Now it’s time to figure out the next stage of building in the room for storage and organization.  So now that I have saw horses I can build my shelves.  That was the goal of this weekend.  Build my damn selves.

Here’s the stupidity pictures.  I also have to say hand tools are awesome but suck due to the amount of pain I feel right now.

Hopefully soon I’ll get to those pallets and what they can be used for other than bon fires.

I have to start off with my dog, my bad:

Forgot to buy a shower curtain, guess what we did instead with the extra one?

My friend and coconspirator smoking a cuban on night number one of living here:

Ooops, accidentally set my hand on fire with a giant USMC lighter:

The important things to build what we need:

Quick view of my room, I mentioned no furniture right?

Guess what my sleeping pad is

My trash can, cheap as hell

General storage of things like ammo, camping gear, cables and anything else that could fit into these

Laundry hamper:

guess the rifles before I build my new gun rack for the room

I’ll take some out door pictures tomorrow before we start working on my truck to get it running again so there will be before and after pictures.

Daffy did absolutely wonderful.  She has the instinct, she needs to do this.  Unfortunately I’m the one that needs to learn more.  I’m not that great at it.  With time I’m certain that will change.

Daffy got to chase sheep twice yesterday and had a blast.  She was so happy all day out there.  Makes me wish that we lived on a farm just so she could have this every day.  Maybe one day in the future she will.

She and I got there stupid early so we went walking through one of the fields and through a dry creek bed on the property.  While in the creek bed she saw a lizard and charged at it.  Once she caught it she consumed the little devil in no time flat.  It cracked me up.

Looks like for the next few months we’ll be going every other Saturday.  She’ll be a great herding dog

Right now I feel as I did before I move out west from Washington DC.  That is just being pure miserable, annoyed at everything and just all around depressed.  All of these things lead to me being self destructive and it just gets worse as time goes on.  I started thinking about this several months ago.  I’ve been seeing a doctor for personal reasons to try to get some of my problems sorted out and haven’t really been able to find the right solution to the issue at hand.

While it may sound crazy but San Diego is going to become what San Francisco was supposed to become.  This is my new Mecca.  Where things can change for me.  Obviously that failed the first time around but I fell into some pretty shitty situations once I got here.  Those just compounded onto the partying and one thing lead to another to where I’m at now.

Very recently things just fell into place almost perfectly for me.  A clown friend, from when I lived in the ware house, moved back to San Diego from Tennessee and needed a place.  I need to clear my head and change how I actually live my life.  Living with him is always awesome and good times.  We mesh very well on a lot of topics.  So I made a list of reasons why this is what I need to get my head straightened out and my body sobered up.

• More out doors
• Performing again
• Having a garden
• Hunting
• Hiking
• Camping
• Being able to do more DIY projects
• Warmer weather

These are really just the basics.  I said to someone the other day while dealing with all of this that “I need to put the farm back in the boy.”  Yes I always claim to be white trash and I did grow up on farms.  Getting back down to some basics, but still having the urban environment that I crave, will be exactly what needs to be ordered and served.  The only person who can do this is me.

It’s going to be weird like when I moved here that I won’t have Internet access at home.  I think this is a wonderful thing as it will make me start to do more, motivate me to stop wasting so much time.  I’m sure my phone will go off with meebo and texts and phone calls, but that’s easy enough to leave in my bedroom while I work outside.  I can also take my iPad with me to get a cup of coffee in the mornings and get my news that way.  Just like I did on my first major move in my life.

I could have always gone back home to Virginia but why would I move backwards?  I know I could rely on my sister to give me a hand, a couch to crash on, or even food.  That’s just not how I am though I need to continue to move forward.  I need to achieve my life’s goals and I need to do it while I’m happy not pissed off all the time.

Edit from Jan 2012:  This failed horribly.  Lessons have been learned.

To give her room to run, and figure out training her to come when she hears her name no matter what we hit up PetCo at first. I needed treats, more food, and crap bags. I also bought one of those extendable training leashes. What a great idea. She can run away from me, then I can call her, if that doesn’t get her attention a slight tug on the leash with her name gets her attention and she bounces right on over to sit and get a treat. It’s certainly a blast having a puppy and realizing that she can be a very good dog as long as I spent time playing with her, walking her around, and training her.

I wanted to hit up REI and Nordstrom yesterday. Still working on that mythical ultralight pack. I’m still aiming at 15 lbs minus food and water for spring, summer and fall, and should I ever decide to go where it’s snowy and cold up to 20 pounds. Down side is 2 pounds is always going to be taken for a bear box in certain areas of California. I also need to carry twice as much food and water because of Daffy.

Since California is mostly temperate, or fucking hot as hell, I really don’t need much in the way of a sleeping bag or quilt. For about 30 bucks, much cheaper than a quilt or bag, I found Thermo Lite 2.0 from Adventure Medical Kits. I had no idea they made things like this. I have three first aid kits from them of various weights depending on what could be needed. Modified them to have enough to survive as well keeping the weight under a pound, in some cases well under half a pound. That right there took about 2/3rds of a pound out of my gear. Good deal in my book!

As I mentioned in one of the first posts after I fixed hatred back up I’m rather out of shape and a bit over weight. I’ve been using RunKeeper Pro a lot more to keep track of most of the walking I do, either just to the store, and the walks Daffy and I take through Golden Gate or through the city. Tracking something definitely helps keep your goals in mind. Makes sure you’re not lazy. Too bad I forget to turn the damn thing on when we go for walks in the middle of the day or at night. A few more months of this and I should hit my weight goals and can set new ones.

I had forgotten what good music it is. Unfortunately I forgot that they are fans of the single eight bar loop played over and over while Genesis P-Orridge sings some rather off the wall crap, and the occasional sound out burst from other samples or instrumentation. Perhaps it was how tired I was but I couldn’t really get into it too much, not enough to dance, only bob my head. All in all I’m glad I got to see them. Chalk yet another band off my list that I have to see before either they, or I, die.

I’ve created Daffy’s page on hatred. This means that her dog collar now has 100% legitimate information. Registered with pet link, collared, has a tag, now she just needs her rabies shots, which she’s too young for. Just need to watch out for those Rabbis or else she might get infected *g*

One final note. Seems a lot of my neighbors have moved, probably due to the bad economy and needing something cheaper to live in, but there are these Iraqi’s next to me. I was taking out some trash and as usual I let Daffy follow me, she’s not going to be able to get out of the apartment building. The neighbors opened their door for some reason and all of a sudden she was like “ooh! open door and no leash!” She charged in all tail wagging, low to the ground showing she wasn’t a threat and everyone in there freaked out and started jumping on couches. I couldn’t stop laughing at it because Daffy was just being a puppy and wanting to meet new people. Oh the joys of fatherhood.

It’s been almost two months since Daffy came into my life and I have to say she’s quite the little bundle of joy and chaos. She’s generally pretty good, and listens when there aren’t other dogs or people around. Just gets too god damn excited for her own good.

We have been going to the fenced in dog park over by 38th and Fulton so she can be better socialized with dogs and work on no leash training. Unfortunately a good many times I’m there people have some pretty crappy dogs there. Ones that are gigantic, and meant for hunting, not being well behaved. They see Daffy running anywhere in that park and all of a sudden they start thinking rabbit and wanting to kill. It’s god damn frustrating.

The last time that happened we walked over to one of the lakes near the park and I let her off the leash so she could run around me as I walked. She saw her first mallard duck and went *bark* and chased it right into the lake. Obviously she has no issues going swimming like Banjo did. She was very happy when she got out of the water. Unfortunately for her that also meant bath time.

If any of my friends out there have dogs, add Daffy to their dog book

They all made cute little piggy grunts like Banjo used to, and probably still does.  They would wiggle when they walked around and kept in a pile nursing with their mother.  I couldn’t make a choice yesterday, but I believe the one in the picture is going to be the one.  She was adorable, seemed to have some personality, and was very clingy every time I held her.  This is almost like a mail order bride from Russia.

I also got to see the other litter the guy had.  I think it was seven or eight one week old cattle puppies, and they were very tiny and cute.  Can’t really tell much about them, but like I said, very cute.

Lucky for me, he had a year and half old girl from the mother I’m getting my puppy out of, and the color on her was incredible, the type of blue I really want.  The father of the litter was smart, and loved to jump, hopefully my dog will be a frisbee dog as she gets older.  This is going to be fun.

All the photos I took yesterday can be seen on my Flickr.