A mind wanderin’ post

JOAT-MON*:   That’sa me!   The Jack of All Trades, Master of None,,,,   Ex used to call me the “A Rennaisance Man”  (and I admit taking a certain amount of pride in that moniker,,,) 

That thought crossed my mind as I was spending money at HOBO-Frieght ¹today.  Investing in tools that would have made the last week and a half that much simpler (mostly stuff to make my 20T press more versatile.)   Yeah, I may not need them again anytime soon, or I may need them frequently over the next year;  No way to know for certain, but if you are looking for it VS looking at it,,,,

Yeah,,, that saying comes up at least once a day in my little reality.

That investing in tools thing is something that I can’t get through the young’uns heads at work.   They seem to think that everyplace ‘will provide’, but never make the connection that those that do provide don’t pay as well, nor will you get the top notch tools that actually DO THE JOB,,,,  (that has changed a might at the J.O.B. now that Son of has more pull in decisions,,,  Seeing quality tools in our arsenal: and only so many are allowed to handle them at this stage (mostly due to lack of respect of the tools they are allowed to handle.)

And that brings me to a beef I have had here of late.  Seeing how I live in Appalachistan,,, You know, Hillbilly/redneck country,,, When did it become a thing that no-one carries a damned KNIFE?   Seriously, not even a bloody pen-knife, or Swiss Army basic model.   Been finding that only those over 40 are the ones that have that essential EDC on hand, and sometimes not even then,,, 50+  you can just about gaurantee it,,,, Under 30,,,, Dumb looks if you ask for a knife,,,,

Gonna go out on a limb here and blame the schools for that,,, Seeing how a kid with a peanut butter sandwich ‘in the right shape’ was suspended for ‘triggering his peers’,,,(My Opinion,,, his little ‘gun’ intimidated some snowflake teacher.  The kids would have been having a hoot over it,,,)

Brainium is on fire today,,,, Woke up with a tune in my skull, and it won’t let go,,, not sure what the intent is, but Nudge seems to think there is a memory in there that I need,,,,  (actually LOTS of memories from that time,,, lot of sorting of the chaff to do to figure it out.)

That was a very confusing time for me, and where I started some serious growing up.   Funny how getting raped by life will do that to a person.   Self inflicted wounds in hindsight, but sure was a living hell for a spell of about 2 years.    The only time I looked down the barrel of a .45 and had serious considerations,,,,   Funny how a woman can drive a man to that point, eh?   I certainly learned a lot from that time, and the one thing that carried forward more than any other: “She is ONE in a world of 7+Billion peeps,,, ”  And ” Doesn’t matter how good she looks; someone in this world is sick of her shit!” 

Naw,  I didn’t become the Curmudgeon then,,, that was in the late Aughts of this century,,, but that time period made the transistion in the last round, that much easier (and I didn’t look down the operational end of a .45 this time, though I did look down one from the proper side, many times, for fun and pressure venting.)

100 miles on Buffalo today, doing my runnin’ round,,, No water time, but by choice,,, too much to do around home today and yesterday took longer than expected,,, TO THE GOOD I must add,,, that 100 miles was done with windows down to listen to things, and, honestly,  Ol’Gurl feels like a new truck to me.   Kept waiting for the bad news to drop on me,,,

I guess I am a better wrench then my personal expectations are.   No patting myself on the back this time around, not yet.   The last weekend seemed great up to three days in, and then things went sideways slowly.   Still ‘holdin’ my breath’  this time, just awaitin’ the howls and screams to start.

I can tell you one thing though: I SORELY MISS one tool from my past.  Never one that I personally owned (and when I tell ya, you’ll understand why)   One that I used every day I worked in the shops, on every job’ small or large.

The Lift.

Lord, if I could get one of those for my stead,,,,,,,  This scrabblin’ around on my ass, scrunched up tight under a truck that is sitting on questionable stands with blocks as backup,,,,,  Yeah,,, Sure would make life a lot easier, and certainly less painful,,(my ass feels like I was sitting on gravel all day,,,, Oh, yeah,, I WAS!!!) (even with a pad under me, there ain’t much personal padding on my backside and I am feeling it today.)  I might even be able to make the bloody thing pay for itself in short order (though I truly have no desire to work on other peoples peices of shit anylonger,,, Mine’s bad enough.)   Its a thought, but one that will have to wait until such time as I leave this area, if/when that happens,,,(I haven’t the foundation for such a thing, nor would I have the power, considering my off-grid power situation.)(Did a wee search and prices are really excellent tight now.  About 1/2 what they were in the 90s.)

Anyhwhoos,,, its still early., I has shit to do (mowers that need attended to, weeds grass that needs mowed, and IF, (big if) it rains, trash that needs burned (mine, da’s, unks,,,)

Keep on livin’!!!

* Joat-mon, sounds like a Jamaican saying ‘boat man’, and looking at the word and knowing how the Wet-Navy of Jolly old England managed to completely mangle the language,,, maybe thats where the term ‘Yoeman’ cames from,,,,, Dunno,,,, probably just making shit up again,,, LOL

¹ HOBO-Freight: Yes, I know, chineesium tools,,, But I have found the integrity of their latest lines are matching or exceeding other brands of known quality (not saying names,,,,)   Besides, these are shop tools that will likely only see service once in a great while, and at the prices I paid, will pay for themselves in one go.