May 12, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 12, 2024, band management.
Five years ago today: May 12, 2020, remember the Texas 8?
Nine years ago today: May 12, 2016, [UNAVAILABLE]
Random years ago today: May 12, 2015, swamp reclamation thingee.

           At least we know where the water’s coming from—the Gulf of America. It’s been raining steady for 12 hours minimum. I have to brave the streets and I hear dead silence from over the horizon. But, if the phone bill isn’t paid, we got no Internet and toilet paper, both of which fulfill the same necessary function. I’ll take the Hyunda, which has slightly better road clearance. They’ve blocked off streets before, though this is not the worst. I’m stuck here all morning, my only productivity was peeling a lot of spuds. Ten pounds. Cooked it, too.

           Then, a documentary on the surface terrain of Mars. The latest theory is bolts of lightning from outer space. Unseen plasmoid entities, they say. This is why people don’t trust today’s scientist, who seem to advance any theory that might make them rich and famous. The comparison drawn is how electric charges zap out jagged pathways. You see this in wood struck by lightning. But virtually similar patterns can be seen in water channels.
           That’s where I’d bet my money, since the pattern is all over Mars rather than just at Valles Marineris. If not by water, then by some flowing liquid with similar properties. However, I do not discount the electric charge theory as it does explain other observations. I suppose a glancing blow from meteorite or asteroid. Such force would explain why fragments of Mars are found on Earth. Hours later, still raining. I have decided to build a small canopy over the space under by bathroom window to shelter where I want to place the old water tank.

           I took lulls in the rain to scout the cabin and outbuildings. Problems. Here is the corner where the east wing connects to the main building. If you look just up and right of center, something has gnawed a hole in my fascia board. And they almost got away with it, since that is the least-monitored area of the building. You may note where I’ve scabbed piece up there before. The first suspect is that new raccoon. We will now have to devote resources to how and why this new female is making an appearance.
           There are several further problem areas, the worst being where the main house has roof valleys that funnel water to where I can now see caused the original settling of the structure. I must install eavestroughs on the north side of the building where it does not dry out so quickly. There may be a way to direct the water on to the roof of the laundry deck, the newest and best roof, and from there it can be drained well away form the support pylons.

           Meanwhile, it is a soggy mess out there and I have two month’s travel budget unspent. I’m thinking of a day trip. Or I could buy some fancier hardware I always wanted to try. Budgets are wonderful things when used properly. Later in the morning, I got downtown but took three hours to get any shopping done, including five stops. I balked at a few prices, including the $22 they want for a six-foot length of1/2” dowel for my tool box handles.
           One of my treats when time are good is bread from the Columbian bakery. I don’t know if it is tariffs, but there are no bargains left Same as up near the Prez’s old place, add a dollar to everything. An ordinary shop now sets you back $25 more.

Picture of the day.
BBC recording studio.
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           Going over the entire perimeter of the house shows we have some new animal digging around. This photo is hard to see, but we experienced home-owners know the signs. We have a new infestation. I set the trap overnight and got a female rat, who is now relocated to the bone orchard. But the room had a musty smell of urine, a fact of life in these older buildings. That raccoon has found another way in. You can’t see it well, but I’m pointing to a hole that was dug by some varmint other than a rat. Here we go again.

           Soon, I will have my degree in urban animal tracking. While studying late, I heard the faintest of scratches at the far end of the building. A grizzled tracker like me knows the difference between a tree scratch and a rodent scratch. My spider senses tingling, I set up the game camera near where I saw a space on my water tap had been knocked askew. Here’s a view of the crooked wood as the camera is being aimed.
           My suspicions are those two raccoons in the pic last day were mother and daughter, and the daughter worries me. When to women hang around most with their mothers? I don’t know, I just asked the question. My hearing is perfect and we got company. Seek a picture nearby to follow my keen sleuthing, hot on the trail of yard critters.

           Later, I zipped downtown to chat with Wilford. They said it would never happen, but remember how I predicted one of the new ways they’d get a group back at the old club was by holding a bingo? There were actually eight people there when I walked in. There’s Wilford, who in amazing parallel learning, has picked up many of the same bingo-calling tricks as I did. The first, how to space the calls by listening to your own heartbeat.
           he treat was he’s got his keyboard set up. It is the same make and model as my own, a 2003 Yamaha “grand”. What’s more, he picked it for the same reasons I did, which is the sampled sounds. It was the first electric keyboard that had truly realistic sound, no hint of buzz saw wave forms you got in synthesizer. I learned years later Yamaha had spend a fortune getting samples from a real grand [piano].
           Wilford has plays something I never got happening myself. He plays the auto-accompaniment and adds in melody notes, often quite off-key. But it was original and that kept the crowd happy. He was amused by the adjectives I used when he asked about various sounds. I found them to be very “Clint Eastwood’, “reggae-bop”, and “twilight zone”. I found the results to be suitable for background music and I can easily play any of that on my gear at home. Who knows, maybe add a bass line?

Last Laugh