October 25, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 25, 2025, I lifted the house.
Five years ago today: October 25, 2021, another dud band.
Nine years ago today: October 25, 2017, about that transfusion . . .
Random years ago today: October 25, xxxx, WIP

           I think I can predict something today. My food budget has categories listed on a spreadsheet, and these change with time. Today I scrolled own and found an item that was one row off the bottom. What’s this? I have an unspent $27 allocation for chocolate. Check back later, this could be a fun shop. Now there is an interesting comparison. In 1966, the average house cost $15,500 which is roughly 450 ounces of gold. Today, the same house costs $732,000 which is only 180 ounces of gold. You lost money.

           Since I’ll be passing through Valdosta, I sent Tonio a message that I have some boxes for him. They are a great improvement over last year's, I got him a Jack in the Box, a K-box, a Z-box and if I have time, a few Fake boxes. Why? Because I got up today feeling no wear and tear from the past two active days. We’re still sub-standard but three consecutive days is a milestone. All the boxes to Georgia have custom logos, a form of advertising.

           Here is the sort of finished box for the Lucida drawing tool. Note the fancy piano hinge, just don’t look too close. These instrument cases are a specialty item. The box as shown has many mistakes, as I don’t pretend to be an expert on custom cases of this sort. But it sure beats the plastic, or sometimes cardboard, boxes these things come in nowadays
           All I need is an order for 200 regular boxes to make the game worth the candle. But it is a saturated market and everything is priced out of sight. What is needed is a novel idea and that is not so easy. For now, if Tonio gets any inquiries, I said just tell the facts, that you get the boxes custom-made in Florida and you have to know somebody. Y’know, tease them a bit. The power cables for the float charger, are now installed and invisible from the roadway. There is no dreaded HOA in this area, but the city is an equally detested watchdog.

           It got dark on me, so I finished hobbying for the day by etching this logo. I would state again that the addition of this tiny bit of decoration is responsible for instant appeal on these ordinary boxes. This one is a Z-box, a design that is falling out of favor to the K-box. The slightly smaller design does not require extra cutting to get a good box bottom.
           The laser is now a necessary part of the construction. Memorize some stock phrases like this one (“PRIVATE STOCK”) and your people will love you. If stuck for a slogan, zap their e-mail address or the current date. Anything that shows the wood was given attention works fine. Consider a laser just as important as buying a chop saw. There is no stain or finish on these larger pieces as I cannot find a way to keep the liquid from deteriorating, even when poured back into the original can.

           The election swamps all else on-line, the left is cranking up their oldest tactic of blaming the other guy, this time with electricity bills. Democrat states pay double the rate of red states for power, which is largely taxes to support their “green” mandates. It’s rather pathetic because blaming that on Trump requires a absurdly brain-dead voting bloc. But, places like Pennsylvania repeatedly vote in the worst liars. Maybe something in the water?

Picture of the day.
Solar farm in Finland.
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           I used some 4-inch wood screws to secure the windows along the north wall, as the Hundy is parked in the alcove. Anybody could stand behind it an not be seen from the street, so it’s just a precaution. Remind me to replace the batteries in all the phony cameras. I made a big helping of fried rice as a reward for keeping up a pretty good pace all day. I’m duty-bound to record my condition, the blog is a harsh master. Ha.

           Before that “old lady” report, here is the almost finished Yeti box. If I head out in the next week, this is how it travels. Yes, the power cable is exposed on the front, but any other arrangement means a larger box and this unit is already slightly too big for my equipment.
           It was determined more important to keep the cables tucked behind the battery. I’ve not decided if a lid is in order, but I would not mind a 12V octopus. The unit has just the one the left, which is rather sub-optimal for vehicle use.

           The slight numbness remains in my small fingers and under the skin of my left thigh and across the chest. Is it diminishing, or am I just getting used to it? I’d say fifty-fifty on that. The flu from that Karaoke mic (August 19) still lingers as sniffles and morning sore throats. I scanned some photos from 2003, the toothpick sightseers. Was that really so long ago? The pictures got set aside because it was around June of that year I began unexplainedly gaining weight. The rest is history.

           And so with more information from Mitch, who remembers things differently than myself. Example, the time we never got paid for helping “brand” calves. I remember we castrated them. He recalls a time some greaser picked me up by the throat at recess and I passed out. In high school I was always the youngest and lightest in the room, I believe at that time I weighed around 114 pounds. Greasers was the nickname for hoodlum tough guys at the time, who hated hippies and put bear grease in their hair for those Fonzie haircuts. Or so the rumor went.
           His father and uncle had operated a small saw mill. They built most of the saws and trimmers by themselves. This was in the 70s, long before any blog material. Mitch says he worked in the mill as early as 1966, so he was just a kid. I was unaware he never got paid, but I did know nobody got rich off all that work.

           Here is my outdated wall map, with antiquated placenames like New Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, and Lake Ontario. However, the roadways have not moved and I won’t make any jokes about freeways that disappear because nobody laughed last time. I’ll cap this evening with a movie or two, maybe a documentary. The new youTube format is bad, with A.I. gearing the material down to gimptard speed. Most of it is not new anyway, and most run several times longer than necessary. You get provocative titles, then crappy repetition—and it’s getting worse as all the easy topics are already taken.

Last Laugh