Post Christmas......

Well it's over, except for the cleaning up. What a busy, busy Christmas it has been. Our first year with the kennel at Christmas, whew.....I took the week efore Christmas off and the 27th, we had the 26th off since Christmas fell on a Sunday. We overbooked and had dogs in every nook and cranny in the place. LOTS of walking cleaning and cleaning and walking. Christmas eve was a tmy folks new condo. They love it there. They had previously lived in a beautiful old house in the historic neighbourhood but they were tired of the maintenance, racoons in the attic, squirrels in the attic, poor heat, no AC and all the attendant problems with a old house. So they moved. Nice condo, nice neighborhood. My brother nad his wife also came and we had a lovely champagne drenched Christmas and dinner. My family does Christmas in the european fashion. Formal Christmas Eve with dinner and present opening etc. Then home and go over and walk the dogs...at 12:30pm? Oh well, I guess we do what needs to be done.

Christmas day we had Mel come over and take care of the kennel and we drove to Tampa to see all the kids and grandkids. Carolyn was down with Sarah and Nicole from NY and we had a nice time and nice dinner. Then, back in the car and back to G'ville. On the way back we had alternator probs but made it anyhow. Whew....

Ever since it's been the kennel, the kennel, the kennel. We walk all the dogs multiple times each day, it seems to lower the stress level for them and consequently keeps the barking and destructive behaviour at a minimum. Something no one else seems to do unless they have to. After the New Year most of the dogs will be going home rather quicKly so we'll finally be able to get some rest. Thank God that Carolyn and the kids are here. They have been a big help at the kennel and since I had to go back to my slavey job Dolly would have had a hard time with the kennel. Always seems that things are working out. Blew our income projections out of the water. We will end up exceeding our projections by about 10-15% over what we had anticipated. looks like we'll go ahead and build out the other side of the kenel next summer and should be able to fill it after we hit all the phone books. Wahooo! Scary when a plan works out. See you all next year........

Have a safe and happy new year!

It's hard

No not that, get your mind out of the gutter!!! I meant life and all. Kennels is doing fine and things are overall doing good. I really got to get some more pictures up. I can be sooo lazy sometimes. It doesn't help that I live in the land of 24600 dial up either. No broadband available in my area unless I want to pay Direct TV's outrageous fees. Not me, said the littlest bear. With the kennel doing well, I mean we're doing a good biz for a new almost unknown kennel in the area, it makes it really hard to go to my stupid day job. I would much rather be at home and working for myself. The big sticker is the health insurance. I get it free with the state and if I try to go and purchase it on the open market it's like, well, you really don't want to know. It is sooo outrageous it will probably keep me at my suck-ass job for another year or so. Oh, the trauma, the pain. I guess I can live with it, it's not easy tho.

Christmas. It appears that we have the presents all bought! Hooray! Done early! Usually we're (read as me) at the mall on the 22nd or 23rd looking for that one gift for someone or another. God Bless on-line shopping!! The other thing that Dolly and I have decided is that we will do our Christmas shopping on Black Friday (day after T-day) and get each others gifts while we are together. An example, Hey honey, what do you think about this? Oh, that's really cool. OK, it's yours' for Christmas!! I mean how much easier can it be? You get exactly what the other person wants. No returning things the following week and none of that look of dissappointment when the hints that were subtley dropped for the past 2 months were not picked up on. Win-win as far as I can see. The only thing is, although it's been bought early the rule is; NO TOUCHING OR PLAYING WITH UNTIL CHRISTMAS. Still get that anticipation factor. I mean that takes all the fun out of it if you can have it right away.

Trying to get to Marias' for Christmas day. It's gonna be hard since the kenel is going to be packed again (muhahaha). I think we have a couple of folks that will walk and feed that day for us. For pay, of course. I just wanted Dolly to be able to speand time with her kids and grandkids esp since her mom is not with us and I'm sure we'll have some sadness. Thanksgiving morning was hard since it was the first Thanksgiving that she can tremember that her mom was not with us. It got better after Maria and the kids came and the drinking began, too much to think about. Well I'll try to update more than once a month but no promises........see ya and have a


Merry Christmas!!!

November

Well November has come. There have been a LOT of changes in the last several weeks.

My mother-in-law Eleanore passed away Octber 6th. She had not been doing particlarly well for a number of months but had been much worse since, I would guess, the middle of Sept. She died at home where she belonged and in her own bed, surrounded by her family and friends. (and cat!). As you frequent readers will know she had been with us for many years and had sort of become our family/child/responsiblity. She had a unique place in our lives and although she (indirectly) caused some stress in the household she wuill be sorely missed. Dollys' having a hard time of it as you can well imagine. Although it's giving her a respite from the endless work involved with taking care of her mother it is still very difficult for her. For many years, and more so the last few months, she had tailored everything she had done to care for her mother. We had given up much for the ability to provide care for her mom. Now she is dealing with the guilt that comes from having the worry and stress of caring for an aging ailing parent gone. She looked at me the other day and said,"well, I guess we can go out to dinner anytime we want now"., and then promptly burst into tears. It is very difficult to watch her suffer so much. I know that time will be the only thing that can help her but it's still hard to watch her go through so much. It's one thing when a parent dies or is very ill and you are not there every day to witness it. It is an entirely different thing to watch (for 10 years) as a parent ages and sickens.

The outpouring of support from her daughters, our friends and others was truly an amazing thing. I have never been a part of such support from so many people. It goes to show that all my cynicism aside there are many, many truly good and decent people out there and I am fortunate enough to know a great many of them. It helps to renew my faith in people in general. God bless you all and thanks!!

On an unrelated note the kennel is doing quite well. We have arranged to have yellow page ads in all the books in the area. There are three major ones! It is quite a process and something that I have not dealt with before. Bookings are not overwhelming but steady and it gives me great hope for the future of our little endevour. We have a giant schnauzer coming in tommorrow and I've not seen one before. It's nice to be able to have the pleasure of everyones' pets and not be ultimately responsible for them. Sort of like grandkids. Play with them and then send them home!

More about racoons. We have gotten more! It's really not breeding season for them so what's up? Are they not reading the books? Don't they know that this is not the time??!! Anyway, we got three little ones the other day. They're really shy and growl their baby growls when they look at us. They do take the food though.....Scared but not stupid! Several weeks ago we had a mass escape from the interim cage in front. 7 got out and headed for the hills. 3 we recaptured almost immediately since they went up the nearest tree and were easy to coax down with food (read as bananas, their FAVORITE food!). So we recaged those and went along. The others were probably just old enough to get along on their own with any detrimental effects. Last night I was changing the cage and feeding when outof the corner of my eye I thought I saw a cat run towards me. It was one of the escapees! In a moment here comes a second one! later I caught a third! It's beeen about 3 weeks since the other booked. They had obviously been hanging around as a group.They were still real friendly (to me at least, Mr Food) and I just coaxed them back in to the cage (with bananas natch!) So we have all back but one. This weekend without fail they are going to the big release cages out back. They're too big to keep in the front cage. They have nothing too do but figure ways to get out!

Well thats my update for now. See you all soon..now that things have settled down a little I hope to be updating a little more often. Love to All

Jeeez, it's been awhile....

I've looking at all the HNT that are listed on Obassos' site. http://osbasso.blogspot.com/2005/05/guidelines-for-half-nekkid-thursday.html
It's pretty interesting. I don't know if I would/could/should do that. I mean who wants to see body parts of an aging sort-of hippie? Not me! So I'll just look and ponder. '

Due to the ongoing energy crisis (?!) We are going to 4 day weeks here at work. I did that once and found that my off day (friday) was spent running around and doing all the stuff I used to do at lunch and right after work. Well my staff are very excited about it so I guess I'll suffer through it. In my case it means I can get some of the HUGE listof stuff that alweays needs to done aroung the house/kennel/farm. It presents a challenge to me in several ways. First, my dear wife who I love dearly, POUNDS THE SHIT OUT ME ABOUT WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. I know it needs doing dear but can we just leave it alone once in a while. She can't see, and I have a hard time conveying to her, that the constant barrge of this needs doing, that needs doing, is depressing. It makes me feel like we'll never get ahead of the game and, well I'm sure you can understand. So, my job/challenge is to try to get her to not nag me to death about this stuff but just to tell me, ONCE, and put it on a list and I'll get around to it.

I once said that a succesfull marriage is work. It is. Ever changing, ever adapting, always in motion. People are not static, everyone changes, in little ways and in big ways. By default the relationship is the same, you need to adapt to your partners changes and change (modify) accordingly. Ima tryin', Ima tryin'.

I'm sure it will work out. We are too compatible for it not to.

Anyway, here's to the three day weekends coming up!! Yahooooooo!!!

Some thoughts and a tragedy......

New Orleans. Was there once, I thought it was a bit touristy and tacky but what the hell, I still enjoyed myself. What's with the looters? Why is it open season when anything happens?Do these people have no class/clue whatever? Not being the touchy-feely peaceable type I am an advocate of just shooting a few and see if that straightens the rest out. I mean if their reaction to a natural disater of this sort is to immediately run out and steal TVs', jewerly, shoes (SHOES for cripes sake??!!) then I don't really see why I need to share oxygen with losers like that. Sorry if it offends you but I think we'd all be better off if they weren't here for us to worry about. Parents taking food water, medicine etc for themselves, their children, their parents is excusable and in my opinion certainly within the bounds of reasonable actions in the face of overwhelming catastrophe. But these other scum......screw 'em! Lock 'em up, shoot 'em, whatever, I really don't care. It would be their great misfortune to try that with me if I were ever unfortunate enough to be having to defend my pile of rubble. This is from the New York Times

John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard, he said.

One said, "We want that generator," he recalled.

"I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum," Mr. Carolan recounted Wednesday. "They scattered."

Nice man, he decided not to shoot them. Maybe next time they won't be so lucky. No loss....

A tragic note from the homefront. One of the baby racoons that we are fostering fell and apparently broke her neck. It was very sad. They love to climb and by giving them the opportunity to climb around they can gain some of the skills that they need to survive in the wild. After 3 years of rehabbing racoons with 20+ successfully released we have had our first tragedy. I realize that with all the death and destruction in the Gulf it pales in comparison, but a small helpless creature like this.......

Sort of a switch, tragic loss of a baby racoon from "lets' just shoot the looters..." In my defense I would have to answer that the racoons don't know any better....the looters, well.....

Copycat

Well I keep seeing this all over the blogworld so I guess I'll give it a try. I warn you, it may not be pretty, may be sad, may be...oh hell, here goes


20 Years ago...(yes I'm old enough to do a 20 years ago..actually I could probably do a 30 and 40 but I'm not gonna tourture myself so there!!!

Lessee....4 years out of college and working for a pest control company in Ft Laud. Courting (read as getting trapped) by first wife (the evil %*%#*& bitch, no anger here mind you). Drinking with free abandon. It was interesting back then. Bars in Ft Laud closed a 2 am then, Hollywood at 4 am and Miami at 6 am. So you could drink your way down the coast and end up at the bleary eyed crack of dawn at (take your pick) 1. Some sleazy strip club in North Miami thinking that you could take one of them home. Fat chance, and even if you did, boy would you be sorry once you'd sobered up. Thank God that I would be so drunk and sloppy that even a 5th rate stripper wouldn't want me. I mean, I had enough problems!! 2. Passed out in the car in some parking lot somewhere in S Fla hoping that you wouldn't wake up dead. 3. Eating breakfast at some place that was cheap and hoping you'd not be poisoned. 4. Driving home with a car load of drunks (driver included) laughing hysterically at the dumbest things you could imagine. 5. Scaring little old ladies at the supermarket while trying to score something that would offset the TERRIBLE hangover you just knew you were gonna have. 'Shcush me, do you know where the ashprin is?? hysterical laughter and giggling while trying to keep a staight face while the sun is poking holes in your brain. Ah, youth...

10 years ago...

Following divorce, move to Maine and New Hampshire, return to Florida, several different jobs etc. Stopping drinking. I mean I did a lifetime of drinking in a few short years. I have barstools all over S Fla with my butt print still on them. But these are stories for another time...


Starting working for the government. Bought a duplex so I could help my dad with his cancer treatments. It was nice spending some time with him, we had had a rocky relationship for many years but we became pretty close and I was glad that we were able to deal with all the shit between before he died. At least I am fortunate to be able say that I have no lingering regrets about our relationship. We talked and said all that needed to be said and when he died we were at peace with each other. It is one of the best things that ever happened to me. If you have the chance to do it. DO IT!! I was no longer drinking but I keep right on smokin' dope. I mean it allows me to relax without turning into a complete asshole. Mind you that's the extent of my substance abuse these days. It used consist of anything I could smoke, swallow or shove up my nose. We're also talkin' about very moderate amounts, long gone on the days when it was a spliff the size of a dog leg.

5 years ago..

Happily ( and I mean happily!!! insert flowers and butterflies and other stuff here) married to my wife. Bought a beautiful place in the country. Spent bunches of money remodeling it. Started on our quest to build the kennel. What a quest! I should have started a blog on that alone. Good thing I didn't, anyone that ever read it would run screaming from the idea of going into business for themselves......However, Dolly and I not being of sound mind, continued.

1 year ago.....

Kennel started!! Hurricaines come....Frances, Jeanne, Charlie, no power for eight days, That's fun for the first night, eat BBQ, play cards by candlelight, snuggle with the sound of rain....oh fine for the first day. Then, freezer defrosts, water running out on my wood floors. Well water, no power, no pump, no water...no showers....washing by pool water. Dogs getting steaks and bratwursts for dinner, they're diggin' it, real meat! All day!! wahoo!! No fans, no TV, no lights, no computer. Finally got a generator and solved most of the problems but it took 6 weeks for the ground to dry enough to pour the slab for the kennel. But progress was being made.

Whew.............

Racoons

I've posted some racoon pics on flickr. You can get to them through the sidebar. We currently have two groups. A large colony of nine that live in the habitat I built out front and the three babies on the porch(!?). We are part of rescue network that rehabs baby racoons and then releases them back to the wild. It's very rewarding (most of the time!). We have to keep the two groups separate for now because the bigger guys will hog the food and beat up the youngsters.

Dolly went out tues morning to give the racs out front some water and inadvertantly left the door unlatched. Escape artists that they are, within a few minutes they were all in the trees and just charging around. She jumped the fence and got most of them just to have them re-release themselves in few minutes. She is no longer allowed to touch the cage! In the process of capturing the escapees she got into poison oak or ivy or chiggers or some sort of nasty, itchy bumpy stuff. She is covered with horribly itchy red bumps and is scratching, scratching scratching. I have to laugh quietly or I'll get blasted! It's funny but I still don't like to see her suffer like that. I'd show you a pic but boy would I ever be in the doghouse if I did!. Anyway, back to the racs. So we eventually recaptured 7 of the little devils but still had two on the loose. Over the last two days I managed to recapture both of them with delicious food and a have-a-heart trap. Although they may look big enough they are not yet skilled enough to find food and water on their own so I knew they didn't go far. They are completely dependent on us until they are 9 or so months old. At this point most of them are still quite friendly and like to touch you through the cage and grab your fingers and shirt. They have the most fascinating hands, large soft pads with articulated thumbs. When they hold onto your fingers it's like velvet gloves. I understand that the reason they appear to wash their food is actually that the water makes their hands more sensitive. Apparently touch is their primary sense.

The little guys on the porch are a panic. They come and fuss at the door when it's time to eat. They watch us as much as we (and the dogs and cats) watch them. I'm not sure who is more interested in who! When you go out to feed them they will come charging from wherever they are and banzai at the food. Milk, banana, omnivore biscuits, grapes, sardines, apple, left-over spaghetti, pear, dog food, cat food actually just about anything.

After the racoons are about 6-7 months old they are moved (that should be fun) to the big release cages out back in the woods and eventually they will be released, wished good luck and that will that until baby season next year!

Just a note about racoons as pets. They are quite cute and affectionate when they are small but as they get larger they can get really mean and quite vicious, particularly at breeding time. Any idea how much fun it is dealing with a cranky 40 lb male racoon in your kitchen? All in all a bad idea and certainly not fair to the racoon.

ranting, ranting ,ranting

I watched an episode of Law and Order last night about a suburban militia group. Ordinary guys that become radicalized due to the way our government is operating. I was surprised at how much it hit home. I have been saying (a lot to myself) that the REAL problem with this country is the culture of government that we have here. I mean it's all about money and restrictions on this and that. It was reinforced by the receipt of our property taxes statement last night. Looking through the list of "neccassary" expenditures by our local government it is astounding how much money they want. $200+ for the school board!? Let's see, what can I say about this. Several years ago I noticed that one of the nearby schools had a brand new, fancy facade redone for the entrance for the school. Knowing how these things worked it was probably VERY expensive. Yet there are portables in the back of the school! Oh I'm sure there is a very compelling argument for why money is spent this way. I work the for government. I have watched them mismanage, piss away and generally waste an ENORMOUS pile of money in the years I have been here. One example. A year or so ago some overpaid moron decided that a competancy test would be the way to go. So, at great expense they contracted with a private company that developed an on-line assessment that a chipmunk could have passed. They also spent millions building training rooms in all the offices statewide with state of the art computer desks and nice fancy new machines for this test. We all took it once. That's it, once. Then they decided, well maybe we'll go in a dramatically differnt direction since this doesn't seem to have the desired outcome. Millions spent for a test (I heard $6 million) millions more for an enormous number of facilities and computers and furntiure for NOTHING! This is one department in one state in our country! How much overall money is wasted by our government (local, state and federal). We can't provide sufficient equipment for our boys in Iraq but we can build stupid training rooms for dumbass state employees! I hate to be so negative but I'm watching our country get sucked down the drain by politicos that are in it for themselves (wallet, prestige, retirement, whatever) and not in it for our country. Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves at about 200,000 rpm at this point. Don't even get me started on our "justice" system. Well since you mentioned it I will rant some. Have you noticed that it's all about the process of law and not really about justice? Innocent men spending years behind bars for crimes they didn't commit. Prosecutors refusing to reopen cases because someone might look bad (read as stupid, criminal, etc). Hemming and hawing about DNA testing because it might (again) make them look stupid. Overbearing, power hungry cops. man it just seems like such a mess. And what's worse there doesn't seem to be anyone on the horizon that will be any better than the bunch we already have in Washington......., we're doomed..........

However, the kennels doing just fine.......

Upon reflection the above makes me feel like a hipocrite since I, too, feed off the public teat. I guess I better hope that the kennel does well enough so I can get out of here. I would prefer to work with the animals and to help advocate for stronger animal cruelty laws.....perchance we all dream....

Overly Busy

Well since the kennel has opened we are overly busy. It's rare that we get any time to do much of anything except for the ENDLESS CHORES around both the house and kennel. I'm sure it's because we are not particularly well organized. We have begun a campaign of ORDERLINESS. We'll just have to see if we can pull it off. The problems as I see them

1. We have have just too much stuff. I mean our stuff has stuff. We need to get rid of anything we haven't touched/used/looked at for the last 6 months or so.....
2. We are not organized. We have no real routinue. We get things done as they need to be instead of having A PLAN
3.We spread ourselves too thin. In stead of trying to concentrate on the things that need to get done we keep taking on more. I'm not sure that this one is going to get much better. Most of the extras that we do are animal rescue related and I cannot in good consience let animal die or otherwise be neglected just because it's inconvienent.
4. Dollys' mom needs increasing amounts of care. the poor dear has failing hearing, eyesight, increased confusion (which way is the bathroom, bedroom etc). The cancer and her failing heart don't leave her with much energy and it's very sad to see her continue to decline and of course she gets whatever level of care that she needs. Another one that we cannot change.


So, I have taken the following steps to see if we can get some of ths under control.

1. I have purchased a Palm Pilot to try to get organized, put all the obligations on it and get through the list each and every day
2. Try to taclke each room at a time, Go through it and decide whether we REALLY cannot live without this or that.
3. Try to get things done earlier in the day to hopefully free up a little time to breathe.


One other annoying thing is that because we live in the country I cannot get broadband. I have to live in the land of dialup. it'snot so bad for just reading the mail and reading newspaers and such. When it comes to uploading pictures and stuff it SUCKS. I can get one or two pictures up on flickr before it gives me the message "you are not connected". Crap! I am connected, it's just dead SLOW. I have looked at the satillite service but it is still quite expensive. I am looking at Wildblue, a new sat internet but again it's like $500-$600 to get connected (equipment purcheses etc) and then $50 or so month. Hard to justify that kind of expense. Oh well, I'm just livinlife...............

Birthdays and stuff

The 26th was my bros' b'day. Went over to his place and ate paella and watched everyone get drunk. A most humerous evening. It's interesting being the only non-drinker at these events,I'm the one that remembers everything....much to others consternation (haha). This weekend we celebrate my mas' b'day. We're going to Tims' Thai, mmmm, much good food and they let you BYOB so all is cool.

We will be in the yellow pages come October, full color ad and listings in two places!. Even though we are doing better than I expected at this point it is time to go the next level. Since this book comes out in October we'll be in the book for the holiday season! I hope we are so busy that we have to turn people away! Wouldn't that be nice!! Not the turning people away, the being busy natch.

Also we have taken in a charity case for the animal pound. A little Jack Russell that was involved in a domestic violence case. The woman has had to flee into hiding and was unable to take her dog. After being in the pound for the last 3 months Bob has asked whether we can board her for a while until this all settles down. I had always wanted to do this since I read about cases where the animals were left behind and killed/tourtured since the wife and kids weren't there. I'm glad to be able to help. It has it's own rewards.

Carolyn and the girls went home. It's much quieter and and a little lonely without them. However, they did take several new household members with them. The two kittens that had been abandoned and a german shepard mix from the local pounds New Hope list. Basically it is a last chance list. The animal is due to to euthanized (read as killed, after all that is what it is, euthanized my ass, I hate sanitized expressions). Anyway, I digress, the animals are available for $10! Neutered, shots etc. A great deal, we have two for the kennel, a dog and a cat.

Well gotta go back to work so, till later.....

another update

Well, lets see, where to begin...Carolyn and the girls are here for the week. It's so nice to see Dolly and her daughters getting along. Life is really too short to be pissed off. Went to Wild Waters with Maria, Carolyn and the four kids (Dolly and me of course), had a blast. Even at my advanced age I enjoy the water slides and all the kid stuff. It's more enjoyable with the kids though, their enthusiasm is infectious!! Too bad that they need to leave on Saturday. However they will be back in October! Whoo-hoo!

The kennel is doin' great considering that we haven't really advertised. Thats exciting. I CANT WAIT until I can quit my day job........

There were some kids over by the kennel last night, claimed to have run out of gas but were doing a lot of hollering so I ended up calling the cops to come check it out. By the time they got there, it didn't take too long tho, they were gone. At this point Dolly was apparently hollering at me to find out who it was, couldn't find her gun, couldn't rack the shotgun and ended up pissed at me! Go figure. Sometimes I just cant figure people out. I mean, sorry I didn't hear you, I was talking to the cop, his motor was running and you were a loong way away. I'm a little deaf (too much rock'n'Roll? in my youth?) Anyway, I'm doin' the man of the house thing and I get the cold shoulder. I give up, I'm sure it will pass but what the F***? I'm sure some of you ladies are thinking "men!" well I'm sorry but I can't figure things out like this with no information. Jeez...

More pics

Uploaded some more pics of the kennel. It's really comin' along. We have Carolyn and the grandkids here for a couple of weeks. It oughta be a fun time. More later.....

Update (finally)

Well, I certainly have been the big slacker about updating this. I can see why folks will stop. It reaches the point where it's like, what do I say now???? Anyway, I had a good week, it was nice to have Tim come and visit and he and I and Andrew played much, drank much and otherwise partied our faces off. I still managed to get a bunch of work done around the kennel and the house. I was most proud of the new racoon habitat I built for the (now 7) coons we are raising. Or I was was until I realized that three of the little varmints found a way out. So now we have 3 young racoons hiding in the trees in the front yard. I will go to FWC and get some capture cages and set them on top of the habitat and try to capture them. They came down to eat the food we left out for them but they are *not* going to allow us to hand-catch them. These three are the unfriendly ones. 2 we had for a while and one was just given to us 2 days ago. This ALWAYS happens when we build new cages for them. The little devils are really sneaky and if there is a way they will get out.

I also am wrestling with my mother-in-laws toilet. I replaced the malfuntioning innards and now the tank leaks.....I hate plumbing. I will give it one more shot to fix and then I will throw my hands up in frustration and give up. Really adult wounldn't you say. Sorry but I don't mind working around the house and getting things done but I find it really dissappointing when things blow up in my face.

The kennel is doing pretty well off just the 3 day ad in the paper and referrals from our vet. We should have our signs up by the end of the week and hopefully that will increase biz some. I sort of like the slow start. It's very hard on Dolly to manage both the house (with her mom) and the kennel and all the other shit that needs doing around the homestead. Poor woman is exhusted half the time. It's even more frustrating that I have waste time here at the House of Dumb each day. I still have the following things yet to do (current list)

Salt in the water softener
Get the cages to (hopefully) catch our escapees
Install the water softener at the kennel
Build the counter at the kennel
Top the runs (some dogs climb!) (new ones, in and out)
Order the sunshade for the new runs
Fix the horses stall (he's busy knocking it down)
Worm the goats
Move the blasted riding mower out so Sears can come and fix it (yet again)
Continue to work with Peachtree software (biz software for the kennel)
Move one of the computers over to the kennel
Clean the porch (our previous racoon storage area)
Mow the lawn when Sears comes and fixes the riding mower hopefully Wed( mow you say? what's the deal, it's about 6 acres and now about a foot tall, I'll take a flare gun and some provisions with me in case I get lost)
Fix the *&^%%$*&;*&^%% toilet

Not to mention things like catboxes, dinner, bills blah blah blah etc

And you wonder why I sound so down sometimes? Thank God there are two of us!!

See you later...........

Midvacation

It's wednesday, half-way through my vacation. It's supposed to be 95 degrees. The weather channels web site just shows an orange box and the word hot. So, we'll escape to the movies, I have wanted to see War of the Worlds since I saw it was coming out. I just love that apocalyptic end-of-the-world kind of stuff. I like this story since I first read it as a kid. We've sort of been working at the kennel and other chores during the day and playing at night. It's been nice...

The kennel is doing as well as I could expect for a new business. Dolly groomed her first dog on Monday (a boarder) and so it goes, Slowly but surely we are getting the business. It is really exciting to watch it happen. I can see that we will be getting busier as time goes along. I mean we only had the one ad for the 3 days and no follow up advertising. We should really see the inpact when the new phone book comes out and we are in the listings. I guess we'll need to fork over the cash to yellow pages.......They are effective.

The 4th

Ah, the second day of my NINE days of vacation! That includes the weekends of course but I still like to count 'em. Tim made it up and we stayed up much later than planned catching up. Missed church this morning but Dolly was tired (bed near 1) and so was I and we don't need crankiness this weekend. We'll try for Wed night. Ma, Francis and Andrew and Melissa will be over for BBQ (hamburgers and brats, mmmmmm) this afternoon. 4 tenants in the kennel, oh I forgot the rabbit...We'll board anybody! It's getting late, this house is a pigsty and we got company coming. I guess I'd better get the rest of them up and begin the festivities!! Happy 4th all!!

Soon.........

At long last this week is coming to an end. The House of Morons has sent me to (in order) DeLand, Daytona and Jacksonville for 2 days in a row to help with training. A lot of driving....I really wanted to be here to help Dolly with the kennel. We have more dogs! It's really exciting. Our sun shade for the kennel arrived. A large sheet of screening material to cover the outside portion of the runs to protect the dogs from the BLAZING HOT sun. Good news is that I am off all of next week, Tims' coming up, my brother has the week off also. That will be nice.

I'm still pretty torn up about Loki. I guess it's good that I'm so busy now that it doesn't leave me time to reflect. I have been dreaming about him though.....It's odd, I generally don't dream about the animals (usually dont' dream period). I guess I will ultimately end up missing him terribly. Although we have numerous other pets/animal friends there was always something very special about him. I'm too heartbroken to tell Loki stories right now, ask me later and I'll be happy too...He was a very non-typical pooch, much more human than dog. And I'm not just anthromorphisizing (sp again)....bye for now....

Loki 1992-2005 RIP

I lost my Loki last night. I'm very sad.

At Last!

The Kennels open! The ad was in the Gainesville Sun today and will run through Sunday. Oh boy, I sure hope I know what we're getting into. I hope plenty of $$$$$$$$$$. We'll see though. Dolly checked the messages this morning be4 her mothers (cute the be4, huh?) dr's appt and we already had a call, a woman wanting several weeks for her 3 dogs in August. Yahoo! I'm between hopleless elation and having to shit. Is it always like this? Never been an entrepaner (there goes the spelling again) before. It's sort of exciting. I better get going, I think have to go to the bathroom........

Errors

I have noticed that my spelling is really bad sometimes. Just goes to show that I am so dependant on my spell-checker and I don't use it with this. It comes from being in a hurry and trying to post. It is sooo hard to keep up with the 25 hour days I have now. Gotta run

I am sore......

Well, finally (well very nearly) finished the &^%$$%^&* floor in the lobby. 700 hundred square feet of tile with, of all things, BLACK GROUT. I know why they get $1.50 to $3.00 a square foot for tiling. It took me 4 days too get that done. I can assure you I won't be doing that again soon. I'm a bit long in the tooth to be on my hands and knees for 4 days (no jokes OK?). Anyway I must admit it looks magnificent and was ultimately worth the effort. I just wanted to bitch about how sore I am. Makes me feel better.

Dolly has spoken to the newspaper and the ad for the kennel will be in this weeks (thurs, sat and sun) Gainesville Sun. I am psyched! It will go out to over 150,000 readers. I hope we know what we're doing.... Talked with the sign people and we should be moving ahead with that. Too bad I have to come to the House of Dumb for the day and waste my time. Well, at least I'm getting paid.

Our first guest. Black Lab named Mykola (?????) seems to be enjoying her visit. Since she is the only pooch she gets lots of personal attention and walks and so forth. While I was doing the floor she had the run of the kennel and amused herself with stepping in the cement if I didn't throw her squeaky toy for her.

I do have the July 4th week off. I have an old friend coming for a visit and will attempt tp dragoon him into helping me some with the kennel. It appears that my week off will be split between working at the kennel. Kennel tops, counter tops, transitions, etc etc and partying in th evening. It should be a busy weekend.

I know I keep promising pictures.......some day soon.......

Finally

It's been a little while since I posted last but a lot has happened since then. We had our final inspection yesterday! We passed. We are now open for business! Dolly has her first dog (paying!) as a guest. 18 days! We are most excited. I took a couple of days off of work and put together the kitchen and wired the tops of the runs and began work on the tile in the lobby. I have that about 70% done so I have my work cut out for me this weekend. I will try to post more pictures as we go along but time is always short, short ,short. More later........

Awesome

This is the most thought provoking and disturbing site I have seen in a looong time. Makes you think about your secret


http://postsecret.blogspot.com

Flicker Photos

Finally figured out how to do this (sort of) but kennel pics are at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinlife/

doh!

I had mentioned earlier to leave a comment if you would. I just realized that I have an option to restrict the posts in place. Dumbass. It should be fixed now.....

OK we're movin" again

Met with the Fire Department and got them to meet me half-way. Just a little limerock on the access road and we're good to go!. Contractor was there and we have the dirt coming today and should be able to get our final soon (this week?? maybe). This weekend has the tile and stuff coming so I'll be doin' all kinds of stuff (real work, not this pathetic burecratic bs that I usually do). Pics to follow........

ARRGGGHHH

The fire dept is giving us grief over the kennel. They now want a limelock (impervious surface) for the parking lot. We have had these plans approved for over a year. Now, right before the final inspection they want us to change this. I have only one comment (*^%$(&&$$^&(%*&^*&^*&^!!!!!!!. I have a meeting with the head mucky-muck on Monday to try to get this resolved.......Why do things have to be so gd complicated!

On a happier note, we have our first reservation!!!! Two week stay starting the 15th!!!! Yahoo!!

Movin' Along

OK, ordered a shitload of stuff from Lowes' to (hopefully) finsh this kenel up. Tile, water filter system, wood blah, blah blah, got 10% off, 12 months no interest and no payments AND free delivery. I LOOVE dealin'. Scheduled time off, 13th and 14th of this month and the entire week of July 4th. Whoohoo! Most of it will be working in the kennel. Tiling the entrance/lobby and building the kitchen. Can't wait until we open. It's a grand adventure. Now hopefully it will pay off. Everyone says "you'll do great, lots of people need this service" well, we'll see. It would be nice to get to be independent and work for ourselves. My new motto is "Get off the grid". I would love to be unconnected form the power co, phone co and have all my stuff be satellite or wireless. A little dream of mine. I read about this family in the mountains out west somewhere that has done this. It was really pretty cool.

I am pretty fortunate that my boss is a realist. I am getting to wonder about the futility of my job but having some one that understands that all this is a stupid game amkes it a little easier to swallow. I mean who's going to remember that I managed to accomplish this or that in 2 years? It's all numbers and all bullshit anyway. Boy am I getting cynical in my old age! Thats what growing up is all about, being able to (hopefully) separate the bullshit in life from what's really important.In retrospect, there is little that is really important in life, most of it IS bullshit. What is important are your family and living life in a way that is personally satifying (god, my spelling is horrible). The rest can go to hell. Well with that cheerful note I will spend the next 6 1/2 hours pissing my life away here at work.

One other thing. I have been watching my counter to see if anyone is looking and apparently someone is. Please leave a little comment once in a while. Thanks!!!!!

Dollys hobby! Fostering baby racoons!

See, he has to check out all packages for food? or mice? or things cats are interested in....

Us 2 years ago on a cruise (we loooove cruises) From Left Rosemarie (Dollys best friend for a looong time) me, Dolly, Ernie (Roes' hubby) and Dollys ma in the front. Since her moms illness this type of vacation is unfortunatly no possible.

Last Memorial Day, Andrew and Tim shooting. We had a blast, no pun intended!!

Memorial Day

Well, it dawns, Memorial Day. Being a student of history and a wargamer I think that this day gets overlooked by most people other than as a "day off of work, with pay". I think of all the people that have died over the years for the causes they believe in. You think about the sacrifices of men such as the Greeks that held the Persians back at Thermopoleye, the men that died during the charge of the Light Brigade in Gallipolli in WWI, all the wounded and maimed soldiers that gave everything for what they believed in. Our thoughts and our prayers for all soldiers, everywhere. God bless them all and keep them from harm.

A nice visit from Maria and the gks' (grandkids). Barbequed (of course) Maria helped by washing and waxing some of the new floors in the kennel. I finished the tile in the bathroom. Looks good if I don't mind saying myself. The kids, Dominic (4) and Rachel (2) are little darlins' and its nice to have the sound of little feet POUNDING through the house, animals running for cover and general pandemonium. Also managed to get over to Andrews' and get a little gaming in. A new game based on a system we have seen before on the First WW. Very good. Well, I hear the sound of little feet so I guess I'd better go......

A three day weekend

So the weekend begins! First I need to fix the chicken coop, goats pen and the horses stall. They are sooo destructive. Oh well, it keeps me out of trouble (for a while at least!). Maria and the kids should be here around 1 or so. I'll be working in the kennel around that time. I need to finish the tile on the bathroom floor and them start a materials list for the rest of the work that needs to be done around there. The tile for the floor of the lobby, the counter, the screening for the top of the runs. You would be amazed at how many dogs will climb a chian link fence! I sure don't need someone getting out when I'm watching them. I also need to order the kitchen cabinets and get the kitchen lined up. SO much to do. Why can't I just the lottery and get it overwith!

been a while

Well, lets see, where to begin......We went to St Augustine this last weekend. Mel came over to watch the animals (5 dogs, 10 cats, 7 goats, a horse, a racoon in the woods) and to look after Dollys' mom. The woman is a saint. There is special place in hevan for someone that will take all that on for mere money. Anyway, we had a great time. Some serious alone time and time for strolling. We stayed right over the Bridge of Lions on the beach side of the intercoastal. It was walking distantce to downtown (the historical and shopping district natch!). We even, get this this, we even took a NAP on sat afternoon!! Holy crap, I haven't done that in so long I can't even remember when. We had a nice time, visted with some friends, went out to dinner (Captn Jacks seafood mmmmmmm! and a chinese/American buffet (urp)). We had a blast. It was well worth it. We needed some down time. We did decide that no mater what we need to do this again relatively soon.

A day off coming up!. Memorial Day off!! No matter how I bitch about working for the state it sure gives you some nice paid off time. Dollys' daughter and the grandkids willl be coming up. It will be great to see them. Oh shit, here comes work...later all....

Again

Well, here we are again at the House of Morons. For the uniniated, its' work. Working for the state is like, like....like, I don't know. It's sort of like Thanksgiving without turkey. You're there but it is not satisfying. If they were a private company we would be out of business years ago. Oh well, it still pays the bills....

I did post some assorted stuff. Andrew trying to burn dinner, a couple of 'coon pics and the kennel runs. Looks good!

One od the baby racoons that Dolly is raising

We now have runs at the kennel as you can see

Me brother attempting to burn the Mas' day din!

Counter

Added a counter, lets' see if anyone looks/cares

T*oughts

Well that Hello program from Picasa seems to work. I can't figure out how to get more than one pic at a time to post but it's a beginning! I have loads of pics to post, kennel, aminals stuff. It'll be great.

So It's about time I tell folks about this blog. It makes me a little nervous. I did mention the idea of blogging to Dolly and she seemed a little lukewarm about it. She's a much more private person than I and I'm not sure what her reaction would be. I don't know how receptive she would be to the idea of putting our lives (part of it at least) on the net like this. I have a coupla of old friends that I will give the link to and see what their reaction is. I haven't seen these folks for 25+ years so it oughta be interesting. Well, we'll give it a shot.

Renee, Toni, you are the ones. Let me know what you think.

Kennel from the back

Here is our kennel from the front, No fencing yet but coming soon

Babatte, this is just test post, I wanted to see if it works as it's supposed to....

rain rain rain

It has been raining here for the last 2 days, torrential downpours. Everything is flooded, especailly the back yard. Dogs and puppies are splashing from puddle to puddle. They're having a blast! On a more positive note,. We took Xena to the vet school to have the bump on her head looked at and it was nothing. Whew! I DID NOT want to go through the pet dying by inches again. Thank God. She's healthy.

They have been working on mulching the road we need for the kennel. It actually doesn't look too bad. Better than I had hoped actually.

I have decided that I will download Picasa 2 so I can post some pics on this also. I like blogs with pics, so I figure more pics will make this a little more interesting. More soon....

Oh Shit

We found a bump on the back of Xenas' head. We had recently (last year) finally lost a battle with cancer with Rama. He was 12 and had had a good long interesting life. Xenas' only 2 and although there is no definitive diagnoses I really don't like how this lump feels. We found a similiar lump on Ramas' leg and after some discussion we found a study at the U of Fla vet school for treating these types of tumours (osteosarcoma) and Rama lived a miraculous 3 years (avg life expectancy is about 4 months from diagnoses). Overall he did really well and wasn't too terribly miserable until near the end. It was a painful time full of joy over small victorys and tears over the ultimate loss. I really don't want to go through that again. Especially with Dollys mom also fighting cancer. What a horrible disease, it takes so many people and animals from us. I hope it's not but I really don't feel good about this...

Humpday

Well, it's hump day, hooooorraaayyyy! That means that there are only few more measly hours as a government lackey! Hooray!!! Again!! We got biz cards printed up and the phone guy was there Monday and we're gettin' closer! I can't wait. It will be nice to get the kennel open and see what we can do. Dollys' a wiz bang hard worker and we will make this work. I know, I'm still workin' on the pics. First I gotta reduce the size, blah, blah and blah. Look, I'll get to it OK. Well, it appears I don't have anything coherent to say so I will just go away for noew.....

Awriigghhhttt.........

It's friday! Yahoooo! No more stupid working for stupid people. Boy that gets me sometimes, working for people tht aren't as smart as I am. Not that I'm a rocket scientist or anything but, come on, use that grey matter a little. I wont bore you with the details but the folks in Tallahassee are just plain OUT OF THE LOOP. They have no idea of what we do or how we do it. Shocking!! (sarcasmmmmm)

The contractor is working great guns on the kennel. If I'm not mistaken the the comment tht was overheard was , lets' get this done and get the hell out of here. No problem here, they've been working on it since September (August?) anyway since before the hurricaines. They're good folks but it's like they're now family. Enuf already!

Looking forward to the weekend! Work on the chicken coop. The new chickens are a bit big for the container they're in but we an't put in with the others. Rocky (top dog er, chicken) is a brute and will clobber them senseless after he rapes them. Thank God I'm not a chicken they sure don't play well with others.....

More stupid meetings and other stuff

Another stupid meeting! One yesterday with the DA. A staff meeting today. Ho-hum, yawn. It's amazing how much productive time is lost to stupid meetings. I wonder if anyone has done a study of the amount of productivity is lost to meetings.

Getting closer on the kennel. painter was there and did the block skirt wall, looks great. The guillotine (I think that;'s right, I really don't feel like looking it up)door guy is there today. I hope it all goes fine. Other than that Dollys' got to go and get business cards made up and open the biz bank acct. Soon, real soon.......

What a shame

One of the blogs that I frequently checked in on has gone bust. Or at least that's how it appears. I originally found it through www.ikeepadiary. I suppose it appeals to my voyueristic side. I guess we all have one. I'm not sure why I enjoyed Brian and Merediths' blogs so much. I suppose it reminds me of my younger days (I'm now((holy crap!!)) almost 50!!). Back in the old days (no laughter now) things were simpler. It seemed that parents and family would be there forever, friends were truer, live was just simpler. We all partied, partied, partied until the sun came up, or down or up again. It was an exciting time in my life. Things were new, new music, new drugs (waa-hoo!!) new experiences (most of which I remember). Life seemed to be full of boundless promise for fufillment. I'm going to sound negative here for while but please don't get the wrong idea. The trip through life to this point made me who I am and I am happy with myself and satisfied (very) with my life now. I have a beautiful, loving wife, a house that I love and my life is full beyond my wildest dreams. Building a business, improving the homestead (continually) getting those things that I want to make me more comfortable. There was a time when I lost track of where I was going. I don't want to go into too many details because I am still angry with myself for the BAD choices that I have made in the past. But the short list, too much alchohol, marriage (mercifully short) to a manipulative, sneaky, double dealing, lying cheating... well, you get the idea. It took me a long time to get over that and the financial and emotional and interpersonal damage that was done during that time. I survived and am a better person for it. It was hard though and during that time I rediscovered religion. Now don't turn your head. I am not one of those bible-beating, chest thumping born again Christians. I just found that by reconnecting I found some firm ground in a belief system that I was comfortable with. It has a place in my life. I lost my Dad, that was hard. For all the difficulties that we had, I have to say that he was ALWAYS, UNFAILINGLY there for me. You can't ask more of a father. Sometimes I really miss him. Sometimes being grown and responsible sucks. Well, for all my talk about not being too negative I sure did tramp down some painful memory paths.Oh well, I guess enough of this and I better get back to work......Thanks for listening....

Monday Again

What is it about Mondays? I feel like shit today. I think I'll go home early, like real soon. Boss is in Orlando and the acting is a good friend. In short, I'm outta here. Tired from laying tile yesterday and just running all over the damn place. All the way across town after church for bedding for the goats. We had removed a ton of shit (literally) from the goat house and put down some plywood for a floor. Now we needed the bedding (wood chips) for them. And I fixed the damn gate. everytime you opened it it would fall down. Most annoying. Can't reach the guy for the doors for the runs and no one is over there working at the kennel. It just seems to drag on. Also got a trough for the animals so we can keep the fram animals away from the house. 7 goats and a horse can poop a lot and they like to crap right by the pool, how disgusting, well thaats over now!. With the new well and water in the pasture they'll not be doing that again!

What is it about some people? I've got one employee that thinks the whole dept is out to get him. He's not a bad fellow but this constant paranioa is getting old. We have chance to give some people some OT for special project but it is some funky dual employment with the state kind of thing and the OT won't count towards retirement dollars. After he read all the small print on the form he had all kinds of things to say about the state and their method of doing things. Know what? If you don't like it DON'T DO IT. Basically I feel like shit and sure don't want to hear his bullshit about how the whole world is out to fuck with him. I mean, get a life.

Tax Day and Racoons

Tax day. Got the taxes back from the accountant and woo-hoo we're getting money back. But wait! What's this.... a mistake!!! Argghhh. Looks like we'll have to file an amended return and the money I thought I would get back (along with appreantly more) goes the other way now. Curses!.Pays to look over the stuff.....

On a more positive note my mother has had the cabinets in the kitchen of her new condo removed and she has agreed to give them to us for the kennel. That's good, it will save a bunch of money and they're brand new and easily matched!

Little Peanut, our foster racoon, is growing and growing, eating like a pig. She's still only on milk (KMR actually) but she's reached the stage were she is developing a personality. I really need to start posting some pics of all this stuff. One of our other fostered racoons (Babette) has reappeared! We finally got her released and she was hanging out in the woods behind the house and eating the food we were leaving out for her but we hadn't seen her for several weeks. On Wednesday when I went bcak to keave the food out she came tear-assing out of the woods, jumping around and playing with the dogs. She was looking good, fat and healthy without any visible marks or scars. Yesterday when Dolly went out to feed her she followed her back to the barn and was teasing Dolly and most resistant to going back to the woods (and feeding station). She finally got her to go back but it was difficult. A fearless racoon is cute but dangerous for the animal. Our dogs and horse and goats are used to her but other folks will not be so understanding. Racoons are a major resiviour for rabies in Florida and people are naturally skittish when they see racoons in the daytime. They are normally nocturnal.. So although she is surviving well on her own, it is a bit dissapointing that she is so friendly. When I say friendly I mean she wants to be near us but she has given us clear direction that she does not want to be petted or picked up. Hissing, barking and growling when we try. But even so, she enjpys being around us. Oh well, we'll keep working with her. A note about how we end up with these guys. Dolly volunteers for Florida Wildlife Care. They rescue, treat and release orphaned and hurt wildlife. We are the racoon peolpe. After they are weaned they usually come to us for several months until they are old enough to survive on their own and we "wild" them up. Usually this is not a problem. Sometimes, however, we get racoons that are a little older and someone has taken them in as a pet until they get big enough to be a problem (up to 40 pounds of curious, cranky raccon is something to behold) then they turn them over to us. The problem is that these folks over socialize them and they are not fit to be pet but not skilled enough to live in the wild on their own. It can take considerably longer to "wild" them enough to release them. Babette is a case in point. We got her at about 3 months? old. Hard to say sometimes. The woman that had found her (Babette was her name, hence the racoons name) had treated her as a pet. She had moved the racoon into the house. She slept in the ladies bed, played with the cats, ate cat food, used the litter box, became a pet. She ulimately realized that as cute as they are when small they don't remain that way forever. So we got a "ruined" racoon to rehab. I'll keep you posted.......later, gotta go back to work (ugh)

The weeks almost over

Well, it seems we got through the software update at work with a minimum of bruising. Surprisingly enough. Kennels moving along fine Dolly has to call the floor guy and the kennel door guy, it appears that stainless steel doors are a little short. Well, that's his hook not mine so I'm not gonna worry about it.

In writing this I wonder about my motivation. Do I really care if other people, who I don't know, know what is going on in my life? Do I care? Is this a type of exhibitionism? Well, I'll continue for a little while and see if I get any comments or maybe just treat it like an online diary/journal. I don't know, I'll have to think about it a little. I have to confess I am interested in other peoples blogs so maybe.......oh, who the hell cares, I'll have to ponder this a little..

Mondaayy Moorrnninng........

Monday, my least favorite day. Gee, wonder why? A lot to do this am before I get off early (woo-hoo). Rush home and feed the racoon (Peanut) and cover for the wife while she is doing her stuff this pm. Truck is broken yet again, this will make getting the kitchen cabinets for the kennel a bit dodgy but I WILL make it work. Oh well, lets get to it then!!

Work? On a Sunday?

After 15 years with the state I finally have to work on a sunday. Jeez, that blows. We 're getting a new software system and they want us all to test it before it goes live tommorrow. It is the right thing to do although I have much to do at home.Finally got the well hooked up yesterday. Electrician shows up and says we're here to do it. Run to the hardware store, get the fittings I need and spend the next two hours in a hole half-filled with water hooking up the piping to the house. It worked! At least for a while, the stupid horse destroyed part of the system and I had to isolate the pasture part of the system so we could have water. Guess what I get to fix when I get home? I love the animals bu they sure can generate work! Gotta go if I want to ever get out of here.

a better day (we hope)

Well after my rant of yesterday morning things seemed to turn around a bit. Got the wife buzzed when I got home and it sure improved her mood. Imagine! Electrician called and rescheduled the meeting for today. Hope we can get the shit taken of today! I can't wait until the kennel is open. We've always wanted to have our own biz and it looks like it will happen soon! Dolly still wants me to work here for 5 or so more years to increase the piddling retirement that the state offers.Not to mention the most important part, the free health insurance. It's about the only thing that is really a good deal. At our ages (no I'm not telling you) it is important. I suppose she's right but the thought makes me want to puke. I don't know if any of you have ever worked for government but I can tell you it's one fucked up place to work. If they had a clue (ivory tower syndrome big time!) we could actually be good at what we do . It makes me wonder about all the tax money that the feds are pissing away. Makes me less and less interested in the major parties and more and more interested in Libertarian and other "fringe" parties. Oh well life (groan) goes on. At least it's friday, hooray!. Another week of drudgery and slavery done!!

bah humbug!!

What a sucky start to today. Feed the racoon (Peanut about 2 1/2 weeks old, eyes still closed) give my mil (mother in law) her pills try to find something for lunch and get to work (late again!). Really, wasn't life simpler in the past? On top of everything we're close to getting the kennel open but it seems like there are more problems every day. Now it's the gd well. The electricians fucked up again and Dollys' not happy with their response (we're real busy). Hey, come on, we're paying you too. And work, jeez, what a ccf (chinese (sorry no racist sentiment) cluster f***) modernization, what a joke, you'd think that the morons at the top would have clue but that's asking too much. Well, this is a very positive start to the blog (HAHAHAHAHA) Thanks for listening to my rant, I'll be more positive in the future (I have to for my own mental health). Updates as frequently as I can. Pics to post as well in the future...