mad scramble

OK, so I have this big project coming up. Great for me. Only I have about a dozen little bit-shitty things that need doing before I can get over there and do some actual work.

The infrastructure stuff is line up ok. The Dumpster will arrive Monday. The portable toilet will arrive Thursday (dash home to pee in the meantime, I guess). Lumber will be delivered as soon as I go to the place, select what I want and ask for a delivery. Demolition can start as soon as we have the Dumpster ready, perhaps even before then.

Only I still have scaffolding in Mrs. G's garage (at least it is down now!) I have stuff to do for my friends K and D in Ellsworth, today I went to Trenton (Maine!) to do a little job that got postponed back in June. I've got a ton of stuff that needs to be cleaned up and put away before I start on the big project. Yikes! Tomorrow I'm going to Ellsworth to help out K and D, after which I have to drive to Bangor (among my LEAST favorite things to do) to be fingerprinted. See, I have a license to drive a truck. Not the great big trailer trucks, but the littler, beer truck, home fuel oil kind of truck. And I have an endorsement to allow me to transport hazardous materials (like home heating oil). Only now it seems that homeland security wants to fingerprint everybody who has a license to drive hazardous chemicals around in a truck.

For once, I can't say that I blame them much. Seems like an utterly rational idea, actually. Keeping a database of everyone who is licensed to drive propane around makes sense to me. So, after 43 years of managing to never have my fingerprints taken, tomorrow I will drive to the big city and ink my paws for Big Brother. Oh, and I paid something like $95 for the experience, plus the background check.

Let's hope they let me drive home again once they run the things through the computer.