crimany what a dull day

LOL, I had to shut the brain down to get through the day: an entirely repetitious, monotonous, ‘get your ass back into production’ mode kinda day,,,,   

One of our regular customers that I do custom work for called in an order.  No complaints, I need the hours, but damn dood! 28 panels, none of which are your standard build, and double the number of pieces we use in our ‘line’ of kennels.   I carried in and cut over 3000′ of pipe today, and tomorrow I start the notching part so I can weld it all up.   Thank the small gods that I don’t have to stretch the wire on these things or I wouldn’t be worth a damn come Turkey day,,,,   (another of those ‘shut brain off, engage autopilot’ sort of days if I were to stretch these things.,,,). 

Music is my usual tool to get through the days, but with the cold, we run a torpedo heater in the shop (after forcing the main door closed, to block that hateful wind) and I can’t hear anything EXCEPT that danged blower on the heater.   I can crank the music up until I am rattling the structure but I would still hear that torpedo over it all.  (old sound guy: we didn’t listen to the music, we were listening for what didn’t belong so we could remove it,,,   Old habits never really die, and that is one that is hardwired into me.). Only cure, shut the inner beast down, don’t think, just do, and NEVER watch the clock,,,    even the occasional glance makes the day that much longer,,,

And the cold,,,   Cripes the cold kills me. (heat is discomfort, cold is PAIN,,)  That pipe has been laying out in our ‘yard’ for months, rain, cold, heat, you name it, its there getting it all.   And then I haul it into the shop on a day where the high never went over 45,,,   That shit is COLD,,,  Much colder than the surrounding air, and until its in the shop near the heat, it stays COLD.   And that cold reaches right though my Glacier Gloves over time.   That kind of cold breaks through my shut-down brain mode and,,,

Yup, I started watching that clock,,,,

*sigh*

Home now, kids are fed, me is fed, and the fire is devouring chunks at a furious pace getting the house back up in temps (had to let the fire die out so I could clean all the ash from over the last few days, out.   It starts making the stove less efficient if it gets too deep in there.).  But, House stayed nice and warm even though the fire was pretty much ‘gone’: still 70F when I got home at 5 (Last log was laid sometime in the middle of the night, say 3am ish.  So, 14 hours  and still well above freezing and still comfortable for wearing a t-shirt in the house.  I ain’t complaining,,,).  Still, there are days where I miss having that T-stat on the wall and the convenience of not having to think about it, nor having the mess of ash buckets and clean outs,,, or cutting, splitting, stacking, seasoning wood for the upcoming season,,,    

But I also don’t have that $300+/month heating bill that I have heard some complaining about,,,   And I don’t have to worry about power outages or ‘Sploding pipelines of NatGas,,,   May be that wood heating is a bigger pain in some ways, but the ‘insurance’ factor pays dividends when the mercury heads to the ball.  (and having my own gravity fed water source is pure heaven IMO,,,   may be a bit more involved in keeping it healthy, but never worrying about ‘getting cut off’,,,,   )

Thats part of what holds me here more than anything, even more than Da.   If things get flaky, like they are threatening to do world wide, I am still in pretty good comfort with my set-up.  The biggest problem will be all the people around that AREN’T and the resulting jealousy.  Simple fact, they have the means at their disposal, same as I do: I just took the time and effort to make the switch before it became a necessity.  No, I don’t have any utility bills.  All of my bills are more Consumer type debts (Doc/Vet bills, Amazon card, etc etc) not basic living stuff (and I don’t buy food on credit, bad mojo there,,,). I don’t have a mortgage (built my house stick by stick, paycheck to paycheck) and the property needed developed so was, literally, dirt cheap.  The closest I am to being ‘on-grid’ is my propane supply.   I keep three 30# tanks, two in use, on for rotation as needed so I don’t ‘run out’.  If things get real flaky, I can switch to methane generators, but there would be a lag as I have to make a couple to rotate around.  (and I have one in place, in a sense: its called a septic tank, but I would really prefer something a little more under control. ).  The only thing I use propane for that doesn’t readliy have an alternate is my hot water heater.  On-demand tankless type, and I NEVER want to go back to the clonky tanked water heaters that run continuously.   If I don’t turn on the hot tap, I use no propane.   My only gripe about my tankless is the timer on it.  No way to adjust it and if you let it run continuous, it shuts off at 20 minutes.   (I sometimes like LOOONNNNGGGGG HOT showers, and that 20 minute thing can be ‘shocking’, )

I may hate the area, but I am vested in my homestead,,,   Makes for some troublesome thoughts when I start wanting to get away.

And when its cold like this, well, you guys have read my rants about wanting to move much MUCH closer to the equator,,,   May not be able to get as far as that, but that siren song starts gaining volume when the temps are in the basement.  (more shit that makes for long days,,,)

a’ight, nuff mindless BS from me today.   not going too deep on Trump announcing he is gonna run again for 2024 (and you thought the last steal was off the hook,,,   Y’ain’t seen NUTHIN yet,,,  They will blow this country wide open before they let Trump sit in the Oval Office again) Saw that the hook and crook still didn’t ‘keep’ a Dem House, and queen Pee-lousy is losing her throne (watch how often Veep Knee-pads sits in come soon,,,   Again, they don’t want ‘bi-partisan’ illusions,  Either that or we get another ‘weepy-eyed Bohner’,,, )

and ya know what.   Don’give a rats ass at this point.   Its all kabuki theater and we are just free-range tax slaves in a big machine that won’t let us leave.    (try! Permanent like and look at the fines and fees that you have to surrender, and even then, they continue to tax you even when you live far away.   Don’t believe me, you can find out how it works in about an hour on the nets,,,   ).  And that conclusion is why I keep coming back to “let them burn it down so we can rebuild” and I have days where I wonder about even that,,,

More mindless drudgery tomorrow, but I will be welding and closer to my stereo, so maybe my mind will gel on something more than you’re getting in this post.   

talk tomorrow