. Sales that low = epic fuckin' fail. It's a total joke!

There were times I absolutely hated being in the Navy and being on the aircraft carrier. However, I did my shit and got my honorable on the DD-214. I look back and I think ya know, it really wasn't that bad as compared to how fucked up my current life is. Are my best years long behind me? I don't know, but I lost hope and I need to get it back ASAP. I often say to myself "I hate my life." and I said it a few times today. Can't get a screw to bite into anything but sheetrock? "I hate my life." Shoveling up soaking-wet drywall debris outside the house in Eddington because I couldn't get it all up before snow and then epic rain hit? "I hate my life."

Today was another pwned day in a long string of them. We've had a brutal stretch of weather lately including a few rounds of snow, nothing huge but annoying snow, and on Sunday that cost the restaurant a lot of money. A LOT. There wasn't enough snow to justify closing, but it was enough to scare half our customers off for the day. Then last night there was another epic huge rain and wind-storm. Gusts up to 60MPH and Bangor officially reported a 59 last night. 3" of rain, all-bad.

We get at least one of these totally-fucked storm every year now. This one compared to the one we got around this time last year, but at least I planned ahead a little for it. I went onto the restaurant roof and cleared a couple storm drains and I cleaned out the gutters at the house. Last year we had some basement flooding because the gutters were filled with leaves and ice, it poured rain, and the water had no gutters to use.

There was no flooding at the bar and no flooding at the house, but power was pwned. By some magic we never lost power at our house. However, the restaurant that I totally hate lost one of its 2-phase power systems so no walk-in coolers, no heat, no kitchen hoods, no opening. Eddington houses? Forget it looked like all of Eddington was in the dark. Trees down all over the place, 65,000 without power.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

Thankfully it got stupid-warm last night during the deluge of rain so all the snow melted and I could get some yard-stuff packed up and clean some debris in Eddington. I took a load of stuff up and I had my Dewalt stuff mostly charged so I could install our bedroom ceiling today with my cordless drill and cordless little Skil-Saw. I actually worked up there longer than I thought I could today thanks, but not really thanks, to the restaurant not being able to open on time because of fail-weather.

We are definitely NOT ready to move yet. Can we be ready in 4 days? I dunno but probably not thanks to the stupid restaurant. I did get most of the living room ceiling and floor done yesterday:

In a world were December weather isn't totally fucked I would have quit working there earlier because I was planning to go down to the ol' homestead for Nadia's 14th birthday. I can't friggin' believe I have a 14-year old niece! I can barely remember how old she is, but Mom texted it to me hahaha. Yeah, I suck as an uncle. Lately I suck at everything. What a bunch of crap!

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Tuesday, 12-10-24: The closing that didn't happen.
It's Tuesday evening, and if people somewhere else had done their jobs this house would have been sold already. However, the closing that was scheduled for today is now pushed back to the 16th, next Monday. Do I care and am I mad about it? NOPE!

I'm very happy to be able to stay here for another week because our new place is NOT ready. Here is the living room as of a few hours ago:

^Half done half still under construction hahahaha!

^Could use a bedroom door. We could not live there now, not just yet, especially not with pets.

Thankfully we do have the water turned on and when I was there Saturday with Bruce and Kevin (plumbers) they got it going. It was easy for them, but for me it was like nuclear physics.

^Precious... precious water running in our place. That vanity needs to GTFO! I'll buy a new one and take that bootleg-looking thing to the dump.

I rented a U-Haul for a couple days, I paid Chris and Mike (father and son duo who also work at the restaurant that I hate.) to help load it, and this was our house yesterday morning before a lot of it went into the 15-foot box-truck for the first of two trips:

^Even Tiger Lily is standing there thinking "What a bunch of crap!"

Moving sucks ass, especially in winter. We got 4-5" of snow Sunday morning, an inch last night, and periods of freezing drizzle all day. Thankfully the roads weren't busted so it was a clear trip with the U-Haul. These last couple days have been LONG days with lots to do. Too much to do, really.

I think I can have our living and bedrooms done in about a week, but the bathroom still needs some work and the stairs leading to and from the place are a little too steep for the dogs and, over time, of course for my awesome wife. Plus if we live there a long time doing the stairs will suck for me when I am older.

We dropped the price of the restaurant all the way down to $149,000 from its list price of $199,000. We need that place gone ASAP. I fuckin' hate doing that place now and it is still ruining my worthless life. On Friday I really had enough so I threw my name tag in the trash and went into the office to pout until one of the staff gave me ice cream. Everything I just wrote in that last sentence is true. What a bunch of crap! I was burned out and frustrated that two of the critical staff were an hour late on what was a busy Friday evening dinner-rush.

Sometimes the place is busy still, but often times it's not. Real winter is also here so the weather lately has hurt. A lot. Thursday and Sunday sales were ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag thanks to wintry weather. What a bunch of crap! Friday and Saturday were great days for the placce thanks to three different events in the banquet room.

Before I pass the hell out after some drinks (not too many) and an edible I am listening to the Pet Shop Boys an extended version of What Have I Done to Deserve This? It's a fuckin' awesome song and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. It's funny and sort-of fitting because I can easily and often do ask myself "What have I done to deserve this?"

Sadly the answer is obvious and excuses can't hide it. I made shitty-life decisions so now here I am thinking 2024 has been the worst year of my worthless life. As Dad would put it "You make your own luck." I think that is true 80-90% of the time and my dumb decisions are mostly no one's fault but my own. What a bunch of crap!

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Thursday, 12-05-24: How are we gonna pull this off?
We have to be out of this house in 5 days and into our new place. This is our kitchen at the new place:

^Even my awesome wife is looking up wondering wtf we got ourselves into. All I wanna know is why? Why do I specialize in these types of things throughout my life? NO CEILING YET WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

We still have a lot of stuff to move, and not one room is ready in our new place. every time I cut a hole in the sheetrock for a recessed light-can acorns fall out. I'm not even joking OMG! Obviously squirrels were living in the attic crawl-space above for years while the place was vacant. On the side where we ripped out the ceiling the problem appeared to have been mice, but there were hornets as well as squirrels and who knows what else all over that place like white on rice for a long time.

We both worked there today for a few hours. Kat finished painting the living room and most of the bedroom while I worked on other stuff like ceilings, insulation, and wiring. I need Sparkies out there soon, but not yet. I fucked up the wiring somewhere and have to fix it so we have some working outlets and lights. I will get it fixed, but it all eats up precious... precious time we usually can't spare.

I should be able to get back up there for a few hours tomorrow to work more on the ceilings and *hopefully* start a floor either in the living room or bedroom. I have a load of trash to take to the dump, that will be my third trip to the dump this week, and then it's off to Lowe's for a few more supplies and back at it. I will have to work at the restaurant tomorrow night, too. What a bunch of crap! I'll do what I can for work at our new place over the weekend before I pick up a 15-foot U-Haul for a couple days for what I expect to be two trips for moving the bed and other larger items we can't easily fit into either the car or my truck. We have moved a lot of stuff there already so that helps, but Monday and Tuesday we need to get it done.

The final walkthrough for this house is tomorrow at 0900. I plan to be here for that so if they try to fail my ass I can advocate for a different outcome. I did all kinds of stuff here and the buyer is getting a good deal so I'm not willing to get crazy on any more negotiations. Plus every time someone comes for some kind of tour or inspection stupid shit happens like the fence gate being left open so the dogs could run off into the street. What a bunch of crap! Or lights left on, thermostat turned up to 80 and not turned back down... F THAT!

I wonder when I can take another day off? I think it might be 2025, but hopefully Christmas. A lot of the days lately I'm only working at the restaurant a couple hours and most of the day I am in Eddington, but that still counts as work even if it is on the place where we plan to live. I really hope we can get it set up just how we want, and we need it for both of our sanities. I was thinking earlier I should just take a year off after we sell this house and the restaurant, but I don't forsee that actually happening. Who knows, though? If we do it right I could take a lot of time off after tax season into the spring, summer, and fall. I would love to take an actual vacation in 2025 as well. Haven't done a real vacation in something like 5 years. What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 12-04-24: This is turning into a shit-show. No water, no appliances?!
I've made too many poor life-decisions over the past four years to even keep track of them all. That stupid fuckin' restaurant that we shouldn't even own anyore eats my soul. The latest poor decision? Waiting until today, five days before we plan to move into our new place, to try and turn the water on. Guess what happened? If you guessed no water you win my useless fail-trophy that I will be awarding to myself again for seemingly the 1000th time this decade. What a bunch of crap!

I didn't think about the water because I am 100% overwhelmed with my bootleg, piece of shit life. It's failing, everything about it, and if I can't fix it in 2025 then I am out of here like a fat kid in dodge ball. I'm so used to city water where all you do is make a phone call and it gets turned on. However, we have a well with a pump and a tank and it's all sat idle for years. YEARS. How long can a drilled well just sit idle? I have no idea, but I'm thinking not that long, not without filling up with dirt and crud. However, I realld don't know. All I do know is I turned off the correct valves (I think?) and powered up the pump and nothing happened. No sounds, no water, epic failer. Maybe I didn't wait long enough? Hell if I know because the live wire goes into the dirt and into the unknown. Let's just hope Bruce can work some magic for us Friday or over the weekend...

^Awarded to myself because I suck! I should have tried to get the water on weeks ago, but I wasn't sure about the heat and I didn't want pipes to freeze because it's real winter now and it has been for a week. We've had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving night last week. What a bunch of crap!

I haven't been able to work up on our new place in Eddington for more than 4-5 hours a day each day mostly because we still own a restaurant that is eating my soul and that is killing my wife. We gotta unload that place ASAP. We wanted a price-drop this week, but our broker told us to wait because he still has fish on the line. We did agree that if nothing happens this week we need to drop the price. At this point I'm half-ready to give it away for free!

Another HUGE epic failer in our life happened yesterday and today. This one is out of our control so we didn't make our own luck here like we usually do. We ordered a fridge, stove, washer, dryer, microwave, and upright freezer from Home Depot on the 21st last month. It all went well, we got a sweet package deal, delivery scheduled for this Friday the 6th. Yesterday I got a text message from Home Depot saying the order got pushed back to January 27. WHAT?! I was working so I kept it on my radar. Then a couple hours later I got an automated phone call saying the same thing as well as an email about it. No human actually called to tell me why.

HEY HOME DEPOT GIVE US OUR APPLIANCES GODS DAMN IT!

I went to the store yesterday evening to find out wtf. Unfortunately no one was in appliance department but I did get someone who was very helpful. Sadly they farm out deliveries to some other company and they weren't ansswering that late so I was pwned. I got a 1800 number to call, I did that today, I got nowhere and the manager didn't help much either. A lot of the stuff just isn't available so now we have to go back to the store and figure it all out, and we barely have time for that since it's always go, go, go. We have to pack this place still and move, we need water, we need APPLIANCES, and we need to finish the remodeling. No room is ready yet in our soon-to-be home, not one at all. What a bunch of crap!

We decided to take down the ceilings in the kitchen area due to mouse issues from the past. Good thing we did because we found stained, gross insulation and this HUGE wasp nest the size of a softball:

OMG! Thankfully it's too cold for them to live there anymore. If we did that in summer we would have had a total disaster on our hands with wasps everywhere. The little "access panel", if you can even call it that, is all chewed and rotted away. It's totally ridiculous!

We plan to move in and *hopefully* have water by next week. Appliances would be nice, too. The kitchen and dining areas are separate from the bedroom and living room so we can still remodel that side without interfering too much in our peaceful living area. Once we get the living room finished I can start the kitchen and bathrooms. We need more time gods damn it! I could push the sale of this house back, but no guarantees that will work, the buyer could bail, and we need the precious... precious money from the sale of this place so we can pay off debts. At this point we are all-in on the place in Eddington even if we won't have water or appliances.

Hey, on the bright side of things, we do have good heat, electricity, and now fast Interweb after Spectrum came today to set us up. The guy said no one has ever had Spectrum (or cable?) there before so he had to run a line all the way from the street from a pole something like 700 feet away hahaha! He did a good job so hopefully not only do we have good Interweb but hopefully we also have good TV service for whatever the hell channels we get. My awesome wife signed up for that while I was doing my best on the carpentry up at our soon-to-be place. Thankfully the sheetrock work in the bedroom and living room is finally done, and I think most of the sheetrock work is done upstairs (downstairs can wait til 2025 as it's all garage and storage now.) Today I worked on ceilings after I failed to get the water on.

Tomorrow I'll come close to finishing one area and I think I can start the floor. Maybe? Hopefully! We need a floor somewhere so we have a place for the furniture!

I can't keep up anymore I can't wait to ditch the restaurant and this house so I can get some damn peace.

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Sunday, 12-01-24: Repairs at our hours that I should have done in the past...
I had to stop working on our soon-to-be home in Eddington Friday and half of today to take care of some "deferred maintenance" items here at our house. The inspection from a couple weeks ago led to the dreaded and not-unexpected list of fails. I knew most of them were coming because I kept blowing off work at our own house so I could work elsewhere. What a bunch of crap! It's embarassing for me loser-ass, especially considering I've spent ZERO dollars on most of the repairs because I already had the materials here in anticipation of doing the work.

Friday was the day to tackle the bathroom. I knew it would take several hours, and it certainly did. The carpenter who installed the bathroom floor many years ago didn't seat the toilet properly so there was a very slow leak that, over time, turned into this:

^WHAT A GROSS BUNCH OF CRAP! I was the carpenter who didn't get it right all those years ago and for the past couple years I've known there was some subfloor issues. Cutting that all out was messy, but it went well enough. About three hours later and I was at the halfway point with new subfloor and new flooring started:

Maybe 3 hours after that I finished the floor and got the toilet seated PROPERLY with a jumbo wax ring and got the vanity and trim back in place:

^All I had left to do after that photo was to nail the trim back into place and do a little caulking around the tub-side of the floor. Didn't take long at all and now the bathroom looks great. All I wanna know is why? Why didn't I make that a priority in the past? I suck!

Today Katherine rented a little U-Haul and moved up to Eddington. She'll rent a room on Dillon and Debbie's side at their adjacent house. For the first time in forever we won't have anyone living with us wow! I am looking forward to it. Having Katherine helped as she paid rent, but my awesome wife and I need more time with just us. I thought Katherine would need my help with some moving, but Dillon helped her so I could do more work here at our house before I did get to Eddington this afternoon. I had rotting deck boards on what was Katherine's little deck:

I also had to install two exterior outlet boxes since there were only wires there. I also should have done that years ago. What a bunch of crap!

All I have left is an exterior light and that won't take long. I also have to do some cleaning. This week will be a lot of time up in Eddington working on our soon-to-be home. We're planning to move up there next Monday the 9th and we plan to close on this house Tuesday, Dec 10. I have a lot to do this week to get our place ready! Thankfully tomorrow Chris and Mike will come up and do some demolition and other related work so I can focus on trim, a little more mud and sanding, doing a ceiling, and maybe doing some painting depending on how much painting my awesome wife can do before her afternoon appointments.

Sales were good at the restaurant this past week. Not all-time great, but better than the past 3 weeks and that's really amazing since we were closed Thursday. This coming week we will also get with our sales guy to lower the asking price. I wanted to get agressive with the price, but we shall see. Kat's imput is very important as is the feedback from our sales guy. Plus if all goes well with the reinspect of this house we can get it sold in 9 days and then we will have precious... precious money again. Having to NOT worry about money for the first time in months might change my perspective on the restaurant.

I still 100% want to sell the place of course.

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Thursday, 11-28-24: Thanksgiving, my birthday, my Amazon order.
Today is not only Thanksgiving but it is also my birthday. Where is my bootleg crap-cake that I've posted on this bootleg site in the past? Guy looks around for it...

^CLASSIC WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP NOT EVEN IN ENGLISH HEHEHE.

My day was all over the map today, as usual. First was midnight today when I was at the restaurant that I fuckin' hate doing dishes. I finished around 0100 and normally we aren't open so late on a Wednesday, but the day before Thanksgiving Day is the busiest drinking day of the year (or so they say) so we did decent business. Not all-time great, but better than I expected. I closed dish for a few hours after I helped my awesome wife host the usual trivia. One of the categories was Disney and I knew zero of the ten answers on that one. ZERO. What a bunch of crap! I know some Disney and I like a lot of their movies, but I'm not that big of a fan. Moana is fantastic, one of their best of all-time, and part 2 just hit theaters so a couple questions were about that flick. Did I know who The Rock was in that movie? NOPE. The correct answer is a "Demi-God." I already stopped caring...

I ate an edible, thanks Andrea, and I bivouaced around 0145. I got my ass up before 0800 so I could shovel in some food, throw some stuff in the truck and get to Eddington to work on our soon-to-be home. Every time we go up there we bring some stuff so in theory the actual move will be easier. I worked there for close to 4 hours before I had to head home, clean up, and get to the bar for our usual Thanksgiving meal. Every year for the past four years we've done Thanksgiving at the restaurant with friends, co-workers, and family and my awesome wife was there all morning doing the meal while I did carpentry. CARPENTRY > COOKING. Fuck cooking I hate it. I'll just eat sandwiches and Lunchables hehehe. Just kidding I do eat fairly healthy. I think? I'm not FAT so that counts for something. Too bad I don't feel healthy becuase my life is a toilet.

We had a fantastic meal with good friends and family before getting out of there as the rain turned to snow. We are under a WINTER STORM WARNING, but so far it's not terrible. We have a couple slushy inches of snow on the ground and it ends just after midnight when I will be passed the hell out after a couple drinks and an edible. It's not too bad outside now and this is one of those storms that crept up on us. For days we were expecting a glancing blow and mostly rain then yesterday here comes the WINTER STORM WARNING. What a bunch of crap!

We are NOT ready for winter. I have work to do outside not only at Treats Falls but also here at our house. We don't have plowing set up for our new place in Eddington, and we need it with a 300-foot-long driveway. I don't really know how long the driveway is I just made a guess, but that feels about right. 100 yards, give or take. I love it up there, but it's not even close to winter-ready. Thankfully the forced hot air furnace works great because it's essentially new still. Back to oil for us!

I had a bunch of texts to reply to, mostly "happy birthday" and/or "happy Thanksgiving." It's nice of so many of my friends and family to reach out. Every several years my birthday falls on Thanksgiving. I don't give a fuck about my birthday and I wish we could just skip it.

My awesome wife and I watched a little TV, some AEW wrestling (recorded from last night and we FF through a lot of it) and talked about our soon-to-be new home. We argreed we need to take the ceiling down in what will be the kitchen area so that adds more work. However, I think I can get Chris and Mike to help. They've been helping me at Treats Falls, but we are shut down on that job due to the weather and my overall lack of precious... precious time. We tried to work on that garage yesterday, but after only an hour we got a very annoying and unexpected period of heavy drizzle that soaked everything. Then it turned into a little wet snow. What a bunch of crap! I was PISSED. All my tools were getting wet and it wasn't safe so I had to shut it down. We had just put the first piece of Advantex in as well, but being 14-feet in the air on a wet surface is not ideal. Plus the adhesive was not working anymore beause the joists got too wet. Gods damn it! The sun did come out later in the afternoon, but it was one of those days were nothing actually even dried out. Working outside this time of year SUCKS.

After Kat bivouaced I came out into the living room to order some stuff on Amazon. I hate online shopping for stuff I just need when I know it's near "Black Friday" and everyone else is also shopping online. Hopefully this holds true and I get my stuff next week:

^The racquetball stuff isn't a priority, but I want those 10 light cans for our new place. I haven't gotten jack shit for exercise in the traditional sense lately. No lifting weights, no yoga, no jogging. However, I have played racquetball a couple times including some decent games vs. Mike Tuesday. I've had tennis elbow again from doing all the carpentry and that has also been quite a bit of exercise so I'm not just sitting around gaining weight. I do have CBD "recovery" cream that helps a lot for my tennis elbow. Mudding and sanding is the worst for it, but using the drill, hammer, etc a lot also causes it to flare up. It wasn't a problem for a couple years, but now that I'm bigtime back into carpentry it's the price I pay.

We have to be out of this house in 12 days. OMG! How close are we to being ready? NOT CLOSE AT ALL. Tomorrow I have to replace our bathroom floor and then this weekend I should be able to get back to Eddington. Maybe? Hopefully! I also plan to pay Chris and Mike to help me in Eddington this coming week since we won't be doing that garage. The extended forecast is ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag. This time of year even good-forecast days can suck. Like yesterday. Forecast was 42, NW breeze, party cloudy and at noon we were getting heavy drizzle and snow and 35 degrees. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I had long johns on and was all bundled up so I wasn't cold, but once it got all wet I did start to get a little chilly. Nothing horrible since I was close to home and fresh clothes.

I'm "celebrating" my 49th birthday by listening to the Pet Shop Boys on YouTube as I write this bootleg update that almost no one will ever read. Earlier I listened to some Def Leppard's Hysteria and that seems perfectly appropriate considering it's not only my favorite band of all-time but also my favorite album. Soon I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball to maybe watch a little football before I bivouac. Busy day tomorrow, busy day the day after, and busy December. I need more than 24 hours in a day gods damn it. Whose fault is this mess? MINE!

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Friday, 11-22-24: A small break before going back to work at the place I hate.
Owning this stupid fuckin' restaurant really destroyed my day today, and it's destroying everything about my existence on this planet. I worked there 12 hours, give or take, and I have to go back to work more before I can bivouac. What a bunch of crap! I had to set up for a daytime event, a really nice 50th wedding anniversary that I also bartended for (they didn't drink much) before I had to help during the dinner-hour. I also had to help clean up after the event, book a last-minute event for next week, and then my dishwasher tapped out because he was feeling sick so that sucked even more. Thankfully my awesome wife got someone else in there, but he's only there temporarily until I go back to close it down.

On top of all that sales are down ever since the disaster that was the failed sale from the end of last month three weeks ago. What a bunch of crap! That daytime event really carried us today or else sales would really be bad. Friday nights haven't been so great lately; last Friday we closed 45 minutes early because there were almost no customers left. I was totally fine with that because I just want to be done with it all, and I will be soon.

Kat and I decided yesterday we are done as of Dec 31. If there is no buyer for the place we are going to close and be done with it. The only way I'll stay there into 2025 is if we have a GOOD buyer who needs a little time to get the sale final and to take over properly. We can't make money there and I stopped caring. I hate the place and I really would prefer to just close tomorrow for good, but we owe it to the staff and to people who booked events to forge on for another 5 weeks. Plus keeping it going gives us our only chance to sell.

I called our broker around midday and told him we are all done Dec 31 so it's time to figure out another price-drop. I'll get stupid cheap with the place if I have to because something would be better than nothing. The broker thinks he can get us a good offer by next week as he has some fish on the line, but I've done plenty of fishing and until the fish are in the net and in the boat having one on the line doesn't mean shit. At this point getting my life back means more than the money, but I am willing to work there for a few more weeks because getting some precious... precious money for the place would be ideal.

I feel exhausted. I drank half a Red Bull 1.5 hours ago, but it really didn't work. What a bunch of crap! Adding to the fail that is my dog-shit life is the fact that we had a motor for a kitchen hood go down. I got a new motor, but it doens't perfectly fit and I don't know how to wire it. I don't understand the wiring diagram because there are four different options. Thankfully Sparkies are ready, willing, and able to do it for me. Unfortunately by the time I got up onto the roof yesterday to start working on it a heavy drizzle started. It rained all day today, it rains all day tomorrow, and it will be very windy and cold Sunday so I guess I have to deal with it Monday. What a bunch of crap!

I have so much work to do that I can't possibly get it all done so now I have to decide what work I will just skip. Our soon-to-be home in Eddington is nowhere close to ready and I can barely make time to work on it. I did get quite a bit done there Wednesday in about 5 total hours, but the stupid fuckin restaurant took me away too much yesterday and of course today. I'm still hopeful I can finish the living room and bedroom areas of the place before we start living there, but I'm not really even sure I can do that. I have to make this list a priority if we want precious... precious money:

^I didn't post the second page, but the big one there is something I've known I've had to do for a couple years but I suck at life so I never got on it. I have to cut out a section of the bathroom floor and replace what is most likely water damage from the toilet area. I'm sure the wax seal leaked some and over time that is all-bad. Thankfully it's a small bathroom so redoing the floor shouldn't take forever, but I bet the entire job will eat up a whole day. Gods damn it! Whose fault is that?! MINE.

I'm so overwhelmed all the time that I never finished some things here at our house. I am totally failing at life right now, and it is embarassing. What a bunch of crap!

I should be looking forward to a new start in Eddington, but I have too much to do so forget that. I could hire some of the work out, but we are dangerously low on funds and when I work on our new place I'm making decisions on the fly. We still haven't 100% laid out what will be our kitchen area, but we did score an awesome deal at Home Depot yesterday on new appliances. Somehow we got a nice fridge, oven, washer, dryer, stand-up freezer, and under-cabinet microwave for "only" $3089. That is a lot of dough, but full price with no sale would have been closer to $4500-$5000. OMG.

The big stand-up freezer will be great to have for deer meat and other food. I can't shoot a deer because I fucked every aspect of my shitty life away and I can't go hunting at all this season, but Dad shot a 145-lb 8-pointer and plans to load me up with meat since they have too much. Not going hunting at all this fall is depressing and sad. It's my own dumbass fault, as usual.

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Monday, 11-18-24: A 50th anniversary and more work stuff.
Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary was Friday the 15th, three days ago. I did call them Thursday night to wish them a happy anniversary and I went to visit yesterday. Mom worked all day on their actual anniversary because that's how she rolls; they are not big into celebrations of their own milestones and I guess that's where I get my own aversion to celebrating stupid crap like my own birthday.

Jason and I had talked earlier this year about getting Doug back so we could all be together for the incredible occasion, but sadly that didn't work out. We wanted to fly his ass back as a surprise, but things don't always work out the way they are planned. Nevertheless it was a nice visit and all I got for them was a card. No other gift. What a bunch of crap! I SUCK.

Hey I took yesterday off from work. OMG RARE! However, I did stop at Lowe's on the way home for 15 minutes to buy some lumber for this job so I guess I did just a little work:

^I took that picture around midday/early PM. Mike is cutting the next board and Chris is way in the background hoisting a 160" tall 2x8 for a wall stud. Those are some serious walls and moving them is work. We got it to the point we became pretty good at it; we'd build a section no more than 8 feet due to overall weight and install three of the nearly 14-foot studs. Then we'd toe-nail the other studs after the fact. We now have all the walls up 100% for the huge first floor, but I still have to do a couple more headers for windows and doors so I need more lumber. Plus I need three more 2x12x16 for the joists above for what should eventually be a second floor.

I'm anxious to finish the garage framing and plywood so I can shut it down for a while, most likely all winter, so I can work on our soon-to-be new home. Today was decent weather with a high temp close to 50 so working on that garage made sense. There won't be many more 50-degree days this year. What a bunch of crap! Our average high temp is probably closer to 45 now. Soon enough we will have snow, but no snow is expected this week.

I'll work on that garage again tomorrow then it's back to Eddington to work on our new place. I took some pictures last Friday after I framed what will be our bedroom wall:

^Not framed yet, but I did get one with the framing:

^That little area off to the right might be a little office or, more likely, a play area for the grandkids. I'm standing in what will be the living room in that photo. I did get some sheetrock up, but not much because I had to get into the attic crawl-space and run wires. Plus I had to work at the restaurant that night. What a bunch of crap!

Speaking of the restaurant, we don't have a new buyer yet but I talked to our sales broker today and he has some fish on the line. Not sure he can reel them in, but I got the sense from talking to him that he is confident he can get someone to make a reasonable offer soon. I'll believe it when I see it, but it sure would be nice.

I also have to do some work on our house so we can officially get it sold. The buyer was going back and forth all day and sent three different contingency bullshit things, but thankfully Jody handed that like a boss for us so the final one isn't so bad. I don't have precious... precious time to work on this place, but it needs to be done so I will make the time. It all should have been done in the past but I started to fail and life and that includes maintenance on our own house. What a bunch of crap!

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Thursday, 11-14-24: The ripple effect of my failed dog-shit life decisions.
We should not still own a restaurant. However, we still own a restaurant. What a bunch of crap! Not selling the place a couple weeks ago really sucked. A lot. There is a ripple-effect of us still owning that gods damned place, and my bootleg once-awesome F150 is a part of that. I can't afford a newer truck so I keep dumping precious... precious money into my 14-year old truck at an alarming rate. For the past couple weeks the thing hasn't been running well at all and the power steering took a dump so that meant I had to get it to the shop ASAP.

The one shop I prefer to use lost all its help so the guy said he couldn't get me in until Dec 10. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Thankfully Midas got me in and they treated me well, but I also had engine issues and I had to drop another $3465 to get everything mostly done. I need a newer truck really badly, but financially we are a Sarlaac Pit and if I had one I would get boozed up and jump right in. I'm not drunk enough to do that yet, but I have had a few...

^I feel like throwing myself into one of those, but I don't know where to find one. Tattoine? How do I get to this fictional place?

I'd be a fucking idiot to commit suicide by jumping into a Sarlaac Pit because it takes 1000 years to get digested. NO THANK YOU DO NOT WANT. I'd rather just get obliterated and freeze to death. It's been close to cold enough for that lately, but not quite. I think to do it right it's better if temps are below 20. I haven't researched that at all; I'm just making a dumb guess.

FUCK MY LIFE.

^AWARDED TO ME FOR BEING A FAILURE.

I am really sad and depressed and I really don't want to be alive anymore. What a bunch of crap! The only reason I didn't get wasted and pass out in the Mad Kat freezer yet is I feel badly for people who will be sad when I'm gone. I can't imagine the mess it would cause if my own wife went down there to do inventory and found her dumb, dead husband passed out with no heartbeat in the freezer like Jack Torrence from The Shining. I won't do that to her or to my parents. Maybe one day when Mom and Pop check out if my life is still ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag I will reconsider my options...

I am a little hopeful that I can fix my bootleg, totally-failed life. We have a place in Eddington now that seems lovely, but I'm too far against a deadline to really appreciate it. Yesterday there were turkeys running around in the yard then I saw a bobcat. Today I saw 3 deer as I was leaving, right in the back corner of the overgrown back yard area maybe 75 yards away. This fall is totally, 100% ruined for me to enjoy the outdoors and that sucks. A lot. I can't even go hunting with my father who might not even be here to hunt again next fall. I sure hope he is, but his health is not the best these days. Gods damn it!

^What will be our bedroom up at Chemo Pond Rd. I did that Tuesday afternoon...

^Another look at what will be our bedroom from another angle, photo taken yesterday after I did some cleaning. The living room will be off to the right and there will be a wall just past that little pile of lumber.

That fucking restaurant really trashed my life so we have important decisions to make in about 6 weeks. So far there are no other buyers so we will drop the price again if needed and then most likely just close for good Jan 1 with no revenue at all and a lot of debt. Obviously that is a worst-case scenrio and I'd do everything possible to avoid that including letting key members of staff just take over or something creative. It all depends on how sales go from now until then, but tonight has been epic fail and what a bunch of crap all rolled up into one. Worst Thursday of the year. Thankfully yesterday was good and last week was... passable so there is still a little hope.

I am running out of hope.

Trump is president again so that does make me soewhat optimistic about the economic future of our once-great and now shit-show nation. He's a scumbag human, but he will put in the work and surround himself with like-minded people who will also put in the work to "Make America Great Again." What a fantastic slogan that really resonates with me. It should resonate with everyone.

America was great when my grandparents generation were around. A lot of them were racist assholes, but most of them were hard-working, God-fearing (sorry there probably is no god), productive members of society who didn't want welfare, handouts, and stupid shit like defund the police and everything related to social media. Now I'm rambling because I am half in the bag, I'm sad, and I'm unhappy. What a bunch of crap!

If the move to Eddington turns out to be a shit-show then I have no reason to live in Penobscot County ever again in my sad life. This is my last chance in this area and if it fails I might not even be in Maine anymore at this time next year. I do want things to get better up there because it's a beautiful, peaceful-seeming place. We shall see...

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Sunday, 11-10-24: We pulled it off and will be moving to Eddington soon!
It took a lot of financial wrangling and a lot of work doing bank-required repairs, but we closed on the sale of Chemo Pond Rd Friday afternoon and now we co-own the properties with Dillon and Debbie. Oh Jesus, hell ya! One house is theirs and the other is ours since there are two buildings there. One building is a huge garage with living space above. It needs a lot more work, but it's ours now and we can make it what we want.

We had to sell two houses to get this deal done. Well, we really only needed Dillon and Debbie to sell their house to make it official, but we do need to sell our house to pay for repairs and upgrades we want for the new place. Plus we owe Dillon and Debbie half the up-front 20% down and all the other closing fees. We can pay that in about a month when our house is *hopefully* sold. We are under contract to close Dec 10 in exactly one month.

I worked a couple hours up at our new place yesterday. I would have worked more, but we still have the restaurant in our life and we are back to working there on weekends. What a bunch of crap! One thing that did make me happy about the restaurant these past few days of reopening is how fantastic our regular customers are. Everyone went above and beyond to be supportive to us and sales weren't as bad as I had feared. We had to close for 8 days so there are many people who think we went out of business...

First on the list as owners of our soon-to-be home: RIP OUT TWO GROSS CARPETS. Fuck carpets they are nasty. One of the rugs smelled like pee so it's gone now. Thankfully no stains appear to have bled through into the subfloor. When the plywood decking gets stains from pee it's all-bad and you can be stuck with the smell forever. I did take a couple pictures:

Today my awesome wife and I talked about how we will remodel the kitchen. Obviously cabinets along the wall to likely form an L-shape with the fridge on the end to the left. We think we also have room for an island near the middle; the wall on the left is not a load-bearing wall so that is coming down this week and the entire kitchen area will be a lot bigger.

So I have one month to get our new home ready. Can I pull it off? I think so and I hope so. It won't be 100%, but it doesn't need to be perfect. I just don't want sheetrock dust and crap everywhere after we do move in.

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Thursday, 11-07-24: I think this is actually happening. Maybe? Hopefully!
We have a closing date tomorrow for Chemo Pond Rd in Eddington so I think this thing is actually going to happen for us. Unfortunately the financial side of things was a shit-show and took a lot of massaging on our end to pull off. A LOT. Losing the Mad Kat sale last week was incredibly crippling to the point I had to go meet with a lawyer to explore legal options for the near future. What a bunch of crap! We need new surroundings more than ever.

I had been putting in quite a bit of work at Chemo Pond Rd last week and on Monday afternoon the inspector from the bank came and signed off on everything. I got a lot of trim and misc done including quite a bit of work on what will be our home. I had to remove this bootleg trim and install sheetrock:

^There was all kinds of areas, especially trim work, that was never finished. I only did some of it to pass for the bank. We don't own the place yet so doing too much doesn't make sense.

I also had other trim, lights to hang, decks to repair, etc. It didn't need to be perfect, but it did need to be better than what was there before:

^Photo taken before I did any of the work. I will have to post photos of what it looks like now, but not until probably next week because I'll be really busy. Again. Yes, fuck my life.

I spent time the past three days working on this huge garage:

I did have help the past couple days for a few hours each day, and we got a lot done. That photo was taken yesterday and today we installed a lot more joists along the top. I would have liked to work there more than 4.5 total hours, but the restaurant we shouldn't own anymore chewed up my precious... precious time.

We did get the restaurant reopened yesterday and had mediocre sales. A lot of regulars showed up to support us that was awesome to see. I fear we suffered a huge amount of damage from being closed for a week with no clarity on the future plan, but we won't really get a sense of the damage for a week or so. Tonight sales aren't great, but they are 10% better than this time last year so I can't really complain.

We dropped the asking price for the restaurant to $199,000 down from $249,000. If no one makes an offer we will keep dropping the price until someone does. We need to be done with that place by early 2025 at the latest because F that we need to rebuild our epic-failer life. Worst case we will just close and bankrupt the business unless sales can hit certain numbers that make it viable. Will that happen? 50/50 like almost everything in my shitty life right now. What a bunch of crap!

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Saturday, 11-02-24: At what point do I hit critical mass and melt down for good? NOT SOLD!
In the world of nuclear physics there is a point of critical mass, total meltdown, fin, the end, you are pwned. Right now I'm closing in on that and if I don't fix my shit soon I'm probably done and I'll go pound a handle of liquor and pass out in a snowbank. I can be frozen and brought back to life like Stallone and Snipes in the awesome and ridiculous movie, Demolition Man.

I am not suicidal just yet, but the path is leading me that way so I need a Robert Frost poem to intervene so I can find a new path. However, poetry and art FUCKIN SUCK so nevermind. The only one who can fix this is me, myself, and I. It's a total disaster right now on all fronts of my life and I am really not sure if I can recover. If a few things go our way I think I can. Maybe? Hopefully!

I've had so much going on over the past 9 days since my last bootleg update that I can't even fit it all in. Bullet points maybe?

-Code shut down my garage job because of permit issues. They did let me get back to work on it, but I've had no precious... precious time this past week so I haven't started back up. The permit for the foundation was approved three years ago, but the prior code person blew it and shouldn't have approved it, so if not for that the job would be over.

-We got our house under contract last night for $269,000. We listed for $329,000, we only had two showings over a month, so we dropped it to $309,000 and we're lucky we even got an offer because the market is ICE COLD right now. What a bunch of crap! This guy had offered $250k, we said no, he bumped it to $260k, we said no, and now we have a deal. We don't like the price, but we don't have a choice because we're pwned.

-The restaurant is not sold. THE BUYERS BACKED OUT ONE DAY BEFORE THE SALE. More on that in a minute because it's catastrophic and that is the thing that might end me. I can't even begin to put into words how crippling it is.

-I've been working up in Eddington at our soon-to-be new place trying to get it to pass a final bank inspection. We were going to have plenty of precious... precious money to close the deal, but we are now very poor and that sucks. A lot.

-It's hunting season and I can't go deer hunting. I thought I could go later this month, but now I think it's just canceled. I'll barely have time to even go celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary with them in a couple weeks.

-We had farewell parties for the restaurant that aren't really our farewell. We had a private party Wednesday night that was a lot of fun, but it was bittersweet. I ended up with cake all over my face, but so did Caitlin that chick could not fool my ass. Okay, she did, but I was mostly ready.

-The Yankees lost to the Dodgers in the World Series, the Celtics are 5-1 to start the season, and the Patriots are 2-6. I have almost no time to even watch sports. Gods damn it!

-The presidential election is in only 3 days, Trump vs. Harris, and if you vote for Harris I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. Trump is insane, but he won't fuck around. All Harris does is fuck around.

The biggest story of my shitty life, and it's a HUGE story, is the epic fail that was the restaurant sale that didn't happen. We had a contract in place and the people who wanted to buy the business canceled the sale the day before. I was pulling into what should be our new home in Eddington to do some work, I saw a deer in the yard, and my sales rep was calling me to tell me the buyers cut their offer in half. OH HELL NO. Then, two hours later after some failed negotiations, they called the whole thing off.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

This is a fucking catastrophe for us on an epic scale. We were planning on getting a check for $90,000 yesterday and instead we got nothing. ZERO. We are closed, the new owners wanted the place closed for at least a few days, and that's why I am on this bootleg site right now on a Saturday night. We were also supposed to get monthly payments for the next year, enough to cover all our bills plus extra, so we are totally pwned.

Financially we are really screwed. I can't even write that much about the specifics of it all because I will be meeting with a laywer and we are likely going to court over it. You can't just sign a contract then back out of it the day before it's set to take effect. We did nothing wrong, and they seemed to have done a lot wrong. A LOT. They got upset because of social media negative feedback about them, but that's not our fault gods damn it. They wanted to close and cancel four events, they wanted to cut karaoke, and a lot of the staff didn't want to work for them. I don't do social media at all, but those people who do social media sounded off about it all.

We are screwed right now. We have a closed restaurant, we told the staff to get unemployment, and we have little inventory. We don't even know when and if we can get open again, but it seems likely we can open midweek next week. We have an AMAZING staff who all agreed to come back, and all of them even agreed to forgo final vacaion pay so we have enough precious... precious money to restock and get the doors open.

The magnitude of this shit-show is hard to explain. Now we have to reopen and I have to work there 3-4 days a week and most of that will be washing dishes since we lost a couple dishwashers. We also lost a couple cooks because they got other jobs. I don't blame them for that at all, but I do blame the buyers who bailed out.

The bad look for the business can't be quantified yet either, not until we get back open and see who shows back up, but the one thing that could save us is the fact we have a GREAT staff right now and many loyal, fantastic customers who plan to come back when we open and who weren't coming for the new owners.

So we went from being retired from the restaurant business to getting thrown right back into it all with about 48 hours. I did strongly consider just closing for good, but if we reopen we *might* find another buyer. We dropped the asking price already from $250k down to $199k, and if no one buys at that price point I'm sure we will lower it again. The people backing out of the sale so close to the finish line cost is tens of thousands of dollars and I'm thinking at minimum we should ask for $50k in restitution, lost revenue, and now I'm going to be working there when I should be doing carpentry for twice as much money. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I am beyond stressed and upset, and Kat is as well. I am so sick of worrying about money that it's going to put me into the grave. We should have an extra $90k in the bank right now but that fell apart. To be clear, that $90k was NOT all profit. We have tens of thousands of dollars in final bills to settle for the restaurant.

If the sale of our house falls apart and there is no buyer for the restaurant next month we are done. It will be bankruptcy and either death (depending on how drunk I get and if I can go pass out and freeze to death or not) or living in some small apartment and looking for another job. No carpentry, no doing taxes, no nothing and really no reason to even be alive anymore. Worst case I really don't give a shit if I die. I don't want to commit suicide because everyone will think I'm a pussy so maybe I can go sunbathe under power lines and get cancer so I can die from a sickness and then I'm not the selfish asshole? Sadly I can't sunbathe under power lines this time of year because it's too friggin' cold.

It was 75 Thursday and 73 yesterday wow! Too bad I could barely be outside because my life is this more than ever right now:

Fuck my fuckin' life. The end.

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Thursday, 10-24-24: The good, the bad, and the mediocre of today.
I had another full, busy day. Par for the course in my shit-show epic fail life these days, but I have hope because things are changing rapidly and by 2025 I think I'll be on the right track. Maybe? Hopefully!

I started the day with a 0730 trip to Lowe's to buy a few supplies so I could keep working on this in the afternoon:

^I needed longer 2x4s for bracing, some lags, some other smaller stuff, etc. Gavin and I worked on that Monday and Tuesday and that is where we left off on Tuesday. Doing that first wall section was a bunch of crap because it was quite heavy, but we got it figured out without having the thing fall on us. We finally decided to brace it to the house, and thankfully Gav was able to drag out some useful scraps from his house so we didn't have to go up to Lowe's to buy stuff. He's a good carpenter and a great friend.

After my Lowe's trip it was straight to the bar to meet with someone who booked a Nov 2 event then I had Jim there to clean the keg lines and shortly after that the people taking away the pool table and ATM. The soon-to-be new owners also showed up and I spent a couple hours with them where I got a sense of some changes coming almost immediately after they take over. They said on Monday at the staff meeting there wouldn't be much for changes so three days later I guess that all goes out the window. What a bunch of crap! Even worse was when I told Kat some of it earlier this evening and she got all pissed off at me.

So I did what most abnormal people would do. Instead of dealing with an angry wife (not my fuckin' fault, chick!) I went outside to rake leaves then, after she left, I started to drink booze hehe. Our yard had a lot of leaves all over the place. A LOT:

^That's just one area of the yard, too. Thankfully I got rid of a lot of that both yesterday and today. I like this location, but the two huge maple trees (one out front and one out back) sure do drop a ton of leaves every fall and that sucks. A lot.

I finally got out of the restaurant that I 100% hate around 1220 and I had just enough time to meet my two helpers at Treats Falls so we all could work on that garage for a couple hours. They couldn't stay too long because they both work at the restaurant, but having them there was fantastic and we got more done:

^Outer wall not quite perfectly straight and level yet, but it will be once we put some more work into it. That wall is HUGE. We can't even put every 2x8x160 stud in place before we stand the wall up because it's too heavy so the rest will go in later.

Since I worked all damn day I didn't get a chance to talk to my wife about the restaurant new owners and their tentative plans. They will most likely cut weekend brunch, cut Tuesdays, and possibly not keep all the staff since they plan to reduce hours. The event room will have a different purpose in 2025 as well, and a name-change is coming. It's a little sad seeing what we built coming to an end, but fuck that we never made a dime of profit and it looks like we will lose over $300,000 when it's all said and done. Plus I lost what should have been some great years of my life. What a bunch of crap!

Needless to say Kat blew a gasket when I told her of some impending changes. She wants them to change the place and not use her name anymore so she can't also say "keep it the same." I hate to say it, but I don't give a fuck I just need that gods damned place out of my life ASAP before I die. That restaurant would kill me, too. I am already not doing okay so I'm sorry if my wife is not doing okay because of it, but I can't help her until I can help myself and as long as we have that restaurant I can't help anyone. Not sure I am even qualified to be emotional support for anyone, ever, but I sure as hell can't do that right now.

The way I see it is we had two options. First and worst option, simply close and be bankrupt. Second and much better option, sell and let the new owners make their own path. The new owners NEED to make changes so they can make money because we never got that part right. I should have done it right, but I gave up a long time ago and it doesn't take more than a quick skim of the archives to see how miserable I've been and how little I give a crap about that fuckin' restaurant. That place almost ruined my entire life and I'm not even really sure I can come back from it. I hope I can, but I give it a 50% chance.

So today started off kinda shitty (restaurant stuff all morning) then got better when I had a chance to go build stuff and actually earn money then it got terrible when I got home and my wife treated me like shit. In conclusion, everything related to the restuarant today made my life worse whereas when I had a chance to do work I mostly enjoy I had a reason to live again.

Where's my psychologist?

Oh well, at least I got to spend precious.... precious time by myself this evening. I left my angry wife in the bedroom to do her own thing (she also went to that bootleg Spirit Halloween place) and I drank booze and watched the Celtics beat the Wizards for a 2-0 start to the season. Now here I am writing my useless thoughts to almost no one. What a bunch of crap!

We still seem to be on-track for closing in one week for the restaurant. I'll go help the new owners some next month, but I have a lot of other stuff to do and I would very-much like to go deer hunting with Jason and Dad.

My life still fuckin' sucks because I made a series of bad decisions and now I have to live with it because I totally made my own luck. What a bunch of crap!

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Monday, 10-21-24: Started the garage. Staff meeting, the end-plan.
We have more clarify on the restaurant situation and it's anticipated closing date. As of right now we are still on track for a Nov 1 closing, but holy Jebus a lot of things have to fall into place for that to actually happen. They still need a couple licenses and we have a lot to do as well including packing. I haven't started packing anything in the office yet. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, I can get that done in a couple hours and I'll start that later this week or early next week.

Gavin took two vacation days from work and today he helped me start this huge garage project up at Treats Falls. (He plans to help tomorrow, too.) Here is what the place looked like before supplies were delivered and we started ripping things up:

After about three hours we had the two windows removed and Gavin was measuring the framing in the window on the left:

By early afternoon we had officially cancelled the windows and here it is:

We did also start some carpentry on the walls themselves, but not too much. The clapboard siding behind that vinyl siding was just weird. It's a cardboard-wafer-board material with an outer layer to presumably keep it weather-tight. It looks like a bunch of crap that would soak up all the mosture and epic fail, but after all these years I didn't see any rot or water damage anywhere. Maybe because they put vinyl siding over it? Hell if I know, but I doubt it was sided with vinyl at the time way back in the early 1980s when it was built.

The weather was perfect today, too. High temp 75, no rain, awesome. Tomorrow we reach near 70, Wed upper 60s, then it gets a lot colder towards the end of the week and Sunday we don't even touch 50 for a high. We're lucky to have this fantastic weather and I plan to make the most of it both up at Treats Falls and also at our soon-to-be new house.

The house in Eddington still needs some work, but I have a bunch of supplies and I tackled some of it yesterday. As an added bonus I was also able to meet one of the two sisters who are selling. She was really sweet and helpful and it was perfect timing seeing her pull in just after me. I had never met her before; it did belong to her brother who passed away six years ago. Her older sister and her got the place from his estate.

The bank is being totally ridiculous on some of their loan requirements. Some of it makes perfect sense such as outlet covers and covering exposed receptacle boxes. Other stuff like this: "

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Thursday, 10-17-24: Quality time with the soon-to-be new owners, a contract, a general manager.
Things are moving quickly regarding the sale of our restaurant and bar. We've had people wanting the place for at least a couple weeks, but putting all together takes precious... precious time. Both Kat and I spent 1.5 hours with them yesterday and I spent about 2.5 total hours with them today. We also have a legal contract that only needs to be signed so this thing is definitely happening and thank the gods who do not exist for that small miracle.

Lots of the minutia needs to be properly handled, but in essence they take over on Nov 1 with a new EIN, new bank account, new payroll process, etc. The name stays Mad Kat & Company Bar & Grill for now, but a name-change is already in their plans. Kat wants them to change the name, and I think doing that only makes sense because it won't be Mad Kat's without Kat.

There still is a pretty good chance we can't close on Nov. 1 due to all the permits they need and everything that goes along with that. OH, the landlord also has to reassign the lease. He told me last month he would do it, but who knows with that guy? I called him this morning, no answer as usual, so I left a voicemail and got no return call. HAHAHAHA. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^OUR NINCOMPOOP LANDLORD!

I think he will call me back at some point because we owe him $10,000 in rent and he doesn't get a dime of that if he doesn't reassign the lease. I didn't pay September rent, but I sent him a letter saying we have rent and we will cough it up once he lets us sell the place. Of course this month's rent applies the same. It will suck giving up that precious... precious money to the landlord when he's so terrible at landlording, but a deal is a deal.

The soon-to-be owners hired a general manager, Matt, and he's at the bar right now learning. He's not in charge of anything at all because we still own the business, but the more he is there the better so he can learn the place and get to know the staff. We spent a lot of time with the buyers going over the staff, who is leaving, who is unsure, and who is likely to stay. I am encouraging all the staff to stay if they can and to make their own decisions regarding how they like the new owners and boss. Hopefully they can make the place better by injecting some much-needed capital that we simply didn't have.

I hope Matt is a good general manager and can assimilate quickly so he can do things I do and I can get out sooner. If we can close Nov 1 and they are mostly trained I won't have to help them much at all and that would be glorious. I am willing to help them, but I have lots of other things going on including trying to move up to Eddington for a fresh start. Plus if we can close Nov 1 we will get a nice chunk of money that we can put into our soon-to-be new home.

So in just 14 days I have to pack up my tax business and put it on hold, quit it entirely, or find a new home for it. Kat and I actually did go look at a fixer-upper just up the road that has potential:

Looks like someone bought it, started remodling, then either ran out of money, ran out of desire to finish, or both.

$99k is too high a price so I'd offer $65-70k. It might not even be on the market when we actually do get precious... precious money. We've only had one showing for our house and none scheduled so we will probably have to drop the price to move it quickly. Thankfully we can wait some and we are not in a dire position needing to sell immediately.

A fantastic stretch of weather is coming with high temps in the 60s and maybe 70 early next week. No rain, beautiful. Perfect for doing more work outside. I have a huge order getting delivered tomorrow at this place:

I plan to start framing his garage Monday, and as an added bonus Gavin is taking a couple vacation days to help. Oh Jesus, hell ya! The turd in the punch-bowl for my plans could be whatever bank report we get on this Eddington property. If the bank requires tons of work to be done then I will have to refocus on that.

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Wednesday, 10-16-24: I now know what Zonolite is, and I wish I did not have to know this.
FUCKING ZONOLITE. All I wanna know is why? Why do you have to live in one of my former houses that I am trying to get ready to sell for my family?! I did not even know what Zonolite was until about 6 hours ago. The story is not a good one, but here it comes thanks to several easyily-accessible articles on the Interweb including this fantastic one:

https://retrotec.com/blog/post/zolonite-asbestos-attic-insulation

Basically zonolite is a lightweight insulation that has asbestos in it. From the article:

"Zonolite is the trademarked name of a type of loose-fill, heat-expanded vermiculite insulation sold between the 1940s and 1990s that was manufactured by W.R. Grace & Company. Although no one knows exactly how much of this product is out there, Cottingham says that the estimates range from 1 to 30 million U.S. Homes. Most of the articles I've read cite the upper end of that range, since Zonolite commanded about 75 percent of the world Vermiculite insulation market during the decades it was being sold.

Unlike some other products, Zonolite was never meant to contain asbestos. However it was mined from Grace's asbestos-contaminated mine in Libby, Montana, a site the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to clean up the for almost 20 years now.

Although most Zonolite has an asbestos content of less than 1%—which puts it below the EPA's threshold of an asbestos-containing material—it's still quite dangerous. According to asbestos.com the asbestos in Zonolite is an amphibole form known as tremolite which some studies suggest could be 10 times more dangerous than the white asbestos used by most manufacturers.

In addition, the lightweight insulation is completely friable; when disturbed it easily crumbles and produces a fine powder, so any asbestos that is present ends up in the air."

That last sentence holds the most weight with my loser-ass because I was dealing with it today for about a half-hour before I felt like it was above my pay-grade and I quit. It didn't pass my "sniff-test" and I just didn't think I should be messing with it without doing more research. This is what prompted my ass to action in the first-place:

I posted that yesterday, and the article I posted above has a picture:

^ZONOLITE! The stuff I was briefly dealing with today EXACTLY fits that description and image. Like, a perfect 100% match. What a bunch of crap! I did wear a mask and gloves, but I bailed pretty quickly after I felt like I needed to reassess the entire situation. What really concerns me is this statement from the article:

"...the lightweight insulation is completely friable; when disturbed it easily crumbles and produces a fine powder, so any asbestos that is present ends up in the air."

OMG THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SEEING TODAY. THAT SHIT WAS INCREDIBLY LIGHT AND IT TURNED TO DUST ASAP. It is in the attic, but that dust is very fine and I was concerned it could permeate into the main house where my own 3-year old grandson lives along with his parents and his 7-month pregnant mother. No fuckin' way, I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I am not an asbestos remediator, and if there had only been a very small amount I would have handled it like a boss. However, there is more than I expected by quite a bit. It's not the entire attic, but it's probably 6" deep and over 50 or 60 square feet so nope. Time to call in a remediation company and deal with it as we may.

Asbestos sucks ass, but it's a solvable problem. Hell, almost every problem can be solved with enough precious... precious money. Unfortuantely we have a limited supply of that right now. What amazes me is how long that property has been a part of my life with no one at all ever knowing about it. I knew Jay and his family very well back in the 2000s and they never mentioned it. I bought the place from them in 2010 and never noticed (not that I would have looked there as it's in a very obscure spot.) I sold the house to Dillon and Debbie in 2021 and they had is professionally inspected with no one saying or seeing anything. Now this?! At first was upset with the current inspector, but now that I've read more I think that inspector got it right, big-time. Shame on anyone else who may have inspected the place in years past because it's pretty obviously zololite. What a bunch of crap!

Another funny ironic twist. I used to own stock in WR Grace, the company that owned the asbestos-filled mine out in Montana. All I wanna know is why? Why did that have to happen?

I'll throw on a $20 suit you can buy at Lowe's and I'll go get that crap out of there, I don't fuckin' care if I die from asbestos lung. I've had a great life and am fine with dying anytime. However, I can't put Dillon, Debbie, and the kids at risk. I don't think I can seal off the attic the right way in order to keep the dust from seeping into the downstairs. A little dust, even a microscopic amount, could be harmful and F that. If the house was vacant I would totally go get rid of it, but they still live there. Maybe we can stick them in a hotel for a couple days, but really I need to get a professional in there.

My life is such a shit-show. I don't even know how I handle it. This bootleg site that almost no one ever reads helps, but it's only a drop in the bucket these days because most days I'm too busy to even write about my failing life. What a bunch of crap!

I have it on channel 1928, Alan Parson's Project Eye in the Sky. Catchy song! They are ripping out some great tunes tonight so far.

In other news that is less ridiculous, the people who want to buy Mad Kat came today for another meeting and they still seem to be all-in. Good because fuck that place. Seriously. It is going to take a long time for me to recover from that shit-show life decision, and I may never fully come back from it. There's still a 50% chance it ruins my marriage, we shall see. I'm up here trying to undo my terrible life-decisions whereas Jason gets to go into the woods on one of his many beautiful parcels of land and get this done yesterday:

^I'm not jealous, I'm happy for him. I failed so badly at life that I can't even go deer hunting yet and my entire season might be pwned. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

If I don't fix my fucked-life in the next few months I won't make it long into 2025. This is fuckin' bullshit, epic fail, and what a bunch of crap all rolled into one and there is only one person to blame for it all:

ME.

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Tuesday, 10-15-24: Too much to possibly write down in 20 minutes.
I ate an edible, not a lot, and it should *hopefully* help me sleep soon. I can't sleep without one most nights anymore. What a bunch of crap! I always have 1000 things on my mind, and it's worse than ever at any point in my life. We are selling the restaurant, we are selling our house, we are moving to Eddington, I have major carpentry work happening, I need a place for the tax business soon, deer hunting season is looming, and so is Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary. Kat's health is not ideal either. Oh, we are running a smaller crew at the restaurant and weekends have been relatively busy so that uses what little precious... precious time I actually do have.

Whose fault is all of this?! (Guy looks in the mirror.)

Today was a whirlwind, but I mostly kept it on lockdown. I started off at the restaurant for a couple hours balancing the books, paying a couple bills, finishing cleaning the fryers and some other kitchen stuff, and receiving the usual Tuesday morning delivery. Kat would have helped, but she was at an important medical appointment. I left the restaurant at 1000 with just enough time to get onto a roof before Chris and Mike showed up to help in what was their final day on that 3-week job-site. We finished the last peak-shingle around noon just as one of Jason's Fusion AV guys was arriving at the restaurant to do some work so I hurried to go meet him. Cleaning up and taking down the staging at 19 Gilmore (roof job across the street from the restaurant) took a while, too. Here is the roof now:

^I still have to shingle the rear little spot above the cellar door, but that will be simple as compared to everything else. I'm thinking I can rip that out in under two hours including some cleanup. Maybe? Hopefully!

I had to get a piece of aluminum trim reinstalled as well. I have a photo of the back-side:

I was leaning my dumb-ass over the side with Mike holding my leg from the higher roof above hahaha. It really didn't feel unsafe because I had jacks and planks stationed on the roof along that edge, but it was far from the safest thing I've ever done and I'm sure an OSHA inspector would have had issues with everything about it.

I wasn't going to do that trim because I thought it was gone, but Gavin saved a piece and Dillon found the other piece and it was required in order for them to sell the house. It probably blew off last year during one of our many huge storms that ravaged the area.

After I dealt with the restaurant again for the second time of the day I had to return a lot of the staging that I had rented, and traffic sucked. A lot. Then I needed to stop by Treats Falls so he could sign a permit for a soon-to-be garage then I had to meet Ben so he could fix some "Double tap" breaker bullshit also at 19 Gilmore. After that it was off to the restaurant and then a tax client who always does an extension (Oct 15 deadline for extensions.) Finally I was able to come home, but I had a little more work to do on the computer earlier this evening. That's too much in one day, but I did pull it off like a boss.

It seems certain we are going to be selling the restaurant to a husband and wife team, but we don't have an official contract in place just yet. They did their liquor license today so that means they're all-in because who would do that just for fun? Especially not for $910! We meet with them tomorrow and, if needed, Thursday. We do expect a legal contract ASAP and the delay was on our end when I didn't get them the list of things we are keeping before the weekend and yesterday was a bootleg holiday so I'm guessing most lawyers took the day off.

Fucking Columbus Day. What a worthless bunch of crap holiday! It's not even Columbus Day anymore because people in general suck. Indegenous People's Day hahahahaaha! FUCKING TERRIBLE NAME FOR A LAME HOLIDAY. It's probably the worst holiday of the entire year, but President's Day is also dumb shit.

Our house is on the market as of yesterday. So far only one showing is scheduled so that is a tad concerning, but who knows maybe the one showing will be all it takes. I'd like to have a few more, but each showing means we have to leave with the dogs so that sucks. A lot. We don't HAVE to leave, but we should leave as that seems to be protocol for these things. I joked with Jody earlier that I've sold all kinds of properties, but I've never sold one I've lived in. OMG WOW! That truly does amaze me.

I have to go back over to 19 Gilmore tomorrow morning to look for what isn't likely to be but maybe could be asbestos insulation in the attic. The home "inspector" reported it as this:

^HEY NINCOMPOOP HOW ABOUT YOU HAVE IT ACTUALLY TESTED INSTEAD OF MAKING SHIT UP?! WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I went up there and looked a couple days ago and mostly what I saw was fiberglass insulation. I'm not an expert, but after two decades in the property remodeling business I sort-of have my finger on the pulse of these things. Dillon and Debbie had the place inspected three years ago before I sold it to them and that report never mentioned any such thing.

The real estate game sure can be a joke. Even the "Double Tap" breaker thing is totally bootleg. Ben told me today it's more safe to have a double-tap breaker than to splice into one, as long as the wires for the double-tap are the same gauge. These home inspectors are a joke, too. Some are good, but some have no business attempting to assess problems with a building.

Once they officially sell their house we can move out to Chemo Pond Rd. We went there again a few days ago and I took a bunch of pictures that I won't post now due to not having enough precious... precious time. I am concerned a bank will send someone out to look at the place before the loan closes and flag it hard for stupid shit like this:

^FAIL UNSAFE DECK. A closer look at that header:

^OMG THAT IS THE DUMBEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN CARPENTRY OF A DECK. WHAT A STUPID BUNCH OF CRAP! ALL I WANNA KNOW IS WHY? WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT WILL HOLD PEOPLE?! IT WON'T.

^Yeah, banks are gonna love that one.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg site, I'm done. Fin. Hopefully I can update again before the end of the month!

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Sunday, 10-06-24: Beyond exhausted. Listing tomorrow!
I'm pretty exhausted, but I took a nap earlier so I'm still up and about to watch a little Sunday night football. Steelers vs. Cowboys in a game I don't care that much about but that I want to watch at least some of. Earlier the Patriots lost to the Dolphins and are now 1-4 on the season. What a bunch of crap! They need to get their new QB Drake Maye in to play gods damn it.

I worked 17 friggin' hours yesterday OMG! I went to the restaurant at 0800 to get the event room ready for a 1200-1500 party and I just stayed because it was busy enough were my help was needed. I ended up working the afternoon event, a nice group from the class of 1969 at a local school. Wow! After that party ended I had to get ready for another evening party and I was stuck there until around 1830. I was able to go home to shovel in a little food, see my awesome wife, and take a shower before I went right back for the night. I finally got home for good around 0145. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

This crazy schedule is untenable long-term. It's totally exhausting all the time. Sales were fantastic yesterday so that helped keep me motivated. Thankfully I got most of today off and we celebrated Damon's 3rd birthday here at the house earlier. That kid is funny. Dillon and Debbie have a daughter on the way with a due-date of Dec 9 so we're hoping to be done with the restaurant by then. Will it happen? Hard to say, but I'm cautiously optimistic it can. I'm going to get more clarity on that tomorrow.

I have a lot to do tomorrow, but I don't think it's an overwhelming amount. I need to sit at the desk and do some office-work. If all goes as I hope and expect we will know 100% for sure that we are selling the restaurant. We have a verbal agreement but nothing official as a written contract. We also plan to list this house for sale. Kat already started packing! I was surprised when I came home from work for that brief 45-minute evening break and saw photos, posters, and movies off the living room shelves and stowed neatly in boxes. We get plenty of boxes from all our restaurant deliveries and we'll need a lot of them.

It looks like we have a closing date for moving to Eddington. Dillon and Debbie have their house under contract (finally!) with a closing date of Nov 8, the same day we can close on the Eddington properties. It was a little tense waiting for Dillon and Debbie to sell their house since the market is not a feeding-frenzy anymore like it has been in the very recent past. They listed for $215k, had showings and no offers, dropped to $209k and had showings and an offer for $206k with $6k towards closing costs so really theyre selling for around $215k. It's the same house I paid $75k for back in 2020 and sold to them for $131k just three years ago. Wow!

The amount of work I have to do for the rest of the year is almost unbelievable. Somehow we have to sell the restaurant, sell our house, move to Eddington (and help Dillon, Debbie, and Katherine along the way as we are all going to live there) and remodel the Eddington property to what it needs to be through the winter. Oh, I have to find an office to lease if I want to keep the tax business going and at some point rifle and muzzle-loader seasons for deer hunting will come and go and I might miss out. Selling the restaurant and moving > going deer hunting. It pains me to write that, but it's the truth. This lifestyle is going to destroy me so making the change I need to make, we need to make, is my top priority at all times. I have to get that fuckin' restaurant out of my life and bring new surroundings and a new aura/location/vibe into my worthless life.

Kat is VERY heartbroken about selling and most likely losing the restaurant. I feel like she needs to get the place out of her life because it's killing her as well with the long hours and arduous physical work. Not even including the stress of money and for her dealing with the borderline retards whom we have on-staff. I know I'm not supposed so use the term RETARD anymore, but this is my bootleg site so if you don't like it you can gggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

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Friday, 10-04-24: I'm friggin' beat. Nov 1 possibly?
This big roof job I'm working on reminds me of blueberry raking. However, it might be more difficult physically than blueberry raking. I dunno for sure, but this morning I was feeling some tennis elbow as well as a sore lower back. Reminds me a lot of blueberry raking. The roof is "only" about 16 square, but it's four sections and a lot of up and down going mostly to a second story height on everything. I thought I was going to have some help today but they bailed so I was by myself for 7.5 hours of actual work on that roof. No help today = what a bunch of crap! Oh well it did save my loser-ass precious... precious money.

The weather today was all kinds of fall-in-Maine-unusual. Started off with a heavy fog and some very light drizzle soaking everything. I still worked on the roof from roughly 0730-0815 until I helped receive the usual Friday restaurant delivery. After that delivery it was back to the roof (thankfully only across the street) where things were still wet but starting to dry out. I'd say by 1030 it was dry and even when it was wet I was in a relatively safe spot with planks below me and all the staging. I finished the west side around 1130 then took a lunch break:

If I had help today we could have taken down all the staging, but that will have to wait until Tuesday next week. I'll be busy this weekend with the restaurant and we get some rain tomorrow morning and more rain Monday into Tuesday morning. Not epic deluge rains, but enough to cause issues inside that house if I didn't get it covered.

After lunch I had the back east side to do and by then the sun was out and we briefly hit 70 degrees hahaha. I had my shirt off and was sweating quite a bit for the first hour or so early PM. I knew I wouldn't 100% finish it and that's okay as long as I could get the underlayment up to the peak to keep the rain OUTSIDE of the house. I was wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket by around 1600 yet I had to forge on just a little longer to get it all secured. Right around then a sea breeze kicked up, it got ten degrees colder and the sun disappeared, and there were a couple gnarly gusts of wind that sent my tarpaper flying. What a bunch of crap! I'll take wet and no wind over dry and windy any day when trying to do a roof. (Not pouring rain wet of course.)

Let's hope this underlayment doesn't come off in the next three days until I can get back there to finish the shingles to the peak.

I'm thinking I can get that roof done next week Tues PM-Friday, but we'll see. A lot of that depends on how much help I get. Chris and Mike (my helpers this week) were BEAT so I don't blame them for not working with me today since they both work a full shift at the restaurant and are there now. Speaking of the restaurant, that place is really busy at the 2300 hour. I could go down now and get the event room ready for two events tomorrow, but I think I'll bivouac soon and just do it in the morning. I did help at the restaurant for what was a very busy dinner-rush earlier. I was there about 2.5 hours and then it slowed down enough were I could leave. I needed to leave anyway because my bootleg body was starting its shutdown phase. Seems stupid, but I think I was getting ready to pass the hell out. I hadn't eaten anything since 1145 and I was busting it all PM and buring precious... precious energy all day.

We've been going back and forth with our potential buyers for the restaurant and I met with them for 1.5 hours yesterday around midday. They made a new updated offer that doesn't suck as much as their first offer, but it still sucks a little. I think their lawyer is drawing up an official offer for our review, but we'll see. I'm sure nothing will move forward with the place until Monday next week. I'm ready to sell, and if we stick to our informal agreement they will own the place November 1st, I'll work there some for a while to get them set up, and then I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball and I can't wait to be 100% out of there. It's too much for me and I need to go back to the basics in life.

I can't lift weights, go for a jog, or play racquetball this weekend because I'm friggin' BEAT. I don't think I should be doing roofing anymore when I get past this one, but we'll see. I'll make fair money from doing this one so that helps. It's "only" 16 square, but it's not easy. Funny I'm doing it on the house I owned for 11 years AHAHAHA. Right in my old neighborhood as well were I've had some unbelievable memories. The family who lived in the house I'm roofing called the cops on us 17-18 years ago after we were having a "steel chair" wrestling match in the street in the middle of the night. What a bunch of crap! We totally deserved it and I felt badly the next day. They apologized for calling the cops because we were friendly with them, but at the time they totally did the right thing since their kids were mortified. HAHAHAHAHA.

It's weird not being at the restaurant at this time on a Friday night. That event room needs to be cleaned and set up for two parties tomorrow, but it's early so I can rack out in a few minutes and get up at a decent time tomorrow and go set it up. I don't think it will take more than an hour.

Wow, in 4 weeks we won't own Mad Kat anymore if things go as planned. That would be AWESOME and I will be very sad if this potential and likely deal falls through. I need this to happen for my own sanity.

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Wednesday, 10-02-24: Roof, roof, roof. Also, Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money).
I''ve made some great progress on this roof so far this week:

That back side still looks like that today and I took the picture yesterday around midday. What a bunch of crap! However, the main roof west side is really getting done. Here it was yesterday around midday:

Huge section of old roof removed by Mike. I have two occasional helpers, Chris and his dad, Mike. Mike is in his mid-60s but that guy can WORK. Chris is a good worker as well, but he hurt his shoulder (old nagging injury from the past) so he's more limited. When I had them help last week the first day we didn't have a good rythm because I needed to know their strengths and weaknesses on the job-site and now I know that so the past two days we've gotten A LOT done. Here is that same west side earlier today before I went to the dump, to Lowe's for more supplies, and then quit for the day around 1645:

I worked for a total of about 7.25 hours today there inluding two supply and dump trips. Chris and Mike put in 4.5 hours each and we ripped it out. Got more staging, and that staging makes a HUGE difference in our favor. When we're done I'll have $300 in staging rental cost as well as a few hours setting it up and breaking it down, but once in place it makes us fly doing the roofing. We got half that entire 5-square roof section shingles in about 3 hours today oh Jesus hell ya! (not including time stripping it down and prepping.)

I'll have most of that side done tomorrow, most of the east back side done Friday (the first photo) and next week if there's not too much rain I'll finish the last and most difficult east side. That staging will probably save 10 man-hours, 3 guys, per side so it was worth the investment and I should have done that on prior roof jobs in the past. Live and learn! It's also 10x safer and makes for many less trips up and down the ladder.

I put on Pet Shop Boys Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) and hopefully there are opportunites for us in the near future not necessarily to make lots of money but to recoup bad money we fucked away by opening a restaurant. The potential buyers for the place were there this evening for trivia where my awesome wife was crushing it as host. I went down for a bit to take care of some paperwork and get Q4 files in place; we have a meeting with the potential buyers tomorrow at 1230 that will *hopefully* bear non-rotten fruit. It will be our second meeting with them in a week so things are getting serious.

Other opportunities include selling this house and moving to Eddington, but first Dillon and Debbie have to sell their house. Yes, the same house I used to own when I was a slumlord and the very same house I'm shingling now. Wow! They had a few showings but no offers at $215,000 so Jody advised they drop it to $209,000 they had two new showings and now it's under contract as of about an hour ago. Oh Jesus, hell ya! All our plans hinge on them selling that house so we can sell our house and move. They have to sell first becuse we won't get a loan thanks to all the losses on our taxes from the restaurant. I've never defaulted on a payment and I have a great credit score (I think?) but banks see losses on taxes and they run for the hills. What a bunch of crap!

I am enjoying doing that roof, but holy crap roofing is WORK. It reminds me of blueberry raking to a point. When I do roofing all day I'm not lifting weights or doing other excersise like racquetball or jogging. I probably could go for a jog, I did Monday, but F that most days it beats me up including yesterday and today. It's a GREAT workout and I even have a little better tan now so that's a huge win. Fantastic weather also helps, but next week that changes and more rain is expected.

So in a perfect scenario by this time next week we'll have Mad Kat under contract to sell, Dillon and Debbie will be solid in a closing date to sell their house and we'll have our house for sale and maybe have showings scheduled. I won't have that roof done, but I'll be close. I would have the roof done, but we have some rainy days in the forecast. The other work I have at Treats Falls might also be moving forward, but for now it's on pause because, get this, his expected tenant might die. OMG!

I feel badly for the guy because he is funny and I like him. Weird setup that I would never do, but it works for them. They have a home health business so in various sections of their house they have basically a nursing home setup. The interior work I did was going to lead them to a tenant who would pay quite a lot to live there and recceive 24-7 care, meals, etc. However, two days before he was going to move in he had to go to the ER and have his foot amputated. Noooooo! Now it seems he might not even live so that's really sad. I spent all this time, they spent a lot of precious... precious money getting it ready and now it seems unlikely to happen at all. I'm just the carpenter and I don't have a dog in that fight, but it does suck for them. All work there is on pause until I hear from him and that's fine with me as I've been busy doing a roof, trying to sell a restaurant, and still trying to keep that restaurant going including TONS of work on weekends there.

Pet Shop Boys What Have I Done (to Deserve This?) Today we were shingling that roof mid-afternoon and this song came on BIG 104.7 and it was fucking awesome. It motivated my loser-ass and I needed it because I was getting a little worn down and I was right at the edge of the roof. If I fell what would have caught me? Hopefully a cast-iron stink-pipe (right side lower part in the last photo) and if not that the electrical wires. Chris and Mike think I'm crazy up on that roof because I don't give a fuck. I'll crawl my ass all over that thing including right to the edges because for some weird reason heights don't scare me. What does scare me?

RUNNING OUT OF FUCKIN' MONEY!

Thankfully we won't be doing that. Maybe? Hopefully!

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