Dio's WorkshopWelcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.
The sounds of sound check and first kick drum checks,,,, (and yes, intentional misspelling above: thats they way we would say it)
See, I live about a mile from the County Fairgrounds, and they are ‘line of sight’ (hearing in this case) and this weekend they are hosting a National Act, so the sound system is gonna be TOP NOTCH, National Act is Diamond Rio and I have no idea of openers.
and of course I can hear it PERFECTLY from a mile away. (especially as the landscape makes a natural ampitheater pointed right at my hollar.)
oh, the old memories coming aback listening to what was my day to day over the years. So many tales from then, So many damned good people, liberal, conservative, libertarain, all working side by side, living in tight quarters on tourbusses, never (rarely) fighting (you just kept your opinions tight, same as everyone else did.. It was a job, not a daycare.)
Rules of the road that I carry still “Don’t screw the crew” both literal and figurative. We lived and worked in mixed company, and admittedly some of the Femmes I worked with were flat Frickin HAWT! but you kept The one eyed turtle on a short leash. Road tramps were one thing, CREW was off limits.
When you live in a box less than 10′ wide and only 40′ long, you see things. Its the nature of living in close quarters. Can’t say how many of those HAWT Femmes I saw in buff or near buff, but it wasn’t personal or teasing, just ‘life on the road’. Good memories for certain.
Had a few ‘back stage moments’ as well. One was Laney,,, (not her real name, but road nickname) Actress/singer was supposed to be singing backup from monitor world and her spot was coming on fast. Got on the clearcom to her dressing room and sent word. Next thing I know, I’m staring at her, singing away like God was her audience, buck frellin’ nekked except for big puffy ‘monster feet’ slippers she liked to wear when not on stage. She never batted an eye nor missed a note.
I miss those days, but Know,,, Thats a young persons business, not for an old phart like me. Far too much time away, months and months on the road, 6 days a week of working, sometimes twice a day, and that 7th was ‘travel day’ between cities (like half a continent travel) We didn’t (At least I didn’t feel like it) get paid for doing the show, we got paid for all the stuff leading up to and tearing it out for the next one. they paid us to make the system work and sound good, look good in the lighting, the stage. The shows, the vibe, the thrills, the nekked singers belting it out like no tomorrow backstage,,, that was what made it all worth it.
Went in this AM and shuffled around until Son of Bossman told me “Dads cuttin’ your check, sorry we don’t have much of anything goin’ right now:”
sigh 11.5 hours. Not much of a paycheck to be honest. Paid the Car insurance, paying the phone bill, filled up Bloo ($55 could be worse, about what it would take to fill Buffalo for the same week.) I have one more bill due this week and I will have to work a small miracle to make it happen. Not gonna sell my guns or any other tool I have at my disposal. And NO! NOT A BLEG. Besides, even if y’all came through for me, what you sent wouldn’t clear in time to work. Thoughts appreciated, but please, I GOT THIS!!! Just venting out loud.
A good point, Went to get fuel for the mower. Mama sound asleep on Bloos hood. Didn’t bat an eye with me getting in, nor at the slamming door. Fired up Bloo and got a raised head with sleepy kitteh eyes and the impression of “oohh! Big Kitteh Purr!!!”. And BLoo does sound like a big purring kat at idle. Heck, mama didn’t even move when I started backing out (slowly, don’t wanna hurt the mama,,,) Her eyes did widen a bit more but she wouldn’t budge till I ‘popped’ the clutch to let her know “I’m rolling, best getta gone!” Bloo is running good, despite my paranoia telling me “Caution, Caution Caution!!!” Even Da said she ‘rides good’ after the one trip we took to town in her. Fill up came right at that13mpg mark and this week has all been in town. Not at all dissappointed. She is using some oil, and I haven’t found the leak yet, but I also haven’t been actively looking. That is one of this weekends projects. Not near as bad as the last block was using oil, no where near as bad. 170 miles and only 1/2qt down Definitely a leak of some sort: no blue smokes at all.
This weekend,,,, Knocking down the dead Oak in my front yard. Died late last year and is starting to lose branches. Needs down before it decides it comes down on house. Gonna take a couple of Poplar that are near it as well. Open up my skyline for better solar activity on my panels. The oak gets cut and split for firewood. The poplar for fire pit wood. I don’t like burning Poplar for heat in the house as it just doesn’t seem to do the job, but it does make pretty fires to stare into and lose my mind for a bit. After I get the RMH built, that attitude of ‘It just doesn’t do the job’ may change.
Mowing too. I guess that was obvious with the ‘Fuel for mower’ statement. Looking at Bloo and finding leaky-leaks, and working financial miracles,,, WHo knows, I may get a call this weekend yet and have more than enough to make that end meet the other.
and on a whim, after yesterdays wyrdness, I dropped $3 on a quickpick for tomorrows lottery draw. WTH, its just money, right? and in this day and age, $3 is small change, really,,,((post drawing return $7. I made $4 on that investment.))
Other things that need a doin’: Move the engine blocks to final homes, or near’bouts. Like the 4.3 for Buffalo. get that pulled the rest of the way and near her for when that time comes. The old Bloo-block just needs brought up here and out of Da’s hair. Where I’m gonna put it till I tear into it is up for grabs. Dunno yet. just somewhere out of the weather prefered, even if that out of the weather is under tarp. My driveway is starting to take on a decidedly ‘Redneck’ feel to it with all the car parts and wood shed and other stuff,,, Gonna need to address that soon,,, maybe a scrapyard run or two.
Its Freeday, and quite literally in my case since I didn’t actually do any work at the J.O.B. Just showed up and got paid an hour for that. (at least they don’t Joo you like some places I have worked, where you show up,, sit waiting, only to be told “no work today'” and Zero Compensation for your time and loyalty. One place around here is notorious for that type of screwing,,,)
Freeday,, lots of little things on the plate, and currently none making income, and I hope for that to change. One foot forward, keep moving,,,,
Been a rather strange day,,, Not quite here, but not ‘away’ either. Just existing in the moment and feeling ‘off’ but not in a bad way.
Wyrd,,,
Not much to say about much of nothing. Haven’t opened the feeds, nor scanned the usual blogs. Did my work at the J.O.B. (working on company truck that has been acting off itself. Wouldn’t take fuel, Simple workaround until such time as we can get the part to fix the issue.)
Stopped at Da’s on the way home. That’s when things really hit me as WYRD,,, Sitting there talking to Da and suddenly felt like I was in a room with a complete stranger. Not that I was, just that sort of discombobulation where everything looks as expected, but nothing FEELS,,,,
right,,,
I’m gonna blame the weather. Its been one of those days where it can’t seem to make up its mind on what direction it wants to take. Cool and chill in shaded areas, Hot, almost mean heat when in the sun, Wind blowing at random in random directions. More like the weather of mid March, not late April.
Even Da was saying he had felt off all day. Had a rough night for the first time in a month, was up at 3am, couldn’t sleep, watched some toob to chill out and finally fell back asleep around 5, only to wake again at 7 feeling like he hadn’t slept a wink.
I was the complete opposite of that last night. Woke once for hydraulic pressures, and then when the alarm started its thing, hit the snooze twice and struggled to not hit it a third. Usual for me is up at 5 5:30 and start writing something, even it never gets published. ( I learned back before the Covidiocy, don’t trash anything,, it may find new life in a different place/time) But that wasn’t this morning,,,
Not real sure what to make of it all, just another strange day mixed into this thing called life I guess.
Or I could take the thinking from the Kybalion, Cycles, frequencies, and I am at zero point in the sinewave, where it could go either way,,, The quantum super-position state before the observer effect kicks in.
Not gonna lie to y’all,, been doin’ some drinking’ tonight. Mostly to settle me nerves down: a little anxiety rising with upcoming bills. No worries, it’ll all work out, somehow,,,
Fact is, I LIKE my J.O.B. with the Bossman and Son of Bossman. I feel like family there. Some of my unease is in part with our losing Bear-bear this past week. Poor gurl was my buddy at the shop. She would come down right around noon to remind my butt that I needed to eat sumpin’ (and in return, reward her for her service, of course.). She was my Gurlie-gurl that kept me sedate with Bossman on his bad mornin’s. I would look at her and she would just smile that Doggum smile and wiggle her butt waggin’ that mop of a tail. At that point, nothing Bossman could pull would set me off. (fact is, Bossman and I are very much alike in thinking and equally obstinate as fuck about it. That’s why we bump heads on the regular. Dunno how Son of Bossman tolerates the two of us, seriously.)
The other side of my unease is the last two days of “rainout’ that wasn’t. We really didn’t have enough rain IN MY OPINION, to justify our downtime. I firmly believe that the other Emps are gonna be in full agreement. Really, it sprinkled at best today, and it wasn’t raining at all when I got the text at 630. That tells me there is just a lack of work,, and thats been sort of evident with my build lists.
Sign of the Times?
Likely. The great wide world being in flux as it is: turmoil in the ME and a not so sane administration running a war that ain’t, apparently at the behest of a quasi-religious entity attempting to enact the book of Revelations in Real Time,,, (note; MY OPINION, YMMV)
No, I ain’t ‘jumping’ off the cliff’. I haven’t submitted any resignation notice, nor two weeks notice. Son of Bossman knows full well what my intentions are, probably did before even I did when I asked for help purchasing BlooTwuck. WHAT isn’t even the issue here: with the load out I have in Bloo, I can do many number of jobs and not limited to wrenching on cars and trucks. I have a full load out as if I were set up for fencing (that I don’t wanna touch with a 10′ pole in respect for the day J.O.B.) I can do handy man work, renovations (though I really don’t wanna get involved in that at this stage,, maybe laters when the finances can handle a large purchase for quick return. I haven’t the room right now.). With a quick toss in of specialty tools, I can advance even further. really, the only limitations I have are at the limits of my skillsets, and those can be pushed some.
And will be, I’m certain.
I’m not gonna sweat the bills this week. what gets paid will get paid, and it may not be at the minimum, but fuck’em,, shit sucks and they’ll get a little feel of it too, Right?
SO,,, raise a glass to poverty, the societal constant until the industrial age, and enjoy the music I am jamming to tonight.
Until tomorrow, y’all take care of yourselves. Love y’all
LIVE
LOVE
LEARN
LAUGH
LOAD!!!!
RIP Miss Bear-bear, aka MamaBear, originally P-Bear, but always the Bear and always the babysitter of the neighborhood kids.
I wrote a post up last night for early publication, but, well, this’uns gotta take its place.
WHat the hell am I even doing these days. I have way more skills than this company can use, and I still struggle with meetiing ends.
Because I am not utilizing those skills, I hold cards close to my chest and I don’t know why. FEAR? Fear of failure? No, not that, fear of success?
theres something to that. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but that one started a ringing noize.
I do NOT want to go find another “J.O.B.” I’m sick of being at the mercy and whims of others for income. And ya, I know, going my own route, there are going to be peaks and valleys of Feast and Scratch, so whats the difference? Flexibility? As in, I get to say WHEN I will work, or not. Yeah, there is some freedom there, but, like right now, I’d likely take on something I shouldn’t just to have something coming in. So its a catch22 situation with the “flexibility’ thing.
There is also the fear of liability thing eating at my hindside. I can easily see someone, especially round hereabouts, deciding to get a lawyer involved and my situation hasn’t the protections of an LLC yet. There has been so much going on, and finances are so low that that, has been on the backburner as low precedence. Only, maybe it should have been the foremost. (property things and Da have been the foremost the last 4 months. )
Growth requires risk of some sort. I know that. I’ve taken quite a few risks with buying Bloo, repairing Bloo, fucking up in those repairs and learning hard lessons. Now comes ‘putting it into practice’ Risks,,, And I need to do something as those bills are still festering and NOT going away (not soon anyways, and definitely not as fast as I would prefer.)
Da came up yesterday and was telling me ‘this place is hiring welders‘ ; third hand information from bad cuz, take with a grain of salt. And I pointed out ‘that place has been taking applications for 2 years and still hasn’t opened its doors. They haven’t even paved the parking lot yet.‘ To which he cocked his head to one side, thinking. There have been more than a few of those companies here the last few years. Big Gov Grants to build,, a building goes up, doors never open, and three years in, a for sale sign at the gates. I know of three large buildings/complexes built locally, that are still empty after 10 years. Its just another grift for those in the club. I think Da finally put the numbers together when I said what I did. Ptomekin Businesses to make the numbers look good and keep the currents flowing, while lining a few ‘Good Ol’boys’ pockets.
I gotta make this work,,, And I am not doing that by sitting here on my ass typing away.
And there is still a part of me that says “not here”,,, That this is the last place in the world that I want to ‘go my own way’. Maybe thats part of my fear of success thing too. I don’t, and haven’t stated any other, that I ‘like’ this area. I call it the ‘Armpit of Kentucky’ for a reason. And if any of you have lived here for any length of time, you could concur that ‘the Hillbilly Mafia’ is real, and most definitely controlls WHO makes it off the floor. I don’t fit that list. Not that I even care about that list as I have no intention of ever running a company that will have dozens of employees or chase after some political/elected office. But I would still have to deal with those that do. I recall Son of Bossman attempting to get on to the Board of Education a few years back and running smack dab into that HBM thing. He’s never tried again. The Corruption runs DEEP and his take on it was “I’d never get the stink off”
I’m off. Gonna go out an put up Bizzy cards on all the corkboards at all of the places that allow self advertising. roll the dice, take the risk. Won’t pay today I know, but something has got to give, and it won’t be me (giving up).
I don’t really know what the corporate types are experiancing. Reading the above, it mirrors some of what I have seen attempting to us AI for some house keeping here around the shop. I either had to hold the danged things hand to get the work done, or, with Claude, was limited by my ‘free sessions’ to about 3 minutes an evening. I could have paid more to get more, but seriously, All I was trying to do was clean up my media files into something that was searchable. My original intentions were to have Claude ‘read’ my posts, and set up a catagory/tag scene to make that more searchable as well.
That ain’ta happenin’. I don’t really see that much need. This blog has been standing in three different forms for near on 20 years now. My SEO has dipped quite a bit since 2012, with short spike during the Covidiocy, but its not going to improve much thses days. Fact, Unless I shit over to a FOURTH building (Substack) This thing is probably dying a slow lingering death. Not because I am losing interest, but because the world has moved on from BLoggers, to subscription writers (and how many are actual writers, and not paying for high end LLM services. There are times where I catch a ‘glitch’ in a vid that tells me what I am seeing isn’t ‘live’. There were a series of Vids with Elon running around recently, and trust me, He didn’t sit there for everysingle one of them. Listening in, I would never have figured it out,, Watching, seeing the glitch, the ‘deja vu’ moments? Yeah, it became pretty obvious they were ‘fake’. And that leads to questions of WHO was making them.
Thats the big thing now. It isn’t the cost in money, or time,
ITS TRUST.
Trusts are being broken in the pursuit of some technocratic dream and financial bubble that is gonna POP! and probably sonner than later.
Hey,,, All good; at least we are talking about something other than some foolish war in some far off place.
Much like the early part o the 1900’s, everyone was thinking that cars and other tech were gonna destroy jobs, but in reality, they created far more than they destroyed. I don’t see AI creating more jobs, but I can see it making some jobs easier, but it isn’t close to the point where it should be running mid tier managment roles (and thats what a lot of these corporate types are attempting.)
and then you get the AI SLOP thing going on. Fact: Here at the shop I had to stop using Chat because the slop was creeping in. I caught Sidd in a ‘lie’ created by the slop of bad information that was generated by other AI on the nets. You see it all the time in clickbait on the Youtube channels, and it’s getting to be in everything. Youtube uses AI to polish screenshots of the videos trying to drive clicks, (you are the product, never forget that) and that ‘polish’ is getting stranger and stranger. (the following vid is not an example of what I mean, but talks about much the same thing.)
Look back to look forward. Those in control now, are insane, and the whole paradigm is crumbling. Tech won’t go away, but the ways we use it now are going to change, or its going to change us. We are pretty damned resilient creatures and I don’t think the tech will win, not completely.
some thoughts on ‘start ups’, which AI currently is. Not making any judgements on the future, just some thinks to start the questions. Questions that really need answered.
I’m tryin’ like heck to stay away from the world mess. Apologies to all if you found my two small forays into the goings on, offensive. Believe me, there is so much more I could add to things, and my opinions aren’t exactly ‘nice’ towards certain groups,,, So I just shut my trap and watch as it all unfolds.
There may come a point in the future, where I just walk into the sunset and turn my back on things. I know what that point is, but currently, well, shit, NO ONE KNOWS what road we are going to trip and fall onto.
I want to talk about other things, self sufficient things, independent things, but finding the best approach without slapping you in the face with tons of information you can’t practically use in your situation. Thats not my style. I want you in a better situation than you are in, but I can’t isolate and expand on EVERY scenario. Like buiilding the rocket stove heater for homes. Every home and location is going to require different materials and designs, and I’m no expert on this stuff. For ‘experts’, you need to go to Permies and other outlets that are frequently experimenting. Dive deep and be willing to play with what you learn before you commit to it. More importantly, THINK outside the box of Regulations and Building Codes. Personally, I don’t think that much of that is going to be such an issue in the next 10 years. I could be wrong and sort of hope I am. Only sort of as I would like to see things getting a bit more relaxed, but not at the expense of the modern world collapsing.
Ok,,, follow along as you can or want. Lets talk about REALITY. There are certain things every one NEEDS. many things we desire, but the NEEDS are going to be the focus. Water, Heat, Shelter, Food. That order is not set in stone with the exception of water. That MUST be the priority in all situations, be it survival or just living a life. Clean water obviously, though if you have a steady source of clear questionable stuff, you have options. Collecting it into something where you can readily access it is your second concern Cisterns, holding tanks, water barrels, whatever, so long as you can access them, and keep them clean. Transporting the water may be buckets or plumbing, it all depends on you, your resources and TIME,,, Always that time thing,,,
Heat is more confusing,,, COMFORT might be the more apropo term here, and keeping that in mind, SHELTER takes second place with comfort drawing third. The Real point of shelter being DRY and out of the ELEMENTS. Comfort levels are going to be dependent on those two factors FIRST, heat (or staying cool) comes second. If you have a home already, look around at how its built and examine how it was made with ‘out of the elements’ FIRST, with comfort coming in second place. Look at our modern HVAC equipment that requires so much energy to maintain an internal environment. The world hasn’t shifted so much in 100 years, and people dealt with much the same conditions we deal with now, and were able to keep homes warm or cool without modern heatpumps: research those methods. And I’ll bet ya a steel penny that they are much cheaper and more reliable than that $8000 heat pump going on the fritz that requires hundreds of kilowatts to run. You might be able to incorporate them into existing structures (and likely skip the permit process so long as you keep your nose clean and mouth shut) Your milage will vary from mine in that regard. (I am already much closer to pre-industrial standards of living.)
But really, the biggest hurdle that anyone is going to face is “Lifestyle Change”. and it sounds so innocent, but believe me, if things get really strange, wyrd and sideways, that alone is going to kill more people than anything. Far too many won’t be able to get their heads around ‘that don’t work no more’ , and many many haven’t the wherewithal to adapt. Or adapt fast enough.
Probably not my readers though. I’ve had my head in the “world is on the cusp of a new dark ages” for near 20 years and thats really the touch stone of this here ‘shop’. Its why I taught myself oldskool machining skills and not CNC stuff. (besides, I didn’t have the means to buy the CNC stuff.) (and really, I have had my head in survival stuff since I was a kid, at least the really fingers in the earth type stuff, like ‘shirt on your back and a pocket knife’ survival ) Building my home using salvage materials and barebones pre-industrial level ‘climate control’ was expediant and educational. Going off-grid for power and water was just the natural evolution of the rest of it. And those of you that have been here for at least the last 10 years KNOW, I live what I preach. I don’t just quote passages from books I have read. I’ve done or I am doing. (or figuring if its worth doing.) I had my water source lined up and plumbed before I laid my foundation.
And I am always open to new or better ideas, and will admit when I have been wrong. I don’t know it all, but I know a lot, and the more I know, the more I realize, I’m still an ignorant bumpkin in the great wide world. Like Mike in Fla said in comments,(and I paraphrase here) ‘I gotta learn, I can do no other’ and the day I stop learning is likely the day they bury my carcass (but thats just the transition to even MORE learning, IMO)
But I digress,,,,
water, shelter, heat/cool,
FOOD.
This is my weak spot. I have stocks put away for if things get scarce, long storage stuff and not just MREs. But likely only enough for myself for 6 months or a month for a famliy. I have options to supplement that with foraging (knowledge base,) and hunting, but I am not the only one around here that will be taking that route. Things could get very lean if worse came to worser-er. But I have one peice of knowledge that can only be gained by experiance. FASTING. I know how long I can go without eating a bite without ill effects. I also know that with fasting, I felt better in short order than I have felt in YEARS, There really is truth to this meme.
(and I am going to take a World Stage bend for a second) Maybe the upcoming shortages are Gods Hand showing us, in a backhanded fashion, that we are NOT living right. (and those of you who read my spewings on faith know, when I say GOD, I mean Universe, not the God of the Old Testament.) Actually, much of what is going on in this world is taking on many biblical proportions and I am seeing more and more people reaching for Faiths to sort out the mess. Maybe this is part of the fourth turning,,, Dunno. (I am also seeing more and more question the old Ideologies and seeking better answers.)
What does all this mean to you, right here, right now? The quick take-away: start figuring out the old ways if you hadn’t already. That is what I meant in a recent post with “look to the past for the map to the future.” There is plenty of information out there to guide and teach you. Keep in mind, there is alot of junk information as well. Use your better judgement. Learn to THINK, then RESPOND,,, don’t just react,,, that’ll get you killed. Practice in your head worse case scenarios and plan on different responses depending on what you may or may not have with you. Do that while you have the luxury now, and when that luxury is no longer around, you will already have programmed responses into your thinking; you’ll be less likely to react badly, and respond in a positive and productive manner. Note, I said ‘less likely’ , I make no promises, but it should help .
LEARN
LIVE
LOVE
LAUGH
LOAD!!!
I don’t type those out every post for shits and giggles,,, Live them!!!
It was the early part of the Tweens when the political divisions of the United States reached irreconcilable differences. Ted, a burnt out computer programmer, and Jim, a double amputee combat vet, reverse engineer the pentagons drone program and create a rebel air force. While traveling the country helping others defend what is left of the country, they run afoul a most evil woman intent on creating a serfdom within the country.
A beginner’s guide to going off grid. how to evaluate if you even want to make the attempt. written by the curmudgeonly author of this blog and his dog
Dio's Workshop 