May 28, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 28, 2022, my immigration policy.
Five years ago today: May 28, 2018, on robot “wages”.
Nine years ago today: May 28, 2014, on my worst year ever.
Random years ago today: May 28, 2008, one hellacious battle-axe.

           The Reb was recording all day, meaning I can’t make a racket. Too bad, I want to get at that yard while the weather is unseasonably nice. Up early, I tried to make pancakes using that egg substitute. It works, with two side effects. One is that it makes the food more “chewy” than you’d think and the egg flavor isn’t here. Since I was baking muffins and coffee cake, it was not as obvious. Everything was good, but it had that “health food” taste. A bit like dust or something. Just not filling, so I made up a big pan of chicken fried rice. We’re out of Animos, which is now pushing $7 a bottle.

           While in Tennessee, I can’t follow much of my feeds. There may have been a boycott of Target over their queer pride bullsh. This is just what I heard: Target began losing money in the billions, they pulled the queer items, and the queers have threatened to burn down stores if they don’t put the items back. Tell me again, who are the violent people? It seems MSNBC is broadcasting the boycotting Target and Bud Light is “literally terrorism”. Anyway, let this be a warning to other stores, don’t put yourself in the line of fire.

           This is a random picture of the big doggie in the back yard. It turned out so nice (after a little cropping) as to be a classic around here. So you get to share it. Nobody can believe this perfect weather except that it is giving me the wrong idea of what Tennessee is all about.

           Now a little complexity. Caltier has done something that may be good, but it is confusing as hell. Their web page has changed to show the smaller reinvestments that used to be reported only at month’s end. Most transactions now have a small drop-arrow that shows reinvestments like 13 cents and so on. I’m sure they total up but I will confirm. Also, a rash of transactions all taking place on April 27, which does not make sense. Again, I’ll need time. You may get some delayed photos or some placeholders. My camera is acting up again, I suspect the battery. It’s a $50 replacement, and as you know there is no convenient way to check if that is the problem. I call it the HP scam, just not very often.
           HP is the printer company I’ve boycotted since the early 2000’s. Their entire ink refill operation is a scam. How many of us have spent a bundle on new ink cartridges for an HP only to find out that wasn’t the problem and you can’t return the ink.

Picture of the day.
Fireside Café, Walsenburg, CO
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The dominant activity was those carpets. She rented a rug shampoo thingee which I’ve never used before. I can’t lift the thing up the stairs, it weighs as much as a vacuum. Let me rephrase that, I can lift it up the stairs any time, but you can’t make me like it. I also know how to keep out of the way. There was a problem downstairs, the carpet gets wet during this cleaning and the floorboards are the cheapest ever seen. If they get slightly damp, they swell and the wood finish comes off. It is printed on the material. I asked her how she ever did this before. Remember Jimmy? He would clean a spot on the street and they would haul the carpets out there.

           That’s out of the question. I’d already thrown my trick shoulder blade out mowing the lawn. Then, I got this brilliant idea. Why not throw a tarp under the carpets and let them dry like that? Me and my big mouth soon found me driving half-way into Nashville to buy some big enough tarps. Then, moving the furniture. All this was downstairs. Cruel as it sounds, the upstairs is her department. You see, the little doggie sometimes can’t wait until walkie time and has had tummy troubles for a long time. So I think she did the carpets up there twice.
           Here is a better shot of the pallet setup. It’s a seeming weak topic today, but the importance lies in the way I can process pallets here by the dozen on times when the Reb is away. It eliminates a dead spot in the day, I’ve written before how little there is to do in America unless you spend a lot of money. The keen-eyed have spotted the little lamb saw ponies at dead center.

           The smartphone has been outed as a major factor or cause of “relationship breakups”, since we are no longer supposed to say “divorced”. I find it interesting how, while the Boomers also had a ton of slang words for these predictable situations, the Boomer versions could go either way, that is euphemize or denigrate, but the terms were descriptive. But the Genxyer terms all involve some combination of cover-up or blame-shifting. Like the KIA recall notice I got stating that objects flung outward by a deploying air bag could result in “a life-altering event”. The point is, there is a shift to hyphenated terms that have a “not my fault” undertone. Nobody wants to outright say (or has the guts to say) the metal KIA emblem on the air bag could kill you.

ADDENDUM
           Here’s a ringer, it’s an article about 19 secrets most senior never hear about. (Yeah, I got that, if they had heard, then it isn’t a secret.) Let’s go through and see if it’s anything I should be ready for.

           1. Invest in gold. Ha, I chose silver.
           2. Stop paying for appliance repairs and buy repair insurance.
           3. Get movie & museum discounts (by selling them your identity?)
           4. Buy a medical alert system.
           5. Government mortgage relief. Government?

           Now, this is getting riduculous. Six and I’ve had enough. They can shove their senior advice and call it loser advice. As for the movie discounts? Everybody I know who got them lost money. It’s great the first couple months, but you still have to buy the rip-off popcorn and the movies are sketchy these days.

Last Laugh