05.08.24
by

Love Me Some Music

Due to my bass player, who is a local, and knows just about everyone around who dabbles in music, I’ve met and shared a stage, or a jam, with a lot of local talent that I had no idea existed. I am blown away by the talent right here in my neck of the woods. Amazing.

Some people I’ve met, and shared a stage with, up in Murray Ky. are tapped in to the local scene there. They are a man and wife duo, who are incredibly talented. They even tour, in fact they are heading out on tour soon. These folks have been all over the country playing, sharing their art, and consequently have met other talent like themselves, who are out there grinding away in the music biz.

So, since they know people, and know when they are coming through town on a tour, they started hosting small, invite only, in home shows. They put the starving, touring artists up for a day or two, and have a small concert in their living room. (The music scene is nothing like it used to be, there’s not much $$$ involved, unless you are backed by the biz.) From what I understand, the people who come through, reciprocate, that is, they will do the same for those who help them, when they come through their town on tour. Awesome. Life is tough on the road. Nobody gives a shit about a starving musician… Except other musicians who understand their situation.

Our wonderful hosts have a tip jar at the door. They also allow the artists to sell merch in the dining room. They give the artists a bed and a shower, and an opportunity to make a few bucks between booked shows. They even guarantee a minimum $150 take. That is, if the tips don’t get to the minimum, they chip in the rest to make the minimum guarantee.

The last concert I attended was one of these. A small, initimate show, hosted in the home of some friends. I had a great time. There were two solo acts, who tour together, and share a few songs together, and a local I’ve met before, who were there. Musically, it was all original, mostly folkish stuff, with some Americana. Not full blown rock bands in the living room, though I’d be alright with that 😉

Can’t wait for another opportunity. Are we there yet?

I’d bet a shiny new quarter, there is some local talent in your town. You should get out and see! Music is meant to be experienced. Experience it. I don’t mean the cover bands at the local tavern. No, there’s original acts out there trying to share their art. Quite likely right in your town.

Get some culture in your life, it can make you, a better you 😉

Oh, here is a FB page with the tour dates, I’m sure they won’t mind me posting this, it’s already public. She can sing like a bird, and has a unique guitar style. I highly recommend going to check them out. Down to earth people too. Did I mention highly talented? Tell them SD sent ya.

https://www.facebook.com/melanieadavismusic

Daily writing prompt
What was the last live performance you saw?
View all responses

05.02.24
by

Direction?

That’s easy, a compass.

Now, I’m pretty good at knowing my directions, I’m one of those with a good sense of direction. I know enough about the night sky, I know my direction in the dark.

But, when you come up from a dive, and you are fogged in so bad you can’t see the front of the boat, I don’t care who you are, or how well your innate sense of direction is, you’re lost. There had been current throughout the day, I thought, “I’ll toss out my anchor, when the boat pulls tight, I’ll know which way is S.”* Well they shut the current down, the same current that had been running all day, was now nill. No wind, which would have helped, but nope.

So, the next thing you do is try crank up the outboard, and head in the direction you think an island near you is. No matter how straight you hold the helm, all you do is make a wide circle, quite soon you will be hitting your own wake.

Now I take stock of my supplies, one granola bar and a bottle of water. Slim pickings for supper. Lost and hungry, great.

The sun, if I could have seen it, would have helped. In the fall afternoon, around these parts, the sun will be in a westerly direction. But the fog was so thick the location of the sun was impossible. Every avenue of any way to find a direction was just not there.

I got lucky though, I heard a slow moving towboat. I cranked the outboard, headed in the direction of the towboat. Shut off the motor, listen, get a new tack on the direction of the towboat diesels, and make another short run. I did this several times, and I finally closed in on the tow. I suppose the captain saw me coming with his radar, there was a guy standing on the deck, I yelled, which way you headed? He replied S. Excellent, that’s the way I need to go, so I followed along.

We soon hit a bend where the river channel cuts close to the bank, and I could see land. I knew exactly where I was at! All I had to do was follow the shoreline and it would take me to the boat ramp where my truck was parked.

So I had supper at home after all. And I never, no matter if it’s a beautiful sunny day, ever, go out in a boat again without a compass.

Sorry, this is a rehash of an Old Divers Tale, you may have heard it.

Now, just in case the meaning of this WP prompt was meant to be a deeper diven (haha) into the word “direction.” all I can say there is, direction found me, not the other way around.

*The Tn. river runs S into Alabama, then turns and runs in a northerly direction till it hits the Ohio river. Bet ya didn’t know that. I don’t know of any other river that runs N.

Side note, made my first diving trip of the year yesterday, everything I have hurts right now. Very demanding on the body. But at the same time, I’m sitting here thinking of heading back out regardless. That’s the power that diving, and just being out there living, has on me.

Daily writing prompt
What gives you direction in life?
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04.18.24
by

Damn Russkies

I grew up in an owner operator trucking family. I spent a lot of time on the road in my later teens. If I’m remembering this right, we were at a port, in or near Houston, waiting to pick up or unload. Too much eating and sleeping between now and then to get all the details straight.

I remember having to wait for what seemed an eternity, so I started walking around killing time. I walked past a guy standing close by, he was having a smoke. He acknowledged me with a hello. So I stopped and talked to him for a few minutes. He spoke broken English, yet very understandable, with a very thick Russian accent. He was a Russkie!

He seemed a few years older than me. At the time, I’m guessing I was maybe 17.

So, we’re talking, and as we, do I’m struck by the fact that this commie was as human as I was. He felt so fortunate to be standing on American soil. He was profoundly amazed to be here. He explained to me his captain allowed him to come ashore for a bit, and soak up some American air. He was damn near ecstatic about merely standing in America.

After a few minutes of conversation, he said he had to go. He could not be seen talking to me for any length of time. And we soon parted ways.

I was somewhat intrigued by that encounter. Much of my time growing up was spent dissing the damn commies, by pretty much our entire society, and here I had just met one. There was nothing unusual about him. He was very polite, and eager to speak to an American. Even me. That was a moment for me, where I slowly realized, no matter who we are, no matter what country we hail from, no matter our color or creed, we are all equally human.

That brief moment with a Russian stranger was one of those life changing paradigms, in my ways of thinking about people, even the world. I can point back to that moment in time and say, “that changed me.”

Daily writing prompt
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.
View all responses
04.15.24
by

Not My Family

The only time a family member really helped me, my aunt helped me get a used outboard. I’d been treated pretty much like a red headed step child in my upbringing. Always feeling like an outsider. I was a step child after all, but not red headed. I’m sure someone can relate.

I had worked on a couple of boats in my early diving days. A local guy had a boat rigged for two divers. He was a neighbor, he dropped by one day, wanted to know if I’d be interested in diving? I was like hell yeah! He supplied all the gear, all I had to do was go down and dig shells. 50/50 split. I worked for him for a year and a half, one day he was being a jackass and I quit. (“Get down there and dig some shells!” I just came up from down there, there aren’t any shells down there in that mudhole you dropped us in. “Get back down there and get some shells, the other guys are still down there!” Those guys are idiots. There aren’t enough shells down there to fill my shoe. He kept insisting I go back down. Being an obnoxious jerk about it. I quit right there. If you can’t trust me to tell you the truth, and that we need to move, fuck it!)

But I knew another guy who had just rigged up another boat, hoping to do the same 50/50 split. So I was working again the next day.

I worked for this other guy for about a year. In that time, I was accumulating gear. I managed to put a boat together, with all the necessary diving gear, and strike out on my own. I made sure to train a new guy for the guy I was working for. My brother. Who also managed to work his way to his own rig.

Well, the boat I had, had an old 33 hp Evinrude outboard. It was a good engine, it served me well. One day I was heading in and that engine perked up and started running real strong. Then it croaked, never to start again. I discovered the water pump gave out, and one of the symptoms of that, is an older motor perking up and running great, for a few minutes. The pistons and rings start overheating, expand, which makes more compression, which makes the old motor perk up, in its last few minutes of life.

Some things you have to learn the hard way.

Well, I’m looking for an outboard, found one 20 miles away for $800. I didn’t have that much cash. So I took my boat to the river, launched at the boat ramp, jumped in and started harvesting shell. Not an ideal location, but I made $200 that day.

My aunt heard about that, she thought, if he can make $200 without a boat motor, he should be able to pay me back the $800 with a boat motor!

I paid her back. I paid her $799.99. I figured if I ever paid that motor off completely, knowing my luck, it would die the day I paid it off. She never bothered me about about that one cent I still owe her. I guess I should pay her. That motor has long since been in in the dustbin of old dead outboards at this point.

Try as I might, I can’t think of another moment in my life where I was helped in such a manner by a family member. Which makes me damn grateful for the one time it did happen.

Wait! That same aunt got me my first guitar too. So twice.

Daily writing prompt
Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.
View all responses
04.12.24
by

Happiness

  1. A good cup of coffee. Used to be a good cup of coffee and a cigarette, but I quit that nasty habit, cold turkey, over 30 years ago. I don’t need fancy coffee, been a Maxwell House guy for a long time. Getting the water to coffee ratio just right, to suit you, is well worth the effort.
  2. Music. Listening to music, playing music, either one. Playing a little more than listening, but definately both.
  3. I’m happy to work. I love being on the water. I love being in the water. I can’t wait for the weather to settle down so I can go. It’s been really windy the last few weeks, not condusive to being on the water. Water temp is 60 degrees. The bare minimum I can stand these days. (with a good wet suit and a hot water system.) Getting older sucks. Years ago I worked in water down to 38 degrees. Sometimes, heading out of the bay, the boat was breaking a thin sheet of ice. Can’t do that crap anymore. Don’t know how I did it then.
  4. Having a good series to binge. Been watching Star Trek Discovery the last couple of nights. Also been watching Resident Alien. If you haven’t seen Resident Alien, I highly recommend it! FYI, found both on the Superbox, no subscription required.
  5. I have to stop at 5? I guess I better put this down, happy fun time with the wife. 😉 Not exactly an every day thing anymore lol. But it makes me happy.
Daily writing prompt
What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
View all responses
04.10.24
by

Chemtrail Juice

I just had a crazy thought. Scrapping up a couple of cylinders that I can mount in the back of my truck. Maybe load them up with one modified vape each, that can blow big clouds of vape smoke out the back, wire them up to a push button in the cab, and then stencil in with bright red paint “Chemtrail Juice” on the now highly visible cylinders.

Then drive through town a puffing smoke.

Yes, this is the sort of crazy stuff that pops into my head sometimes. I’m truly the benevolent sort with an occaisional stroke of evil 😉

Now you know who you are dealing with!

I think I’ve got a couple of old small oxygen cylinders somewhere…

You think thats crazy? There are idiots in politics, I know that comes as a shock but it’s true, and they are trying to pass anti chemtrail laws as I type this. Whoops, make that PASSED the anti chemtrail law.

Where you ask? In my home state of Tennesse! You think Texas has it bad? Welcome to freaking Tn!

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2024/03/20/tennessee-senate-passes-bill-banning-chemtrails-what-to-know/73027586007

EDIT: I know this was a couple weeks back, but today is the first I’d heard of it…

04.08.24
by

Eclipse 2024

Welp, our first plan was to head for Ravenden Arkansas. Four minutes and 12 seconds of totality. But the weather started looking iffy, and it would mean we’d be away from home for probably 10-12 hours before we got home. Which is fine for us, but the three dogs, and two 2 cats, might have had an issue or two with no one being here for that long. So, that sealed it, we were staying home.

It was said we’d get 97% coverage here, and that ain’t bad. But it’s not totality. If you have never experienced totality I can only describe it as a few minutes of almost creepy lighting, that is very mesmerizing, something about it, you want to soak up every second of the experience, and then it’s gone. Gone too soon. You wish there was more.

We got a few minutes of that creepy lighting, that casts an unusual pall on the surroundings, but it didn’t last long. Very soon the moon was retreating, never reaching totality. Which was a bit of a bummer. But hey, it was at home. We made the best of it.

I have an Orion ED 80mm apochromatic telescope. Excellent glass. This scope was mounted on my Celestron CG5 mount, with tracking. It was outfitted with a full aperture solar filter. I have another small 90mm achro refractor, that I use as a projector. I set up a white board, and focus the image of the sun/eclipse coming through the telescope, on to the white board. 100% safe to look at, as is the other scope with the full aperture solar filter.

I have some ding dang eclipse glasses. Bought them for the last eclipse. Thought I knew exactly where they were. But dammit, even after turning the house upside down and shaking it three times, those little bastards never were found. My luck, I will trip over them before I go to bed. We were still able to observe the eclipse directly though, by passing my welding helmet around. 😉

I have a little 16 mp Sony Cyber Shot camera, that I made a contraption for, that allows me to secure it to an eyepiece in a telescope. I’ve taken numerous pics with this little rig, it works. Speaking of pics… This was my first one of the day, just to make sure things were working. You can see some sun spots, and the focus isn’t great. It looked decent through the eyepiece, but I was battling lots, and lots, of clouds, often being totally obscured, and the seeing was terrible. Even when it seemed clear there were wispy clouds in the way almost 100% of the time. But I persevere. EDIT: These pics will enlarge if you click on them.

After that shot a huge cloud moved in, and by the time I could finally get another pic, the eclipse was underway. I missed first contact!

Well, it’s on! All I can do is wait for opportunities between the clouds. Drinking iced tea, passing the ole welding helmet around like it was a fat doobie, and taking pics when I can. 😉 FYI, the pics that are whitish, means the cloud cover was thick. The yellowish pics means the cloud cover wasn’t as bad. I’m not sure it was ever perfectly clear.

You can see the moon steadily eating away at the sun. Closing in on that sun spot. This next one was right at the edge of the sunspot.

Sunspot long gone now.

This next one, was about the maximum coverage for our location. With an optical doubling of some sort…

Now we are heading back the other way.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I missed out on first contact. So I was hoping to catch final contact. I’m steadily taking pics every few minutes. I heard an airplane buzzing around, I was too concerned with what I was doing to pay it any mind. But as I was waiting for the camera to shoot (I use a 10 second delay, so that my touching the camera, which causes vibrations, that 10 seconds will allow them to settle down before the camera takes the shot,) So the camera takes the shot, then a second or two later the camera shows the pic you caught. NO FUCKING WAY! Thats’ exactly what I said when I saw the pic.

Are you kidding me? No fucking way! But there it is. Sometimes, you just have to be in the right place, at the right time, and shit happens. I can’t win the lottery, but every great once in a while, I manage something pretty cool. Okay, back to pics, but damn… You will see us working towards final contact.

And this was as close as I could get before the clouds completely obscured me again.

Not a bad day. Wasn’t the best eclipse I’ve experienced, but all in all, for being out in the front yard, not bad at all. Got to share the day with family, got to enjoy the show, with all the comforts of home. I’ll take it.

Hope you guys and gals had a good eclipse.

Nuther EDIT: Just in case anyone notices, the sunspots appear to have changed places on the sun in the later pics. My equatorial mount had gone as far as it could in the original orientation. After a time, while tracking, the mount got to a point where it was interfering with itself. So I had to finagle the mount around to another position that would work, which meant I had to turn the diagonal that the eyepiece is in, which the camera is attached to. That change of orientation, caused the sunspots, and even the way the moon appears as it blocks the sun, to change orientation. Any oddities there, are strictly from moving the mount, and/or diagonal around. Doing visual astronomy those things matter not at all…

04.07.24
by

The Superbox

Consider this a PSA, and a review. 😉

Might be around a year ago, our local cable company got gobbled up by the mega corporation Spectrum. We were assimilated!

We didn’t have much of a choice but to play along. It’s either cable out here (which we didn’t even have until around 2 years ago,) or your pick between Hughes Net, or Direct TV. Ewww.

First thing we noticed after being Spectrumized, our internet speed went to crap. So I call Spectrum CS to find out what was up. (Spectrum CS is a freaking nightmare getting to a rep, BTW!) We had been on the 500 mb internet plan, but Spectrum, in their infinite wisdom, cut us down to the basement setting when we were assimilated, without notifying us. Thanks a lot! So we had to get a new modem that could handle the 500 mb plan. No big deal, it showed up a few days later. However, speed tests kept showing much slower speeds than advertised. So, they sent techs out a couple of times. But it really didn’t get a lot better. We finally upgraded to the 1 G plan, because we have several phones and smart TV’s in the house. That helped with our internet issues, mostly, sort of. It was still iffy, and iffy often.

Also, Spectrum, in their infinite money grubbing wisdom, also jacked up our bill to damn near $180 a month. This was with the bare bones, you pick a dozen (or however many it was, I don’t remember now,) channels package, and whatever they tossed in, plus internet. (@ Introductory pricing,) We had been paying $120 a month previousy, AND we had a better TV package with our old local cable company. We were happy then.

After dealing with Spectrum, my professional opinion, Spectrum sucks! Plus they are a corporate ripoff, apparently attempting to monopolize all over the country. Which really rubs me the wrong way. But we stuck with them, because satellite TV generally sucks worse than Spectrum. But we finally shed Spectrum altogether as you will see.

One day I’m talking to my neighbor. He mentions that at X-mas his family pitched in and got them a Superbox. According to him it was amazing. I’m like, “tell me more about this Superbox.”

Seemingly infinite access to movies, and a lot of just a few months out of the theater movies. No cost. Seemingly endless access to TV shows/series. You like MLB? NFL? Hockey? Soccer? There are categories for all of those and more. NO cost. They access the local stations who are broadcasting for the home teams. I can watch any football game I want. Any baseball game. Etc, etc. Did I mention no cost?

There are two apps that come with the Superbox, but not one bit of instruction on how to actually use the Superbox, except how to plug the darn thing in. That was a PITA at first. I finally found the built in apps Blue TV, and Blue VoD. Blue TV has so many TV options I can’t even go there (Cinemax, HBO stuff, really?) plus all the sports stuff. Blue VoD is where the movies/and TV series are. You have to load and activate those apps first thing. My dumb ass was dl-ing apps that I’m subbed to, and trying to figure out what the heck was so special about the Superbox. But once I figured it out, and learned how to navigate the menu, it is absolutely AMAZING. Did I mention it’s no cost? Well…

The cost is upfront. It cost me $300 to get my Superbox, (S-5 the latest version with more memory/speed.) I got it from a cheesy web site that I was honestly a bit concerned about sending $$ too. So I used Paypal to cover my ass, just in case. But a few days later my fears were put to rest, when the Superbox arrived.

I figured, “if” this Superbox lives up to its reputation from my neighbor, it would be a good investment. Heck, 3 months of paying Spectrum an exorborant amount of money for crap TV, would pay for my Superbox, and then some. So, if it lasts me 3 months, I’d break even.

So after using the Superbox a while to evaluate it, we decided to drop the TV plan from Spectrum, but kept the internet. Next thing you know, they are laying fiber optic lines through here. A company called TEC. So I gave TEC a call. $87 a month for 1 gig internet, on a fiber optic line. Say what? Spectrum wants, if I recall correctly, $120 a month for the 1 G internet. But that’s the introductory price, it will go up later. So I called TEC, had them do the install. Called Spectrum soon thereafter and politely told them to shove it.

As of right now, that Superbox has beaten the 3 month mark. It still lives. So far, so good. I have to tell you, it is worth every cent. There is no way you could get all of this available TV/movies/and sports from ANY cable provider.* Let alone for the cost. The options are insane. It’s even, well… Super!

You have any idea what it costs from cable companies to get MLB and NFL packages? Yikes!!!

The only drawback we have, is the Blue TV app sometimes freezes up. It is an app issue. My other apps such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, what have you, do very well with only occaisional issues. Should be noted, it is recommended to run ethernet cable to the Superbox from your modem, but my layout is problematic for that, so we are using it with wi-fi. Still it runs very well, considering. So, I don’t mind a bit having given Spectrum, and their grubby little corporate fingers, an F-you, and the ole heave-ho. Not one iota.

Right now, our entire internet deal costs us $87 + tax. Which, now, after 3 months of using the Superbox, I’ve broke even there on the TV. So the TV, for as long as the Superbox lives, is essentially free. And there is so much of it. I wish I could show you. I wish I could adequately describe it. Even “Super” isn’t a good enough adjective.

How does Superbox do it? I don’t know. I’m just happy I have cut one evil money grubbing corporation from my diet. Now if I could just quit Wal Mart! I’ve cut down a lot on Wal Mart. I hate every minute I have to spend in there. I despise the company. But I still have to go there for some things. But anyway, after being through the cable wringer, I’m pleased with the TV.

Signed, finally happy with TV, in Tennessee.

*Not without literally paying through the nose for it.