DirectBuy

I’ve been seeing those annoying commercials for DirectBuy on TV for a while now, knowing deep down inside that it was a big, fat fucking sham. I happened to have my laptop on my…um…lap…tonight while watching TV, so I did some Googling.

Turns out your membership fees to join this "elite" club is in the neighborhood of $4,900.00! No shit.

Here’s the story at the Consumer Reports web site:

The Bottom Line
The lack of price transparency makes it hard to evaluate whether you’ll save by joining DirectBuy. But even if you were to save 25 percent on purchases after joining, you’d need to spend more than $20,000 just to recoup your membership fee. DirectBuy might save you money if you’re furnishing a house from scratch or doing a major renovation. But since you can’t shop around beforehand, you’ll be joining blind. – Chris Fichera

Big surprise, eh?

More Work

Friday evening I finished destroying the wasp nests in preparation for painting that area the next day. Yesterday I spent nearly the whole day finishing up the painting and waterproofing the fence. When I was done (around 2:00pm), I thought I was going to die. Even with a hat and a wet towel over my head/neck, I pushed the limits of my

I showered and crashed for a three-hour recovery nap, then went out for dinner with Shelley and her mom. Gone are the days when I could work in the heat for hours on end.

During the course of my painting the outside of the fence, I think I inadvertently killed my biggest zucchini plant. The little bit of overspray that got through the cracks in the wood, apparently did it. The huge leaves completely wilted within an hour or so. Talk about a bummer! That thing was really producing, and it was huge. So I snipped off the last two zucchini and put them in the fridge with the others. I hope the other zucchini plants start producing like that one did.

9:00am Update<
I went out to the garden, and it looks like the zucchini plant may be recovering.

Interesting
I saw a truck yesterday with a bumper sticker that said Palin/Jindal ‘12. That’s just downright frightening. Palin is a fucking rock. She may be savvy in a lot of areas, but she doesn’t have the conventional smarts one need and should have to be the President of the United States. Bush didn’t – and look where that got us. Jindal’s smart, but his narrow social ideals are a little restrictive for a free country in my opinion.

Besides, Palin keeps quitting her obligations. First she quit as mayor of Wasilla, now she's quit as governor of Alaska.

Sunday at Last

This weekend involved work – in the morning anyway. Shelley, her mom and I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings painting the wooden fence around the yard. Today I got to start using the Wagner Power Sprayer. It made our lives much, much easier. Beats the shit out of rollers and brushes, which we had to use when we were painting the fence adjacent to our two neighbors’ properties.

Saturday Morning poor Shelley got stung in the neck by a big, red wasp. She cried and it broke my heart. I treated her sting with antibiotic and Benadryl cream. I also had her take a Benadryl pill and a Vicodin for the pain. Then I put a bandage on it.

Turns out the neighbor has two fences back to back for a short distance, which makes for a fantastic lair for the fucks. I eradicated two nests with some wasp & hornet killer before I ran out of ammo. One was a red wasp nest; the other was a yellow jacket nest. They were quite angry. There was a little lizard hanging around later who was, I’m sure, dining on the carcasses.

Today the wasps were back. I was fresh out of poison, but I have some now. Today at sunset they die.

Now for some random internet stuff…

Happy 4th

The Weather Channel says it's 101 degrees with 27% humidity.

My digital thermocombobulator says it's 107 with 26% humidity.

Fajitas are on the grill.
Caroline dry ribs are on deck.

Have a happy Independence Day.

Happy 4th

I have manual labor and BBQ scheduled for this oppressively hot weekend.

Time: 6:15am
Temp: 78 degrees
Humidity: 81%

Yuck

Time: 2:52pm
Temp: 98 degrees
Humidity: 31%

My Wife...

...Decided she wants to take me to court instead of continuing to work toward a self-settled divorce, which both lawyers recommended.

I thought I was being the good guy. I thought I was doing everything right. Apparently not. Her attorney filed a motion of discovery. My attorney said I should call her. I did. Even sent a text message and an email. No reply. No nothing.

Sorry for the cryptic first-post of my wife I thought about posting from my cell phone while in the doctor's office, then hit the send button, but didn't cancel in time.

Mayday!

It is as hot and miserable as every here in Sunny South Central Texas - 103 degrees as I type.

Finally

Maybe now he'll shut the fuck up.

Road Trip

Shelley and I are off to Austin for the day. Do ya think I'll be able to get away from all the Michael Jackson coverage? Jesus...I hope so. It's enough that all the entertainment channels are covering it; I hardly think it's necessary to dedicate 80+% of the network evening news to his death.

Never Again