One year ago today: October 8, 2021, I like biscuits . . . .
Five years ago today: October 8, 2017, flavor is optional.
Nine years ago today: October 8, 2013, New York price tags.
Random years ago today: October 8, 2003, apprenticeship vs. talent.
Looks like a glorious autumn day and I feel like getting some work done. After a trip to the bank that is. That dumb law in place says you can’t deposit too much cash unless it is your own account. Got to crack down on those used car people, I suppose. There is panic in the air as more states declare measures that prevent ballot fraud. Their timing could not be better since it gives the bad party no time to react. Is this coincidence? I wonder, since the bad guys traditionally need enough time for their reactions to take effect. And they will not have that time now. Good morning, let’s make some more coffee.
Taking a closer look at the rocking chair, I can fix it fairly well. From experience of what did not work on the lawn swing, this is simpler. You can see the two missing slats. I know there is a lot of considerations of how the wood expands and contracts, most of which I don’t follow. I’ve figured out what parts need a little slack and I have the tools for the job right here. That back slats, I mean. The seat has one of the ribs dry rotted out and it is specially bent wood, like in a steamer or something. That will be a challenge, but my thinking is to swap it with one of slats near the ends that don’t get as much pressure.
Look at Chooks. He’s figured out how to drag the blankets away and get to the memory foam. Then he becomes impossible to keep on the leash. Every slight turn back toward the van has him tugging to get back to what you see here. You bet it also messes up the van, royally. Let him enjoy it, as I measured out the van for the small cot arrangement and that foam may be trimmed to smaller pieces. It is just an overlay but I want comfort and depth. I need three 2x3” studs to frame this in. Once that happens, they don’t need me in Tennessee. I’ve placed the order for the Yeti 500X so as soon as that arrives, I have big work to do in Florida.
Much as I like sticking around here, you’ve long since surmised there is also yard word that needs doing. You also know I only enjoy such work on my own place and up here, well, just say I do it. Before, the doggies would lie down and watch me. Now, Chooks could not care less and so neither does Sammy. I work long and lonely. Today I set up the small sawhorses and measured out some of the great lumber I got for next to nothing. That tiny few inches less inside the van make a big difference in what I’ll need to make it comfortable.
1” open reel tape deck, 1950s.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Returning from the lake, I spot this yard sale. I don’t own enough junk, so I stopped and got two new pieces on my tool budget. One of those neat rollers that hold up the lumber when you cut long pieces, it was only $10. I don’t really need a reciprocating saw until I saw they only wanted $20. It’s a Dremel, surprising heavy duty and wipes out the Harbor Freight model I’ve got in the shed. That’s not a dig at my old unit, for it was never meant for heavy duty. The Dremel, shown here, slices right though any nonsense. The downside is it only has two speeds. I may wind up needing both saws and using them maybe an hour per year each. Well, hey, imagine what I could have done if I’d not had to pay rent for forty years to get here.
There was some financials that needed taking care of, during which I got a pleasant surprise. There are a set of noisome rules, such as limits on cash deposits. I was informed by my bank these [rules] will not apply those to my account. Good, as one of the accounts is used solely to transfer cash to Tennessee and that takes the pressure off me to send it manually, so to speak. This sounds obscure, I know, but it is cause for celebration. So I’ve invited the Reb to dinner, hoping she feels better. She’s got what I think is the same “flu in stages” that JZ and I went through last year, was it. The symptoms were one at a time, a day of sniffles, a day of coughs, a day of queasy, and day of sore throat. You remember.
I’ve decided to inject some resources into Tennessee in a more permanent way. No need for much detail, but I’d planned on a maximum five years for this connection and it has already been six. The crowd will say they knew it, but that’s not what’s going on. I want a better way to record the Reb & I when we play duet music. I want my own pots and pans to cook here. I slowly got a shed of tools and so on.
What I mean is more application to long-term ways of operation than first planned. It makes sense, but it also has to pass my budget constraints. Best recent example is the Honda Civic. There’s the most expensive car I ever bought, paid for cash, sitting in there and I’ve never even driven it, unless I took it around the block and don’t remember the trip. I’m not rich enough to keep another vehicle in operation.
It’s my way of saying infrastructure. Doesn’t matter what happens, we have infrastructure. That’s not 100%, because things can still go wrong, but you know my parting thought on that one—by the time I’m mildly concerned, others are bleeding to death.
ADDENDUM
My science feed gets rid of most of the New Age crap, but one made it through. I interpreted the title to be a simulated space trip faster than the speed of light. Based on the latest info, there are some fairly educated guesses on how that might be. Instead, it was a 20 minute piece of millennial propaganda about how each of our planets is in a different phase of climate change as we head from frozen Neptune to boiling Venus in the next twenty years if we don’t pay more taxes fight now.
