One year ago today: May 1, 2016, Rosie Kent-Barber.
Five years ago today: May 1, 2012, a rare embedded Blogger Video.
Nine years ago today: May 1, 2008, Roberto R.I.P.
Random years ago today: May 1, 2014, oppressed aliens.
Check back later after I’ve had time to install the work counters in the new shed. So once again, most of today will center on the construction, but read along. Not that many amateur renovators write about their experiences so you might find the characters and errors make up worthy tales from the trailer court. Agt. R is not at all used to the numerical approach to planning ahead. Hey, neither are most people, but he absolutely recognizes the superiority such a system. It removes the guesswork and uncovers incompetence. The counter tops cost $40.07 which was half what was planned otherwise, in keeping with policy of planning for the worst. Besides, I’m catching on to this framing with wood, I developed an adage that goes, “Measure three times, cut twice.”
The new roof is one of two priorities today, as I’m rather lucky there has been no rain. This is that corrugated asphalt material that is made in off-sizes I told you about. The solution was I spotted those ratty old pieces Agt. R was to chick out had segments that could be carefully cut and overlapped to fit the bill. It’s labor intensive and requires a carbide blade, but it saves $42.00. What? Did someone say I’ve already pumped $300 into an old shed that I could have replaced for $400? Has the same guy considered that most of the cash has been for shelving, electricity, and now countertops? And the floor and roof are from materials I can salvage when I can afford a spanking new work barn?
By the way, on that one, I’ve decided to take a slightly early retirement. My new situation of plowing my money into home improvements instead of rent has had time to take effect. There is a calculation that can be easily done that tells you where your retirement income breakeven point is, and mine just advanced by six years. My calculation involves disposable income, not total income, so you be careful. What, you want statistics? Okay, in Miami-Dade, not including food and rent, it costs $22.17 per day (see note below) to exist, in Polk County, it takes $6.71, and that includes your property taxes, a form of rent.
The difference means more money available over a shorter period and that’s the six years, though I’m not saying I will actually live to that specific age. But life will get better for the duration. Caution, to do this arithmetic, you need very good information on exactly what your income will be and I was never able to get the exact figure out of the government pension people. They want you to apply first without that knowledge, so if you decide not to take an early retirement, they will have a file on you later when you do. And that application goes far, far beyond what is needed to get you the pension. It snags a lot of older people who were not otherwise in the database. Remember how I predicted my own pension 23 years in advance and was only what, $1.93 per month out.
[Author’s note: this is the source of the stock saying that it costs $660 a month to do nothing in Miami. The system there is geared to gouge you even in you are standing still. You can get by on less, but you would living like a hermit in the middle of town, and every penny you think you are saving will cost you double in the long run. Eventually you are going to have to take the bus, lose your deposit, and/or break your spokes on a pothole. FYI, the actually monthly average is $674.44.]
Viking museum.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Here’s the top survivor of the starting lineup of 13 sunflowers. This one fell furthest from the birdfeeder and also got the most sunlight. The bluejay is chirping, meaning the eggs have hatched. When it got too warm, I headed for the library and examined other Civil War lanterns (for sale). All are hand assembled but I would not go so far as to say they are authentic. Many had Phillips-head wood screws countersunk and then capped with a button.
Now the mirror could be slid out of slot at the top of the door and turned around. That is then your shaving mirror. Ingenious, but I question the wisdom of handling glass out in the bush where conditions vary. The user isn’t going to put it carefully back in the slot, he’s going to prop it on a rock or stump. Drop it once and you have no mirror and no lantern.
I got several ideas for a diffuser (chimney) and one clever design that had a dowel through the lid to the candle base. You swung the chimney away and pulled the dowel and hence the candle up through the chimney hole to make it easy to light or change. This obviates the need for an intricate and expensive door opening. All of these variations can be made using the identical plates I’ve already cut. Pricewise, these items all charged for shipping. (Shipping and handling is a redundant phrase.)
The lantern is going to cost you $50 by the time you get it. That makes the Rendevous (re-enactment) pricing easy. It’s $39.95 on-line or $49.95 at the party. I have no way of knowing what the competition might be doing. Are people fussy about authenticity? Or do they just want the modern parts hidden? I additionally watched a training video on cutting glass and I was doing it right. So that means I need practice.
Next, I bought a video of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (by National Geographic) and you bet I will be watching the set design for ideas. The best chimney I was this guy who cut up old brass door push-plates and bent the using a stool leg. The wire carry handle is known as a “bale”. One video showed a guy shaping the plates with a hand plane. Another asked if anybody would really light a candle inside a wooden box, but that’s how things were done in the 1860s. Never leave a candle unattended anyway, that’s just plain dumb.
“Canadians aren't making yardsticks any longer.”
The Lewis and Clark DVD was disappointing. Docutainment. Filmed on the cheap with a white water rafting scene only because they couldn’t work skateboards into the script. It is basically an account of the different Indians they met. You know, the tribes who could not speak to each other, whose guides kept getting everybody lost, and who lacked the skills to tell you what was over the next god-damned hill. But other than that, they’ll continue to claim it is their ancestral land. National Geographic? More like National Geo-Political Indoctrination Society. No new facts, no depictions of those hilarious phonetic spellings, just a few tidy but it’s-been-done hang-glider cam shots during the opening credits.
Next, I went over the original list the new guitarist sent me. It is becoming quite clear he is not learning anything new. He’s not asking the right questions, he never contacts me for version information or keys. He should have a dozen questions every week. I think on Thursday, I will put him on the spot a bit, to ask for instance, how many hours he’s put in on my material. Some of the tunes on my classics list have been recorded numerous times. I’ll ask how he knows to practice the correct version. I don’t think he has done any work at all and is trying the old guitar player scam. I have to call it soon, for if the month is wasted, it stops now.
Unless something falls in my lap, that’s my last attempt to find a guitarist. That approach doesn’t work. Is it me who can’t find the guitar player, or the guitar player who can’t find me? Am I my own guitar player? I’m not that good, but I’ve never been sent home early. Haven’t I found myself in this situation enough times already? I’ve tried to learn guitar and I can, but the instrument doesn’t hold my interest long enough to get a full set together. So, why do a full set. I know plenty of places I could go play for a couple hours for a few bucks. It’s a shame a great idea gets put on the back burner because there isn’t a guitarist worth a damn available in Florida that I can find.
There is something else. I’ve spent around an hour talking with this guy about why this duo is different and the need for both of us to arrange the music so it meets in the middle. He completely understands, but plays what he wants anyway. I showed how it was necessary to pick tunes that have strong bass and rhythm to make our life easer. Whoosh, in one ear and out the other because he then says he wants to play “The Race Is On”. I was taken aback, that is the worst type of song to try to play in a duo. When I faked it, he says, “The bass doesn’t do that.”
I should have stopped him right there and asked if the bass doesn’t do it, who does? He’ll be too busy chording, right? But I said let’s call it a day and we stopped at that point. I should once more look at a solo act. There is always the chance that I would meet a guitarist if I’m out there, although I’ve never met one like that before, any more than I’ve met any chick singers at Karaoke. Still, I’m among the last of the old school bassists, that’s the ones who use a plectrum and play one note at a time the right way. I’ve thought before about how few people have ever seen anyone sing to just the bass. I was doing it in Colorado five years ago, and that video is still amongst my prized possessions.
ADDDENDUM
I finished “Rainbow Six”. Since the team did not invade the building, I call it a draw. The countermeasures I devised were never tested. Clancy, who arrived in 1984 with the book “Hunt For Red October”, has constantly turned out bad guys who are unwilling to die for their cause. There was always another option, where they are talked into surrendering for prison terms. Clancy keeps up with the times and the plot is bio-chemical attack by locals who are convinced humanity is polluting the environment and must be wiped out. Except for the chosen few.
So in this book, all the security leaks are people with big mouths and all the breaks are lucky ones for the good guys. Face it, how many times does the divorced wife of a maniac obtain the highest White House clearances, and how many times do airport personnel go through the cafeteria garbage? In this climax, the vegan scientists are stripped naked and released into the jungle to get a real taste of connecting with Nature.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
