Get’r Done

After a few weeks hiatus, the fellas showed up and got started on the street in front of my house.

Dude showed up in a bobcat with a hammer one Friday, beat the concrete silly. First thing Monday the big gear showed up and removed the other half of the street. Right on their heels were the dudes putting in forms, gravel and rebar.

It’s been over 100 all week. But they knocked it out. And they did so without messing up any of my sprinkler system, which runs along the curb.

God Bless ’em.

They work hard, efficient, and leave zero mess. Love seeing my tax dollars working for me for a change.

It’s been a struggle keeping my gardens alive with the heat. My sunflowers took a beating and were looking rough, but still pretty. When I went to water them one day I noticed every flower head was gone.

I was about to go Full-Retard-Karen on NextDoor to lament the loss of my flowers. Who the hell would do such a thing?

Then I studied the leaves and stems, as well as the ends.

Rodents. Rats. Maybe possums. If you study the image you can see leaves busted and bent down. Like a big rat or possum climbed up and down. The cuts aren’t real clean. And, there’s no flowers anywhere. Whatever cut them took them off. I’ll look at a few suspect locations on my property, but I’m certain it was a hungry rodent.

The weather’s been tough on them too. Screw it. I enjoyed them while they were there and I’d have only harvested seeds for replanting. I still have more than enough to harvest. All I need is one flower, really.

My bean garden and cucumbers are toast. We’ll see if the tomatoes live long enought to put out if and when it cools. The peppers are happy though. It’s raining peppercinis around here. Fine with me. They are pretty hot too. I’m getting bell peppers. They’re small, but I’m getting them.

Still learning Texas Gardening.

For all the silliness, the body shop is actually working on the hoopty.

They can take their time. I’m enjoying this:

I had a Blue one, a 2003. I loved that truck, and I love this one. It’s got an honest-to-God key, not a fob. Been throwing me off all week. I have to actually unlock it to get in. I’m thinking of calling it fair and square. They can have my Rav4, I’ll keep this.

Can I do that?

I got a meeting cancellation from el Jefe. Said no point meeting, we’re both on vacation.

Really?

So I am. In this infernal company you have to allocate all your vacation in Q1. So I picked random weeks. Next week is one of those.

So I guess I’ll start on projects here.

I have yard work, garden work, window cleaning – the windows here are bad, especially the sunroom. The spa is disgusting. I’ll have to drain, clean, and refill. If I don’t do it, it don’t get done.

I have a web site to build. We’ll see how that goes. My preference is BootStrap Studio. But others have to touch it. So, it’ll wind up WordPress or Weebly most likely. It’s not for me, and it needs to tie into other platforms.

And I’m doing it ‘pro bono’ so to speak. So, yeah. Looking for max ROI of my time.

A lot of businesses don’t understand how to tie a whole communications structure together. For instance, a test on a popular email/comm platform told me that only 50% of the emails sent were opened. I can tell if you’ve opened the email. I can tell on what you used to read it.

Like Scott McNealy once said, “You don’t have any privacy. Get used to it”.

My goals in this project aren’t in the least ways evil. They simply want to know how best to keep in touch with their members. I’ve said it before (to them) and in general, not everyone is wired in. Maybe mailing some postcards isn’t a bad idea. At least this way we have a list of who we need to touch.

It’s not sales. It’s a fraternal charity they joined. They don’t want money from them, only to keep in touch and help when they can. Time, Talent, Treasure, and they only want the first two from these guys.

Whatever.

It’s what it is.

I’ve lost what I was thinking.

I’ve been ‘celebrating’. It’s Friday, FFS.

So I’m listening to tunes and writing.

Here’s what diverted me:

SQUIRREL!

Man that bass is badass. Homey’s playing a six string bass. A five string would break my back and he’s playing six. They are stupid heavy. But try to find and Eb on a 4 string – there’s one. Only one, maybe two but the other is too stupid high on the scale to be called bass.

I ran into a singer that played at my favorite mexican place last night. He plays an 8 string classical. I can’t even grok that.

But he’s great. Playing and crooning to the customers eating badass mexican food – not the tex-mex-cheese-meat-tortilla crap but acutal badass mexican food.

There’s a difference that you discover in Texas that you won’t find anywhere but maybe California. I’m happy the owner is successful in his move. Where he was is now a Chik-Fil-A.

Whatever.

It’s what it is.