We've Got Shed

We finally got the shed installed after months of research and prep and it looks good! We have been trying to get it painted but the weather does not want to cooperate. Either it's too cold, raining or too foggy, we can barely get enough of a brake to finish anything substantial. We thought we were making progress over the weekend but before two of the sides had a chance to dry somewhat the sun went down and it got humid and foggy which caused the paint to run slightly. Nothing major that the second coat wont fix but still a pain. Today I finally finished the trim but i'm sure a second coat is in the future. Anyways we are happy with the purchase but I am positive my friend who thought he was going to "GET PAID" to help me build the shed initially wont be as pleased as I am, we have yet to break the news to him. We can now finally get settled into our house now that I have a place to store all my shit other than in the spare bedroom, closets and dining area.

Storm update:

Truth is we were spared and only got about 10 minutes of strong winds. The storm went right around us but gave Seattle and the burbs a few fallen trees, pwr outages, smashed homes and damaged cars. We were lucky this time!

Enjoy

Mike

Batten down the hatches

Yes folks it's that time of year again for the wind and the rain to wreak havoc on us here as we prepare for another dose of high winds followed by rain from the weather Gods. We are expecting winds up to 50 mph, not nearly as bad as last year but it is quite early in the season for this much wind. So as you can imagine I spent my day preparing for the "what if the power goes out" scenario! Since I still have the generator from our friends down south, I got it out and dusted it off, filled up all my gas cans, tied down some things outside and bought some heavy duty chain so the generator doesn't get stolen. As for inside the house we charged everything with a battery, broke out the emergency candles w/matches and inventoried my disaster kit. Last year we were w/out pwr for 3 days. We froze, cooked on our propane camp stove, played boardgames by candlelight and did whatever else we could to keep boredom at bay. This year we will stay warm at the very least but we also will be able to watch dvd's and such maybe even tv if the cable is not out. Either way we are set much better this year. Unfortunately our friends asked for their generator back so although we will be able to weather through this storm the next one we may not be as lucky. The generator I want is about 1200 bucks which leaves me about 800 bucks shy of that so hopefully I win the lottery or I happen to find a rather large sum of money on the ground because there will be more storms and there will be more power outages...thats a fact! Anyone wishing to donate to the cause please feel free to call, email or respond to this post.

I wanted to include some of the pics of the flowers Rhonda planted this year. They turned out really well in the pots we purchased and definately add to our otherwise bare landscape. We are hoping for grass next year and I would like to do a garden. I'm thinking of a raised garden due to our soil being very rocky and sandy. We also want to do some composting. I've been researching those composters that you add stuff to and just give the handle a crank. Seems like those would be much less labor intensive than just a ground system not to mention they apparently work faster so they produce more compost. I will keep you informed.

Stay tuned for the aftermath of the storm report and just remember it might be a couple of days...who knows!

Enjoy

Raining like Cats & Dogs...Now thats an understatement!

Howdy Y'all,

I know it's been awhile but I have been lazy. Right know it's raining so hard and so much I would not be surprised if I saw something float by. It's raining more like bucketfulls of endless water rather than cats & dogs! Anyway not much new here. Some of you know I got new blinds for the house so I shall explain. In the front part of the house we went with cellular blinds as they let the light in but block out the heat (on hot days) and offer great privacy as well. In the bedrooms we went with wood blinds as they block out the light and offer great privacy also. Finally window coverings!!! Now a week from today my new shed gets delivered...YEAH!!! I wont even begin to tell you the crap I had to go through to get the permit but I will say that I am surprised that nobody has ever walked into the permit office with a device that does harm and showed them how he feels. My advice, if you ever need a permit do whatever you can to circumvent that office and just do whatever you want to without going through that nightmare!!! Rhonda has been given another week of vacation so next week she will be taking it. No we are not doing anything special. Mostly due to the fact that her boss wanted her to take this week off in october giving us no time to plan anything not to mention put a few bucks off for something fun. Oh and her boss moved to New York so now she runs the office on this coast by herself. She did have another lady working with her but she got into a car accident and is messed up really bad so she no longer works there. Meanwhile R's boss thinks its cool to mail out her paycheck the day she is supposed to get it (on Payday) and so now she gets her paycheck about 4-5 days after payday. I cannot begin to tell you how pissed off that makes me and if it was not for the fact we have a house payment I would have her walkout on him and his crap ass business while I left a steeming pile of doody on the desk just for him. Unfortunately he is well within the law as long as her check is postmarked by the actual payday. I used to think her boss was an alright guy but now because of his Don't care about your problem attitude I hope he dies in a horrific manner in front of his family and I will surely be at the funeral to piss on his grave as if there is no place I would rather be!!! No...I don't hold a grudge, what gave you that idea? If there was ever a reason to get pounded in the head with a baseball bat messing with our money is it, fortunately for this guy I am too afraid of prison to ever do anything irrational but pissing on the grave...well let's just say we got a date! Nothing else bothering me at this time but tune in next time for who's the Jackass of the month! Our friends that I spoke about a few blogs ago who were trying to buy the rental they live using subprime lending...well they found out last week that they do not even come close to qualifying for that house and so they have to move. Meanwhile the landlord raised the rent 600 bucks a month to 1800 bucks, which they cannot afford either. Can you say up a creek and fell out of the boat! Seriously I feel bad they are in the position they are in but getting that house would have been a huge mistake for them and they would have been in forclosure in no time. Not to mention that house needs a minimum of 50,000 bucks in upgrades and it is too small for their family like 930 sq ft for 2 adults and 3 kids with only 1 bath. They finally asked for some advice/help from us so I have been doing some research regarding mfg homes for them. Sadly I think they are not ready to buy. I think the market is right but their finances are not. I'm going to try and convince them if they can put about 500 bucks away each month for the next year (thats 6000 bucks) they might be in better shape to buy. Right now they have no liquid cash, not even money for closing costs. Oh and their beloved truck has broken down once again. It needs a new transmission which according to them is about 4000 bucks which they will need to take out a loan for prior to trying to buy a home. See what I mean about making the wrong choices. I tried to tell them the other day how this truck is a burden and they should consider getting rid of it but they assured me that it was not going to happen and they would keep this truck until they died. However misguided they are- they are cool people, but common sense has went the way of the Dodo with them. Well enough about that not to mention i'm tired of typing.

Enjoy

I caught a lizard

While doing some yard work the other day I scared up a lizard in the dirt. Naturally I was bummed when he scampered under the concrete slab and out of reach but I figured i'd see him again. The next day R and I were finishing up the same yard work when she thought she saw a garter snake. Of course I told her she was mistaken and a while later she points out this lizard. Her fear of creepy crawlys and some animals often cause her to think she saw something much worse than what she actually did. Kind of like this one time in Idaho we were in the mtns and she saw an alligator swimming in the river. Turns out it was a beaver...??? I know, I have no clue how she could have misconstreued an alligator for a beaver either but she did. LOL! So anyways this lizard just sat there and tried the "sit still and the human will go away approach", well it didn't work and he ended up in my hand. The dogs checked him out and he hissed so I let him pose for some pics then I let him go. I know your thinking Croc Hunter right? Well maybe in another life, either way theres something about catching lizards thats just cool!

Enjoy

Thinking outside the Ghetto

So I just have to say a few words about the Michael Vick case and his dogfighting enterprise. First and foremost he was participating in illegal activity so as far as i'm concerned he deserves all he gets. I think its funny that his freeloading friends turned on him...thats the problem with running an illegal gambling/dog fighting ring, DUH! I do also want to mention the fact that he is Black has nothing to do with my opinions here however it does seem that these types of things appear to be more prevalent in minorities. So while I was watching the news the other day one of Vick's Black teamates did suggest that he did nothing wrong and Illegal gambling/dog fighting was no different than Deer hunting. How do you correlate deer hunting and gambling on dog fighting? The two are not even remotely in the same ballpark not to mention one is legal and one is not! Why is it when minorities get caught doing something illegal they try and justify their actions by comparing themselves with mainstream society? How a person who makes millions playing football could conceivably get caught up in what I like to call "Ghetto Games" and throw away a hell of a career in the NFL is beyond me. I guess a multimillion dollar salary only fuels the passions of a life less lived had the talant to toss a pigskin not been his.

Enjoy

preview: Lizards, yard work, permits and flowers

Free Ballin to Crazy Contractors

Sometimes you just gotta let it all hang out...then when you see someone is looking get all sorts of modest.

Site prep for the shed is going well on the other hand finding a good electrical contractor at a reasonable rate not so good. The trouble with living on an island is there are not as many services as elsewhere so if we visit the laws of supply and demand we find there is much demand especially in the dryer months and less supply. I have come to the conclusion that contractors have no incentive to call you back, bother to show up or even charge a fair price because there is so much work out there that they can do whatever they want. So after taking a couple of bids on tree removal, one high the other half of first bid, I see that it may be more affordable than I thought. The electrical on the shed might just have to wait cause the bids on that have been pricey. We have been searching for some plants to put in the planter pots we got but we could not find what we were looking for...bummer.

Buddy our Lab has a yeast infection in his ears again. Seems to happen during the summer months and bothers him very much. We initially thought (w/vets advice) it might be a food allergy. So for the last year he has been eating expensive dog food and although his ears got better the problem never really went away. Now he is on benedryl, eardrops and a chewable tablet and behold we have a winner. Next vet appt tomorrow so we shall see.

Still raining, gotta love washington and getting down into the 50's at night...can't complain though it beats triple digits. Gotta go!

Enjoy

Sharing is caring...or something like that

Wanted to share this years crop of Stargazing Lillies as they are georgous not to mention smell fantastic. The past couple of years they have been very abundant but the stalk could not support the weight. This year they are getting full sun and thriving as you can see. I wish I could bottle the fragrance and send it to all of you but I do not yet possess this power so for know you will just have to believe me. We are in the process though of our design of the landscape so hopefully we shall see some grass before years end. We also have this issue with the pine tree out front just on the otherside of our property line. This pine bleeds sap something fierce and blocks the late day sun on the one side of the house. So I called the county and after they came and inspected they gave me their blessing to cut it down. See the challenge here is that I have never cut down a tree before:) Not that I'm an idiot or anything but I just don't want to end up on YouTube as the guy who cut a tree down only for it to take out my car or fall into my house or worse take down the power lines. I know you probably saying Hire someone right? Well I can only imagine how expensive that is! Well I will let you know how that turns out. Site prep for the shed is underway and although we are making progress we keep digging up anything and everything you can imagine. For example today I found about 30 ft of metal rod buried just below the surface, also an old door knob, more beer bottles and some rather large rocks. Oh rocks I have a huge pile going right now, I will have to get a pic of them and post it. Well I suppose that what I get for buying a property that was a rental for 30 years. Till next time...

Enjoy