One year ago today: January 19, 2021, big Loretta.
Five years ago today: January 19, 2017, political joke-fest.
Nine years ago today: January 19, 2013, except for self-defense.
Random years ago today: January 19, 2007, working at the Thrift.
Another two fossil Democrats announce they won’t run for re-election, bringing the total to what, 26 of them now? It is unlikely in the extreme they will be replaced by other Democrats. It’s actually worse for them, as their ratings are so low in some states they cannot find anybody to run on their ticket. Why waste the money, they are a lost cause? Good morning, it is freezing, and I’m chain-drinking coffee. I’m indoors, and that’s why you get politics. It is the only thing on the radio any more.
[Author’s note: I did a trial post on Gab.com this morning. Referring to the Democrat’s inability to find candidates in Florida, I suggested they try recruiting in Wilton Manors, where the freaks will say or do anything for a dollar, “or so the folks in Weston keep telling us every payday.”]
This photo is hard to follow, but it shows the two backyard birdfeeders. They are not doing to well and instead get a lot of attention from the squirrels. On the left is a wire globe of sunflower seeds. To the right is a tower of feed, including sunflowers and pistachios. It was on sale. There is still very little evidence the birds are taking to the back yard feeders. I've seen the grandpa cardinal in the front and he is getting really old and taking on a darker grey coloring. I hear him singing in the mornings and I'm going to miss that critter.
Another freezing morning and I was playing bass for most of it. “I Dig Rock ‘n Roll Music”, I really had to update the bass parts behind the refrain, they were so 1940s “standup bass” that it was irking me. Those parts were a little too “studio” for me and the lyrics are that contrived style that sacrifices sense for rhyme, but hey, they mean exactly what they say. It’s past 10:00AM now and warm enough to hit the yard. I also played and sang “Next Broken Heart” and it is at the upper end of my comfort zone. The sound and patterns make it hard to change to any other key. Let me tell you of another illusion from my childhood. Singing. While that was not specifically forbidden, there were two messages about that sort of activity. One was that is was so rare, a talent only some people had, and they became recording stars or church choir members after years of dedicated practice and even then only if they were “born with talent”. I could not understand why, if somebody could sing, they would not do it all day long.
The other message was psychological. If you had time and energy to sing, watch out. That meant you were didn’t have enough real work to do. The total lack of privacy in such households meant there was no place you could practice without being observed, which creates the related problem that unless you were perfect from the start, you would never hear the end of it. Everybody’s a critic. This is not a rare problem so I know you get it. I can sing these songs after much practice, whereby I kind of memorize the notes. This much structure has already thrown my band on stage. So the quality is a trade-off. Also, until I can play and sing a song by rote, I get distracted enough that I can’t shepherd the band to stay on tempo and knock off it with the comping. All is forgiven because we gig. We have nothing this week. The going rate seems to be between $300 and $350, and tips are nothing like they used to be. If we did not gig, this band would not pass muster.
Stokely’s ketchup.
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No before and after pics but the north privacy fence is now nine feet high. You cannot see into the yard without getting out of your truck and standing on something. There is not that big a difference in appearance, which is nice and now there is no direct view of the soon-to-be canopy over the laundry deck. It’s 3:30PM, let me put up the remaining rafter hangers and call it a day. This view is from the inside but gives an excellent idea of the gain in height. Plus a lot of the bracing and woodwork, the dryer is under the blue tarp until I build that canopy.
The arrangement worked and I drove it for years. No way I was going to continue this unsafe practice, so I ordered a new rim. Nothing will be ready until next week. Am I supposed to be glad for the extra time I get for yard work and such? A $170 repair is now to cost me $325. By 5:30PM I stopped for a brew and ran into Mack, or is is Mac, the guitar player. I needed the break. Later I made some phone calls, yep, just you try to get me to talk on the phone. Trent suggests if skip tracers prove weak, try using a process server. What a great idea that I will not be sharing with my competitors. I wound up staying for a few because of the atmosphere, that little club does not know how “Texas” they are, but only sometimes.
I was planning the rest of that fence you just saw. It has to wrap around a corner and I don’t have the materials—but I think I can build them. I have just enough end pieces of 4x4” posts to build up a six foot length and that will have to do. If we are finally back to decent winter weather, the fence and canopy could be finished by this weekend. As shown here, the pieces are braced into place, they will be properly secured tomorrow, let’s hope for no windstorms in the meanwhile.
ADDENDUM
News from headquarters. I told you, all delays are serious. I told how an appointment was needed to open the business account, fine. But at that meeting, which was an hour late despite having an appointment, we are informed of another license requirement. If we can get that license in a day or two, there is still another weeks wait for a new bank appointment, and the 72-hour wait thereafter to get the PayPal attached. All this from a government that tells you there is nothing stopping you from getting ahead. You could starve to death waiting for the paperwork, but other than that, nothing is in your way.
I’m used to it, but others are not. Whenever I am about to leave a government office, I always ask is there are any other requirements they are aware of. Most often the answer is they do not know. When I licensed my hotdog cart in 2018, two of the offices were practically across the hall from each other and did not know they required a license from each other. This is why civil servants are Public Enemy #1.
The Reb & I did some practice runs with the scripts. Funny thing, I am not confident with it, I think it comes out corny, and uses vocabulary I’m not comfortable with. I don’t refer to money as “funds” or to contracts as “fee agreements” when in normal talking mode. However, the Reb says it sounds great when I say it, that I could easily make all the cold calls I want. And she is never wrong about this kind of thing. Let me think on it, this is, after all, the world has changed out of all recognition since our first business venture 30 years ago, and this is a voyage of discovery.
(Civil War uniforms?)
