A workshop.

All those tools with dedicated reasons for existing. All those improvised tools that are highly specialized. All the scraps and leftovers saved for some unknown day in the future. The whole vibe is opportunity to create.

I started a Facebook group called New Music Only. Nothing older than a fortnight is allowed. It allows others to share brand new music they haye found and it forced me to go to YouTube and start hunting for recently uploaded music so I can supply material for the group.

When I lived in the Tidewater area I practically made a hobby of going to places with okay food and entertainingly bad service. We were always on a mission to find the worst food. We found it at one of the “Steak Seafood Pasta” places on the Blvd. Everything came from a microwave and the freezer section of some supply company.

No lies detected.

If the version without Heathcliff makes exactly as much sense as the version with Heathcliff then that’s a win. The trick is that because the version with Heathcliff doesn’t make sense in a traditional way because it depends on absurdism or anti-joke strategies the original doesn’t make sense to begin with. So by removing Heathcliff it creates an absurdism stacked on absurdism situation.

If you don’t like Monty Python or Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy this probably won’t make any sense at all.

Gotta kill the dog.

One got transferred to a hospital last winter and eventually got into some kind of housing situation.

One tends to hang out at the Walmart.

Others are frequently in and out of one of the two hotels in town. We had three but they tore one down.

My place isn’t paid off but it is cheap enough that I can say what would change and, importantly, what wouldn’t.

My monthly payment is just under $700 a month. About $400 of that is the actual mortgage. The rest is basically property taxes and insurance. I’d save $400 a month but would still have to pay $300. Assuming I didn’t decide to just earn $400 less a month then that $400 would have to go back into the property. I need a new roof. I need a new HVAC (AC died three years ago). A new roof and AC would cost almost a quarter of my original mortgage. So in the end not much would change financially.

An important thing to remember about home ownership is that on average you are going to spend about 1% to 3% or a dollar a square foot on home maintenance each year. I had to replace my septic system months after buying the place, 7.6% of the home price. I had to replace my water heater a few years ago. Fortunately it’s located outside the building so no water damage and I was able to do that replacement myself so instead of spending $1800 for someone else to do it I did it for $450.

Once I have even a little spare money I need to do some roof repairs, not pay someone else to do it.

$_ in bash is the most recent parameter Always look for the built in variables. They save time.

I bring canned salmon.

I knew two bears. They were caterers. They bought a restaurant.

Geese are legendary for their attack skills. They aren’t bad most of the year but in the spring they will mess you up if you get too close. You can go to YouTube and search for “goose attack.”

Only if they see you

If they’re not tormenting you, they’re not doing their job. That’s their niche. They have one job.

Yes and no. They are much cleaner than ducks and they can be exclusively fed on grass once they are feathered out. This makes them unbelievably awesome in addition to their guard dog ability. In the springtime you get giant goose eggs. Which is a big perk. Since we got our first two geese we have not lost a single chicken or duck to hawks. Which is why we got them. We were losing 1 to 3 a year just to hawks.

The downside is that like all birds they poop everywhere And their poops are more undigested grass than runny stuff. And in the spring when you get those giant eggs the geese can become extremely aggressive. This means separating them from the other birds to prevent injuries and it means learning how to wrestle geese in a safe manner. And it means always being on guard. You will not be safe on your own property.

But for me the benefits far exceed risks. They pay for themselves. They give giant eggs, they stop hawks, they mow the yard, they require no feed.

18 chickens, 7 geese, 6 ducks, 11 cats, 3 fosters, two dogs.

Today I turn on one foster kitten, the rest leave next week. Not sure if they will give me more when I drop off the one today. But if they have something extra spicy I’ll probably get it.

Basically multiple types and the number is fluid. We’ve lost two chickens and two geese this year.

Ducks are the grossest birds. Anything is better than ducks. I have 6 ducks.

I worked in IT for 20 years. I became a handyman and have 7 geese.

I have power tools. I had like 7 batteries for them. I saw that they offered a USB adapter so I could charge my cell phones. $20. I quickly stopped using wall warts and standard battery packs. 5 amp hours, hot swappable, always a battery in the charger so I could never run out of power. Power tool batteries are built to higher specs than typical cell phone chargers so they didn’t die after 10 chargers. The batteries are rugged so a drop doesn’t destroy them.

My tools were stolen. I replaced all my Makita with Harbor Freight Hercules brand, their premium brand. Half the cost of Makita and actually better designed in a lot of areas. I quickly bought the USB adapter because I could never live without it again.

If you have power tools and always use them, I’m a handyman, then a USB adapter is a must.

I’d prefer a Knowledge Fight community. This will help deter actual AJ fans from showing up by as much as 5%