TOTALLY RANDOM POST II

[moose eater]

A convention for self-important fucks. More than a hundred thousand of them in one city at the same time.

(Consumer Electronics Show)

Well, I seem to have survived that burden of information relatively well.

Thanks, tbd. (If I may abbreviate your name without causing offense).

By the way, the head honcho at the wholesale restaurant food supply outlet had me send him pics of the duck's label that specified 'with giblets,' and they're allegedly 'going back up the chain' to address the issue.

I told him it wasn't on the same level of tragedy as starving children in Biafra, or Tsunami's hitting the coast of Thailand, taking out remote villages, or anything dramatic like that. Just a matter of labeling and honesty.

He offered to procure a special order of 30-lbs. of chicken giblets, but we both agreed that seemed a bit excessive, as I wasn't missing 30-lbs. of chicken organs; more like, maybe, <3 lbs. of duck giblets in the whole case of six ducks, assuming every bird in the case is gutless.

Of course, they could throw in a couple free lbs. for frustration, time, deflated expectations, broken dreams, and effort, or just the fact that it was the holidays, but I've never really calculated those values in chicken or duck innards to determine a fair-rate exchange for such disappointments, though I assume duck innards would clearly be more valuable than chicken organs.

Anyway, thus far we've avoided any escalation to an existing International incident involving poultry trade between Canada and Alaska.

Now my trailer wiring gave out at the flat-4 conversion plug as I was heading out to North Pole to deliver a snowmobile to have some things addressed, so I'm off to change that out at about 0 f. in the dark, using a twin-head halogen work lamp to heat the area under surgery, as well as the electrical tape, heat-shrink seals, butt-to-butt connectors, and, not least of all, my hands. Such work defies gloves and mittens..

And, when I went totown to gather late-night trailer wiring parts this evening, my wife's car's 'check engine' light came back on; same code.. P0661. ARGH!!!!

It's a banner fucking day!

 

[moose eater]

My wife found a calming channel on YouTube, aimed at preventing boredom for dogs. It seems to be a perpetual view of goats/sheep grazing in a lush green pasture, beneath a modest green mountain. She thinks it may be Africa.

It's currently on a 40" smart tv.

Our newest German Shepherd is in herding heaven, I think; curled up under a blanket, watching her charges with interest. No facsimile of televised livestock will suffer under her watch.'

 

[Three Berries]

Henry Ford first commercialized what common product?

Answer: A. Charcoal Briquettes (Ford factories generated a lot of sawdust that Ford first turned into charcoal to power factory machinery and later into briquettes sold to the public. Source: https://www.thehenryford.org/...)

B. Dental Floss

C. Phillips Head Screws

D. All the above

 

[mean mr.mustard]

E. Nazis

 

[tobedetermined]

i thought those were all in . . .

No. The level of bullshit that rises in Vegas for 4 days during CES is unequalled anywhere in the universe.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Do they have those cosplay tarts running about?

 

[tobedetermined]

Do they have those cosplay tarts running about?

Tarts of all shapes, sizes, ages, sexes and nationalities were available for hire. We used to call them 'fluff at the door'.

 

[moose eater]

Murphy's Law states that when you need 4 Perma Seal butt-to-butt connectors for a job, the reserve parts kit will have 3. I guess it's time to mix and match a bit.. Like, once.

But if I reserve the one mix-and-match connector for the ground, as I was initially thinking of doing, and it fails, then I lose all the others at that time.

Right-hand turn is the least likely to leave a person out in the lane for an extended and vulnerable period, so I guess the right-hand turn gets the odd-ball connector.

So be it. OR, in the words of Jean Luc Picard, "Make it so!"

 

[armedoldhippy]

"Make it so!"

"Earl Grey, hot..."

 

[moose eater]

Welp... Now that I've had a good couple tokes of last years conglomerate of glands from several strains of what ever I grew at that crop's time, via pressed seived hash, and a 7.4% abv 'Wee Heavy Scotch Ale' (Matanuska Brewing Co., Palmer Alaska), I'm off at dusk to pour gasoline from one or more jugs/boat tanks into more functional jugs of various sizes, mix some gas for the chainsaws and ice augers, fuel up the snowblower, plug in the 4 vehicles to move them when it's time, and snowblow the driveway.

I've always figured that track-drive power equipment, or any power equipment, really, good substance use (in this case, some potent and excellent hashish) and beer, fit well, hand-in-hand.

It sometimes causes the job to be less boring, potentialy more creative, and, in the event that injuries are incurred, they're apt to not hurt quite as badly if a person is pre-anesthetized.

We'll skip that part of the dialogue where we question whether or not the referenced injuries, for the moment not yet realized, would have occurred at all, but for the preparation effort.

 

[Three Berries]

It’s not a UFO its ZTF

A rare, green comet is expected to pass by Earth this week for the first time in 50,000 years and will be visible for nearly a month.

www.oann.com

 

[Three Berries]

Raquel Welch auditioned for the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island and it was basically like god created the perfect hybrid of Ginger and Mary Ann.

 

[moose eater]

The night of the snowblower buzz, above, my recently repaired heavy-duty freighter of a snowmobile went into a catastrophic code FLASHING check engine light with a lit, red oil pressure indicator light; all of this after what had sounded like a modest backfire, which this machine simply hasn't done in the past.

Further research indicated that the oil pump on this thing, all internal to the engine case, meaning major surgery in the event that the hypothesis is correct, runs polymer/plastic gears/impeller of sorts and a shaft off of the crankshaft.

The crankshaft is now obsolete, no longer made by SkiDoo, and not available through SkiDoo Vintage parts, either. But I found a couple of machined refurbed crankshafts for it in Canada.

The oil pump internals can't be bought as an assembly, but can still be purchased via the standard SkiDoo parts outlets, and the complete engine gaskets and seals kit is also obsolete, -but- IS available at SkiDoo Vintage Parts.

Trying to get this thing 'peachy', as I don't often sell things in disrepair, instead trying to sell things in the condition I would want to buy them in, if roles were reversed. Which leads my wife to accuse me of "buying high and selling low." She's probably right, but it helps to keep my conscience and karma a bit cleaner, too.

So, by the time I can sell this thing to partially pay for an outrageously priced similar -new- machine, I'll have about $4,500 into fixing (thoroughly) a machine that I can maybe get $6,500 for.

Murphy seems to love me these days.. In all the wrong ways. I think Murphy's into some sort of BDSM stuff, frankly, and I'm a bit more old-fashioned than that.

Another day....

And the shop that was supposed to address the 'rattle' in the rear of my Toyota communter mobile, charged handsomely for repairs... leaving the rattle in the rear suspension just as pronounced, if not more so, than it was when I took it in.

If Guido ever makes a point of taking on less than competent and/or dishonest mechanics' garages, it'll be a full-time job for him.

 

[moose eater]

Talked with a remote lodge owner last night; the owner of the place I leave my truck and trailer when we head into the bush on snowmachines to a third-party's cabins on a remote lake for ice fishing in March/April each year..

We discussed his noteworthy increases in overhead as it translated to his new 'parking fees', whereas the previous owner, whose parents had homesteaded there in 1949, had always left it a voluntary fee.

Times are a-changin'. I'll blame OPEC. It's more honest, I think.

Nice folks though, doing a semi-independent thing; all of them working hard, and trying to create a dream that goes beyond the standard beige and oatmeal existence that swallows so many.

He told me at some point, in the midst of my monopolizing the conversation, that I was one of 4 remaining old-timers who routinely go there anymore. Still connected to that place.

Last year an old fellow whose special spots I'd pirated over the years, and whose partner had often gifted their remaining bait to us, as well as left-over chow sometimes, had gotten stuck in a bunch of snow in the dark, coming back out of the bush, having taken a wrong turn out on the trails in the night, with snow coming down, and with way more precipitation on the ground than is typical there.

While he and his often generous fishing partner were trying to get his machine and gear sled unstuck, and find their bearings in the darkness, the old gent died of a heart attack; his partner, unable to revive him, having to trek out the rest of the way alone once oriented, to the remote lodge, to notify them and the authorities of his friend's passing.

I don't know if the living partner's heading back out there anymore or not. Heck of a nice guy.

The lodge owner informed me that a number of others of us 'old-timers' had simply died of old age, or who knew where they had gone?

We talked for a bit more, though I suspect his remote phone may cost more than the average, and then it was time to go, stating we'd see each other in the near future, and he'd keep me informed soon, of the overflow situation on the one lake where it can be a problem... and was for me last year.

Not sure how I felt about all of this. I guess I'm still mulling it over to some extent. I guess I'm now a dinosaur out there, of sorts.

And maybe one or more of my sons will take up an annual pilgrimmage to that spot in the future,. on their own. They learned to ice fish there.

"Use it or lose it."

 

[Betterhaff]

Raquel would have to cover up that navel lol

And my name is George Santos

 

[tobedetermined]

So.
How high do you have to be to make trimming fun?
Now. The same question with arthritis . . . ?
I guess I will find out. I am 1/2 hour in and I have not found that level yet.
But I got lots of shit on hand to get me there.

 

[buzzmobile]

But I got lots of shit on hand to get me there.

Wash them well before trimming. Just a suggestion.

 

[tobedetermined]

How did you know that I haven't had a shower yet?

I only wash my outdoor harvests. My indoor is bug-free (so far knock on wood) and I have to use a lighted magnifier to trim anyway since my eyesight is crap - especially when I am heavily medicated. The magnifier makes larf buds monstrous things and really helps me eradicate pet hair.

 

[moose eater]

So.
How high do you have to be to make trimming fun?
Now. The same question with arthritis . . . ?
I guess I will find out. I am 1/2 hour in and I have not found that level yet.
But I got lots of shit on hand to get me there.

WAAAAY HIGH!!

And it wil require loud music, maybe on a loop, at least in your head, or a decent FM station with minimal bullshit in ads (good luck on that one these days), potentialy some non-cannabis drugs (coffee? cocaine? Hallucinogens, but not too much?), and someone to trim with for company and humor. Fighting can be a good distraction, too, should it come to that.

Tiger Balm for the pinched nerves between your shoulder blades, but then who ever applies the TB wil have to go take a break for a while to scrub their hands, because that shit sticks around for a while if not properly scrubbed a half-dozen times..

Short of that, I haven't found any cannabis buzz that did anything but -eventually- turn it into the monotony that we all know it to be. And then it was nap time... Or what ever.

Sure, that early advent of 'loss of space-time continuum' is fine for a while. Did that in the Forest Circus for a while when trimming densely grouped spruce saplings with a safety axe in 3' to 4' of snow as a busy work. But that sense of "How long have we been here, and how'd that huge pile of slash behind us get there?" phase only lasted so long.

If it's any consolation, hashish played a serious hand in that temporarily functional state of mind back then. Decent brown Moroccan, to be exact. I recommend it. Highly.

 

[moose eater]

This man was at Kent State on May 4, 1971, a year after the shootings. What came to be known as Kent State Day.

When I was at OCCUPY WALL ST in Manhattan, writing and being present, then moved to 2 locations of OCCUPY in Washington, D.C.. he was present at McPherson Square, and I didn't know it. I missed my long-time hero by who knows how many seconds. Maybe looked into his eyes speaking, and had no clue it was him. I regret that.

We used to listen to this recording every May 4 in remembrance.

The man had heart, soul, courage and a gift. The days when we beat our opposition with humor and making them into the absurdity they are/were.

I miss those days. Truly.