One year ago today: January 8, 2024, few appreciate simplicity.
Five years ago today: January 8, 2020, every important element.
Nine years ago today: January 8, 2016, a place in Deland.
Random years ago today: January 8, 2004, a CD player.
Chloe is gone. Kidney failure, just eleven years old. She’s been on a sensitive stomach diet a while now but otherwise no symptoms. She passed on y’day in Hermitage. That’s Chloe beside one of the Reb’s paintings. Back in Florida, we are dealing with this cold spell, me by staying inside and lots of hot food. I’ve not an usual tale from the trailer court. I must start by mentioning I no longer have any “new” work clothes and what little cold-weather gear I have is thirty years out of fashion. Why would I bother with fancy old work clothes, right? Today I stopped at the Thrift to get a blanket. It’s an old Texas trick, hang a blanket over the door of the room you don’t want to heat when nobody is in there. I also picked up some newer work pants.
We also have another problem in Tennessee, again with that annoying lady the Reb met a few years ago. America is bad for that, people who make false accusations are protected by the system. How? Because they are broke. If you sue them, no lawyer will take such a case because there are no deep pockets. I’m thinking. I’m in my home office for the day. And I can’t find my 2025 calendar. Not just any calendar will do, I need one that I can read the numbers from across the room. The burn is that it is in here somewhere. Time to clean house.
I made a possibly useful discovery. I have several sets of unmatched hinges, screws, and clasps because some are brass and other are not. An accidental small spill of wood stain shows that it will coat steel screws and hinges to a dark copper finish. As long as you use the parts where they are unlikely to be abraded or rubbed against, the result is more that good enough. I was downtown nearly an hour, hating the cold and the price increases. Nobody was ready for 30% in one year. Trump has promised to address the issue, which is commonly felt to be the result of higher energy prices. And that is blamed on Biden canceling the pipeline. But even with cheaper energy, it’s going to take a long time for things to improve.
In other signs of a creaking infrastructure, we are seeing more recalls where before unsafe products used to be intercepted before they left the factories. An odd one was Fabuloso, the cleaning fluid. It because dangerously bacterial because of a preservative mix-up. The cleaning product needs a cleaning product. I read the article and right afterward a video autoplayed about teen life in the 80s. I liked the clean, skinny, white girls, but I don’t recall the sports cars, drive-in movies, private pool parties, or surfing contests. I remember lumber mills, and forestry tents. Hitch-hiking at 21 and getting rides from 16-year-olds. I suspect I must have been looking in the wrong direction or something.
Ten Sleep, Wyoming.
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Contrary to expectations, this cold weather is not ideal for using the burn barrel. The dampness in the air means you will scorch on one side if you try getting close enough. The thermo gun shows the barrel operates between 584°F and 640°F. I’ve never confirmed that, just reading the gun. Here is what the small box from January 2 looks with a slight finish applied. It’s an improvement and this is only a single layer of stain and poly.
This trial failed, because taking the hardware off to stain the wood takes longer than it is worth. The scres are very tiny. It quickly is obvious if you need a small box, build them in quantity from a jig. I learned that mechanical clocks should be cleaned and serviced at regular intervals, but that each service degrades the performance of the clock. Thus, many really old clocks on the market that appear to work keep poor time.
I made a large pot of tea and located some how-to videos I’ve put off for too long. One was the Philippines copy of the Willey’s Jeep in stainless steel. It was a bit disappointing. Other than the plasma cutter, there are no robots and the assembly is still done by hand. Grabbing some groceries, I noticed one of the shelves was empty. Because it was a shelf of something I have not bought in at least 30 years. Baloney. Maybe it’s back in vogue.
If the cold stays, I’ll try to watch the reputedly very violent movie called “Sisu”, if I can find it. Even finding the movie was a chore because of the millennialized way I first located it. Some of the scenes were on MovieClips and I noticed one had over 300 comments. Some poor guy was going through the comments trying to find the name of the movie. So I scrolled through the list. Only a pack of millennials could write 300 comments and not mention the subject matter. But they managed.
ADDENDUM
California is interesting these days for a change. Of course, before feeling sorry for anyone, I would need to know how they voted. If that seems harsh, remember, it was them who entered most of our lives uninvited. I don’t go around telling other people what light bulbs they have to buy. California were the leaders in American’s forty-year bout with complacency. Trump warned them about the empty water reservoirs three months ago. Instead, they gave their fire-fighting equipment to the Ukraine, elected a queer fire-chief, cancelled all the homeowner’s insurances last month, and laid off all the firefighters who refused the vax. Their precious Biden gave away all the FEMA aid to luxury hotels for the illegals. As far as America is concerned, those California goofs can vote the fires to go out by themselves.
