This view is from the street onto the new patio and barbeque area. It isn’t important now, but you may notice how the jungle boxes the area in, yet like much of the flora, it does not provide much overhead shade. In fact, you may notice the slant of the distant shadow shows this is an early morning photo. This area bakes when the sun is overhead. Why people out here don’t use trellises is beyond me, and other than hurricane damage, nobody seems to know. I’ll investigate further, because I would use metal, not wood, if I had a trellis.
JP and I rented the movie, y’know, that was just a couple hours ago and I already forgot the name. A weak plot lifted from an old Eastwood script about the aging safecracker in for one more job. However, the actress that played his daughter bore a shocking resemblance to Julie K. I could not find the actress’ name in the credits but there is some idea it might be Cyndi Lauper. Wouldn’t that be a coincidence.We earlier (around 9:30 A.M.) went for breakfast at the famous Deli Lane on Dixie. I had a remarkable $8 omelet called the “Zola”, worth trying. While not totally vegetarian, it was close, and done to perfection. The coffee was iffy. The place was packed all day long. They are doing something right. JP and I ironed out the plans for the trailer move and the install of the new [water] heater and shower. I can’t unconvince him there is no great amount of salvageable copper piping in this place, in fact the entire water system is probably less than ten feet long.
I’ll need him for a few days to help move things and rig up the new kitchenette. Both him and I are natural renovators; it is purely the locally saturated market that stopped us from having something together by now. He thinks the place has great potential to rent by the week because of the nearby casino. He may be on to something there, particularly because of the high turnover at the race track and the absence of reasonable rents anywhere near this area.
His dad was at church, so I chose some books from the extensive library upstairs and we went back to the condo. The cable TV he’s got is really bad, locally known as “shit-coms and black TV”, but most of his channels are also in Spanish. While he prepared his customary meal every two hours, I read an entire passage on the duties of a midshipman.
That’s today’s trivia. What is a midshipman? These were the 8 to 14 year old sons of British families, usually with few local prospects. The sons therefore joined the Royal Navy as apprentice officers. They lived rough and were expected to master all the roles of the crew. By passing regular exams and duties, and sharing in booty, some advanced. Horatio Nelson began his career this way. Others failed, and were still midshipmen at the age of 50. (Whence they immigrated to Ontario and established a long line of real estate agents, and began naming streets after themselves.)
The annual county fair was on this weekend, but due to my condition we decided to cancel. Walking around is just not for me these days. I’ll be doing something about that shortly, there are some logistics that need taking care of first. One of the things I’m going to do is see a lawyer right off the bat, not waiting for the usual string of events. Besides, we have noticed a certain repetition to the displays at the fair starting two years ago. They are recycling the ideas if not the very exhibits.
I am considering some kind of enclosure to make Pudding-Tat at least partially an outdoor cat (at the new place). Even if this never happens, I think all animals need to be outside some. She is spoiled to helplessness. Did I tell you I finally got her to eat cooked pork? But only if it thoroughly chewed first and placed in her dish. What? Me. Who do you think comes over to chew it for her, the Queen of England?
Later. I managed to put in nearly an hour practicing bass. Um, what have I discovered here? All I did was incorporate sitting down, playing the new bass drum and the new lush sound MP3s. Wow! What an effect! Think of it as sounding “twice as live” as before, when you first hear it you will have to look twice – it really sounds like a live trio. Right now I can only do basic drum beats but watch out. I was born with perfect timing and I will now push that to the limit.
I am around 5% done converting my song list to the lush format. By choosing only my best tunes and streamlining the process, I may finish in fewer hours. Also, I’ve learned to cut down on the time required by over 75% (although some songs still take hours to “unlock” electronically). Make no big plans yet, for re-practicing these songs with the drum is more ambitious than anything I’ve tackled. I have to unlearn some habits that bass playing demands – but that is good because it distances me from any guitarist-turned-bassist who might rashly try the same thing. When I play the music, I can “think” the beats so it is only a matter of time until I can tap them out.
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