April 2, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 2, 2024, the best defense.
Five years ago today: April 2, 2020, this Forex, it’s MLM.
Nine years ago today: April 2, 2016, the cattle car era.
Random years ago today: April 2, 2007, Lynette Bartholet, sigh.

           Looks like I got the order for the transmission in just before the tariffs. We are looking at around next Monday or Tuesday for the installation. Here it is, the promised review of “America’s Coffee”, a.k.a Black Rifle Coffee Company’s “Kodiak Attack”. Drip-made to the highest standards on the best equipment, and tested the ONLY time new coffee is fit to be tried: early morning and first cup. What is the verdict?

           Nice. Actually quite nice, but. This is a medium roast, I may have to try their dark roast. Plainly my experience with overseas coffee is an influence here. It could be stronger. This is an enjoyable coffee, but more for desert. Think of it like somebody handing you a little umbrella floof drink when what your thirst really demands is an icy mug of cold beer. The price tag was 50% more than Maxwell House, my rating is at 20% more I’d buy again. Compared to most medium roast coffees, this one has great bark but no bite.

           Last day in the pit, I missed a classic scene because I was too pooped to go get the camera. You’ll have to use imagination. While under the house I find the odd dead vine, which a pull out because they are strong enough to trip you. This one, I yanked out, and coiled up. I placed it inside a plastic trash bag. Over the next hour, I heard sounds and slowly watched how that vine, dead for years, slowly uncoiled itself inside the bag, then crept along the floorboards, back under the house, and pulled itself back into place. Never mess with Mother Nature, boys.
           Another unusual event, just after this journal went on-line back around 2005, I bought a set of matching dishes and cups with a lifetime guarantee. Today the last plate cracked to pieces inside the microwave. Hence, lifetime means twenty years. It was just heating up spuds like it has so many times and I heard the good-bye crackle. Later, I found I have one matching coffee mug left. I carefully tucked it away for special occasions, like maybe this Sunday.

           Here’s a picture of the buried wagon. The bed was quickly thrown together from untreated lumber for the quick move here. That has long since rotted away in the Florida wet-heat, leaving this pile of contents. Can you even see the trailer? Hint, the ball hitch can be seen just above the yellow dot at bottom center.

           Ah, here’s a contact. The guitarist says Thursday at 4:00PM. The Prez could not make that but I said okay just in case. However, I do not move unless I get a second confirmation and it is already in the countdown phase. I put in two hours playing some of the music on his list but I don’t arrange any of it until there is justification.
           There is no need to knock yourself out until you hear what it is the other guy can do. You do not want a picker, you want a strummer. And too may strummers, like the Hippie, will try to switch to lead picking as soon as the bass player shows up. Except for power trios, it does not work that way.
           Later this morning, news from the Prez. They got their asking price for the house and will be gone probably by month’s end. Tomorrow is probably the last practice. Mind you, his grandkids could win the lottery and admit they have always hated the cold winters and decided to buy fifty acres in Plant City and all move back here. He probably got $350,000, it was a nice neighborhood. People could walk around.

Picture of the day.
Neoplan Jumbocruiser.
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           A few hours later, here is the wagon out in the yard. It is not too bad, considering the neglect and outdoor storage. The wiring is intact but I have not tested anything. Signal and brake lights are only required if the tow vehicle units cannot be seen. The metal deck is missing, I think that might be on the hot dog cart. Also missing is my hitch mount and ball hitch, oh they are around here somewhere. But I’ve looked all the likely places and how that fridge has to be moved.

           The space between the two parked vans was too small to roll out the wagon and my back is too weak to lift anything like this, so I’ll leave it a another mystery how I got the wagon out into the yard here. This wagon is a foot shorter than when it was bought, it’s modified for motorcycle towing. I have to devote time tomorrow to get some sort of deck and tie-down straps. All of this chews into the floor repair schedule and that will not now be finished this week.

           Here’s some more band news. I got Roberto on the phone and this may be a break just in time. He is a singer. It was recently he learned to strum—for me a huge plus because he has no Guitar Center damage that needs undoing. Another positive is he was in an Elvis tribute group and thus is comfortable on stage. He’s been through the meatgrinder and no longer wants to play in a big show band. He’s just 56 but that is about the same age so many decide being rock stars is not always the way to go. He lives four miles closer than the Prez, so we are all planning a meet-up tomorrow at 5:00PM.

           My first question, is there electric power at the location? Nobody knows. So I hauled out the Yeti and put it on the charger. Here it is, taking eight hours to charge up eight hours usage. No, that was not made clear in the sales pitch. You want power overnight, you got to have it plugged in all day. Also, a CD player, not a big wattage item, will drain the Yeti in the same eight hours. The Yeti is a $550 better-than-nothing power source.

           By evening, I have iced coffee made from the Kodiak brand and I prefabbed the eight new kitchen outlets. That’s four duplex with one of them being a GFCI. Seems every time I go to wire in that interrupter, I have to relearn the wiring and make at least one mistake. Such was the case now, and it is time to relax. Put another way, if I plunk down again, I am not getting up again except for coffee. What tariffs? All we’ve heard so far is the screeching noises from overseas. It’s a simple but unfamiliar thought for them—you remove your barriers and we’ll remove ours. Something like 94% of the cars sold in Japan are Japanese. While there is no law, they just make it impossible for others to sell there.
           The tariff lists began appearing by 8:00PM and they are not enough. Not one of them even matches the amount the foreign country is charging us. They have use tariffs to make a profit for decades and that should be stopped. We got people struggling to get by here while the politicians are exporting billions. The fun is watching the libtards go crazy. They seem terrified the tafiffs must might work. They maintain the Biden economy was booming and Trump ruined it, and that he caused all the inflation, which was zero, they say, when he took office.

Last Laugh