Grand and Glorious Curmudgeon
If you don’t remember the rest of the words, they are HERE
No they aren’t rapey; it’s just innocent by-play between adults in a less adversary-prone era. Here’s the original scenes from “Neptune’s Daughter”, a 1949 musical romantic comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Xavier Cugat
Over the past week we have been asymptotically approaching completion of the Conex boxes. We left off last week finishing up painting and installing fittings in the workshop container.
The next item was to install a 110VAC, 9,000 BTU Mini-Split system shown HERE. It’s both and air-conditioner and heat pump, so it should be able to provide heat so long as the exterior temperature is greater than -5 degrees (F). I made the decision to put the compressor above the container, sheltered from the weather.
The unit is designed for “professional installation” but after looking up various YouTube clips I didn’t see anything that I couldn’t handle. The installation instructions were very sketchy, intended for HVAC technicians so the YouTube clips (like THIS) were very helpful.
I’ve got the storage container set at 64 deg F. A side benefit is that the Mini-Split is very, very quiet. The vents at the bottom are turned down indicating that the system is blowing warm air out, but I literally cannot hear anything. I have to stick my hand below it to feel that air coming out. The pipe running down out of the unit is a condensation drain line that runs outside of the container.
In the workshop container I’ll be locating the inside unit opposite the door in the middle of the container to avoid the vent fan installed on the end. I can also drill the hole for the hose line just above the unit, avoiding the offset needed to avoid drilling through the reinforced end caps.
I will be installing the pegboard in 2’x4′ sections below the wall lighting that will provide hanging storage for tools & etc. Once the Mini-Splits are installed, the next major project will be installing the solar power system, but I don’t expect that to start before the new year.
This is written on Thursday, Dec 9th, in the evening; today we finished up the workshop container. We started out on Tuesday putting up the rest of the wallboard and Wednesday with taping and covering the screws.
Thursday Morning we set up for painting and spray painted the interior.
We finished up this afternoon, putting the covers on the outlets and switches, installing the ceiling lights. We are ready for final inspection for both the container & roof installation and electrical inspection. The inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday (weather permitting). The forecast is for snow from 8pm this evening through 11am tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we’ll reinstall the workbench, put up the pegboard sheets and put the shelves back in on the inboard side.
In other news, I was in Johnny J’s Diner on Monday (beef stew in bread bowl day) and noticed the following picture in the men’s room.
The first thing I noticed is that these are either right hand drives, or the negative was reversed when making the print. The next thing I noticed was that at least the woman’s pink car was a 1968 VW. The medium sized tail-lights were from 1966-1968; in 1969 they went to the larger round tail lights. The 1968 version had 4 sections of rear hood vents.
The whole reason for this post is that my first new car was a 1968 VW bug purchased in Hawaii with my first re-enlistment bonus. She was named Sweet Alice Blue and was the baby blue color of the car on the right. She was named after Alice of “Alice’s Restaurant”, which came out in 1967, by Arlo Guthrie. I drove Sweet Alice Blue cross county to Norfolk and then back across to Seattle when I was picked up for NESEP and attended University of Washington (UW).
It was the car I owned when I met Lindsay, and drove her to So Cal to meet the folks (another great story). I have a photo somewhere of Sis & others decorating the VW during our wedding reception. We kept Sweet Alice Blue until after Lindsay graduated and started working for John Fluke, waiting for me to graduate. The summer of 1976 we stopped a at VW dealer to get a replacement passenger side window crank. As we walked in there was a new 4 door VW Rabbit (now a Golf) with a rear seat you could actually sit in. Shortly after, Sweet Alice Blue was no more.
I purchased a Christmas tree recently. That, in and of itself, isn’t particularly novel but I’ve decided to start a new tradition.
When we lived in Silverdale, WA in the mid-1980’s, we went through a phase of getting live Christmas trees, in a large bucket, and planting them outside after the holidays. Over the years we had 4 or 5 reasonably sized evergreens beside the house.
One of my goals for the property is to plant and sustain a number of trees (i.e. The Bumpa Memorial Orchard) and while I was in Menard’s this morning (getting a 1&1/8″ auger bit) I stumbled across this:
It’s labelled as “My Surprise Tree” by “Santa & Friends” and contains a miniature evergreen, some tiny LED lights and decorations.
So my plans are to every Christmas get a live evergreen tree/bush and to plant it outside after the holidays. This is year one.
Another week and we continue making progress on applying metal on the exterior. We’ve got the back pretty much complete, lacking only the corner on the left side.
We started adding metal to the front yesterday, it was cloudy but the afternoon winds started picking up.
We finished up on Thursday morning, we’ve had to order more metal from Bridger Steel. We submitted the original order before we added the rear door so we used up several pieces that we needed. It should be on the truck next week from Missoula MT.
Finally a beautiful sunset on December 2nd: Red Sky at Night – Sailor’s Delight. (the other half is Red Rash in Morning – Sailor Take Warning.)
Wham! tap, tap, tap.
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We continued to make progress on finishing work in several areas.
While waiting for the winds to subside we started work on putting up wallboard in the workshop area.
This took a day to clean out one end, including the workbench and another day to get the clean clean end wallboard up, less the end. Now we need to move the shelving units down to the other end to wallboard this end.
In the meantime we finally got good weather & no wind on Saturday so we got to work putting the metal walls up.
The most important part is getting metal up on the open end. The color is a light brown or Taupe, with dark brown trim work. The first day we got all but the final piece on the open end. It took quite a while to get the trim work around the door, but the rest went pretty quickly. We plan to finish up the rest tomorrow before the winds return Sunday night.
The view from the inside looks much more weather tight. Once we get the metal finished, we’ll return to the workshop.
It has been a tremendously productive week, although having to be out of the apartment by Thanksgiving has a wonderful effect of forcing the mind. When we left off last week we had just insulated the C-Cans.
Some geese stopped by on their way South.
We also started wiring the bay between the C-Cans. One of the recent changes to the electrical code is that the “garage” circuit needs to be on it’s own 20A circuit – apparently setting the stage for charging electric cars.
Late in the week AT started put up wallboard in the storage C-Can. It only took a couple of hours with the right tools. On Friday he commenced taping, again having the right taping tools it only took a couple of hours. Having a kerosene hot air blowing heater kept the temperature at 80 degrees to get a faster drying time. A second coat of taping followed and taping over the hundreds of screw heads. On Saturday he blew in texturing, let it dry for a couple of hours and finally the finish painting.
On Sunday I was frantically packed up packing up stuff. I had dragooned two of AT’s sons (Christopher & Cameron) to help while AT finished up the installing the lights. At 2:00pm we picked up the 21′ U-Haul truck. We then spent the next two hours packing up stuff and drove it over to the homesite.
After unloading (elapsed time 30 minutes). One of the things that makes the move much easier was renting storage boxes (see below) rather than buying and discarding the standard moving boxes.
The only drawback is that you need to return them, so I’ll spend the next few days unpacking them. I should get them emptied by Wednesday and get the apartment cleaned.
In other work, we got the man-door installed on the workshop C-Can.
Next steps for this week is to finish unpacking the storage boxes (5 of 10 done so far) and return them to U-Haul; get the metal installed on the sides and open end of the enclosure (probably Wednesday); get wallboard up in workshop so we can finish up the electrical install and get the electrical and building permits closed out.
Oh and the cat seems to be doing well in the trailer. I’ve had a couple of brief discussions about not getting up on the counters and desktop. So far he seems to be adapting.
Credo (from Latin – ‘I believe’) is a statement of beliefs. The most notable examples are the Apostle’s Creed and the more expansive Nicene Creed which was promulgated by Emperor Constantine in 325AD to address some specific heresies at the time (and modified in 381 AD).
My use of the term today is to nail down some specific facts concerning COVID-19. If you read anything here that you think is erroneous I would welcome any proof that you have that I am wrong. Note that most of the info I am quoting from is from Wikipedia and NIH websites.
2. While COVID-19 is a serious disease, the primary victims are overwhelmingly the very elderly. This is shown by the Infection Fatality Ratio (IFR)
| Age group | IFR |
|---|---|
| 0–34 | 0.004% |
| 35–44 | 0.068% |
| 45–54 | 0.23% |
| 55–64 | 0.75% |
| 65–74 | 2.5% |
| 75–84 | 8.5% |
| 85 + | 28.3% |
What this indicates is that this is NOT the worst disease, evah. For comparison, lets look at the “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918.
Difference between the influenza mortality age-distributions of the 1918 epidemic and normal epidemics – deaths per 100,000 persons in each age group, United States, for the interpandemic years 1911–1917 (dashed line) and the pandemic year 1918 (solid line)
Note the large spike in children (especially under 4) and 25-34 year olds as well as the expected deaths of the elderly.
3. From the Wikipedia page on Spanish Flu“
| Name | Date | World pop. | Subtype | Reproduction number[270] | Infected (est.) | Deaths worldwide | Case fatality rate | Pandemic severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1889–90 flu pandemic[271] | 1889–90 | 1.53 billion | Likely H3N8 or H2N2 | 2.10 (IQR, 1.9–2.4)[271] | 20–60%[271] (300–900 million) | 1 million | 0.10–0.28%[271] | 2 |
| Spanish flu[272] | 1918–20 | 1.80 billion | H1N1 | 1.80 (IQR, 1.47–2.27) | 33% (500 million)[273] or >56% (>1 billion)[274] | 17[275]–100[276][277] million | 2–3%,[274] or ~4%, or ~10%[278] | 5 |
| Asian flu | 1957–58 | 2.90 billion | H2N2 | 1.65 (IQR, 1.53–1.70) | >17% (>500 million)[274] | 1–4 million[274] | <0.2%[274] | 2 |
| Hong Kong flu | 1968–69 | 3.53 billion | H3N2 | 1.80 (IQR, 1.56–1.85) | >14% (>500 million)[274] | 1–4 million[274] | <0.2%[274][279] | 2 |
| 1977 Russian flu | 1977–79 | 4.21 billion | H1N1 | ? | ? | 0.7 million[280] | ? | ? |
| 2009 swine flu pandemic[281][282] | 2009–10 | 6.85 billion | H1N1/09 | 1.46 (IQR, 1.30–1.70) | 11–21% (0.7–1.4 billion)[283] | 151,700–575,400[284] | 0.01%[285][286] | 1 |
| Typical seasonal flu[t 1] | Every year | 7.75 billion | A/H3N2, A/H1N1, B, … | 1.28 (IQR, 1.19–1.37) | 5–15% (340 million – 1 billion)[287] 3–11% or 5–20%[288][289] (240 million – 1.6 billion) | 290,000–650,000/year[290] | <0.1%[291] | 1 |
Note the Typical seasonal flu at the bottom of the chart. Every year between 290,000 and 650,000 thousand people die worldwide. That’s EVERY YEAR. (Side note: none of us are getting out of this alive!)
From the Wikipedia page on COVID-19 pandemic deaths page HERE as of November 2021 there have been just under 5 million deaths worldwide – over two years. And there is also dramatic overcounting of deaths “With COVID” as opposed to deaths “Caused by COVID”. Due to the initial panic and the incentives. Estimates vary widely on the actual deaths caused by COVID-19, as well as the impact of co-morbidities.
4. Early on the pandemic became politized, which has dramatically warped how it is perceived, treated, and responded to. Clicking the above link should open a great exploration of how the extensive the difference is. A pull quote:
“For example, the most recent polling from Civiqs shows that on the question of whether a given respondent is “extremely concerned” about the coronavirus, the divide between Democrats and Republicans, respectively, is 60 percent to 12 percent. By that same token, just 2 percent of Democrats are “not concerned at all,” while 33 percent of Republicans fit in that bucket.“
A more scholarly presentation of the “Politicization and Polarization in COVID-19 News Coverage”. It is a product of the National Institutes of Health. What I take from this is that any and all reporting is suspect and we have to look deeper to analyze what is actually going on.
5. The United States is unique in that public health issues are primarily the domain of each of the fifty states. Quite naturally, there rapidly emerged a red/blue split in response to mask mandates, requiring vaccinations, and the widespread closing of businesses, bars, etc. Despite radically different approaches to things like shutdowns, enforced quarantines, draconian government overreach in the end all of the states ended up with results that didn’t correlate to any of the approaches. Look HERE for maps and compare California and Florida or Texas and Michigan. Formal lockdowns & Government forced closings clearly don’t affect infection rates significantly.
6. The vast majority of people do not understand what being vaccinated really means. From Wikipedia,
“The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae (smallpox of the cow), the term devised by Edward Jenner (who both developed the concept of vaccines and created the first vaccine) to denote cowpox. He used the phrase in 1798 for the long title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae Known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.[13] In 1881, to honor Jenner, Louis Pasteur proposed that the terms should be extended to cover the new protective inoculations then being developed “
From Wikipedia enty for Vaccine
A vaccine is a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease. They vary in effectiveness from near 100% (for example Polio and small pox) to under 40% (annual influenza vaccine, based on what variants are expected in any given year). You can also get an immune response by actually being exposed to the disease. In my lifetime parents actively sought to infect children with chicken pox (see Pox Party) prior to a vaccine being available, since childhood infection was typically much milder and easier to manage than adult cases, which could be fatal.
As of November 2021, it is apparent that the initial mRNA vaccines are nowhere near as effective as initially hoped. Some of the most widely vaccinated countries (e.g. Israel & United States) have seen resurgences in infections of COVID-19 especially among the previously vaccinated. Reports from Israel have indicated that immunity due to actual infection is much greater than by vaccination. In my view, we would be much better off NOT vaccinating people 25 and under, but encouraging them to get the disease, since the chances of adverse effects by the vaccine is greater than the chances of adverse effects from the disease. Don’t wear masks, encourage people mingling and returning to life as normal. Over time the pandemic will end and COVID-19 will become endemic part of the normal background of viral diseases.
The attempt to prevent anyone, anywhere from falling ill to a widespread viral influenza is doomed to failure. In addition, some initial cases of myocarditis have been reported among young males 2 days after receiving vaccination for COVID-19; it seems counter-productive to insist on vaccination for the non-elderly until there is a fully tested, non-emergency authorized vaccine available.
Finally, the widespread fear and anxiety has been spread by opportunistic politicians for the purpose of encouraging statist principles. If you look at states with the tightest lockdowns you see overwhelmingly anti-democratic (note not the Democrat Party) politicians. The rush to inoculate 100% of the population with an emergency-use authorized (and protected against lawsuit) “vaccine” is a level of government overreach that is astounding. Consider the demand by the OHSA that every company with more than 100 employees must ensure that everyone get the jab (currently blocked by the courts, fortunately). Who elected them to demand such a thing?
We’ve been making a bunch of improvements with the goal of getting the initial inspections done. We are still waiting for the metal panels for the side walls but the company stays that they should be here on next Thursday’s truck delivery.
In the meantime we have completed framing and wiring the containers as well as insulating them with spray foam insulation.
We tried the do-it-yourself spray foam kit ($345.18 that covers 200 square ft 1 inch thick). They have larger tank sizes, but there are none available locally. Stumped there we contacted some local spray foam vendors. Ram Insulation came out on two days notice and spray foamed both containers in 2 hours or so for $3,000.00. Saved a couple of hundred bucks and probably 3-4 hours of labor.
While waiting for the metal, we installed a French drain behind the containers (downslope from the apple orchard) sloping off into the pit beside the containers. The soil is very sandy and the drain might be unnecessary, but I feel better that it’s in.
We’ve also completed framing and wiring the workshop container. The below montage shows coming in the doors, a view of the expansive workbench along the right wall and finally looking at the repair of burned out floorboard.
Remaining projects are installing the man-door in the workshop, installing a bright overhead light above the trailer and putting another truckload of gravel beside and behind the containers so I can drive around. When we can finally get the inspections done and move on to the finish work.