"You gonna get another job?"...

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Humanity (or at least America--probably America) is probably on its way out. We've just gotten too soft. Myself included. I'd never live even 40 years ago--within my lifetime. The Dog got a juvenile rabbit on her patrol this morning. It was a skillful and well executed kill that was fairly humane. She immediately brought it back to the house, where I was stuck outside for a half hour because she wanted to bring it in the house and, astonishingly, I wouldn't let her. Eventually she either hid it or ate it and we were able to go inside.

First off, as a kid I hunted squirrels every fall. Shoot them, clean them, once in awhile Mom would even cook them for us. Now, rationally, I know baby rabbits, getting killed by predators is just part of Life. But I still feel bad. Furthermore, I'm enough of a pussy that I couldn't just tell my dog she couldn't have the rabbit in the house and take it away from her. I got stuck standing around outside while she came to terms with reality.

One day a culture will come along that isn't as squeamish as us and that will be it for the American way of life.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
On the original topic, I'm supposed to go to my new job in an hour and I'm realizing I really don't want a new job. I'm going to miss "Jeopardy!" and "Sell This House" reruns.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Ugh. Worked last night. 6 hours. It was OK. But, after working nights a good chunk of the last 10+ years, I'd forgotten how it screws up your sleep in just my 7 month or so "retirement." Home by 2:30, but I wanted a cocktail and some Internet time. And The Cat wanted to be Out, so I wound up staying up past 4. (There was also a fun hailstorm. On the plus side, it got The Cat In, on the minus side it was technically severe enough to cause roof damage. When I'm trying to change insurance companies, the last thing I need is a new claim.) Well I wound up waking up not at 10 or 11, but at 8:14--and couldn't get back to sleep. I forced myself to stay in bed and rest, since The Cat and The Dog weren't complaining, but eventually I gave up and got up around 9:45. Working again tonight, so I should be a zombie before the night is over. And also have no energy for the number of things that should happen in the coming days.

I've got a little bit of cleaning to do and some bills to pay, but more importantly, I should get out a ladder and have a look at the roof. And I'm expecting a call on an insurance quote. And tomorrow the person who sold me their house is supposed to be moving out so I can get to work on remodeling and renting it. But the sale closed right in the middle of Derby festivities (very little gets done in Louisville in the month leading up to Derby) and I haven't touched base with her so that should be...interesting.

I don't know how people can have jobs and families and hobbies and pursue continuing education. A dog and a cat, weekly chores, and little improvement/maintenance projects keeps me happily occupied. Even 18 hours a week or so is enough to screw up my life. I suppose other people don't fuck around online as much as me, maybe.
 

Loktar

Pinata Whacker
I suppose other people don't fuck around online as much as me, maybe.
I don't fuck around as much as I used to, but probably still fuck around more than I should. I'm not as productive as I should be outside of work.
 

jack

The Legendary Troll Kingdom
I suppose other people don't fuck around online as much as me, maybe.
Right now I'm building the coolest miniature pinball machine.

I never fuck around online. Way too busy in real life for shit like that.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
OK. This is too long for Facebook in full form and only cocktail party/kernel of a hypothesis level, but I think there's something fundamentally different about how people under, say, 30 think. Smart phones and streaming may have something to do with it.

Working part time nights, receiving and stocking inventory for a hardware store. We actually get a paid half hour break. And they've got some kind of movie channel in the break room. So they'll fire up a movie during break. First night it was "Bumblebee." Tonight it was "Renfield." And the guy who recommended "Renfield" admitted he hadn't finished watching it yet. To me it is bizarre and alien to sit down and start watching a 2 hour movie when you know you'll have to leave after 30 minutes. But this is perfectly normal to them (it seems). The idea of a story with a beginning, middle, end, and all the other aspects of a story isn't a factor--just having interesting things happen for them to watch and listen to for an amount of time.

Tonight one of the guys was listening to music on his phone. And I couldn't believe it was "Army of Me" by Bjork. And he was singing along with it. Then there was another song off the "Tank Girl" soundtrack. And then another. And I was excited and interested in how a young guy wound up digging a soundtrack from a failed mid 1990s movie based on a short run 1980s Australian comic book. He was completely confused and had no idea what I was talking about when I started babbling on about the "Tank Girl" soundtrack. Eventually he realized what I was trying to say but apparently he'd just found the songs somewhere and liked them and added them to his playlist.

Shit, I was going somewhere with this but I'll have to come back to it. It's late and I'm tired and I've got a lot of shit that should happen tomorrow. This all may be nothing new. Just the further fracturing of society. There used to be bowling leagues and clubs and group activities. But as we've gotten more and more comforts in our homes and higher and higher standards of living, we increasingly don't do the group activities that were so big a half century ago or more. And the Amish are the only people who do barn raisings these days.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Got the keys for my next rental today. Now the work begins. The lady selling it is a nice lady and she wanted to show me around the place so I did the civilized thing and let her. Actually learned some useful things from it. Still gotta get the gas and electric switched over. "...Long wait times..." from the utility. Tried the "call-back" feature and didn't hear back in the 3-4 hours they were open so I have to call first thing tomorrow--and if that doesn't work, head down to the offices that they'll be closing next year to see someone in person. Tomorrow is also broken up with vet visits, as I've had the new animals for a year now.

Tuesday morning, my body hadn't switched over to working nights. Woke up at 7:30-ish, regardless of going to bed after 4. Today, however... Eventually woke up around 10:20. Got the call from my seller (luckily I hadn't silenced my phone) to arrange key handoff and agreed to 2pm-ish. After dozing a bit more, when I got up I realized it was after 11:30. I guess I got a lot more sleep after I'd woke up. Still, got everything done that HAD to be done. Should go now and get an early start tomorrow. Or at least start crossing things off the checklist instead of fucking off here.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Groundhog murder blog: The Dog has been averaging a groundhog about every other day. Got a big tough adult yesterday, by the creek a couple days ago. The adults are too large and heavy to carry home so she hid it down by the water. She got a juvenile before that. Those are quick kills and she brings them home as trophies. It's been fairly warm and I had an opportunity so I chucked him in the trash. But trash day isn't until Friday and the way the trash can smells, I may need to either: dump some bleach in there, take him out and bury him somewhere (I've buried at least 4 groundhogs buried in my yard at this point) or just move the trash can away from the house. She got another one today, so as I was eating lunch I was pondering what I was going to do about that. After lunch I looked out the window to see that she had the hide opened up and turned inside out and was in the process of eating all the meat and bone. Hopefully she had the sense not to eat the guts or she'll puke it all up again. This one was a really stupid bastard. She hunts by smell. She was about 2' from him, looking right at him but not seeing him. I was about 10-15' away when I realized he was there. And he just stood there like an idiot until she noticed him and quickly dispatched him.
 

jack

The Legendary Troll Kingdom
I hate groundhogs.

And moles.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
3 topics. We'll go shortest to longest: At this point, over halfway through the Biden Administration, I've just gotten used to not being able to buy whatever groceries I want--not just because everything's so expensive, but something will always be out of stock too. This week it was RC Cola. None to be had for any amount of money. I was about to settle for Dr. Pepper but changed my mind and got root beer. In "How I Met Your Mother," one of Ted's girlfriends, The Slutty Pumpkin (from a Halloween party) makes a drink she calls a Tootsie Roll (because it tastes like a Tootsie Roll): Root beer & Kahlua. So tonight I'm finally trying a Tootsie Roll. And yes, it does taste a bit like a Tootsie Roll. Mine probably needs more Kahlua (or less root beer).

My friend that I always bitch about here...he really doesn't understand me. Or he does, but he misses doing stuff together. Other night he left a message that he was coming down for the Indy 500. Indianapolis is about 90 minutes away from me (and about 7 hours from him). So I'm going over in my head the cool things to do in Louisville if he comes down to visit. When I finally get ahold of him, he's NOT coming down to Louisville. He was inviting me to come up for the Indy 500. Now, the Kentucky Derby is RIGHT in my home town. About 7 miles from my house, as a matter of fact. Been here for 6 years and still haven't been. Because I don't relish paying a lot of money to be packed into a place outdoors with a million drunks and having to deal with traffic and parking and such. So yeah, no. I'm not going to drive 90 minutes to a circus of drunk stupid people and spend the day in an outdoor stadium watching cars drive in circles. I don't have the time for it and I don't have the money. He said his tickets were hundreds of dollars and parking alone was something like $175. If you've ever read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," I'm kind of Rich Dad and he's Poor Dad. He's worked for the same company for half his life. For what they've paid me as a flunkie when I was contracting for him, I don't even want to know what he makes. But he's got an expensive house with a mortgage and an expensive car with payments and a teenage kid who wants to go to MIT. Meanwhile, I live in a $150K house that I paid $75K for that I own outright. I also own 2 other houses of similar quality that I rent out and make a couple thousand bucks a month off of. No college debt. No credit card debt. Drive a 2009 car that I paid cash for when I bought it new. And I just bought another house that should make me around $1,500 a month once I get it fixed up. I was retired(?) for 7 months before taking a part time warehouse job just for some extra cushion on finances. I'll probably keep living cheaply so I can pay off the new house in 10 years or so so that I can keep all the money I make from it instead of giving it to the bank. Once the house is paid off I won't need a job. I won't need social security. I will probably be a millionaire. But a lot can happen in a very short time, so we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

But yeah. The house. I don't even know where to begin. Just about done getting all the left behind junk into the garage for now. Got the carpets out. Did some necessary outdoor work. Probably should take the van tomorrow and mow the (tiny) lawn. I need to bring an extension ladder anyway. There's a vaulted ceiling in the living room that needs some plaster repairs at the peak. Then it's extensive cleaning time. Smokers. So everything has an oily toffee colored coating on it--including the windows. Threw out all the window treatments and anything else that could hold smoke. Then comes the TSP/detergent (and maybe a little bleach) mixture to scrub all surfaces down. After that, everything gets primed with KILLZ before being painted. Ceilings first, then walls, then trim. When all that's done, I can put in flooring. Gonna do all new light fixtures too. The ceiling fans are old and ugly and coated with tobacco. Better to just put in new. Probably have to do something with kitchen counters too. They're in OK shape, but the design has worn off in a few spots. I've replaced counters, glued on new laminate, and used an expoxy/enamel finish. So I kind of want to do tile. Tile counters are kind of out of style, but I kind of want to do one. Then there's a few other little odds and ends--the switch in 1 bedroom must go to an outlet because it doesn't control the light. And they've got this weird wall above the side of the tub that comes down to the top of the shower curtain and really makes an already small bathroom feel even smaller. And of course the padded toilet seats in both bathrooms. Then it is on to tackling the outside. That's a challenge with this house--the work it needs really isn't that sexy or rewarding. Painting walls is fun, because it makes a big difference in the look. Scrubbing walls so the paint adheres well, pulling nails and patching nail holes to get ready to paint is not fun. But it needs to be done. And you have to do it before you can paint. Then there's the exterior. I'm kind of leaning towards doing the interior first so my property manager can start showing it. But some outdoor stuff can't wait. Today I had to clean gutters. I knew I would have to and I was right. It was to the point that the leaves clogging them were decomposing into soil and all the weight was pulling the cutters off the eaves. Got to get the yard cleaned up enough to keep the code enforcement people off my back, the neighbors happy, and not attract squatter attention. Needs a new roof and a fair amount of tree trimming work. I might as well get that stuff rolling because I won't be doing it myself. But again, you want to handle it in the right order. Trees first, so if a limb falls on the roof, it wrecks the old roof, not the brand new roof. There may have been other stuff, but I'm starting to get tired and I should get some work done tomorrow. Oh, my job is being cool. They're only scheduling me when they absolutely need me to give me more time to work on the house.
 

Oerdin

Active Member
Your dog likes killing ground hogs. My cat seems to like to catch baby bunnies, rip their heads off, then leave their headless dead bodies on either the front or back door mat.

Maybe they are just trying to share with us?
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Old Dog, when I was moving to Kentucky... My Oregon house sold a week or two before my Kentucky house closing could happen. So we extended the contract on the truck and parked it at my parents' farm, where my brother lived with his wiener dog. There was also a pretty large warren of rabbits living there and the two dogs were like Legolas and Gimli, with the little baby bunnies as the orcs. One of those times life goes in slow motion, I watched them flush a few bunnies from cover, towards me. Got to watch Old Dog overtake one, scoop it into the air, and eat it in about 2 gulps without breaking stride. It was both horrible and awesome.

At the new house today. Brought over the extension ladder for the plaster work and the lawnmower for the lawn mowing. So I had to take the Awesome Van. And all the gauges were continuing to work. I was so happy. Grinning ear to ear. Then the alternator gauge stopped working. Oh well. It has NOT worked far more often than it has worked.

Got in, got unloaded. Tried to decide where to start. Eventually just swept the floors (and the walls and ceilings because there were dust and cobwebs). Yeah, I'm going to have to go back and sweep again, but you've just got to start and get to work. Anyway, getting the lawn mowed was the priority. Of course, like painting the walls and ceilings, a whole bunch of stuff had to happen before I could mow the lawn. I had to pull weeds and clean up brush piles and neglected landscaping bricks and mulch bags. There were about a dozen bags of mulch, lined up next to a planter area. "Cool, free mulch," I thought, but no. It had been there so long the mulch had converted to soil. But on the plus side they had roots growing throughout them so dumping them out of the bags was a chore.

I was making progress. (We'll forget about all the flower pots stacked behind the garage and the branches in the back yard and the remaining pallets and stacks and stacks of pavers--the front yard wasn't looking terrible.) It was about time to go home and I could mow. But I had a few minutes still (kind of.; not really) so I might as well get a start on the big intrusive handicap ramp. Turned out to be relatively easy--if involved. Almost all 1/2" bolts. Needed a box wrench and a ratchet because they had nuts that had to be held in place while I turned the bolts. A handful of 8mm sheet metal screws. The stumbling block(s) was that a lot of the bolts were inaccessible, under the ramp. And the ramp was riveted to the concrete porch and sidewalk. I'd brought an assortment of tools to address this and amazingly, my first choice--a 2" sledge and a cold chisel that I found by the road on a dog walk--worked perfectly. Took a few tries to find all the rivets but once they were off, I was able to tip the thing on its side and get the final bolts out.

At this point I was so goddamn late. And about out of energy anyway, so I left the ramp parts where they lay, got everything cleaned up and put away and jumped in the van. I could tell instantly that, somehow, the battery was drained. Turns out the alternator gauge was working just fine. But the alternator was not. Now I'm a pretty resourceful guy. Like 2000s Viagra commercial resourceful. But it doesn't matter how clever you are if you have a dead battery. And where I was parked, there was no way you could get in to jump it. And since it is an automatic, even if I'd parked it atop a hill (instead of at the end of a perilously narrow driveway) I couldn't start it by popping the clutch. I thought I remembered a nearby auto parts store, so I set out on foot in that direction while calling my neighbor to ask if she could pick me up. Got to the auto parts store at closing and picked up a portable jump-starter and headed back toward the house. My neighbor caught up with me 4-5 blocks before I got there. Since she was there, I had a dog to walk and a cat outside at home, and there was no way she could get in to jump the battery, I headed home with her. I'll take the car down tomorrow, get the lawn mowed (and maybe the ceiling plastered, charge up the van battery, and take it home. Then I'll get another ride from my neighbor. I could take the bike down, but I've dropped it trying to load it in a pickup before and I haven't tried out the bike ramp yet and I haven't set up tie-down points in the back of the van, so that isn't my preferred option.

Gotta go. Tired. And thirsty.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Remember when those "What [X] character are you?" quizzes were the rage? There was a time in my life--around 32--when I was most like Scotty from Star Trek. I had some leadership ability and could make things happen, but I was really more of a technical guy. I was the guy who solved the problems for the decision makers. These days I'd say I'm more Kirk than Scotty. I'm more likely to say "fuck it, we'll just force or BS it into happening" than to actually come up with the technical solution. I mean, I'm a loooong ways from Kirk.* But if I took the aforementioned Internet quiz, I think that's what I'd come up with these days.

All that said, I'm probably more Spock than anything else. Smart. Competent. Logical. Honest. Can come up with solutions but prefers to have someone else make the decisions.

*Funny Kirk story. I went to OCS twice. I broke my leg the first time and had to go home halfway through. Apart from breaking my leg, I struggled. And the staff put me into positions where I had to adapt or fail. At one point--maybe my lowest point--I got a very helpful and inspiring talk from one of the Sergeant Instructors (from another platoon) about not trying to be what I thought a Marine was and just applying what I knew to what I didn't know. He wrapped the talk up with telling me to go out and "face the lion." I'll have to do a post about it sometime. Anyhow, I had some acting experience and I was a 'Trekkie. And the best military leader I knew was Captain Kirk. So basically, for the next 2 days, while I was in a demanding, high visibility role, I just "played" Captain Kirk. I'd also find a quiet corner to sit and think how many more things I had to get through before bed time. But yeah, I totally modeled the confidence and bravado of Kirk as best I could.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Plans... As I mentioned above, the battery was dead on the van last night. Called my neighbor for a lift but tried to make it to a nearby auto parts store before closing. Got one of them handheld jump-starters and was almost back to the van when my neighbor pulled over to pick me up. (The van is parked so you can't get close enough to jump it with a car.) Since the jump-starter needed to be charged first, I stuck it in the van and rode home with her.

Working out my plan for today, I grabbed the battery tender out of the shed--along with a few other things like the ramp for loading the motorcycle in the van in case I can't bum another ride. After I walked The Dog I headed down with the intention of getting the battery charging and then coming home for lunch before going back to work. First I learned the outlet I'd planned to use was no good. Then the battery tender was giving me an error code light. I puttered around with a few things like moving the parts of the handicap ramp before deciding to just pull the battery and run it up to the auto parts place to be tested. Of course when I'd installed the new battery cables, I'd managed to run a cable through the handle. Made a couple attempts to disconnect the cable and gave up and cut the handle. Wrestled the battery out and took it to the auto parts place. Since they had to charge it to test it, it was a cheap-o battery, and it had been in the van when I got it 5 years ago, I just got a new battery. Oh, and 1) the cable I couldn't get to disconnect? the splice on it came apart as I was getting the battery out. 2) the auto parts guy told me the handle can be removed from batteries. I looked and sure enough it could. Cutting was unneccessary. Dropped the battery off with the van. Did not install it because I still think there may be a short that is draining the battery somewhere.

Anyway, I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to get done and it's 3pm and I haven't done any of it. And supposed to rain tomorrow, so I don't really want the van out in the rain (the gaskets on all the windows, doors, etc, are really old).
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Fuck, just shoot me in the face. So late I decided to do The Dog's afternoon patrol BEFORE going to the house. So of course she managed to get lost for a bit, crossing the creek and the walk took 15 minutes longer than it should've. And I'm spending the whole time going over the shit I need to do if I want to bring the van back from the house and not have to go back for a bit and thinking I can JUST about get it done. Except! Instead of coming in the house, The Dog had a leftover bit of groundhog that she felt like settling down in the shade and polishing off. So here I sit, thinking about how fucked I am.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Got The Dog In. Got the lawn mowed. Ascertained that I could patch the ceiling from a step ladder so I could load up the extension ladder and the mower. Stuck a new battery in The Van and reworked some wiring. Started right up and the battery gauge worked perfectly. When I got home, I realized a pair of the roof floodlights were on. When I'd been driving down, I was so happy the gauges were working that I tried to push the switches back into the slot they'd popped out of and I must've flipped one of the switches on. That's what killed the battery and that's why the trickle charger wouldn't recharge it. But the battery was due to be changed anyway and while I was working on it I found a wiring problem that I fixed as well.

Got the lawn mowed. There's still a ton (possibly literally) of work to do on the yard but now that the grass is cut I should move back to getting the interior ready to show; I can work on the exterior while looking for a tenant.

Seriously, fuck. So the seller told me it was her husband's house and he'd been living there with his girlfriend before they met. I'm betting the girlfriend was a gardener. Because there are goddamned landscaping stones and pavers and those Lincoln Log looking things you use to make planters. Edging plastic. Rolls and rolls of edging plastic, buried under brush. Stacks and stacks and stacks of plastic flower pots. Bird feeders. All disused and overgrown with weeds. There's an elaborate hose watering system to feed the weeds in the flower beds. Oh, and then there's a huge pile of wood blocks--like more than a 55 gallon drum full--that are apparently for the firepit. Shit, just burn some of the brush that is piled everywhere. I got the front yard cleaned out but I realized how long it would take to do the backyard and that the 2 car garage is already pretty much full of crap--and I still haven't 100% finished with the interior--so I just made piles where possible and mowed around them.

Gotta work tomorrow night and I'm pretty wiped out right now, so I'd better switch to deskwork tomorrow.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
The Cat wanted to go Out later than was my good judgement, but he was so persistent I let him. Did not come In before bedtime and I haven't seen him this morning. Who knew having a cat could be so stressful?
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
This may be a little scattershot, we'll see.

There is simultaneously so much to do on the new house and relatively little to do. Paint, new flooring, possibly new countertops in the kitchen and a few new light fixtures. But to get to that point will be a long road. The Plan was to finish the interior so I could start showing it while working on the yard and exterior. But I needed to mow the lawn so I wound up spending a couple days cleaning up out in the yard. I've still got a few things to take down like weird little shelves over the windows. Then there's going to be a whole lot of cleaning to do. And pulling nails and patching holes. But at this point I'm running out of space in the garage so I went ahead and ordered a dumpster for Tuesday. So when that shows up, I'll have to stop to empty out the garage.

There's a big dying tree in the front yard so I got a tree guy coming in Friday afternoon to tackle that. So I want to get the dumpster filled and gone before he gets there. Now contractors are an interesting thing in Louisville. And the way things get done is also interesting. "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." I've got a tree service I've used. They're very good. But they aren't cheap. So I asked my friend who she uses. Talked to the guy over the phone. Much more affordable. But not someone you can ask for advice on. You pretty much have to say what you want done and how you want it done. So I may wind up having the more expensive guys in at a later date. I dunno. We'll see.

Another reason I switched to outdoor work for a bit was that I (correctly) suspected the gutters needed to be cleaned out. Now, if you've got so much crap in your gutters that the weight is pulling them off the eaves, the solution is not to add more nails to hold up the gutters. You want to clean them out. Just a pointer for any first-time homeowners. Well while I was up there I got a look at the roof. I knew it needed to be replaced, but being up there I decided it needed to be replaced sooner rather than later. Another note on how things are done in Louisville: in the real estate group I'm on, everyone was amazed that a roofer would ask for money up front. But this is because everyone gets quotes for labor only. Then they have their contractor tell them what materials are needed and go out and get the materials themselves. :blink: I don't want to monkey with that. Keep it simple. Get a quote for the whole job and let the contractor do the whole job. These are the same people who will tell you to outsource as much labor as possible, yet they're still running around town to get stuff for their contractors.

So. A pretty stacked week already. But on top of that, there are weekend chores I should be doing right now and a 1 acre lawn that needs to be mowed sooner than later. Only I have to work tonight. And Monday night. So fitting everything in is going to be...interesting.
 

Oerdin

Active Member
The Cat wanted to go Out later than was my good judgement, but he was so persistent I let him. Did not come In before bedtime and I haven't seen him this morning. Who knew having a cat could be so stressful?
That has happened several times with our cat. Eventually he has always came home.
 
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