Yearly Chores.

It was a cold and blustery day when I decided to switch out my summer tires for the winter set. I had always been conscientious about maintaining the van, and I know that good tires ware essential for safety on the road, especially during the winter months.

I retrieved your winter tires from the shed where they had stored them over the summer, and with a little bit of elbow grease, I was able to get them stored in the back of the van in no time. I couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Off to the garage tomorrow

After I finished moving the tires, I decided to tackle another winter-related task: moving the snow blower from the shed. I knew that snow was likely just around the corner, and I wanted to be prepared. I carefully moved the snow blower out of the shed and put it on the patio.

With the snow blower out of the way, I of course had extra space in the shed. I took advantage of this by moving the barbecue inside. I had always kept your barbecue on the patio, but I knew that the cold winter weather would not be kind to it. By storing it in the shed, I could protect it from the elements and keep it in good condition for the next grilling season.

As the day came to a close and I locked the shed door behind me, I couldn't help but feel grateful that all the hard work was done. I know that by being proactive and taking care of my tires and winter equipment, I am setting myself up for success, no matter what the weather had in store.

Glad I didn't put the snow blower away.

 

Big snow happening today, on the last day of winter. How appropriate. With this snow, maybe I will be able to use up the rest of the gas in the snow blower.

There was a time when only two of us on the street had a snow blower. Now, almost everyone has one. Did a lot of driveways back then.

Snow Blower today - Two years ago, I was cutting grass.

Lost For Awhile

Amazing how time passes. I have not added an article since the middle of Sept. Must be busy.

I can't believe we had a snow storm last week. In November. It usually comes around Christmas Eve. It was eight inches at least, enough to use the snowblower. That snow blower of mine just doesn't throw the snow far enough. I greased it all up this year, but to no avail. So, this summer, I have to take it apart. And I must start early in the summer, in case it takes awhile. It will need a new belt, and I don't know how long that will take to arrive.

I did spend a lot of time writing. Found it best to do every morning. Had to finish my almost first length ebook. 45,000 words should be good enough for the first one. It's about a spoiled Moroccan princess, who gets kidnapped by terrorists.  Two English boys and their guide break her out, and then they get list in the desert, where things go from bad to worse, then worse again. It helped to have been in Morocco and saw camels, trains and desert. Some of the events are from my own experience. Like the lady at the train station, or the two soldiers drinking rum & coke (one of them being me). So click on Amazon and give it a like.
 http://amzn.to/sOB7VW
I think that says you like the picture or the effort.

Anyway, it is better than doing crosswords, which now I have no time for. I had all those words running around with no where to go. I'm working on another book, using my hometown as the scapegoat. Murder, bootleggers, incest. My hometown was never like this, well, not totally.

My project the last few months has been designing a kitchen with my wife. I don't have to describe that  collaboration. I'm getting the parts from Kent, and they sent in a contractor. Well, I must have looked like a meek little lamb being led to slaughter. Lets rip off the senion citizen. Needed a wall put up and he wanted $3000. I got it done for $300. and this guy will do the rest of the job.

The parts will arrive in Jan. and I have to put them all in the house. Can't store them on the patio, and I just hope there is not a ton of snow about.

We put laminate flooring in the recroom. Actually, my son put it down, I did the cutting. The next project will be laminate floors for the dining and living room. Want that done before spring.

There, that should make up for the time I was away. Best put a picture of my book. Have to advertise. No shame.


Jack Sakalauskas
My Books on Amazon http://amzn.to/sOB7VW
Follow Me On TWITTER  http://twitter.com/#!/PensionersRant
BLOG     http://originalmagazineads.com/flashfiction/
FACEBOOK http://on.fb.me/pwLYJ6

The United Panhandlers and Vagrants Union

Holy Moley! Checked Home Depot flyer this morning and they have a snow blower fo rsale. It's only the middle of Aug. I guess they replace lawnmowers and barbacues. It rained last night so everything is wet. Had plans to work on my ramp to the shed. When I built it a few years ago, I never attached it. Just left it laying up against. So last winter when everything froze, it lifted the ramp above the door opening so I couldn't open the door. Had to wait for a few days till it thawed out and then I dragged it away from the door. This year it gets mounted.

Well we had another coyote attack in Cape Breton. That was a few days ago and I remember reading about it online. The first comment after that was why this girl was out at 4:30 am.  I thought she might be out jogging because some people do that very early. As it turns out, she was sleeping in a sleeping bag outside her parents tent. The coyote came and decided to munch on her head. She screamed and yelled and the coyote took off. Could have been a lot worse. What if he had grabbed her by the throat and she was unable to yell? A lot of what ifs. Anyway that coyote is in the bad books and they want him hanging on someone's wall. I don't imagine that any sports team down there will want to call themselves "The Coyotes." Then again, its Cape Breton, they might.

Remember the guy living atop a gold mine? Well they hauled him away the other day, his heels dragging in the mud. He was offered $350,000. but was hanging on for 1 million. Now it will be settled for fair market value. This dumb-ass doesn't understand that greed only works for rich people not the rest of us.

Here's a headline that really caught my eye. "Panhandlers targeted for job training." Holy crap, now you're asking for trouble. Do these guys have a union like "The United Panhandlers and Vagrants Union?" Can we look forward to these guys protesting on the main drag? Some of them make a lot of bucks. We're talking hundreds a day. Do you think they want to go to school? I'm more likely to read something else into this. I'm talking about these leeches who dream up some product of helping someone and get the government to give them a grant. Once these grants start, they are hard to stop. Just like a charity, the money has to keep rollin in.

Hobby Without a Horse

This article is about me, or at least the hobbies I've had over the last ten years. Now I don't have a hobby like stamp collecting etc. that can be a lifelong passion. Mine are more like part time jobs, that after awhile, they reach some conclusion and I move on. Some people are obsessed with following celebrities. That could be a hobby. Most people finish with that hobby after their teens, but some people try to stay young forever. You just have to remember that celebrities are people and have the same faults as your nexr door neighbour or your relatives.

I think the first hobby was selling on ebay. For myself and other people. I had a friend who had a lot of unusual items to sell. One was a Union Army belt buckle from the Civil War. Another, I can't remember what it was, came from a U.S. submarine. This sub was now a museum and the item was in the sub when it was active. The curator sent me a photo of the inside of the sub with the item. He was very happy to get it. And it was more like a donation.

After awhile I said enough of this packing, I need something simpler. I came up with the idea of old magazine ads. All I needed was an envelope and cardboard backing. That I did for a number of years. With the recession, business slowed down but Post office expenses didn't. I closed my ebay store. The ads I still display on two other sites. http://oldmagazineads.blogspot.com/  and  http://www.originalmagazineads.com/wordpress/  The first site gets about 1000 visitors a day. It seem that I have become somewhat of a library. People want them for school products, university magazines and movies. For one movie I had to send a photo of a big tooth. Got my name in the credits. Once I sent an ad to CA 90210.

These ads plus others provide me with money from adsense, ebay and Amazon ads. They run automatic and I have to check them ever so often to make sure of that. While this was going on, I was restoring antique radios. You know, the old tube type. Did that for a couple of years. Then decided that this was too much like my military job. And the cruncher was when they got rid of all AM radion stations. Now I can't listen to them.

Three years ago I bought a 25 year old snow blower. No plastic on it. All steel, 32" cut, 7 gears forward, 3 reverse. So I figured with that, I better learn how to fix the motor. Same as a lawn mower, just bigger. I always used an electric mower because I could fix them. So I had better learn to fix a gas one. That was last years project or hobby, which I finished this year.

Prior to all this, I learned to use a computer, then I learned to fix a computer, then I learned how to build a computer from scratch. I think now I am hobbyless. Maybe I should write a book. I have two brothers that do that. Both are published, but not on a grand scale. Or maybe I could just sit on the patio and drink beer.

Snow

Well, we’re getting our share of snow today. Must be a foot high at this point. But with the high winds, we have snow banks. But we have been very fortunite this year. We never got all those storms that the U.S. received. It was amazing to watch the weather maps and see all those storms go by us about 100 miles out to sea.
Since my first entry, I went out and did 4 driveways. One of my neighbours did four. I left my snow blower by the house because I’m sure the snowplow will be back. He was here while I was doing the driveways.
Watching the Olympics these days.

A New Year

January 8, 2010
Well Christmas is over for another year. At my age , they come a lot faster.
Only had one snowstorm so far. So I got a chance to use my snowblower. It worked good but I think it should throw the snow out farther. That would mean changing a belt which is probably the original. It looks like it is quite stretched. That is not a job for the winter, that’s for sure. So, that goes on the list for summer projects. I don’t think I need to go searching for the same belt. One that is the same width and a little shorter should do. Anyway, worry about that later.
Another project is to raplace two fence posts. Both are broken at ground level. Have to do that job in the early spring when the ground is still wet. Easier to pull out the bottom.
Of course I still have the project of getting a lawn mower working. I am at the point now that I think the pin is broken, putting the timing off. Getting that pin out is a project in itself.
I don’t have electricy in the shed. Keep saying that I will do it, but never have. I should make that a project this summer. The main reason is because it would be nicer to use the electric start on the snow blower.
The temp. outside is 0C/32F which is quite nice. Watching the weather on T.V. and this temp. in parts of the States is quite hard to cope with. I can certainly understand that