One year ago today: May 7, 2025, testing the Yeti.
Five years ago today: May 7, 2021, western journalism.
Nine years ago today: May 7, 2017, 3:19AM.
Random years ago today: May 7, 2007, six bucks!
This is why we have the back up vehicle. The KIA transmission, although we are getting it, is taking so long it throws me behind schedule. Today I insure the Hundy until I get the cash and time together. This involves spending a bit more cash on the Hundy but also means it is in better running condition. Remember, this time I had to shell out for a battery, that was $150. I will, in necessary, find a way to get a hole through the firewall and get the starter bypass switch inside the cab. I must get to Miami.
Ahem, not only are you looking at the bare studs and siding, this picture is telling on me. This is a cabin, not a mansion. I don’t mind other people making $4,000 mortgage payments, give me comfy, and now we have radio—with a slant. Literally; If you peer closely, there are two shelves both were horizontally leveled when installed. Now you can see the slight difference. One was before I braced the kitchen floor to the right of this view, the other was today. That is why this cabin has character, Mr. & Mrs. Modern Shopper.
I mustered enough vigor to get downtown and shop. Too low on coffee is not permitted, plus I stopped at Autozone to get the diagnostics on the Hundy. That was a new and expensive battery that went dead sitting there for eight months. That should be nothing in the Florida climate. All I got back was check the brake light switch and the usual oxygen sensor data which I have never bothered with. But I’m not forgetting that $140 battery died. It was not used, but I did not remove a terminal or put it on a trickle charge until too late.
Guitar Rick called to report his trip to the jam at Clermont. Totally Blues music, which I don’t care much for. That, and because what they call a jam is often a showcase for guitarists who’ve played the same tunes for forty years. He did not stay long, which tells us he no longer expects to play out too much. That’s a good sign for me, I psychologically feel three gigs a month is my limit. Also, as I talk more with Rick on the phone, other constraints are showing up. For instance, turns out his lady friend who wants him in a band may also want him out from underfoot.
What few tunes he has texted are not all that challenging for me. Such as Elvis and “Little Sister”. It has no bass line, just a thump on the standup. That’s also a sure sign the other guy never listened to the other instruments. When the original lacks good bass, immediately look for a newer recording. Sure enough Dwight Yoakum released a version and it has a bass line right out of Stevie Ray Vaughan, who pretty much had only one bass line. When that happens, invent a newer and fancier turnaround.
Nothing unusual about this but it is all the hint I need that once again I should be prepared to take up the slack, totally as usual. This morning, as I wait for the insurance policy on the Hundy to take effect, I will record band and music stuff, which I’m certain historians in 2326 will find enthralling. First, let me begin to clear a spot in the kitchen because that is damn well where we will wind up rehearsing. The décor is best described as “there appears to have been a struggle”, that’s an old one. It fits the kitchen which has not been spruced up since my symptoms appeared late last year.
I got Rick to commit to getting me a song list and discovered he has a small amp full of effects. From his description, it is a Fender so it will have a line-level output. I’ll find some nice boxes to clear most of the kitchen stuff away and rig up an extra fan. The plywood flooring as proven good enough once just slapped down over the newly reinforced joists and the coffee machine is right there. Rick is 72, so he’s seen enough interiors to not expect sculptures and scrollwork. I may even clear him a spot to sit down.
Concerns? Yes. By now, I’ve seen a number of his on-line videos and those are a phase of life that is long gone. These videos are ten years back so I have no input on how well he can adapt his rock and roll blues to the lower level of playing Legions and community clubs—the only local market for any combo we could put together. Again, I won’t play in a band that does not gig, that avenue becomes an expense I do not need.
Invasive spotted lanternfly.
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JZ called while I was strolling the aisles of Wal*Mart. He knows I’m waiting for a cancellation to drive over and that I would not have seen the ads for a new D-Day movie he wants to see. I recall somebody protesting a movie as too violent, so that would be it. JZ laughs at morons who complain war is violent. Good, it is already summer and air conditioned movies are always an automatic yes from me. Did you know before air conditioning, there were no major cities in the equatorial zone?
That’s the second story today, to the outside world it looked like a kindly old farmer pushing a cart past the potatoes. Maybe it was foolish that I walked extra to buy limes, but that put me into siesta zone—while I was nine miles from home. I barely got in the door with the oomph to put the frozen food away. When I add it up, two phone calls and a bit of walking nearly slayed me. At the end of week 16 and I still can’t hike the condiments corridor. I’m in sad, sad shape.
The island mentioned here months ago, Nicobar, has finally made the news. India is turning it into an airbase. The story was picked up by DW, some German website. I’ll watch for repeats, I’ve had copycats before. Moments later, a second article, about Alberta separation. It’s probably nothing. Instagram purged its files for bots and Taylor Swift lost five million followers.
If threats and violence are the yardstick, the Democrats in Tennessee held an insurrection over redistricting. If you don’t follow that process, basically Trump won the State by 31 points (31%) but had no representation. The new law prohibits districts based on race and that ousts the Democrats. Are we to expect violence every time they lose? I say yes. Because nobody will arrest and punish the offenders. Mind you, when it comes to cowards, you really only have to kill one.
And Florida will soon have laws that prevent illegal immigrants from getting loans, houses, jobs, licenses, or bank accounts. What a pity there has to be such laws. Out they go, nobody wants them here. They should be flocking to the worker’s paradise of Cuba.
ADDENDUM
According to the books, I learned navigation backwards. You see, every book not only gets far too much into the sextant, the lessons are full of sailing lore that you don’t really need. A large proportion of the learning was stripping away what you did not need—I don’t care if the author owns a boat. Finally, years later, I get back to where the last thing I need to do is haul out the sextant and take some readings. You heard me right, all the tables and charts and long hours of reading did not involve the sextant—and in my opinion are best learned without the instrument.
Y’know, I would like to take a whole day off and just work the navigation tables. No, it isn’t a thrilling hobby. But like electronics, it is a chance to distance one’s mind from the barbarians. You just know when contemplating a Sidereal Hour Angle, you are as far away as you can personally get from the human garbage of this world. Light years away.
