Billy Vera & The Beaters: At This Moment

Todays '70's Musical Flashback


Everybody knows that I'm a better singer than I am a dancer. For that reason I generally leave most of the singing and all of the dancing to the other fellows in the crowd.

Given a little liquid courage however, I do seem to remember that I have spent a few minutes hangin' on to the hips and shoulders of a few Bawdy Lasses through the years back in the day listening to this song on the dance floor...

take a listen and enjoy it with me again this morning.





...you're welcome...

Gnawing Success

My Knees Hurt...


Expending 6 hours worth of energy on and off again, I finally managed to get about 90% of the old plywood sub floor cut and pried up out of the way yesterday.

I had to resort to buying one of those "multi-tools" made by Dremel (the Multi-Max) to use to make a flush cut against the edges of the counters underneath the toe kick plates. In spite of what they show you in the TV commercials, it's slow going getting that little flat blade to vibrate its way through 3/4" plywood.

I still have a thin strip about 8 feet long along one cabinet under the sink and dishwasher to cut this morning, then it should be smooth sailing as I cut the new 3/8" plywood sub flooring and move from demolition to installation mode.

Then there's the six doors and 75 bags of mulch haunting me out in the carport and sitting on pallets in the yard awaiting installation/distribution.

Who's idea was all of this stuff anyway?

The World USA According To Ralph Peters

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...


"Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.

We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.

We've learned nothing.

Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.

Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.

Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001. "

Go here and read the whole article.

Tearing Down My House

No Pain No Gain...


I'm pleased to report that I managed to chisel my way through the top layers of the kitchen floor yesterday...finding two layers of old linoleum and a sheet of 3/4" plywood standing between me and my new kitchen floor.

I picked a spot under the Refrigerator to do my excavations just in case I changed my mind and decided to live with the old floor.

Then I worked my way out toward the middle of the room and this morning I'm past the point of no return as I've ripped a big seam across the middle of the floor with the skill saw set about 7/8" deep and by noon I hope to have everything ripped up and laying in a pile outside beside the trash can.

Now we have to run to Home Depot and see if I can get five sheets of 3/8" plywood added to the order which is supposed to go on a truck later this morning for delivery.

Everybody feel free to bring your tools and stop by about 10 if you want to help make some sawdust...

Neglecting The News

Saving My TV Sets...


I have to admit that I didn't watch the Obama show last night when he played to the joint session of Congress.

I couldn't stand another minute watching Nasty Pelosi's rigid Botoxed face staring over the President's left shoulder with frozen lifeless eyes like some sort of political Zombie.

Reading the blogs this morning it's evident that I didn't miss much.

Same old lies and platitudes, all wrapped up in a half hour lecture with a Republican Congressman causing gasps of surprise when he had the audacity to heckle Obamarama when he said that his as yet unwritten "healthcare reform plan" wouldn't cover illegal aliens.

The South Carolinian called the President of the United by God States of 'Merica a "Liar" in front of 534 fellow Senators and Congressmenpersons.

Somebody better lock that sucker up...he's telling the truth.

The guys over at Powerline do a pretty good job of summing things up, and I suggest that you click on the link and go over and take a read there this morning.

Meanwhile, I've got a truck load of kitchen flooring, closet doors, and a few tons of mulch heading this way tomorrow morning and I have to get ready to receive the material and get things installed in the next week or so.

Ya'll have a lovely balance of the week and stop back by to see if anything has pissed me off in the news or in the home renovation business because I'm likely to take my frustrations out on my keyboard in the event something happens.

Toudle loo...

Fred's Fizzeling

Owl Gore & His Sniveling Booger Eating Tree Hugging Hippies Cry W I L M A ... F O U L


So from what I can gather, yesterday newly declared Hurricane Fred was cruising along looking like this...

Then I went over to the NOAA website and found this sorry map here showing how Hurricane Fred was going to end up thrashing around in the Eastern Atlantic and threatening ABSOLUTELY NOBODY rich or poor or Democratic/Republican.

I actually feel sorry for all of the Patchouli wearing hippies and the sniveling booger eating tree huggers because I think that I know that they mean well...

It's just that the world wide SO-CALLED disasters won't follow their line of unreasonable reasoning. THEN DANG IT IF reality doesen't manage to set in every four to eight years.

And then they have to face the prospect of getting a real job else managing to vote somebody into office that will come over to my house or bank and steal some of my money and give it to them under the guise of supporting the latest government sponsored "Program."


Then I have to go back on Vacation and let the cash flow lapse and tell them to go elsewhere to plunder and...

you get my drift I guess...

Two Days In Internet Darkness...

My Words Overfloweth...


Those of you that occasionally lurk around my little slice of cyberspace this part of the Internet probably noticed my rare silence on Sunday and Monday.

Sorry...

I admit that I sometimes miss writing and have an occasional single day gap once in a while in my never ending diatribes and commentary, but generally that's because what I would have to say would be like acid dripping onto my keyboard and pouring through your DSL or Cable modem onto your computer screen--thus I think it best that I just keep myself to myself on those rare occasions.

Then there's the couple of periods of time over the past three years when I was sitting around in a hospital for WEEKS at a time with tubes sticking out of every bodily orifice...and with the doctors and nurses running out of places to stick tubes and making their own holes in my body (I once had FIVE IV's at the same time.)

Fortunately this week's absence was an exception to those two rules...we were all simply the victims of circumstances where I ended up in a Condo that was supposed to have Internet but the WEP password was unavailable and I decided that Cell Phone blogging was inadequate.

Just like people going through some kind of self imposed 12-step program, I decided to try to live all day in the "real" world for a couple of days and let the Internet take care of itself for a change.

After my hands stopped shaking, I found the experience to be rather enlightening.

When I got back home I learned that politicians democratic constituency stupid people were still acting stupid and the libertarians smart people that are the producers and achievers of the world were still being assaulted for being successful and paying their own way in life, and as a result I have a HUGE backlog of things to say about things which have happened over the past week.

I'm doing my best to stay focused here and get some work done, but please excuse me if I erupt into conniption fit like shrieking at any moment...

Back To Reality?

Culture Shock...


Sigh...

I spent two and one half hours just after sunrise on Monday morning standing virtually alone on the beach watching two surf fishing rods I occasionally baited with shrimp or squid.

I probably didn't see a DOZEN people over that entire period of time, because most people were packing and heading home from the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

I also only managed to feed a few small fish...I didn't actually catch anything (caught two unidentified species the day before), but the few hours alone on the beach looking at the Gulf of Mexico was worth every damn penny of the $17 stupid government tax "weekend non-resident fishing license" and $5 worth of bait.

Things were noticibly calmer all day on Monday with the exidous of tourists, and we enjoyed a late brunch I cooked in the condo and ate left over pizza from my three pizza effort Sunday night for the Classmates "official" 50th get together.

We were packed and on the road by 8 AM EST and back in Knoxtown with the Chrysler picked up from the shop and the rental car paid for by 5:30 PM, and after drinks and dinner at a local watering hole we came back home and I collapsed for the evening knowing I had wrung every single moment of fun possible out of the past seven days--at least for someone of my ever advancing age.

So now it's time to turn my attention to the matters of the real world--as real as I ever allow myself to deal with these days--and get some stuff done professionally and do some more work on the turbo pup compound. The Turbo Pup's getting a new doggy door and Pat's getting some new bi folding closet doors and a new kitchen floor.

And me?

I get to work and sweat and pay for the material to complete the aforementioned projects.

I guess that it's time to start drawing and estimating now...Y'all have a lovely day...if you will...

Back Home

Delivered From Earthly Paradise/Internet Hell

And The Celebration Continues...

Florida Hospitality


After a smooth two hour car ride across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle we found ourselves sitting on the marina waterfront in Destin in time for lunch yesterday.

The first blackened fish sandwich of the trip was then consumed just in time to do a little wandering around the docks looking at fishing opportunities later in the weekend, then by mid afternoon the temperature and humidity managed to run us back inside the car for a journey over to my friend Roy's place to drink gallons of frozen margaritas and to witness enough food for a small army being prepared for small group of 9 in attendenance.

By 10:30 PM (way past me and Missy the Turbo Pup's normal bedtime) I had to excuse myself and crash for the evening. Oddly I managed to sleep for SEVEN HOURS IN A ROW for once...a testimony to being old I guess as twenty years ago I'd have probably just shifted gears and stayed up past midnight and slept in to 9 AM.

Today finds us visiting with some extended family members in the morning before moving on over to the coast for "Phase III" of the never ending 50th celebration.

I guess last night was sort of the "pre-season game" for what is going to ensue over the next couple of days.

Stay tuned to this channel for further updates...

The First Day Of My Second Half Decade

The Celebration Continues...


I'm pleased to report that the Lower Alabama portion of my 50th birthday festivities concluded as a great success...with Thursday afternoon having been spent poolside and an early Mexican dinner with Mom and the girls.

Now later today the CHS Class of '77 group 50th birthday party begins down on the Florida Gulf Coast.

I mention this publicly so everyone in the immediate vicinity of Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach will have time to remove all of their elderly relatives and small children from harms way.

We're not sure of the total attendance, but people are flying in from as far away as Utah for the "unofficial" event which has been planned by my fellow "Mancamp" members for about 6 months now.

I sure hope that the weather holds up for us.

Pat and the Turbo Pup and I will be heading south later this morning...stopping overnight at my friend Roy's home where we're threatened with being plied with Margaritas and a Low Country Shrimp Boil.

I also just learned that Missy the Turbo Pup will be participating in what I'm calling the first annual Shalimar Mini Dachshund Races and Rodeo (SMDRR).

It should be interesting watching four little dogs with a total weight of probably something less than 50 pounds spar and joust for dominance and attention.

Then Saturday morning we're jumping across the bay to Santa Rosa Island and our final beach front Condo destination on Saturday.

There one could witness the glorious spectacle of a bunch of middle aged guys standing and laying around drinking and telling lies stories and competing in strenuous events like farting and belching competitions.

And the girls will probably spend their time sitting around by the pool or on the beach looking disgusted at us while whispering things under their breath like "what was SHE thinking when she bought that bathing suit?"

Do I know women...or WHAT?

I was going to bring my Frisbee along with me but had second thoughts because I didn't want to risk having to have someone call 911 for me after about 15 minutes trying to run and catch it.

Things have sure changed over the past 33 years, but it will be fun to see everybody again...and I can't wait to show the girls how good I look in my new Speedo...

The Big "Five Oh"

Reflections On The Past Half Century...Resolutions For The Next...


Oh...I don't knowwww...

Where to start writing this morning. There's so much to say.

(And even more to keep to myself...I might add.)

I guess you could say that my life thus far has fallen into more or less four very distinct phases. As a matter of public record, I feel like enumerating them for you this morning before I forget any more of the details.

All of this stuff leads up to a little after midnight here on the morning of September 3rd, 2009 when the calendar says I've been breathing air for FIFTY YEARS.

So lets get down to details...To begin with, the first 17 years of my life we'll call my "Embryonic phase."

The characteristics of this phase of my personality and antics were shaped and moulded under the stern hand of my dear Mother and evil eye of my departed Father.

A solid dose of primary education in the southern part of George Wallace's 1960's/1970's Alabama delivered with a generous portion of "fire and brimstone" at the local Methodist Church should have had me well prepared to go forth into the world as a sold American citizen and moral example for generations to come.

If you think that...you'd be pretty much WRONG by many peoples' standards.

Not only did I corrupt myself and aid and abet in the corruption of those around me, but in moving from LA to Atlanta under the guise of attending college at Georgia Tech and start an engineering career, I have to admit that the next 16 years represent what I today call my "wild buck phase."

Roaming the streets and interstates of Hotlanta in a Firethorn Red Chevy Camaro in the days when the City was still really a giant small town on steroids, I hate to admit that my education suffered under the stresses of making time to throw Frisbee in Piedmont Park and attend various sporting events and concerts.

Sleeping took up a good deal of my time also...usually during the day rather than at night. There was also a two year stint in the part time Navy Reserve where I got to ride a Helicopter Carrier around the South China Sea and the Philippines---but that's another whole story for another day.

I somehow managed to survive all that and finally stumble through getting a degree and by late in the 1980's I found myself with a wife and a mortgage and two car payments and a couple of cats and God knows what other stuff the American Dream causes you to think you have to have.

I was working for the owner of an OEM company in Buckhead which I had helped triple in size of to over $3 million in annual revenue, but then he went and hired his son...fresh out of college with a "Communications Degree"...to come into the "Engineering" business, and miraculously there went my VP of Engineering promotion (The son is still president of that company today.)

So I walked out the door shortly thereafter never to return.

Thus, reaching some level of full blown raging insanity self-assured ego mania, after taking a year off and working as an independent consultant, I entered my "staggering entrepreneur phase" in the fall/winter of 1990/1991 as I filed my first Articles of Incorporation documents with the state of Georgia and bought my own Desk, Giant barrel assed leather "Executive" chair and first Laptop Computer. (I paid near $4K for that set-up and saw the value climb to over $100K when my business partner got through screwing me....but I did keep the chair when we dissolved the Corporation)

That first independent businessman "staggering entrepreneur" phase (there's a second one...just wait a minute) lasted for another eight and one half years with the formation of yet another company...until late 1998/early 1999 when I had the misfortune to have to abandon ship to bankruptcy when a couple of people decided they needed my money to pay their vendors and employees more than I needed it to pay mine.

For some reason the Federal Bankruptcy courts agreed. Of course the wife went away some time before the money did so she could take her fair share of my earnings.

I pretty sure that I must be some kind of bankruptcy expert by now if anyone wants to hire me--having personally set through the paperwork of no less than five different firms and individuals including my own...

All of that mish mash finally brings us up to the late 1990's/early 2000's, where you'd find me beginning my first of ten years of what I call my second childhood phase "Pirate Phase."

I unabashedly report that the "Pirate Phase" is the ultimate culmination of and implementation of years of research conducted in taverns, bars, restaurants, jails, boat stores, marinas, whore housesstrip clubs, churches, shopping malls, courtrooms, and water front properties all over the planet from The Philippines to the Caribbean.

Don't get all up tight about some of those listings, I say you got to see everything before you can say you've seen everything and I probably have a shorter to-do list in that avenue of intellectual endeavor than most people these days.

That said, it's hard to explain to people exactly what my job description was during that period and continuing almost to this very moment.

Some might call it "unemployed" which has actually been true for short segments of that time...BUT...generally it's been VOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT i.e. "semi-retired" as I like to call it.

I have developed the unique theory that when there's no paying work, simply find the closest large body of water, pack a suitcase, and then do this...

Go on VACATION.

Works quite well for me.

Oops...I forgot to mention earlier my idea of instead of just going on VACATION, of actually moving to the Beach and putting most of my money in a piece of coastal property...nothing fancy...just whatever can be afforded for safe keeping of the funds. I did that for about a year back in 2002(unfortunately the investment was better in 2002 than it is today.)

It worked for me...you should try it when things turn around in the real estate market.

The bottom lines for me is to say "Why sit around worrying," as long as your resume is hanging out there on the Internet and in a bunch of Head Hunter/Recruiter's hands.

Another idea I've tried is to take a giant chunk of my last liquid dollars, fly to South Florida, then buy a big old boat with a kitchen and a head (bathroom for all you Land Lubbers), THEN JUST LEAVE for a while.

But Virgil..You ask: "As opposed to VACATION, how is LEAVING different?"

And further "Just WHERE would I leave to if I were so inclined?"

The answer is to simply leave where ever you are right now and go ANYWHERE else.

You don't have to know where you're going or make any reservations that way. It's really pretty simple. On a boat you just end up where ever you are when the sun sets and as long as there is water under your hull(a very fundamental detail on a boat) you toss out our anchor and fire up the blender.

I tried it for a while in the Florida Keys, and it worked reasonably well when my engines weren't malfunctioning (for all you land lubbers...boat engines are always malfunctioning), but then some assholes decided they needed my boat more than I did and made it disappear while a was back visiting Atlanta.

Fortunately I didn't spend everything I had on the boat but I did have to come back to the real world again and attempt to try to figure out what to do with myself...

AGAIN.

I knew I hated the traffic and what Atlanta had grown into...and I had to get back to the water in order to be a Pirate...I know...I'll MOVE TO AN ISLAND, they can't STEAL and entire island.

So I did...

But this time I didn't go solo. I managed to con my girl Pat into going along with me. We packed everything up in a truck and had it hauled south to the Georgia Coast, and while she flew back and forth to Chicago and telecommuted from our Condo on a Golf course (I don't play golf) I spent my time wandering the Island on a bicycle and wondering If I shouldn't get back into the engineering business again.

One thing led to another, and after nearly five fabulous years on our little Island I was ready to come back to my chosen profession. Thus the beginning of my "Second Coming as an Entrepreneur" Phase.

After a false start with a company that moved us away from the Atlantic to the banks of the mighty Tennessee River, today finds Pat retired after 28 years with the same company and me scrapping and marketing and managing to sell enough of my time to keep the financial engine of our household running. Some weeks I make enough to last three months and some months I don't make a penny, but that's the way things are when you're in business for yourself and that's something people like our Politicians refuse to understand.

We're still looking at trial starting a Tailgate Catering business this fall to test some concepts and the menu, and I've also got another couple of irons in the fire with old college friends' companies and looking into incorporating a specialty company serving a unique manufacturing enterprise I've been asked to serve.

Things aren't perfect, but each day brings improved health (I'm avoiding talking about several near death medical experiences here this morning), a reasonably stable emotional and financial existence in spite of "the economy" and the current political climate, and most importantly I'm surrounded by the women in my life that love me...My Mom, my partner of eight years Patricia, my Sister Virginia, and my Little Missy the Turbo Pup.

I guess the main thing I've learned in my research over the past 50 years is that when a man has a family like mine, he's wealthy no matter what the balance sheet says when it's all said and done.

I am truly blessed and I know it.

That said, it's time to go take a nap I guess.

Regards Y'all

Strange Quite Car...New Computer & Phone For Mom...

Tired As Usual...


Well folks, we made it to LA in what turned out to be a surprisingly uneventful high mileage trip (34 MPG) in the battery powered Camry.

I took along some extra C Cells but didn't have to get them out of the suitcase.

Of course it started raining within 24 hours of our arrival so I'm glad we spent yesterday afternoon at the pool rather in front of the dying computer Blogging.

I almost have Mom's flashy new monster HP laptop registered and configured and we got her into a cell plan that doesn't end up costing her $50 per call (she never uses her phone) and now it time to whip up a batch of chicken and skirt steak Fajitas before crashing for the evening.

I have no idea what's happening on the news or in the internet/bloggosphere but if I can get the wireless connection on this thing working with the router I'll probably produce a good late night rant tonight.

I feel the steam pressure building in my head right now...

On The Road to LA (Lower Alabama)

Talk To Y'all Later...

Eco-Friendly Beach Bash

Touring The Gulf Coast In A "Hybrid"


Well, we tossed the old Chrysler 300 into the shop at the local dealer today and agreed to give them something near a grand to replace some important parts in the power steering system under the hood.

I guess that as painful as that $1K sum is it's also the first money we've spent in 2-1/2 years except the purchase price and oil changes/tire rotations so that's pretty good in my book.

Did I mention that we just paid off the loan a year and a half early last week so we now live without a car payment?

After handing over the keys and signing the papers we had the courtesy driver haul us over to Hertz where we expected to pick up a "full sized" Chevy Impala.

Instead we drove off their lot with what I call a "mid sized" Toyota Camry.

The trunk space is surprisingly small because instead of suitcases this "Hybrid" has at least 25% of the available space taken up with giant batteries covered with plastic and carpet.

Has anyone seen and actually drove one of these things?

It took me five minutes to figure out how to start it, because when you "start it" instead of a key all you do is waive the little plastic lock button thingie at the dash and push a button.

Then you set there scratching your head the first couple of trys because the gasoline part of the "hybrid" drive system doesn't actually "start" when you push the "start button."

Then once you manage to shift into gear and start moving forward or reverse it feels sort of like driving a golf cart until you hit about 3-5 MPH when the engine fires up and the computer switches into over drive and off you go making Owl Gore and his tree hugging hippy followers smile knowing smiles of approval.

I swear it's pretty disconcerting at first to get used to, but we have eight days planned to enjoy the advantages or disadvantages of the latest modern automotive technology I guess.

Our route takes us south tomorrow to my beloved family farm home in Lower Alabama to celebrate my 50th birthday with my mother, then on to the Western Florida Gulf Coast for a group 50th birthday party with a bunch of my high school classmates over the long Labor Day weekend.

Of course Internet access will be slow and/or sporadic at best so please excuse any lapses in blogging between now and our return to the banks on the Mighty Tennessee River on September 8th.

And wish us safe travel...if you will...

"My Grace Is Sufficient for You, For My Power Is Made Perfect In Weakness."

1 Corinthians Chapter 2, Verse 3


Please excuse me, because I'm not preaching.

I don't even go to church regularly these days, but still I like the Apostle Paul's words there...

When you look at all the crap going on around us it's somehow reassuring to hear that someone might actually be in charge that isn't elected in politics by the morons I saw walking around the local Mall this afternoon.

I, personally, am fortunate to have made it back home from our shopping trip without having been arrested for tearing some idiot's arm off and beating most of their entire family to death with it.

The older I get, it seems the less tolerant I am of "crowds" and "the general public." I'll probably never set foot in an amusement park or a NASCAR race or most football stadiums ever again because I can't help having laser beams exploding from my eyeballs and out of my butt when I witness the stuff you're forced to witness these days.

It's either because I just keep getting smarter and smarter else the aforementioned "general public" is continuing in a gradual spiralling descent into moronic pop cultural behavior which makes me want to kick the shit out of them knock some sense into them when they get in my way and waste my time with their inane endeavors spending money they don't have to spend.

I guess it's best I just stay home and let them all self destruct, except that the government keeps coming to my door asking for money to help buy houses and cars and health insurance and retirement while I continue to insist on living within my means.

Is it just me???

We STILL Have Katrina "Victims" FOUR YEARS Later?

And We're Spending Tax Money Encouraging Them To Move Back...


I hate the fact that the leftist liberal NBC network bought my formerly favorite "The Weather Channel."

I say that today they might as well rename the stupid thing this...

"When Weather Kills Poor Folks Because Conservatives and Republicans Deny Global Warming Climate Change Channel."


Of course that name is hard to print in TV Guide and in online/TV listings...but still...

Seriously...hasn't anyone but me noticed the continuing slide by "The Weather Channel" into being a "Oh My God" there's wildfires and earthquakes and tornadoes and Hurricanes network?

Of course for years they've prided themselves in throwing Jim Cantori and Mike Sidell into the eye of each season's hurricanes but these days, particularly this quite Hurricane Season, they seem to just want to manufacture stories about potential future man made "Superstorms" while harping on past storms and the associated GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGED man made stupidity that caused loss of life and property damage.

For instance, while waiting for my latest dose of "Local on the Eights" I just had to wince my way through a "pseudo-weather story" about the four year anniversary of the liberal, sniveling, booger eating tree hugging pinko commie socialists' favorite storm...

HURRICANE KATRINA!!

Remember Hurricane Katrina?

How could anyone ever forget Hurricane Katrina...the storm conjured up by Karl Rove and George Bush to wipe out people too lazy to watch TV or listen to the Radio while electing stupid Governors and Corrupt Black Mayors and Congress persons.

...taking a big breath here boss...

So any way...I didn't really give a crap about today being the "anniversary" of that storm which legitimately smacked the hell out of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but then they tossed out a bunch of facts that to this very minute continue to make my head spin near orbital rotational velocity and over pressurize at dangerous levels.

For instance, did you know that:

1. To date FEMA has generally wasted some part of over 7.8 BILLION taxpayer dollars in the state of Louisiana under the guise of "Hurricane Recovery Funding?"

2. To date FEMA has spent only 3 BILLION of innocent bystander's dollars in the state of By God Mississippi--while they really did take the brunt of the storm?

Or how about these Apples...

A. There are still about 1,668 "families" living free in FEMA trailers in Louisiana today...down from over 120,000 right after the much maligned inadequate government/BUSH response...

AFTER EVERYONE WAS TOLD TO GET THE HELL OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE MOSTLY LIVING BELOW SEA LEVEL IN 2005.

B. Mississippi has managed to run all but 441 of the government incapacitated dead beats out of FEMA housing after have 48,000 living in linear residential facilities (trailers) right after the storm actually made A DIRECT HIT ON THEIR AREA.

Now...

here is the coup de gras that caused me to start foaming at the mouth and spitting and throwing things at my TV screen...

The new kookie Weather Channel "Bimbo du jour" News Lady proudly reported that the City of New Orleans was recovering and the population was back to 77% of the "Pre-Katrina" levels...although rents were much higher and the Federal and State "authorities" were continuing programs to assist the residents in returning to their homes or home town (I'm paraphrasing of course.)

OK, let me get this straight...

We're paying for people to return to a city which exists below sea level--protected by taxpayer funded pumps and levies--while we also pay for many of these same people to live for free in taxpayer provided trailers while they wait on taxpayer funding to cover their rent so they can move back INTO A FLOOD AND HURRICANE PRONE AREA?

What?

Who?

When?

Where?

You'll have to excuse me because I HAVE TO GO FIND A COOLER FULL OF ICE WATER NOW AND SOAK MY HEAD.

That will be all...for now...dammit

Time To Make The Donuts Build The Walls

Back Cramming Lumber Into A Basement...


Well, I'm spending part of last week of my life under the age of 50 years being reminded that I'm OVER FORTY.

I sure feel like it.

I managed to get about seven hours sleep last night and I feel like I can manage to stagger through another six to eight hours of throwing lumber around our job site today.

I really want to finish the framing so the plumber and electrician can get in this weekend.

To accomplish that superhuman feat I have to have a complete crew on site at 8 AM.

Wish me luck...if you will...

Youth Tops Age And Beauty In The Construction Business

Every Time...


I arrived on site about 7:45 AM to find a big strong twenty year old kid with a face full of metal piercings and a bunch of obvious prison tattoos sweeping the concrete basement floor...

and no other carpenter to be found.

I was panicking as I looked at almost 400 sticks of lumber...nearly half 2"x6" and all of it ten foot or longer...all needing carrying thirty yards around the back of the house, cut to length, nailed together and stood up to form walls for two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small galley kitchen and a living area making up the basement apartment for my client's handicapped father and his live in "caregiver."

I was amazed when my client jumped on the computer, put up an ad on Craigslist, and within a half hour had seven potential carpenters and a big strong thirty-something year old guy that knew his way around a tape measure and framing square better than I did on site by 9:30.

Sawdust proceeded to fly and the tattooed kid drug half the wood pile around back and by 1:30 I was dead tired from trying to keep up with my "crew" and we had near half the boards up in place around the perimeter concrete block walls.

I excused myself shortly thereafter leaving them to work another couple of hours unsupervised on some tasks I had identified, and now after a two hour nap I'm able to hold my head up and have enough strength left over to move my fingers around the keyboard.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day but if everyone shows up at 8 AM as agreed we should have 99% of the framing in place and "Grandmas favorite tree"--a giant 20" diameter log holding a steel beam holding the house up--sliced into manageable chunks and replaced with walls and two 6"x6" pressure treated wooden columns.

I hate to admit it, but I'm getting too old to get anywhere near a construction site without a suit and a white hard hat...it's time to leave the hammering and nailing to the younger men and settle for reading drawings and waiving my arms and pointing...

and saying "good job fellers..."

Getting Hammered

With An Air Compressor...


Well, I have to go out and meet my new construction crew at 8 AM this morning.

I hope it's not a freak show but you never know in the construction business and some people might consider me a freak when they see me at first but any way...

I just hope the two guys are on time and reasonably capable but the owner hired them and all I have to do is get the lumber nailed together and in place reasonably square/plumb and I can almost do that by myself if it wasn't for the 10' ceiling height.

I have a few thousand dollars of tools loaded up in the Chrysler (the Suburban's not really road ready right now due to inactivity and neglect and besides the mileage sucks) and a big stack of wall panel drawings and we're gonna see if we can frame out this basement in TWO days instead of THREE.

Assuming the personalities aren't a problem I really love doing stuff like this..sort of like playing with a giant set of Tinker Toys and getting paid a modest sum for my efforts.

Doing the math this is somewhere around my tenth major residential construction effort including some stuff I've done for myself and friends and family and of course the Habitat for Humanity houses I built down in Georgia back in the late 1990's.

It's so much easier pushing nails into wood using pneumatics and based on my creaking, ever ageing knees and back I hope to come through the process only slightly worse for the wear.

Time now to do a little reading, smoke a cigar, and catch a couple hours nap before heading out.

Y'all have a lovely day and try to have at least half as much fun as I'm gonna have now...if you will...