One year ago today: June 20, 2017, the same battery as today.
Five years ago today: June 20, 2013, why some bread is round.
Nine years ago today: June 20, 2009, this post is missing.
Random years ago today: June 20, 2004, and survival took every cent.
I’ve been working since 5:00AM, and a lovely cool morning it was. The soundproofing has the opposite effect in that I can run power tools that early with nearly no perceptible sound outside. It was a lot of clean up, like sawing out the door footer, laying floor panels, and hauling building materials inside before light. Everything is working fine, except I see I did not allow for the fact that an 80” door requires more than 81” vertical clearance. Then again, I used screws, so it was easy enough to rectify that. I was only going to undercoat the soundproof wall and the new drywall in the bedroom with that grey Wal*Mart paint.
After it dried and I had time to get used to it, hmmm, it has a bit of period feel to it. Yeah, WWI battleship grey.
[Author’s note: the bar of wood across the frame at hinge height is to hold the pre-hung door at the correct standoff for the drywall later. I’m learning.]
This was a day off in the sense that I was again in Winter Haven. I’m now $750 and a guitar player lighter. The money was for the brakes and trailer hitch, and Jimmy, the guitar player from Kissimmee quit. He said something about me not being comfortable with him being Puerto Rican, which is bullshit, but to a guitar player who isn’t getting the work done, one excuse is as good as another. That leaves me with Twood, who is out of the hospital. Music is excellent therapy,
Simon Bolivar
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August 2, 2018. That’s the official start date for the hotdog cart. Why so far away? Because of the licensing fee. It is due annually on that day and is not pro-rated. If you pay the $375 now, you will have to pay it again on August 2. And they say there is nothing stopping you from getting ahead. There is also and application and inspection that takes 30 days, so in a sense we’ve bumbled across a schedule. I would point out that the “expert” who sold us the cart was disinclined to mention that date. Nor did anyone I talked with at the licensing department. I guess it must have slipped their minds.
The donut shop was like the Dunkin near the old trailer court. Infested with old coots who think their political opinions need to be shared. But I’m ex-phone company; I know instantly when I hear the blather and drivel of a TV addict. My superior ability to blot out nonsense came into play. But I don’t think any of them had ever actually seen another man typing 65 wpm before. Shows you how much they really get around. Wallace would love the place.
The treat was the Thrift. It is in a so-so nice part of town across from the post office. I don’t know who else shops there, but they are not great consumers of DVDs, textbooks, and computer gadgets. I always find such great stuff there, often brand new. There is a bland but doable gal on staff who keeps busy and asks every few minutes if you are “finding everything okay”, which is usually about how I find things. I’ll get to the monkey fist in a bit. I stocked up on textbooks, as much as I could carry in my bag, as the Jamus has no cargo capacity. I’ll soon fix that, as the bike ride was totally fun. I was also the only person seen on a bicycle during the entire day, although a few were parked at the library.
Which is where I spent the afternoon. That expensive coffee shop next door had me chatting up the spritely lass as the counter, which I do out of habit as a joke. I chat up every good-looking gal I see, regardless of age. It’s conversation lite, but sometimes it is daunting how well it still works. If she’d been just a couple years older, I would have hit on her. Big time. As it was, I was taking notes on a topic you didn’t know I was interested in. I’ve often wondered why so many of the big mammals in North America all went extinct around the same time not so long ago. There were camels, mammoths, tigers, and even horses around, what, 10,000 years ago.
I found no answer, but I am not convinced by the other theories. Over-hunting by humans is not feasible. The country is too big and anyone who has hunted with spears and such can tell you no way you can get the whole herd. Climate change is also unlikely, as the animals simply move north or south along as the habitat slowly changes. Nor do I consider a shrinking food supply. I’ve driven across the country of ten enough to know the landscape is choked with vegetation that has survived ice ages and swamp conditions. Starvation affects the whole biomass of a species and there are no herds of fossils.
I finally found that camping goods store because I was on the bicycle avoiding main roads. Sigh, it turns out to be more of a clothing or fashion store, although the selection is pretty nice. Otherwise, there is fishing gear but I’ve never been a fisherman. And hiking, but my hiking days are over. The merchandise is top quality so take your bankroll. I was the only customer and I was just browsing. The one thing caught my fancy was a small tin of paste cologne. It’s a concentrate, you dab a bit on and you’re good to go. And the scents were new, remind me next time I have $42 to drop back there.
And the store had this monkey fist doorstop for $85.
ADDENDUM
I no longer go hiking, but I could. This is quite an improvement over two years ago, when I had to invest in a walking cane. It reflects the generally healthier climate and lifestyle out here. I had hip pains which gradually disappeared. It just became easier to walk. By last year, I could walk anywhere without having to stop and today, I no longer think of walking all day. The change was gradual and I didn’t think much about it until I got back on the Jamus for the first time in around a year. Hiking is the wrong term, I rarely hiked. But I used to walk sometimes 10 or 15 miles for something to do. One day, in 1997, I walked 26 miles because I had some thinking to do. I can’t recall the specific day, but it was along a bus route and I crossed a bridge that, including the ramps, was some 5 miles right there. I remember the wind. That was out near Seattle.
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