January 12, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 12, 2024, ever more drones.
Five years ago today: January 12, 2020, $600 and poof!
Nine years ago today: January 12, 2016, if the engines stopped.
Random years ago today: January 12, 2007, checking out CSS.

           We awake to the news that in California with the first large deportation operation, there has been a theft from the nearby army base. Three Humvees, a heavey machine gun on its mount, and ton of ammunition. The whole liberal woke world is crashing down with a week left to go. (I remind all that I do not regard liberalism as a political entity, but a mental condition). Nobody is allowed within nuking distance of Mar-a-logo and a slim, proportionate, unmarried White girl has won Miss America. The Democrats in California are using their political sites to steal fire relief donations.

           It warmed up enough to get outside. That’s where I spent the day. Our little mouse got his ride to the wilds, shown here fighting the cage constantly. Good, that increases his chances for survival, which are nil in Florida but he still cannot stay at my place.

           I got the two non-working lawnmowers over to the repair shop. He’s a local handyman who can do the mechanical chores that stump me. We got to talking business and he’s at the same situation I was when we closed the computer shop. New units have become so cheap, people don’t want to repair the old one if it costs more than $50. He recently sold a top of the line Honda mower like the one I brought over for $45. They retail for $700. I scrounged my yard for any suitable lumber and cut some extra 45° bracing on the driveway fence. I’m tired of fixing it so now it will last longer than me.

           Here’s the small lawnmower in the Hyundai, along with that walker-gizmo thing that never got used. The repair guy (no nickname) makes sure all the parts work and then donates them to the seniors outreach program. There are a lot of very poor old people in Florida, all the ads you see are for tourists. While I had all the vehicles on a sunny part of the yard at once, I moved fast and rigged up the compressor to get all the tires optimized. That compressor shown is bigger than the toy units from Wal*mart, but this is the minimum size you want for getting things done. The green tarp is over top of one million toothpicks.

Picture of the day.
Valentine, Nebraska.
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           This only looks like a burning barrel whereas it has a scientific message. You wonder how California desert can burn. This is green cactus twigs from the agave I finally chopped down. Into the burn barrel and there is your proof green cactus will ignite just fine. Here it is about to burst into flames a fire that went out three days ago. The coals are enough. By 3:30PM it was still warm so I raked up another barrel and a half of yard debris. If you love the aroma I’m baking an apple pie. Not from scratch but I do check the ingredients.

           I also moved some lumber to beside the silo in preparation for stacking my longer pieces of scrap lumber. I didn’t get any work done on the drill box I hope to copy. Instead I put up some pickets on the compressor shed to baffle the noise leaking into the neighbor’s yard. Nice guy that I am. The only gas blowtorches still sold are on eBay & Etsy, so I’ll try to use a propane torch which I’ve seen videos that produce the same result.
           Still unable to shake my grief at loosing JeePee, I finally moved his house and observatory out into the yard. So sad. The handyman is going to have a look at the John Deere. We made a deal if he gets it running and sells it, we split the cash 50/50. I’ve got it on the battery charger just in case. I forget the sequence to start the thing, meaning I may have to push it down the street. Man, that apple pie is good. I had two slices. I’ve not tried the fancy new coffee brand yet, I’ll keep you posted.

           Settling in for the evening, I grabbed the bass and arranged to ancient songs with new lines. The bass lines are versions I’d love to play since they really shine. But I have a guitarist whose style isn’t as developed, so how he arranges his part is a factor. It’s a couple tunes we ran over in the past but might now benefit from how we’ve learned to play them as duets. Randy Travis with “Diggin’ Up Bones” and Waylon with “Only Daddy”. If you listen closely you can hear the bass runs I want to use. The Travis song uses a common guitar chord called C/G but somehow leaves out the lower C note, which I’m only too happy to fill on the bass. The Waylon song has a rare bass pattern I’ll bet 90% of bassist play wrong. Why? Because once again, it is a piano run using a third, which guitarists who switch to bass just plain do not like.

           Let’s check the news feeds. The latest swarm of Russian drones in the Ukranian war are claimed to be unjammable. It’s a tactic pioneered by torpedoes and guided missiles from the last century. The drone spools out a thin cable that receives commands without radio signals. The strands can be as long as six miles. I’ve read some use fiber optics which would make it even harder to intercept. Then again, a cable is a cable and we know how reliable those are. There’s an article about the US building a military base in the Galapagos. What the hell? In spite of it all, there is an air of optimism. Trump is not just hitting a reset button, he is about to smash decades of creeping socialist policy. The ones I like best are re-opening Federal land for oil and minerals, dismantling the education empire, and of course, mass deportations.
           But there are worrying signs already. Trump is taking about just deporting the criminals and maniacs. That wasn’t the deal. Rather than jailing bad teachers, he is talking about parental choice. It’s a touchy point as he was not elected to compromise on anything. Americans want public hangings.

Last Laugh