Digging for the Deck

Yesterday, I took a break from Nanepashemet Telecom to dig the three post holes for the deck foundation in the back of the Sundance House.
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The Marblehead Building Inspector will be by this morning to measure and approve the depth.   Code calls for going 36" below the surface so that the concrete columns don't pitch due to frost.  I went an average of 42"  down, and the surprizing thing is that I didn't hit the ledge that protrudes throughout the property.  Pretty much sandy gravel all the way down.
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It's a fairly good workout to hand dig these holes and I'm feeling it today.  After the inspection, I have to meet Alex in Andover for a Nanepashemet job, but on the way home, I'll stop over at the Home Depot and get eight 80 lb.bags of  concrete mix along with some 5/8" J-bolts to secure Simpson 6x6 Post tie units.  Don't need 6x6 posts, but again I'd rather overengineer this, since I'm saving money on the labor by building the deck myself. 

Like the Beverly Ave deck, you'll be able to land a heliocopter on this baby.  Going with 2x10 pressure treated  boards for the floor joists,  But I won't be getting the pressure treated framing lumber from Home Depot.  For that I'll probably order from Moynihan Lumber in Beverly, and have them deliver. 
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The actual decking material will be Trex and I'll be buying that from Peabody Building Supply which has the best prices by far.   I'll also buy the dining room sliding glass door there.
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For this deck, I won't be getting fancy with curves and stuff.  Got that out of my system on the last deck that I built.  This deck will be a plain rectangle... but some future phases into the surrounding ledge might get kinky.... especially if it includes a Japanese water garden coming off of the rocks.
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Not going to put the pressure on myself and tell you when this project is slated to be complete.  Definitely not by the 4th of July.... maybe by Labor Day.  But I will guarantee that we will be on the deck for the Thanksgiving Day Bash!

Stanley Cup Champions

The Boston Bruins are the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions.

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They defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh game of a best of seven series to clinch the professional hockey championship.
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I'm especially happy for my son, Mike, who has followed this team all year.  Plus Ryan got to see the whole thing out in FreshAyer. Not sure how he pulled that off.


I have to admit that I only really paid attention during the playoffs. 
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It's a nice lift for the City of Boston and a warm feeling for a lot of  Peeps up here in New England.

Consideration for Bachmann

I saw George Stephanopoulos interviewing Michele Bachmann on Good Morning America this morning. 

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 His obvious distaste of her picqued my interest.  A 55 year old three time Congressman from Minnesota who has seen 28 foster children pass through her home.  And a Tea Party leader who origninally broke into politics as a Jimmy Carter supporter.

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No wonder George is annoyed.  Here is another viable candidate who outshines Obama on a cloudy day.  And Stephanopoulos is an Obama Butt Boy without peer.

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A friend of mine suggested that I might enjoy a Michele Bachmann / Sarah Palin sandwich.  Just because I've repeatedly proclaimed Palin to be sizzling hot, I never suggested any impropriety, and I certainly hope that he has not gotten the wrong idea.  He must have been speaking figuratively... or maybe not.  I'll have to leave that thought alone for the time being.
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I'll be watching Bachmann though.  She just might be worth the coveted Nanepashemet Nomination. 
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You never know.

Childhood Memory

It is my Grandson Will's birthday today.  He is four years old.
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Can't say I remember much about my fourth year on earth.  Maybe a fleeting image or so.  All of the doting on Will and the schlepping back and forth to FreshAyer will be lost on him after a few years.
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But it won't be lost on me.  These are memories that I will fall upon in the years to come.  I'll bet he remembers one or two things that will happen in the year to come though.
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Happy Birthday Will Nestor.

The Way and the Light

It's important to respect people's beliefs - religious, political or otherwise.
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Who the hell really has a lock on the truth anyway?   Everybody sees things in their own way... their separate realities.
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So it just stands to reason, that when people proselytize, and tell me what to believe, it tends to be a turn off.  Present your facts, and back off.  Don't be telling me that you have a lock hold on true religious beliefs.
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And while we're at it consider one of my favorite passages in the New Testament, Matthew 6:6 ....."But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
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So shut the fuck up.   The more people tell me the way to paradise, the least I want to spend another second of time with them, let alone freaking eternity.

Activity Balance

It was an overcast cool weekend.... conducive to indoor work and bar hopping.  So I managed to get in an ample supply of both, and my bar tab at the BYC leaves a valid audit trail.
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But  the great room moulding is also complete, as is 90% of the backsplash glass tile in the kitchen.  Have to finish the dreaded drywall, and then all of the interior work will be done except for painting a final interior coat.
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The next push will be the deck, and cutting throught the living room wall for the sliding glass deck door. 
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A nice balance of weekend activity.

Mountain of a Man Reserves

Yesterday's "day off" was fruitful as I was able to hang all of the first phase moulding at the Sundance house.  Finished in plenty of time to have dinner with Dale and Gail Johnson at the Dolphin Yacht Club where their wayward attorney son, Jeremy, called his Mom to wish her a happy birthday... a day late.  As you know, Jeremy is a former Peep of the Year, and a world class lawyer who has carried the day in FreshAyer more than once, so he gets a pass in my book.   I'm sure that Gail will get over it too.

The moulding in the front hall is not done but that can qualify as a second phase once some other priorities are finished.   These include hallway drywall finish coats, painting and the tile backsplash of the kitchen counter.
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It seems like a lot of work, but it all has to get done because I told Scuba Steve Lewis that the house would be ready when the bank appraiser showed up for our mortgage appraisal.
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I can definitely sense your doubt and skepticism about the prospects of this happening.  But a Mountain of a Man doesn't let the lowly opinions of others dilute his march to accomplishment.  And I won't be letting Scuba Steve down after his yeoman effort of mortgage brokering.
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So... I will have to draw on some MOAM reserves......watch and learn, Peeps.

Day Off

Tomorrow... I'm taking the day off.
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Do you hear that World????    I won't be answering your calls, paying your bills or reading your emails.
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So Don't freaking bug me.
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I've got some personal stuff to take care of.

Official Mortgage Broker Endorsement

It's been awhile since we've made an addition to the Nanepashemet Official Endorsements, but the events of the day have caused this delay to end here and now.
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Many of you know Superpeep Scuba Steve Lewis, his trophy wife Jill, and his beautiful new born daughter, Kiley.  What you may not have known about Steve is that he is the best darn mortgage broker this side of the Pecos.
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But now you know, because we have a new Nanepashemet Official Endorsement.
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• Official Mortgage Broker of Nanepashemet - Scuba Steve Lewis.

Weiner's Junk

I'm sorry, but I have to sound in on this Weiner episode.
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I think that this whole controversy has God's sense of humor written all over it.  It has to be through divine intervention that we have this stupid scandal that involves a guy named "Weiner. "  It could only be better if his name was "Schlong."
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And his suffering wife is the top aide to none other than Hillary Clinton, whose husband, Bill the President, liberated all of us who used to think that getting a blow job was having sexual relations.  I was driving in a California Bay Area canyon at 5:30 AM going to the airport to catch a flight when I heard Hillary proclaim that Bill didn't have sex with that intern and that he was the victim of a "vast right wing conspiracy".  
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For some reason, that time and place is frozen in my consciousness.... along with the day I heard Kennedy was shot, and the Space Shuttle exploded.
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This stuff could never stand as a work of fiction.  It's too unbelievable.   Thus, I leave it up to God to conjure up this shit.
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That observation aside....
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If a corporate employee was caught posting his junk on Facebook, he would be fired.
If a student was caught, he would be expelled.
If I was caught, my wife would slice my gonads cleanly yet painfully from my crotch as I was serenely snoring away.
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But this Weiner says that he didn't do anything illegal, and won't resign his seat from Congress.
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I guess he has been a faily outspoken liberal democrat from a district the includes Brooklyn and Queens, and he says that he will let the voters decide his fate.  In other words, he's pretty certain that a majority of his constutuents are pervs  like he is and will see him through this little junk bump.
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Let's retrace our steps here.
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A Congressman named Weiner sends pictures of schlong to a half dozen women on Facebook.
He lies and says he didn't do it, then cries and says he did.
But, no biggie. 
He won't quit the Congress and has his bet hedged that his constituents will "hang" with him.
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I think I have it straight now.
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This is a good one....What else you got, God???.

Blog Upgrade

Peeps... there is some good news for you who search the web on your mobile device.  Up to now, this pathetic yet venerable blog has looked pretty crappy on an iPhone.   But not anymore!!!!
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There is a cool new mobile device interface that makes the Nanepashemet Blog a fulfilling yet disturbing expeience on your Droid or iPod.   Now your annoying addiction can be fed while on the go during your listless existence.
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That's progress!

Feeling the Fury

On the way to New Haven, at Route 84 just south of the Massachusetts Turnpike there  is incredible evidence of just how powerful a tornadoe is.   It looked like a giant weedwhacker was used to cut an uneven swath through a mature hardwood forest on both sides of the road.
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The trees were pushed around in a haphazard fashion and most of them were snapped in half about twenty feet from the ground.  But they were not snapped cleanly and the tall standing trunks had frayed shards of wood dangling from them.   This thing must have hit so fast and with so much initial force to snap hardwood -trees in half ....midway up the trunks... and then uproot and push them around like so many matchsticks.
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The havoc stretched about 100 feet wide but unevenly and there was a heavily damaged house and garage nearby.  You could feel the force and fury that would have rumbled across the highway and caused such destruction.
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Scratch that.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to rip a path like this.
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By the end of the day, I felt like I must have imagined the scene but on the drive home, there it was again... no exaggeration.

No Trust Funds

Off to New Haven tomorrow morning.  Not a ride I'm looking forward to, but it makes sense business wise.  So I'll gladly make the trek and survey about five sites for Nanepashemet Telecom before turning the F150 back for the three hour drive to Marblehead.
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It would be nice if I had some trust funds ready to kick in, and didn't have to bang away at this making a living routine, but none of my ancestors saw fit to endow me with a chunk of money to kick back with, and at this rate, I will be doing the same for those in my own downline.
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What the hell.  If I had a trust fund, I'd probably just be wasting more time on this pathetic blog.

Poison Ivy

Heading out to FreshAyer with the Grandkids.   I've positively determined through a Google search that I contracted poison ivy last week and a nice rash has developed on my lower legs.
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Not to worry.  It is not contagious nor is it lfe threatening.

Good Mood Morning

Woke up in a good mood this morning.
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Then Joanne starts sarcastically asking me, "Why are you in such a good mood?"
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Which pissed me off a little.....
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So now I'm feeling kind of regular.
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Anyway... Today I have to hang the doors on the storage sheds that I built recently, then I will tile the kitchen counter backsplash, then I will scrape the pram to get it ready for painting and launch next week.
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Which again would question why the good mood.  But the grandkids are due by and their Uncle Mikey and Auntie Kate will be in to see them too.   So that trumps all the other stuff.

Warning to Fish

There have been a lot of inquiries lately about when the WhaleEye will be launched on the mooring in Salem Harbor.  I've been in no hurry this year.  But I finally got around to getting my work order into Ryan Marine and the legendary fishing machine will be in the water next week.
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Fish will soon die.

Do the Time

John Edwards, the former Presidential candidate, is expected to be indicted  today because of misuse of campaign funds.   His wife died of cancer after throwing him out for fathering a child with a bimbo that he used campaign money to conceal.

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Plus he's a Democrat.
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Man... What a Mess!!! 

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Apparently he is really scared about going to prison and was trying to get the Bimbo, Rialle Whats-Her-Name, to marry him so that a "wife" couldn't testify against him as a husband.   She probably planned to live with him in the Big House anyway, although the White House is not exactly the Big House domicile that they're heading to..

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Advice to John.... Do the time.   Lose The Bimbo.  You don't get out of DoDo by piling on more shit.  And try to keep your Pussy Ass Face out of the media if possible.

The Purpose of Powerwashing

I don't have time to give you a thoughtful blog entry tonight.
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First of all... I don't feel like writing anything.   The Bruins lost, we had tornadoes all over Western Mass, and I spent most of the day preparing the tax information for the Sundance Pre-School.   I hate anything about taxes, and working on them is always a downer.  So I'm not in the mood for any upbeat shit, despite my recent exhortations.
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Plus... I have to deliver my power washer over to Dale and Gales' so that they can powerwash their deck.   Obviously they're rubbing it in that we don't have a deck here at the Sundance house, so we might as well let them use the powerwasher.
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Being a Mountain of a Man means that your have to overcome an insult or a slight from time to time.  I'll let them use it anyway.

A Simple Choice

The other day I got an email from one of you pathetically misguided peeps, asking me one of the annoying personal questions that I occasionally have to endure.
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Naturally, I don't overreact to this type of malfeasance.  Being a Mountain of a Man means that you have to have patience when those of lesser bearing seek out your advice and  consolation.  And as you know, I'm always up to the task.... at least most of the time.
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So to paraphrase this sorry solicitation, it went something like this.... "Master J.  How come you are always in control, never seem to lose the faith, always upbeat, never down in spite of all of your troubles and challenges?"
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I wish there was an easy answer.   Something like... "Silly Rabbit... Trix are for kids!"
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But life isn't a freaking cereal commercial.   This is for real, and it's not God Damned sugar coated either, with fruity crunchiness inside.   So I overcame my contempt for this invasion of my sanctum santorum, and decided to dish out a straight answer.  And this is it.
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In about a hundred years, you will be gone without a trace.  No one will remember you.  No one will even know that you are dead.  Your kids will be dead.  Their kids... your grandkids... will be old at best and won't have a clue where you are buried.
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Nothing that you said will be known.... no one will know or care whether your bills were paid, or whether your promises were kept.
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And if you think that I'm off base on this.... then tell me what your great-grandfather's first name is.   This is a person who had all of the hopes and fears that you do.  Probably looked like you, and had your same types of thoughts and mannerisms.   Don't feel bad, because I don't know mine either.    Yet if he hadn't been born,  you wouldn't be sitting here, wringing your hands and reading this pathetic blog.   And you don't know Jack about him... not even his first name.
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So to get back to the original self centered, neurotic and annoying question.... you have a simple choice in this minor piece of consciousness in the midst of human existence that you call your life.  Joy or Sorrow.  Good Will or Evil. Contentment or Grumpiness.  It is entirely up to you and nobody else is to blame.  No matter how bad it seems that other people screw with you, it is your choice to pick the emotions to react to them.
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So make the best choice, the one that benefits you the best, and makes you feel good.  And the only way to feel good is to stay upbeat.   Because, despite all or your ego centric drama, a hundred years from now, you just won't count.   Might as well enjoy the ride.

Canucks

The Bruins begin the Stanley Cup Champion Ice Hockey Series against the Vancouver Canucks tonight in Boston.   Mike has tickets but I think he might be on a sales trip.  It's always exciting when a Boston team plays for a championship.   We love our pro teams here.  
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Plus the Canucks have a backup goalie named Cory Schneider, who is from Marblehead.   I remember him playing for Mike's High School Hockey team here when he was a Freshman, and followed his career as he excelled at Phillips Academy, Junior Hockey, and Boston College.  It will be an exciting series and a good reason to watch hockey in June.
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BTW, doesn't the name "Canucks" seem a little politically incorrect?  I mean, if it was a Japanese team called the Tokyo "Gooks" or an Italian team called the Milan "Warps".... wouldn't you think there would be some raised eyebrows???? 
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But apparently, Canadians are fine with being called "Canucks".   What would you call a Black Canadian hockey player anyway?... an African-Canadian?  It's easy to get confused these days as we temper our freedom of speech with political correctness.
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I've actually been to Vancouver.  It's a beautiful  city in the Pacfic Northwest. with a strong Asian influence due to an influx of Chinese immigrants when Hong Kong was transitioning to Communist control.  Ate some great dim sum there... delicious Chink food.