One year ago today: September 2025, neither can most.
Five years ago today: September 2021, near the barking parrot.
Nine years ago today: September 2017, million candlepower.
Random years ago today: September 2023, you call this tired?
This time I’m ready for the consequences, I got everything planned for the morning. It went fine, although I got nothing done. Moving that van y’day as in was enough work for two days. No excitement today. Just some editorial, but that is also a valid retirement day. Am I saying I’ll compare my nothing days to most? Perhaps. Let’s stay optimistic, since both myself and the neighbor missed Festus Tuesday, so we are planning an extra movie night. I’ll know by this afternoon, so don’t run away.
Slow days bring logistics to the forefront, and I think the KIA battery may be okay. It died 26 days after the warranty, but the owner’s manual says it is supposed to automatically shit down if drained to much. What you are looking for here is how well I am able to deal with things like vehicle maintenance. In America, if you can fix your own ride, it’s proof you are alive. The smart charger says the battery is holding a 60% charge.
And the Viking, the lithium zap charger may also be back, the one that would not charge past 25%. An overnight in the deep freeze has it registering 100% again. I seem to be okay with such small chores, but no mountain hikes show on my calendar. I also stopped at Wal*mart for coffee (we’re saved) and grits. (Fatigue can just hit me, and it did walking down the condiment aisle, I was home and snoozing within ten minutes.)
Trivia. Remember those side-firing Gatling gunships of the Vietnam era? They fired 6,000 rounds per minute, and used up 97 million rounds to kill 5,300 Vietcong. That’s 18,300 bullets per kill.
Somewhere in Egypt.
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This thriller pic is the KIA tow chain and that’s today’s top story. Boring? Actually, the tow job was over and I was measuring the chain for the backyard job of straightening fenceposts. Did I mention that? Yes, I did, and now for an half-afternoon of browsing or documentaries or anything that does not involve lifting more than a coffee cup.
The news is cloaked in jargon with a single theme—that is is not a crime when the government does it. ShinyHunter is “black-hat”, indulging in piracy and violating “ethical standards”. And the poor little FBI is their victims. They are “disobedient” and “deceptive”, naughty-naughty. It seems every day now some Democrat mayor is being arrested or stepping down over corruption or sexual misconduct. Democrats have blocked immunity for Fauci’s secretary in return for her testimony. I say send her to jail anyway, she destroyed documents. Jail would clear her conscience.
The only system I trust is meritocracy, but it has the flaw that there is not enough to go around. I heard the worst argument against it on-line. That meritocracy should be banned because it “destroys careers”. Then again, I am no stranger to watching losers demand their right to be losers—at your expense. No, you cannot escape paying, for example 30% of your health insurance is to cover sports injuries.
We settled on a movie none of us had seen all through, the classic John Wayne “The Searchers”. Damn, that was a long movie, and the other neighbor, who how has the same back problem I do, well, we had to pause to go take our prescriptions. Even two years ago that would have given me a laugh. In the movie, Natalie was 16.
The video shows bobcats have developed a liking for the eggs and swamp birds have learned baby pythons are defenseless. Alligators, once eaten by the snakes, have learned to hunt them. There is a lot of hype about bounties and programs, but nothing works as nice as adaptation. While this is happening, I put hinges on my box made for drywall anchors and shrink tubing. If I had any grandchildren, I’d have to think what to say if asked what I did today.
ADDENDUM
Here’s a oft-quoted statistic, the average American family now spends $5,000 per year on gasoline. That’s a lot of bucks total. Let’s check my gas budgets for this year and the five previous.
2021: $2,291For those without an effective budget, this is how it is done. Including a projection to end of this year, I will have spent roughly $12,900 on gas during this period, or around $180 per month. This is triple my “motorcycle” allocation of $66 per month. Not every dollar is on the budget, but of what is there, gasoline, telecom, utilities, and property taxes eat up 55% of my allocations. My original projections for telecom was $22 per month, utilities $121, and taxes $48.
2022: $2,213
2023: $1,902
2024: $2,438
2025: $1,970
2026: $1,577 to date.
This is not as grim as it seems. That includes many trips to Tennessee and I do not skimp on electricity. If I drive only locally, my gas drops to $90. Two years ago I purchased more Internet bandwidth and quit going to expensive movies except with the Reb. Oddly, while I do not chase women in any big sense, they still figure very deep in the background of my budget. Barring some really stupid women I have met that don’t know a good thing when they see it, I know, for example, I still shop for many food quantities that show I plan for two. At my age, that’s stupid, like I don’t know that. And even Taylor is getting too old for me. What’s with that?
And my thinking is, after over 50 years, unable to totally shake a concept I had since I was around 18. That pretty rich girls could get married to anybody they wanted until they were at least forty. Dumb, I know, but back then I did not know. However, I do know there is a desperate and frantic demand for good, stable, decent women of any age. It’s when none are available, that men say the hell with it and pick the pretty ones. There are othe
r factors, but that’s the big one.
