One year ago today: August 5, 2021, Lilli’s operation.
Five years ago today: August 5, 2017, I cleared a space . . . . .
Nine years ago today: August 5, 2013, the working prototype.
Random years ago today: August 5, 2016, the day I left Miami.
You’ve been warned about this heat. Get out of Florida in the summer, or in the alternative, build a nice cool canopy in the back yard where you can work with the fans blasting. I’ve adjusted mostly to the new “Bidenflation” budget and may chance spending some money. Meanwhile, I like to look at real estate that is just out of my range, and that took me to Tennessee this morning. Ha, there is something afoot, all the shysters and prickheads are out in full force. When you see a cluster of houses for sale in one locality, you know them bastards are up to something. I chose the one nearest the Reb.
The scam is these places are listed a single residential. There are also townhouses listed, and properties with an HOA, all of which are not single-family dwellings in the strictest sense, certainly not in the context of anyone who specifies that is what they are looking for. The only good news is the trend of dropping prices for several weeks running now. What I’m watching for this time is any further drops in price on the same property. So far, of the ones I’m monitoring, it has been once each. I only watch for drops more than $15,000.
Foolish me I counted on a third day of mild morning weather and left it till 10:00AM. At that point I lasted around ten minutes, raking the cuttings from y’day in the shade of the front. No avail, the summer heat radiates right through your bones. I got a lot raked, plus the spot for the new hot water tank. That will take some minor digging. So I threw in a load of laundry and ducked back inside to learn the bass line to “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, one of those songs I swore I’d hate forever. Before “Hotel California” it was the tune every half-baked guitarist played to death at every opportunity. I also have some activity on my music ad, but always places fifty miles or more away. If I had chosen Plant City I might be in a band today, but I’d never heard of Plant City until late in the game.
How about that freak Griner thrown in the Russian prison for nine years? I can’t believe Biden is going to step in, as if Griner is some sort of national treasure. Let him rot, or is it her, who cares, he/she will provide something lacking in Russian prisons, namely variety. Never a fan of people who use their fame to spout off on politics, I think athletes are the worst, followed by Hollywood. People who live in mansions by sheer luck of the draw lecturing the rest of house how to behave. Let Griner rot the full sentence as an example to others who don’t appreciate what they got because they got it for free.
Quanjude restaurant, Peking.
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I’ve noticed a slight coordination of birds at the feeders. Small flocks appear at random hours, but around ten minutes before in most cases. There are nine or ten finch-like birds that appear in a cheery flock, getting tamer by the day. But why at the same time, ten to. It might be before nine and eleven in the morning, and between one and five in the afternoon, but ten before the hour. I think there is some other event in the neighborhood behind it and this is just their next stop.
It is now the hottest part of day, so siesta time, with a new booklet on Andrew Jackson, the sixth president. He’s the one who set the precedent of appointing political favorites to high positions, so I suppose I should learn a bit about him. There’s nothing else I know of him, so this is all new except that he had the authority to hang people who tried to harm the country, but he never did.
Normally if there’s rain due, you get over an hour of cooler weather due to cloud cover. Not today, it was cool few moments before the downpour. So toured the interior to find any stray leaks. None, meaning getting the hillbilly up on the roof with that tar brush was the most useful thing he did around here. The north side got pretty messy, as the area under the tree limbs can involve biting ants as well as loose shingles. I had him goop it double and this seems to have paid off. It’s now a chore of keeping the gutters clear or water will flow uphill when you are not looking.
Not to waste the time, I learned “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, which I know I’ve done before but with a difference. How so? Normally, I would root-fifth my way through a country-like bass pattern because that’s what’s expected. Ah, but now I’m fronting the tune, so let’s bring in some sophistication. I know the chord chart says one thing while I hear another. That’s an F#m11 and the note that makes it an 11 is an Eb. But I know better. Going through each chord of the song, I picked out the note that was nearest to common and discovered I could play this seven-chord song in two bass positions.
Ha, that will throw most guitar players who rarely know the notes of the chords [they are playing]. Tinkering a bit more, I found a way to hold my left had as if I’m playing one of two guitar chords for the whole song. I’m holding three notes but only playing two, which adds to the effect, and that effect is that I’m making the guitar player work. I sacrifice a couple of octave notes but the result is that I’m effortlessly outplaying the guitarist. That’s something I could hardly be expected to keep back. I love it, because the harder he tries to avoid it, the more he contributes to the illusion.
Then, I ripped out all the computer equipment, stereo, and radio. It turns out the speaker problem was the cheapest component, where the 1/8th in jack goes into the can. We have stereo again so I played some of my favorite bass tunes at top volume. This also frees ups space on my desk but that is a chore I never keep ahead of. When I multitask, it can be ten or twelve projects over a period of days, plus my habit of eating at my desk comes from the old days at the phone company. Remember, I could speed type so most of my time was at a desk surrounded by 293 women. That’s where you learn to get really picky.
ADDENDUM
I won’t say but tonight I’m glad I kept up with my solo guitar work. It’s only partially due to seeing a show tonight that has not changed in the four years since last time. I know the guy and I know how practice ceases once you start gigging, but this was demonstration of a standstill. Everything he said or played was a carbon copy of 2018. I had some notes to jot, so meanwhile I scribbled down his song list from the time I got there until 11:10PM. I can fake every tune he played. While that is no big deal, it contrasted with last Sunday. I can deliver these same tunes far better than this character. The polite way to put it is he has a guitar personality where I have an entertainer personality.
His guitar playing was excellent, but that hardly impacted his indifferent presentation. Thoughts I had were like how I often get the crowd singing by passing out live microphones. It does not always work, the point is even attempting such a thing was beyond what most of these guitar players can imagine. I picked out 27 tunes I’m familiar with or can learn and wrote them down. There was time to consider David Allen Coe tunes like “Pretty Redwing”. The guy had that crowd tonight but he could not adapt his show to take advantage. Not the kind of mistake I make.
