October 20, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 20, 2024, Karaoke, birdies, NASA.
Five years ago today: October 20, 2020, Economics 99 – The Deadline.
Nine years ago today: October 20, 2016, the house owns me.
Random years ago today: October 20, 2007, Wal*Mart “privacy”.

           Good morning, excepting the noisy squirrels who are still miffed at the birdfeeders, so close and yet so far. It’s almost 10:00AM and I’m still waiting for the first neighbor noise. 10:30AM still nothing, four coffees later, I’m going to go anyway. I want some nice planed fancy mitered boxes for my new multimeter and laser. It’s another perfect day but I’m not up to getting under the joists. I’m in a letter-writing mood which I gather is fugaciously rare in adults nowadays.

           Will today bring any adventure, being defined as anything constructive I haven’t done before, in a while, or some different way? Yes, that explains this photo. As a matter of fact, it is a post in the ground. Four hours later. The neighbor was over at 11:00AM and needed advice on how to pull a stripped screw, which turns out was inside his fancy plastic mailbox. The box slips over a 4x4” like this one, and fastens by a lag screw.
           The wood had rotted inside half-way up and the rest was jammed inside the plastic post. He had a helper but they were “stumped” so it figured to me they had zero experience at this. I had been pleasantly bulding a nice wee box, but these guys weren’t making progress. So, here is a panel of the next few steps. The post had to be trimmed and to do it right, I needed to use the big-blade chop saw, shown here. I found the post hole digger but not the gumption to use it, so I let the other guy take over.

           I stayed outside all morning and early afternoon with this project because I know they always take three times longer than planned. And these guys did not have the right tools. For example, that old plastic mailbox had a series of screws inside the housing that required stubbies to get at. Seeing they had not planned this out, I opted to work alongside until they got this. And it was an adventure, why you can just go back and admire that post, it’s a thing of beauty.

           Who’s not laughing? The No Kings protest backers. It was more a demonstration of how little those people know about how the country operates. And I sign that they are very willing to get violent given the opportunity. The worst crap-holes will have troops on the street corners ready for any Demtard zombies or cannibals. I doubt we'll be affected, rioting is a city thing. I’ve mapped out the finances here until end of February, 2026, or I should say refined them. I’ve been expecting an upset for some time now.

           Should Social Security stop or be delayed, it came at the right time as I’m already closing the books. Not every expense around here is on the budget, just the core group of mainly unavoidable costs that can easily get away on people. When I go “over budget” it means I’ve had to take money away from other discretionary categories and I don’t like to do that. I did not retire just to scrape by paying the bills. That lifestyle is for undisciplined bozos who haven’t learned much.
           I spent just one year at university residence, most of the time I was 19 years old. Everybody who cares knows I did not graduate and why, but that is the year that taught me the most about life in the real world. There were some professional students there, some in the same room for ten or more years, but most were farm kids like myself away from home the first time ever. The difference is most knew it was a phase, to me it was real life on a scale I never imagined, a luxury I damn well know could not last. If it was not costing twice my annual income every two semesters, I would have lived there forever—and I assure you I had very little in common with the permanents. I was learning, they already knew it all.

Picture of the day.
Nike’s chosen path.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Thank goodness for a cool day, or that we’d have melted into the ground. The neighbor decided he wanted to pour concrete around the pole, so I sent him downtown for Redi-Mix. They only had the 50-lb bags. Take a look at this picture of the job. This is the stage I told the crew to stop for the day. Let the concrete harden and the ground settle. And do no set that mailbox in place or fasten anything till tomorrow. I know the carton said one hour, but I’m the one around here who knows how to take that post back out of the ground without backbreaking labor--and I'd still rather not.

           So, what’s to see in this picture? Okay, I’ll tell. That’s my dead blow on the ground, my level in the guy’s hand, my Homer bucket, and in case you ask, yes, that is also my post. It’s one of the leftover six-footers from Tennessee. This post would not exist, I think, if I had not accepted the challenge, ha-ha. I showed them how mark both the tool and wood to get the depth first try. Which is great because I truly got tired showing how the concrete had to be mixed right. I disappointed myself, then again, I never did like working with concrete.

           The sun got high and bright and off went the cool weather, I’m inside a few dollars richer. They went out for steaks or something, I felt more like a siesta. Before that, let’s grab the news. Denmark has passed a law that your face, body, and voice belong to you under copyright law. It sounds anti-A.I., but ownership can be a complicated thing. The government shutdown shows no signs of abating as the Democrats have trapped themselves into insisting they get $1.5T for their nasty schemes, like medical for the illegals. It’s what, 12 more days until food stamps and rent assistance cease—and there is no public outcry.
           I believe the voting public is immune to welfare sob stories. Too many us have seen the luxury of American welfare. Cell phones, microwaves, steaks, flatscreens, you name it. Free school, bus pass, medical, people who get a free easy life will never get a job. I’ve got the day marked. Even if Social Security is late, it’s not going to hurt me, or not hurt me in the sense of those who still have not learned to plan ahead—and follow those plans.

           An ambulance in Oregon hit a bicyclist and rushed him to the hospital. Then sent him a bill for $1,800. The No Kings event was a strange failure as even the MSM who hyped the event know that it was mostly wierdos in Halloween costumes who often had not read the signs they were carrying. Am I the only one who suspects Trump is intentionally allowing these crazy uglies to make public ass-clowns of themselves?
           The WPM was an hour tonight. I’m giving Wilford that instant camera, after realizing it is a top-of-the-line device. He reports the surge of instant cameras around Xmas a couple years ago still has its adherents. I automatically reject the costs, this blog alone (not at all the most pictures I take) regularly requires 600 – 800 photos per month just for what you see here. One GIF like this can require 150 photos. Wilford has another camera he needs rewired to take a transformer instead of those Panasonic "NeverLast" factory brands that cost more to replace than the camera. As far as I know, the robot club is the only outfit that does this kind of work.

           In case you wonder why so many GIFs in this blog, there is an explanation. Most of my views take place during office hours. No sound means safe for work. (But check first anyway.) Plus, it seems to me blogs are a natural home for the GIF format. While other blogs have pics, they don’t reflect progressive improvement over time. And most readers here know it takes extra incentive to get you these timely videos. GIFs are not that right for other forms of presentation—if you ask me.
           There seems no speculation that A.I. is sifting through blogs to find copyright infringements. This was an issue just before the A.I. boom, makes me wonder why it went silent. Meh, it won’t matter, as 99% of the photos in this blog are my original property. Who knows, except for some paid pro blogs, this may be the one with the most such photos in history? Did I just say 'fugaciously'?

Last Laugh