It's time to get rid of it all.

[hausdok]

 

Years ago (probably about 2015) the knee pain got so bad that I cut back on jobs I'd accept and began coming here less, since I had to, due to pain, take a lot more breaks that cut down on hours available in the day. I spent so much additional time writing reports, that the joy went out of the job. I stopped frequenting the board - only looking in once and a while. Eventually, the knee pain got so bad that I couldn't climb stairs anymore, so we off-loaded our three-story townhome and rented an old, POS single-story house in a neighboring town and thought that it would be temporary.

I got knee surgery on one leg after a time but then COVID hit, and I couldn't get the other knee fixed. When restrictions were lifted again, I got the other knee replaced, but by then doctors were telling me that I'd need, sooner or later, to get cataract surgery. So, I just kept puttering in my shop and making the legs stronger by walking a few miles every day. The day came that the doc told me that I needed to have eye surgery, so I got that done. However, like the knees, they can't do both at once. I got the first eye done and then, as luck would have it, I came down with COVID, and the doc postponed the surgery. After I'd recovered, my surgeon had COVID too, and that postponed it again. Finally, everyone was well again, and I was able to get the second eye done.

By then, I was collecting social security, but I was bored out of my skull and wanted to get back to work. It was not to be. Last May, just a couple of weeks after having my second eye surgery, I had a stroke. It was about three more weeks before I got out of in-hospital rehab and started at home rehab. I'm just about back to normal now - my speech isn't slurred anymore, though it's slow, and I'm walking with a cane about a mile twice a day. Still, it looks like my sense of balance is never going to be fully back to normal and manual dexterity may never return.  I used to be able to slam out about 180wpm. now I'm lucky if I can make 40wpm, so, I'll never be able to get back on a roof or get up on a ladder, and I won't be able to use my hands on the job like I used to. Now, the doctor tells me that fifty years of walking with one leg shorter than the other (I broke one femur in 1971) is the cause of all of the irritation I'm feeling in my left hip and that hip replacement surgery is on the horizon.

It's time to call it.

I'm getting rid of a bookcase full of home inspection and construction related books, the Packard Hawk I was restoring, and all of my tools and equipment. Interested? Give me a call to see what I've got.

425-806-4875

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Les]

Damn.  Here I was thinking all along that the Korean mafia had put the kibosh on you. 

As you know I quit about three years ago and sold out to Jason Murton who had been with me for 25years of so. 

But just last week I started to go over all my old books and stuff.  I had moved/stored it in an old travel trailer.  I also am ready to actually pack in all in.  ASHI finally has become a zero influence on the profession and I no longer can agree with most of the "vision" for the future. 

Sorry to see the Packard go.

Practice your kibitzing and start conversing here on a more regular basis.   

[Marc]

I don't think either of you guys realize what a huge resource you are to the profession. Until you go totally couillon or forget what your name is, you can still contribute in ways that no one else can.

It was Les who mentioned 'method and materials' so long ago, which immediately struck me as what the core of any home inspection course should be.  Mike gave me a report of his, which I'll never share with anyone, that should be adopted by every state in the country, alongside the SOP and COE, as the standard for writing home inspection reports.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Marc

[Jerry Simon]

Hoping it turns out to be the best thing for you, Mike. 

Heart problem diagnosed a couple weeks ago forced me into retirement.

Bet we now know why they call it the blues. . .

[hausdok]

Thanks for the support, Guys.

Jerry, I am sorry to hear about your heart health. I hope you get much better. I have a friend who had a quadruple bypass surgery about two decades ago and he's still doing well, so I think that if you eat well (meaning sensibly), exercise, and listen to your doc you're going to be with us all for a long while. Getting used to retirement will suck a little bit but it is what it is.

Les, I bet women all over the country are sobbing because they won't be able to enjoy your flirting with them anymore.

If you guys know of anyone who wants to expand their library, and he or she wants some construction, HVAC, electrical, roofing, home inspection books, have 'em give me a call. I warn them though, there's enough to fill a standing bookcase, so the cost to ship them is not going to be cheap.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jim Katen]

Sorry to hear that, Mike. It sucks when the machine starts to break down. 

Maybe it's time to start thinking about your 3rd career - have you considered an OnlyFans page? 

 

 

 

[hausdok]

4 minutes ago, Jim Katen said:

Sorry to hear that, Mike. It sucks when the machine starts to break down. 

Maybe it's time to start thinking about your 3rd career - have you considered an OnlyFans page? 

 

 

 

Yeah, I'd call it the 'Lesser is Better' page. LOL

[Chad Fabry]

Guys, Geez, I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. Marc is right about your ability to contribute and your legacy of contribution. You'll all have to find some way to contribute. My career focus changed to litigation support, and I now spend the time I used to spend here with my nose buried in manufacturer's instructions or code books. I've been coming back lately, and it feels the same as my childhood neighborhood.

When I started, I would have paid any of you to review my reports; if you can't stand that idea, create a collaboration to write good books- nobody's interested in that effort. There is a dearth of valuable information available for beginners and those who want to improve their skills. Start a "dollar comment" where you can sell item comments individually. Nick's group has an absolute idiot writing shit for sale and he's killing it

You guys have all that knowledge AND the ability to share it so others understand. It's a super rare combination in this profession.   

40 WPM, that's such a burden. Wait. On a good day, I type 35, and there aren't that many good days. Thank God for speech-to-text engines. 

[Les]

this is just a smidge of the stuff I am pitching or shipping! The ASHI manuals from 1979 are near and dear to my heart - but must go.  I have about 100 book about the concept of house/home that were invaluable to my formative years and my concept of what a house is;  more than the sum of its components. 

[Marc]

I'm at that point in life also where I must deal with everything I've collected, but I don't plan on pitching anything. That I leave to the relative who has agreed to disperse with my estate once I'm gone. I don't want to do it while I'm still here. To borrow the words of Caption Jean-Luc Picard - please don't bury me before I'm dead.

[John Kogel]

Hope y'all hang in there for a while yet. Sorry to read about your stroke of bad luck, Mike. Keep walking as much as you can. Too bad about the Packard Studey but life goes on.

The rest of that stuff is just stuff. It has not much value in the digital world of today. The valuables are what we all have between our ears. Take care of that and your family support group.

Jerry, I had a triple bypass surgery in 2015, died for a couple of minutes in recovery, got better, sold our home and bought a better house, Spent 14 months building a rental unit that paid for itself in 2 years and is now providing a solid income supplement. Retirement is sweet. My wife helped me get back on my feet, starting with baby steps and progressing to more and more steps for the first 3 months. Now we ride bikes or E-bikes or walk every day. But I have been lucky too, to have good bones and joints. Take care of what you've got. Cheers.

 

[hausdok]

Thanks everybody for your words of encouragement.

John and Jerry, sounds like you guys have got it wired. I'm walking every day, but I have to find something else to keep me active. Maybe I'll take a job as a Walmart greeter. LOL

Les, I don't know how those ladies will deal with their broken hearts. Juanita will laugh.

[Les]

18 minutes ago, hausdok said:

Thanks everybody for your words of encouragement.

John and Jerry, sounds like you guys have got it wired. I'm walking every day, but I have to find something else to keep me active. Maybe I'll take a job as a Walmart greeter. LOL

Les, I don't know how those ladies will deal with their broken hearts. Juanita will laugh.

Mike, all joking aside the friends I found here are precious.  You and I go back quite a long time and even before that to Camp Casey in Korea!  And we have the Army in common, our good looks and wit and charm came from a different path!  

We all know each other - warts and all.

We love this profession.  

I have a great life style because of this business.  I also have had couple heart attacks, cancer stuff, and my share of hang nails and heart burn.  But I also have a hundred times more earthly possessions and wealth beyond measure because of my friends.  

Starting to get a bit maudlin, so will close!  

PS:  Mike did you ever count the number of arguments we had in person?  The free meals we scammed because they thought we were smart?  the time I stuck my finger into the hot flowing pvc pipe at the Watts plant and the woman that was supposed to babysit us at the cocktail reception that night?  or Kurt being Kurt ?  and of course how many baseball games did we go to with Charlie, Scott, Harry, Bryck, George(s), Jim(s), Uli, Whelmed and any number of psychometricians ! 

[hausdok]

Yep, 

We did do some stuff. I wonder if there's a warrant out for us?

[Jim Baird]

"...Going to leave this broke-down palace
On my hands and my knees I will roll, roll, roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll, roll

In a bed, in a bed
By the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul..."--Grateful Dead

 

Thanks for posting Mike.  I have learned so much here from the brethren I will never meet. I can still inspect, but I agree with Les that the "profession" has taken a nose dive in terms of the quality of work.

 

Just passed yr 75 myself but am very lucky to be so functional.  A little arthritis here and there but my age peers are dropping off the path. 

[hausdok]

Wow, 75 and still at it! You're a legend. I'm 72 and I'm falling apart.

[Les]

I AM DAMN NEAR 80YEARS OLD AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD WOMEN STILL ASK ME HOW I DO IT!

[Les]

CRAP - That last post was wrong.  Now I remember they ask something more like "can I do it".