One year ago today: April 16, 2022, zinnias – I tried.
Five years ago today: April 16, 2018, cranky landladies.
Nine years ago today: April 16, 2014, 11,600 miles.
Random years ago today: April 16, 2007, Pssst . . . .
Damn good idea getting that canopy mostly finished. The summer heat came on this morning, bringing most outdoor work to a close for six months. It was ferocious but Wilford made it over to drop off two sheets of old plywood. Ideal for the roof, maybe overkill. I was downtown, so we didn’t play any music. I found four of the adaptors for the compressor fittings. We had to go through dozens of boxes to find them, leftover from who knows when. Odd how American stores no longer carry specialty items, it was part of what made America great. These are the copper adaptors, they cost twice as much as the fittings. $3.89 vs. $7.49.
In theory this socket fits the threaded tailpiece of the hose fittings. There are pieces you can buy with the opposite male-to-female direction, but stay away. Experience shows that these pieces often get salvages and you don’t want the thread inside the brass piece where it is all too easy to break off. Remember the other big hose fitting? It is from a fire engine drag line. It’s only half the working part, dang. There is another large splayed nozzle that fits on the end of this piece. You’ve seen them in the movies. What I have here is a nice paperweight.
No, I can’t recommend “The Day After Tomorrow”, it’s just another weak Hollywood plot where love of family and faith wins out over global catastrophe and it becomes a real time-waster toward the end. Also, much of the plot is scientifically in accurate, which would grate on me. I got out of the heat and mapped out the fitting for the compressor lines. In the end, that is a $100 project just for the pipes. But I never knew I’d use a compressor so much.
On the way back, I stopped at Agt. R’s place but he’s not answering the door. I see he’s got a stack of wooden fruit boxes. The best one was broken, so I threw it in the van. The equipment to fix it right is here and that will keep me inside the shed later. I made French toast, ah, the aroma, plus a batch of banana muffins. How about an extra nap, fellow retirees? No sense working while you’re tired or hungry around this place. I know, I should be out there learning to plant potatoes like I see most others doing these days. Biden will have to make that illegal before his food attacks affect anyone outside the cities. They pulled off another train wreck, by the way.
Chanel, 2023.
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We were too late for the shingles. He got rid of them last week. However, Wilford did drop off the old plywood and it is ideal for the roof. Normally too think to walk on, at 3/8”, it will be solid over those 12-inch on-center rafters and the old paneling I used as cover. Here is a view of the foil covering, part of a double-layer since I have a huge surplus of this material Looks neat, though it will be covered up with tarpaper and wood, then shingles. It’s a crummy picture but I told you I worked past dark so you might be looking at moonlight.
This is neat. The government in Ecuador has okayed private citizens using their own guns to fight crime. That’s an interesting experiment for a Latin government, but apparently certain types of crime fell off immediately. The plywood. It is too nice for the roof. Wilford was wrong, it is not old, it is just weathered. I’ll think of something better to do with it, maybe. I was on the phone an hour, a remarkable enough stretch for me to be bloggable. The preferred brand of cat food went from $6.99 to $11.99 in six months. Now my investment strategy starts to make a lot of sense. Invest in something that increases your money at that kind of rates.
That’s part of the conversation, how you can’t just put money away and fancy yourself an investor. Success involves fundamental shifting in social thinking and behavior, probably the source of the old wive’s tale that money changes people. I then went out in the shed and worked until nearly 10:00PM. Fixing the fruit box, which is now held by glue and brads in addition to the original fasteners. Amazing cheap and strong if you ask me.
Plus, some boards built up from pallet wood, I felt like working the biscuit joiner. Turns out I’m one board short for the box I had in mind and I need another 20 medium sized clamps. The tool boxes are not sturdy enough if I use panels, the whole box including bottom and lid has to be out of solid pallet stringers, which are 5/8” rough. That is not consistent but I pre-sort matching sets. Did I mention the Reb found a huge source of pallets while walking the dogs? And, she needs a break, the last trip was all work and no play.
If I wait until at least late May, there will be some decent spending money. It’s past the stage where I have a deep financial attachments in Tennessee. How many times have I made that trip now? I’d guess 25. The only thing comparable is my trips to Venezuela I the 1990s. I went no place else except there. Watch for videos tomorrow of our new invasion, two baby raccoons. They tipped over my plywood. These are city born, as they know you can’t get them through glass and have learned to ignore loud noises.
Tomorrow is the first orbital SpaceX test, up to now it’s just been up and down. Watching the spaceship land is a treat, as I can relate the way it wobbles and twists at times to the way the software code reacts to sensors. That’s about the limit of how far I got with coding. I could relearn it, but progress past that point is accomplished by better and more expensive sensors instead of smarter programming.
If you’d like an eye-opener to the original “training manual” of German panzer tank crews in WWII, this operator’s guide makes interesting sense. A solo tank is a lost tank, and the more guns that fire in the first minute, the better your results.
Last, I watched two how-to videos on the electric fuel pump. Robot-wise, it is a very simple installation and I’m thinking the problem might just be the same for the Yamaha scooter. It also has a mechanical fuel pump and testing shows it sputters in much the same fashion. The lawn tractor is first, that thing has to be sold as I have no place to store it.
ADDENDUM
Always on the lookout for one-liners adaptable to my act, I see one of those idiot questions that nerds ask on Reddit, what is the best response to, “Ha-ha, you have a small pee-pee.” Here is a list of the best:
1. Is that all you can eat?
2. I bought it half-off.
3. Hey, my eyes are up here.
4. That’s my clitoris, ma’am.
5. You want the money or not?
6. I was in the pool.
7. Who told you, your sister or your mom?
8. Only when I look at you.
9. It was a lot bigger with your sister last night.
10. In the Grand Canyon even a 747 looks small.
11. Hello, Police, I’d like to report a homicide.
12. Your mom doesn’t seem to care.
13. Perfect for a shallow dame like you.
14. Better to have one than be one.
15. Shut up, mom.
