We are in business!

So, no mysteries here, I am now the proud papa of a bouncing new (old) tattoo studio. From my collection of equipment and supplies rises a phoenix from the ashes to form a new business in Ohio. I have:

Registered with the Secretary of State an LLC name for $125

Registered with the feds for an EIN #.

Created a business plan and submitted for a loan to buy a local building we have been looking at in town.

All the hoops I currently need to jump through have been jumped through. I will still need a health department permit and inspection and vendor’s license from the county, and set up a few services.. but without funding on the building, I am in limbo waiting for “the call.” After we get a ‘Yes’ (hopefully) I will need to get the building appraised, inspected, and the purchase agreement scanned over by a bloodsuc…er… attorney.

If that all goes, and hopefully swimmingly, I will be an open downtown business location hopefully by July 1st.

I did an inventory of all my tattoo stuff and it came out to be a little over $15k… our available moneys are.. comparable. Most of it we want to leave where it is, but I am taking the downpayment for the mobile studio and using it as the loan downpayment. The appraisal is going to be tricky, it can cost a thousand or two, and not sure if I can get the bank to play ball and make that part of the loan. Anyways, the property was $45k asking, I offered $41k and they accepted. So that’s the loan amount we are going for – $41k and hopefully we can throw the appraisal fee on that for the lower interest rate than my credit cards.

Being in business from 2000-2002, I have a lot of stuff I don’t need to purchase this time around. Machines, Tubes, Needles, Inks, Autoclave, Ultrasonic Cleaner, Client chairs, artist chairs, tons and tons of flash… I have all that. I will need to set up water in a few places, put down some new tile and rip out a few walls to get open. Should be able to get that kind of work done in about a week if I hit it hard.

Not trying to jinx it, but if I DO get this open there will be an “opening party” sometime in late June early July for invited friends to come get drunk on me in my shop. You are all invited! Just don’t puke in my joint, or we’ll have to tussle.

At the very least, if the financing does NOT go through, the business owners have offered a lease-to-own plan that I can take advantage of and get the business rolling and then just save up the $$$ myself and say “Fuck the bank and their loan terms.” We’ll see what happens.

Since that’s where we are at and where we are heading, its looking like I am about to become a very busy guy.. both remodeling/refurbishing and then hopefully inking up a large percentage of the locals. I get to draw pictures for a living, I may have the best job in the whole world. Well, it would be if it was not for crybabies… you can’t win them all.

That about wraps it up, B.

Nine Years, One Week, Three Hours…

That’s more or less how long it has been since we left home back in Indiana. That all important anniversary date snuck by me without even noticing. Nine years and one week ago, we embarked on a journey to Ohio with our little friend, Jack, in tow. And what a long, yet also short, trip it has been. We have lived in three different locations, acquired two new dogs, and as you already know, lost the best dog that may have ever graced this planet.

If you had not noticed, he’s really on my mind tonight. I’m warning you now, this is not my happiest entry here or really anywhere.. run off screaming if you must, or stay and you may feel..well.. less happy. I feel like we are trying to move on, but we have not yet said goodbye. Jack was our companion, our buddy, our best friend. He was sweet and friendly, polite and caring. He was what most people are not. He is not replaceable. Not in our hearts. Yes, there may be room to spread some more love around, but right there in the biggest chamber is yet that empty spot in my heart that is only slightly less sore and still makes the roof of my mouth hurt and my eyes sting and swell.

I am looking at this new chapter in my life. It is full of hope, full of promise. Things are beginning to happen that will forever change the trajectory of how we all are living our lives here in Ohio.  Things I always wanted Jack to be part of. It is hard to know that those really hard formative years were the only ones we were allowed to have with him. Harder to accept that times may now be getting more promising without him. Hardest of all to take the next step toward happiness and success without him here to share it.

For eight and a half of these nine years, he was there for us and we were there for him. That is the comfort I take away from the whole deal.. we really were good dog owners. He MADE us be good dog owners. He has a way of expecting the small victories in a dog’s life.. morning food, after breakfast cookies, a walk in the park in the afternoon, and keeping our laps and hearts warm in the evening. He was never too far away, and he still is not far from my mind. What would he think of our new addition to the household? I am not so sure if he was around we would have even considered another dog…

Now we take steps forward, and we are finally accepting that he will not be coming back. We have no choice to keep moving… it provides no more insight in the funny paradox about life…  we live until we die and we see so many we love die before we do.  Its times like this that I feel life is some kind of cruel joke.. you can either laugh with the rest of us or be the butt of it. Tonight, especially tonight, I feel like I am the butt of it.

I have spent the last nine years trying to make something better here than I had back there. I have been positioning myself in situations, quite purposefully, almost like it was written in an outline or plan before I even started. I had goals, and like clockwork, they  have been ticking off in order and at almost the exact moments I predicted they would. Part of that I made happen, part of it was luck, and part of it I consider some sort of  providence. What I never planned on was the hurt that also came along the way, how difficult some of the situations I have lived through have been, and they are likely a sign of things to come. Yet we strive, yet we strive..

It won’t be easy, succeeding without him… but I cannot let that keep me from actually succeeding. One thing is for sure, that dog loved me no matter how fucked up my life was, and he saw some of the rawest moments I ever lived and still wanted me to be his human. I guess I must not be that bad of a guy, or he was a terrible judge of character. I will let you, the reader, decide.. I made up my mind a long time ago my opinions of myself, now I just try to keep my mind and my hands occupied.

There’s something coming on the horizon, some of you may know what it is..I am about to throw myself at something as hard as I ever have thrown myself at anything. Those that know me best may realize that when I do something, I DO it. No half-assery involved once my mind is made up it needs to be done. Rest can only come after I am convinced there is nothing more I can do. It’s 3:20 in the AM, and I have hours left before I will allow myself a chance to rest this day as well… that’s how wrapped up in it I am.

I have a deadline.. its Monday afternoon. I gotta get about everything done by then, and that’s a whole lot of work in a very short time..because I won’t let this sit on the shelf like so many other things… always thinking I will have time to get that stuff done. Draw for the card game. Hash together a good portfolio offering for an RPG job. Finally get to spend some quality time with Jack. Look where waiting has gotten me to this point? Exactly.

Nine years, One Week, Three Hours.. and I cannot waste another minute. This is the moment I have planned for, hoped for, prayed for. My wish, my only futile wish, is that he was here with me to share the good times too. And my heart hurts so much knowing he is not. I have talked to a few who have tried to minimize his impact on my life, saying he was “just a dog.” Ha! Just a dog? No, just the best dog that ever lived… and maybe my only focus for staying alive for a while there. What he was, was no more or less than my life preserver… a 28 lb. furry friend.. the cutest life preserver anyone had ever seen or known.

Now its up to me to use that life he helped me keep afloat as I enter year 10, the year it all happens, because I sure don’t feel like sinking.  If i can make it through mothers day without completely breaking down, then I will know nothing is impossible.

More information coming soon, stay tuned. And God bless you little buddy, you did real good, holding me up all those years. I will hold you up. Always.

 

Tomorrow’s Just a Future Yesterday

Can’t take credit for the title. It’s part of the theme song from Late Night with Craig Ferguson. And his gay robot companion, Geoff. Still, as I stay up late at night and watch the show, I realize it could be one of the best things on TV- Show, Movie or otherwise.
Speaking of bad movies, we watched “History of Violence” this weekend and it was absolutely gash.

We checked it out from the library and I was STILL screaming for a refund. I did not expect an oscar-winning movie, just entertainment. What I got was a lot of schlock and cliches and white-guys playing mobsters and some pretty heinous plot twists. All in all, I felt the need to complete the movie, but it has lost me after 35 minutes. When you have time invested in such a bomb, you sometimes feel the need to just see the thing through. So that’s what I did, and regret it even as I type this some 48 hours later.

Saturday night I wrapped up another part of my life that is now history. The restaurant sent me off in a good way. I got a free beer out of the deal, and the bartender/guitar player who was playing the pub Saturday night did a couple of songs for/with me. Including some “Journey”. Sorry, inside joke, all you need to know is “Wheel in the Sky” is waaaaaay too long for Karaoke. We harmonized a few lines on “Friend of the Devil” which probably had better vocal harmonies than the Grateful Dead ever did when they played live. I got a card that everyone signed, and got to work while drinking my free beer. It was an easy night, business was slow because of spring break, and the kitchen was cleaned and inspected within a half an hour of closing. Some kind of record.

Some who I had grown close to did not want to do the long goodbye, so I told them I would come visit soon to alleviate any pains of departure. I grabbed my things, took one last look around, and then walked out the back door while yelling “Elvis has left the building!” and I was gone. I took a co-worker home, and we hung out for 20-25 minute and blazed , which for me was the first time in several months. Mother of God, I am glad it was not “The Good Stuff” or I my eyeballs would have melted out of my head. I re-entered the atmosphere a short time later, brought gently back into the atmosphere by the screaming guitar of J Mascis and his band of ne’erdogoods, Dinosaur jr.

So what have I learned? I DON’T like getting hurt, cut, or burnt every night. I read “Kitchen Confidential” when I first started this stint in the biz, and Chef Bourdane warned me this would happen. I also learned that I smelled pretty bad every night after work. At least to myself.. and since I always have to share the room with this guy, it was starting to get on my nerves. I ruined 3 pairs of shorts, one pair of jeans and six black t-shirts during my short tenure at the restaurant. They all stink of grease and no matter how many times I wash them, I am pretty sure that smell will never fully come out.

I also learned that working in the kitchen of a restaurant is different from your own in one fundamental aspect: You can be as messy as you want to be in the restaurant, but the minute you start sauteing onions in your own pan at home and you flip them up in the air and lose several of them before they come back down in the pan, that’s a pain in the butt. And nobody is cleaning it up except YOU. The restaurant’s kitchen was swept up a minimum of 4 times a shift, and it still felt at times we were trudging through a half-inch of crud most days. Although I do have dogs (a.k.a. ”The Cleanup Crew”) at home, there are a great many things they should not eat that we seem to cook with daily – Onions and Garlic to name just two.

You learn who your real friends at any job were the day you leave. There were a couple who are probably happy to see me go, but they were slackers, gun-deckers, and lay-a-bouts looking to get through their shift and collect their cash regardless of how they treated others, or how much work they helped create for me while there. One particular waitress had been there several months before I started, and she STILL has no idea what’s on the menu. She is definitely happy to see me leave, she was getting pretty sick of me telling her that she should know the menu and to stop playing with her phone at work. Still, you just have to wonder..how hard could it have been to circle a side salad.

We had a decent Easter sunday, did some work on the car and out in the yard. Took the dogs to the park and started to get cold and chilly so we cut it a little shorter than we usually do. We ate the traditional unleavened bread and drank red wine, a tradition in my family these past four years. Family.. yeah, it sounds weird that a person with no children would be talking about those who live under their roof as their “family”.. but even with no kids, my dogs have a bunch of personality and “personality goes a long way.” I see the chapter of my life closing and the new one opening before my eyes.

When we knew we were losing Jack, it was at the same time I was starting at the restaurant. I had noted to DW that never in my life have I seen a new epoch unfold before my very eyes in such a palpable manner. You could sense the change happening, mechanically and with no way to turn back and retreat into its comfort. We were moving on, and the universe had put up the road signs to let us know which direction we were heading and at what speed.

I have occupied my mind and my life with the restaurant long enough. I see this new chapter beginning, and I hope it comes out to be a much cheerier situation than the last 6 months has afforded me. The work was not bad, and if anything it made a good enough distraction for everything wrong that was happening around me.. something to focus on.I can only stare at the page so long before I turn it, whether I read everything on it or not. And here I am, turning the page to the next part of my life.

A new chapter? Time will tell. I hope so, I hope its one that ties up loose ends, makes sense, and leaves those readers who witness it satisfied with the direction the author has taken. I ..feel… different. In control of myself, maybe truly for the first time ever. That has me a little angry as well, but I cannot change who I was, but I feel I can start dictating where I am going with authority. My goal, I am so close, yet infinitely too far away from accomplishing anything. I sit and stare at what I have done and ask if it was enough, or will I have to go back into that restaurant and work in the heat, with crazies and crackheads and finish what I started?

No. I will make it there by another path or not at all. Elvis HAS left the building, and he’s not coming back. The restaurant will soon become a memory and my future ambitions will become the past. I will grow from this, because I really do not have a choice.. but I will enjoy the growth ans prepare for something greater still. And I’ll do it somewhere less greasy, I hope.

That about wraps it up, B.

One day, just… one… day..

It has arrived. In 13 hours, I begin my last shift at the restaurant. I have a sneaking suspicion someone might be planning some sort of “send him off” party for me, and I sure hope that does not happen. I have witnessed conspiratorial whisperings in my presence, however, with over the shoulder looks. I suspect something.

I cannot say I am completely looking forward to leaving. I have made a few friends while working there, a couple of which I thought at first I never even wanted to work with again. Yes, they still fight like they are married, but it took a few weeks to figure out that’s how THEY deal with being trapped in the hot kitchen under stressful conditions. So to James and Tina, who I consider my best friends from work, if you ever read this I am SO GLAD I was completely wrong about both of you. And darn glad to know you both.

It was nice to get a sendoff from the owner, who says she was happy to have me there. In truth, I really appreciate her and her husband giving me the chance to earn a little scratch in between tattooing gigs. I found myself getting pretty bummed out Wednesday night at the open mic. Our performance was pretty good, and there were a couple of fine pickers who showed up on their way down to Nashville. Leaving the restaurant and pub is actually a sad event for me, but the work and the attitudes of some, of course, I will not miss a bit. For those interested, here is a link to one of our songs on Youtube, and if you click on “more videos” pulldown menu, you’ll see nine more we have done in the past couple of months.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDaPsQAQtw&context=C4a0215cADvjVQa1PpcFOfu-0d8dObSGR8xOMcARI__8gmqq0Y_ds=

We never claimed to be professional musicians or anything, but we do have fun when we play. I left so amicably from the restaurant precisely so I could keep playing there on Wednesdays. On top of that, if we really apply ourselves and get about 2 hours of material together, we may get to do some “paid Saturdays” which would actually be pretty keen.

I just “interviewed” with the shop down the street from my old tattooing job. It seems its being run by a couple rednecks that did some time in “The Joint” and its more about being tough, having big dogs, and hating black people than doing good tattoos. Needless to say, I think I will pass. If I was desperate and hard up, I may have been more willing, but the gas money alone will be too hard to deal with. I was hoping it would not be a “jailbird shop” because I already worked at one of those with little success or happiness.. but alas, it’s just a scam for a couple of ex-cons who cannot get a job doing anything else. This is more common in this business than I would like.

So the plan is still to get the Dragonwagon rolling. I am depending on tax refunds and loose cash to make most of my money right now. I am still planning on running down to Cincinnati to check out some shops out there, but as far as Dayton is concerned, I have too much history with so many of the people in that town I don’t think I would ever get a fair shot without some harassment from someone at another shop at the very least.

We’ll see how it goes, but one thing is for sure, I have enough saved up for now that there is no urgency to start working this week or the next, but it will have to happen fairly soon so I don’t start killing my savings for the business to come.

I have to get that sleep so my last shift does not become too hellish. I’ll post some updates after tonight on my final thoughts and feelings on the last 6 months of being a line cook. Should be somewhat interesting, at the very least.

That about wraps it up, B.

Just Lovely! A Symphony!

.. Yesterday’s symphonic outing was all that I expected it to be. The conductor was competent and a little bit funny. The musicians were skilled and noteworthy, and the experience was pleasing and not overly long.

The selections were “Haffner” (Mozart #35) and “Eroica” (Beethoven #3) and were well done and enjoyable. “Eroica”, particularly the second movement, was my favorite. With the exception of a few badly timed coughs, and somebody nearby venting some raunchy burps, a great time was had by all. It appeared to be about 1200 listeners in all, and I was sadly overdressed. Hey, I thought you wore a suit to these things! Next time I go in my jeans, “Dubya” t-shirt, and carrying a can of Budweiser. DW looked beautiful, and got hit on by a man twice her age and half her height who thought she had nice “chopsticks.”  I was not hit on by anyone, much to my delight.

Afterwards, we dined on ice cream and cookies provided by Graeters. I ate chocolate (of course) and DW had Raspberry Chip, which tasted fine as well.

Shifting gears, it is notable that I only have three days of work remaining at the restaurant, where I will earn around $150 for the week. I made four times that in one day today, tattooing a regular for almost 6 hours.. although I do “owe” him an hour or two when he is healed up to finish his calves completely. It’s a nice looking set of Japanese with unfortunate smatterings of Disney characters here and there. With some people, they keep getting foreground pieces and keep pushing background ideas back. Then the time comes when they task you with “Tieing it all together” and it makes you want to rip your hair out. In this case, we found a way. Sometimes, there is no way.

Speaking of tattooing, interesting things have happened. Five doors down from my previous place of tattooing employment, another shop has opened up. Normally I would just laugh and move on, but I am feeling particularly vindictive today and gave them a call. I have an interview on Thursday at 2pm, and the owner seemed nice, if not a bit redneck, on the phone.

I feel my previous employer needs a good nose tweaking again, and I am starting to make it my mission in life to cause him grief until either he is dead, or I am. Taking some business from him, and regaining my local regulars who do not want to travel too far to see me are the order of the day. Gas will be the major issue for me now, as I used to spend 20% of my take home income on fuel driving this distance.

But not for too long, because:

Dragonwagon Total: $3k..

I am OFFICIALLY halfway to making my order. Probably late August, early September… although at that point the ”season” will be mostly over, and I might as well push the purchase date back and save a little more. So still aiming for December 21st to pick up the mobile studio.  Hopefully business will stay steady, and hopefully this new shop I am interviewing at can provide enough business to keep the savings coming.

In the meantime, I have t’s to cross and i’s to dot.. including talking to the health department about my do’s and don’ts as well as getting my business registered with the state and setting up a sterilization monitoring service. Those are the major hoops that remain, and I am in business. For myself and for God.. because as Bob Dylan said “You Gotta Serve Somebody..”

That about wraps it up, B.

The Countdown..

I am counting down two specific events in my life right now. What demented readers I do have will probably note that I am about to end my employment at undisclosed (thanks Ray) Restaurant. It has been 6 months of bleeding and getting burned almost every night, with the end result of making food for mostly happy customers. Since I was never really on the grill, I did not have too many re-fires, except for those high maintenance special order people who keep throwing me because they don’t want bacon in their carbonara (by the way people, carbonara is supposed to have bacon in it) or they want their stuffed chicken minus the stuffing. I know, I know, four whole fried chickens and a coke and all that. Jive turkeys.

The other countdown which some of you may not be aware of is my body weight countdown. Right at the beginning of 2011, I went to the doctor and got a rude shock. I weighed (wait for it..)

268 pounds!!!!!

Holy hell, I was huge. Recent pictures of me were a guy who kinda looked like me, but with a subcutaneous layer of jello and a dunlop belly. I went to the doctor because I was having problems with my throat collapsing while I sleep. (A.K.A. Sleep apnea.) I have been a side-sleeper for almost a decade because of this, but I was now getting bad hip pain and shoulder pain because my fat ass was putting too much weight on my side. I could not sleep on my sides because of bad pain, I could not sleep on my back because I could not breathe, and I could never in my life sleep on my stomach without vomiting.

In other words, I could not sleep.

So, I embarked on a mission to lose weight. I immediately cut portion sizes by about half. At home we would have burritos night and I would eat two huge burritos. We would have pizza and I would eat a half a pizza. We would have chicken and I would eat half the package in what seemed like two bites. So it seemed to me that half my problem was in how many calories I was bringing in. The other half was the lack of exercise. As a result, I decided to start taking Jack and Bertha to the park more often to get me ready for working out. After a while, I started doing actual workouts with step aerobics and a nautilus home gym I bought years ago that has functioned basically as a place to hang clothes and collect dust.

In one of my favorite online forums, I set out to publicly shame myself if I let myself slip. I was tracking everything there, meal plans, calories, exercise, progress daily. I managed to get quite a few people on my weight loss train as well, with varying degrees of success. But the real success story, as I figured, has been me. In the past 15 months I have gone from 268 pounds to 214 pounds… and I am still pushing to lose 29 more. I have encountered some changes in my life. Happy changes. I am no longer waking up nightly choking… that’s the big one. My hip and shoulder pain have lessened because I can sleep more on my back.. but I have to admit I am so used to sleeping on my side now, sleeping on my back is somewhat uncomfortable and harder to do nowadays, but I am making an effort.

The real payoff came this week. I am now too thin to hold any pants on my body that I have been wearing for most of the last decade. Pants that were, 15 months ago, too tight almost to wear. Now, it looks like a Jenny Craig ad when I have them on. Years ago I threw out a bunch of clothes that were in great shape, but were too small to fit into anymore. My wife asks me: “Why would I get rid of them?” In case I lose weight I suppose.  ”Because”, I told her, “if I ever do get back down to this size again I am buying a whole new wardrobe.”  Well, I did keep about 8 pairs of pants and shorts and several size “large” shirts in the bottom of a bin in the closet. There they have lurked since I moved to the great state of Ohio, waiting for the day to once again keep me warm and prevent a public indecency arrest.

That day came two days ago. My fat ass pants were just falling off me, and they looked bunched up and ridiculous with a belt. And I said.. “I wonder”. Yup. Every pair of pants I had fit (a few a little tight but not uncomfortably so..especially the buttonfly 501s) and a total of 17 pair of pants just got given away to a friend or Goodwill. Some besides my wife have also asked why I am not keeping any of these tent-sized pantaloons. My response was a quote some may recognize from the movie “Hunt for Red October”, from Captain Ramius:

“When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his men were well motivated.”

Well, I burned my ships and I am not going back to fat-world. And later today, I head over to the store to possibly buy a couple new pairs of intermediate (size 38 waist) pants to wear until get down to my goal. Not exactly a whole new wardrobe yet, but certainly a few new things as a pseudo-reward for the progress I have made and the direction I want to continue heading.

Where some may see a stopping point, I am motivated to finish this thing. I figure to reach my goal by the end of July, as I have been exercising more lately, AND of course, I will no longer be working in a kitchen full of fatty fried foods, a pan of bacon just sitting there waiting to be eaten, not to mention the desert tray. The restaurant has actually been hindering full progress for these reasons.. we have not had very much healthy food in the house in several months.. but the restaurant? That shit is ALL unhealthy, and I know of dozens of regulars who eat their almost daily. Scary.

Also counting down to Sunday April 1st, as we just bought tickets to go see the symphony up in Dayton doing some Mozart and some Beethoven. I have been listening to a lot of classical compositions lately, particularly the Russians. Man, the Russian composers were in a class all of their own. I am particularly fond of Mussorgsky. Anyhow, the wife and I get to go on a date for the first time in years. Dressing up a bit and all. And after the symphony, ICE CREAM!

Even on a diet, you have to splurge now and then. Keeps you sane.

That about wraps it up, B.

 

The LAST straw..

I was in hell last night. I sliced my finger with a knife and bled for over an hour and could not get a band-aid to even stay on it for the flow. The kitchen was about 115 degrees by the grill and fryers and I soaked and salt-stained my t-shirt. I watched 3 kitchen employees get into 4 separate fights with my boss, who I am pretty sure is bi-polar. We had a tornado roll through town where we evacuated the customers to the basement, but for some reason, we had to keep on cooking. The customers started early and just never let up.. we were cooking all the way until close and a bit after, and no side work got done as a result.

To top it off, at the end of the night, my boss burns me with a fryer basket and when I tell her she’s burning me, she says I “deserved it”.

Yup, that’s the last straw. Tomorrow I put in my two-weeks notice, only because I believe in doing things the right way. Today was my 6 month anniversary in that hell-hole, and I will be damned if I come home stinking of grease and onions every night for crappy pay and a boss, who even if she was joking, would say that crap instead of “I’m Sorry!” It took all I could muster to not slug her.. and I have never hit a girl in my entire life, but have wanted to more than once.

I will survive. More people are interested in tattoos lately, business should be picking up soon. I am also going to some of the shops locally and in Cincinnati soon to see who may want my services. To make my dream happen, I am going to have to support somebody else’s tattoo business for a while. Just for a few months, likely no longer than a year at the most.

The DragonWagon has stagnated at $2k for almost a month now, but I have a few appointments coming in next week and hopefully we’ll be close to $2500 or more after that. About one-third of the way there, with a temporary hiccup (quitting) that will probably stop my savings for a little while. It happens, but holy shit, if I spend one more month in that restaurant, it will probably be me going away to the big house in cuffs while someone lays bleeding on the kitchen floor. I gave it my best shot, but I am tired of being hurt, tired of being insulted, tired of working crappy shifts with some people who I could probably care less if they dropped off the face of the planet.

In other news, the Tbone Special rides again! Spring is here, and my 86 Pontiac Fiero is back on the roads. It’s a source of joy in my life, one of few that I have had lately. I just installed a subwoofer under the dash, but I need to engineer/fabricate a bracket  to keep it from vibrating. Next on the list is the motor and trans-mounts I have been sitting on since September, about the time this blog started. Here’s my baby.. she needs paint. Like my sig?

Speaking of when the blog started, it has been 6 months as well since we lost poor Jack. It has been a hard thing to deal with, and the most good I can say of losing my friend is some day I don’t cry. Some days. Well, recently we have felt that Bertha needs some company, and we both wanted someone to walk at the park..so we enlisted this little guy’s help:

We named him Elvis!  His original name was Jake.. but that was just too close to Jack and hurt just a little too much.. it STILL slips out sometimes.

Elvis has a nervous bladder and has hosed down almost every surface in our living room and bedroom. We are trying to train him up, and he was doing good for a while and we thought it was the light at the end of the tunnel… but he was just reloading. He is an excitable little pup, only about 6 months old, and he has more energy than we can handle sometimes. He also likes to nip noses and toes, and has the lamest screechy bark. EVER.

Anyhow, he is keeping us busy and I suspect SOMEONE in the house has already fallen in love with him, peeing problem and all. It certainly is not Bertha, she tolerates him although you can tell, every once in a while, she does like playing with him. So it must be me or DW… hmm.. he IS awful cute, but he is not living up to the bargain otherwise.

Elvis was found on the side of the road in a closed 12X12 box with 4 other small dogs.. someone had just thrown them out to starve, and we are not sure how long he was in there but he was a very lean dog when we got him. He has already gained a few lbs. since he came home with us last month. He is one of the many reasons I have had no time to update here lately, plus lets face it, I just don’t have something new and interesting to say every day.

We are now em”bark”ing on a new life together, the four of us. It will be interesting to see where this new journey will take us.. I am excited to see. One thing is for sure, we are all a little more tired with “The King” is in the building.

That about wraps it up, B.