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"I need a wall - like the US needs - but not quite as long - with a door and about 300sf of flooring." -Carpentry customer texting me about work he needs done.

Thursday, 10-24-24: The good, the bad, and the mediocre of today.
I had another full, busy day. Par for the course in my shit-show epic fail life these days, but I have hope because things are changing rapidly and by 2025 I think I'll be on the right track. Maybe? Hopefully!

I started the day with a 0730 trip to Lowe's to buy a few supplies so I could keep working on this in the afternoon:

^I needed longer 2x4s for bracing, some lags, some other smaller stuff, etc. Gavin and I worked on that Monday and Tuesday and that is where we left off on Tuesday. Doing that first wall section was a bunch of crap because it was quite heavy, but we got it figured out without having the thing fall on us. We finally decided to brace it to the house, and thankfully Gav was able to drag out some useful scraps from his house so we didn't have to go up to Lowe's to buy stuff. He's a good carpenter and a great friend.

After my Lowe's trip it was straight to the bar to meet with someone who booked a Nov 2 event then I had Jim there to clean the keg lines and shortly after that the people taking away the pool table and ATM. The soon-to-be new owners also showed up and I spent a couple hours with them where I got a sense of some changes coming almost immediately after they take over. They said on Monday at the staff meeting there wouldn't be much for changes so three days later I guess that all goes out the window. What a bunch of crap! Even worse was when I told Kat some of it earlier this evening and she got all pissed off at me.

So I did what most abnormal people would do. Instead of dealing with an angry wife (not my fuckin' fault, chick!) I went outside to rake leaves then, after she left, I started to drink booze hehe. Our yard had a lot of leaves all over the place. A LOT:

^That's just one area of the yard, too. Thankfully I got rid of a lot of that both yesterday and today. I like this location, but the two huge maple trees (one out front and one out back) sure do drop a ton of leaves every fall and that sucks. A lot.

I finally got out of the restaurant that I 100% hate around 1220 and I had just enough time to meet my two helpers at Treats Falls so we all could work on that garage for a couple hours. They couldn't stay too long because they both work at the restaurant, but having them there was fantastic and we got more done:

^Outer wall not quite perfectly straight and level yet, but it will be once we put some more work into it. That wall is HUGE. We can't even put every 2x8x160 stud in place before we stand the wall up because it's too heavy so the rest will go in later.

Since I worked all damn day I didn't get a chance to talk to my wife about the restaurant new owners and their tentative plans. They will most likely cut weekend brunch, cut Tuesdays, and possibly not keep all the staff since they plan to reduce hours. The event room will have a different purpose in 2025 as well, and a name-change is coming. It's a little sad seeing what we built coming to an end, but fuck that we never made a dime of profit and it looks like we will lose over $300,000 when it's all said and done. Plus I lost what should have been some great years of my life. What a bunch of crap!

Needless to say Kat blew a gasket when I told her of some impending changes. She wants them to change the place and not use her name anymore so she can't also say "keep it the same." I hate to say it, but I don't give a fuck I just need that gods damned place out of my life ASAP before I die. That restaurant would kill me, too. I am already not doing okay so I'm sorry if my wife is not doing okay because of it, but I can't help her until I can help myself and as long as we have that restaurant I can't help anyone. Not sure I am even qualified to be emotional support for anyone, ever, but I sure as hell can't do that right now.

The way I see it is we had two options. First and worst option, simply close and be bankrupt. Second and much better option, sell and let the new owners make their own path. The new owners NEED to make changes so they can make money because we never got that part right. I should have done it right, but I gave up a long time ago and it doesn't take more than a quick skim of the archives to see how miserable I've been and how little I give a crap about that fuckin' restaurant. That place almost ruined my entire life and I'm not even really sure I can come back from it. I hope I can, but I give it a 50% chance.

So today started off kinda shitty (restaurant stuff all morning) then got better when I had a chance to go build stuff and actually earn money then it got terrible when I got home and my wife treated me like shit. In conclusion, everything related to the restuarant today made my life worse whereas when I had a chance to do work I mostly enjoy I had a reason to live again.

Where's my psychologist?

Oh well, at least I got to spend precious.... precious time by myself this evening. I left my angry wife in the bedroom to do her own thing (she also went to that bootleg Spirit Halloween place) and I drank booze and watched the Celtics beat the Wizards for a 2-0 start to the season. Now here I am writing my useless thoughts to almost no one. What a bunch of crap!

We still seem to be on-track for closing in one week for the restaurant. I'll go help the new owners some next month, but I have a lot of other stuff to do and I would very-much like to go deer hunting with Jason and Dad.

My life still fuckin' sucks because I made a series of bad decisions and now I have to live with it because I totally made my own luck. What a bunch of crap!

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Monday, 10-21-24: Started the garage. Staff meeting, the end-plan.
We have more clarify on the restaurant situation and it's anticipated closing date. As of right now we are still on track for a Nov 1 closing, but holy Jebus a lot of things have to fall into place for that to actually happen. They still need a couple licenses and we have a lot to do as well including packing. I haven't started packing anything in the office yet. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, I can get that done in a couple hours and I'll start that later this week or early next week.

Gavin took two vacation days from work and today he helped me start this huge garage project up at Treats Falls. (He plans to help tomorrow, too.) Here is what the place looked like before supplies were delivered and we started ripping things up:

After about three hours we had the two windows removed and Gavin was measuring the framing in the window on the left:

By early afternoon we had officially cancelled the windows and here it is:

We did also start some carpentry on the walls themselves, but not too much. The clapboard siding behind that vinyl siding was just weird. It's a cardboard-wafer-board material with an outer layer to presumably keep it weather-tight. It looks like a bunch of crap that would soak up all the mosture and epic fail, but after all these years I didn't see any rot or water damage anywhere. Maybe because they put vinyl siding over it? Hell if I know, but I doubt it was sided with vinyl at the time way back in the early 1980s when it was built.

The weather was perfect today, too. High temp 75, no rain, awesome. Tomorrow we reach near 70, Wed upper 60s, then it gets a lot colder towards the end of the week and Sunday we don't even touch 50 for a high. We're lucky to have this fantastic weather and I plan to make the most of it both up at Treats Falls and also at our soon-to-be new house.

The house in Eddington still needs some work, but I have a bunch of supplies and I tackled some of it yesterday. As an added bonus I was also able to meet one of the two sisters who are selling. She was really sweet and helpful and it was perfect timing seeing her pull in just after me. I had never met her before; it did belong to her brother who passed away six years ago. Her older sister and her got the place from his estate.

The bank is being totally ridiculous on some of their loan requirements. Some of it makes perfect sense such as outlet covers and covering exposed receptacle boxes. Other stuff like this: "

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Thursday, 10-17-24: Quality time with the soon-to-be new owners, a contract, a general manager.
Things are moving quickly regarding the sale of our restaurant and bar. We've had people wanting the place for at least a couple weeks, but putting all together takes precious... precious time. Both Kat and I spent 1.5 hours with them yesterday and I spent about 2.5 total hours with them today. We also have a legal contract that only needs to be signed so this thing is definitely happening and thank the gods who do not exist for that small miracle.

Lots of the minutia needs to be properly handled, but in essence they take over on Nov 1 with a new EIN, new bank account, new payroll process, etc. The name stays Mad Kat & Company Bar & Grill for now, but a name-change is already in their plans. Kat wants them to change the name, and I think doing that only makes sense because it won't be Mad Kat's without Kat.

There still is a pretty good chance we can't close on Nov. 1 due to all the permits they need and everything that goes along with that. OH, the landlord also has to reassign the lease. He told me last month he would do it, but who knows with that guy? I called him this morning, no answer as usual, so I left a voicemail and got no return call. HAHAHAHA. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^OUR NINCOMPOOP LANDLORD!

I think he will call me back at some point because we owe him $10,000 in rent and he doesn't get a dime of that if he doesn't reassign the lease. I didn't pay September rent, but I sent him a letter saying we have rent and we will cough it up once he lets us sell the place. Of course this month's rent applies the same. It will suck giving up that precious... precious money to the landlord when he's so terrible at landlording, but a deal is a deal.

The soon-to-be owners hired a general manager, Matt, and he's at the bar right now learning. He's not in charge of anything at all because we still own the business, but the more he is there the better so he can learn the place and get to know the staff. We spent a lot of time with the buyers going over the staff, who is leaving, who is unsure, and who is likely to stay. I am encouraging all the staff to stay if they can and to make their own decisions regarding how they like the new owners and boss. Hopefully they can make the place better by injecting some much-needed capital that we simply didn't have.

I hope Matt is a good general manager and can assimilate quickly so he can do things I do and I can get out sooner. If we can close Nov 1 and they are mostly trained I won't have to help them much at all and that would be glorious. I am willing to help them, but I have lots of other things going on including trying to move up to Eddington for a fresh start. Plus if we can close Nov 1 we will get a nice chunk of money that we can put into our soon-to-be new home.

So in just 14 days I have to pack up my tax business and put it on hold, quit it entirely, or find a new home for it. Kat and I actually did go look at a fixer-upper just up the road that has potential:

Looks like someone bought it, started remodling, then either ran out of money, ran out of desire to finish, or both.

$99k is too high a price so I'd offer $65-70k. It might not even be on the market when we actually do get precious... precious money. We've only had one showing for our house and none scheduled so we will probably have to drop the price to move it quickly. Thankfully we can wait some and we are not in a dire position needing to sell immediately.

A fantastic stretch of weather is coming with high temps in the 60s and maybe 70 early next week. No rain, beautiful. Perfect for doing more work outside. I have a huge order getting delivered tomorrow at this place:

I plan to start framing his garage Monday, and as an added bonus Gavin is taking a couple vacation days to help. Oh Jesus, hell ya! The turd in the punch-bowl for my plans could be whatever bank report we get on this Eddington property. If the bank requires tons of work to be done then I will have to refocus on that.

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Wednesday, 10-16-24: I now know what Zonolite is, and I wish I did not have to know this.
FUCKING ZONOLITE. All I wanna know is why? Why do you have to live in one of my former houses that I am trying to get ready to sell for my family?! I did not even know what Zonolite was until about 6 hours ago. The story is not a good one, but here it comes thanks to several easyily-accessible articles on the Interweb including this fantastic one:

https://retrotec.com/blog/post/zolonite-asbestos-attic-insulation

Basically zonolite is a lightweight insulation that has asbestos in it. From the article:

"Zonolite is the trademarked name of a type of loose-fill, heat-expanded vermiculite insulation sold between the 1940s and 1990s that was manufactured by W.R. Grace & Company. Although no one knows exactly how much of this product is out there, Cottingham says that the estimates range from 1 to 30 million U.S. Homes. Most of the articles I've read cite the upper end of that range, since Zonolite commanded about 75 percent of the world Vermiculite insulation market during the decades it was being sold.

Unlike some other products, Zonolite was never meant to contain asbestos. However it was mined from Grace's asbestos-contaminated mine in Libby, Montana, a site the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to clean up the for almost 20 years now.

Although most Zonolite has an asbestos content of less than 1%—which puts it below the EPA's threshold of an asbestos-containing material—it's still quite dangerous. According to asbestos.com the asbestos in Zonolite is an amphibole form known as tremolite which some studies suggest could be 10 times more dangerous than the white asbestos used by most manufacturers.

In addition, the lightweight insulation is completely friable; when disturbed it easily crumbles and produces a fine powder, so any asbestos that is present ends up in the air."

That last sentence holds the most weight with my loser-ass because I was dealing with it today for about a half-hour before I felt like it was above my pay-grade and I quit. It didn't pass my "sniff-test" and I just didn't think I should be messing with it without doing more research. This is what prompted my ass to action in the first-place:

I posted that yesterday, and the article I posted above has a picture:

^ZONOLITE! The stuff I was briefly dealing with today EXACTLY fits that description and image. Like, a perfect 100% match. What a bunch of crap! I did wear a mask and gloves, but I bailed pretty quickly after I felt like I needed to reassess the entire situation. What really concerns me is this statement from the article:

"...the lightweight insulation is completely friable; when disturbed it easily crumbles and produces a fine powder, so any asbestos that is present ends up in the air."

OMG THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SEEING TODAY. THAT SHIT WAS INCREDIBLY LIGHT AND IT TURNED TO DUST ASAP. It is in the attic, but that dust is very fine and I was concerned it could permeate into the main house where my own 3-year old grandson lives along with his parents and his 7-month pregnant mother. No fuckin' way, I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I am not an asbestos remediator, and if there had only been a very small amount I would have handled it like a boss. However, there is more than I expected by quite a bit. It's not the entire attic, but it's probably 6" deep and over 50 or 60 square feet so nope. Time to call in a remediation company and deal with it as we may.

Asbestos sucks ass, but it's a solvable problem. Hell, almost every problem can be solved with enough precious... precious money. Unfortuantely we have a limited supply of that right now. What amazes me is how long that property has been a part of my life with no one at all ever knowing about it. I knew Jay and his family very well back in the 2000s and they never mentioned it. I bought the place from them in 2010 and never noticed (not that I would have looked there as it's in a very obscure spot.) I sold the house to Dillon and Debbie in 2021 and they had is professionally inspected with no one saying or seeing anything. Now this?! At first was upset with the current inspector, but now that I've read more I think that inspector got it right, big-time. Shame on anyone else who may have inspected the place in years past because it's pretty obviously zololite. What a bunch of crap!

Another funny ironic twist. I used to own stock in WR Grace, the company that owned the asbestos-filled mine out in Montana. All I wanna know is why? Why did that have to happen?

I'll throw on a $20 suit you can buy at Lowe's and I'll go get that crap out of there, I don't fuckin' care if I die from asbestos lung. I've had a great life and am fine with dying anytime. However, I can't put Dillon, Debbie, and the kids at risk. I don't think I can seal off the attic the right way in order to keep the dust from seeping into the downstairs. A little dust, even a microscopic amount, could be harmful and F that. If the house was vacant I would totally go get rid of it, but they still live there. Maybe we can stick them in a hotel for a couple days, but really I need to get a professional in there.

My life is such a shit-show. I don't even know how I handle it. This bootleg site that almost no one ever reads helps, but it's only a drop in the bucket these days because most days I'm too busy to even write about my failing life. What a bunch of crap!

I have it on channel 1928, Alan Parson's Project Eye in the Sky. Catchy song! They are ripping out some great tunes tonight so far.

In other news that is less ridiculous, the people who want to buy Mad Kat came today for another meeting and they still seem to be all-in. Good because fuck that place. Seriously. It is going to take a long time for me to recover from that shit-show life decision, and I may never fully come back from it. There's still a 50% chance it ruins my marriage, we shall see. I'm up here trying to undo my terrible life-decisions whereas Jason gets to go into the woods on one of his many beautiful parcels of land and get this done yesterday:

^I'm not jealous, I'm happy for him. I failed so badly at life that I can't even go deer hunting yet and my entire season might be pwned. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

If I don't fix my fucked-life in the next few months I won't make it long into 2025. This is fuckin' bullshit, epic fail, and what a bunch of crap all rolled into one and there is only one person to blame for it all:

ME.

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Tuesday, 10-15-24: Too much to possibly write down in 20 minutes.
I ate an edible, not a lot, and it should *hopefully* help me sleep soon. I can't sleep without one most nights anymore. What a bunch of crap! I always have 1000 things on my mind, and it's worse than ever at any point in my life. We are selling the restaurant, we are selling our house, we are moving to Eddington, I have major carpentry work happening, I need a place for the tax business soon, deer hunting season is looming, and so is Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary. Kat's health is not ideal either. Oh, we are running a smaller crew at the restaurant and weekends have been relatively busy so that uses what little precious... precious time I actually do have.

Whose fault is all of this?! (Guy looks in the mirror.)

Today was a whirlwind, but I mostly kept it on lockdown. I started off at the restaurant for a couple hours balancing the books, paying a couple bills, finishing cleaning the fryers and some other kitchen stuff, and receiving the usual Tuesday morning delivery. Kat would have helped, but she was at an important medical appointment. I left the restaurant at 1000 with just enough time to get onto a roof before Chris and Mike showed up to help in what was their final day on that 3-week job-site. We finished the last peak-shingle around noon just as one of Jason's Fusion AV guys was arriving at the restaurant to do some work so I hurried to go meet him. Cleaning up and taking down the staging at 19 Gilmore (roof job across the street from the restaurant) took a while, too. Here is the roof now:

^I still have to shingle the rear little spot above the cellar door, but that will be simple as compared to everything else. I'm thinking I can rip that out in under two hours including some cleanup. Maybe? Hopefully!

I had to get a piece of aluminum trim reinstalled as well. I have a photo of the back-side:

I was leaning my dumb-ass over the side with Mike holding my leg from the higher roof above hahaha. It really didn't feel unsafe because I had jacks and planks stationed on the roof along that edge, but it was far from the safest thing I've ever done and I'm sure an OSHA inspector would have had issues with everything about it.

I wasn't going to do that trim because I thought it was gone, but Gavin saved a piece and Dillon found the other piece and it was required in order for them to sell the house. It probably blew off last year during one of our many huge storms that ravaged the area.

After I dealt with the restaurant again for the second time of the day I had to return a lot of the staging that I had rented, and traffic sucked. A lot. Then I needed to stop by Treats Falls so he could sign a permit for a soon-to-be garage then I had to meet Ben so he could fix some "Double tap" breaker bullshit also at 19 Gilmore. After that it was off to the restaurant and then a tax client who always does an extension (Oct 15 deadline for extensions.) Finally I was able to come home, but I had a little more work to do on the computer earlier this evening. That's too much in one day, but I did pull it off like a boss.

It seems certain we are going to be selling the restaurant to a husband and wife team, but we don't have an official contract in place just yet. They did their liquor license today so that means they're all-in because who would do that just for fun? Especially not for $910! We meet with them tomorrow and, if needed, Thursday. We do expect a legal contract ASAP and the delay was on our end when I didn't get them the list of things we are keeping before the weekend and yesterday was a bootleg holiday so I'm guessing most lawyers took the day off.

Fucking Columbus Day. What a worthless bunch of crap holiday! It's not even Columbus Day anymore because people in general suck. Indegenous People's Day hahahahaaha! FUCKING TERRIBLE NAME FOR A LAME HOLIDAY. It's probably the worst holiday of the entire year, but President's Day is also dumb shit.

Our house is on the market as of yesterday. So far only one showing is scheduled so that is a tad concerning, but who knows maybe the one showing will be all it takes. I'd like to have a few more, but each showing means we have to leave with the dogs so that sucks. A lot. We don't HAVE to leave, but we should leave as that seems to be protocol for these things. I joked with Jody earlier that I've sold all kinds of properties, but I've never sold one I've lived in. OMG WOW! That truly does amaze me.

I have to go back over to 19 Gilmore tomorrow morning to look for what isn't likely to be but maybe could be asbestos insulation in the attic. The home "inspector" reported it as this:

^HEY NINCOMPOOP HOW ABOUT YOU HAVE IT ACTUALLY TESTED INSTEAD OF MAKING SHIT UP?! WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I went up there and looked a couple days ago and mostly what I saw was fiberglass insulation. I'm not an expert, but after two decades in the property remodeling business I sort-of have my finger on the pulse of these things. Dillon and Debbie had the place inspected three years ago before I sold it to them and that report never mentioned any such thing.

The real estate game sure can be a joke. Even the "Double Tap" breaker thing is totally bootleg. Ben told me today it's more safe to have a double-tap breaker than to splice into one, as long as the wires for the double-tap are the same gauge. These home inspectors are a joke, too. Some are good, but some have no business attempting to assess problems with a building.

Once they officially sell their house we can move out to Chemo Pond Rd. We went there again a few days ago and I took a bunch of pictures that I won't post now due to not having enough precious... precious time. I am concerned a bank will send someone out to look at the place before the loan closes and flag it hard for stupid shit like this:

^FAIL UNSAFE DECK. A closer look at that header:

^OMG THAT IS THE DUMBEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN CARPENTRY OF A DECK. WHAT A STUPID BUNCH OF CRAP! ALL I WANNA KNOW IS WHY? WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT WILL HOLD PEOPLE?! IT WON'T.

^Yeah, banks are gonna love that one.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg site, I'm done. Fin. Hopefully I can update again before the end of the month!

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Sunday, 10-06-24: Beyond exhausted. Listing tomorrow!
I'm pretty exhausted, but I took a nap earlier so I'm still up and about to watch a little Sunday night football. Steelers vs. Cowboys in a game I don't care that much about but that I want to watch at least some of. Earlier the Patriots lost to the Dolphins and are now 1-4 on the season. What a bunch of crap! They need to get their new QB Drake Maye in to play gods damn it.

I worked 17 friggin' hours yesterday OMG! I went to the restaurant at 0800 to get the event room ready for a 1200-1500 party and I just stayed because it was busy enough were my help was needed. I ended up working the afternoon event, a nice group from the class of 1969 at a local school. Wow! After that party ended I had to get ready for another evening party and I was stuck there until around 1830. I was able to go home to shovel in a little food, see my awesome wife, and take a shower before I went right back for the night. I finally got home for good around 0145. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

This crazy schedule is untenable long-term. It's totally exhausting all the time. Sales were fantastic yesterday so that helped keep me motivated. Thankfully I got most of today off and we celebrated Damon's 3rd birthday here at the house earlier. That kid is funny. Dillon and Debbie have a daughter on the way with a due-date of Dec 9 so we're hoping to be done with the restaurant by then. Will it happen? Hard to say, but I'm cautiously optimistic it can. I'm going to get more clarity on that tomorrow.

I have a lot to do tomorrow, but I don't think it's an overwhelming amount. I need to sit at the desk and do some office-work. If all goes as I hope and expect we will know 100% for sure that we are selling the restaurant. We have a verbal agreement but nothing official as a written contract. We also plan to list this house for sale. Kat already started packing! I was surprised when I came home from work for that brief 45-minute evening break and saw photos, posters, and movies off the living room shelves and stowed neatly in boxes. We get plenty of boxes from all our restaurant deliveries and we'll need a lot of them.

It looks like we have a closing date for moving to Eddington. Dillon and Debbie have their house under contract (finally!) with a closing date of Nov 8, the same day we can close on the Eddington properties. It was a little tense waiting for Dillon and Debbie to sell their house since the market is not a feeding-frenzy anymore like it has been in the very recent past. They listed for $215k, had showings and no offers, dropped to $209k and had showings and an offer for $206k with $6k towards closing costs so really theyre selling for around $215k. It's the same house I paid $75k for back in 2020 and sold to them for $131k just three years ago. Wow!

The amount of work I have to do for the rest of the year is almost unbelievable. Somehow we have to sell the restaurant, sell our house, move to Eddington (and help Dillon, Debbie, and Katherine along the way as we are all going to live there) and remodel the Eddington property to what it needs to be through the winter. Oh, I have to find an office to lease if I want to keep the tax business going and at some point rifle and muzzle-loader seasons for deer hunting will come and go and I might miss out. Selling the restaurant and moving > going deer hunting. It pains me to write that, but it's the truth. This lifestyle is going to destroy me so making the change I need to make, we need to make, is my top priority at all times. I have to get that fuckin' restaurant out of my life and bring new surroundings and a new aura/location/vibe into my worthless life.

Kat is VERY heartbroken about selling and most likely losing the restaurant. I feel like she needs to get the place out of her life because it's killing her as well with the long hours and arduous physical work. Not even including the stress of money and for her dealing with the borderline retards whom we have on-staff. I know I'm not supposed so use the term RETARD anymore, but this is my bootleg site so if you don't like it you can gggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

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Friday, 10-04-24: I'm friggin' beat. Nov 1 possibly?
This big roof job I'm working on reminds me of blueberry raking. However, it might be more difficult physically than blueberry raking. I dunno for sure, but this morning I was feeling some tennis elbow as well as a sore lower back. Reminds me a lot of blueberry raking. The roof is "only" about 16 square, but it's four sections and a lot of up and down going mostly to a second story height on everything. I thought I was going to have some help today but they bailed so I was by myself for 7.5 hours of actual work on that roof. No help today = what a bunch of crap! Oh well it did save my loser-ass precious... precious money.

The weather today was all kinds of fall-in-Maine-unusual. Started off with a heavy fog and some very light drizzle soaking everything. I still worked on the roof from roughly 0730-0815 until I helped receive the usual Friday restaurant delivery. After that delivery it was back to the roof (thankfully only across the street) where things were still wet but starting to dry out. I'd say by 1030 it was dry and even when it was wet I was in a relatively safe spot with planks below me and all the staging. I finished the west side around 1130 then took a lunch break:

If I had help today we could have taken down all the staging, but that will have to wait until Tuesday next week. I'll be busy this weekend with the restaurant and we get some rain tomorrow morning and more rain Monday into Tuesday morning. Not epic deluge rains, but enough to cause issues inside that house if I didn't get it covered.

After lunch I had the back east side to do and by then the sun was out and we briefly hit 70 degrees hahaha. I had my shirt off and was sweating quite a bit for the first hour or so early PM. I knew I wouldn't 100% finish it and that's okay as long as I could get the underlayment up to the peak to keep the rain OUTSIDE of the house. I was wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket by around 1600 yet I had to forge on just a little longer to get it all secured. Right around then a sea breeze kicked up, it got ten degrees colder and the sun disappeared, and there were a couple gnarly gusts of wind that sent my tarpaper flying. What a bunch of crap! I'll take wet and no wind over dry and windy any day when trying to do a roof. (Not pouring rain wet of course.)

Let's hope this underlayment doesn't come off in the next three days until I can get back there to finish the shingles to the peak.

I'm thinking I can get that roof done next week Tues PM-Friday, but we'll see. A lot of that depends on how much help I get. Chris and Mike (my helpers this week) were BEAT so I don't blame them for not working with me today since they both work a full shift at the restaurant and are there now. Speaking of the restaurant, that place is really busy at the 2300 hour. I could go down now and get the event room ready for two events tomorrow, but I think I'll bivouac soon and just do it in the morning. I did help at the restaurant for what was a very busy dinner-rush earlier. I was there about 2.5 hours and then it slowed down enough were I could leave. I needed to leave anyway because my bootleg body was starting its shutdown phase. Seems stupid, but I think I was getting ready to pass the hell out. I hadn't eaten anything since 1145 and I was busting it all PM and buring precious... precious energy all day.

We've been going back and forth with our potential buyers for the restaurant and I met with them for 1.5 hours yesterday around midday. They made a new updated offer that doesn't suck as much as their first offer, but it still sucks a little. I think their lawyer is drawing up an official offer for our review, but we'll see. I'm sure nothing will move forward with the place until Monday next week. I'm ready to sell, and if we stick to our informal agreement they will own the place November 1st, I'll work there some for a while to get them set up, and then I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball and I can't wait to be 100% out of there. It's too much for me and I need to go back to the basics in life.

I can't lift weights, go for a jog, or play racquetball this weekend because I'm friggin' BEAT. I don't think I should be doing roofing anymore when I get past this one, but we'll see. I'll make fair money from doing this one so that helps. It's "only" 16 square, but it's not easy. Funny I'm doing it on the house I owned for 11 years AHAHAHA. Right in my old neighborhood as well were I've had some unbelievable memories. The family who lived in the house I'm roofing called the cops on us 17-18 years ago after we were having a "steel chair" wrestling match in the street in the middle of the night. What a bunch of crap! We totally deserved it and I felt badly the next day. They apologized for calling the cops because we were friendly with them, but at the time they totally did the right thing since their kids were mortified. HAHAHAHAHA.

It's weird not being at the restaurant at this time on a Friday night. That event room needs to be cleaned and set up for two parties tomorrow, but it's early so I can rack out in a few minutes and get up at a decent time tomorrow and go set it up. I don't think it will take more than an hour.

Wow, in 4 weeks we won't own Mad Kat anymore if things go as planned. That would be AWESOME and I will be very sad if this potential and likely deal falls through. I need this to happen for my own sanity.

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Wednesday, 10-02-24: Roof, roof, roof. Also, Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money).
I''ve made some great progress on this roof so far this week:

That back side still looks like that today and I took the picture yesterday around midday. What a bunch of crap! However, the main roof west side is really getting done. Here it was yesterday around midday:

Huge section of old roof removed by Mike. I have two occasional helpers, Chris and his dad, Mike. Mike is in his mid-60s but that guy can WORK. Chris is a good worker as well, but he hurt his shoulder (old nagging injury from the past) so he's more limited. When I had them help last week the first day we didn't have a good rythm because I needed to know their strengths and weaknesses on the job-site and now I know that so the past two days we've gotten A LOT done. Here is that same west side earlier today before I went to the dump, to Lowe's for more supplies, and then quit for the day around 1645:

I worked for a total of about 7.25 hours today there inluding two supply and dump trips. Chris and Mike put in 4.5 hours each and we ripped it out. Got more staging, and that staging makes a HUGE difference in our favor. When we're done I'll have $300 in staging rental cost as well as a few hours setting it up and breaking it down, but once in place it makes us fly doing the roofing. We got half that entire 5-square roof section shingles in about 3 hours today oh Jesus hell ya! (not including time stripping it down and prepping.)

I'll have most of that side done tomorrow, most of the east back side done Friday (the first photo) and next week if there's not too much rain I'll finish the last and most difficult east side. That staging will probably save 10 man-hours, 3 guys, per side so it was worth the investment and I should have done that on prior roof jobs in the past. Live and learn! It's also 10x safer and makes for many less trips up and down the ladder.

I put on Pet Shop Boys Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) and hopefully there are opportunites for us in the near future not necessarily to make lots of money but to recoup bad money we fucked away by opening a restaurant. The potential buyers for the place were there this evening for trivia where my awesome wife was crushing it as host. I went down for a bit to take care of some paperwork and get Q4 files in place; we have a meeting with the potential buyers tomorrow at 1230 that will *hopefully* bear non-rotten fruit. It will be our second meeting with them in a week so things are getting serious.

Other opportunities include selling this house and moving to Eddington, but first Dillon and Debbie have to sell their house. Yes, the same house I used to own when I was a slumlord and the very same house I'm shingling now. Wow! They had a few showings but no offers at $215,000 so Jody advised they drop it to $209,000 they had two new showings and now it's under contract as of about an hour ago. Oh Jesus, hell ya! All our plans hinge on them selling that house so we can sell our house and move. They have to sell first becuse we won't get a loan thanks to all the losses on our taxes from the restaurant. I've never defaulted on a payment and I have a great credit score (I think?) but banks see losses on taxes and they run for the hills. What a bunch of crap!

I am enjoying doing that roof, but holy crap roofing is WORK. It reminds me of blueberry raking to a point. When I do roofing all day I'm not lifting weights or doing other excersise like racquetball or jogging. I probably could go for a jog, I did Monday, but F that most days it beats me up including yesterday and today. It's a GREAT workout and I even have a little better tan now so that's a huge win. Fantastic weather also helps, but next week that changes and more rain is expected.

So in a perfect scenario by this time next week we'll have Mad Kat under contract to sell, Dillon and Debbie will be solid in a closing date to sell their house and we'll have our house for sale and maybe have showings scheduled. I won't have that roof done, but I'll be close. I would have the roof done, but we have some rainy days in the forecast. The other work I have at Treats Falls might also be moving forward, but for now it's on pause because, get this, his expected tenant might die. OMG!

I feel badly for the guy because he is funny and I like him. Weird setup that I would never do, but it works for them. They have a home health business so in various sections of their house they have basically a nursing home setup. The interior work I did was going to lead them to a tenant who would pay quite a lot to live there and recceive 24-7 care, meals, etc. However, two days before he was going to move in he had to go to the ER and have his foot amputated. Noooooo! Now it seems he might not even live so that's really sad. I spent all this time, they spent a lot of precious... precious money getting it ready and now it seems unlikely to happen at all. I'm just the carpenter and I don't have a dog in that fight, but it does suck for them. All work there is on pause until I hear from him and that's fine with me as I've been busy doing a roof, trying to sell a restaurant, and still trying to keep that restaurant going including TONS of work on weekends there.

Pet Shop Boys What Have I Done (to Deserve This?) Today we were shingling that roof mid-afternoon and this song came on BIG 104.7 and it was fucking awesome. It motivated my loser-ass and I needed it because I was getting a little worn down and I was right at the edge of the roof. If I fell what would have caught me? Hopefully a cast-iron stink-pipe (right side lower part in the last photo) and if not that the electrical wires. Chris and Mike think I'm crazy up on that roof because I don't give a fuck. I'll crawl my ass all over that thing including right to the edges because for some weird reason heights don't scare me. What does scare me?

RUNNING OUT OF FUCKIN' MONEY!

Thankfully we won't be doing that. Maybe? Hopefully!