This is why I can't have nice things.
Sometimes my cash cushion is large enough to enjoy some personal luxuries, which means it's a good time to pick up a surprise gift for somebody else. All my relatives and friends know I couldn't care less about birth dates, anniversaries or scheduled gift giving seasons, as I find a random gift to be a much more sincere way of saying, "thinking of you."

While my aging BOF station wagon isn't the flashiest ride on the road, its ability to make long highway miles disappear is nonpareil. It's also an easy excuse to give passing hitchhikers and their cargo a lift along my route. Keep an eye out for the aging Buick with peeling woodgrain Scotchcal for your savior in the western states. If I'm taking my time on a longer trip, a detour to a specific destination is not out of the question.

I've owned this house for 5 years. I have been its sole occupant for less than 1 of them. It's too easy to turn the guest rooms into a temporary residence when times get tough for the occasional friend ("Limon? Oh hell no, you're not going to make a 2 hour commute just to attend interviews; put your stuff in this closet and use the hide-a-bed."). It can be crowded at times, but it's preferable to seeking shelter in the copse by the rail lines. About three quarters of my temporary residents end up finding stable employment and a place of their own shortly after they leave, which I figure is a decent success rate.

While I have always considered allowing a few single or double item customers ahead of my full cart at the cash register queue to be basic decent behavior, from what I've read here it is a special aberration. I'm also one of those oddball types who keeps up on where the soup kitchens and shelters are active, the better to help random wanderers find a place to bed down for the night.
( Felis Concolor, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:11, 6 replies)

you're a serial killer, aren't you?

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:34, closed)

Bingo.
Use the hideaway bed, but don't look under the floorboards.
(username failed moderation, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 11:07, closed)

I've been bothering my contractor friend to visit and make an estimate on the garage project, but he keeps begging off.
I really need him to start in on the pit for a proper foundation for the slab. I think 12 ft down should be enough for all the - infill.
( Felis Concolor, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 11:15, closed)

Used to be
but since Fred West bollocksed it up, general concensus is at least 18', and double bin bagged.
(username failed moderation, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 13:10, closed)

It's tough to beat the ground penetrating radar nowadays.

( Infidel , shit and wrong, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 13:13, closed)

It's amazing how one becomes invisible in an old station wagon.
I've blown through speed traps well in excess of any reasonable speed threshold, and the patrol car invariably pulls over whoever was trailing in my wake. I could stack 'em like cordwood in the back and not receive a second glance.
( Felis Concolor, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 11:12, closed)