October 25, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 25, 2023, speaker cabinet repair.
Five years ago today: October 25, 2019, my beloved Gigrac.
Nine years ago today: October 25, 2015, happier days.
Random years ago today: October 25, 2007, early band finances.

           Separating shingles took all morning. I’m okay with that, it’s a warm day for it. I got into an early yawning spell, if you ever get those days. I’ve told how the game cam has a setting where it must be clicked twice to activate and now I have no pics for you from overnight, even though I heard lots of activity out there. The focus is getting those shingles over my lean to so don’t expect any sagas or documentaries today. So here’s a $10,000 idea for you. Nowadays you can’t build anything, but if you invent it, you might sell it to somebody who can.

           You know those bread clips that always break the second or third time you try to snap it back over the twisted plastic? Same with the thicker ones on potato bags. They are too brittle to be re-used and I think that is to save the packager a billionth of a cent—these days some XYZer would do it. Do we know of any plastic that is flexible enough? Sure, junk mail and credit cards. They are either too weak or too thick to use as guitar picks, but I have the punch. All you need invent is a cutting die the right shape.

           Because working hours are confined to the cooler mornings and evenings, these pics don’t follow any time line. Here is my bedroom with the double window facing my little birdie paradise. The view includes the bird batch and feeders, all visible from a sitting position indoors. Not many people get a preview of the place they are likely to pass away, but I’m fortunate to have found a place I like and can enjoy. It’s not all fun and games and this time Agt. R forgot to mention the shingles are two different and incompatible sized. And neither size is enough to finish the roof.

           The shingles had been stored outdoors and in the sun. They don’t like that much sunshine and I worked up top just until it got too warm. Autumn or not, the mid-day temperatures are over 90°F. The foil weather proofing I put up last year did not survive so I was couple hours taking down new layers. This is the latest roof I shingled, so while it is not an important roof, it has the full benefit of experience. My plan is to make a small workbench there where I can watch the burn barrel from comfort.
           Here’s a view of the neighbor’s barn, far more work space than I could imagine His tools are in the lean to under those skylights, the rest is one massive art studio, and there are living quarters up above. It’s already too hot, so admire the view all you want, I’m getting back inside with a gallon of peach tea. Getting the shingles up there involved climbing the ladder 15 or more times. I’m going to add a couple diagonal braces since this shed looks like lean-to but is standalone, held rigid only by four corner posts.

Picture of the day.
PPP
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           Each pair of shingles had to be carefully separated as they turned out to be easy to crack. Yeah, but not so easy to cut, that’s how they do things these days. It was still too hot by 5:00PM but I got up the ladder anyway. Working fast, I did not get done by dark and skeeter time, though I did snap this view of the silo with the old “Roman air conditioning” ducts still in place. I’m really going to miss this place some day. I worked on a bit into the dark shown here as a slight not breeze kept the mosquitoes away until after sunset. It’s the after-hurricane dry spell so I left my tools up top. Trust me, I’m really worn down today.

           Ducking into the back room, I finally got around to something I never did sixty years ago. Don’t check my exact math, but never once have I ever listened to the full 17 minutes of “Inna Gadda Da Vida”. If over-listened to the classic parts because back then all the really good music was distinctive. The studio copycats take time to flood the market and this brand of early acid rock had a particularly long run.
           I’m indifferent over drum solos, but that is a classic that outshines anything before or since. Every bit of it original, nothing like it. Can’t say that for anything I’ve heard since. Those were the days of live recordings and the stamina is incredible. I found non-Tampa station on the shed radio and that is another reason I want an antennal. You can wee the ladder in this photo, leaning against a tree. It will never get used for it’s intended purpose, and full extended it is twice the length you see here. I would have to pour a concrete base and be careful I don’t create a 40-foot lightning rod. The ladder is fiberglass. And I moved the fence damage slide show from y'day to somewhere around here.

           Call it a day, I’ll get up early enough to finish it in the morning, Let’s check the politics, since that affects us all in these times. Harris held a rally in Detroit and got a taste of the Democrats own medicine when her crowd began chanting for Trump. As I got settled in for the evening, Tennessee called and Sammy is not doing well. It’s age, and he’s got four prescriptions now, including arthritis which is slowing gaining on him. He has nightmares that quell or at least abate when the Reb & I are present, but she is swamped by her obligations with the latest round of recordings. This is a very important project for her. But,since July, money is a factor. I have four issues pressing on me and I can only afford three.

           I’ll share the dilemma with you, see how you would fare. The Hyundai has that cracked manifold. If I repair that for $1,300, then I cannot repair the KIA transmission until May 2025. I may have to make a trip to Seattle for some documents that must be signed in person. I would rather take the KIA but that transmission is $4,000. The Seattle trip is $1,500 just for gas and food if I sleep in the van. The Reb still has company at her place but they are not family and the pets can tell.
           Monday I have a scheduled appointment for a phone call that determines if I can delay the trip to Seattle. If so, I could take a chance that manifold will last another trip to Tennessee and back (it probably will), and by the time I return I will be within the 40-day window it now takes to make international transactions. I see there is a way that is risky, November is property tax month and December is auto insurance. I could send a payment early knowing it will not be processed until January. Then, if Seattle grants me an extension, I could stay in Tennessee as long as I wanted—but I do not like living that way. What would you do?

           Later, the tyke is at the clinic at 4:00AM. It must be dementia which as far as I know is irreversible. I view the start of this years troubles as the initial dispute with the insurance company, where there was a six-week delay getting the payout. Delays are handled in my budget system by shifting resources, meaning there is a finite number of times this can be done. I’ve read enough about history to know I am now on a “wartime economy”. I catch myself issuing allocations from an ever-shrinking pool of resources and often think, “Is this how Rommel felt?”
           On a somewhat smaller scale, or course.
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