One year ago today: July 9, 2022, marigolds, my eye.
Five years ago today: July 9, 2018, Agt. R gets $14,900.
Nine years ago today: July 9, 2014, robot theory day.
Random years ago today: July 9, 2011, flashing dance boot wiring.
It was a year ago today the big media began constantly referring to Trump as “former President”. Because Alaskans had begun calling him President instead of ex-President and the radical Left could not stand it. Sunday, am I still in Miami? You bet. We got up and could not decide where to go for breakfast that JZ put on some grits and eggs. What’s more, we had much to discuss about how I misread the situation—added to by chatting with all the relatives. Fact is, we know some people plain enjoy doing nothing.
You see, I figured JZ was cooped up and bored. Actually, he got himself a bicycle and a whole routine. Nobody tells me nothing. He may be serious about losing weight. Such a meal, I believe I told you this guy was once a short-order cook, left us stuffed. Let me check if it’s time to mention food on this blog. Yes. So we grubbed on grits and an egg each. You can get on as you like in life, but I can only hope you find a pal who can fry an egg like JZ. What about the grits? He’s a bit shy there but has learned that if you add butter to any such concoction you will not go wrong.
I make no secret I don’t like his girlfriend. Now she’s come up with another good one to get money out of him. She asks if he’s heard of the new “emergency dentures” shop. WTF? Yep, she says, if he can give her $600 she can have a set of dentures in a couple of days. Dentures To Go. Dentures ‘R” Us. Drive-Thru Dentures. I can’t dare say he’s crazy to give her any money as he knows I spend money in Tennessee. But good Lord man, there is no comparison.
This splurge of great vittles means we sat down for and after-brunch rest and fell asleep until 3:00PM in the afternoon. Hey, I record this because A) this is a journal and, B) this was the big event for the morning. I see the steam of Singapore is gone but the blog carries on. A number of changes this time. I’m still not keen on accepting any changes until we have some mileage. Like JZ quitting smoking. Knowing the guy this long, don’t brag until you’ve quit for 6 months. I decided to pack up and leave, nothing is going on in Miami.
As said earlier, this was a trip for medical tests and here are the highlights. JZ has major edema and I know nothing about it. He’s made an appointment. It is plain merely lying down is not abating the pressure he’s getting. He attributes the condition every cause except maybe getting old? Myself, I am going to require a $4,000 set of glasses. Stop. Before you go further, that is based on my 20% co-pay clause for such items and my share is $810. It has to do with warding off cataracts due to diabetes for which I am a future candidate. Beyond that, sweet “F” happened that was bloggable. This was so much a nothing trip.
Main Street, Van Buren, Arkansas.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Let’s head back to the cabin. By 4:00Pm I was out of town and soon got into Clewiston. Having letter to post, I stopped first for an empanada, then to follow GPS to find a post office. The flow from personal mail around there says the USPS locations should be obvious. Bull, the Clewiston post off is no longer on Brenden and Moore Haven is nowhere around 10th Street. The Clewiston address was now a small Spanish kiosk.
Clewiston is your sad example of the failure of social integration. Twenty years ago it was a half-nice sleepy town to visit. Today it is White owned and Spanish-operated. It started hiring them for agricultural work, but they gradually caused “white flight”. Going through what should be the historic part of town, you get traditional housing now turned into ghettos with eight cars and twenty people per house, scrubby front yards, and dumpy women. Nobody wants neighbors like that except other people like that. I finally had to drive all the way to Lake Placid to find a mailbox.
Here’s a great picture of the Okeechobee rains. Great, I say, because the mini-storms don’t usually line up like this for easy pictures. The people under the downpour experience these as sun showers. Drenching rain in the sunshine. Arriving in the early evening, I did not go straight home, but stopped in at Kooters. I know the lady there and she was able to set my new phone up, including call block, and disabling call display. In this process, we noticed a setting to turn off caller ID for incoming calls. She thinks that’s neat, I think that typifies how millennial brains have turned to mush.
Most of what got accomplished this trip was an in-depth discussion of Caltier Fund. JZ has some of his estate in REITs but is not sure which ones. There is little commonality in how we view the investment but I stand by my rule saying never invest in anything you do not understand. JZ is solidly in the camp of the last generation to shun computers. Hence, I cannot coach him on setting up his own account as Caltier is on-line only. Even if I show him the ropes, he does not even know how to type, placing him right back in the slow lane.
ADDENDUM
Two books are in my spotlight this week. Both are disappointments. They are the hardcover “Christmas in Carol” and the audio-book “Killing Rommel”. The first book turns out to less of a comedy thanks to multiple chapters of the authors bitter resentment of her father dating a younger woman. She just cannot let it go. When they share a table at a restaurant, it becomes an ordeal with her every thought focused on the other woman’s age. The audio book is now on disk 5 and they are still describing the personalities and quirks of the various Brits and New Zealanders on the mission, which they pointedly refuse to refer to as a raid.
What’s most interesting is their sparse descriptions of German tactics and weapons. Every so often there is a grudging acceptance that the Germans are better soldiers. The history books like to give the impression of two opposing armies, where in fact it was the entire British Eighth Army against a single under-equipped German division. Wherever the Germans appear they walk all over the enemy until Montgomery drowns them with overwhelming American weaponry. I must say the parts of the book that is not on about which soldiers own a duck farm in civilian life are very accurate.
For example, the passages of how the desert floor changes as you move west from the Egyptian frontier are amazing. There are many revelations of the wasteful way the Allies fought the war. Huge gasoline dumps in the desert in case they ever got there, but no protection. A single German armored car often wiped out an entire British column. It’s a repeat of many British wars, where they have an empire against what is really a single nation who cannot possibly be strong everywhere. Keep probing for a weak spot, then overwhelm the enemy with masses of men and material. And don’t forget afterward to call yourself a war hero.
