One year ago today: August 4, 2017, Google tracks porn users, y'know.
Five years ago today: August 4, 2013, never-ending diet.
Nine years ago today: August 4, 2009, some skinny on cruise lines.
Random years ago today: August 4, 2010, all knobs & switches.
No luck finding those burner rings, so now I’m looking at the expensive camping supply places. Prices are over $100, but our commissary lady is back and we may have that documentation out of the way in a day or two. So those burners become the priority. From my viewpoint, the problem is I didn’t insist of seeing the cart fired up first. I’d repeatedly requested it, but didn’t insist. Now it is going to cost me $200 or more. And wouldn’t you know it, those burners are the very core essence of the operation. I may have to wind up replacing the entire grill if I can’t find pieces that fit. But that’s okay, I’ve been closely watching the guy who sold it to me, examining how he runs his business. It would be so easy to make him wish he’d gone out on his own time and found us those rings. I’m just sayin’.
Judge by the size of the man in the far upper right. This is a krill fishing net. And this one catch weighs in at 17 tons. The South American countries have been scooping the shrimp out of the Humbolt in this manner for decades, and now the entire oceanic food chain is threatened. Their billion dollar fishing fleets are rotting at anchor. They did not learn by what happened off Newfoundland to the cod fisheries. I recently read that the cod never did recover. That’s why you get so many reality shows these days featuring the Alaskan coast. Nothing has happened in Eastern Canada since forty some years now.
Deer crossing, England.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Here is the music scene of central Polk, once it is reduced to a spreadsheet. I don’t know many of these bands, particularly the ones who play furthest away or in places I don’t normally hang out. Nor is this list verified, I simply pick it out of the advertisements, and I know both clubs and groups that are not listed here. Other unknowns are the frequency they gig and where, but I plan to begin tracking that in a week or two. There are 53 bands on this list.
As for clubs that both hire and advertise, there are 71 in my target zone. The existence of 53 bands tells me the market is saturated, but at the same time, I don’t yet know which clubs only hire on special occasions or weekends. I don’t know how many Karaoke and DJ operations there are. There is an especially close supply & demand relationship with music. I’m banking that there is a severe undersupply of real country music groups. The few I’ve heard don’t do such a good job of it.
I’ve noted the older country-like bands tend to have a lot of members and lots of gear. My stage is virtually empty. I have a theory why the bands are so big. Over the years, I’ve played with many people who never get any better once they land a group. This is in addition to never learning any new tunes. The band becomes tapped out, talent-wise. The only way they can get more versatile (they think) is to take on another player. Fiddle, steel, keys, always some instrument that is not used in every song, but they wind up adding it [to every song] so the new musician isn’t sitting things out.
This is the exact wrong thing to do, especially with a keyboard player who will want to play in every song. Each guy, over time, turns up a little and soon they are always too loud for the room. The way around it is to find an extra musician who is versatile. Someone, say, like myself, who plays keyboards, sax, rhythm, and accordion. But if you can’t find a versatile guitar player, that’s not going to happen and besides, I prefer to specialize on bass. What, you didn’t know I played saxophone? St. Thomas More Marching Band. And here is a photo of termite damage. Or is it just another stealth chalk table photo?
I know my readers want news of the most important thing happening these days. The chalk table. It’s ready and in use. Hey, it’s not my fault nothing exciting happens around this town. I’m doing my bit, but I told you, until the band and the business happen, I’m another Joe Shmoe around these parts. My commissary lady is back from Hawaii so I’ll have that health inspection happening asap. Meanwhile, use your imagination and admire the chalk table. Here, I even put the pictures in chronological order. Decisions have already been made over this flat and horizontal surface. For example, price.
Agt. R (being local) wants a low price. Myself, being extra-local, want a profit. (It's a small town, when you get rich and famous, you'll have all the friends you want.) Compromise. Sell the dog for $3 because some people will buy two. Then overprice the soda and chips to make the average total $6. At least that is the plan. Von Moltke, that great hot dog commander of the 1850s said, no plan of action survives the first five minutes of flea market sales. Moltke in German means “mustard”. If you believe that, don’t move to Florida.
[Author’s note: the chalk rub over the surface and then erasing it is how you prime a new chalk board. It also reveals that despite several passes with 400 grit sandpaper, the table top is not evenly smooth. This is not a detriment. The original school slates were not smooth either.]
ADDENDUM
There remains the problem of the burner rings. I’ve made some discoveries, for example the standard size for the burner assembly (under the rings) is 4” x 9”. I’m out to Camper World tomorrow. It’s the big box store out in Lake Wales. There’s a chance I can find one that can be modified to work. Here is a set I found at ACE hardware, but it would require some drilling, which I hesitate to do in poured aluminum. It’s awfully breakable stuff. The model I’m holding here has a diffuser attached at the center, with a serrated ring to spread the flame. It looks like a gear tooth.
Another chapter of “Battle Hymn” and sure enough, our hero Mac, who must be decidedly better looking than most women in uniform, rescues POWs from a contracted out Mexican prison. I know she’s a babe because she not only has dinner with the President, he hits on her. Macs father is the battle commander for the New Confederacy and he’s got a bounty on her head. He thinks she killed her sister, but I’m certain we will find out that is all a misunderstanding. You know what they say about death, taxes, and millennial made-for-TV plot scripts.
However, we don’t know a lot about Mac except what she wears to bed. I wonder if she was as good looking as the babe in burgundy jeans last evening? I went on-line a bit to find you a representative photo, but nothing came close enough. If I said she was perfect, I was over zealous. You see, unlike my ex-wife, this one was constantly preening and hiking up her britches a little. My ex never had to do that, she really had the body. Sigh, all this is past tense.
It was me and Boss Hogg radio most of the day, I’m getting around to that kitchen air conditioner. Finally. That station pumps in it’s newscasts from Tampa, where I’m beginning to believe the population is wandering about in stunned disbelief because they still haven’t comprehended that Trump won. And each day he’s in power undoes a month of Liberal damage to the American system. They have shown their true colors by rioting, lying, paid protests, bureaucratic non-compliance, fake news, screaming fanaticism, unjustified witch hunts, and now getting their asses sued in San Diego. Yep, if nothing else, Trump will go down in history for calling them out. Read my lips: the majority of Americans want zero immigration until everybody here who wants a job has one. Even if prices soar, we get to keep our life style. Same as people everywhere want.
[Author’s note: actually, I don’t think prices will stay high. What happened with the influx of cheap labor, the business community failed to invest in new machines and technology. If they continue that philosophy while having to pay real wages, they’ll fold. Some inflation will be necessary since the entire plant and equipment of the nation cannot be replaced instantly. I would like to see prices dropping, the so-called “dreaded” deflation. I don’t buy the shallow arguments of why deflation is so bad.
Top contra-deflation argument: people won’t buy something if they think it will fall in price in the near future. Well, Murphy, isn’t that the way they are supposed to think in the first place? Is that not the very definition of smart shopping?]
Return Home
