Two days in row I have gotten my butt out of bed at 4:30! The puppy does help, though. I HAVE to get up and let him out to pee. It’s what I do after he’s done his business where it all falls apart. Anyways, two days in a row feels good.

I’m excited to get the project rolling. I got an email from Lyla last night informing me about fees for the city that need to be paid. I showed the invoice to my wife, who works for Development Services for the city, and she says, “That’s how we make our money!”. The total of all the fees are $4,668.52. Two of the fees are based on square footage.

My wife was a little annoyed with me because I had already made up my mind about hiring a certain permit runner. He was recommended by Lyla and I like her work so I went with it. My wife said that she might be able to find someone cheaper and I told her no. She bristled. The next day, she saw the name of the runner in the project and said, “Oh, you hired Tim. People like him”. So I dodged a bullet on that one.

I am meeting Russell, the plumber, and my dad at the duplex. They will discuss the plumbing needs while I go talk to the neighbor about his tree, the sick Japanese Elm. I may have mentioned it before but this tree throws sap (you can see it if the light is right), and is growing roots/offshoots across my property. I had some cut back the branches a couple of years ago and he said the tree is sick. He didn’t elaborate. Now I get to go talk to the reclusive owner of the property and try to convince him to cut down the tree. I’ll be happy to pay for it if need be.