September 15, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 15, 2024, ‘1421’ blog coincidence.
Five years ago today: September 15, 2020, muggiest this century.
Nine years ago today: September 15, 2016, nice but twice.
Random years ago today: September 15, 2015, if I can crease it . . .

           Downtown before dawn to take care of some Tennessee financing. My bankbook has taken some real body-blows recently—and survived. It was a rush-hour drive so I listened to more of “Holy Ghost”, the audiobook of the Minnesota town that faked the apparitions but now has a sniper killing Catholics. Far more dynamic a tale than this feminist sensitivity crap last time around. Checking the radio on the hour, I see the Kirk assassination is turning out the opposite of what the MSM hoped for. We have a public outcry over the Democrat judge who set the killer free with no bail.

           How are you fixed for buying a $130 thermos. Yeti, the people who built my battery backup, have this puppy for sale. The battery they make big claims about running lights, computers, and small appliances will not operate my CD player for even eight hours. The thermos seems sturdy with lots of features like no-condensation surface. But it is $65 nice, not double that. It carries a gallon, so you don’t want to be lugging a full tank about for very long. "I hope you brought enough for everybody." (That's a phone company joke, peeps.)

           I got more fence panels, it is easier to put up a barrier fence than to keep the back yard pretty from the street. (here should be a nearby picture. Chicken was on sale, so I’ve got my largest pot on the stove boiling up drumsticks, the lo-cal option. On the way home, slower traffic gave me another four chapters of “Holy Ghost”, a stark reminder of why I got the hell out of small towns first chance that arose. The retail price on this book says $55 and it’s worth it. If you don’t know a lot about rifles, you will. So far, Wheatfield is a list of what I don’t like about small towns, but to be more accurate, about small town people. Everything is everybody’s business but nobody saw nothing.
           It’s also a lesson on how cops love to use one crime as an excuse to snoop into dozens of items that are not their business, particularly who is sleeping with whom. So far there are no suspects in the shootings, but the cops have complete files on who is bopping who, with particular emphasis on cheating housewives, and a policy of making every new cop who arrives from downtown is up to the minute. The only instant data I need is silver prices, which are inching toward $43. My hope is, as always before, there will be a scrunch of people afraid they’ll miss out and drive the prices insane.

           That was the Reb on the phone. Like I warned so long ago, now that they have all the good people on file, the scrunch begins. The post office wants documentation and a life history for any change of address. And they will not deliver care-of to any person who is not on their file, along with that person’s private data as well. This is tricky, as the bank accounts are in both our names—and my ID has “evolved” since those were filled out. She says the new requirements are as bad as she used to say I was too concerned about.
Bottom line is the state has slipped another past the voters. They slowly build until they have a critical mass, then make it mandatory for even those who disagree. Knowing that people already on file have a defeatist attitude and won’t try to stick up for others. Nor will they take intials, they require the first and any middle names spelled out in full. They no longer just deliver the mail, they now track it.
           The video of the murder of the blonde girl on the train has been completely blotted from the media except for private sources that keep reposting. A version circulating says the murderer is from a professional crime family and did the killing to get a cushy cell in an asylum rather than death row. I just saw a photo online of a creep I recognize from some club I played, arrested for issuing death threats. But where? If I remember, I’ll post, but that shit-head is no highschool student. Later, yep from Ybor City. He’s a drunk at the Lara, a dive bar behind Centennial Park.
           My theory is that over 30% of eBay accounts are fakes from the same people out to disguise their operation. Hotels in Vegas are installing sensors in the mini-bars to collect a $50 fee for anyone who puts their own items inside. Most major US airlines supply travel records to a broker who just signed a $5 billion contract for your personal information. So-called scientists have added porcupines to the list of bush game that Africans eat before catching Ebola. They like to minimize that the infected people eat a lot of monkey meat, which American charities keep as low-key as possible.

Picture of the day.
Harvesting cherries.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Here’s a preview of the 2026 model Merkhava, that’s Israeli for “iron chariot”. It’s a remake of the 1970s Merkhava with some extras. The tank is designed for crew protection, with the motor in the front, a format common when you have more money than people. It has redesigned armor belts with the reactive panels built into the frame. The biggest change is the motor, it is now a diesel-electric making for very smooth acceleration. It also has a battery mode for super-quiet stealth operation and a very low infrared signature, much harder for top-down drone attacks.

           The barrel is chrome-lined for higher pressure shells, including programmable air-burst munitions. Handy against terrorists who hide behind walls, churches, civilians, that kind of thing. The cannon is also A.I. controlled and the rate it can shoot up enemy tanks is classified. Cameras inside give the crew a full 360° field of vision and it still carries six infantrymen. And best of all from a user standpoint, this puppy is air conditioned. Add it up, and I say this is not a real battle tank but a battle limo, more designed as an emergency evacuation vehicle. Paid for with your tax dollars.

           I got the small fence section finished, now the entire back yard is private, as it should be. There is a gap still visible, but rather than fuss with a gate, I’m putting a second fence section to block the view, leaving twelve feet access space between. That means I also (at my age) sunk a second fence post, see photo. Notable was that hand building that second 8-foot long fence cost me exactly $50 and no cents. It was a good workout, I had to string out the compressor which took minimal time as I now have plenty of Nashville fence experience. Plus the sawzall had me down in the pit cutting a one inch root. That was one solid piece of vegetation.
           The fences are as solid as walls, a technique learned the hard way. I copied the ready-made design [from Home Depot] that used 2x3” rails. All of them, mine and theirs, sagged within a few years. The solution was asking the lumber yard for the lumber skids. I cut them the same shape as the cross-braces on my doors and gates, which have stayed true for up to nine years now. I was out there over three hours, a truly magnificent day with just a hint of cooler temps on the way. We have a new motor for a belt sander, the church on Pearl threw out a portable A/C unit. (Setting it up for a test, it seems to just need a little tweaking. This design is new to me, time to learn something new. It’s the kind on wheels you hang the hose out the window.)

           What’s this? Trump is suing the New York Times for $15 billion. That should put them out of business, and they are as guilty as it gets. Years of hit pieces and participation in hoaxes. Here’s something kind of off the record. When I post on social media, or I mean this smart aleck I know who really knows how to aggravate libtards, I go to lengths to make the comment stand out. One of my favorites was discovering how to make any titles display on a colored background, which is supposed to be disabled by the web page. Well, today I discovered how to make the titles double-size. The neat part is if some jerk cuts and pastes, the formatting does not copy.
           England has limited the population to two airplane flights per year each. Removing the clamps from my microscope case and making ready to set up the thickness planer, well that’s a lot more work than it would seem. I had the radio on, only Tampa, but I did finally find the antenna wire. We may just have decent reception soon as I misplaced that wire some eight years ago. My bad. And that’s the big news of the day.

ADDENDUM
           Still reviewing my original investment strategies, in some cases now over 50 years old, though I would point out that I could not act on them at that age. Yep, I’m back where I started with my “funeral account”, the money I intend to die with it in the bank. One change I disliked was the bank policy of introductory special CD rates, we already talked about that. How they give you 4% to start, hoping you will forget the renewal dates and roll it over at 1%. I’ve developed a plan to get me that magical $1 per day income that is all it takes to get ahead in the world. Maybe just to prove it was not lucky break, and yes, I've had that suggested.
           Ignoring the fact that 95% of people never get that happening, and staying home last night instead of the planning meeting, I’ve developed three strategies to do this using only $8,675. Depending on my property taxes this year, I could have up to 20% of that in the next 71 days. The catch is not letting the two banks know about each other—and these days who is better experienced at that than me-myself?

Last Laugh