United3dArtists Archive

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 17 Jan 2014, 19:45

Hey, those inspections don't do themselves.
You can't have unfettered capitalism just lying around, someone might get hurt.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 31 Jan 2014, 00:49

That's right. You have to pick it up and use it!

Hardest clean up ever. I cleaned my own yard yesterday and today.

jamesmc · Post by **jamesmc** » 31 Jan 2014, 01:51

Finis wrote:That's right. You have to pick it up and use it!

Hardest clean up ever. I cleaned my own yard yesterday and today.

Did you charge double for neglect?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 19 Feb 2014, 05:45

jamesmc wrote:Did you charge double for neglect?

Hmm, the city hires someone (someone's cousin probably) to clean yards that are't done by the deadline. Maybe I could get paid to clean my own yard! No, the owner has to pay for that plus a big fee. Oh well.

My website with artwork, hikes, etc. (see image) Please don't put links anywhere to help keep spambots out.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 21 Feb 2014, 16:20

Looks like an early spring. It is warm and weeds are growing and I'm getting work to do. Maybe this year's mowing season will be early. Good since last year's cool Spring shortened my money making time.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 27 Feb 2014, 02:28

Cut down two trees and trimmed two others. Cut some into fire wood and split some with an axe. Took way longer than I thought. Lost time and made little money for the hours. Battle damage: scratched up hands, bruises, no chainsaw tragedies, no falling out of trees, tired.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 12 Mar 2014, 20:40

Do not do bookkeeping while sleepy.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 13 Mar 2014, 00:07

Did you awaken from a nightmare with the words "You didn't build that!' ringing in your ears?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 13 Mar 2014, 01:45

Maybe we'll awaken from the nightmare in 2016. Doubtful.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 26 Mar 2014, 01:07

I have no ambition or even work ethic. Partly that they just take it away in taxes but I don't have the right attitude either. That's part of running your own business. You have to do everything and be highly motivated and active. No "I'll do it tomorrow" but do today's work today and then do some of tomorrow's too. Well, I mailed bills to customers. That's my big achievement.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 09 Apr 2014, 23:17

Stupid stupid taxes.

Tired. Too much digging holes.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 10 Apr 2014, 02:16

Finis wrote:Tired. Too much digging holes.

As an irrigation guy, I can relate.

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 10 Apr 2014, 10:43

As a Project Manager for Pools and Landscape construction, I can dig it too!
Now get back to work, the both of you!
más abajo aquí!
My finger hurts.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 10 Apr 2014, 16:13

Ooooh, so you're the guy who is always plopping new pools into the middle of my sprinkler systems.
I have one thing to say to you... keep it up, we love big fat service calls!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Apr 2014, 02:04

Yeah you guys have machinery. I dug up a stump with a mattock, shovel, and axe.

Dragneye · Post by **Dragneye** » 11 Apr 2014, 04:40

Hey trueBlue...
Buzz off... I'm Union. I have 3.46 minutes left; I'm using 'em.

Finis... I planted around mine lol. But seriously, funny, I was looking at my stump just today. It's going to be a bunch of work cuz there's a big ole tree about 6 ft away. And, no real power tools here either.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Apr 2014, 04:56

How big is the stump? What kind of tree?

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 11 Apr 2014, 04:58

Finis if I were you, next time I'd be renting a stump grinder and rolling that into the quote.

Sure, machinery pulls the pipe in, but every fitting and sprinkler head hole is lovingly dug by hand.
Even more fun when there's sod on top of it.
The hardest part is putting it all back together 'like you were never there'.

ProTip: When you have dirt left over after filling the hole back in, that's because you didn't dig it deep enough.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 17 Apr 2014, 02:27

Trimmed the lower leaves from a sotol today. Sawtooth edges. Pretty though. They make a tall stalk like a yucca and a large shape with blooms.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 18 Apr 2014, 19:23

Funny business plans again.

I could improve the water boarding booth (here) by selling T-shirts that say "I was water boarded!" and adding a deluxe service: $5 I waterboard you, $50 hot chick waterboards you.

I could become a drug dealer who sells placebos. Since I wouldn't really be selling drugs it would be legal. Aw, no it would be fraud because for the placebo to get them high they would have to believe it was real which means I'd have to tell them it was real.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 08 May 2014, 01:03

Warmer days last Winter gave me hopes of an early Spring for a longer mowing season. The nights stayed cooler until about a week ago. So this mowing season starts late like last year's. Also some customers are leaving town. I might get the new residents there but it is looking like I will have fewer customers and some aren't watering. Not good. If the big El Nino they expect appears that could extend the mowing season.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 10 May 2014, 01:25

2 out of 3 jobs today didn't need anything. This is not looking good. One month late so far for mowing season. I'm setting up above ground watering (sprinklers and hoses on timers) for two customers so they will water. Even the underground automatic sprinkler people have little grass. The few fescue yards are happy with the cooler weather but the bermuda needs the heat.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 19 May 2014, 22:32

It finally got warm. Now the grass will grow.

I got another notice from the city that my yard has to be cleaned up. I hear they are on a rampage about that. It is not clear what is wrong. It says my grass/weeds are too high. OK they are over the anal 6" limit but it is dirt with a few patches of stuff a little taller than than. The "Garbage, Trash, and Refuse" box is scribbled but no specs are given and I cleaned up the specified things last time they gave me a notice (things that had been there since 1999 or 2000, obviously a menace).

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 02 Jun 2014, 16:00

The city has gone crazy, uh, crazier. The code enforcement nazi's are getting people for the smallest things and the rules are too strict anyway (most shouldn't exist at all of course). They are on a rampage about the trash too which means I have to be careful about what I put in there and have extra business expenses going to the dump when I shouldn't need to. The nearest dump also has too many rules. It might have been better when the mafia ran the trash collection (allegedly they controlled the company).

The city council and mayor are almost always cronies of the real estate and construction people so I suspect evil where the city is acting to help their real bosses but I hear code enforcement has new leadership composed of control freaks or rules nazi's etc. Could be they are greedy to collect fines too.

Then there's the taxes at all levels and the expenses from regulations, direct and indirect. There is no hope now of making your life better in America by working your way up. Government stands in the way of all paths for that. Now it is only for parasites who vote for more government.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 02 Jun 2014, 16:15

So the "The Friendliest Place on Earth" should be changed to "The oldest, bloodsucking, royal pain in the ass, dentures-free, nepotistic blowhards this side of an outhouse" ? ... or something similar...

Sounds like your town is run by the AARP club.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 14 Jun 2014, 02:01

@Stienie: Yeah, but they are friendly ones.

Bad news:
- Stupid taxes
- Customers not watering
- I did none of today's work so no Saturday off.
- I only have one functioning mower.
- Carb is jammed full open on medium mower. (All mowers were gifts!)
- The starter assembly (pull cord thing) on my old Craftsman (w/Tecumseh engine!) seemed unfixable so I ordered a new one from Sears. $50. It's an authorized substitute part. I let go of the cord while unsecured and it retracted into the starter assembly, oops, and ... drum roll ... I don't see any way to disassemble it. I looked at the help at the Sears site, "ask an expert", and they always recommended just replacing it. Replace a $50 gadget just to get $2 of starter cord and wait for shipping instead of a few minutes putting new cord in. Right. Sure. I "asked an expert". No reply yet. I'll send it back if it can't be disassembled or they won't tell me how. Surely there are other replacements designed for normal maintenance.

Good news:
- My neighbor is moving and gave me a roto tiller he fixed.
- I learned to tune the air fuel mix on my line trimmer (weed eater). That saved a $40 trip to mechanics.
- I got another scheduled service customer.
- I have another Craftsman mower just like the other one that a customer gave me in mint condition (sitting in his storage building). So I'm not mowerless.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 19 Jun 2014, 01:57

Before sending the recoil starter back I found a video of a guy dismantling a similar one. What he did didn't look like you are supposed to do it. I took the starter to tool mechanics for advice and they said you can do that but it isn't a good idea and showed me how to load new cord without opening the starter assembly. So I'll keep it.

One of my new customers is a fighter jet pilot!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 21 Jul 2014, 03:15

I've made a few hundred dollars more this year so far than this date last year. Spent most of the weekend going through my work log and preparing bills. Stuffing envelopes now.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 25 Jul 2014, 21:00

My Stihl line trimmer (weed eater) cable broke again. The cable that is inside of the shaft to drive the head. I think my previous one, broken now but I keep it for scavenging, still has the cable intact. If so I'll put that in to fix it. Otherwise it costs $80 to $100 for the dealer to fix it and Stihl won't sell parts to anyone else.

I know this isn't one of their professional models but I think it should be more durable vs. "regular" brands especially given it's cost and artificially inflated maintenance cost. I might try a cheaper one from Lowes or Home Depot next time. Or, I could see what the local tool rental place rents, get that, and take it to them for repair. They do repairs there and they would be experts at fixing the kind they rent.

Edit: Scavenging the previous machine was not productive. It's cable is broken too and the bearing on the cutter head end is worn.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 05 Aug 2014, 00:38

Line trimmer fixed, other trimmer fixed too, truck in shop. Hopefully get the truck back tomorrow.

Monsoon season, rainy season, is here and it has rained most days. Water washed landscaping rocks or pebbles (1 to 2") from a customer's yard into the street. Then the city took those rocks. They needed to clean up the street but why not pile them back in my customer's yard?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 10 Aug 2014, 02:00

Tired. If I get everything done tomorrow then I'm caught up and on schedule again next week. I should have Tuesday off. Go hiking, shoot at cans, or sleep? Hike and I can get seeds for Steinie but I'm tired. Shoot cans but stores seldom have ammo anymore so I'd deplete my dwindling stockpile. Sleep sounds good but I'd like to get out of town for a change.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Aug 2014, 19:42

So much for a day off tomorrow. The rain just won't stop. I got one yard done yesterday due to rain so I have seven for today (not even if it was sunny). Did one. If it doesn't stop raining then I'll have eleven to do tomorrow ... when it will rain and I'll have an infinite number of yards to do in one day. I was going to do yards in the drizzle but that increased to too much.

Good if the drought of the last few years is over. This is the first monsoon season in a while that really has rain. I wish it was the usual sunny days in between and rain is a brief desert deluge followed by sun and it dries up. Might clear up today. Clouds and rain came off of the mountains and are thinning out.

Edit: It stopped and the ground is not soaked. Wet grass is no fun but back to work.

Edit: Correction. It wouldn't be eleven tomorrow because tomorrow is usually a paperwork day or day off so it adds no yards. Got 4 done today too.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 21 Aug 2014, 17:47

It is like the missing rain from the drought of the last few years is falling now. Way behind in work. Yards take a million times longer to do, occasional customers all calling with jungles, plants are poison proof. The rain is less now with sunny days between so there is some hope of catching up.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 24 Aug 2014, 23:28

My truck won't start. It ran rough like a cylinder wasn't firing on the way to the last job and now won't crank over. Battery is strong and jump start didn't help either. Can't find the problem so it goes to mechanics tomorrow. Hopefully it is something affordable but too much repair cost equals doomsday. No truck, no job. We'll see. Maybe it will be cheap enough. Maybe I can get a loan to pay for it if the repairs cost too much but I have nothing for collateral.

I was almost caught up on work. Now I'll be behind again.

Stupid taxes take so much there's nothing left to save or invest in the business or another truck. I finally made enough this season to pay the tsunami of taxes but now I might need that to survive until I can get a no-vehicle-needed job. Of course I'm happy to pay the taxes to support illegal alien invaders, welfare parasites (hmm I might be one of them soon though), innumerable overpaid under skilled parasites with worthless government jobs, worthless pork projects, all manner of corruption and theft, etc. etc.

Edit: next day, battery, got a new one. Mechanics also replacing cracked vacuum hoses. They do something and I found several that don't stay connected. There is a possibility of head gasket damage. Hope not.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 26 Aug 2014, 17:11

The head gasket on my truck needs replacing. Parts and labor to include likely machine shop work estimated at least $500 and a week or 1.5 weeks of time. It will get worse until the engine is irreparable but for now there seems no significant damage (coolant water gets in and runs somewhat rough). Since I got this truck new and know it is in good shape and a $500 or $600 used truck, if they exist, would be in bad shape it is either fix this one or doomsday. So I'll see if I can borrow some money to fix it.

Also, I'd never catch up on 1 to 1.5 weeks of work so that would mean skipping that work and that pay. Not good. If I can get the money I'll see if the mechanics can get the parts and arrange everything before I take it to them. Maybe that can reduce the repair time.

Stupid taxes. Always have to include that

.

jamesmc · Post by **jamesmc** » 26 Aug 2014, 17:44

Finis wrote:The head gasket on my truck needs replacing. Parts and labor to include likely machine shop work estimated at least $500 and a week or 1.5 weeks of time. It will get worse until the engine is irreparable but for now there seems no significant damage (coolant water gets in and runs somewhat rough). Since I got this truck new and know it is in good shape and a $500 or $600 used truck, if they exist, would be in bad shape it is either fix this one or doomsday. So I'll see if I can borrow some money to fix it.

Also, I'd never catch up on 1 to 1.5 weeks of work so that would mean skipping that work and that pay. Not good. If I can get the money I'll see if the mechanics can get the parts and arrange everything before I take it to them. Maybe that can reduce the repair time.

Stupid taxes. Always have to include that .

Back in the day with the older mechanics and car engines, pre-sales preparation usually including "Permatexing" the heads, putting heavy duty oil in the crankcase and sawdust in the transmission.

...works for a little while

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013 ... -sealants/"

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 31 Aug 2014, 02:20

Applied for a Goodyear credit card to use for the truck repair expenses. No interest charges if you pay it off before 6 months. I doubt they will approve me for the card because I don't have a recent credit history. Strange that having enough sense to avoid borrowing money (the only sense I have) means you're not a good credit risk. They'll also think I can't pay since I gross less in a year than they spend on clothes. If I get it good but I'll be ok, broke but ok, if I have to pay it all at once. Not good: I have the truck expenses and I'm losing income from missed work. No one has a truck to loan me. Two customers let me use their pretty shiny trucks to haul tools for their yards so I got some work done.

Looks like the deluge of rain has stopped (don't laugh, it was a lot for here) but some grass is looking like it might be getting ready to go dormant. I hope not. It's usually mowable through September and in warm years into October. This is the coolest Summer on record for the US.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 04 Sep 2014, 05:30

Bookkeeping nightmare. I haven't reconciled the books in a long time. My fault. So I did and Quickbooks says there is $400+ more than is in the bank. All the transactions match since the last reconciliation. I'm mystified. I did read that changing some transactions during reconciliation, did that, can confuse Quickbooks and you just have to clear it and do it again. It took hours but if I don't find a mistake I'll have to try that. I've learned to reconcile often, keep everything up to date, and avoid this trouble.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 05 Sep 2014, 00:01

Mistakes found and fixed, books reconciled and completely up to date. It has been a long time and it feels good to get that job off my back. It is like "the dishes are done, man!"

Now to do to fed tax. I got the extension because I didn't have the bookkeeping ready.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 17 Sep 2014, 00:01

The truck repair cost a fortune and I still should replace the radiator. I can put that in when I can afford to get one. Now I might have to get a loan to pay taxes. Probably no one will loan me money because they think I'm too poor to pay it back and I don't have a credit rating. I have a toothache too. No way I can pay a dentist ... if they are allowed to work for direct pay under the new system. Maybe some dentist has a payment plan. So I'll probably go into winter with no money, in debt, with a tooth ache.

Now my weed eater won't start, screeches while trying, and white smoke comes out. It just had expensive repairs. I'll try to build a working one from this one and the previous one. I might not buy any more Stihl products because I think the cost/benefit ratio is not good. A light Craftsman weed whacker that my neighbor gave me has been doing great. I'll try Craftsman.

It won't stop raining. The prediction is a good chance of rain for a week. I got rained out of work today. I worked in a light rain and then went back out when it lightened up again only to be rained out again. Just when I was caught up.

I get to work in the rain with a toothache to pay taxes so welfare parasites and government job parasites can have big screen TV's and Iphones.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 17 Sep 2014, 00:32

They get dental care too.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 20 Sep 2014, 01:48

They can spend their food stamps in some stores in Mexico too.

Didn't rain today. Got some work done.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 07 Oct 2014, 03:03

Sore back for a few days. Rain, truck, back. Always something to create an overload of work.

I might get to go to California. A customer is moving and plans, so far, for me to drive her car to the new place. She said to take my time and see the sights on the way!

I have two new customers who will be regulars next season and maybe another.

froo · Post by **froo** » 07 Oct 2014, 03:47

Maybe you should stop in Vegas for a day; may win a boatload of cash!

Hey hope it pans out Finis!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Oct 2014, 02:37

That would be great Froo. I'll probably take the "northern" route with the Grand Canyon, Vegas, Death Valley and all paths lead to Redwoods or Sequoias. What's along the "southern" route (Tucson, Phoenix, LA, then north through California)?

I did a yard at the golf course! Yep, there's no alley behind this house. The back gate goes right onto the course. Just once or twice though until the house sells. Hopefully I'll get work from the buyer. Also chatted with the neighbor. Maybe I'll begin a lawn care empire at the gold, I mean golf, course.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 11 Oct 2014, 16:59

Nice view!
Go for the gold, that's where the money is.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 16 Oct 2014, 03:45

@Spacekdet: should have seen the sunset on the other side.

So I got the automatic extension of time to file federal tax. Paid it and fees for lateness today which is the extended deadline. My fault for not having my books up to date and procrastinating on doing the forms. I could gripe about the amount of the tax or that dirt poor people owe anything but this time what really stood out was how complicated and intrusive the income tax laws and rules are. My own taxes weren't terrible in either of those but while reading the rules and procedures I saw how bad it is in those aspects.

Plain dumbness too of course. Check this out. I'm self employed (Captain of my own ship!) so I have to pay socialist security and medicare* for self employed people called self employment tax. If you work for an employer he has to pay half of that (stupid) and you pay half but the self employed (SE) have to pay it all. They "fix" that by giving a deduction that lowers your taxable income by half of the SE tax amount. First: lowering taxable income by that amount may or may not lower your tax owed by that amount. Second: what about us forty-seven-percenters who don't owe any income tax? The deduction is worthless. We pay the whole SE tax. Punished for being SE!

*Non-USA people: social security and medicare are government programs supposedly to provide some income (government check) and medical care when you are older. We are forced to pay for them via tax.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 26 Oct 2014, 01:06

I painted a small wall and will paint another and I will paint inside of a house when the customer moves out. Didn't I learn something when I painted garage doors before? What was that? "Never paint anything again." ... yeah that was it. Did roofing today and I learned something ...

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 28 Oct 2014, 16:18

Roofing. Nightmare.

I was already informed that I didn't build my business (other people did that for me). Now I feel better about not expanding the business and hiring people because I've been informed that businesses don't create jobs. Of course I wouldn't be the one to expand the business because that would be a continuation of building it. So I didn't build my business, didn't create my job, etc. Since I'm busy all the time (well during mowing season) I wonder what it is that I'm doing?

Maybe those "other people" will finish the roofing today.

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 28 Oct 2014, 21:05

Sounds like a bad day buddy... you alright?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 29 Oct 2014, 02:05

Yeah V3rd3, I'm OK. Thanks. Us business builders and would be job creators don't like it when high level politicians say we don't do those things. They say it to get votes from the parasites who live off of our tax money. (I pay loads of gross receipts tax, county and city taxes, taxes on stuff like gas (petrol), and mega-loads of Texas property tax (which goes to, drum roll please, roads and bridges and schools)).

I'll try to get my positive attitude on and stir up work for the off season.

There is good news. I'll put that in Reporting Back.

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 29 Oct 2014, 04:00

I hear you Finis... I got tired of that kind of support as well. The only thing I found more annoying was the people that openly suggested what I did could be done in a third world country for 10% of what I was charging....

so I quit.

5 years later they finished one of the projects I was working on for 5 times the money....

I laughed for a long time.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 03 Nov 2014, 00:06

With the shorter days and daylight savings time starting or stopping or whatever sundown is a little after 5 pm. Have to get out there earlier.

A customer has an Echo line trimmer that is almost new, properly stored*, and he doesn't use it. He wants to make a deal to give me the trimmer in exchange for lawn work. If he doesn't overvalue the trimmer then that could be a good deal. I haven't examined it yet. I'm planning to change trimmer (weed eater) strategy and get cheap ones but the Echo would be nice. He has a good mower too. I'd like to make a deal on that as well.

*Prepare your lawn tools for winter or long term storage by emptying the gas tank, starting it, and letting it run until it stops. When stored with fuel in them the carburetors get blocked with gum from evaporated fuel.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 03 Nov 2014, 01:12

Looks like Echos run about $250 new on Amazon, to $150 used on eBay.
Price your services accordingly.

The gum you can clean out if you have to but you also have to avoid the damage that the water attracted to the government mandated ethanol in the gasoline can do over the winter.
Big Corn likes it tho, so it's cool, right?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 26 Nov 2014, 01:13

My professional advice is: Keep your fingers out of hedge trimmers ... here.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 06 Jan 2015, 03:54

A couple of months ago I got envelopes with windows in them and changed the layout of the bills to put the addresses in the windows. That saves time by not writing the recipient address and a little money with no return address labels and ink. As a display of my competence in office things yesterday I printed a bunch of return address labels and then remembered the window envelopes. At least I'm supplied for those Christmas cards and occasional other business letters.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 06 Jan 2015, 04:02

Might be able to use them on blank invoices

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 20 Jan 2015, 01:55

The labels will be useful for the return envelopes I send with the bills so that was ok after all. No stamps for those now. That is a courtesy I can't afford.

I might get a job spraying weeds for a trailer park every month or two weeks. It is small enough that I can do it and big enough that it could be a money maker. He will have to accept a bid that makes it competitive in profit to lawn mowing. That is the most profitable so I intend to pack the schedule with mowing and avoid other things.

My nice weed eater decided to run so now I have two.

Must pay state gross receipts tax for last quarter today or tomorrow and the federal tax is due when the mowing season has barely started and I'll have almost nothing to pay it. There is a tsunami of new tax and regulatory costs coming. Unless the law is changed osama-care will enforce its fines which will cost me two or three hundred dollars. I'm barely making it already.

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 20 Jan 2015, 02:59

If you like your Ebola, you can keep your Ebola.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Jan 2015, 03:34

Not lawn care but preparing to use my art/hike website to draw viewers to promote my Zazzle products and get affiliate sales. I installed MaxGalleria and used it here.

How does that look on your phones, tablets, and other non-desktop devices that can surf the web? Are the images too small?

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 23 Jan 2015, 13:28

Finis,
I checked out your Zazzle products on my IPhone 5C and thought the graphics should be slightly larger. It was hard to see the graphic and text on the shirt. (Soylent Yellow) for example.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Jan 2015, 15:55

Thanks Steinie. Was that the Zazzle slider at the bottom or the "Shop" page (main menu)? I might remove the slider since it doesn't look good on a big screen either. Maybe put a static advertisement in place of the slider to help direct viewers to the Shop page.

What about the artwork page (Features->Artwork)? Were the images there too small or ok? Are they still in four columns on the small/phone screen?

On the regular computer screen shrinking the window causes the front page to stack the images up in fewer columns so they stay about the same size but the features->artwork gallery keeps 4 columns and makes the images smaller. Is that what it is like on a phone or tablet? Maybe 3 columns with larger images (a little big for desktop screen)?

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 07 Mar 2015, 01:37

A customer overpaid me by nearly 3X the price. I'll apply that to future work as well so he won't owe anything for a while. Then he gave me his almost unused mower!

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 07 Mar 2015, 13:42

I used to do work like you do now Finis. One customer gave me all his lawnmowers, gas powered edgers, and a coin collection. (He was the inventor of the cooling/heating system in the White House and he had over 29 patents.)
Some people are still nice out there regardless of their wealth.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Mar 2015, 04:17

You still have that stuff? Send it here!

I could use it. Yep, nice folks. I've found that many of my more prosperous customers are nice or exhibit virtues. Often it is those virtues (like work ethic, discipline, persistence) that helped them get what they have. Plenty of nice folks here in poor town too.

Not pleasant. My paint sprayer (a legacy tool from more financially prosperous times) stopped spraying half way through a job. I'll fix it tomorrow. My "alley whacker" mower which I got running recently wouldn't start, my truck's clutch is going out, a customer with an attitude called, and I probably don't have enough money to pay taxes on time so I'll get even poorer with late fees.

I made almost nothing last year (PM me if you'd like to know what "almost nothing" means to a poor person). You probably paid more on you car payments than I made. If I didn't value the freedom and independence of self employment I'd quit this and get a regular job (if there were any).

“Freedom can't be bought for nothing. If you hold her precious, you must hold all else of little worth.”
―Lucius Annaeus Seneca

This season might be better. I should earn more if things go as planned. I have some ideas to try leading to other businesses to start.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 13 Apr 2015, 01:56

Stupid taxes. Somewhere in 12 pages of instructions that make little sense and might contradict each other I think I'm exempt by poverty from paying the fine for not having osamacare. Cowards don't fight devils but maybe the cowards will at least repeal the individual mandate.

Arrrg! I was going to get www. southwestpulse. com and change the name of Alamo Pulse to that to try the online magazine thing again someday. But now someone in the UK has it. Have to think of another name. An online magazine about the southwest portion of the US could be called ... ?

Dragneye · Post by **Dragneye** » 13 Apr 2015, 03:48

Southwest Panorama
SW experience
...maybe they'll excite the braincells somehow. HTH

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 13 Apr 2015, 16:46

redorgreen.com?

jamesmc · Post by **jamesmc** » 13 Apr 2015, 17:42

Make it "West Korea" and hide somewhere in the magazine why it's named that way.

Heck, people will buy it just to find out about the name.

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 13 Apr 2015, 19:34

"Pale Writer"?

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 13 Apr 2015, 19:34

"Pony Expressed"

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 13 Apr 2015, 19:56

"High Plains Reporter"
"Desert Diary"
"Miller's Posting" (after Miller's Crossing)
"Roadrunner Gazette"
"Diamondback Daily"
"Jackrabbit Journal"
"Roadrunner Record"
"Desert Digest"
"Homesteader Herald"

A few more shots of Jack and I might have some more....

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 14 Apr 2015, 00:43

Great suggestions V3rd3! Dragneye, those are better than Southwest Pulse! James, West Korea would be a good name for a mag with a different theme ... got me thinkin'.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 Apr 2015, 19:30

Southwest Panorama is it. US trademark office search finds no trademarks with that name, web search finds no magazines, the domain name is available and I just got it http://www.southwestpanorama.com" Not much time now except for lawn work but I'll get this done.

I'll put http://www.phosphorgallery.com" up for auction unless I think of a money earning thing to do with it.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 12 May 2015, 02:15

Always something to cost me money and time.

The clutch on my truck needed fixing. I researched that and decided that although expensive it would be best to have mechanics do it. They fixed it but now there is a rattle. Inspection revealed that the U-joint in the middle of the drive shaft (2 parts) is likely the source of the rattle. It could be that they disconnected that to move parts to get to the clutch and it isn't reconnected tightly or it could be worn and need replacing.

I worked on reorganizing my web sites while I was off work during truck repairs. The days off cost me money from lost work.

The spring in the starter for my line trimmer broke. I kept the old one for parts and got the spring from it and it broke too. So I got an economical new one. The old trimmer wasn't running well either. It will get one more trip to the mechanics.

So now I can't pay bills and taxes on time and I estimate $400 in fines and late fees.

Draise · Post by **Draise** » 12 May 2015, 15:01

Ouch, sounds difficult.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 02 Aug 2015, 02:51

I paid the big taxes soon enough to avoid the fines and fees. Still some that will get small late fees.

I got the Echo straight shaft line trimmer that I traded a customer work for. So far it is great. I can edge lawns with it now. Durability and cost to maintain remain to be discovered but I hear good things about them.

Monsoon season rain is here. The yards look pretty and green with all that water. Fast growth makes mowing a little more difficult. It is so green I'd think I'm in Colorado ... hey is that Froo over there?

Two mowers are in the shop so I'm mowing with my "alley whacker" for a week or so. I found a grass catcher that fits it.

The truck still needs some repair but nothing urgent.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 03 Aug 2015, 10:33

how can you pay big taxes if you dont have big gain? wierd tax system.... if you have big expenses and low income, you should pay little to non taxes, imo

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 03 Aug 2015, 16:54

In this case by "big taxes" I mean the largest of the various taxes I have to pay.

There are billions and trillions of types of tax in the USA. Some is based on income (for me that is profit, gain) while other tax is not. Yes it is weird. It is crazy. IMO all the taxes are too high, messed up, done wrong, most shouldn't exist, and tax day should be two weeks before voting day.

This is a car advertisement but sometimes it gets me charged up do work and try my other business ideas ... to be an entrepreneur.
https://youtu.be/zwC1icvy4mg

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 04 Aug 2015, 00:25

I'm so pumped up I want to run outside and burn FOSSIL FUEL!!!!
Keep on Fracking!

Finis' Lawn Care Business

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