Belated Earth Day Post

SAVE OUR PLANET! Its the only one with beer.

IRS Refund

As you may have heard we are getting an additional refund on our tax returns this year to help 'stimulate the economy.'

Well here's the breakdown on where we can spend it:
Wal-Mart: China
Gas/Diesel: Arabs
Computer: India
Fruits & Vegetables: Central America
'Good' Automobile: Germany or Japan
Toys: Taiwan

So you ask, well how do I keep the money within the US Economy?


YARD SALES.

I know what I am growing, dammit.

Actually I didn't know what I was watering and fertilizing until the neighbor had asked me not to cut it down. It wasn't that I was going to cut it down, I had been cleaning up the yard, trimming the trees, etc. and I was informed that Belinda and I have a pomegranate tree in our backyard.

Holy Resale Batman!

Our old realtor that we used to buy our house is now our new realtor to sell our house. We have lived in this house for about 8 months. It has undergone many changes. The bathroom has been remodeled with fresh paint, new tile, and new hook-ups for a washer and dryer. The carpet in the hallway, kitchen, and dining room was removed and the wooden floors that lay beneath were sanded and refinished. Lastly the hallway, kitchen, living room, and dining room were retextured and painted. You may ask if I am sad to see it go, no. It will be remembered as the first house that I ever bought with Belinda, but that just means that we can U-P-P-G-R-A-Y-E-D-D when we get to Houston.

P.S. We already have people driving by to look at the house and we don't even have a for sale sign in the yard yet.

Plastic Guns Need Not Apply.

Belinda and I have our hallway, living room, kitchen, and dining room all taped off with plastic drops clothes so we can texture the walls. This took pretty much a full day to cover everything. We started to texture and finished the hallway and part of the living room with the trigger on the texture gun broke. DAMN. Well, its epoxy to the rescue!

Used Razor....Clean.

So I finally found my old cell phone. It turns out that it got washed, but when our front loading washer went into the spin cycle it wedged itself into the thick gasket that seals the door. I am glad I found it, however I was beginning to REALLY dislike the phone.

What the U-Turn?

I got a good laugh out of the GPS in our rental car.

I just wanted some gas.

I still don't know what is going on at this gas station in Florida. What was even more confusing were the prices.

Shotgun Photography

I was playing with some settings on our camera at a Tony Roma's in Orlando and managed to get this picture.

We don't need no water let the mo..

When we took off from Midland International Airport we got a chance to see some of the local grass fire damage, and an Albq area fire. When our plane departed from Albq to Orlando we saw more extensive wildfires in the Florida panhandle.

Used Car Lot

So between the two of us Belinda and I have 4 vehicles. We have our 2002 Jetta TDi with 90,000 miles, 1996 Nissan King Cab with 140,000 miles with broken glass, 1993 GMC 1500 Sierra with no A/C and valvetrain problems, and a 1979 CJ-5 that runs like a champ but needs work pass inspection. Furthermore I have a 7,000 lb 20 foot trailer that I have been using to tow the Jeep with until my GMC crapped out.

Hess expects Belinda and I to be fully moved to Houston by the end of July. I don't want to haul the two extra pick-ups to Houston and try to sell them there. Belinda does have whats called an X-Plan through Hess that allows us to purchase a Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, or Land Rover for roughly cost. The Jetta has tremendous fuel economy, sunroof, heated seats, power everything, and we don't want to get rid of it, however its starting to get some mileage on it. We have planned on selling both our trucks and purchasing a vehicle that will tow 7,000lbs and be a reasonable daily driver.

Houston...WAGONS EAST!

Its pretty much official, other than Belinda signing the paperwork, that she reports in Houston June 1st. The great thing is there will be a moving package involved.

As for the house, it was on the market 3 days when we bought it back in Sept less than a year ago. We have made some major improvements with numerous 'details' around the house that haven't been finished. The walls in the kitchen, living room, and hallway need to be textured and painted along with the installing the baseboards that we removed to finish the floors.

Snoop Dog's Favorite Rain, Drizzle

This morning is the first time it has rained in Seminole all year. The area has been plagued with some pretty extensive wildfires consuming thousands of acres.