My how quickly things change. My guess is that the reservoirs in Marin are extra-small?

We got just slightly over 1" of rain. All on Sunday. Monday was dry and sunny pretty much all day except for a little tiny bit of sprinkle shortly after midnight. Today is more of the same. I will take some time to run down to the well head to check the water level in the well. Even with the drought, our well has been holding up pretty well; we still have close to 150' of water above the pump. With winter coming, that will improve some we expect.

WRT conservative vs liberal. I've often heard it said that a democrat in Texas would be considered a Republican in most other states. All I hope for is that we can all get along.

 

Wow! Haven't heard from you in a long time. Glad to hear you are doing well. Does your wife commute, or is she staying in SF for the time being? How is Bubbles doing?

Wish I could move to Arizona. You can open carry there. No need for a CCW.

Jim

 

Geico called today. They have determined that the accident was not my fault and asked me if I wish to get the car fixed right away or wait for the other insurance company to pay for it. I chose right away. So, I have an appointment at a body shop tomorrow morning. I will pay my $500 deductible when I pick it up, and then get reimbursed by the other insurance company. The agent also told me I can get reimbursed for the $135 I spent on the window. I even get a rental car while the repairs are being done. That was a surprise as I didn't know my policy covered that. Thank you, Lord!

Jim

 

People are easily swayed and influenced. If they are in a social group, they tend to go along with whatever the popular opinion is. They don't want to be left out. They want to fit in. Music. Food. Clothes.


A while back, a girl told me that she wanted to get into "social investing". She explained it as a group or club, where someone brings up a stock or fund to buy or sell, they discuss it together, then they all buy and sell together. I did not think that was such a good idea.


I think that a lot of people do the same with political views. A herd mentality. They go to school, go to work, or wherever they socialize. So just to fit in with people that they want to be friends with, they go along with whatever. Clusters of people in California, socially influence other people. Almost like everyone wearing Nike, or when every girl had Guess? jeans. It didn't matter if Nike actually made the best shoe in the world. It didn't matter if there was a more comfortable shoe. It didn't matter if your job required dress shoes or safety shoes. People bought Nike so that other people would see them wearing Nike. They even bought pants, shorts, shirts, jackets..... as long as there was a big logo.

I know this guy who was every bit into all of the things he saw on TV. He rode a bicycle to disrupt traffic. He camped at "Occupy". He went to all sorts of protests, even if he really didn't understand what the "movement" really was. He even bought drinks because the brand had an affiliation with a popular entertainer. A lot of parroting about "social justice" and "defund the police". The kind of guy who would go to Burning Man, to feel like he was better than being ordinary and mainstream. Now he lives in one of our neighboring states along the Southern Border. He carries a gun now. Got rid of his Prius and bought a pickup truck. Talking to him these days, I hear a lot of ranting about his taxes and illegal immigrants. He said something about taking back the seats in Congress at the midterm elections. Herd mentality. I had to remind him that he could only vote to take back the 1 seat of the congressional district he is living in. He can't take back all of the seats in Congress. Take back? For who? This guy was far, far liberal. Now he's far, far I don't know. What do they call a Ted Cruz cult follower?

I think that most of us want the same things out of life. Safety - being able to walk down the street without being a victim. Stability - you don't want to live in fear of losing your job or home. Prosperity - in the sense that you can actually afford to live somewhere and eat. Somewhere along the way, most of us agree that we don't want warfare, or to send our children to die. We just don't always agree on the best way to achieve it.

 

Happy Humpeth Day Nor Cal! Hope everyone has a blessed day.

Jim

 

Finally sitting down for lunch. Wondering if there will be more rain.

 

Well, my baby is in the hospital getting her boo-boo fixed. They tell me they will replace both doors. Enterprise gave me a 2021 GMC Terrain to putt around in while she is there. It is a major PITA to get into and out of. So, it will sit in my carport until the Charger is fixed, or I need to pick up my grandkids from school.

Jim

 

Some things I see, I can't believe. A woman out in her driveway, with an umbrella to keep her dry from the rain, with a garden hose turned on, watering her cactus. I wanted to stop the car, and ask her, "what are you doing?"

 

We got a really tiny amount of rain yesterday (less than 1/10"). It looked like it wanted to rain all day, and when we went for an afternoon walk, the cumulus clouds to the SE and NE looked very impressive. We should have taken a picture or two, but alas, my brain was not engaged.

 

No rain here since Sunday.

Jim

 

Depending on where the gauge was in the Redding area, I heard reports of 1/2” to 1-7/8”. Bright and sunny now.

 

Wow. $3,710 is the estimated repair bill for replacing both doors on the Charger. And their estimated completion date is the 30th of this month. Glad I don't have to pay that. Today was sunny and a bit warmer than yesterday. Predicted to get up to 90 degrees in a week, but then back down to low 80's. Nothing like the 114 heatwave we had a few weeks back. Still no work from Door Dash.

Jim

 

Sounds relatively cheap to me. I got a ding on the driver's side rear door on the F150. It didn't seem like a big deal, so I got an estimate. That came to about $2500.

 

I am not surprised that they said they would buy a new front door but considering how little the back door is damaged I was surprised to hear them say they would replace that one too. Since the other person's insurance is paying for it, I really don't care. Just surprised that they wouldn't even bother fixing it. As for the price, it doesn't surprise me considering how expensive everything is these days. I mean $3,700 could buy a decent used car, and here it is used to buy and paint two doors.

Jim

 

Cost of labor. It's cheaper to install a new door; than it is to take the door apart, hammer it out, fill it with Bondo, smooth it down, sand it, paint it, and reinstall it. Where fixing it would take 3 days, it's just easier and cheaper to open a box, paint the new door, and put it on.

Think of how there used to be radiator repair shops. Nobody does that anymore. Remove the old radiator. Install a new radiator. Parts cost is $100 to $250 depending on the car. Labor cost is $100 + hourly, depending on your local prevailing wage. Why would I pay 2 hours of labor for removal of the old radiator and reinstalling the radiator, then pay 5 hours of labor to have someone fix the radiator? Almost everything is like that now. Cheaper to put in a new spark plug, than it cost for 2 hours of labor for someone to clean and regap the old spark plug. Spark plugs are anywhere from $1 to $5.