October 25, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 25, 2020, repairability icons.
Five years ago today: October 25, 2016, kind of Amish.
Nine years ago today: October 25, 2012, Remember “Freedom Ship”?
Random years ago today: October 25, 2014, one or two thousand shot.

           There it is. One of two piles of logs as cut y’day. The perspective is off, but see your yourself some of these piece weight close to 120 pounds. They’ve denied me the use of my back yard all these years and are now heading for the bonfire. These are partly from the big tree and others are widowmakers from the camphor trees. Not real camphor, but from the aroma when cut. They are like a weed but any shade is welcome. The scooter is again proving its worth for getting around town, love those $2 gas bills reappearing on the household budget.

           I found some 70% lumber so the shed will shortly have baseboards around the interior. I’m more than happy with the progress, I’ve worked more four hours each in most of the past twelve days, little short of a miracle, can I get a round of applause. NPR radio kept me distracted with their constant propaganda, beginning each news cycle with COVID stats. As if it is the top story on everybody’s mind. In reality, unless somebody is bitching about the inconvenience, nobody ever talks COVID. Nor would I as they are one unpopular minority in this area.

           Today the doggies got rice and chicken again. I’m a graduate of the Tennessee school of canine culinary & gourmet cooking. I’m working on the most complicated part of the new shed this morning, the door. My helper did not show, just the doggies. Working in the hot sun was never my calling and I still have to walk around this woodpile until I find a cool evening to haul it to the burner. Any volunteers?

Picture of the day.
British roller coaster.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The only photo I have for you is the half-finished shed door. I ran out of plywood.

           Two developments. Band rehearsal and a gig I wonder. Nothing else happened so sit back and hear about the band. We are getting better but it is by rote. And I’ve been sort of relegated to singing songs I don’t know. I was only prepared in the sense of Karaoke, where the singer would probably not do something by request unless already an accomplished vocalist. Ask me a week ago if I do Jimmy Buffet, and except for the one tune I like, the answer is no. Now they got me singing “Margaritaville”.
           I showed up 15 minutes late to see them stepping through the set list handed to me a week ago. The snag is that list does not match what we’ve practiced. The good news seems to be I faked it better than the last contenders. To give you a perspective on how outdated this group is, they do not really learn “songs” but everybody to comp along and produce a facsimile. This has its value, particularly with dance music. The drummer almost understands all this.

           Later, I stopped for a brew. I mentioned the band to the server, who wants something this Friday. That’s terrifically short notice for the band but I said sure. However, when she went to clear this with the owner, things stalled. This isn’t a contemporary “Internet” era band, we do not have a website, demos, videos, or disks. We’ll have to see because I was just in for a couple and they had not made up their little minds. I’m thinking I might do better selling myself and just saying I’m standing in with this or that band.
ADDENDUM
           As my fiscal year closes, I’m peering into the next five years for the after-shocks of this Biden debacle. My “reverse retirement” has worked well for the past then years, recalling that the dates I retired and took my pension are far from the same, but retirement is a gamble. In this case, my funding is 70% based on other people delivering what they promised. So far, so good, but look at Enron. That represents another emergent factor, which is how willing people are to roll over and play dead when their pensions are stolen. It affects the rest of us.
           The demise of company pensions and growth of 401k accounts is a serious downturn. You take all the risk and they rake commissions off the top. Worse, these investments have been losing money. I don’t buy the excuse that over a third of Americans cannot afford to save for retirement, since they live on credit cards, buy crap they don’t need, and refuse to put anything away for a rainy day. Hell, the majority of the last two generations don’t even know how or where money can be parked. It’s their own fault, though. We had the same “education”, we just didn’t drink the KoolAid.

           I see school still does not teach how the system works in reality. A series of interviews showed millennials who thought they could save up enough that when retirement came, they could supplement their social security with welfare and food stamps. People, you are making the same mistake as my parents. You cannot get welfare or stamps if you have more than $2,000 in cash. Think that one through, sheeple. There is no government safety net for you, There is no place you can safely keep cash that they will not find. By saving and investing peanuts, like my family, you are simply disqualifying yourself from what little help there might otherwise be.
           What? Well sure, I could tell you how to work around all of this. But it is like planting a tree. The best time to do it is twenty years ago. It is appalling to hear these ass-enders make no distinction between paying bills and paying debt. Or listening to these people over 40 talk about how they need to get “other income” but never to back down on their extravagances, why cable TV for them is a necessity. Or whatever replaced cable these days, like, how would I know? Actually, I do know, that is a rhetorical question.

Last Laugh
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