El Patio....not nearly as fun as it sounds.

This morning traffic stopped on State Hwy 84 and my file holding 2 years of documentation went floating across the cab of my truck.  I don't have a cutsie comment for that.  Fuck.

Ranch.

FRIDAY: It's a quiet weekend here at the ranch.  Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ken and I are the crew. I could not be happier about the bonding time but I joked earlier that I'm here with the geriatrics from the family and I asked my grandmother if she'd like to go hunting with me since Ken and Grandpa are both dragging a leg around.  Anyway my phone typically never leaves my truck when I'm here but I realized tonight that I can create postings on my phone and save them for a later upload, so let the geriatric weekend documentation begin, I will try to get some old people pictures to add tomorrow.  I digress....

Ken and I managed to get a day off today and were able to hunt together for the first time this season....the fruits of our labor is pasted below....

This buck was also a geriatric that Ken outsmarted.  You can tell by the heavy horns and additional eyeguards that this buck was older and with respect to antler size probably in a state of decline.  Had we seen this buck 2-3 seasons ago his antlers would have probably been larger.

The rest of the day was consumed with processing the deer, unloading a truck load of flooring material (next project), cleaning gutters and installing down spouts.

Grandma made venison for dinner with Mac n' Cheese & home made apple sauce (yes it is always necessary to capitalize Mac n' Cheese, sorry venison),honestly the meal was great.  Grandma you out did yourself, thanks for that.

On this the first day of fall the first rainstorm has swept into the canyon, fast moving like a true winter rainfall, it has blanketed the property with moisture and has us all anticipating another deer hunt tomorrow.

SATURDAY:  We awoke to pouring rain, the rain fall was too heavy for hunting.  Ken and I milled around under the shelter of his covered deck for awhile until it subsided and then we headed out.  Our delay was a failure because 100 yards from his deck it started pouring again.  Upon taking our positions for our desired hunt we discovered that we weren't the only people who know that rain fall makes deer hunting easy....the mountain was alive, with other hunters.  Ken called for an abort and we slipped away undetected.  We climbed an alternate mountain and hunted until 2pm but it was a lost cause.  The score is now Kenny's 1, Deer 1.  The rubber match will occur tomorrow morning.  

At a minimum the day was successful as exercise was plentiful and the country was awesome after a rainfall.  All the moss on the trees was erect soaking up the moisture...

Other views post rain...

Upon returning I played with the dog she was cooped up all morning and proceeded to swing her bumper in circles for 20 minutes.....happy dog....

Another great dinner in Grandmas cabin followed by my scrubbing of the cabin floors and that's all she wrote!!

Again.

I'm at the Chevy dealer again.  Ive been here a long time; as noted in my Yelp review of Dublin Chevrolet from this morning; they do not value their customers time here.  2-1/2 hours in the past I convinced my new service writer (my former abruptly quit last Friday) that my situation was bullshit and that I really needed a vehicle to go do some work; now upon my return I honestly am not surprised to see all the same customers are slightly rearranged but still present in the waiting 'lounge'.  They seem to despise me though, the asshole whom raised enough shit to score himself a loaner ride to escape from this slice of heaven for a little bit.  Touché.

I'm truly amazed at the number of employees whom wander the rear depths of the dealership, the showroom seems deserted yet there's a couple fellas in shorts and polo shirts out back who seem to be endlessly moving vehicles to and fro.  How do they afford this shit?

Oh yeah I know, I perused the lot this morning and I realized its almost impossible to buy a Chevy anything for less than $50k.  WTF.

I checked out the latest, here is the cluster from the new top of the line Silverado....

Look at all those ugly ass knobs.  It's quite cheap looking in person.  The problem is it is priced like a luxury item.

 

And then there was two....maybe

At any given time I can tell you what Erin and I have planned 4-6 weekends into the future.  I can sit across from you over cappuccinos and explain when we will start the process of conceiving our third child and back into an expected due date that coincides with our respective compensation schedules from our employers which makes for an ideal birthdate for investing funds into college savings account.

I can also tell you the muzzle velocity and 400yd drop of a .270 magnum bullet.  I've meticulously memorized drop charts and wind loads for the cartridge to ensure success on my up coming deer hunt.  A quick successful hunt will allow me to get home sooner to my pregnant wife.

It's times like these when you get life so scheduled that you've consumed all the slack in your critical path then Mother Nature, God, or some greater being smacks you down and reminds you where you stand.

So I lay here in a daddy trundle bed across from my wife who is hooked up to four different monitors charting the activity of our 33 week old baby girl; helping a rather puzzled Doctor try to make a decision on how to proceed.  Nobody wants to deliver a baby seven weeks early.  It's too soon.

So how do I get Erin's mind off the issue at hand.  Plan.  Plan some more.  Plan how we can make up for our lack of planning.  We aren't ready to come home with a newborn, but now we have a plan and it seems the discussion and thought process has relaxed Erin into a morphine induced nap.

Here us a picture of Sullivan two seconds before he stomps on my iPhone.  Cue heavy metal music.

Decking

Building a deck should be fun. It's fun because it's relatively simple and the material is wood (wood is easier to work with than steel). My deck project is different than most because I'm doing it by myself with only two hands.

Building a deck by yourself is perhaps one of the worst ideas you could possibly dream up. There is great opportunity for efficiency with multiple workers on board. I'm running an efficient system, however it pales in comparison to the output I could have with just one additional set of hands.

Dammit.

It was 107 on the deck while I worked last Saturday. I'm considering wearing a headlamp and working a night shift.

I'm looking forward to the completion of my cabin in summer 2015.

My wife came home last night feeling light-headed, dizzy and ill.  That's a common symptom when you're pregnant and the bay area apple junkies are too fucking absorbed in facebook (or pretending to be) to give up their BART seat for you.  It just makes my blood absolutely boil, rarely a thing takes me to edge of violence like the lack of chivalry in humans today.

Luckily last night was Monday, so despite the long work week ahead Erin was excited to watch her show, The Bachelorette.

I'm getting...

Fat. Not really, well sort of. I'm sidelined from the exercise circuit and its driving me nuts. I'm an apputee...which is a stupid word I just made up meaning I'm appendicksless....err wait. I had an appendix and then it was gone. Right.

Anyway.

I can't work out...and I recognize now just how much stress and pressure I vet whilst throwing kettle bells at Scott Lipps' lip. All in all the surgery probably wasn't all that bad, just came at a busy time. I'm counting days till I can get back into the gym for some stress relief.

Do this....

2 ea clean & jerks @ 115lbs on the minute, every minute for 15 min. (30 reps total)

Rest 3 min.

Then:
10 minute AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)

2 front squat thrusters @ 95lbs
2 pull ups
4 front squat thrusters
4 pull ups
6 front squat thrusters
6 pull ups

Etc...increasing incrementally until time expires.

I completed the round of 14 reps before the time expired. So I completed 56 frontsquat thrusters & 56 pull ups after 30 clean & jerks. With the pull ups thats moving over 21000 pounds in 25 minutes.

That my friend will make you forget about fence, or accounting or whatever stresses you. Working out is great. It's harder and harder these days to fall off a cliff on my snowboard, so pushing it in the gym has been a perfect stress relief.

Tahoe

Bike Taxi

Erin was in Scottsdale this past weekend for some well deserved R&R with her girlfriends. Meanwhile back at home I got an extended taste of what she feels like when I take off to work on the cabin for the weekends. Needless to say I came away from the weekend with more respect and love for my wife. It was a challenge to have her away for Friday and Monday but the weekend was a blast. It goes something like this.....

Saturday morning:

Kenny (K): Looks at Sullivan, "Hey you little shit, I want to get a work out in, whaddya say?"

Sullivan (S): Looks at me.....shits.

K: "WtF! Dude."

S: "hehehehe"

Keep in mind that the task for the day was that I had to work. But the entire weekend pretty much went just like that last exchange.

K: As I'm changing his diaper, "I think we are getting off to the wrong poo dude, How about a bike ride?"

As Sullivan grows the value of my bike/trailer set up is increasing exponentially. It's pretty sweet.

I load my precious cargo, ride 3 miles to Draegers market, add 30 lbs of groceries to the trailer and pedal home. Its a great workout, but the little shiter can't always hang.

My Mother In Law....

Is so experienced at the game of Kaiser you my friend have no idea....

That's right she has spent more nights staying up playing Kaiser till 3 am than I have.

Leanne is a very reserved and polite individual but nothing brings out her wild side more than a late night slinging Kaiser cards. She only said "Fuck" a dozen or so times last night.

The best part is watching Leanne back to her polite and reserved self today and she is in 'deny till you die' mode. Apparently last night never happened.

Gotta go, cards are being dealt.

What is Ruching?

Ruching (Roo-SHIng!!) is a sewing technique in which fabric or ribbon is gathered to form ruffles or petals. Ruching can be used to create...cutsie ass tank tops loved by vintage-esq white women including all the Houstons (sans-Tori) & Heather Mattos.

Here's a bunch of ruched-ass tops.  See they come in different styles.  Ruching can be quite flattering, but that isn't really demonstrated here.

Why am I writing about ruching??

1. It's like the white woman's response to the apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur hip hop movement.

2. Clothes with ruching are difficult to fold.  That's right, they fucking suck.  The garment is not 'square' so you cannot establish clean fold lines.  I cannot stand a laundry basket full of ruched ass tank tops.....oy-vey.

How sweet it is.

Babes kinda put things in perspective. Life is awesome, try to remember that during times of chaos.

Tip for Barbers #1

If the mercury dips below 50 degrees outside and your hairy floored establishment is located in an area whereas your customers must walk a distance from their transportation before entering, do your patrons a favor: when you open up in the morning take your water squirt bottle and dump the contents out and refill with hot tap water.  Check the temperature after a few hours to maintain that your customer will have a warming experience.

I think that perhaps there's nothing that could make a man beg for mercy quicker than seeing his most cherished loved one in pain.  That's how I felt at 10:30 pm Wednesday night when my wife's bed was finally returned to her hospital room after emergency appendectomy.  Groggy and drugged up she was still in severe pain.  I stayed with her and held her hand until she drifted off into what was essentially a drug induced sleep.  I'd do just about anything to trade places with her.

We've had a busy year from a medical perspective.

It's been tiresome.

Tonight we discussed the after effects pending her discharge tomorrow.  For example, the time elapsed from leaving the bed to brush her teeth until her return to bed was 15 minutes.  She's not really moving at a sustainable clip.  The immediate change will be great difficulty with handling Junior, Skeezicks or Sullivan as I call him.  Long term effects are that our joint fitness and health campaign has a major hole in its gut.  No exercise for 6-8 weeks.  WTF?  Its like having a C-section without the reward of a mini-Kenny afterwards.  We will make it work, but we are kind of a one for one team.  I go to the gym, she goes to the gym, baby pass in the middle.  Kenny goes to the gym and Erin never goes.... that's a lead balloon concept that will grow old fast.

In the meantime I got into the office today to turn around a few key items.  While there a key customer whom works for an employer that wouldn't tolerate it called me in some kind of drunken haze.

"Chain link fence.."
"Is Stan there?"
"Stan's not here."
"Uh I mean Kenny."

That's kind of how the conversation went, it was so bad that I attempted to exploit his loose lips a bit about contract awards.

"Your gonna do so much work for me, you don't even know, and it'll start with this job weez talkin bout now."

Can't really derive much from that.  I think I'll deliver him a bottle of booze.

Yep.

Spousal Bickers

It's strange how a short three day work week can be so stressful.  Erin had a key member of her team resign and walk away from CRM after his father suffered a stroke in New York so she is buried.  I drove 800 miles and haven't been in the office.  Also much to the surprise of my business partner, the other business partner retired.

So what does this mean?  In California surburbia where we all work our asses off push the stress threshold, this means you come home on Friday night and bicker with your spouse about anything and everything.  So stupid, why do we do that??  I think its a form of venting.

Now here I am studying CPUC verbiage on how to give my ownership of the company to her.

No more bickering.