Dr Copa

Last Friday the pest control serviceman came over to the house to check on all of the bug and rodent sticky traps, and to service the house. We set up a contract with his company that they will come out several times a year to do that. We had not been having a lot of trouble with bugs and rodents upstairs, but my sister-in-law, who lives in the downstairs apartment has been telling us that there are a lot of spiders down there, so we went ahead and signed up with the pest control company.

Well, wouldn’t you know, this morning she comes upstairs, carrying her little pug puppy, who had his front right paw firmly stuck inside one of the sticky glue mouse traps. My wife woke me up from my nap to help them hold the puppy still while my wife poured some corn oil into a bowl and the put the puppy’s paw into the oil. She massaged the paw for a couple of minutes, and before you knew what was happening that sticky trap came right off! So the puppy was none the worse for wear, and all is well with the world.

Funny how time flies!  I need new tires for my truck!  I’ve been looking around from Wal-Mart to Firestone to Costco to Sam’s to PepBoys, they all have good tires.  But as I shopped, I found one thing in common; they all sell Bridgestone Tires.  I’ve wanted to try Bridgestone Tires for a long time; I’ve always liked the rubber consistency.  They were quiet on the road but had a good all-year round grip, including from ice and snow to rain to mud.  Another thing I found out was that when you buy four Bridgetone tires they have a promotion where they give you a n American Express card worth $150 to spend as a bonus for buying four new tires; you just have to send in a copy of the receipt and they will send you the card in the mail to spend as you wish.  Well, that drops the price of the tires down below the price of any other tire, so that is why I will buy these tires.

I like to shoot guns.  Unlike exhaust, loud exhaust I might add, guns are even louder!  You really need earplugs!  I recently joined a gun club where I live.  And immediately started going on a weekly basis trying to improve on my marksmanship, which was pretty good to start with.  I hadn’t fired any of my weapons for two to three years because I’ve been extremely busy, but now with a little time I’m able to go once a week and shoot.  I don’t drink or do any drugs, so I have a little bit of money to buy bullets, and you can go home when you’re done and not have to worry about being stopped for anything.  Cheap entertainment! 

Anyway, I discovered a lot of people were going to the range, which really surprised me.  Come to find out, half the people going to the range were getting ready to take a proficiency test to get their gun permit.  I already had mine, although I am preparing to go for my federal permit.  I don’t have to worry about qualifying; I consider myself a great shot.  I still go every week just to make sure; and it is fun!  But back to the people that go there regularly now.  They will probably never go back there again after they get their gun permit as it has become quite a controversial issue down here in the Washington area.

While talking to the gun shop owner, who owns the range, he agreed with me too, but business is brisk right now and these people will take all the business they can get!  I forgot to mention he holds proficiency classes every Saturday and is booked up for the next three months!

Guest Post by Mark Ouellette

But you can’t take the country out of the man. All right, I admit I still live in the country, and I just wanted to say that. Every year when winter sets in and I have the time in between plowing and sanding I try to to re-evaluate all of our equipment and plan what equipment needs to be replaced soon, and whether to start looking for used tractors for sale or if we should be looking for a couple of gently used trucks for sale to be able to move the crew from one location to another.

Last fall I found a good deal on an overstocked backhoe for sale and I have been keeping that in the cemetery garage, waiting for the ground to thaw so we can use that for the spring burial rush. I was thinking about buying a used bull dozer as well last fall as I found a really good deal on one, but my wife told me that if I bought that with our money then I would need to get myself a new wife as well. The cemetery won’t agree to buy it this year, so I guess that will just have to go on the back burner since I don’t think I can afford to get that AND a new wife quite yet!

I saw a cool garden hose storage unit that I want to buy for our place.  Actually, I want to buy two of them; one for the front yard, and one for the back yard!  What am I talking about?  A no-crank garden hose reel!  These things wind up a garden hose using water pressure!  So you don’t have to crank it by hand!  How cool is that? You can find more information (and order them) from the website http://no-crank.com.  Especially interesting is that the company is currently offering a No-Crank Rewards Program that you can sign up for.  The rewards program involves having your friends that buy one take enter the serial number of their unit into an account on the internet.  You get points and rewards and discounts as a result.