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


"Why am I farting so much?" -Me
"Because you ate your own cooking." -Kat

Saturday, 11-30-19: Next vacation = booked.
I don't have much work to do this weekend, and that is a great feeling. I thought maybe I'd go do some of this floor today:

However, I changed my mind and now I'm just hanging out. I did exchange our "studio" (hotel room size) timeshare unit for a 2-bedroom full villa at our home resort in Mexico, The Royal Haciendas. That resort is awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

Lots of people think buying a timeshare is dumb, but I disagree.It is not the smartest thing to invest in from a purely numbers perspective, but for the priceless memories and the great times it has really worked for us. I have a membership to a website called Interval International, $99/year, aod that gives us access to timeshare exchanges and "Getaways" all over the world. Not only have we used II to get great villas in Mexico since 2014, but we have also taken trips elsewhere including most recently to Scottsdale last week. We ended up paying only $327 for a badass 2-bedroom villa that sleeps 6 for next May. What would a hotel room cost per night? Plus since we are Royal owners and we'll be staying at a Royal resort we can take a member-discounted all-inclusive offer for $69/person/day for all the food and drinks we want. We did that earlier this year with Neil and Ang, and we really felt like we got our money's worth.

^Earlier this year. Sunrise over the Caribbean = spectacular.

We've gone on vacation roughly two times a year for the past few years, once in the spring and once in the fall, and that works great. We've gotten into a groove where we do Mexico in the spring and somewhere stateside in the fall, and I see no reason to buck that trend. I know in the future we won't always do two trips, and Ireland is on our radar for a future visit. I'd say we spend about $2500 per vacation, give or take, but we could do it for less if we really wanted to. We always go shopping and treat ourselves a bit when we are away. Work hard, play hard...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 11-28-19: Thanksgiving and my birthday.
Happy 44th birthday to my loser ass! Where is my classic Crap-cake? Guy looks into the archives...

^Looks like poop and flies hehehehe. I've used that many times in the past because it is great.

This is one of those years where my birthday and Thanksgiving Day happen all at once. I don't even care... whether or not I care about my own birthday. I don't feel significantly older. Actually I feel younger this week. Maybe the trip to AZ put a little life into this aging body? I felt great doing yoga earlier, and I felt good in my bootleg gym yesterday and the day before. Tennis elbow isn't bad right now at all either.

Thanksgiving Day is a turd. I'm thankful for football games on TV later, but for right now I'm stuck with the ridiculous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the TV. I'd prefer to watch something else or nothing at all, but I want my awesome wife to see the Snoopy balloon-thing. She's in the kitchen prepping for our big meal, and I'm on my ass updating this piece of crap site that almost no one will ever read. Fucking parades suck to watch on TV. They probably suck to watch in person, too. However, that last statement is more of a theory since I haven't been to a parade in seemingly forever.

They did have a still-hot-looking Debbie Gibson on some "float" singing Electric Youth not long ago. That was pretty cool, but then the camera hauled on her after like one minute to show something much more lame. Now there are a gaggle of cheerleaders and I find myself not giving the slightest bit of a crap. Al Roker seems to like the Diary of a Whimpy kid balloon right now, and he gets paid millions by NBC so of course he likes it. I'd eat a turd on live TV for half the pay he gets. I'd even eat it without condiments...

Where's my psychologist gods damn it?

What the fuck is this shit? It says on my TV That Girl Lay Lay and she is a 12-year old rapper. OMG BRING BACK DEBBIE GIBSON NOT THIS RAP DISNEY CRAP! I do like many rap songs, but this one can kiss my hairy ass.

Let's look at something better right now.

I pulled my trail cam on yesterday's hunt, Supertree area. Nice to see there are some nice bucks living back there. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to hunt, but the weather was ok and I finished what I could for Gavin (waiting on him to do a deck now) so I got back into the woods. It was only my fourth hunt of the year. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I'm sick of not doing the things that I like to do more often. I didn't see any deer for the first time of the four hunts. My first hunt in Warren led to me arrowing a 100-lb doe mid-month last month. I saw a couple deer near Supertree a few weeks ago but too far to shoot, I passed up a doe a couple weeks ago, and then nothing last night.

Seeing that doe a couple weeks ago was awesome. She showed up with plenty of daylight left, and I watched her for about 15 minutes before she finally got so close to me, within 10 yards, that I think she caught a little of my scent or saw me move a little and scurried off. I could have shot her, but I didn't even want to. I enjoyed just watching her. I didn't want to gut her, drag her out, and cut her up only 36 hours before our vacation. Harvesting a deer is a lot of work! We have lots of deer meat in our freezer now anyway.

The expanded archery season last until Dec 14 so maybe I will hunt once or twice more. We actually have an inch of pasty fresh snow on the ground so tracking deer would be awesome. Unfortunately it's too fucking cold so nevermind. The snow fell late last night and into the AM, it's just ending now, so the dogs have had a blast playing out back. Sucks it will be so cold because I just can't effectively bowhunt in real winter temps. Below 30 is a challenge, and even low 30s feels damn cold after 1.5 hours of sitting. I don't wear really heavy clothes on a bowhunt because I need to be able to draw and shoot well or else I shouldn't even be out there.

SpongeBob Squarepants floats on by, and I root for that giant asteroid just a little more. All I wanna know is why? Why do people like that stupid show? I've seen some of it, and I think it is the equivalent of ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five pound bag. What a bunch of crap!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 11-24-19: Will I be busy next month?
Vacation is over, and now it's time to get back to the grind. I didn't really work much today; I stopped into my tax office to check messages. One voicemail, a potential new client who called a few days ago. Maybe she found another tax person since I was busy. I actually do have a meeting with someone tomorrow AM regarding taxes, and after that I'll see Ben about some smaller electrical work then hopefully over to Gavin's house to work on his siding. I left it looking like this at the very beginning of the month:

^No progress since Nov 2 = what a bunch of crap! The weather was just too cold for most of the time. Long-term we look to stay cold, but a short mini-reprieve from the cold should give me a small window of time to work outside tomorrow (44 degrees), Tuesday (48 degrees), and hopefully some of Wednesday before rain arrives. Rain turns to snow Wed night and then it's cold, cold, and more cold into early Dec.

Gavin is supposed to be getting the new area of his bootleg building spray-foamed tomorrow so if that stays on track and he does get his insulating done then I can do some sheetrock work for him next month. I just saw him a few hours ago when he and I played rball, and we discussed the options. He wants to get one of the units done so he can live in it, but money is an obstacle so he'll have to wait and see what he can afford after he gets the insulating done. I don't give a shit when he pays me for the work I've done and for the work I will do next month, but he cares and even the materials are costly. One piece of 4x8, 1/2"sheetrock right now is roughly $13. It takes a bunch of those just to do one room plus mud, tape, etc. Oh, he also doesn't have interior walls framed yet and he still needs some plumbing and electrical done before I can even start sheetrock. What a bunch of crap for him! I hope for his sake he can have me do some sheetrock work for him next month, but at this point that is far from a given.

I also need to finish the last floor at our North Main building, and Mom and Dad have one bedroom floor left at their house. I'll call them later to hopefully put that on my schedule. I'm thinking Dec 3-4 for that job, one overnight and a couple mostly full days. My bootleg gym ceiling is not yet done, and I have to prep more for the upcoming tax season. Oh, Jason might need me for a bit of time to help him wrap up some big jobs as well. December looks busy! I won't allow myself to take on too much work next month; I'll get done what I can (North Main floor being top billing) and whatever doesn't get done will have to wait. (gym ceiling?)

Alright turds, all two of youz who read this pathetic excuse for a website, I'm gonna get off this bootleg thing so I can watch some more football. The 9-1 Patriots play a good Dallas Cowboys team shortly. Pats are favored by a tad thanks to a strong defense. Offense is not as great this year as it has been in the past. Brady is getting older and he doesn't have too many good receivers...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 11-23-19: Back from vacation only a few hours ago.
We got home around 1100 today, and the dogs did their usual freak-out with joy and excetement. Copper barked for a few minutes because he seemed so happy to see us. For our two vacations this year we paid Katherine to watch the dogs for us so they all could stay home. Saves us the more expensive weekly kennel rate, puts some extra $$$$$ in her pocket, and most importantly keeps the dogs at home where I presume they would be most comfortable in our absence.

^Now I can be surrounded again when we do yoga! (Photo from last month.) Kat and I actually did yoga once while in Arizona, and it was a nice little workout. I had a limited space between the bed and the wall, but this borderline bootleg older computer played the DDP-Yoga DVD just fine. I think new computers don't even have DVD drives anymore. Too bad I'll need a newer computer at some point I'd say within the next few months because this thing has Winders 7. I like Winders 7, but Microsoft isn't even going to support the OS anymore starting next year. What a bunch of crap!

While we were gone Dakota also helped Katherine feed and watch the dogs. Dakota did Kat's Sunday night Pour House gig last week and yesterday's Jester's gig. From the feedback Kat has received Dakota did a nice job, and that comes as no surprise to me at all. He is very outgoing and personable. Sadly he will be leaving us Tuesday. He actually was supposed to leave today, but that got pooched so now Tues he heads south to Tenessee. I personally think he should not go back to TN, but I can't say I blame him because winters here do suck. A lot. We got used to warmer temps in Scottsdale, AZ so getting off the plane this morning to about 30 degrees with a colder wind chill = what a bunch of crap!

So Dakota decided that being in TN with his friends and working at his old job > being up here in the cold winter with Katherine. Questionable, but he is young and hopefully they make it work. I know if I decided to just leave for a winter without my awesome wife I'd be hauled on ASAP, and rightfully so. I guess they are going to try a long-distance relationship for the winter. She's going to visit him next month with her tickets already purchased. Dakota says he's coming back in the spring, but talk is cheap... I hope he does come back because having him as a helper for my own work, for Kat's DJ business, and even for Gavin this fall has been fantastic. I got a shitload of work done this year with his help. He learned a lot and did a nice job. Siding, framing, sheetrock work, flooring, demolition, landscaping, mowing, etc.

^From April this year, when Dakota first started working with me and learning some carpentry skills. We'll all miss having him around because he has assimilated very well with our friends and family in the 8 or 9 months that he and Katherine have been dating.

Our trip to AZ was a good break from the rigors and routines of our life here in Brewer. Neil and Ang had never seen a desert area before so we took them to the Grand Canyon. Even though Kat and I went to AZ three years ago she and I also experienced many new Goonie adventures on this trip. We saw beautiful Sedona, took a Pink Jeep (highly recommend) tour of the landscapes, did a bootleg timeshare presentation and had a beotch sales chick basically throw a little fit when I shut down her crap sales pitch. We did get the Pink Jeep tour for free because we did the timeshare thing, though!

We also saw the Scottsdale aquarium, we did plenty of unique shopping and dining, we went to two different karaoke bars, etc. One bar can eat the peaunts out of our sssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttt, a place called the Grapevine. Kat does not eat peanuts because of her allergies, but I eat them gods damn it. The karaoke area in the Grapevine SUCKED. It was too crowded, too small, and worst of all the KJ treated us tourists like an afterthought. He seemed to cater more to the locals, and when some guy came and slipped him cash with a song request it was obvious who got to sing and who did not. The Grapevine in Scottsdale = WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

Thankfully we found a better place to hang out, Ernie's. That place had a much better atmosphere than even our own bootleg Bangor area bars, and the KJ was fair and did a good job. I'd call Ernie's a "Dive Bar", but I mean that in the best of ways. We went on Tues to check it out for a bit, and we also went Thursday night. Poor Kat had too many shots that night so Friday was a recovery day for her and really for us all. Even though I didn't drink too much and was never hungover we were all worn down from a week of touring, travelling, and experiencing new adventures.

We had a newer Ford sedan for a rental car, and figuring out that thing was a bunch of crap in itself. There was no key, just a fob-thingie. I could not figure out how to start the vehicle for about 5 minutes, and it was about 0100 and we were all getting tired and cranky from the long travel to the Phoenix airport. Gods damned new fancy vehicles. I JUST WANT A KEY GODS DAMN IT! We arrived tired and hungry so we found a local Denny's, and that meal was busted. it was a bunch of crap! Poor service, food not served as ordered, etc. It was the first time ever that Kat and I have not left at least a little tip. Thankfully we had better dining experiences elesewhere including two great breakfasts. One at the Coffee Pot in Sedona and another at Butters in Scottsdale.

The vacation was much-needed for Kat and I personally. I think it helped bring us closer in a very good way. Here at home we get busy and get pulled in all kinds of different directions. Of course being self-employed comes with its own set of demands. We hadn't been doing so well as a couple before the trip so I know I need to work hard to keep things great like they were when we were able to spend good, quality time together as best friends and as a husband and wife. Neil and Ang were awesome travelling companions, too.

Now that we're back it's time to get back to work. I have plenty to do for the rest of this month and for next month, and Kat is already booking up fast for weddings next year. Hopefully we can bank some money this winter, at least a little bit after heat and plowing costs, and we can start planning our next vacation soon. We're hoping for a big combined family trip back to the Royal Haciendas in Mexico next May. Probably 9 or 10 of us total in 2 rooms including Neil, Ang, and a couple of their family. Just thinking of going back to the Haciendas gets me a little more motivated to save, save, and save some more because that place is like a small paradise. Best place to vacation, I mean really vacation, ever. This trip to AZ was of course a vacation, but it was also work with driving around and trying to fit a bunch of fun things in before we had to come back home.

It is great to be home and I'm glad to be back. We flew back on the redeye from Phoenix and through Philly so we are beat. I slept only a little on the plane, and Kat slept even less on the flight, so she is taking a nap. I'll need a little more caffene to make it to bedtime since that is still hours away. Hopefully I sleep 10 hours tonight! It is 1530 right now, but with the time changes our bodies are probably still telling us it is "only" 1330.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 11-15-19: Flying to AZ tomorrow!
I'm about to go down to Jester's, but I want to write for a few minutes before I head out. The wind is howling right now, and according to weather.com we're spiraling down to a very January-like 13 degrees later tonight. What a bunch of crap! It is 30 now at 2240, but temps are going to drop a lot. We set a record low of 8 a couple nights ago, and tomorrow night will also be around 8. Thankfully we are out of this frozen state like fat kids in dodge ball. Tomorrow we get onto a plane and head south and west all the way to sunny and warm Arizona. Sunday in Scottsdale 85 degrees = GIMME MOAR!

I've had some coffee brandy and milk, and I'll hang out at the bar for a while. I won't get totally wrecked, F that, but I feel okay with staying up late and having some drinks since we don't even need to be at the nearby Bangor airport tomorrow until 1300. Oh Jesus hell ya! I also feel caught up on my work so that alleviates the stress of many past vacations. Hell who knows I might actually get a little more work done tomorrow before we leave. I can sleep on the plane some, too.

^I did some trim work in my bootleg gym earlier today. I was going to work on Gavin's siding, but F that we decided it could wait. There is still snow on the ground and it was not that warm. Instead I got other things done, and I lost at Rball to both Gavin and Deno before supper. I also lifted some weights. I'm ready for a break from this frozen-ass state. This time of year a southern locale has a great appeal. Maybe one day we'll become snow-birds and just live somewhere warmer for the winter. However, that costs a shitload of money to have two different "base camps" so-to-speak.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 11-13-19: Two good progress days on my bootleg gym ceiling.
I've finally had an easy work week, the first one I've had in seemingly forever, so I've spent the past two days working on my gym ceiling. I haven't spent a full 8-hour work shift over there, but I have put in a few good hours each day. Other things have taken up a bit of my precious... precious time like a second bedbug treatment today at two of the rental units near my gym. Also a trip to Lowe's, yesterday rounding up the snow shovels, etc.

^I used that elliptical today for the first time in a long time; normally I'd still be able to jog outside even into November, but this week has truly been winter. What a bunch of crap! Record cold today high temp only in the 20s, near record cold tonight around 10, and snow/ice still on the ground from yesterday's storm. We got a couple inches of snow, freezing rain, then a little more snow to finish off the day. Thankfully nothing needing plowing yet. Unfortunately the heat bills will suck. A lot. We actually have a fire slowly burning itself down right now, and we have had a fire for most days this week. That will save some $$$$ on our own heat bill for the house. Still plenty of firewood split, dry, and ready to burn on hand. Still plenty of new firewood needing to be split and stacked. Unfortunately I won't get to that until the end of the month, or until the year 2020 if we stay frozen.

I can't finish the gym ceiling this week because I need Bruce to move a couple water pipes. Maybe I could do it myself, but I don't think I will attempt it. I might have Bruce do a few other things for me while he's there; I thought about having some heat installed in that basement/gym so I'll see if he can handle that. I think the boiler there has a spot for an additional zone. Maybe? Hopefully. A couple baseboards down there would be great, just a little heat to take the chill out in the dead of winter. It's 60 in there now so not too cold yet, actually about perfect now, but come January it will be in the low 50s and that makes it tough to get warmed up for a good pump. I'd never want it too warm down there because I'd get too hot when exercising. I just want to be able to grab the barbells and dumbbells in the dead of winter and not have my damn hands freeze. I do have workout gloves, but I prefer not to use them.

In only three days we will be enroute to sunny and warm Scottsdale, Arizona. We fly into nearby Phoenix, grab a rental car, and head to what will hopefully be a decent resort. We'll spend Sunday in Scottsdale near our resort, and then we'll leave Monday morning to go see the Grand Canyon. Neil and Ang have never seen the Grand Canyon before so that is a must-see for their sake. I've seen it twice before in my life, but it's awesome and I'm A-ok with seeing it again.

We'll spend Monday night in Sedona then come back to Scottsdale Tuesday. We might make a day-trip to Tombstone Wed or Thurs, and we fly back home on a redeye, late-night flight departing Phoenix around midnight on Friday night the 22nd. When we get home I'll figure out what my next work-project will be. Hopefully it's finishing Gavin's siding, but with this cold weather seemingly here for a while that might not happen anytime at all this month. Gods damn it!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, 11-11-19: A holiday for me.
I've had a damn easy weekend, and today I got my work done already. Started at 0930, finished by 1100, piece of cake. I had to do a final freezing-cold mow at my gym property, clean up a bit more wood, grab some rent, and pick away at a few other smaller things. Gave my friend, Kevin, a key to my bootleg gym so he can use it whenever he wants and maybe he and I can get a workout or two in at some point soon. Only a very select few people use that gym, and I like it that way. I was going to use it today, but my body is telling my ass to wait.

I probably would have done more work today if the weather was going to be better. It's a very raw 35 degrees right now at 1230, and the temperature has actually dropped since 0900 when it was 38. What a bunch of crap! We stay cold from now through Friday so I won't be doing much or any outdoor work. Sorry G, your house will have to wait. Snow starts near dark tonight so when I'm in the woods I might see a few flakes before I get to the truck to come home. I plan to do my second hunt of the year, and I'll leave in just under two hours. Tonight we get 1-3" of snow then we get ice, rain, and a mix of shit tomorrow. Gods damn it!

I am a veteran and today is Veteran's Day so this is a holiday for me. Right? I don't do religion so I can't say half the holidays that people celebrate are for me. I work so I guess I can say Labor Day is for me. Hehehe. Or is that one for wommens who pump out kids? [sarcasm] One of my tenants shook my hand and said thanks to me this morning, the same one who usually pays rent late, so I thought he was thanking me for NOT evicting him and his family for sucking at paying timely rent. Turns out he was thanking me for being a veteran. HAHAHAHA. I don't need thanks I just WANT MY FUCKING RENT BEFORE THE 11TH GODS DAMN IT!

Jason got a nice buck on Saturday, and Dad sent me some very good photos. Jason is a fucking awesome hunter. He's a Marine Corps veteran and is a killing machine. I just made that last part up I really don't know if he did killing overseas in the Marines. I do know in the woods he knows what he is doing and gets the job done every year. Passes up good deer until he sees a really nice one, a buck like this guy:

^Awesome job bro.

I should go get my bow out and take a few shots out back shortly. I won't hunt if I haven't shot my bow in nearly a month. F that. Also I need to scoop the dog turds and split up some more of our firewood. We still have a lot of firewood, and we put some of it to use this weekend. Had a nice fire Saturday PM and watched a bunch of The Punisher Season 2 on Netflix. I don't know how to turn on Netflix so thankfully my awesome wife is tech-savvy enough to do it. We watched a little more Punisher yesterday and also had a fire for a few hours before a family dinner and then she had to go to work. I actually went to the Pour House last night for the first time in a long time to see part of her show. The place looks better; it's nice to see the owner trying to make the dive bar less divey. Is divey even a word? I didn't get too boozed up, but I did stay up late and only got a few hours of sleep last night. That means I need to drink a little extra Mio energy water before I go hunting or else I will fall asleep in my blind and then definitely not see any deer.

I don't have a load of work on my schedule for the rest of this week. Oh Jesus hell ya! I will hopefully get some more of my bootleg gym ceiling done and maybe even make time to prep the floor in the final office area at our North Main building. Since we're getting winter this week, real actual winter temps and weather, I'll work indoors as much as possible. We leave Saturday for Arizona. Only 5 days away! Hopefully we get some warmer weather towards the end of this month so I can finish Gavin's exterior work.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 11-09-19: A trip to warmer weather in a week.
We fly out to Phoenix, Arizona in a week with Neil and Ang. We'll be staying in a 2-bedroom villa in Scottsdale, and hopefully we can take them to the Grand Canyon and maybe even Tombstone. Kat and I went to AZ three years ago and had a great vacation; I really liked being out there this time of year. Great temps not too hot not too cold and lots to see and to do. When we were there last time Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the presidential race. He is a terrible human being, but I have to admit the economy is good and he is doing what he said he was going to do. His border-wall is fucking stupid, but a lot of his economic policies seem to be paying off for us as a nation.

I have tennis elbow inflammation bigtime this morning, and I am surprised that I do. My right hand keeps going numb so I am having a hard time writing my useless thoughts to almost no one at all. What a bunch of crap! I must have aggrivated it lifting weights last night before I went to the bar, but I didn't lift extra heavy so I dunno. I haven't played rball in a couple days either. Lately my tennis elbow hasn't been bad so that sucks it's back with a vengence this morning.

I drank last night, but I didn't overdo it so I'm not hungover. It really is sad this happened just down the road from Jester's yesterday PM:

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/11/08/news/bangor/large-fire-breaks-out-on-main-street-in-brewer/

The place was going to be called Whiskey River Smokehouse, a BBQ restaurant and bar, and now it is gone. The Nothing came and took it away like it once took away Caps and the beautiful lake from the Rock Chewers in the North. What a bunch of crap! The place was really close to opening, too. Arson? Accident? Thankfully no one was hurt. Cause of the fire unknown yet.

I wanted to write more, but F this my right hand is too numb so I'm out of here. Hopefully today will be a relaxing day off for my ass. Fucking kitten I gotta go regulate gods damn it that little asshole is up to no good for the 1000000th time.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 11-08-19: Almost time to go to the bar.
A new bar was going to open in just a few weeks here in Brewer, just down the road, but it burned down a few hours ago. What a bunch of crap! It's the second bar in as many years to burn down in this city. Epic failer. I would love to see a nice, new bar open on the east side of the Penobscot because it seems every bar around here is a bootleg piece of shit. Jester's is a dumpy dive bar, but it is my favorite bar of all-time so that really is not a big insult. Cap's was a bootleg dive bar on the south side until it burned down a couple years ago, and now it is rebuilt as a sterile cafeteria that kinda sucks. Where else is there a late-night establishment in Brewer? Brewsters? HAHAHAHA. A chicken-themed bar in a bootleg motel. Enough said there.

I actually used my gym tonight, and I am very glad I did. I was gonna install a few more ceiling tiles in the gym after I got my swell on, but I decided to just come home to eat a snack and drink a little more before I go to Jester's. I took a nap earlier, and tomorrow we plan to spend most or all of the day inside with a fire and some TV, so for the first time in a long time it is nice knowing I don't have things to do the day following Kat's Friday night gig. I'm not exhausted either because I took a refreshing little nap earlier. Oh Jesus hell ya! Too bad winter already hit. That really sucks. A lot. Especially since in two of the rentals tenants need to keep the temp set at 75 to help get bedbugs moving through the poison that Modern Pest put down 1.5 weeks ago. What a bunch of crap that is!

It is seriously winter now. No joke. The 10-day forecast = pwned.

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Wednesday high temp 28 = gods damn it. I had the furnaces cleaned today, bye bye another $750, and I did a lot of misc work. I'm still behind schedule on all kinds of my stuff, but at least I'm slowly catching up. The fact that my gym ceiling is not done yet is really sad since I started it a year and a half ago. Hopefully I can finish that before I start my tax season in early 2020.

Cinderella, The Road's Still Long. Great tune. Fucking cats all over the place one just dove past my face for some unknown reason. I told Kat last night I'm sick of our animal-planet house and I don't think that went over too well. I feel badly for saying it, but we do have too many pets. I don't even know why Katherine has two cats since she doesn't seem to give a shit about them. I guess for her Failbook photos? Hell if I know she's only 21 and I doubt she even knows. Her two cats hang out with us in the living room/bedroom and not with her, or at least that is how it seems to be. We do boot the cats out of the bedroom when we bivouac or else I really would be 100% certifiable by now.

Last song before I roll on down to the bar is The Cure, Burn. This is a fucking awesome song and if you disagree then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. It's from the movie The Crow where the heel bad guy says "I shanked her pink ass and she lovvvvvvvvvveeeeddddddddddddddd it!" That is such an awesome movie. Too bad the dude died from a gunshot wound that was supposed to be a blank. Wasn't that Bruce Lee's son? Level 6-2 he could not pass.

Oh great the kittens have a cat-toy in here maybe Groot can eat that one and not shit for a week and cost us another $700. I just guessed on that last sum; maybe it was more or maybe it was less. It was A FUCKING LOT either way. I really should like Groot, but I really do want to throw her ass on Craigslist FREE FOR THE TAKING. I am not opposed to hauling on pets because I am emotionally impotent. Groot could be a good dog, but she decides to be like Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket and fuck up all the time. Where's my psychologist gods damn it? The end. Fin.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 11-07-19: I got one bedroom done and had a nice visit.
I left Monday morning for the ol' homestead, and I spent a couple days down at Mom and Dad's. I was just loading my last tool into the truck at 0853 Monday morning when Dad called to say he shot a deer out back. He can't see red so he wasn't sure of a blood trail and was hoping I could help track the 4-pointer down when I arrived. Thankfully he did find the deer before I got there, the buck didn't run very far before passing away, and I arrived in time to help drag him to the 4-wheeler and up to the house.

Dealing with the deer took a while, and since Dad is 70 years old he isn't as fast as he once was. He does great for a senior citizen, though. Unfortunately it is bittersweet seeing him get a deer because I know one of these years, likely in the near future, he won't be able to shoot and recover his own deer anymore. When Dad can't hunt anymore it will be all bad so I hope for his sake he kicks the can in the woods. One time Dad fell down, broke his rifle, and basically crawled to his hunting blind. Born again hard? Oh Jesus hell ya!

I was peeling ticks off my body and jacket, bigtime. 7 of those mudda fuckas off my jacket collar and 3 off my stomach. One of the ticks actually attached itself and now there is a red bite-mark. What a bunch of crap! That little fucko only took about 20 minutes to dig in. There is no bullseye, just a red mark, and even if there was a bullseye there would be two things I'd do about it: nothing and like it. I don't really want lyme, but I'd rather take my chances than to avoid the woods altogether. I still can't believe I don't have lyme and my wife does. That's a bunch of crap and just a cruel twist of fate from the gods who do not really exist.

I did some prep and painting in what was once my old bedroom, and then Mom and I went to Lowe's on Monday PM to pick out a closet door and some blinds. I got a bunch of trim and a few other things, too. Mom picked out a bifold closet door so that was easier to install than a door would have been, and I got my old room 100% done before I left Wednesday.

^There was 1970s carpet, original with the house I presume, so I had to rip that out. There is a giant hutch-thing in the room that is too big to move elsewhere so I made it work with that thing in the way. Walls painted from yellow to a nice off-white. Yeah, I had yellow fucking walls when I was a kid. OMG What a bunch of crap!

It was a little weird working in the 10x11 room that was mine from almost age 8 to almost age 18. Jason and Doug shared a room with bunk beds until my ass shipped out on November 15, 1993 for boot camp. After that Jason took the room and when I came back to visit on leave I'd bivouac in with Doug. Doug and I got along great back in the mid 90s, and I miss that connection that we used to have. Hopefully we can get it back one day. He and I are actually texting a little bit now so that is nice.

^Mom and Dad picked out/got issued the exact same floor color that we have in our own bedroom and that I have used in some of the rentals recently. It's Allure, Khaki Oak, and at $1.89/square foot it's fairly priced for what it is. A good mid-grade and easy to install flooring product that I highly recommend. Comes in many different colors. When I was a kid I had the bed on the other end, the right side in the photo, and there was a second window on the wall by the bed. That window got hauled on when they built the new addition for Grammy.

^A hollow-core regular interior door, the el-cheapo version, was there before. Gods damned thing was 26" so that is not a standard stock size gods damn it. Thankfully the wider trim evened out the new 24" door size. Normally I'd use the cheaper 2.5" casing, but everywhere else is the nicer 3.5" wide casing so I just matched what is everywhere else. It made doing a smaller door easier, much easier. Plus it looks great.

Mom and Dad are very happy with the remodeled room, and I think it looks fantastic. I accidentally became a mostly competent carpenter and finish worker. Nadia sleeps there when she visits so she should also be happy. If not I'll hang her 8-year old ass off the deck by her feet like Schwarzenegger did to Sully in Commando. Commando is a fucking awesome movie and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

^"Remember Sully when I said I'd kill you last? I lied."

Classic movie makes me want to watch it again. For the record I would just hang her off the deck; I would not actully drop her.

I got home yesterday and was able to go for a terrible, lame-ass jog in the cold. I didn't even make it two miles without walking some. What a bunch of crap! Too bad because I had been doing great with my occasional jogging. Now it's too fucking cold. Oh well at least I still have yoga and racquetball. I should have played rball yesterday, but I played today instead. This morning I rented a wood chipper for $135, a totally badass unit that tows along behind the truck, and Dakota helped me chip up all the brush over at my gym and former apartment property. We got it all done just before I ran the thing out of gas and before it started raining. Rain is actually gonna change to snow tonight so that's why I made chipping the brush a priority. I need that lot cleared in case we get plowable snow. We're only getting an inch tonight, but the forecast was for more not long ago. Tomorrow is COLD with a high of 34. What a bunch of crap!

I also finally got the snowblower into the repair shop. Waiting until the day it snows = epic failer. I won't get the snowblower back from the shop for a few weeks so I guess I'll shovel the driveway if we get a bigger storm or two or three. He said he has 60 snowblowers to service before ours ahahahahaha. Lots of cold upcoming and more snow chances next week, too. Man I suck ass. The end.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 11-03-19: Daylight Savings "free hour" bullshit.
Last night was turn the clocks back night; Daylight Savings time either started or ended. I forget which, but it doesn't matter. I think the concept is fairly lame in today's society, but I don't totally hate it. Now sunrise is 0615 instead of 0715 so if I want to go deer hunting in the morning my ass would have to be in the woods and in my blind or stand by 0545. That part sucks, getting up extra early. Getting dark before 1700 = what a bunch of crap! It is nice doing an evening hunt and being done in time for an earlier supper, though.

The worst part about daylight savings time is when we hit December and the sun sets before 1600. That is a major bunch of crap! Actually most things about December are a bunch of crap including cold weather and Christmas. Speaking of cold weather, this coming Friday's forecast high temperature is 33 degrees. Next weekend we don't get out of the 30s for high temps either. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Making things worse is the fact that I don't even have the snowblower ready and I have tree debris down at my biggest parking area so that would make snowplowing a challenge. No big snow is forecast (1-3" possible Thurs night) so I need to get ready for winter ASAP.

I had wanted to use some of the precious... precious money from my bootleg Holyoke house sale to get a newer truck with a plow, but F that I need to save up some more before I can do that. I do have the money now for a decent enough truck, but I don't want to deplete the reserves this close to winter. I'll probably make getting a newer truck a priority this spring. Maybe? Hopefully! My truck is good enough for now. The F150 is over 9 years old and showing some rust along the rocker panels. It leaks on the interior when we get heavy rain. The bedliner half-wore away. The rear passenger tire slowly leaks air. What a bunch of crap! Mechanically the truck is in good shape, though. I have around 84,000 miles on the thing now and that ain't too shabby for the age and for how I treat it.

I worked yesterday for several hours and got a lot done with my precious... precious time. First was a dump-run. Second was a couple hours cutting up downed limbs into firewood-sized chunks. Finally I spent a few hours in the afternoon working at Gavin's house. I finished as much as I could with the new siding, but the job is not yet done so I won't invoice him. He's getting a good friend rate anyway and I don't care when he pays me I trust him. I've worked at his house 46 total hours over three weeks. OMG THAT IS FUCKING PATHETIC I SUCK! I might work zero hours there this coming week since I'll be gone tomorrow through Wedenesday and then it gets really gods damned cold.

^Front looks a lot better with the new siding installed.

I could go finish a lot of what remains for Gavin today, but I'd rather take the time to focus on our own house. The back yard is full of leaves and smaller downed branches after the wind and rain storm from two days ago. The front yard also needs a good raking and I have a large pile of wood to split and stack. I had the wood almost done a few weeks ago, but then I started piling a lot more new hardwood up when I had trees cut and when giant limbs started falling off. We have a lot of firewood now so that will help on the heating bills some this winter. We don't use the fireplace too often, but I'll make a point of using it more this season since we do have so much wood now.

^There is much more there than what the photo seems to show.

I'l leaving tomorrow morning, hopefully around 0900, to drive down to the ol' homestead. I plan to spend 2.5 days down there and come home later Wednesday. I'll bring a lot of tools and 264 square feet of flooring so I can redo at least one of the two bedrooms. Not only do the rooms need new flooring but they also need paint and new baseboards. Mom also wants new closet doors. I should get at least one room done when I'm there. Maybe? Hopefully! I'll also spend some time in the woods. Jason passed up a 7-pointer yesterday on his first rifle hunt because he is just that damn good. I don't pass up jack shit and that is why my ass is done already. I'll sit out back in the blind with Dad for one of his hunts and then possibly go out with Jason the other evening. Even though I already got my deer down there and can't rifle hunt I can live vicariously through them and just go along for fun.

I'd like to bowhunt up here, but I epic fail on time management. I should shoot my bow today and plan to go later in the week. I put my trail camera out three weeks ago and haven't even checked the thing once. What a bunch of crap! I probably have some great deer photos on the SD card unless someone stole it by now. I lock my camera to a tree, but the SD card can be taken out and I did have that happen a few years back. Gods damned crooks!

So I won't be updating this bootleg site that almost no one ever reads until midweek at the soonest. I'll get off this thing now and watch some morning news before I do yoga, lift some weights in my gym, and then do yard work for the rest of the day. Maybe I can also go for a jog before dark. It's only 0620 and I've been up for an hour already! It's really 0720 in my mental clock, though. Daylight Savings gives and then in March it takes away. March sucks so I'd rather lose an hour on a Sunday in that lame ass month anyway.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 11-01-19: More power outages and tree debris.
We had 50+ MPH winds for a while this morning, and the result was all bad. It wasn't long before tenants were texting my loser ass. BIG tree limbs down in a couple places including one on this vehicle in the back parking lot:

^What a bunch of crap! Thankfully no major damage, but there are a few front-end dents and scratches. Sucks I spent all that money having those trees cut back and branches are still coming off them. Another big limb fell off a couple weeks ago near there, but by some fortuitous streak of luck it landed harmlessly between two cars.

We never lost power at our house, and I consider that to be amazing since so many around us are still in the dark. Over 120k reported outages between CMP and Emera statewide. Castine had a 74MPH gust of wind earlier. These fall storms over the past few years have been brutal. I just talked to Mom and Pop, and they never lost power either. Great for them, especially since a storm a couple weeks ago knocked their power out for almost three days.

Dad got a new cellphone since his older one, the one he barely used, fell out of his pocket and disappeared in the woods. He just sent me what is likely the first text message my 70-year old father has ever sent to me in his life: "New number is 542-XXXX. Others are cancelled. See you Monday! Dad" Hey way to go Pop welcome to the new century! I actually partly wish that I could not text, but the bigger part of me is glad that I can because it is handy to check in with my awesome wife and to coordinate playing racquetball, etc. At times it is a pain in the arse, but oh well.

So tomorrow I have to chainsaw up some more hardwood. I didn't cut any of it up today because it was really windy all day and I didn't want another part of a tree (or a whole tree) to fall down on me while I was working. I'd never even hear it falling if I was running my saw. Instead I did other things like use my bootleg gym and do some more siding for Gavin. The wind was an inconvenience for doing the siding, but I worked on a part of the house that wasn't getting totally buffeted with winds.

Alright turds, all two of youz who actually read this bootleg site, I need to go put my bootleg costume on and get ready for Jester's. My awesome cool DJ-wife is getting ready now. It's a Day of the Dead theme tonight, but all kinds of different costumes will be appearing at the bar. I might actually stay at Jester's for the whole show since I feel caught up and not too stressed out. Hope it is a fun night. Goonies never say die!