If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Bushman goes ballistic!

Hi and welcome back!
Just wanted to pop in real quick and post some pics.  I have finally gotten around to finishing my back yard retaining wall.  It turned out pretty good.
I started the morning early because Kaitlin had a soccer tournament in Brighton so I was up at 4:30 to help her and Momma get ready.  Then it was coffee and a bagel and I was off and running.  The vacuum that is!

Momma has been working two jobs to help save money to buy Kaitlin a car and she is almost never home and when she is.....dead tired.  So this morning I cleaned all the hardwood floors, (entire house) did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen and started doing the laundry.  These are things I almost never do.  She gets the inside, like cleaning and laundry and I get the outside like mowing and shoveling snow.  I also do all the cooking.  It works out pretty good.  But sometimes one or the other needs a little help and in this great thing called marriage you have to be nice once or twice a year if it is going to work out!

So after that I went outside and started digging out for the rest of the wall.  By noon I had the wall finished and the last load of laundry in the dryer (where it still resides).
I showered for the second time that day and went to check the mail.
Now I had planned on waiting until spring to put the paver patio in where I just finished the wall but when I checked the mailbox, lo and behold a flyer from a big box store.  In bold letters it exclaimed all pavers on sale.  Now I don't know if it was fate or destiny that made me finish the wall or check the mail (something else Momma does) but I believe destiny is how you handle your fate so I jumped in the truck and headed to the store.


I really liked the way it turned out.  I was going to curve it around the post but it didn't work so well and I ended up going straight.  Ummmmm!

Now when I got to the store the pavers on "sale" were the thin kind and all they had was red.  I didn't want thin (have you seen me?) and I most assuredly did not want red.  So I headed to the other big box store just down the street.  I'm glad I did.  They had all the colors and they were the thick ones (she has seen me!)
They were even cheaper too!  Of course I couldn't load all that I needed into the truck at one time so I had to make two trips.
This is half!

Of course the one with the beer on the tailgate was the last trip!  Drinking and driving don't fly in our house.  (anymore)
660 bricks.  3960 pounds.  Enough to cover 160 sq. ft.  Exactly what I needed.  I saved almost $150.
Every one stacked by hand ("don't forget me", screams my back)

So now I get to install all of these and where the bricks are now will all be new lawn and it will look so much better.  Once that is done I will be working on the garden for next year.  Big Plans!
Stay Tuned!
-Bushman

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Thirsty Thursday and My Top Ten

Hello there and welcome to thirsty Thursday and my top ten!  yes I know I have tried to revive this many times but you know what?  It is what it is.  Weather will be changing soon and sitting inside will become more bearable for me as time goes on.
My beer for the day is Leinenkugel's Classic Amber.  Although I did sneak a Sam Adams Oktoberfest in before the Amber.  It is better in case your wondering but I only had one.  Damn!
Cheers!
My top ten is going to be a little different because I was on "vacation" last weekend plus Monday.
So...
#1  I was able to spend 5 days with my Pops!  (almost another deer season)
#2  I was able to spend time with my step brother, his wife, his sister and his Mom (aka my step mom)
#3  I was able to do fun guy stuff like run a power saw, hammer and then drink beer (not necessarily in that order)
#4  I witnessed dueling pianos for the first time (those guys dreaded my requests.  Vanilla Ice and mix it with Lionel Richie please.....they did)
#5  Who the frick request Vanilla Richie?  ( some drunk guy)
#6  My work week was shortened to 3 days (still felt like 4)
#7  32 quarts of tomatoes canned so far  (will be quitting at 40, lost ambition)
#8  Have next years garden all planned out and will be starting soon (yes I am crazy)
#9  Planning a surprise trip for my wife and I  ( when she reads this it will drive her crazy because I'm not telling her what it is or where it's at)
#10 Getting though all of the above fairly quickly.  ( need weeks like this more often)

Ok I promised some pics so here goes

It was an old aluminum porch and we ripped it off, rebuilt the floor, added walls and a roof, windows, door and siding and a roof.  I missed the siding and roof part.


This was how I left it on Sunday night.  We went back to Pops and had a bonfire and roasted hotdogs over the fire for dinner.
Of course we needed sticks for the hot dogs so Pops went out in the woods and grabbed some!
By the looks of it the neighbors had to many sticks anyways!

I don't have anymore pics of the trip but when I got home my little yellow dog was so excited to see me.  He wore himself out with all of the tail wagging and kisses and soon fell asleep on the couch.
My computer is still crashing and just did so publish it is!


Saturday, August 18, 2012

coming to you live from Up North

well hello there!  I amm 150 miles from home nestled in a cozy cottage on the shores of Houghton Lake.  One of Michigan's largest inland lakes.  I have taken a long weekend away from work and home to spend some time with my other family members.
Dad and Chris are up from Florida and Dad needed help remodeling my step brothers back porch.  So here I am.
Jason ( stepbrother) had an old aluminum enclosed porch off the back off his house and it was in a state of disrepair.  So far we have tore out the old porch, replaced and leveled all of the floor joists and now have the new flooring screwed down.  Today we build the walls and roof and hopefully have it all sheeted.
Harvest season at home in the garden is all but finished.  The corn is all picked and I ended up with about 4 bushel of that.  Tomatoes are winding down as well.  I have about 32 quarts of tomatoes canned so far and have made about 10 qts of fresh salsa.  Momma is looking for a new dehydrator for me so I can dry some peppers and make some more chipoltes.  I am hoping for another 20 qts of tomatoes but we'll see.
Other than that everything g is going fine.  Landscaping at home has been put on hold until later on this fall.
Well I'm off and running.  Check back later for some pics.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Wondering what I'm doing?

My goodness it's hot!  I think I may just be ready for summer to be over.  I hate to say it but I am really looking forward to some cooler weather.  I can't remember a summer that was 90 plus degrees almost every day.  With about a week where it was over a 100 every day.  (yeah that was the week I had off work go figure)
The heat is so oppressive and it sucks the life right out of you.  I don't want to do anything when I get home from work but sit on the couch.  Making me fat!
The heat makes me think of the way people describe it.  Things like, It's hotter than a firecracker or it's hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon.  Of course my personal favorite is, It's hotter than a whore on nickel night!  Oh well I'll deal with it.  Got no choice.
Worked a little overtime today.  8 hours to be exact.  We actually qualified for a bonus at work this quarter too.  Not a big one but $225 is still better than nothing.  Add that one to next weeks paycheck along with the overtime and Daddy's getting a new pair of shoes brick pavers baby!

I plan on finishing the wall under the deck this weekend (maybe, supposed to be 95 tomorrow).  Then I need to excavate for the pavers and get the gravel spread and compacted.  I don't know if I'll get the pavers in this year or not.  Still need some more money in the bank to get the whole thing done but if I can't at least I'll have the gravel in.  I plan on stacking a winter's worth of firewood on the patio.  It will be close to the house and by spring it will be gone and I'll have my patio back.

Tonight will be a special night here at Bushmanville.  The Grand Ledge Soccer club hosts an international soccer (futbol) camp every summer and they bring in coaches from the United Kingdom to run the camp.  The coaches stay with a host family (last year we had a wee little lass from Scotland) and at the end of camp (today) they have a party.  (Whew Party)  This year we were asked to host the party aka bonfire.
So I believe there is 6-8 coaches and you add in their host families and host family children then you have at least 18-24 people.  Plus any one else who wants to join in like players from the soccer team or maybe the high school coaches.  Should be a fun night.  I will be frying big batches of french fries so people can munch while enjoying the fire and having a few beverages.
I did ask my wife to make sure they all bring some firewood because I am getting low.

Yeah she didn't buy it either.

I have been harvesting the garden quite a bit.  Tomatoes are in and I have probably picked almost 2 bushel already.  BLTs are a mainstay in our house right now.  The tomatoes are so big that each slice hangs off all 4 sides of the toast.  Hold the applause until the end please.
I have made up 6 quarts and one pint of salsa so far.  It turned out awesome.  The second batch I made is a light hot or a step above medium and I used some of my homemade chipoltes.  I harvest the jalapenos when they are nice and red and I put them in the smoker for at least 24 hours.  Then I dehydrate them the rest of the way.  Put them in a mason jar and suck the air out using my food saver and they keep for.....well going on 3 years now.  They add such a nice smokey, warm depth to the salsa.  Being that the salsa has no crazy unpronounceable ingredients  it is bar none.  Doesn't get any better.  I hope to have all my canning and most of the gardening done by the end of August.  Yes it really does pay to plant early and go through all the trouble of covering them up when the cold nights come.

Some of the peppers out of my garden I used in the salsa


The end of Summer Shandy season is here.  Leinenkugels beloved beer will be slowly disappearing from the grocer's shelves.  Stupid seasonal beer.  I will miss your ice cold lemony kiss on a hot day.

I suppose I have bored you enough so I will leave.
Cheerio mate!

Update on this post.  It is now Sunday.  The computer crashed again and I am just now getting around to posting.  The party was a lot of fun (I think).  Of course I had to sit down and start drinking with the boys from across the ocean.  One from Wales and one from England.  We got plastered.  I will say that their drinking games leave a lot to be desired.
So nothing got done on Saturday and today looks like rain.  Darn.  Guess I'll have to chill.
See Ya!