One year ago today: August 8, 2019, doggie-mobile
Five years ago today: August 8, 2015, the missing water pipe.
Nine years ago today: August 8, 2011, an expanding skillset.
Random years ago today: August 8,2009, my first bingo.
Forget the shed and the yard and the rest, I’m taking the day off. I’ve got three brands of coffee in the house and I put bag of ginger snaps in the freezer. I checked on the radishes and for all I know I may dedicate the raised planter to just that. They are the only thing doing fine back there. Taking inventory of the fridge, I might just take the whole weekend off. That might include building a shelf in the shed if I decide that is relaxing. I threw on the movie “Dolores Claiborne” and found it delightfully touching. The detective role is a good example of what is wrong with the police force—how a good cop makes a bad situation worse.
What say I make up some Texas Disappearing Pie. The combination of the new steroid pills and some new exercises has limbered up my performance, same degree of pain but I can move around lots better, so maybe I’ll take advantage of it and finish up some projects. I was right about the larger shed roof, the tarpaper can still leak over that expanse, but it has missed my new light sockets so I’m still in business. I don’t miss time indoors in the brutal heat of August.
How’s this for a desk? It’s at the Lightner and claimed to have over 200 drawers. Man, the mess I could make with that. I’ve got 12 drawers now and can’t find anything. It was the lure of “fully furnished rooms as they were in Victorian times” that got me. In fact, the furniture displays are meager and located way at the back end of the third floor. And except for a couple of balconies on either end, the rooms are missing, too.
What’s with silver? The market kind of rejected it as a store of value after the big housing drop. Nothing for months after the virus blarney and in the last week it nearly doubles? Go for it, silver. My real estate lady tells me the sad tale of people coming in seeking property to buy, anything they can live in. Sad? Yes, because often they only income they have is their social security. Even if you get the maximum, you could not buy half of the least expensive house in town. The average here is $170,000 same as Nashville.
Therefore, what is happening here? I know, because I planned my way out of this consequence a long time ago. Hint, it involved some years of living in a trailer court. These people are being squeezed by the inflation and I don’t feel the least bit sorry for them. A glance at the ads shows the average apartment is over $1,190 per month. Very few get the maximum social security of $3,790 per month, the average being half that. Me feel sorry for people I did not see beside me in the trailer court? They are probably already in an apartment, where they have no hope for a peach tree or shed in the back yard. My budget per month for this entire place, food, utilities, taxes, upkeep, and office, is exactly what the advertised rent is back at the trailer court. That’s $665 per month now.
More importantly, for any kind of active lifestyle, my cost each month when I am not here is just over $100, most of it utility standby charges. And I’m paid 5 or 6 months ahead on that. People who cannot manage money in a country like America will not find a sympathetic ear around here. I’ve had conversations with them, they talk about saving up their money but never mention changing their habits.
Vintage envelope art.
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For reading, I’m going over a couple of chapters of how Peter the Great, the medieval equivalent of a rock star, built a navy. At that time there were no sailors, in the ocean-going sense, in Russia. And reading up on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, the latest cluster rocket. I found myself naturally suspicious when the US began relying on Russian boosters. That has begun wisely to wind down, much to the benefit of the emerging American private rocket companies. I see a potential problem about to recur. The reusable rocket. This concept has merit when only civilians are paying 100% of the cost.
This curio is another crumb pan. Back across the pond linen tablecloths were common and these were used to collect any crumbs between diners. What’s novel is hard to see but this is the best picture we could get. The pan is silver but the handle is pewter. We were discussing some options in my very limited space kitchen. Other than one of those racks to hang posts from the ceiling, I will always have limited shelf and counter space. Or is some other solution right there and I can’t see it? Work with me here.
I got a question for the media. You understand how well the left has mastered the bleeding heart appeal. Their public speakers all have that distracting lady to one side wagging her hands at a tiny minority of deaf people. My question is why never a babe? Why always some fat blob that looks like she just got fired for stealing pies at the bakery. The last one was so fat it looked like she was wearing two pairs of pants.
That gives me an idea. Trump should have a translator for the mentally deficient media people, I mean, they are like deaf to his answers. He gets the fat broad to show them the map of the world. That’s the Central American equivalent of mooning. Joke, the man who invented autocorrect has just died. May he restaurant in peace. My name is Joe Biden and I don’t remember this message.
Ker-bang! Multiple lightning strikes all around me. Something in this neighbor hood has been hit hard. The power grid has finally upgraded most neighborhoods to two grid sources and the switchover appears to be automatic. The neighbor has to keep that storm sewer unclogged and he was out there at 3:00PM. It doesn’t take long but still that’s tough on a working stiff. Nor can I help him unless I invest in some high-top boots unless you walk around the whole block. The water quickly gets a foot deep. The only battery back up I currently have is the core computer system and that’s good for max 20 minutes.
Dang, the server is knocked out. Might as well make a big pot of tea while the power is up. I’ve been meaning for two years now to install a backup generator. I’ve got the money, but too many other things on the go. I need that new hot water tank first, I’ve got it mapped out so with the old heater as an ambient tank, I will have unlimited hot water and I love a good shower. If I ever get it done, I should be able to listen to audio books in the shower. You get the occasional good one.
ADDENDUM
The steroids are too good to be true, so enjoy the flexibility while I can. I’ve been meaning to devise a way to emulate steel guitar on the bass. Not the entire twangs and slides, just a few generic fills that would otherwise be dead space for listeners. Dancers don’t care but my lifelong experience says play to the majority of the room—and play what they want. The exception is the first gig at a new room where you don’t know the atmosphere. After that, adapt or don’t play there again, Glen. And don’t hand the that bull that bass is easy. Whereas I can get by on guitar, you can’t even play one tune all the way through on the bass. Well, maybe you could root & fifth, but that is the way only guitar players play bass because it matches their talent level.
What I have in mind is a couple of those cascading walk-downs used in many intros. They can also double as bass breaks in a pinch. That cowboy from Masterpiece is advertising again, the one who can only receive text and calls, except he doesn’t answer the phone. He said to wait until the virus was over, so I’m not saying he’s stupid. Only that he has bad luck when it comes to thinking. If he had, as I suggested, sent me his song list, we’d be playing this weekend. Man, he’s been running that ad a long time, but even those types eventually clue in—if you want to play now, you have to grab what you can get, musician-wise. This is Polk Country, not Nashville.
First step, find out how to tune a steel guitar. There are three tunings, it says the one most used for country is called G. Hmmm, there are six-string and eight-string models. Just you watch, some millennial is going to go for ten. Seems steel guitar sheet music is rather rare so can that. Let’s find some guitar player who fakes it. It sounds like a suspending second bent up to a third or more. I see an instant challenge—the notes can’t be played together on consecutive strings. Thusforth, as a bassist, I fake it. Let the guitar player do the steady notes, I do the twang. I’ve helped myself to this technique elsewhere. I once faked the intro to Honky Tonk Woman.
