August 18, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 18, 2017, lotto payout is “future earnings”.
Five years ago today: August 18, 2013, I like expensive cookies.
Nine years ago today: August 18, 2009, gig-stealing
Random years ago today: August 18, 2004, we never bombed Toyota.

HMMMM, 400+ hits on this post. I think I'll leave it as is for a bit. But sooner or later, it will be formatted to match what works in the long run . . . . . .

           [Author's note: trust me, the day picks up later, but blog rules say the most bloggable thing this morning was painting the camper laundry and shoe box. Hey, it's that or watch me repair a trailer hitch. And that is why I place this eye-catching photo first. This photo is from Weeki Wachee, population 12. Of which five are under 16 and three are over 65. Wiki says for every five females over 18, there are only two males. Yeah? One of those females was serving the beer at the "Tailgator" and all fifty of the men were there. Do the math.]

           Just me, baked cheese grits, Boss Hogg radio, and a paintbrush, waiting for the sun to come up. Building that laundry box (see addendum) retaught me another robotics lesson: you can never have enough #6 1/2” panhead self-tapping screws. As soon as the last paint layer is touch-dry, I’ll fit it to some angle brackets, which will take place while I’m fixing that hitch plate. Will I have this done in time to hit the road? The time to act is now, I’m not a patient man when it comes to long-distance woman-hunting. This ceases to be a productive labor once you turn 40-ish, you’ll see. Might as well enjoy the surf and you may be the only one. Did I mention the one in the used bookstore last Thursday, the one that took a sudden interest in the same books I was looking at? Damn, what are the odds, a woman who is a fan of old railroad stations? Why, if she herself hadn’t looked so much like an old railway station . . .

           This is the shoebox slash laundry box getting an initial coat of paint, you may recognize the color. Yeah, I still have some of that left. Visible is the open bottom of the container, you can see the wooden support braces covered by good old wire mesh. Say, look at what this work piece is resting on. That’s a fine and sturdy coffee table made into a chalkboard. Impressive. Back to the box, this is strapped to the side of the camper so it is immediately to the left as the door swings open from the inside. None of these additions are required; think of them as what I experienced on two sidecar cross-country trips and compare that to others who’ve reported what made their trip a little easier.

           Instead of knocking myself out to make this waterproof, I just attach a piece of flashing to direct the water down the sides. I tend to take my old clothes along and replace them with new during the trips, but many a time I’ve come back with everything. Things moving this fast show I’m due for a trip, just anywhere, as long as I see something new and interesting. I can usually make things interesting, since you’ll find you never get much help with that. Careful metering of the battery amperage shows that, by tests run first light this morning, I’ve got a working electronics system first try.

Picture of the day.
Archangel, Russia.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

I was on the road by 2:00PM, heading west, then north. I have no reliable maps of the Florida rat's nest roadways. Like Texas, if it is reasonably paved and goes in approximately the right direction, you'll get there. I'll leave some pictures here but you'll have to await the editorial. Tablets are not designed to be used by those with IQs over 95.

If the Hernando Public Library had been open, I would have visited.
If the Brooksville Train Museum had been open . . .
If the Botanical Gardens had been open . . .
If the Little Red Bookstore had been open . . .

Instead, I took a driving tour of Spring Hill, let's see what I find.

ADDENDUM
           The latest technical book I’ve got is a 150-page work on distillation. The similarity of the coils to a passive solar powered water heating system caught my eye. It is now with great interest that I continue reading, since I would have though such a publication would be concerned with producing whiskey. Turns out I knew very little about what really goes on. Where I was most taken aback was, after reading the section on distilling corn mash, how accurate the stills are portrayed on old Disney cartoons and such. The depict all the important parts, I can tell you that much.
           IIt’s too finicky a process for me, I’ve only distilled small cupfuls on lab equipment by following directions. Now I know why the cartoons show Ma Kettle stirring the mash with a paddle and why the still is always next to a creek, preferably an ice-cold mountain creek. I’m getting to the chapters now where they describe a number of products that are distilled, such as certain vinegars, antispetics, perfumes, and maraschino cherries. That’s a new one on me.

           Here's an item. Australia, supposedly a free country, does not have the equivalent of a Fifth Amendment. You can be jailed up to ten years if you refuse to unlock your phone when instructed to do so by the police. This caught my eye on JimmyR, because it used to be two years, but people were accepting the jail time rather than comply with this repugnant law. The very basis of a civilized law system is that a person should never be required to testify against himself, and in my viewpoint, that extends to providing evidence. The real scare is the the police can compel a person who has not yet been accused and arrested, so like any Brit-style law, it will be abused to the limit.
           America still has the Fifth, but the higher courts are lowing no sleep trying to sectionalize it and turn it around bit by bit. You cannot plead it as a witness and people have been jailed for not revealing computer passwords. Most Americans seriously lost faith in the American justice system after the OJ Simpson fiasco.



On the road again.
I'm sitting in "Tailgators" in downtown Weeki Wachi, FL.
Except, there is no downtown. This is it.
105 miles from home, so this qualifies as an excursion.

Ha-ha, get it - tail "gators".
On a steel horse she rode.

If you need friendly, neighborly directions, stop at the "Country Store",
they don't act like you're from Mars.
I am definitely eating at the local and only restaurant manana.
I was over my calorie quota today drinking juice on the hot, hot trail, but the aroma slays you.
I'll get you a menu, I have not smelled wonderful food like this in forty years.

So far, the inaugural trip is a gas. Can I still say that? A gas?
And only $37.46 of it so far.
Redneck bar. How redneck? Y'want your boiled peanuts req'lar or Cajun?

Question: how country is the "Country Store"? Really, how "murican" are they?
Answer: if you stop in for directions, they will give you a soda.
Are you listening, Starbuck's? I didn't think so.


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