One year ago today: February 24, 2024, squirrel wars.
Five years ago today: February 24, 2020, Opry or dog food?
Nine years ago today: February 24, 2016, Forstner. Forstner.
Random years ago today: February 24, 2019, my yard chemistry.
While checking out the next wonderfood, the juaticaba or South American grape tree, I happened upon this excellent documentary of how wine barrels are made. No wonder they are so expensive. These videos cost money. Kash is transferring 1500 FBI agents to Huntsville, Alabama, marking the only time I ever felt sorry for government employees. I got a quote back on the trailer hitch, the downtown people want $788. Know the hitch itself sells for $150 or less and I can do the wiring myself. I have the money but it is just not worth that kind of money, considering I would also need a dolly. CostCo has one for $95. Wilford has a card.
A letup allowed me into Winter Haven, where I examined some $150 tow hitches at the auto display. These were rated at 3300 and 5500 pounds, I looked and thought, would I tow my van with those? I shelled out the extra $100 and got the highest rating they had. I’ll save that much if I use it once. It arrives next week, $250 does not include installation. This trip was a close call, by halfway back the monsoon was on. No storm warning.
Florida is full of drivers who don’t know the weather unless told. Here’s a semi-trailer in the ditch three miles east of Bartow. Everything at home is battened down and we have a week’s supply of coffee. You might as well get comfortable.
Ah, but remember the old Doc of “where’s your portfolio” semi-fame? In the 1980s, he still had Victorian concepts of marrying off his daughter. It could well be I find it so hypocritical how these people, no angels themselves, have such highfalutin concepts of how others must behave. At the same time, I see how those would have worked or even been necessary in the world as it was. And nobody denies close-minded ideas are the easiest brand to adopt.
Pumpkin-scented welfare cheque.
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The lady across the way has definitely disappeared. All her yard sale stuff is still displayed in the yard, but other than a couple guys I’ve seen helping her in the past, no sign of her in a month. Here is the neighbor’s $160 coffee maker, the picture is pure “MicroSott-think”, where the command to place this photo is the tenth menu item. Plus, this trip to the store emphasized I don’t have a term for an increasingly common occurrence, one I’m certainly not the only one who does not like it. The trailer hitch place ad said they would require up to two hours for the install. Yet, when I got there, I was millennialized. They had not done installs in years. We need a name for this situation. It works like this.
Many a business handily remembers the bullshit spread, the difference between the quoted price and actual price. So they spend thousands on their web page and the creators are nowhere to be found when it requires maintenance. The people on staff are gamers, not coders. They know the page contains outdated and untrue information, but between them, nobody has the IQ to go in and edit it. Certainly not the people behind the counter this morning. It’s unlikely any of them had even viewed the page. My references to what it said drew blank stares, and that is the millennialized part—making things work right is ALWAYS somebody else’s job.
Call it a day, the rain is still keeping the air muggy and the ground soggy by 9:00PM at night. (There is a reason why I write out times like 9:00PM and it has to do with the way Google messes things up on a regular basis. I also spell out the date in each blog header—so no matter how Google contorts things, I can find my own listings.
What’s in the news? Bongino is now second in command at the FBI. Gaetz has been appointed special prosecutor of the Biden Crime Family. A worrisome statistic is that 65% of black women with college degrees are employed by the government. Firing them will destroy the black middle class—not to mention the fake fingernail industry. A surprising side-effect, as Trump appointees start firing top bureaucrats, countless workers come forward to say they’ve waited years for that moment. (I can identify with this, however. When you are broke and struggling, as most people are their whole lives, you do what you are told. Mind you, the minute I had the money, I got the hell out of the corporate life.)
Holy crap, it is midnight and still pouring? This will bring central Florida to a standstill soon. Will I have to cancel tomorrow? This and other excitements as I stay buttoned up in the cabin with my bass, coffee machine, and an over-complicated book on Assembler programming. Think hurricane rains without the hurricane winds. Here’s one for the book, the dolly comes unassembled and weights 575 pounds. So, basically, I need a tow hitch to pull the wagon needed to haul this thing home. It is rated for 175 pounds less than my van, but that’s the closest I can find and care to afford.
I have a spot to store this dolly, but no, I’m not into the towing business. Towing is one operation that represents a lot about the downfall of America being dominated by “service” industries. At one time, towing was a sideline service, often operated by garages or wrecking yards as a convenience. It took no time for it to morph into a full-time business that few people really endorse. In no time, the tow trucks became flat decks and prices soared to where towing became an career instead of a convenience.
Remember when I called around last July? I got dispatch operators in Rockford, IL, who wanted my life history. And outfits in Gainesville who wanted to make an appointment for a week from Tuesday. Also, there was a $120 minimum fee. Gotta pay for the office staff or you don’t get any help. Question. What would I do if someone offered me $120 cash to tow a car to, say, Plant City? Sure as hell I’d do it, if only to undercut a tow truck wanting $300 for the same job.
ADDENDUM
Nothing, that’s what I found seeking an update on the Indian probe at the Moon’s south pole. There is a rumor they discovered tellurium, reason enough to keep it a secret. That element is needed to make thin film solar panels, ant it is rare enough to keep quiet. It is rarer on Earth than just about anywhere else. There are many reasons for the silence, including failure or simply that they found nothing—but that would mean they wasted the millions they’ve spent hyping these trips. If you have time, take a closer look at tellurium. Beware of ads if you have no blocker.
