The Sailboat I want to Rebuild...
Sparky with a Crazed Look in His Eyes...
Beers at the Dockside between Jet Ski Runs...
Refueling...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Two Bens Docking Up for Beer.
Thank goodness that the summer is over. The island breathed a sigh of relief today as a steady parade of minivans and SUV's headed over the bridge and back to the 'real world'. It was a long and strange summer, to say the least. I'm interested in things getting back to the way it was last spring when we moved here; empty beaches and nothing but locals in the grocery store. The few business owners who make their money during 8 weeks of the year are pissing and moaning, but my money comes from off the island...so I'm not too bent out of shape. I've realized that a solid majority of the tourists to Carolina Beach are generally of the redneck disposition, so it's no big deal for them the leave a case of empty Busch Light cans and a pack of Winston Light cigarettes butts in the sand. Apparently they think that the incoming tide does a better job of cleaning the beach that a modicum of responsible behavior. A couple weeks ago, I got pretty pissed off with the amount of dumb-asses using the ground as an ashtray and got into a shouting match with a popped collar fratty from UNCW who kept tossing his butts over the railing at the Tiki Bar and into the rising tide. I'm not usually very vocal, but I really can't stand a litterbug. Afterwards, I realized that the written word is probably usually a classier way to voice one's opinions and penned a screed for our local paper (click for a link to the article).
Anyway...Pretty much since we made the move I was working for a wildlife management company chasing geese away from golf courses and training dogs to chase birds away from air fields. A couple weeks ago, the company decided that they didn't feel like paying me for my expenses and mileage as stated in my contract, nor did they even feel it was necessary to pay me in a timely manner. Naturally I was a bit annoyed with the turn of events and expressed my opinion in regards to them f#$king with me. I guess the fact that I cited the contract and NC Labor Law annoyed them to the point of 'firing' me. Fired is in parenthesis because they didn't actually fire me, they just told me that they were canceling all of the contracts which I was working at the golf courses and needed the work dogs I was using back immediately. Now don't even jump to the conclusion that I was shitty or curt with them, I was very polite and toed the line of the law. They just completely blindsided me and changed the course of my short term plan. It's interesting how things can go from shitty to very optimistic looking in a matter of days. I was pretty pissed about loosing a sweet job at first, but then a couple of days later the golf courses I was working at contacted me and asked me to form my own company and basically do what I did before, except now without the middleman.
Thus Caywood Ventures emerges from the shadows, poised to take over the Coastal Carolina goose chasing racket! I'm doing it all 'by the books' and hoping to use this small business to form a couple of other companies within a few years. It's a certain type of giddy exhilaration to start a business and pursue your own paycheck. It sucks to pony up the cash for insurance and workman's compensation, but I'm gonna try to ride this until it bucks me.
We bought an awesome dog named Sparky from the pound for the business. He better realize that he's a work dog pretty quick or all is lost.
In other parts of life, we just moved into a new studio size apartment on the Carolina Beach Harbor. It's a small little space, but we lofted our bed dorm-style and we're throwing out crap we don't need. I bought a 17' Pace Ship Sloop and I'm in the process of re-fitting it for use this fall. My ultimate goal will to sail the sloop around our islands and use it to camp on some of the un-inhabited islands which surround Carolina Beach.
We lost a good man this week...My uncle, Jim Caywood died on Thursday. He was a solid uncle who always remembered what I was up to in life, he even remembered my wife's name after meeting her years before. I'll always remember how he snuck outside during Christmas Eves at Grandma and Grandpa Caywood's to sneak a cigarette out by his Cadillac. He was lethal with a snowball. I'm holding up a beer to him as I type...
Anyway...Keep on keeping on. I'll post some pictures this week of my new dog kicking some serious ass.
BAH.
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