One year ago today: May 10, 2024, calibrating the sextant.
Five years ago today: May 10, 2020, more business closures.
Nine years ago today: May 10, 2016, immigrant becomes “migrant”.
Random years ago today: May 10, 2011, non-measurable brain-power.
Get ready for a big day, I finally got up in the mood and in time. A bit back I mentioned I could not find my battery charger. Blog rules I must log any conditions that are signs of age, it’s a promise to myself. For some years now I have had trouble seeing thing “end on”. I can easily see the rake if it is lying on the grass, but if I lay it on the wagon and walk past, nope. This should not extend to a larger block shape like the battery charger. Well, now I have troubles if the object is flat on the ground. I’ll report and record when I learn more.
Food. Today we dine on baked nutmeg chicken. In the crates of food donated by the Prez, I find something I don’t eat or know how to cook. I’ve only ever fed it to the pets. It’s never been my favorite, but now I’d like to give it a try. Canned pumpkin. Bingo, I found something I know I’ll like right off. Two-ingredient cake, from yellow cake mix and pumpkin. Today will be a good day.
How do I know that? Well, because I read that I have something in common with Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727). We both reject the society of the stupid and boring, and we both do as we please approximately 17 hours per day and sleep the rest. It is now dawn and I hear a lawnmower, so let’s crank up the bass. I am refining some new bass lines to my own standard, which is to appear to do the impossible, or if somebody is paying attention, appear to “trap” myself into something that cannot be done. It’s all for show and the tunes are “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Leroy Brown”. Watch me now.
And if you got $5 million to play with, PeeWee Herman’s house is up for sale. The guy was a write-off, but that place is a mansion and a half.
Who remembers Chef Boyardee spaghetti in the can? The Prez left me a crate of it, so I finally decided to find out who this Chef is. Name’s Hector Boiardi and he operated a restaurant in Cleveland described as “immediately popular”. He sold his spaghetti sauce in milk bottles until he met a chain grocer who helped him can the sauce, which he sold as a kit. Success was moderate, so they decided to grow their own tomatoes. Sure enough, along came the US Army in 1940 and ordered a quarter million cans per day. Hector had to hire 5,000 workers.
The brand was known for no artificial ingredients, the acid in the tomatoes is a natural preservative. The product we know today was first made in 1928. Of foods I consider bland from the can, I still like this one best. I lived on it for a year when I was 20, ravioli as well. It was the only real alternative to Kraft Mac & Cheese, maybe it still is today.
We have silence from Tennessee. This is the big one, the big push forward. I can’t supply details, but one or two months from now will bring changes. Major changes and there is no telling what. I almost reached the peak of my career under vaguely similar circumstances. It would have been the pinnacle of success for a life like mine. And the outcome changed everything with no going back. That part was accurately predicted.
Now it is the Reb’s turn. If she succeeds, I’m a memory, if she fails, I guarantee you she will never, never be as bad off as I was. She also has looks and talent on her side. Lacking any personal experience with those, I cannot speculate even 90 days ahead. Either outcome means a separation of some sort for us. Funny thing, if I had won my own battles, there is no saying I would not have just bought a cabin in Florida anyway and said to hell with the world. It just would have been a fancier cabin. Further from town. Maybe a whole lot fancier.
Texasland.
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The next movie is “Geronimo”, which is surprisingly accurate. Great portrayals. I cannot watch these cavalry tactics without a smile. They are also accurate, but if I was an Apache, I could think of a dozen ways to slow them down and pick them off one by one. I mean, an enemy wearing bright colors that lines up in columns in the middle of desert canyons in broad daylight? No wonder it took a quarter of the entire standing US Army and 3,000 Mexicans almost 25 years to capture him. But he did not seem to grasp the concept of causing maximum casualties to the enemy.
You may have to stare, but this is the new wire birdfeeder. It’s between the two wooden plugs on the ends. Like just got a lot easier for the woodpeckers. I may cut this in half for a matching set. Working with wire mesh is never fun for me and my stapler is too powerful. A lowest pressure, it punches right through the wire. The feed is unsalted peanuts. The directions say th3 1/4” mesh defeats squirrels but allow bird beaks into the feast.
I didn’t get to the floor, everything was wet. But I tidied up the shed a bit and salvaged the switches off my old oil heaters. They did their job last winter but the beautiful overhead units make them obsolete. I now regularly use A.I. for searches—it is excellent at cutting through the bullshit. I can see the incentive to focus on language first. I wondered what oil was inside and it is called diathermic. They define that as highly refined mineral oil. Other than a sentence that this oil can be used in the fins of solar heat collectors, nothing. So, let’s see if it will clean paint brushes.
The special router bit for the hinges is unavailable. In my supply I found three bits with flat cutting blades, but they are 1/2" and would be unwieldy for very small hinges. I examined older boxes in light of experience and found a number of issues. Remind me also to check more carefully for the presence of wood knots in the locations where the hinge mortises are cut. We got treated to a very local lightning storm, putting me indoors to watch then ending of “Geronimo”. Historically accurate, providing the histories I’ve read are faithful.
And now, for the illegal 19-year-old who ran the red light and got her entire family deported, here are my favorite top ten Gab comments:
Heart-warming family togetherness.Some smart aleck posted, "Strike that ICE agent a medal."
And the problem is?
That’s what I voted for.
Send us a postcard.
It was a stolen car.
She’s grounded. For life.
Now that’s efficiency!
What’s the downside?
Aw, a story with a happy ending.
Has anyone checked for cousins and uncles?
ADDENDUM
It’s a horrific thought, but I do believe Iran has the bomb. The Houthis reached a peace accord with Trump and I find that highly suspicious. The more so because they mentioned the bombing was hurting them. That, folks, is not how they even think. I hung around with Egyptians for several years in university, as they were all in the math department, where I studied computers. The world assumes that delivering the bomb would require a missile. Nope. If it comes, it will be sent by drone.
