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


"You gotta hang out with your chick, dude." -Me
"I hung out with her yesterday!" -Dakota

Sunday, 9-29-19: Bow shot, target hit.
This morning I got my hunting gear out of the closet, and it is out on the deck airing out. Probably tomorrow I'll put it all back into my hunting backpack along with some apples. The apples hopefully reduce or eliminate the civilized odors so a deer is less likely to notice odd scents that don't belong. I'm not 100% sure it makes a difference, but I do think it helps. Maybe? Hopefully! I've been really close to deer with their not knowing I was there. Except when I move and get caught moving. What a bunch of crap that is!

I watched the Patriots play an ugly game in Buffalo for most of the afternoon, and then I just shot my bow for only the second time all year. I felt great shooting and was mostly on the mark from 28-ish yards. Any further than ~30yds = DO NOT WANT CAUSE I WILL F IT UP. I can only get 28 in the back yard due to having a smaller in-town lot. The Pats did win this afternoon, but it was a sad game to watch for the offense. Thankfully the defense is phenomenal so far this season so the right team won, 16-10. Now the Greatriots are 4-0 on the season. Oh Jesus hell ya! The Red Sox are playing their final game of their 2019 season right now at Fenway, and the game really doesn't matter because they are not going to the postseason. What a bunch of crap!

Yesterday afternoon I scooted over to my bootleg Holyoke house to finish this repair:

Hopefully that former cellar window will stay water-tight for the new owners. I had no incentive to do a great job since in 3.5 weeks I won't own the house anymore, but I still tried to do good work because it is the right thing to do. If I half-ass it too much then it will come back on me some way and some how in the future. It's the ol' what goes around comes around type of thing.

It really feels like fall now. We have a frost advisory in effect tonight, the back yard is filling up with leaves, and it was in the 50s most of the day. I still went for a jog around midday in shorts and a tank top because the sun was out and felt good, but there was a very crisp breeze. Bye bye summer-warm weather for half a year. I still have some exterior work to do this fall, plenty of it in fact, but working outdoors in the 50s and 60s ins't usually too bad with a sweatshirt. Hopefully by November I'll be done with the exterior work.

Next month I have to finish cleaning up the former garage at our North Main property. That garage is mostly down now, but the site still looks like a natural disaster aftermath so there are plenty of materials to haul off. That will take all of this coming week, and possibly into next week depending on the weather and Phil's deck. I am supposed to be going down to Oakland Tuesday to work on that deck, but I don't even know it Phil ordered supplies yet. I guess if he didn't order materials I can just swing by Home Depot and get stuff. However, a lot of what he needs is 16-feet long so I can't get too much of that before my "Trac-Rack" on the truck would be too full.

I think by mid Oct I will have Phil's stuff done as well as the North Main garage removal so then I can start doing some siding for Gavin. That siding and some smaller stuff will close out Oct. I'd like to bowhunt a little up here next month, but most of my hunting will probably be in early-mid November both with my bow and with my rifle down at the ol' homestead.

I should probably also finish this siding at my Chamberlain duplex:

I could leave it like that until next year, but I really should side the friggin' thing for the sake of the neighbors. It is just the back side of the house so I'm not too concerned about leaving it looking ghetto for a while more.

We get money tomorrow, and that will be a nice feeling having more than a couple hundred bucks in the bank account. I did an equity loan on our house to take out $25k, and I thought I was getting the precious... precious money on Tuesday when I went to the bank to sign all the papers. Unfortunately there is some "lemon law" thing where I had 3 days to change my mind so the money doesn't get deposited until tomorrow. Waiting for the loot = what a bunch of crap! Oh well it's not a matter of life and death. I'll spend half of what we get tomorrow on property taxes and other bills.

Another large sum of money should be coming my way Oct 23 when we close on the sale of that Holyoke Street house. I'm hoping that all goes as planned because I really do NOT want to be owning that house into the winter. Each day I let that house sit vacant is dollar bills flying away. Mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities. The utils are minimal since I haven't needed heat yet, but taxes, insurance, and the mortgage are fixed costs that don't change whether I have the house rented or not.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 9-27-19: Has it really been 15+ years?
All I wanna know is why? Why have I kept this bootleg site that almost no one ever reads for as long as I have? It just renewed for about $18 for another year. My first update was September 19, 2004 so yeah that makes it 15+ years officially. What a bunch of crap! Where is my Crap cake gods damn it?

^That cake is perfectly fitting for such a terrible site.

Now on to photos of recent things. First, here is our garage that is disappearing fast at North Main:

^Roof being 100% gone = oh Jesus Hell ya! That garage is disappearing fast, and I am thankful for that because I want to get that lot paved next month. I did get a paving quote so hopefully that all can fall into place. I worked on taking that garage down this morning, and then this afternoon I had to go over to my Holyoke St house to take care of a few inspect-fail items. I'm actually glad there were a few inspection-fail items because that is how you play the real estate game. Thankfully the issues were not that hard to correct.

^A few loose and one or two missing roof shingles. Overall the roof is not too bad, but it is 10+ years old and it looks like monkeys installed the thing. They used good shingles, but they didn't necessarily do a good job with the nails. What a bunch of crap! I didn't do the roof'; it was done not too long before I bought the place in 2009. Someone or some investors started to rehab the house before epic fail set in and it never got done.

^I am by no means a prefessional roofer, but the job I did today should work. I didnt find exact-match color shingles so the new ones are darker, but F it my job today was to prevent leaks not make it look like a new roof. I also had to flash that chimney so hopefully they like how I did that.

I had a missing cellar winder, and I never even knew about it because it was hard to see:

^only the top part was showing because the rest of it was covered in dirt. I had to dig it all out and then do this to it:

Tomorrow I can coat it with bonding mortar, the stuff that I already bought at Lowe's today. Or Sunday I dunno yet. I do know Def Leppard is on my channel 1928, Animal. Great song! If you don't like Def Leppard then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

My phone gets text messages and guy looks. Oh hey it's Gavin up past his bedtime hehe. I need to help him next month with some siding. Maybe it will take a day, but my guess is it will take most of a week assuming I work on it 4-5 hours a day. I always have other things to do so working 8 hours a day on one project = HAHAHAHA. I might work a full day down at Phil's soon when he orders materials for his back deck. That might start as early as Tuesday next week, but if he doesn't get supplies then I guess not.

I talked to Mom and Dad tonight for 52 minutes and then I played my SNES Classic. President Trump is embroiled in another controversary involving Ukraine and a possible impeachment, and a kitten is sleeping in my hat. Dad was telling me how Trump is getting a raw deal, and he probably is. However, he is a terrible human who probably made his own luck. So far the front-running candidates for the 2020 presidential election are fail, fail, and epic fail. What a bunch of crap!

I accomplished NOTHING when I played SNES. Seriously. It was all bad. I played Mega Man X, and I could not even beat anyone. It was really pathetic. Then I gave up and played Yoshii's Island, but I didn't get very far in that before I just quit the whole thing. I guess I suck too much at everything these days, including being a good husband. What a bunch of crap!

I don't really think I'm a great husband. I don't do bullshit like call, text, message, or otherwise entice other wommens. I am 100% loyal to my wife. I don't even seek admiration from other chicks, and when I think there is even a hint of other chicks showing me interest I shut that shit down like a boss. Unfortunately, I just suck at being emotional. I'm a gret provider, but I'm not a creat confidant. I think my wife is getting tired of my ass, and I am actually getting tired of our "Anomal Planet" house. There are cats and gods all over the place, and getting a third dog was just dumb. Sadly I knew it was dumb, but I did it anyway because I suck at being a man. I should have put my foot down and aid NO.

Okay I can't even write well anymore so I have to quit. I already had to rewind and rewrite that last sentense a feew times. Oh awesome El Debarge Rythm of the Night. Great song! In conclusion I think I hate myself. A lot. I am good at a lot of things, but I am great at nothing at all. Let's get a Neverending Story photo to finish this shit-show off.

F that this one require someting even more epic. Where is Chunk riding Falcor?

^I can't find it, but this one is hilarious. AAHAHAHAHAH! I don't know why older guys want young chicks? It doesn't even make sense gods damn it. Young chicks are all busted becaue it is the cellphone Failbook generation. I love it when people laugh at my shitbag cellphone becaue it is about obsoltee. I honestly don't even want a cellphone about 50% of the time. Seriously. The end. Fin.

PS: A suicude booth on every corner for 25 cents like the one in Futurama is a great idea.

Where's my psychologst gods damn it?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, 9-24-19: Disappear, roof.
Revielle this morning was 0600, and my wife is at the gym with her new daughter-in-law, Debbie. They left at 0630 to go get their exercise, and I am home now killing a few minutes before I vacuum the floor and do DDP Yoga. I was also going to lift weights on this damp morning, but my precious... precious body has felt about maxed out over the past week since so much demolition has gotten done over at our North Main garage. Working over there is like using the friggin' gym, and if my wife saw some of the shit we have been doing she would not be happy with me. I've been up and down and all through the roof trusses and rafters, mostly perched precariously on 60-year old timbers 10-12 feet above a concrete floor. One wrong move, I fall, and I am pwned. I constantly tell myself to maintain three points of contact so that helps me stay safe-ish. Plus those old timbers are still plenty strong so I don't feel like anything is going to break and drop mey ass to the unforgiving floor below.

We got major demolition done yesterday, and it was a long work day for my ass. Jim, Jim's son, Dakota, and then Jim's friend (Ron) were all there at various parts of the day and for a few hours we were all there taking that muther apart. Jim was on the lift, I was in the rafters and on the roof, Dakota was ground-support, and the other two were all over the place. Jim and Ron are retired and [guessing] 70+ so seeing them work as hard as they did was inspiring You don't have to be old and a washed up spud like so many people are. Jim was showing me the scars that he has from a triple-bypass heart surgery also. No one slacked off at that property yesterday.

^Lots of trusses to disassemble still. Jim was gonna truck them out of there whole to reuse, but they are bowed and heavy so getting them apart makes the most sense. I just want them gone ASAP!

^Major progress made yesterday. It was hot, dirty, and dangerous at times but by the end of the day I felt like I had more than earned my supper.

If the weather cooperates we might get the rest of that roof down this afternoon, but rain is expected so that prospect is 50/50. I am paying Dakota to help, I paid Jim's son, but Jim is working over there in exchange for all the lumber and other scrap metals and misc that I just want to see disappear. Could I have kept all the wood for myself and build something? Of course! Or I could have sold the wood for a few hundred. However, I'd much rather get the "free" labor and expertise on the safe way to take things all apart than to risk doing it myself the wrong way or having to hire out a lift. It's well worthwhile to me to just give the lumber to Jim for free and have him help me. He seems to actually enjoy it, too.

I go to the bank at 1000 to hopefully get precious... precious money. Then I plan to head straight to city hall to pay $10k in property taxes. Watching that much money disappear so fast for seemingly little in return = what a bunch of crap! After that I can shovel in some lunch and possibly go work at North Main before it rains. Or, if it rains, I can hang out with my awesome wife more and we can keep disassembling that old garage tomorrow. I also still need to get a quote or two for paving the lot over there. I called two different paving people, but they suck at getting back to me so down the list I go. If we don't get it paved this fall it's not a huge problem, but I really would prefer to get it done if the price is within reason. A nice paved lot over there will really make the property look nice and professionally-maintained.

Alright turds, all two of youz who actually read this pathetic excuse of a webpage, I gotta vacuum and do yoga before I go get precious... precious money from the bank. Hopefully next month we can get even more money when and if the Holyoke Street house sells. So far so good on that place. Maybe? Hopefully. There was an inspection there last week, but I haven't heard how that went so as far as I know it is still on track to sell next month.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 9-22-19: Watching some football. Oh, a Star Wars movie trailer.
It's Sunday night, and I have the Rams vs the Browns NFL Sunday night game on the TV. I don't really care about either of these teams that much, but football is awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. The Rams were the NFC champs last season when the Greatriots beat them in the Superbowl. The Rams are still a good team this year, but the season is still so early it's hard to tell how things will end up. The Greatriots did win big against the Jets today to go 3-0 so that is great. The Pats have an AWESOME defense so far this year, and Tom "God" Brady has been playing very well, especially for a QB who is now 42 years old. From what I have read and heard on TV the guy takes damn good care of his precious... precious body so no wonder he still has success in the league. I try to take care of my body also, but I don't do nearly as well as I should. Thankfully I burn a shitload of energy each week so I can afford a little junk food and booze here and there.

The TV had an ad on for the new Star Wars movie that comes out later this year. It's part 9 and advertised as the finale, but I'm sure there will be even more of them made in the future. The spinoffs alone will consist of a few more movies I bet. They made one spinoff that was decent, Rogue One. Then they made a Han Solo spinoff that was just okay. I used to love Star Wars; Return of the Jedi was my favorite movie of all time. However, these days it's the Goonies who reign supreme. I still do consider ROTJ to be in my all-time top 5, though. Fuck off if you don't like that movie because you think the Ewoks suck. The Ewoks are awesome gods damn it.

^BEST STAR WARS MOVIE EVER MADE, 1983.

Star Wars part 9 looks decent. I hope it's better than part 8 was. I didn't hate part 8, but I didn't love it either. There is just no way to capture the magic of the first three Star Wars movies ever made. It is impossible.

Speaking of capturing the magic, tonight my awesome wife and I finished watching the new Dark Crystal prequel series on Netflix. I thought it was a good series, but not great. The original 1982 movie had some very cool concepts that were unique at the time, but it was never fleshed out into an all-time great like some other 80s fantasy movies were (cough:NeverendingStory:cough) Plus because it was 1982 some special effects are quite dated. The new series uses more CGI, but visually it is well-done. I think the story is a tad flawed, but the world of "Thra" is fleshed out much more. At times I had a hard time knowing what "Gelfling" I was watching because some of them looked the same. Plus the real downer, and my amazing wife said it best, is the fact that you know some way and somehow all but a couple of the Gelflings end up dead because that is what we see in the 1982 movie. Knowing characters you grow to appreciate are going to get killed off = what a bunch of crap!

I dunno if a season 2 is coming for the Dark Crystal prequel, but probably it is since everything gets milked right to death these days. The prequel series was overall well-done and I'd give it a 7 on a scale of 1-10. There was room for improvement, but it was a solid watch. They also explained more about the origin of the dirty heels (to put it into wrestling terms) so kudos for that.

I didn't work on the garage at our North Main property at all this weekend because I didn't really work at all. I did fix the drain on our bathroom sink, and I did chop some firewood. Overall I didn't really work too much, and it was glorious. The weather was fantastic, summer-like, and I can never complain about that. I got some exercise both days, and I spent some quality time with Kat. Even though I didn't work on that garage I had things getting done there so that is an even better feeling. Today the guy who wants all the wood was there all day taking things apart, things I planned to do myself, so that is a bonus for me as well. Tomorrow he plans to start taking the roof down so that might be a lot of work and a long-ish day. I can tell him to go F himself and quit earlier, but if we are making good progress then I really don't wanna quit, especially since he has a lift over there and that will help us a ton. The lift is borrowed so he might have to give it back to his friend anytime. Best to make the most of it while it is there.

It will be 82 tomorrow and fairly humid for this time of year so I expect to burn a bunch more calories and sweat a lot. Hopefully we can have most of that garage down this week since now I don't think I'll be working down at Phil's until October...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 9-21-19: No hangover = oh jesus hell ya!
I am not hungover today, and that is amazing considering how boozed up I got last night. Did I have one too many? Hell yeah I did! Do I regret having one too many? NOPE. I got so much exercise this week that getting liquored up seemed like a great way to close things out. No exercise for me today because I woke up with gods damned tennis elbow. I haven't had much tennis elbow lately, but stripping all the roof shingles off the North Main garage did me in. Tennis elbow = what a bunch of crap! Edit: okay I'm back and I did go for a 3-mile jog since the weather is so great.

Doing the demolition over at North Main is seriously more exercise than what my gym provides. All the hammering, prying, up and down ladders, etc really adds up. Plus those friggin' roof shingles needing to get scraped off. I could have just had the entire building demolished, but then we'd still have a mess to clean up. Plus getting machinery in there would not have been free. Doing it this way means we can salvage the majority of the lumber and not pay the trucking and dumpster fees for all of that stuff. It takes longer, but it saves me precious... precious money and even better I am happy the boards are going to get resued. If all goes well then next week we should have most of the building down. Maybe? Hopefully!

The weather is perfect right now so soon I will go cut up the wood in our side yard. It's been there for a year, and I should have had it done last fall. Leaving it there to start to rot = what a bunch of crap! No excuse.

^Hey at least my pile of wood isn't as bad as it was a couple years ago! I have a big pile still, but not that big.

Also today I should take the dogs over to the park. I haven't taken them to the park in weeks, and I've only taken them a couple times all year. Thankfully they do have the back yard to play in. It feels nice actually just hanging around the house and not having a lot to do this weekend. Phil texted me last night just before 1800 wondering if I could help him with his deck this weekend, but that is way too short of notice and I already planned to take care of that wood and clean up the yard, do some housework, and finally have an easy weekend. I do have a few other things that I want to do so his deck will probably have to wait until October now. He's busy for the next couple weeks, and I have to get that North Main garage down anyway so putting off that deck works for me anyway. Who knows he might not even need me to do it? I don't care about the money I just want to help him as a friend. Sucks he lives a friggin' hour away or I could help him for a little bit both today and tomorrow...

I'm closing on a home refinance loan Tuesday and dumping $25k into our joint checking account. It will be nice having precious... precious money. However, that money will disappear fast. Right now I have property tax bills on the bar to sort through. This fucking city, $172.43 personal property tax bill for our North Main building = what a bunch of crap! I don't even know what that tax is for, but I should find out since none of the other properties have that high of a number for the bullshit "personal property tax" thing. These friggin' property taxes are going to set us back $10k. Normally they'd "only" be $6k, but I blew off paying Allen Rd taxes earlier this year so my bad there.

North Main: $198+172+1479 = $1849
Gilmore St: $39+1281 = $1320
Allen Rd: $93+3178+3000 = $6271

BYE BYE $9440 WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I'll just give them $10k and they can put the excess towards the $6000 we'd owe for taxes next spring. (On our own house, Holyoke, and Chamberlain the taxes are escrowed out in the mortgage.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 9-20-19: A 77-minute phone call.
I talked to my Mom on the phone tonight for 77 minutes tonight. OMG epic long phone call! There was a lot to catch up on since we have not talked in a while. 3 weeks? I dunno because I suck. A lot. I am eating junk food right now and the Sox game is on my TV. The Red Sox are 80-72 and pwned for the season. No playoffs for you. What a bunch of crap! The Red Sox dominated last year and won the World Series, but this year they have been slightly above mediocre and the Yankees are going to win the AL East. What a bunch of crap!

I wonder if Mom knew I got drunk while we talked? I seriously am all liquored up, and I probably should not drive to the bar. However, I will drive to the bar because fuck it. I just ate a chocolate Pop Tart and it was delicious. I also have Teddy Gramans to eat next. If you don't like Teddy Grahams then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I will hate you a little more. I think I should not drink any more alcohol because I have to make it to th bar. I am so drunk that I have to rewind and fix my typos and soon I will not even care... whetehr or not I care.

I am so hungry it is almost retraded, but the term RETARD in this day and age is not okay so I will not use it again. Hahaha JK I am going to use it now because I am a retard. I burned about a billion calories (slight exaggeration) this week working on this gaarage demolition:

That garage is NOT easy to remove. It is like a turd that won't flush. I had to rewind because I just wrote LUCH instead of FLUSH. HEHEHEHE. All I wanna know is why? Why am I a useless pile of civilian shit? I dropped a Teddy Graham onto the floor and just fed our resident canine vacuum-cleaner, Groot. She was all over that like stink on shit. That garage wasgted Dakota like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket so he could not help me today. Okay, I don't even know where I am anymore so now is the time to drive to the bar.

I wanted to play SNES MegaMan X tonight, but gods damn it I did not because I talked to Mom for a long time. It was a good talk, and I am glad we were able to connect. I think it meant a lot to Mom, and I learned things. I never knew Uncle Jimmy met his wife, Aunt Carolyn, on Cape Cod several decades ago. Uncle Jimmy has a tumor in his head and that pisses me off because he is great. Speaking of great, that describes my wife. It is not fair when great people have medical calamities and when shitty people are kinda healthy but fuck it away. I know way too many people in this world who abuse their own precious... precious bodies and don't pay a price for it. What a bunch of crap that is!

I wonder when I will die? Just kidding I don't really give a fuck. If I die right now good enough thanks God who does not exist for a pretty swell ;ife. I guess rewinding to fid all my shitty wrong-words is dunb. Remember Spaceballs? GOOD IS DUNO. Rick Moranis is the MAN. Whre is my Spaceballs photos to post? I should rewind and fix me last sentence because it is all wrong but gods damn it I could eat ever one of these little Teeddy Gramahs. Gods aqmn it I canot wrote aymroe so bye bye I am going to the bar but pelase don't call the copps because I am most lokket too drunk to fgrieve. Gooonies bever say sie!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 9-18-19: I canceled a chimney and a lot of the bootleg garage today.
I did DDP Yoga this morning with my awesome wife, and then I headed over to North Main to keep making the old, bootleg, sinking garage disappear. Disappear, scumbag garage! I spent half my day, give or take, on the roof stripping off old shingles and taking the thing down to its board-lumber framing. The weather was fantastic with beginning temps in the 40s before warming up into the low 60s by the afternoon. Very low humidity and not a cloud in the sky. You really can't ask for better than that when you are working on a roof where it always feels hotter than the actual air temp. Overall I got a lot done, and it was nice having Dakota help for a few hours and having another guy on the job site to haul away "junk" and to give advice.

^Photo actually taken yesterday.

That garage is getting naked in a hurry! Today we got most of the shingles off the entire roof, and that is very important. Can't take any more off the sides until we lighten the load topside so the entire building doesn't fold over with one of us up on top. Dying over there would be a what a bunch of crap moment and then some.

That property is incredibly visible to the main drag so seemingly a million people see it, see the work being done, and come out of the proverbial woods to either want work or salvage. Thankfully some of them have come by when I have not been there and Dakota has headed them off. I'm NOT hiring anyone else there because first and foremost that takes away from the precious... precious money I have to pay Dakota. Second and also importantly the work there can be dangerous and I don't want to take on some "worker" only to have him or her get hurt right away. In this crazy me-centric world I bet a lot of people would want to "work" there just to fake an injury in order to win a lawsuit. What a bunch of crap that would be!

A guy did stop by to talk to Dakota last Friday regarding all the old lumber we are peeling off, and he came back on Monday to meet me. He wants all the boards so he can build a shed for himself, and it turns out he seems like a decent enough guy. Retired and used to have a contracting business. Maybe he is bullshitting me, but so far I think he is on the level. He doesn't want me to pay him, and he was actually going to pay me for the lumber. He has given me some good tips as far as the building takedown, and he has already hauled off stuff that I would consider to be junk. Good riddance! The more he takes away the less I pay to have hauled off. I was going to sell the boards to him, but once he started giving me real advice and pitching in some I just gave him all that stuff for his time and advice. There is still a LOT left there for him to take away. Some boards will not be usable at all because they rotted away, and parts of the roof are definitely not safe to walk on:

^I bashed away rotten boards while roof-stripping a few days ago in that section. You can see a few rotten ones still there that need to get hauled on. Thankfully the rest of the roof is okay. I also canceled a chimney today so now all that rubble needs to disappear. The bricks are incredibly heavy en-mass so we will NOT be tossing those into the dumpster. Maybe I'll haul them over to the landfill this Saturday since that type of debris is free to haul on at the local dump.

I had never taken down a chimney before today, and I gotta say it's pretty damn easy. Once years ago I took the top few feet off a chimney, but never the entire thing out all the way to the ground. A few wacks here and there with my sledge, not even full-force hits, and the mortar gives and each brick can get pulled and tossed. I also started removing some of the roof boards on the side in the photo above this aftrnoon, but only a few because taking too many = bye bye fall down to the brick-littered ground or onto the concrete floor still left inside the garage. Falling off that roof would be life-flight to Boston shit if not horrible death.

I might not work on that garage tomorrow because I have some trees I can trim and some other things I can do. However, maybe I will work there some. I dunno yet, I'll decide in the morning. I definitely won't be in a rush to get back up onto that roof since we might get a frost, our first frost of the season. Bye bye garden that produced zero cucumbers. What a bunch of crap! Oh well we have gotten some tomatos, and I like those the best of all the things we can grow. Not as many as last year, but last year I think we had too many.

I had planned to go work down at Phil's later this week to do his deck, but he didn't order supplies yet so now that might not happen until mid-end of next week or maybe not even at all this month. I don't want to go Monday because Kat works late Sunday night, and Tuesday I have a 1000 closing for this home refinance loan at the bank. I'm amazed that is going to close already because I just got approved for it last week. Fast turnaround time! It will be nice having that precious... precious money that we can turn right around and spend.

Alright turds, all two of youz who actually read this trash-pile. It's 2143 and closing in on my bedtime. My awesome wife went out for another "ladies night" to sing some karaoke so I've had this free time to write a little. I was also watching the Red Sox game, but they are losing badly and are toast for the season so now it is just quiet in here. Sometimes just silence is nice. I thought about playing SNES Classic for a while, but I think I will bivouac instead and maybe play some more MegaMan X Friday night. I should be tired since I probably burned 1,000,000 calories today. Slight exaggeration, but seriously working on that demolition is like using the gym.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, 9-16-19: Exhaustion will set in soon as usual. Oh hey, I don't have lyme disease!
Another weekend come and gone, another busy one. Dillon and Debbie got married yesterday at 1600, and it was a nice ceremony and overall good wedding and reception. After that was the Pour House where it became a late-night "what a bunch of crap!" moment, but I am NOT getting into that right now. I went to bed super-late last night, close to 0300. I'm happy for Dillon and Debbie, and I hope their marriage lasts a lifetime. Hey they have a 50/50 chance so roll the dice! They have already been together for 6 years so that does increase their odds of making it over the long-haul. However, they are relatively young in their mid-20s still so in this world maybe that is not in their favor. I'm guessing younger people who marry get divorced more than older people. I haven't looked it up so maybe what I just wrote was a total bunch of crap.

My blood-test results came in, and I am lyme disease-free. Oh Jesus hell ya! How cool is that? I thought I was pwned since I have had tick bites turn red and shit. Hell once I even ate a tick. That might not have been too wise, but I'm confident my awesome sarlacc-pit stomach gave that mudda fucka a fitting death.

^ALL TICKS SHOULD GO INTO A SARLACC PIT! I feel badly that I don't have lyme and my wife has 4 different strains of the virus. I'm the one who has been clearly bitten many times by ticks, and she can't remember even one bite. What a bunch of crap! Maybe when she was a vet-tech over 10 years ago she picked up some nasty stuff? At this point there is no way to know. Unfortunately she is still a long way from a full recovery and will be taking many medications for months more to come. It's really not fair at all. Reason #2 right there why there is no GOD. Reason #1 is childhood cancer and other horrible childhood illnesses. Seeing kids get cancer makes me say FUCK YOU GOD WHO DOES NOT REALLY EXIST. I don't cry for hardly anything, but that shit gets me every time.

Oh wow a massive explosion in Farmington killed a firefighter and injured 7 others. It was a huge evening news story on our local news, and now it is the second-top story of the NBC national news. Normally I do NOT watch the evening news, but my awesome wife is at a meeting so I have it on. That is really sad. Yet another reason on the long list why believing in a god is dumb.

I wanted to play rball against Mike this afternoon, but I could not because I'm maxed out. Before the wedding yesterday I lifted weights and jogged for 4 miles, my first 4-mile jog of the year. Today my ass is feeling sore; I've gotten a lot of exercise so far this month, and really since blueberry raking I have been very routine with the exercise. Kat and I often go for a 1.25-mile walk either before or after supper so a few of those a week also help. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape right now. I mostly stopped using my gym over a large part of the spring and summer, but I got lots of exercise doing carpentry and some yoga. Now I'm back using my gym much more regularly.

Tomorrow at 1400 is an inspection of my Holyoke Street house that went under contract last Thursday afternoon just before my awesome wife and I went to the theater to watch IT: Chapter 2 (Good movie, not quite as good as part 1 but definitely a worthy sequel.) It is a nice feeling having that place under contract, but it is bittersweet because I won't get nearly as much money from he sale as I wanted. What a bunch of crap! The buyers offered $94k, but I have to pay $4500 in closing costs so really I'm selling the place for $89,500 and that is BEFORE Jody gets his deserved 6%. So after selling expenses and after the loan payoff I should end up with $60k. That is still a fantastic number, but it will disappear very quickly to taxes, paying off Lowe's and Home Depot cards, paving North Main, etc.

Also last Thursday I got approved for a home equity loan so that is awesome. Up to $28,900. I don't know how those loans really work, but I'm sure it's not hard to figure out. If I draw $25k at closing the rate is only 3.875% so how cool is that?! The bank sent me the letter today, and my credit score is 710. I think my credit score has been close to 700-720 for a few years now. I can't get it any higher because I owe too much to banks for all the rental properties. All I had to do for approval on that home equity loan was email a bunch of house photos to George at the bank. It almost seemed too easy. Like, where's the catch here?

^I used Kat's camera to take house photos, and I really like how this one of the back yard came out. The yard looks nice overall even though there is that pesky patch of bare earth between the deck steps and the fire pit. Grass just refuses to grow there. What a bunch of crap!

Hopefully that loan and the Holyoke deal all go through as planned so we can then have even more money. I might not even need the home equity money, but I'll sure as hell take it anyway because 3.875% is damn low. Hell maybe I can use that to pay off the Lowe's and Home Depot cards and then also pay off my Chamberlain Street duplex. I really don't know yet because I haven't priced paving at North Main. That might cost $10,000 or it might cost $20,000. I also want a new garage at North Main, something smaller (I got a permit for that today for $150), and I have to pay off some property taxes so bye bye precious... precious money as usual.

I was planning to go down to Oakland to finish Phil's deck for a couple days this week, tomorrow and Thursday, but Phil hasn't ordered supplies yet and when he and I talked earlier I made it clear to him that I am not in a hurry at all and I'll do it whenever he is ready. If he gets supplies this week then great, maybe Dakota and I can go Wed-Thurs or even Thurs-Fri. If not no problem because major plans are unfolding for our North Main garage dismantling. Hopefully I can write more about that next time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 9-13-19: I played video games tonight.
I don't think I've gotten half-drunk and updated this turd-heap on a Friday night in a few weeks. I've spent most of my last couple Friday nights at Jester's. Tonight I helped my awesome wife set up for her karaoke show, and I came home and played my SNES Classic. I have not played that thing in a while, and I was starting to lose interest because I already played the hell out of the two best games, Super Metroid and Super Zelda (A Link to the Past.) I have played a few other games for the classic, but some of the ones that I have tried SUCK ASS. Playing an old video game that you thought was going to be good but then turns out to be ten pounds of shit stuffed into a metaphorical five pound bag = WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

I put on channel 1928, and Duran Duran sings about Rio. It is a song about some chick and not a town, but the Rio Grande river is mentioned so I don't even know how to explain this one. Not their best, but a passable 80s tune. Doesn't Trump want a wall along the Rio Grande? Or is there one now? I thought the Rio was the Texas-Mexico border, but if it is not then I suck. A lot.

Bon Jovi, Bad Medicine. Oh Jesus Hell ya! Great tune! If you disagree then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I will hate you a little more.

So tonight I drank coffee brandy and milk and played MegaMan X. That game was epic fun, and I had a blast. I only played for about one hour, but it was a glorious hour. I started to get drunk and I lost my ass. Normally that would be a bunch of crap, but in that game there are 8 levels from which to choose and if you choose the wrong one then you are pwned. Needless to say I got pwned a lot. A LOT. The fact that I got somewhat boozed up did not affect my deaths. Even 100% sober I would have died a lot because it is hard. I made it to the enemy boss in the tree level and that ended badly. I tried an electrical level and got zapped before making it to the boss. Finally I made it to the fire guy and almost killed his loser-ass. I was down to my last life and had him down to his final two energy-nuggets when he pwned me. What a bunch of crap!

LOSING TO THE ENEMAY BOSS WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO KILL THAT BOSS SUCKS. Especially when it is your last life. What a bunch of crap!

^This guy wasted me like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. It was all bad for me note to self do not go to him again without more powers.

Oh, I have photos and updates to share that are pretty cool. First I got my bootleg Holyoke house under contract. Second I got approved for a bank loan so soon we will have money again. Having money is great! I used to know what that feels like but then I started to suck. I think I am pretty drunk now so I will figure it out as I write each sentence. I have to rewind and fix typos sometimes so that means I am almost too drunk to drive to the bar. Shhhhh that can be our secret, all two of us.

I had a typical day of work today where I do different things. Does that mean I have an adult version of ADD? First I trimmed some trees and almost died. Then I found a huge wasp nest and got stung. That was a bunch of crap. After that I worked on the garage demolition at our North Main property. The guys showed up to remove asbestos siding Wednesday and yesterday, and here are some fun photos:

^In that photo the asbestos siding is almost gone. Since I took that picture it is all gone. Disappear, scumbag asbestos! The pine-board sheating really shows how badly that building is sinking into the ground.

^The back side as the two guys haul on the siding. I can't wait for that entire building to just disappear forever because it is pwned. More pwned than I was when I fought the tree-boss in MegaMan X. Hehehee.

The Thompson Twins fuckin' rocked the 80s. Do not disagree with me or else you get the hose.

^That garage looks so funny from the inside with the bootleg asbestos siding removed! I think maybe Dakota and I can take that thing down without heavy equipment, but that is just a guess and I will take things day by day. When it seems too unsafe I will quit and hire out some of it. I also stripped down some of the roof this morning, and that went well enough. There is still a SHITLOAD of work left to do over there so when I get more money we can hopefully get it all taken care of.

It is weird that the Red Sox are not playing tonight. It is a scheduled off-day, and I can not ever recall a sceduled day off on a Friday, ever, for the Red Sox. I thought all MLB teams played on Friday nights? The Sox are pwned anyway and will not make the playoffs, but having a Friday off is just weird.

I'm hungry and want snacks. Thankfully I have snacks on standby so I can put fuel in the tank. I have gotten a lot of exercise this month, and I am back to close to goal in life. Goal is work to live, not live to work. It is a constand struggle because everything costs precious... precious money and I want lots of that stuff. I don't want yatchs and shit, I just want to be comfortable and reasonable. Right now I do want food, thought.

I put some fuel in the tank, and Madonna is singing a song that totally rocks. Express yourself, 1989. Jut kidding it is Open Your Heart, 1989. I don't really know if it is 1989, but I think it is. Our TV cuts off the year. What a bunch of crap!

Hey, Eddie Money died today at age 70. That is sad. He had a boatload of catchy 80s tunes with his best being Take Me Home Tonight. Walk on Water and Two Tickets to Paradise also get played on my mp3 player, random shuffle.

I guess I am now officially too drunk to heel writing on this bootleg site so I am out like a fat kid in doge ball. Goonies ever say die!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 9-11-19: Bye bye asbestos.
I went to the bank today to beg for money. I didn't really actually beg like a homeless person on the corner, but I did politely apply for some precious... precious loot. Will I get approved? I'd give it 50/50 since the debt to equity ratio is probably still ugly. Owe a few hundred grand, make a fraction of that, look bad on paper. Never ever default on one payment in 15.5 years in business? That describes my ass to a tee. Good thing the city doesn't report my failure to pay property taxes on time to credit bureaus. Hehehe. I do pay them before it gets too bad, but paying them late every friggin' year = what a bunch of crap! I religiously keep all the other bills paid on time, but property taxes (the ones not escrowed) seem to fall by the wayside all too often.

This garage looks a lot different today than it did yesterday when I took that picture. Today over half of the asbestos siding disappeared. into canisters and the fuck off our property. I really didn't spend any time over there today because I had other things to do like apply for a home equity loan and finish a ceiling that should have been done nearly two months ago.

The days seem to fly by, and wow it is already the middle of September. It's close to bedtime, but not quite yet. My awesome wife went out to sing karaoke for a "ladies night", and the Red Sox are getting crushed. I talked to Phil a few minutes ago, and it looks like Dakota and I will be returning to his house as soon as next week to rebuild this bootleg deck:

^From several months ago, late April or possibly early May. I'd guess the deck will take 4 days to do because it is BIG and only half of the thing is shown above. Hopefully it takes less than 4 days. Phil has other things needing done down there as well so we will hit it as hard as we can before other projects up here pull me away. There isn't a shitload of good weather left to come before real cold hits. Even though winter is still 3 months away November around here can be a winter month, bigtime. That only leaves a "guaranteed" 6 or 7 weeks of decent weather before all bets are off. I really need to have all the work at Phil's done as well as the garage removed at N Main before real cold hits. Also it would be nice to have N Main all paved and looking great for potential tax customers. That part all depends on how much money I can get from the bank and when/if I can sell that gods damned Holyoke Street house...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, 9-10-19: Can't sleep in the middle of the night.
I should be sound asleep right now, but I cannot sleep. I woke up probably a little after midnight, I tossed and turned, and now it is 0230 any my loser ass has been out of bed and on the computer for 45 minutes or so. Not sleeping = what a bunch of crap! I normally bivouac just fine through the night, but not when my mind is on overdrive because I have too much to think about. My awesome wife says it best when it happens to her: "I can't turn my brain off."

I am stressed out because I can't sell my bootleg fucking Holyoke Street house, and we need the money to finish up our North Main property. Oh, we also need the money to live our lives. I spent all kinds of precious... precious money this summer as what I thought was going to be an investment that would pay back nicely when I sold this house:

I thought it would sell for around $100k easily, but we have it listed for $99k right now and unanimously everyone who has looked at it has NOT wanted to live there. There was supposedly a cash buyer last week, a guy wanting to use it as a rental, but that fell through. Jody has promoted that place like a boss and there have been a shitload of showings, too. It sucks because now we are into mid-September and soon it will be cold and fewer people will probably be in the market for a house at all. I guess we can let the place ride on the market for a while more and then if there are no offers I will have to get really ridiculous and dump it all the way down to $89k. Beyond that maybe I realize I am stuck with the house and I just keep it and rent it out, possibly sell one of my other properties...

I just looked it up, and I "only" owe $24,447 on that house. Since I can't sell that building I need to go to the bank and get more money. An equity or a refinance loan? I intend to make that a priority today to at least schedule a meeting with my bank guy. I'll explore some options and hope like hell my credit score is still good enough. We have plenty of equity in other properties so hopefully it won't be too hard to get more precious... precious money. Maybe even find a way to consolidate some things. I have too much equity right now and not enough actual friggin' money. What a bunch of crap!

I really wasn't worried about it too much until I got this email yesterday:

Hi Steve, We have created an opening for you this week. We are in hopes to get there on Wednesday anticipating we would be completed by Thursday early. My crew is downeast and if we get our work down there done on Tuesday, we'd be to you early Wednesday. If not, i feel we'd be there at some point on Wednesday to get the process started. We have filed the permit & fee to the DEP reflecting this schedule, so hopefully this works for you.

That was from the asbestos remediation company regarding the garage at North Main. When I reached out to them a couple weeks ago it seemed they might not get to me until October, if at all this year since they are busy. Now they are coming tomorrow, and I will have to give them $3360 so gods damn it I need MONEY. I do have it, but after they finish I won't have much leftover. I could have asked them to wait, but F that if I wait then it might not get done at all this year and I need it to happen. It is a good thing they can come this week, but it is a bad thing because now I have to kiss a huge chunk of that precious... precious money goodbye. What a bunch of crap!

So basically I can't sleep because I am thinking about money. I am wide awake, and that sucks. A lot. I didn't get much sleep last night either. Stayed up until 0230 and slept about five hours. Ah well at least I got to watch the Patriots stomp a mudhole into the Steelers and walk it dry in their season opener. Greatriots won, 33-3, and Brady had himself another good game. That guy is amazing considering he is 42 and considered ancient for an NFL player. Unfortunately the Red Sox lost 3 of 4 to the Yankees at Fenway so now they are pwned and 99.9% eliminated from any playoff hopes. What a bunch of crap!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 9-08-19: Sports and a garage.
The Patriots play their first regular-season game tonight against the Steelers, and the Sox will play the Yankees. My aweome DJ wife will be working hosting the weekly karaoke at the Pour House, and I will be home and most likely on the couch watching sports. I can channel-surf between the two games, but I'm sure I'll mostly watch the Pats. The Red Sox are pwned, and the Yankees are going to take first place in the division. It's a playoff race that is not even close. What a bunch of crap! The Sox have a very slim chance of maybe taking a wild-card playoff spot, but we're talking probably a 3% chance so they are essentially all done. Fin. Great hitting, bad starting pitching = pwned.

We stayed up late again last night, and I got boozed up and had a great time. Kat went downtown with Debbie, Katherine, and Ang so they had a girls night. They hit up Half Acre club and then went to the nudie-bar. Seriously. My awesome wife took her daughter and her soon-to-be daughter in law to the strip club. HAHAHAHAHAHA! She said the strippers looked sad; I have not been to a nudie-bar in maybe close to a decade. Last time I went was a shit-show, and we got tossed out. I wonder if I wrote about that in the archives of this bootleg site? Guy looks...

I can't find it and it is not worth searching for. I think Doug got us booted because he was on his cellphone. The bouncer said no phones but Doug didn't care so bye bye us. I really don't even want to go to a strip-club again because it costs a lot of money and I really don't give a shit about seeing other chicks shell 'em out. My wife's boobs are the only boobs I ever need to see again in my life.

While the ladies were out watching boobs bounce I was here at the house having a fire out back with Dakota, Neil, Kevin, and Gavin. I wasn't sure G would even show up, but not only did he come by but he also stayed out all the way until past last-call. We did end up at Jester's for a bit before we met back up with the ladies, and a drunk Gav was hilarious. We were talking about when we were kids and Gushee almost rolled the bus over on two different occasions. All the kids had to get to one side of the bus so we didn't roll, and I was the asshole on the other side trying to get the bus to tip over. What a bunch of crap!

Gav wants to hire me to do siding for him later this month or next month, and then closer to the end of the year before I start doing taxes he wants to hire me for sheetrock work. We were talking about his 5-foot high knee-wall and the best way to sheetrock that. I told him probably go sideways so you don't have to waste 3 feet of each 8-foot sheet. (Or 2 feet of a 12-footer if we go that route.) I asked "What would you do with all the 3-foot pieces?" He joked "Throw them into my dumpster along with everything else!" That guy is so funny when he drinks. His house, what a job that thing is. I guess he wants me to hang the sheetrock as well as mud and tape, but he is a long way from that part yet since he still needs wiring, insulation, and a few more walls.

I had fun last night and I'm not really hungover today so bonus for me. I tried to take a nap, but I didn't sleep. Instead I kept thinking about this bootleg piece of shit garage that needs to disappear:

^Asbestos siding = what a bunch of crap! I'm thinking $20k will get rid of the garage and hopefully get a larger parking area all set up, but that probably really means $25k. Maybe $10k to get rid of the garage and to level the area, and another $10k to have it all paved? $5k for overages since I have no idea what it will really cost? The current garage is 30x40, and I am sorta thinking about doing a new garage that would be roughly half that size and take up the back end, 20x30-ish? Not sure what the city will allow me to do yet. I probably would not build a new garage until next year if I even do it at all.

^The inside of the garage. There is a bootleg, cracking, beefy concrete floor that was poured after the garage was built so it does not hold up the side walls at all. There is nothing holding up the side walls so that is a big reason why I want to get rid of the garage. The thing is too big, and it is sinking into the earth. What a bunch of crap! Getting rid of that concrete floor will suck. A lot.

We still have to figure out some logistical things like getting that I-beam down without dying. I might hire that out or I might live dangerously. Not sure yet all depends on what our landscape and plow guy has to offer. His company does demolition, and it seems possibly also asbestos removal, so hopefully he and I can meet this week and talk numbers. I already have a huge dumpster there so this week Dakota and I can start filling it up with some rogue debris from not only that garage but also from other properties.

I need friggin' money gods damn it, and that fact that my Holyoke Street house is not selling sucks. A lot. I guess my bad not taking that guy's "cash" $89k offer three days ago? Too soon to tell, but if I don't get a buyer for that house soon then I will have to go get a bank loan. I am already preapproved through TD bank for some kind of loan because they email me offers. I need to get that garage gone and the lot at least leveled for parking before snow flies. It is important to me to get that all done so we can have a nice, professional-looking business over there at North Main. Right now the business building itself looks great, but parking is limited and that existing garage is a horrible eyesore. What a bunch of crap!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 9-07-19: A price drop, a dumpster, and a hurricane.
Today's weather is a toilet. Forecast high temp of 55, an inch (or more) of rain, and winds that could gust to 40MPH. Good thing I didn't have outdoor plans today because conditions = what a bunch of crap! I actually don't have too much going on today, and that is a rare thing for a Saturday. Hurricane Dorian is cruising up the coast; thankfully it is too far out to sea to do huge damage here. That storm already wasted on the Bahamas and the Carolinas, though. It was a massive hurricane, one of the strongest ever, when it hit the Bahamas. Then it stalled out over those islands for a while so I feel badly for people living down there. Comparatively we have it very easy.

^From weather.com not long ago. Halifax is going to get hit. Thankfully the storm has weakened from what it once was.

This rain fuckin' sucks because there is another showing at my bootleg Holyoke Street house at 1100, and there will be a literal deluge going on. For sure some water, if not a lot of water, will be in the cellar. It only started raining around 0600, but right now it is pouring outside. It's raining so hard that Tiger Lily didn't even leave the deck to go pee. What a bunch of crap!

Holyoke had another poor showing Wednesday evening so on Thursday Jody and I talked about a price-drop. He suggested going down from $109k to $102,900. I suggested going even lower since apparently that house sucks ass so now we're at $99k. Jody thinks that will be a great price to move the place, and I hope he is right. So far the shared driveway has been a real downer. The cellar sucks, too. Gods damn it!

On Thursday evening Kat and I were watching IT: Chapter one (Great movie, part II is in theaters now so we might go this weekend or during the week.) when Jody called my ass. He had a guy wanting to buy the house for a cash offer of $89k. I had to make a quick decision so I said sorry, but that is too low. A cash offer isn't really a closing where a briefcase full of Benjis gets passed across a table, but it would be awesome if that were the case. I guess a cash offer means the person has the money already in the bank so there is no loan bullshit to deal with. No bank inspections, fast closing. That is how I sold my Kenduskeag Ave duplex 1.5 years ago for $90k (took a loss on that one what a bunch of crap!)

I told Jody I'd do $96k, and the guy was going to think on it so that is how we left things Thursday night. Yesterday I thought about it more, I think about it a lot, and I decided I would go as low as $94k. Jody let his guy know, I had to send along the fuel usage stats (he wants it as a rental house), and that is the last I heard of it. Meanwhile there was another poor showing yesterday evening so last night I sent this to Jody:

"Are there any more showings scheduled? I might take that guy's $89k cash offer if he is still interested... stew on it and let me know if that would be dumb. I'm not expecting to hear back tonight because I am going to get drunk and pass out. I will be up late in case you do need to text me. I won't check email until tomorrow. Thanks for all you've done so far!"

I really am feeling the pressure to sell this fuckin' house because we just dumped $800 into stupid lyme disease bullshit ($400 for my testing, $400 for a month's worth of Kat's meds that she 100% has to have), and I think that is just the tip of that proverbial iceberg. Much more precious... precious money needs to go into that battle. Poor Squidward is seemingly in poor health so yesterday it was bye bye $700 more at the vet for all kinds of testing. The cat is only 10 years old, maybe 11 now, and he should not be dying yet. All that money spent and still no answer there. Hell maybe he has lyme, too. Can cats get that shit? Probably since dogs can.

Last night was my awesome DJ wife's 6-year anniversary of working at Jester's so I stayed down at the bar for most of the occasion. I did come home briefly to have a snack, a drink, to put the dogs out, and to send that email above to Jody. My bar tab last night was only $4 so that is awesome! Gavin came down to the bar and bought me a PBR tall beer since I helped him work on his bootleg house for a couple hours before I lost to Deno at rball yesterday afternoon. Oh, I also had to turn the furnaces on yesterday. Bye bye summer, hello fall.

Also yesterday I had a 40-yard, massive dumpster delivered here:

^I took the picture before the dumpster arrived, and now the dumpster is right out front. This fall I want to make that 30x40-foot bootleg structure disappear, and in its place I want a smaller garage and a parking area. I probably won't actually do a smaller garage until next year, and I might not even be able to do that because code is restrictive. I'll go talk to the guys at city hall sometime soon and see what our options are.

We won't have the money to demolish that garage in its entirety until Holyoke Street sells so that is another reason why I am seriouly considering seeing if Jody's magical cash man still wants the place for $89k cash offer. Show me the money!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 9-04-19: We polished the turd a little more today.
Dakota and I worked over at my Holyoke Street house for a few hours today, and we put a little more lipstick onto the proverbial pig. We polished the turd, so to speak. Hopefully the effort will pay off, but really we didn't do that much in the grand scheme of things. A little more paint, a little more cleanup, debris removal, shed cleaning, etc.

That house really isn't terrible, but it has NOT showed well. There was another showing yesterday and two more Monday, and I received feedback from all of them recently. Here is what I've gotten for feedback from the past four prospective buyers:

"Buyer didn't like the shared driveway. Price too high."
"Found another they liked better." Rated a 3 on a scale of 1-5.
"Buyers decided to make an offer on another property They did not like the basement and shared driveway" Rated a 4 on a scale of 1-5.
"Wet basement and signs of dry rot were the big concern. Ruled it out." Rated a 2 on a scale of 1-5.

What a bunch of crap! So I'm averaging a 3 on the scale of 1-5, but the shared driveway is a real killer. It is now 1900 so two hours ago there was a showing scheduled. If that one gives me a FAIL result then I have to talk to Jody about a serious price drop. Like, bigtime drop. We started at $114,900 for the first four showings and then dropped it down to $109,000 for the past few showings and still no offers at all. Epic friggin' fail and what a bunch of crap all rolled up into one. I really underestimated what the market would bear for that house. I got used to the shared driveway, but I do understand why it would put a lot of people off on the house. No real yard at all would suck for a family.

^I did fix that part of the cellar, but other beams look punky also and there is only so much I can do at this point. Maybe I could buy some more 2x8s and sister a few more, but I think I'd rather just do another price drop. No guarantee more carpentry in the basement will even make a difference, not unless I redo it all and that is NOT happening.

I need to sell that house more than ever because we went down to Bootbay yesterday to see the lyme and chronic specialist, and Kat found out she has babesiosis in addition to the other lyme-related illnesses we already knew about. New round of prescriptions, bye bye $390 today. OMG! Without insurance that cost would be into the thousands. I paid $400 to have a basic lyme panel done so the chick there had to stab me so she could collect my blood samples. Getting stabbed sucks. A lot. It doesn't make me pass out, but it definitely makes my loser ass uncomfortable. I definitely don't watch my own blood getting pumped into the little test-tube-thingie. (syringe? Hell if I know I suck at medicine stuff.)

My blood gets sent off to some lab all the way in California, and it will take a couple weeks or so for my results to appear. I'm guessing I have something, but I hope I don't have anything since I don't have any health insurace or prescription plan and we simply cannot afford to pay for medicines. Gavin texted me last night that his babesiosis (yeah he has it also. What a bunch of crap!) would have cost $2700 a month if he didn't have health insurance through his work. He still has a co-pay, but it is much less than what Kat even has to pay for hers. That full-price no-insurance cost is crippling and, quite frankly, I don't value my own life at that sum so I'd just live with it if I do get a positive. Who knows maybe I'll have something else that is cheaper to cure. Or maybe I'll have nothing at all. The doc did heavily allude to the fact that some of that lyme shit can be passed along sexually so I'm probably pwned, though.

I don't really even give a fuck about myself, I just want my awesome wife to get better. She is a great person who got dealt a shit hand in life so having something go her way would be great. Finding out she now has six different strains of infections instead of four was a real downer for her. I see it as a positive because we need to know what is wrong so we can start to fix it. She is stressed out about the cost of it all, but I am more concerned about seeing her feel better each day. Today she had a good day and was able to do yoga and lift weights with me in the gym this morning. Then she rode her exercise bike for 11 miles and we went for a 1.25-mile walk after supper. Both her and I got a lot of exercise today because I also went for a jog before supper.

It is now 2147, and soon I will bivouac. My awesome wife went out to sing some karaoke with a couple friends, and I am happy she has been doing that. This is her third consecutive week going to karaoke on a weekday so she'll be home later after I am asleep. I might wake up to say hello, but I'll probably fall right back to sleep. I'd probably already be in bed, but this gods damned thunderstorm came through at pretty much the worst time:

We got a deluge of rain, and Copper went and hid upstairs like a little sissy-mary dog. He hides when there is even a hint of thunder. What a bunch of crap! The things that scare him cannot be explained. He won't eat ice cream off a spoon, he goes and hides, but if I run a saw he will walk over and wonder what is going on without any sense of fear.

I would put the dogs out, but now I have to wait because Copper would not go pee in a thunderstorm. Now the worst has passed and the reds that were on the radar right over us (heavy downpour) have fallen apart. Typical life of a thunderstorm. Maybe I can lay in bed and catch a few minutes of the Red Sox game before I tap out for the day. Or maybe I will leave the TV off and just sleep.

Alright turds, all two of youz, I am out like a fat kid in dodge ball. Hopefully tonight's Holyoke St showing went well. Goonies never say die!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 9-01-19: Bring on Wednesday!
I am very much looking forward to Wednesday. Actually Tuesday evening when my aweome wife and I get home will be nice. Between now and then things are busy, very busy. What a bunch of crap! I just had a busy yet good trip down to the ol' homestead to visit and to do a few little things for Mom and Dad at their house. Dad had some tree debris needing to be cut up with my chainsaw and tossed into the nearby bushes out of sight, and they had an unfinished bedroom window that needed trim. Done and done!

I spent last night at Mom and Pop's, and it was a really nice visit. We had time to chat and to catch up, and for the first time in seemingly forever I didn't feel rushed. Today was Mom's birthday so we spent a good chunk of the midday and afternoon over at Jason and Holly's "mansion." We shot our bows, and 8-year old Nadia shot her little pink air rifle as well. I actually don't know if Nadia is 8 because I suck. Let's say between 7-9? She is going to start the 3rd grade this school year. Not knowing my own niece's age = what a bunch of crap!

I shot my bow like a boss so hopefully that bodes well for the upcoming hunting season. Jason bet me $2 that I couldn't put an arrow into the small white neck of his deer target from 30 yards, and I hit that dead-on. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut. Hehehe. Normally when we do stupid crap like that Dad is all against it (he was!) and I screw it all up and miss. Jason and Holly gave Mom a bunch of money for her birthday and a great card that Nadia made, and I just showed up with a chainsaw and a chop-saw and didn't officially get Mom anything. Not even a card. What a bunch of crap! Way to make me look bad, bro. Oh well at least I did bring a default Hannaford cake for dessert. We a nice lunch. The weather was great so bonus there, too.

Tonight Dakota and I have to start the karaoke gig at the Pour House because my awesome DJ-wife is up in Brownville with no cell service doing a camp wedding. I got back into town with enough spare time to life some weights in my bootleg gym, and if I really was motivated I would jog. However, it is already after 1800 and I still have to eat and shower to I don't want to feel super rushed before we go attempt to make my wife look good in her absence. She will be back for the last half or 3/4 of her show so we just have to get it started. I say we when it's really Dakota since he will be running the show and on the mic. I'm just the speaker bitch! Hehehe.

Tomorrow I have to help Gavin all day working on his house, and Tuesday we go down to Boothbay Harbor for lyme consults so tonight and the next couple days will be busy ones. I'm going to pay $400 to get the "economy" lyme test when we go Tuesday, and Kat is consulting the doc about her treatments and her progress so far. She was diagnosed with three different types of lyme. Three! OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I think Dad has lyme also, but he is too stubborn to go get tested. His insurance covers the cost and he has enough time since he is retired so him not going sucks. A lot. Dad is skeptical that a diagnosis and medicine would help him, but it has helped Kat and other people whom we know so I hope he does think about it more and actually go. It should be very telling to him how serious it is when I am going to get tested. Stupid gods damned ticks!