Typical Day

 

I got the first coat of varnish on the tabletop yesterday. It's pretty shiny in the photo but it's a satin varnish, so some of the gloss will be gone when it dries. It'll get the second coat today and then it should be ready to go.

I ran out of angle to protect the top edge when I was finishing up the trailer project. I only needed two little short pieces but I didn't find a piece locally. Surly brought a piece down a week or so ago that probably came from my stash anyway. The exposed end on one side was already starting to delaminate a bit, so I got the two pieces installed yesterday.

While I was out in the shop I got a call from the big cheese of the ham group. Seems getting everyone on the same page for the examination is not going to be very easy, so he wanted to know if I was amenable to taking the test on the night of the regular monthly meeting. I took a practice test after getting home from the class session and passed it, so yes, I'm ready. I'll take a few more practice tests because I'm still a little weak in a couple of areas. I'd like to ace this thing just as a matter of pride.

I'll get back on the shifter lever this week. I need to finish that up so I can finish the bike. I know the grandson wants to ride it and I want it finished.

Traveler 120

 

I developed my roll of film yesterday. I mixed up a fresh batch of developer and fixer for the occasion. I've got another roll in another camera that still has a couple of frames left on it, I'll shoot those up soon and get that roll developed before the chemicals go bad. The roll in the photo hanging there to dry has some over exposure along the edges. It looks like the roll wasn't rolled up real tight when it came out of the camera and it allowed light to get in while it was sitting around. However the center of the frames seem to be properly exposed and plenty sharp. There's not much on there of any real importance. I shot the roll mainly to check the function of one of my old cameras.

This being the one. The camera is in surprisingly good shape considering it's about seventy years old. The shutter has a fixed speed of 1/50th and the only adjustment is the lever top left allowing you to make time exposures. There also was model without the time exposure lever and one that had a provision for attaching a flash. If I'm going to use an old camera, I prefer a folding camera rather than a box camera - something with adjustable shutter and aperture settings. I do have a 4x5 tintype kit that will fit in a big old box camera I've got, as well as my view and press cameras. That'll have to wait until I finish my ham class, however.

I got my weed-whacker out on Thursday. I bought a new head for it that, hopefully, will work better than the original. It definitely will be much easier to reload. It took quite a few pulls on the recoil rope before I got it running and I knew right from the first pull I was going to be sore afterwards. And I was. The chest burned the rest of the day and it was a little tender yesterday as well. I'm still working out what I can and can't do. 

Perfect Stool

 

The Missus brought this home the other day. I wasn't in the market for a shop stool but this is actually a dandy. Heavy duty construction, seat height and angle are adjustable, as are the foot and back rests. Nice casters, too. I don't spend much time on my ass when I'm out in the shop but certain TIG jobs are best done in a seated position, especially when using the foot pedal. I was looking at finish welding the little rack I made for the Sportster the other day trying to pick things off the list that wouldn't aggravate the chest and that's a good candidate for sitting down, especially since I've got the TIG torch all setup for welding thin tubing after welding the baby crib part the other day. Finish the rack, then get the stool freshened up with some of that hammered finish silver paint.

We picked up the table top yesterday - just what the doctor ordered. It needs some varnish on it, so I'll take care of that this weekend. That'll be another job I can check off the list. 

I've been studying for my ham license a little every day. I shouldn't have any problem passing the test as long as I keep studying. However, time will tell.

Midnight Blue

I heard this while I was out and about yesterday on the truck radio, and it struck me that a love song from 1975 applies to the situation that we find ourselves in as a country in 2024, even though I'm not so sure "I think we will make it".

My shop radio used to be tuned to that station all the time but for some reason, it no longer comes in well even though it's not too distant. Now the radio is tuned to another local station that plays mostly classic rock along with the occasional change of pace. The lack of variety is not enough for me to buy a new radio, but I'm pretty sure I won't hear this next one on that station.

 The singer on this one is also Melissa Manchester, this time from 1972. This one used to get some regular airtime on the FM stations back then. Like the other song, this one rings true in '24 - there truly are a whole lotta "flukes of the universe" out there now days. 

I've been staying busy with some yard work and thinning out the bookshelves. I found a new home for a few of them, and I've got a box started to donate to the library for their book sale. Not much of an inventory reduction yet, but it's a start.

Picking up a wooden top for the iron side table I made a while back. Piddlin' around on a couple of other things on the to-do list as well. Can't do much, but a little something every day. 

Scheduled for the stress test next week. They had a cancellation, otherwise it would have been the end of the month. Not too concerned about the results. I'm hoping after this they'll quit dickin' around with everything else and address the real issue sometime in the immediate future. If someone tells you they felt something in their chest tear and can point to the spot, that would be a clue as to where they should start looking. I've still got one more test scheduled, though.  

 

Over the Road

 I went to the Ham class yesterday morning and had to pull off the road on the way over to let a big trailer load go by. It took up both lanes of the state highway. I don't have any idea what it actually was but most of it was covered in sheet metal like it had insulation under it. Along the side that went by me was a pipe manifold of some sort with 6 or 8 ports maybe 10-12 inches in diameter. It had to be super heavy because it was loaded on one of those long trailers that have a bunch of axles under it and there was another semi tractor being used as a pusher with a big chunk of concrete where the 5th wheel plate normally would be to give it traction.

The meeting went well. There were a few more people this week in attendance, most all of whom were retirees. Most any age can get a Ham license, but I'm guessing like a lot of other things, tough to get young people interested. However, as I understand it, Ham radio is doing a lot more digital communication that is handled by computers and the internet which might interest young people. That doesn't exactly appeal to me at the present time but maybe as I find out more about it, I might change my mind.

I did a little welding job for the son of my brother from a different mother when I got home. It was a piece for a baby crib made from a piece of paper-thin tubing with a U-shaped bracket on one end. Didn't take too long to weld it up but it was one of those jobs that required a steady hand. Fortunately, I've still got that but the trouble with my eye is a bit of a handicap. This getting old stuff is getting old.

Since I'm limited in what I'm able to do these days, I decided to do some photography work. I loaded up an exposed roll of film in the can and will mix up some developer in the next couple of days and get it developed. I've got another roll in a camera that I need to shoot a couple more frames yet and then get that one developed as well. After that, pick out a few good shots and make some prints. It's been a while since I've done any darkroom work. Maybe get the 4x5 out and shoot a few shots with it in the near future as well. As long as I'm going to have fresh chemicals, might as well try and get the creative juices flowing. Whole different ball game than just snapping digital photos with my phone.

"I Am Done"

 The following is from Running 'Cause I Can't Fly blog. He's posted this on several occasions and I think I might have posted it once before myself, but it bears repeating. It's a bit dated now, but the sentiment is still the same - in fact, probably even more so. It pretty much sums up my feelings on the current state of affairs as well. Things for the average working stiff have gone from bad to worse and we haven't seen the worst of it yet.

                                                "I Am Done"
                                                by OHMama

"I was born at the end of Gen X and the beginning of the Millennial Generation, and grew up in a middle class town. Life was good. Our home was modest but birthdays and Christmas were always generous, we went on yearly vacations, had 2 cars, and there was enough money for me to take dance classes and art lessons and be in Girl Scouts.

My 1940s born Dad raised me to be patriotic and proud, to love the war bird airplanes of his era as much as he does, and to respect our flag and our country as a sacred thing. I grew up thinking that being an American was the greatest gift a person could have. I grew up thinking that our country was as strong, and honest and true as my Dad. I grew up thinking I was free.

As an adult, I have witnessed the world I grew up in fall to ruin. I have watched as our currency and our economy have been shamelessly corrupted beyond redemption. Since we’ve been married, my husband and I TWICE had our meager investment savings gutted by the market that we were told to invest in, now that pensions no longer exist and we working stiffs are on our own. We will be working until we die, because the Social Security we’ve been forced to pay into has also been robbed from under us.

I have watched as our elected officials enter Congress as ordinary folks and leaves as multi millionaires. I have watched my blue collar husband get up at an ungodly hour every day and come home with an aching back that we pray will hold out long enough to get him to old age in one piece. Outside of shoes, socks and underwear, almost everything my family wears was bought used. We’ve been on one vacation in 12 years.

We don’t have cell phones, or cable, or any sort of streaming services, just a landline and internet. We hardly ever eat out. Our house is 1400 square feet, no air conditioning. I cook from scratch and I can and I garden and I raise chickens for eggs and meat and I moonlight selling things on Etsy. Still it is barely enough to pay the bills that go up every year while service quality and the longevity of goods goes down. What I just described is the life you can live on 60K a year without going into debt.

At last calculation, when you consider all of the federal, state and local taxes plus registration and user fees, Medicare and SS payroll taxes, almost a third of what my family earns is stolen by the govt each year. What’s left doesn’t go far, just enough to cover the basics and save a little for when the wolf howls at the door.

I watched as my family’s health insurance was gutted and destroyed. Our private market insurance, which we had to have because my husband’s employer is too small to have a group plan, was made illegal. We were left with the option of either buying an Obamacare plan with unaffordable deductibles and insanely ridiculous out of pocket maxes, or paying the very gov’t that destroyed our healthcare a fine for not buying the gov’t mandated plan that we cannot afford. We now have short term insurance that isn’t really insurance at all, and I live in fear of one of us getting injured or sick with anything I can’t fix from the medicine cabinet.

I have watched as education, which was already sketchy when I was a kid, became an all out joke of wholly unmathematical math, gold stars for all, and self-loathing anti-Americanism. My family has taken an enormous financial hit as I stay home to home school our child. At least she’ll be able to do old-fashioned math well enough to see how much they are screwing her. A silver lining to every cloud, I guess.

I’ve sat by and held my tongue as I was called deplorable and a bitter clinger and told that I didn’t build that. I’ve been called a racist and a xenophobe and a chump and even an “ugly folk.” I’ve been told that I have privilege, and that I have inherent bias because of my skin color, and that my beloved husband and father are part of a horrible patriarchy. Not one goddamn bit of that is true, but if I dare say anything about it, it will be used as evidence of my racism and white fragility.

Raised to be a Republican, I held my nose and voted for Bush, the Texas-talking blue blood from Connecticut who lied us into 2 wars and gave us the unpatriotic Patriot Act. I voted for McCain, the sociopathic neocon songbird “hero” that torpedoed the attempt to kill the Obamacare that’s killing my family financially. I held it again and voted for Romney, the vulture capitalist skunk that masquerades as a Republican while slithering over to the Democrat camp as often as they’ll tolerate his oily, loathsome presence.

And I voted for Trump, who, if he did nothing else, at least gave a resounding Bronx cheer to the richly deserving smug hypocrites of DC. Thank you for that Mr. President, on behalf of all of us nobodies. God bless you for it.

And now I have watched as people who hate me and mine and call for our destruction blatantly and openly stole the election and then gaslighted us and told us that it was honest and fair. I am watching as the GOP does NOTHING about it. They’re probably relieved that upstart Trump is gone so they can get back to their real jobs of lining their pockets and running interference for their corporate masters. I am watching as the media, in a manner that would make Stalin blush, is silencing anyone who dares question the legitimacy of this farce they call democracy. I know, it’s a republic, but I am so tired of explaining that to people I might as well give in and join them in ignorance.

I will not vote again; they’ve made it abundantly clear that my voice doesn’t matter. Whatever irrational, suicidal lunacy the nanny states thinks is best is what I’ll get. What it decided I need is a geriatric pedophile who shouldn’t be charged with anything more rigorous than choosing between tapioca and rice pudding at the old folks home, and a casting couch skank who rails against racism while being a descendant of slave owners.

I’m free to dismember a baby in my womb and kill it because “my body my choice”, but God help me if I won’t cover my face with a germ laden Linus-worthy security blanket or refuse let them inject genetically altering chemicals into my body or my child’s. I can be doxed, fired, shunned and destroyed for daring to venture that there are only 2 genders as proven by DNA, but a disease with a 99+% survival rate for most humans is a deadly pandemic worth murdering an economy over. Because science. Idiocracy is real, and we are living it. Dr. Hannibal Lecter would be an improvement over Fauci.

I am done. Don’t ask me to pledge to the flag, or salute the troops, or shoot fireworks on the 4th. It’s a sick, twisted, heartbreaking joke, this bloated, unrecognizable corpse of a republic that once was ours.

I am not alone. Not sure how things continue to function when millions of citizens no longer feel any loyalty to or from the society they live in.

I was raised to be a lady, and ladies don’t curse, but f**k these motherf**kers to hell and back for what they’ve done to me, and mine, and my country. All we Joe Blow Americans ever wanted was a little patch of land to raise a family, a job to pay the bills, and at least some illusion of freedom, and even that was too much for these human parasites. They want it all, mind, body and soul. Damn them. Damn them all."

It's interesting to note, depending on which state you live in, it's about the time you hit Tax Freedom Day. Meaning that for the first four months of the year you've worked to pay taxes for the various levels of government. Even most high-schoolers can do math to figure out you have to give a third of all your earnings away with only a minimum of input on your part as to what they do with the money. 

I don't like the idea my tax dollars helped underwrite the development of covid-19 or that they are being used to support the war in Ukraine and the Middle East. I'm not very comfortable being an accessory to murder. My feelings towards the grifters in Washington are much the same as OHMama: damn them to hell and back.

Southbound

 

Not a bad idea, what with the chilly weather we're having. It was a decent day yesterday except it was 25 or 30 degrees below what the average normally is for this time of year. 

I went to the cardiologist yesterday for my check-up. That part came out OK but he didn't offer much help with the chest trouble. In fact, when I brought the subject up he thought perhaps it might be best to have another stress test. I've had a couple of them in the past but this one will be the chemical type. Because of the time that has elapsed since I had the heart attack and the stents installed, he said it may be time to go back in again. I doubt that but every time I mention that I've got pains in my chest everyone in the medical field assumes I'm having heart issues. None of them seem to listen to the part about tearing muscles. Anyway, this will be one more test that hopefully confirms there isn't anything else wrong with me.

What with the cold weather and all the doctor's visits, I was fortunate to hear about the Ham license class when I did - plenty of time to read the manual. I'm about halfway through it, much of which I really don't understand. Going to the prep classes I'm sure will help but I'm definitely going to have to study. Fortunately, after all the classes I've taken over the years, I'm pretty good at taking tests. I'll just have to put in the effort.