Gimme a break, gimme a break...

After this coming Sunday, I will be on break from college. The break will be for one month, more or less (28 days). I am really in need of the pause in classes, to be honest. Lately, I just don't have the energy to commit to doing the very best work that I can do. I figure that if that isn't reason enough to take a little break, what is? College courses are not cheap, and I don't want to waste the tuition money doing this half-way. My GPA is very good, so that isn't the worry. I just need a little break. Besides, this time of year, there is so much else to do, with gardening and home improvements taking center stage. The roofing project is coming up, too. By the time that project actually, finally starts, it will almost be time for me to go back to school. I will have time to prepare during the break, though, and that is good enough for me.

Random Stuff

Things have been very busy lately, between work, school, gardening, parenthood, and generally maintaining this household that I haven't taken time to write an update lately. Since I have an early morning validator update scheduled for tomorrow, this will be brief (for me).

Heather and I spent Saturday night in the Twin Cities. We went to see the Gaithers' Homecoming with our former neighbors, Janet and Paul. It was a fantastic show, albeit a bit shorter than usual. It only ran about 4 1/2 hours (seriously, ONLY 4 1/2 hours... this show is that good). This was my fifth time seeing the show in ten years, and Heather's third. Mom couldn't make it, due to a baby shower for her first-born great-grandchild, Brady (more on that later).

This is supposed to be brief, so back to the concert: It was a first for Gabriel, along with other new experiences for him. Instead of driving downtown (blasted one-way streets!) we rode the Hiawatha light rail transport system from the Mall of America. It was not a bad way to travel, being so convenient, quiet, and speedy. The cost to park at ramps near the Target Center was 15 bucks, but the LRT ride was only a buck and a quarter, and saved gas money! After the show, Heather and I were tired, so we stayed at Janet and Paul's home and came home on Sunday morning. It was a nice break from the hectic life we normally lead (doesn't everyone, though?)

I will write more about the concert, but not tonight. I need to get to bed! I am up late doing end-of-month paperwork and I need some sleep. More later. Guten nacht... and stuff.

Delays

City bureaucrats suck donkey rear end. They clearly are forgetting whom they work for and who provides the dollars to pay their wages.

We got a call from the contractor this morning. Brad went to get a permit for the roof, but was told that we had not had our septic inspected in too long. Too long in this case means 3 years (it has been 3 ½ years since the last inspection). Consequently, before the city will allow a roofing permit, the septic must have a successful inspection. If the septic fails that scrutiny, we have to hook up to city water. Immediately. We are looking at a 350-foot connection between the water main and sanitary sewer, and the house, at an indefinite expense between 10 and 20 thousand dollars. We are waiting for a septic service company to become available to inspect the drain field and tank. The question is, just what in the @&%#@ does a roof replacement project have to do with a septic tank? Absolutely nothing.

What is happening is that the city is trying to force everyone onto city water immediately, due to the large number of city bonds outstanding. We already paid the $17,500 cost for the city assessment. Our portion of the bonds is already paid. In fact, we paid the assessment within five days of issuance of the bonds.

We are waiting to be scheduled for an inspection, which may take a week. Then, we will wait about a week for the inspector to give the results to the city. In the meantime, the contractor is near to finishing the last job before us on his schedule and the roofing was supposed to start on Monday of next week. We are being bumped back on the schedule at least a few weeks due to that delay, and the setback while we wait for the results of an inspection.

We are being held hostage by city bureaucrats. We have to have a new roof this year, before winter, due to the ice dams that build up to depths of a foot or more. (How much do you suppose a sheet of ice a foot thick on your roof weighs?) The roof replacement is not optional, nor is this a voluntary upgrade.

Before we bought the house, we hired a highly recommended home inspector, part of a franchise called Gold Key Home Inspections, to examine the house. Feel free to NOT hire them to check over your house. I can only assume that the “experienced professional” who inspected our house did not know what he was doing or what he was looking for. He never noticed that there are virtually no functionally effective soffit vents and too few roof vents. I didn’t know much about home ventilation three and a half years ago, but today, I am nearing expert status, due to the progressive decline in the condition of the roof and the kitchen-living room ceilings. This deterioration is due to poor and inadequate ventilation, the fault of mistakes or shortcuts by the homebuilder, whoever that might be.

Regarding Gold Key Inspections, they checked out the roof and told us that the roof was in good condition. The fact is that the guy was incompetent, inexperienced, or both. He missed the two most serious flaws in the home's construction, the lack of soffit vents and the inadequate roof vents. Today, we are looking at a roof replacement cost of about $11,500 and also may be forced to spend $10-20,000 to hook up to city water BEFORE we are allowed to repair the roof.

Essentially, what we are looking at is that we absolutely must fix the roof, may be forced to connect to city water, and then may not be able to afford to even stay in the house anyway, unless I work a second job. Big deal, right? People do it all the time.

My job precludes working a second job, simply because I am on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week, including holidays. How can a second job be possible with that condition? I am also a full-time student and a parent. We have already cut expenses and discretionary spending severely. I am looking at working two jobs, while a full-time student, so that we can assuage the asinine capriciousness of free-spending city bureaucrats. I have heard from many people in the area who are being forced out of their homes due to rapidly rising costs, driven by citiots (idiots from the Twin Cities) who have second, or third homes in the lakes region. You know, these are the jackasses who drive like they do, in fact, own the road.

If we are ultimately forced out of our home, the dollar amount we can expect to get from its sale would not cover the cost of the repairs and city water connection, on top of the mortgage. We couldn't even consider selling the property without repairing the roof and connecting to city water immediately, while demolishing the septic system and backfilling the resulting hole next to the house. The appraised value of our home increased by $25,000 this year, despite the fact that we have not done a single, solitary thing to improve the property. In five years, this will work in our favor as our improvements are completed and then-current appraisals reflect the modifications. That is tomorrow. Today we are damned no matter what we do.

Roof, roof

No. That was not an impression of any of the people in our family (i.e., family members of the canine variety, obviously). It was a clever heading to a blog entry about the roof. Okay, so it was not that clever. It was probably even a little sophomoric, jejune, or annoying, but I like it anyway, so sue me.

Anyway... Brad, the contractor, stopped at the house tonight to discuss the roofing project. If the weather cooperates, the roofing project will be getting underway next Tuesday. We are adding a number of skylights and ridge vent, among other improvements. Some of the improvements are functionally very significant. It’s like this: Brad looked at the house and in a nutshell, said, “No wonder you have problems with the roof. The house can’t breath.” Seriously, how did the contractor get in a nutshell in the first place? Whatever moron built this house, they didn’t put any venting in the soffits, causing ice dams that accumulate up to a foot thick in the winter. The project is taking on a life of its own, and it is just in the planning stages, as we add in soffit vents, ridge vents, proper venting for the bathroom exhaust fan, and on and on. The plans changed a bit, because the skylights will not fit in the kitchen quite the way we envisioned. We will have six skylights spaced more or less equally in the kitchen and living room, instead of eight. In our bedroom, we will have two skylights instead of one. However, we have one more skylight that we thought we might put in Gabriel's room. Because of where the valley between the two roof peaks ends up, there is not going to be room for a skylight in Gabriel’s room. Bummer. We have until Tuesday to rethink our plans for the last skylight. Any suggestions?

Sticks and stones do not a racist make

Saying that there should be a limit to the number of immigrants who enter the United States does not make you a racist, just because most of the illegals invading America happen to be Mexicans and Latinos. Anyone who wants to enter legally can get in line, take part in the legal process of naturalization, and be welcomed to America as a land of opportunity. But these illegal aliens protesting suggestions that the laws be enforced, while demanding amnesty reveal their true agenda, to refuse to assimilate and to remake the US of A in the image of Old Mexico. When they stand together, demanding legal immigrant status, while holding Mexican flags, what does that say? Their actions speak louder than their words about what they really want. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself."

The arrogant calls for rights that illegals have no basis to demand will catch up with them when enough Americans get tired of getting kicked around by illegals. My simple advice? Leave the Mexican flags at the border, and at least act the part of eager American-in-waiting. Act as if you want to actually be Americans with a right to be here. Right now, you are neither Americans or justifiably present in the United States. Assimilation is not an option. English is spoken here. Period. If you disagree, congratulations. You have a right to dissent in America. If my statements offend you, boo hoo. This is America. There is no constitutional protection against being offended. Deal with it or go back where you belong.

Telegram for Screamin' Howard Dean

I know this is so unlike my usual posts, but I am going to make this one rather brief. Screamin' Howard Dean, embarrassment to the Democrats that you are, I got a kick out of another flamboyant show of ignorance on your part. Today, you said that amnesty for illegals was a civil rights issue. As a man with several advanced degrees and years as a politician, if you were not so focused on partisan political pandering to illegals, you would know that illegals have human rights, not American civil rights. By definition, civil rights are reserved for citizens and lawful residents. The unfortunate news is that the constitution calls for legal redress of persons, not citizens. You can count on wacko judges to decide, by that ambiguous definition, this means any person in the entire world... including apes and other primates. Seriously. For example, the Socialist government of Spain is pushing legislation giving Great Apes status with full human rights. Thank God that in Spain, abortion is not only legal but also encouraged. More room for the Apes, after all. Think I am making it up? Look for yourself:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06042702.html or http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=spain+%2B+apes+%2B+rights&btnG=Google+Search

Stealing American civil rights

If you had your TV or radio on for more than a few minutes today, you had to hear that the illegal aliens are collectively demanding amnesty, stating emphatically that they have every bit as much right to be here as you or me. Riiiiiight. And, uh… further, these so-called undocumented workers are saying that they are angry because they are being called criminals. Oh, the horror of it all. How dare Americans slander these honorable people? After all, in this politically correct world, they steadfastly maintain that they are not breaking any laws, and that Americans are hurting them by insulting their [cough, cough] honor. In their words, these people are not illegal invaders challenging the sovereignty of the United States. Further, the words I heard today from one wacko Mexican woman, loaded with resentment towards American citizens: America has no right to admit or deny entrance to whomever we choose, and that we have no right to secure or close the borders. Political correctness demands that we understand that illegal immigrants are merely citizenship challenged… and you [pointing at YOU] are at fault, for not being a welcoming party to the invasion of the U.S.A., you, you… American.

By the way, the definition in Webster’s dictionary states that a criminal is “One that has committed or been legally convicted of a crime.” Most illegal immigrants who have invaded America have not been convicted of a crime by entering unlawfully. However, by definition, entering illegally is just that… illegal. Therefore, these invaders are, in fact, criminals. One who commits a crime is a criminal. So why in the blazes should they respect the rest of the American laws when they don’t give a rat’s rear end about our border security and immigration laws? Now, we cannot ship the indefinite millions back where they belong or charge them with felonies, even though that would be a well-deserved reward for invading the United States. Can you imagine a criminal trial for every illegal alien who was taking part in a de facto invasion of the United States? That would tie up criminal court in America for years, maybe decades. As it stands today, the clowns in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are frantically pandering and kissing Mexican ass in the hopes that when the Latinos far outnumber those damned gringos, the legislators can hold onto their insatiable, demented Congressional grasp of power. I admit, I say that in a way that suggests that my opinion is that being a politician is a foul or wicked profession. Given that these Congressional creeps will never secure the borders (not close the borders, SECURE THE BORDERS!) or represent the genuine interests of Americans, who can you trust? Politicians are intrinsically narcissistic and arrogant.

Maybe it is time to get together a posse comitatus and take back our country, before these horses’ rearends throw it all away for the votes of illegals. The last time I checked, influence peddling was a serious crime, at least for a constitutional originalist conservative. Never forget, Dems, your expertise with voter fraud will go a long way towards attempting to steal another election. The failure to steal the presidential elections of ’00 and ’04 for radical liberalism must bear a nasty sting, eh?