One year ago today: February 10, 2019, a generic day.
Five years ago today: February 10, 2015, post #3643.
Nine years ago today: February 10, 2011, the scooter place went under.
Random years ago today: February 10, 2012, Super Bowl.
Planting pecans. This is the front yard during the digging part, which is 99% of the work involved. This involved mixing soil from the back yard with potting mix and surrounding the plant to around twice the size of the root ball. The only good part of the front yard soil is that it is well-drained. Five minutes after a downpour you can’t tell it was wet. A variety of work got done this morning including two more trees, moving some yard fixtures, and putting up the fence I refer to as the shed fence. It’s sole purpose is to prevent casual observation of the chicken coop area from the street.
You see, Agt. R has to get back to his job this week. He’s fixing up the house next to his on the arrangement that once it is ready, he rents it out and gets a cut. Fine, except having owned rental property since I was 21, I say that cut is half what it should be for the headaches he will face. There should be a photo showing the post a couple feet back from the edge of the fence panel. It still works fine but if I decide to extend that fence it will have to be jerry-rigged.
The back area has to be cleared of brush to move the chicken coop. It’s no big deal, but I want it back from the neighbor’s property line, the one we discovered is three feet closer than his fence. The lots here are so big nobody is likely to crab, but like I said to the guy, why take chances the next owners will be as nice as us. He bought it. That three-foot gap between our fences will soon run the entire length of the back yard. It’s clear now that there were once trees there.
Another discovery is the spot of land behind the shed fence. The topsoil is 15” deep, what a pity it is in the shade. It would be a major undertaking, but that soil belongs in the front yard. We moved the swing set to the front where I will see about painting it a nice camo finish. That could be soon if this hot weather keeps up. I still cannot work with a shirt on, I never did adapt. Don’t get me wrong, it gets cold in central Florida once in a while. Just not this week and not for long.
Drone kill claims (Israel)
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There’s your peach flowers. This was just planted so these buds might be a good sign. These are the first nursery trees I’ve ever had. Will they follow the lead of the flowers? I’ve slated Thursdays for yard work which now includes watering these trees. By the way the garden is doing fine. The sprouts are coming up on schedule and in seven days, we may be eating our own radishes. It’s a very small experimental garden, so do I call it the gardenette?
This next trip to Miami is super important to me. I honestly believe I’m recovered enough to go back to work. For me, a job has advantages over running my own business, but I would still like medical clearance that I can handle the stress. All jobs are stressful. I’ve just past my last medical with flying colors, and by that I mean I’ve beat the odds and returned to a total recovery in every test except that diet-defying triglyceride layer. It’s under control but it was a leading indicator for trouble before and I refuse to take any such risks. This time it is a complete set of labs, thank goodness my insurance will cover that.
There is a personal aspect to these tests. In my situation, it’s probably age. I’ve been blogging a long time. The results of this upcoming lab is important to me. Because no matter how it turns out, I follow my physiology on the matter of working. I can already sense the relative large amount of work the past few days is going to be followed by some doldrums. And I admit it’s taking a little longer to recover each time. Not being surprise at this, I’ve created a number of activities that take advantage of that rest period. One of them is taking a closer look at what’s happened with web programming.
Speaking of insurance, I doubled my coverage and maxed out my underinsured motorist. That last one is a strange category, whereby people can limit their liability by simply carrying the minimum amount of insurance. In Florida, it is $10,000 or about the cost of a broken finger. Changes in the laws recently have made it expensive, but you should insure yourself against such people. Demographically, the worst drivers have the least coverage because their repeated accidents increase their premiums. It is a pity that anybody can avoid paying up in this manner. As usual, the way things are run produces the opposite effect of what is intended. My premiums are about to go up by $600 per year because bad drivers are incentivized to pay for the cheapest coverage they can get away with.
Banks are also getting worse. Federal control of the banking system is now accepted as normal, but I believe the Constitution says otherwise. Most checks can no longer be cashed with just ID, the banks want you to deposit the funds. But then, more and more, they behave like the money is theirs. They are making it ever more difficult to get your own money out. I see no improvement likely.
What about web programming? It’s changed, but it suffers the same evils. It was rotten to start with, so any improvement requires major revamping. In some categories they’ve done it. This is offset by them “talking computer”. The crowd that tries to sound intelligent are a constant in computer circles. It isn’t a sketch, it’s a “wireframe”. You don’t make a word bold and underlined, you create a pseudo-class element selector with styling attributes. They still have not instituted standards that would prevent these overlapping commands from interfering with each other. One good enhancement is in HTML5. They call it semantics but it is nothing more than the suggestion that commands should at least somewhat be descriptive.
And there is still no single definitive list of the steps needed to get a web site up and running, along with a firm price tag of the costs. Since day one, there always seems to be yet another layer of complication that has to be dealt with. You find cop-outs in every textbook. The matter is always “beyond the scope of this work” or “contact your web administrator”. It is, as I said when I first encountered this nonsense back in 1996, an evil way to set up things in a world where computers were intended to make things easier. Certainly, I get lots of people who tell me it is easy and I’m just overthinking the situation. But, to a one, they break down under simple questioning because they really don’t know it either. Ask them what comes next, and it depends. Sound familiar?
ADDENDUM
Retirement. It’s now been 18 months since I tapped into the last of my “pension” funds. While I’m okay, in the end I had to start every source earlier than I’d planned. My longest term plans end in 2045 and there’s trouble on the horizon. I often point out by the time I’m hurting, others will be in agony but that is not the point here. It is what I’m going to do about it rather than complain.
I see a rapidly declining dollar and rise in what my books call “required spending”. This is the category of expense that is required to comply with the law. Technically, the government is not allowed to enact any law that forces people to spend money, but they already do through indirect means. For example, the average person must have a vehicle and thus must buy insurance. Without a substantial increase in this disgusting type of legislation, the system will not be able to afford itself. Remember how it cost me $2,000 to put that $1,800 car on the road? And over $2,300 to start a small business? That body of law is about to plow right into the upcoming generation of retirees. Expect casualties.
The photo? Oh, that’s just the set of brand new luggage I picked up from the church curbsider. First matching set of luggage I’ve had since I was 21. I’ll dub it my Tennessee set, since with the budget I described here, that is the only place I can afford to go.
