April 5, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 5, 2020, volunteering is required.
Five years ago today: April 5, 2016, Texas prairie primer.
Nine years ago today: April 5, 2012, social security has no security.
Random years ago today: April 5, 2014, the evil storm drain (manhole).

           Hmmm, according to HobbyHelp.com (no link), journaling, their term not mine, ranks 83rd as a pastime. Behind embroidery, kite-flying, and collecting leaves. This was after a lengthy e-mail chat with Elliott who does not understand the detailed process I often go through to pick a hobby. He tends to regard this blog as “show & tell” since it mentions so much that is going on at the moment in comparison to his references which tend toward the remote or the past. Good morning. It is getting tricky to filter out on-line idiots and 5G is going to make it impossible. Or those “studies” that “prove” frumpy women are better than skinny women. Why do they get so much air time?

           There see the birdbath? I want to rig up a temporary way to turn it on from inside the house, a spritzer I mean. Or something for the birds to mist in. More than the shady spot, this area of the yard has become the bird focal spot. In the background, you can see the big feeder, plants, and the swing converted to yard ornament. Such work can indicate I’m making backup copies, which include these posts.

           There’s a fairly massive push to convince people that storing their files on line is more important than ever because of ransomware attacks. You data, they go on, is encrypted and perfectly safe. I mean, if you can’t trust them who can you trust? Besides, you did the encrypting yourself, right? It’s not like they are running a protection racket. I got that info while watching silver prices. I dismiss huge numbers with little factual basis, putting more faith in conversion charts, and I’m not the first to notice that silver prices have not been adjusted even for inflation.
           If you adjust the 1920 silver price to today, it should be $5,000 per ounce without any rise in value. Myself, I feel if unmanipulated, silver ought to sell at around $176 today. Part of my renewed interest in the metal is a possible threat of cryptocurrency influence. This is a change from the last run in 2012 and the potential to create a new demand. The official price of silver today is $24.90 but nobody is selling it for that. They are holding fast.

           Allow me to conjure up the past. The hot dog cart. It is still under umbrella over at Agt. R’s place. He was never able to get it underway for the same reason as most people. It takes money to make money. I may have found a location or a buyer. My favorite Thrift may be put up for sale, so it came to my attention the big vacant lot next door also belongs. It’s a trapezoid of land with a couple of shade trees. He’s allowed the church to set up a boiled peanut stand and the chef from the club across the street has talked for months about opening a barbeque. That explains this photo of a small stand under a canopy, notice that “horse trailer” beside the tent. I’ll pull these loose ends together momentarily.
           The owner knows I’m a good customer and may even consider me a potential buyer. (I’m not.) It is not the main road into town, but parallel to it and it’s near the train station, though not walking distance. Let me run some numbers, the major cost is the setup of supplies needed for opening the first time. Now, I have to storage and transport facilities here, as opposed to last time. Who recalls that? The sodas and snack foods were in a cabinet over at Agt. R’s place and they lasted only until his teenage sons came home from college a few times with their girlfriends. There are several factors to consider for the initial run, but I think it was only $243. After that, any sales at all make things self-sustaining at around $30 to $42 of resupply each $400 in sales.

Picture of the day.
Ingenuity copter on Mars.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
           Next to hotdogs, I’ve found only one mobile business cheaper to set up, and that is boiled peanuts. If you are around Polk County, you notice quite a few are bigger operations. Run by two people from a very nicely converted horse trailer, these are likely sponsored by the church I mentioned earlier. The horse trailers alone are in the neighborhood of $5,000 each and seem to be provided to retired vets. It was this aspect that got my attention, an offer of $1,000 for my hot dog stand. I would rather put it to use and see if I make anything first.

           This could be an excellent opportunity. As I mentioned, I have networked with that church via the Thrift. Further, with the COVID lockdown, the real effect is that I now have almost unlimited cash resources to make this thing work, as it keeping on trying until I find something that sells. I don’t care it if has to be women in bikinis and live country music. I’m not rich, gals, I’m just saying the resources are there looking for an investment. Let me think, who do I know could find the right skinny women for the job? Ah, I know a bar that just closed.

           Out of the blue, Elliott asked about this blog. He does not read it, considering such pursuits to be an egotistical waste of time. He does not have any regular hobbies that I know of for the same reason. What makes his question bloggable is his estimation that my readership is 2 to 3 hits per month. Remember, however, that Elliott moved to Canada to feel more at home. My lowest readership this decade was 628 hits back in 2011, so he was 31,400% low in his projection of my worst-case numbers. But this is the normal level to which Canadians habitually underestimate the accomplishments of Americans. They overestimate their own by the same factor. Remember, I worked there and speak with authority. Other nationalities are immune from this, but they often turn it on fellow Canadians.

Last Laugh