One year ago today: January 12, 2016, “parentally determined”.
Five years ago today: January 12, 2012, electronic treasure hunting.
Nine years ago today: January 12, 2008, Millennial art.
Random years ago today: January 12, 2004, this day is missing.
MORNING
This was in the thrift store. Remember these “microfish” machines? The first time I saw them was in the university library when I was 17. The correct term is microfiche and they were popular because everybody had seen the James Bond movies with the microdot secret messages. They cut archive space by 90% but the problems were many and expensive. The sheets were essential photo positives which are brittle and loved to get covered with dust and fingerprints. The machine that made the slides was also costly and cumbersome. It gets top billing because, you new people, it is such an antique.
As the work shed gains priority, I’ve warned myself to slack off. Drink a little more coffee, become a little more controversial. And why can’t I quit reading the “Out of Antarctica” book? It’s like I’m after a sudden revelation. Of course, I’d rather be poinking the skinny babe from the library. What? Well you ain’t doing much better. And my chances are infinitely greater.
That brings up a neat little situation. They hypocrite guys who bought that line about “personality” back as it was taught in the so-called sex education of the 1970s. At the other extreme was me. I never denied that the amount of crap I’ll take from a woman is directly proportional to how physically attractive she is. Robynette can walk in here any time and bawl me out all day long, but most of the rest of you had better watch your step. Simple as that.
So I went shopping in the morning and stopped for coffee. The place was full of men on their break, all married, and all hitting on the 26 year old waitress. Ah, there’s your proof I’m right. She has the personality of a snake, she’s a gold digger, an ex-who-knows, and is already carrying that extra 20 pounds stuffed into foundation garments. You can tell all these guys have ugly wives back home. So in the end, when it is too late, they all came around to my way of thinking. After all. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Note that the same waitress has a shine for me, but knows it won’t work. I’m the only one not ogling her because I’m either working the crossword or jotting down some notes. It’s a coffee shop, for chrissakes, not the local saloon. And although there has been no extraordinary expense this month, the money for the shed is coming out of funds allocated for the main building. There is no magic to the way I handle money, my income is probably half yours in relative terms.
And that is why I’m taking the morning off. Soon’s I finish this cup of tea, I’m firing up the Rebel and making a run to Dade City just to see what is there. Maybe stop for coffee, but nothing for sure except a look around. I’ve plans to do more puttering in the shed later, so I’ll help myself to a relaxing morning.
Dragon blood tree.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
NOON
Hello from Dade City. This was the highly recommended coffee shop in town, where I stopped at noon for a half sandwich. I finally see the highest crime city in the central state. It’s another nothing little town with no young pretty women, but they’ve got a top notch library. You ask for a guest pass, they hand it to you. Did you get that, Miami? They have the same log-on system, but they don’t need your life history and a blood sample to let you use the damn computer.
My mood was not helped by the broken transmission on my Honda Rebel. It is now so bad it will not go in or out of gear without a good struggle. It also revs too high in neutral and occasionally backfires when you kill the ignition. Remember, I have not yet decided not to sue the seller. This is not a case of buyer beware, this is fraudulent misrepresentation. And you know my methods—it is impossible to win against me unless you hire a lawyer.
The trip was great otherwise. It was 106 miles in a loop from Lakeland to Dade City, then down to Zephyrhills, around the west end, down to Mulberry, to the Bartow intersection, then back home. A tad chilly in the morning, but balmy the rest of the day. I stopped at two thrifts for some reading material and some small construction supplies. String, chalk, nails, but I won’t be doing any work on the shed rest of the day. Because I’m exhausted, that’s why.
There is a thrift in Zephyrhills that has a clerk the spitting image of that lady who used to help at the bakery. It took me a while to place that. I’d planned on stopping at the Restore, but by then I had no room left on the Rebel to carry anything. On the return leg, I zipped down all side roads, new to me. The area is heavily treed, unlike the skimpy forest of most south Florida. It’s more like hill country in Texas. As for Zephyrhills, that’s more like singular, one hill. It’s covered with churches and hospitals and the other hills are like speed humps. It’s still better scenery than anything around Miami.
“If She Hadn't Been So Good Lookin' I Might Have Seen the Train.”
AFTERNOON
I took the day off more as an afterthought. Where else in the country can I motorcycle down the highway in shirtsleeves in the middle of January? I drove most of the main roads in Dade City, around six of them. Until around the sixth person, nobody knew where the library was. There is a pioneer museum north of town, but otherwise nothing. Here’s a little red shack on display with a red street sign in front. I’ll have to look up its significance. There were not signs and no advertising.
√ A 13 year old school girl was arrested for “attempting to walk around an administrator”. It’s about time Pasco County cracked down on these hardened criminals.
√ The pioneer museum is holding the strong woman iron skillet toss on the 14th, along with a demo of how cane sugar is made. Please, no jokes connecting the two.
√ Second prize in the annual barbeque contest is “bragging rights”. This is a tip-off that if you come in third, leave town before you learn what’s in store . . .
√ For $10, the Mt. Zion church is serving Soul Food on January 28, to be exact, you get “two meats, one starch, two vegetables, bread, and desert”. But, but, isn’t bread a starch?
√ The Historical Society is featuring a program on the “History of Mosquito Control in Florida”. Line forms to the left. (Egad, I just thought of something—what if that event is third prize?)
√ The obits indicate the people who died this week were 97, 96, 90, 74, 82, and 84. That’s getting up there. No wonder Social Security is going broke.
√ The Garden Club list of those who will be honored by a tree dedicated to them includes a person named Jewell Hattaway. Now, for some reason I suddenly don’t even want to know the name of the tree.
[Author’s note: say, isn’t Dade City the place I wrote about the annual Kumquat Festival last year? There was not a word about it in the town today. Yeah, it’s coming back to me. I think I bemoaned that JZ and I just missed it on one of our day trips. We were in the area February-ish. Let me confirm some dates, but I think I have gone long enough in this world without attending a Kumquat Festival, don’t you think?]
NIGHT
I want this gal so bad. Watch this woman’s guide to woodworking. In the end, I stayed home and drank coffee, like a good old boy is supposed to. The plan tomorrow is to fire up the batbike and go haul some construction materials directly in the sidecar. Remember that sucker is rated for 880 pounds. It is no toy. Agt. R says to pour mortar into the spaces between the patio blocks. I dunno, have you ever worked with mortar? What’s the diff between mortar and cement? How long does it take to cure? Funny how all the big-talking experts disappear once the actual work starts. And forget about asking on-line, unless you have a strong disposition toward disinformation.
When I was in Broward, the parks were always deserted. Except for the homeless, the muggers, the illegals, and the beggars. Forget the beach unless you want to pay through the nose for parking or waste the whole day to get there by bus. You see what I’m getting at. I don’t need to be spending $750 per month rent if all I want to do is read a good book now and again or ride my motorcycle. My outing today cost me exactly $10 including gas, except for my thrift shopping which I would likely do anyway. My fixed costs of occupancy here are less than 25% of what I was spending in Hollywood, so sooner or later that economy will begin to work in my favor.
Equity. That’s what to watch for. Yes, I’m still putting out money to get this place as nice as possible before I finally decide to settle down, but most of that has switched from start up costs to equity since mid-November. Like the work shed. My budget for that is $212.00. And half of tat is for the floor and the shelving. The 30-ton jack should be here in a week. There are no looming disasters. I can even supply some indirect good news. It’s that thanks to this house, I will not have to take early retirement on my pensions or social security. I can now wait until full age while all my buddies are talking about grabbing a lesser amount the day they turn 62. I think they will be sorry. Let me talk about that a wee bit.
This “early retirement” is not free money. Like everybody in my category, I paid into that fund off every paycheck in my life. It was not optional. We didn’t get that much useful information out of the system, I can tell you that. One important fact was pounded into us, mind you. It was that people should not plan on living off their social security. They were supposed to have their house paid for, the kids through college, and a healthy private investment program. Don’t quote me, but I believe we were told social security was only supposed to be 17% of the average American’s retirement income.
Yet the majority of people I know, some of whom should expected to have a lot more common sense, are in the situation where that social security is going to be all of their income. How do I know that? Oh, it’s a silly assumption I make when I learn somebody has no inkling how to calculate compound interest or bond yields. When they don’t have a clue about how to operate a business or a rental property. When they run short of cash at the end of every month. Or they haven’t a clue how or where to buy precious metals. I figure such people have about as much tucked away as Theresa or Wallace.
But that still leaves the ones who think they can continue working. Hey, like my pal, JZ. He won’t slow down. In one sense, I may have been the lucky one by landing in intensive care back in 2003. Maybe I wasn’t young per se, but I was the first in my group to get flattened. I’ve got 14 years head start on how to pace myself—and an immeasurable amount of experience at being retired. I’ve mentioned how I plan to buy and operate a car possibly as soon as this upcoming November. That money is not going to fall from the sky. When I eventually turn 65, while I won’t hit that 17% target, almost the full amount of my “government pension” will be allocated to operate that car. A station wagon, like my beautiful old Taurus.
That means I better get off my ass and finish the work shed. Then get my tools out of the house and set up there. And get the floor leveled, I might add the delay was large due to having to set up to do the work by myself. It was originally a two-person operation. Expect work like this to dominate the blogosphere for a few months to come. I’m serious about the work shed. Why I even moved a radio in there today. Did I mention Howie says there was a screen on the kitchen door. He says check under the house. It is probably in bad shape, but I’d like to get the dimensions.
ADDENDUM
Why can’t I tear myself away from that book on Antarctica? I’m punishing my brain trying to follow along. I told how he is centering on evidence that cannot be explained by evolution alone. He’s got a point that evolution is a slow but probably rather steady progress, while natural disasters can be near instantaneous by comparison. Entire herds of animals dying on their feet, sea barnacles 85 feet above the Andean shoreline, coal seams under the glaciers, and (get this), the hair on the wooly mammoths.
Here’s an illustration from the book that, I think, eliminates all possibility that the ancient Romans thought the world was flat. The reality is that flat-earth is entirely the later figment of the uneducated religious mind. This statue is from the 2nd century A.D., that is the 100s. That’s a long time ago. Any “religion” that endorses (or forces) belief over scientific fact is automatically suspect in my opinion. There would be no such contradictions in a true religion.
Do not misinterpret that I am anti-religion. I am not. I fully recognize the need for things like cable TV, pornography, and religion as well as the central role these play in many men’s lives. I don’t personally partake, but I have two brothers, you know. I’m not proud of the fact I don’t use these products, but I’m glad I’m not the victim of them either. As for the bible, I’ll repeat what I said when I was a pre-teen: it seems no more factually accurate than any other book written at the same time for the same purpose.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
