Thursday, December 15, 2016

Banner Snow Year.

The snow shoveling seasons is starting out with a bang.
I made as much this weekend as I normally make in 3/4ths of a week working for someone.
It looks like this week will be even better; by the weather report.
Last year was a bust; I hardly made enough to pay my bills. I had to sell precious metals to keep up.
This year, too, I'm working harder to get into shape to work at Seed Savers. In the Spring we'll be planting things so it will require a lot of stooping over. Last year I couldn't  handle bending down to the ground to harvest things. Maybe I'll be flexible enough to do that work this year.
I haven't commented on Trump winning the election. I'm all for him but it worries me that some of his cabinet members seem to be " swamp creatures" that he was supposed to get rid of.
Well, that's all I have for now.
I'll  probably update this later on today.
Later.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Once again Things are Looking Up.

I got a new job today.
It only lasts for a couple of weeks but it will help me get through a time when I can't expect much money from shoveling snow.
If everybody who owes me money actually pays me, I should be doing rather well during the Christmas season.
I sold one laptop and actually got paid for it. I'm waiting to get paid for another one.
I could sell yet another one but I'm having trouble with the video driver and a battery is almost dead.
I think I've got the video problem fixed but the battery is in the mail.
I've got a debt that I want to pay and my windshield is cracked and needs to be replaced. Maybe I'll do both if we get a lot of snow.
In another six months I'll be in relatively good financial condition.
Maybe I'll head back to California and look for gold again. Only this time I'll live in a tent and keep the expenses down.
I now have a good idea of how and where to find gold, so it might not be such a fool's errand, this time.
Failing that, I have a good idea to get a metal detector and look for coins here in Iowa. There are a lot of abandoned farm homesteads where coins may have been dropped.
The trouble is that there is a lot of junk that will show up as well. That includes nails from re-roofing houses and barns.
The trick is to find where gardens used to be because people used to bury coins in their gardens before there were banks available.
Finding a few of those caches would pay for the metal detector and the gas to get to the farms.
Oh well, the music is about to start here at Java Johns.
I think the music tonight is from a guy that I don't really like much. He seems to just play disjointed riffs on the piano with no rhythm to it at all. He tries to be a jazz player but even those need something to tie things together.
I think I'll go home and work on my sick laptop.
Later,

Monday, November 21, 2016

It's about time I posted something.

For once, things are looking pretty good, financially.
I sold 2 laptops recently; and got paid for one. I could sell another one but the ac adapter went bad.
I got my bank account caught up with the money I made working at Iowa RotoCast.
I put in my last day there last Friday, so I'll get a check this Friday.
With the money I made working at the poll and the last payment for my motor home I'll be all set for my bills this month.
On top of all that, it looks like it's going to start snowing this week. It already snowed north of us and maybe we'll get some from the next storm that comes in tomorrow. After that it might snow Thanksgiving day; and I make money shoveling snow.
Right now, I'm too poor to go to Onalaska, WI. to go to church on Thanksgiving. Most of my money is yet to arrive.
I will miss church; which is a big thing for Christian Scientist on Thanksgiving. We have a testimonial meeting, that day, where people express their thanks for things that happened that year. I was going to say something about how grateful I am just to be able to make my bills.
When I came back from California things were looking rather grim.
Now, a year later, I'm within a few months of getting my biggest bills paid off. A couple of months after the snow shoveling season, I'll have most of my most costly bills paid off. That will amount to a reduction in my monthly expenses of around $1000. I'll be able to simply live cheaply and pay down everything without having to work.
I think a little work is good for me so I'll probably go to Manpower and get some sort of job anyway.
On a totally different topic, Ebola may be back.
It turns out that some people get Ebola and don't show any signs of it. So there may be all sorts of people spreading it throughout Africa without knowing it.
I read an article in Yahoo about that. I'll watch for more and keep my faithful readers informed of any new developments in that regard.
I would like to go back to California and look for gold. I would live in a tent and have my car for my home. It would help if I could get someone to go with me; but I think the main thing is to just avoid motels and apartments. I could keep my expenses down out there.
I would have to get some equipment but that expense could be kept down as well. If I make enough, shoveling snow, I'll be tempted to go back.
Later,

Thursday, November 10, 2016

I've been Busy

I put in a 16 hour day (working at a poll), Tuesday. I wasn't too surprised to see Trump win; the only reason it was close in my opinion was that the Democrats cheated and tried to rig the election.
I hope we hear more about that later.
Then I got a job at a place called RotoCast. We make coolers and cup holders.
I'm working on changing some tags for cups that were mislabeled. Maybe someone just wanted to change things, I don't know.
It looks like I'll be there for a week or two. It should help me get through the time of year that doesn't have enough snow to make any money shoveling.
I've got an over draft on my checking account but I'll make that good next week.
Talking about politics, I was happy to see that Trump is considering Trey Gowdy for Attorney General. I hope he prosecutes Loretta Lynch and that Comey guy at the FBI for obstruction of justice. They were obviously shielding Clinton from being put in jail.
I also saw that Obama is shooting down the TPP. That is just a crooked trade deal that the Clinton's set up to benefit their donors to the Clinton Foundation. That came out in the Wikileaks emails.
There was enough in those and other email leaks to keep the FBI and the Justice Department busy for years if they really want to start enforcing laws in this country.
In other news, it looks like George Soros is behind all the anti-Trump protests in this country. With his record of toppling other governments I suppose that isn't too surprising.
Tom is at the piano so I think I'll sign off for now.
Later

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Another Thursday Night and I'm Listening to Tom on the Piano.

I'm at Java Johns and Tom comes in almost every Thursday night to play the piano. He's really good.
I ran an ad on Decorahnow.com about the laptop and finding my Bitcoins. There were two reply's.
One person wanted a laptop but he couldn't use a Linux machine; the other one was asking about the Bitcoins. It sounded like he only knew about Bitcoin wallets after about 2013. I don't know if he could help me with my old form of Bitcoin Core. I'm waiting to hear from him again. I sent him an email.
On the job front, I'm applying for a job as someone running a computer at Community Action. I'll be working with Family Planning. I suppose I'll be doing the paperwork for women getting abortions or something like that. Oh, Well. It'll be better than telemarketing. I don't have the job yet so we'll see.
I'm still waiting to get paid for my motor home. The guy made the first payment of $250; but now he is behind by about a month on the second payment.
I really need the money. Last month I had to pay over $100 due to overdrafts and late charges.
It's getting harder to hold onto a job and to find new ones because of my age and my difficulty in getting around.
Fixing laptops rarely pays anything and when I do sell one it takes forever to get paid. It's just a bad habit I need to quit.
I guess I'm competing with the Chinese when I fix old laptops. They can make new ones cheaper than I can fix old ones. Now that I think about it, I can do everything that I do with my laptop on my phone. And I got that for free.
I think I'll get off the computer and listen to Tom.
Later

Friday, October 21, 2016

I put in my last day at Seed Savers.

Tuesday was the last day I worked at Seed Savers. We ran out of garlic to package and ship; so that's it for me this year. They asked if I could come back next year and I told them that I would.
Now I have to get serious about finding my lost Bitcoins.
I know that nobody who reads my blog will have any idea what I'm talking about. But I found both my public and private codes; I just have to figure out how to enter them into the wallet.
Nobody in Decorah has any idea of what I'm talking about. I found one guy who does at least know what I'm trying to do but he hasn't been much help, yet.
I don't know if I can get my Bitcoins without the file wallet.dat. I lost that; it's gone for good even though it was on both a hard drive and a flash drive.
I'm going to go with a religious track with finding my Bitcoins. I found a Christian Science practitioner in Florida who I like. Good things started happening when I sent him an email. He wants $40 for a treatment but I figure that he understands how inflation has devalued the currency. I found him in the Journal so I know that he is legit.
No sooner did I have a couple of tires put on the van than the guy who put them on said I should replace the other two before the snow flies. Maybe I'll find a way to do that; but I'm figuring on driving on them though the Winter. I won't be going very far.
While I have the time, maybe I'll get serious about finding an IT job. After all, I was an IT tech for the Peace Center for a couple of years. I don't have a degree but I have the feeling that I can do the job as well or better than most of the college educated IT techs.
Well, back to my YouTube videos.
Later

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

I'm Losing my Job a bit Early

I was hoping to hang on to my job at Seed Savers until the end of October. At the end of November I should be able to make a lot of money, shoveling snow.
I asked the boss about how much longer I could hope to stay on and he said a couple of days.
We're almost done packaging garlic and I'm too old and infirm to work in the fields. I have a hard time stooping over and actually picking fruits and vegetables. I get winded and my large belly gets in the way. If I could work in the fields I could extend the job for a couple of more weeks.
I'm taking a day off tomorrow to talk with my counselor at the VA. After that I'll look for a new job.
I've got trouble with my banks. I had a series of overdrafts at one of them over the weekend. I checked my balance before I bought anything but the online account was misleading. Now my other account will be giving me an overdraft for an automatic payment of car insurace. I can't get ahead of my finances. I've got too many credit cards and loans outstanding.
I'm thinking about giving up on fixing old laptop computers. I spend too much doing that and I can't get them sold; I have to give them away. I consider it to be a form of tithing but I can't afford it; maybe I could find someone to pay for the parts. I'll ask Joan Nelson if she knows someone who would help me with that.
Well, I'm listening to Tom at the piano at Java Johns. He's a lot better than the guy they had here last night. I think I'll sign off.
Later.