One year ago today: December 19, 2015, 188 known sites.
Five years ago today: December 19, 2011, I take a class.
Nine years ago today: December 19, 2007, Wings & Curls? No thanks.
Random years ago today: December 19, 2003, my disturbing weight gain.
MORNING
I’m ready to head south and was tinkering with the plan of leaving today. But naw, today I’ll work in the yard and take some measurements for lumber. You see, this time down in Miami, I’ll size up the odds of what’s really happening and whether I should proceed on my own. JZ had every intention of helping out, but until he gets another truck, the dude is strapped himself. Now he’s saying as late as February. We planned years ago to see how we would work as a team and now as the opportunity exists, he can’t get here.
There were all kinds of these trees along the route, all toppled in the same direction. The point here is the trees were isolated. The same trees as existed in larger stands had survived. The Rebel is still exhibiting some kid of fuel feed problem, but that will disappear fast when Paco gets it in the shop. He always hands you back a machine as good as new. Then I’ll have quite the bike, with incredibly low mileage for an ’86. If all goes well, I’m planning a trip out of town to the north on or about the 29th.
[Author’s note: sometimes you’ll hear me state this or that is the “most famous” in Florida due to this blog. This is not being swank if you think about it. “Most famous” is a relative term, it means in relation to and in comparison to the next such object. Ask yourself how many people would have to know about your new barbeque for it to be better known than any other? Maybe 200 people? See what I mean? That would probably make it the most famous in the state.
As you know, blogs have a counter, and 992 people have read about this new motorcycle since I bought it 84 hours ago. So yeah, I claim the most famous regular, non-customized, daily use, Rebel 450 in the state. I’ve heard of other 450s, but I’ve never seen them and neither have most people. So unless they’ve been in a magazine or show I’ve never heard of, there you go.]
Shown here is my second Chinese meal this year. I’m allowed one a month. This was in Haines City y’day afternoon. San Francisco Chinese. Flied Lice. I like and prefer authentic Chinese, but in the nekulturny State of Florida, there is no place to find it.
Yes, you are getting longer blogs for now. The explanation is easy. I still get up early, but since I’m on my way to Miami soon, I don’t work on the house in the mornings. That gives me an extra couple of hours and you reap the ostensible benefits. This morning I made a double pot of tea and sat down beside the gospel radio. There was no music, but a lengthy broadcast that had me riveted in place. I’m aware that the Millennials are now reaching the age group where if they don’t get off their asses and do something, they’re due to become a generation of nobodies. The program was not about that, but about a Wall Street prediction.
Most such predictions are media-controlled rosy pictures, full of wonderful happy news. Crisis? What crisis? This program mentioned robotics. That got my attention. It said that the USA is on the verge of a new tidal wave of entrepreneurialism, all eight syllables. It will be spurred, he said, by changes that have happened in the country’s infrastructure and will propel the nation into a new era of prosperity. That’s hopeful thinking. The Millennials I’ve seen are more drastically trying to find a job than building any robot factories. Still, these radio shows have access to all kinds of sources that are as mysterious as their hiring criteria.
My opinion? There is no such thing in the stars until the US undoes all the damage done by Liberals since the war. History shows that a business started with any purpose other than to make as much stinking money as possible will always fail. The Millennials have exhibited no entrepreneurial spirit yet and their hero is the guy who stole Facebook. They have been indoctrinated from birth not to believe everybody is equal, but to behave as if they were. You can’t fool me. They crow about equality in public, then go home and kick the dog.
There is no new infrastructure, rather the old one was gutted by the export of jobs overseas. There is no going back, it isn’t there any more. The USA can’t even build Saturn rockets any more. I see a period of massive inflation and unemployment as the country slowly builds new factories—if Trump succeeds. And there must be zero immigration, deportations, high import tariffs, and a cutback of entitlements. A move away from globalism back to nationalism. These other countries have had their chance to do good at our expense and look what you got.
The salvation of America is to remove the internal barriers that were thrown up to protect the major corporations from competition by startups. You know what I’m talking about. You can’t build a car factory because there are too damn many rules. There are also far too many domestic laws that prevent smart people from getting ahead. Like the Florida hurricane law that prevents stockpiling plywood. These laws pretend to protect the dumb from the smart, but in return, they make the entire system arthritic.
[Author’s note: the Florida “plywood” law is a prime example of protecting the stupid or lazy. It does not specifically ban plywood, but makes it illegal to stockpile anything with a view to selling it at outrageous prices just before a hurricane. Otherwise, I would go out and buy a thousand sheets of plywood and wait for the storm.
Because I know 99% of Floridians are too lazy or stupid to prepare for a hurricane. They wait until the last minute, and by then the lumber yards are sold out. Happens every time, and I should be able to charge $1,000 per sheet. But Florida law prevents it. They can confiscate my stockpile and impose a fine. This is the backward thinking that makes Miami a shit-hole. They should make a law requiring the stupid and lazy to buy plywood in advance or lose their insurance coverage, but no, they go after the people smart enough to think ahead. Why? Because the lazy and stupid are a majority and it’s all about votes.]
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
NOON
When will I learn? The Publix brand of jelly beans have no licorice. The dark beans are a deep purple grape, but no licorice. Let me explain something, since I know a little bit about licorice. My favorite are licorice allsorts, which were originally made simply because they looked pretty. Did you know the shapes had names? In a proper package of allsorts, there are twists, chips, plugs, nuggets, buttons, rocks, and cubes. The one with the sandwich of licorice between to layers of pink strawberry paste has no official name.
Ah, you want more trivia. First, here is a photo of the minimalist instrument dash on the Rebel. No tachometer, no fuel gauge, no temp or ammeter. These are the approximate start readings for the trip tomorrow. The trivia is windmills out on the prairies.
Somebody actually calculated the amount of wind energy in the world. Only the tiniest faction of this could be used to generate electricity. Without some major changes, the whole concept is bogus. The wind turbine troop have had since 1941 to come up with something workable and they’ve made no measurable progress. Now it is throwing good money after bad.
All ready for the trip, the weather report for tomorrow is ideal for two-wheel travel. Partly cloudy and 78°F, slight breeze from the west off the gulf. Most ideal because that is only two degrees from 76°F, which is perfect. I’m taking secondary roads all the way to Tamiami trail, approaching South Miami from the Naples side. Estimated travel time is 3-1/2 hours, allowing for slow-downs through small towns. Like Immokalee. This will have to count as the big adventure trip for the month of December, 2016.
The rules for an adventure trip are partially that is must be over 100 miles from where I live or include an overnight stay. One trip per month. It’s been like that for years. Anything beats moping around the house like a hermit watching the world on cable TV. I don’t usually stay home for a month and do nothing unless I plan on it. It’s nice that we all know there is at least one other person who does their best to live life to the fullest, am I right or am I right?
Trivia. There were no “record numbers” of illegal immigrants thrown out of the USA during the last administration. That’s all smoke and mirrors. What they did was redefine the statistic to include all the people turned away at border crossings. In the rest of the world with the possible exception of California, this is called “lying”. For the record, I believe that if the federal government under Trump cut off all inflow of taxpayer funding to California, they would change from Liberal to Conservative in a month.
Homer Simpson said it best. “Why am I here? I want some answers now, or I want them eventually.”
AFTERNOON
All I did was take the tools inside the shed, light work like that for less than an hour, and I’m tuckered. This doesn’t auger well for the upcoming months of work to level this house. I was okay after a nap, but that’s not a practical solution if I’m to have somebody helping me. It also wastes valuable daylight. Everything is locked up, put away, and I have enough data on the new motorcycle to already predict this may be one of the cheapest trips to Miami yet. Breakfast is in the fridge, sandwiches are frozen, the thermos is ready. It could well be this trip might be gas only.
So I got to reading some military history and ran across a medal I did not recognize. It is now identified as a special issue given to sailors who ferried lend lease supplies to Russia in the arctic convoys. That was a strange episode, since the stevedores and merchant marines belonged to a touch union. The military men felt the civilians weren’t loyal to anything but the union contract. The quip was they lived in three time zones. Sack time, coffee time, and overtime.
“I Hate Every Bone In Your Body Except For Mine.”
NIGHT
I found out my cell phone resets the ringer to silent when I take it off the charger. Which Millennial came up with that one? I missed the call from JZ, meaning I start driving tomorrow without confirmation of when he’ll be home. This will be a rather unique trip for 2016 so I’ll take my time and enjoy the back roads. I’ve half a mind to drive back on Friday or even Xmas day to avoid traffic. This blog was not published in the day, but I have a long history of travel on Xmas day, including airplane trips across the Pacific and flights from Caracas to Seattle.
A Dean Markley, see photo, is the generic term for a guitar pickup that fits into the sound hole of an acoustic guitar. I lent mine to Jag, who was supposed to drop it off before I moved in August. But he never made it. And I just realized I brought the wrong phone on this trip and can't call him.
ADDENDUM
There is something to report in my camp. The new guy will be doing a lot of singing, which really takes the pressure off me. And let’s me examine the prospect of harmonies. Can I sing harmonies? No, I’ve read the books, done the exercises, and they don’t work for me. But, I say to myself, isn’t this the same barrier I ran up against with melody singing? Yes, and how did I get around that? Ah, some of you remember.
I sang bad Karaoke venues for a month until I figured out I could kind of “self-correct” each note I sang until it was so fast nobody could tell. That may not make sense, but that’s how I did it. Now, why can I not do the same thing with harmonies? To me, the harmony note that makes the most sense is the mediant, or third.
What I’m pursuing now is to sing the harmony note and as quickly as possible move up to the third. Even the Hippie couldn’t object because I’m only starting in unison for a split second. And the lucky song I’ve chosen to slaughter with this treatment is Don William’s “Love Me Tonight”. Are we clear on what’s happening? I start singing the melody note and move up to the third as quickly as possible. Kind of a fake harmony. But who’s to say I won’t get as fast at it as I did with the melody notes?
The first thing I discover is that when I sing to just the bass line, my specialty, I am singing a lot of harmony notes—to the bass. Make no mistake about it, while people have heard a bass player sing, very few have every heard it done as a solo. Put it on record that the new guy though I was just the next bassist until he heard me do that. Can I somehow meld these techniques together?
I don’t have a lot of time. What put me on this path is a joke I made to the new guy last Thursday, that I’d never heard anybody yodel in harmony. We laughed, but I’m not laughing so much now. That would be totally unique if I can do it. And that’s all it takes to sell me on most ideas.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
