Discovery - One Man's Struggle with Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness...: 2 Week is 2 Strong for the Nue Nee

Part of what I did for 3 weeks while I was at my daughter's house was take care of a lot of small honey-do's, some of which were generated from dog damage like repairing a power cord to a wet vac that was chewed nearly in two by one of the dogs.

Kind of amazing to me that most people, especially women, don't have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to do these sort of small repairs.

I made sure my daughter saw how I did it and had her do a repair on a lamp cord further down the road.

My daughter's house is an older home and the shower has a window to the outside which I absolutely loved.

I'm not a big rice eater, but my daughter loves it so I made sure she had a good batch of brown rice that I mixed with cooked veggies and meat in a cast iron skillet.

Had need for a sump pump so went to Lowe's and bought the cheapest one they had.

And more tools for all the electrical repairs I was doing.

And here's where the sump pump came in - pumping out a pool that hadn't been in service for nearly 3 years.

Remember I am doing all this 10 days post Total Knee Replacement which is pretty remarkable.

I always had my crutch with me but it was mostly to keep the dogs from jumping on me! It really worked. I noggin knocked one of them - Blue the Catahoula - a light tap on the top of the head and from then on out, as long as I had the crutch in my hand, they kept a 6' distance from me.

Making progress on the pump down of the pool.

One of the creatures in the pool wetlands - a frog perched on a stick in the pool.

Keeping the tradition of dessert coffee alive and well.

Getting ready to feed the dogs..... like I said I always had my crutch attention getter in hand when dealing with the dogs.

More repairs - this one to a split in the pump out hose.

And this one to the extension cord the dogs nearly chewed in two.

No problem - back in business.

Pretty simple set up. Hose screws directly on the discharge of the sump pump....

Lower it down into the water.

The yard wasn't bad but definitely needed a thorough Spring Cleaning!

Including hauling off debris from the garage cleanout.

And trimming back bushes around the pool.

First thing I do before I ask anybody to do a significant amount of work - like the yard cleanup will be - is to write out a Scope of Work.

How can you expect a contractor to do something if you don't know yourself what you want done?

A detailed Scope of Work puts you both on the same page - no misunderstandings, no miscommunications.....

Just get the work done.

Creating a happy face for breakfast before my Rehab session.

Staying in the 165 - 170 zone post - op. This is the best weight for me!

At 22 gpm, it took a while to pump down the swamp water in the pool.

Spotted a hole around the pool light that needed to be caulked up.

Looking good Hollywood!

At Rehab doing the heavy band in all 4 directions with both legs.

And of course, getting the shock and cold treatment at the end.

Debris from the yard cleanup!

Now that looks better!

The lawn service contractor -a Go To guy I've used for many years - did a good job on the yard including trimming back the shrimp bushes along the driveway.

And cutting back the bamboo and vines that had completely blocked off the access to the back yard through the fence gate.

Hey - I can walk around the pool now!

Putting a drawer roller on the back of the silverware drawer so it doesn't fall out of the cabinet every time you go to get a fork or knife.

This is a good drawer with the roller present.

And here's the silverware drawer with the roller missing.

Reason is the screw holes are wallowed out...... Hmmmm.

Pool is almost pumped out and there is all kind of leaves and debris at the bottom of the thing.

That's gonna be a fun job to clean out..... Stay tuned on that one.

Wonderful "Special Plate" at my favorite Mexican Food dive - El Jimador in Clute Tx.

Taking a look at the overgrown creek access at the back of my daughter's property.

Scouring the garage and gathering tools for the project work to come.

Deboning a Walmart chicken and making a Primal Big Ass Salad!

Scoping more jobs at my daughter's house like sheetrock work.

And researching options to replace 750 ft2 of tile downstairs - I love stained concrete!

Damn boy - all this work has you staying lean!

Now there's a contrast in forecasts!

Looking at other floor options including engineered wood systems aka wood laminate.

And gathering more materials for more projects at my daughter's house - I don't think there had been any maintenance done on this house in 3 or 4 years and I just couldn't stand by and do nothing.

That's Who and How I am.

I got upgraded from a Toyota Corolla to a Chevy Impala LT on my month long rental and it was the perfect car for me -

Fast and Roomy!

With the back seats down, i was like a covered truck bed!

Making another HEB grocery run.

Now these are weird.

1st layer is Fruits and Veggies - who shops like this anyway?

I do!

2nd layer is proteins with nuts and dark chocolate added.

Another Big Ass Primal Salad with some Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and almonds for dessert.

Now that's a Paleo Pretty Fridge!

And that's a fixed silverware drawer!

Making progress.

Another honey-do was to replace the rear entrance door knob with a simple knob since there was already a deadbolt.

Another job bites the dust!

Fixing a lamp with another dog severed cord.

I made my daughter do the wiring and taping on this one so she knew how.

Pretty good job......

That's a $5 fix for a $25 lamp.

And that's a pile of thin cut Pork Chops with my standard seasoning.

Seasoned Meat Tenderizer
Salt and Pepper
Mix of Curry blend, Garam Masala and Turmeric.
Forked hard on both sides.

Making a lunch for my daughter before she leaves for her nursing job at 5:00 am.

This took 5 - 10 minutes and will set her up for healthy eating for the rest of the day.

My philosophy is you have to show people how simple and easy healthy eating is.