slow progress

 I cleared one of the two sheds out today. I am going to have the tree removal company move it to the neighbors. The other yard barn will be moved behind the big barn. I am trying to appreciate the little moves forward. I don't know why something as simple as building a garage has to turn into such a project. Seems like it's always one step forward, three steps back. I have tried for four years to accomplish this simple task. I will try and remain positive. My tree guy says he will have the tree and stump out before the end of the month. I am hopeful. If the current builders don't succeed in building my garage, I will hire someone in the spring. I am bound and determined to have my building done by spring at the latest. 

Well, times still suck a bit

 Well, on the plus side, my tree guy assured me the tree in the backyard will be down before the end of the month. The bad news, one of the crew of builders had a horrible fall and broke his neck, God look out for him. I hope he makes a full recovery. He is one of the neighbor's brother. Must just be a suck ass year altogether. My neighbor  fell off a ladder working on his house and broke his wrist. Been just one suck ass year, or two. Still have three plus years of suck with the dumbass that occupies the oval office. At the current rate of destruction, I am sadly doubtful.

I am looking forward to the tree removal and getting one step closer to my goal. But, I am hoping my neighbor and his family heal from their recent downfalls. I hope 2022 improves. 2020 election set the bar pretty low, so I am trying to remain optimistic. 

Finally

 I finally have a honest to god builder for the garage. The neighbors brother and associates, licensed contractors, are finishing his roof. They came over and looked over my property and I told them what I wanted and the few different sites and styles, and which ones were my top choice. Great part is, the one quoting the job says my original first choice spot should work out fine. I should be able to go with my original choice of a 24 foot deep by 40 wide with two two car garage doors. He says I should be able to make it taller as well since it is in the back yard. Their main area for building is Evansville, so they know the codes and the proper channels to go through. That means, I can go with a full size four post lift like I wanted to do in the first place. Even better, he guesstimated that it should come in around what the other builders who quoted job came in at. Best part is, he figured it would take about five or six days to complete, and, he will have it done by the fall, at the latest. He can help with the electrical as well. Says I can run a 100 amp panel out to the garage. I can't wait to actually be working on my 1967 Mustang again. This time, I will actually have the room to work, not to mention the lift. I am thrilled. I can put a curb in the front after the new garage goes in the backyard, and take out the gravel parking I have now, and actually plant grass and finish the landscape. I can't believe after four years, I will finally have my garage, the main reason I moved in the first place. 

Market prices suck

 Thanks Biden. You have single handedly caused hyper inflation due to your sheer ineptitude. Can't believe enough idiots were offended by Trump's tweets to put this ignorant POS in office. He can't even complete a coherent sentence. He has reversed everything Trump did, which has put us back into the Obama shithole we were trapped in before. Race relations is once again being exploited by the left for political purposes. God I hate modern society and their lemming mentality. 

Lumber is so ridiculously inflated, I am trying to get a quote for the foundation of the garage so I don't have to park or work on gravel. I will build the actual building when lumber comes back down to normal. Economists are predicting two years give or take a year. Want to get the foundation and drive way put in so I can get the grass planted and curb put in so the front has a more "finished" look. Want to put up a couple flowering trees and shrubs as well. 

I found a builder. My neighbor is having his roof replaced. Contractors do a wide variety of things. May go ahead and put up my sunroom on the back patio, as the kit hasn't gone up and I have the money. I can do that and finish garage later. 

Work has been ramping up at a terrific pace. Looks like the return of six and seven day work weeks. We are scheduled out into the spring of 2022 already. Can't make and repair molds for food containers fast enough for the demand. I hope and pray the tarriffs stay in place. Before Trump put tariffs into effect, most of our work was outsourced to China. As is, we, as a company are having trouble finding enough plastic resin to make food containers. Good ole Joe. Plastic resin is a byproduct of petroleum. You reduce domestic petroleum supply, you also reduce the byproducts we depend on as well. Tree huggers should really step back and look at the mess they create. If they actually lived by what they demand, they wouldn't drink bottled water out of single use plastic. They wouldn't have the latest I-phone. They would actually try and live by what they preach. Sending the jobs back overseas is ignorant. We here in america must abide by OSHA standards, thus actually reducing global pollution. Overseas doesn't have that restriction. You can tell by looking at the cloud of pollution in China. Hate to tell tree huggers this, but, we as a people live in a bubble. If China is polluting, it is stuck in the same atmosphere we live in. Just because it is in another country doesn't mean it doesn't effect us. Keep the jobs here and control the pollution. That is real progress. I hate progressive idiots who don't think things through.

Too much government control

 I had vacation Easter week. One thing I wanted to get done, get a date on building garage. Monday of that week, I called the builder to get the quote updated (it was a couple years old). They updated the quote, and we discussed location. They told me I might need variances and made an appointment to come out Thursday to look at locations and see what would be needed. I said sounds good. Thursday comes, no call, no show. I emailed another builder. They sent me a quote that was a few grand cheaper than the no show. And, it had a window, an extra inch of concrete, and, they use 6x6 posts and 6x2 framing as opposed to 4x4 and 2x4's. When they called, they informed me of the variances likely needed because of the location.  I own over .6 acre corner lot. Can enter a garage on two different streets. Seems, since the city widened the main road, they made it a "thoroughfare" . By doing so, the city deems it necessary to limit buildings to sixty feet from the centerline of the road. Now, I don't really expect special treatment, but, being a thinking person, and not a government drone, I have to ask, why can't I build a garage that would be clear of the sidewalk by twenty four feet, but the neighbors house and garage two and three doors down are about twelve feet from the sidewalk. If they decide to widen the road more, they would literally have to demolish the garage and house two and three houses down from me. The realtor lied about location of septic field in back yard, so, I would have to redo the septic field in back to put the garage back there. I am really aggravated as the main reason I moved, and bought this house was so I could put a big garage on it. I am now looking to put an attached garage on the front, as I believe I can fit it in far enough back not to have to bother with the variances. I realize you need codes so the neighborhood doesn't look like a shanty town, but some of the rules make no sense. The two neighbors I refer to are two of many, if you follow the street. There are many properties that lost distance between property and street when they widened the road. But, if the government used common sense, which it doesn't, they would write the rule so you couldn't build a building closer to the road than the building on the street presently nearest the road. Sad part is, I believe I am going to have to reduce the size of the garage from what I wanted, by quite a bit. If I can't build that, I may have one more move to make. I hate government overreach. I measured, and believe I can get a 32 wide by 24 deep attached garage. Wanted 40 foot, but, 32 would be better than what I have now. 

Sleepy Joe is now asleep at the wheel

 Two and a half days into the four year shit show. Today, Biden nixed an order Trump signed to lower insulin prices. His first day, he killed the pipeline along with the thousands of jobs that went with it. He opened the gates for more illegals to enter as well as green cards for all invaders. We now have new caravans coming, and the illegals that are on the way are "demanding" Biden honor his promise to stand down and let the invaders in. 

Democrats are worried about the spread of a virus that kills .03 of one percent of the population. They have shut down restaurants, bars, sporting events, and basically everything people wish to do. They are super spreaders, unless it is a left wing demonstration, they are allowed to burn and pillage at will. The left has NO problem allowing the hoards to penetrate the border, bringing COVID, measles, chicken pox and whatever else they may have. If they cross at an entry point, we will treat them for free, then release them on their word to report to court when their date arrives. We are back to the hell we endured four years ago. 

While I don't like seeing anyone lose their jobs, I feel less sad when it is a union worker. Most of them blindly vote democrat. Most workers on the pipeline that got axed probably voted for Biden. Same goes with other union workers. The alcoa plant down here was in the process of shutting down. Many of my neighbors lost their jobs. Good paying jobs. I work in a machine shop that manufactures and rebuilds molds for making plastic food containers. A lot of our machines were idle because our management was sending the orders for new molds to China. We mopped and cleaned most of the time. Kept waiting for our pink slips. About the only work we had was redoing the fits on components of the chinese molds. They would come in, our assembly department would break it down and Quality control would inspect it. We got the privilege of repairing the new mold. Our management team would fly to china on a regular basis to help educate them on what was wrong, so they could do better so we wouldn't even have the repair work. When President Trump brought the tariffs in, Alcoa not only reopened, it expanded. My neighbors went back to work. My place of business brought mold building back to the states. We bought new machinery and have been working at break neck speed. We have hired a lot of new people. The steel industry in america also saw new life. All this is on the verge of going away again. Corporations are for profit. If tariffs go away, I am sure my company will farm the work back to China again. I find it mind bogling that people actually voted for Biden. A senile old bastard who is extremely corrupt and cares about nobody. The tax cuts, which my accountant told me gives me roughly three grand more take home pay a year, will be gone as Biden promised. I am not wealthy. I personally can't stand listening to Trump, as he usually acted like he was still a reality TV show actor. BUT, I loved what he actually accomplished. It saddens me that there are so many people that voted against Trump because of his tweets and rough persona. I like and enjoyed how he made our lives better. 

Big step forward

 Another big move forward. The rotten maple in the front lawn is gone, finally. I can now move forward on the garage in the spring, finally. AND, I can now make it deeper with the tree gone. I will check with the builder and see if I can go thirty deep instead of twenty four foot. I am off Easter week, so I am hoping on getting a build date by then. I have waited a long time for this. 

The downstairs turned out great. New ceiling with drop in light panels is awesome. I put a light up in the staircase going to basement, so, I am really happy with the way it turned out. I also modified an unused area above the stairwell so it is now closet space for the office upstairs. 

Every weekend, I try to get another project done. This weekend, I am hoping to push back a section of wall in the office to allow shelving for DVDs and displays that are even with the wall. I am also hoping on getting the extra outlets for office wired up as well as running the wiring for the ceiling fan for the guest bedroom. It is the last room in the house that doesn't have ceiling lights. Can't believe nobody has upgraded the lighting in this house yet. I hate torch lights. I have installed ceiling fans throughout the home now. Hopefully by spring, I will have everything completely done inside and the garage going up. Still have some landscaping to do in the spring. Every year, I get a little more done. I like my gazebo, but I am hoping to upgrade it in a couple years into a year around sunroom. I already know what kit I will use, but, I can only do so much at a time, and the garage is the next BIG project. I want to get back to working on my 1967 mustang. 

End of vacation

 Back to work tomorrow. I did finish the wiring on the basement lighting and have all the ceiling done. Found a clear path for the sconce lighting for the stairway down to the basement, but the back has a board where I need to install an electrical box. Have to make yet another trip to the store. They make a shallow surface mount electric box that I can run the electric through the board and safely connect the light fixture. Next vacation, I am hoping on redoing the downstairs bathroom ceiling as well as a small space kitchen area ceiling. Tiny compared with the area I did. 

I can't figure out where the little SOB's are coming in at, but while demoing the old ceiling, I inspected the finished ripout. While tearing old ceiling out, I got seventy years worth of mouse droppings raining down. I stood to the side and tried to catch most debris in box under the area. Well, I haven't seen one in a year, but, I will be damned if I didn't see one freaking mouse scurrying the perimeter of the ceiling heading to a neighboring room. Too cramped an area to do much. I tried to get the vacuum cleaner that was next to me and suck him up in it, but he was quicker than me. I know you can't mouse proof anything, but, I did my best. I sealed up the entire perimeter. Bigger openings I boarded up, and foamed all cracks. Probably still get some sneaking through, but it isn't wide open. When I redo the other ceilings, I will do the same. 

Had some issues when I first moved in, upstairs, but I installed electrical devices that are suppose to drive them out. It worked. I don't see one very often upstairs, and when I do, it is dead under the sink where I leave baited traps. I would call an exterminator, but my neighbor did for his. They charge about the equivalent of $25 a month to maintain a service, and he still catches one once in a while. I am going to try and install some electrical devices down there, may even put one in each ceiling grid. It emits a noise they don't like, but it doesn't bother dogs. 

Now that I have free access to the wiring, I can finally access the light switch to the last bedroom needing a ceiling light. Now I can send the electric up to the attic and finish that up. The new ceiling was a big step forward. 

Not looking forward to going back to work, and wearing a freaking mask for eight to ten hours a day. It has been nice not having to deal with the Covid nonsense. I treasure my off time. I now look forward to spring. Hopefully the idiots in charge will stop the mask nonsense and let things return to normal again.

Vacation is almost over

 With the Covid nonsense, I wasn't able to go up north for Christmas. Last Christmas, the lady that boarded my dog lost her struggle with cancer. She was an awesome older lady. In her eighties. Up to a few years ago, when you dropped the dog off, she would get down and play with the dogs like a teenager. She was a wonderful lady and loved taking care of dogs. My back up kennel isn't taking dogs at present. Don't blame them. They too are an older couple, but they are also very wonderful with dogs. I was going to check out new places, but the Covid nonsense has everything messes up. I am very particular when it comes to my dog. I like to check the place out and see how the people are. Most of them have a policy in place where you don't come in, they come and get dog out of vehicle. I get it, some people are paranoid of the disease that kills .03 percent of the people that contract it, since the government and media have driven people crazy with fear. I missed seeing family and friends. 

I did enjoy spending time with my dog and getting things done around the house though. Two weeks off is awesome. I finally ripped the ceiling out of the bar downstairs. It was old stained staple up one foot tiles. I hated the poor lighting down there, and the ceiling tiles being stained and warped just took away from the room. The house was built in the forties. Whoever did the bar area finished it in knotty pine. They built a nice bar and the previous owner left his bar stools for me. May look at putting a pool table down there in the near future as well as an electric dart board. I installed a drop ceiling with recessed lighting. Turned out awesome. Armstrong makes what they call an EZ hang ceiling. Does away with the twist wires and eye hooks. You nail a bracket up every four foot on the rafters. You pinch two metal tabs and insert a rod with a hooked end. To level ceiling, you just pinch metal tabs and move rod up or down, release and it locks in place. WAY better and easier than the old twisted wire method. Went up very quick and leveled easy as well. I also liked how you can drop the ceiling only 2.5 inch from rafters if you want, which is what I did. Basement ceiling height is important if you are tall. Only thing left to do is go to Lowes and pick up a couple covers for the electical boxes. Didn't have any on hand. I also want to tie a light into the circuit so when I turn on the downstairs lights, a light will come on on the staircase. So, I will pick up a light for the stairs tomorrow as well. Hopefully wrap that little bit up in the morning. Then, clean the mess up and actually enjoy the downstairs. Other benefit of the drop ceiling is I can now access the wiring for upstairs. I want to run some more recepticals as well as relocate some. Also want to redo some lighting upstairs, and I can now actually access the wiring without tearing into the walls. 

Time off has been nice, but even after two weeks, I am not ready to go back to work. I have limited my outings so I don't have to be muzzled with a mask. Unfortunately, That ends Monday as I head back to work where I get daily temp checks, wear a mask all day, and get to listen to all the things that can help keep us safe. So tired of everywhere I go, you need a mask and some dumbass on the PA is telling we ar all in this together, wear a mask, social distance, and don't forget to wash your hands. I hate going out at all anymore. So tired of the hyped up panic in society.

Making progress

 I had new gutters and down spouts put on the house. Got a fantastic deal. Guy two doors down from me does seamless gutters for a living. He is somewhat retired, as in he now has young people doing the work while he schedules and supervises. I was very impressed with his workers. They were young, but worked very hard and steady. Not a whole lot of millennials out there that are dedicated. It looks fantastic. He only installs 6 inch gutters. Old ones were beyond wore out. Splitting at the seams and had many wounds from branches falling on them over the years. He installed gutter guards as well. All the mature trees drop leaves and seeds faster than I can clear them. 

I also hit the bank this morning and secured funds for building the garage. Hope to get ahold of the builder and have him come out and inspect site and advise as to which size the city will allow. I have a few plans and quotes, but have to make sure they will be permitted. A lot of big ticket items hit this year. The furnace finally died  at the end of summer. The blower assembly was unsalvageable. The AC unit was eighteen years old. The furnace, out of the 1980s. They earned their keep many years ago. I had a high efficiency furnace and AC installed. Highly doubt they will give decades of service like their predecessors did, but, had to buy new. Did the water heater a while ago, so, as far as utility room, all is new. Did new windows when I moved in and redid the kitchen. Now, I am ripping the stapled ceiling out of the bar downstairs so I can install the drop ceiling and gain access to electrical wiring. I have brand new LED light panels to drop in when I get the grid up. Should brighten it up really good. 

Finally moving forward

 Been a long time since I have been on here. This year has been a complete horror show to put it mildly. Spent a lot of time and money in 2019 doing house repairs and maintenance not worth writing about. I am finally nearing the end of the maintenance issues. Tree guy is suppose to be out this month (though he is running out of month) to remove the maple tree in the front yard. It signed it's death warrant when it dropped a big branch on my Mustang in the spring taking out the deck lid, spoiler and putting a dent in fender and top. It takes months to get a tree guy down here. I gave up trying to free up cash and pay outright for the garage. Every time I was ready, the house would eat something big. Last items were furnace and AC unit. House should be running out of things to break, I hope. So, I got off my tail and hit the bank and lined up a home equity line to do the build. Once the tree is down and the weather breaks, I hope to get it done. I have the next two weeks off, so I hope to get some indoor projects wrapped up. Ordered the grid for the new drop ceiling going in downstairs bar area. Want to gain access to the wiring  for the main floor so I can add outlets and replace some shady wiring upstairs, but it is currently blocked by the staple up one foot ceiling tiles currently in the downstairs bar. Drop ceiling will also allow me to add better LED light units where I want and need them instead of where the previous owner installed little one light bulb units.

Suppose to be in the fifties Monday, so I hope to hit the club for a bit of target practice. I bought an AMT automag 3 pistol from a guy I work with. It shoots 30 carbine. Was told it is VERY loud. I You tubed videos of it. It throws huge fire balls out the front. Nice long carbine cartridges in a pistol, lots of flaming powder exiting barrel. 😁 Still haven't taken my 9mm AR I built a few years back out to the range. I put some cheap iron sites on it for now. Hope to take them both out early in the week. 

Tired of being cooped up. Ready for the Rona nonsense to end. Been a horrid year. All steam shows, gun shows, flea markets and car shows were cancelled. Extremely depressing year. No Frog Follies this year. No machine gun shoot. SO ready for an improvement. Unfortunately, Biden is 2021's curse. I am going to try and just enjoy watching the senile POS on TV sniffing little girls hair and doing the utterly goofy stuff he usually does. Hopefully 2022 will see the republicans get a super majority in the senate and take back the house. Do believe I will take a break from watching news and try to enjoy hobbies and not get too depressed. Three long work days and hopefully relax a bit. 

Taxes are done.

I have been dreading taxes. New tax laws and the not knowing part. I love it. Went in to tax prep agent to set appointment. He wasn't busy. He did them on the spot, no wait. Awesome..... And did I luck out, because when I got done, there was a line in the lobby. I got in ahead of the after work crowd. This is the last year I have them done. The new tax system is so simple, you don't have to do much anymore. Thanks Trump. I have been worried whether enough was coming out during the year. It wasn't a problem. The personal exemption went up so much, I can't write off mortgage interest and taxes anymore, because I don't pay enough of them to exceed the personal exemptions. I took home more all year and am getting a decent refund on top of that. It's a relief to know that everything is fine. I am curious to see how the democrats are going to handle it after everyone files their taxes and finds out that the common worker IS taking home more and actually gaining from the tax change. I am relieved and glad to have it out of the way for another year.

The cold weather is here, but it has been a good winter overall. Only a couple inches total of snow so far this winter. You don't have to shovel cold. Suppose to get up to the sixties early next week according to forecast, but is single digits now. Crazy weather patterns. I am ready for spring.

Back to work tomorrow

Two weeks off is nice, but it still goes by too quick. I got a ton of stuff done though. Finally broke through to the attic. First time I have been able to see it since buying house. I was relieved to find it dry, well insulated and no obvious pest problems. This area is notorious for termites and the yard has carpenter bee damage, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I finally was able to run wiring up from basement to attic so I could install a ceiling fan in living room. That is a huge project off my work list. And best part, the floor lamps can go now. I am so happy with the way it turned out. Have to swing by Lowes and get replacement bulbs. Ceiling fan came with LED lights, but they are the soft white. Soft white to me looks yellow. I like the daylight LEDs, so it will be an easy swap. Only modification I have left on that is to add a 4way switch to the two existing 3 way switches, so I can have a switch by the hallway so I can hit it coming out of the bedroom. The existing two switches are by the front and rear door. They weren't hooked to anything. Being an old house, they were probably, at one time, hooked to the upper plug of the wall outlets to control lamps. They were abandoned long ago. I am so happy they didn't completely cut the wire flush and I was able to tie in on the two switches in the wall. Houses down here don't use conduit, so if you want to fix or run wiring, you just about have to open a wall. Where I want to put the four way switch is where the hall closet is, so I can run the wiring up the closet and cut a box into the wall. Easy fix, but not today. Maybe next weekend.

My car radio and adapters came in, but I am still waiting for the license plate bracket back up camera to come in so I can install it all at once. It is suppose to be here by Friday, so I will hopefully put it in Saturday.

Not ready to go back to work tomorrow. I could get use to retirement really easy. Like my job, but I sure do love my leisure time better. Have three months before my next vacation. Still in the fifties down here so it doesn't even feel like winter. I am enjoying it. Think I will take it easy tomorrow after work. Been so busy while on vacation, I actually feel like a little down time now that it's time to go back. May just light a little fire in the fire pit tomorrow when I get home tomorrow and relax in the back yard if it isn't raining.

Truck is back

Picked up truck today, so I am back up to full mobility. The mustang is nice, but I use the truck SO much, I miss it when it isn't there. It's nice to go to Lowes and pick up anything you need. Mustangs, you have to really think about what your getting. First stop today after pickup was lowes, to pick up lumber and supplies. Making some serious headway on most of the projects I wanted to get done. It was a torrential downpour all day today, so no outside work. Weekend is suppose to be awesome. Fifties or sixties. Go global warming. Might make a gun run down to Owensboro to the biggest gun store I know. Haven't been there in a couple years. They built a new building. Might go check it out. My new radio for the mustang is suppose to arrive today (ahead of schedule), so hopefully I can get that in tomorrow morning.

Nearing the end of vacation

Two weeks off is nice, but it is still hard to go back to work. Three days left. Got some stuff knocked out, but no where near what I hoped. I fought most of the day today running surround wiring for the entertainment system. Works much better than the wireless system did. Dropped ceiling in the basement helped somewhat, but still had to snake the wires through the ductwork and plumbing. I also finally made progress on finding the wiring for the light switches in the living room. When they rewired the house years ago, the switches were abandoned in the living room. Fortunately, I was able to find a junction box that came from the switches when I removed the drop ceiling. I temporarily hooked into it and installed an outlet in the living room so I can operate the torch lighting through the switches for now. Next step is cutting an access to easily access the attic. Somehow, over the course of the eighty years the house has existed, the only access I have found is in a closet and is so small, you would have to send a small child up there as an adult wouldn't fit. Hopefully, I can cut the new access and get a ceiling fan installed in the living room.

As far as the vehicles, I had the tinted windows stripped and retinted on the mustang, and it looks perfect. Went with a lighter shade of tint and had the strip removed from the windshield. It is like a new car now. Have the radio ordered. It will be here next week. Touchscreen with Bluetooth. Be able to hook up my I-pod again. Hook up a back up camera as well as they are only about twelve dollars.

No garage and constant rain and drizzle most of the week, I finally caved and took the truck in to have the wheel hub checked. I was right, it was shot. The other side wasn't making noise, but was also badly worn, so I had them do them both. It kills me to have someone do something I am capable of doing, but it had to get done. Cost wasn't as bad as I thought, but still cost me more than I care for in labor. Still, it is out of the way now and I will have two operable vehicles now. Picked up the mustang today. The truck got done at their quitting time and there was nobody to come pick me up to get it, so I will pick it up in the morning. They are next to the barbershop, so I can get a hair cut on the trip.

Ordered some gutter guards and they came in, so for more fun and excitement, I will be installing gutter guards if the rain subsides long enough. I am thankful it is not snow. I love the mature trees, but in the fall, I pay dearly for it. The oak tree held leaves until we got a freezing rain and snow that knocked them down, and into the cleaned out gutters. Clean them one more time and try the new gutter guards and see how they do. Back yard sucks as it is two stories in the back and the ground isn't level on the drain end. With my knees, I am not climbing over the roof and trying to kneel to lean over and clean them out and install. Suppose to be in the 50s for the weekend, so should be fairly pleasant weather for it, if the rain stays away long enough.

Hope to drop by a garage builder tomorrow as well and see if I can get some decent estimates on the new garage I want to build. I have some pictures and sizes I want them to quote. I would still like to build a steel garage. They make openers for the roll up doors and it would be easier for a lift not having the rafters to contend with. Want to see if the front or back yard would be better. Both have their pros and cons. The modern steel garages look great. Nothing like the steel sheds they use to look like.

Really wish I had gotten more done over the time off. Under the weather part of the time. At least I made it back home for the holidays before getting sick. Not too bad, just really tired and sick to my stomach for a few days. Slept way more than what I wanted to, but I feel a lot better now and am getting things squared away. Not sure what that was all about, but it sure took a bite out of my vacation.

Survived another Christmas.

Hope everyone had a good time. Weather was actually perfect for traveling during holiday. Not much for a white Christmas anyway. About a week before heading up to northwest Indiana, I heard an intermittent grind sound somewhere toward front of truck. Figured it was either a wheel bearing or the four wheel drive actuator. It was only once in a while. Out of caution, I reserved a rental car for going up north. On my way to pick up the rental, the noise comes in fairly steady, but still not loud. I get rental and go up north. Upon getting back from trip, noise is steady now. I limp it back home. Now, this is my primary vehicle. The corvette is my backup which works in mild weather, not winter. I am going to fix the bearing or actuator, but, I decided to get another toy/back up vehicle. I researched and narrowed it down to two vehicles. A 2006 mustang GT with 49000 miles on the clock, or a 2013 v6 mustang with about 68000 miles. Newer mustang is loaded. Both have the leather interior. I love the 2006 retro look and wanted one when they came out, but didn't want for my primary vehicle. I did try and do the adultish thing, and buy the newer one, as it gets slightly better mileage and would retain value longer.
So, my day at the dealer. I head out check book in pocket ready to basically make sure it fit and drove to my satisfaction. I get there and tell salesperson exactly what car I want. He goes to retrieve it. Now, it's used and at the dodge dealer part of dealership, so, I go oogle the new Challengers. They are NICE, to say the least. After half an hour, another sales critter asks where my guy went. I told him he was suppose to be getting a car for me. He calls my sales guy. Fifteen minutes later, he arrives in a different car. There is a problem. The guy who cleaned and prepped the car doesn't know where he put the keys. They are still looking for them. We go look at car. It is extremely clean and sweet. Still can't get in. I am getting ready to leave and go to other dealer to look at other mustang. Sales manager says to stick around, it shouldn't be long, they got hold of the last guy who had keys. So, me and my sales critter kill some time. I take out a brand new Challenger. They are freaking roomy and awesome. This thing had every gadget you could imagine. Never drove a vehicle with heated steering wheel before. Had a power sunroof, leather interior. It was extremely hard not to drive it home. We get back, still no keys. At this point, I tell the sales guy I am going to see other car at dealer down the road. I tell him call if they ever find the keys. Still don't understand why they didn't just cut a new key using the VIN. They have a ford dealer in their complex.

On to next dealer. I drive in and parking lot is like most dealerships, hard to find customer parking. I accidentally drive down the row of used cars and find the mustang I wanted. It is mint. It is gorgeous. Being older, it doesn't have the Bluetooth and fancy accessories, but I will simply add an aftermarket touchscreen radio as I did in the truck. No problem. The only flaw on the car was the cheap home done window tint job. That will hopefully be remedied tomorrow. Buddy at work told me where to go for a good job. I will have them strip it and see if it needs tint. If it does, I am not going with the dark tint. Anyhow, sales team was great at this one, and they actually had keys to the cars. I took it out for a long drive. It is awesome. 4.6liter v8 has a good amount of power for a car that size. Went back and did the paper work. Had a sales guy follow me back home driving my new car as I had the Vette to get back home as well. Didn't expect it to be an all day affair. No sooner do I get in the kitchen, the phone rings. Sales manager from first place. Sir, we still don't have the keys, but if we don't have them Monday morning, we will cut a new key if you are still interested... No, that won't be necessary, I bought the other car I told you about that was at the dealer down the road.
I can't believe a dealer of that size is that incompetent. You can't tell me it would have cost the dealer much of anything to cut a new key, since one of their dealerships is a ford dealer. But, it all worked out. I actually bought the body style I like best out of the new mustangs. Spent all day driving all over burning gas and having fun. Did hit a gun show while I was out. Here are some pictures of my new toy.

Couldn't get over the low mileage. Car history verified no rollback. The car is extra clean. I feel bad that it will have to live outside this winter until garage is up. It has to be a garaged toy to have that kind of mileage. It is so immaculate.

Hope to get the tint removed tomorrow, if they have an opening. I plan on being at their door when they open. Nothing else I can get it scheduled.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I enjoyed seeing family, but missed seeing Mark and his family while up there. The timing lined up where the gun stores we usually hit were closed because of Sunday. Still a good time. Hopefully line up with everyone when I go up in the summer for the grandsons birthday. Take the Mustang up on that trip. see how she does on the highway. Should have the new radio with the navigation in it by then. Still have this coming week off, so hopefully I will get the truck back roadworthy again. I also bought gutter guards and will try and get some of them in during the milder weather.

Now that is a hard way to make a living.

The tree guys showed up today. WOW. It is really something to watch someone who knows what they are doing take down trees. I have power lines where the maple was. The guy scaled the tree like a monkey. Dropped the branches by rope to waiting helpers who promptly fed them into the biggest chipper I have ever seen. It took about two hours to get the maple, chopped up and gone. Bad news of the day was the oak tree. Cost me $2500 to drop it. That one they earned every penny. The other two trees  with the stump removal were $2200 total, so the oak really smacked the pocket book hard. They got the maple down, stump ground, oak down, and all carted off. I thought they were done for the day. Nope. They headed to the back yard and got the third tree just about cut down before admitting defeat. They will be back in the AM. It was really something to watch them take down trees. Made it look so easy. The house looks totally different now. I like how it looks from the street now. I will wait and see about the other maple. I may take it down as well. It would make the front yard look cleaner, but I will wait until I have the garage in and see what it looks like. I would hate to lose the shade, and with the garage in, the tree may look like it belongs again. It grew kind of weird seeing as how it was in the shadow of the much larger maple, so branches favored the side of the tree that the sun hit. It would work with the garage though, as the garage will go where the big maple was, so the existing maple would be leaning slightly away from garage and the branches grow away from where the garage will be. They should finish up really early in the morning. They are down to a small trunk to take down and some clean up. If they show up at 7 like they did this morning, hopefully they will be done by ten or eleven. I plan on hitting Frog follies tomorrow. Hope to get there relatively early.

For real this time, maybe

The climber that cuts the tree and ropes the limbs down was out earlier this month with kidney stones, so they cancelled last minute. I start my mini vacation tomorrow and they are suppose to be here early in the AM to finally get the trees out of here. I won't believe it until I see it. Not getting my hopes up until they are climbing the trees. I can't believe I had to wait almost five months. All the tree places have a waiting list. I definitely wouldn't have picked these guys had I known how long it was going to take. They told me mid June originally. I can't wait to see what it looks like when done. Should make leaf raking a lot easier. Still have two maples and an oak, so, not easy, just easier.

I got the ceiling fan installed in the dining room during the week. It actually went very smooth. Thought I would have to put up a reinforced electrical box, but the old one is solid. The house was built in the 40s, and I pulled a small chandelier to put the fan up, so I lucked out there. Going to try and figure out a way to get wiring up to the middle of the living room ceiling so I can put a fan in there as well. There is a pair of light switches for a light in the living room, but they don't do anything. Going to pull covers off the outlets in the room and see if there is an abandoned switch wire in one or more of them. The old houses usually had one or more receptacles wired where the top plug was switched and the bottom wasn't. It would give me a decent start anyway. The attic access is ridiculously small. Have to send a toddler up to check things out. There is a weird storage area in the dining room that has an access door in the wall. I believe I am going to try and cut a usable attic access hole in there that I can actually fit my fat ass through. Want to put a fan in the bedroom and office as well. Can't believe nobody ever converted them before. Or put a decent attic access anywhere for that matter. Second house I had to do this to. I hate lamps and love fans in all rooms. Makes a huge difference.

Friday is Frog Follies again. Best car show around. Plan on checking out the car lifts while I am there. Hope to put one in the new garage next year. They usually run specials at the show, and the garage and trees are going to be enough of a burden this year. Get their recommendation for floor thickness as well as ceiling height. Suppose to be beautiful out Friday. Usually it is pretty steamy at the show. Nowhere to cool off, so I usually go sit in the truck after a few hours of walking and cool off in the AC. Shouldn't have to do that this year.

Probably spend the weekend trying to get the area where the maple in the front was, converted to parking area for now. I can move the railroad ties to frame it in and then start getting quotes for the garage. With the trees out of the front and back, and the sheds moved to their new locations, I can finally see which area is best for the garage. If I go in the front, it will probably be a 24x 36 or 40, depending on what is allowed. Limited by space between house and side walk. If I do it in back yard, I will probably go with 24x40, but I would put the doors on the narrow end and run it deep. I have a septic and need to stay out of the field. If I go with the back yard, I will still put a couple parking spots in front next to garage. Truck will probably live out there.

I thought they forgot

I finally got a call today. The landscapers. They told me in april, it would be the middle of June before they could get out here. I called mid June, they said they would be out first week in July. It is now the second week of August. I was getting ready to call and ask WTH was going on, and they finally call. They will be out Friday. PERFECT... I am excited. I have been getting the weekend off most of the time, so, I will take a personal day Friday , as I have to be home for them to do it, so I get a three day weekend and get to see people take three trees down while I sip on coffee and relax. Should be something to watch. They don't use equipment. They climb and drop by hand. No heavy equipment tearing up the yard. I got home and moved the Mustang from the corner of lot to the area by the garage so it is out of the way. Total pain, as it doesn't have a steering column or floor pan in it. Steer with a crescent wrench on steering shaft under hood while towing with strap on truck, by myself. I managed to do it without damaging car, truck or house. I am anxiously waiting the removal of the maple so I can get to planning garage. Saturday I will move the railroad ties to where the garage walls will be so I can get a feel for if that is what I want. Also get an idea what it will look like. Once trees are out I can mark front and back yard where the garage would go and get quotes from builders so I can decide where to best do the build. I bought some of the paint they use to mark grass for events. I figure I can paint corners of garage area in the back yard as well as driveway, so I can get an idea how that would look. Hard to tell until the trees are out of the way and I can get a clear view of what it will look like. Getting to the finish line on most of the projects. Kitchen is done except for a few minor items. Hope to get finished pictures of before and after up soon. Only other project I have to get done yet is painting the floor and wall in laundry room and rerouting water lines. I replaced all rotten wood on the last of the three sheds and painted it last weekend. This weekend I am going to see if I can manage to turn them ninety degrees and move them over to the corner of the back yard. Should be interesting.

Only two more weeks until I get a minivacation. A Thursday, Friday vacation to go with the weekend. It is for Frog Follies. My favorite show of the year.  Should be starting to do more recreational stuff now that the work around the house is winding. down. Can't wait until my garage is done and I can finally start getting the mustang finished.

Almost done

Dropped the dog off at the vet for his physical, shots and such, which freed me up to install the kitchen counter top that has the sink in it. Easier to do without the dog trying to crawl in with me. It turned out really nice. Glad I installed the sink before putting countertop on. I found out I had to put pockets in the places the clips attach. I got brave and installed the drains and the faucet as well, so I wouldn't have to fight with it under the sink. I couldn't believe how everything fit perfectly. It was awkward doing it by myself, but I dragged it in and flipped it into place, and, it fit absolutely flawlessly. I was expecting something to be off a bit or otherwise hang. I got it all screwed together. Only thing I don't like on the new faucet is it comes with hoses preattached , and they were too short to reach supply. Like every other plumbing line I have encountered in this house, the supply line leaked a bit by merely touching it, so, I disconnected hard copper lines back to shut off and ran new. After a quick trip to the hardware store, which is only a few blocks away, everything was hooked up and leak free. I love my new kitchen. Still have to seal and install the backsplashes, which are also butcherblock. I also need to install toe kick panel on the base cabinets since I changed configuration around. Should be completely done by next weekend.
I do have a minor rodent problem as I found droppings under the sink. I set some glue traps and snap traps. I am not sure where they are coming in as I had new windows installed and have been around the house looking for any entry points. Everything looks secure. May call exterminator and have them look around and see what I am missing. When I moved in, they had a few spots by windows where something could enter, but I don't see anything now. I never leave the dogs food dish out after he eats, but he is bad for hiding cookies for later. I am going to have to throw those out and keep an eye on him. No food source and the mice should move on.