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"I'm gonna come home from this vacation with sun poisoning, alcoholism, and a food baby." -Angela (after days of eating, drinking, and hanging out by the pool in Mexico.)

Sunday, 6-30-19: What the weekend means to me now. Also an important anniversary weekend.
Many years ago when I had a "real" job working at FedEx and later UPS I really looked forward to the weekend because most of the time I had it off. I would often work on the bootleg apartments on the weekends, but I didn't mind that so much because I was single and didn't have that much better to do, at least more often than not that was the case. Saturday night was a pretty big party night for me on many occasions, but now that I am self-employed it seems Friday night is the bigger drinking night and I don't really need to look forward to the weekend like I used to do because I control my own hours. Being self-employed rules!*

Jester's was epic fun Friday night this week, and I got very liquored up on not that much booze. That's how I know my loser-ass is beat, when only a little booze wrecks me. My awesome wife ended up taking a group of us to Denny's so we didn't bivouac until really late. Denny's was hilarious as usual, and a pothole "ate" me. Also, I told Dakota he was either North or South. Most, if not all of the people who came with us to Denny's will be here for our annual July 4th party.

We also went out last night, but I didn't drink too much. We hung out with Neil and Ang, all had dinner, went bowling, and then ended up at karaoke at Cap's. Cap's isn't really the same since it burned down and was rebuit, but the DJ there is really cool and I don't mind the fact that it feels more like a bootleg cafeteria than a local bar. We did the candlepin bowling at the local lanes, and it was like getting into a time-warp back to 1985. They played 80s music, and the screens showed graphics that reminded me of early NES games. Maybe even Atari games hehehehe. It was fun, but I SUCK and scored around 60. What a bunch of crap! Candlepin bowling is hard gods damn it.

This weekend is the 5-year anniversary of when my awesome wife and I met. On Friday night June 27th/28th in 2014 she came back to the house with Tommy and I and a group of people. I had Teddy Grahams, 80s music, and no charisma but I somehow accidentally convinced her that I was worth a second look. We had our first date that Sunday June 29th, pretty much five years ago. We ate at City Side and got Jimmy's Ice Cream. Today in honor of that first date we got City Side, but we skipped Jimmy's. Kat even ordered the same food she got five years ago (chicken quesidillas) but I forgot what I ate five years ago on that date so I just got a calzone.

This is what I wrote five years ago about Kat:

On Friday Gav left town to go get some tail (I think?) so Tommy and I hung out at the house and had a few beers. Tommy showed up around 1900, and not too long after that Kelly sent me a text and said she wanted to hang out. She wanted me to go over to her place, but screw that I wasn't gonna bail on Tommy! So he and I had a fire and a few drinks before we ended up at Jester's. Jester's has been epic fun on Friday nights lately; there's a hot chick who does karioke down there so that is a definite plus. We hung out there for a while and then late-night we got the ENTIRE Jester's crowd to come back to the house for more fire and booze. It wasn't a ton of people, maybe 10 or so total, but it was a good crowd and a lot of fun. I even convinced the karioke check to come back. Win!

So funny I couldn't even spell karaoke back then. What a funny bunch of crap!

The Red Sox played the Yankees in London or some UK city this weekend. It was the first time MLB has gone there for games, and it sucked for the Red Sox because they got beaten in both games. What a bunch of crap! The Yankees are in first place by a lot with the season about half over. The Red Sox are in 3rd place at 44-40 now. Epic failer pitching staff in the UK, but apparently the baseball field there is a converted soccer stadium with short fences so there were a lot of home runs.

We spent a lot of money this weekend, but Phil was good to me in the final shingling paycheck that he gave to me on Friday, better than I expcted him to be, so we had extra fun-money. We'll spend a lot this coming week because we have to buy a lot of food and booze for the July 4th party. That party looks to be fun with a good, large crowd expected. Hopefully no one falls into the fire this year. Maybe we won't even have a fire. Party starts at 1500, a little earlier than last year, and it will be 87 degrees. Last year was 90+ and epic hot, but 87 isn't too far off that mark. I need to NOT get as wasted as I did last year because that was a bootleg bunch of crap. I was extremely hungover the next day so that is a total waste. Plus we had to take a guy to the ER to get skin grafts because he fell into our fire. Seriously. What a bunch of crap!

Tomorrow I have tenants moving out of my old apartment and Gavin is having his roof ripped off. Like, totally off. Shingles, framing, sheathing, the works. He has a contractor handling all that, and it ain't cheap. I'm sure it will be incredibly loud and a massive sight to behold. If I think of it I will take pictures. It is now nearly midnight so I won't get an early start; Kat is hosting the karaoke at the Pour House and I decided to bow out because too many hours at a bar wears me down and makes me grumpy (example: last Monday's bootleg update.) I will probably head over there shortly to help her pack up at the end. We took a nap this afternoon so I am okay to stay up a little longer. It will feel good to bivouac and get back to a more "normal" schedule for the next few days. Crashing out at 0200 is fine if you sleep in until 1000, but we always get up earlier than that so there is never enough sleep on many weekend days. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, at least the money is decent. Maybe? Hopefully!

*It is usually great, but a steady job with a known paycheck is nothing to scoff at.

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Friday, 6-28-19: Finally finished this epic shingle job.
Dakota and I left Phil and Danielle's house today at around 1615, and we are FINALLY done shingling their house. This job, holy crispy crap what an epic endeavor it turned out to be. 28 work days this year for me, and 19 work days for me last year. Two of those days were only half-days so I can call it 46 full days for myself. Of the 28 days that I worked there this year (27.5 to be more accurate) I put in 207 of my own hours, and Dakota worked 179 himself. OMG. I am not looking up last year's data at this point because I have had two drinks and am already about wasted like Doc J and 8 Ball from Full Metal Jacket. I am not even joking. I am beat to shit so the booze is hitting my loser ass HARD right now. What a bunch of crap!

Phil gave me a substantial bonus in the final paycheck today, and I greatly appreciate that because this job kicked my fuckin' ass. I got a $326 ticket from a bootleg cop, I did stupid shit on ladders to reach random weird dormers, I hammered my own fuckin' hand (epic failer!), I cut myself and bled (not severely just enough to leave DNA evidence at his house), I got sunburned, and I got eaten to shit by gods damned blackflies and mosquitos. Was it all worth it? Oh Jesus hell ya!

^The house is a-fuckin-amazing, but it is a carpenter's nightmare worse than Freddy Krueger lined up with Jason Vorhees and Michael F'n Myers, all 20 versions of that dude. An octagon room. Seriously?! All I wanna know is why? Why was nothing seemingly square anywhere there? Dakota did a lot of those shingles without my help at all so needless to say he got a good chunk of the bonus pay.

^The previous photo was the front side, and this is the back side. We shingled almost every part of his gods damned house over the past two years, with the exception of that high big dormer above the grill because those shingles were obviously newer and in great shape.

Holy crap, this is a fuckin' awesome song. I have never heard it before, but I will call it The Outfield because I am an 80s music guru. Oh Jesus Hell Ya it is called All the Love. This song is great! I need to own it. Guy turns it up. Now I have had 2.5 drinks and I guess I am cut off so I can make it to the bar in a bit. I am so proud of myself that I knew it was The Outfield. Not sure of the year, but if it is from the Play Deep album it must be 1985...

^Last year Kat and I bagged all the shingle debris, but this year Phil had us make piles so he could burn it all. SMART! At first we had one huge pile, but apparently that generates more heat than a White Dwarf sun so Phil asked us to make smaller piles so he didn't have to call 911 when half his forest caught fire. Fuck you, Smokey the Bear. Or bandit. OMG I am fuckin' WRECKED right now. Good thing the bar is close!

Today we worked hard all day like a boss, and it was quite hot and humid. OMG DEF LEPPARD ARMAGEDDON IT. GUY WAITS FOR THE PART WHERE JOE ELLIOTT SINGS "COME ON STEVE, GET IT." Sucks Steve died becase he did too many drugs. What a bunch of crap that is!

The day I quit stuffing my arm inside my shirt and pretending to be Rick Allen, the one-armed drummer, is the day I want to die. Seriously. I will be 80 fuckin' years old at the Eagles Cult Club and doing that shit in the year 2056. My awesome wife will be the DJ, and the average age of the clients will still be about 80. Hehehe. Also, I am pretty good at math but I just had to get out the computer-calculator and do math on that shit.

I am PWNED right now. I am too drunk to drive, but can be our secret, all two of us. I am not even done with my third drink, but I can't take the pressa!

Oh wait, I have to explain that red circle in the last photo above.

Hey, a thought just occurred to me. I am 43 years old and I still own this bootleg piece of shit site. All I wanna know is why? Why does that happen? No one reads it including myself, but one day I will cancel all my obligations and just read because leaders are readers. Not Tweeters, readers. Someone should tell that to our asshole fucking president who makes me not want to vote for Republicans anymore (but Democrats mostly suck also. What a bunch of crap! Stallone should run for president gods damn it.)

This fucking song SUCKS. I should award it my fail-trophy. Where the hell is that thing? Guy looks...

^Awarded to Bette Middler for this toilet-bowl of a song called Wind Beneath My Wings. IT IS HORRIBLE BRING ON BETTER 80S MUSIC GODS DAMN YOUZ CHANNEL 1928! It is from that bootleg movie called Beaches that fucking sucks. I would rather watch RAMBO and ROCKY. Obviously. Like, thank you Captain Obvious.

Okay, so that red circle is the final shingle that I installed today. That top triangle. The ladder almost slid out from under me because fuck it. I really don't know how I didn't get seriously hurt doing that job. Not even joking. It was FUCKING HARD. However, Phil was so good to me that it makes me want to go back and do more work there, and trust me when I say there is a LOT of work left there to do. Like, a LOT. He still needs a deck, but I am pwned and have no time. Also, I am too boozed up to write anymore so I am going to leav enow. the end. Fin. Goonies never say die! Also, Rambo is awesome Rambo 5 comes out later this year!

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Monday, 6-25-19: FUCK THIS.
All I wanna know is why? Why am I awake at 1215 on what is now technically a Tuesday morning? I am so far beyond tired that I am pwned, and now I am mad so I cannot sleep. What a bunch of crap! I am not happy with my wife right now, and at this very moment in time I actually miss being single. I don't want any other chick, I just want to be able to do my own thing more than I do now. I'm not happy with myself either because as my Dad has said many times in the past, "You make your own luck."

Occasionally I get frustrated with my wife, and occasioanlly she gets frustrated with me. Hey, that is life right? The perfect marriage is probably a myth, just like dry land is a myth in Waterworld. There will be bad times, and there will be good times, and as long as the good times outweigh the bad times then you just roll with it. Thankfully our good times still outweigh the bad by a lot. Unfortunately right now I feel a sense of resentment towards my wife. I don't think it is fair how much she has me help her do her job. I have my own work to do, too.

I got pissed off at Kat on Friday night when she was wasted at the bar. Again. When you go to a bar you drink, unless you are one of the two resident weirdos who drink fucking water and soda and contribute nothing. Or unless you are a DD, whatever. I don't mind when my wife drinks at the bar because I drink at the bar. However, she friggin works there hosting the karaoke show so when she gets shitfaced and can barely do her job that is not okay. Especially when we are there until after 0200 and when I know she will have a hangover the next day. There is drinking and there is DRINKING. I actually called her an alcoholic on Friday night, and she went to bed/passed out while I settled down and ate Froot Loops. I don't regret calling her an alcoholic because when she has more than a couple then she hits a zone where she does not stop. Lately she has been drinking too much.

Saturday was a very long day for us both because she had a wedding to do that was an hour away. That is the main reason I was pissed at her for getting wasted on Friday night. Then last night was the Pour House karaoke contest so I had to stay all night for that, and I do like to help my wife do her job. I just don't always like to help her do it and I have sacrificed too much of my own work helping her do her work. She made a friggin grand over the weekend so that is awesome, but I don't know where the fuck it goes because we have about $300 in our bank account right now. What a bunch of crap!

I didn't want to do anything tonight because I felt beat from a few nights of not enough sleep. Late nights and early mornings tend to do that. She wanted to go out for one drink to support a friend tonight, and somehow my worthless pussy husband ass allowed it to turn into a trip to karaoke where she and a friend are now. Drunk. She knew, she KNEW I was beat and didn't want to go, but because I love her I went anyway. I feel like what she did was selfish tonight, and I am sick of having to do both my job and her job with her all the fuckin time. I am also sick of our spending habits which seem to be getting worse. We are not buying boats and sports cars and shit, but we eat out too much and we spend too much at the bar and on stupid other shit. We make pretty good money yet it all disappears and that also pisses me off. Finally, she said she was not going to drink for a while yet tonight she is drunk again and I am a fucking idiot because I allowed it to happen. What a bunch of crap! I am a shitty husband I probably don't even deserve a wife anyway.

I am substantially less happy in my life than I was nearly five years ago when Kat and I first started dating, and I need to get back to that or else my marriage is going to fail. Summer of 2014 was totally awesome, and since then it seems to get harder and harder in life. I feel like I always have too much to do, and that is a bunch of crap. Her and I need to sit down and figure this out ASAP before I have a meltdown that causes a serious divide between her and I. She is still my best friend and I still love her more than anyone so I hope we can get it sorted out. I don't think she really knows how frustrated I get because I don't deal with that shit very well.

One big step will be getting her onboard with my idea of paying Dakota (or someone else) to do some of her gigs with her. I don't ever want to be a DJ, I just don't have the love for it that she has, and I can only do a certain amount of her gigs with her before I burn out. I have so many things on my list it is ridiculous, and I need to clear off my schedule as much as possible between now and next winter when I start doing taxes again. I also need to finish these big projects like the shingling at Phil and Danielle's house. Hopefully this week I can get it done, but now I won't get jack fuckin shit for sleep and it is going to rain tomorrow PM so maybe I won't even go.

Kat wanted to screw off more in July and not work as much, but I have a bad feeling I will have to work more than she wants me to work. I just have too much to do and I can't screw off that much. Hell lately I can barely find time to even use my gym or go for jogs. I really need to fix this bullshit ASAP. I'm done. Fuck it. The end.

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Friday, 6-21-19: I worked some tonight.
I am back at the house, and it is pretty late right now. 2324. Most Fridays I am already at the bar at this late hour, but tonight I just don't feel like being there for long. I was there last week at this time when I decided that I needed a time-out from the place so I left for a bit. Sometimes I just don't want to be at the bar, and tonight was one of those nights. I screwed off for a good chunk of today so I could get some work done tonight, and I am glad I made some progress on this in the past two hours while I drank some coffee brandy and milk:

^Groot just wanted to leave at that point, and I was okay with bailing out of there since I installed two shelves in the background and labeled a lot of those little storage-bins located on the shelves just to the right of that ladder in the corner. As you can see from the photo there is still a lot of work to do, but at least tonight I cleaned it up a little. Eventually I plan to have my shit squared away and all stowed and labeled. Maybe? Hopefully! That gym has been on my list for over a year now so I really do need to get it done. The fact it still is so messy = what a bunch of crap and epic fail all rolled up into one.

Maybe one day I will be caught up and I won't feel badly about screwing off all the damn time, but that won't happen anytime soon. I think the last time I felt caught up was about five years ago when I first started dating my then-awesome future wife. The summer of 2014 was fuckin' awesome, and ever since then it seems I work too much. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I know what I need to do in order to not work so much so that is awesome. Hopefully by this fall I will be on the right course in that regard, and hauling on the property that I manage is one huge step in that direction. The owners emailed me this last week after I told them I was all done (only part of the email attached because there is no sense posting it all...)

If Richard - or I - overstepped or offended in any way, please accept our most sincere apologies, as well as our intent to be more mindful going forward. You are by far the best property manager we've ever had, and we greatly value and respect you. We sincerely hope you will reconsider, and will continue to manage our property. (By the way, we are getting closer to selling properties, and certainly intend to offer you the Brewer property when the time comes - whether you continue managing it or not.)

My reply should have been this awesome logo:

I don't want to manage that property anymore because I have other things that I want to do with my precious... precious time. Bye bye $2000 a year, but fuck it I can make that by doing other things and if I don't make it then oh well. I need less rental properties in my life because being a slumlord is pretty demanding at times. Sometimes it is easy, but other times it FUCKIN' SUCKS. However, what job doesn't occasionally suck? None that I have ever had...

Alright turds, all two of youz, I am going to leave now. The end. Fin. Goonies never say die!

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Friday, 6-21-19: Summer!
Today is the first day of summer. Maybe? Okay guy looks it up on the Interweb just to be sure. Yup, it is today at some point this evening/tonight. 1554 UTC. Guys does not know what UTC is and guy is not looking that up because guy does not even care... whether or not guy cares.

Today is also the longest day of the year in our area of the planet. Sunrise at 0449 and sunset at 2025 = Oh Jesus Hell Ya! That is 6 hours and 47 minutes more daylight than the shortest day of the year in December. Fuck you December. Fuck you very much. Thankfully December does not happen for a half a year and we will hopefully have a nice summer so the mere thought of winter is distant at this point.

Kat was hoping to mostly not work too much in July so her and I could enjoy some of the fleeting summer, but I will have to work a fair amount because I am roughly booked out already until next spring. Yes, spring of 2020. What a bunch of crap! I'm not talking working 60 hour weeks each week, but I do have a lot to do between now and when next tax season begins. A LOT. Here is a partial list of the things I need to do between now and just the end of July:

-Finish Phil's shingles and maybe rebuild his back deck and tackle some smaller repairs at his house.
-Install a door and finish the steps for Mike's new deck that Dakota and I have been trying to finish up.
-Get new tenants into my old apartment. The current tenants are out around July 1. Thankfully I have new people already interested.
-Get rid of the tenants in one of my nearby rental houses. I already "won" at court (no one really wins so says Dalton from Road House) so if she is not out in early July I can have her arrested for trespassing. After she is out I need to clean the place, paint, etc so tenants from my other rental house can move in there.
-Once tenants are moved into that house I have to prep that house for sale. It will take a lot of work including fresh paint and many new floors. Maybe ALL new floors. That won't be cheap, but I can't sell it for what I want with the place being a turd at the moment. Worn carpets, etc. It is a bunch of crap right now!
-BLUEBERRY RAKING late July and into the first part of August.

The weather today is a giant bunch of crap so I don't think I can finish these steps for Mike:

^Photo taken Monday after Dakota and I worked there for 4 beautiful and sunny hours. We did the balusters and started some prep for the three steps that will be on the right side near where that bucket sits and the opening in the railing. The steps will take 2-3 hours because they always do. (Not only steps but also railings for the steps for asthetic appeal.) Mike also decided he wants a door where that big window on the right is located so that will take Dakota and I another full day of work (or two half days) to install.

Speaking of Dakota, he is in Pittsburgh for a gaming convention/competition through Monday. He left yesterday morning, and the timing was actually great because with bad weather and a wedding Kat has to DJ tomorrow I didn't have any work for him anyway. Dakota has been a HUGE help for me this spring; he works for me an average of 3-4 days a week for a fair wage. Mostly I have him help with the carpentry at Phil's and Mike's, but he also does some of my mowing and he and I have done some landscaping work at the rental properties locally as well. Dump-runs, etc.

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Thursday, 6-20-19: Got a lot done the past three days. Did we join a cult last night?
No deck building and no house shingling today. If the weather doesn't take a shit too soon today then I will do some mowing this morning, and hopefully I can take the afternoon off to hang out with my awesome wife. On Monday Dakota and I finished the railings and balusters on Mike's deck, and the past two days have been long days down in Oakland getting to this point:

Yesterday Dakota ripped off that front side while I worked on the facing area, we both prepped and started that front, and then I left him to shingle the rest of the front without any help from my ass so I could get way up to the top and finish that peak. Doing that area was difficult because I had to do stupid shit to get a ladder to reach it. Thankfully I did get it done without falling off, and now I can say the hardest parts of the job are done. No more climbing all the way up to the very top anymore. I'm not afraid of the height, I just got sick of wasting the precious... precious time that it takes to do those pieces so high up there. It takes lots of trips up and down the ladder to make cuts, get more shingles, etc.

On Tuesday I actually had to work down there by myself because Dakota was too hungover to come along. However, it was partly my fault because we all sat out back on the deck on a beautiful near-summer later afternoon/early evening and had some drinks. I didn't know he had a beer with his supper when I gave him a vodka mixed drink. After that there was no more vodka so I made him a drink with rum, and after that he had a shot of tequila and then finished Angela's glass of wine. He also drank some of Katherine's Bud Light Strawberry-A-Rita so he had 6 different kinds of alcohol. AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Katherine also got drunk, and she was hilarious. She's still only 20, but she will be 21 in 4 weeks and we don't care if she drinks here at the house with us. She doesn't drink much anyway. Then Dakota said he had to take care of her because of how drunk she was. She sobered up while he had to go chunder. What a hilarious bunch of crap! I only had a couple drinks so I was just fine to work the next morning. Katherine was fine to go to work also, but Dakota was still wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

We won't be able to work on the house again down there until next Tuesday because of bad weather (what a bunch of crap!), Kat's gigs (wedding Sat that I will help her with), and other obligations (mowing, paperwork, etc.) I'd love to have all his shingling 100% done in only three more work days, but I think it will take four work days because not only do we need to finish what is in the photo above but we also have some smaller areas to finish that will chew up that ever-so precious... precious time. Plus we have to clean up and, if possible, put light fixtures back and take care of several other smaller things.

Damn, Iran shot down one of our drones last night and in the past couple weeks they have allegedly attacked oil tankers in the Persinan Gulf. The Straits of Hormutz is a dangerous little passage so we are bringing more military over there. Seems there is always some stupid shit happening in that area of the world, but if Iran doesn't get its shit together ASAP we might have to go to war with them.

Oh wow the drone was actually a big aircraft with a price tag of $130 MILLION DOLLARS. (Unmanned aircraft) OMG THAT IS EPIC EXPENSIVE. Iran says the drone was in its airspace, and we say fuck you the drone was in international airspace. This is a huge deal, and I hope it doesn't lead to more war because there is already too much of that in this screwed-up world. Oh great another top story, Joe Biden accused of being a racist in the 1970s. Biden sucks, but calling him a racist is a fucking joke when compared to our current scumbag of a president.

^Awarded to Iran for shooting down one of our $130 million drones. PAY US BACK AND APOLOGIZE GODS DAMN IT!

Speaking of Gods, Kat and I officially joined the Eagles Club last night. We had applied a couple months ago because we thought it was the right thing to do. They had her work there for most of the winter hosting Thursday night karaoke since the long-term regular DJ was testing out the "Snowbird" life down in Florida. Now he is back, but he plans to leave again next winter so we thought we should actually be members if she is going to get hired there again. I do like the Eagles, but the process for joining is a giant bunch of crap.

We had to show up in nice attire, and for the first time in a great many years I had to wear my suit and tie. Thankfully my suit jacket is tan so it didn't show the dust that had collected on the thing. All I wanna know is why? Why did we have to dress up? They made us wait around and then they took four of us upstairs to be indoctrinated. What a joke that was! They asked us if we believed in God, and thankfully the other two people with my wife and I said YES or else there would have been a very awkward silence and we might have gotten the boot like this:

^THERE IS NO GOD MOFOS. I guess they wanted to know if we believed in God because we had to swear to God that we would not be shigbag Eagles members. We had to stand there while they held hands and sang a song, and it was incredibly weird and awkward. I tried so hard not to laugh so I just thought about all the work I had to do until they were done. The ceremony was really dumb, and then they let us stay for their meeting. The meeting was even worse! They talked about wanting new shirts, and I could barely even hear what they were saying.

When we left Kat joked "I think we just joined a cult." AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh well at least most of the members there whom we actually do know seem really cool, and the booze is cheap at their bar. Karaoke there isn't too shabby either, especually when my awesome wife gets to be the DJ again!

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Sunday, 6-16-19: NO WORK TODAY. (Not really)
I am taking today off. No work for me! Just kidding I actually do have to work. What a bunch of crap! I won't have a pure day off again for a while, maybe July? I already "worked" some today when I had to log my receipts for the carpentry jobs. Yesterday AM Dakota and I hit up Lowe's to buy a few supplies for Mike's deck and a few more supplies for Phil's place for this coming week. Then we were driving over to Mike's from nearby Lowe's, and we were only about 1/10 of a mile from his house when he called me. As soon as the phone rang I thought he was calling to cancel, maybe forgot to plug in power through his window or something (no exterior power outlet, at least not one that works, so he has to plug us in from the inside of the house since I neither have nor want a key.) However, he was calling for a much different reason...

Syrup! He was making pancakes for his boys, and he didn't have syrup so he was wondering if we would stop at the store to pick it up for him. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I said sure no problem as long as he was cool with paying us our hourly rate to go on a side-mission. He is my friend and I wouldn't mind helping him out for free, but F that my time is very limited lately and I am already under-budget for him bigtime so I didn't feel badly about taking 20 minutes of billable time to hit up WalMart for a bottle of syrup. I actually think it's funny, a good story, and it will be even better when I include it on his final invoice just as a joke. Screws, decking, joists, balusters, MAPLE SYRUP FOR PANCAKES. Hehehehe.

We only had about 3 hours actually at his house working yesterday, but we did get it this far:

^Decking almost done now, only one piece left to attach. We also did work there 4 hours Friday.

The little things eat up precious... precious time. Flashing is important, and it took me a long time to learn that over the years:

^Still needs a little along the side, but overall it looks great thanks to Dakota doing a nice job with the utility knife. Years ago I wouldn't have been half as mindful about installing flashing to prevent rot along the ledger. I am trying to do a great job and the deck is a little overbuilt for something that is only two feet off the ground. However, I want it a little too strong as opposed to being too weak. I want that thing to look good two decades from now gods damn it.

We will be back to mostly finish that deck tomorrow, and then Tues and Wed it will be back down to Oakland to keep shingling Phil and Danielle's house. We will probably "only" work on the deck 4-6 hours tomorrow because tonight both Dakota and I are going to be judges for the first week of Kat's karaoke contest at the Pour House. That means a very late bedtime tonight. Being a judge is like work, but at least we each get three free drinks while we are there. I really don't want to judge a karaoke contest for 4 hours, but I will because I love my wife and want to help her succeed. She did have a great idea about the contest and she put a lot of her own work and time into it so anything I can do to help her succeed with it is a no-brainer. I am a pretty good judge because I always vote for who I truly think is the best. That does mean in the past for things like the Jester's Halloween costume contest I have picked people whom I really don't even like just because it was the right thing to do.

Today is Father's Day and Kat/Katherine were very kind to get me a great card and gifts. I'll call Pop later and wish him well. Last Sunday I was down at the ol' homestead for his 70th birthday, and I will see him again in a few weeks when we do his actual gift, a fishing trip off the Kennebec in Bath (salt water fishing.) Jason set that one up, and I gotta give him credit it was a fantastic idea.

I worked a shitload yesterday, but I had a good day. After we worked on the deck I had just enough time to scoot home, shower, and help load up for an afternoon wedding. The wedding was great and the people there were good to us. The only turd in the punch-bowl of the day is the fact that the ceremony itself was outdoors in a sheltered area filled with blackflies and mosquitos. What a bunch of crap! White shirt and blood from bugbites = bad combination. Oh well once the ceremony was over we were able to go back inside and not get as chewed up. The weather was perfect, and it was a great place for a wedding located only 20 minutes away in Winterport so that is another awesome benefit. We were both exhausted and slept in this morning. I forced myself to stay in bed since tonight will be a late night.

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Friday, 6-14-19: Shingle photos, weekend plans = WORK.
Dakota and I only worked at Phil's house for two days this week. Ah well, the weather did not help and I had other things to do on some of the days. We worked down in Oakland on Wednesday and yesterday this week, and I took some updated pitcures to share with the two of you who actually read this pathetic excuse of a webpage.

^I finally finished that top area yesterday around midday. Doing those edges and the very top around the gable vent is a giant bunch of crap. It seemingly takes forever; there is not a fast way to get it done. Maybe with a lift of some kind, but definitely not with a ladder. Up down, up down, left right, left right, B A B A Start. Hehe the Konami cheat code applied to shingling a house in the year 2019. Where is my psychologist gods damn it?

^NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY OLD LOSER ASS GOT IT WRONG IT IS UP UP DOWN DOWN NOT UP DOWN UP DOWN FUCKIN A I AM GOING TO DIE SENILE WHEN I FORGET EVERYTHING WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! My childhood was awesome and sometimes I think it was better than my adulthood. Simpler and no fucking Failbook and cellphones. Sometimes I just want to throw my cellphone away, but more often than not I am glad that I have it because I can text my awesome wife. She wants me to report for duty at the bar, but I am not ready to go just yet. My wife is great, but I am getting sick of doing my own work and helping her with her job as well. I don't even really want to go at all tonight, but I will because I love my wife. I'll get about 5 hours of sleep tonight. Maybe? Hopefully!

Here is a photo of the other side that we were working on yesterday until we got rained out:

^It started raining around 1300, but the rain was light and we worked in the showers until it finally got to be a heavy, steady rain by 1500. I stood on the roof and jumped up to hammer in a rogue nail, and I might die doing stupid shit like that but sometimes I don't even care... whether or not a care. Dying young-ish is okay I'd rather not live to be an old shell of my former self. We spent a half hour prepping one the rain got too heavy, and as you can see Dakota had a dry area to finish while it rained. We did get our 8 hours in and then we had to drive home in a deluge. We have had plenty of rainy days lately, but thankfully there was no rain today while we worked on Deno's deck for 4 hours. We didn't go to Oakland today because Dakota passed his driver's test this morning at 1000 like a boss. I helped him practice the parallel park because I have a modicum of talent as a driver. Not much, just a little...

I think we have 5 more days of shingling down at Phil and Danielle's house, and I think Deno's deck will be done this coming week. Maybe? Hopefully. We can work on the deck tomorrow for 3-4 hours before we have to quit early PM so I can help Kat do a wedding in Winterport tomorrow midafternoon and into the night. I plan to take Sunday off, and then we can work on the deck Monday before we go back to shingle in Oakland next Tuesday. Sunday night I have to stay up half the damn night to be a judge at a karaoke contest. Ah well at least my cool wife is the DJ there and I get a couple free drinks because I will be a judge. I should show up at the contest dressed like this:

So I have to help with DJ stuff tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. Oh, I have a house to shingle and a deck to finish building. I also have tenant stuff to do as usual and in a perfect world I would have time to play racquetball. Unfortunately half the time I don't even play rball because I know there is not enough time. What a bunch of crap that is! Oh well when I play too much I get tennis elbow. I am getting old and I think I hate myself. Okay, I don't hate myself all the time. Just about 50/50. F this I am all done and I need to go to Jester's and pretend to have fun for a couple hours. However, I am half drunk right now so when I get boozed up I just hit time-warp and then the night ends. I win. The end. Fin.

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Tuesday, 6-11-19: More rain, more paperwork, and I plan to quit today.
Today will be a wet day so Dakota and I will not be working at Phil's. We also will not be working just up the road on Deno's deck because there is no sense getting there to work for 30 minutes only to get washed out. If we're lucky it might not start raining until 0800-0900 so maybe I can get the dogs over to the park and/or mow the back yard. Then I can do some paperwork and quit working for the Giblet-Heads who own the one property that I manage.

We did work on Deno's deck yesterday morning for four hours, and in that time we got the rest of our lumber at nearby Lowe's and made some more awesome progress. So far in 13 hours of work over there we have accomplished this:

^It is actually "only" 11 total man-hours at the site because two of our billable hours have been the supply-runs to Lowe's. I'm billing us out at "only" $35/hr (very fair for two people since it's for a friend) and Lowe's would have charged around $69 for the delivery fee to just bring everything over at once. However, I still would have had to go to Lowe's and place the order so bye bye 1/2 hour for that. Plus we were able to pick through the decking boards and get the better-looking ones whereas when you have that stuff delivered you get what they issue to you, and you are more likely to find a turd or two in the proverbial punch bowl.

^When the lumber-yard delivers your order and there are warped and/or bootleg boards mixed into the pile all you can do is look and say WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I wish we could have worked on Deno's deck all day yesterday, but if we had all day free to work we would have just gone down to Phil's to shingle. Yesterday was the first real summer-like day with temps in the mid 80s so it was nice to work outside. I had an FED hearing yesterday at 1300, my fifth eviction hearing in about 15 years as a slumlord. The tenant was there with her case-worker asking for more time because she can't find a new place to live yet so I told her I would give her until the end of this month. I guess that was more generous than necessary since I told her to gggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt oooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttt at the end of April. I do want to take possession of that house ASAP so I can get a place on the market next month, but the chick who lives there now does have her June rent squared away for the time being and I am wicked busy anyway between shingling and working on that deck.

The 30th will come quickly, less than three weeks away, and I hope that by giving her a little more time she gives me at least a little respect and doesn't leave me a complete shit-show when she does move out. She would have had until June 17th anyway even if I had tried to drop the hammer on her as hard as possible so I "only" gave her 13 days beyond what I had to give. I really hope she is NOT there into July because having her arrested for trespassing is not something I want to do. Unfortunately if she is still there into early July all I can do is wait a little more since the July 4th holiday and long-weekend around that time will slow the legal system to a near-halt. Plus I wouldn't have that done on Independence Day itself even if I could do that because I am not that much of a fuckin' DINK.

Since today is pretty much a washout I can do some paperwork and e-mail the owner of the property that I manage. I got another delightful email from the dude Sunday morning that I didn't even bother to respond to. Check out part of this stupid shit-show that is not even worth dealing with anymore:

Steve,

With all do respect we appreciate your offering an alternative property management company. We are happy, so far with you.??
We are consolidating our insurance policies and hope this saves us money. Aleka will advise the particulars as concerns our Brewer Rental. As a matter of recording keeping, we would like a copy of your valid driver's license; which we herein hereby will keep confidential.
Please also send us you picture to hang over my desk and put on our smart phone for your number.

Can you please give us an idea of when you will have the entire house in pictures from inside out from top to bottom and the surrounding views / properties?

Aleka is sleeping and I have been up all night, so I apologize if my question(s) are redundant. Do we have a copy of the current two leases, and full contact info for the tenants, and vehicles? Please send if not.

We are merely building, condensing, and digitizeing our files. My OCD, ADHD, ANXIETY, AND PTSD drives me nuts (even on medication I struggle with it. Can't seem to finish a project without starting another. Frustrating for me and annoying for Aleka.

In closing, if you want us to change property managers, just let us know; otherwise you keep us happy.

ALL I WANNA KNOW IS WHY? WHY DOES THIS FUCKIN' GUY NEED MY DRIVER'S LICENSE WHEN I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS GIG FOR ALMOST SIX FUCKING YEARS?! ALSO KINDA WEIRD TO WANT MY PICTURE TO HANG OVER THE DESK THAT IS A MARCO MOVE DUDE. FINALLY, I ALREADY SENT YOUR FUCKING LOSER ASS PHOTOS OF THE PLACE LAST FUCKING MONTH GODS FUCKING DAMN IT.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^Today's winner of my bootleg fail-trophy can go to that guy because he SUCKS.

I was planning to get done with that property next month anyway, but now I will move that schedule forward a month and haul on it ASAP. I thought calling them and telling them over the phone was the right thing to do (They live in Rhode Island so I can't exactly schedule an in-person meeting about it) but now I think I'll just email the dude and tell him best of luck to your ass because I am DONE. I won't just quit on the spot, I will help transition to a new management company, but I just don't want or need to deal with that bootleg crap anymore. The end. Fin.

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Monday, 6-10-19: My ass is in the dog house.
My awesome wife has been pissed at me for the past couple days, and I am in the dog-house with her in a big way. What a bunch of crap! It all started late Friday night when my liquored-up ass told her I had a bright idea to hire Dakota as her helper so I didn't have to go with her all the time when she has her DJ gigs. That went over about as well as expected. (NOT GOOD.) Sometimes I get drunk and think I want a wife who has her own job that I don't have to do. I don't always think like that, but I do think that often enough to be concerning. Is it unreasonable? I don't think so, at least not when I have my own full-time work to take on.

I normally do like going to Jester's, but sometimes it feels like it never ends and we are still there after 0200. OMG. Sometimes all I want to do it go home and bivouac, but I can't do that because I have to help her with speakers, wires, etc. Now she has more lights than ever, and her light show really is great, but it is even work for my pathetic ass. Piled on top of that is the Sunday night gig, and that one now requires even more lighting. Oh, she also has a shitload of Saturday gigs booked from now through half of the fall.

So not only is my wife upset with me because I have been starting to mentally check out from her DJ business, but she is also pissed because Saturday morning I couldn't take it anymore and I told her how I felt about the garden. I told her I didn't give a shit about the garden, and we can just buy veggies at the grocery store. One day a week or two ago we were supposed to work on the garden, but she was too hungover. Then Friday we were gonna work on it for a bit, at least I thought we were, but then she went shopping for a costume for the lame-ass "Theme night" at Jester's that night. That left me, myself, and I to shovel out all kinds of dirt for a couple hours until she got back. Then when she got back we had no time because of other obligations. What a bunch of crap!

Saturday morning she said she wanted to go to Lowe's to buy flowers and veggies for the garden and that is when I told her I was all done with the garden and she could finish it herself without me. I will admit I was not graceful about how I handled it, but I was just done and I still am done. I have too much going on and have to cut my losses so sorry garden, you are officially removed from my long list of things to deal with. Instead of planting a garden Saturday Dakota and I went and framed Deno's deck for 4 hours. Now it looks like this:

^Almost ready for rail-posts and decking already. Not bad!

Kat did the garden yesterday while I went down to the ol' homestead for Dad's 70th birthday, and that garden does look amazing. She did better than I could have done! I actually now feel like a piece of shit for not helping. The garden was one step in the wrong direction for me, but even worse was the fact that I ditched out and didn't stay at all for her charity gig at City Side Saturday night. I did help her some with the setup and breakdown, but once she was set up I hit the road so I could play racquetball with Gavin and Mike. Then after that I went over to Gavin's place just across the street from the bar and event venue to have a couple beers and to visit. She was PISSED at me for that. What a bunch of crap!

It did feel great to ditch out of that gig and to do my own thing Saturday night. I don't do my own thing often enough any more, and there is no good excuse for that. I don't even WANT to do my own thing most of the time because my wife is my best friend and I like to spend time with her, but I need to have my own time at least a little bit here and there or else I will mentally go to a bad place and stay there for too long. Then if that does happen bye bye marriage.

Last night she took Dakota with her to her gig because she is going to train him to be a DJ. Great! Better him than me. I know that upset my wife a lot, the fact that not only was I not there but also that I didn't want to be there. It really is nothing against her because I do love her and being with her, but damnit when she is at work it is not the same as when we hang out on our "off" time here at the house, on vacation, etc. Sometimes being with her at the gigs is actually pretty boring. Once the gear is all set up and the music is playing I mostly just sit there and watch the crowd. Each crowd is different and some are fun to be around, but certainly not all of them. I could never be a DJ because I just don't really enjoy it. My wife is a very good DJ who knows how to work a crowd, and I don't have that ability like she does.

In conclusion I pretty much reached a breaking point and came undone a little, and selfishly it feels great to take a little more charge of my own time. I can't handle having this much to do all the time so I had to pull the plug on some things. Being at all of Kat's gigs is just overkill, and I suck at being a DJ, have no interest in it at all, so all I do when there is help with wires and speakers and then sit/stand around. Of course I will still go help my awesome wife with her work because I am not always busy, but I do hope Dakota enjoys the work so he can help her when I am just too busy. Maybe she can train him to also do some gigs on his own so neither her nor I even have to go. Now that would be awesome...

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Friday, 6-07-19: Back to write more of my useless thoughts that no one cares about.
I'm back, beotches! I am exhausted, but I am going to power through like a boss. The good news is there are no bedbugs so that is a win. The bad news is I am mentally fried a bit and need this bootleg site to help keep me sane. It is kinda like my therapist, but it only costs $15 a year whereas a real psychologist costs a shitload more. I am sick of always having 100000 things to do, and I want my life to be more boring again. Boring is not the true word, but it seems to fit so I will roll with it.

I am so mentally fried that I didn't even open the correct car today to help unload. OMG. Thankfully I knew the people and they thought it was funny, but how sad is that? I walked over from my tax office to help my awesome wife unload some DJ gear for her charity gig tomorrow, and I just helped myself to the wrong car. I realized it pretty fast as did they, and it was funny. However, it really is a bunch of crap that I am so mentally cooked that I do stupid shit like that. I wonder what else I have fucked up lately that I don't even realize? It is a major red flag that I need to fix my shit.

I have a briefcase full of paperwork that I need to organize and file. I might actually do some of that tonight, but probably not because I am borderline time-warp after only 2 drinks because I am tired. I definitely do not want to drink too much tonight because I plan to work tomorrow. Again. All I wanna know is why? Why do I usually work on Saturdays? If I had my shit together more I would take weekends off, but alas when you are self-employed you do what you gotta do.

^Awarded to my own stupid self for always working on days that I should not work. I do need to schedule myself better because I kinda just do things and then I look and the day is gone. It disappears like The Nothing comes along. Like when it took the beautiful lake from the Rock Biters (Chewers in the book) from the North in The Neverending Story.

I remember many years ago I cooked deer steak, drank a little booze, and watched The Neverending Story all by myself on a Saturday night and it was fucking awesome. I know they say when you drink alone you hate yourself, but it was so glorious I can't even put it into proper words. However, back then I was dating a woman who didn't love me and we were pretty much roommates. She was having a girls night out or some shit like that and I didn't give a shit because we weren't truly in love. Her kids were not there either so double-winning for me that day. Now I'd rather do that with my awesome wife than do that alone. She would not eat deer steak, but that is okay I'd cook her chicken or buy her a Big Mac. Hehehehe.

^Basically better than sex. A lot of things are actually better than sex when you get old. Right now I am going to eat cake and drink more alcohol and that will be better than sex, too. Don't laugh because I am serious.

I feel like I have lived 10 different lives and I am "only" halfway through my life. Okay I am 43 and I don't care if I live to be old so maybe let's call it 2/3 done. This current version of my life is awesome, but I did take on too much. Hell it is fucking June and I am still having tax clients. All I wanna know is why? Why does that gotta happen? I forgot to think about what happens when my tax office gets up to 90 degrees in July so let's just hope I don't have any clients in a heat wave. It was a tad warm today, but not horrible with the window open. I actually already lost the screen to my brand new tax office window because I am a toilet. What a bunch of crap! Maybe it is in the horror-movie-scene garage? I dunno and I can't mentally wrap my mind around that right now. I actually need more Neverending Story references so let's find another one...

FUCK YEAH MORLA THE ANCIENT ONE!

Oh, Rambo V is coming in September. Oh Jesus Hell yeah! I will write about that another time because I have other things to do now.

I've actually been texting with Doug some tonight. I reminded him that today is Dad's 70th birthday, and he asked me if we all thought he was a fucking idiot. That was not a verbatim quote, but it was his message and I received it loud and clear. I don't think my youngest brother is stupid. In fact he is smarter than me. He just doesn't try as hard, but maybe now he tries harder than I do. He lives 3000 miles away so I dunno. We used to be best friends, but then life happened and we both drifted apart. Then he got wasted and took a verbal shit on my wife like 5 years ago so that caused a rift. What a bunch of crap!

Tonight at the bar is another "theme night" and I am all done with those lame things. If there was a RAMBO theme night then score, and maybe I would do "Ghillie suit" theme night, but alas I don't think those two things are going to happen, ever. Ghillie suits are awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

^FUCK YEAH YOU JUST LOOK LIKE A PILE OF LEAVES THAT WAS ONCE CHEWBACCA THE WOOKIE (RIP MAYHEW)

When I die I would get buried in a ghillie suit. All I wanna know is why? Why did I just write that because it makes no sense? I actually would love to eat pancakes right now. I think I am a turd.

^DO WANT NOW.

Actually when I die it will probably be from a zombie bite. Hang on gotta sneeze I hate myself. Allergies I guess but see Morla above. I don't think a camo ghillie suit would stop a zombie. Pretending to be a tree might work on Marco, but on a zombie I think you would be pwned. Unless you did it like in The Walking Dead and found a convenient solution. I used to like The Walking Dead, but now that show sucks and can eat the peanuts out of my ssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt.

I put it on channel 1928 since the Red Sox fucked it away and lost to Tampa Bay, and Phil Collins sings Sussudio. Who is Sussudio? I have an aunt Susie who is cool as ice, but Sussudio is an odd name of someone who probably never existed. Phil Collins with Genesis > Phil Collins without Genesis, but I think this is his solo work after Genesis. Oh wow this is from 1985 so how can this NOT be Genesis? Album was No Jacket Required so I guess this was his side-bar thing. The 80s were awesome and I don't even give a shit about having a SmartPhone. I was born in the wrong era gods damn it I would have been just fine in 1805. I would have been dead 6 years ago from Polio or the Plague, but fuck it I would not have know anything else and that is okay. Living til 95 is fucking stupid anyway most old people should just die. Seriously. Not all of them, some are functional still, but most just hang out and watch Jeopardy and do nothing to make society better. I watch Jeopardy also so nevermind it is GAME OVER MAN. Just like Paxton from Aliens...

I'm pretty much wrecked so I should go do other things now. A psychologist who ever might read this would diagnose me as a defective model, and I would agree. What a bunch of crap! Whitney Houston sings How Will I Know from 1985. Well chick, in hindsight too many people mooched off you and shit on you so that is how you will know. So sad she was only 50 when she checked out because she was great. Unfortunately her slow-ass music was not for me, but her faster music is great and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. The end. Fin.

Oh Dakota did the Truffle Shuffle last night. AWESOME. IT WAS HILARIOUS. Where is my Chunk gif?

^COMBINED NEVERENDING STORY WITH THE GOONIES = I WILL DIE HAPPY WATCHING THIS AS ZOMBIES RIP OUT MY INTESTINES AND SOUL.

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Friday, 6-07-19: More bedbugs? Taxes and FED paperwork.
I can't go work at Phil's house today because I have three appointments this morning, one this afternoon, and I have to go down to the courthouse to drop off the paperwork for a Monday FED hearing. I gave tenants at one of my rental houses until June 1st to gggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttt, but they are still there. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I planned for such occasion so I already started my eviction paperwork and scheduling over a month ago. It is easy to start the process and cancel it if it is not needed (although it does bear a cost), but it is impossible to not start the process and then realize you should have in hindsight. The entire eviction process from serving paperwork to meeting at the courthouse takes about 4-6 weeks. Then on court day you just have to hope for the best.

If the tenants do move out this weekend then I will be happy to not have to go to court. However, I don't expect that to happen. I expect she will show up at court Monday and want more time. I'll probably allow a little more time since she hasn't really screwed me over hard. She just gets behind on rent from time to time, she has her man stay there too much and that is not allowed with her city payment assistance, and she does a piss-poor job of communicating with me when she can't pay all of her rent. I gave her a warning about it all, but the same shit kept happening so finally I decided she had to go. Not an easy call, but a necessary one.

I have to leave here in about an hour for my first appointment of the day, Modern Pest for an inspection of my old apartment. One of the guys who lives there texted me on Monday that he has been getting bit and he is not sure if it is bedbugs or not. If it is bedbugs then I am probably pwned because he and his roommate are planning to move out later this month. I already have tenants who want the apartment when the guys move, but if it has a bedbug issue then I could be in big trouble so I am very hopeful that no bedbugs are there. We already have had plenty of our own bedbug issues not only here at our own house but also over at N Main. Modern Pest is coming today for monthly treatments at both of those locations. It seems there are none or very few bedbugs left both here and at N Main, but we still have monthly treatments scheduled through most of the fall. It has been very costly and incredibly time-consuming. What a bunch of crap!

Dakota and I decided not to go to Phil's to shingle yesterdy due to that morning rain. Instead we started this project:

^A roughly 10x20 deck is going there, and the best part is the deck will only be a couple feet off the ground so we don't need ladders. The four footing holes were not hard at all to dig and I thank the gods who do not really exist for that. However, two of the holes started seeping with ground water once I got down past three feet:

^Shows how wet of a spring we've had, eh? It took us five hours of hard work with an hour "break" from digging and pouring concrete for a trip to nearby Lowe's for a large load of lumber and supplies for the project. Dakota worked very hard, and we both felt like it was a trip to the gym. Digging holes and pouring concrete is always arduous; it was nice to have a helper because most of the time for my past projects it has been me, mysef, and I.

After five hours:

I'm sure the footings are overbuilt a little for a deck that will only be two feet off the ground, but I want to do it right and that is how I would have done it had it been our own deck. Wait, that IS how I did our own deck two years ago hehehe.

^May, 2017 right here at the house. Our own deck is badass, and I hope I can do the same for Mike. He said he had outdoor spigots, but unfortunately they were not working so we had to get our water from that hole in the photo above and from a nearby puddle. What a bunch of crap! It was not drinking water; it was just the water needed to mix the 8 bags of concrete. 2 per hole like a boss.

I budgeted 48 total hours for the deck we are going to build for Deno, and so far the hardest part is done. Not only are the footings poured and back-filled, but we also have a shitload of 2x8 framing lumber, screws, bolts, and nails on-site for the next time we go over there to work. I think we'll spend a half-day over there tomorrow starting the framing since I have a 0930 tax appointment (also have a 1430 tax client today!) and since my awesome wife has a charity gig tomorrow night. No sense going to Phil's if we have to drive 2 total hours for only 4 total hours of work.

I feel badly for stopping work at Phil's and for starting another project, but it was the right thing to do. We didn't have a full day yesterday due to that morning rain so it made sense to get those footings in. The weather is PERFECT this weekend so those footings should cure well and be ready to accept a frame by tomorrow. We're finally expecting a great stretch of weather with temps in the 70s and maybe low 80s by Monday. Unfortunately it looks to be wet again Tuesday, and that is the next day I can go back to Phil's to shingle more. What a bunch of crap!

So today, tomorrow, Sunday (Dad's birthday), and Monday (eviction?!) I can't go to Phil's. Epic fail. If it doesn't rain Tuesday we will head south to resume that project, but if it does rain we will have to wait until Wednesday...

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Thursday, 6-06-19: Workplan A, workplan B, and a tattoo.
It is 0618, and it is raining outside. A steady, soaking rain. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, it was forecast well in advance so it is not a surprise. The rain is supposed to end this morning, but I question whether or not it is worth it to go down to Oakland to work for the day. Working on those shingles at Phil and Danielle's house is my plan A, but close behind is plan B. That plan means we stay up in Brewer, I do my morning yoga and lift weights in my bootleg gym (for the first time in a damn month what a bunch of crap that is!) and then we go over to Deno's to do the footings for his new deck.

Let's check out the radar. I would watch it on channel 3, but they cut away from the news so that 2-pump-chump-Trump can talk about the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Incredibly enough there are still people alive who stormed the beaches of Normandy all those years ago. Trump is putting over some of the survivors who are at this ceremony, and I have nothing but respect for those men. Unfortunately, Trump is a piece of shit who never even served in the militarty so I can't really take him seriously in this situation. Can I take him seriously in any situation? Probably not...

^I put a red X on the general area where we will be working. Phil only lives a mile or so from the Waterville city line so we are going to be driving southwest and closer to the back end of the rain-line. Plus we do have some work we can be doing under this porch:

Right now I am 50/50 on going down there for the day. I know we should go because that puts us one day closer to finishing all the shingling, but gods damn it sucks going all that way and working in wet weather. I know this afternoon will be dry and beautiful, but at that point the day is half-over. I'll check radar again in a little bit and go from there. If we don't go to Oakland today to work we won't be able to go again until maybe next Tuesday. I have appointments up here tomorrow, Kat has a gig Sat evening/night, Dad's 70th birthday party is Sunday, and I have an FED hearing for an eviction Monday. I'm basically booked out and have something to do every fuckin' day for the next... forever. Not really but that is how it feels. What a bunch of crap!

We did work on the shingles Monday and Tuesday this week, and yesterday I mostly took the day off for my awesome wife's birthday. We spent most of the afternoon at a tattoo parolor downtown so she could get this brand new tattoo:

GROOT! I really love how it came out, and DJ did an awesome job. She is happy with it so that is the most important thing of all. It was extremely boring for my ass just hanging out while she got inked up, but I had a crossword puzzle, I had a few business texts to send out, and I had a Reader's Digest magazine. Plus I was exhausted so I fell asleep for an unknown but fairly brief period of time. After the tattoo we had a family meal at Las Palapas and did the candles and cake after that. I felt really exhausted all day yeterday so that was epic failer, but thankfully I feel better today. We spent way too much money as well, but F it that is just a part of life.

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Saturday, 6-01-19: The things that need doing this month.
June was always my favorite month of the year, but now I am not so sure about that. Maybe I like August and September more? The thing I like about June the most is it marks the beginning of summer. However, now I am a pussy and I get allergies so May and into June can be tough at times. The long hours of daylight in June are the best, though. It doesn't get dark until after 2000 now even on cloudy days. Sunrise at 0455? Oh Jesus hell ya!

I have a lot to do this month, and I have a rough bootleg schedule in my mind of how things are likely to play out. This coming week Dakota and I will work down at Phil's 3 or 4 days. Hopefully we can finish this side in one day:

^It doesn't look like much, but those fucking edges take FOREVER. There is more to do off to the right behind the tree. Thankfully I finished that high dormer Thursday AM. What a bunch of crap that thing was! I bet that small area took me 6-7 hours total to do. Tons of cuts and awkward angles. It took a while to do the area off to the left below that top dormer, too. Dakota did a lot in the middle while I worked those friggin' edges.

We did get the area around the electrical panel, phone, and cable inlets done. That was also quite tedious. Before:

^Actually before there were shingles there so I had to very carefully strip them all off and tarpaper/seal in behind there. The finished product:

^I really like how it came out, and I hope Phil likes it as well because at this point there is no easy way to redo it.

Hopefully we can get a lot done on the next section of shingling this coming week, but we definitely won't finish it. It takes too long gods damn it. I think we need 7 more work days down there to get it all done, and maybe as many as 10 work days if we do the front section. The front is in ok shape and the original plan was to NOT do that, but I think it needs it in order to look right.

Can these two idiots actually shingle a house and make it look prefessionally done?

^Last night late-night at the bar after we were both pretty drunk. I fell off my toy not long after that one hahaha. I got drunk, but I woke up feeling okay so that is a win. Too bad the bartender got drunk and booted Dakota at the end of the night for no good reason. What a bunch of crap! Hopefully he can alopogize to Dakota soon because there was no need of that bullshit. We really like the bartender so we think he was having a bad day. I'd be having a bad day as well if I had to watch my friend's 14-year old kid get put into the ground earlier that day...

On the days we don't work down in Oakland we'll start Deno's deck, and mid-month we can hopefully take 3-4 days to get that totally done. I planned for 48 hours, Dakota and I, 96 total man-hours to do that large deck. Hopefully we can do it in less time. If it takes longer than that I should just retire and go get a "real" job. Wait, didn't I say that to myself regarding Phil's house? Hehehe.

Also this month is Kat's 44th birthday so I will take next Wednesday off for that. I know she will love her gift because she picked it out herself yesterday. The day flew by yesterday, but it was a good day we had a nice lunch at Applebees and did a few errands. I did some work, but not too much. Also lost to Deno 4 games at Rball and bought more mulch for the back yard. Now I just have to go unload it all, and I should get on that ASAP since it is already 1210 and the weather is great.

Pop's 70th birthday party will be next Sunday, and I have to boot tenants out of a house and get that ready for new tenants later this month. Between shingling in Oakland, doing Mike's deck, re-renting that house, and the usual upkeep and maintenances it will be a busy month. Oh, Kat has 3 Saturday gigs this month as well. Next week is a charitable one at City Side/Jester's for the family of the kid who just died, and the two following ones are weddings. The money will be great, but the free time will be limited. We'll work hard this month and take more time in July to have fun and relax. Maybe? Hopefully! Kat didn't book any weddings or big gigs in July so we can enjoy some of summer. If summer ever arrives. We had a below average and wet spring. What a bunch of crap