January 15, 2021

January 15, 2021 Friday Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 15, 2020, chicken coop frame.
Five years ago today: January 15, 2016, just my grits.
Nine years ago today: January 15, 2012, like hell by now.
Random years ago today: January 15, 2013, the presumption being . . .

           Ah, winter in Florida. Just wait until the Sun gets high enough and the day is nice. I’m putting in some time on the double window. The incentive is it seems I’ll need to set up the PA system and practice in there. The west wall is not wired yet, so the desk cannot be positioned where I have a lot of space to move around. Here’s the progress on the \east window. Once again, now that I’ve returned a day or more, the bird feeders bring in the wildlife. I wonder why that is? Shouldn’t they be more active when I’m not moving around and scaring them off?

           Is life better or not, considering last year I had a record 83 days where I spent no money. Chuckle as you want, this is America and unless you are really at the bottom of the food chain, not spending something is all but impossible. The capitalist system will assail you even for standing still. A zero-dollar day happened so rarely that I did not begin to track them until 2017. May I add that these are often days when I’m home, so it would be many more if I didn’t buy a coffee or a newspaper. So, what are the stats?

           2017: 12 days
           2018: 29 days
           2019: 54 days
           2020: 83 days

           I tackled the east windows again. In my early time here, I allowed a larger margin for error, and the cutout was three inches to big. All the easier to fill it with. The struggle was the old wood frame windows. From the factory, they are a quick install because of easy-to-remove bracing. Years later, it’s not easy to put new braces as the walls have settled and the wood doesn’t stay square by itself. I leveled on edge and lined everything up to that. The only added purchase was a 1x8” plank, a material I do not generally have lying around.

           The van seats are piled in the back yard, I dismantled on to find the motor. Not there, but I will continue looking as the motors would be hard to remove with the upholstery intact. What’s more likely is whoever swapped out the seats left the electric harnesses in place, so I only think those motors are there. I was going to junk this picture of the seats and tools, with the chicken making sure everything was on fleek, when I noticed the wee gremlin perched on the rim of my recycling bin. Possibly doing his own inspection.

           The mess shown here is now relocated to the back yard, where the double window is now facing. That will soon change, I think there’s another phony stimulus check on the way as Fingers Joe seeks to legitimize what is going to be a rough and rocky go of things. They’ve turned Trump into a martyr and lowered the standards for impeachment so low that mountains of money the Democrats don’t have is about to be wasted on futility.

Picture of the day.
Curling rink, Oakville, MN.
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           Have a closer look at the window arrangement. This is where one window used to be and the process took a long time. It was the last big change in the building planned before I learned the promised help was not going to materialize. The windows as seen are only squared and leveled into the opening. It was dark before that happened, you can see the number of cross-braces needed because I have no helper. These double the cost and triple the time, since they require removal. You can see the upper right frame is not square, a relatively easy fix. The picture of the glass cup is just for looks.

           The wide column between is for the window weights. The left edge shows the 3” gap that needs to be closed before a strip of drywall is places to match the casing. I will consider a gas powered chain saw, and this view will change considerably. You can see the wooded part of the yard, but also the sawhorses, ladder, and plenty of kudzu. This is a nice sunny and sheltered part of the yard, the only place logical for a patio or garden. If nothing is done, it remains just another patch of ground that needs a lot of caretaking.

           New York City causing trouble again, I did not listen to the report, only that it was being broadcast. I’ll tell you why. Most of the fake media is centered near that place and give it more importance that the rest of the country. You heard me, most people regard the place with less fervor. If they want to talk like morons, drive like maniacs, talk like immigrants, and elect communists, then they get what they deserve. It’s not that nobody cares about New York, it’s that we are sick of hearing about it, okay?
           And this mask thing is getting old. I only wear the mask because there are so many interfering retards out there. What? Guys, only a retard thinks a cotton mask will prevent a virus infection. Put another way, when someone is seen not wearing a mask, if he’s a Republican, he knows a mask is useless, if he is a Democrat, the sooner he dies, the better. Either way, don’t interfere. Now, if somebody is sneezing and coughing in public, what I said about that has not changed in 50 years, long before lockdown hoaxes began.

ADDENDUM
           Lloyd Bridges. Remember him? Nope, he was a TV actor born today in 1913. The connection is I saw several of his TV reruns called “Sea Hunt”. This is when I was maybe ten years of age. I don’t remember the plots, but I remember the effect on my thinking because that is roughly when I began to question the career advice being thrown around those days. Your choices, unless you had supportive family, were the army, the farm, or the oil rig. Ah, now I remember, I was nine because I had an argument with my school teacher.
           We had a class where it was shoved on us that hard labor was the only honest way to make a living, but that you could sidestep a live of such misery by staying in school. No, Ken, that does not mean repeating the ninth grade three times. I had brought up that “Sea Hunt” showed that there were interesting ways to make a living and Mrs. David scoffed me. I would have, of course, worded it as a kid would. She said the show was just acting and he was paid for acting and not being a scuba diver. I knew she was lying, and had a similar argument with Mrs. McMaster the following school year.
           Whereas I’m glad I did not choose diving as an occupation, it was the concept that had influence on how I would regard career choices. Less than two years later, I was already creating a rock band out of thin air and against all odds. It was Lloyd Bridges who I first heard say that money not earned buys nothing but trouble. Think about that when you vote to have student loans forgiven.

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