From this past Sunday, an experiment with scavenged edger blades to see if a wood fire can successfully anneal them:

This was one of several things I've been meaning to do for a good while.

Also - this is an example of why I bought that land earlier this year (besides being sick & tired of renterdom). You can't do much of this stuff when you're renting a 1BR place in an urban area. The only reasons I get away with this shit are because 1] the leasing office is closed on Sundays, & 2] the place has such lax standards now that tenants don't obey half the rules anyway. Technically I'm not supposed to own or use a grill since I'm in a 2nd-floor unit. This makes sense as all the 2nd-floor units have wooden patios & some tenants are too dumb to be trusted with fire-making devices...but I am not a typical tenant.

And the leasing staff & maintenance do the bare minimum besides collecting the rent, so why should I be a stickler for the rules? Hey, if they're gonna slack on their end of the bargain... 🤷🏼‍♂️

If you're wondering what the point of all this is then stick around, folks!...There will either be photos of the finished product here or a link to them elsewhere.

As usual, I'm tired.

...once the clock hits O-dark-hundred tonight, happy New Year.

The NASDAQ did better than the other major exchanges overall...interesting. I wonder if it's being tech-heavy has anything to do with it...

Of course the post-election euphoria wore off. Knew that would be short-lived. As always, I'll wait & watch for opportunities.

Also: this is my 100th blog post. A minor milestone.

In the dreams, in the dreams,

you're younger; you move faster

No pain in joints, the hips, the back...

Your body is not your master

until you wake up & learn--again--

that "Father Time" is a cold bastard.

How was your Christmas? I had a nasty flareup* yesterday afternoon...I took a few photos of my paintings, imported them into my ancient laptop, & managed to edit two of 'em anyway. The finished pieces will go live this Friday & a few days after that. Stay tuned, folks!

*of my main chronic condition

- from TradingView

As always, these are projections not predictions. The near future is always hard to see, & markets are not an exact science.

Still, we know that Donald Trump is set to take the throne for his 2nd term...the 0.04% of the population who aren't inflamed by political tribalism will have the most accurate perspective. Love him or hate him, by now we can have an idea of what he's like. He is not one to go along with what the corp/mil/media-industrial complexes, & their lobbyists & congressional puppets, want him to do. He is not easily deterred once he has decided on a course of action. He's picking loyal people (or so he thinks--a few will inevitably turn on him) & those from his first administration. Trump has never been stupid but at this point, he's older than Biden was when Slow Joe won the throne...it will likely affect his decision-making. And of course there are is the geopolitical "great game" to consider.

So. Ye olde question: how to play it?

My plan is to be cautious but not overly so. I won't pick up many stocks or ETFs...I suspect those markets will be somewhat rocky for at least the next two years if not all four. Will probably buy some bond-backed ETFs (maybe even bonds directly) because if core inflation refuses to slow down & Trump's policies spur general inflation then the Fed may ratchet up the official interest rate again. That would make debt-dependent assets a good value. Apart from that, my focus is on alternative assets now. For me, the main one is my parcel of land. These days most of what I think about is how to improve it, develop it without removing all the trees, leaving some natural environment in it, & getting it ready for a house. All of this will increase equity (the value of the land itself). The only other assets I'm interested in are precious metals & perhaps some crypto, if I can afford it.

More art & crafts coming as always. Stay tuned, folks!

1. Need to get to my land once more before the end of the year...& after the start of '25, if I can withstand the pollen storm. We all know it's coming. If I can keep my allergies from flattening my ass through winter & early spring, I'll get stuff done before the move.
2. The move will be in mid-March. I almost can't wait...so fed up with this shitty apartment complex. There are only three people I sorta care about who live here. They're good people...not too bright, but good. If it weren't for them, I would happily see it burn to the ground after I'm gone.
3. Speaking of people, lately I've been getting back to my own. Current events (& the historical echoes they manifest) are a major factor in turning my head in that direction.
4. Gonna post one more finished piece before the year's end. It won't be what you might be expecting.

Aside from that, more of my thoughts on current events (I never run out of those):

...I don't think he's gonna do it. Too much of our economy depends on braceros from Latin America. If Trump doesn't know that, CEOs & CFOs of agribusiness, dining & hospitality industries certainly do.

I hope president Sheinbaum can face them down, keep her people organized & knock down the cartels a few pegs.

In other news, this went up:

And in conclusion, a little music:

Okay, so...

The price of gold per oz. as of the 10th, at 2049 hrs. Right now it's fidgeting around $2,694 & could go lower but I'm not worried about that. This is the 2nd instance in the last 30 days where it cleared the $2,700 level. It's no surprise, given how jittery people are...the Assad regime completely fell & the leading rebel faction is taking over Syria. Israel & Hezbollah ain't got a ceasefire yet & the war in Gaza is ongoing. So people in oil markets are nervous. Also the Fed will hold their meeting next week & no one knows what to expect, but a 25-bp rate cut is likely. And Nvidia has stumbled once or twice, which ain't good for a show horse. Yes indeed...gold is one of the best assets to hold.

Taken from a screenshot of local tourist attractions in Idaho. Never been there but this caught my eye because of what I have to do with the land. Felling trees is rough work for sure but even so, I'm glad we have chainsaws today. The saw the pioneer statue-guy is holding is the old "two-man saw"...before the internal combustion engine, the only way to take down a tree was with one of those & an axe. There's a reason why those saws were known as "misery whips"!

What else...here's an old sketch from before I moved to America's appendix:

...plus some great advice:

First, my thoughts on current events:

I added the frame & caption. As you surely know, gentle reader, since Putin took the throne things have been risky in Russia--& beyond Russia. His critics & competitors seem to keep falling out of windows. Except for Yevgeny Prigozhin...funny how that plane fell out of the sky, eh?

Good heavens!...how rude. Erdogan did the right thing. We can't have noisy hooligans disrupting the great leader's speech, after all. It is an offense to the Sublime Por--uh, to the president of the democratic republic of Turkiyē!

With that out of the way, here's some found humor:

It's almost two in the morning & I really want some fried chicken.

Man...I'm becoming more of a hick every year.