Doesn’t life get busier every day for everyone? Beginning June I found my way quite a few different places: Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Colorado, back to MN, etc…

This summer kicked off early June with my sister Mariahs wedding. 3 days of classic backwoods Wisconsin fun. So excited for the happy couple! After that I spent a couple much overdue weeks of quality time with my parents, helping them downsize for their own big move to Missouri, selling old things on the craigslist, hunting all the while for a fixer-upper van or truck to get me around for the summer. It had to be something I could sleep in, and I wanted practice working on a classic engine. The week of my scheduled departure fate threw the perfect deal my way, one of the most reliable engines ever made, a 1992 Chevy K1500 Silverado, 160k miles, $575. Thank you K-Bid!

Babe the Blue Ox immediately made the 3 hr drive back to the cities, and two days later she made it out to Fargo to visit my great friend Andrea. I had a wonderful week catching up, and was able to spend some time with her partner Vera, a certified mechanic, going over the engine and helping out. We even found a topper for $40. Shazam!

As all good things must come to an end, and I still had a schedule to keep, Babe and I headed back to MN for the parents official move out. It went smooth, Josh found the best moving help on Craigslist, their storage unit was the exact right size. There we departed to our own separate Wisconsin adventures, myself to Lake Geneva, WI for the (cancelled/postponed) Mytych Family Reunion.

What a fantastic start to July, living the luxurious lake life as only the upper midwest can deliver. During this time I was able to line up a flexible catering gig through a friend back in the twin cities, as well as other craigslist odds and ends, so I headed to St Paul, staying at my brothers music studio in a local unused church basement. I know as a living situation it may be a tad unorthodox (pun intended), but it particularly suited my needs, lending me a free place to stay and save up while using my brothers tools to work on the truck. The rest of July flew by in that manner, with the month bookended by another fantabulous wedding: the new Mr. and Mrs. John and Kayla Verna! A rip-roaring, snort chortlin’, southern Colorado good time. I’m thrilled for them, it’s going to be great.

That about wraps July, the final days of the month bleeding into August as the cycle of Craigslist, catering, and truck work flowed seamlessly into one another, broken intermittently by a visit to old friend’s or whatever music gig my brother Josh was working. Somewhere in there, I struck gold without even realizing it. I’m not sure the exact date, but I stumbled upon a craigslist post that was only a sentence or 2, but it held the promise of bigger things to come. AutoCAD, for a business that had no clue how to look for someone with the skills they needed, and couldn’t afford them if they did. I figured it was worth a shot, I can teach myself most anything, certainly a computer program that I had already dabbled with. They hired me on for four preliminary drawings with the promise of more if I proved myself valuable. The rest of the month suddenly seemed fuller with tutorial vids and practice drawings wanting a place in my life.