Month: August 2020

August 31, 2020 – Have you ever been audited by the IRS?

August 31, 2020 /

Anybody…? Well, I can tell you from personal experience that it is not fun. I probably didn’t need another issue to deal with right now. Fortunately, I am fairly well organized, understand the risks and rules for the most part and it is still a pain in the butt. Not to mention that the attorney costs $250/hour.

In this age of electronic statements, sometimes it is not even possible obtain information. I have statements that went to my previous work e-mail that do not exist anymore. With rollovers and closed accounts I no longer have information that is being requested.

I will spare all of the analysis and insights of the weekly message. If you are interested, you can watch the link yourself. However, the thrust of the message is “what in your life needs to be reborn?”

Looking at things, I think you could say that many of my former peers might say that that I need to rebuild my life. But in this context, you might say that my life is being reborn. A rebuilt life would be moving into a similar job in a related field. It would also be working seven days a week if necessary and being available 24 hours a day. It would be prioritizing a customers/clients desires over my family. It would be taking phone calls during my kids Christmas concerts and having meetings on Christmas Day.

I am not totally against all of that, I am just against it for me now. Everyone needs to hustle, make a name for themselves and learn what they like and are capable of. Everyone needs to push lines until they realize that they are on the wrong side or went too far.

I am at the point where I have learned many of those lessons. I am also trying something new, letting go of control and the safe choices that went along with those choices. That is really scary, but I think that it is a lesson in faith for me. I don’t really want to retire from life, I just want to do something that is less demanding of my attention and loyalties.

I hope that there is something moving me to a stronger and healthier direction. This audit will pass, this season will pass. With the benefit of hindsight, it will be much clearer what is happing.

August 28, 2020 – Talking ’bout gardening again, finally

August 28, 2020 /

We have had a landscaper for probably eleven years. It was really helpful when I was frequently travelling to keep up on the yard maintenance. Of course I have established that I have not worked in over a year and how busy I was this spring/summer, but now that is over, we let Jose go yesterday.

It is sad, he has a son the same age as mine. When you have someone work for you that long, they are more than a contractor. He used to come every week summer or winter and do things in the yard. I really didn’t think that he needed to do that, but he was trying to make a go of things and I could afford to support him.

Ultimately, it worked out for both of us. We were the only house that he was doing in this geographical direction. He told us that he was hoping to pass us to his brother next month so that he could focus on a more concentrated area closer to where he lived. So, with that I broke the news to my boys yesterday that we now have new responsibilities. Ones that they have never been a part of, routine yard maintenance.

So, with that change there are going to be some other changes to the yard. We are going to try and focus on a more productive yard and food systems. We investigating remodeling the yard to more intensively grow more food. In addition, I want to do some experimenting with greens, grow lights and hydroponics for a more year round harvest. More details about the plan later, we just started talking about this yesterday and I haven’t had time

This could probably be a four post topic. Next subject is the Victory Garden. Hopefully we won’t have to rely on the harvest for survival. I will post results maybe next week.

Finally, what I really wanted to show was what a coastal, USDA zone 9a, temperate rain forest garden looks like. I was very impressed with this yard. I should have taken more pictures.

Do you see the size of the hydrangeas in the background? They are massive. This picture does not do the color or the plants justice. I looked up the climate particulars and thought that I would share what zone 9a looks like. The average annual low of 37 degrees with an all time record low of 6 degrees. The annual high of 80 degrees with an all time record high of 99 degrees. Seventy-two inches of rain fall in a year, mostly in the winter and spring, but some rain all year long.

All this lushness comes at a price. There is a lot of gray throughout the year. The dampness (or humidity) and wind is always present, so it often feels colder than the actual thermometer. It is typical to be pretty breezy when the sun is out, I find it a unpleasant at times. Soils are sandy with little organic matter or clay and water holding ability.

But grow where you are planted. I am going to try and take advantage of what I can do where I am at. For the most part in temperate zones, every climate has conditions that are good for some things and not others. Have a good weekend.

August 27, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

August 27, 2020 /

There are so many more fun things to write about, but it starts with staying alive. I am going to quote someone, I am going to credit Frank Sharpe Jr on the The Survival Podcast. “Don’t do stupid things, with stupid people at stupid places.” Last night I watched this video in horror at all of these principles violated.

Don’t watch this video all the way through if you don’t want to see the real results of getting shot. I would say stop watching when the shooting starts.

I am not going to go into politics, nor am I going to pick a side here. I bet you can guess how I feel, however I see a clear cut case of both side being wrong. Don’t be here!

Don’t antagonize a group of people carrying rifles, don’t carry a rifle down to a mass protest. Nothing good can come from this. Even if this was your property, is it really worth the potential legal issues from defending it? Is it worth your life? Is is worth perpetuating a situation where neither side feels there is an equitable ending? Who are we going to convince a change in attitude or opinion from engaging here?

I did some quick research, Kenosha is a city that is about 100,000 people. It is close to both Milwaukee WI and Chicago IL. Based on those demographics, it seems like it could be nearly Anytown USA. It would considered a mid-sized town, or a suburb of a major city, or a midwestern town or a blue collar town, or port town or whatever descriptor that fit most towns in the US. It’s in a blue state or is it a red state? Therefore, this is your town.

It was Tom Gresham that said, “If you bring a gun to a fight, it is now a gun fight” whether the other person has a gun or not. I am all for self defense and if necessary, using force to protect yourself. This seems like a case of antagonism and itchy fingers. Since we cannot see the entire context from the video, those facts will have to be sorted out in court. It does appear that the second guy shot was in self defense, but be it as it may this kid is likely in serious trouble. Not to mention, two people are dead – probably because they acted like jerks – but one transgression does not beget another.

I think that I have been clear on my views about freedom and rights. I support the right to have an opinion different than my own. I support the right to be in the minority or to even be wrong. There have been daily protest in my town for months. Even though I think their opinion is wrong, I support the ability to peacefully assemble and express their views. This activity is causing a clear division between people, but it only happens when you engage at their level.

I want to go back to where I started, don’t be here. Don’t bring a rifle to stop a riot, leave when a protest becomes destructive. When you are confrontational to an armed person, you can have Kent State or Kenosha. You don’t want to be the shooter or be shot.

August 26, 2020 – Just a car…

August 26, 2020 /

Tomorrow I say goodbye to the Mustang. It was tentatively sold within one hour of being put on Craigslist. I had heard that this was a buyer’s market but man, I was not prepared for this.

We stand to make significantly more than we currently owe, and with it we will pay off our other car loan as well as pocket some money. You could say that God provides because we are in a position where we need to get some financial momentum. This will make our obligations $1200/mo less than last month. We will also be able to reduce our insurance bill as well, not sure what the total benefit will be.

Despite the very positive, I am sad. I wanted to drive that car more. I wanted to be involved in a car club, go on rally runs and drive it on the track. I wanted to make cool modifications and show the car off. Lots of places I went, I got compliments on the car. You could often start up conversations with people about the cars they used to own.

Did you know that Mustang drivers have a secret club? They often wave at drivers of other Mustangs. There have been countless times I have gotten a friendly wave from people just to say that “I see your car”. There have also been times when people want to race you off the line or down the freeway. I never did, but its the little things that I will miss.

Here are some final pictures to remember the car.

It is after all just a car. I enjoyed it as much as I could. When I worked, Friday would be the day I would put it into sport mode and use the paddle shifters. I loved getting it up to 6000 RPM before shifting into the next gear and hearing the engine roar.

It was a bit indulgent to purchase this car in the first place. I got kind of caught up in the want over the need. I was looking at used Porsches and this was a more affordable entry into sports cars and performance driving then the latter. We kind of purchased it on a whim, without too much thought. Now, it has turned into more of a financial liability as I work to repair the income side of our lives.

What I learned from this was that there is something as too much car. When you cannot actually use the power that the machine possesses, you have exceeded the necessity to have any more. My biggest regret was that I could never drive the car to it’s full potential. I never got to try launch control or put it into racing mode to really put the power to the test.

Some of the biggest things that I won’t miss are having a back seat too small for anyone but children. I won’t miss people making assumptions about your personality by the kind of car that you drive and leaving nasty notes on the windshield. I like to be able to see the parking lines when I am trying to park; this was a very difficult car to park, often I had to get out to see if I was in a good position.

I am now relegated back to my old F-150. It will continue to do journeyman’s work even though it has probably felt pretty lonely in the last four years. I did drive it a bit as I was working on the house all spring and summer, but it is in the need of some TLC. After seventeen years, things are finally starting to give up. I need a new battery, an emission line hose is leaking, the A/C is not working. So, those will need to get addressed shortly.

August 24, 2020 – Finally installed the dipole antenna

August 24, 2020 /

After the months of slogging through my remodeling project, I finally freed up enough time to finish this project and get it installed. The antenna has been built since May, but there was always too much to do to get it installed.

Some of my excuses were that I was too busy (which was true). I didn’t want to get on the roof when it was too hot, it seems like this summer has been warm late into the evening. The roof is very steep, so I needed to install roof jacks in order to safely get up to the top. In short, a five minute job took a couple hours to do safely and properly.

I can’t really say how well it works. There is quite a bit better reception just plugging the cable into the receiver. It is my perception that adding the antenna made the reception stronger, of the existing stations I got before the antenna. It seems to mitigate the night/day difference in reception (better at night than during the day).

Given how steep the roof is and that I already removed all of the safety staging, I am going to leave things as is without moving the antenna directionally to test reception. I know that this is kind of a ‘meh’ ending, but I really do think that this made a difference for me because the stations that I like seem to be stable. I guess we will see if seasonal differences mitigated as well.

I thought that I kept all of the receipts, but it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I can give a rough breakdown or guess

  1. 1/2″ copper pipe, approximately 5′ – already had
  2. 2, 1/2″ pipe caps – $1 ea
  3. 1/2″ tee junction box – $3
  4. 1/2″ conduit – $4
  5. Antenna adapter -$5
  6. Simpson 90 – $6
  7. 2, 1/2″ conduit clamps – $2
  8. 2, 1″ conduit clamps, $2 ea
  9. PVC conduit glue – $5
  10. terminals, screws, clamps, cable, unions – already had

So, I have about $30 into the whole thing. Looking online, the cheapest antenna mounts I could find were $50. That didn’t include the antenna either.

I am interested in building an AM antenna in the future. In this case, I do have specific stations that I want to pick up. But, now that our local football season has been postponed, it is something I will do later as the urgency seems lessoned. I hope that you enjoyed this foray into the science and the mechanics of antennas as much as I did.

August 21, 2020 – A True Education in Entrepreneurship

August 21, 2020 /

After spending spring and summer remodeling, stuff starts to pile up. With the Covid restrictions in place, places such as Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill were not accepting donations for months. Even the dump was restricted to two days a week.

I made a deal with my kids, if they did the work then they could have the profits of a garage sale. The way we structured things, items that were their’s they kept the whole profit. Items that were mine (or mom’s or household) were split evenly between them.

The part that I like the best is after the sale is over, everything that remains is getting packed up and will be donated or disposed of. But even more than that, my boys are learning some real lessons in business. For instance

  • Marketing – They made and hung the signs that were distributed throughout the town. They also leveraged social media to advertise the event.
  • Sales – Engaged customers, answered questions about items, made suggestions for alternatives, negotiated prices with customers
  • Inventory – Items were cleaned, organized in logical categories, evaluated and priced accordingly. Some things were deemed free and others unfortunately were worn out and didn’t make the garage sale cut.
  • Accounting – Sales were categorized and documented to make sure the profits went into the right categories and to the right person.

School will be starting in a little over two weeks. There has been quite a bit of side talk about the quality of education with our district opting to go online. Some parents are sending their kids to private school, others have withdrawn to do homeschooling. I myself think that opportunities like this garage sale is chance to learn about the hustle of entrepreneurship and have a real world experience while making some nice pocket change.

August 19, 2020 – The final accounting

August 19, 2020 /

First off, I had a great retreat with my wife. We don’t get a lot of quality alone time these days. And it was nice to spend quiet time, just us. It has been a long haul through this project. When I present my final numbers, I think that you will see why.

Since I didn’t keep an exact time sheet, my time contribution is an estimate. What I do know are the days that I did not work at all. Off the top of my head they were Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July and a couple days of camping in July and August. I also didn’t work a lot of extra hours or weekends in April. The switch turned on in May.

March16
April172
May260
June310
July240
August100
Total Hours est.1098

I gave my labor rate at $25/hour so I would say that was worth $27,450. The hours estimate does not include any help that I got. From April to June, my nephew periodically helped with demo and paint for 2-4 hours at a time up to three times a week. My kids did some painting in July and helped on the roof as well. At the very end in August, my wife helped with cleanup, trim paint, and fixture hanging.

There was some rework here and there but overall, very little. The bedroom doors were replaced after completion. I had to work on the pantry door twice, once to straighten it and once for the new floors. The living room trim was completed and then replaced. There was some re-roofing to accommodate for the new skylight in the bathroom. Those were very small in comparison to the overall project.

As to the material costs, I have receipts for $7030. I suspect that I am missing a few because I was keeping an eye out for some particular purchases that I did not see. Maybe I just missed it in haste to total the receipts, but I don’t think so since I summarized each purchase as well.

I want to be up front here as well. I don’t have the final bill for the bathroom. The original quote was $7000 for the total bathroom and flooring. Since I did the roof, siding and bought most of the fixtures, I hope that we are still in that ballpark because it certainly took more than the two week estimate.

Finally, I didn’t get the ‘complete’ photos, because the tenants were very anxious to move in being that the project was seven weeks late. However, I got enough to show the comparison. Move the slider to see either picture better.

There you have it, at least $40,000 complete remodel of the apartment. What happened to the slumlord?

August 14, 2020 – A day of celebration

August 14, 2020 /

My mood has been high this week. This is the end my friends, all I have left to do is hang the gutters today. I will make one final tour post and maybe include beginning and end photos. I also plan on totaling the cost to see where things are landed.

It has been a long time since I wrote about food. Maybe Mother’s Day? One thing to know about me is that I don’t like things to go to waste. I enjoy the creative challenge of working and repurposing leftovers into something better than the original. This morning I made salmon omelets with chimichurri on top.

First, the chimichurri. Everything is approximation measurements since I really didn’t measure anything.

  • Italian Parsley – 1 cup
  • Oregano (dried because I don’t have any growing and I couldn’t find it fresh) – 2 tablespoons
  • garlic – 3 cloves
  • red wind vinegar – 2 tablespoons
  • olive oil – 1/4 cup
  • red pepper flakes – dash
  • salt/pepper – dash

Pulse it gently in a food processor, it is not supposed to be puree, but a coarse chop. By the way, this probably would have been much better if I had done it last night versus right before I was going to use it.

The salmon was two two sources. One was some smoked salmon from last week’s beach trip and the other was leftover grilled salmon I made a while ago. I mixed it with about two tablespoons of sour cream. Three eggs (because that is what works best in my skillet) are mixed with a dash of salt and pepper.

And here is the final product.

One of the the things that I find with leftover seafood is that the work well in omelets. It mixes well with sour cream ore cream cheese as a filling. You can then jazz it up a bit with a more bright or acidic sauce on the top so you don’t overpower the more delicate flavor.

Last weekend I made a tomato compote that included allspice and thyme and cayenne over an an omelet with crab, shrimp and cream cheese filling. That was equally delicious.

So, with that I am going to finish my project and celebrate this weekend. My wife and I are taking a retreat Sunday through Tuesday which means that I will be back on Wednesday. Have a great weekend.

August 13, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

August 13, 2020 /

Late summer (around here) starts to turn my thoughts toward hunting season. If you have ever gone to the rifle range between now and mid-October, it is a mad house of people checking their rifles and getting ready for the shortly upcoming season. Fall bear season is already open, archery deer season as well as doves start in two weeks.

My range as well as many around the country offer a sight in service, as a fundraiser. This is where the general public can come to the range and pay $5-10 and get help sighting in their rifles. Today I am going to offer some insight to the vocabulary and service.

It all starts with a few basic terms, the first is the bullet. The bullet is the projectile that leaves the firearm with the intent to hit the target. Ideally, it would hit in the same place consistently. Bullets have a whole set of terms that go along with them but let us talk about two in particular.

  • Caliber – the diameter of the bullet, typically measured in inches or mm
  • Weight – the mass of the bullet. Mass is measured in a unit called grains. It takes 7000 grains to equal 1 pound.

For caliber, the heavier the bullet the longer it is. It is the only way to get the same diameter of projectile with more mass.

Barrels on rifles have a series of lands and grooves inside. The lands are the bearing surface of the barrel touching the bullet as it travels to exit. The pattern is spiral inside the barrel to cause the bullet to rotate and therefore stabilize the projectile.

The number of twists in a the rifling impacts the stability of different weight bullets. So each firearm has some optimum bullet weight for the best potential accuracy because the number of twists do not change.

  • Rate of Twist – The number of inches it takes to make one full revolution in a barrel and expressed in a proportion.

For an AR type rifle a 1:7 to a hunting style rifle 1:16. Let us decode a little bit further. 1:7 means one full revolution in seven inches. The faster the twist rate, the better heavier bullets will stabilize, but not necessarily the light ones. Hence, the rifle is optimize to shoot a close range bullet weights based on the twist rate.

Sticking with one caliber, 0.22in nominally AR type rifles typically have a 1:7, 1:8 or 1:9 twist rate. This is going to shoot a 55-65 grain bullet accurately. Using the 22LR, another 0.22in bullet, the twist rate is 1:16 for a Ruger 10-22. Those bullets are ranging from 30-40 grains typically.

We have already gone deep for the uninitiated and we have just touched the surface. What I am trying to get across is that once your rifle is setup and sighted in for a particular load, it is best to use that load for the season. People really in the weeds with ballistics would recommend sticking with the same manufacturing lot because you are likely going to have consistency of the components leading to the most accuracy.

I don’t worry so much about keeping the same lot, but I do understand the principles. Knowing your skillset, how your equipment performs and the territory that you plan on hunting should give you the controllable variables of the hunt. The rest is up to you.

August 12, 2020 – Empathy, still working on that one

August 12, 2020 /

It is interesting that my wife and I are on two different sides of this spectrum. You might say that she is so empathetic, it hurts and I am so non-empathetic, it hurts. Yesterday, we were leaving a burial of a family friend and we were talking about emotions. She was aching for the families’ pain and I don’t really know how to express it.

It was a Catholic service and in there tradition, a meal following the service almost always follows. We talked about our preference to work in the kitchen and serve rather than intermingle and socialize. Because both of our emotions are a bit paralytic in those circumstances on completely opposite sides of the spectrum.

There may be a principal at work here. If you start paying attention, then you start hearing things as they apply to you. It sure seems like these series of sermons are coming right at me. They are right to the weak parts of my being. I drew out the points in the sermon for quick reference below.

  • What do we do with other peoples pain
  • Don’t race past God’s pace
  • Driven in the vision

Certainly one and two speak directly to me and my circumstances. Maybe I am doing an OK job with number three. It seems like my writing might be part of my being sent (even if no one is reading 🙂 ). I suppose one of the solutions to building better empathy is more frequent and intense prayer; also not something I have been diligent about.

Having conversations with Ben, another part of being sent is hosting a small group. This experience has been way more therapeutic than I ever imagined. I guess that it just goes to show that a leap of faith and stretching your comfort zone can pay dividends. It has definitely made me dwell much more frequently on the word and looking at my actions through a different light, hopefully better. This has definitely been a year of new experiences in life. So, here are this week’s questions.

  • How do you grieve with those who grieve? Who is in your heart?
  • What might be holding you back from being sent by Jesus into the community?