February 1, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 1, 2016, 320 seconds to sunrise.
Five years ago today: February 1, 2012, studying Johnny Cash.
Nine years ago today: February 1, 2008, the no-return job resume.
Random years ago today: February 1, 2003, far happier times.

MORNING
           Dinosaurs were predators, meaning they always had to be smarter or faster than their food. With that in mind, I read the personal ads for Polk County. One ad stood out above the rest, although I would not date a 53 year old grandmother unless I had no other choice. But here’s one smarter and faster than most men around here. Anyway, here is the redacted ad, cleaned up with proper punctuation and broken in to readable chunks. The original was one run-on paragraph. Hey, it’s this or you can hear me talk about using the cool weather to insulate my attic. Her bad grammar and spelling are left pretty much intact.

           Seeking a loving respectful man with morals values lifetime commitment. A man that has morals/values wanting lifetime love, respect trust
          
I'm not sure how to go about this I'm looking for a healthy man over five six weight one fifty to two hundred, age fifty to sixty five a white man prefered only, a mans man not afraid to get his hands dirty whom likes to go on weekend getaways swim, take long walks on the beach or lay by the pool sunsets in the jacuzzi, hold hands & talk late nights, go to the parks, play putt putt/golf watch movies, football sports, do yard work together decorate our home together.
           Watch the fireworks dream talk about our lives together. That's not afraid to show me his feelings. He must be family oriented a man with morals I'm (only) wanting long term if at all possible in this life. I'm 53 healthy white lady five three long brown hair, brown eyes weight one twenty. I'll be there for you til the end don't believe in cheating or dating around. I want the rest of my life to be happy fulfilled with a loving caring man I will treat you like the man you are. With the upmost respect & love.
           I like to cook clean organize do crafts sew quilts ext., I love to care for my man. Please have your own home as I. Kids on their own. Time for us now. Drama free. I don't want a heavy drinker or smoker now n then is ok plz reply if you feel you may want these things. My kids grand babies are my life we would welcome a nice humble man.
           I'm a southern good hearted woman with a twang to my voice ppl say is cute lol. I'll be your best friend whom you can trust and rely on and be there always for you. I hope this sums a bit what I'm dreaming of one day. I will not come right out and meet you I will need to get to know you first. Im willing to relocate within the state of Florida. Thank you for at least reading. I'm so embarrassed to write this.. My love I hope your out there, and let's get the rest of our lives started together ASAP no more waisting lonely days apart. XO

           So, here we have your typical Florida gal. It’s plain this one has been through the wringer a few times. She mentions all the key sports and outdoor buzz-words, so she’s done her share of hanging around the wrong places. Two conventional points include she describes what she wants ahead of what she can do or offer, and she uses words she cannot spell. Upmost? Now n then? Waisting? You know the sort, tons of little mistakes, but resents it if you correct even the more embarrassing ones. She wants to use the words, not learn what they mean. Perhaps, Theresa, you could explain that better than I.
           What [keywords] do I myself read in this ad? Here goes. White. Five three. Weight one twenty. Own home. Willing to relocate. That’s it. And I haven’t even looked at it under the microscope. Here’s ten bucks says if you respond, she’s be too chicken to contact you back. There’s your morning read, I’m going for a second coffee while I read it again. Likes to sew quilts, you say? That is so unlike any other woman I ever dated . . .
           There you go. This little lady is poring her heart out. That could be her realization that the dating pool for her demographic is small, shallow, and needs new filters. Her focus on motherhood probably explains why she’s single, but she mentions lifetime commitment, not marriage. That’s rare. There’s something about this ad, that’s all I’m saying. It’s go the right indergrennits, but one can’t shake the feeling she is leaving out something woefully important. Is she looking for a man, or is she looking for somebody to save and entertain her?

Picture of the day.
North Dakota
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

NOON
           News on the bottle jack. I drove to the south end, the nearest Home Depot, asked about the jackin the catalog. Eight minutes later they said it was ordered and they’d email around the 8th when it arrives. Exactly the same jack, exactly the same ordering system. And $30 less. Compare with 42 days of wasted time with Tractor Supply. I think I’ll respond to their many emails simply telling them the damage is done. My floor has been ripped up for a month and a half, a rat has got in the place, and I’ve wasted who knows what in electric heating the place. Although this has nothing to due with the courts, it is this type of damages that make me against tort law reform. People should have to pay for consequences they cause.

           Here’s the Hardie panel Mitch wrote about. It’s a stock item, so I’ve walked past it and never paid attention before. It’s a kind of pressed chalk siding and if feels pretty durable. But exterior only, it has the look and feel of chalk and it is heavy. Chalk and glue, maybe? I took the batbike today and only had one lady chat me up. But she wasn’t my type. Her exterior was a bit like Hardie panel.

           Part of my master plan was to get out of Florida during the too-hot summer. Same as when I was 30, this is hard to do when you pay rent. Back in my day, the only hippy types that could go backpacking around Europe had a room at home. This upcoming summer, let me fantasize. I found a cabin in the woods on the west side of the Appalachians. It’s a farm that has some worker’s quarters they no longer use, but the pictures show it to be neat, self-contained and with a kitchenette. The owner’s want someone to sit on the property while they take a summer drive out west in the old Winnebago. They have to goats, but say their care consists of keeping the food hopper full twice a week.
           They like my credentials, but they want a three month commitment and I’m not sure I want to be away that long. They normally rent for $500 per month while I would only pay $75 per week, which is fair and in my price range. Another downside is it is a half-hour drive to town. I’m into quiet, not solitude, but then again, solitude these days is highly underrated. Let me keep this one on the back burner, I still have lots of work to do around here.

           The Walker spy ring was in the 80s, so I looked up what happened. The old man died in prison at 77, serving something like three life sentences plus fifty years. I’m curious how he got away with it so long, since one presumes the military has its own ways of baiting and catching turncoats. The brass needs some lessons from the Brits, who reputedly caught every German spy during the big one. According to the official version, Walker strolled into the Soviet embassy and said he had secrets for sale.
           By mid-afternoon it was a nice day, so I dropped by the practice shack, shown in this photo. Note the guy is fixing it up similar to what I have in mind, but he’s obviously had carpentry training and also, he paid four times as much as I did for a place the same size. He’s also a mile from town on a noisy main road. So that he doesn’t get too far ahead of me, I finally hauled my wagon out of storage and I’m making it ready for hauling stuff. Like the concrete mix for my shed floor.
           Those wooden shed places you always see on the way in or out of town, with the perfect model sheds set up, have high prices. The shed I want is $4,600. It’s nice, but that’s an acquisition for after I better recover from the wipeout of my finances this place pulled on me. It wasn’t perceptible at the time, but we were “scantily stocked” indeed. Things have moved on, though I’m still not 100% secure. And I like to be 120%. I’ve been on farms where the outbuildings were newer and nicer than the house. But $4,600 is ten times the budget I have for my shed.

One-Liner of the Day:
“In Polk County last month there were 237 marriages—
shouldn’t that be an even number?”
NIGHT
           Look up in the attic. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s “Insulation Man!!!”

           Taking advantage of the cooler weather and local lack of bottle jacks, I hauled home some attic crawl panels. These are the small plywood sheets to throw over the rafters while I get up there to put insulation. I also found some plastic soffitt vents that fit 24” construction, and they weren’t cheap. I also need another gable vent on the east wing, a task I wouldn’t want to attempt in the summer heat. Stick around and laugh all you want at how a rookie tackles an attic job.

           Celestial navigation. I stayed home to read my book. I’ve gone beyond my goal to get a working knowledge of using a sextant by already learning how to do the line-of-position calculations. I get errors but not that bad. I skipped the chapters with heavy theory, since I never did like algorithms. Who likes to work with five and six significant digits? Mind you, if you use the sight reduction method, none of that applies, so stick with that. I’m finding the theory is quite the mental exercise. Those prone to study headaches should probably steer clear.
           I still can’t follow the deeper calculations, but the theory is fascinating. It all boils down to the angle at which objects appear above the horizon to observers on the surface. And if that surface is the middle of the ocean, it’s wise to make that observation, for health reasons. The best object remains the Sun, which is really the only procedure I memorized, meaning the rest I still look up when I’m doing exercises. See how much I miss my hobbies?


Last Laugh

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++