September 22, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 22, 2022, cyberflashing—how do they ID?
Five years ago today: September 22, 2018, unseasonably hot.
Nine years ago today: September 22, 2014, remember the “draw-bot”?
Random years ago today: September 22, xxxx, WIP

           It looks nice outside already, I may load up the van for Sunday. Because the rat ate my bass speaker, I’ll have to use the big PA system. Lend me hand and you can have all the papayas that you want. What I can’t find is my music stand. I’ll let you know. I’m fitting some siding pieces inside the red shed, thinking this is supposed to be my day off when I have no gig. Well, even that is because I’ve learned not to plan things for Fridays. Except that tree. We need to cut down that tree and I can’t find that fifty foot rope Ryan left here. Did I return it?

           So, it’s a day off and let’s see what that entails around here. First that tree, why just grab the chain saw and cut it down. Five minutes, right? Tell you what, here’s a photo of part of the logistics of doing it right. Somewhere in this panel, you will see the soap, funnel, oil, gloves, 1/2" socket wrench, spray lube, hardhat, safety glasses, storage box, and the four-year-old chain saw looking like new. Because it is regularly cleaned with compressed air. Probably forty minutes work, the saw is topped up, chain set, and test run for three minutes. And that, son, is how it is done right. But that was around noon, let’s back up to just after dawn.
           Up too early to run power equipment, I watch a documentary on the York Peninsula in Australia. These millennial narrators are a real pack of ass-clowns. Why can’t they just stick with the facts? They fancy themselves clever slipping in agenda pieces thinking they’re slowly bringing you over. How can they do that with the York Peninsula? The place is known for its geography and geology. But on they go about how the original inhabitants from 40,000 years ago lived “in harmony with nature”. Well of course they did you numbskulls, they were primitives.

           A batch of muffins is cooling out of the oven, the tea is ready, so let’s sit back and watch Tennessee house prices dropping $535 per day. Insulation is pretty quiet, so took down the shelves and went to work on the south wall of the red shed. It got sweaty around mid-morning but I finished the job. Some people would rather die that work with fiberglass insulation. If you believe the late-night lawyer commercials at JZ’s place, apparently some people did. The TV there is on 24/7 so I figure there are two major types of audience. Those like myself, with insomnia, and those who feel sorry for themselves. Mind you, I’m reading a book, so I’m aware of the commercials through sheer repetition.
           Some of the paneling is also done. That stuff is weird, if you touch it with your bare hands, it stains or gets dirty. Shown here, there is a work counter going along that entire wall once the panels are up. It is milled with an overlap but remains less easy to work with than similar products. I rewarded myself with an extra muffin for loading the PA speakers into the van and setting the foam mattresses out to get some sunshine. Those Yamaha speakers don’t load themselves, you know. Remind me to take an extra break around noon and make up some announcement posters for the gig.

           Checking around, there are only three other clubs with any real competition and they all feature live music. Old Man Frank’s, the Caribbean, and the Twisted Prop. There are others and I’ve visited most of them once only. It was the seasonal flu that killed people, COVID killed cash-flow businesses. I distinguish between music and other entertainment, such as comedy, darts, trivia, or strippers. Winter Haven has sixteen pubs that have music on weekends, that is my target market. Plus, my guitar player still works for a living, so I’ll play a weeknight only if you pay enough that I can make it worth his while. And you can’t.
           The places I popped into where I least liked the music and bands were Harbourside and Tanners. Both had sterile atmospheres and bands that adhered to a formula I have not used in forty years. I would add the Grove Roots but it’s been shut down for years. Yelp and other on-line outfits still advertise the place, third world marketing. If it makes your site look busy and people keep landing on it, why pay for updates? Now, nearing the hottest part of the day, I don’t care, I’m going to find that music stand. If I melt, put me in the freezer for ten minutes.

Picture of the day.
Pouring tea in Morocco.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The music stand never got found. I got the inside south wall of the shed finished by six, figuring the neighbor had forgotten about the tree. Nope, he just got a late start. I had the burn barrel going, it was a zero-beer fire because of that tree. I was up the sixty-foot ladder to the forty-foot mark with both the electric and gas saw. That tree was so rotten you could see through parts of it but it would not fall down. I sliced it 9/10ths of the way with an angry raccoon not that far away. It began getting dark on us, so the backup plan was to give it a pull with the golf cart.

           Up the ladder a fourth time I strapped the tree so it had to break toward his empty back yard. Because the tree was so tall, we decided to cut it twice, and I’m telling you the piece left holding it was no thicker than my wrist. I crawled an extra rung higher and got that tree strapped. By now it was too dark to work, but we could hardly leave the tree standing. The womenfolk were no help, we could not get them to shine the lights on the knots we were tying. They did not understand how we could see unless they shone the lights in our faces. I mean, they'd say by way of explanation, that's where your eyes are, you silly men. You could hold the flasklight in their hands and say point it there, but as soon as you let go . . . .

           With dusk approaching dark he took three runs with the golf cart and that tree held. On the next pull, I heard cracking, but not where I cut the notch. Seconds later the entire tree came down from the stump. We correctly planned it would miss his house if that happened, but it took out an eight-foot section of yard fence. It snapped off right at ground level. He’s got to be in Tampa before dawn, so I’ll be out there with the chain saw slicing up what I can. Saved $800 but doing every step as safely as possible dragged it out two hours and I am weary to the bone.
           That also means I put in a 9-1/2 hour day, something that has not happened in twenty years. A half-gallon of peach tea, two cups of tea, and six cups of coffee kept me hydrated. It better not rain tomorrow as my energy peaks in random cycles and that tree has to be cleared off his lawn. He’s still got kids at home and small pets. This was a marathon effort. Here’s a better view of the cuts through the tree at the 40-foot level that would not topple.

           The desperation of the leftists has reached incredible heights of stupidity. They have no new tactics, their only game is to escalate the old ones. But due to the Internet, none of it works like it used to. Each new distraction has a shorter half-life, they have now gone off the deep end with the alien/UFO nonsense—and it’s only working on the gullible fringe cases. Fake violent incidents have become predictable, same with their phony black power marches where they can’t even march.
           There’s a stat for you, 100 years ago 90% of the food on American grocery shelves did not exist. Enriched flour, potato chips, drink mix, homogenized milk, hotdogs, SPAM, soup mix, and one source says it is 90% if you include artificially flavored items. I had difficulty with it being 90% until you factor in branding. Tide (1943) and Gatorade (1965) were not around in 1923. Gasoline in Los Angeles is now $7.75 per gallon.

ADDENDUM
           I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Here are the top ten comments to a news article about Florida alligator who bit off a man’s arm. The issue is that Israel published the report as if the alligator was anti-semitic and had attacked the man because he was Jewish.

1) Gator got indigestion. (60+ variations)
2) “Natur mitt uns.”
3) 6 million dead from gator attacks.
4) So the alligator is a cannibal.
5) Who’s a good boy?
6) Gatorwaffen.
7) Hey, the Jews tried to disarm Americans.
8) Even reptiles hate them.
9) Spit it out.
10) 5,999,999 to go.

Last Laugh