December 13, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 13, 2018, libel laws are outdated.
Five years ago today: December 13, 2014, WIP
Nine years ago today: December 13, 2010, I like Pro Bass Shop.
Random years ago today: December 13, 2003, some unpopular process.

           Do you like chickens? The neighbor’s landlord said he had to get rid of them and I’m not home often enough to keep pets. The landlord is a prick because these are pets, not livestock. They will follow you around and lightly peck if you don’t pay them enough attention or if they just want to be picked up. Sadly, the neighbor didn’t have the presence of mind to say they were my chickens and just visiting. If nobody wants them, we have to kill them and eat them. When I got home y’day, I see somebody had placed a cage over a plant in my back driveway.

           It was Agt. R, he says those are collard greens. Argh, I have to transplant them because they are in the motorcycle path. Edible wild plants don’t usually like that. I could not get jump started today, so sent the day in the yard. It turns out that big tree in the corner is an oak, it just never was “trained”. And the other tree, the one I call Marion is also an oak, known as a duckfoot tree because of the shape of the leaves. I’m still seeing what will grow here and it turns out of what I planted, the invasive species are doing fine.

           I made a little flowerbed of what took to the front yard without any fencing. That includes the pink flowers from Agt. R’s yard, shown here. I’ve contracted him to look after my yard while I’m away for $35 per month, payable as extra principal on his mortgage. The way I work backwards to “equivalents” is not magic, anybody with a basic understanding of TVM (time value of money) can do it, but interpretation of results is a bit trickier. See if this is easier to follow. If he sticks with the plan, his final payment will be in January 2052. With the $35 extra monthly, it lops eight years off his mortgage to the middle of 2044. If he matches it with his own $35, the extra $70 moves it to 2039. And, if he shoots for the extra $100, as we once planned, the house is his in 2036.

           Put yet another way, just the $35 would mean he is gaining as much in principle that would otherwise take him until 2031. And if he kicks in his $35, it matches payments made in nearly 2040. And we may be on to something with the extra fees on his mortgage. Our contention is that we agreed only to pay the mortgage and they are not free to tack on anything without our consent. It seems there are a host of little items they pay to keep their operations smooth and most borrowers don’t object. Hmmmm, the tip off is they do not want to specify what the fees are for, in which case we do not pay them unless there is a law that compels it. And even then, we would first assess acceptability of the penalty.

           Don’t underestimate this suspicion of cheating. It seems to me the mortgage companies may be passing on some of their operation costs knowing most borrowers won’t dare incur their wrath. Over half of [Agt. R’s] monthly payment is interest, but that is not some sacred amount that is due the lender and any costs are added to the bill. I read his 36 page mortgage and there was nothing in there about paying any such fees. Hell no, let them pay their bills out of that interest like everybody else. Don’t laugh, I am the guy that started the ball rolling over formerly unquestionable “closing costs” and the one who set the focus on college bait and switch “counselors”. Remember that one, where that bogus Broward Community College assessed that I required a four year computer program (for $48,000) so I would not let down my grandchildren with their homework.
I had gone to the college to sign up for a $29 digital camera course.

Picture of the day.
Long, boring hallway.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here’s videos of the chickens. I’ll miss them because I didn’t have to do a lot of spade work. Just turn the soil and the chickens will scratch out the rest. Seen here, they are also taking a dirt bath, which I think does something to alleviate mites under their feathers. They get a layer of dirt, then dust it off in the sunlight, but not all chickens do this. I’m no expert. They also clean up every last edible speck of anything I turn up. I wonder if the neighbor will have the heart to, you know. The hen is a good layer, he says. Just when I’m cutting down on eggs, which is one reason I wonder about coincidences.

           This was also the annual Xmas parade. I got some footage but did not stick around. I’ve seen all the floats a few times each, the first ten minutes of the parade is more like a police show-of-force, but I will say the military academy up the road has finally taught most of the grunts to march though more Russian style than Chinese style. There were at least two new marching bands with spiffy uniforms. That’s the word, spiffy. And pardon me for noticing, there was a marked absence of fat girls. Since they all just didn’t disappear maybe it had something to do with a lack of XXL uniforms. Fatties have become a common US eyesore in recent times. No not just plump, but fat.
           That reminds me of a joke. My doctor said don’t eat anything fatty. I asked if she meant like bacon. She replied, “No, fatty, don’t eat anything.”

           Once again, I urged Agt. R to get a computer. He off-handedly mentions he’s got one to junk, so I took a look. It’s a perfectly good Dell with a 2 terabyte drive and a matching Sony DVD reader and burner, the setup needed for copying if you know how to bypass the filters. It had been left out in the weather, but I said drop it off here anyway and who knows. I’ve got spare monitors and keyboards in the shed. He’s been making deposits, maybe not every week, but to a vastly better discipline than before. Much as I’d like to put him to work renovating, his cash flow needs are so instant and day-to-day I’d have to pay his bills until the property gets flipped. Which reminds me, I got another $62,000 offer on this place. More flippers, that’s where I got the idea for today’s Last Laugh.

           Have I hit a bad batch of DVDs. My night off, no gig, so I’d like to drink tea and watch a good war movie. But they don’t make many good ones any more. It’s all POWs, stress cases, and old coots putting teams back together. Another trend I never liked is the Marvel comics books and their pals over at 20th Century Fox. Between them they can’t come up with anything new, so it all about misunderstood super heroes with secret identities. They spend a lot of time in latex costumes leaping between and lurking around rooftops. Some may find it a novel twist on nostalgia, I find it amusing sometimes. You just know any time now they are going to be shoving a gender-bender superhero our way. And anyone who doesn’t like the movie will be taunted as being afraid of it.
           I have a small pile of disks I’ve put off till last and now that’s all I’ve got. They fall into three categories. Lame family comedies, women getting revenge over their own bad decisions, and the guy who accidentally rips off the mob and can only save himself by doing their bidding. I suppose these scripts have slang names. The best comedy of our times was probably Borat, but few knew it was downhill from there. And forget about any good westerns since Clint Eastwood got out of the business.
           My terrible memory for names extends to movies and I have barely so far avoided duplicates. Ha, y’know, I also have challenges with road names. Remember Wallace, he could recall every place he ever drove. I regularly find myself half-way down a highway before I even spot that I’ve already taken that route. I’m getting hard pressed to find new routes through Georgia.

ADDENDUM
           I took a closer look at the interest column on Agt. R’s spreadsheet. The extra $35 agreed upon saves him $12,700 in interest. If he matches it, that goes up to $18,500. What attracts me about this is the mortgage arrangement itself. The lender is another repo mill that makes money on grabbing the houses. They are not geared to plodding along at 4.7% interest for three decades when as we know, inflation eats up at least twice that every year. The cheapest coffee in town is nearly $2.00 a mug. I never looked much into the economics of how mortgages take money out of circulation, but if everybody’s mortgage was paid off tomorrow, the flood of money into the marketplace would take prices into lunar orbit.
           I found one error already, they are saying the first payment after the mortgage assignment was not received. The cancelled check is on file here, it was sent to the former holder. You’d think somebody over at their combined offices would have the brains to figure this out, but then again, they are from Pennsylvania. The second issue is more complicated, come back tomorrow and I’ll attempt an explanation.

Last Laugh