One year ago today: June 25, 2015, notes on anchovy paste.
Five years ago today: June 25, 2011, a generic day.
Nine years ago today: June 25, 2007, barnacles & recorded calls.
Random years ago today: June 25, 2012, microcontrollers & Scientology.
MORNING
Let’s get it out of the way—here is the long-awaited photo of the Limestone Country Club. Owned by Herb. And, this pic comes with a tale from the trailer court. On the way there, I pulled into Ft. Green, such as one can pull into a non-existent location. But there was a house across the way from where I parked under a shady roadside tree to consult my atlas. Yep, I’m in Ft. Green.
.
Nope, I’m not lost, but is this the road or Ona? Yes, which then would mean it was also the road to Limestone. I could see she was totally taken by the sidecar and the events surrounding our little cross-paths. So I said hop in, let’s go for a cold one. I’ll have you back here by noon.
No, she says. She’d like to but she has to feed her cats. There’s something vaguely familiar about this scenario, like it was some crazy joke I heard thirty or forty years ago. Can anyone inspire me? I wonder if she'll ever know how close she came, but admittedly, some ladies (right Theresa) really do like their cats better than a life of constant adventure. Those are true cases of the tail wagging the cat, my most creative phrase today.
If all goes to plan, JZ and I should be shooting another truckload up to Lakeland by now. Later, guess what, he didn’t show. And silver shooting up over $18 per ounce like it did in Hong Kong on Friday morning. All you need to know is that price is well into the danger zone [for the big banks]. This coincides with the Brexit vote, but I still have no idea how that went. I listen mostly to music on the radio. I can tell you with the funny bailout of Greece and Germany’s problem with her politicians, the average Englishman must hate the Europeans. Since when did they ever do anything that Britain hasn’t done better on its own?
My opinion is that vote is a microcosm of what America has created with misguided Liberalism. The economy is similar to England in 1945, if you ask me. It is geared up for a world that no longer exists. That’s the muddle the English were in, the war channeled their resources into weapons that were instantly outdated when Germany was overrun. The US has accomplished the same feat by letting our plant and equipment stagnate while our corporations invested in the new technologies overseas. Where workers face fewer challenges balancing their family life with their careers.
Let’s not forget that is was repressive Washington tax policies that had these manufacturing plants relocating and the growth of nonsensical employee benefits created by government departments that could not sell Girl Guide Cookies. I was there at the time when my employer was voted best in the land for employee benefits. Yet, other than the standard sick leave and my pension plan, there wasn’t much in it for me. The benefits were mainly geared for that fictitious “average family unit” invented for early prime time television.
While I’ve joked about the lack of opportunities for young people entering the job market, I place serious blame on the way their parents voted in this situation. I still hear the odd commentator making a big deal that Trump won’t obey the law if he is elected. What, the law that allowed 11 million immigrants to take away all the teen jobs? The law that allowed imbeciles and pathological lairs to hold government offices? The law that tags you as an enemy of the state if you dare speak against the growth of the bureaucracy? It must be old people who think anybody should obey such laws. And yes, it does take a man with a willingness to throw some weight around to get it through people that the old system is what caused today’s total mess.
The funny English.
NOON
It’s probably good JZ is a no-show, I was not ready. I still have twenty boxes to pack. This is not fun when you have double jet lag. I rode the scooter over to Senor’s for toast and coffee and it was packed full of fat people yelling over each other. What’s with that? Easy, it is a South American custom. You have to let the world know you are having breakfast in a restaurant.
Shown here is one of the windows I’ve come to know and love. These are the single-hungs I unseized last Thursday. I’m pointing at the exterior rails. The usual problem was these had been painted over. There is a name for each one of these wood pieces on the window. Who knows, by the time I finish all ten windows, I may know the correct terms.
Now, there is something else swinging into play. You see, right how I have the cheapest, nicest private place to live in South Broward. Much as I dislike the annual $15 to $20 pad rental increase, the price is regulated by the city. I know how to look up what other places are charging. This is the least by nearly a hundred bucks. I had not planned on moving until November, but just forget about all my former plans. You see, a few people have offered me enough cash money to make this a tempting sale. And a few of the offers are absolutely solid.
Like this one guy whose sister is helping him pay for a shared one bedroom. He sleeps on the couch, but the roomie watches TV until 2:30 in the morning. My place is clean, quiet, with full facilities and every last tiny thing works properly. That storage shed is also a big plus for anybody who is a bit of a handyman. I’ll call him later today, the office can’t turn him down over age. I know, because I was at his birthday party last year.
What I’m saying is if anybody offers me say, 2/3 of what I paid for the place or more, I would right now find that an extremely appealing proposition. It also matches the amount of materials I was about to purchase for the new digs. I’ve said time and again having a $25,000 float in the bank makes things go your way. The catch? You cannot touch that fund without a way to almost instantly replenish it, and you have to live as if you will die with that chunk of cash in the bank. But, it works. I am under no pressure to sell unless I feel like it.
I’m sure beginning to feel like it.
AFTERNOON
I sat down and spent nearly five hours thinking about the bedroom. Yes, I can sleep in a cardboard box, and thanks to my parents, I have. But it would not take so much to make that room quite a prize. It is larger than your usual bedroom if you overlook those crazy models that are really a bedroom and office (or something) combined. While having three windows, one on each wall, is distinctive, it is also not feng shui, or whatever. The windows are smack dab in the middle of each wall to the north, east, and south. So whatever piece of furniture you place along that wall will block some of your view.
The north window is so useless, it is currently housing the A/C, and the south window would face the proposed sun room. Ah, but that single east window faces the sunrise. There’s something about retirement that says dawn is a glorious vista. Hence I’m considering moving the north window to the east to form a double. Plus, it would overlook the garden and a nice shaded stretch of back yard.
Not double windows, but two single windows side-by-side. To preserve that exclusive ambience. The south wall is a challenge. It can’t look into the sun room. Maybe one of those electric Amish fireplaces? They form a counter around four feet up, where losers put a TV. What? Oh, I only meant that anyone who puts a TV in a bedroom is a loser. The marriage is over, and since I said that when I was seventeen or so, it’s fairly useless to argue the point.
Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch: Physics, 2006. For their joint investigation into why dry spaghetti, when bent, breaks into more than two pieces. Here you thought it was only you. You might want to read the whole link, this guy don’t quit.
NIGHT
You didn’t ask about the washrooms at King Fries, the top-rated dining spot in Ona, Florida. But I knew you were going to, so here is a photo of the facilities. It is an out-house on the northwest side, you ask for the key at the counter, a customary practice any many of your more up-scale filling stations. But wait, take a closer look, this is no ordinary out-house. Framed in wood and true-to-life unpainted bare sheathing, this King Fries unisex classic has amenities.
Back home, I ran some numbers to estimate the cost of building materials. Everything is within my financial constraints and it looks like I will be investing in a decent table saw and a miter saw. Just don’t wait around, since that won’t happen until much later in the process. I have few issues living in a building long before any finishing work takes place.
Here’s an item. When I calculated the exact interior square footage, it struck me how close the area was to the building I was raised in. However, the similarity stops abruptly at that point. For example, if you could walk into both houses, you would not directly notice the similar size. But you would rather instantly spot inside my new place that there are seven fewer people living there.
Come to think of it, King Fries is the only dining spot in Ona.
ADDENDUM
This just in. I calculated the distance from Lakeland to DC in inches. It is 900 miles, which is 4,752,000 feet or 5,024,000 inches. Do I include total budgeted costs for the trip ($1,800) or just the cost of gasoline to go there one way (around $90)? Let’s choose the latter for simplicity. In case you don’t remember, the Honda is a gas guzzler, drinking 10¢ of gas per mile. Ergo, every penny saved on renovations gets me 6,336 inches closer to the Smithsonian.
Are you happy now?
Last Laugh
Took me a second to realize "creepy" was the operative word.
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