February 3, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 3, 2022, pretending to negotiate.
Five years ago today: February 3, 2018, my last real diet.
Nine years ago today: February 3, 2014, the dreaded yellow fuzz.
Random years ago today: February 3, 2003, a day at work.

           According to the pundits, we are not supposed to say “homeless”, but “unhoused”. In my day we called them losers, hobos, and bums. We live in an era where every deadbeat has somebody simping for them. I woke up grouchy, let’s see if pancakes and coffee help. Help cheer me up. I took a reading test, says I max out at 502 wpm, but drop to 430 reading newsprint, 280 reading lists, and 65 wpm when learning difficult material. Compare to Morse code, where my rate rarely gets above 10 wpm in the long run. Nope, I’m still not happy, let’s try something else, like, where’s my bass?

           The burn barrel got inaugurated with seven loads of yard trash. All burnable, shown here. That’s the barrel getting started, then huffing away, and finally down to some glowing coals. The paint is completely burned away. The fire is less efficient that the pit, but smaller is easier to control. I put in four hours, all before noon. The barrel is placed so I can see it better from the bedroom. She is going to rain today.

           Ah, here’s my upper for the day. Caltier. This may be a long overdue stroke of luck, getting in on the ground floor with this outfit. They have a “building cycle” model, which follows my own thinking. Buy, renovate, flip, buy, only they do it with 2,500 times as much money. They are in the news, but I don’t watch that news, I go by the underlying fundamentals of what they invest in. They correctly called that the pool of unaccredited investors is huge, and the US will need almost 5 million new apartments by 2030. Houses have become too expensive and these Genexers love to live on credit cards.

           The term accredited investor is tricky. Think of it as two broad requirements. One is that you can afford to lose (they hate that definition) and many good investments are not on the stock market—but you have to know what to look and watch for. The usual minimum net worth is around $250,000. So I am not an accredited investor. And that is why I first looked at Caltier as a way to bypass that requirement by pooling assets. The fund likes to quote the total number of “doors” they own, at present around 1,750. Not bad for a startup. I was also motivated to learn more about crowd-funding, and so far it is nothing but computerized old things put on-line.

           Here’s more detail. The properties are in “less affluent” areas, but show high long-term rental income. For example, many sites are apartments that require touch-ups and, according to Caltier, were just not being managed properly. See, I told you we were on the same wavelength. They are targeting that age group who may rent for life. Caltier defines a four-stage process, beginning by putting together the finances, finding properties that qualify, buying and renovating, then selling for the best possible dollar. Presumably that price is enhanced by what Caltier has done with the place. We are about to find out. They just flipped a big one in Arizona(?).
           For those who care, Caltier tends to put 30% down and finance the other 70% out of tenant rental payments as they complete the renovations and convert to Caltier management procedures. While I consider rentals risky business, this sort of “middle-class” housing is easily the most stable simply because they got nowhere else to go. See tomorrow’s addendum for how I arrived at many of the figures and concepts shown here. (Later, I'm not impressed with crowdfunding, it's just an old idea put on-line.)

           Finally, I threw all the odds and ends into a pot and we are making chicken stew. The aroma perks me up, it is now 6:30AM and overcast, but I’m ready to load up the new burn barrel and tidy up the yard. It’s gonna rain. These are the worst guitar picks yet, Capitol 1 advertising. They don’t last one tune. Come on, you junk mailers, let’s see some real plastic. And have you heard that BMW cars won’t software update unless they are parked on level ground. That’s coders for you. Some millennial AOL posted an article about then latest 5,000 pixels per square inch displays without any photographs.
           Pamela Anderson shows up in a red cellophane dress (she’s 55) for her documentary release, saying she just wanted to fit in. Yeah, sounds like something I’d do if I was rich and famous and having all the sex I wanted from day one. Instead, I’ve never forgiven the world for making me wait four years. She’s still a bombshell, but in a synthetic Marilyn Monroe way. If it is natural, great, but it looks a little too good to be true.

Picture of the day.
Tokyo tie vending machine.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           There was time to sink and level these posts before the rain. Can you see tem in this pic? Not the ideal location but the fastest. Most of the lumber is from the tree-house next door, you can see some of it on the ground. I may use broken fireplace block pieces for a better flooring. This is looking into the back yard that I always expected would be messy since that’s where I do the work most of the time. The fencing around the entire property need shoring up. I may opt to just install new poles at the center mark of each fence panel.

           I got back out there just before dark to put up the first crossbeam on the posts, but the wind died down an the mosquitoes got the best of it. They are tolerable in the twilight, but once you get really dark, they arrive like Californians in Texas. And I managed to misplace an 8-foot plank, I mean, I’ll find it but what the hell? I don’t seen how the plastic room panels fit together, so it is Internet time tomorrow. I’m at odds whether to put the scooter or the saw under there. The existing shed would be much more convenient for the saw, but the vacuum system would have to reach 30 feet.
           All in all, it was a highly successful work week. Yeah, for a change. The front yard is now completely clean except for the kudzu, the perpetual kudzu. Now you can see the tire tracks where the tree crew pulled into the yard. The soil is like soft sponge for around six inches deep, then soggy down to two feet, where it turns a yellow color.

           Mosquito bitten and sooty, I dusted off and went over to the old club. That guitar player from Tampa was there, playing his coffee-house mix. Except for Bradford, the place was full of unfamiliar people, mostly 30-something marrieds. Making noisy fools of themselves. Bradford is back with his old band for the umpteenth time. I’m not the only one who has an eye on Kooter’s with that subdivision approaching half done. While Kooter’s will have to get better, at this time it’s either them or drive all the way downtown in an area crawling with cops. Did I mention there is a cop training school north of town? It is less than a thousand yards from Kooter’s, just on a different road.

           Trivia. Domesticated and tamed animals are not the same. To be domesticated, the animals must be bred for 12 generations in captivity. At this point they are different than their ancestors in the wild and will not attack humans or try to escape. Tamed is different, a tamed animal can escape and return to the wild. Animals that cannot be tamed cannot be domesticated. Now you know.

ADDENDUM
           Okay, GAB is becoming a great source of one-liners. Here’s a lady who left a note on a medical form, asking how to get into her car, and here are the top replies.

1. Shoehorn?
2. Use the trunk.
3. Run some laps.
4. A very large spatula.
5. Vaseline may be involved.
6. The Audi driver is wrong, always.
7. Stop fat-ass privilege!
8. Same problem if the lot was empty.
9. After much sweating, gasping, & farting?
10. Sit on it, the doors will pop open.

Last Laugh