One year ago today: July 21, 2014, working on the camper.
Five years ago today: July 21, 2010, hurricane names.
Six years ago today: July 21, 2009, happier days on Duval.
MORNING
Mornings are for coffee. And you don’t have to be retired to make it happen. I just passed the two month mark of foregoing the cinnamon bun. My one daily treat, but I’m now more convinced than ever that maintaining a balance of nutrition is better than counting calories. Food labels are not trustworthy, the rule of thumb is, if you can’t read it, don’t eat it. When I heard that Canadian wheat may be genetically modified and products made from it did not have to reveal that, no more bread.
Yes, that is duct tape on the seat, the new “performance muffler”, but otherwise, the same old machine. It is standard to carry a pint of spare gas, a can of oil, a spark plug, and a 10mm wrench under the seat. I have received around twenty offers to buy this unit, but I use it almost every day.
Stand by. One of the banks has expressed interest in our offer. But don’t hold your breath. Banks don’t seem to trust cash offers, and we have also learned not to provide “proof of funds” over a certain small figure. Although I suppose to some people that small figure represents a lot of money. This is usually a minor stumbling block, so stay tuned. It is one of the properties we have already seen, but not inspected, near Ft. Myers.
A few words on that development. It would appear from the reactions we get that, in many cases, we are the first people to happen along that demands the banks defend their position on some issues. This would not surprise me. It means that the thousands before use were meek, mild sheeple. But over the years, the banks have come to expect that the only way they are to be approached is cap-in-hand.
Here we are, fresh from our courtroom auction experience and clearly not full of respect for the way the bank does business. Don’t take this to mean confrontational, just that we have learned to question every bank rule that inconveniences us. Bank rules don’t mean a lot to us unless it is backed up by law—and we’ve found too often that it is not. For instance, this “proof of funds” means little to us and we care not that it has been an industry standard for years. Here’s an example.
Over time, the bank has learned to word their position to their own advantage. We really did feel, two weeks ago, that the auctions had to be attended with cash. It turns out they won’t accept cash. In fact, we now find out it is illegal to buy and sell houses in Florida for cash. It must be, by law, a bank transaction. What I’m saying is we over here did not create that impression about “cash only” on our own, nor did the Pope call us up and inform us about a “cashiers check” (sic). We got it from reading the rules and listening to banks. Obviously.
NOON
One thing I’ll insist on is a workshed large enough to complete larger projects indoors. This is my backyard, showing that even in the shadiest part, there is still not enough room to work on anything larger than the trailer bed, shown here. Summer usually brings such jobs to a halt. Worse, the heat spell this week finally burned out my bedroom air conditioner. And the fridge is making noise. Clear indications I had not planned on living here this long.
See the clever wording? The bank clearly hopes the average person will take that to mean you must have the funds or they will not show you the property. That’s the kind of shit I’m talking about. Agt. M says it is more important to learn to inspect the property, we say it is more important to know how to get tough with the banks or the property will make no difference. We view these as two separate steps, not a continuum. He borrows money all the time and it is interesting to see how he automatically takes the bank’s position.
Not us. First off, we demand the bank remove all separate charges, such as the “buyer’s premium” and refuse to give permission for [the bank to do] a credit or background check. Why? Mainly on principle, but also because we’ve found we continually have to remind the bank that we are not seeking a loan. I know what you are thinking, but yes we did tell them we will be paying cash—only to have them instantly presume that means we borrowed the money from a different bank. Like it is any of their business where you got the cash. Anyway, as soon as the upcoming weekend, we are scheduled to inspect some property.
And did you see the paper this morning? There is a report that watching TV is now scientifically linked to dementia (Alzheimer’s). One day after I published the same information here
EVENING
Rats in a seacoast town are a fact of life. And I’ve got a smart one this time. He’s already gotten out of two traps. Poison won’t work, as they die in the woodwork and smell for months. Tomorrow, I maybe build a trap he cannot figure out. He has become trap shy for the regular models. Oddly, the rat has been better company than anyone I’ve met in the last year.
I have to call in all outstanding items, including overdue receivables. About 30 people owed me money totaling nearly $3,900, of which half was paid back within a week. The rest have said they would pay up by August 15, which I have no doubt will happen. Remember, I no longer deal with the likes of Ken Sanchuk. But during the process, I had a laugh at how non-accounting people do their books. They don’t seem to know a half-hour spent learning the right way to keep books would streamline their lives.
It’s amazing to watch how they make do. Well, I owe that guy $50 and Sally owes me $40, so if I deposit Mary’s check into my savings, then I can . . . and so on. Because I know accounting, I will sometimes drive across town to get a different bank card rather than co-mingle even a dollar. Basically what happened is I put up a $1,000 bond for a friend from out of the country to hook up utilities at her summer cottage in Mount Baker.
I sent her the money but she was downtown so she deposited it into her savings account instead of her US checking account. Nine days later when she wrote the check, the exchange had fallen to $996.88, so her deposit check bounced. So she transferred in money from her savings, but forgot that the overdraft fees were in US dollars. Lots of fun. Anyway, when it was all sorted out, she’d lost $93.63. She was first to pay me back, though.
And today I passed a milestone in readership, but that came a year later than predicted. If you’ve been reading, you are aware that blogs have taken a massive hit from the social sites. My monthly readership has been falling steadily for nearly seven months. And there are telltale signs that my remaining readers are the type that click in several times a day, making for unreliable statistics.
ADDENDUM
Today’s Last Laugh shows a pencil with a lead that is claimed to write for six miles. I found this photo during research which shows that a typist’s fingers move 12.5 miles per day. Maybe if that’s their job, since I type about 6 miles. I limit my typing to about a quarter of what the average person wastes daily on television. Now, examine the 6-mile pencil. Should it not write 6.5 miles?
Nope. For starters, the 6-mile mark is right at the end of the barrel, making the stub too small to hold. I figure that is to offset the half-inch before the 1-mile mark. And due to the lead lost by mechanical sharpening (I sharpen my pencils by hand), the full miles-per-pencil is likely a fanciful concept.
Last Laugh
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