April 16, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 16, 2023, woring with copper.
Five years ago today: April 16, 2019, not unpacked enough.
Nine years ago today: April 16, 2015, the USS Sitting Duck.
Random years ago today: April 16, 2012, Fiat 500.

           Here’s something you don’t see every day. A fancy boat being towed away. At dawn, I was ready to leave when JZ decided the best strategy for now would be to leave town for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. This makes sense to me, as long as I’m not in the line of fire. It took JZ the usual two hours to pack a suitcase, and we were off to Punta Gorda. He put in $20 for gas so we took the scenic rout via the Everglades. I wanted him to see the new ramps and he was shocked. The south side had been a desertified wasteland before he was born.

           There was much discussion over the situation with that girlfriend and the hope that if he’s away long enough, she’ll find something on her own. Pity it came to that. This is the first time in years we’ve drove through the area and once again I got mixed up. We drove though Naples, which is usually a mistake. There’s a traffic light every mile all the way to the Sarasota curve. I confuse the intersections because for nearly five years I had a lawyer in the area exactly 22 miles distant but on a road that looks the same.

           Our goal was Harbor Heights, where we showed up three hours late. That’s where we saw this picture, a boat being impounded. The area is prone to hurricanes and they’ve mae a bylaw that you cannot park a boat with any amount of list, even on private waterways. Dead denter of this photo you can see the low, dark towing barge and the oat on the left showing it is distinctly low on the starboard stern. Looks like they waited until the owner wasn’t home for a week and away it went, down the river.
           I’ve now met two people who have had the same spinal operation they have planned for me. Both say it was a slow time to recovery but in the end worth it. Similar to my case, they were not in pain but occasional discomfort. One year they said, no lifting at all but report they both did not have to wear the brace more than two months and both said they cheated and removed it so they could sleep better.
           We stopped for coffee along the way but I guess we’ve just seen the place so many times the view has only nostaligic value. Remember the days those two sets of biker broads showed us their boobs? That was like, twenty years back. Naples was the same traffic jam it always is but we got through in rather exactly one hour. If Florida is a rich state, it is because of the persistent way old people move here to croak.

Picture of the day.
Gallium.
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           Here’s the strategy for now. JZ is now in Harbor Heights and I may not be present for Earth Day this upcoming Monday. Turns out, except for a loosely scheduled lunch break, there will be little time for Alaine and us to visit. Instead, Cory strung out the big patio umbrella and the four of us chatted for half an hour. There is no getting around Alaine over-protective of others. She now is at the pet shelter three days a week.

           With JZ still put out by side effects of that prescription, the plan is two-edged. One, he is away from the apartment so he is away from the challenge if his ex showing up on his doorstep. She is regularly referred to as “his ex” because trust me, any hopes for normalcy were over half a lifetime ago, reminding all this is no secret. He dislikes the scenario himself but don’t talk to me about men who can’t break it off with old girlfriends.

           The second thing is the property in Harbor Heights, and much of the surrounding McMansions as well, are still under repair. They got a good whalloping from the Gulf hurricane and there are repairs the insurance companies just will not do, such as screened-in patios and garage doors. Cory has build in a sturdier porch from that compressed artificial lumber and finally, the garage door. That explains this photo of JZ & Alaine in my rear view mirror as they unload some work supplies.
           That [garage] door took on its own saga for a while. In the end, the sheer expense left it until last, but it worked out. The contractor arrived with only the model that was thousands more expensive, and able to do three or four doors a day by himself, installed it for the price of a regular unit. There’s like thousands of free dollars and for what little I know of metal doors, it looks super. I did work in a wooden door factory for a year before I started at the phone company. I add that I did not see the contractor install the door, but Cory was impressed with the efficiency, which is very difficult to do.

           I’m back home and my plan is to do as little as the situation permits. The only thing I’m to lift is my bass. Three pages of medical tests show except for my emergent and predicable “junk food” type II diabetes count, I’m within all regular health parameters. Honestly, that makes re happy if only because it makes me “twice as healthy” as I was overall twenty years since. I got a stern lecture today that I’m not losing weight, in case I had not noticed on my own. I checked my mail and crashed, heavily. The Prez has replied, the kava bar is a go if only for the novelty.
           I listened to Maroon 5’s “Memories” twelve times in this trip. Deep listening. No promises, but there is a way to combine that light guitar riff at the beginning a bass line that plays a generic form of the melody line. The concept is from the way Chapman’s “Gimme One Reason” produces that sparse but super-distinctive Blues accompaniment.

           Two social media developments since I last looked. One, a rotten Democrat judge has refused Trump time off the phony trial to attend his son’s graduation, which has driven another few hundred thousand Trump’s to Trump. Everything Democrat turns to shit, only fanatics still support the other guy. Did you see that rally he held last week and only 28 people showed up? The second is people who are slandering Taylor. What’s her face, Colbane’s old momma and now that tubby one who tries to look White are saying Taylor is “insignificant”. (Coutney Love and Beyonce.) Pure outrageous jealousy and head-line scrounging. Taylor has something they never will. My admiration.

ADDENDUM
           Something has come up and the Caltier fund is put on hold. Nothing is taken away, but for the next few months (anyway) almost the entire Honda money. Alas, you get no details except to say it is one complicated issue that came into our lives and left us little choice. Hey, on the right side, it also puts the lawn mower on hold.
           I will know the amount soon and it will be carried on the books as a receivable, but honestly there is very little n either my life or the Reb’s that was ever predictable. We talked at some length over this matter and not only does it bring other plans to a stop, will leave us in a vulnerable condition until August, minimum. Pray let nothing go wrong for that period, but that is a lot to hope for in this country. One parallel is when RofR and I were starting out fifty years ago, we discovered many “American” problems that were only solveable by throwing good money after bad. This time, it is the Reb & I.

Last Laugh