One year ago today: July 19, 2025, no excuse nowadays.
Five years ago today: July 19, 2021, rare larger box.
Nine years ago today: July 19, 2017, airlines & Amtrak.
Random years ago today: July 19, 2023, the excitement scale.
Gold is fast being gobbled up. Historically, the price ratio of gold to silver is 16:1. This morning it was 73:1, another demonstration that silver prices are one of the most manipulated of commodities. Silver should be around $250 per ounce. You get many pictures today for a reason subject to interpretation. Is that guy who just had a quad bypass crazy enough to dig a post-hole by hand? For a start, that is impossible. Don’t even think it. Demand proof. It the wee hours while the insects are in tupor, the sensible Florida man goes on Wasp Patrol.
Bryne to the rescue again. He replies to e-mail 5:00AM Texas time with another “box” idea. He recounts having a jar labeled “Naughty Things”. It’s English humor, but he’s the guy who came up with the logo idea that let to the laser. Next, I have a treat for you, some ancient box wisdom, lore from 2021, now with today’s technology. That’s my best shot at making this morning sound mesmeric.
Left to right, this demonstrates the problem with cutting the lids. Here is a box absolutely clamped in place so that the saw cuts would line up—and look at the result. A good 3/8” off around this small perimeter. Um, relax, the stain makes the box look nicer than it is.
Yes, the small box on top of the middle pile is supposed to be a little off square. Good eye. I’m disappointed as one of my favorite on-line puzzles, a word challenge, has changed their format. It used to be timed just right to make myself a cup of cocoa. Now I am regularly defeated by British phrases and sports teams I’ve never heard of. Pity.
Frankly, I don’t have any plans to do much except more boxes, as I know that any forward motion is better than what goes on with most people. By that, I mean 2032 is the projected collapse of Social Security, and those who do not prepare now are kind of stupid. Even if it never happens completely, and hard facts are nowhere to be found, the plan will be funded only by new contributions. That will not go far. Neither will boxes. But do not discount the possibility that boxes are at least something when others don’t even have that. Boxes are a better plan than sitting around for the next 72 months hoping the predictions don’t come true.
French tractor factory.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
The question on everyone’s lips, did that Boomer actually fix that mailbox by himself? I know without real video, this is not proof. But these photos seem to suggest the work got done. Tell you what, if you return tomorrow, I promise a video of the dig—if in fact, the tale from the trailer court is really true. Did that hole get dug like I said? Perhaps.
I chose a six-foot post, as the proximity of big trees means I will be hitting big roots. Rather than replace the short older post, I decided to double them up. The old post was painted and in pretty good shape. This time I will chop roots to get right down to the yellow dirt that underlies this property everywhere I’ve dug so far over ten years.
The process is evident in the sequence shown. Match up the sizes, then positioning the post, then as the sun creates deep shade, you can barely see the post so I put the yellow level across the top. Note the neighbor’s John Deere in the background. I missed the shot, but remember my DIY humidity gauge? It was flat this morning. So I know it works.
Let’s build some boxes. Or at least launch into the process, for I’ve got the motive to check the stains picked up y’day morning. I prefer the lighter stains because they show the laser better, but notice the darker hues suggest (correctly) that the wood has been repurposed. I cut four more sets of blanks, then assembled and stained two junk boxes. Whaddaya know, I found a darker stain that I like, it is called “Golden Oak. Sure looks nice, though I remind us for the nth time, this lumber really soaks up the stain. That makes it only possible if the stain is free, a supply that cannot be guaranteed.
Here is a beauty of a yard mushroom. They grow best in the front yard, but I can’t open a farm because they grow best where the van tires roll.
ADDENDUM
Florida claims success over dumping leftovers into the Gulf of America. And they may be right. Do your own research, but the State began dumping hundreds of tons of oyster shells back into the water. That was around twenty years ago. From restaurants and factories, what I admire is that nobody knew if this would work, but they went ahead. Ocean stocks have been declining for decades. Here is what appears to have taken place, I am not a biology/botany sort.
When the shells sank, they formed reef-like anchoring shelves. Why is any of this on my agenda? Because the anti-biotic spray that was upsetting my taste buds was to prevent formation of biofilm. This is good for bacteria, not good for you or hospitals. So I read how biofilm grew all over these shells, which alters the chemistry of the nearby water, what with all the calcium. New oysters tend to grow where there were oysters before and they filter tons of crap out of seawater. Which is why I won’t eat them.
But damn, I saw the photos. Turtles, fish, dolphins, swarming around the piles that quickly began to grow coral. I have not seen coral in the Gulf for years. And you don’t see dolphins unless the water is good. Time permitting, I hear there are tour boats out of Clearwater and I’d like a look.
