One year ago today: November 1, 2014, Mad Trapper Johnson.
Five years ago today: November 1, 2010, “Johnatham”.
Six years ago today: November 1, 2009, a Miami bike ride.
Nine years ago today: November 1, 2006, I can’t sing.
MORNING
An early start found me alone at Senor for breakfast meeting. What’s the bets everybody else forgot to turn their clocks back? The high point of this morning was buying some jelly beans. Notice in the blurry pic how I’m digging to the back of the display? Why do you suppose that is? Because, Florida is third world. By that, I don’t necessarily mean only in practical matters, but also in attitude. You see, the first few packages have been picked over.
Of course I used to accept the odd random bag with no licorice, but then you move to Florida and notice if you don’t behave as badly as the rest, you always get the bad bag. Second flavor to watch for is the green limes. You don’t do it because you are as bad as the rest, but because if you don’t, they’ll rob you blind. Third world.
You know, tomorrow I'm going to have some unflattering words about local women and this massive influx of young male "refugees".
NOON
The double-length glides seem to work fine, but the installation involves a lot of very fine and finicky measuring, down to the 32nds of an inch. Here is an inside and outside view of the rails, this is a test version, not the final product. There is more to this than meets the eye. Some mighty fine tolerances have to be accounted for, such as the depth of the screw through the plywood plus two type of washers and the bolt. The interior clearance inside the glides is 1/32nd of an inch.
I’ve got the new panels painted one side. These are some of the materials JZ and I picked up at Home Depot last afternoon. Buyer beware, when we go the sheets home, in each case, the unsanded side had a deep gouge in the same spot. Some defect in factory quality control, but from a distance, it looked like an ordinary knot. So they put the junk on sale.
I’ve decided to put a sturdier than necessary roof on the new camper. When buttoned up, the design is basically a double box, with plywood an inch thick where before it was only 5/8” It is when unzipped that it is apparent the sidewalls are not as sturdy. But still many times better, safer, warmer, and quieter than a canvas tent.
There should also be a picture of the side panels being fitted into the housing cavity. From this, you should be able to imagine the size of the eventual sleeping compartment. The double-wall and floor arrangement is also visible. A full day like this one is only possible with a friendly fall breeze, the cooler weather, and the huge shade tree that covers my entire back “yard” work area.
I’m a few chapters into the new book, I gave you a wrong title last time. The full text is “In Harm’s Way”, and as stated, it is extremely well written. That’s good, because it is fundamentally just another war story. We know the sailors die one by one and they all have sweethearts back home. Or at least think they do, which probably helps immensely. The book pays excellent attention to detail, so I’m picking up on trivia. Did you know the only part of the battleship that was air conditioned was the operating room? Can you imagine trying to sleep in a tin can when the outside temperature is 95F?
Last, I rarely keep records for others, but the last few time JZ and I have headed out, I’ve kept track of both out spending. He is not a believer in budgets, but he’s beginning to admit that when we head out together, we spend less money between us than he does going out alone. That’s right, he thinks nothing of dropping a hundred bucks for a night on the town. When I’m present, we have a better time, we eat and drink better, and he always has his pick of the women. (Myself, if only there were any worth getting picked, sigh.)
The budget for last night, including his billiards, came to $27. Like a lot of guys, JZ can sometimes get into a mode of thinking that another drink and another dollar can kick-start the evening. Nope, I’ve shown him countless times, if you don’t pick up a woman in the first 45 minutes or by 9:30 PM, it ain’t going to happen. This is why women I’ve known for years in some cases are just now beginning to find out I’m an entertainer, and drive a sidecar. They were talking when they should have been watching.
NIGHT
You know what annoys a lot of people? This tack that many veterans are on that people who are not veterans are “hitchhikers” who don’t appreciate that the vets fought for their freedom. Well, just what does that mean? If we don’t worship vets, we are unpatriotic? My point of view is that before you fight for somebody else’s freedom or die for their sins, that it is proper you should ask them first. Or at least get some kind of consensus first. You know, kind of get their input before you go marching off for reasons. Because unless you ask first, those reasons are really your own. And I’m actually mild on the issue, where a lot of people are downright radical.
I am also a Libertarian (not to be confused with a Liberal) and an isolationist. We don’t belong in Germany, or South Korea, or Japan. We have no business running 3,200 military bases on foreign soil. We should not be “defending” anyone who does not pay their full costs. And the argument that peace is indivisible is nonsense.
Usually the people who come up with that one are the ones who claim Hitler was intent on taking over the world. Such people do not even begin to understand the reality of what is involved in fighting such a fight. Germany's economy was far too small for any lengthy war, and Germany did not even go into full-scale war production until 1943 under Speer. The average daily German tank strength in the latter years of the war was about 400. You should be questioning the truthfulness of the people who tell you wild tales of planetary conquest. I got ten bucks I can tell you what affiliation those people have.
I learned this morning that the rails cannot be mounted to the exact edge of any of the panels. One panel is 41 inches long, the other is 34 inches, I gave up trying to calculate the offset and finally bolted the contraption together and managed, somehow, to hold both ends of the thing level while I drilled pilot holes for the other end, six feet away. What’s this photo? Oh yeah, it is the gouge in the wood mentioned recently. I had to patch the hole to continue.
I had noticed the drawer glides came in sizes of 2” difference. Therefore I knew the 19” size would work (figure it out: (19+19+(19/2)) = ((41 + 34)/2), that is, these matters worked out to be factors of 75. That’s an amazing fluke considering I planned the camper ten months ago and first heard of the glides last Saturday morning, or was it Friday night?
Hence, one of the critical measurements was how exactly the 19/2” [overlapping] section had bolt holes that matched up. I determined the easiest way to find this out was to rig up another 19” section or a significantly cheaper 17” section. This is going to cause trouble in the club. Because the only way to get those pieces will mean asking, which is going to bring up the certain topic of welding. I don’t want them welded. And in any case, I don’t want them welded first and then fit into place later. That essentially defines the two different approaches to problems.
My most-used tool is a pencil.
Last Laugh
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