One year ago today: August 21, 2024, more tubes!
Five years ago today: August 21, 2020, at the spa.
Nine years ago today: August 21, 2016, the Rocky Road rules.
Random years ago today: August 21, 2017, early termite damage.
The past twelve hours have been intense, financially. Never forget my system works because I plan ahead and that includes correctly anticipating what stunts other people will try to pull. My actual income is probably 20% of what most people think it is. Fact is, I can usually predict where people stand by just looking. I can tell poor people who ain’t gonna make it by the simplest method—they do not ask the right questions or complain about the right things. I was up before dawn and got things taken care of.
There are two pallets here, the one underneath is newer, but I was after the wide pieces you see on the ends the top unit. These are destined for utility boxes around here and the price of lumber is gone insane again. And dammit, I fell asleep last night forgetting to turn the compressor off. It’s just noisy enough to keep any light sleepers up. While it dims all the lights when it kicks in, the thing only uses around $6 of electric per month for such a great tool.
Politics. Trump wins again, the half-billion dollar “fraud” fine from the Engeron jury has been overturned. And Trump is going out on patrol in DC with some policemen this evening. There have been no murders there for a record seven days. I think I just set my own record for sleeping past noon. I should be under my kitchen floor, but I know what happens around here during the summers. Says here Trump is kicking lifers off Section 8, you get two years maximum. And those on the longest get kicked off first. Sadly, all this is 50 years to late to help me.
California gangs have begun calling ICE on each other. Florida has halted visas for commercial licenses, which affects only those foreign born. All 55 million visa holders in this country are to be reviewed for deportable offenses, like overstaying your visa. The CDC is canning 600 employees. A.I. stocks are showing signs of cracking. The product is fake and that doesn’t help. (A.I. fails miserably at financials and I’m sticking with my old Excel software, never updated, thank you.)
Carnival cruise lines now has rules against “ghetto behavior”. Apple is again warning users that covering the camera on their iPhones can damage their computers. And you wonder why some folks prefer working with pallets.
Fresh graupel.
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The Reb & I do not like doing business on the phone. The instrument is an excuse for errors. We’ve put a system together where we are both looking at identical documents via e-mail. It takes time. No as much of it as an error, but we’ve been collaborating long enough to know that you must keep the other person up to the hour, or the minute of possible. The reality is, most money flow is one direction and if I make a wrong decision due to outdated figures, well, everybody hurts. I am reduced to minimal everything now until February 2026. That’s why I planned my minimal to be better than those who do not plan. Still, it is now a pinch.
It looks like Caltier Fund 1 is a lost cause. Six months with no real activity, which does not make sense to me as the properties are bought and paid for and still rented. And a portion of that rent is mine. They were doing so well and now they will not explain except to say it is a regulatory matter. Well, then, I would like to know what that is all about. We know those rents bring in a surplus and the regulation is you disperse 90% of the profit every month.
But talk about the worst of timing, I have no place to invest that money lined up. The stock market is pure gambling and everything else is in limbo. The housing market, even if there is no crash, is a bloody incomprehensible scramble. Major developments how hinge on single government decisions, um, on that matter I hope everybody who invested in climate change loses their shirts. Trump has cancelled all subsidies into that boondoggle.
Glad I was to take the afternoon off. The pallet picture above was taken at 4:10PM. Here are the next three pictures between then and 5:38PM, two heavy duty utility boxes later. I’d say a third of the time was lugging the lumber around between saws and sheds. I got something done and that’s kind of important. You can see my soon-to-be shingles and then the AirLocker tool. Remember that, the tool that punches out the nails lickety-split. And then the finished two boxes from the wider lumber, no, the colors do not match and don’t look too close at the fit. They are junk boxes.
Used lumber is normally some sort of frustration. I have a lovely collection of pieces that are cut on the same jig and the same time that turn out 1/4” too short, you figure it out. That’s why every carpenter soon as a corner full of trimmings to be used someday. And if you have time, this long-winded dolphin video is worth it.
ADDENDUM
I have personal restrictions on financial info because America is cutthroat. I see that, 35 years after I first gave warnings, many social sites are advising people not to publish their pictures and some will block any pictures showing a whole family with children. It’s become that dangerous. America will never be free again until all undesirables are removed. So, no details but we have had a default that causes quite an upset. My rule with contracts is never to enter into any agreement that would cause you to suffer if the other party does not perform as promised. The best descript of this recent event is I-told-you-so.
While I can’t say, I can let you put two and two together. When property is involved, it means in a default situation, the deed becomes mine. Moving on, there is another legal matter that stresses an important point. That in America, the accuser has an advantage. Somebody can accuse you of something that you may have to spend money to dispel and you cannot get that money back. However, it’s not all one-way. Those who hear these accusations can be held liable for acting on them without proof.
This is why I am an advocate of tort reform. The only defense against a charge of malicious gossip should be to reveal the source. As I’ve said many times, this would prove that almost all the trouble in the world comes from the same few people.
