One year ago today: September 23, 2023, outright warning.
Five years ago today: September 23, 2019, chickens like cat food.
Nine years ago today: September 23, 2015, once semi-famous.
Random years ago today: September 23, 2022, Mr. Smart.
Ah, so you like them old photos. See addendum. It’s another generic day, the default is to list what happened and let the world judge its worth. The best news is a returned freedom of movement in my upper rib cage over the past few days, but couple that with a general overall slowdown and I know it. I took four hours to completely backup all important computer files in anticipation of switching to the new Dell XP unit. Old and familiar software that, when it is said and done, was the peak for MicroSoft.
Trains. One of the biggest plans I had for retirement that never came through. (They cranked up the ticket prices and changed the rules just the year before my planned circumnavigation of the USA by rail). Inside the station, I lamented at how sparse the route map on the wall had become since I first saw one as a child. I would take the train to Texarkana for something to do, if I didn’t have to go all the way to North Carolina first. The train arrived and I watched the passengers, nobody dresses well to travel any more. Around one passenger in ten was European.
The trains stations now have a sterile atmosphere. Hard wooden benches, a soda machine, and no reading material. Wait, that’s not strictly true. There used to be a rack of pamphlets with the most expensive of local attractions. It’s been replaced mostly by a single booklet, I picked one up to see, it’s out in the van. I also stopped at the computer store, who by choice are anti-tablet, but they get them sometimes. Normally they shit-can them, but I asked if they’d save me the next one that has the two features I want, but which millennials seem to detest and avoid. A detachable keyboard and a word processor. Who needs such silly toys anyway?
I brought the books up to date and there is no getting around that each trip to Tennessee now costs $535 more than it did in 2021, when the Bidenistas printed up a third of all the money the USA has ever churned out. While I don’t watch the price per gallon, the overall cost is very much a budget item. Gasoline, once rationed at $66 per month, now $332. Because I can easily cut back on food items by cooking my own, my bill is the same since 2021, at around only $218 per month, add another $100 for dog food if in Tennessee.
What’s most affecting is taxes and utilities, the things hit hardest by the regime. I’m expecting the property tax this year to be approaching $1,000, that’s doubled in eight years. Utilities up from $141 to $203 average, most of it in the last year. People are aware all this happened under Biden, which makes it strange to read their campaign billboards. They are trying to blame it on Trump and promise to fix it with more of the same. If I was wise, I’d make a plan for November that involves evacuating Tennessee. It would never happen, but it’s just a plan.
Failing to find my fancy walking stick in the sheds or vans, I stopped at the thrift and bought a bamboo cane. Strange how immediately balk at using it in the town where I live. I was off the Winter Haven anyway, which is where I spent most of the day. The city of unmarked dead end block long non-streets that are really apartment driveways. Fooled me twice today. Mostly financial chasing around, I’m proud to announce the long recovery from the July-August disasters of this year has begin. The Caltier account is back to normal, but still paused. Fixed investment plans have a priority here you may not find in a lot of other people’s situations. Broke people.
We’ll end this month in good shape, the joint account is back up over $1,000 with strict instructions about the pets. It was a hard decision but the fact is unless the Reb or I are in good condition, the fate of the pets is not what she’d planned. She has more faith in others, where you know with me, I deal in the facts and the plans of others can defenestrate themselves. You can see for yourself, the dogs will not willingly leave the house with anybody she knows except me. That’s not braggadocious, it’s an indication of what to expect.
Snaefellsness.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Next, a treat for myself. On sale for $8 off, I got myself a compass bow. This is like a set of dividers with a difference. Not the cheap compass you drew circles with in grade school. These have a small wheel that sets the compass width, and the said difference is that this hadn be set by manually pulling the prongs apart. The wheel will spin on its own. This year I’ve found I also occasionally enjoy drawing out the navigation charts. There turns out to be a number of different charts can be drawn on the same universal plotting sheets, so I specify the one I lie is the LOP or line of position.
As a challenge, I did not accept any of the instructions for plotting at face value for two reasons. One is that many used such evidently expensive gear that I noted was still made of plastic. Two is that you know the navigators of old did not use many of the items in that kit. During this long (drawn-out, you might say) study, I saw several times the tutor reached for simpler tools that were not described. I formed the opinion the entire operation could be done with one simple tool. It’s a triangle of clear material with a few inscribe guidelines. I chose to follow this path as being the most likely to be useful when the Chinese invade Taiwan. None of the two videos showing this device describe it. I don’t know it’s name and cannot find it in any of the on-line posts. Hmmm, either the majority of my academic pursuits are jinxed with the unfindable on a regular basis, or the Internet is far shallower than most take it to be.
A quick shop in everybody’s favorite junk store found this item for $150. It’s a carbon dioxide infuser. Makes soda pop out of whatever you put in the barely visible bottle on the right. I ain’t paying no $150 for a soda and by now getting tired of walking with my new cane, I didn’t get the specs. The reason for the focus is this is an invention Elliott used to describe for years. He thought more of a larger vending style machine that people could bring their bottle of flat soda in for a recharge. Hey, he was an inventor, not a scientist. People are not going to lug half-empty bottles back to the store, plus the charging process is inherently finicky. I wouldn’t trust 90% of today’s people around any pressurized equipment.
ADDENDUM
Venezuela. There are four short videos on the disk recently found, so it will be some time before I have anything for you. I was amazed, which isn’t easy to do, at the [blog] response to those photos. Yes, I’ve had some good times, same as everybody. Hasn’t everybody had a go at a business? Nice pics, but I may not have that much more for you right away. They were stills from the same videos on the disk, meaning they may have already been posted.
Example, one was a show the Hippie and I did around 2006. But the camera angle and scenes are already very well used (not in this blog, though) and won’t likely merit much further publication. But all the South American pics are new. That will be a treat.
