"You gonna get another job?"...

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
This could maybe be a FB post. But it might be a bit long or odd. Riding a bike. Such a good metaphor. Around a decade ago, a friend had a ski boat. So I spent a lot of time trying to teach people to waterski. And it's interesting, how hard it is until you figure it out. And then it becomes easy. I've been learning the ukulele a bit. My original set list had "Rainbow Connection," "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World," and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head." When I finally got to watch all of "How I Met Your Mother," the scene where The Mother plays "La Vie En Rose," that's the exact ukulele I gave my Mom for Christmas when I was living in Hawai'i. It is the ukulele I've had since she died. So obviously, I had to learn "La Vie En Rose." And the chord progression is very simple. "Rainbow Connection," "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World," and "La Vie En Rose" use most of the same chords. And the strumming pattern is very simple, but somehow I couldn't make it come together for "La Vie En Rose." Until I did. And now it's a surprisingly simple song. I still haven't gotten it memorized, but if I've got my music in front of me it is even simpler than "Rainbow Connection" (which is pretty simple). "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World," isn't that much more complex, but there's a lot more chord changes to remember and tie in with the singing. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" has some evil, totally alien chords. I hate them, but they are perfect so I need to figure them out.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Adventures in OCD tendencies. I'm renting out storage space. So I want to make my "facilities" look as professional as possible. One of my "magic tricks" is painting an old chain link fence black. Get a gallon of gloss black Rust-O-Leum and an extra nappy roller and roll it on from both sides. Touch up the hard-to-reach spots with a spray can. But first I needed to trim back some plants. At that point I had a lot of branches and other vegetation laying along the fence. The leaves are pretty much off the trees and the grass was getting long enough that it could do with one last whacking before winter. So kill three birds with one stone. Cut the grass, mulch the leaves, and mulch the stuff I cut off the fenceline. (That last bit wasn't as successful as I'd hoped and I wound up carrying a lot of it back to start a new brush pile.) Well the fence I painted is just a tiny part of the fence I have, so before mowing, I got to work cleaning up all the fenceline. But there's a lot. And I didn't know how long I'd have good mowing weather, so I got...we'll say 40% of the fence cleaned up before I mowed. Another project I'm working on is fixing up the outbuildings and stopping leaks in the tin shed roof. But it got too cold and wet to work on that, so it went on hold and once the weather cleared up, I'd moved to the yardwork. I should probably move back to roof patching. But I'm a good chunk of the way through my yardwork. So of course I've been continuing with that instead.

On a related note, there was a big stump in my front yard when I got the place. And some big trunk sections and assorted other wood that needed clearing. Picked up a splitting maul and a couple wedges for cutting up the firewood. Then I got to work on the stump with the maul. (But not the wedges. Since the stump is in the ground, I worry that I could drive a wedge but not split it and then I've got a big hunk of iron stuck in the wood that I need to work around.) I've slowly been reducing it. Now I had some other stuff that was too big to cut with a handsaw and not practical to cut with the maul, so I bit the bullet and got an electric chainsaw. I decided electric was the way to go because it would be simpler and safer for a relative novice like me and it's been fine for my needs. So at this point the stump in the front yard is probably small enough that I could tackle it with the chainsaw, but I've been working on it with the maul for so long that it would feel kind of like cheating to just cut it up in an afternoon.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
This one's an "almost FB" post. But it is a bit long and personal: God gives you what you need, not what you want. Looking at New Dog, snoring peacefully on the bed. I'd wanted Old Dog 2.0 and she isn't it. Her legs are shorter, her torso thicker, her head geometry is different and her color is different. Similar to Old Dog, but not even close to identical. And, looking at her, I'm grateful I didn't get what I wanted. Because it would just be too painful to see my old dog laying on my bed when I know she's buried out back. This one lets me remember my old dog and how great she was without being haunted by her.
 

Lanzman

No-one of consequence
I got rid of a stump by the simple expedient of drilling holes in it and wetting it down with the garden hose every day until it rotted to nothing. Took a while but saved a lot of aggravation.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Hmm... Drilling holes in it and filling them with blackpowder...
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Being retired(?) and having a dog, it's easy to not leave the property. I've got a box of checks at my LLC mailbox that I should go get, but I've got stuff to do around the property and the box isn't going anywhere and I've still got checks. Almost done with the yardwork.* Lawn is mowed for the winter. Fenceline in the front and back yards are cleaned up. Fenceline on 3 1/2 sides of the pasture are cleaned up. Pulling out vines, pruning, and sawing down volunteer saplings is more tiring than you'd think. And/or I'm getting older.

But I'm almost to a pre-defined stopping point. Should get to work on leaks in the tin shed roof, but I've got until Sunday where I'll have warm weather and no rain. Going to fuck off for Thanksgiving and Friday should be plenty of time to finish off the weeding. True, I generally use the weekend for recurring chores (laundry, groceries, etc) but still...

Found another interesting house. I think I nicely summed up the place I was bargaining for but couldn't come to a price on. Chatting with a friend on FB IM because I wanted to know if she'd ever bought a place from a person instead of finding it on the MLS (real estate listings). She said she'd bargained on one but couldn't reach a price. One of the good things about having a dog you walk a lot is you see interesting properties. It's how I found the place I tried to buy. I've also got 2 vacant properties that are interesting. Tracked down the owner of one but couldn't find a mailing address. Other one, I hadn't gotten beyond the "Hmm. That's an interesting place that I think is vacant." phase. Well my friend bought the premium service so she looked up the info on my 2 vacant places for me. And today I looked at the interesting place and it has a lot of potential for a potentially low price. Of course tomorrow will be devoted to cooking and gluttony and I've still got things on my to-do list before moving into the weekend.

*You're never done with the yardwork. Right now I'm clearing off fences that I cleared off when I got the place but have grown up again. I've got the stump to chop and a ton of other deadwood and unwanted trees to cut down and cut up. And more work on keeping the grass back from the gravel driveway. It never ends.

[Oh, I remember the other thing I was going to say: When I worked 2 nights a week, it absolutely destroyed my sleep schedule. Since quitting it is easy to wake up at 7:30(ish) every morning. Even on nights where I stay up too late and/or drink too much, I wake up and look at the clock and sure enough, it's some time between 7 and 8 and I can't get back to sleep. I hope it turns out I'm making enough because I really like not having to go to a job. It'd be nice to transition into fixing up my last rental and then having a margin for error once it is rented out so that I can actually spend money on project instead of living like a college student.**]

**"Living like a college student" has a different meaning in the 21st century than the 22nd century. To me it means living on ramen noodles, generic oatmeal, and the cheapest beer you can find and making friends with someone that has a car. Nowdays it means having the latest electronics and an expensive car, eating out, clubbing, and getting delivery whilst racking up mountains of debt and then bitching about how unfair life is.
 
Last edited:

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Thanksgiving, so I kind of had to call my brother. I mean, I *wanted* to call him, but I also dread it because he's going to tell me things and I'll have to smile and say "Oh, that's nice." Because he won't listen to what I really want to say and it will just annoy him. He apparently has 3-4 tractors. And 2 schoolbuses. But I'm getting ahead of myself. He said he should bring me a tractor and I said "Oh, that's nice" instead of "What? No! I'm trying to *free up* parking space so I can rent it out for money." He apparently decided he needed a tractor. Then he decided that tractor wasn't good enough and he needed a bigger tractor. Then he got the bigger tractor and was going to get rid of the other one but then he decided it was good for things the bigger tractor wasn't good for. And he got a skid steer (a Bobcat). It was on some online auction so he bid $10,000 on it, sure it would go for more than that. Then he was playing pool or something and checked up on the auction as it was getting close to closing and saw that someone had bid $11,000 on it. So he went $11.5 and wound up getting it." He does not actually farm. Or have a concrete/excavation/construction business. Or a school. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself. So he tells me, "well, the skid steer is worth twice that, so I can flip it and make a nice little profit..." (wait for it) "...BUT then I realized I could use it to load stuff up into the top part of the old shed.* So I loaded an old washer and dryer and stove and...etc up there and doubled my storage." And I did NOT say "of crap you'll never use" and instead said "oh, that's nice."

So yeah, I'm kind of hoping I die before him just so I don't have to deal with settling his estate. Maybe I can just burn everything down. Even if there's no insurance, it will probably be cheaper than trying to tie everything up nicely.

[Facebook tells me he spent Thanksgiving in his bar and his Thanksgiving dinner consisted of 4 corndogs with ketchup and mayo. "That's nice."]

*Over a decade ago I stored a bunch of stuff up there. I didn't need a $23,000--or even $11,000 Bobcat to get the stuff up there. I used an old haybarn pully and rope.
 

Lanzman

No-one of consequence
. . . Since quitting it is easy to wake up at 7:30(ish) every morning. Even on nights where I stay up too late and/or drink too much, I wake up and look at the clock and sure enough, it's some time between 7 and 8 and I can't get back to sleep. . . .
Yep. You're a bit younger than I am and I'm well into the "wake up at about 7:30 every morning" phase of life. Unless I've gone a really prolonged period without sleeping or am sick or something, of course.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Ah, but it was impossible when I was working 2 nights a week.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
OK. I covered the OCD adventure of cleaning up the fenceline upthread. Got the last of it done today. Spent far longer on it than I should've, but the reality is, it will grow back, so if you want the satisfaction of a completed job you've got to just stick with it until the whole thing is done. Today I should've done some deskwork, but by the time I was done with the fence I'd used up most of the day. I had another project that I'll come back to but the point is, I resolved that Tuesday I absolutely would do the deskwork I've been neglecting. I can work on leaks in the tin shed roof another time. Then I watched the news and the weather guy said tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day to be outside and then it will rain like a bastard all night and then be cold and miserable in the near future. Well played, God. I guess I work on the roof tomorrow and push desk work back to Wednesday.

Oh, yeah. The other project: Last week I got an e-mail that I had mail at my UPS Store box. Checks for my business, no doubt. No worries. They can sit in the box and I'll pick them up on the weekend when I get groceries. I have a mailbox key and a door code, so I can go to the store when it is closed and not have to deal with humans. So that's what I did. And there was a slip in the box that said the package was waiting at the counter and I should ask a clerk. :/ Well played God. You're going to waste my time with a special trip after all. Ah well, at least it'll be fast. So today I run to the UPS store. There's a freaking line out the door. Again, well played God. You're going to make me suffer regardless. I can waste the trip and go home empty handed and hope my checks don't get lost in the mean time or I can suck it up and wait in line with stupid humans. Got it done. But it took so much longer than it should've.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
My college friend with the bionic hip called while I was typing this post. Then it was time for dinner, the news, and "Jeopardy!" in the interim developments made a much more entertaining (and disgusting) ending. I was supposed to do desk work today. Research increasingly indicates my desk work would've been a waste of time, but I think I'll still go ahead with it. But my big remaining outdoor project is fixing leaks in the tin shed roof and last night's weather report was basically: "Tomorrow is going to be beautiful until dark, when it will rain like a bastard and then it will get cold and nasty for the foreseeable future," so working on the roof leaks got bumped up over desk work.

Of course literally the minute I got everything out and set up and got up on the ladder with my assortment of tapes and pastes and sprays and sheet metal screws it started to rain. Not heavily. Just enough to mock me. Started putting stuff away and it stopped. So I set up again and it started again. I said "fuck it" and radically simplified my plan and decided to see how far I could get before it was raining too bad or it was time to walk The Dog. I got maybe 3/4 of what I hoped to do banged out before it started raining heavily enough that I didn't think I'd be able to get any of my leak-stopping materials to bond properly so I put everything away and worked on the raw timber inside the shed with a rag and some linseed oil. The goal of that is to permeate all this dry and/or rotted old wood with oil so its pores swell up and block/repel water. Of course while I was doing this it stopped raining again. I was tempted to go back and finish up but it was time to walk The Dog, it gets dark so soon, and with rain projected to hit big I didn't want to be caught out in the rain and the dark with The Dog, so I started on time.

And of course it didn't rain the whole time. It still isn't fucking raining as I type this.

Lately The Dog has been on a hide and bone jag. It's horrible and disgusting. She likes to walk along busy roads so she can sniff out bits of dried out roadkill hide to eat. So when she found a fresh, intact rabbit laying by the road on the way home, I decided to let her bring it home. A rabbit is small enough that she'll be able to eat it before bugs and rot get to it. Of course once we got home, The Cat wanted to be Out. So when I started typing this in the first place, the situation was such that The Cat and The Dog were both Out in the dark, with The Dog jealously guarding her precious prize. While I was talking to my friend on the phone, I decided to check on them and The Dog was almost ready to come In, but at the last minute she dashed off to a tree on the fenceline. She'd buried her rabbit there and I assume The Cat had come over to investigate it so she had to chase him off and exhume the rabbit to go lay in the yard next to it again.

After "Jeopardy!" The Dog was at the door and ready to come in. No sign of The Cat. She was being twitchy and clingy so I decided to take my shower before going out to hunt for The Cat. Luckily the rain had held off and it was still surprisingly warm, but no cat. I came back inside and noticed something on the floor, out of the corner of my eye. Three, roughly equal sized piles of bloody rabbit. She must've eaten it so The Cat wouldn't get it and then couldn't keep it down. So I got to do the whole "Pulp Fiction" "The Bonny Situation" ("The Bunny Situation"?) bit of collecting up the parts (I'll spare you the detail but that took about 3 trips too. While I was doing that, The Cat decided to come In.) before getting to work with a roll of paper towels and assorted cleaning supplies.

Now I'm clean and warm and dry and inside. And so is everyone else. So is the house. Hopefully there is no more bunny for The Dog to puke up. And that's another horrible thing I never thought I'd have to deal with that I've dealt with.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
...and the 100% rain chance is down to 60%. :/
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Is there anything that points better than a Walther PPK/S? You may argue the efficacy of the .380ACP round, but with proper trigger pull, anything you point at will have neat little .38 caliber hole exactly where you wanted it to be.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
"Poor soul, he was just too high-strung." Had a relatively quiet day planned. The usual eating and dog-walking and look into if I can buy a house from a bank that isn't listed as for sale. Maybe see if there are any interesting houses on the market and then look around for a part-time job, since I have more time than money right now.

In getting together my info on the house I am interested in, I found another house that actually matches my buying criteria better so I pinged my Realtor about looking at it (I used to try to deal directly with the listing Realtor on properties I found for myself, but I've been blown off enough times that it's easier to just use my own agent). Of course while I'm in the middle of this, my friend who hates his job (and has roped me into working for him as a contractor twice) calls up. I let it go to voicemail since I'm actually trying to make some money. I get the ball rolling on all the real estate stuff and then sit down for some lunch. Guy who's renting garage space wants to come by around 5:30 to work on his car. After lunch I'll take a nap. Returned my friend's call after the nap. Then I decided to bang out washing some forgotten Thanksgiving dishes. Right in the middle of that my friend called back.

Astonishingly, he really didn't have anything to talk about. He needed to bitch about his job and make small talk about trying to work from home with cats. So I put him on speaker until the dishes were done. Then I went to sit down on the couch so I could pet The Dog while talking about nothing. Eventually I start dropping hints "well, I've got about an hour before I need to do something, so I guess I should be productive..." Finally it's just "look man, I've gotta go. I need to get some stuff done." Of course by this point I'm exhausted by making small talk about nothing and my phone battery is dead. So I sit down here to recharge myself and my phone, realizing there's no way I'll be doing any job hunting at this point.

BUT! The Dog now wants more attention. Either it is getting close enough to her walk time or she's just spoiled by all the petting. At any rate, I have to pet her instead of type this. Until The Cat comes in to start a play fight with her. I got a little typing done while they were horsing around--all while trying to keep one eye open that the play didn't get too out of hand. When The Cat had enough, The Dog brought her toy hedgehog over that she's pulled most of the stuffing out of. So I filled a Kong up with treats and sealed it with spray cheez and stuffed it in the hedgehog for her to disembowel and got most of this typed before she came in here to be petted some more. Then she started crying so she definitely wanted to go Out. Of course The Cat came with her. Now I see her walk is due in around 10 minutes and my garage renter is due in around 70 minutes, so I guess I'd better put on some boots and warm clothes and TCB. Phone (and me) is only up to 56%, but it'll have to do I guess.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Bleah. This day just gets poopier and poopier. I was supposed to go look at a house this morning, but the broker didn't confirm us. Then my realtor got the disclosure statement that says there's mold in the basement and the furnace and water heater are rusted out due to standing water. So I skipped going there "because I didn't want to go into the weekend on a disappointment." Dog was flaky on her walk. Not a big deal--just a little annoying.

Then, after lunch, there was no excuse to not hunt for a job. But first Facebook. Our lovely city council has apparently passed a new ordinance, requiring landlords to test for lead. No word on the details of how this will work and enforcement, but it's a new headache. So. Back to job hunting. I instantly remembered how much I hate job hunting. I really kind of miss the 1990s, when you looked in the "JOBS" section of the local newspaper. Yes, I know that was a terrible way to find a job, but it was familiar and accessible.

There's lots of jobs available, but I'm realizing I don't want any of them. And I certainly don't want to jump through the hoops of applying for them. Ah well. It's too early to retire. Even if I'm content to not be a millionaire, I can't take social security for another 9 years or so, so I guess I'd better either find another rental, fix it up, and get it rented, or I'd better get a job.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Hurm. Winter. Cold and darkness. I usually have no free time on the weekends. By the time I get all my recurring weekly chores done, it is Sunday night. This week, amazingly, I wrapped up chores Saturday night. So I tried the whole Christianity "day of rest" thing. It's been...interesting.

Actually went to church today. Went last week too but was so late I felt a little guilty sneaking in. I was still a bit late today, but not as bad. I managed this by skipping breakfast (in Catholicism, you didn't used to have breakfast before church in Olden Dayes) so I treated myself to the Asian buffet down the street. It was amazing and I'm only just getting to where I'm not full. Of course I took The Dog for her walks. The Cat went Out in the morning and stayed Out until 4:30 or so. The guy who's renting space was over to work on his car and I don't think The Cat likes to go past where he parks his car, so once he's out, he stays out unless I can catch him and carry him in and today he didn't want to be caught.

So then I played some solitaire and napped with The Dog and Cat. It's only 6:40 now but it's dark and cold so I don't feel like doing anything. [at this point The Dog started demanding attention, so that killed 20 minutes]

My plans are kind of stalled. Renting out storage space hasn't taken off. I have to decide if I want to skip Neighbor.com and just do it myself. My street is pretty busy. If I put a sign out, I might have better luck. My HELOC left its introductory promotional rate. So now if I use it to buy a house, it's 7% interest. This isn't a surprise, but I'd hoped to have a place and have it rented long before this point. As it is, there's nothing I'd want to own for a price I'm willing to pay. Job hunting was miserable. My old consumer packaged goods company is hiring part time people in my town, so maybe go back to the old job doing supermarket resets. It isn't rocket science and the pay isn't that great, but I enjoyed it in a sense. They'd give me a picture of how they wanted a category set up and if, at the end of the shift, the category was set up that way, I'd done my job for the night. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
I guess I could watch a movie.
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
I am so goddamned tired right now. I had a dog and cat for about 10 years. Expected to have the dog for another year or two and the cat for maybe 3 or 4 more years. But the dog died within months of moving to the current place and the cat died 3 months later. So after a year I got another dog and cat. And not I deal with their shit constantly.

I forget what needy insane shit The Cat was doing this...oh, yeah. He had to be in the sink while I was trying to get ready. Brush teeth? Shave? It's so much more fun to do with a cat in the sink. And I briefly took off my jammies but hadn't put on jeans yet and I realize he's up *under* the bathrobe, between my legs.

So yeah, I finally get ready to go out; take The Dog for her morning walk. She's got a new thing: She walks a block and a half or so and then just stands next to someone's yard for, like, 2 minutes. Then she goes back to the corner and stands there for a minute. Then she reverses course again and goes another block and stands around for a few minutes before going to the first place she stopped. Then it's back to the corner for a brief pause before going home. Once we're in the yard, she immediately wants to go for a walk. Then she gets to the end of the driveway and just sits there for 30 seconds or so. Then, FINALLY, we go for a walk. I've been composing a song while walking her lately: "I'M GOING TO SHOOT MYSELF IN THE HEAD. I'M GONNA BLOW MY MOTHERFUCKING BRAINS OUT. I'M JUST GOING TO FUCKING END IT ALL RIGHT NOW." is as far as I've gotten on it.

So we get home. I manage to get her in the house. I manage to get The Cat to come in (he's been out the whole time we've been walking). I go to get something done and almost break my neck because The Cat has gotten RIGHT UNDER MY FEET and every time I try to disentangle myself he moves to where I try to step. Then he looks shocked and confused that I yell at him and try to kick him. So now I'm ready to sit down and do something. Nothing productive, but still something. And The Dog comes over and demands to be petted. Meanwhile The Cat knows something's going on, so he comes over and tries to decide what he wants. Finally, I sit down to type this up to blow off steam and The Dog is barking at the mailman or the trashman or someone walking by on the street.

I needed these two for healing from losing the other two. And they do have some value, but I really think they're my last pets. After they're gone, I'm going to live in peace and quiet. (Assuming I don't die.)
 

Volpone

Zombie Hunter
Well crap. "Be careful what you wish for..." Been walking by a vacant little house with my dog for several months. Tracked down the bank that owns it and e-mailed them, asking if they'd like to get it off their books in exchange for cash; what it sold for last (which is pretty low) and no hassle or headache.

They actually got back to me and said they would do that deal. So now I've got to put up or shut up and that's fairly scary.
 
Top