catching up

Hello all, Its been awhile since my last post . I have been really busy with water damage. It is like a hurricane has come through Vermont. I get calls every day for flooded homes. winter sure is good for the bank account. Have used a Water Out trailer three times already.Pretty cool technology. I want to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year. I will correspond later, got to catch up on some sleep. Peace Catmandon

Tree trimming no go

Well our tree trimming party was cancelled due to the storm. Jane and I decorated the tree by ourselves. I think this was the first time in 15 years where we have not had a full house to help us. The weather has been frightful. Below zero windchill and 30 to 40 mile winds. Homes are freezing up everywhere.I just got home at 9 PM after pumping out flooded homes all day. My son-in -law bought two Water Out trailers and we have been using them on flood jobs. They are pretty incredible. You can dry the whole house without being invasive to the structure. Thats it for now. Peace Catmandon

frozen north

Good morning all, I just woke up to 14 in of snow and another major snowstorm forecast for Sunday, talk about your white christmas. We are working on drying out a lot of frozen and flooded homes due to the recent ice storm. So far, it has been a crazy winter season. Well got to go now and plow. We also have a lot of family coming today for our christmas tree trimming party. Hope they can all make it. Peace Catmandon

Another mess on the way

Good evening all, We have another storm headed our way.Up to 14 in of snow. We had four inches today, and then another one coming on Sunday. The ice storm damge was like a tornado came through. Some people are still without power. I looked at two interesting jobs today. One was a oil spill. The oil company spilled 20 gal of heating oil in this finished basement in Sept and the place still stinks. Another was from the same oil company , they screwed up a furnace installation and water poured into this guys crawl space for a week. Its going to be a challenge but financially rewarding. Talk to you later. Peace Catmandon

ice storm update

Hello all, I was premature in revealing that my power was restored. Only for an hour and then it went out again until about an hour ago. I checked on a friends house because they are out of town. Went to shut off water main and light woodstove. I had to walk about 1/4 mile because the road was impassable due to downed trees and power lines. Took a ride up to my property on the top of the mountain. Must be 12 trees across road. I got some great photos of the ice and storm damage. There is about 330,000 people without power in New Hampshire. The crews have been working around the clock. God bless them. Well thats it for now. Peace Catmandon

Ice everywhere

The power just came back on. I'm amazed that it happened so soon. Only been out for 20 hrs, some people are looking at 3-6 days. Major damage to trees as they are coated with 1/2 in of ice. You could hear trees snapping in half today , sounded like cannons going off in the woods. Huge credit to the power company linemen who work long , dangerous hours getting power restored. Freakin guys are unsung heroes in my book. Lots of homes will be freezing up tonight, the temp going down to single digits. BRRRR Stay warm, wherever you are. If I wasn't making so much money I would rather be back in Barbados . Peace for now Catmandon

major storm

Well it's 8:30 and the freezing rain is coming down pretty heavy. They say there might be 1/2 of ice on everything in the am. I've got three flooded condos to go to in the morning. Good luck getting off my mountain. I'm sure we will busy extremely busy with flood work for the next couple of weeks and maybe all winter. They are starting to come in at a pretty good rate now. Well I better get some rest, going to need it. Peace Catmandon

water damage season is here again

Good morning all, Jane and I were having breakfast and she was thinking to herself, ( I wonder if there are any major water damage s out there. We could use another one right now. And then BAM the phone rings and it is a property manager that we work for. He says come quick , I have two completly flooded condos from a burst pipe and its been running for about four days. I have always known my wife was a witch , albeit a good witch. So, the season is upon us. So, remember the power of positive thinking, it has just been reinforced for me. Peace Catmandon

Flu season

Good morning all, The weather here is crazy. Yesterday the low was 4below and today it wil be in the 40's and raining. A lot of people are sick with the flu, including my lead technician. I hope he doesn't have pneumia. We are meeting with a holistic doctor today to promote our allergy free cleaning service. I think it will be a good networking fit. I walked out to our property yesterday and saw big cat prints in the snow. My neighbor said he saw what he believed to be a catamount twice last year in the same area. Pretty cool stuff. There have been to many reports of sightings to be ignored. Well time to go make the doughnuts, so to speak. Have a great day. Peace Catmandon

Back from Barbados

Good afternoon everyone, Jane and I just got back from Barbados where it was 85 degrees and sunny every day. It is now 26 degrees and snowing and blowing here at home in Vermont. I just checked my emails ,all 486 of them , honestly I deleted most of them but it is now back to reality for awhile. We had a great time. We stayed at the Sea Foam Hacienda where you walk about 100 ft and into the turquoise water of the Carribean. I got plenty of rest. The local flavor there is incredible. We are going to St. Martin for three weeks in April and May. I have quite a lot of work backed upped right now. The day I left , we had a major water damage job come in and I am happy to report that it was handled very proffessionally by my technician who was on call that day. We are blessed that we have such a great team . Well Jane and I are off to buy a christmas tree from the farm. They tried to sell us one in Barbados. It was pretty funny to see Xmas trees for sale in the 85 degree heat. The needles were falling off everywhere. Peace for now. Catmandon

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. It truly is a time to be thankful for everything we have. Family,friends,food,home and a business sucessful enough to sustain our life style. We are traveling to Barbados with friends tommorrow for a week. We are truly fortunate to be able to do this. It takes committement and persistence and you can accomplish anything. A good old boy from Georgia was once asked how he was able to create his fortune. His reply was with persistence and perserverance you can piss a hole in a rock. An interesting thought but he is right. I will be gone until 12/9 so be healthy ,safe and happy . Peace Catmandon

Snow and rain

Good morning everyone, It snowed last night about two inches but the rain is washing it away now. It's like living in Seattle. Tommorrow we are going to refinish my son's hardwood floors in his new house as a gift to him and his wife Amy. This will be a practice run because we are just starting this service and who better to practice on. What can he do? Sue us. Highly unlikely. I am sure he will be quite pleased with the results. I am still feeling like crap. I hope this goes away soon, as we are going to Barbados on Friday and I don't want to be sick for that trip. I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will talk to you soon. Peace Catmandon

Powerful message

Good morning everyone, I just watched a very powerful video from Chris Daughtery at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylgchWR-Ig . Check it out. Well I am bitten by the flu bug today. Nothing to severe I hope. It is still cold but expected to rain later in the week. I recently sent all my siblings a letter to let them know how much I love them. They all live across the country or down in Florida so we dissconnect . When it is all said and done it really is all about family. My elder sister emailed me with a great response and I was delighted to hear from her. She is the spiritual one in our family and has taught me so much. She has no idea. I hope to hear from my brother and younger sister soon. I am still reading Wyatt Woodsmalls book People,Pattern, Power and it is an amazing study of human beings and thier interaction characteristics. I highly reccomend. Well, to another beautiful Monday in Vermont. Peace Catmandon

cold and snowing in Vermont

Good morning everyone, I am off to finish splitting the last two cords of wood for the winter. It is ten degrees and snowing. Good for Mt. Snow ski resort and the local economy. When it snows everybody is in a great mood. Resturant staff, snow plowers, ski area, retail stores, etc. When it doesn't it is a miserable place. I just hope that the current economic situation will not deter a lot of people from coming here on holiday. Check out this funny video we took in Chicago at the Star of Siam resturant. You may even know some of these people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_IdfigReB8 Well, peace for now. Catmandon

Not going to blast until spring

Good morning everyone. I decided not to blast the cellar hole for our spec house until spring. I had everything lined up to do it on Mon and Tues the only thing I did not have was a plan for the house. It is just like me to put the cart in front of the horse sometimes. Well , if I blasted now I would be committed to building to the hole. It is to nice a piece of property to be this stupid. Therefore , I have decided to wait and get everything in place. The demolition guy will be bummed out but I assured him he can have the job in the spring. I will be splitting the rest of my firewood this weekend but it is going to very cold. I can tolerate it until next week when we go to BARBADOS and sit in the sun. Well thats it for now. Have a great day . Peace Catmandon

having problems posting

what the hell is up with that

another day in paradise

Good evening all, I just lit a fire, probably will have one going until April now. It is getting pretty cold . Jane,Heather Elizabeth and I went to Westminster this morning and sold a client the gold package for carpet cleaning. We also sold her on the green cleaning option. So, in six months she will get a free cleaning, she only will have to pay for the carpet protectorant. Goal is to sign up 50 clients in six months to our platinum or gold package. Heather Elizabeth and I will be doing audits together for awhile until she gets the hang of it, then I will send her out on her own. She has her own business on detoxifying home envionrments. It hopefully will be a good partnership. We have high hopes. I will meet with the demolition expert tommorrow and stake out the cellar hole for blasting and we will blast Monday and Tuesday. Can't wait. Now I will be able to start building in the spring. Going to go off the grid with solar and wind. I have a lot of research to do this winter. Peace for now Catmandon

Commercial for TV

Good morning everyone, We filmed our TV commercial yesterday and it is a minute and a half spot that will run four times per week for four months at 6:30 in the evening. It turned out great. It was an interview format. We started with a shot of our lead technician cleaning a carpet in the living room of a 1st class 2nd home community rec center called Kingswood in West Dover , Vermont. We were then asked questions pertaining to our services and cleaning methods , etc. It is very informative. It is 17 degrees here this morning and I believe there are some houses that are frozen already. The water damage season begins. I had a substanial water loss claim yesterday. So, here they come. I am meeting a demolition expert this morning on our property to see what it will cost to blast a cellar hole in solid ledge. Hopefully I will get enough fill from the hole to finish the road. My lead tech noticed right away that I had shaved my beard but others don't have a clue. It is a pretty good social experiment on how people observe things and others around them. Peace for now. Catmandon

Beard update and TV commercial

Good morning all, As I reported yesterday I saw my daughter and her family and no one realized that I had shaved my beard. What the hell is up with that. It will be an interesting day today as I interact with people that know me and see if they notice. It is a quite an experiment on human observation. We shall see. Jane and I are going to film our 60 sec spot for the local TV station today. It will run all winter. I think I will put it up on youtube with a link so that everyone can view and comment on it. I would appreciate your feedback. On a different note, I am reading a book called People,Pattern,Power by Wyatt Woodsmall. It is the best book I have ever read on human nature. He is the guy that trains the trainers, Tony Robbins, etc. I highly reccommend this book. It is hard to get so if your interested let me know and I will send you the info. Peace Catmandon

The missing beard experiment

Good morning everyone. My wife noticed that I had shaved my beard within just a few minutes of seeing my face and she is getting use to it. The interesting part is that we went to dinner last night with 8 other people who we have known for years and no one noticed that I had shaved my beard. At the end of the evening I mentioned the fact and they were suprised that they did not notice. Has everyone gotten so wrapped up in themselves that they don't take the the time to observe the rest of the world around them? We shall see. I am going to see my daughter and grandchildren today and I will bet that the children will notice before the adults. I will let you know. I need to write a piece today about how to create a allergen free living enviorment, so, that is my next task. Peace Catmandon

Beardless in Vermont

Rainy Saturday in Vermont. I just shaved my beard off. I have had a beard for the last 32 years and my wife has never seen me without it. She is still sleeping so it will be a suprise for her when she sees me. I hope she likes it. If not I can grow it back in about two weeks. When she comes down I will have breakfast ready for her this morning as she always makes mine every day. I have whole heartily decided to change my ways for the better. I think I will devote a good deal of time today to work on our marketing campaign for the winter months. We are filming a television commercial on Monday morning for our local station. I hope to get maximun results from it and I am sure we will. Well its time to do my yoga exercises and get sleepy head out of bed. Peace Catmandon

Chicago after the election

My wife and I went to Chicago on Wed , the day after the election. The energy in this town was electrifying. Everyone was up and buzzing about the future. Obama was having dinner down the street from our hotel. Didn't get a chance to see him though. We had dinner at Joe's one of the top three hot spots in the city. It took two days to get reservations. Dinner was awesome . We went with friends from Texas. I videoed the experience and will be posting on you tube in the near future. Everyone was great and got in on the show. Steve our waiter has been there for for over 25 years. They must make outraegous money. The service was immpecable and the food was out of this world. I highly recommend this resturant when in the windy city. Another fun place was the Star of Siam Thai resturant. We went there with 8 other friends and it was also very good and a lot of laughs. Another youtube video to be uploaded soon. I will provide links when this is done. The main reason for our trip was to take the Lifebook program offered by John Butcher. This program was one of the most powerful event we have ever attended. It was life tranformational. You actually create your own lifebook or blueprint for the rest of your life in 12 different categories. Check it out at www.mylifebook.com. If you mention my name Don Jones you can attend the Jan 22nd event for 1/2 price. This is a must for everyone and not to be missed. If you are not happy or sure of where you want to go with your life and how you are going to get there. You are presented with a beautiful book at the end of the session loaded with pictures from your life and a memory stick so that you can upload to your computer and update photos and text for the rest of your life. Everyone needs this direction. Thats it for now I will be talking to you soon. Love and peace Catmandon