9-04 10-04 11-04 12-04 1-05 2-05 3-05 4-05 5-05 6-05 7-05 8-05 9-05 10-05 11-05 12-05 1-06 2-06 3-06
4-06 5-06 6-06 7-06 8-06 9-06 10-06 11-06 12-06 1-07 2/07 3-07 4-07 5-07 6-07 7-07 8-07 9-07 10-07 11-07 12-07 1-08 2-08 3-08 4-08 5-08 6-08 7-08 8-08 9-08 10-08 11-08 12-08 1-09 2-09 3-09 4-09 5-09 6-09 7-09 8-09 9-09 10-09 11-09 12-09 1-10 2-10
3-10 4-10 5-10 6-10 7-10 8-10 9-10 10-10 11-10 12-10 1-11 2-11 3-11 4-11 5-11 6-11 7-11 8-11 9-11 10-11 11-11 12-11 1-12 2-12 3-12 4-12 5-12 6-12 7-12 8-12 9-12 10-12 11-12 12-12 1-13 2-13 3-13 4-13 5-13 6-13 7-13 8-13 9-13 10-13 11-13 12-13 1-14 2-14 3-14 4-14 5-14 6-14 7-14 8-14 9-14 10-14 11-14 12-14 1-15 2-15 3-15 4-15 5-15 6-15 7-15 8-15 9-15 10-15 11-15 12-15 1-16 2-16 3-16 4-16 5-16 6-16 7-16 8-16 9-16 10-16 11-16 12-16 1-17 2-17 3-17 4-17 5-17 6-17 7-17 8-17 9-17 10-17 11-17 12-17 1-18 2-18 3-18 4-18 5-18 6-18 7-18 8-18 9-18 10-18 11-18 12-18 1-19
2-19 3-19 4-19 5-19 6-19


"I need to be smarter. How can I do that?" -Me
"I think it's too late." -Kat

 

Sunday, 7-28-19: Revielle 0400 = I suck!
All I wanna know is why? Why can't I sleep 7-8 hours a night most nights like a "normal" slapnut? My sleep pattern is a bunch of crap lately. Part of that is my wife's late-night DJ schedule that keeps us up until 0200 every Friday and Sunday. I could just send her off to work, but I feel obligated to help her at least with the speakers, gear, setup, and breakdown. Sometimes I stay at the bar for her show and sometimes I don't stay. Sometimes I don't want to be there and I just want to go to bed, but sometimes it is a blast and I have great fun.

Also screwing up my precious... precious sleep is all the work that I have had to do. I have a lot on my mind, and that is also a bunch of crap. Blueberry raking gives me a deadline each year, and more often than not I scramble to get my stuff done before I leave for raking. This year I have more to do than ever, or so it seems. I took a nap yesterday afternoon for just over an hour, and I slept about 6 hours last night. I feel wide awake now, but I'll probably nap again this PM after I finish my work. I have to mow and do 50 other things before I leave tomorrow. (Slight exaggeration.)

I got up for good around 0430, but I was wide awake as of close to 0400. What a bunch of crap! I shovelled in some food, I did DDP Yoga, and I got my cover letter and final statement done for the property that I manage. Hauling on that place will be a weight off my shoulders, and it will be one less thing for my ass to have to keep on my radar. I'll take a pay cut, but F it I need more precious... precious time right now. I'm actually going to leave shortly to go do a walkthrough of my Holyoke St house, and I expect to have some epic-failer photos of that shit-show to post for all two of you to see. Then I can go to Home Depot for supplies, do some work at Gilmore, and mow. Hopefully I don't work too late so I can take a nap. I'd also hang out with my wife, but she is still pissed off at me because I played racquetball yesterday. What a bunch of crap!

Okay I'm back and a day's work has passed, give or take. Not like I track my hours. I went over to my Holyoke house this morning, and it was the worst epic failer ever. I took pictures. I hate my life.

^This is the dining room. OMG.

^WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? FRUIT FLIES EVERYWHERE ALSO. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^EVERY FUCKING ROOM IN THE FUCKING HOUSE LOOKS LIKE THIS. THAT IS A KID'S ROOM, TOO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

WHAT A FUCKING BUNCH OF CRAP!

I MIGHT BE DONE AS A LANDLORD.

THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT.

These fucking assholes had all kinds of time to pack and to prepare. There is no excuse for this at all. Plus they left me bedbugs. I just texted the asshole this:

"To say I am disappointed with how Holyoke looks would be an understatement. You had months to plan this move yet every room is filled with stuff and trash. The place is totally disgusting. I am on the verge of evicting you all and selling both houses. If you want to live at Gilmore you need to make this right. I just spent $6500 to give you a nice place to live. Thanks for leaving me a disaster. Nice guys finish last in the landlord business I'm done being nice."

Hauling on them will cost me A SHITOLAD OF MONEY so hopefully they give me a great effort to right this wrong. If not they will be hauled on and I will be working my fucking ass off to pay for the lost rents and bedbug treatments. It will be extremely expensive. Thousands of dollars. Fuck this.

I can't wait to leave tomorrow. My wife is still pissed at me and I am in landlord purgatory. Thankfully I got a lot of work done, lawns all mowed, cleaning, misc, and I even had time to jog 2.25 miles. Now I gotta go take a shower because I am gross all sweaty. I might not update this shitpile again for a while because I am rolling out tomorrow to meet my new pro-wrestler-named nephew and to get fucking drunk at the campsite so Gavin and I can drown in our sorrows of shit-show lives. Hopefully it is a good crop we could use the money. The end. Fin.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Saturday, 7-27-19: Three photos of the work I did and maybe it was a waste of my precious... precious time.
My Gilmore house is not done because I blew it on my time-management, and the tenants who just moved into that place don't even deserve to have me finish it because they brought bedbugs with them. The house is mostly done, but I have some trim to install as well as a ceiling above the entry. Also new stair treads and some other small things. I didn't know they had bedbugs until they were halfway through their move, and what could I do at that point? The tenants knew I was very upset with them so they STFU about things they might have otherwise complained about to me. They said they would pay for bedbug treatments, but that is going to cost a lot. A LOT.

All I wanna know is why? Why did they not tell me they had bedbugs? I could have gotten that shit under control months ago for them. Now I have a vacant house that has bedbugs in it. Actually the house is not vacant yet because they are still moving a bunch of smaller things. These people do not seem to know how to clean, they are gross, and right now I regret renting to them. I might haul on them and then haul on the Gilmore house that they just moved into. Not sure yet, 50/50, but at this time next year it very will could happen. All depends on how the tax business does I guess.

^Laundry area. Dakota did all the floors, and he did a pretty damn good job. We ran out of flooring over by the washer hookups, but no one will see that. I still need floor transitions and trim; I might do some of that tomorrow or I might tell the tenants to fuck off since they have bedbugs. There is already bedbugs in that house now, and they haven't even been there 24 hours. What a bunch of crap! I know there are bedbugs because they said they were killing some with alcohol. After hearing that I kinda wanted to kill myself with alcohol...

^Upstairs bathroom is tight. Toilet very close to shower, but that was the case before we did the remodel. Needs trim along the shower and ceiling. I'll do that eventually. Maybe. They don't even deserve it after they surprised me with fucking bedbugs.

^I resued the old stair-railing so that is why the bottom has those "holes." Those are not really holes, they are just unpainted areas where the balusters used to be. I should sand that railing and paint it, but fuck it the tenants don't care so why should I care? I am glad I did that wall in place of the railing, though. It is epic-sturdy built with 2x6 framing, and it offers much more support to that area of the house. Makes the top hall a lot more safe, too. If you look close you can see a little trim and paint I didn't finish yet. What a bunch of crap! I really should have moved them in... NEVER.

Kat is PISSED off at me right now because she wanted to go to lunch and I wanted to go play racquetball. Rball only took an hour, but she is still mad. I'm not sorry I went and played, and in hindsight I would have done it all over again. Deno and I only played 2 games today, but they were awesome games. Game 2 was one of our best games of all-time. Was back and forth and I finally won 18-16. (15 is a normal win unless score is within 2.) Also I got the money for doing his deck last month so now I can put that in the bank Monday and have enough to cover the mortgage.

I am leaving Monday around mid-morning, maybe late-morning. I plan to visit my new nephew as well as Jason, Holly, Mom, Pop, and Nadia. I'll do the family thing Monday PM and then go to bivouac at Mic Mac for the night. Gav will meet me there and we'll probably have a couple brews before we crash out. Raking starts Tuesday, and I expect the season to last between 6-8 days. We are only raking "Gushee's" field this year because the boss said Palermo will be done by migrant workers. Of course that is subject to change. Pay is up to $3.50 a box now, up from $3.25 that is has been for the past five years. Oh Jesus hell ya to that! If Gushee's is good then we should make at least $1000 in a week. Maybe? Hopefully!

After raking I was planning to spend some serious time working on my own properties, but this bedbug mess might change everything. Now I might have to go do carpentry for others for the extra money, especially if I can't list Holyoke for sale anytime soon. I dunno yet because I haven't gone over there to look, but I have a really bad feeling that I will need it professionally treated before I can get too far along with it. What a bunch of crap!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Friday, 7-26-19: I have a lot on my mind tonight you mother fuckers. I need a serious "therapy" session.
When Doves Cry, Prince, 1980s. I put on Big 104.7 FM because that is a pretty damn good station. Listening to some 80s music will help, but it will not totally cure. I am pwned. Bad. I fucked up and made some bad decisions, and I had to work a 12 fucking hour day today. Maybe more not like a clock in and out. Oh yeah it was definitely more. What a bunch of crap! 10 hours yesterday, at least. Epic failer of the worst degree.

I do not want to talk about the shit-show that was my day today yet, and of course I "made my own luck" as my father would say. I have absolutely no one to blame but myself. In news that really matters more, the family name now might continue. Jason and Holly had a baby boy early this morning or at some point late last night. His name is... guy checks his text messages because guy already forgot... Hawke McKinley Markwith. That is either a porn star or a pro-wrestling name, but the name does not matter as much as the person behind the name. Hopefully he is healthy and hopefully Holly is healthy as well. I now have a nice and a nephew, and who knows maybe they will pump out one more kiddo. Time is not on their side so much since Jason is 41 and Holly is an age TBD. TBD in this case = I have no fucking clue. What a bunch of crap! I'm pretty sure I suck.

^Maybe Hawke can grow up, get swoll up, wear a mask, and emulate Vader. Where's my pshchologist gods damn it?

My wife was PISSED at me earlier, and rightfully so. I was not supposed to work so much this month, but these last 2 days have been rough. I fell behind on that Gilmore house and had to get shit done. Revielle was 0243 this morning and I was over there doing a drop-ceiling in the laundry room at 0305. I did not set my alarm, but I knew I didn't need to and I would just wake up. I should be totally exhausted, but I feel okay still. I guess it will hit me later, and for sure I will be a cheap drunk. I don't want to get wasted because hangovers suck. On Tuesday night I got wrecked, but somehow I didn't have a hangover Wednesday. Oh Jesus Hell Ya! We had a fire and a few friends over after the Heart concert (I didn't go to that) and bedtime was wayyyyyy late. My chair collapsed and it was fun times. I think I hate myself.

I really don't blame my awesome wife if she hauls on me. I'm a pretty good person. Maybe? Hopefully! Unfortuately over the past 5 years that her and I have been together I have taken on more and more and now I am always busy. That is a bunch of crap and I am going to fix it, but I have not fixed it yet and I won't fix it for a while more to come.

Coordinating the tenants move from Holyoke to Gilmore was a fucking mess today. Thank the gods who do not exist that I had two very good helpers and a third one who tapped out after a friggin hour. I didn't have the house ready to go because I am a piece of shit. I used to be better, but with each passing year I suck more and more. I am now a very good carpenter, but I always fail on the time-management side of things. I should have kept that Gilmore house vacant until after blueberry raking, but I pushed hard to get it rented so I had work for Dakota next week when I'm away.

Speaking of next week, raking is pushed back until Tuesday now. Crop not ready yet due to later spring. Original plan was to start tomorrow. Oh well it gives me more precious... precious time up here to take care of shit.

In my head I had it planned out to some degree of success. I go raking, Dakota does painting and flooring at Holyoke. Then I get back, we finish that property, and I sell it for precious.... precious $$$$$$$$$$. Now I am not so sure because the tenants neglected to tell me that they have FUCKING BEDBUGS. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

^TENANTS WHO HAVE BEDBUGS BUT WHO DO NOT TELL ME BECAUSE THEY "FORGOT" GET THE FAIL TROPHY THE SAME TENANTS DO NOT FORGET TO TELL ME WHEN THEY HAVE A BLOWN FUCKING MOTION LIGHT IN THEIR FUCKING DRIVEWAY AT THEIR HOUSE OR WHEN THEIR DUMBASS FUCKING KID HANGS OFF A TOWEL RACK AND RIPS IT OFF THE WALL FUCKTHIS SHIT BEING A LANDLORD FUCKING SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

For the first time in my life I am seriously considering hauling on all of my "fringe" rental properties and only keeping the one that has my old apartment and epic gym. I'd keep that one mostly for the gym because I love that gym. Unfortuantely I don't even use the gym more than hardly ever because my life is fucked. Where's my psychologist gods damn it?!

Right now I am responsible for 8 buildings. 7 of those are rentals, and one is our own house. One is a property that I manage for some dingus who lives in Rhode Island, and that place is fucking HAULED ON. Bye bye $160 a month in my management fee for that duplex, but I don't give a FUCK I need my precious.... precious time back. I was planning to haul on my Holyoke house also, but if the place has a bedbug infestation then how in the hell can I even get Dakota working over there? FUCK.

FUCK

FUCK

I am not impressed with my life right now I suck and am a piece of shit who allows nincompoops to get away with stupid shit nice guys finish last just ask Gavin.

What a bunch of crap!

I just put it back to normal font never mind it is too small fuck this I am out like a fat kid in dodge ball I am going to get drunk and pass out because I suck at life.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Tuesday, 7-23-19: Not so sure I can finish this one "on time."
My Gilmore house needs a lot of work still, and I only have just over two days to pull it off. I still have a fair amount of sanding to do, I have a drop-ceiling to install, I have trim to replace, and the list goes on quite a bit more. Also decorating the lawn is this:

^Stupid old-ass cast iron tub that hopefully someone will want when post it on Craigslist FREE COME GET IT. Removing that thing was a bunch of crap, and now in its place is a stand-up shower that I finally got sheetrocked this afternoon.

Also needing some cleanup is this pile of crap:

^What a bunch of crap! The pile was actually 3 times bigger, but I got a bunch of it to the dump Saturday morning. Hopefully Dakota can clean that up for me Thursday or Friday.

My awesome wife and Ang are both going to the Heart concert tonight so that gives me time to play rball against Deno and then maybe do another hour or two of work over at that house. Heart is awesome and I would enjoy the concert, but Ang won the two tickets, assigned seating, and she invited Kat to tag along (her partner in crime hehehehe) so I hope they have a good time without me. I'll drop them off shortly and then go play rball. Then tonight I'll pick them up after the concert ends.

Heart has a shitload of great songs. What is my favorite Heart song? Probably Who Will you Run To? Their earlier stuff is really good (Baracuda), but Heart from the 80s is the best. Alone is a great power-ballad. Maybe I can hear some of the concert as I work since I'll only be a mile or two away from the venue...

The tenants are moving in Friday, and making that decision almost turned into the equivalent of a monkey trying to hump a football. I let them know more than once that around the 25th would be the ready-date and I wanted them to move in ASAP. Then they showed up yesterday to look at the joint with no plan at all. They didn't even know their work schedule for the rest of the week, and I finally convinced them to make the move Friday. The dude called a moving company, but of course the movers were booked out a couple weeks. What a bunch of crap!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Sunday, 7-21-19: Best bootleg dive bar ever, and the sheetrock is still not fully installed.
I need a second shower for the day at this late hour, 2334 and closing in on midnight fast. I was working over at Gilmore St for the past 2.5 hours installing sheetrock. The fact that all the sheetrock is not yet even on the walls and the tenants are probably moving in Thursday = what a bunch of crap! If I do the math on each coat of mud drying it is not good. Best case I can finish my sanding Wed PM, but that assumes I actually get the rest of the sheetrock on with a first coat of mud by the end of tomorrow.

Thankfully the tenants who are moving into that Gilmore house are living in my other rental house on Holyoke now. I'm transferring them over so I can put a bunch of precious... precious money into Holyoke and drop it like a bad habit. However, that last part does not really make sense because bad habits are usually hard to drop. Since the people moving in already have a house it doesn't matter too much if I am finishing some things over at Gilmore while they move in. I just need to give them space for furniture, and I think I can pull that off. Maybe? Hopefully!

I might go back over there for a bit before 0100, but then again maybe not. By the time I finish this bootleg update that no one will ever read and by the time I take a quick second shower for the day it will be well after midnight. This weekend we had terrible heat and humidity, and all day today the dew point has been close to 70. It is finally cooling off more since an evening shower came through, but earlier when I worked I had sweat pouring off me. I wasn't even doing incredibly arduous things earlier, but working upstairs in a heat wave with no air conditioning = what a bunch of crap!

I actually feel pretty damn good tonight. I did DDP Yoga and lifed some weights in my bootleg gym before I went back to work. A 2-hour nap this afternoon surely helped, but even with that nap I'm probably sleep-deprived. We didn't bivouac until close to 0300 last night because we had a fun adventure down to southern Maine for the day. At 0300 it was still 85 degrees in the bedroom. Windows were open, too. What a bunch of crap!

The plan yesterday was to go hang out at Old Orchard Beach with Neil and Ang, but F that place the beach was mobbed and it was a heat wave. The four of us paid $25 total to park there for about an hour, and we sat at some way-too-hot bar on the pier while we made a plan B. We got the hell out of there and took our time getting back into Portland where we spent a good part of the evening at the Old Port checking out a couple different bars. We found one of the most bootleg bars and stayed for some karaoke, but then we left and found the best/worst bar that we have ever been in...


^Basic Google photo. We were there at night, and the place looks even worse now than it did in that photo. The bar is in Portland and not actually in the Old Port area of the city.

Morrill's Corner Pub is a total dive-bar, and it is both a terrible and wonderful at the same time. The place looks and feels totally ghetto, and their karaoke is a bootleg joke. The sound system is bad, and the bartender said she "fucking hated everyone" just before we went to order. I was not drinking since I drove us home, but Kat wanted a drink. She ordered a Hornito's tequila, and the bartender said she had it. She went out back to get it, she set it down, and then she asked Kat what she wanted. Kat again asked for Hornitos, and the bartender replied "Where do you see that? I don't have it." HAHAHAHAHA. We had to tell her that she just had it in her hand, and it was so funny.

Meanwhile there was a table full of gross-looking food that no one bothered to put away. I guess they were doing a fundraiser for one of the regulars so they had some food there. Unfortunately the food had sat out in the heat for probably 5 hours before we got there. That didn't stop Neil and Kat from snacking on some, though. HAHAHAHA. Also there was a dog in there. You know it is a great bar when there's a dog hanging out. The juke-box had a hand-written FOR SALE sign on it. Everything in the bar looked extremely run down and in need of dire repairs. The booze was cheap there, though!

Cliff texted me yesterday that blueberry raking now starts on Monday the 29th. Gav and I had planned to start this coming Saturday the 27th, but that obviously is not happening. I'm actually glad to start a little bit later because I can get some more things done up here beforehand, and I can take some extra time (Saturday?!) to spend with my awesome wife before I roll out to get 'dem berries. We might rake 1/2 day Sunday the 28th and then set up camp, or if Cliff wants us to wait we will just set up camp Sunday night and start Monday.

I definitely need to take some time Sunday to visit my family. Today is Holly's due-date for her and Jason's son, but so far she has not gone into labor. Or maybe she has and no one told my worthless ass. I'm a turd uncle to my only Niece, Nadia, so I don't blame them for not keeping me in the loop on things immediately. First comes my parents, her family, and then maybe I'll get a text. They said if she doesn't go into labor naturally then on the 23rd they induce labor so it seems most likely that I will be looking at a new baby next Sunday when I do visit.

I hope when I go see my new nephew they don't make me hold him. HOLDING BABIES SUCKS. I fuckin' hate holding babies. People pass babies around like a friggin sports trophy, and I'm all set. I don't need to hold a gods damn baby to appreciate it. I actually don't even appreciate babies because they suck. They are ugly, they cry, they shit themselves, and they wiggle around. Hopefully their soon-to-be son grows up to be a good citizen and a good person. He will have the right parents; it's just too bad he will have two shitty uncles. Actually maybe Doug is a good uncle, but I doubt it since he is 3000 miles away. Hard to get much worse than me as an uncle, though. I never go down and visit. What a bunch of crap!

^I need to wear my GOONIES KIDS SUCK tee shirt again in honor of the last paragraph that I just wrote. Plus The Goonies was on TV today and we saw that part just before we turned it off so we could take a nap. If you don't think The Goonies is awesome then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Friday, 7-19-19: FUCK YOU LYME DISEASE. Enjoying a brief bit of silence.
It is quiet in the house right now at about 2100. I don't have the TV on, I don't have music on, and the dogs are bivouaced on the floor. All I hear is the hum of the fan because it is going to be a friggin' warm night and a blistering weekend. Mid 90s tomorrow = what a bunch of crap! Bigtime humidity, too. Dew points above 70 = pwned.

Today Kat found out she has lyme disease. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! It is both a blessing and a curse. Knowing what she has is a step in the right direction because her doctors mostly just blame her lupus for her bad health days. I'm glad she advocated for herself and took the initiative to drive the 2-hours one-way for specialized testing last month. Now I hope they can give her medications to help her feel better. Gav has lyme also; he found out about that a year or two ago when he also got the specialized testing. In fact he recommended the test to us so I thank him for that. I need to get the test as well, but my health insurance plan is shit on toast (I HAVE NONE BECAUSE I AM A TARD) so the test alone will be very costly. I need to just spend the money because I am pretty sure I have it, like 80% sure. I have too many days where I am stiff and beat. Is it older age combined with my work? I don't know maybe....

I know A LOT of people who have lyme disease. Fuckin' dink ticks. I ate one once and Mom was mortified because it was at the dinner table. My stomach acid killed that mother fucker. Maybe? Hopefully! Jason was there and was laughing so hard he was almost crying while Mom and Pop played the part of disappointed parents. I was like 38 years old hehe. I think I have lyme because I have been bitten by ticks in the past, hard. I have had rings on me and shit like fucking Saturn. FUCK OFF TICKS.

I am enjoying the silence for the time being because later I will be at the bar with music thumping. My original plan was actually to work tonight while my awesome wife worked, but I worked a shitload already today so F working tonight. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to get done today, but I never do so that is par for the course. I did get all my mowing done today, and the plan was to do that Sunday, so that puts me ahead. Unfortunately I did not sheetrock this yet like I wanted to do:

^Upstairs hall. At least Ben and John got all kinds of wiring done for me yesterday so bonus there. I would have sheetrocked that today, but I had Bruce and Kevin doing the plumbing and I didn't want to be in their way. The door off to the left in that photo leads into a very small upstairs bathroom:

^Bruce and Kevin roughed-in my plumbing and did that shower drain in the small bathroom. I obviously still need to sheetrock that and hide the stink-pipe. I still have a lot left to do. What a bunch of crap!

I did get some sheetrock done with a first coat of mud:

^Bootleg photo because I sucked when I took it. There will be a drop-ceiling in there so that saves a lot of precious... precious time. Dakota was finishing the floor in that back first-floor bedroom when I took this picture at about 1530. I had lots of help there today so I could have a nice lunch with my Sweet Pea and mow a lot of lawns. Bye bye $1030 for contract labor today alone. What a bunch of crap! However, a few hundred of that was plumbing parts. Shower valve, drains, PVC, water lines, the works. A little here and there doesn't cost that much, but a total overhaul really adds up in parts and in time.

When I started this project I thought it would take two weeks (two weeekkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssssss!) and cost between $3500-$5000. Now I am thinking 15 days, close to a couple weeks still, but with a price tag of between $5500-$6000. Epic failer on that. I haven't even added it all up yet, but hopefully I can figure it all out when it is done. I track everything so it's just a matter of totaling it all up.

Uncle Pete and Aunt Shirley were supposed to stop in for a visit and a meal today enroute from a Canada vacation southbound to their home state of NH. It would have been great to see them both since they are fantastic people, but unfortunately Aunt Shirley wasn't feeling well so they had to skip a visit. That did free up more of my precious... precious time to work, but it would have been very nice to see them both. I haven't seen them in a couple years, and I haven't had a good visit with them in much longer. When I saw them last everything was hectic because it was at Jason and Holly's wedding.

Speaking of Holly, her due date is the 21st so if things stay on schedule I will have a nephew in a couple days. I should go see the kiddo when I am down there for blueberry raking since we camp only a few miles from their badass new house.

My poor wife is stuck back at Jester's tonight, in the smaller bar side of the place. It feels like a demotion after she worked so hard to "earn" the right to host her show in the bigger restaurant side of the establishment. Unfortunately the restaurant side smells like rotting death thanks to a leak and faulty A/C. Or something like that. Having a karaoke show in a bootleg restaurant that smells like moldy death = what a bunch of crap! I told her she should have just skipped the show entirely and had people come here. It really sucks because Katherine wanted to hang out since she is officially 21 now. She doesn't like just being in the small Jester's side, and neither do I so that is why I am still home right now. If we were in the restaurant part I'd be there right now and probably would not even be writing my useless thoughts to almost no one on this planet.

I'm done. I guess I will head down to the bar and see how things are. If the place is packed full with no room then I will just go over to Gilmore and do a little bit of work because there is no sense being in the bar when there is no room at all. Or I will just bivouac and sleep. I doubt I'll really do that since I love my wife and want to help her. However, I have been up since gods damned 0500 and I have a very busy day. Too busy. Again. What a bunch of crap!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Thursday, 7-18-19: A fishing trip, a blueberry field, and a 21st birthday.
I had a long day Tuesday, but it was a fun day. By the time evening came around I was exhausted, and I finally got a decent night of sleep for the first time all week. I have not been sleeping well lately. What a bunch of crap! We really need air conditioning in the bedroom, but our bootleg window is small and only opens to a maximum of 11.5". All the new A/C units I have seen need at least 12.5". What a bunch of crap! I could buy a free-standing floor unit, but F that those are over $300. I could borrow Gavin's again, but F that he might be using it and I am not a damn mooch. I think we'll just deal with it and keep the fans on because summer is already half over at this point.

Revielle Tuesday morning was 0421. I set the alarm for 0430, but as most often the case when I do set the alarm (not often I have to set it anymore) I was up before it could sound off. Also I was up for over an hour in the middle of the night because I could not sleep. What a bunch of crap! I did some of my business paperwork and spreadsheet updating for the business. Budgeting, etc. Thankfully I had caffene in me so I was good-to-go to leave at 0455 for a trip to the midcoast. Along the way in Union I stopped off at the blueberry field that we will rake in just 9 days:

^Field looks awesome with hardly any weeds. Oh Jesus hell ya!

^Berries look pretty good also, but of course I only saw a small top corner of the field and the entire thing may produce differently. Obviously lots of white berries still because the season is not starting for 1.5 weeks. I was actually surprised how many blue ones are already on the vines. I'm hopeful we might actually have a good raking season again...

I met Jason at his place, we met Dad and Dad's good friend, Mike, at their place, and then we all rode down to Bath in Jason's truck to meet our fishing guide. Mark from Waldo Outdoor Adventures was out guide, and he did a very good job. Highly recommend for a future trip. The weather was 100% perfect for the trip, and we spent 6 hours fishing from the Popam beach area up to the Iron Works right on the Kennebec River.

We started off catching a bunch of mackerel, and we used those smaller fish to then spend most of the trip fishing for striped bass (stripers) I caught three stripers, and everyone else caught a few as well. Stripers need to be at least 28" to keep so since the ones we all caught were too small (20-25ish) we threw them all back into the river.

^Dad, Mike, and Cameron. Camoeron was the "first mate", Marks's son and helper. It was good to have him on board and we tipped both him and his dad well.

Overall it really was a fantastic trip. I had planned to stay for supper and then go home, but my awesome wife was not feeling well and I was beat so I just headed home later in the PM. I was exhausted so I stopped for iced coffee along the way home, and I did force myself to stay awake long enough to watch a couple episodes of season 2 of Stranger Things with my Sweet Pea before I crashed hard that night. I also slept well last night so I think I am finally, mostly caught up on my precious... precious sleep. Oh Jesus hell ya!

Yesterday was Katherine's 21st birthday. I pretty much took yesterday off, less some paperwork and a business phone call regarding the property I am hauling on. The owners of the property that I manage found a replacement property manager for my ass so I talked to him about it all. Hopefully we finalize that within the next 8 days. We had a nice dinner with Katherine, we took her down to Jester's for a drink, and when Katherine was hanging out with her boyfriend (Dakota) earlier in the day Kat and I had a chance to finish rewatching the final bit of season 2 of Stranger Things. Now that we have rewatched the first two seasons we can start season 3. If all goes as planned we can start that tonight before bed. I love that show and can't wait to see the new season!

I have a shitload of work still left to do before Gavin and I start blueberry raking. Hopefully as soon as I finish this bootleg update that almost no one will ever read I can head over to Gilmore St and do some framing and prep. My goal is to have all the sheetrock up with one coat of mud on by the end of tomorrow. I only need to install about 8-10 more pieces of sheetrock in total since I'm not redoing the entire house. However, I still need to go buy more sheetrock and I also need to finish some framing. That upstairs small bathroom is only about 5x7, but it is a huge pain in the arse because it needed a new floor and I have to frame in for a 48" shower. Unfortunately nothing is level or even close to square so dealing with that will be a giant bunch of crap.

My plan is to do the sheetrock work and a bunch of misc while Dakota paints and does flooring. He and I can both team up on the cleanup, and if things really fall into place then I want to have it ready for the new tenants in one week. That is a tall order to fill so I'm not really 100% sure I can pull it off. I hope I can...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Sunday, 7-14-19: One work-day, one not-work day this weekend. Oh, a kitten
I worked 7 hours today at my Gilmore St house, 0800-1530 less a 30 minute lunch. Bruce and Kevin were just arriving when I got there, and they did a solid 4-hours of plumbing for me. I'm very happy with that they got done; they are not finished yet, but it was one great start today for them. I was supposed to put the boot on the roof for the new washing machine PVC vent, but I was busy doing other stuff and didn't get to it. Then it started pouring a few hours later. What a bunch of crap! Oh well the entire area there is under renovations so I don't care if a little water gets in. I put a bucket underneath, and the rain ended quickly anyway because it's just a few passing showers and T-storms. No rain expected tomorrow so I can do it then. Maybe? Hopefully!

Dakota also worked with me for 6 of the 7 hours, and together we teamed up for some good progress framing and plywooding upstairs. Also did a little cleaning, a supply-run, etc. There is still a lot left to do, and I'm hoping my electricians are available this week or else I will be doing several hours of wiring all by myself. I can do it myself, but they can do it faster and if they are there I can get a few "bonus" items checked off the list.

^I actually started some of that framing Friday night while Kat worked at Jester's. Today Dakota and I finished it. After I helped my awesome wife set up for her usual show I went over to that house (just across the street from the bar) and Gavin also stopped into chat and to give me a few pointers and a little help. Having him live next door is awesome. Too bad he has his own carpentry woes with his own house. After I got about half-drunk I quit working on the house and went over to the bar for the last bit of the show.

^The upstairs looking down the stairs and also into the bedroom that we finished plywooding today. Dakota also helped me install that sheetrock on the stairwell. He is a great helper, but I do call him a piece of shit as often as possible. Hehehe.

Even though I worked today I did take yesterday off. Kat and I went to a small little restaurant called The Eagles Nest just up the road for lunch, and we watched all of the first season of Stranger Things. That show is fuckin' awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. We've seen both of the first two seasons before, but it has been at least a year and maybe even two years. Season 3 came out July 4th, but because we are trying to enjoy summer we have been spending less time focused on the boob-tube. We still watch some TV, just not as much as we would in colder weather.

Hopefully we can rewatch season 2 and if all goes well watch all of season 3 before I leave for blueberry raking, but I give odds on that less than 50/50. I have a fishing trip to do on Tuesday, Katherine has her 21st birthday Wednesday, we might go to Old Orchard Beach this coming weekend, and I have plenty of work to do. Bye bye precious... precious free time. The fishing trip was actually supposed to happen Friday, but the weather became a shit-show so it got resceduled by the fishing guide-guy. I have never met the guy, but knowing Jason it will be a good trip. (It's for Dad's 70th birthday, a private trip for us for 6 hours of ocean fishing in the Bath area.) This coming week will be a busy one for my loser-ass for sure. Good thing we got a lot done today!

Tonight I plan to be a judge for week 5 of Kat's epic 10-week karaoke contest. Judges get three free drinks so that is awesome. I'm going to drive a couple friends over so hopefully it will be a good crowd. I probably should go to Home Depot to buy $1000 in flooring beforehand, but F that time is fleeting so I will likely do it in the morning. I'll get about 5 hours of sleep tonight, give or take, but that will get me by for the day tomorrow. Iced coffee and a little of that Mio-water sure helps!

There are two cute little kittens living in our house, and just a short while ago things fell into place for both Katherine and for my awesome wife. The neighbor a couple houses down had a FREE KITTENS sign up so it was game over for my once-cat-hating ass. I don't even know how many cats live here anymore, but I"m guessing it's 7. 9? At first I pretty much said F THAT, but then I decided I was okay with it. It makes them happy so their happiness is worth more than the occasional extra cat that might get in my way. Mostly the cats just do their own thing anyway. Except Simba that old cat is highly annoying. Don't tell my wife that or else I will be in trouble, though. What a bunch of crap!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Friday, 7-12-19: The earlier edition (not yet boozed up) version of my Friday bootleg site update.
It is 1405, and I have been doing some paperwork and misc since I ate lunch just under an hour ago. My awesome wife wanted to bivouac, but I was not ready to try to sleep so I decided the right thing to do was to stay up, watch the dogs, and take care of some business. I had to text Ben to ask when he's back in town (wiring), I had to text Bruce and let him know Gavin also needs his help when he comes Sunday (plumbing.) I also called a property management company to see if they could take on the property that I manage, but they are not taking any more clients. What a bunch of crap! It is not up to me to find a new property manager for the owners, but I thought I'd help since I did some business with the guy who owns the place I recommended.

I am officially done managing this property at the end of this month. Actually I will be done in two weeks (Twwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooo wwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!) because blueberry season 2019 starts in only 15 days...

^Older photo taken July 1, 2013, just around the time I started managing the place. I had a guy come remove some intrusive maple trees for them. Then years later I did the roof. I also did some remodeling in the back apt, I replaced the porch steps, and I did several other smaller things. Plus dealing with tenants, problems, collecting rents, etc. Now I am about to be all done and I can't wait because I am just too busy. The money was good and still is not bad for the average time that I spend per month dealing with things there, but in this case I just would rather be all done and free up some time.

This is the last email I got from the guy 3 days ago, and I am just now dealing with it:

I am really sorry you decided to leave our Property management. Heck you are right down the street. Will more money persuade you ??? If things change please let us know. The mgt company you recommended to Aleka has NOT to date returned either of her calls. Can you please check and give them a push ??

Sorry dude, but more money will not persuade me because it is a time issue more than a money issue. I mean obviously a LOT of money would keep me on the job, but what would they do throw an extra 20 a month on? F that all set. The place is going great right now with good, long-term tenants and I want to get done before the proverbial train goes off the tracks and someone stops paying rent, complains, and/or decided to move out. I don't want to do any more repairs, showings, rent collections, etc there. I need to focus more on my own stuff, and even my own stuff has me months behind what I would call being caught up. What a bunch of crap!

Dakota is at my Gilmore St house right now finishing this floor while I write my useless thoughts to about two people on Earth:

He did most of that 1/2" plywood yesterday in that upstairs room without me so I could focus on other areas, and I only had to spend a few minutes with him on the flooring today to start just to make sure he understood how that type of flooring was installed. As I expected he caught on in practically no time at all and when I left the room was looking awesome.

We started that project Tuesday with demolotion, on Wed we had a nice trip with the dogs to Donnell Pond so we didn't work, and yesterday I dropped close to $1100 at Lowe's on plywood, sheetrock, lumber, and a 48" shower (4-piece) for that upstairs bathroom. I'm guessing I will spend between $3500-$5000 on this remodel. OMG. With Dakota's help I hope to have it done in about two weeks (Twoooooooooo weeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssssssssssssss!) Just before raking!

This ceiling and railings had to come down on Tuesday:

^Bootleg old railing that is not too sturdy. Also there is a jack-post in the photo behind that pine bozed-in column by the foot of the stairs and the overhead light. I did that jack-post a few years ago as a sort-of band-aid knowing full well it would need to be done right in the future. A cast iron tub sat above all that in a small bootleg bathroom:

^Terrible bathroom = what a bunch of crap! I have known for years that there are structural issues related to that heavy-ass tub and its positioning in the house. Plus the bathroom itself is very small. Thankfully there is a second bathroom in the house that we installed back in 2010, but I have done nothing to the upstairs bathroom in the photo. Until now!

^The ceiling of the downstairs/entry below the toilet in that upstairs bathroom. Obviously there have been some water issues in the past. I took all that down, and it is all dusty plaster and lath. Also in that mess was something that will gross the two of you who read this bootleg site right out...

WARNING GROSS PHOTO BELOW:

^A dead rat that was pretty much just skeletal remains becuase it had been in there so long. Poor critter must have crawled into an almost impossibly small space up in that ceiling and just gotten stuck. Maybe? Or else it went there to die of old age, hell if I know.

In addition to redoing that upstairs bathroom we are plywooding the floors upstairs because they all looked like this:

^I've always just had them as painted wood, but come on I have the skills to do better, especially with Dakota helping, so it is time to make the house less ghetto to hopefully have less ghetto tenants.

So today we got the cast iron tub out with Gavin's help, and it is a lawn ornament. Removing that tub SUCKED because it was wedged right in there. I had to cut studs and shit. Also today I did this to one of my two Skil-Saws:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I already had severed that cord in the past and had it spliced together with wire nuts and electrical tape. When you cut the cord off your saw you are a bootleg epic failer carpenter. I've done it several times in the past, but not in years. Ah well I'll just go buy a new one. That saw has gotten me through a SHITLOAD of carpentry projects so I got my money's worth out of it and then some.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Wednesday, 7-10-19: I should take the next three Wednesdays off.
I'm mostly taking today off so we can go down to Donnell Pond with the dogs. The forecast is great, and we are hoping to get there by mid-morning so things aren't too crowded there. Thankfully the 1/2-mile walk into the beautiful beach area deters many simps from going and clogging up the precious... precious space, but it is the middle of summer so I bet plenty of other people will show up there. It is also a public camping reserve so for sure a bunch of people are spending the night there already.

I was planning to work today until Kat suggested we do something fun instead. Katherine has today off so her and Dakota will hopefully still want to come with us. I told Dakota we can work this weekend to make up for the lost time today; it is important that I give him enough hours each week to keep him on my bootleg payroll because without his help I would be just about buried with projects for the rest of the year.

On Monday Dakota helped me finish this deck:

The deck was already just about done, but we needed balusters on the step railings, we needed a step-down from the brand new slider to the deck, we had some soffit to repair, and we needed to reinstall the siding around the new slider. Plus some cleanup and misc. I should finish his invoice so I can get paid from that job, but I think I will reinstall a little trim on the inside of the slider and also throw in an outside light before I do the final bill. It's all for my good friend, Mike, so I am not worried about getting stiffed. The money he does pay for that deck and related work will help me remodel my next property; Dakota and I started that yesterday.

Overall I'm very happy with how the deck turned out, and things like that and the apartment carpentry are leading to more and more people reaching out to me asking if I can do work for them. Yesterday I had to tell two different people sorry, but I am booked out a year so best of luck to you. I've actually had to tell some other people that as well. I just can't take on any more work this year because I already have the following stuff on my list between now and tax-season (end of this year):

-Remodel my Gilmore St. rental house. That will take the rest of this month.
-Blueberry rake for a week or two end of this month and into early August.
-Remodel my other Holyoke St. rental house in August and then get it listed for sale.
-Install Phil's new back deck only if time permits. He is a good friend so I would like to do that for him (Aug/Sep?)
-Install a new roof for Jason's showroom down in Rockport (September?)
-Use the sale-proceeds from my Holyoke rental house (hope it sells!) to finish North Main garage. That will take me through October.
-Redo two bedroom floors, trim, etc for Mom and Pop (November?)
-Finish the final office area at North Main/prep for tax season (December.)

I will have some other things that need taking care of this year to squeeze in between all of the above, things like finishing my bootleg gym ceiling, cleaning and organizing my office, tree-removal, a new window install, etc. Kat also has a lot of weddings coming up this fall that I will help her with so I am 100% booked out and will not be taking on any new outside jobs.

So here I am writing about how much work I have left to do this year and yet I am talking about taking a few Wednesdays off. What a bunch of crap! Hey, summer is fleeting and we should be doing fun things before it gets cold again. A large part of me does feel like I should be working today, but as long as Dakota is still willing and able to help me then I know I can stay caught up. The money that I made working for Phil and Mike will go right to Dakota in the end when I keep paying him to help me with the apartments. He does a good job and I like working with him. He put in 5.33 hrs yesterday and I worked 6 (actual on-job hours not including my research and paperwork) so that is over 11 hours total for our first day of remodel at my Gilmore St house. Oh Jesus hell ya!

It was a good feeling FINALLY being able to start working on my next project. I wanted to start on that a friggin' month ago, but the tenant there was like a turd who would not flush and she did not move out. I had to go to court, win, and wait. And wait. And wait some more. What a bunch of crap! It was annoying, but in all honesty it didn't totally screw me over because we had to finish Phil's and Mike's anyway. After I "won" at court she was supposed to be out by July 1, but of course that got fucked away and she finally finished moving her stuff yesterday. I gotta admit she did a pretty good job of cleaning for an evicted tenant so I did pay her a good portion of her deposit back, less court fees and a small portion of back-rent. I didn't totally get screwed over financially by the eviction like I have in some prior evictions. Overall it sucks I had to to it, but it was far from a worst-case scenario. No major damages to the place, rent postly paid, and cleaning done better than I expected = Oh Jesus hell ya!

We are going to get ready to leave so I'll have to post some photos of the beginning of that remodel next time. Goonies never say die!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Sunday, 7-07-19: Kinda wanna be sleeping still.
My worthless ass has been up since around 0500, almost an hour ago. That's just fine if we had bivouaced earlier last night, but alas we did not bivouac early. What a bunch of crap! We hung out with a few of our good friends last night here at the house, had a fire in the back yard after dinner at Las Palapas, and went down to Jester's only very briefly before finally going to sleep closer to midnight. I'd probably still be asleep, but it is too damn hot in the bedroom. Guess we should have bought an A/C. Oh well F it summer will be over soon enough and the humidity finally dropped off late last night after a cold front came through.

We had strong storms and a deluge of rain for a while yesterday PM just before we went to dinner. Poor Gavin, his house roof is cancelled so his contractor put tarps up over the framing. Unfortunately the tarp didn't do the job in one key area so a shitload of water drained right into his tenant's apartment, and he had to put her up in a hotel. What a bunch of crap! I hope for his sake the damage is not too severe and he doesn't need to hire a professional cleaning company to come deal with potential mold issues. That guy has the worst luck ever with that house, and years ago it was almost my house when I had it under contract...


^TARP-CITY.

In only 20 days blueberry raking starts, and Gav half-joked that it needs to be a good season since he is spending so much money. We always hope it is a good raking season every year since going to work to make very little money sucks. A lot. When I drove by the field that we are going to rake about a month ago it looked pretty good and weed-free, but that does not indicate how well the crop will actually be. I am looking forward to raking again with Gav for what will be our 16th consecutive year camping out and raking for Cliff. 16 years OMG! I just had to look that up because I couldn't even remember how long it had been.

I am planning to haul on this property this summer:

^Older photo. I bought that house in 2009 and needed to put a lot of work and money into it. It has been a decade since I got the place, and I have had the same tenants there for 7 years. Wow! I have a lot of equity in the house now, and I want to cash it out and use the money to do a bunch of repairs, upgrades, etc. Maybe a good chunk of the money will also help us move to a different house later this year or next year, a place with a little more land...

When I did the remodel of the house I had the cheapest carpet installed in all the bedrooms, a hallway, and the living room. Since then the carpet has outlived its useful life, at least in many areas it has. I know I will need to put in a shitload of new flooring before I can put it on the market, and I'm sure many other things will also need to be done above and beyond just painting and cleaning. The tenants who live there now are waiting to move into my other rental house, the one across from my bootleg gym and old apartment, but first I need the tenant there to finish moving out. She started moving Friday, she moved a bunch more yesterday, and if all goes well she will be done today. Maybe? Hopefully! I'd love to get in there tonight when Kat is working at the Pour House to start figuring out what will need doing for paint, flooring, cleaning, etc.

I'm hoping to NOT work much if at all during the day today. Hopefully I can take a nap at some point or else I'll be beat later. I feel half-tired still right now even though I did have some iced coffee (NOT COFFEE SUCKS F U DAKOTA) and I am drinking a little of this Mio-water. I think I'll finish on this bootleg piece of shit that no one ever reads and go try to do DDP Yoga now. Then if I feel ok after that I should go use my gym. Or go back to bed, I dunno...

It was definitely a fun long-weekend, but I feel badly that my poor wife is all beat up from such little sleep. She is still bivouaced, and I hope she sleeps for a while more because she needs it a lot more than I do. I had a lot of fun over the past three days, but now it is time to get back to the grind. I am actually proud of myself because, even though I did drink a fair amout of alcohol these past three days, I didn't overdo it and I feel pretty good right now. No hangover = oh Jesus hell ya! Now if we could just get a decent night's sleep...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Saturday, 7-06-19: So funny it made me cry.
Jester's was fun last night. Again. I went through a little phase not long ago when I didn't want to be there, and I was sick of the place. I think part of that "bar fatigue" is the fact that my awesome wife also works at The Pour House on Sundays, and I had to be a judge there for the karaoke contest two or three weeks in a row. Thankfully both last week and this week I do NOT have to be a judge there. I did have some fun being a judge, but it is a large investment of that precious... precious time. Also weighing on me was all the carpentry work I was taking on both at Phil's and Deno's, but thankfully those projects have mostly wrapped up. I still have a little left at Deno's; Dakota and I worked hard there Wednesday to accomplish this:

^The deck is done, but Mike (Deno) wanted a door from his mudroom to his new deck so we switched gears and started that phase. First was moving an outlet, second was ripping out that heat register (that was not connected anyway), and finally was hauling on the window and expanding the hole...

^After a few hours of prep, framing, flashing, etc it was time to install the heavy-ass 5-foot slider. That friggin' door weighs about 200 pounds and all I wanna know is why? Why is it so heavy? I did a 5-foot slider in the new addition here at the house a few years ago and I don't recall it weighing more than me. What a bunch of crap!

^We succeeded, but we had to MAN UP bigtime. The manufacturer said rough opening 60 x 80, but that was a bunch of crap because a 60 RO was too big gods damn it so I had to adjust down to 59.25". Thankfully it was easy to do, but it used up precious... precious time.

There still needs to be a step from the slider to the deck (13" drop right now, too steep to not have a step), I need to throw a few balusters on the deck steps, and the siding needs to get reinstalled. Also on the inside I need sheetrock and some trim. In a perfect world I would have finished that this weekend, but F it I can finish it this week. Maybe? Hopefully! I think Monday will be a good day for that side-mission.

I had planned to start working on this house Monday:

^Old photo front looks better now with newer steps. The current tenants were supposed to be out on June 1, but I granted them an extension until July 1 because rent is paid and I had Phil's and Deno's to work on. However, it is now July 6th and they are not done moving out yet. What a bunch of crap! I "won" in my eviction hearing last month so all I have to do is go down to the sheriff and have them booted. I am trying to NOT do that since rent is paid. I'm not getting into the logistics of that, but long story short I am not going to get screwed over financially with lost rent, and if they don't trash the place I will be paying out several hundred security deposit dollars back to them. I just need them to hurry up and gggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttttt oooooooooouuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

If they are not done Monday then I will go get my writ of possession and force them to disappear. I need to get moving on that place ASAP. I don't even know what exactly it will need, but roughly I think move the washer/dryer hookups from the basement to the upstairs, lots of paint, and some new flooring. Maybe also a new upstairs bathroom.

So Jester's last night was great again, and the highlight of the night was a kid who goes there and who has mental... challenges. Calling him a retard would be appropriate in the 80s, but these days it is considered a serious insult. I actually don't really like the guy because he is a fucking weirdo and kind-of a dick in his own special way, but sometimes he does entertain. Last night he was macking on some ancient-looking nearly toothless old lady. He is probably around 38, and she looked like she was 65+. Seriously. He was all beaming about it, and I asked him if she was his girlfriend. He said she was not because he already has a girlfriend. However, his girlfriend is in a wheelchair and she has a curfew so he only sees her every two weeks. That's when I asked him if his current "love interest" was his booty call and he replied "Hell yeah!" with the biggest pimp-daddy shit-eating grin you'd ever see. I nearly fell over laughing and had to go sit down in the ugly green chair. I laughed so hard I was crying, and it was probably one of the top ten funniest things I have ever seen. Definitely not #1 of all-time, though. That honor goes to the time Gav and I were blueberry raking and staying at Camden Hills. We went into town for beers at a local in-town Camden bar, and a dog came in and started humping this woman's leg. Both Gav and I were rolling with laughter, and when she said "Guys it's not that funny." I could only reply with "Yes, actually it is." That was a long time ago, at least a decade.

At the end of the night our favorite special-ed guy was still there with that woman, and when she went out to smoke I asked him if he was going to have sex with her. Again he had me in stitches laughing with his reply "Hell no this is only our first date I ain't that easy!" AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He later told me that she was missing most of her teeth because her drug-addict son punched her in the face and knocked them out. That is terribly sad and I don't wish that on anyone, but it did make me laugh again. A lot. This chick was so old and busted-looking, and the guy was beaming with pride because he got a woman to actually hang out with him, and even better for him she was the one paying for his Mountain Dews. From a can. With a straw. I swear to the gods who do not exist you cannot make this shit up.

So we have had two fun nights, and possibly we will have a third fun night again tonight. We don't have everything 100% laid out yet, but roughly we will go to supper at Las Palapas (great Mexican restaurant!) hang out here, maybe have a fire, and then go to Jester's for a while. Whether or not we have a fire depends on mother nature because we are in a big heat wave that is coming to an end this PM when heavy thunderstorms roll through. Then the dew point drops back into the 50s, and I can't wait for that because this level of heat and humidity = what a bunch of crap!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 7-05-19: A heat wave, taxes, a party.
It has been gods damned hot for the past couple days. Wednesday was fairly warm also, but not 90 like today and yesterday's holiday. I actually had a tax client today as well so I was slightly concerned that my tax office would be hot. Thankfully it was tolerable and it was a good appointment with a very nice lady. I did income taxes today in the middle of a summer heat wave. First time ever doing taxes in shorts?! First time ever doing taxes in the summer? Oh Jesus hell ya! I made zero consideration for summertime cooling of that office area, but it is something I need to consider as the business grows and as my awesome wife books gigs and schedules meetings there with her clients. So far so good, but no one wants to sit in a boiling-hot office that is supposed to be a professional setting. Methinks maybe an A/C for that place will be a good idea for future use...

We had our (fifth?) annual July 4th party at the house yesterday, and for the second consecutive year it was 90+ degrees. Over 90 = what a bunch of crap! However, I think of when it is -20 in the middle of winter and that makes me STFU and not complain too much. The party was a lot of fun with a good crowd of close to 40 people total. We were a little smarter this year and started earlier so we could end earlier, and I drank water between my booze so I didn't turn into a shit-show who had to get carried into bed by my 7-foot tall friend who seems to possess retard strength. However, it is not PC to say RETARD anymore and he is actually one of the smartest giants (and only!) whom I know. He brought hot-sauce that was an 11 on a scale of 1-10 (Seriously!) and watching drunk people consume that was hilarious. There are videos on the Failbook, but that is not how I roll so oh well. Dakota was the DJ yesterday:

^Hat on backwards. Taking a page out of my book? Hehehehe. He is a great guy, and I feel badly for what is surely to come. It may not be right for me to type this, but we all know it. He loves Katherine, but she is a bossy little bitch to him half the time so he will probably haul on her. I told him I'd haul on her if she treated me the way she treats him. It is weird because Katherine has a heart of gold and is a great person, but gods damn she needs to learn how to politely ask for what she wants. We went to see Spiderman 2, or Spiderman 10, or wtf I can't keep track and I don't even care... whether or not I care about Spiderman anymore. It wasn't even a great movie I just went because I love my wife.

So we were there and Katherine made Dakota move over one seat so she could have the EXACT middle seat. Dakota wanted to sit next to me but she shut that shit down. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Like, what the fuck is the difference between seat 5 and seat 6? They are both in the fuckin' middle. Katherine tried to pull that crap with me last night at the party. She yelled at me to come over, and I said hell no I ain't Dakota and she can't bark orders at my ass. She was one of the three people whom I pissed off at the party last night.

After I upset Katherine (I think she got over it fast she passed out face-down in her rack, but all the credit in the world to her because she was NOT hungover today!) Some other guy who sucks and whom I pretty much hate was walking around asking why he had to be the responsible one. I told him to drink then he wouldn't worry so much, and he told me he has seen shit. He is a coddled sissy-Mary who lives off the government and who contributes nothing of value to the world so I told him until he has been in the military he can't say jack fuckin' shit about how much shit he has seen because, unless he watches morbid stuff on YouTube, he hasn't seen SHIT in this world. Thankfully neither have I, except for the time there were brains on the floor from a guy who blew his head off, but that was not from the military and I do not have PTSD. It really did suck heling my wife clean that up, though...

The final person whom I upset was Debbie. I guess she ran home crying, but F it she deserved some tough love because she made poor life-decisions. She wanted hot dogs, but she spilled the beans (hehehe no pun intended) all over the place and the kitchen was a mess. What a bunch of crap! The mess was tolerable, but the loss of beans was a travesty because they were homemade awesome beans made with exgtra love from my awesome wife. Then drunk Debbie threw a bean-covered towel into the washing machine, and Kat discovered that earlier today. What a bunch of crap! All I wanna know is why? Why would you do that?!

I am VERY pround of not only my great wife but also of myself because both her and I did not get wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. I did get drunk, but not until the very end because I had a lot of water and I paced myself. I didn't have a hangover at all today, and I got a nice little workout in my gym after I did taxes so Oh Jesus Hell Ya to that! I hardly ever use my gym lately because I am here, there, and everywhere. Sometimes I get stupid-busy. What a bunch of crap!

No one fell into the fire last night, but Neil came close. He was FUCKED UP. He did the hot-sauce challenge like a boss but then he chundered a few minutes later. I think Groot ate that. What a bunch of crap! I dunno when we ended everything, but Neil almost dying and then Kat finding chunder in the bathroom sink (plus Debbie spilling the beans!) led to the end at some point around maybe midnight. We spend a shitload of money on the party, but F it my awesome wife did most of the work and spend her hard-earned money to make it all happen so I give her tons of respect for that. She made lots of great food, pasta salads, etc.

We truly do have a great group of friends.

Gav was also here, and he showed us a hilarious video of the inside of his apartment. They blew out the ceiling so it is filled with plaster and lath. His appliances and couch are all cancelled. What a bunch of crap! He is having his roof replaced, and on Monday it looked like this:

^EPIC EXPENSIVE. The new framing is already in place, at least most of it is, and he will have a new roof in short order. Gav is a great guy it is too bad he bought a financial black-hole that he also lives in...


9-04
10-04 11-04 12-04 1-05 2-05 3-05 4-05 5-05 6-05 7-05 8-05 9-05 10-05 11-05 12-05 1-06 2-06 3-06
4-06 5-06 6-06 7-06 8-06 9-06 10-06 11-06 12-06 1-07 2/07 3-07 4-07 5-07 6-07 7-07 8-07 9-07 10-07 11-07 12-07 1-08 2-08 3-08 4-08 5-08 6-08 7-08 8-08 9-08 10-08 11-08 12-08 1-09 2-09 3-09 4-09 5-09 6-09 7-09 8-09 9-09 10-09 11-09 12-09 1-10 2-10
3-10 4-10 5-10 6-10 7-10 8-10 9-10 10-10 11-10 12-10 1-11 2-11 3-11 4-11 5-11 6-11 7-11 8-11 9-11 10-11 11-11 12-11 1-12 2-12 3-12 4-12 5-12 6-12 7-12 8-12 9-12 10-12 11-12 12-12 1-13 2-13 3-13 4-13 5-13 6-13 7-13 8-13 9-13 10-13 11-13 12-13 1-14 2-14 3-14 4-14 5-14 6-14 7-14 8-14 9-14 10-14 11-14 12-14 1-15 2-15 3-15 4-15 5-15 6-15 7-15 8-15 9-15 10-15 11-15 12-15 1-16 2-16 3-16 4-16 5-16 6-16 7-16 8-16 9-16 10-16 11-16 12-16 1-17 2-17 3-17 4-17 5-17 6-17 7-17 8-17 9-17 10-17 11-17 12-17 1-18 2-18 3-18 4-18 5-18 6-18 7-18 8-18 9-18 10-18 11-18 12-18 1-19
2-19 3-19 4-19 5-19 6-19

Click here to go back to the main page.