April 27, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 27, 2021, no sincerity whatsoever.
Five years ago today: April 27, 2017, midge flies.
Nine years ago today: April 27, 2013, scooter repairs.
Random years ago today: April 27, 2008, analog video editing.

           Musk to continue censorship. Utter bullshit. The reason I’m not laughing as much as usual is my shock at how seriously the far left is taking this. Was Twitter their religion or something? If so, no wonder I don’t know anybody who used it. This photo is your reminder it is still winter in most of Canada. That’s Mitch, from five years ago, remember we rode the sidecar from Orlando. He’s visiting in northern Alberta and decided it was toboggan weather during a cold snap that has reached all the way to Florida at night. I had to get an extra blanket, where Mitch says all the antifreeze required is in a pint of vodka.

           As mentioned, I dedicated myself to six hour work today. The big deal is technically I can’t do that. My long habit of only working when my physiology says okay has let to the postponement of many large projects. One of those is the shed west wall. Hey, why wasn’t it a priority before? Easy, there wasn’t a small fortune of food and tools visible back then. Now, when I start I must not stop until the view is sealed again.

           Thusforth, from 11:00AM to 5:00PM with minor breaks for a cold drink, I took down the tarpaper and went to work. The next picture shows the first of five layers almost done. I had other pics that did not turn out, but you can seethe open strip on the right looking directly in on the storage shelving. This is a layer of the tinfoil liner, facing inward to keep cold in if it ever comes to that. When I say five layers, that is only the exterior. Inside the walls are mostly bare.
           The give layers the inside foil, shown here. Next a layer of insulation, covered by another layer of outward facing foil. Then a layer tarpaper, and when I get enough of it, an exterior covering of pallet wood. Check back later in the day to see how far I got. Once even a single layer is in place, there’s good odds I’ll knock off for the day.

           Why? Because the symptoms of working for a living returned within maybe an hour of this effort. It’s a number of little things you take in stride when your lot in life is manual labor, and the worst is a weariness that becomes ever more immune to rest and sleep. You can get up the next day and work again but sooner or later something has to give. Work is not exercise, it does not strengthen your system in any way you won’t pay for somehow.
           If you are over fifty, it is easy to test this theory. Work all day at an easy pace, then squat as if tying your shoes, or better yet, pick something up. I’ll wager many of you found this a task. I leaves me gasping for air, which would not be if the work was exercise. It passes quickly but there is no escaping that simple task is a good reminder it’s time to slow down.

Picture of the day.
Nancy Sinatra today.
(An anti-Trumper.)
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           While all this was going on, I decided to mount the Roman A/C pipes and made a discovery. While they can’t do much cooling, they create a small draft inside. Maybe that is all the Romans were after? The tubes are not painted yet as I ran out of primer. So, I racked them up on the wall shown here although this just means more work for me later. The sky was overcast but one day we’ll get a picture of how that eave on the silo in the summertime makes the tops of the pipes just barely in the sunlight.

           None of the pipes are glued, all of this can be knocked down in moments. The second pipe from the right is covered in rubberized compound. Then the nozzle jammed. The bracket is a 1x6” plank I was going to make into a box, but it warped on me. Note the overall appearance of the back yard is b
ecoming more balanced.
           My misting system is functional, but still experimental. By varying the watering times, I see the birds have a distinct fondness for when and how much. I’ll watch closely, which is easy with the timer six feet away and the window view of the yard. I would have thought birds needed the water and cooling spray at the hot time of day. No, they like a late morning and early evening. And so far it looks like they want a full hour rather than a series of shorter sessions.
           Here is the west wall at quitting time. Four of the five layers are visible. At the top is the same foil as you saw this morning, then the fiberglass insulation. The second layer of foil is halfway up the wall. Layer for is the old pieces of tarpaper going back up. I had tried to finish the wall in one swoop, still, I’m pretty satisfied with getting this far. What you can’t see is the amount of metal reinforcement built into the design. If a hurricane topples this structure, it will likely be as a unit rather than in pieces. I’ll try to get you some views of this hardware tomorrow.

           I made extra coffee and stayed up reading. That book, “Orbit”, I’m not sure I’ll finish it. I know I’ve seen the movie now, or maybe it was a video, but even the book turns too mushy toward the final third. Instead, I looked closer at any new developments for Mars travel. Nothing, not a single new concept in twenty years. Next on the agenda was blueberry flavoring. There is none available in this area. My interest was simple, blueberries have become expensive, but not raisins. This led to another concern, if the Democrats actually pull off the food shortage this election cycle. Cooking aromas.
           They cannot be disguised by any reasonable means. I can make pancakes and later haul the trash out to the curb, upwind, and still detect my own cooking. You know the drill, if I get the bouquet, so do potential marauders. There are two solutions. Maskirovka in the form of camouflage or decoys. It will have to be ingenious and economical. Go upwind and fry a sardine would work, but they’ll follow you home. Anyway, just a thought path I walked down a bit.
           One odd discovery is that blueberry flavoring has a hard time with ice cream. The extract works fine on most foods but when added to ice cream, it goes flat unless you use a special “water soluble” compound that, it is said, tastes nothing like blueberries on their own. I thought they are pulling my leg until I saw ads for the product with a one gallon minimum order.

ADDENDUM
           My word, last day was the worst blog attendance since the mid-2000s. Normally I watch only for gaps, times when there are no readers. This rarely happens, but y’day between 2:00PM and 6:00PM, again between 2:00AM and 4:00AM, zero readers. A total of six hour dead space. I know, what’s the big deal. I’ve never had a day of zero hits except maybe over 16 years ago. No saying for sure as Google stats only go back ten years.
           The most-clicked post of April 24, 2010 remains, with a record 4,730 hits. It contains a photo of a semi-nude customer from my old computer shop.
           This poses a quandry. I like that word, “quandry”. Is this merely the luck of the draw or is my blog outdated? Do I revamp the formula, or downplay this as just another quiet time? These and many other unanswered questions must remain until I’ve made a hearty breakfast, by which time I will be distracted by, well, just about anything else.

Last Laugh