Have Another Hit!

Fresh out of the military it took but one visit to the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco to twist my mind.  It was the Summer of Love.  And an unforgetable song. . . this one...

A Love Letter?

This is the real deal . . . a letter from Michael Jackson to his then wife Lisa Marie Presley.  It was to be auctioned off to the highest bidder but pulled by request by Ms. Presley herself.

If I knew that love letters were this easy to write I'd be writing one a day.  I'd have to come up with a love nickname better than Turd.  Turd?  Really Michael, what were you thinking. .. and drawing a box at the top of your "love letter" to Lisa with the notation to "smell here"?  Ha.  I like that. Hmmmm how about scratch sniff love letters? 

Hello Hallmark?  Do I have an idea for you!

Half Pint and Pint Size

Kinzie (half pint) and Kiri (pint size) pictured in a rare, stand still, no fooling around photo  They're both waiting for Wifey to toss a treat their way. 

Kinzie weighs in at exactly five months today and 2 1/2 pounds.  Kiri's 2 1/2 years and 12 pounds. 

Ain't they cute?!

The two have become pals and spend endless hours wrestling and playing chase. 

In dim light it's often difficult to make out Kinzie's facial features.  You can see why.

Shoot Me A Cool One!

It's baseball season.  Hate to get up and miss some action.  Then comes football season.  Hate to get up and miss an important play.  Then it's NASCAR. ....hockey, basketball.

Me in the living room.  TV remote in one hand, a shootabrew remote in the other.  Wow.  The glass is now longer half full. . . it's filled to the top!!!

A gift for the guzzler who has everything.

Roof Surfing

Don't try this at home.  Actually, don't try this?  One just has to wonder what the hell this guy was thinking. .. . or was he?

Memorial Day weekend has always been a favorite.   Apart from the obvious, the observance of those who gave everything for their country (coupled with the three day non stop war movies a few movie channels present), Memorial weekend marks the beginning of "summer fun".  If you haven't noticed most everyone has piled into their car or RV and headed out of town.

Me?  I'm a stay in town guy for holidays like this.  Avoid crowds at all costs is the motto.  It's like New Year's Eve where many go on the town determined to have fun regardless of the consequences. 

Besides, there's work to do.  We're in the final stages of readying one of our rental properties for lease.  Paint.  Carpet.  Ceiling fans.  Kitchen counter tile, sink, disposal and faucet.   Tree trimming.  Carpet cleaning.  Landscape irrigation repair.  Replace the window coverings in one room and install Levelor blinds. Smoke detector replacement.  Replace each toilet seat (a must in my book).  And today hauling 4 yards of medium sized bark chips from the driveway for disposal into backyard landscaping.  Not a back breaking affair but a tedious back and forth with the wheel barrow sort of thing. 

Sunday/Monday it will be time to put the finishing touches on cleaning.  Tuesday the new tenants inspect the home, sign the lease and plop down the first month's rent and security deposit.

If there's time, Wifey and I'll sail Sparkle Plenty Monday. 

When the smoke clears we'll sit back, smile and be happy that once again we're leased the home.  And then we'll pray that the tenants take good care of the home as if it were their own. 

That's how I'm spending the long weekend.  Some holiday, huh?

Oh, Oh.....

I'm doing my best to post on What About Bob? everyday.  Unfortunately, life gets in the way and this place plays second fiddle.  Or, maybe it's fortunate there are priorities that circumvent sitting in front of a 30 inch screen and making shit up. 

Have you checked out Yelp?  It's an Internet site where you, I, your neighbor, the backyard cat (if computer literate) rate retaurants, medical professionals, the next door plumber or what have you.  Dial in Yelp on Google and then list the town you're living in and Bingo! 

A lot of people like to bitch and moan.  Some do a hatch job on a business that pissed them off.  Others rave about place because the owner asked them to post a favorable notice on Yelp. 

Check it out then write your own reviews. 

How Much Is Enough?

Booked: 5/20/12

Booked: 5/18/12

Booked: 5/02/12

Booked: 4/19/12

Booked: 2/23/12

Booked: 12/24/11

Booked: 12/08/11

Booked: 11/25/11

Booked: 7/02/11

Booked: 6/26/11

Good old Cowtown. .. land of catch and release criminals.   Some say our tourist slogan is Cowtown-----Come On Vacation Leave On Probation....har har har. ... anyway I wonder what the dollar amount has been to arrest, book, incarcerate and/or release this clown.  How much is enough already. . .put this idiot away or run him out of town on a rail. Geeze.  How I yearn for a little Old West justice.

Ya think?

This is a real scream!!!!

Love what the Coen brothers bring to the silver screen.  This clip is toooo funny. AHHHHHHH!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

At Least I'm Enjoying The Ride

The Sky Is Not Falling

Last evening brought a panicked visit from the daughter.  Seems like some of her friends are crying the sky is falling . .. the stock market is failing and that anyone with investments in the market are going to lose them. Talk about 1930's thinking, especially from "that" generation.  Wow.   In keeping with that theme the friends suggested that the daughter cash in her 401K, put it in gold or a money market account and better yet, stuff it under the bedroom mattress. 

Better yet, the suggestion also had it that soon it would be every person for themselves.  Money would be worthless and barter the rule of the land.  Everyone would not have enough to eat and needed a loaded weapon to bring home the bacon or to protect the family from someone stealing the bacon.  We're talking Mad Max living.  Lord, how I'd love that.  The dawn of each day would bring the comment, How I love the smell of gunpower in the morning.

She asked my opinion on what to do which in itself a rare occasion.  I know a lot about many things meaning my intelligence has great breadth but not a lot of depth.  Scratch the Surface Bob.

Simply put I advised the daughter to look at the present state of affairs with logic.  Yes, things are a shitmess from sea to shining sea and around the world.  Yes, our economy is not only hinged with what happens in our own country but that in other countries, too.  Yes, there has been major Bozo decisions coming from the White House, the governments of each of the 50 states and in Europe as well.  And yes, it's all looking bleak today.

We're hit not some bumps in the road but a lot of major potholes which playing hell on most all of us. 

Without going into detail (goes with Scratch the Surface Bob thinking) there will be a better day.  The stock market will recover.  Europe, like the USA, will find a way to fix things though they may be a lot less and not more of or the same of what we're used to.  It's gonna take time.

As I told the daughter, ride this out and everything in time will be fine.  Or, there are options in what to do with the money in her 401K.  Do nothing.  Move it to a money market account.  Cash it in and either pay down the mortgage on her home and refinance the loan with a lower percentage of interest OR, purchase a rental which if bought at the right price will only reap more rewards compared to paltry interest earned in a 401K account.

My sense is that things are going to get worse before they get better.  Just be prepared to enjoy the ride.

I kind of feel that way about pancakes.  Take 'em, leave 'em or F 'em.  This IHop place pretty much zeros in on the latter.  Bet the manager didn't know that most of his sign had gone south.

Breakfast is not my favorite meal.  In fact, I really don't like a traditional breakfast meal in the morning.  An Asian noodle soup.  Sushi.  Anything Mexican.  Lunch for breakfast.  Pizza, too.  Anything for breakfast that's not for breakfast.

Oatmeal (the steady "stay alive until you're too old to walk diet).  Cereal with lots of fiber.  Eggs.  Bacon.  Sausage. Pancakes. French toast.  Etc.  All things I could and can do without.  Boring.  I like Eggs Bend My Dick.  But like everything else that's tasty, tooooo much of what's bad for the body.

Usually I skip breakfast and "fast" until lunch.  Two meals a day does a lot to maintain a boyish figure (well maybe 10 or 15 pounds south of boyish). 

It's too bad someone doesn't invent some new food that's called breakfast.  Like our dining habits, at least for the first meal of the day, are intrenched in the 1700's or earlier.  What did the Roman's eat at 7 in the morning?  Cavemen? 

Wanna make a billion?  Invent a new menu of breakfast food. . . something that's unheard of.  Patent it.  Sell it.  You'll be set for life.

Music For Dusting (the house)

I need music to move to, to live to, to celebrate with, to cry to, to rant and rave with.   Likewise, there has to be fitting music with the just right rhythm to clean bathrooms, mop the floors (yeah, i do that shit) and dust all the freaking objects Wifey has displayed around the house.

Here's one that struck my fancy for dusting.  Dusting kind of puts a spell on me. . . like I took stupid pills or something.  That kind of spell.  Wifey hates dusting.  I hate dusting.  Something has to put a spell on me to get the lead out and DUST! 

This kind of helped.

Oh, and the movie Holy Smoke where the Angels version of I Put A Spell On You appeared?  Well, it's like a 4 out of a scale of one to ten unless you really want to check out Kate Winstead's body cause she's buck ass nekked in this deal.  From a male point of view, she's smoking hot (as well she should have been being all of 24 when Holy Smoke was filmed. ... we were all hot as hell at 24. .. right?)

Nice Balls, Bob!

Instead of using "fenders" to buffer the boat from the dock I came up this idea.  Four of these little jewels (2 per side) hooked to the dock.  This eliminates putting fenders over the side on while the boat is docked and then removing them while sailing. 

I like easy.

It's not uncommon for sailor friends to yell out, "HEY BOB!!! NICE BALLS YA HAVE THERE!"

Check the last photo out.  See the lifeline hanging on the side of the boat?  I disconnect the lifelines while it's docked to eliminate the many nesting swallows from sitting on them and taking a crap.  Saves a lot of clean-up that's really not necessary if you know how to out fox the birds. 

One Amazing Dog!

Fast forward to 2:30 to see one amazing dog and his owner do their "thing"...Wow!!

Our pups have a great Vet.  She's kind, loving, highly skilled and often discounts her services.  Still, owning a dog comes with an expense.  They're always eating some shit which requires a visit to our lady Vet.  She applies medication which in turn makes the pup barf up whatever it was they ate.  Last visit for this sort of thing was with Kiri who coughed up a shitload of plastic.  She's since discontined the habit of consuming anything that's not organic.  Now it's the youngest pup in the group, Kinszie, 5 months old, and chewing/eating/consuming anything she can get her teeth on.  She has yet to visit the Vet for a barf-'em-up procedure. 

Even though expensive, the barf-'em-up visits are cheap compared to the cost of surgery to remove a foreign object lodged in a dog's intestine.  Even with a discount we're talking a couple of thousand.

I think folks often don't think when they start thinking about bringing a new pet into their home about the expense of caring for an animal.  Food, that's one thing.  Grooming (whether at home or at a professionals).  Heart guard medication.  Immunizations.  Spay and neutering (CONE TIME!).  Toys.  Stuff to chew on (much less expensive than a teething pup chewing on the leg of great gramma's favorite chair).  Obedience school (important ... remember, there's no such things as bad dogs only bad owners who fail to train their dogs). 

If' you're going to own a dog do it right.  The days of buy a dog and let it live outside with no regard to its health or training, feeding it Skippy canned food and bones from the butcher are over.  Dogs have become our best friends, you know. ...BFF.  The people we know treat their pups well just like family.

That being said there's are people in our town that don't spay or neuter and allow their females to reproduce.  Then they discover that it's either too expensive to keep the pups or that no one really wants another dog.  So they do what they think is the right think (mind you these clowns don't really think like your and I) is the right thing.  The pups are put in box which is placed in a public place and left for some kind person to do the right thing.  These are the same people who don't care for their animals leaving them to fend for themselves in the out of doors.  You know the type.

Then there's those who abuse animals.  Enough said other than this:  Those found to abuse animals should lose a finger for each offense.  Like chopped off without any medication.  That will fix their wagons.

 I'm rambling and finding it difficult to wrap this post up.  Time's a wasting and there's things to do this Monday morning other than sit here spinning on one topic.  Just love your animals and treat them well.  Okay?

Post Number 1,800!

After nearly four years in the White House, Obama throws a Hail Mary pass in this election year giving his blessing to same sex marriage.  Why did it take nearly four years to come to make this decision?  Yup.  Saving it for the election year to garner the gay and lesbian vote.

When Obama first campaigned for election one of his promises was to make transactions in the Federal government transparent.  If anything what goes on in Washington is more veiled than ever before.  If anything is transparent it's Obama himself, like this Hail Mary pass blessing same sex marriage.  If you can's see through "that" then you're deaf, dumb or blind.  Consider this the first of his Hail Mary passes with more to come.

I had lunch with a friend Tuesday who asked, "Why can't the Republican party come up with a better candidate than Romney?"  The Democrats aren't doing so well either, I countered.

I'm voting for Romney.  He has the business sense to clean up the mess created by the current president and I guarantee you there will be a better tomorrow with Romney in the White House.  If you think a better tomorrow will occur should Obama win re-election you really need to educate yourself on the subject.

I should have written about this being post number 1,800 and that What About Bob? saw the light of day in August 2006.  When most other blogs have come and gone this one still seems to tick even after six years.  I guess that's something.

Reality

Here's a photo taken today to Sparkle Plenty in slip 80, her home for the season.  She's moored next to the patio boat with the burgundy cover.  The marina guys claim that Sparkle Plenty is always the cleanest boat on the water.  She is.  I have the blisters to prove it.

You've heard the term "reality check".  It usually comes up when someone thinks you're whacked, out of sorts, off base, etc.  You need a reality check.  It's a roundabout way of saying, "I think you're fucking nuts".

I do my own reality checks without anyone suggesting it (at least out loud or not behind my back).  Being on the water is one.  Alone.  The wind in my face, the sun on my back, the smell of water and trees co-mingled, the sound of water fowl, waves slapping across the bow of the boat ... all of which brings me to face my inner self. . .the inside, the inner workings, the soul of Bob.  It's peaceful.  It's reflective time. 

The questions in the mind run rampant . . . .what are you doing, where are you going, why are you doing that, what's next, are you being too nice, are you being to much of a shit and so on and so on and so on.  I over think the peace and quiet when I should just let it be.

So, my answer to all of those questions is always, I don't give a shit and I'm doing to do what I'm doing to do.  So there, inner self.

And that's what Bob is all about.  I hate complexity.

It's time for baby ducks and geese at the marina.  I shot this today when leaving the parking lot.  I like the baby gosling stepping out on its own while the others take up the rear.  A true leader. 

It Takes Three

It takes two to three able bodied people to rig this boat and place her in the water.  Two on top, one on the bottom (and get your mind out of the gutter, please).  First photo:  son-in-law and yours truly setting the rigging as the first step in lifting the mast. 

Rigging often looks like a bowl of spaghetti.  Does my butt look okay in these shorts?

A bridle is placed on the middle of the mast and attached to a strap.  Instead of using muscle power to physically lifet the mast into place it's done via the strap attached to a winch.

The last portion of the process is to attach the mast to a coupling on the bow of the boat.  Bingo.  Ready to hit the water.
This may look easy but it's not.  There's always variables that need attention or problem solving.  One false step and someone usually gets hurt or killed.    Not for the inexperienced or faint of heart.

Sparkle Plenty sits pretty in slip 80, Oak Bottom Marina, Whiskeytown Lake.  How sweet it is.

GOING TO A LAUNCH RAMP!

Substitute launch ramp for Go-Go. . . and work it!  'Cause I'm GOING TO A LAUNCH RAMP!

Launch Anyone?!

She's good to go.  All the work on Sparkle Plenty this past 6 months is paying off.  Off to the l aunch ramp we go!

Oh, you know the songs that rattle around your brain, especially that one which never goes away?  This one is stuck in my head.  Must have something to do with "going to the launch ramp".

Growing Up

Both of our girls are growing up.  Gracie soon will be ten.  Kinzie is 14 weeks and weighs 2.5 pounds.  The latter is wearing the sweater following a the bath she just had.  Following a dunk in warm water this pup shivers like no other dog I've seen.

I still think Kinzie resembles a baby skunk.  All she needs is a white stripe down the middle to seal the deal. 

They're Like That

New pups are always a joy.  They're clueless when it comes to the delights theirs for the pickin's.  No begging.  No big sad eyes.  No sweating me out for morsels. 

Somehow they get clued in.  Who does that anyway?  You know, dogs know what the rustle of a potato chip bag can mean or what the opening of the freezer door can bring them (treat balls, chew sticks).   They know the sound.  When it's made they're there in a heartbeat.  Big time.  Ready for any morsel large or small. 

It's not good to feed pets table scraps or goodies.  In the long run anything other than a dog's kibble or wet food is apt to cause problems.    Chocolate off the get go is poison for any dog.  Rarely, if ever do any of the three dogs get anything "bad".  But they love Cheerios which seem harmless enough in small amounts.  Kiti, the middle Pom, can catch a single Cheerio flying right at her.  Nine times out of time she never misses a catch.  How's that for mouth/eye coordination?

I wouldn't want to come back as a dog.  Constantly sitting, begging for things I can't or should not have would drive me nuts.  Unless my mistress is a comely, shapely blonde for if the case it would likely be pure joy humping her leg every chance I'd get. Joy!  Joy!  Joyyyy!!!!

Males of any species are like that.

My gawd, May 4th already.  Where does time go.  I don't know about you but for me time is flying.  And if I'm lyin' I'm flyin'. 

Well, all that said, I must be having fun for time to go so quickly.  Always busy.  Always moving.  Always something on the burner needing done.  How did I ever find time to work 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week?

Today it's a haircut, pick up tile for one of the rental properties, stop by West Marine for boat parts, finish adjusting mooring cleats on the boat (needing a different system of nuts, screws and washers to stop them coming loose), clean and wax the last section of the boat, check trailer tire air pressure and top off as needed, walk the dogs, garden a bit, pick up a park bench that's on sale at OSH, mask off the boat's waterline and prepare to touch up bottom paint.  Whew.  It's like that every day.  Busy Bob!

I forgot to add eating and sex to my list..........

May the fourth be with you!

It's raining.  Had to postpone putting Sparkle Plenty in the lake.  Damn it all.

One of our properties is up for lease and it's being advertised.  Stupid people comments and questions are flooding my e-mail account.  Shit happens.

The lease is expiring on another property and the tenant wants a 13 month lease instead of 12.  While that might be the good news, the bad is that the end of the 13th month is in the middle of summer.  After cleaning, painting, remodeling parts of the home, it will be August until the place is ready for lease.  August is the last month of the year that's optimum to lease or rent homes as everyone usually settles in for work or school come Sept and not looking for places to rent.  Grrr.

Our friend the Pomeranian breeder had a visit last week from the local animal control authorities.  Last week the authorities confiscated all 22 of her dogs pending a hearing.  That was yesterday.  Judgement:  Loss of all but five dogs citing that there's a five dog household limit in Cowtown city limits.  No regard for being a breeder or not.  Used to be okay not not so today.    Grrrrr.  She's crushed.  Poor dogs.  Double grrrr.  The only good news is that the breeder was able to place the 17 dogs with friends and fellow breeders. 

It's a lock and load kind of day.

Here's a thought for the day that I'd like to personally send out to several people I am well acquainted with.  Actually, when it comes to thinking they don't think.  Don't.

You know the type.  There's a lot of folks out there walking around who can't/won't use logic, knowledge or experience when it comes to thinking . .. or making decisions.  Basically, they're lacking one or all of those chips.  Either that or their hard drive is out of memory.  If that's the case it's high time for a little control/alt/delete. 

Launch day for Sparkle Plenty is coming up fast (Thursday morning).  This morning I drove to the marina and connected four large rubber boat fenders or bouys to the dock (two on each side).  They provide a cushion if the boat happens to hit either side of the dock and most importantly eliminates the need for me to have the fenders on board to throw out and take in with each outing.  I'm all for easy . . .sustained by logical thinking, if you get my drift. 

Anchors aweigh!