April 9, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 9, 2019, laughable at any time.
Five years ago today: April 9, 2015, now I understand joists.
Nine years ago today: April 9, 2011, Staci never worked out.
Random years ago today: April 9, 2008, count now, sort later, bitch.

           Up late, burning three barrels of yard stuff. Talking with JZ, I may rig up a small grill, which turns the fire pit into a barbeque. I’ve joked about his brother burning yard refuse in his barbeque, but that was not fair. He had earlier gotten snagged for burning without a permit. He did not much like that. Not the citation, which would hardly have bothered him, but the way they selectively target people. Only medium-height white males get these fines. It seems down that way the police really came down hard on people defying the business lockdown. I can’t be the only one who thinks the system is just testing how much they can push us around. Reading how most families live one paycheck from disaster, there must be millions past the breaking point.

           Not me, other than staying home as much as I should, this thing has barely bothered me. This morning I was other there repairing that fence that fell over. The wood is old and brittle, some slats broke when I lifted them. I was busy less than an hour, but it was enough to remind me I may be recovered on paper, but heart conditions weaken your overall system. You never get back that core energy. That minor activity, standing a fence panel into place, was enough to send me back inside, exhausted. I slept till 1:00PM. I didn’t finish what I was saying about Kokak last day. Switching to digital was a big move for this blog. I may have taken pictures in that format earlier, but other than scans, I relied on downloaded material.

           Consider that for me, there was nobody anywhere near my age to ask. I did not know one format from another. I finally settled on jpegs because the files were smaller. The entire process had to be figured out, right from buying the camera to uploading the pictures and getting them to left and right justify. My first digital camera was an Argus 1600 with no display and 26 picture capacity. I wish they were still made. They had a 10 second delay feature, used ordinary AAAs, and could take 15 seconds of video in lo-res. I rejected the idea of scanning regular photos for use here due to the expense.
           That’s the second major dislike I had with Kodak. Making two trips to the kiosk for the prints. Sadly, there are times I had to leave pictures there because when I was young and poor, there were times a week later I didn’t have the money to go pick them up. This was around the time that Kodak brought out their famous Kodachrome film. It was complicated to develop, but this was also the time Kodak figured out the real money was in that process. They eventually included the price of developing in the film price. Back then, each picture eventually cost around $1.15. I don’t think there was any way to develop Kodak film at home.

           Until I switched to the Sony camcorder for my stills, I wore a digital camera around my neck on a lanyard for close to ten years. The Sony requires a separate carrying case. I can’t remember the calculation but only around one picture in twenty makes the blog, and those are already sifted and sorted. Here’s a view of the repaired fence, showing the kudzu taking over if I don’t get in there soon. The plant gets wood-like if you let it grow long enough, making it difficult to weed. This is part of the view in the back yard if I ever get around to fixing that double picture window in the bedroom. It has been boarded up since I started the work on that bathroom.

           I’ve decided on a smaller raised planter box, 4’x6’. The construction is 2”x6” and that is the heaviest size, once filled, that I can move easily enough by myself. As usual, there was so much conflicting information on-line that I took what I felt was the most logical parts and designed the simplest box I could. The legs are 4”x4” posts cut 26-1/2” high, the depth of the box roughly 11”. From what I find, no vegetables need to set roots any deeper. The prototype would be built by now but it got too hot. Also, I can’t find that container of lag screws and matching washers. Check back later today once the sun gets behind the trees to the west. This will finally use up the rest of the planks originally slated for my porch, which never happened.

Picture of the day.
Whistle-making machine.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here’s the working model of the raised planter. Ignore the messy yard, that’s why I put up the fence. So I can work in peace and quiet and make a mess if I want. The planter is the full length, but only half width. I’m not sure how to make the liner. Some say use wire mesh, but you have to water that type all the time. Other say use a weed liner to help retain water. The lumber is untreated in keeping with the food being healthy.

           The posts are courtesy of Tennessee, having proved too short to use for the lean-to. The top of the box is 26-1/2” high, supposedly the most comfortable working height. The plan is to build three units and put a small potato patch on the ground. Blog rules say I must report this little bit of work completely exhausted me. The area around the box as shown will be cleared away as this is the sunniest part of the yard. There is no sprinkler system back there. Initially it will have to be watered by hand.

           Most popular planting soil is Miracle-Gro. According to the chart, I require 54 bags. At $10 a shot, that’s unlikely. I don’t spend that much on vegetables in two years. I think I’ll stick with a 50/50 mix of el cheapo Dollar tree potting soil and the best of the back yard black dirt. After all, I’m not growing this commercially. I’ll be glad for some onion, radishes, and turnips. Have you see the price of turnips lately? Outrageous. The art of gardening is not that popular in the USA any more, since grocery supplies are relatively cheap. Take a look at these shelves, this is unheard of except just before storms.

           This panic buying is idiotic anyway, since unlike storms, the delivery truck system has never stopped working. Wal*Mart does sell out, but the shelves are filled by the next day. Funny how people buy frozen food for a emergencies. The electric power is the most fragile of the utilities and first to go. I’ve gotten a few requests for advice on this point. Get metal cans, the plastic containers deteriorate and vermin can gnaw their way through. Storing water is not wise either, since you will never have enough of it. Instead, have some way to boil all the water you need. I have a camp stove and two butane burners. If it came to a scrunch, I have a hot dog cart.
           Stevia has become hard to find. There are no health food stores in this area and the best product commonly available is Truvia, made “from” stevia leaf. The primary ingredient is erythritol, a fermentation sugar “deemed to be safe in the United States” and so is modified corn starch. I could not find if any of that starch was used in the fermentation process. Governments that lie about food will lie about anything.

           Here is a list of plants reputed to do well in as 12” deep planter box. Beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, garlic, and turnips. Also, anything that will grow in shallower boxes like radishes, onions, and apparently strawberries do well. I have no idea of the production capacity, but the Florida growing season is 12 months. Most sources say 200 square feet per person. I’m planning on just 72 square feet. I happen to like turnips.

ADDENDUM
           The Moon last night was a waxing gibbous, and got me thinking. Except for that rotten space shuttle fiasco, we should have been on the Moon the last thirty years. Instead, it ended with Apollo 17. There were six manned landings, Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17. Apollo 13 got lost in a movie studio. In the end, the shuttle program produced nothing.
           As a treat for reading this far, I’m going to announce a post in advance. The daily journal nature of this blog means each post is oriented to the immediate past. This time, I’m going to go over in detail what information the tech companies have on most people, and compare that to what they have on me. The list is extensive and should be cause for concern. Because once you give the information out, you lose control of it forever. The bad guys focus on just over 55 key pieces of data, any one of which can be used to access the rest. That’s because they share it. The privacy policies are all bullshit. If tomorrow is too hot for work, it could be that soon, since 42 of those items have been kept off-line by me since 1996,

Last Laugh