March 1, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 1, 2024, deeply buried fact.
Five years ago today: March 1, 2020, containes butter.
Nine years ago today: March 1, 2016, choke & throttle.
Random years ago today: March 1, 2004, early fake Web pricing.

           Here’s that better view of the agave stump. Dripping with water, I estimate several cups could have been drained. I awoke famished and polished off six pancakes plus two mugs of coffee. Look out Florida, I’m going power shopping. Which I did from 10:00AM to 2:00PM, but guess who won? I got back too exhausted except to unload the van. I got some repair supplies, including an 8-foot landscape timber to see how well that props up the house. It’s half the price of joists. It was a typical trip for supplies that would have cost $71 last year now ran me $135. I doubt it anybody’s income has kept pace with that.

           Mine has not kept up, but I’m still in the black. I began the process of updating my Will, since this blog, like it or not, is my testament. My log, you might say, of how I managed to get some real enjoyment out of a cruel world where there should have been plenty for all. Strange that I’m now in a world where everything is on computer, including these private document and they are still hard to gather..
           My ordinary and rather quiet life still produces a long string of documents that seem designed to confuse anybody who needs to follow up on my death. Where is my original social security card? Where are my funeral arrangements and personal papers. Even tearing this cabin apart to find everything would take a week—without any assurance you’ve found it all.
           Here’s a much better view of the “pineapple” structure of the agave cactus. I sliced it to dry out and now it stinks to high heaven like rotten cucumber. It’s blocking the spot I need to slide the new support timber under.

           Thus, tomorrow begins a laborious process of gathering all that information into one location. Bank accounts, insurances, tax documents, and contacts. One saving grace is that I have no debts, but that barely makes things easier any more. Neither does MicroSoft, a horrible system for tracking documents. Example, if you are using Word and you want to look up a file in storage. If that file is not compatible, a search will return a notice that the folder is empty or no files found. Only a millennial could come up with that one.
           What is the value of this property? Remember that completely trashed place JZ & I looked at two blocks from here? The floor is caved in and it is uninhabitable. It just listed for $125,000 as a fix & flip. If you sunk $50,000 into that place it would not be worth much. On that basis, since my place may have a few issues, but is nice on the inside, I would not sell for less than $180,000.
           That’s about half the average price in this area. That means, same as before, I have the nicest cheap place to live almost anywhere to live in central Florida. That is, anything better costs twice as much. So what if it costs me $200 to fix that floor. Moving here was the most economical decision I ever made. But it was not easy, I searched for years. The sales pitch on the dump pictured here says it would rent for $1,800 per month. For the record, my theory is the floors caved in from water leaks from a marijuana grow operation.

Picture of the day.
Norwegian valley.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The rulebook says I must record even potential health issues, and today I again zoned out for five hours. The morning was light duty but I still tuckered, When I woke, my entire upper ribcage and shoulders, the parts most affected according to my physical therapist, has loosened up. I can twist and turn like a kid, but the price is a deep pain from unused muscles. Is this good or bad? My normal work routine is good exercise for these groups, I can’t help but think these are related. Moral—never give up and keep active.

           However, the pain. RofR once wanted to become a baseball pitcher and he would throw fastballs like wow. Never get in a snowball fight with that dude, he can knock you down from fify feet. But he described these same pains every spring as it warmed up. Yeah, well that’s when he was 15. It remains to be seen if my work abilities can keep me limbered up, as it is a pain of muscles waking up again. As if I’d been rowing a boat for hours.
           This is no excuse to stop getting things done, and this is the 5 quarts of oil for the Hyndai, Valvoline synthetic, best for the job. This had to be lugged around and into position, hopefully right for the sunny afternoon forecast for tomorrow. My shoulders got involved in that lifting, oil is heavy. This is $30 worth of oil these days, so you ask, how could the millennial class screw up something like this? Well, remember, anything that goes wrong is always somebody else’s fault. The oil change requires 5-1/2 quarts. (And these people wonder why nobody ever feels sorry for them.)

           Then I was out until 9:30AM next morning. Write it off to the healing process, I’ve nothing to lose. I may see about removing my old stove today, as it is useless really, beyond repair. Well, except for the oven which I dearly love, but I can live on store-bought. Hey, I’m a college student over half my life, I’ve survived on sawdust muffins before. Here is a view of a landscape timber destined for floor support. We are about to find out if there is any reason this won’t work.
           This was an easy decision. Think, landscape timber must already be treated, but they don’t seem as nasty as green (treated lumber). And then think this piece is half the price of a comparable length 2x8”. I glanced up the street and down the street but no helpers in sight, and still no word on where they are keeping the hillbilly. Imagine, Saturday any nobody looking for work, must be one of those jobs American’s won’t do. No, them materials did not get there by themselves.

           Was I tired, if so, how tired? Usually, due to my fan club, I try to make it out to Karaoke at least once a month. In real time this means if I delay it, the pressure is on to show up as the days run out. In spite of two personal invitations, I did not make it in February. Cathy & I have a rendition of “Jackson” that is a standard when we’re present, most other duets don’t seem to have spotted that Johnny is singing a harmony part. Even this could not defeat my fatigue by the end of last week, and I dreamlessly slept right through it.
           There’s a lot to be said for consistency in this age when shallow people make changes for the hell of it, but I’m forced to take a look at the Last Laff feature below. One is that since the latest generation began to dominate the Internet, there is no longer an infinite supply of good or suitable fixtures. What is new is increasingly in the form of those huge “scribbled” files, you know the ones, they copy as thousands of characters in the link. I won’t use them for Picture of the Day as I’ve never found an adequate explanation for that format. And if used for the Laff, they must be downloaded and converted to a local file.
           Thus, there is increased pressure to begin using memes. I have [used memes] before, but the original plan was pictures without captions. There is a decision that I’d prefer to delay, but the graffiti is on the subway wall.

ADDENDUM
           xSurveys breeze past my news filters if they concern money, weapons testing, outer space, and opinion surveys of getting old. This morning’s top list was things young people perceive as “old”. I have one that is not file—I find it often strange to write the date. This morning “March 1, 2025” felt out of place. I’m not supposed to be here. Part of that was the change in my life from poverty to my own form of independent wealth. I’m by no means wealthy, but my attitude easily keeps me well-supplied.
And February reflects that. When I was starving age 17 to 33, I didn’t like it because it was three workdays sooner that I had to pay the rent again. Now, February just means my variable expenses are 10% lower. Factors like this explain why “rich” people can never understand poverty. Here’s today’s list of what younger people think makes you old:

a) lap blankets
b) chores done before noon
c) comfy pants
d) carrying ibuprofen
e) closed captioning
f) napping on the bus
g) two meals a day
h) recliner chairs
i) not spending money
j) coupon shopping
k) elastic waistbands
l) avoiding Starbucks
m) Wheel of Fortune
n) crossword puzzles
o) big undies
p) house slippers
q) talking to cashiers
r) hard candy

           I’m guilty of a few, but they are not necessarily in context. I’ve done crosswords since I was 8 and have never liked Starbucks. Two meals a day has been my norm for 50 years and I love recliner chairs since the day I tried one. My concept of “old” habits are more like people who keep Kleenexes tucked in their sleeves and birdwatching instead of feeding them. Like I do. Two completely different activities. So there.

Last Laugh