One year ago today: March 11, 2024, the dukedom could revert.
Five years ago today: March 11, 2020, this is the mentality.
Nine years ago today: March 11, 2016, I put in an offer.
Random years ago today: March 11, 2008, real tale, real trailer court.
I’ll pat myself on the back and grab another coffee, let me open the back windows so the birdsong is stereo from the dual planters. Why the mini-celebration? It’s the electrical, which is still going to take another week to fully replace, presuming I can work half days. But who remembers years ago my decision to run dedicated circuits to all appliances? That’s the cause for celebration. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll describe the problem. This old building now has two different wiring systems.
It was an expensive hassle and a half running in those lines, but now I’m glad. It will soon be all bypassed by four new 20 amp circuits. Meanwhile, here is the latest round of low-grade scam making the millennial rounds. The “no-tip” establishment, but if you read the bill, you find a 16% “fee” has already been tacked on to the bill. Typical millennial-think.
will use a similar tactic buried down here to mention that my affliction of becoming unable to see narrow close-by objects head-on has become worse. By nearby, I mean one or two feet away. This morning, my bass pick was one string over from where I usually park it and I could not see it. Yes, it is a big deal, as I knew it was close and kept looking but still could not find it. Figuring it was lost, I used a new pick, only to find it when I was done playing bass.
I’ve decided to cut a template to raise the corner of the building with the worst dry rot. If I fail, too bad, it will just rest on the new beam I put in late last week. Waiting for the ground to warm a bit, I reviewed an account that I admit avoiding at times. My funeral account. It gets attention now as this is where all the maturing bank CDs wind up when not renewed. It is also the account that receives the bulk of any 1134 (Found Money), and which empties the spare change regularly. This month, there was $39.12 deposited. If you hear the term anti-dormancy, this was due to this bank’s policy of declaring accounts dormant if not used regularly.
Gulp! There is more than $4,500 in there and on May 20, over $5,600. Since I’m opting for cremation, I just don’t need that kind of money sitting there, but what can I do now? It is established for years and the largest deposit ever put in was a solitary $810 back in January of 2022 to push the account over the minimum to avoid monthly fees. The average of all other deposits is less than $42 so this one kind of snuck up on me. I’m looking forward to the end of the Valdosta crisis in the next nine weeks, so maybe I could do something special with some of that cash. It’s still worth a lot and I went without meaning I’m hardly going to give any away. Work with me here. You know it has been some years since I took any gal but the Reb on a date.
There’s more good news. We have a seventh species of birdie, also as seed-feeder. It could be the female of something already here, but new to me. A sparrow-sized dark grey-ish brown with a pale orange breast. Since my vision began going bad sixty years ago, I’ve no skills at identifying anything I can’t see right up close, either plant or animal. Ah, we have a sale, a Sylvania rectifier. That’s only $10 for me, but it’s auto-invested, so that’s $10 more than most people in two ways.
Abandoned Civil War cannons, Florida.
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By noon, I’d already made a profit on the tube, so I opted to build a small prep and cooking counter up off the kitchen floor. This way, there is no rush, which is probably a good idea with the condition of some of that lumber. High hopes, the most I got done was the temp prep counter and shelf in the kitchen, shown here. The trick was to keep everything off the floor so I can work on that at my leisure. I got to other small chores and before I knew it, 6:00PM rolled around and it was Festus time.
I managed to cut some wood and glue up a couple small boxes, move stuff to the shed, and in this picture you can’t see a nice meal of onion-garlic rice, coffee, and boiled beets. Don’t underestimate this, I can cook up a fine meal on two burners. I have some outdated chicken which I fed to granny raccoon, she won’t be around much longer, I think she is also going blind, if I didn’t already say. Unloading the dryer confirms that new laundry deck is the most comfortable spot in the outside yard.
The siding cured the breeze problem and now I wish the deck was a foot wider so I could also work in there. Anywhere between 80°F and 99°F, there is still a light breeze that is remarkably nice as it is shoulder height where I framed the window cutouts. There is room for a couple small chairs out there and some PA equipment. I’m just sayin’.
Here is another repeat photo from 2004. This is a closeup of the bundles of 100 toothpicks. You are looking at around 24,300 toothpicks. We tried to make the bundles squeeze into a square shape, this is as close as we got. There are reinforcing wires that cause the long straight gaps, I want to preserve that pattern, as it created a grid pattern that made visualizing the million much easier. It is one of those squares of bundles that I seek to have manufactured. Each square holding 10 bundles by 10 bundles. 10 x 10 x 100 = 10,000 is the only real arithmetic involved. Once you get that is 10,000 the million pattern hits you.
ADDENDUM
I’m lightly following the Volkswagen return to flip switches and buttons over the touch icons. I’ve never been a fan of multi-function controls almost entirely because they provide no tactile feedback. The automaker’s concern is different, that the touchscreens require the driver to take his eyes off the road. While that was never a concern for me, I see the connection to the sorts of people who drive today, those who purposely want to be distracted. It ways other manufacturers are opting for heads-up display. Will the controls be knobs or icons? They are not saying.
