One year ago today: April 14, 2024, never drove the Volt.
Five years ago today: April 14, 2020, the origin of “Reb”.
Nine years ago today: April 14, 2016, not the fun guys.
Random years ago today: April 14, 2012, turkey SPAM.
Here’s a view from July of 2017, shortly after I began renovations on the front room. Having some experience from the back room, this went faster. You can see the bare uninsulated walls that were supposed to cool the room by convection. The room is now insulated. There should be another picture of the bolts that now secure the building against settling unevenly. There are 24 of these babies in the floor joists, but there is still some separation. The wood itself has become bent with age.
The best was how they set up Italian cannons in obvious positions to coax the Germans to shoot at them, thus revealing their own positions. The articles are indistinct about this activity, but I saw newsreels of Australians intentionally running away from artillery positions waving their arms for attention, then diving into well-camouflaged nearby dugouts. I doubt they were doing that in the hot desert sun for the hell of it.
And I’m getting a lesson on aging, I told you I’d document it, I never promised not to crab about it. Here is another picture from that first year in the cabin (2017), when I did not know if I would last very long. I was still driving motorcycle, unable to even ride in cars very long without soaring blood pressure. But in time, I beat that issue. I did not know the front bedroom would become the least used area of the building. Here is a sad picture. I meticulously salvaged the oak flooring, shown here stacked with care. It was too deteriorated and became firewood.
The oak had an original coating of what appeared to be a varnish. I did all I could to save that wood but alas, that varnish was the only thing holding some of it together. All my flooring is now more contemporary, I believe the term is “plywood”. Expect more pics if anything notable shows up on this disk, found in an old camera. July 2017 was not that great a period for action, but there was a hidden boon.
My pal, JZ, was to help me with the work. But that following month, August 2017, his truck was repossessed, or stolen, depending on which version, with all his tools. I had zero money left so I could not hire help. Thus the full workload fell on me. And within three months I was able to work alone and I was driving a car again. (Prior to that I could only drive out in the country or with the windows open, or I’d get the “twinges”.) And another six months later I was building sheds and often putting in a day’s work even if it took me a week to do it.
The first year in the cabin was restricted to what tools I could afford and the money saved from rent. That meant it was mostly labor, so I gradually elevated from almost invalid to merely disabled. Usually work is not as beneficial as exercise but this time I would have nothing else to thank. And that is both physically and financially, as you may recall the morning after I paid for this place, I had, what was it, something like $193 left in the world.
Argentine hockey team.
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Respect your physiology. I did and work up to find it 4:00PM. I could get that planer out of the van if I really wanted to. Instead, how about coffee and see if we can build a box for the new lithium booster pack? That sounds like a plan. The hitch is that I woke up groggier than I fell off. And cannot find my work pants. Seriously, this is the most exciting event so far this afternoon. Never mind. I must have been in a rush and hung them over the bathroom door knob, where they were invisible until you closed it from the inside. But this is your warning that today may as dull as that trip to Disneyworld, what, 15 years ago.
Here is the latest girl band out of Georgia, now in Nashville. It was obvious the promoters are putting considerable effort into concealing their ages and insinuating they are all left-handed triplets. Since I dislike such tactics, here are the goods. They are all right handed and that viral video is a mirror image. Also, only two of them are triplets (with a brother) and the third gal is a couple years younger. The two older sisters were born in 2003 and the younger gal, who I picked out instantly, is still in her teens. You cannot fool the seasoned eye, she’s the one on the far right.
They sing smooth harmonies, a must these days. Let’s hope they stay country and keep the music pure and simple. If so, they could displace Taylor, who strayed far from her roots. Oh, and none of these gals are naturally as blonde as you see here. My ex-wife is blonde, I know these things.
These yard pictures have to take up the slack of this day. Unless you want a photo of me doing laundry. The first picture is the same plant shown on April 3, the sprout from the linden tree. If it grows that fast and lush around here, it’s a weed. Two feet high in two weeks. The middle picture is my peach tree, not ten feet away. Showing no signs of life. Dry and brittle, there I am pointing to a broken branch. Likely from the wind. I had hopes for that tree.
And the third panel is the view today from where the wood was stacked in this morning’s picture. It’s not actually this cluttered, a lot of what you see is material moved out of the way so I could get at the wagon last week. I’ve put that on hold. I don’t want collision on Hyundai, just the minimum to make it legal on the road and I’ve found a place that charges $1 per day, which I can afford. You can make out the two Chinese hat squirrel baffles, but not so much the most popular item back there. It is the rail they are hanging from. I have no theories why so many bird species like resting there, as the yard is surrounded by branches. I think, possibly because it is a safe open spot that is near the food and water.
Let’s see if the rest of the world had a better day. Not CNN, they just got called “sick people” by the most popular President in history. CNN has spent a fortune painting an MS-13 gang member as a US citizen “abducted and disappeared by Trump’s deportation machine”. In reality he has been hiding from two deportation orders for years. CNN’s position is he was denied some paperwork or process that applies only to US citizens.
ADDENDUM
Trump is suing CBS and friends for $60 billion. This could be amusing. The law concerning free speech is limited to that which does no harm. And CBS, following orders, are the ones that released that heavily edited Kamela debate video. Harris severely lost footing trying to go up against Trump. My interest is $60 billion is a lot of money. I don’t know the details, but CBS is plainly on the defensive this time.
The billionaire Bezos is going to launch that rocket with an all-woman crew. If I was him, I’d be praying nothing goes wrong. The historical gold to silver ratio of 16:1 is currently qt 105:1. If COMEX quit manipulation that means silver should be around $210 per ounce. Later, the feminists have been sent into outer space, where they belong, I guess. Argh, no luck, the women are back. It was a 124-mile joy ride.
The Sun at 02:26:13 was nearest to an atoll called Faraulap, part of Micronesia. The population is 221, and they received more FEMA aid per capita than the hurricane victims in the USA last year.
