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.
I posted up a “You can’t go back in time” post back in the later days of January this year.
Tonight, I recieved an email from one of the bright ladies of my past.
Echoes from long ago. Memories aflood the mind.
Remembering just how “Immortal” we all felt in those days.
Many bridges over fast moving rivers, and the road rarely folds back on itself.
Am I hoping for a return? Hell NO! But to hear the tales of what has gone since those days,,,, Yeah,,,, life is strange, and we all have a story to tell. Some of us just choose to do so everyday (ME) and would love to hear the stories of others.
Lady Starlight, your number is in my phone, so any messages will be seen and not ‘potential Spammed’.(check your email for mine) Here’s hoping your world is more glorious now than it was then,,,
No, not resigning, Just feeling resigned to things in the great wide world, also known as ‘Reality” (that ain’t, but thats another tale,,,) (and I realized I hadn’t posted in several days,,, Bad Dio, No biscuit!)
Price of things,,, I got to thinking about why things aren’t reducing in price, and it hit me: Inflation,,,, We haven’t had a retraction in the amount of ‘cash’ that is in circulation, so the prices are staying ‘fixed’ at current levels. Does anyone see any moves being made to reduce the amount of money in circulation? I see DoGE making moves to cut the spending, but THE FED is the one keeping the streams flowing, and I doubt that DoGE is going to be able to have any say in what THEY do,,,, Since the FED ain’t Federal, no matter what the name says. Another tale for another time,,,, Ron Paul had it right, but that doesn’t mean that move will ever be made,,,, I’m resigned to that fact as to be otherwise will only raise my blood pressures,,,,
Was driving to get ded kow for MamaKat and saw a guy ‘hiking’ along the roadside. Big honkin’ 60L bag loaded on his back, trekkin’ pole in hand, a couple extra items strapped along the sides and back of the pack,,, Making good time too: he covered over a mile from first sighting to when I was on my return and I saw him again. Dunno where he is going or if he is just a transient. (we aren’t really all that close to the Appalachian Trail, but we do occasionally get some that decide to make overland from there, or even TO there; This guy was headed that way so,,,,,,)
What struck me about him: he was closer to my age or older,,, And I thought, “that could be me,,,,” I have the bag, I have the gear, what I don’t have are the knees anymore. I can trek, still, but anything more than a level surface and I am doomed,,, Part of why I prefer the idea of kayak-kamping. I can paddle further than I can walk these days.
Mark Ervin was 10 years older than I when he started his ‘Greater Loop’… And he did 10000Km in 12 months (with a 2 week break at Christmas when he hit Mobile AL.) More than a small part of me wants to emulate that endeavor,,, And I may yet. In a round-a-bout sort of way, I am getting my ducks in a row for that, though the end goal is sort of open-ended,,, Gear doesn’t need to be THAT specific, and mine isn’t. Maybe I won’t do the entire loop, especially not the first go round. I know that is going to take way more than I have right now. BUT, I could do the Tennessee river, from Knoxville TN to Paducah KY. Its only a 600 mile (apx) ‘float’,,,, See how I do, if I think I could handle more, or hit the end and say “meh,,,, NEXT!” It would take me about a month to do it,,, (give or take: figure 20 miles a day,,, 30 days,,,, And thats not hard paddling by any means, 30m/day starts to approach “what the heck was I thinkin’?”,,,,)
Been doin’ a lot of thinking about things. One item in particular is ‘unloading dead weight’. I have stuff I haven’t touched in years, and it just gets moved around, dusted off on occasion,,, And two of those items are kayaks,,, Take what you will of that thought. One I hang onto because she is my ‘loaner boat’ (that never gets loaned out really.) that I would put anyone into; even my Da! and feel confident they could handle her. BUT, she sits. A LOT, and I feel like someone else would enjoy her more. There are other things like that too. I am not one to hold onto things for ‘sentiment’, never have been. I have the things I like, and I prefer to remain ‘high speed, low drag’, and too much stuff becomes anchors. About the only things I don’t apply that to, are TOOLS. Tools are never dead weight, even when they strain the leafsprings on your truck. (and books!!! Books are ‘tools’ too!!!)
right now, I am resigned to hang on to the extra boats ‘just a bit longer’ but I do have my mind on getting a longer composite boat in the future (and working on that nest egg so I can) as Lyssa is just not up to the task of doing expedition type paddles, like I mentioned above. Overnights and weekenders, yes; but not week/month long stuff. The sacrifice would be gear, as there would need to be more food/water involved (especially on the coast where fresh is not as readily at hand. I have muliple ways of filtering fresh water, NO reverse osmosis filters for salt water.)
WHEN I acquire that boat, Lyssa will go on the auction block, possibly Blue jean as well, Definitely the ARC, (gonna keep Rio for the few times I get to play in white water with friends, as I REALLY like how she handles such things.)
LOL See, I am making headway to that dream, even if I never actually get there,,,, “So many dreams, on the shelf”Only one lifetime and I have dreams that would take several,,, BUT, I have had more than my share come true as well, so IF, I miss one, thats Ok,,,,Next time around,,,
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Do you get the impression I don’t wanna talk about “Poly-Ticks” or world events? Like that whole India/Paki alley brawl getting kicked off? Yah,,, fuck that shit,,, I can’t see that escalating into WW??,,, Its two mindsets that have been at odds since forever, and this is just one more kerfluffle IMO. And the Whole Israel, Iran, Houthi, Middle Friggin East BS,,,, Guys!!! Its been 2000 friggin years, the DNA strands are so diluted and spread thin (and in some cases EXTINCT),, You think you could get over yourselves and maybe have a beer over a cardgame instead?
EaYah,,, thats gonna happen,,,, NOT! So Why bother worrying about it? Nukes? ANd your worrying will stop them, HOW? Fuggit,,,, I can’t get all worked up over two ditchwater tribes getting frothed up and nasty about “Differences” that mean absolutely Nuthin. It shows more to me, that they are still ‘uncivilized’ and probably always will be. (and Yah, I know, the Muzzies are the instigators, but hey, they always are and yet we haven’t wiped them off the face of the earth,,, Hows that working out these days? Seems to me that we had a couple centuries of peace with the Ottoman Empire, at least until that was broken up back in the start of the last Century; been downhill ever since.)
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yeah, just a ramble of thoughts today,,,, Gotta vent that out somewheres, and Elbee and Mama (FEED US!!!) don’t wanna listen to the mad rambles of a Curmudgeon on a hillside,,,,
I have never had any love of ORGANIZED Religion. And Francis did a post not so long ago mentioning that those most against it, were likely force fed it as children. Thats Me!!! I can concur that much of my dislike/distrust/dismay of it comes from early mis-adventures with it.
And then, things like what happened today only reinforce it.
I had stopped a local quikie-mart/fuel stop for something wet and cold on my way home from the lake. Cold drink in hand, place is bizzy as heck since the churches had just let out, and here comes stumblfuk McGee (don’t know his actual name and not trying to be condescending, but he was obviously off-kilter in some way.) Dude looks dizzy as all get out, trips over his own toenails and falls face first to the sidewalk. Looks around for a second then rolls on his side and just lays there. I call out “hey man, you OK?” and no response. There are mad amounts of people there and I am the only one that reacted at all, even though I could see several had watched the entire episode. I put BUff back in park, get out and go over to Stumblfuk, (noting that several people, dressed in sunday best, did the ‘Not my Problem’ shift, or flat beat feet back to their vehicles,,,) “Dood, are you Ok?”
This guy was in serious condition,,, won’t say he was drunk, as I didn’t smell any alkyhaul, but he was NOT in his head in any way. Total drooling mess of near catatonia,,, No damage from the fall, not even scraped up paws, but brainless. Guy from the store comes out and we get Stumblfuk to his feet and you can see he has no idea where he is, what he was doing, why he was doing it,
And All I see is the Churcher’s acting like “we see nothing!!!!”
Where the ALMIGHTY FUCK was that Christian Charity this area is so friggin’ proud to preach???? Here it is a Pagan and a Stoner helping this poor sod out and the rest of the crowd acting like their paws are too delicate and clean to touch the situation. Shit like that pisses me the fuck off to a degree I can’t even put into words. I see more instances where the church goers are going for the ‘See Me’ factor, sporting the nicer clothes, the newest expensive ride (that sits in the garage through the week) and rubbing elbows with the ones that show up with even better. Dammit, its not supposed to be about networking for your capital improvement in the material world, but that IS what I see the modern church has become.
I’ll stick to my wet church with the furrie congregation. They may give me the sly eye when I am there, but at least its because I am the outlier in THEIR world.
now its time for Ol’Dio to chill out and ignore the rest of the human race for the day,,,, Gotta get my mindset right for the J.O.B. tomorrow,,,,,
and not feeling particularly sociable this weekend,,, Hell, avoiding people like the plague, even Da,,,,
Dunno what it is exactly, but the call to get out in the woods/on the lake is STRONG!
would say I need me time, but that ain’t so: more like I need UNIVERSE time,,, get the ground and center re-established and balance restored. Feeling a bit off balance since my blowup a week and half back.
Not that y’all wanna hear about me and my issues. I has enough of ’em, thats for certain. I’m hooman; we have issues, baggage, quarks, what-have-you’s,,,, Mehbe the Katz has it right,,,, be the ultimate little killer and sleep 18 hours a day; to hell with the other shit,,,,LOL
Now, I know there have been doings that I am looking at, IN the Trumped 2.0 Administration and I have been shaking my head, scratching my head, flummoxed beyond measure,,,,
BUT, that is in part because I wasn’t looking at things from the correct angle. (yes, I am still looking at Bondi wondering ‘where are the friggin’ warrants?’ but thats another matter to be dealt with under a different post.)
Trump 2.0
DoGE,
The economy,,,,
Trump is a business man, always has been since his start in realty in Sin-Sin-Nasty,,,, (yup,,, I once lived near his first property, that he flipped and made bank on: enough to pay his dad back and get started on another.) Keep that in mind,,, Business man,
I, and likely many others (read MOST) thought we had hired a Surgeon, or a butcher with a chainsaw.,,
He ain’t that, in either case. Especially that Butcher thing,,, He likes being ‘liked’, and does like to make a showcase of things.
But he is a business man first and formost, and sometimes, businesses file bankruptcy. Trump is familiar with this. Musk if familiar with this, Hell, anyone that has ridden that high has some familiarity about chapter 11, chapter 13, chapter 7s etc etc etc etc
shit happens, best laid plans go awry, and you scrap the idea, pick up the peices as you can, and scramble the lawyers to ‘keep it fair’ and not be torn limb from limb by your creditors. Thats just a nature of the beast. You fail, and until you fail, you have never succeeded. Sounds counter-intuitive, but is truth.
Looking at how Trump is running things, especially with regards to the economic stuff (DOGE) and what not, I seems he is attempting to structure a bankruptcy,,,
With one serious problem. CONgress. That whole separation of powers thing, and CONgress holds the purse-strings. Its sort of like a CEO trying to work around the Board of Directors,
And CONgress has Tenure, so to speak. How many of them are dirtier than the dirt from my katbox? (don’t answer that, I am sure I have no desire for that much information.) The whole damned system is corrupt as fuck, and EMBEDDED into a system that is off the hook: or as Sarah says ‘The money printer goes Brrrrrrrr’
and I am not savvy enough with business to figure a solution, nor politically enough to see past one thing,,,,
This show looks likes it gonna collapse into a heap of Shitte, and there are certain groups working to make thier little niches as bullet proof as possible
follow this money tree,,,, Youtube, Google, Alphabet, Blackrock,,,,,,, You can go even further with it,, all the way back to NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS,,,
I don’t think there is any historical precedent for what is coming. THOUGH, things may revert to some historical systems after the shit storm plays out.
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Don’t get me wrong… Sarahs post was inspiring to me. Yes, we have to keep talking, pointing out the issues, raising questions and raising awareness of things,
and it is daunting as F! but,,,,, The other solution (that ain’t) is to retreat and hide the head under pillows.
and thats ALL I can do, is attempt to raise awareness that things “Ain’t Right”, how they aren’t right, how they aren’t LEFT either, and that THERE ARE SOLUTIONS IF, AND ONLY IF, WE GET OUR COLLECTIVE SHIT TOGETHER AND START HOLDING ACCOUNTABLITY LESSONS. I hate using that word ‘Collective’, but lets face it,,, Those of us out here in the real world, that just wanna be left alone so that we can live as we see fit, ARE THE MAJORITY, but we get walked over by less than a percentage point of our society, and there are many ‘just wanna be left alones’ on the payroll of that minority. I know a few personally.
(dammit!!!!! I was running good and Mamakat ran in, jumped desk and shook off all over me and keyboard. Sorry y’all, my thoughts are now scrambled, not hardboiled,,,,,,
The green grow-y thingies in my yard are resorting to Nuclear/Biological/Chemical attacks now,,,,
Bad night last night, near zero sleep due to MASSIVE drainage from the cranium/sinus passages. Foggy as all get out today, so if anything important were going down, Missed it!
Anywhoos,,, This to shall pass, I know its because every swingin’ richard in the area is bizzy scalpin’ thier yards and the dust, pollen, ick and lord knows what are in the air. ( I know this because I have to blow off my porch every danged day or track yellowish footprints in the house with ease. I get enough kitteh-paw-print tracks as is,,,, )
That damned retaining ring on the pump assembly. I thought GM had screwed the pooch back in the 90’s with the ring that needed hammered into place,,, Boy oh boy was I wrong. I’d almost prefer that set up to the newer design with a split ring,,,, I managed to engage three of the ‘teeth’ holding that split ring and I am ‘fingers crossed’ that they hold. Luckily, I have been here before and had cut an access port behind the seat of the passenger compartment to access the fuel pump without needing to drop the tank,,, Thats a serious PITA,,,, Even more so than what I just went through. (and why can’t GM do what Toyota does, with a ring that BOLTS in place,,,, It lines up or it doesn’t, not this gabblefrackin’ goofball set up that MIGHT be lined up correctly,,,, Oh for the days when fuel pumps were INLINE, not internal,,,, Sorta miss that about my old Fiats: simple, WORKED, and being Bosch, probably keep working long after the car had rusted away.
Ah,,, so long as what I have in place holds, the deal is done: new pump, better performing engine that actually engages TCC at highway speed again.(if there isn’t enough power, like a weak fuel feed will do, you never actually go into OD. More fuel consumption, that,,,,) Pulled up the hill like her oldself again. I was worried when I was headed home to do the work and had to shift into LO to get the RPM’s up enough to pull the hill.
And to boot, (I’m laughin’ about it now) I did all of this while a spring Thunderboomer was blowin’ through. Matched my mood PERFECTLY. And it was blowing out when I was firing up Buffalo to check things out.
One more item to change out, and it will be here tomorrow: O2 bank 1 Sensor1. I was hoping that they would both be here today, but,,,,,,
Th’as a’ight, Its a minor code being thrown and I know that the old headgasket leak is what killed it (shoulda changed it then, but $$$,, Was already hip deep paying for the gaskets and other stuff.) But,,,, Teats or Tires. I replace this one, bank 2 is gonna shit-out: Betcha!
Short day at the shop. 5 hours, but I have a 31′ Cantilever gate hogging up my shop until I can get the boys to help me stand it up and finish it. Then I have another that will be nearly 45′ long to build. Don’t like ’em, too damned big IMO, BUT, they are my bread and butter, so to speak. Not only am I the builder, I am the installer for the gate controllers as well. About the only thing I don’t have my paws involved in, is setting up the posts to hold the bloody things.
Currently, I have one finished, one half done and another on project. And thats just one site. All three will be powered, though at this time, I don’t know how ‘remote’ they will be. Usual is just keypad entry or remote ‘keyfob’, or both. I have had one or two that were routed through computer systems that were absolute NIGHTMARES (and I had to dig deep in the memory banks to remember my sysadmin days for the computer stuff.) Yeah, I wear a few hats at the J.O.B.
BUT NOW
Beer thirty. Already did a test run of Buffalo to fill her tank back up. Happy to see I have a working fuel gauge again. (you think I was gonna do a fuel pump swap with a full tank? HA!!! Ya’right!) And I have some idea of what ‘1/8th tank’ means. I still had 7 gallons in the tank when I filled back up. Good to know on road trips.
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 