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.............