Anthony's Birthday Poster

This is Anthony's Birthday poster. I think he'll get a real big kick out of it (that's Anthony flying). Lynne wanted me to make him one after she saw the one I made for Ed.

The finished poster

Six new tenants

My tenant on Hudson informed me today about the new litter. I gave her my camera and she took this picture because I didn't want to get too close to them and scare them. They're in a box on the front porch. She said that the mother gave birth on my brand new door mat...Yuck!

My new ipod

Making the poster

I went to Kinko's to get the proof of the document I left with them last night. They couldn't find it so the manager took me personally to this huge printer and started printing me a new proof. It looked pretty good so I gave him the OK to finish and mount it. The finished poster will be available tomorrow. It was a great deal. An 18X36 color poster sells there for $39.99 at their special discount, but for a limited time Kinko's is selling it for $19.99.

Funny posters

Contributions from John Wood, Lynne Piller, and indirectly, Toots.

Finally finished...

I had to go to the Salvation Army to drop off our old umbrella and patio table, then off to the recycling center at Cal Tech to dump three huge cardboard boxes that part of the shed came in, then back to Hudson to plant some Primolas, and then finally finished painting the fence.

A new rental

With any luck, the way rents are going in this town, I should be able to rent this for $1000 a month, that is if they don't mind living two feet away from the landlord.
The instructions said it would take around two hours to build. Ha, I was searching for parts all day long, nothing was marked, there were missing screws. Somehow, after working all day, I finished the project. I hate to admit that my wife figured out how to put the left side roof panel up.

The dog who cried wolf

Annie, our dog, had not urinated since yesterday so we made an appointment with Vetco. I dropped Lynne and Annie off and went to get lunch and a movie at Blockbuster. When I got back after an hour they had just come out of the exam room but couldn't see the doctor because he had to leave for an appointment. Lynne and I were very upset because, after all, we had an appointment too. The bright side was that as soon as we got home, Annie peed...go figure.

A Day at the Apple store

I met John and Ed on Friday 3:00PM at Ralph's market and then we walked to the Apple store. They were blown away by the new computers and the excitement of the store. Afterwards we had pizza at the Italian Kitchen, then off to Barnes and Noble, and finally ending up at 21 Choices for yogurt. We had a great time as you can see from the photos.

Time to paint

After taking the Zummer in for an oil change, I stopped by my house and fixed a portion of the fence and side patio gate then came back to Hudson and ended up repainting the laundry shed and cellar door. The recent rains had started to damage the wood and they needed more protection. Next week I'll paint the new gate in the back and hopefully start building the storage "house" on Glenarm.

Time to change oil

Yesterday I decided to change the oil in the Mazda and the Rav4 at the same time. It was supposed to rain but didn't really look like it. I was lucky to finish everything but adding the oil and it started raining. I put the old oil on the truck and filled both vehicles with new oil, then went to AutoZone to dump the oil. On the way there I noticed I needed new wiper blades so I got a pair. When I got back I discovered that the clerk gave me the wrong size so I had to go back.
Before I started to change oil this morning, I called the BMW service center and asked them how long I could go without an oil change for my M Roadster. They were too busy to even take my call so I drove down there. They said I could go for one year or 15,000 miles so, since it has been one year 3 months, I made an appointment for this Wednesday at 10:15. It's a good feeling to have all that done with for now.

Back to work

There's something everyday it seems. A tenant on S. Marengo is still complaining about his toilet not flushing although I just installed a new one. Good news though, today he emailed me to say everything's fine now. A tenant on Hudson informed me that the roof is leaking after the rain we just had so I went up on the roof and put some roofing cement in certain spots. I really don't know if it will hold or not. We'll find out pretty soon for it's supposed to rain in a few days. Another renter on Marengo wanted me to check her garage for leaks even though I'm not her landlord. She's afraid to tell her landlord about the problem because he would just raise her rent.

My wife just got a
new hair cut style.
She sure looks good in it.

Finally finished the fence/gate

I didn't think I would get to the fence today because I had that truckload of avocado branches to cut up and unload in the trash cans. Anyway, I started to work on it and luckily I finished just before it started to rain. I just have to paint the whole thing later this week.

The Weekend

No landlording today. Just did some shopping at Walmart and Ralph's. I met the guys (Johnny, Don, Ed, and Randy) at Ed's place where they were playing "Acquire". It's a board game that I am not partial to, so I just sit around and watch. We all went to the High Life for dinner and we discussed having a poker game on Friday March 10th.

No rest for my truck

I planned on finishing the fence/gate today but Frank, the tree trimmer, showed up unexpectantly. I let him cut some huge limbs off the avocado tree at the Hudson property because they have been dropping avocados on the driveway. After the tenants drive over them they leave a big mess. I told them not to complain, it's free guacamole, they weren't impressed. We loaded the branches on my truck so I could haul them to the dump myself. I did have a little time to deal with the gate. I screwed the cedar boards to the frame only to find out after it was done that I couldn't open the gate. I forgot to allow for the height difference in the walkway so I had to pull off all the boards and start over. I'm going to try to finish next week if it doesn't rain.

Odor-able

I went to check out a unit where the tenant was complaining about a sewage odor. The plumber discovered a leek in the drainage system under the complex and is going to fix it. I can do a lot of different plumbing jobs, but fixing sewer lines is not one of them.

Into the closet

I thought I would get to work on the fence today but got bogged down in fixing a tenants water damamged closet. This is a "before" view of the closet as it looked this morning.





I did break for lunch and went to the Home Depot to get some fence boards and nails. I plan to finish the fence on Friday.





This is an "after" view of the closet. I thought I did a pretty good job.

still workin' on the fence/gate

I didn't take any pictures today of the fence progress because I forgot.
I couldn't use part of the old fence for the gate like I planned, so I found
some 2X4s and made a frame. I have to go back to the Home Depot for
fence boards tomorrow, if I have time.

Truckin'

It turns out I didn't get to take a ride in the BLUZUUM'r. I had to pick up a storage shed at OSH's. Don't try this on your SUV. It was over 500lbs and a real trick to get on the truck.

I also started making a new fence and gate at my tenant's house because they were finally starting to fall apart after many years.

Well, I think that's enough for today, don't you?