Lead Paint!

I haven't written on my blog in a few years, mostly because of the advent of social media. Facebook. It happens to be a great way to stay in touch with old friends and make new ones and along the way share the ups and downs of life.
I have a few rental properties and one is an older brick home that was converted to four one bedroom apartments. I rent to HUD/Metro and single people. During the last HUD inspection, they determined that my property didn't pass inspection because there was peeling paint on the outside of the building. I had more than 20 square feet (about five feet by four feet). Since the building was built before 1978, I need to have a lead safe contractor come in, remove the lead paint and get it recertified by the EPA as free from lead.
I'm not the only one facing this issue. Many people that rent to persons receiving HUD funds are finding themselves in similar situations. They are going to lose tenants, some very long term and tenants are going to be forced to move.
Lead may have affected some children over the years but there were generations that grew up with lead based paint and lead based lots of stuff and most of them are fine. Now, we the new owners are being forced to repair, replace and upgrade because an advocacy group got their way in Washington and got a bill passed. They didn't stop to ask how this would efffect home owners, land lords, tenants and business owners who are now forced to jump through more regulator hoops and spend more money on permits, training and equipment. To me it seems like a big money maker for the state.
I realized that lead is dangerous and I am probably glossing over the effects and the dangers of having lead in our bodies but most kids aren't eating the windowsills or picking the paint off the walls. It is frustrating to work hard to have a nice place for people to live and I want to provide a safe, healthy environment for my tenants but when it requires me to expend thousands of dollars just for a new paint job and a guy to take a few test, I feel a little angry at the government. My tenants will be moving on and I will be forced to find new ones to replace the income I have lost and I will have to deal with the peeling paint issues.
The moral I'm trying to come to is this, when you let the government pay your bills, the government gets to make the rules. We have given far to much power to the government to rule our lives. I didn't see anything about lead paint in the Constitution and I never will but for now, I have lead paint test kits and dollar signs dancing in my head.

Random DR photos

1. Snorkeling in the pool near the waterfall

2. Cool pineapple drinks, (i was trying to get the girl in the shot too, but she turned, dont tell my wife)

3. Sunbathing

4. Whos flying the plane?

5. Rode ATVs to the sugar cane fields, ate soem sugar cane. The extra boy in the photo came with our guide and the boy drove the ATV most of the time.

More DR!

1,2 Inside the first Cathedral in the Americas

3. Statue of Columbus in front of the first Cathedral. Columbus wasnt famous in Spain until after his death.

4. Running with the bulls on the street of the ladies

5. First sundial in Americas, it still works, it reads 3:00

Dominican Republic Sept/Oct 2008

1. Firing cannons from the Calle de los Dames. (Street of the Ladies) in Santo Domingo. Protecting the New World's first city and harbor.

2. Beach at our resort, Coasta Caribe, Juan Dolio

3. WoooH! Sandcastles rock!

4. Dive boat and water sports hut at the resort. The guys would drag me across the sand tot he boat, pick me up and put me in it and then throw me over board. Rinse and repeat to get back to shore.

5. A good looking troop

Waterskiing

I did my annual waterski run with TAASC this summer. Here's a few photos of the sinus cleansing. When you're jumping wakes, you're bound to fall. The guy in the last photo, shouted "shake and bake" as I was taking off and that spurred a wole round of Talladega Nights jokes.
"I got two knives in my leg!!" "Calm down Ricky Bobby we're going to use one to pry out the other one." "One's a safety knife!"

Virginia for a Henderson

Friday June 13, 2008, George and I loaded another E150 van for another road trip. We headed south towards Huddleston, VA, to pick up a Henderson motorcycle for Tom Brim, George’s boss.
We stopped around midnight in Beckley, WV to stay at a Holiday Inn that didn’t accept cash for a room and had no cash on site. We stayed on my card and spent a nice night in a large accessible room.
Gone by six-forty five, we took US 64 into Virginia and then some back roads to reach VA 43. What a road, it looked like someone spilled their guts and some one else made a road following them. It was a fun road but in a E150, my butt was puckered to the seat. I wished I was on my old CBR929RR and kickin’ Riche Law’s ass through the curves.
We met up with Bill Saunders at his backwoods hideaway and picked up the Henderson which was in pieces ready for assembly. Before loading the van we were treated to strong coffee with Chickaree in it, ginger muffins and home made apple butter and fruit. After loading the van and ogling the many other vintage bikes in the garage, including Indian Big Chiefs and vintage BMWs, we set off towards West Virginia.
We took a different route out, seeing some different scenery and not keeping the seat puckered up the backside. George was gentler on the drive out with the loaded bike.
After a quick stop in Covington, VA at a motorcycle junkyard, we landed at Tom and Kathy Law’s house in Oak Hill, West Virginia in time for supper. Tom took George for a ride in the Cateram Super Seven sports car, an overgrown go-kart on steroids, before we headed out for wings and beer at a small gas station. It seemed odd but this is West Virginia and they had the Buffalo Wild Wings symbol on the door.
Back at the house we played cut throat pool and partners eight ball before heading to bed. We didn’t want to leave the peacefulness of Tom’s house in the morning and we were greeted with a breakfast of eggs, fresh biscuits, home made blackberry jam, bacon and cooked apples. With full bellies, we watched the end of the LeMans 24 hour race and then packed ourselves back in the van.
Up route 19 to Summersville and Sarge’s dive shop to check out the dive conditions and accommodations. We wanted to dive but George wanted to get home and we pressed on winding across the mountains on Route 60 along the Kanawa river and into Charleston before getting on the highway and cruising home.