One year ago today: May 17, 2016, where is Bartow?
Five years ago today: May 17, 2012, looking at stenography.
Nine years ago today: May 17, 2008, ISBNs for sale.
Random years ago today: May 17, 2010, one of my Firehow links.
Say, how do you like this little chair in my yard? Actually, it was a park bench, but one of the pieces is missing. This is the one I told you was my new bird-watching spot. It’s heavy so it is staying put. It’s a rather nice touch to the yard, methinks. Agt. R was over and says the African spikes make a great hedge. Says he even has a book to look up the real name. Might as well work on the yard, I’m over budget for the month already.
The bench is a chair made from a bench. There it is, facing my birdbath. When I’m 93 or dead and gone, they’ll say, “That’s his chair. That’s where he used to sit.” By then, my blog will be the modern Hemmingway replacement and everybody who wasn’t nice to me will wish I had NOT died. Just because I don’t use names in the blog, doesn’t mean I don’t have them on files to be opened in the event of my demise. This means you, Robert Roy, Greg Marcy, and Mary Poole. You too, Ken Sanchuk.
See those chair rails? They are worn out and the chair wobbles. I happen to have a generous supply of beautiful oak 5/8” strips that more than fit the mounting tabs on those metal frames. I say it adds a certain rustic charm to the yard. Yes, I did rake the leaves. Remind me to go pull up all those camphor tree shoots tomorrow, while the ground is dry and it’s easy to do.
Allow me to tell you the next group of thieves and liars that need to be run out of town. Predatory hiring agencies. I brought these guys up 17 years ago as part of the con that got me to Florida. It has the most advertised accounting jobs on the coast. I didn’ t know the majority were fakes. They were hiring agencies, not jobs, and don’t confuse the two. Hiring agencies don’t have any jobs, they just want you on file. It’s called “resume collecting”. You are essentially handing some stranger with a computer your life history, you idiot.
When I fill out such forms, I always specify my references and contact information will be available when I’m called in for the final hiring interview. Don’t forget about the Freemont incident. Where the guy listed his brother’s name and home address as a contact without asking first. The next day his brother’s house was surrounded by a SWAT team over a lousy bench warrant. Somebody needs to severely curb the information these so-called hiring agencies are collecting and what they are allowed to do with it. Make no mistake about it, they are collecting credit information, your job history and performance are secondary.
Cheetah.
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A broiler or not, I was up on that shed roof completing the furring strips. No dry spell lasts forever and I’m on borrowed time with that roof already. I really only have to get the northwest corner done today, that’s where the precious tools are inside. The thermometer says 92°F so it’s likely over 100°F up where I’m working. Here is an excellent shot of the furring strips, the asphalt roofing, and if you look close you can make out the bent ribbing where the tree fell across the shed.
There was a mini-meeting over the production of the candle lanterns. They can be built, the beautiful hand-made replica proves that, but the point is it was hand-made. Can’t make a profit doing that, so the topic centered around what tools are required to streamline the process. My submission was a second, but heavy duty router table. I have the big 1-1/2 H.P. router. It will handle the big boards.
A secondary topic was the use of shortcuts. I downloaded a number of blueprints from other sources and their product is not authentic. The Civil War campouts don’t like that. What’s more, the plans don’t say so, but many of the ornamental parts are used to cover up staples and power-driven brads. Our product is as authentic as possible. It is held together with dowels and the cage is made from a type of baling wire.
I took advantage of the cloud cover to get all the big panels up on the roof. There’s one last little rectangle I have to chop an entire new sheet to get that piece. But, the shed will outlast me, for the record, it’s true, there has never been a hurricane in Lakeland. The wind that collapsed the neighbor’s barn was merely a gale force storm. Here’s closeup of the nails, which are coated, necessitating heavier duty furring strips, and as mentioned, some had to be replaced when the nails split them. These are the same furring strips used in other parts of the job without the problem
By sundown I had the back slats off the bench only to discover my oak wood strips, once the tongue and groove is removed, are too narrow to replace the old slats. Ah, but that’s why I have such a fine pile of pine 1x4” in the back yard. I want my lawn chair and I want it now. Return tomorrow for more unique pictures, one of the reasons you love this blog. Well, maybe not totally unique, but not staged or patterned, because they follow real life at 65 wpm.
“"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value .”
Ferdinand Foch.
Here’s the sad news for the lemon tree in the back yard. There’s the blight that is making the leaves fall off and the fruit super-bitter. Strange, innit, that the government has money to grow negative-energy corn crops and fly third world nationals around in circles a hundred miles high, but nothing that can combat this ordinary fungus. That’s what should be genetically engineered out of existence, not the human food supply.
The evening was super pleasant, I sat by the open window. You know, I still want to rig up that fountain spray for the birdies. Agt. R says it is easy, get a pump, hook it up. Ah, but he has kids and he is home every day to watch the pump, make sure it never runs dry, and so on. I can do better, a more elaborate design that I’ve already drawn up. A solar panel to power it during the day but shut down and night, and a simple water sensor to stop operations if the water runs low. I also sent a report to JZ on the shed, since I know he wanted to be around for that. Uh, too late, there, JZ. And once the living room floor comes up (could be later this month), there’s no place for you to crash here until that’s finished.
JZ is also missing out on the parts of the renovations that would have been best for the both of us to learn. And I’ve surged ahead on the parts he does not care for, like running electric cable under the floor. I’ve begun to graph the requirements for the living room and that alone is approaching 250 feet of cable to get a proper job done. The most I’ve ever seen JZ work on was a reluctant 12 feet. (Yeah, but who is first to use outlets once they go active?)
The living room is 12x12, wait, I can explain. I am putting in the usual two runs, so every second outlet is working off a different breaker. A third run for the lights, as I don’t like the existing system where the only lights are switched. Also, the living room will contain all the new bathroom wiring as they share a common wall. The bathroom will also be on its own circuit. Right now it is on the same breaker as the kitchen and hall way plugs and socket. In addition, there will be a fourth breaker that isolates the porch lights and fans. Really, it may take more than 250 feet.
Did I mention that? I finally used up the 250 foot roll I bought for Wally’s Folly, when he brought that to a standstill. The white shed, only 8x12 foot on the exterior, required 48 feet of wire and it isn’t quite done yet. I want better lighting, some switched exterior receptacles, and possibly an air conditioner. The smallest unit on the market would do, or use the old bedroom clunker when I replace that before summer. What a pity JZ is missing on this experience because it is precisely what we had planned as a post-retirement source of income.
You want the bad news, JZ? First let me point out that I have never failed a tax audit nor ever been assessed even a penny in extra taxes or penalties. I have always gotten every deduction declared. And if I get everything I’m asking for again tomorrow, I may be in a position to purchase again in early 2018, and if the market slumps before then, maybe sooner. That’ll be a fine howdie-doo if I get a second house before your first. This is the one time if you fall behind, it may prove impossible to catch up. I’ve already programmed my search algorithms for September. This house may after all wind up fulfilling it’s original purpose—a base of operations to seek other properties.
Note it was in May 2015, I began looking at central Florida (in the Deland area). That led to looking along the Tampa-Orlando corridor. This is not that long ago. Outside of the obvious advantages, I now have the forbidden knowledge—what parts of town are the “B” word (for “Bad”). I know which areas are subject to flooding. I won’t miss deals because I don’t know what is a few miles down a country road that’s marked on the map. As a reminder, I paid for all those trips myself. Fuel, food, accommodation, entertainment, every last dime came out of my pocket. That cost me a pretty bundle, but I don’t owe a thing anywhere, so yes, a second house would go a long ways to recapturing that cost. What’s more, I’d rather have the equivalent money sitting in a house than in a bank these days.
Remember what happened in Greece. That ATM programming was done in the US of A. By Millennials.
ADDENDUM
Here’s a comment you might want to pay extra attention to. My tax forms are somewhat more complex than a straight application for refund, and I’m quick to notice trends. The tax on income is semi-frozen, probably for political reasons, but the taxes based on wealth are moving directly at the middle-class, especially those who own homes with paid off mortgages. It’s nothing I can pin down, but more like a posturing toward that goal. In layman’s terms, there is something funny going on that looks aimed at kicking middle-class ass.
My opinion? It would be a political master-stroke to abolish the income tax—but the revenue has to be replaced to support the liberal welfare state. There are two answers I think would follow on with that. One is the flat tax, ignoring the nonsense that it hurts the poor more than the rich. All taxes hurt the poor, so quit arguing one tax is worse than another. Anyway, it’s an academic argument whose main use is passing college economics exams.
The second answer is to ignore those who say any consumption tax is regressive, that it would cause people to spend less. Bull donkey, spending by rich people is one of the reasons they are rich. Tax or no tax, they are going to spend it. So end of that argument as well. A flat one-time 10% tax on all NEW merchandise and services. Anonymous, non-refundable, no rebates or refunds, everybody pays the tax on purchases, including the churches.
Abolish all exemptions based on age or family relationships—those are the most unfair tax provisions ever thought up by mindless bureaucrats. That a childless man pays more school taxes than a man with six children in school. And yes, it was an Englishman who came up with that one. Don’t listen to those who claim the tax paid is equal, because the one man claims six dependents—we are talking only the net tax paid at the end of the day.
Last Laugh
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