Category Politics

Once a Trump presidency became a scary reality there have been countless examples of just how inept, broken and dysfunctional of a human being the man was on so many levels.  Well you can add password security to his long list of flaws.  This story came to me via a podcast I subscribe to, Darknet Diaries which talks about a variety of IT hacking incidents and scenarios.  The last three episodes have told a pretty terrifying story of just how clueless and lazy our former Big League leader was/is in terms of password best practices.

Back in 2012 LinkedIn had a data breach that exposed millions of users personal data.  Some of that data included password hashes. When the breach was revealed of course LinkedIN eventually notified users and advised them to not only change their password on LinkedIn but also on any other sites that they use the same password on as it was now potentially exposed.

Several years later, in 2016, somebody had cracked a bunch of those password hashes and published it on the internet.  A group of ethical hackers in Denmark  called the Guild of Grumpy Old Hackers was looking at this data that was released into the wild.  They searched for various people and one of those people just happened to be the then presidential candidate, Donald Trump.  Donald did indeed have a LinkedIN account at the time of the breach.

So these guys for the heck of it went to Twitter and thought they would try the password that was exposed in the LinkedIN hack on Donald Trump’s Twitter account.  Yes the Twitter account that he cherished and bragged about to the world.  Imagine the hackers faces when they entered the 2012 LinkedIN password in the @realdonaldtrump sign in page, and it worked….   The guy was using the same password from the 2012 hack, which he surely used elsewhere as well.  The cherry on top was just how stupidly simplistic the password was, “yourefired”  I kid you not.   The ethical hackers after a lot of effort did eventually make US authorities aware of this gaping hole in basic password security and it was addressed.  So whew, crisis averted, I am sure Donald learned his lesson, right? Wrong.

Fast forward to October of 2020.  This same group of hackers were curious just how secure Trump’s Twitter account was leading up to the election as it had been weaponized to unleash disinformation at a torrid pace.  They had heard on the message boards that at Trump rallies they offered free wifi.  The password on that wifi was posted as “maga2020!!”  So the hackers first tried to verify if the account utilized 2FA (two factor authentication), a pretty standard safety practice present day that requires secondary verification by SMS or email when a logon is detected from a new location.  Surely the Twitter account of the president of the USA would have 2FA turned on.  It did not.

Once they confirmed 2FA was not on they tried variations on that wifi password that was posted on the internet.  It took them only five guesses until they guessed right, “maga2020!”  Yes, Trump’s Twitter password was “maga2020!”  The hackers were flabbergasted that four years after they found just how insecure Trump’s Twitter was, it still was, with another weak password and no 2FA.  They notified authorities and initially were not responded to.  They got frustrated and posted news of the breach, leaving out specifics, which finally got them a phone call from the Secret Service.  Trump, reacted as you would expect.  An inquiry by the Dutch authorities, surely pushed for by the Trump administration, was launched against the Grumpy Hackers who have documented over 5000 ethical hacking cases where they find vulnerabilities and report them so they can be fixed instead of exploited.  The investigation found the Grumps innocent of wrong doing, thankfully.

As I began with, unless you are a MAGA worshiping cultist, you already knew the level of incompetence that was circling around the White House for the last four years.  However I am thankful that we have groups like the Grumpy Old Hackers to protect us from lazy, sloppy, ignorant, yet powerful individuals that don’t know/care enough to do the basics to help prevent a cybersecurity breach.

Yesterday I had one of those dream days for solar production.  The entire day was bright and sunny resulting in the big output curve graph you see to the left.  This type of production happens a lot for the next 3-4 months so hopefully we can start digging into the overall power deficit that exists so far.

Last night I shot a quick video based on a suggestion from a 3D store customer.  They suggested that I demonstrate how the stands should be assembled, something I took for granted because it honestly is pretty simple.  However I decided it couldn’t hurt and put together this roughly 8 minute how to.

I heard Trump already has vacated the White House, abandoning the presidency and the tradition that existed since 1869 where the outgoing president participated in the inauguration ceremony of the incoming president as part of the smooth and peaceful transition of power.  As ridiculous and appropriately childish Trump’s decision to take his ball and go home is, in the big picture it’s better not having him there.  It’s one less reminder of the utter insanity he has cultivated the last four years among his indoctrinated following that somehow have been programmed to abandon common decency, values, and respect in exchange for blindly following every ridiculous work out of president Big League’s mouth.

Like everyone that doesn’t have a MAGA hat in their closet, I am hoping the inauguration takes place without another round of violence.  It appears more appropriate precautions are being taken this time.  Tomorrow will finally be a bright new day without an orange spray tanned buffoon making policy decisions based on what feeds his ravenous ego while benefiting the rich and powerful that kiss the ring.

Goodbye Donald Trump.  Your four years in office made racism rise again, greed good again, and ignorance in vogue.  We never had a president like you and hopefully we never will again.

I, like the rest of the country, well the portion of the country that has not been the victim of four years of deliberate psychological manipulation, watched in disgust as a mob of die hard Trump acolytes got whipped into a frenzy by the grand leader himself and then proceeded to invade the US capitol buildings.  Their activities included breaking barricades, climbing walls, breaking windows and infiltrating interior sections of the building, including the floor of congress itself.  It was the ultimate shit show of an already exhaustively long list of atrocious behavior both committed personally and/or encouraged by Donald Trump.  It was the result of a childish temper tantrum by a 74 year old child who simply can’t accept an outcome that he did not want.

Now I have to question, like many media sources, just how this was allowed to happen.  It appeared the capitol police in many places were not very prepared or forceful in turning away the red faced MAGA hat wearing lunatics.  Since this protest has been planned, talked about and predicted for MONTHS, somebody seriously dropped the ball.  Reporters also mentioned that if this were Black Lives Matter protestors there is absolutely no way they would get to the interior of the buildings, they would have been stopped in their tracks by an overwhelming use of force. I would not at all be surprised if the orders to only slow but not impede the protestors came from higher, much higher up the chain of command.

To have this spectacle taking place and be ignited, promoted, and desired by the president of the country is surreal.  This is the sort of thing dictators do which is more or less what we have born witness to during Trump’s term.  You either cater to his wishes and desires, legal or not, or you are out.  When Trump did his ridiculous message to “calm” the crazies by telling them we were cheated out of the landslide victory, the election was stolen, he loved them, but it was now time for them to go home I wanted to reach through the screen and choke him.  I thought it was hilarious and overdue that Twitter and Facebook locked his accounts so he was cut off from spewing more gas onto the bright burning fire.  I hope they never allow him access to social media again, he is far more dangerous than Alex Jones.

So Congress did eventually resume and certify the vote just like they had to.  There were a few sparks of sanity that were revealed as a handful of the congressman that originally said they were going to participate in election fraud results protest changed their mind after Trump’s stunt and ensuing madness.  It’s good to know that not everybody is a lemming.  Even Mike Pence had to eventually deal in reality, admitting he had no power to overturn state election results which of course infuriated Trump too. Hell you know Donald has lost his mind when Pat Robertson, a well established Trump devotee and an impressive whacko resume of his own even said that Trump is living in his own reality and needs to move on.

So there has been a strong reaction to this as you would hope.  There was talk of the 25th Amendment being enacted when a president has proven he is unable to perform his duties.  Some say, heck he only has two weeks left, how much damage can he do?  Yesterday was proof just how bad it can be and just how disconnected from reality the man is.  I am sure he actually enjoyed having his zealots rampage and destroy.

I was angry and disgusted, enough that I posted on my Facebook account an unfriend request to anyone that was enthused by the events that occurred yesterday.  If you voted for Trump in 2016, ok, there are various reasons to do so, you didn’t necessarily need to be a racist, gun worshiping, light thinking, individual to cast that vote.  Maybe you just were a wealthy me firster that doesn’t care much about the greater good or you really disliked Hilary Clinton and the way the DNC rammed it to Bernie.  However if you still are gulping the Trump Kool Aid after the last four years and the abhorrent actions since the election was over, you’re officially a cultist and I have no interest interacting with cult mentality.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for you in the future to wake up, I can only hope that happens, but I am not going to be the one to do it for you, so adios.

I have said it many times, especially in the last four years because it is absolutely true.  Joesph Stalin said, correctly, that “A lie told often enough, eventually becomes the truth…”  Trump has proven it again and again and again.

Since the election has been over I have been trying to do my best to focus on the opportunity for brighter times ahead sans King Big League and all of idiocy that his presidential dumpster fire tenure has created.  However I still find myself getting sucked back into the pathetic and downright disgusting manipulation he continues to inflict on his brainwashed base.  All of the failed election lawsuits have been nothing more than a smoke screen which has been utilized to wring every last penny possible from Trump lovers in a very Scientology-esque manner.  As long as the narrative is “there is still a chance Trump can win” the dollars keep getting deposited into his “election defense fund” which he can use for whatever the F he wants to use it for.

The thing that also disturbs me today, perhaps even more than it has for the last four years is just how many of my ex-classmates have gotten swept away by this tidal wave of psychological manipulation, hypocrisy, and fraud.  Not a single one of these people have been able to free themselves from the ironclad grip of Trumpism where wrong is right, hate is love, bullying is cool, and greed is good.  The only cure I have found for myself is to release these people from my virtual circle of existence in social media.  Seeing the end results of what Trump has done to them serves no useful purpose in my life, it only incites depression and sadness.  I either drop them completely or just block seeing anything they do.

Well today I discovered I missed one of these individuals and saw he responded to this ridiculous post made by someone with access to Trumps social media.

  Now that the Biden Administration will be a scandal plagued mess for years to come, it is much easier for the Supreme Court of the United States to follow the Constitution and do what everybody knows has to be done. They must show great Courage & Wisdom. Save the USA!!!

This is the same stuff he has been posting for weeks to extend the big lie which continues to make his wallet fatter and fatter.

So anyway this person chose to respond and did so in a manner that made it seem like he thought Big Don would actually read his response out of the more than 200,000 that already did.  It went as follows.

Sir, if the election results are not corrected, and biden assumes the office of President of the United States, could you spearhead an independent watchdog group to oust corruption from our great country?

The hypocrisy, the lunacy, the insanity of not only this person but anyone that insists on playing this charade is representative of just how broken our society is after four years of being ruled by the closest thing to a dictator that our country has ever seen.  The man has done permanent damage to the minds of so many Americans I just don’t see how recovery and healing can ever be achieved.

Getting Trump out was step one but the real end game is winning those two remaining Senate races in Georgia so we can finally remove Mitch McConnell, who is one of the most bought and paid for politicians of my lifetime, out of a position of power.  He has single handedly been holding up the new Covid package because he refuses to move on any bill that does not include a clause to give corporations legal covid immunity so employees are unable to sue an employer if they are knowingly put into risky situations.  Mitch does what he is paid to do by his corporate puppet masters.  He does so in plain sight with no apologies, and we allow him to do so.

I took Monday off to give myself a three day weekend.  It was initiated because Dan, who also visited us last year is coming down on Sunday.  We plan to do another joint EUC ride, this time into the swamp.  I figured extending my weekend through Monday would help balance things out.  With the cold front and less rain weekly grass maintenance should not be required for a few months which is always nice.  I am looking forward to getting out on the Sherman for some extended ride time as well.  It feels like I have so many little things that I would like to have time to do recreationally that I just don’t manage to pull off.

The news is reporting that Donald Trump has raised an obscene amount of money since the election as part of his “Election Defense Fund”.  The number they were throwing around was something like 200 million dollars was scammed from Trump lovers that gobbled up the bullshit that was being fed to them.  The same article said if you count the money that came in in late October the total dollar amount approaches a half BILLION dollars.

This fleecing of individuals financially to this degree is something you normally would associate with TV preacher congregations who much like Trump speak loudly to gain influence, regardless of the amount of truth in their words.  I can hardly wait until the state of New York district attorney gets his opportunity to prosecute Big Don on his numerous criminal acts the day after inauguration.  Never in my lifetime have I felt like an individual was more deserving of any and all retribution against them than Mr Big League.  I can only hope it happens.

So after two and a half months my Veteran Sherman finally arrived, the most expensive PEV I have ever purchased.  I unboxed the wheel on a live stream as that normally makes for somewhat interesting content.  After unboxing it I noticed shortly thereafter that there had been a mistake, the wheel had the wrong tire installed.  The Sherman normally comes with a large knobby tire but also can be ordered with a normal street tire if you desire.  I selected the knobby tire with my order as that was what was on the demo unit I tested several months back, and I liked it.  My frustration and disappointment in this discovery was captured on stream.

I emailed the dealer on stream as well, informing them of the mistake.  Others watching the stream reported that this was not an issue just I was having, others reported the same deal, ordering a knobby tire and getting the street version.  Jason from Ewheels emailed me back within a few minutes confirming the mistake not only with my wheel but with many others.  Evidently they were told that all of the wheels from the manufacturer were the knobby tire variety.  They assumed what they were told was true and shipped the units out without verifying.  It turns out about 20% of the wheels had the wrong tire.

So Jason asked if I would be ok with them just sending me a knobby tire.  I agreed, knowing that doing so meant I was signing up for the rather arduous process of tearing down the wheel to replace the rubber.  It wasn’t a scenario that appealed to me but the idea of going through the hassle and additional delay of sending the entire wheel back and waiting for another was even less appealing.  Plus swapping out the tire will make for good YouTube content so that is the route I am taking.

The stream went on for close to three hours somehow.  It spun off into various tangents along the way like VR, old gaming consoles and a bunch of other stuff.  After it wrapped up I did take the Sherman out for 5 minutes into the very chilly night air.  We have our most significant cold front this year right now, temps this morning were in the low to mid-40s.

I thought it was hilarious as Don has continued to spew “rigged election” everywhere he can, William Barr, who has ruined his reputation backing up Trump’s various sideshows came out yesterday and said definitively that there was NO evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election.  I was rather surprised that a well established boot licker like Barr would make such a statement and I wonder how long it is until Trump calls him a loser too.  I guess unlike Republicans that are still in congress who have to continue to act like they support Trump else face repercussions from the lunatic fringe diehards, Barr doesn’t really need to give two f’s if he appeases the lamest of duck President anymore.  It really does sadden me that so many people continue to live in this hateful, ignorant, delusional world that Donald Trump has created.

I bet I spent at least a couple hours last night putting stands together, building parts, and doing work on the store.  It’s all in preparation for my first ever Black Friday sale where I plan to offer a straight 15% discount across the board on everything.  I have no clue if this will be a big incentive for buyers or not but I am making sure I have a good amount of inventory in case it really hits home.  As is with all of my costs my profit margin on the stands is not huge but I still think it will be fun to see if the little promo makes up for that in volume.

So it looks like Sidney Powell’s claims, you know the ones I had to refute to multiple people on Facebook about this massive vote flipping conspiracy courtesy of the Dominion voting hackers, has officially been debunked by the Trump administration itself.  Yesterday the poster child for insanity, Rudy Guilliani had to admit that Powell was even more full of shit than he is and cut her and her conspiracy theory that so many Trump adorers were clinging to like their lives depended on it, loose.

Likely not coincidentally Trump finally relented and allowed the transition to Biden begin officially, without him actually admitting he lost, of course.  I was thinking about the year or more Trump spent talking shit about Biden, calling him sleepy, creepy, do nothing, and of course, a loser.  I recall at one of his cult rallies he said something to the effect that he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose to someone that is a loser like Biden which of course drew thundering applause and laughter.  I guess Donald is finding what that scenario is like now.

Granted Trump has never been a deep thinker so I am sure when he saw red faced crowds cheering him on incessantly for the last four years he really believed that most of America loved him.  Hell why wouldn’t they based on how much Donald already loved himself?  To have the ice cold reality water thrown on his face seems to have shocked the man baby to his core, with his reaction being to go take his golf ball home with him while he hides on the golf course as the ridiculous charade about the election results continued on.  It’s fitting that he is deciding to go out just like he governed, embarrassing the country to the very end.

When you have an ego the size of Trump’s, losing to someone you so vehemently attacked as being weak, senile and a disaster, is an insult of the most damaging sort.  It seriously could not happen to a more deserving individual.

I like many others in America breathed a large sigh of relief when Biden was officially announced as the winner of the 2020 election.  Also like many others I have cringed at the reactions of the hardcore Trump acolytes that believe he shits gold.  To give the Trump election strategists credit, their carefully crafted, systematic dissemination of misinformation was well planned and necessary because they saw the writing on the wall.  Their only chance for success was to try to break the back of the USPS while at the same time sowing gigantic seeds of doubt ahead of time about the results that they already knew were going to occur based on data.  It was a valiant effort but it failed.  The various legal challenges that were filed are dropping like flies based on a lack of merit as well but that was already expected as well, it was all to keep building on the narrative that the only way Trump loses at anything is when someone else has cheated.  It’s classic physiological manipulation, accusing others of doing what you are actually perpetrating yourself.

So anyway as I have mentioned many times over the last four years I mostly have dropped out of social media discussions with Trump supporters.  However now that he is on his way out, willingly or not, I have felt more inclined to call out blatant falsehoods that are still being thrown around like candy to the hungry Trump baby birds.  I mentioned how an ex-coworker of mine prior to the election was spreading the lie about Biden wanting to enact a national 3% property tax which I quickly debunked in 15 seconds with a simple search of factcheck.org.  Well evidently since the election loss this person is still busy spreading falsehoods and this one was a doozy.

There is a story being circulated that some massive fraud was committed by changing results on voting machines.  Michael Flynn’s lawyer is the one going on a bunch of shows promising a huge truth bomb would be dropped about this.  Of course she refuses to give any additional details or sources, she just says it so that is all many Trump supporters need to pick up the ball, run with it, and spread the lie across any social media platform they can.

Well once again it required nothing more than another simple search to debunk this BS as well.  The article on factcheck.org laid out the supposed conspiracy and why it is utter nonsense quite clearly, with sources and facts, something many Trump supporters feel are only for weak losers.  After all remember the President saying him retweeting false stories like this was not an act of irresponsibility it was just him throwing shit out there with no concern of validity or fact checking.  His supporters have clearly adopted a similar strategy.

So when I posted the clear rebuke of the story the ex-coworker came back with the perfect response to characterize the mindset of many Trump supporters. “you will never change my mind. The voting was a total disaster. Biden”  In other words, I don’t care about the truth and don’t even bother try to use facts against me as I am immune to them.

Another ex-classmate was posting the same nonsense and we had a longer exchange about it that went as follows.

Me – I appreciate the attempt at injecting reality into the conversation but it truly is like spitting into the wind in some circles, pointless.

MAGA – in my humble opinion, you’re both showing how closed minded liberals are, right now. This post is about our election process, and the appearance of impropriety, nothing else. I want to believe that our elections are undisputably accurate and honest. AND, I’m ok with whoever wins such an election. However, if you can look at all the potential fraudulence, and not want it looked into and corrected, then, quite frankly, YOU are the problem

Me – Sorry man, can’t go there with you. Facts and realities slide off your crew like teflon. I’m no liberal, I guess I am just more immune than some to mass brain washing. Phil and I will take our critical thinking “problem” minds elsewhere and let the ranting here continue uninterrupted.

After he said he would pray for me. I posted the same truth bomb that discredited the theory with this smart ass disclaimer – I know this is scary as it is factual but I risk sharing it here as a final attempt to startle you back into reality

MAGA – Keep your back handed, passive aggressive insults to yourselves. I’m not attacking any one. I hope this article is for real, but it does skirt some of the concerns being brought to light. Personally, I think we should vote in person, and dip our finger in ink when we do. Subsequently, representatives from all sides should be present to tally the votes. Avoid the perception of impropriety, and results would be easier to trust.

I left him alone after this as is always the case, no minds will be changed via social media, the core of your belief system will only be reinforced.

So Eta continued to be a pain in the ass for us yesterday.  After hooking around in the gulf not only did it briefly intensify to a cat 1 hurricane, it also drifted more east, closer to us.  The east side of a hurricane is always the wetter and windier side of things.  Looking at the forecast on Dark Sky I saw outside of a brief 1-2 hour window in the morning it was likely to be raining all day.  I viewed that as my opportunity to get my greatly reduced tree trimming task done.  The guy I am paying to do the rest was supposed to show up yesterday but didn’t because of the storms which wasn’t unexpected.  What moron trims trees during a tropical storm? This moron.

In total I trimmed 15 trees.  Of those about half of them required me to use the ladder.  Instead of using my battery powered sawz-all I went old school and used the loppers for all of the trimming.  Because of the precipitation I thought using an electric power tool may not be a great idea.  It was not pleasant as you can imagine.  Working on a wet ladder while gusty wind is buffeting you is a little dangerous.  I also almost got the Tacoma stuck by the back fill pit.

I backed down towards the pit as I always would, not accounting for how wet the ground was.  When I tried to pull out I only got a couple inches until the tires started to spin.  I did a few gentle rocking maneuvers to try to free myself to no avail.  I didn’t go nuts gunning the motor as digging a wet muddy gully would have only made it worse.  I was thinking I may have to do the walk of shame to the neighbor to ask him to pull me out but I decided to try one more thing.

In the shed I founds good sized piece of 1/2″ plywood.  I lugged it out back and put it behind the tire that was spinning.  I couldn’t move forward at all so I thought if I rolled back onto the wood and then got some traction and momentum I could break free.  Imagine my surprise when my plan actually worked.  I triumphantly returned to pick up more branches, happy in that moment that my stubbornness and resourcefulness served me well. In total I worked a little more than three hours on the project, a far cry from the 8-9 hours it can take when doing everything.  I decided to take the last two days of this already fragmented week off so I would be around for whenever the tree trimmer gets here.

So the Trump denial show continues on.  All of the cast of characters that have been licking his boots all along are scared to tell it like is, fearing retribution from the Trumpers that they are now beholden to.  It’s really insane.  The ability of the man to mind control such a large portion of American society is indeed terrifying.  I swear if he told people the best way to water plants was with Gatorade, they would accept it, blindly. Idiocracy  fans will need no explanation.  Of course the more he denies, the more he pouts, the more he sues, the more he insists in living in a self created reality, the funnier it is going to be when he leaves.  Of course what is not funny is the damage he can do on the way out the door.

Saturday was on the light side as far as outdoor chores go.  I only weeded and mowed the new bahia grass areas that seem to grow faster than everything else.  I did have things to do inside that helped fill the day as well.  During the day the headlines had both good and bad news.  The bad news was tropical storm ETA which is ridiculously late in the year and has had a crazy zig zag path so far was going to definitely impact south Florida.  The good news was the election was officially called for Joe Biden, an outcome that was expected for days. The networks were very careful to make sure it was a certainty before making the declaration, because of the lunatic sitting in the White House.  Well, technically he was on the golf course, again, when the news broke.

Cindy and I, along with millions of other Americans were thrilled with the election officially being called.  With it dragging on all week I almost felt like I do when the Eagles have a two touchdown lead going into the fourth quarter and drop into a prevent defense.  I just did not trust a win could really happen until it finally did.  Trump’s reaction was what you would expect, pestilent, childish, and defiant.  The irony of him being proven to be what he loves calling countless others, a loser, was precious.  Cindy and I watched Biden’s speech Saturday night and I thought it came off well, focusing on non-partisanship, addressing issues head on, and moving away from divisive speech and actions that only fosters conflict instead of resolution.  For the first time in a long time, I actually feel hopeful about the future.

On Saturday night we picked up food from another local restaurant.  When I went inside there was not a mask to be seen except on the face of waitresses.  There was no attempt to socially distance the tables either.  I guess since the governor declared “Phase 3” it basically opened the doors to restaurants not giving a fck about covid preventative measures, which is a mistake IMO, just look at the steady rise in the spread. We enjoyed our food while watching the new Borat movie.  It had the same raunchy humor as the original which was cringe worthy at times but I still lol’d quite a bit.  I’d give it a B.

On Sunday ETA’s forecast path remained threatening to our area as it was forecast to cross just south of the Keys before hooking back towards Florida later in the week.  The main impact for us looked to be rain but they were talking about the winds touching hurricane cat 1 force potentially so we wanted to take some precautions.  We moved a lot of plants out of the landscape and lanai.  We also pulled down the solar sail off the pergola and secured stuff in the chicken area as well.  It wasn’t a huge task, only taking maybe 90 minutes or so. As we got later into the day the winds picked up as did the rain squalls but it wasn’t anything eclipsing some of strong storms we get routinely during the summer.

Later in the afternoon I shot a video inside since riding was out of the question.  In it I talked about how I just sold another one of my wheels to make room for the Veteran Sherman which is supposed to arrive late this month.  I also talked about the approaching storm and a recurring issue that people are seeing with their new “hollow motor” type wheels.

So before bed I glanced at my phone and saw a number of missed text messages.  Surprisingly to me, they decided to close our office today.  I don’t think it was because it would have been that difficult to get to work.  It more likely was because Collier decided to close school today so that would have became a baby sitting nightmare for a number of staff.  I welcome the day off of course, even if I think it wasn’t really necessary.  Hell we are off on Wednesday for Veterans Day as well so this will be a light week of work for sure.

So I got my estimate from the tree guy.  When I first talked to him he quoted me $26 to trim each cabbage palm tree.  When he was out looking at the work we also talked about him cleaning up the two oak trees in the front of the house.  We did not talk about the cost of doing so but in my mind I assumed it would be a similar cost to trim the oaks as well.  I got an email with the estimate and had some sticker shock with a quote of $185 to trim up the big oak and $135 to do the smaller one.  My reflex reaction was to email him back and say that we can drop the oak trees from the scope of work.  However after sleeping on it I decided to have them do the oaks as well.  The oak trimming will be much more involved where they will be lifting and shaping the tree which takes time.  The oaks have never been professionally trimmed so I feel ok laying out the chunk of money to have it done right.

Today once the rain slows down I plan to take advantage of the mostly clear pool deck by getting out the pressure washer and give it a quick descuzz cleaning.  Did you think I was going to sit around and eat bon bons all day?