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

“Would you be mad if it was the apocalypse and we had to eat the dogs to survive?" –Kat
“I think that would be the point of no return and it would be time to just die." –Me
“Well I'd hide the meat in spaghetti sauce so it would taste good." –Kat

Wednesday, 11-30-16: Bye bye November. Oh, I'm 41 now.
My birthday came and went two days ago, and I got a couple really great gifts this year. First, Kat scored two tickets to the upcoming Patriots-Ravens game in Foxboro on Dec. 12. Oh Jesus, hell ya! It's a Monday night game so we will be up late that night. Second, Dad got me a .22. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I've wanted a .22 for a while, but I never got around to buying one because I've been spending my precious... precious money on the Home Depot and Lowe's credit balances, more supplies for the house, recent heating upgrades, etc.

Kat got me a nice card and made me a tasty cake. We also went to the movies to watch Dr. Strange. That movie is another popular Marvel comic-book flick, and I thought it was great on the special effects and okay overall. I'm not a huge fan of the comic-book movie genre, but every now and again I do enjoy watching the comic-style movies. Every year a few comic-book movies come to the theaters, and more often than not they make a shitload of money. I thought Dr. Strange was better than The Avengers and Captain America, but not quite as good as Iron Man (part 1) or Guardians of the Galaxy. I do generally think the Marvel comic-book movies are better than the DC ones. However, Suicide Squad (a DC comic?) wasn't too shabby.

^I'm not going to spend a lot of time thinking on the topic, but I'm pretty sure this is my favorite comic-book movie of all time. Funny the first time I watched the movie I was so tired that I fell asleep on Kat's shoulder for half of the time and woke up having no idea what was happening in the movie. What a bunch of crap!

The heat in the living room/kitchen/bathroom has been working like a boss ever since I adjusted the furnace. I never did get it up to 80 degrees in here, but 77 was good enough on Sunday afternoon. Getting it up to 75 has been easy, and it stayed at a comfy 72 the night before last when it was down to 21 outside. We still haven't had brutal cold yet (thank the gods who do not exist for that), but the old heating system could not get the living room area out of the mid 60s most mornings, and last year on occasion it would be in the upper 50s when we would wake up. What a bunch of crap! Bruce is coming back this Sunday to install the bedroom baseboard and, if things really move fast, the baseboard for Kat's studio as well.

I didn't work on the house Sunday or Monday, but I did spend a few hours on the upstairs yesterday. On Sunday I watched movies and football with my Sweet Pea. The Patriots beat the Jets to improve to 9-2 for the season. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Tom Brady got his 200th career NFL win, tied with the now-retired Peyton Manning for most all-time. The Patriots have 5 regular-season games left so it seems likely Brady will set the all-time record this year. The Patriots have 500 wins all-time, and 200 of those wins have come with Brady as their QB. Wow, that is awesome. Brady is 39 years old, a dinosaur in the NFL, but he is still playing great football and has an amaing 18-1 TD-INT ratio. If Tom Brady ran for president this year I would have voted for him.

I went hunting Monday morning, but I didn't see any deer. However, the sign in there is amazing and I got my gulley-blind set up for use today. There are a ton of apples on the ground in that gulley at the edge of the field plus a shitload of deer tracks so all I need is to have one show up before last light. I only have 1.5 weeks left to hunt, and I want to get some deer meat in the freezer. However, if I don't get a deer I have no one to blame but myself because I already had one chance and I blew it. What a bunch of crap!

I need to hop off this turd-heap and go use the gym before I hop up onto the roof of the property that I manage and put some more roof tar around a chimney. The tenant in the front apartment called me last night to tell me there was a leak. What a bunch of crap! Hopefully it is an easy fix; these past few weeks the apartment business has been easy. I need it so I can deer hunt and get our own house done. I made a big purchase at Lowe's yesterday of trim, lumber, paint, etc. (12-month no interest = oh Jesus, hell ya!) so now I have most of the things that I need to get this place finished up. I want that upstairs done by the middle of December. If I fail then I will have to punch myself in the face. Hehehehe.

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Sunday, 11-27-16: Heating system confusion.
I've spent the past hour or more reading about the heating system in this house. Yesterday Bruce got the main living room/kitchen/bathroom baseboard zone hooked up and running. Hot water has flowed through the new baseboards since about 1430 yesterday. I set the thermostat to 80 to see what would happen. I got up this morning, and it was 69 in here. What a bunch of crap!

I have paid Bruce $725 so far (he's worth it), and the baseboards for the entire house cost $700. Paying that much for a failure is not my idea of good times. Thankfully I still have a couple tricks up my sleeve. We have 32 linear feet of 540BTU/ft baseboards installed in this space, approximately 600 square feet. It has been about 35-40 outside since we turned the new baseboard loop on so the fact that it cannot get this place up to 80 is not a reflection of the baseboards themselves failing. I believe the furnace/boiler itself needs some adjustments so I dug out the manual, I used my Google-search like a boss, and I made an adjustment to the water temperature itself. The water was set at a relatively low 140 so I tried to bump it up to 180-190. However, I still can't figure out my gods damn furnace so the highest I got it is about 160. Supposedly the furnace has a sensor to adjust itself based upon the exterior air temperature, but I don't know for sure because it is a complicated little bugger.

^Generic Interweb photo, but the furnace downstairs looks a lot like that one.

I made the adjustment about an hour ago, and now it's up to 72 in here. I still have the thermostat set to 80. I think? Yesterday I turned the thermostaat up to 80, but then I noticed a couple hours later that it was not calling for heat because it was set at 60 again. What a bunch of crap! Stupid fucking programmable thermostats. I hate them and need to swap every one of them out with a basic one that looks like this:

The house came with these "fancy" thermostats so I'll stick with what I got for the time being since the one pictured about sells for about $30. This fucking thing better start pumping out the heat gods damn it. If I can't get it up to 80 in here today then I have failed. I do not want to sit in an 80-degree house (Kat does!) because that is way too hot; I just want to get it that hot so I know it can do its friggin' job.

I'm gonna go use the gym and then hope when I get back the temperature has risen a bit more. The baseboards are all pumping out warmth, and the up-tick in the hot water temperature from 140 to 160 should help a lot. I just wish I could get it all the way up to 180 so it would really crank. We need this thing working well because the dead of winter will be upon us very soon. Before we know it we'll be looking at subfreezing outside temps for extemded periods of time.

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Friday, 11-25-16: Almost Jester's o'clock.
I finished getting my swell on in my bootleg gym not long ago, and now I have just enough time to write my useless thoughts to no one in particular. However, one day when I am half-senile I will hopefully come back and read this site and that will help me remember what my life was like. It's a pretty good life now. It could be better, but I don't need a mansion and a billion dollars so nevermind it's good enough. I do wish Kat was feeling better; her health has been poor ever since we got back from our awesome Arizona vacation. I also wish I had my SD card right now. I went hunting tonight, I saw no deer until they ran off when it was nearly dark and I was almost to where I park at the cemetary, and as an added FU from the world some slapnut fucking pinko fucking commie piece of shit stole the SD card from my trail camera so I gots no deer photos from the past 8 days. What a bunch of crap! HEY THIEVES OF THE WORLD GO EARN YOUR OWN STUFF OR ELSE I HOPE YOU GET CANCER AND DIE A HORRIBLE TORTUROUS DEATH.

I hate it when people steal. It's so selfish and gods damned lazy. Go earn your own stuff and you will feel better having earned it. The SD card is cheap, but it is the principal of the matter. Thankfully I locked my camera to the tree or else that would probably be gone, too. Fucking dinks! To all crooks of the world and especially to the crook who mooched my SD card I award you my bootleg Crap-site trophy:

I know what will cheer me up, some ACDC Mistress for Christmas. I definitely 100% do NOT want a mistress for Christmas or ever in life because I am a happily married man, but this song still crushes it. Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to get a little more serious about Xmas. Kat set up the tree on Wednesday while I was deer hunting in the midcoast, but we have not decorated the thing yet. Maybe tomorrow? I guess that depends on how the day goes. Bruce is supposed to be coming to hook up the baseboards for the living room and bathroom tomorrow, and then if all goes well he can also get the bedroom and Kat's makeshift studio done this weekend. Having an epic fail heating system is this house sucks. A lot. It will be good to get it working right. Yesterday morning it was about 26 degrees outside at first light and only 62 in the living room/kitchen area. What a bunch of crap!

I had a very easy week for the bootleg apartment business, and I hope to have a few more easy weeks so I can finish working on this house. Today I did half the suspended ceiling in the final upstairs bedroom (driveway side.) If things fall into place I can finish that tomorrow, but if not that is okay. Next week I should have that room done as well as a good part of the hall. I'll have most of the kitchenette up there done by early December.

Okay, I just screwed everything up and can’t get my index.html to come back. The Nothing took it like it once took the beautiful lake from the Rock Biters in the north. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I saw The Nothing coming so I copied and pasted this text into a Word file until I can figure it out. I have no clue what happened, and I am not good at using my Google website hosting acccout. When I used FTP I could just get the index back, but now I do not know how to do that so there is no more index file on my PC. I see it online, though. I don’t care anymore. I don’t even care… whether or not I care. I need to go anyway because I want to go to Jester’s and have a beer before the night ends.

My index file disappeared, and right now I agree with Morla. The solution to this bootleg problem can wait until the weekend.

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Thursday, 11-24-16: Happy Thanksgiving you drool-buckets.
According to The Peants Thanksgiving special on TV last night the tradition of Thanksgiving dates back to 1621. Hey, you learn something new every day. That cartoon was from 1973, and I probably saw it when I was a kid at least once or twice. However, once I traded the safety and simplicity of my childhood home for the big world back in 1993 I let a lot of that go. Some was bound to happen, but some was a result of my bachelor, single-guy lifestyle that stayed with me all through my 20s and halfway through my 30s. Even with I was with Kelly part of me felt like I was still single because I did my own thing a lot of the time.

^Deceptive because Snoopy fed the kids toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans. He kept the turkey and fixins for himself and Woodstock! Hehehehe.

I've never been a huge Peanuts fan like Kat is, but I appreciate their simplicity and longevity. Schultz was a genius. Plus some of the scenes are a bit comical and pretty much everything is iconic these days. I have fonder memories of their Great Pumpkin and Christmas specials. The Peanuts sure as hell beat any new cartoon-crap of the modern world, that's for sure. For example I present fucking Spongebob. A sponge that lives in in the ocean. Seriously?! What a bunch of crap!

^WTF, over? All I wanna know is why? Why does it wear a tie, short pants, polished shoes, and for the love of all the gods who do not exist, WHY DOES IT LIVE IN A FUCKING PINEAPPLE THAT HAS AN EXHAUST VENT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN?! WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Literally nothing in that photo makes any sense at all. Maybe if I did drugs... If you like Spongebob then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

I spent my first "adult" Thanksgiving in boot camp just north of Chicago in 1993. Most likely I did a lot of PT and pushups that day. I might not have even been 18 then; most Thanksgivings fall just before my birthday so I probably was still only 17. I don't know when I made it back to Warren for Thanksgiving during my years in the Navy, but my gut tells me no more than once if at all. I'm pretty sure after WestPac 1996, our longest 6-month deployment, I spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's in nearby San Leandro. Back then the ship was stationed in Alameda, California until that base closed in early 1997. (I spent the last 1.5-2 years of my active duty in Bremerton, Washington.) Once I got out of the Navy and found the apartment in Brewer I did get in the habit of driving down to the midcoast to have a Thanksgiving meal with Mom and Dad. Jason missed a couple of those years as well because he was in the Marine Corps, and Doug missed more than a few because... reasons.

Mom and Dad have lived in that house since 1983, and back then they had three young boys. I was 8, Jason was 6, and Doug was 4 when they bought that house. Wow. Actually we might have even been younger than that. What I wouldn't give to have time-travel capabilities to go back and look at that 1983 Thanksgiving scene. We didn't have a lot of money so more than likely Dad worked overtime. I remember a lot of holidays Dad would work because he got extra pay. I don't remember for sure, and maybe he was home for most of our Thanksgivings because that is hunting season so we could spend time in the woods. One year poor Mom's Thanksgiving meal plans got all secrewed up when one of us got a deer on that day. Getting the deer from the Prison Farm to home took a while. I didn't deer hunt when I was 8, that's for sure. I don't know when I started deer hunting, but it was the late 80s I think. Maybe?

Kat loves The Peanuts so we've watched the Thanksgiving Peanuts special each of the last two years. The first year Kat and I were together I was working long night hours at the USPS processing plant nearby so I didnt get a chance to watch it with her. Hell, I barely got a Thanksgiving that year because I worked a ton of hours and was so tired. Plus we had a big snowfall so I had to shovel for at least an hour. What a bunch of crap! Thanksgiving 2014 sucked. A lot. The food and company were great, but I was just too beat to really relax and enjoy any part of the day. We did our Thanksgiving that year at Kat's Bangor house; that was only a couple short weeks before we decided to start living together here in Brewer.

This year will be out second Thanksgiving here at our house on Parkway North. Kat knows how to make a fantastic Thanksgiving meal so I will be stuffed by tonight. This will be the first Thanksgiving with Copper and Tiger Lily, too. Plus this year all the kids live with us so no one has to drive anywhere for the meal. I don't get super-excited for Thanksgiving, but it is a nice holiday and having football on TV all afternoon is a nice bonus that we sadly don't get on Christmas Day. Thanksgiving > Christmas because you also don't have to do gifts. Giving gifts is a nice thing, but it is a pain in the arse doing all the shopping in advance.

I think Mom and Dad are doing Thanksgiving without any of their kids, and that makes me only slightly sad. I was down there all day yesterday, but I didn't want to stay the night so I came back home after the evening hunt. Hell, this time of year calling it an evening hunt is not technically correct since the hunt ends at 1630. Mom worked until 1800 so I didn't stick around for a meal with them, but thankfully I did get there at 0515 yesterday so I got to visit with Mom briefly before I suited up and hit the woods. The drive down at 0345 was a piece of cake with almost no traffic at all on the road. Part of me thinks I should have stayed down there last night to visit more, but F that I'd rather be home with my own family. Plus Mom and Pop don't have to do Thanksgiving alone if they don't want to. They can always go to Jason and Holly's, or maybe Jason and Holly can swing by their place for an earlier meal.

I spent almost all day yesterday in the woods, but I did not see one deer. What a bunch of crap! I sat for the first couple hours before Jason met up with me. Once Jason arrived we bounced around to a few different spots to try rattling (calling in a buck by simulating a turf-fight.) Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be. Oh well, it was still nice spending time in the woods with my brother and it was super-cool of him to take time off from his work and family to help me out for those several hours. I might make it back down for one more rifle or muzzle-loader hunt, but odds are against it because it seems the hunting is better up here. Plus I like being up here more because this is my home.

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Tuesday, 11-22-16: Final mud and sand touch-ups this morning.
I'm sick of doing sheetrock work this year, and thankfully it looks like today will be the last of it. At least I hope it will. It took a tremendous amount of mudding, taping, and sanding to add four rooms, three closets, and two hallways onto this house (nearly 1000 square feet!) Thankfully I cheated as much as possible and installed suspended ceilings in most areas or the sheetrock work would have doubled. The walls in the final unfinished room in the new addition here at the house have all been sanded and are ready for paint. I just need to fix a couple areas where Tiger Lily chewed in the new hall up there, and I have to sand and maybe touch-up a spot or two in the closet in that final room as well.

^We take a vacation and the dogs rebel and chew the damn walls. What a bunch of crap! My bad not having that hall floor and trim done yet. I should have had it done 10 months ago. Epic fail.

As soon as I finish this bootleg update (if I even finish it.) I'll start that little bit of sanding and then I'll start painting that room. If I can get the room painted today then great, that will have me ready to finish the entire room later this week and into next week. The suspended ceiling in that room will take a few hours, the trim will take a few more hours, and the floor a few more hours. If I can get that room done by the end of this month then I can start off my December finishing the hall ceiling, trim, and floor. I also have to finish the kitchenette, but that can wait until next year. I'd like to have everything else up there 100% done by the middle of next month so I can spend a week or two replacing the floor in our kitchen and living room later in December.

I actually have a few hours to work on our own house today. Nice! Even though I have been working on our own house since last week I haven't put more than 1.5 hours into the place on any one day. I can make good progress even in small chunks of time, but obviously if I can devote a few hours at a time then I can get so much more done. I really hope I am all done dealing with big things for the apartment business until at least next spring so I can finish this place before the JH tax job starts.

Tiger Lily got neutered yesterday so she's dazed and confused early today. Last night when I picked her up she seemed stoned, which I suppose is expected considering they pumped her full of pain medications. She had a bit of a rough night so I held off on going deer hunting this morning, and that is just fine because I can get more work done on the house now. We actually got our first snowfall of the season last night; however, it was barely more than a dusting so thankfully no shovelling or plowing required. If we got just a little more snow I would be in the woods right now tracking deer, but the dusting we did get won't be enough to lead me to any deer.

I plan to deer hunt most of tomorrow in the midcoast. I'll drive down to Warren toomorrow at about 0400 so I can be in the woods and hunting at first light around 0615. Jason plans to meet up with me so we can do some rattling after I sit a while in the woods. Jason rattled in a nice buck while Kat and I were on vacation 1.5 weeks ago. I believe it's the second big "swamp buck" he has shot from his stand overlooking the swamp. I won't shoot a swamp buck because I prefer to be in the woods when I hunt, but I gotta give him credit for making it happen. Jason and Dad both have their bucks this year, and if I wasn't a turd I would have mine as well. I just hope that buck I shot with my bow back on the 5th is okay. I have not seen him on any trail camera photos yet so that is concerning.

I suppose I should get my ass to work on the house. If I don't get a deer tomorrow down in the midcoast hunting with my 30.06 then maybe I can go hunting up here Thanksgiving morning or Friday afternoon. Next week it's time to get real serious about bowhunting up here because by then I will only have two weeks left in the season to make it happen (two weeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!)

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Sunday, 11-20-16: Our new president-elect.
12 days ago Americans voted for our next president. Thankfully Failbama is all done; his two terms and eight terrible years are about to be up. Failbama's legacy will be the continued Santa Claus nature of our government. Give, give, and give some more and be damned how we intend to pay for it all. Let's see what our national debt is right now... guy looks it up on the Google Interweb page now... nearly 20 TRILLION DOLLARS. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP. Here is the website where it keeps a running tally that is probably exaggerated for dramatic effect yet tells a scary story about our complete lack of fiscal responsibility: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

This graph illustrated our collective epic fail as a nation, especially in this century. Of course all of the blame cannot be placed on Failbama himself, even the Republicans have failed us, but our current president has definitely made things worse.

The graph is not adjusted for inflation, but the fact that we suck at spending wisely cannot be overstated. What a bunch of crap!

I spent an hour on Friday morning working my way through healthcare.gov trying to figure out how much it will cost for health insurance for Katherine and I next year. Unfirtunately neither one of us has health insurance. Neither does Dillon, but he is not our dependent so it looks like we can't put him on any one of our plans. I don't even know for sure because it is so confusing. Somehow when I got to the end it said I could get health insurance for abot $206 a month with a $5500 deductable. OMG F THAT! I don't even want health insurance, but I want Katherine to have it. Looks like I'll be paying tax penalties for my lack of compliance.*

Obama has been a turd president, and his OBAMACARE is the most glaring of all his fails as our leader. Congratulations, Failbama. I award you my bootleg fail-trophy. Again. What a bunch of crap!

The election this year came down to two candidates, democrat Hillary Clinton and republican Donald Trump. Polls showed Clinton with a slight lead so she was expected to win, but Trump actually ended up winning the election and will be our next USA commander. I am very glad crooked Hillary did not win because she and her husband are criminals (Clinton Foundation, look into it and see all the corrupt money that has flown through like poisoned water.) However, Trump is probably a criminal as well. Trump says bigoted, ignorant, and racist things at times. Trump objectifies women (grab em by the pussy...) and has most likely cheated on his wife. Not all of Trump's business ventures have been on the up and up (Trump University?), but Trump won despite all those flaws. I think Trump is an ass who does not deserve to be our president, but a Clinton was not the answer either. Hopefully Trump can rise above all his flaws and be a good leader for America. If he can balance the budget and be respectful then I'll be happy with him. However, I doubt he can be a great leader. Prove me wrong, Trump!

*I can find extra expenses from the business to offset that bogus tax penalty.

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Friday, 11-18-16: Happy birthday, Copper.
Chester Copperpot (Copper) is one year old today. As I type this bootleg update at noon in the house he is in the living room trying to get Sweet Pea to throw a tennis ball for him. Now he just lost his ball under the chair so I had to go rescue it for him. He loves playing with the tennis balls, all dozen or so that we seem to have around here. He never tires of playing fetch.

^I took that picture just a few minutes ago.

Copper is a great dog. He generally comes when called, he doesn't chew things that he should not chew, he is not agressive in any dangerous way, and he is always sociable. His only real flaw is his unrelenting effort to play fetch and his excitability at times. It can be hard to just pet him gently because he starts panting and getting all excited. Then he'll roll over onto his back if he's not trying to play.

Tiger Lily is over 6 months old now so on Monday morning at 0730 we will be dropping her off at the vet for her neutering. We have one male and one female Golden Retriever so in a different world we would not have neutered either of them so we could have had Golden Retriever puppies. However, that just is not realistic for us. Plus we already had Copper neutered when we found Tiger Lily.

For the first time in weeks, months actually, I have been able to work on our house. I spent 1.5 hours both Wednesday and yesterday mudding and sanding in the final incomplete room upstairs. I would work on it today, but Jason is coming up to bowhunt so instead I will do that. Between now and then I can do some yard work, shoot my bow, take the dogs to the park, and maybe go for a jog. So far this has been a mild month with generally above-age temps in the 50s and even near 60 once or twice. Awesome! We missed a week of the good weather here, but that is okay because we were in Arizona where it was even better in the 80s. Unfortunately, next week we drop back to the upper 30s and low 40s for highs. What a bunch of crap! 45 is our average high temp right now and we will see about 53 today with sun.

I hunted last night, my first hunt since the last epic fail that I had nearly two weeks ago (two weeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssss) when I had the chance to get a small buck but blew it. My trail camera had 1174 photos on it in a 13-days span. Some were raccoons and squirrels, but most were deer. I got all kinds of deer activity during legal hunting times and this very interesting photo in the night:

OMG IS THAT A BEAR CUB? Kat says it is, and I still await Jason and Dad's opinion. Unfortunatly, the other few photos that I have of it are blurry so I have to work with what I got. It is just barely larger than a raccoon, maybe even the same size as a big racoon. How cool is that? The trail cam comes through again.

^It starts to get very pixelated when zoomed in. I have no idea for sure, but it looks like a bear in that photo to me.

I am excited to go hunting with Jason this afternoon. I plan to put him in my stand and I will hunt near Supertree only about 75 yards away from Jason. I've hunted from my stand four evening times, and I have seen deer all four times. Three of the times, including last night, have been does who have been out of range but closer to the Supertree area where I plan to hide out tonight. There is a fresh scrape still under the tree that my stand watches so maybe a buck will come in for Jason. Another hunter has a treestand up that watches Supertree, but he is not hunting there tonight. Thankfully he put his name and number on his stand so I called him earlier and got the scoop on his setup.

Right now I need to get the dogs to the park and take care of a few other things before Jason shows up. I'm hoping at least one of us has a good deer encounter later today. If time permits I'll hop back onto this turd-heap later with an update. Goonies never say die!

^Sometimes a buck does walk by the cam at legal hunting time (probably legal quitting time, 30 minutes past sunset, was around 1645 when that photo was taken.) I hope he decided to come by tonight!

Okay, I'm back and sad to report that we didn't see jack shit. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, it was a beautiful night and a nice visit with both Jason and Monkey's son who also rode up to hunt with us. Maybe next time...

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Thursday, 11-17-16: Lots to write about, not enough time to do it all in one bootleg update.
A lot has happened since I wrote my last update that two people will ever read nearly two weeks ago. I never found the deer I shot at, Kat and I went on a fantastic vacation in Arizona, we have a new president-elect, Bruce installed some baseboards at the house, and I got a new tenant moved into the house across the street from my office.

I had a very busy day before we left for the Bangor airport at 1145 on Saturday the 5th. Bruce was here at 0800 to work on our baseboards/heating system, but before that I was up at 0545 and in the woods at first light to look for the deer that I shot the night before. I actually had to wait a minute in the woods for dawn to break a little more as I was at my spot exactly 30 minutes before sunrise. I expected to find some blood, some sign, but I looked and looked and looked some more only to find nothing at all. What a bunch of crap! I walked around in the woods looking for a dead deer, too. Thankfully the woods are open there so it is easy to look, but unfortunately there was nothing to be found. That means one of two things. The first and most hopeful scenario is I missed completely and could not find my arrow because it buried in the ground and leaves. The second and I believe more likely scenario is I did hit the deer and he ran off with my arrow sticking out of him but he did not bleed right away. I could have sworn I saw the arrow sticking out of him for a fleeting moment when he was running off, but I can't be certain. Epic fail. I sure hope I do see that deer on trail-cam photos before I pull my gear next month so I know he survived. I just don't know for sure right now, and that is pathetic. I suck!

I got home from looking for that deer just a few minutes after Bruce had arrived here at the house. I Bruce going on the baseboard plumbing in the living room before I had to load some trash, make a trip to the dump, collect a couple rents, and stop by the bank. Thankfully I was able to pull it all off and still have time to shovel in a little food, pack the last of my stuff, wash up, and get to the airport on time for our departure to a much warmer climate.

Arizona was fantastic. Our flight to Phoenix was on time, and getting the rental car and to the hotel was relatively simple. We got to our hotel/resort in nearby Mesa around 2200 local time so by then it was time to bivouac. We spent our first full day in Mesa relaxing, exploring around, and enjoying the 80-85 degree sunshine. The weather was perfect the entire time we were there. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Our "resort" was not too posh, but it was far from the ROACH MOTEL. The place had basic amenities that suited us well enough. We also enjoyed spending time sitting by the little man-made pond and fountain near our room. Often there would be a flock of mallard ducks that we could feed chips and bread to in between reading and relaxing in the sun.

We drove 2 hours down to Tucson on Monday the 7th to visit with Tommy and see a couple sights. Neither Kat nor I loved Tucson, but seeing Sebino Canyon was a lot of fun and the drive up to Mt. Lemmon was scenic. Unfortunately, Mt. Lemmon did not have some epic view at the peak. Plus it got cold nearer the top so we didn't spend a lot of time outside the vehicle. Seeing Tommy was great, and he seems to be happy and doing well out there. When he first moved out to Tucson he was staying with Doug and Doug's friends, but since then he got his own apartment and has his own social group and interests. I know Mom was disappointed that Kat and I were in Tucson and did not attempt to contact Doug at all, but my youngest brother owes my wife a serious apology before he and I visit again. Hopefully in time he and I can touch base again, but our vacation was not the right time for that at all.

^The cactus out there are awesome. So are the mountains and the open feel of the landscape. That is the outskirts of Tucson pictured above.

^My beautiful wife in the Superstition Mountains.

On Tuesday Kat and I drove to the nearby Superstition Mountains just east of Mesa, and we both loved seeing that area. The mountains are rich in old-west history and stunningly beautiful. Wednesday was our longest day as we started at 0600 for a nearly four-hour drive north to the GRAND CANYON. It was a crisp 60 degrees at elevation, but still comfy in the sun with a sweatshirt on. Better yet the canyon was not jam-packed with tourists so we were able to see the place at a much more leisurely pace. There were plenty of other people there, but it was not overcrowded at all. The canyon is a spectacular place, a must-see for sure. Wednesday night we stayed in Cottonwood, central AZ, and we leisurely drove a scenic route down through Strawberry/Payson and the edge of the Superstitions as we returned to Mesa. Friday was a trip to the very-crowded Phoenix Zoo and then some relaxation at the hotel that afternoon before our return home Saturday.

^At the GRAND CANYON. It is grand indeed.

Friday the 11th was Veteran's Day so I got a great deal on zoo admission fee thanks to my DD-214 and veteran discount ($20 to enter vs. the regular $50 price for us both.) It was great to get the discount. However, all the kiddos and parents had the day off from school and work so the zoo was very crowded with countless Giblets. One broad was even on her cellphone pushing around her stroller and planning a Christmas dinner. OMG WTF?! GET OUT OF MY WAS SELFISH SUBURBIAN SOCCER MOM. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Overall the zoo was a nice visit despite all the Giblet-Heads, though.

I'm out of time for today so maybe next time I will write more about Arizona. However, probably not because I have lots of other things to write about as well. The vacation was awesome, but it does feel good to be home. Goonies never say die!

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Friday, 11-04-16: One shot, one kill?
I shot a buck at 1710 this evening. OMG. I wasn't even certain that I would be able to hunt, but I am more than glad that I went. It was a risky move going hunting this evening considering Kat and I have to board a plane tomorrow from Bangor enroute to Phoenix, Arizona. Thankfully our flight doesn't depart until 1338 so I have most of the morning to figure things out.

I don't know if I killed the buck that I shot or not, but I know I hit him. That I am 100% certain of. I almost dropped my bow from my stand just before I saw him so I was fumbling around getting my shit together and making sure none of my arrows fell out of my quiver. What a bunch of crap! I was just about to do a series of bleats and grunts when I saw a deer approaching from the deeper woods. It was about 60-70 yards away when I first saw it, but soon after I saw it I knew I was looking at a buck because of the white patch on his neck. Sweet!

The buck meandered closer and closer, but then he started to veer more towards my back side. Not good. Even though I was 10-feet up in a tree the wind was blowing at a moderate clip my scent was drifting that way. Sure enough he paused in the thicker woods maybe 30 yards away from me and seemed to give the perpetual death-stare in my general direction, and that often prefaces a deer blowing and taking off out of there like a rocket. I don't think he saw me, but he might have caught some of my scent. Finally after what seemed like forever he must have decided things were safe enough because he started moving back towards my stand. Awesome! He got to about 20 yards away, and as he stepped out into a clear lane I acted quickly. I drew, lined him up in the sights, made sure I was using my 20-yard pin, and let the arrow fly.

^I'm pretty sure this is the deer I shot earlier. he had an atypical rack that looks quite like the one in the photo above. The white spot on the neck also helped me make a match.

As soon as the arrow hit he bolted away towards the deeper woods. I knew I hit him because I was mostly certain that I saw my arrow sticking out of him for a fleeting moment as he fled. I watched him disappear into the woods maybe 75 yards away and I second-guessed myself. I definitely rushed the shot, and that is not cool. I should have waited a bit more, but I thought he would see me draw and start to bolt so I wanted to make it happen before my window of opportunity closed. I did have to twist a bit awkwardly as well.

I climbed on down and looked for any sign, but there was no blood. What a bunch of crap! No arrow either so that confirmed my suspicion that it was sticking out of him when he ran. Of course I could have missed and the arrow buried into the ground, but I do feel about 99% sure that the arrow was in him when he ran. I did find a little hair a few yards from the point of impact, but still no blood. I didn't dare to walk much further into the woods in case he was lying down nearby so I decided to get the hell out of there. Did I get him? I just don't know. I'd say it's 50/50 at this point.

I was planning to go back into the woods tonight with my flashlight, but Jason said it would make more sense to wait until the morning when I can actually see. Looking for a deer at night with no blood trail is damn hard. Even with a blood trail it is hard. The woods look A LOT different in the dark than they do in daylight. A few years back Dad, Jason, and I all looked for a deer that I had shot at last-light but we could not find it. I thought I was pwned, but the next morning we returned to find all kinds more blood and the dead deer very close by. I'm hoping the same thing happens tomorrow morning.

It will be 28 degrees for a low temperature tonight so my meat won't spoil if he is dead in those woods. As long as no coyotes get to him then I should be all set in the morning to turn him into steaks and burgers. Assuming I can actually find him of course. A couple years ago Dad shot a deer and waited until the morning to get it. Sadly coyotes found the deer in the night and literally destroyed it so there was no meat to be had. It was so sad and I hope nothing like that ever happens again. Especially not tonight!

I doubt I will have time to update this turd-heap tomorrow morning before we leave. Not only do I have to leave here at 0630 to go look for a deer but Bruce is also coming at 0800 to do baseboards, I have to take care of some bills and banking, and I have to finish getting ready for an epic week-long trip to sunny ARIZONA.

I really hope my deer is dead and is easy to find at first-light tomorrow. I'll hate myself for a long time if I injure but do not recover him. However, if there isn't even a blood trail then I will feel a little less badly because that would mean he didn't get hurt too badly. I hope I can find my arrow, too.

My ass is not getting much sleep tonight, that's for sure. I need to drink some MONSTER ENERGY so I can power through, get 4-5 hours sleep tonight, and hopefully sleep some on the long flight from Philly to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon. Oh, I've been up since 0500 today, too. My greedy ass decided to deer hunt once more instead of taking a nap. I'll know tomorrow morning whether or not that gamble was worthwhile...

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Friday, 11-04-16: A few things to do before we leave tomorrow.
I have about 28 hours to finish up my essential "to do" items before we leave for a week in Arizona starting tomorrow. We will be gone for all of next week; our flight is scheduled to land in Bangor late on next Saturday the 12th.

Today I hope to do some more baseboard prep here at our own house. I was working on this install about an hour ago:

^Hi, Copperpot.

I won't actually run the plumbing for the baseboards because I do not possess that skill-set, but Bruce is coming tomorrow before we leave to start hooking some of it up. I could just let Bruce do everything, but it saves us money and more importantly time having some of the baseboards already on the walls with holes pre-drilled so I'm all for taking my own precious... precious time to make that happen. It sucks we even need to install baseboards, but this house does not heat well and it is solution-time. Hell, it should have been solution-time two years ago but I got too busy focusing on other projects. What a bunch of crap!

The new addition has a forced hot-air natural gas furnace that so far has worked great. Unfortunately, this part of the house has an epic fail heating system. It is supposed to be radiant-floor heat, but it does not work properly due to what both my plumber and two different heating gurus have called a bad install job hired out by the previous owners of this joint. What a bunch of crap!

Today I also plan to finish the sanding in the mail room at my office/gym building and paint that area. I'll also put a couple hours of work into the house across the street from that same building. I started installing a new kitchen floor yesterday, and I got this far before Dave showed up to do an inspection:

^The old floor is scuffed pretty badly, but that is not the fault of the current tenants or even the previous tenants. I think it was my bad installing it over existing linoleum that had a few subtle peaks and valleys. Maybe? Or I bought shit-flooring at Lowe's. What a bunch of crap! It was only 6 years old, too. Thankfully the new flooring was on sale, clearance, for only .66 a square foot. That is a steal because regular price is $2.49 a square foot. Oh jesus, hell ya! Thank you, Home Depot.

I found my camera! It was in my shed. Second time I've misplaced it in the past month. What a bunch of crap! It is nice being able to take my own pictures again. I should get my shit together and stop losing stuff gods damn it.

I am not impressed with the cleanliness of that house across from my office. The tenant who was living there moved down to the building that I manage, and she still has to clean her old house if she wants full deposit-credit. Look at this shit:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! It's not terribly in my way right now, but it will be when we get back from Arizona. I texted her and told her to get it done, but she was too busy bitching about how dirty her new place is. However, she agreed to clean that place for a $120 rent discount so she needs to stop whining and get motivated. What a bunch of crap!

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Thursday, 11-03-16: The vacation and Pop's deer.
In just over two days Kat and I will be flying out of Bangor for a warm, sun-filled Phoenix landing in Arizona. Our flight departs at 1330 Saturday with a layover in Philly, and we land in Phoenix around 2030 PST so I guess technically our landing won't be sun-filled since it will be dark. We're renting a car at the Phoenix airport and driving to nearby Mesa for our hotel/resort stay. The Mesa extended forecast from weather.com looks just about perfect:

OMG THAT IS GREAT! Their average high for our stay is the upper 70s with an average low near 50 so it will be well above average. The entire nation has been above average lately it seems, but here it's been near or slightly below average over the past week or two. Looks like when we are gone we will trend near average in Maine so I can live with that.

It is 0700 now, and the top NBC Today-Show story is the Cubs epic World Series game 7 win last night. The Cubs were down 3 games to 1 in the World Series vs. the Cleveland Indians, but they won the last three to take the trophy. The Cubs hadn't won a World Series in 109 years. Wow! Gavin and Tommy will be happy. The Cubs took a 5-1 lead last night, and that was the score when we bivouaced, but the Indians came back to tie the game before the Cubs won in the 10th inning. Highlights make the end of the game seem epic, but staying up until midnight to watch it was not happening.

Normally we would be up until around 0200 on a Wednesday night due to Kat's karaoke gig, but she got her substiture DJ to do it for her last night because she has an MRI on her knee in about an hour. I'll take her over to the MRI and hope for the best. Unfortunately, her left knee has been hurt for the past two weeks ever since she twisted it here at the house. This MRI should have happened last week, but her doctor's office is full of nincompoops so they took forever to send the MRI request. What a bunch of crap! I hate them all.

Dad shot his deer yesterday morning, an 8-point buck out back from his hunting fortress.

The 125-pound deer was strolling through the oak behind the ol' homestead at around 0715 when Dad got his opportunity. I need to get my deer still, but I blew off hunting for most of October and now we leave for Arizona in two day so I guess it will have to wait until mid-month or later. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I can bowhunt up here until December 10. I am considering going hunting one more time tmorrow before we leave instead of playing racquetball (no time for both) but that remains to be seen. My stand up here is in an AWESOME spot so it would be a shame to not hunt it again.

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Wednesday, 11-02-16: More deer hunting and apartment photos.
I finished the bootleg back 3BR apartment that I manage just a few short days ago, and since then I've been deer hunting and taking care of a few small things at that same apartment and around the other properties. November rents have been coming in, and we leave for Arizona in just three days for what looks to be a beautiful, warm, sun-filled adventure.

I am pleased with how the back apartment came out. It's far from perfect, but it looks exponentially better than it looked just a couple weeks ago. I had to borrow Kat's camera for the photos because my own camera is missing. (What a bunch of crap!) Kat's camera is a very nice Sony that takes much better photos than my own older Sony takes. Hers is still like new whereas mine was bought used several years ago, though. In general I would say a newer camera > an older camera.

The living room floor came out looking very nice:

^From the kitchen looking into the living room. The apartment has both a natural gas monitor heater and a forced hot-air oil furnace so whomever lives there can decide whether to use gas or oil for heat. Bonus! Right now the new tenant plans to use oil because the price of petroleum is still relatively cheap at around $1.70 a gallon, give or take. Gas is pretty cheap now as well, but once the dead of winter hits the gas company will fuck its customers raise its rates. Those mudda fuckas. What a bunch of crap! I hate Bangor Gas Company with a passion. If you are considering switching to gas I would say DON'T DO IT. At least not until the price of oil exceeds $3 a gallon again...

^Another view of the living room.

^The kitchen was still a bit dirty when I took that photo, but it was a LOT better than before I did any cleaning. The kitchen does have a nice hardwood floor that will really pop when swabbed once more and waxed/polished. I painted all walls in the living room, kitchen, and half the upstairs/hallway.

^The fridge and oven were 100% disgusting. The previous tenant will be getting a bill for the shit-show condition that he left the place in. What a bunch of crap!

It is a nice little apartment that should rent easily as long as I can keep it looking nice. The bathroom could use a total overhaul, but that is a project for a future year. Even though I don't own the building I treat it like I would treat one of my own properties. It is nice making some extra money off the place, but it was a lot of work last month getting it ready. That work pulled me away from other projects like our own house and my other bootleg apartments so there are very noticeable pros and cons of managing that building.

Since my bootleg Bangor duplex did not sell for my asking price I actually did briefly consider giving up this property that I manage. Sometimes I feel too busy so hauling on that place makes some sense. However, it is a nice little side-source of revenue so keeping it for now is the right thing to do. I do have some heavy-hitting bills coming due next spring so I need to pinch pennies all winter. The big springtime expenses upcoming will be a few grand in property taxes and a few more grand in Home Depot and Lowe's deferred-interest financing deals. The biggest of the Home Depot zero percent deals is a 24-month $4500 purchase that I made 1.5 years ago. If I don't pay that off then the interest kicks in from ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE DATE OF PURCHASE. That would make the $4500 turn into something like $7000 owed. F that! Priority #1 is paying that down to a zero balance ASAP so most of my Jackson Hewitt paychecks this winter will go towards that and other bills.

In other news, I went deer hunting three times since my last bootleg update that only two people will ever read. Dad and I hunted out at the prison farm last Saturday, but neither one of us saw jack shit. What a bunch of crap! On Halloween two days ago I bowhunted up here for the last 1.5 hours of the daylight hours, and I saw this crew of deer strolling by about 40 minutes before sunset:

I recognized the deer with the white on its face. Unfortunately, none of the four deer got close enough for a shot so I just watched them disappear. I tried to bleat and grunt to get them to return, but it did not work. What a bunch of crap! Then, to add insult to injury, there was a lone deer in the middle of the field on the way out Monday night. I got there just as light was waning and if I had my 30.06 it would have been an easy shot. However, at 60 yards away I could forget it with my bow. I had to spook the deer just to get out of there and come home.

I hunted up here in my same tree stand yesterday morning, but I saw nothing but birds and squirrels. However, the deer sign back there is fantastic and there is even a scrape right under the apple tree that my stand watches over. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I really want to hunt back there once more this week, but sadly I don't see when I can. Maybe tonight, but probably not because now I have to get the bootleg house across the street from my office ready for the next tenants.

I need to get my arse to work. In addition to getting that rental house across from my office prepped for new tenants I need to get some baseboards going here at our house, sand and paint the mailroom by my bootleg office, and pay some bills/collect some rents. We leave in three days for Arizona so I definitely have a lot to squeeze in between now and then.