November 23, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: November 23, 2020, shoulda bought this one.
Five years ago today: November 23, 2016, I need a bigger jack.
Nine years ago today: November 23, 2012, a Barnes & Noble morning.
Random years ago today: November 23, 2013, $3,095.17.

           Cold, and I took the doggies for a long walk. Good morning, Tennessee. The doggies had their winter sweaters and did better than me with a winter jacket. But a nice warm breakfast of oatmeal kept me going. We dropped the Reb’s car at the mechanic, it is running rough. Recall my habit of checking out the cheapest property advertised? This month it was a vacant lot at 420 Liddell Ave, in Smyrna, Tennessee. No real estate agent would give me the answer, that has become a trade for slimeballs. All too often you see the disclaimer agent has not seen property. Just make the paperwork complicated and you don’t have to get your hands dirty.

           The property checked out with everything I could find. So I drove out there with the doggies to see for myself. The scam was simple, all the photos including the satellite, showed only a heavily treed lot between some nice houses. Not a thing looked wrong, until you parked your car and walked over. The entire lot is a dry creek bed. It looks level with the surrounding houses from the street, but it is a fifteen foot gulch fed by two culverts. They are dry at the moment and the trees show it has not flooded recently, but still.

           This is the most circulated of the pictures, some 15 agencies have the listing. That includes Zillow, Trulia, Realtor, and Movoto. The market has degenerated into operators like this, all playing the same hand I inquired on one and got replies from them all, plus a host of e-mails from people I never heard of. Not one answered my questions, but all tried to get me “signed up” and “pre-qualified”, the same nonsense they did before computers came along.
           I talked about the lengthy process of setting up the James Webb telescope, the thing is bloody expensive. Ten billion dollars, and it just had a NASA-like glitch. The components are built by the lowest bidder. It has 18 mirrors that have to unfold perfectly. Unlike the “contact lens” fix for the Hubble, the Webb orbits out there the same distance away as the Sun. I’ll say it again, NASA is a bloated bureaucracy and they will let you down. Too many competing loyalties.

           How about that NBC reporter telling Americans to fight inflation by billing their Thanksgiving guests for the food. Biden suggested serving peanut butter & jelly sanwiches. Tsk, tsk, the charges about to filed against the Wisconsin Elections Committee, all Democrats. That will be interesting, if only because the victims are mostly senior citizens. It usually only takes one conviction like this to spark a flurry of similar cases.

Picture of the day.
English mud house.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The Reb has another venture to look at. This is that process I looked at years ago, where the government seizes a house for back taxes. If they sell the house for more, they are not required to give the surplus back. Three States (Wisconsin, New York, Colorado) keept the money. But in the others, the former owner must apply for the cash back, it is not automatic. Well, some lawyer has streamlined the process. She attended the seminar and while they always make it sound easier than it is, who is the master at filling out forms? We are still at the stage of looking to see what works, the publishing is on hold since I would be doing 99% of the work and I had a shed to build. No big deal.
           It’s darn cold and for the first time I saw a big dog shiver. Chuck, the big doggie, starts with cold ears, then cools down like an icicle. I put him in the van with a quilt and he was still not warm five minutes later. It did not seem to bother the guy, but anybody watching would have thought he was in serious danger.

           What are those beautiful Xmas carols you hear in the background as I’m typing. That’s the Reb upstairs singing and playing the piano. Nice, huh? I did not bring anything but my bass this trip. We talked about the new band, she knows my concerns from a management perspective. The question that I cannot answer is why has this band not said much about the disparity in our skill levels? I’ve assured them I am not there to use them to find a better band, it is too late in the game for that.

           They should be more worried about the guitar player, who wants to play lead only and has outright refused to learn how to play any rhythm parts. The Reb, like myself, says just work with the keyboard player on that. By a margin, the most structured songs this band plays are the ones where I do the vocals. Since they know my versions are faithful, they are able to do a better presentation. Still, I wonder about them sometimes, since they were not expecting a bass player anything like me. That’s for sure.

           Later after dark, we took the doggies out for a little stargazing. Clear and cold, there was Orion, but too cold. We wisely bundled up the dogs with the fancy winter jackets she got them, which work amazingly well. After the long circuit around the subdivision, we were both getting chilled. And I was wearing an undershirt, shirt, sweater, and winter jacket. I am not used to cold any more. It was hot chocolate time, the Swiss Miss packet brand.
           Lillie, the skinny rescue cat that would not gain weight, I have news. She was to the vet and had an operation, I believI mentioned that. But I don’t know the details. Well, she has gained weight to normal proportions to a cat her age. This has done nothing for her behavior, which is totally constant energy, including knocking over household objects that are tricky to repair. Like angel wings, see photo. That’s the day iin brief and my ears are still popping from that truo over the Appalachians.

Last Laugh