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"Any requests for what I could do to improve the gym?" -Me
"Yeah have less weights!" -Kat

Thursday, 10-31-19: Halloween!
Halloween is on TV, the original Halloween movie and my awesome wife's all-time favorite flick. I think it is a decent movie, but before she and I met I'd never seen it. I don't love the Halloween franchise, but parts of them are pretty decent. It's really too bad how they managed to F up many of the sequels over all the years. Kat loves horror, and I am not a huge fan of the genre. There have been loads of great horror movies, but none of them make my all-time favorites list. I gravitate more towards the adventure/sci-fi/action genres.

It is getting dark so I expect kiddos to start knocking soon in costume and looking for candy. Kat is not feeling well, what a bunch of crap, so she is keeping a low profile and I'll dole out the treats. The forecast was for rain and wind, but right now it's not too bad outside. Good for the kids, bad for us. I selfishly was hoping for more wind and rain so I didn't even have to deal with the trick-or-treaters. Does that make me a bad dude? If not for my awesome wife I'd turn off the light and pretend not to be home. What a bunch of crap!

I actually got a costume today, but I'm not wearing it on this Halloween day. I got some clearance thing from that totally bootleg and overpriced Spirit of Halloween store when we were out earlier running some errands and getting lunch. I got the costume for tomorrow's Jester's Halloween party because I do plan to have a few drinks and get at least a little into the Halloween mood before the season is over. Hopefully we can have some fun at the bar tomorrow, but unfortunately Kat can't drink. She can drink, but it is not advised while she is trying to fight lyme and other related viruses. I feel badly we do have fun when we drink together, but we don't need booze to have a good time. I do need booze to have fun at Jester's, though.

Speaking of over, bye bye October. I failed to finish Gavin's siding as planned. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully he doesn't care when I finish. I care when I finish, though. Today was too wet all day to even attempt any siding installs so I worked on tax research for Jason for a bit and hung out with my awesome wife. Dakota did help me do siding yesterday so we got most of the front done before we ran out of materials. Here is what it looked like at lunch yesterday:

Rain ends tomorrow early and I get a new fridge delivered early at one of the nearby apartments so hopefully the winds aren't too extreme and I can do some more siding for G. Unfortunately gusts are expected in excess of 40MPH so I might not get much done. I've worked for him 11.5 hours so far this week. Epic fuckin' failer again. Fail for the third consecutive week. If things really go well tomorrow and Saturday then maybe I'll get up to 20 hours for him, but I doubt it. I think I only need another 10-15 hours to finish what he wants done for siding. Maybe? Hopefully!

October was a mixed-bag month for me. Kat and I struggled to get onto the same page, and I hope we're trending in the right direction now. If not then one of the unfinished apartments in that house above will be my home in the future. The place is not even done yet, but if I get hauled on then I gotta go somewhere. I sure as hell ain't living here if I get hauled on. I don't want to get hauled on so I'm working on being good at emotional stuff.

I did get a deer this month and I FINALLY hauled on my Holyoke house. I wanted that house gone two friggin' months ago, but being behind schedule is how I roll. See Gavin's house above for the latest proof of that. I also did get North Main pretty squared away and presentable for future business. Nice new paved lot, check. Garage all gone, check. I got a decent amount of exercise and I feel great physically. It's just the mental part that is still a work in progress at times. I really wish my awesome wife would turn a corner and start getting better. We go to Arizona in 16 days so maybe 7 days in a great climate will do wonders for her sore body that constantly has to fight lyme, bartonella, babesia, etc. Her lot in life is 100% unfair and a total bunch of crap. I'm the one who has gotten chewed on by ticks many times in the past yet I sit here and write about how I feel just fine. What a bunch of crap!

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Tuesday, 10-29-19: Awesome I worked for Gavin a lot today.
I got a lot of siding done for Gavin today at his bootleg "what a bunch of crap" house. His house will eventually be awesome, but for a long time to come it will be under construction. Today I also had Dakota help me for part of the day so together he and I got shit done. I worked over there for 7 total hours. Oh Jesus hell ya! Plus I also did yoga and lifted some weights before I started. I took a really fast lunch right there at Gavin's house, and I only lost a little bit of work-time planning for bedbug treatments with tenants nearby.

It was raw and chilly today. Thankfully no rain (sparse drizzle a fleeting few moments), but no sun either. By the time Dakota and I got to the front of the house near the end of the work-day we were getting hit by the wind and feeling the chill. Tomorrow we get all the way up to near 60 so that is a 10-degree plus. No rain coming tomorrow either, but I'll lose more precious... precious time having Modern Pest come do the actual bedbug treatments at two properties right by there. Dealing with bedbugs = what a bunch of crap! Oh well there are two things I can do about it: nothing and like it. Modern Pest has been very good to me and easy to deal with so I would recommend them to anyone.

Fuckin' bedbugs. What a bunch of crap those little assholes are. Mark said he's been doing pest control for 11 years, and over that time the amount of calls he has gotten about bedbugs has risen by an alarming sum. There are ways to kill them without professionals, but you have to be damn good and a little lucky. Home remedies are mostly epic failers. It is going to cost thousands, literally thousands of dollars for this round of treatments that will last through April or May of next year. Epic failer! The tenants will *hopefully* pay for it. If not they can ggggggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

My aewesome wife and I had a nice trip down to Portland yesterday for a consult with a lyme doctor who has a private practice. No health insurance taken so we had to pay for it all, but it was money well-spent in my book because he was great. Plus he took about two hours spending time with us and really trying to pin down Kat's exact situation. She is going to stop antibiotics that have been killing her guts and switch to a more herbal regiment. That with improved diet and a different dosage of melatonin will hopefully get her sleeping more and on the road to recovery.

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Sunday, 10-27-19: A 16-hour work day yesterday?
I can't exactly quantify how many hours I worked yesterday, but by my rough estimate it was around 16 hours. Probably was 14-15 hours for my wife. What a bunch of crap! I helped her DJ a long wedding down in Camden, and before that I put some siding on for Gavin and *finally* finished this little bit of sheetrock work and trim at Deno's house:

^Started in June, finished 4.5 months later. I SUCK! That photo was from last week before I actually finished it. Thankfully it is just a mudroom so it was not mission-critical. Still not cool of me to take to gods damned long to finish it. It felt nice to get at least one thing checked off my massive "to do" list.

That fuckin' wedding yesterday SUCKED. It just took so damn long. Ceremony at 1600 meant we had to get there by 1300 so we left the house at 1130 yesterday. It only takes 1.25 hours to get down to Camden from here, but we always try to allow a little extra time for traffic and misc stupid shit. The reception and ceremony were in two separate locations so that also meant extra precious... precious time for setup. The ceremony was outdoors in the nice little Camden Apitheater park. All I wanna know is why? Why would someone get married outside at the end of October in Maine? Thankfully for their sake the weather was okay, but at 52 degrees it was quite chilly.

The wedding party rented the ENTIRE Whitehall Inn right there in Camden, and I have to give a major shoutout to the staff of the Whitehall because they were very good to Kat and I. Sometimes we do weddings where the staff ignores our asses, but the folks down there made sure we got some food and water, etc. The Whitehall is a nice place. Looks high-end and expensive so I'm sure these newlyweds and their families spent boatloads of precious... precious money on the entire wedding. When you rent out an ENTIRE inn on the coast of Maine and then have an open bar and lots of food you are definitely spending big bucks, even in the tourist "off-season."

There was an open bar so some of the many guests got really friggin' drunk. Some old lady fell into me and I'm glad she didn't get hurt. I'm even more glad she didn't take out my damn knee because I never even saw her old drunk ass starting to topple over. It was pathetic, and it was a bunch of crap! Wine glasses dropping on the floor and shattering, people knocking into the DJ booth, and tons of horrible karaoke singing that lasted until midnight. What a bunch of crap! By the end I told myself that I need to retire from being a DJ-helper because it sucks a lot of the time. I really don't know how Kat can be so good at it because it is just not for me at all. Thankfully this was her final wedding of the year so I can mentally recharge and hopefully be ready to help her more for next year. She already has a few booked for next year. OMG!

Today I'm up earlier than I wanted to be, but oh well maybe I will bivouac this PM for a nap. I fell asleep around 0215 last night (got home just before 0200) and was up at 0740. 5.5 hours of sleep = not great but passable. I do want to stay up tonight to watch some NFL games. First the Pats play the Browns at 1625 and then the Packers play the Chiefs later tonight. I am so gald I didn't go to Jester's Friday night because I would have been wicked beat yesterday if I had partied and drank Friday night. I did get up at 0100 Friday night to help break down and finish up at Jester's so I didn't get a good night's sleep Friday night either. I can't complain because I got more sleep than Kat did, though.

Tomorrow is a trip to Scarborough, just outside of South Portland and the mall area, for a visit to a new lyme doc. Last Tuesday Kat's lyme doc that she found over the summer told her she needs a new doc. When your doc says she can't treat you and you need to find someone else that is a huge shit sandwich. What a bunch of crap! I don't have to go tomorrow, and I didn't have to go yesterday, but sending her alone on some of these long trips would be a total dick move. Yesterday's wedding would have been VERY hard for her to do by herself. She's plenty tough and could have done it, it just would have been hard on her. Even more hard on her than it already was.

Kat works tonight so she'll only get a few hours of sleep, and I don't want her to bivouac at 0230 after work, wake up at 0730, and then have to drive two hours to meet some new doc. I really do have work that needs doing up here, but I'll push that back so I can go with her. I'd like to meet this new doc myself and get a first-hand account of what he is all about. We can stop by the nearby Portland Mall, she can get her Panda Express Chinese food, and we can make a day of it. Panda Express is pretty good. I'll *hopefully* drop the hammer and get a lot of work done Tuesday through the end of the week.

I'm back and it's now 2030. I did take a nap earlier, and it was glorious. I also lifted some weights and lost to Deno at Rball. Took some measurements for Gavin's siding. He just emailed me some pics of the place, and it is looking good:

^I've put in only 29.5 hours at his house over the past two weeks (twoooooooooo weeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssssss) what a bunch of crap! He picked a good color and it does look like a complete house in parts now. Much better than it had been looking with the green Zip just hanging out.

I watched the Greatriots beat the Browns earlier so they are now 8-0. Awesome! The Packers are playing the Chiefs tonight in a game that just began so I will watch some or all of that before I bivouac. It is a good day to watch football since the weather was a turd. Cool, rain, but thankfully no snow yet and I thank the gods who do not exist for that.

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Friday, 10-25-19: I can't get caught up, and it seems to be getting worse. I feel like just leaving.
Every fucking day something comes up that uses up my precious... precious time. I can't believe how fucking busy I am, and I'm really sick of it to the point where I am seriously considering hauling on EVERYTHING and just quitting. Maybe move away and reboot. Or just get blackout drunk and get into my freezer. However, my freezer is too full and I am too cheap to empty it out because that would be a colossal waste of meat. Gods damn it! It's the wrong time of year to freeze to death in a snowbank, too. Guess I'll just keep things rolling along day by day and see how it goes.

I told Kat I was not going to drink tonight, but it is only 1715 and I told her a couple hours ago I might need drinks after today. She needs drinks, too. Jester's later? No chance I am in the wrong frame of mind for that place, bigtime. Last time I was in this bad of a mood I ended up there and told half the bar that we are getting a divorce, which might end up true in the end what a bunch of crap! To say things are not going well would be well-put at this point. I feel like my life is a total train wreck. Not only are things shit on toast between my awesome wife and I right now but other things keep lumping onto the shitpile.

Okay I am back and it is 2213. I just put the dogs out and gave 2/3 of them their nightly pill. Tiger Lily needs pills forever because she had seizures in the past. Groot needs pills for a few more days so she can take a shit. Seriously. We dumped $500 on Wednesdaay at the vet on X-Rays and bloodwork, etc on her ass. Groot is a great dog, but not really she is a shit-show who eats any gods damned thing. We think she ate a cat-toy and then got plugged up. No way to know for sure without expensive surgery. She still might need surgery, but thankfully today she did finally shit some so we hope whatever blockage she did have in her guts is about cleared. I really wish we didn't have 3 fucking dogs, but I am a giant pussy husband who didn't put his foot down enough so here we are pwned. Oh well I'd rather have three dogs than any human children. I can't handle kids at all. I'd much rather have dogs.

I planned to put in a few hours today for Gavin, maybe close to a full day, but my life is a toilet so that plan got flushed away. Again. I had a tenant call me yesterday at 0730 saying he found bedbugs in his bed so I had to deal with that some yesterday and even more today. Bye bye precious... precious time. Then Kat's car started making squealing noises last night so bye bye precious... precious time again today at the repair shop. They fixed it, replaced brakes, but then it was not fixed and I almost had a mental fucking breakdown today because I was able to work for Gavin for 2.75 hours all gods damned day. So far after 12 days working on his siding I have put in 27.75 total hours. Plus the car cost $1228 but hey at least we will get 4 new tires before the snow flies.

OMG THAT IS FUCKED UP WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP AND EPIC FAILER ALL ROLLED UP INTO ONE THAT I WORKED FOR G FOR 2.75 HOURS ALL DAY. There is no excuse for that, none at all. I just can't get my own work done. It sucks, and it is my own fault. I need to just turn my phone off and get shit done, and I might do that for a couple days next week. Just shut it the fuck down and actually be at work. ya know, like a normal fucking person who has a normal fucking job. Or maybe selling everything and actually getting a "real" job is the way to go. I can't keep doing this, that is for sure. I wanted to go deer hunting today, too. Unfortunately there was no chance of that. I have gone on one hunt so far all year. I don't get to do things I like to do enough these days, and that is really starting to take its toll. Every year I say it will get better the following year, but then it gets worse not better.

^AWARDED TO MYSELF FOR ALLOWING MY OWN LIFE TO BECOME A FUCKING TOILET.

Gavin doesn't care that I have only worked for him on a part-part-part-time basis. It is not a huge job, and I am a little over halfway done already. Nothing he has is time-sensitive, but in my world it is because good weather is getting scarce and I have other things to do next month. I don't want to be installing siding when it is 35 fucking degrees. It sucks cuting the vinyl, and it is cold. I know because I did plenty of it last year at North Main. I need to get that shit done ASAP.

My prospect of doing any work for my best friend is about zero over the next three days. Tomorrow is a long, looooonnggggggg, wedding in Camden. Sunday is rain. Monday is Portland to see another lyme doc with Kat. Then I have bedbug shit to deal with on top of that next week, I still have final lawns to mow, and I actually hate myself. A lot.

I did watch the last hour of Full Metal Jacket tonight, and it was great. I watched the beginning of the movie, the boot camp part, last week before I went to Jester's. This week there will be no Jester's because I hate everyone and need to be alone with my shitbag self. I am actually going to bed soon for a while, but I won't sleep all night. I drank two coffee brandys and milk, and Kat and I had a shot around 1930. We promised each other we would not drink, but that was hours ago and fuck you to life. She has had some drinks, too. I need booze to cope sometimes, and I will never quit drinking totally because I would rather be dead. I don't even drink that often. I kinda am ready to actually just go to sleep and never wake up. I seriously hate my life. Oh well it happens. Writing on this bootleg site helps and I know out of every 365-day year there are going to be a few days that can kiss my ass. This just happens to be one of them.

The end.

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Wednesday, 10-23-19: Lots of driving, money, fatigue, misc photos.
Yesterday I was able to install siding for Gavin for an hour and then give my Holyoke Street property one final quick mow before my awesome wife and I had to leave for a 220-ish mile drive. We had a doc appt in Boothbay, and on the way home we made our way up through Camden and Bucksport. Camden was a stop at a wedding venue for this coming Saturday (longggggg day upcoming Sat what a bunch of crap!), and Bucksport was a stop for a Chinese food supper. I don't eat Chinese food that often, but every once in a while I like to have it. I've already driven over 400 miles this week, and on Saturday it will be another 110 or so. Plus little trips around town, etc. Good thing for us that on a "normal" week we don't have jack friggin' shit for a commute to and from our local work. I can't imaging having to drive that much every week.

Gavin's siding on the back end of his house now looks like this:

^I did all of that in the photo in only 5 hours of work. Oh Jesus hell ya! Felt good to make some quick progress. Unfortunately it will take another couple hours to finish that back side because I have to work around four smaller windows and go up and down the ladder for each piece. No siding work today because we are expecting 1-2" of soaking rain all day. What a bunch of crap! Hopefully tomorrow and Friday I can get a lot done at his house. I switched to the back side because the weather was good. There is no sun back there at all so working in the shade makes the most sense on days when it is not too cold. Monday was perfect with a temp around 60. Tomorrow we also hit 60, but by next week we get colder as expected. I really want that place done by the end of next week, but I won't rush it just to meet some deadline that only I have set for myself.

It is 0412 now, and I have been up for over an hour. What a bunch of crap! Groot has had a rough night. She had to go outside twice and she chundered some on the bedroom floor. We think she has to go to the vet today for a possible intestinal blockage. She hasn't had a good shit in days (not that I have seen anyway) and she hasn't wanted to eat her dog food. Plus the occasional vomit. We suspect she ate something she should not have eaten. A cat toy? We keep the cat stuff separate from the dogs, but the cats sometimes bring their smaller toys into the living room. Sully, one of the cats, had a friggin' seizure Monday night while we had the Greatriots game on (Pats won and are now 7-0 perfect record great defense awesome.) What is going on with these pets here in the house? Poor Kat just lost Squidward only a week ago. He was a very unique cat who was slowly dying and at only age 11, seems too young for a cat.

I should be tired right now, but I still feel wide awake. What a bunch of crap! I don't have loads of work to do today so hopefully I can bivouac for a couple more hours after I finish this bootleg update that almost no one will ever read. No fatigue now, but it will come. I'd like to do yoga and lift some weights this morning and then *maybe* play racquetball later in the day. The closing on my Holyoke house is scheduled for 1300 today so it will be nice FINALLY getting that place officially hauled on and getting a sizeable chunk of precious... precious money. I still don't exactly know how I plan to use all the proceeds from the sale. I'll get the money first and then start spending it. Lowe's, Home Depot, and taxes will use up a good amount of the total. Some will go to my awesome DJ-wife to help her business, and the rest remains to be seen.

I never posted a picture of the driveway that was paved last week at my Allen Rd buildings:

^Bye bye $3000 for that. Hopefully it lasts a long time. I'd love to not have to fill potholes there again for a decade or two. Hopefully it makes snow and ice removal easier in the winter, too. So far the tenants seem happy with it so that is also great. Makes it look like I care and am trying to make the place better, which I am always trying to do as much as money and time will allow.

Jason emailed a photo of my deer, and I had to crop out the body because you could see the gaping hole where I gutted her out. All the meat is in my freezer so I really need to eat a lot of deer meat for the rest of this year:

^My first deer hunt of 2019, Keating Rd, Warren, 1.5 weeks ago. Shot at sunset with my bow from about 20-22 yards away. 100 pound doe. I can hunt up here some more with my bow; I got my gear all ready to go now I just need to squeeze in the time. Possibly Friday PM? I definitely don't need any more deer meat, but you can never have too much there are always donation programs like "Hunters for the hungry." Even if I don't shoot another deer it is fun just being in the woods in the middle of fall.

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Sunday, 10-20-19: Made the rounds today.
I drove 192 miles today and made a sort-of loop through Oakland first then down to Warren, Rockland, and finally home. Getting to Phil and Danielle's was on my list so I had a chance to replace a cellar window pane that I broke a couple weeks ago (what a bunch of crap!), visit, and load up the last of the old deck debris. Thankfully the cellar window pane was small so a $5 piece of plexi got the job done. Phil and I talked about the next thing on his list that I *might* be qualified for, but I strongly suggested he get a quote from a professional. They want their pine-board kitchen and dining room floors refinished. I've only ever sanded and refinished one bedroom floor many years ago at my Kenduskeag Ave duplex. Did I ever take pics of that and post them here on this bootleg site that no one ever reads?

Oh awesome I do have a couple. Before:

After:

^I dunno if that was hardwood or softwood (appears to be hardwood), and I will never know because that place is HAULED ON. I don't regret selling that building 1.75 years ago, not even a little bit of regret. Hopefully I will feel the same way about the Holyoke house that should close this week! I did that floor in the photos above at least 12 years ago. Maybe 13-14 years ago...

I had a nice lunch and visit with Mom and Dad midday and into the afternoon, and I finalized plans to replace flooring, trim, and the closet door in both my old bedroom and Jason and Doug's old bedroom. My old room became Jason's room when I left for the Navy in November 1993, and now it is a spare room that Nadia sleeps in when she stays overnight. The other bedroom is their computer room. I'll go down in a couple weeks and hopefully get all that done for them over the course of roughly three days. I won't work all day on the floors each day because, even though I'm tagged out for rifle hunting deer, I can still turkey hunt and just hang out in the woods. Being in the woods and not hunting is also enjoyable in the middle of fall when, on average, it's not too hot and not too cold.

I got my deer meat on the way home, and she is all set in our chest freezer. I don't need any more deer meat and I'll actually give a little away to friends who might want a package or two. The freezer is pretty damn full now with venison. I really need to start eating a LOT more deer meat between now and tax season. I should start having it for lunch since my awesome wife almost never eats it. I know when I get busy doing taxes I won't cook as often so I won't eat as much. I don't even cook very often now. What a bunch of crap!

So I have two weeks (two weeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!) to finish Gavin's siding. G doesn't care if I take longer than that, but I care and I want it done. The weather is already getting borderline. Afternoons are warm enough, but the mornings often get off to a chilly start. I was scraping frost off the truck today before I left. What a bunch of crap! Doing siding with temps in the 30s is not fun. Plus the siding itself is more prone to splitting when cut in the cold. I really gotta put a wiggle on it since I didn't get enough done last week.

^Had to blow 3-4 hours of extra precious... precious time getting that big corner done by the tall ladder. The old siding had to come off as well as wooden clapboard siding and then the sheathing on the left of the corner. Then I had to attach zip and tape it all before the corner could even go on. Gavin's bootleg house is a challenge. I joked with him Saturday that his house is the opposite of the expression "This house has good bones." His house seems to have osteoperosis hehe. It will be totally badass when he finishes it, though. Unfortunately for him it will be a long time before it's ever done.

This week I will NOT be off to a good start working at his house. Tomorrow I should get a few hours in, but then Tuesday we go to Boothbay, Wednesday we get rain and *hopefully* my Holyoke house closing. That means by midweek I'll have accomplished very little there. What a bunch of crap! Hopefully Thurs and Fri I can get in several more hours there each day and the following week I can really push hard to finish. I'm not siding the entire house or else I would never finish.

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Friday, 10-18-19: I'll go to Jester's soon.
I took last Friday off from going to Jester's, and it was great. I needed a break from that place. My attitude was getting shitty because I reach a point where I get burned out from the same thing every Friday. I do love Jester's and have had epic fun there. However, doing it every week for 50 or so weeks a year for many consecutive years just becomes a chore at times. I'm sure Kat feels the same way about it, but at least when she goes there to work she is making money. Sometimes I go there and just hang out and have to watch people who suck, and I do that as I am spending money and not making it.

I worked today, but I had time for a nap so I feel energized enough to make it through the night to 0200 or whatever. I did some of Gavin's house siding, and I had another tax client. My 4th tax client in the past 1.5 weeks or so. OMG! It has brought us in some extra precious... precious money so no complaints there. I really think the new tax business can become something special as long as I keep up with my knowledge and traning. We have the location, a nice space, and a great new lot for customers to park on. Oh Jesus hell ya!

Gavin's siding is coming along slowly, and so far this week I have only worked for him 11 hours. That is FUCKING SAD. It is a bunch of crap! All I wanna know is why? Why do I get spread so thin? The tax business and the paving pulled me away. Oh well it happens, and I can work for him for a few more hours tomorrow while my awesome DJ-wife does a wedding nearby in Bangor. Here is what Gav's looked like as of yesterday:

^Today I had to spend precious... precious extra time on that corner in the photo from the deck to the roof. I had to peel off siding and do a lot of other prep so the new corner can get installed properly and so I can actually install siding on the green "Zip" areas in the photo. Installing the siding is not that hard, but getting it all to line up properly is important and does take some competence.

^I have to install new siding on all of that part as well, and I'm sure getting it tied into the existing light blue siding will be a pain in the arse. I'll be working on that house for the rest of the month on a part-time basis. 20-30 hours a week there was the goal, but after week one I will be at around 15-17 total hours. What a bunch of crap! At that pace I'll be working on it into November gods damn it.

I did DDP Yoga tonight, and then I channel-surfed a bit before I came to update this bootleg site that only two people will ever read. I am not trashed, but I am catching a good buzz. I don't want to get wrecked tonight because I want to work tomorrow. Maybe lift a few weights and go for a jog if my day really goes well. After Yoga I found the beginning of Full Metal Jacket on one of the Showtime movie channels that we pay too much for and that we don't use often enough. Having that movie on a premium channel meant it was not edited for TV so I could hear all the classic Gunnery Sgt. Hartman quotes. That movie is fucking awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

^Full Metal Jacket is a cinematic masterpiece. Not just because of Hartman either. The movie is just fantastic, and it is NOT a comedy at all. Gritty, hard to watch at times, but so incredibly well-made it simply has to be appreciated. It is actually a terribly sad war movie. The best war movie of all-time? Of course! Definitely in my all-time top ten. I only watched the first 15 minutes of the movie tonight because I want to update this toilet and then go to the bar. I can sleep for a few hours tonight, maybe as many as 6 hours in a perfect world, and then I'll do siding tomorrow while my awesome DJ-wife does that wedding. Sunday I go to the midcoast to visit my family and then hopefully I get my deer on the way home. They had epic power failers down there so if my butcher still doesn't have power and a generator then bye bye precious... precious meat. If I lose my deer meat that will be a fucking trajedy...

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Thursday, 10-17-19: Bye bye home refinance money. Hello fresh pavement!
All the money from the home refinance loan that I did last month is gone. I spent it all. Was that smart? Maybe? Hopefully! Yesterday I earned $30 and I spent $16,500. What a bunch of crap! Dropping that much money in one day is obviously something I do NOT make a habit of doing, and I hope I don't do it again for a very long time. Okay just kidding I'll probably spend that much in one day as early as a week from now when I get the money from that Holyoke Street house sale. Gotta pay down the Lowe's and Home Depot cards. Spending precious... precious money = sucks but is needed in order to build a future business.

To start with yesterday I had Black Bear paving take care of our North Main front lot. Not only did they pave what was existing there but they also did earth work removing the old garage slab and expanded the parking area back so now there is more room for customers. The parking lot isn't massive, but it doesn't need to be. I'd say 4 or 5 cars can park there now comfortably.

I am very happy with how it looks, and I would recommend Bill and his company to others. Hopefully it stands the test of time because it cost $13,500 to have all the earth work, prep, and paving done. I wanted to have that little sidewalk nub on the left, the one with the cone on it, removed. Unfortunately the city said no because of DOT rules and regulations regarding sidewalk opening sizes. What a bunch of crap!

^My plan to remove a little bit of the sidewalk. Oh well not a huge problem more of a little nusiance than anything. I was going to have Bill just remove it anyway, but then I thought I should confirm with public works and I am glad I did because I don't need to be paying for new sidewalks in the future.

Since the paving at North Main came out looking so good and since Bill and his guys were working right by my Allen Rd lot on someone else's driveway I had Bill take a look at my driveway over there, and I got what I thought was a very fair price and dropped another $3000 to have that paved. Not the entire lot, just the driveway/entry portion. I didn't take any photos of that because I was also installing siding at Gavin's and then Phil was in town and stopped in for a visit. I can post that next time.

Unfortunately at North Main we are stuck with this for the time being:

^The old lift from the garage that was there. It is HUGE, and a full-size dump truck could not yank it out of the ground because most likely it is anchored with a concrete slab several feet down into the ground. I think I'll have to find a commercial-grade metal cutting tool and just cut off the top and bury the rest. That will suck. A lot. It will be a bunch of crap! It's not the paver's fault that it is there at all. Maybe we can put a FREE sign on it and someone will want to come dig it out. Maybe? Hopefully! However, I don't really want it dug out because that might cause my new pavement nearby to take on some damage. I dunno yet and thankfully that is not a decision we need to make urgently.

We are getting a huge wind and rain storm this morning, and there are already over 175,000 power outages statewide. Winds on the coast reported at over 60MPH, but so far here we've peaked at "only" 35-40MPH. We might get up to 50MPH before the worst of it passes later this AM. I didn't think I would be able to do any siding at all for G today, but because this storm is moving so fast I might get a little time this afternoon to get out there...

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Tuesday, 10-15-19: 23:23 and the start of fresh pavement. Oh, a giant-ass lift.
I'm cooling off for a few minutes before I take a shower and then eat supper. It is 1620 (4:20) so smoke 'em if ya got em hehe. I don't do that bullshit, but I do like to get drunk every now and then. No drinking today of course. I just went for a 3-mile jog and my time was 23:23. Not my best ever all-time, but my best of this year. A few times years ago I was under 22:00 for a 3-mile loop, but I can forget that forever I am just too old and have never been a fast runner anyway. The weather is nice temps upper 50s, sunny, light wind. I jogged Sunday, I played racquetball yesterday, and I jogged today so not a bad start to the week at all. I haven't lifted weights in my bootleg gym yet this week, but oh well at least I also did yoga!

I've been going back and forth in my head about having the lot paved at our North Main property. I met with a guy about three weeks ago, and I got a price. Actually I got two prices from him. One for just the paving and one for removing the old garage slab and paving. The entire package including garage slab removal = $13,500. Just the paving, I demo and haul off the slab, and I'm down to $12k. It's a shitload of precious... precious money either way, but it a commercial lot larger than a home driveway so I knew it would not be cheap. That's why I got a home refinance loan last month from the bank. My Holyoke Street house is still on track to close next week so that will be a huge influx of loot, but until then scaping along sucks. A lot. Thankfully we already have the money from that home refinance so we can afford the paving now.

I reached out to three other paving companies earlier this month, two via referral from business associates. Those two said they would call me back and schedule a time to meet and I didn't hear jack friggin' shit from them. The third company never got back to me at all. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I have at least one company wanting the work and they have done work locally in the past that looks good. I decided to call them back yesterday to schedule a second meeting and to hire them, to hammer out some of the small details, etc. We met today at 0735, and now several hours later the place already looks like this:

^OMG DISAPPEAR, Garage floor! The slab was about 4" and 30x40. I'm not gonna do the math on that weight, but I should just for curiosity sake. I'd roughly guess 2-3 tons. ~5000 pounds? Guy looks it up...

Oh wow my math = major suck. This can't be right maybe I made a mistake. Those measurements above would equal 14.81 yards. One yard of concrete, 27 cubic feet, weighs about 4050 pounds so that would be almost 60,000 pounds. 30 tons?! OMG! That would be 667 of those 80-pound bags that they sell at hardware stores. My truck is 1/2 ton as is my trailer so that would have been a shitload of trips to the landfill. Glad I hired the removal out today! I still find it hard to believe all that concrete was 30 damn tons, but after my quick Google search I do think it was way more than 2-3 tons.

See that lift in the photo in the foreground off to the right? The T-shaped thing in the middle of the dirt. That fuckin' thing is incredibly heavy and is secured wayyyyyyy into the ground. I had no idea the thing was so beefy with so much of it below-grade. Unfortunately it is still there because the guys tried to haul it out with a chain hooked to their dump truck and, get this, the friggin' truck had a blowout. A GIANT DUMP TRUCK COULD NOT PULL IT OUT WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! The yoke dropped right off the truck epic failer. If I can't get that thing out of there it might sit for a long time. Thankfully it isn't in the paving-zone, but it is close. Jim, the guy who helped me take down the garage, wants the lift so maybe he can show up tomorrow with his excavator and dig it out. If not it might look cool there as a final reminder of the giant garage that used to be a staple in that spot for nearly 70 years.

Here is what the front looked like earlier this PM:

^Almost ready for tar! I hope they can pave it all tomorrow with no other problems along the way, and I hope it can cure and a giant rainstorm coming Thursday doesn't affect anything. I do have a client scheduled for Thurs so I doubt it can even be parked on for a bit. I'll find out tomorrow. Maybe? Hopefully! My client might be parking on the road and walking a tad or I can reschedule him.

I still feel like I have wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too much to do between now and the end of the year. Yesterday I started Gavin's siding at his house, but that was frustrating for various reasons and I only was able to work there for 4.5 total hours. What a bunch of crap! It was not Gavin's fault at all just a rough start. Today I promised Kat I would stay home and do yard work so her and I finally had a chance to get out back to rake leaves, put away lawn furniture and statues, clear and tarp the raised garden beds, etc. We were done with that by lunch so I did have time to go to North Main for a bit this afternoon. Tomorrow I have two important appointments so I won't even be able to start any real work until 1230-1245, and the paving at North Main and *hopefully* removing that old lift will take up a lot of time. We get huge rains Thurs so I might not even be able to work at Gavin's again until Friday. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully he has Dakota helping with debris and other stuff and he is not on a tight deadline to finish it. I want it done by the end of this month, though. I really need to get my shit whittled down ASAP before my tax season really begins.

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Sunday, 10-13-19: One hunt, one kill.
I went down to the ol' homestead yesterday for a visit with both Dad and Jason/his family. Dad is at the house flying solo for the week since Mom flew out west to visit her side of the family. Mom goes out west once or twice a year so Dad is used to it by now. We had a nice lunch and visit, and he seemed to be happy living the "bachelor" life because he has been able to do a lot of duck hunting with their very energetic black lab, Amos. I brought us Mic Mac Market tuna salad sandwiches since I knew food would be scarce after one week without Mom around. Mom stocks that place with food like a boss.

After a visit with Dad I headed up the road to Jason's to see him, Holly, Nadia, and my new future pro-wrestler nephew, Hawke. I spent some time reviewing Jason's business taxes and doing some planning for next year's taxes with him before he and I went out to bowhunt. Dad opted to skip the bowhunt so he could duck hunt some more out in the back pond behind their house, the same house they've lived in since I was 7 years old.

Jason and I ended up in the little fields area off a power line, Keating Rd, and I actually set up to hunt in almost the same exact spot where I shot my very first deer nearly three decades ago. A good omen? The weather was decent and I felt good about the hunt. Then just at sunset a doe showed up! This is the email I sent to Dad and Jason this morning with satellite photos attached:

I was hidden fairly well. At the top end of that field I found some smaller little firs and pines to wait in, and I felt great about my hiding spot. I actually had to snap off a few small limbs just to get a shooting lane to the apple tree ~23-25 yds to the base of the tree. However, the base of the tree is back a few yards and the fruit-bearing limbs mostly hang out over the field so I ended up taking a 20-ish yard shot. Let's say 20-22. The tree is bearing a lot of fruit, and I know from hunting around in there many times in the past (including a few times just walking around with my 30.06 and jumping deer) it is probably the first apple tree a deer would hit from that swampy-brushy-lumpy area between the power line and the field where she came from.

North wind was great for my setup. I did a few bleats with my can-call at 1730 and again at around 1750-1755. A couple bleats, pause, a couple more. No grunts just bleats. Only minutes after that I actually heard her just before I saw her moving through the underbrush at the edge of the field as marked with the red dots. She stepped out into the edge of the field, put her head down, and I raised my bow. Then she snapped her head up so I paused, froze, averted my eyes so I could only see her in my periphery. She stared me down hard to the point my arms were shaking a little from awkwardly holding up the bow. Finally she put her head down and gave me a great broadside body view. This time of year the crap in the field, goldenrod, misc, is still pretty high so I could not see her head, legs, or bottom of her torso at all. I knew if it was a small deer I would have no shot chance and a medium-big deer would give me a shot so I had just enough of her torso showing to take the shot. That was my "scientific" way of deciding what size deer to shoot! She did look back into the woods from where she came also so maybe she had other deer with her still to come. If so I never saw or heard them.

As soon as I shot I was fairly confident I hit her because of how she ran. She ran off, not at 100% full speed, and then appeared to stop in the field and lay down after going roughly 60 yards. However, the field drops down from my vantage point so I was not absolutely certain she actually did stop and lay down. Could it be I just lost sight of her? There was still plenty of daylight as it was just at sunset, give or take a minute. I figure I shot her at 1757. I waited a few minutes then snuck over to the apple tree to look for my arrow/blood. It didn't take me long to spot blood on bushes and then my blood-soaked arrow. Arrow 100% bloody. I didn't spend any time trying to follow a blood trail since I knew where she went. I waited a little more then took my time sneaking down the field. I got maybe 20 yards and saw her head peek up. She was still alive so I immediately backed off and waited a little more while I readied my bow. Shortly after that I heard her thrashing around and was hopeful she had expired and that was the muscle reflex.

A few minutes after that I again took my time walking down to where she was. As I drew closer I saw her body, the telltale white underbelly, and she was still and perished. She was facing into the field when I shot so I had a good broadside body-right shot. She died left-side up so I clearly saw the exit too far back. Not a gut-shot, but close. The entry was also too far back by a few inches so I am lucky she only ran about 60 yards before she went down. I think when she put her head down I misjudged where exactly the perfect kill-shot should hit and I actually aimed too far back on her body. I could not see her legs at all; I did know it was a doe from when she first arrived, though. It was a little bit of a risky shot because of all the goldenrod and higher weeds still alive in that field. My arrow actually had to fly through and/or just over the top of that crap. Thankfully she did keep her head down long enough for me to take my time lining up what I thought would be a decent shot.

I don't think she ever knew what hit her or what happened. I do feel badly that it took her a while to pass away, but I am grateful that I didn't have to chase a blood trail across the woods. Lucky break for me she only went a little ways, ran off in clear view, and dropped right into the field. Made for an easier retrieval. I tagged her at 1954 so only 5 minutes before Tolman Pond Market closed. I weighed her at McLaughln's at exactly 100 pounds. I zeroed the scale first so I'm confident I got an accurate measure. He was not there or he was not officially "open" so I never actually talked to him. He has my paperwork and she is in his reefer now, though.

Thanks to you both for helping me get her out of there. A drag would have been a workout! Quite ironic I shot her so close to where I shot my first ever deer nearly 30 years ago. What year was there when I waited in a pine tree with that Ruger .308? 1990? 1991? I was a terrible hunter back then, and now I have finally graduated to mediocre status!

I don't know if the doe bleat call drew her in, but I suspect it helped. That call has a way of getting me deer action. I find it most effective when I hunt a spot for the first time of the season. I don't know if grunts would have mattered as far as enticing a buck, but I think the grunts are better saved for end of Oct and Nov. Just a guess I don't have enough data to make that a working theory.

So I'm all tagged out in the regular hunting zone, and I can't rifle hunt at all this year. What a bunch of crap! Did I make the right decision to shoot that doe? I am 50/50 on that part. The purpose of hunting is to acquire quarry so in that regard I was successful. I told Dad earlier in the day I'd shoot a doe if she stepped out 20 yards, broadside, and that is exactly what happened. I can still bowhunt up here so my season is not officially over. I just can't hunt with Jason and Dad down there. I can still go and rattle/bleat for them if needed and that would be fun.

This is the second year I have tagged out with my bow on my first hunt of the season. 12 years ago I shot this buck at the end of September, and that turned into a bunch of crap when I hit him poorly and he ran seemingly forever before he died. I remember Jason was a huge help getting that deer recovered. That was just behind the range at the prison farm, and by the time we got him back to the house it was incredibly late.

^The biggest deer I have ever shot because I am only a mediocre hunter. He weighed 140-ish but did have nice headgear. I actually have his head mounted and it sits in my shed collecting dust now. Maybe one year I will find a place to put it, but not anytime soon.

In hindsight I should have just stayed down in the midcoast last night, but I am glad I came home because I already had one tax appointment today, I have another early this PM, and I have plenty to keep me busy all day. People who filed for 6-month extensions to file taxes are now reaching out so I have tax work to do today. Not a shitload, but enough to cancel this as a day off. What a bunch of crap! I'm not really complaning about it, though. The extra money will be nice to have and it helps build my tax business since today's are both new clients "walkins" from last April. I'm glad they are using me to finish and I hope I can keep them as clients in future years.

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Friday, 10-11-19: Dakota is a good screwer.
I thought it would take Dakota and I about 10-12 hours to finish the large deck down at Phil's yesterday and today, but Dakota worked the drill like a boss and we stayed on it so we put the last screw into that deck by around 1400. Awesome! He fastened, I cut, and it was a great success. He screwed like a boss hehe. He is a good worker. After we installed all the decking we still had some cleanup and misc to do, but we were on the road around 1530 and home at a very reasonable time yesterday. Plenty of time to relax and then kiss my wife goodnight after the first quarter of the Patriots-Giants Thursday Night Football game. I actually stayed up and watched the entire game. Pats won, 35-14, and are now 6-0 on the season. Their defense is phenomenal so far.

I went to bed too late and got up too soon today gods damn it. Sounds like a line from a 1986 Poison song, eh? I didn't feel that tired earlier, but this evening I have felt wiped out, drained. I got a lot done today and played racquetball earlier. Mike crushed me and I sucked. Felt a little dizzy at the end and lost two of the four games 15-0. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I haven't played that poorly in forever.

So Phil's deck is all done now. I still have to get him an invoice and get paid, but he is a good guy and I'm not worried about getting stiffed. I think I'm done working down there for the year, but who knows maybe he will have an urgent need and I'll go back. Hopefully he is happy with the end result because I know I am. There were some challenges tying in the new framing to the existing framing, but in the end we made it work well and the things looks quite nice.

^Not perfectly level, but never expected to be so considering we reused existing framing. It was actually much worse before I put some effort into making adjustments and corrections.

^Corners went faster than expected because thankfully the cuts were an exact 45-degree so my carpenter square worked great for that part. Since we finished down in Oakland earlier than expected that meant today was a sorta "bonus" day. I worked on some tree and debris removal at Allen Rd this morning before Dakota saw a giant rat in the basement at the two-unit building, the other building next to the gym. Finding rats = what a bunch of crap! I got a lot more firewood here that needs to be cut and stacked, but at least it is all chainsawed up into firewood length already. This afternoon I made time to do some trim work for Deno before he crushed me at rball. I already billed him for the work over three friggin' months ago so it's about time I get that shit done. It's not a lot, but it will take me a couple more hours there to 100% finish. Needs a little more mud and sanding. Not a huge job, but still a nagging thing that needs to get checked off the list.

I should have just taken today off gods damn it. However, if I took the day off I would have felt like I should have been working. Tomorrow is a day off, but I will be busy visiting Dad and bowhunting with Jason. Actually it's not even a real day off because I have to spend some time with Jason and talk about his business tax planning. Then Sunday I have a tax appointment with a client up here and next week I install siding. I fucking SUCK at taking days off lately. What a bunch of crap! Sometimes I don't feel like I work too much but I obviously do. Hopefully I do better in 2020 and work less after tax season. Reducing my work load by two properties should make a sizeable difference and give me more precious... precious free time. I need to spend more time with my wife so I don't get hauled on.

Tonight will be an unusual Friday night for me. I'm not going to get drunk and go to the bar because I need a break from that place. Plus last week I was a drunk asshole and that is a bunch of crap. I got friggin' wrecked and don't even remember some of the things I was saying, but apparently I told half the bar I was getting a divorce and then I told the town drunk to fuck off. I also danced with chicks and Kat says she never dances with men so not cool I danced with chicks. I've known these girls forever and I am NOT interested in any other women. I just put my arm into my shirt and pretended to be Rick Allen (the one-armed drummer) from Def Leppard and didn't actually touch any other woman, but I guess my bad there anyway.

I'm not going to get drunk tonight, but I did have one coffee brandy and milk. I'm going to bring Kat two shots of Hornitos and then have one more coffee brandy and milk before I bivouac. I don't even want to get drunk tonight, and I don't want to be at Jester's. I'm just going to have a little to help me sleep because I have too much on my mind right now. I feel drained both physically and mentally so hopefully I can sleep ok until I get up at 1245 to go help my outstanding DJ-wife break down to finish her karaoke show. Maybe 2 hours of sleep before, go back to bed at 0200 and get a few more hours, wake up at a decent hour feeling ok and then head down to the midcoast to hang out with family tomorrow.

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Thursday, 10-10-19: Almost time for another hour drive to the work site.
Revielle for my loser-ass was 0525 today. I didn't set my alarm, I just woke up. We bivouaced around 2115 last night and I fell asleep fairly quickly and slept well so Oh Jesus Hell Ya to that! A solid 8-ish hours of sleep = plenty for me and too much to get every single night on a consistent basis. Sometimes it's 5, sometimes it's 9, but mostly it's somewhere in between.

I hear Dakota shuffling around upstairs, presumably getting ready to hop into the truck with me and head down to Oakland. It is a 61.5-mile drive one-way, but thankfully most of those miles are on Interstate 95 where the speed limit it 70. Set cruist at around 73, rip out some tunes, and usually it's a piece of cake. I wish Phil did live closer, but on the flip side of the coin he could live further away like when he lived in Alaska and Michigan all those years ago. Financially Phil makes sure it is worthwhile for us to come do his work and I do appreciate that because it does make for a long day with the travel included. We'll be gone at least 10 hours today if we work 8, and who knows we might work even more.

Right now Phil and Danielle's large back deck looks like this:

In a perfect world we would finish it 100% today, but I think that would take 10 friggin hours, maybe more, so it seems very likely at least I will have to go back down one more time tomorrow to finish everything up. I fully intend to finish by tomorrow so I can refocus my efforts elsewere. This weekend will be a trip down to the ol' homestead Saturday, hopefully some yard work here at the house Sunday, and then starting siding for Gavin Monday. Mom is out west with Aunt Susie visiting her family in California so Dad is flying solo for the week. Mom wasn't planning to go out west this fall because she has been busy with her work, but sadly Uncle Jimmy has a brain tumor and is in poor health. Uncle Jimmy is a great guy and not even that old, maybe 56, so that is a bunch of crap. He is in shape, too. Spent a career on the police force as a decorated officer. Poor Mom has already lost two of her siblings at too young of an age. I hope Uncle Jimmy can recover, but the tumor is inoperable so there is only a slim chance he will be okay. Gods damn it.

I feel wide awake and Dakota just showed up downstairs so I won't write too much more. Almost time to load up some gear, snacks, drinks, charged drill battery, etc. We have three drills down there and still struggle to keep up with the battery rotation because that deck needs so many screws. We get a battery on the charger and it barely charges before it it needed. I could bring a corded drill, but F that we are making it work okay with the cordless. I'd guess we'll use well over 2000 screws on that deck. I still never measured exactly since Phil ordered our lumber, but I'd guess 650-700 square feet. Huge!

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Sunday, 10-06-19: Tree limbs disappear. Oh, football Sunday and hunting season.
The big back parking lot at my Allen Rd rental property is slowly getting choked away by large tree limbs. On one side there is a row of very big maple trees, and on the other side there is a mix of various hardwoods including an oak tree that likes to dump acorns on parked cars. I tried to cut back one branch myself a couple weeks ago, but then I quit because I would rather pay a professional to handle that shit. I was up on the ladder hanging off precariously with my chainsaw, and it just didn't feel safe enough so I quit. I'm comfortable on a ladder and with my saw. I just couldn't get a good angle for the awkward cut. I did get the branch down, but only that one.

^From a couple weeks back. There is still plenty of parking space, but the trees are starting to become more than a nusiance. I'm actually amazed none of the tenants have complained at all to me yet about branches that hang too low and acorns that bounce hard when they fall.

I was leaning towards having the trees cut back next spring, but during the teardown of the North Main garage I met a guy who has a lift and who does tree work. The guy, Ron, is retired ex-Navy and helped with that garage just because he is friends with Jim. Jim was my "contractor" for that job, but I didn't pay him in cash. I paid him in the value of all the useable lumber from the garage, and there was a LOT of useable lumber. Jim and Ron were both awesome with that garage, and if not for them that garage would not even be close to down yet. Both guys are 70+ years old, too. Much respect for their efforts and knowledge. Now not only is the garage down, but the lot is also mostly cleared except for the concrete slab. I'll have a photo of that next time or later on the week. Maybe? Hopefully!

I had Ron look at the jungle in that back parking lot about 1.5 weeks ago, and in a funny twist of fate I happened to be finishing up in my bootleg gym there Friday morning when he called me. He gave me a very fair price, and he was at the property looking at the trees so I got a chance to talk to him in person. Yesterday he arrived with his lift and saw, and he got all of this done:

^LOOKS A LOT BETTER OH JESUS HELL YA! The side off to the left still needs to be cut back, but the side in the photo was the most work. I was at a wedding in friggin' Southport (next to Boothbay) all day yesterday so I only had a chance to connect briefly with Ron. Thankfully Dakota worked for 3 hours over there helping to pile up brush. Ron downed the tree limbs and has them in manageble chunks, but I need to get rid of it all. I plan to rent a chipper and have Dakota run the small debris through it. I'll saw up the bigger pieces for good hardwood firewood.

Yesterday was a long day for my awesome wife and I because Southport is two hours away. Plus it was cold and we were outside. What a bunch of crap! All I wanna know is why? Why do people get married outside in October? The ceremony itself was sunny and in the 50s, not bad and actually beautiful by the ocean, but the reception was damn cold. We did have a badass propane heater that I bought so we didn't freeze too much. Unfortunately the gear clipped some and we ended up having the dance floor on a deck that was built with 2x4 joists 16" on center. OMG HOW IS THAT EVEN CODE COMPLIANT ANYWHERE IN THE STATE OR IN THE COUNTRY?! The deck was only a foot or two off the ground, but because the joists were so flimsy the thing was like a bounce-house and speakers were shaking badly once people actually decided to dance. Plus they didn't give us any food. What a bunch of crap! Oh well they did tip Kat an extra $50 and our late-night Augusta McDonald's drive-thru was only 4 bucks. We bivouaced around 0100.

This morning I went into the woods up here for the first time of the 2019 season. I set up my trail cam and ground blind at "Supertree", and I brought all three dogs with me. The dogs LOVE going into the woods, but they don't know not to run through burdocks and mud. Needless to say they were NOT clean by the time we got home. Groot's fur really keeps the burdocks locked in, too. What a bunch of crap!

Hopefully I can go on my first bowhunt later this week, but maybe I will wait til next week depending on the weather and other obligations. I have to spend a couple days, maybe even three days, finishing up Phil and Danielle's deck. Tomorrow looks very wet with rain most of the day so I will stay up here and do some tax stuff. Maybe also install a few more ceiling tiles in my bootleg gym. Tues it's back to Phil's and then I'll figure out the rest of my week after that.

I helped Gavin get a slider and a fire door for his soon-to-be attic apartment at his house, and in about a week I'll start installing siding for him. His siding will take me into near the end of this month. Maybe? I figure 40-50 total hours on that, but there will be rain and cold sometimes so I can't just work on it all day every day. 20-25 hours a week for a couple weeks will hopefully get that done and then I can also do more tax training, some deer hunting, and the usual other things that always pop up. I never get bored!

I did watch most of the Greatriots game earlier, and they crushed the Redskins to go to 5-0 on the season. Oh Jesus hell ya! Tonight's Sunday Night game comes on shortly, Chiefs vs. Colts. I'll watch some or all of that game before I bivouac. Kat and Dakota just left a little bit ago for the Sunday night Pour House gig so I'll likely be crashed out when they both get back around 0130.

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Friday, 10-04-19: Two more deck photos. Country theme night at the bar = not for me.
Today the weather was a bunch of crap, but Dakota and I did manage to get the former garage area cleaned up over at North Main. It's not 100% squared away yet, but it's damn close. Hopefully I can post a photo of that next time. It was cold for this time of year with temps in the 40s and lots of clouds and rain showers off and on throughout the day. What a bunch of crap! There was actually some snow in the highest mountains earlier, but no snow here just chilly rain showers.

The weather was also crisp yesterday when I went down to Phil's to work on their deck. I arrived around 0745 to temps in the 30s. I had to wear my friggin' winter hat for most of the morning. Finally in the PM we hit the low 50s, but it never got warm. Oh well I still got a lot done including getting everything a lot more level than it was before:

I custom-cut all of those shims for the left side so bye bye a couple precious... precious hours for that. Phil would have been okay with leaving the existing framing as-is, but there was a very noticeable 1.5" drop in the center so I thought it needed to be addressed. That center carrying beam was never supported properly so over the years it dropped a lot in its center. The deck is very large, 600-700 square feet.

In the afternoon I did install a lot of decking, and that is how things looked when I quit at the end of a full work day. It sucks I have to drive one hour each way just to get there. The commute = what a bunch of crap! Just the decking alone will need around 2000 screws so that takes a long damn time and the drills have to work hard. I didn't have Dakota yesterday or else I would have put him right onto that mission.

I dunno when I will get down there again to work, but I'm leaning towards Tuesday. Tomorrow Kat and I have a wedding way down in Southport (Boothbay area) so that will be a 12 or 13-hour day. 4 of those hours are just the drive to and from. Thankfully it is her last very-far wedding of the season. After tomorrow she has two left, and the one in just over two weeks is in Bangor. She did book one near the end of this month down in Camden, but that isn't nearly as far as frigging Boothbay and I can go visit Mom and Dad for that one since I grew up in that area. Mom actually works right in town Camden. She works too hard and for too little pay for what she does. What a bunch of crap!

So we will get home and bivouac tomorrow around 0100. Maybe just after midnight if things really go well. Sunday I'll help Gav get some supplies for his own home remodel, and I have a few other things to do. Monday it rains so no outside work, but hopefully I can do some interior stuff like a little of my gym ceiling and/or start the floor over at the final office area at North Main. Midweek next week the weather looks decent again so I'd love to finish that deck by then. I estimate two more full work days down there to 100% finish. Maybe? Hopefully! I need to get it done by the end of next week so I can start siding for Gavin the week after that.

Tonight Kat is hosting a "country night" theme night at Jester's, and I don't plan to dress up because I just don't care. It sucks to write that, but it is the truth. I'm glad it draws customers who get into the spirit of the event, but it's just not for me. She's not too happy with me when I don't participate in the theme events, but oh well at least I still go down there to show support. Last week that was not so much the case, though...

^Country night at Jester's and my overall thoughts on the theme.

Halloween is just a few weeks away and I really don't give a crap about that holiday either. I think I'm becoming a boring old man. I'm actually sick of Jester's, and last week it all came to a head when I showed up, stayed for about 15 minutes, and then left. I came home, drunk-texted Doug, and then I crashed out in the spare bedroom. It was the first time ever that I've been home and I didn't even sleep in our bedroom. What a bunch of crap! Kat was so pissed off at me that I left, and I was pissed off at her for not thanking me for helping her do that gig for the past 5+ years. Sometimes I just don't want to be there and it's not fair for her to expect me to be there every single Friday. Would I expect her to come to work with me every Friday for a few hours out of her day? Watch me mow lawns and build shit? Hell no.

A large part of me doesn't want to be at the bar tonight, but I planned ahead and took a nap later today so I have a little bit of extra energy. Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day for my ass because I have a guy showing up at my Allen Rd properties at 0800 to start cutting back the trees that are encroaching on the back parking area and on one of the buildings. I don't need to be there right at 0800, but I would like to be there as close to that as possible before we have to leave for that wedding. Then *hopefully* I can pay Dakota to show up and help in the PM when I am not there. He won't need to get up into the trees, but I would like him to help on the ground with brush removal and such. We'll see...

Before I came onto this bootleg site that no one ever reads I was watching Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom. I like the Jurassic Park movies, but the one thing they do that fucking sucks is the same gods damned thing every movie ever made with mosters ever does in the history of recent monster-animal movies, or so it seems:

They make this badass-looking CGI monster/ape/gorilla/dinosaur/whatever, and the thing has to pause and make a giant roar. All I wanna know is why? Why do they all need to do that? Did a T-Rex really fuckin' stop to roar at its prey 10 fuckin' million years ago? I'm guessing it did not. The really long roars coat people in spittle and shit, and it is fucking stupid. It's a bunch of crap! I'll take the sneezing Morla non-CGI turtle from The Neverending Story vs. these modern screaming monsters any day, all day.

Where's my psychologist gods damn it?

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Wednesday, 10-02-19: Garage down, deck framed, "Indigenous People's Day?"
WTF, over? When the hell did this stupid crap happen? Columbus Day is the second Monday in October, but now it is renamed to be called "Indigenous People's Day." OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP SNOWFLAKE DECISION. I guess it's a sate decision, not a national one. Fucking pussy asses running this shit-show we call a society. The Waterville mayor is renaming it back to Columbus Day in his city so he is awesome and I would vote for him for any higher office that he might pursue in the future. My guess is he'll get impeached for it hehe. If you think Columbus Day is offensive then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. A poll on the early news shows 76% of people want it to be called Columbus Day still. Hey at least the early crowd is mostly sane. I guess the majority of the snowflakes are still sleeping in...

My awesome wife left at 0610 to go use the gym with Debbie, and that is great I'm proud of her for doing that. She got up and 15 minutes later was out there door. I can't do that I need to shovel in food and wake up a bit. Ingest some caffeine and watch the news, etc. I will do DDP Yoga in a little while and then lift some weights in my own bootleg gym before I head over to North Main to sort through the remainder of this rubble:

^The garage is 100% down; I knocked down the last wall Monday afternoon. Oh Jesus hell ya! Dakota developed a case of the youth generation and hasn't worked much lately so Jim and I took care of it on Monday. I would have paid Dakota $15/hr, but he has a hurt hand and lacks motivation so oh well for him that's more precious... precious money in our own bank account. Same yesterday when I told him he could either clean up the mess in the photo above or go with me to Oakland and he chose option C, none of the above. Maybe he will want to work some today or tomorrow. I could use him tomorrow at Phil's for installing new decking.

The weather was quite poor yesterday, but I went down to Phil's anyway because I wanted to meet with him in person to go over plans for replacing his large back deck. He was going to fly out for business so if I didn't meet with him yesterday I would have had to wait until next week. I told him I was coming rain or shine, and I meant it so when I arrived at 0815 there were numerous showers and heavy drizzle. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully after a raw and damp morning things did improve for the afternoon and I was able to work there all day. Phil did get supplies delivered Monday so I had plenty of materials to work with and I didn't even need to go to the store. Awesome!

^You can see where I installed all the new joists. Phil did do some of the prep work so that saved me about an hour total, but it still took me 7.5 hours of work to get all those joists installed including a few more off to the left not in the photo. Doing the longer 45-degree angle ones took a lot of precious... precious time. I also had to secure all that ledger to the house with "Ledger-Lock" bolts so bye bye more precious... precious time for that part of the job.

I'll make the hour drive to Oakland again tomorrow with or without Dakota so I can start the decking. If Dakota does get motivated we should be able to get all the decking done to around the french-style doors. It will still take a couple hours of work before even one new decking board can get installed because all the old stuff has to be removed and I haven't nailed all the new joists in place yet. Some, but not all. I also need a few more lateral braces and misc. If we can get a lot of decking down then awesome, I can finish it next week on Tues or Wed.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this pathetic excuse for a website, I need to go do other things now. It's already October. Wow!