WHO YA' GONNA CALL? COMPLETE HOME MAINTENANCE!

Yesterday I rather skimmed over all the really good work that "Complete Home Maintenance" did on the office bungalow rear roof. Whoever added that section onto the building (god knows how many years ago) really didn't understand the theories of physics - and we're not talking rocket science here. The original roof was nearly flat, hardly any pitch as you can see from the photos..
As Rob (head man of CHM) explained to me, you can't put down a typical roof of plywood, tar paper and shingles when rain and snow have no place to run off. As you can see from the work in progress, I guess we're lucky that the roof held up for as many years as it did!
Rob and crew used a two day window of perfect weather to get the job entirely finished as it should have been done originally.
What you are looking at in the final pictures here is the top layer of roofing material that is used when there is little or no pitch to the roof. It is a sheeting of rubber that covers the entire surface and should provide years of service with no leakage whatsoever.
This is comforting to know as the rooms directly below the new cover are a bed room and a bath room. it would be rather disconcerting to wake up to water dripping on your face in the darkness of the middle of the night!

Rob and the crew of Complete Home Maintenance are great guys to have in your employ and I recommend them highly. Here's what it says on the business card:

COMPLETE HOME MAINTENANCE COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL:

GUTTER CLEANING, PRESSURE WASHING, PAINTING, LAWN CARE, TREE TRIMMING, SPRINKLER SYSTEMS, DRIVEWAY SEALING, SNOW REMOVAL, ROOF RAKING, SPRING/FALL CLEANUP, AND GENERAL HOME MAINTENANCE.

Free estimates ~ insured Call Rob at: 715-559-2180

Rob is congenial, a good worker, and is fairly priced. I recommend him highly!

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Kim's cleaning lady, Diane Rahl, who comes in for general house cleaning once every two weeks, has come to have quite a relationship with our two little pals, Hammy and Stella. Here's the note she left for us today:

As for current events, we played "52 pick up" with your rocks in the bath room. I bumped them and over they went! But no fear. Hammy was here! He was a great help in gathering them up again.

But Stella was the most helpful when it comes to "swiffering" under the bed. She guides the Swiffer right where it needs to go! As for Hammy's part with the Swiffer, he just lays on it which makes it a bit heavier to maneuver.

but they're very entertaining for someone who spends most of her day alone .. working. (that's me!)

Stay well, Be back in two weeks!

Thanx
Diane

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Trailer Load of Wood Already Gone!

Today, wednesday, I moved closer to the final step of the Jim Carter helmet signing as I received the two "G" decals that I had been waiting for, in hopes that I would have them before the actual autographing date of December 9th. Actually it has been quite a day all round. first I started out the day by finishing off the load of firewood that Blinky and I had worked so diligently on this past week. I have been keeping the stove going 24/7 by banking the coals and damping down the stove daily. Every day I am able to do this I am saving on the overall expense of propane - and with so little work coming in these days, that is definitely a good thing!
In addition to receiving decals, I also got my helmet display case - after searching diligently, I was able to find one at an absolute rock bottom price.

I also received the engraved name plate for the case - yeh, it's been like Christmas around here today! So my Green
Bay Packer shrine is now complete. Time to start burning incense and chanting daily for a win over the baltimore Ravens next monday.

JIM CARTER HELMET NEARING COMPLETION

This is my latest and perhaps my last football helmet project: the Jim Carter helmet. I won the helmet on eBay for the paltry sum of $35.00 plus shipping from a guy in Texas. a brand new Riddell helmet would have run me $143.90.

when it arrived it was in pretty rough shape. It already had some Green Bay Packer decals on it but they were beginning to peel and were not at all positioned where they should be so I got out my trusty hair dryer set on high heat, the "Goo-Gone", some hot water with Dawn dish washing liquid, and removed the decals.

Just after I won the helmet, I contacted Real Stuff and ordered the "cage" face mask you see pictured. I had done my research on line, looking for photos of Mr. Carter in his playing uniform and found one photo of him with a very unusual looking mask. With further investigation I found out that it was a Riddell-made mask that was only manufactured for a few years,

The dealer wants $199 for a duplicate of the mask?!?! At that price, I opted for the more standard mask you see pictured. so after thoroughly cleaning and waxing the helmet, I installed the face mask with the provided fasteners. It is now ready to be autographed by Mr. Carter on December 9th.

I also ordered a nice display case for the helmet and am having a custom name plate made that will read:

JIM CARTER, LINEBACKER, PRO BOWL 1973
GREEN BAY PACKERS


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Life As A Turkey

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop;
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know.



His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of ... Black November;
"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three."

"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;
And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In will burst Sarah Palin and hack off your head."



"Then she'll pluck out your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink;
And then comes the worst part," he said not bluffing,
She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing!"


Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat;
I decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked.

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing exercise tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.



And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound!
So now I'm a pet in the ex-governor's lap,
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap.

She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said
"Christmas is coming ..."

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"COMPLETE HOME MAINTENANCE TO THE RESCUE - JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME!

I guess it was over a month ago on an unusually soupy day at the office bungalow that I heard what I thought was the sound of a dripping faucet somewhere in the back of the structure. Lately I have found that my ears are not as good as they once were in pinpointing the exact location of auditory stimuli - I naturally assumed that my kitchen sink faucet was leaking so I got up and moved towards the sink only to find the faucet there bone dry. Still I heard the dripping sound and through the process of simple elimination made the sharp turn toward the small bath room. it was then that my ears finally honed in on the sickening sound of water hitting carpeting. After stepping into a soggy section of shag, I looked up to see the next drop forming on the ceiling just at the door of the bed room.
A sickening feeling roiled in my stomach as I knew this could only mean an unexpected output of money that was already spoken for in credit card debt. I trudged to the red shed behind the office and retrieved the tall step ladder, braced it fully extended and slowly ascended to the flat section of roof that covers both the back bed room and the bath. The leak was not readily apparent until I stepped into an area that gave like mush under my foot. Momentarily I had a picture of my body plummeting midst rotten timber and tar paper directly onto the bed hidden below.

I went to the house and broke the good news to Kim. Knowing that winter was not that far away at this point, I quickly put a call in to Rob of "Complete Home Maintenance:".
Rob came out and perused the situation, sat down with pen and pad and did some figuring and gave me an estimate of $1450 dollars to tear out all the rot, install new plywood , cover that with a blanket of rubber, and seal it with fresh oil and tar paper.

The appointed time for starting the project came and went. I called Rob and asked when he could start because the glorious indian Summer we were experiencing in late October most certainly would not hold in the cruel month of November. But it in fact DID hold as anyone from around here can attest.

So today, monday, November 30th, the pick up trucks and trailer for the removal of debris rolled in at nine AM. Talk about hitting the last window of opportunity! tomorrow is supposed to be the last day of what has been an incredibly warm November, and the boys of ":Complete Home Maintenance", fortified by Larry's pizza for lunch on monday, will complete said project by noon.

In celebration, for the bunaglow bed, I bought an electric blanket which I found at Wally Mart for the incredible low price of $18.50!!!

So blow ye winds of Winter, Blow!

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PREPARING HELMET FOR JIM CARTER AUTOGRAPH

Yesterday (friday) I received, in record time, my eBay purchase of a Riddell helmet already done up as a Green Bay Packer helmet. I am using this project as my "Jim Carter" project helmet, as Jim will be autographing it for me early in December.

The first step was to remove the decals that someone had installed at a very odd positioning. After using Goo-gone to remove the residual adhesive, I thoroughly washed and waxed the helmet.
The next step was to remove the face mask that was provided with the helmet as it is not the correct mask. I had hoped to find the exact same mask that he wore, but after looking around the internet, I found only two sources that carried the mask and they both wanted $199.99 for the mask!!!
So I installed instead the next best mask which is pictured here. I took a picture of both the helmet and an autographed eight by ten photo of Jim that I won on eBay some time ago. (Sorry about the picture (the flash pretty much obliterated the framed photograph).

I have the correct Green Bay Packer decals on order and they should be arriving this week, well in advance of the signing.

This whole idea got started when I ran into Jim as I was leaving Menard's about four months ago. I told him of my collection of helmets, that I had gotten autographs from Bart Starr and Paul Hornung - and would he be so kind as to autograph a helmet for me.

Jim told me that he would be glad to, although he didn't seem to know why I would want it. He told me how poorly Green Bay's fans treated him all through his playing days with the Packers. His only "fault" was that he replaced the retiring Ray Nitschke, who was, of course, a God to the Green Bay faithful.

I told Jim that I was sorry to hear that and that I didn't understand that mentality, specially since Jim played really well for the Packers. He even went to the Pro Bowl in 1973!

I am really looking forward to displaying his autographed helmet!

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I found the following editorial in the Leader-Telegram from friday, November 27 and thought it worth passing on to my readers:

THE PACKERS AND PALIN

Have you ever noticed the similarities between Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy of the Green Bay Packers and Sarah Palin? Each with a name in the spotlight, each turning their backs on people who made them famous. Each with a message that polarizes the masses into opposing sides. Each given a chance to do something special, but each failing to connect us with the inspiration it takes to follow a leader.

I think it's time to sack them all! We need someone else to lead us!

-Peter Beauvais
Eau Claire


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THANKSGIVING '09 HAS COME AND GONE - PACKERS WIN!

Thanksgiving day has come and gone for yet another year. Battling with a sinus infection, I was up early to take meds and get the first stages of dinner preparation out of the way so that I could concentrate on Packer/Lions football at 11 AM.
Remembering past years and the mess that a baked sweet potato can make of an oven, I wrapped the three in aluminum foil, set the oven at 375 degrees and ascended to the loft in time for the kick off.

As I watched #87, Jordy Nelson set up to receive the opening kick off, I was about to call my friend "Blinky" Johnson in Madison to tell him that Jordy is my "main Caucasian man", but put down the telephone because before I could dial, Nelson coughed up the ball near our own 20 yard line and the Lions went up by seven shortly after that. Of course I took all the blame for Nelson's mistake because I had been impressed enough to think he never makes mistakes!

The Packers looked sluggish and out of sync for most of the entire first half and I was so engrossed in the game that I forgot about my sweet potatoes until I smelled the familiar odor of sweet potato drippings hit the heating coils of the oven. I ran (hobbled, mostly) down stairs to find that my foil wrapping hadn't stopped the drippings.

During the half time break I prepared fresh green beans, fresh tomato, onion, and fried 4 strips of bacon. These I threw together in a deep skillet and added wine vinegar, salt, pepper and allowed that to simmer on very low heat.

After removing the yams from the oven, I left them to cool and returned to the second half of the game which turned out to be much better than the first half.

With a Packer victory at hand, I returned to the kitchen and stuffed our 9 pound turkey with my own recipe which includes spicy homemade Italian sausage.

At any rate, Kim and Cindy returned from shopping Walmart and Cindy arrived around 5:30. Dinner proved to be much more than enough (Is that a big pile of mashed potatoes or what???)

By the time we had worked our way through four desserts, I was totally wiped out and I was in bed by 9:30PM. This morning I asked what time the party finally broke up. The gals had at it until 11:30PM. I heard nothing.

Today I was again up early, took my meds, dressed, and quietly, as not to disturb my sleeping beauties, made my way over here to see if I could manage to catch the remaining coals of yesterday's fire. it is so!

Now I must go to the bungalow bath and draw a steaming tub that I may soak away all remains of yesterday's endeavor.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT DAY.

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Thunder Bay to Green Bay

Yesterday I was musing to myself how insane much of the traveling days of youth really were. I guess the most grueling trip was the time that I opened for Jerry Lee Lewis in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and then with the help of my Superior, Wisconsin friend Gerald Fitzgerald (God rest his soul) we hauled ass all the way to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to do a luncheon engagement at 12:30 PM.

Much of it was then a blur and still is now as I cannot recall the group I was entertaining for in Green Bay except that it was some sort of rural-oriented youth group.

We arrived in Thunder Bay well in advance of the performance time and I remember observing Lewis and his band of "yes" men sitting around smoking cigarettes and playing cards. They totally ignored Gerald and I which was just fine with both of us as Jerry Lee et al were high on something - and from the rapidity of the conversations I would guess it was most certainly uppers not downers, but then Jerry Lee is/was famous for being a "speed-freak".

I do remember being a bit more nervous than usual as I had never worked for Canadians before but they turned out to be a great audience, with a similar response that I got in Wisconsin (but then, Thunder Bay is almost directly north of the Badger State so that makes sense).

After I finished my half hour, I went back stage and found Gerald shaking his head in wonder at the behavior of Jerry Lee. He told me that Lewis was a "pretty frightening dude" and made a vampire reference.

We went around to the front of the theatre and watched him perform two tunes, then mounted up for the long run to Green Bay. We left Thunder Bay around 8:45PM and fortified with our own version of speed (coffee and more coffee) we alternately spelled one another and drove continuously, watching the sun rise in the rear view mirror - 520 miles, 9 and one half hours of driving, stopping only for the kidneys, breakfast, and an exhausted nap along Highway 29 somewhere between Wausau and our final destination.

By the time I did my second show I was running only on adrenalin and got a might silly which seemed to go over okay.

The next tuesday I got a letter post marked Thunder Bay, Ontario, containing a note an a clipping from the Thunder Bay newspaper. It had been sent by the newspaper entertainment editor who had been at the show. The note said something to the effect that I had done an outstanding job and thought that I should have the review. His opening line was along the line of "Jerry Lee Lewis could learn something from his opening act about relating to his audience".

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Some of us Packer fans amuse ourselves by scaring every Minnesota fan
we see strutting down the street with that obnoxious purple and gold
"Viking" on their shirt and/or hat. We swerve our vehicles as if to hit
them, and swerve back just missing them (not that I condone such an
act - of course not!).

One day, while driving down the road with my wife, I saw a priest
walking. I thought I would do a good deed, so I pulled over and asked
the priest, "Where are you going, Father?"

"I'm going to say Mass at Our Lady of the Hills Church, about 2 miles
down the road," replied the priest .
"Climb in, Father. I'll give you a lift."

The priest climbed into the rear passenger seat, and we continued down
the road.

Suddenly, I saw a Minnesota fan walking down the road, with that
irritating "Viking" shirt on, and I instinctively swerved as if to hit
him. But, as usual, swerved back into the road just in time.

Even though I was certain that I had missed the guy, I still heard a
loud thud. Not understanding where the noise came from, I glanced in my
mirrors, but still didn't see anything.

I then remembered the priest. I turned to him and said, "Sorry Father,
I almost hit that Minnesota fan."

"That's OK," replied the priest, "I got him with the door!"

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY! AND GO PACK!