All posts by James DeVol

July 15th

Well…5:46 isn’t bad compared to how sleep has been going lately but I still feel pretty worn out today…I did sleep okay last night, for me, but I stayed up late again just from boredom and I’m not sure if I’ll keep that up or not….didn’t get a lot done yesterday…I took the weekend off working on the house to let the soreness subside some and even cut back on riding to 15 miles since I made my goal of 2,500 miles before my birthday and didn’t feel the need to do more than that…and I was so damn exhausted on the bike from not eating enough that I just couldn’t go the second time…took in an additional 400 cals yesterday to try to fix that and it may have worked some and I think I need to do that again today…but I have to go over to the house for a couple of hours today and then I’m meeting up with one of my sons for HH later for my birthday…so there will be no big deal feat of strength for this one…just don’t feel compelled to do anything after doing the hundred a couple of years ago and I really don’t have anything left to prove…more later….

House 2…

Well…took the weekend off working on the house since the inspector is coming tomorrow to clarify what I need to do to get the water turned back on and I needed some rest with being a little sore from heavy manual labor….the last of the heavy work will happen this week with getting the back yard ready for the new fence install by taking out a couple of stumps, leftover fence, and getting the weeds cleared around the retaining wall. I am going to buy a cheap sawzall at Harbor Freight to cut off some steel fence posts that are cemented into the top of the wall and I hope I can cut those off without too much trouble…have to buy some hacksaw blades for it and for 20 bucks, if I can get the 8 posts cut off I can throw it in the trash after that….then I need the rental chainsaw to get the stumps out and do the rest of the cleanup…after that it will just be painting and cleaning up the yard but that won’t be too taxing…but, tomorrow it’s just meeting with the inspector, another fence guy, and a window guy for more estimates…will probably have to have a roof put on the house, too but that is about 7 grand and I would prefer to not spend that right now…still hoping to get out for under 10 grand…

What a racist ass…

Well…are you surprised that every damn day the idiot trump reveals himself more and more as the racist asshole he is? In a bunch of deranged tweets this morning, he attacked the 4 new, young progressive women who were elected in the 2018 wave election…telling them to go back to where they came from to fix their “worst countries in the world” before they open their mouths to criticize his racist, illegal concentration camps at our southern border…geez what an asshole…first, three of the four women he bleated about were born here in the US, and the other is a Somali refugee who came here with her parents when she was 10…and, you know what else they have in common? They are all women of color…and everyone knows how much trump hates women and anyone who is not white…and a sick thing is that the racist network fox laughed about the comments and tried to explain them away as being “just a joke” and lying that idiot boy never said what his tweets spelled out clearly. Do you hear that silence? Yep, that’s the repub party’s comments that racist attacks on anyone are not acceptable…all of them are silent and complicit in this racism and have tied themselves tightly to trump the anchor…and it is going to take them down next year…they all need to go….impeach…

July 14th

Well…up way too early this morning and I even went to be late to try to be more tired and that didn’t help…slept okay, though, but I’m just damn exhausted and I figured out part of it…did you know that chicken legs only have 100 calories in them? So, having two for lunch wasn’t anywhere near enough with doing two rides yesterday and I worked to try to get to 1500 cals for the day…don’t think I got there so I’ll have to try again today but have lost my appetite for everything so it will be a struggle…I did get started on cleaning the bathroom yesterday and will finish that up today along with some kitchen cleaning but that will come after the F1 race….and that means that I need to get out by 7 or so but need much, much more coffee before that…will get to 2500 miles today before my birthday for the first time ever so I’m not sure if I’ll do two rides today…only need about 9 miles to get there so maybe I’ll take it easy and only do one….more later…

House Chronicles…part 1

Well….as you’ve seen over the past two weeks, I have a new project that I am working on for my son…I am re-habbing his grand parents house over on the west side of GR so he and his fiance can move back here to GR from NYC in a couple of years…the whole thing started when the friend of his who was living in and taking care of the house just ghosted on him and the city got involved and condemned the house since the grass hadn’t been mowed this year and there was paint flaking  and brush growing all over the small lot. Since the back yard is raised, and the fence that surrounded it is gone, that was another part of the problems on the lot that have to be repaired along with two  windows, some tuck pointing of brick in the front of the house, and maybe some lead paint removal but the paint they are bitching about is not lead…the peeling paint is on the porch that I painted twice with latex so I need to make sure the inspector knows that when I meet with him Monday. I have a quote for a new fence that came in at 1900 bucks that is about 600 dollars less than I expected and I have another company coming Monday morning for a second quote along with a window company to quote the two windows….I may have to have the roof replaced too, but I hope I can let that go until spring since getting on a schedule for a roofing company is almost 90 days out and I need to have the house done before November 1st when my lease is up here. The big bitch is that the assholes in GR shut the water off until everything is done and that makes it hard to do anything without a bathroom or water to start to fix the lawn or clean my tools etc. I am going to bring that up Monday and just see if I can get the inspector to get it turned back on since I have made progress already and it would make it easier to get it done. So, this is going to be an ongoing series where I chronicle the journey of the house back to the best one on the block. Stay tuned…

July 13th

Well…when anyone tells you that it is “good” pain after doing a bunch of hard labor is full of crap…it is just pain and it hurts like crazy…dug up about 60 paving blocks to clear the path for the new fence at the house and I hurt everywhere…it won’t keep me off the bike today but I’m not going to do anything else….need some off time  after busting my butt for the past week….slept okay last night but I should have and it felt good to not get up until after 6….still pretty worn out and I forgot to turn the coffee maker on last night so the coffee ended up in the microwave…doesn’t make any difference since I usually microwave it anyway but I hate forgetting little things like that….have been neglecting things around here so I think I need to clean the bathroom today if I can get motivated to do it…and I need to cook today…have some chicken legs that need to be cooked but I forgot to marinate them overnight so I may have to have them later today and find something else for lunch…man, I’m tired…think I’ll stop here and have some more coffee…need to get on the bike in a few minute and this is going to be a hard one….more later…

It gets lower…

Well….you know, I knew that trump and his cronies are the most low class people who have ever infested the WH and more and more evidence continues to pile up about just how bad they are. Yesterday, trump held his social media “summit” at the WH and the trash who attended were the dregs of the right wing swamp who are so bad they have been thrown off most social media for being the racist assholes they are…and that showed through yesterday when the Rose Garden almost erupted into fist fights when Gorka verbally attacked a reporter as the rest of this sleazy group stood there and cheered…high class all the way. I really never thought anyone could go lower than what we have already seen from the sex assaulter in chief but I was wrong….every damn day it gets worse….very presidential….I wonder who was in fistfights when Obama was president? Impeach….

July 12th

Well…man, I hurt this morning from clearing more brush and tuck pointing the brick at the house yesterday…using all those muscles I just don’t use anymore but most of the hard work is done other than taking the stumps out next week so I should start to heal soon…I do need some ibuprofen this morning before I get on the bike today since the pain is worse when I’m riding….the mortar did a number on my fingers, too since I had to just use them to fill some cracks that were too small to use the tools I bought and I hope that heals this weekend…slept okay last night but all the work is taking a lot out of me and I am still exhausted this morning…I really would like a day that I just didn’t have anything to do but that won’t happen until I get moved so I guess I’ll just hunker down and power through it…as you can tell…I didn’t get anything done around here yesterday and today will probably be the same with having to be at the house at 2 for a fence estimate and I need to get the path cleared for them to install it…so, I think I’ll get there early and get started on that….more later….

Hey, let’s break some more laws…

Well…I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough of trump and the rest of the damn repubs thinking that following the law or the courts is optional…the latest is the idiot trump saying he will ignore the supreme court’s ruling preventing him from putting a citizenship question on the 2020 census form and sign a executive order ordering it to be included. Now, what the hell are you going to do about this one dems? When are you going to do your frickin jobs and impeach this lawless sun of a bitch? While you’re at it, Barr, Mnuchin, and Acosta should be impeached for their roles in breaking the law,too for everything from lying to congress to refusing to follow the law that says the house can get ANY tax return they want just by asking for it…and they don’t need any damn reason for it at all…but Mnuchin seems to think he can create new interpretations of the law just by saying it. I have had enough…just frickin enough of this criminal administration wrecking my country for pure political gain…impeach this asshole right now…

July 11th

Well…running a little late today with doing the grocery run and then reading the paper before this…and I’m not sure why I’m so sore on my right side other than trying to start the mowers a few days ago…it hurts all the way down my side and I think that will make working on the house a little tough today…but I need to get over and get some pictures of the windows that need to be replaced so I can e-mail them to people to quote…and I need to do some more clearing to make sure I get an accurate fence estimate tomorrow…I did have a nice lunch with T yesterday and it was good to see her and have a few laughs…with all of the house work, I have been neglecting things around here and that looks like it’s going to continue…just worn out and need to get a little rest at some time so something has to give…I have slid back to only one ride a day and I think that is a good idea with all of the other stuff going on….I did find the noise in the back of the bike and had a nice, quiet ride yesterday but today’s is going to wait until after I do the house stuff…need to hit Depot to get a bunch of stuff today so I can get started on the tuck pointing on the house….more later….