One year ago today: October 19, 2015, on social camoflage.
Five years ago today: October 19, 2011, the PO-TA-TO gif.
Nine years ago today: October 19, 2007, possible DNS transcript.
Random years ago today: October 19, 2012, In Minnesota, free costs too much.
MORNING
There you go, I found it already. Saddle soap. And the same location has chain saw oil. I’ll hold off on a shopping spree since I am now feeling the pinch of that $530 motorbike repair. Am I just now running low on cash? Yep. Observers note that this week-to-ten-day delay in funds availability is quite normal for those with budgets. No one single event can bring everything to a standstill as happens so often with people who try to wing it with their cash flows. Theresa, can you confirm that? If you’ve ever been around the peasant class when they get a flat tire or a broken shoelace, you know what I’m talking about.
It’s slander, and we know it. When talking about Trump, Rutenberg says not one thing about Clinton, but uses the words “dangerous”, “George Wallace”, “Lenin”, “anti-Semitic (interesting twist there, Rutenberg), and “conspiracy” in an article that does nothing but condemn. This is balanced reporting?
Or get that moron McManus. Look at him defend Hillary as “rational, moderate” to imply others are not. She believes in “progressive goals” which have no apparent effect in our lifetimes. He defends her by saying all the investigations have not yielded a “real smoking gun” (that’s an opinion), and now the Liberals are claiming it was the Russians who hacked Hillary’s e-mails. The Russians. Americans! We must unite behind Hillary (and thus against Trump) to defend her honor and forget the economic woes! Just who do these lamebrains think they are kidding?
What’s more ironic is the way Florida politicians have developed “establishment” attack skills, which include questioning the opponents qualifications and suitability. So when Trump came along, the denigration mechanism was in place. Ironic? Yes, because in Florida it is a given that to get elected, you have to lie because the other side is doing the same. And historically, all politicians since Kennedy have come from the ruling class. Since most rich people are not too bright and you can’t get ahead by working hard, that doesn’t leave many other options.
Waterfall.
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NOON
Trivia. Did you know where the word “broadcast” comes from? Long before radio, it was a term used to describe the method of sowing seeds by throwing them by hand. Also known as feeding the birds. Here’s another, what was the biggest growth in demand ever known for board games. Like Clue, Monopoly, etc. It was during the American Great Depression. People had nothing else to do and movies were relatively expensive.
This picture shows part of the oak limbs that have to go. You can see my wood pile in the foreground, looking towards the east. There are two large limbs that overhang the vacant lot next door. Vacant, until people park there or kids play there. Not visible is how high and far these branches go, but they reach at least thirty feet high. There are no corresponding branches on the other side to distribute the balance. These trees constant shed dead leaves and limbs.
AFTERNOON
I can tell you what is wasted money. That Combat brand ant bait. It plain does not work worth a shit. Following the package directions does not kill any ants. A week later, you still have the same pests. So I rigged up a camera. The ants will march right past these “bait stations” and in one case, right over it to get at fresh crumbs on my counter faster than I can brush the crumbs away.
An analysis of the Karaoke last night tells me to avoid that show. There was a couple in there, you know, Ken & Barbie type, who fancied themselves the stars. Their performance was quite spotty. The usual array of little old men sang outdated material. When I got up and did Travis Tritt, the couple sat there in stone cold silence. Hmmm, I’m not that good, so what gives? When done, for the first time in decades, I got zero applause. More silence. Did I rain on their parade?
This is not the other blonde lady who ran the Wednesday gig before, but a different gal who lacks entertainment skills. She kept turning the music down while I was singing until I could not hear the tracks. When I’d aside to her to turn it back up, she’d say, “They can hear you.”, pretending she thought I meant the microphone. I don’t need any lessons on mic dynamics, dearie, so I think it is more likely the way I project my voice, she wanted me to sing quieter. Fat chance.
You know exactly how it goes. Small town, she might be the mayor’s spinster daughter so you don’t say anything. I get the message, lady. She had one of those spiked hairdos meant for women half her age anyway, and I noticed she was beady-eyed. When she did the same [microphone] thing on my second (and final) song of the night, I checked her off my list. I never over-play the room, it is a non-starter to even suggest that. But it’s a different natural order of things if I outrank them because there is nothing can be done about that.
Let’s politely say I had more stage presence than that entire group added together and considering my experience, this is completely understandable. I don’t look or act like other people in the spotlight, it is clear I am at ease in front of a crowd of critical strangers. It’s doubtful I’ll bother with that Karaoke show again. Let them have their little dream. I do the best I can and nobody claps?
Phooey on them.
NIGHT
These flowers are along my west wall. I have no idea what they are, the picture is just to cheer us up on a rather quiet day. Racing the sunset, I finally drove around the entire business district to find the better places to shop than Publix. For most things, Publix is fine, but I know corn cobs and potatoes don’t cost a dollar each. I found a Save-A-Lot out on the highway and I stopped at the produce stand next to Catfish County, where JZ and I split one order and it still cost a fortune. The Save-A-Lot has their own butcher, so that’s going to work.
Then I got home on this perfect day and fell asleep until after dark. The new birdseed mix is not the favorite of the cardinals. Or other birds, who pick through it to get the goodies, leaving beads of a tan-colored seed I can’t identify. Here’s a pun, on a lark, I looked up this place on the Florida home pricing indexes. They list the incorrect selling price (but it’s only off by $2,000) and show this property to now be worth $97,000. They are dreaming. The mansion next door lists for $76,000. But these real estate people know their business. Give me that money and I’m moving to Austin.
I’m now getting regular statements from my trust, and they are the same bullshit statements as SunTrust. You have to make upside down calculations to find your own balance, which appears at the top of the page. The transactions are also newest to oldest, completely the opposite way you spend your money. And emphasis is placed on a useless figure called your “average balance”. Who ever uses this? It’s like driving with an average amount of gas in your tank.
ADDENDUM
I took the cooler evening to bake chicken, move some furniture, and put up temp shelves in the kitchen. There is one small prep counter that I have to clear off every time I want to prep. Then JZ got on the phone to say next Saturday, he’s going to drive to the used vehicle Garden of Eden called 441 in South Florida. There are miles of used dealerships, buddy, if you walk in there with say, $8,000 in cash, you’ll be driving some fancy wheels within the half-hour. The competition is ferocious.
JZ concurs with my idea of the cherry picker, the dude has no fear of heights. Except tall women, he’s petrified of tall women. Not me. There are a constant stream of chores to be done and it’s a mixed blessing. While I’m glad to be always puttering now that it adds to my equity, I am getting old and things take longer, which is dismaying. Let me give you just one example today.
I’m a great shelf-hanger. I can not only put up shelves wherever there is physical room, I can also find things to put on those shelves. I chose tonight to make a wider shelve in the kitchen for my spices, coffee, and powdered food. Aha, I was right, there is a nearly four-foot section of that south wall that has no studs behind the drywall. I’ll find out why when the time comes to renovate the kitchen. Maybe there was an air conditioner? But for now, I resort to drywall anchors. The other guy was using them wrong.
His were painted over, but I see he ran into a predictable problem. He could not find the studs either, and tried to cheap out on the anchors. When an anchor says “50 lbs’, it means only if something is flat against the wall, like a picture. Not shelves. I could see where his anchors had repeatedly pulled through. I always use 75 pound anchors and double them up. (The 100 pound anchors are not worth the added expense and make too big a hole for household use.) Now I have a shelf that will stay put—but this job which should have taken twenty minutes took me nearly an hour. That’s the piece that dismays, nearly an hour.
It’s not so much age as your body knowing not to strain a thing that will hurt tomorrow. Hell, if I was lazy, I would not work at all in the evenings. Instead, I walked four trips back and forth to the new bedroom workshop instead of carrying all at once. I’m also aware that my increased safety measures take time. I now wear goggles to use any power tool where I used to make an exception for battery models. And I wear dust masks at the slightest hint of sawdust, drywall dust, or paint droplets. I’ve quit smoking 13 years and if you don’t mind, I’ll pamper my lungs whenever I can.
On the other hand, I’m still a whiz at benchwork. I can drill precision holes and am the Indy 500 winner for repairing extension cords. When I put a new end on an old cord, it’s a permanent repair that looks good besides. Here, take a look. This is the same cord repaired by the other guy with masking tape and by me using the proper materials.
And you mustn’t conclude I’m fretting about how long things take now. During that hour putting up shelves, there’s that roast chicken in the oven, the coffee is brewing, and the freshly-squeezed lime juice is cooling in the freezer. We’re getting old, not getting dead.
Last Laugh
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