May 9, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 9, 2022, no direct roads.
Five years ago today: May 9, 2018, working in the attic.
Nine years ago today: May 9, 2014, Thursday club meeting.
Random years ago today: May 9, 1981, half a lifetime ago . . . . .

           I just got the news from Punta Gorda. Major plumbing pipe problems that I’ve only seen when pipes freeze. This is not the problem on the Gulf of Mexico. If my friends call, I’ll head over there to help. My theory is the house, near the riverbank, must have somehow shifted. I know my place moves and I’m a mile from the same river. All the drywall I replaced, the seams have all become visible as the house settles. I repaired some plumbing with CPVC because it is somewhat flexible. Alaine sent this photo, it looks like the 4” main feed line. Wonder what could have caused that and nobody noticed. She reports they are using the opportunity to make some renovations. Making lemonade!

           The Webb telescope has discovered the first asteroid belt outside of our own. It’s infrared and around the star Fomalhaut, which I know mostly from celestial navigation. I’ll tell you what I’m not happy about. The batteries in my new door lock lasted maybe five days. I’ll try the best batteries I can find. But good thing I kept the key on a ring.

           The hillbilly was helping Agt. R for a couple of weeks and says the lumber is all gone. So I wasover to check and it is still there, a big pile of it. I looked over the fence and it has not been touched. Now try finding Agt. R. He disappears for weeks at a time, so you know he’s helping his mother with that house in Brookesville again.
           The left-wing extremists have gone off the deep end. Forced to play their hands early, they have exposed themselves. They know they must stop Trump from running and so far nothing has worked, even trying the dirtiest trick. That’s trying to make out he is the one responsible for keeping the J6 prisoners in jail without a trial. Biden’s staunchest newspaper allies put his approval rating at 36%, meaning it is likely half that. Well, now they’ve issued a gag order saying that Trump cannot defend himself from “political accusations” thrown at him during a criminal trial. If they hope this hurts Trump, they are mistaken.
           The problem seems to be Trump’s habit of telling the truth and making his accusers look like idiots. They don’t like that, and refer to it as Trump’s “longstanding and perhaps singular history” of thus “attacking” people who want him stopped. If they try to jail Trump or, as is their real intention, stop him from running, look out America. Texas is arming an independent force to protect the border in a couple of days. A lot of people believe the core of the military are Trump supporters.

           Oh boy, look at these mini-muffins. A package makes 20 but I will reduce that to 18 so that they have a larger crown. Reduce baking time to 10 minutes, or the time it takes to play “Chicken Fried” twice on bass. The secret ingredient in this batch is craisins, and a small addition of sunflower seeds which have a better “crunch” than the walnuts but taste the same in the mix. The kitchen aroma is the same but does not last as long as the muffins cool very quickly. For me these are bite-sized.
           Another slow start gave time to review the budget. We are down over the same four-month period as last year a total of $700. That’s all the little figures I’ve mentioned added together. The house still averages around the $152 per month upkeep, but that includes certain improvements, including the laundry deck and worksheds and canopies. Trust me, compared to rent, I’m okay with that and if never put another cent into this place, I’m so far ahead I could retire. No, wait . . . I mean, oh never mind. What else we got, budget-wise.

           The most expensive thing I’ve done in the past twelve months was visit Tennessee last May to the tune of $2,400. Quite the trip. The least expensive was staying home the following July for $741. The average price for keeping this place repaired has fallen steadily for six years, the most expensive year was 2018 right after moving in. Spent $4,700 that year in building materials. Let’s look at groceries, the item of most concern to people as the government chokes off the food supply. (As predicted, millions just began growing their own food, you can’t really do much about Yankee know-how.)

           This year my groceries have dropped to 18% of my budget simply because I began cooking more from scratch. Also, my staple meat product is chicken, which I prepare here in ten pound batches, and that has dropped in price recently to about the same levels as a year ago. I spend more per shopping trip, however, over $50 these days. Entertainment has fallen to record lows because I have no incentive to go anywhere except with the Reb, who like myself takes the most pleasure in simple things and we never, ever have a boring moment together. That has never happened, not even close. I doubt that it could.

           The only remarkable thing is how little variation there is in the entertainment budget. Although we go out randomly, the biggest monthly spread last year was $21 per month. For example, the lowest and highest entertainment expense for the last six months of last year was July at $245 and December at $266. This is why the Reb is irreplaceable, we could go anywhere and do anything, but a dinner and the movies is fine, even then, never on the same night. In fact, let me look up the most expensive date we’ve ever had.
           It was $56.21 last month. That’s the evening I found that vape gadget in the parking lot and we walked around the nearby motel renovation site. Or maybe the same week, I don’t recall, we went out twice that period. Interestingly, this most expensive outing was also the only time in our lives we paid for a restaurant meal together on a credit card. You might want to connect some dots on that observation. Household costs are up mildly. Then again, I’m again buying things I don’t need, like radios for the work sheds.
           The photo of the drain valve shows it has rusted on to my compressor tank. The soft brass means I have no easy way of getting that piece off there. With my luck, it will be a non-standard size as well.

Picture of the day.
Toast by the slice.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           his here is a great shot of the copper piping intended to distribute compressed air across all three work areas. We are using the expensive copper from the last short while and the hard part is done. That involved getting the main pipe along the rafters, out to the side and down to where the compressor is located. The final connection will be a flexible hose modified to have two male ends. Regulated to 125 psi, this is a bare-bones system to provide on outlet per shed and an exterior coupling reachable by any good hose to the driveway.

           The fuel pump is an on-line hassle, so the neighbor and I watched another episode of “Gunsmoke”. Face it, Kitty was the only thing even close to a babe in Dodge City. These are a few episodes where Matt Dillon’s sidekick is Burt Reynolds. He was as equally untalented and characterless when he starte out as later. Today’s movie was about an old pal who saved Matt from a life of crime. He comes back to cash in knowing Matt won’t shoot him. Some of the weaker chapters are really, as the neighbor puts it, soap operas with cowboy boots.

           Next, I drove downtown to mail some letters, then ran into Wilford. He’s slowed down, I know the reason is the study and time demanded by many college courses these days. Sonewhere out thre is a human recources department [the rest of this snarky comment got deleted before I could save.]

           Since I got there late, having gone downtown to mail an important letter, who do I run into but Petunia. She’s looking good as can be, she was dressed to the nines. That struck me as odd for a Tuesday in Mulberry. She asked about JZ, amazingly she remembers every word he said to her. I easily recognize his choice of words. I am still an advocate of her meeting up with JZ, she has some baggage but he does not quibble about that. My philosophy on that is dating a divorced women with kids is like finishing somebody else’s saved game. But my advantage is when it comes to most women, I’m content with a coffee and a mini-muffin.

ADDENDUM

           Here’s a complaint for you. Cops are not happy with driverless cars. It seems the cars are impeccable at following traffic laws, so when they are pulled over, it does not respond to police intimidation tactics or bullying. It can’t be tricked into saying the wrong thing. In an interesting form of backlash, accused people are claiming videos of bad behavior are deep fakes.
           Take a hammer and smash up all your old computer gear. Then make a website advertising “UFO wreckage” parts for sale. Seems there is no definition that officially applies to UFO. If anyone complains, tell them it means “useless friggen objects”. Remember to charge for shipping & handling. No returns.
           Canada is toying with passing a law that journalists be required to reveal their confidential sources before publishing any criticism of the current political regime.

Last Laugh