One year ago today: October 3, 2016, PNDQH.
Five years ago today: October 3, 2012, world’s oldest flash mob.
Nine years ago today: October 3, 2008, I found it!
Random years ago today: October 3, 2015, guess who was more polite?
Not a single photo of the floor-leveling operation turned out, I can scarce imagine your disappointment. How about instead this great work shot of the side molding repair job. Look at that, twice as much cleaning gear as everything needed to re-attach the strip. I’m advised that sounds about right. The major event here is still leveling the floor, the more so because the part I’m working on was the worst and has to be approached the most carefully.
While the sag in the floor was visible before, I had not expected to raise the frame anything like 7”. That is more than four times the amount in the bedroom. I can hear the joists unbending as I crank the load up. In nearly five hours today, I was barely able to raise one corner by a little over 1-1/2”. To make things worse, my injuries are beginning to itch in a manner that cannot be scratched and lifting even a hammer gives me a pain. Darn rights I’m worried.
Asperatus clouds (New Zealand).
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
I continue to read the Prometheus story, but it has degenerated into your conventional top-down rambling of board-room generals who have never seen combat. You know, the scenario that has lost us every war since the big one. Chapter after chapter that has an Israeli spy aboard every know ship at sea and endless corporate meetings concerning who can be trusted. The answer is easy. Nobody, apparently, unless your daddy and his daddy saved each other’s lives back in the day. Why am I still reading this book?
“I uh oh uhmm ah oh yee uh oh naa.”
~ Justin Trudeau.
Here’s a picture of the living room progress. Shown in this picture is one of the custom size plates that are now fitted around the exterior to bring the interior (I stress interior) back to level. Since the building settled unevenly, each plate is fitted to within 1/2” of horizontal, though it is probably closer to 1/4” due to the influence of robot club perfection. Enlarge the picture with a left-click and you’ll see the plate better, this one consisting of a 2x6” and a 5/4” deck board. Spiffy, huh?
For the next six months, get ready for the media cashing in on the concert shootings. They’ll milk this one, the body count is already at 59 with dozens in critical condition. I’m sad for the victims but infuriated how the system cashes in on these disasters. Just you watch, a half dozen entertainers will hold fake “benefit concerts”. Worse, because the shooter scores an F- for personality, the newspapers will focus on his motives.
Folks, I can tell you why he did it. No need for endless Kennedy-style commissions to search his background and connections. Like the other shooters, he did it because he is one plain, ordinary, garden-variety asshole. They’re everywhere. But the message that bombards our society is that moronic “be yourself” and “everybody is a somebody” crap that will never translate into reality to people who really are deadbeats to start with. About the only thing worse than an asshole is a conflicted asshole with a gun who will not accept he is a nobody.
This new sniper is a bit of a mystery, that much I’ll admit. Most of the others were typical losers. They had one thing in common, they lacked discipline in their formative years. When they stepped out of line, they never had a father figure who dragged them out behind the wood shed and beat the howling little puke to within an inch of his useless life. That’s what’s missing. They never learned that their tough luck don’t mean a thing, the important lesson is that they behave.
That’s where this one differs. Apparently he was rich, as in owned an airplane or two, and just sent $100,000 to his Filipino rice-burner girlfriend. He had connections and was “unknown to the police”. But as to why he did it, I’ve already answered that. I’m just curious what the authorities will make of it all. Thank our stars he didn’t look anything like Elvis. More like Elmer.
ADDENDUM
Next, I visited Agt. R. Here’s a snap of the shelves I cut for his pantry, getting a luxury ride over in my new car. I asked about the problems of raising one corner of the house so much, but he says in this town it is done all the time. I bought some extra lumber to shore the walls up as I raise them in sections. Once again, the old lumber emits a moaning sound as the pressure is released. The entire room is now sectioned off with string lines. The allowable slope is 1/4” per foot, so technically, the floor could have sagged 3-1/2” and still be declared level. I’m dealing with twice that, but I've learned a trick or two, so drop back tomorrow.
Ah, yes folks, insulating out the world may have its detractions. I won’t hear it when the system implodes or they drop the bomb. But peace and quiet has its merits. Or actually, I should say it has merit when you have it on demand. I still like to shake the rafters with my bass playing.
So you’ll know, I’ve had a two invites to work with guitarists whom I’ve already checked out. I declined both. Playing in a band demands a commitment and normally it cannot be done when you feel like it. You don’t decide it’s a good idea every six months or so. Yes, this town desperately needs a country-based duo but that didn’t happen just when I came along. I’ll tell you what else it needs. Somebody with a little stage personality. Polk [county] is a case study on guitar players who are dull as dishwater.
Don’t get me wrong. They are not total dullards but nor are they entertainment-grade extroverts. Zero interaction with the audience, they can’t react to novelty, their vocabulary is twenty years out of date. No exceptions. If they tell a joke or announce a birthday, it is deadpan. This is why if even a third rate guitarist teams up with me, we’ll be the golden boys. But that does not extend to me wasting time on a startup that lacks an immediate commitment to success. People with a take it or leave it attitude don’t belong in a band.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
