One year ago today: September 28, 2024, tamales or nothing.
Five years ago today: September 28, 2020, free bacon, they say . . .
Nine years ago today: September 28, 2016, a saloon on Hwy 17.
Random years ago today: September 28, 2014, whiskey voice & big plans.
Today, we try a new routine. The summer got me into a habit that stalled out. It goes like this, I will now attempt to not go out into the shed before late morning. The reasoning is became plain this year—if I go out to the shed first, I will quickly find something to do out there, and it usually involves boxes. Hey, that is what the shed is now equipped for. I’ve identified what triggers this response—that second coffee refill. The first cup is generally blog time and that has not changed in twenty years. That’s the time I decide what to do next, and sure enough, I wind up in the shed doing boxes. I call it "dedication" instead of "distraction". Hey, I'm the Captain and it's my boat . . .
Canada becomes the first country to admit, since vaccinations became law, that life expectancy has dropped. Here’s an example of naïve pragmatism, when people copy me, they are plagiarizing, when I copy, I am repurposing, and that’s what I’ve done with the bass line to a tune you never heard of. If you never heard of it, is it copying? Because maybe I never heard of it either. In this case I used the riffs to the 1958 Shirelles release, “Don’t Go Home”. No link. I, um, significantly upgraded the passages.
This was not a prime vacation day, I got under the floor and sorted out that mess of wiring. The spider web material is toast from age, but I have to leave two circuits in place or rip through another wall and through the attic. Two advantages got me underway. It stayed cool enough while I got all the tools and materials ready, I was back inside before noon. And I spent the extra $30 per room and made sure in each area at least one light and two outlets were on separate runs. So I got to work all afternoon in the cool with lots of light.
But, the old circuit includes the fridge and the hot water heater. That’s why I awaited the right weather—no chance to stop half-way. The wiring had to be back in working order before I quit for the day. Or [else] no coffee and no hot shower. And the job took hours longer than planned. Old nails that had to be pulled and joists that were not anything on-center.
An old Leadbelly tune was in my head, who remembers “Cottonfields”? I do because there is no way to play a consistent bass line to that chord pattern. You quickly resort to blues-jazz fusion, with most every passage mostly walking scale notes. Almost the opposite of my bass style. I gave it a shot since there is an old vocalist trick I learned in college, where the scale is different ascending or descending. Who knows? Another impossible bass line is Maroon Five’s “Memories”, since it is a guitar part. But I found the music sheets that shows the correct double stops.
For those who know there’s something familiar about that tune, it is Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” lowered to B (five sharps). That’s why most play it in C. Still no word from my guitar player.
Silver closed at $46.76. Y’all better get out there and buy some or you’ll get left behind again. Buy, buy, buy! Let me know how that works out for you. Buying is easy. Selling, not so much. Nobody knows the right time to sell. They just want you to think they do.
It’s a Colorado union hall.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
This is the toughest part of the whole house. All the services, wiring, and plumbing meet at that corner [of the kitchen]. I had to walk back to the shed several times and I got “bitten” again, it must be a toxic vine. But which one? It got me good, severe burning, stinging pain, it was like living in Australia. Planning ahead, I froze two large plastic bottles of lime juice which lasted just long enough, the fridge is back on and brother, I need a coffee. This unclear picture shows the nest of tools needed today. You can see the saw for removing the rotten old floor boards, there are also two drills, a jigsaw, and a small pot for loose parts.
And I was right about that circuit that went nowhere. My theory is that the fat lady they rented to long ago basically lived in the one big room. They had run in that 240V heater/cooler combo and just left the old 120V in place. It was held by those old style staples meaning I had to pry each one out individually with a screwdriver. This entails leaning down into the pit below where the fans can reach so you quickly get a layer of dust that will not brush off. It took a half-hour but I got it. Not ever wanting to get under this house again, I’m considering using the salvaged cable to go around the perimeter of the house rather than diagonal across the joists.
I certainly do not mind the work. Statistically, homeowners spend more for accommodation that renters, but that is a hard statistic. What they spend at least partially becomes equity. It is inflation that’s squeezing the piss out of renters. It’s a repeat of the 70s like I said. Prices are rising so fast they can never raise the down payment. Up to now, the homeless are mostly rejects, but we may soon seen workers on the streets—and this time even a real estate bust is not going to bring prices into line.
A broader issue is the mentality of the homeless. I was forced to work at jobs that I knew would never pay off. There was no option to live in a tent and get free food, or I would have considered it. You know the formula. You go to school for 20 years, work for 40 years, retire for 15 years and then you die. If you don’t let these people get hungry, they will never get jobs. I understand their objections—who wants to work at a job with no dignity, no livable wages, and zero skill requirements? But they should not have the option to not work at all. It creates a permanent class of underlings living off the system. I’m harsh on this point, you don’t work, you don’t eat. Not because that is the right attitude, but because the alternative is even worse.
The house across the way is now boarded up. The lawn is mowed and a bit of work can be heard. I wonder if a lower standard in housing might be a partial answer. I was homeless as a teen and had to live a long way from the city until I was 26. I did spend three years in college, but no car and renting a $45 per month room is hardly living large. The hardest part was living where it was unsafe and surrounded by unsavory people.
Up late, I searched on-line for things to make with a laser cutter. It is 99% trinkets, nothing useful. What a sad situation. The other 1% are industrial cutters making precision parts like gears. This gives me second thoughts. And are we on the verge of seeing some actual arrests? Trump is slow to act, though that could be a signal that he’s making sure nobody can squirm away. Silver is $47.10. Hopefully, your day was at least as fun-filled and interesting.
That’s doing better than Kathmandu, the sporting goods outlet. They just had to close over twenty stores for the bonehead use of a queer (tranny) in their ads. I’ve looked in their window but the prices are stratospheric. They gained publicity a while back having that lady who lost an arm to a shark attack as their spokesperson. But learning nothing from the BudLight fiasco (permanent loss of 30% sales), Kathmandu just had to go woke, the prelude to going broke.
ADDENDUM
Here are the runner-ups for the “New Name for TikTok” contest:
TikunTokAnd buried down here is the trick to making videos play backward. Most freebie editors lack this feature (except Apples). They have no options other than to run the files sequentially, the way GIF files display. The problem is, you cannot fool the editors by simply sorting the list descending as they import back in original order. I had long ago determined the fix was to renumber the files, but this is tedious. So I went on-line and thoroughly researched the “rename” function. As mentioned, it will not persist except in the active file folder. As soon as you leave to open your editware, the file folder become inactive.
MozelTok
TalmudTok
ZOGtok
TikKosh
SnipKok
Tiktokowitz
PickPock
The trick is back to the rename function. You may have to experiment to find out if the rename works on the first or the last file in the list, but select the whole list. Now, change the file name of the key or first file (now BOTH your new folder and the files in it have different names than your source folder. Repeat what I just said). This is important because many editing apps will only export to the same folder and those that don’t risk overwriting your originals.
When you change the key or first file, the rename function will now renumber the list. Use this new list to create your gif for hilarious results. Chances are I’ll later find all the shortcuts. Just now I’m happy to find something that works. And that’s a “boo” to animation apps.
