March 18, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 18, 2022, one dollar off, huh?
Five years ago today: March 18, 2018, neat, random text.
Nine years ago today: March 18, 2014, I look at real A.I.
Random years ago today: March 18, 2013, I actually read that book.

           Onions. There, I mentioned food. Doing the chasing around, I baked up everything left in the fridge, including chicken for the trip I know I will be making. And my spider sense tells me this will be no ordinary trip. That’s chicken with onions. I happen to like onions (cooked mainly). More riots in France and the news is the Belgian farmers have won 15 seats. Seems paltry since I read their version of parliament has 75 total, but coalitions often work out in this situation. I’m surprised the leftoids have not learned to stage fake parties just to work such a system. Blog rules say I must record that I fell asleep for 12 hours last night. At least I’m up early.

           Them crazy New Yorkers seem to be serious about arresting Trump. It’s the same old tactic of desperation to stop him from running for President. Decades ago, little laws like that one have been systematically grafted into the rulebook in anticipation of a rising star. But as you know anybody who issued a warning was snarled at until they quit. By 1980, the commies were already labeling all opposition as “nazi” and “racist”. I finally got the (long-awaited) dash bracket for the GPS installed. It’s a bit rough looking and drilling a mounting hole through a nothing padded dash caused my A/C light to malfunction.

           There it is, the first big peach leaves. This year we have a few that are appearing at the nodes instead of the tips. I’m hoping that means peaches. Also, the tree seems to have started some new stems right from the trunk on the ground. Is this how peach trees propogate? I tugged one of them almost loose before realizing it was a peach plant. It says here the trees need 600 “chilling hours” below 45°F to trigger fruiting. That could explain the last two years.
           Ah, finally, a site that mentions suckers and sprouts from the base of the tree. Prune them, it says. If the 600 hours must be consecutive, then we’ll have no peaches this year. How is it there are peach orchards all around here? The same site says peach trees only live 7 to 14 years, meaning potentially my tree is middle-aged already.

           Here is a scan of the latest letter to JZ. Let it never be said I lack the imagination to send something original. Not totally as Billie-Bill would crab, but something I never saw before. This shows my unsuccessful trials to sight the air rifle. We’ve gone over the result over the phone and JZ believes it is the poor quality of the rifle. I’m tending to agree but that would make the rifle barrel had been singled out from thousands to malfunction in a particular circumstance. These results show a more complicated situation. Nothing but good quality shot has ever been used on this rifle.

Picture of the day.
Downtown Stockholm, Sweden.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Four hours later the van control panel is built and installed. Not an elaborate work, just magnetic flashing on plywood, a small shelf, and a place to keep wires semi-untangled. Here is a view from the cockpit, with several travel gadgets in view. Tape recorder, temperature recorder, battery light, but missing my countdown timer. This is a necessity for me as I take timed naps and 99 minutes is just right for me. I’ll raid one from the celestial navigation kit.
           Note the GPS is on the dash, not on the windshield, where it will eventually work loose. This unit is angled so it does not block any part of the road view, only part of the hood. Everything shown here is operable by my right hand in direct line of sight. I’ve seen people holding things in both hands and steering with their forearms. The sleeping area is behind the console and the fold down tray between the seats is fully operable. If I had half a brain, I’d just hop in the van and start driving now, camping out until I get the call.

           We are ready for the trip and I may put the small Peltier cooler back in the van, since I’ve learned how to haul items longer than the lousy six feet in the back. I picked up some tarps to keep things dry while I’m away. I have paperwork and other items to take care of in Tennessee. That represents a change in motives after all these years (nearly six) in that I’m making the trip mostly on my own behalf. This reflects a major shift in ballast. I’m no longer there to housesit, although I do.
           I remind the reader the Reb & I are not an item, only that we picked up where we left off and make excellent partners—which I am aware could change instantly. For example, if Taylor wanted to get married tomorrow, sure as hell I’d do it and that would be the end of Tennessee. Here’s some more to chew on. Although my travel budget easily adapted to Tennessee, the amounts were similar. Instead of a monthly weekender somewhere new, a month or two in Tennessee worked out to the same dollar cost even though I paid for all the pet food and such. What’s changed? Habits. I’ve gotten used to going to Tennessee. The rest of this afternoon concerns money, so read if you are interested. The picture is a plant that grows in my yard, but won’t cover the whole yard or stay green all year round. Back to money.

           Pay attention here, when I travel, it’s to Tennessee and the trips are getting further apart. I’ve lost my desire to go other places, look what happened in Melbourne. Nothing. Exactly. In Tennessee I have top tier company who does not require pushing or pulling. What’s happened is the travel budget is not getting spent. A return trip to Tennessee costs around a thousand bucks. We go out to dinner, movies, and excursions in the area. These are not expensive, since the value is in the companionship. So, how much travel money is sitting there unspent? About six thousand dollars. I think I’ll dump it in the Caltier Fund.
           Since there is little else to report, let’s review what is happening with that investment. The change to a single fixed monthly commitment always complicates investment. However that is a premise that all planning ahead is difficult as well as complicated. My income varies considerably, but is smoothed out by a large cash buffer that I keep topped up about four times a year from my pension. Not my Social Security, my private pension that I worked for an belongs entirely to me and tough shit to anyone who didn’t take care of their own. That pension allowed me to travel for five years, buy this cabin in cash, and now to operate at enough of a surplus to invest a bit even though I’m much to old for that to ever pay off. I’ll explain.

           That cash buffer is determined largely by what is called a budget variance. I live on my Social Security like most people, topping it off with my private income. Each time something like Caltier comes along, that allocation must increase by the amount that ensures nothing else will be negatively affected. Huh? Okay, let’s break down one scenario. A bank is required to invest in Caltier, and that bank will have fees unless you get smart. Shop around to find a bank whose only requirement is a minimum balance. Now, with a fixed monthly out-transfer to Caltier, your task is to make sure you never get hit with fees. It is amazing how quickly a bank fee can kill a month’s investment income.
           Easy, you might think. Yes, if your income is regular, but mine isn’t and woe to the person who has fixed income after retirement. Ah, see, the bigger picture is emerging. I must have enough in that bank account to cover not only the out-transfers, but some kind of backup if anything goes wrong. I’ve decided a monthly investment of $1,000 is right for Caltier. How much to I have to keep in the account to cover that? Without giving you the formula, it is $3,900. That’s the reactive part of the equation, what about the pro-active part? Again, huh?

           Well, $3,900 is an inconvenient amount to maintain and to remember. So round it up to $4,000. Now that is too much money to leave sitting around in checking or savings. Now we know of several better-paying investments that center on the six-month term. If I allocate the amount up to $6,000 I could arrange to have a series of $1,000 investments that come due the month before each Caltier out-transfer. Those are the short-term investments I mean when I say you can make money by losing money slower than the other people. And these short-term instruments are something I have plenty of experience with.
           The planning for all this took around 100 hours of reviewing, of which around a quarter was going over bank statements. The trick is to become smarter than a Rothschild without becoming a Rothschild, but that is another matter. One we don’t commit in writing. I seem to be the only one who noticed that banks changed from “balance” to “available balance” on their monthly statements. Yes, they are two different legal definitions and yes, you should watch it like a hawk.

ADDENDUM
           No need to mention every health issue I attribute to old age, but I’ve a new one to report. I’ve thoroughly and regularly checked for such things and I do not have arthritis. Yeah, well how about muscle aches? Things I can explain or trace I just forget like anyone else. I’m on my feet moving at least four hours every day, which was impossible back in 2004-05, so it is not lack of exercise. I experience a slight but most unwelcome dull deep muscle pain. Starting around two months ago. The Reb says increase water intake, which I did, which helps, but I cannot drink the recommended 8 cups a day. Coffee yes, water, no.

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