One year ago today: December 23, 2024, a busy enough day.
Five years ago today: December 23, 2020, a freezjng day in Georgia.
Nine years ago today: December 23, 2016, Rebel in the swamp.
Random years ago today: December 23, 2012, the barter system.
Aha, silver has broken through $70, this morning while I was baking corn muffins, with turkey gravy. It is already reaching for $71 and the coffee is ready. What price will cause the big panic, the breakaway, the scenario I’ve been awaiting for 15 years? I didn’t win the Powerball so that was two bucks down the drain. So, let me out to the shed and I’ll be happy. I awoke while it was still dark, so read in deep detail how that milli() command works with the Arduino. Interesting. It used the on-board clock (which is not a clock) to update a counter every 1,024 thousands of a second. There’s a recognizable number.
The way if pulls back right after breaching another dollar barrier is proof to me the banks are full tilt at it. $71.23, and according to the on-line diagnosis, I have the seasonal flut. Dry coughing, sore throat, that’s it. Right after that clinic visit last week, the only time I was close enough to anyone. It’s still a bother and adds effort to everything.
This photo is just a dollar store light and a sprout on the back window linden tree. It seemed picturesque, a word I first encountered in the fifth grade. I’m allowed to reminisce and this stands out in my memory. Back then, after lunch, the teacher would read a chapter from a storybook. It was one of the rare times you were allowed to fold your arms on the desk and fall asleep. Books like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were popular. By then, I’d been reading the only books at home, a set of encyclopedias. It follows my reading skills were very advanced to those around me. In fact, very, very advanced I was regularly accused of cheating.
Yeah, I know. Exactly how does one “cheat” at being able to read? But this gives you an accurate enough picture of the caliber of bohunks and unaccomplished half-wits I was raised around. I can explain, they were not saying I could not read, but that I could correctly pronounce words that had not been taught in reading or spelling class. This infuriated some for there is a bit more to the tale. You see, before I came along, the readings were only done by the prettiest and brightest of the girls in the classroom.
But they often and regularly had to stop and ask the teacher about unfamiliar words. I was finally given a chance and my delivery was flawless and uninterrupted, and yes, I know it. To the consternation of Shiela, Marjorie, Patsy, and Caroline, I became the class reader and favorite, but that’s another story. And that, my friends who also must like to read, is why I recall that word, actually it was a phrase. Nancy Drew saw a “picturesque panorama” and I had to ask for help. Their glee was not boundless, for I had make them wait.
The Ft. Knox vault door.
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No Festus, just a quick visit. The neighbor, I’ll try calling him Dave, got invited to a Christmas concert. Turns out his minister’s granddaughter is in the pageant and this is a small town, so he’s obligated. We postponed until tomorrow and move it up an hour to 5:00PM because it’s dark so quick. This, folks is the type of things that, by comparison, are now blogworthy. Is this the pace of my remaining days? But always stick around, in the life of yahoos like me, there is always something noteworthy happening along.
I quit handling lumber and went inside to word on side small boxes. That was the correct pace and I’m finding a use for long narrow boxes. Turns out they are easier to shift around. Glance around for pictures, I’m not walking out there in the dark. But at 7:00PM, I’m driving to the south end to view these Xmas lights. I paid more attention to design with these boxes, again I do not know what would sell. The dimensions are Golden Ration, but half the width. It still looks good. Maybe call it the half-box. For stuff like nails, where today taught me a full size box is ultimately going to be too heavy for me. Fair warning, I get it, but I figure this is why the Big Guy invented coffee. Silver just hit $72 per ounce.
The evening was chilly, so I set off to view the Xmas lights. So did half the town. The congestion was total, with horse drawn buggies and hay rides. I decided against the radio and movies, just the driving tour. I’m copying the few photos that turned out (badly) but once again my Vivitar camcorder proves not up to the task. Worst feature tonight: no way to get it to stop focusing on the window glass, even with auto disabled. This is the era of dumbing down for gimptards so much that normal people can’t use things. This year was not as nice as back in the teens, with many blocks not participating.
There are many loudspeakers and pony rides. And many “honk if you love Jesus” posses on the sidewalks. Honk if you love peace and quiet. The area is well-lit but many drivers, especially the ones behind me, liked to leave their headlights on. As or the moving displays, it’s the same principle as Halloween. It was worth having a look but I doubt I’ll go again on my own.
As I drive back through town, I saw the lights on in the old club, and it was empty. I stopped in for one, it is a mere shadow of the down-home pub it used to be. A couple people came by, nobody I knew. Except for India, which is something to talk about. You see, she is half by age, but has taken a real shine to me, and it is not all motherly, I can explain. It appears she is serious about selling things from home and I want to see her setup. She is single and that club is the closest thing to a singles bar in Polk County. Consequently, she has heard most every bit of bullshit, but not from me. I’ll tell you again, she is very sexy and blonde and svelte.
I certainly understand what she goes through, let’s say I have some idea what it is like to keep meeting lots of what you do not want. Hence, she glommed on to me immediately for two reasons. Actually three, because it was her that approached me. Reason one, I never talk sex in a bar. Two, it was not just talk, either. I handed her a sample box. That distanced me from every man in the place, permanently. And over the months since, she has become aware of the infrastructure that, shall we say, is lacking most everywhere.
She has come to know what makes me tick and aware of two things: my limitations and how I respect them. She has a genuine concern for my well-being and has offered to help at home if I need it. I just met her thirty years too late. I will, after my condition improves, make plans to find more about her business operations and she has long been asking to learn about how these boxes are built. It’s nothing at the moment, but imagine having an enthusiastic helper who could operate the small chop saw or do the yagasuki.
ADDENDUM
My pal is depressed and won’t admit it. JZ never learned to drum or strum, and now is faced with the consequences. I don’t empathize much, which is understandable because I’m the guy he didn’t listen to about that. My take is that when I’m not around, it is obvious there is nobody to chum around with but I have also warned him about that. The past few years he has taken to reading parallels with my situation which have never been there in his life. He’s never had a Reb, a woman with shared goals, but nor has he gone as far as I have to look. He does not even have a definition of a boring woman. So, yes, he does draw some unfair conclusions, mostly that the Reb and I were lucky to meet.
Not so, she and I met in a scenario where we both wanted out of where we were. I’ve commented how with both faced the same barriers. But where she tackled them from a position of talent, and had only instinct, and anyone who has lived in the wild knows instinct is red in tooth and claw. Our methods often clashed, for I’m first to admit I cannot face life’s challenges from a position of good looks, money, and personality.
If possible this next trip, I plan to drive the extra 33 miles and check in. He’s one of the few I talk dollar amounts with and that is overdue. That woman of his is gone (for now) so he’ll have some freedom and cash. But he will ask about the Reb and as I just said, it creates comparisons that do not go well. I don’t think his lady has an album being released or just moved into a condo in Franklin. I’ll plan to stay a bit because he gets behind on his computer paperwork. And he knows better than to ask the whiz kids who surround him.
