One year ago today: August 7, 2021, and mushy messages.
Five years ago today: August 7, 2017, he never practices.
Nine years ago today: August 7, 2013,work as a team.
Random years ago today: August 7, 2014, one busy day.
Pancakes & coffee, that’s the ticket. Then this guitar converted to play with electronics. Such a guitar would be a dream for me, but not this one. I want something that strums. This contraption sounds more like somebody plucking a harp and all that has been done before. Up at dawn, only one bird this morning, the lady woodpecker. I’ve taken to calling her the widow, since first seen years back was the red-headed woodpecker who has long since disappeared. She’s got a good home here but it must be lonely. Here is video from 7 or 8 minutes ago.
First off, I’ll believe millennials work hard when I see one. What I don’t see is them massing at the border to prevent the invasion of illegals. Maybe if they did that, there would be some jobs available. Before commencing, I played through what I’ve learned last week, including the bass line to PEF (Peaceful Easy). Yep, I confirm I can play that with two hand positions that, as Bradford might put it, “make a mockery” of the hard work the guitarist is doing. Even if that were true, it is their own fault for not paying attention to the bass line as part of their learning task.
Rather than see my work as a masterful interpretation of the guitar tones, too many guitar-think types are stuck in the “bass is easy” groove. Thus, unless it is like Taylor Swift or something, I intend to use this bass line to the next bozos who want to play this ancient tune, not because it is relevant, but because they spent so much time learning it they now insist. I found already I can emphasize the effect by propping my foot on a chair and acting like, “what’s the big deal”. Hey, bass players have egos, too.
Next, under the house. Yep, I’ll need a new junction box, but I may be in luck. I have two extra cables, one that Char gave me when she moved, and a length I kept in the shed for just such an eventuality. They are both just long enough for the job. It is now noon and I need a break. Setting up for the small platform involves plenty of walking back and for the from the sheds, and I’m in the habit of stopping to pull a few weeds each pass. Which slows us to a crawl. So the yard looks nicer though the lumber has just been laid out. It is three foot by three foot 2x6” plates with substantial planks. I’ve decided not to attach it to the house, the obvious route, since the house does move. This means I have to dig in two blocks, shoveling some of the finest soil in central Florida, now about to get covered up. Each shovelful brings up dozens of earthworms.
I’ll be needing a full hour’s break here. Both bulbs in the silo have burned out. I double-sprayed the peach tree, which is busting out all over with leaves. When I looked over the mass of limbs and leaves from y’day, I’m prety much resigned to getting that mulcher. It says pieces up to 1-1/2” but that means half that if I know Harbor Freight. Still, the hours of bagging and cutting otherwise won’t save me the $150 for the machine. Without that library, who may not have the magazines (duh) I have no source of Harbor Freight coupons.
So, let’s finish the tank base and stop again. I have the lumber to overbuild and considering the age of that tank, I think I will. Even though I won’t make it, life expectancy is my family is over 90 years and I don’t want to be replacing that puppy if I get that far. To wrap up this morning, remember my quip about Trump endorsements forcing the Democrats to spend oodles of money propping up their candidates. The Arizona numbers are in, the newly elected governor spent $3 million against at least $100 million spent by the loser. At that rate, you might say voting works.
New York road salt.
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The peach tree isn’t blooming. None of the reading I’ve managed talks in detail about this. The leaves are healthy, though I only prune lightly and keep discolored leaves plucked. Peach trees can be hard to find information on as most of the publications don’t stay on topic. Most say peaches bloom in the spring and take five months to produce fruit. This is the second year without blossoms. The other parameters have been ideal and that is seconded by the thousands of acres of newly planted peach orchards that are often replacing orange groves.
Aha, cloud cover at 4:30PM. I was out there in a moment, slapping together that flooring. This includes digging down the dirt for the foundation blocks and all that leveling with a hand trowel. We all love working in the dirt. Here’s a montage of the chore. There’s the blocks, not set yet but level. You don’t see the box, but trust me I’ve learned to build a square box that won’t move. There are the floor planks in the center, compliments of the kid’s tree fort. The quality of the deck is shown in this closeup.
The center panel shows a gap on two sides, the back and the right. As mentioned, this is not attached to the building and this is exactly where the most shifting occurs At the far back is a water tap, technically known as a hose bib, which will essentially get buried but it served its purpose. This deck is part of a larger plan now emerged as I no longer trust the iron pipes under the building. I mentioned the circular nature how each thing changed affects and is dependent on others, making careful planning the word of the day. I’ve decided it best to run in the electricity before I fix the water piping. As this means moving old wiring, I’d rather have less piping in the way, plus I'm partial to installing a small secondary breaker box. As it is, only the main breaker panel can shut off the tank.
It is also government regulated, meaning you probably can’t just fly it between privately owned airports when you feel like it. The flying car is the closest thing America has to perpetual motion.
ADDENDUM
I’ve never been but one of the biggest radio-pushed events of the summer is always the chili cook-off. There are six categories of winners. The chances of me showing up just dropped to zero as it has just been millennialized. Attendance, they say, is free. But now a “small registration fee” will apply. It’s mentioned as if in passing at the end of the blurb and gives no details on what they mean. You can bet they want your ID on file. We’ll not have anybody eating chili in this land without the proper database.
