Addair Kentucky fell asleep while we were running errands and now I’m waiting it out with him in the truck while Levon works out at the YMCA. Hot as the dickens but I do have a Lemony Green from Just Ripe to keep me company. Levon took the day off from painting to get ready [...] Continue Reading »
From the truck
0paint job, days 3-5
0before: There’ve been some longs days at the job site this week. Fortunately the job site is not my next door neighbor on the corner, but the next. Actually it’s the house in view from our bedroom window. We had two full days of scraping, another day of partial prep while we started painting, and [...] Continue Reading »
spartan merrymaking
4As you know, we’ve signed up to do a Spartan Race in August and so I’m on week 2 of my training. Some days I do the Spartan-recommended Work Out of the Day, but mostly I’m dancing. In classes yes, but also in the streets. I was inspired by that delightful youtube video featuring the [...] Continue Reading »
end of day 2
0The house is nearly ready to paint. By the end of Saturday we had most of the house scraped, caulked and spot primed. The side shown below was completely down to the wood. The back corner section over the metal roof still needs some work. You can see the newer siding never got painted and [...] Continue Reading »
just around the corner, end of day 1
2This is our next paint job, shown here at the end of day 1 which was yesterday. This house has been due for some time and now it’s to the point that a lot of repairs will have to happen along the way. We’re going with Sherwin Williams Duration Exterior paint, Pittsburgh Seal Grip primer [...] Continue Reading »
all silent treatment must end somehow
11Ashley and I have been mad at each other the last few days. It’s the same issues, we both know them well, but sometimes you just need to cool off for a while before you’re ready to act like a mature adult again (and speak, in our case). It’s not that she’s out to be [...] Continue Reading »
backpack junky dad and the Deuter Kid Comfort II
7I’m a backpack junky and I always have been. A gear snob of the most fastidiousness. But since my youthful discretionary income halted around 2003, my top-of-the-line gear is now reaching “vintage.” Of course that makes the snobbery worse. For example, my expedition size pack (yes I have a specialized pack for every size trip) [...] Continue Reading »
the Spartan death race: blood before mud
5We’ve signed up for a Spartan Death Race. The team is all family and I must say, we will come in strong. It’s 8 miles and 20 obstacles such as javelin throws, leaping over fire, and fighting in the mud. My brother Ryan is the veteran. And Frankie is gonna bring the ferocity. (He’s this [...] Continue Reading »
Me and tuck on our own
3This is one of those South Knoxville decks where they use 3 1/2 inch ringshank handdrives that bust through a 2×4 before they’ll yank out. People don’t nail the crap out of things like they used to. Well, Frankie does. Me and the little man are hanging out under the carport eating chips while mom [...] Continue Reading »
the memoir progress: making more cuts than an email inbox cleanup
0This evening I’m facing difficult cuts in the draft of my memoir. The document hasn’t been opened since April 28, which is a little while to cool off if one is planning to make a nice, objective proofread. Yes: defining parameters and moving away from the full length autobiography. After a lot of studying on [...] Continue Reading »