April 21, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 21, 2025, a generic day.
Five years ago today: April 21, 2021, chips, BitChute, more “studies”.
Nine years ago today: April 21, 2017, permission to unplug.
Random years ago today: April 21, 2007, rainbow eucalyptus.

           Today we stick our head under the house. Who’s with me? Overnight, we heard something fall over. Nobody claims this cabin is critter-proof, but they are limited in size to about a house cat. But not cats, who are so overfed by the neighbor they can’t be bothered. I can’t find what fell but the clunk says investigate, I was [recently] away long enough for something to build a nest. And they’ll start Gangnam style under the floorboards if you let them. I’ve had kitchen scourers disappear because of the tiny food scrapings in the wire.

           Here is a yard weed that actually grew in my yard and looks okay. We are now returned from our under-joist expedition and found nothing. The sound “weighed” about a half-pound so it’s gone. The search sapped me so tired, I’m going back to sleep. This was not in my master plan. I won’t leave you with nothing this morning, instead, take a look at this box.

           Normally, I shy away from building boxes this large now. This one houses my battery gear and you can see how the wood has shrunk, leaving gaps that would leak badly if I did not take care. This, I would like to repair and find very few resources. I often look to the ever-more-rare videos on non-antiques furniture restoral. The outside dimensions have stayed square, so I hope to find some way to maybe fill the cracks. That is something I’ve never done. I’m more interested in technique and material than looks. Will this lead to me finally setting up my jointer the right way?

           Two items got me off to a good start. I got downtown and back in an hour with groceriers and solved the midnight thunk mystery. Nothing under the house and nothing wrong in the kitchen, so today’s big deal was—you’ll never guess this—butter. You know the kitchen floor is not fixed, so it can wobble a bit. This time a pound of butter fell off the door rack inside the freezer. And the traffic downtown was a mess, is there another rodeo? I picked up some fence pickets as well, today was my biggest grocery shop in years. See, we are not lacking for rousing excitement at all, not around here.
           I got the call, there is a cancellation on Friday, so I’m in, otherwise I’ve told you it can take weeks for an appointment. They say there is nothing at Biscayne Park. If I get to Snapper Creek, I intend to see for myself. Nothing there to see is motive enough for me, but this is Florida, where many denizens are the same grade of peasant as my family. They can do nothing for decades until that one time you count on them to do nothing. It’s a peasant thing.

           Not so pleasant is French drone surveillance of farmers. Vaccinated cattle have higher body temperatures, the government is using sensors to detect unvaxed herds and going after the ranches. The Virginia Democrats were losing a rural redistricting issue until once again at the last moment they found 64,000 votes. Just enough to win, again.

Picture of the day.
Robot rail cars, Australia.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Oh no, not another box. Yes,folks, it is the fast box. I’ve been meaning to and this is the result. It is a combination of two disciplines. One is the Golden Ratio, most of you will recognize that by now. This is a half-size unit, the second factor is five cuts. The box uses the dimensions the lumber comes in. You’d think that would be the first box to build, but it is not that easy, since you have to already know boxes to make that work right away. And these did. They are the same box, one with a lid, the other without.

           These are butt-end joints, many a test shows they are stronger that fancier cuts. These are utility grade for storage and gifts. Each of these is made from a single fence picket. The box with the lid has not been cut and tested but hinges or fitting lids is not my focus right now. These are for spice jars and a place to keep batteries which get used around here by the score. These boxes can be jazzed up by the addition of a drawer pull as a knob. This batch had almost no knots so I plan to build four more. Complete design and build on each box was 14 minutes, the cost less than 95 cents each. hese are the narrower “4-1/2” pickets, so the box interior is that dimension. I wonder if there is a standard size flower pot that fits inside, just a thought.
           These boxes are so easy to build, I may use some of them as guinea pigs for other treatment. Like how to line the boxes with felt, or how to make a lit that nests. The field is wide open for ideas.

           We watched another Festus movie and toured the neighbor’s yard. One of those mango trees featured here a couple months ago was killed by that frost. He had it cut back to just the limbs and, behold, today we saw some tiny twigs beginning to sprout. Those two mango trees are all that’s left of the mini-orchard on the properties when he bought all three lots. Here is another view of the boxes to show more of the fit and what I’m looking at as far as any further labor.
           Meanwhile, let’s see if there is any science news that piques my curiosity or if Trump has upset even more people. The Internet, as we know it, is fast being taken over by censorship and ulterior control. Funny how few seem even aware. Various state elections signal there will again be huge dead voter turnout in the midterms.

ADDENDUM
           Navigation. Neat. I can now go directly to the correct lookup tables. Navigation from memory, I no longer have to sketch out the triangles. This is the second-final step to drawing an LOP, or line of position, on a sailing chart. My birdfeeder was still full after four days now, Maybe there is hope? Also, I posted a meme saying the squirrels were launching raids on my feeder from the neighbor’s trees amid “absurd claims my property was their ancestral rodentland”. And got 36 dislikes. Some people!

Last Laugh