October 10, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 10, 2022, a great tool.
Five years ago today: October 10, 2018, still no drum machine.
Nine years ago today: October 10, 2014, women “this big”.
Random years ago today: October 10, 2011, kind of expensive.

           Have a ‘boo at the ammo box, I’m adding another layer of dividers and I’ve modified a tool, a router. You know how that drawers and cabinets often have a panel of light wood that fits into a groove cut around the perimeter of the outside frame? You’ll get it from looking at the photo, but that groove in the past proved very difficult to cut. The panelis not fastened in the groove, but kind of floats, apparently to allow for temperature effects. Well, I have a new system that works on any thickness of wood and takes time down from over an hour to maybe a minute. I haven’t tested it in every way, but shown here is the groove. Into this fits a small panel of hardboard, marketed as Masonite.

           The left picture shows the wooden plate bolted to the pale yellow plastic router base. It becomes a matter of keepthe the pieces firmly in place, I may construct a small jig. On the right is the pieces being fitted using a red corner clamp. The first layer of shellac is applied, showing the groove around the perimeter. It is fun building these inserts for the boxes but then again, I stumbled across some ideal lumber for the job. This router jig worked so well it may be getting its own box later this week.

           In the midst of a cold spell, we are getting day after day of perfect weather. But don’t count on a thing. I’m ready to head for Tennessee any time. JZ isn’t answering the phone, I may drive there to check on things first since he will have seen photos of the pet blessing event he missed out on. This morning we had fresh biscuits, shown here, you must have blinked again. I was actually taking a photo of the stove burners. I need to confirm the ones I need are twice the price of the others. Later, they are.

           Meanwhile, I’m waiting for the post office to open at 8:30AM and listening to NPR. It’s amazing how many poor migrant refugee workers call or text using their smart phones. But the one that stuck in my craw this morning was the New York college student who got a year in Dubai prison for assaulting an airport guard.
           Let me get this straight, they want be to feel sorry for some “student” who has enough money to jet around the planet via luxury destinations? I’m the guy once denied entry to a required course with vacant desks reserved for “underprivileged” students. Foreigners with enough money to fly across the ocean to party. Lehman college is nothing but a rich kid’s playground and the fact she is referred to as a “college student” only means she is not White taxpayer material, and that means until she proves otherwise, she’s taking up a spot from a more deserving student.
           No apologies, I am a hard-nosed realist on this point. Why are we spending taxpayer money on foreigners when so many of our own are needy. Think of the appalling loss to our society when even a single student from here with the brains and aptitude is forced by lack of money to drop out and go work in the mills and oil fields. Yet we are forced to tolerate by the tens of thousands every year. Since the foreign students who make it over here are already their elite, should it not be them paying to subsidize our scholars?

           The Reb & I were on the phone an hour, all business. We finally addressed the situation that this country is a goner without some serious changes. That open border means if Biden sides with Israel over these recent attacks and retaliations, there are hundreds of thousands of military-age Muslims deep inside the country. Nobody minds if they rampage in the Democrat cities and I dare them to try anything in the smaller towns. The general mood is that something is about to happen and Americans tend to stand by at first, then join the side that is winning.

Picture of the day.
Tight blue jeans.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           For those who remembered it is “Gunsmoke Tuesday”, we watched the episode about the Copperton family. The one where Kitty actually has the lead role, commandeering a stagecoach after a robbery into a distraught family situation. She did okay. During the commercials, I talked with the neighbor about the tool I devised to cut the grooves, and he has a similar challenge with picture frames. He paints a lot, but does not like the say most frames cover even the tiniest bit of his canvas. Hmmm. I said bring one over. You see, my new tool could also shave a frame where the picture fits exactly flush into the frame, end of problem. Here’s a better picture of the insert assembly process, showing the corner clamps and a fresh application of shellac.

           The neighbor’s descript on the picture framing is a classic Adam Smith scenario from accounting school. Competitive advantage says if he is building his own frames, he’s not maxing out his painting skill. The same is in reverse if I try to paint. No, says Smith, let him paint and let me build frames, and the total output greater than the former arrangement. We still have no idea if it works but it sure fits the theory. It shifts the immediate focus to where I can build the frames more economically than the franchises that seem to be everywhere these days. Is there that much a market for picture frames?

           The frames bring a new skill, up to now I’ve just added an inch or two to any inside diameter I was planning. I’ve already confessed no two of my boxes match. For that matter, I often build the box to the size of whatever piece of lumber I’ve got on hand. Here’s a shot of the two avocado plants, the big one in the foreground is a foot tall, the smaller one maybe half that. They either do well or not, I have four or five other pots waiting for results. One is in the striped popcorn box. The wire mesh and pieces of concrete are to ward off the raccoon. That reminds me, it will soon be termite season.

           I downloaded the tabs for a few Merle Haggard tunes. The trick is duplicating all the chicken-pickin’ on bass. I’ve done it before but this time requires a new precision, since I have to play the actual break this time around. Give me a couple days. No word from Randy, now more than 24 hours ago. The regular Sunday practice has attracted a small following, some will walk over to chat, others will pause walking their dogs. This Haggard song, “Silver Wings” mesmerizes the old ladies, we’ve now played it around twenty times—one oddity is few of said ladies seem even aware the song is about an airplane.

           Next I contacted Wilford about no sound on the new computer. Seems, as a gamer, he used the HMDI or whatever port, which I have no speakers to match. He’ll drop over tomorrow to take a look. After Gunsmoke, I took the evening off to write letters. The lucky recipients this time are Marion and Hersh. Hersh holds the record for most letter written back to me in this life (except for my former business partner, RofR) at three letters. Harumph, I’m out of internationals (stamps). He shares a privilege with the Reb, though they’ve never met. Hersh gets inside investment information, though unlike the Reb, I have no idea if he acts on it. Let me close today with an observation of financial management.
           Most people don’t do it and the reason appears to be they don’t like it. For years, I felt those who did not reconcile their bank statements or close their budgets monthly did not do so because it is work. That made sense because it is a skill that takes time to learn and people are lazy. My thinking now is they avoid “doing the books” because they don’t like the concept itself. Maybe it lets them know how poor they are or how bad they are at investing? There’s more. Until they somebody doing it right, they also don’t believe it works or is worth the effort.

           Before we continue, here is a sheet of 10 international stamps. Oops, you blinked. Anyway, Xmas logos in October, typical. I urge everyone, even if you don’t develop a to-the-penny budget like the one that let me retire 27 years ago, at least learn to “check for reasonableness”. The Reb quickly learned how I do it, so when I pick up a financial document, I know if it warrants attention. So many people view having investments as something you do and sit back. No, it is a job that you work at just as you would any of the other ventures we tried in the past three years. By comparison, the book work is actually less than most part-time hustles. One of the reasons I balked at the tax repo business was the realization one had to keep at it consistently around 15 hours per week, which a refer to as buying oneself a job.
           An example of the learning curve is Caltier. I’m now completely comfortable with crowdfunding, electronic transfers, and what to check on. Where the first six months, I was checking in several times a day, now I know just after the end of the month and the morning of the sixth business day after a transfer. Now that I’m investing again, the valid question is how much time do I put in? Don’t count the research as I’ve a lifetime of doing that anyway. My investments are timed so I don’t do anything between the 2nd and 24th of each month. In that last week, I put in around 2 or 3 hours. One hour is to update the books and the rest to plan and think. This month, Caltier passed the $14,000 mark, that’s month 10, by the way. December 1 is the effective anniversary number one.

Last Laugh