September 15, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 15, 2022, my asking pay rate.
Five years ago today: September 15, 2018, except by mistake.
Nine years ago today: September 15, 2014, my first robot drawing.
Random years ago today: September 15, 2004, I sweet-talked us in.

           The makings of a perfect day. Balmy 74°F, the tufted titmouses have beat the cardinals to breakfast, and something has again dug up my papaya plants. Probably that raccoon, it remembers there was once that avocado seed in that pot. What will the day bring? Stick around, I’ll tell you, that's why you're here, right? If any of you know how to ID a papaya seedling, I’ve got something to show you. Vigorous new growth, at least 55 potential trees, more than I have acreage for. If they continue to sprout, I have an area in the back yard that has bushes, which I would like to reclaim with something that provides shade. Here is a photo of the corner of the yard gone wild in just a year.

           This busy picture shows a lot. There’s the fancy planter on the far left, paint drying. Here’s a view of the three bushes that moved in, blocking the view of the neighbor’s giant air compressor. The burn barrel is filled with bigger logs from y’day and you can just see the orange potato fork standing at center. These plants must be uprooted or they just come back, it is scrub bush like near the Everglades.

           At 8:30AM, I watered the plants with a weak tea mixture and examined which plants I will keep. There’s no gig tonight, so let’s hope for a day of highly bloggable yard work. Excitement galore, will those trees make it through the day. Will the TV thing work? I found this USB camera gizmo with a 1/8” inch stereo jack. It’s focusable but will not record sound. It has a button that appears to turn on three infrared LEDs. If I can get it to work, I know where that is going, Mr. Raccoon. It can be set to a very small size and the format is AVI, which if I get another computer working, is compatible with Windows Movie Maker.

           Here is a test of the circuit, this has no meaning, it is just me doing a small exercise to ward off typer’s cramp. I do a lot of typing, you might say. Ha, did you see that dude who crashed the fashion show by walking down the runway wearing a shower cap and a plastic garbage bag? Nobody noticed until security ran out an tackled him. The guy who drove through the abortion protesters who mobbed his vehicle was acquitted of charges. Good, when they block public streets, that is not protesting, it is domestic disturbance.
           The saddest part was the court ritual, where the driver had to play-act that he was remorseful and felt threatened and did not intend to harm anyone and all that bullshit. He should only have to say they surrounded his vehicle carrying sticks and it was self-defense regardless of his “intentions”. And the lady that was injured was shown pushing on the hood of his truck with her bare hands. There is no law in America against being that stupid.

           JZ called, he’s not planning on attending the pet blessing this year. We talked real estate and women, I don’t know if he’ll ever catch up now. Fixer-uppers out west with million-dollar price tags, yet is has to stop for the simple reason, there are not jobs left that allow people to borrow enough, or they would. It was easy borrowing that fueled the last series of booms, and lack of it will cause the occasional collapse. Trailer court living is increasingly popular with the TikTok crowd and I hope I live to see a market collapse. You’d have to read way back in this journal to find my reasons, but let’s just say they have it comin’.

           Staying put also helps with his finances and now he’s up against the baloney barrier. That’s a term I made up just now. It’s where you don’t want or need a change and there is no advantage to it, but change is forced upon you by the numbers. He’s found out that by not learning how to use a computer, he must invest by mail, and all the mail-in companies want a minimum of $10,000.to buy in. This is a double whammy. JZ, like most Americans has around the same investing experience as saving money experience, namely zero. He also fails at recognizing the ride he’s taken for with that woman he hangs around with, whom he has sworn to dump for the past twenty years.
           I sent him photos of the papayas a couple days ago, he says they are papayas based on the “heart-shaped” leaves. Photo enclosed. Only some are that shape, the rest are oval. Now he is convinced limes will grow on this property and has talked me into investing $30 in a lime tree, if I can find one. I priced a couple potted trees a few feet high at $40, which is not bad. Key lime, and it is worth a try. We know the peach tree gets over 8 hours sun per day and the specs say that and good drainage. Tell you what, I’ll check with Tractor Supply.

Picture of the day.
British imports in 2023.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Now don’t go away without admiring the survival instinct of that funny cactus plant. It is now growing lots of sprouts. Here’s some pics of the growth at the end of many of the spears. I don’t know if those are roots but I imagine these eventually drop to the ground and “go that route”, ha-ha, that’s a play on words, Ken. Note the busy background, that is birdie paradise. The bottom panel is more papaya. My next crop of never-ripening papaya.

           The Singapore mystery remains. Each day 3,854 people click on this blog from there for no apparent reason. I’m not that great a writer but if it propels this blog into the “top 10,000” I’m happy enough. Trent proposes they have turned it into an Asian situation comedy or anime. My theory is some school has made it assigned reading. Either way, the daily numbers are not random so something is afoot.

           No answer back from Ray-B about meeting up tonight. It’s not like him to pass up a chance to see a live band, but he has mentioned disappointment with music in general. I’ve been through those phases myself, but once you realize everything else is worse, you’ll be back. Ray-B is twenty years younger than me to the month, but the gap in our situations is far wider. He’s a firm believer in climate change and COVID, I believe they are bunk and I’ve gone from minority to majority in quite a short time. If he does have the flu, he’s well over the infectious stage by now, so I hope he opts for a tour of the lake district spots.
           The autoworkers union isn’t messing around this time. They know the electric car is only one threat. To keep their former purchasing power with a pay increase that pushes them into the highest tax brackets, they need salaries of around $300,000 to break even--which is defined as keeping the same purchasing power. Needless to say, the auto companies are fighting it, offering them 6% per year for 5 years. I doubt they’ll settle, inflation is here and now. Biden just stole half my retirement income.

           The big TV came on but the screen looks somewhat pale. I would have tested it at the Thrift as it still has the $15 price tag on it. It’s been stored outdoors, well, under the canopy, so I had to dust it off. I’m inside on a break, a partial could cover made it tolerable outside all morning. I see guitarists from Polk City have viewed my posting, but that is beyond my radius. The explanation is the old country line runs through my property before the city incorporated and my postal code is different than downtown. If the viewers think I’m centrally located, that would mean I’m only 15 miles from Plant City. It’s closer to 40 miles from here because it’s a waste of time to take the freeway, which is the hypotenuse. I’m already at the limit with the Prez being 22 miles out. That evolved, he was only 20 miles when we practiced at the park.

           By 1:30PM, I do need a break, more like a nap. But the right kind, the tired kind from great work-exercise. I finished the shelving, noticing a way to make brackets with grooved slat lumber. One of them appears in this photo toward the left edge, the shelf has already collected some tools. A second layer of paint on my fork handles (yeah, yeah, four candles) and I’m going to dismanlte an old set of shelves to salvage the studs for the red shed. Find time for a shop, I’m low on all kinds of things. I’ve mislaid a hard drive with some music backups on it. I’ll find it but meanwhile I have all my “bingo” versions. If I didn’t say, that where the shortest songs are spliced into longer pieces so they would not change more than once during your average bingo game.

           Later, the TV does not work. Well, it works, but not for what I need it for. It needs one of those boxes that poor people and cheapskates use to pick up the old “free” stations that are 35 minutes per hour commercials for disgusting stuff that you realize other people must actually buy. Since there are no “parts” inside solid state TV, out it goes. JZ further informs me the stalk on the cactus is an end-of-life event. Soon, the cactus will turn brown and die, even if you remove the stalk. JZ know more about cacti than us, probably lots more. The approaching storm kept it cool enough that I was out there four hours, and journal rules say I record what I did.
           I sharpened the machete and took down a third of the jungle growth. Then it rained. That’s when I test the TV and noticed a small leak in the red shed. I also tidied up a bit and put a lid on the only dovetail box I ever built. It’s the hinge part that took so much learning time and I know I still don’t have it down. Return tomorrow for some clear photos of what I’ve learned. The dovetail broke two router bits and damaged this fancy jig I bought when I thought such things worked as well as shown on the box. There is always more to working on a box than meets the eye. I was at it two hours. I own a lot of boxes and none are a matching set.

           I also found a jigsaw puzzle that needs a frame, but all the wood normally cut for that was soaking wet outside. The Seattle market scene jigsaw I did in Tennessee when the Reb traveled, those days are gone. The next time you see this, it will have a splined frame. I contacted Lem to see about the mower and it always amuses me that because the Reb is slim and proportionate, the assumption is she is frail. Folks, the Reb is physically and mentally the toughest broad I’ve ever met. Her and I have been through the North American version of hell. That’s where you have a rough go but still drive a car. I remind it was two different versions and we dealt with them quite differently. And that can be determined by the relative resources available. Meaning, I had none.

           There was a chance I’d pop downtown, but instead I paused for a nap and woke up at 6:00AM next morning. So, is the tradeoff for being able to do just what little steady and predictable work any more become the need for extra sleep? If so, I will gladly, gladly take the deal. For no medical symptoms, really, none, not even the twinges, this would be incredible news for me. I just wish Mother Nature would put it in writing.

ADDENDUM
           The Hindu-English government is pushing for a law that fines motorists for going even 1 mph over the limit. It's really a tax and that is something the citenzry hates worse than their spate of child-rape-murders, you know the English. The number of illegal immigrants arriving in Texas this year surpasses the population of 8 states. Some island off Italy is being swamped with boatloads of Black military age males. In Germany, the left-wing has tried to outlaw even MOR (middle-of-the-road) political parties. The world descends into chaos but Trump continues to surge to new heights by changing his political aim—just as discussed by this blog years ago up in Tennessee. It has gone from “elect me” to “I will help you get even.” My question is—once he gets in, does he have the fortitude to carry it out? I say no, he does not have the guts to hang and execute traitors by the hundreds and by the thousands. But I also know plenty of people who would volunteer to do it for them.
           It might help if he has someone nearby to remind him constantly that they tried to put him in jail for 700 years, sent a goon squad to attack his family in his own house, and there can be little doubt they would use worse methods if they had not left it too long. I personally will not weep if there are a few million fewer woketards in America in early 2025.

Last Laugh