My phone rang at 6:30 a.m. (who the fuck gets at at 6:30 in the a.m.?!?!?!), "This is Naked Masonry (not their real name), we're coming over now to start that work."

So, the offending cap stones, bricks and lintels have been removed. Waiting for materials to arrive now.

I had another contractor out to look at the garage. He pointed out a couple things the first guy is not including, because he doesn't do that. And that is new, wider, cap stones and he will also put a new roof on it. His price is a little higher than the first guy but he is including more. With the 1st guy, I'd have to call out a roofer when he is done so in the end it would be more than this guy. So I'm going to go with the second guy.

This will be the 4th time I've had work done on the garage, I guess you can say the 1st three were patch jobs. This should be a permanent solution. But it will sting the old pocketbook.

Maybe more details and pics when the work is done.

I just got a bid for some much needed brick work I need for the garage. It came in fully 50% more than I estimated it would be. Well, I'm getting better at this, bids used to come in at double what my estimate was.

Now I'm contemplating, get more bids or go with this one. I know this company will do a good job, I used them before. There is always the possibility that a low bid ends up being the expensive one if the work has to be corrected or re-done.

The perfect Margarita.

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces of your favorite distilled cactus juice (aka tequila)
plenty of ice. Salt the rim of the glass if you want but it's not essential.

Someone asked a retiree if he had a job, to which he replied, "I am my wife's sexual advisor." Somewhat surprised by that response he asked for more information, to which the retiree said, "It's very simple, my wife told me that when she wants my fucking advice, she'll ask for it."

If you go to a store these days and ask for a record player the youngster waiting on you is likely to show you the cd players. Some of us are old enough, uhhh, make that mature enough, to remember those big black flat disks with grooves on them. You put one of those on a record player, or better yet, a turntable connected to a sound system and it produced amazing sounds. Now don't get me wrong, I like the clean sound that digitalized music produces. But there is something satisfying about putting a record on a turntable, aiming the tone arm at it and watching the stylus float gently down on black vinyl. Soon deep, rich music that stirs the soul comes out of speakers, scratches and all.

It's been a while since I spun vinyl, my old turntable was more than 35 years old and I had retired it some time ago. In recent years however, there has been a resurgence in vinyl as a new generation is discovering what I had once taken for granted.

I received an Amazon gift certificate for Christmas and was thinking about what to get with it. I wanted it to be something special, I didn't want to use for the ordinary day to day things. So I thought about the turntable, I have a number of old records. While much of it is available in digital format, there are some things that are not. So I thought a new turntable would be nice to have. I looked on Amazon and found a decent selection, not like it was when I was a younger man, but there are some worthwhile machines being made today.

This is what I got,



I'm rocking out to Zepplin and feeling like a hippie again

There is coffee and then there is coffee.

Reference my previous blog post.

The dog is doing well. When I saw her on Sunday and Monday she was nervous and unsure of herself, her tail in between her legs and even refused a doggy treat I offered her. Today she is all smiles and enjoying her new world. She took the treat I gave her so now I think I have made a new BFF, lol.

My neighbor has an old dog, a Golden Retriever, that was rescued 6 years ago. Ever since they have had him I have gone there in the afternoon on week days to walk him. So that's why I'm there now, even though my neighbors daughter has taken a few days off from work to help the new dog adjust, she invited me to continue to come over for my routine with the old dog. And that's fine with me as I am interested in the progress of the new pup.

The new dog has never encountered stairs until now and she is slowly learning how to navigate them. She has lived her entire life in a kennel until now so she has never done her "business" outside, she is learning that too but likes to pee on the deck.

Here she is jumping up on me,



Here's a better pic of her, you will notice the dogs pay me no mind when the "pup master" is around. They know who the boss is, lol.

My neighbor's daughter rescued a dog today. The dog was a laboratory dog in a medical research center. They had no further use for her (the dog) and she's been the mascot around there for a while, pretty much having free roam around the place. But, all good things come to an end (or a new beginning) and my neighbor's daughter requested the dog. After much delay she got custody of her today. The dog will be in a wonderful home. But this is the sad part, today was the first time in her life, 5 years, that she has seen the outside world. Before today she didn't even see it through a window.