Then I watch movies.
Every morning, on my way to work, I drive up the interstate. At a certain point, on a certain bridge there is a dead raccoon on the 3 foot shoulder. A big one. Each day I look for it to see how much it’s decayed since the day before. It’s been weeks since I first spotted it. This is the only thing that changes on my morning commute. Eventually it will disappear.
This weekend I was moving a roll of chicken wire off the side area of my storage building and a bunch of critters started moving. I saw a large lizard scamper off and then I saw a snake. I grabbed my rifle with the snake shot cartridges, crept up and pulled the trigger. It blew the snake out of the roll and onto the cement on the other side. I then realized it was a Checkered Gartner Snake (see photo) and not every poisonous, but I still don’t like snakes.
I woke up at 6:30 AM on Sunday and hooked up my boat in the dark. I was at the 360 bridge boat dock by 7:45am where a friend met me with his two young sons for a fishing trip. Fishing with two young kids is a lot of work. Lots of tangled lines. We didn’t catch anything and after we showed the kids how to drive the boat that’s all they wanted to do. We meandered through the coves of Lake Austin where the insanely rich people live. I felt sorry for them after seeing their homes and backyards. I would never live that way.
I spent most of weekend outside working on the garden and my hands are cut up and sore. I use the riding lawnmower for most everything now. I go places. Around the land that is. I pull heavy panes of bull fence with it. I pull logs. I haul stuff in a trailer I hitch to it. Mostly dirt, mulch, branches, weeds and wood. I enjoy it. I feel like an old man doing chores and it’s peaceful. While I haul and pull stuff I have the mower engaged to cut so I can multi-task. I did accidentally knock over an entire 36 pod planter full of exotic pepper seeds when I got the trailer too close to the table. It ruined the seeds and I was pissed to watch $25 worth of materials tumble to the ground. I made up the money later in the day:
A year or so ago I posted a bad review about a business on Yelp. The business contacted me this weekend and we negotiated a deal wherein I would take down their bad review and instead write a good review. The cost? $800. This is much more complicated than I’m making it sound right now and in a way the money is the only way they can make it right by me. Somehow though, I got a slight feeling that my opinion was for sale. I was okay with that. I could’ve gotten more for this, but like I said, it’s complicated and I didn’t want to gouge them.
When night fall comes it’s time to stop. I can work through the rain and I did this weekend as I don’t mind getting wet, but it’s too dark out in the far part of the yard to continue. I put away the tools and go in for a shower and watch movies or read. Here are some movies I’ve seen recently:
The Big Year – I keep picking up movies I have no idea about. I just saw this had a bunch of funny people in it (Jack Black, Steve Martin & Owen Wilson) and thought it would be good. It wasn’t. It’s about bird watchers entering a contest to see who can see the most birds in a year. Basically, you have to travel around the US keeping track of how many different birds you can see. This movie is way too long and not funny at all. Terrible godamn movie. I can’t believe I watched this godamned thing. I was actually mad at myself when it was over.
Take Shelter – If a movie has anything to do with the apocalypse then I’m going to watch it, but this movie is also way too long. Just get in the damn shelter already. Anyhow, I got it because it stars Michael Shannon who plays a great role in Boardwalk Empire. He has a strange missing link look to him and I wanted to see him in a different character. He plays a guy named Curtis who starts having these detailed dreams about the apocalypse and it starts to drive him crazy in his waking life. It drives him to the edge and beyond. Everyone around him is certain he’s gone crazy, especially when he takes out a loan to build a huge bomb shelter and freaks out at the Lion’s Club dinner. I bet this is what Harold Camping told everyone at his Family Radio Doomsday Church to do. Suckers.
In Time – This is a really good idea, but the political satire in this film beats you over the head every few minutes. The class war idea can’t be more obvious. I guess it could be more obvious, but only if Justin Timberlake (the star) turned to the camera and said, “See how this is just like how things are today, except told in a different way?” In the future they drive 2010 Dodge Challengers, ’67 Lincolns with suicide doors and ’86 Ford Broncos that make flying car sounds. That being said, the currency is now time and humans are genetically enginered to stop aging at 25 and then die 1 year later if they don’t earn more time. Coffee cost 4 minutes of your life, a fancy car costs 59 years, you get paid daily in time and so on. The poor people in the ghetto live day to day, literally and the rich have centuries and are seemingly immortal. This movie quickly turns into a futuristic Bonnie and Clyde / Robin Hood movie. While entertaining it was still a bit silly.
Then I went over and looked at the neighbors new chickens. Nothing like a new chicken.