December 22, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 22, 2017, no return call . . .
Five years ago today: December 22, 2013, used Ferrari sales.
Nine years ago today: December 22, 2009, no such day?
Random years ago today: December 22, 2007, remember the Jambo-ree?

           You’ve been nice, so here’s the top event of the day. A picture of the new bookshelf. This is just a fraction of the books in the house, but these are largely the reference material that gets used for this renovation. It’s one of those shelves that is temporary, but is still temporary ten years later. Under the shelf you can see the bare studs and exterior siding. This was where the doorway to the laundry room was planned when the city passed the bylaw saying you can’t.

           The system here is sick and cannot be cured. Basically, the only way you can be assured of getting any kind of permit is by telling the city everything about yourself and the location of all your assets. It seems funny, but that’s where everything is aimed. They want to be able to determine if you are worth suing if anything goes wrong, and where they can lean on you when they want something done their way. If there is any gap in your record, they find some excuse to refuse the permit. In my case, they wanted information about my trust fund that would have destroyed the purpose of the fund. They also wanted a copy of the trust agreement itself, “to have their lawyer look it over”. Don’t worry, that situation may possibly soon be defeated.

           I got over to the lumber yard and bought drywall. The problem is, I forgot it won’t fit in the Taurus. When I worked for Need’s Painting, all station wagons would fit a four-foot panel on the floor and I’ve never gotten past that thinking. But a friendly neighbor helped me load up his truck and helped set it down in my yard. He used to renovate himself, but I gather his health is failing. Any way, thanks neighbor, hollar if you need anything.
           Why look, here is a picture of the drywall on the cart. It hardly ever gets more exciting than this, not in central Florida. Don’t gasp at the twelve-foot sheet, in another minute, I had it sliced into two six-foot pieces. Alas, I made one measurement wrong and wasted $24 on drywall that I cut before I noticed the mismatch. One wall in each room is thinner material That’s just how things worked out. Myself, I think the picture reminds me of the Wright Brothers first airplane.

           Taking a break, I watched a documentary on contemporary tank design. Every other prediction says the role of the tank as king of the battlefield is over. Yet, fifty years later we still see the tank involved in every international conflict. Equally often, along comes another innovation that keeps the tank at the front lines. Ceramic and reactive armor seemed to be reaching a limit. I saw something new today, though it must have been years in development. It is a short range radar that can detect and react to an incoming round or missile fast enough to fire a type of shotgun shell that could destroy or deflect the object. The number of threats it can deal with at once is classified.
           And how do you like the new arms industry arising in Poland? It’s an entire family of weapons that use standard NATO ammunition for a fraction of the cost. Clever, since most weapons manufacture in the West comes about by a low initial bid made up for by cost overruns. And did you read that quip about a private rocket company being fined $900,000 by NASA? Since when did NASA have the power to issue fines and dictate who can launch. Apparently the company had repeatedly applied and were turned down. The bureaucratic mind says that to fire a rocket into outer space, you have to file a “flight plan”.

Picture of the day.
The Sheepdogs.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here’s the nearly finished west wall of the front bedroom. As it goes with renovations, this took three times as long as building new. Drywall is also really a two-man job, so I had to really wrestle to get the top pieces into place. All the trim pieces are outside and unfortunately got good and mixed up. So I don’t know which pieces fit back in around the windows. Maybe this is a sign I’m supposed to finally learn how to do fancy trim work. I have the books and the equipment. The wall should be taped, patched, and primed by Monday. Want to place any bets?

           I was invited to a Xmas party tonight. By the same lady who bought me a drink last night. Instead, I’m staying put. The rush is on to finish that bedroom so that I can finish the other bedroom. Renovations have that circular pattern whenever you have to live in the place during the job. I may have to live with some temporary drywall panels for now, as the electric system still requires access. But it is top notch. Whose going to be brave and crawl up in that attic to patch the roof holes. If you look up near the top left corner, you’ll see one about a square foot. For electrical access.

           Something I don’t like is despite the extensive insulation, when it gets cold outside, the cold still hovers near the floor on the inside. I’m old enough to know what I like and that means walking around barefoot in my own place. I have two space heaters but heating one room requires them both on full blast. Am I not getting the benefit of all that insulation? In the reverse situation, the kitchen still stays too warm in the summertime. I wonder what it must have been like to live here before.
           A little more bad news is expenses from the Great Trek West of 2018 still continue to roll in. And so far it has cost me $388.55 more than was recorded in the trip log. This is based on bank balances, but I know they are legit because, and pay attention to this, I withdraw money from the bank in planned amounts that work out to a specific multiple every month. And it adds up. But you think I’d remember where I spent that much money.

           Books. I’m still reading the rather deep book on eye and vision evolution. Humans are trichromates, they see all colors based on the stimulation of three base colors. Some animals have four, but they see into parts of the spectrum specific to their survival. Your trivia for today is that fruit-eating bats do not have echolocation abilities. That’s only for insect-eating species. The least interesting eyes to me are insects. The subject must fascinate somebody, just not me.
           JZ called to see if I’d make it over for Xmas dinner this year. That would be tomorrow, but the schedule here is too tight. I saw him last week, and we’ll talk on January 17th. He wants to work on the plumbing, but this is the same guy that would not leave town unless he had a thousand dollars on him. You can read back in this blog the difficulty getting him even to zip over to Naples or down to the Keys for a weekend beer. Yet once we get there, he has the time of his life. Don’t hope for much, I’ve never seen him or anyone else I chum with in Florida save up even $500. What? Well sure, they see me do it all the time, but like my family, they don’t care to follow that kind of good example because their way is superior. The only problem is, it doesn’t work. Do I have to teach you everything?
           So, no Xmas with the family this year, but that does not mean things are not moving forward.

ADDENDUM
           Today's award for the most useless blog search algorithm goes to brainyquote. Idiotic beyond belief.

Last Laugh

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++