One year ago today: June 30, 2013, Ft. Meyers Beach.
Five years ago today: June 30, 2009, rated 'average'.
Ten years ago today: June 30, 2004, Hong Kong Day.
Have you heard the term “rent-burdened”? It refers to people who spend more than a third of their income on shelter. New York apartments rent for $2,000 to $3,000 per month, which would not be possible in Florida where the average family barely makes that. But that kind of rent, and massive inflation, will double prices in Florida within a few years. The imagined “recovery” from the recession is the second wave of boomers opting for retirement while they still can and moving around the country. This boosts the numbers but doesn’t result in any real permanent increases in productivity.
Meanwhile, enjoy the low inflation. Low, because the soldiers over in Rug Land are being paid with borrowed money. Your can of Progresso is less than $5.00 only because they are still so very far away. When they come back, get ready for post-war inflation with a vengeance. And just you try to find the turkey in the soup. Progresso has been going steadily downhill for years. Talk about degenerate American marketing practice. Sell 'em the best, then water it down.
It looks like West Palm was my trip for the month. I might brave the raid and go out for coffee here, but too many winters in Seattle have not left me thinking of rain as romantic. Under the right circumstances, I’m okay with really bad storms while I’m snug indoors looking out. But most of it, give me a good book, if such a thing since Google took over the Internet. Or at least the parts people use. Think of an app, we’ll sell it to Google. It’s the contemporary road to riches.
Meanwhile, NPR (reruns) in the background tells me that 80% of the antibiotics manufactured in the USA are not used by humans. Yep, that’s what I thought, so I looked it up. They are fed to chickens, cows, and pigs. The theory is that when these animals are mass confined to growing sheds at the factory, disease outbreaks could be costly. The force-feeding of antibiotics supposedly means the chicken is using energy to grow rather than fight infections.
The reality is agribusiness found the antibiotics act as a growth hormone. But avian swine flu is spread by birds. What happens to viruses when they encounter antibiotics? They mutate. And what better environment than 25,000 chickens in a hothouse? That’s a lot of tons of antibiotic working hard to incite the next Spanish flu.
Trivia. Sean Connery was originally rejected as James Bond because he wasn’t upper-crust. And in 1958 (when casting began) every Brit knew that that the English nobility were so above ordinary humans that a working-class Scottish actor could not possibly fool anyone. Much less the sophisticated movie-going US audiences. Fleming, the author, convinced the Bond flash was over, sold the character in 1964 for about a quarter million.
More rain means more study, which everyone does rather than get bored, or am I making that up? Bored is watching lame Internet videos of Germans trying to pronounce the word “squirrel”. There’s always pictures like this from actual Russian dating sites. Or $246 per roll toilet paper.
Trivia. You may know the average height of stair steps in 7-3/4 inches, but did you know building code says once a size is picked, all stairs in a building must be of the same height. And I’ve completed my first chapter of fiction. It’s 1,389 words and is my submission to the writer’s club tomorrow. I’m throwing myself to the wolves. It will be a short story, maybe forty pages. The tentative title is “El Kavorite”, which I [may have] mentioned years ago. My hero has the unlikely surname of “Hovdebbo” and he dies 1973, some 96 hours after winning $38,000 in the New Mexico lottery. His ex-wife drives a Pontiac. He understood the metric system.
Wait, I have more trivia. Originally, cloth from Silesia in Poland was of very good quality. So many cheap copies flooded the market that cheap or shoddy changed from Silesia into “sleazy”. And I found the problem with the circuit. One of the screws, while being tightened, snagged the insulation on the wire and dragged it into the connection, causing an open. It works fine now. And the funniest thing I saw today was a video of these Americans trying to explain to the Chinese that on holidays they should stay in an expensive hotel with a swimming pool and sit in the sun beside the pool doing nothing. The look on the Chinese faces is priceless.
ADDENDUM
Let’s talk small housing. The preferred term for modular houses, which includes manufactured, mobile, pre-cut, factory, and ready-made is the word “panelized”. I’ve considered this alternative, but unlike living in a mobile home in an established park, these homes and yards require maintenance. My task is not to live off the grid or even live for free, but to spend the least proportion of my after-65 dollars on upkeep. Can’t take it with me.
But the good news is a livable model, say 12×24’ runs around $5,000 and most shed sellers will finance and deliver. It seems to run about $44 per month for each $1,000 you owe. Of course, I would pay cash and still later trick out the interior. However, beware of building codes. In Miami, you can live in a 1920’s firetrap, but not a remodeled shed. (Careful, there is a "new" scam called rent-to-own, except you never eventually own it. Class of 1990, no doubt.)
Have you seen that video on small houses. Myself, I don’t like them because I know I require two separate rooms minimum. Still, small houses have more charm than mobile or manufactured homes. My only choice was a trailer court. Interesting, some of these small places took the same approach as I did with my camper pod—and I was cozy in that an entire month, which surprised me. I didn’t actually “live” there, as I saved so much on motels, days found me in fancy eateries, out on the road, doing national parks, and generally having a good time with the extra funds.
This prompts me to point out that I am not part of any hippie protest movement. I’d like a big place if I could afford one, simply to have enough indoor work space for my diverse interests. And a spare room to rent as a hedge against an ominous future, that’s important. The maid pays you instead of the other way around. But my basic motive is to not slave away a lifetime paying for a big house to die in. People who do that, the pension builders, are among the most boring of the human species, though that could be because there are so many of them. Right, Hector?
The video showed other commonalities I didn’t spot at first. I see the “small house people” are readers and writers which makes their articles instantly suspect. Like people who write about yachts because they own one. It's not like they will tell you it was all a mistake.. They use their homes to get things done rather than lounging around. Visitor are necessarily few at a time. They’ve learned to throw things out. Most objects have several purposes. And there is always one room that has a length of at least ten feet.
What’s not shown? What makes up my mind? Well, first, I do not choose the alternative of having a roommate. Inevitably, that puts you at their mercy. I also like my quiet times, which don’t follow a schedule. And my music times, I must practice when I’m motivated, so no timetable there, either. After watching this man with a 452 square foot place, I looked around here and thought, what’s so special about his area? My place is even smaller (if you subtract the extras).
But I’ve got a separate bedroom, a dining room, and a large 22 foot long work area. I don’t have to fold my bed up during the day. And I have a tub, not just a shower. I got to thinking. If my place was a “tiny house” instead of a manufactured home, how would the media describe my use of the limited space? Well, I have a piano and recording area with many guitars, instruments, and amplifiers. I have a specialized computer work desk and a full cabinet of office and electrical supplies. There’s a printer and scanner, full length storage shelves, a dresser full of my hand tools and the same area can be curtained off to form an 8×10 guest room, with air mattress.
I have my private lounge rocker with table lamp, next an Internet work station complete with bulletin boards and beside it a full stereo entertainment center minus a TV. The pockets have since filled up with electronics gear and projects in process. Across from that is my bicycle storage and bookshelves. I eat in this area so I can hear the radio and see the front yard.
Up the stairs, I have a complete work station set up in the old dining room, with solder stations, a sewing station, drill press, bench grinder. I know, but never once in the first two years did I ever “dine” in that area, so I threw out the table and chairs and put the space to use. I have a kitchen with a full size fridge and double sink. Small gas stove, microwave, blender, lots of shelve space. And a full height pantry cabinet. My bathroom is cramped, but for one person it is adequate and has a ton of closet space.
And finally, my bedroom. Hundreds of books, soundproof, air conditioned, powerful fan, where I keep all my private gear from prescriptions to business records. My space is actually too big for me to keep spotless, yet not quite big enough for a dedicated work room. In other words, my place is much better utilized (I didn’t say organized) than some larger premises. Considering the total energy that emanates out of here, say just this blog alone, it is strange how the world would grant me more prestige if I lived in a tree house.
And don't put that past me. A tree house . . .
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
