One year ago today: January 28, 2024, 671 flak guns.
Five years ago today: January 28, 2020, the ridiculous cloak.
Nine years ago today: January 28, 2016,rehearsed & insincere.
Random years ago today: January 28, 2014, fancy iceberg talk.
America begins to feel the “reverse-immigration” effect. I must say, that was pretty instant. The relation to prices is obscure, but decreased demands on public services is already happening. Gas prices are down nearly a dollar and the only big complainers are the factories that employed illegals. Thirty years ago I described the effect of too much labor. How the economy would grind down to a level where all jobs could be performed by the unskilled and undocumented. It happened. Gone are America’s steel plants, shipyards, and the automotive factories are on permanent life support.
Best news of all, Trump is not dealing with the European Union. Instead, negotiations, trade deals, and diplomatic matters are direct with the individual countries. Makes sense, nobody in the European Union is elected. And I collected the cast from my first sale, meaning I expect many more. Have you seen that hideous 500 lb freak suing Lyft because she wouldn’t fit in the driver’s car? Or the only people complaining that Trump cut off grant money are liberals?
This next photo shows the lumber rack for longer pieces. It’s messy but significantly better than the lumber anywhere else in the yard. Plus, it’s just getting started. Work like this sets my appetite wild. This called for a massive skillet of spuds and onions with chicken cubes. Other than illness, which I rarely get even the flu any more, I’ve tried to make every day of my life productive in some way. I do not think I’ve ever deliberately taken more than five or ten total “do-nothing” days ever. I just don’t associate lazing around with relaxation.
Seriously, fossil vomit.
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We’ve watched almost every “Gunsmoke” episode taped. (Use of the word “taped” is not an anachronism in this blog.) In a sense, we have gone through the good ones so we voted to expand our viewing. Now seasoned viewers on his home theater, he has tons of other westerns, but also long lists of recorded movies. We now have the routine established (coffee, popcorn, discussion breaks, ending bingo, and the robo lady saying “take your pills”). First pick is other James Arness movies. This change, however, reveals a quirk of my non-TV background.
Here is the scooter shed. It’s cluttered over time but about to get a new lease. It’s wired and well-lit and sixteen feet long. The shelving is super sturdy so I’m thinking of placing most of my cutting tools in this area. This frees up the sheds for assembly work. This area would have no shop vacuum. Yet. I have a letter that is five days overdue. Am I have trouble with that fat stupid mailman again, the one who like to declare my place abandoned. Today is the deadline before I make yet another trip into the post office, who will swear there is nothing amiss, but the letter will magically appear the next day. That old fart must be pushing 70, why is he still there?
I finished his box, turns out like me, he needed safe spot for his sandpaper. Wow, that is the most expensive sandpaper box ($15) most people could hope to own. It does kind of outclass the rest of his workbench. This is also the shift of the lady who knows how to work the creative side of 3D printing. CAD and gerber files. It appears it will be up to me to ready a spot for that printer. It’s the same old story, for all the talk and intentions, in the end you wind up doing 95% of the work for 50% of the reward.
She liked my sample box but says it does not compare to the fancy units the other gu was selling. I figured as much. But, she mentioned something else, a counterpart to the hope chest. She described a “memory chest”, where she has keepsakes from each of her kids. The ultrasound, a favorite blankie, and photos. She uses suitcases, but like myself found they are not that great for storage. They don’t stack well and have a half-life. She said if a box could be made strong enough, she’d pay fifty bucks for it.
This got me thinking, because even the old steamer trunks eventually get old.damn fast unless stored right. She indicated a box that is bigger and heavier than anything I’ve built except for the chain saw. Say! Hold on, I have the pieces already cut and ready for the smaller electric saw. Why don’t I use those for something I can sell? If I find them, I’ll take a picture. Ha, here the picture already.
Shown here, I have a supply of this built-up lumber. Over time, some got used for temp work benches. Others were set outside to test weathering, like the first two panels. The ones I was after are the far right picture. This was after I learned how to manufacture perfectly square pieces that did not warp in the sun or the rain. My chain saw will have to wait.
At this point a couple strangers went past into the bar, and finding it empty, came back out front. We got to talking and one of them is a bartender from Bowling Green. (The one in Florida south of Fort Mead.) He’s been here his whole life and saw the decline of the orange groves. So, I have info for things in this blog we once had to suppose. That wasteland around Lake Placid was indeed the greening disease, where the fruit never ripens and eventually just fall to the ground.
He says they tried to replace the orange trees with other citrus fruits, but the disease is embedded in the soil. He explained the trees seen wrapped in cloth are an experimental species that are resistant but not proof. He further reports many of the orchards are switching over to strawberries and watermelons. I can’t see that. These are labor intensive crops that need year round tending, not to mention the extra water requirements.
Another consideration is consumption. I’ll drink a glass of orange juice daily. But I rarely touch watermelon unless it is free, and the price tag you saw here two days ago eliminates strawberries as a staple. I don’t even care for strawberry juice or pie. And there you have today, folks. The blog that dares. Dares to feature re-runs, shelving, and watermelons.
ADDENDUM
Question. Is it not illegal for the factories tp hire the illegals? Yes, but there is no government department to enforce the law. It’s sticky business. All the factory has to say is they have no money to investigate applicants, and besides, it is the job of ICE to ensure whoever gets hired is here legally in the first place. This is the kind of Democrat dodgeball they’ve been pulling for years. But not no more.
