A New Business Venture & Some Compost

Compost Pile & Garden Box of Potatoes. (June 12 2013)

Since I have been finding it down right impossible to find work since last September, I decided that I would re-start my own business. I already have a business license from my short-lived business in 2004 so all I need to do is change the business name and type with the State.  I am offering services for rental & foreclosure property clean-up as well as land clearing.  I have clearing the land of a neighbor of my aunt for the last several weeks with just a weed-whacker and a push mower since there is so much overgrowth not to mention all of the hazards hidden inside the grass.

I never really wanted to "own" a business after my last one failed, however that was entirely due to my poor management skills at the time. Right now, I don't think I really have a choice to do anything other than start my own business.  I made too much last year working for two and a half months for most companies to hire me.  Odd, I know, but its the truth.  I am an outdoor kind of guy and I prefer working with my hands.  Working indoors, I can do but I am not very happy about it.  I have plenty of retail experience since the family business as a kid was all retail and I worked for 8 years in retail before becoming a union carpenter.  Work for carpenters is picking up here in my area, although I really don't have the gas money to go from site-to-site hustling myself.  Although I live with my older sister, she is stretched as far as she can be without risking her own obligations.  Honestly, I don't like having to depend upon my family for such things, although I am incredibly grateful that I can if the need is there.  It kind of hurts my male ego.  I am definitely the kind to return the favor even  without expecting anything in return.  Given a chance, I would most certainly return to union carpentry, although unless something changes in the next five minutes I cannot rest my future on that.  So I started advertising my business and hopefully I can keep some much needed things like my truck, food, and fuel while something shake out.  If I can get enough business I will certainly go for my general contractor license so I can do remodels.  I have all the skills and the majority of the tools to do such work and most importantly, my current business has easily put it to work under its already stated mission statement.

Currently I have been clearning the overgrowth for a neighbor of my aunt who I will call Blonde.  I have been doing it for a bit of gas money so I could continue looking for work.  The job is... an incredible amount of work to say the least, but I have enjoyed it a bit.  The only thing I really have not enjoyed about it is running into snakes.  I hate snakes!  But not enough to chase me off since they are not poisonous.  Blonde owns about two acres of very overgrown and neglected land next door to my aunt's property.  The County has been telling her to clean-up her property or face some pretty hard fines and such.  The property is really nice and is begging to be used, but all she has done to it is store crap, more crap, and even more crap and let it get all overgrown with grass and stuff.  Even the house on the piece of property has turned to crap.  Even I would not remodel it, but roll a 55-gallon drum of fuel oil into the center of the house and set it aflame.  (No, I am not arsonist. It is just a statement of the condition of the house.)   The property is so overgrown her own horses didn't even want to venture over there.  Anyway, I have cleared a bit of the grass enough to go from the back of the property to the front and around the sides of the house.  It actually looks as if someone is taking care of the property.  It definitely has not been easy since I have to cut most of it down with a weed-whacker to first see if there isn't any crap hidden and then I can run a push mower through there.  It involves a lot of racking, hauling, and back & forth with the cutting implements just to get the grass to a 3-inch height.  It really is back breaking work.

My Mom helping to turn the pile. (June 22nd)

Speaking of raking, all of that grass isn't being left behind though.  I very much have an immediate use for it: compost pile.  Yes, this year's compost pile is bigger than ever.  No joke.  Right now it measures 6-feet wide by 15-feet long and stands about 7-feet tall.  Just last Saturday with the help of my Mom, it took us nearly two-hours to turn the whole damn thing.  I wish I had a bucket and a tractor to go with it but I don't.  I will have to add that to my wish list right next to chainsaw and woodchipper.  The funny thing is, I have enough to start a second pile with the grass that has yet to be harvested with Ms. Blonde's property.  I also have horse manure and wood chips available to be used, so I have at least one more pile to add for the summer.  Dear Lord, what did I get myself into. LOL!

Well, I have business to attend to so I will end this here for now.  Wish me luck!

Goodbye 2012, Welcome 2013!

Well, it is the end of another year with 2012 coming to an end.  I cannot say that 2012 flew by, but it kind of did too.  This year has felt like it was a hundred years long to me, but I could not say what all happened either. What did happen is that I bought a new truck for myself, which is freaking awesome! She's not new as in model year, but new to me. I am very appreciative that I was able to buy a fairly new truck instead of something twenty or so years old.  Although I originally did not want to buy a truck on loan, however, if I am going to buy a house I will need to show consistent payments to something. I have missed my diesel truck, even more so with driving a gas truck that only gets 12 MPG on the freeway. Obviously there are a few things I can do to increase that mileage, however, I will get to that at another time.  On a bright side, since I buy all of my gas at Costco, I get a percentage back at the end of my membership year.  That roughly equates to a big rebate check thanks to $85 average tank fills. Win-Win!

I Need A Break....

Another one of our cats suddenly fell ill and died yesterday.  Getting really tired of that.  He was not terribly old,  but never really well either.  Too many strays in the neighborhood that are sick too.  And they always feel the need to die in the yard or underneath the house. Luck for me, the last one did not.

Oh, ya ... lets not mention my dog.  Grr!!!!!!

Overdue Update

I was afraid this would happen when I returned to full-time work.  I went from having plenty of time to do all of my hobbies to no time except for eating and a small bit of sleeping.  So now that Summer is officially over and Fall has set its cool, wet teeth in asses I thought I should get back to doing my blog. Actually, I am off of work again thanks a lull between my old jobsite and my next jobsite.