balloon bouquets

 i noticed that when adults order balloon bouquets for us to deliver to other adults they invariably ask that the flowers be shaped like human genitalia. I asked Olive why they do that and she said "Oh that's my idea." I didn't know she was including that in her pitch. lol.

chingassos

 Thunderdome. An out-of-town clown asked us to swing by the Burnside skate spot. We were happy to go take a look. As soon as we got there it was a whole nuther kind of entertainment. Supafights! Folks started tussling and brawling in the street amid a dirt bike tearing up and down the road. Hilariously just in front of them were two ambulances. We rolled by everything seemingly invisible to all. Everyone looked right through us. It was cool. That is a situation where it helps to be invisible. The ambulance people recognized us and welcomed us back but never took their eyes off the rear view mirror. We were all laughing at how convenient it is for them to be there...or is it? The fight seemed to be following us. I locked eyes with one of the combatants as he was (dig this) swinging a small skillet attached to a belt as a weapon. With it he was keeping two dudes at bay. He never let the belt extend too far so I'm calling it a sound life hack. I bet that dude has some stories, hope I never hear them. We kept going exploring the Portland and saying Hi to everyone.

To grandfather's house to work we go.

 

inferno pie

Working out in the country clearing Ivy and rotten logs. Here is how we did lunch.

 

Ant Farm cafe in Sandy.

Great to see progressives doing good things for the world while also fixing up a delicious cup of coffee. Olive brought me here to show her hometown is about more than Trump rallies and anti-mask crusaders like we see in the news all the time. Not surprised the coffee was delish Sandy is one of the few places where the tap water is actually better than Portland water. I felt guilty showering in it.

The only thing I found disappointing was the profound lack of actual ant farms. I was looking forward to watching them. It seemed like there would be one on every wall and table.

THEY DONT SELL ICE CREAM.

2017-2021 I just checked my fave spill! It's almost gone. Some folks know I have been a fan of this peculiar Portland landmark. A legend in my own mind. It is the spilled Ice cream Sunday in my favorite Mexican restaurant. I'm not mentioning the name on purple. It lasted from 2017-2020. I first saw it when it was freshly spilled full ice cream Sunday complete with , dome lid, pink spoon sprinkles and a cherry. Had I known it would become furniture (and one of the few constants in my life) I would have photographed it. I followed it's journey of inertia as it slowly fell apart, spread out and dried up. Over the years it lost it's bling but Spilly persisted. It survived a remodel. One day a tv shoot was happening! I ran in...still there phew. I checked in on it a lot. It was always there. I even ran interference once when I thought an employee was too near it with a wet rag. I had to draw them away without drawing attention to the stain. Good old fake seizure did the trick. Whew that was close. The best part is that this place doesn't sell ice cream. THEY DONT SELL ICE CREAM. Do you see why I am so impressed? It was a literal snowball in hell. I loved it. It's a survivor in an otherwise cleanish eatery just like me. I'm sweet and all blown out too. I'm gonna call this case closed. Spilly RIP. you will be missed.

THEY DONT SELL ICE CREAM

 

Picked up the Behemoth today

Picked up the Behemoth today. It looks amazing. It feels like a new rig. WooHoo! It's first ride in a year was a 13 mile ride home. Lots of folks were cheering and hollering my name while others just simply said "There e is!" A long ride home really is the best way to bring this thing back into the fold. I'm so winded. I thought something was wrong with the gears until I remembered that I'm out of shape. Olive followed me home in a car blowing kisses at me the whole time. Having her dood whole really has made her a happy camper. Thanks for the refurb Veno!

I'm so grateful to the folks who pitched in. This refurb was mostly paid for by donations to oliveanddingo.com.

 

Spider attack!

 Olive cracked me up last night. She needed my assistance removing a spider. She knows I won't kill them but she reminded me that murder was an option. The offending organism was on the ceiling of the kitchen. I scooped the monster up with a plastic tub and a lid. She asked if it could push the lid off "Hon, it's smaller than the glint of my eye. I think we got it good and apprehended." I asked her if she wanted to see it "No I don't wanna look at it! Get it out of here." As I walked outside she peeked around the corner "Let it go across the street!" I almost dropped the thing laughing. "You love the neighbors why would you want them to get killed?" She didn't stick around to debate for some reason. I let it go way down the street.

Still doing concrete diggery.

Still doing concrete diggery. It's a 100 year old house that we are working on. Cooool! Today we uncovered an old foundation and i felt like a tv archaeologist. We been learning the Russian names for all the tools. The most favorite one is this called a matyga (Did it make me think of Leon Trotsky? Yes, did I still rock it? also yes.) We should all have a matyga. It really does zip through roots and is good for precision shaving. It's got a good beat, I can dance to it. The other tool is called "Lom" it means "Breaking stuff."

yeeeee

 

i knew it.

 

Dert Werk twerk.

  When you work for the Russians they make you drink a traditional drink...from Jamaica. Maybe it's just our Russians. After work they shared with us a traditional meal. Tacos.

Every day we have been excavating for concrete pads

 

. Hard, sweaty, fun, work. This is perfect training for when we hit the streets again. It's a lot of brute lifting but it's also technical. Everything has to slope correctly for drainage reasons. I call our crew The Light Brigade because we are pounding dirt surrounded by Russians. Olive was a beast carrying those heavy buckets like she had something to prove. She killed it. Andre works his butt off even though he doesn't have to. He is paying us. I don't care if he sits in a lawnchair throwing popcorn at us the whole time. He insists on digging in too. They worked so hard I wish I had little Texas shaped pins to give them. I want my countrymen to know these two foos can trench.