Uber Again

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Kelsey

Okay, I have tried food delivery again in Logan, Utah. I went for a few hours, and earned something around $63. Then you take out the $20 in fuel I topped up again at the end of the night, and the food I had to buy totaling $15.97, and you are left with around $30. That was for about six hours of work, and there were no taxes paid on it, yet, so there’s that. It is not enough to keep a Chinese kid from jumping out his “school” window. Not on the relative economy, anyway. Color me unimpressed. I’ll need to get on with support and see what they want to register me with Utah for passengers, because unless I can pick them up, I am not going to make enough to pay the taxes on what I earn.

Then we will have to account for the wear and tear on the car. That will more than eat up the remainder of Uber ‘wages.’ Tips and wages, if you can believe that. I had a couple of fair tips tonight, but most of them were dire. The people of this area have no appreciation at all for what it costs to get them their food, and with a smile every time? I mean, wow! Around 90% of them are cheap as whores. I am very much not impressed. Yet, this also comes down to Uber and that they pay nothing for delivery fares. I mean, $2 for 2 miles? That can be from when I get the notification three miles away, which I have to include, then the two, then however far back to my rest spot. And the time adds up to 20 minutes or so with all the walking in and walking around, and sometimes finding the place. I went into a place today that was liminal spaces, with doors for apartments, doors for storage, and more doors for more storages, and they all had numbers on them, so if your apartment was 237, there were two or three other doors with 237 on them as well. Then, to top it all off, the place is a series of long straight hallways stacked on each other, and there were no stairs visible anywhere. I walked down one hall, then another, and finally out in between the buildings and passed yet another door before realizing that that one was out of place, so I checked the poorly colored low contrast sign, and it said “stairs” on it. There was me about to eat the food and go home and never sign in again with Uber. But alas, Wendy or whomever it was got her food left at (hopefully) the correct door!

Again, it was another night of meeting nobody. There was a girl who actually did meet me at the door and I thanked her for reminding me that there were actual humans ordering this shit. Well, I didn’t quit put it like that. But I thanked her because it feels a lot like some sort of prison meal service on the isolation ward. There is certainly no love in it. And that is sad, because I love what I do when I am doing food delivery. I love the meeting people part. Actually, I think I had this rant last night. Now I am going to have to go down tomorrow. See if the Super Bowl draws in traffic. I will try it. But if it is crap, I think I can write this off altogether till I get permitted to carry humans. That seems like it is more profitable. I’d like to try that. There might even be people involved in that. Who knows?

So, there is my summary of Uber Eats deliveries. It really is not worth it at all if you are not riding a bike. It is hard on the body, hard on the car, hare on the wallet, and doe not do much to replace what a person earns. The sooner everybody learns that, and starts refusing anything unreasonable, the better. We could all do with more money. You can’t expect these Utahns to pick up the slack on the wages and actual cost to deliver. They believe themselves to be adopted into the House of Israel, and literal Israelites. (Why not Israelis, I don’t know!) They are cheap, but they are not funny. So, close!

Next trick is to make some things in the shop and see if I can sell anything at those markets coming up. Maybe that will help fund food.

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Uber Logan

Posted on February 8, 2025 by Kelsey

I took off for Logan for like eight hours yesterday. I was all set to make a bank, wasn’t I? But for one tiny little detail I had missed on the secondary screens of the Uber App. When in Utah, Utah lights up for me, doesn’t it? But when in Utah, I cannot take passengers in the car. I can only take food deliveries. The area around Logan is quite large, and there are lots of places for food pick-ups. So that’s good. But the $37 delivery I did the other day is beyond my understanding at this point. Uber offers on average in Logan about $2.50 per delivery. People tip on average a buck or two with outliers for the ones who do orders from Olive Garden. Most of the rest do not think the driver is worth more than that. So, on average, I pulled just over 16 miles to the gallon tearing my car and tires up and earning about $50 for that whole eight hours. There was an Uber bonus for some reason on that $37 order I took the other day, so that is now sitting at $47 for one order from Wendy’s. Yesterday’s work average me about $7.87 ah hour. Now, consider this. I then added $18 in fuel to my car. Down to $5.63 an hour. Now consider this. I definitely put higher than normal wear on the vehicle for the sake of getting money to feed my family and pay my bills with. The government allows me $0.65 a mile for that. So, using that on the 95 miles I did, that come up to $61.75. So, based on that, what were my earnings? I am giving the time and effort and wear on my assets away for the sake of a little money back into my account each week. For other people to enjoy food that smells up my car or spills in it. Uber is not at all worth taking food deliveries.

If I were driving passengers, that might be a different story. But Uber won’t let me drive them in the close, rich market of Logan, because I live a mile from the Utah state line, and I am not approved to drive people there. I need, desperately, to get approved for Utah to make this at all worth the effort. And even then, unlike food that only spills, this new income source complains, and pitches a fit, and so on. I had one customer last night who moaned about me not finding their door when the GPS sent me to the Ford Dealership over a mile from their house. The exact wording is gone from me, but it was something to the effect of “I give you directions because everybody gets lost. I spect you to follow them.” How nice. Luckily another GPS app was able to locate the correct address, and when I got there, it was first on a street where there were a row of houses, then on that, there was a driveway that sneaked in-between the houses, and beyond the houses was a tiny little row of houses seemingly in the back yard of one of the main road houses. And that’s where the address was. On a named “road” that was no more than a driveway in appearance, just wide enough for only one vehicle. I have done a lot of delivery in my days, and this was surprising as a layout. I ‘spect’ I will be able to find it next time. By the way, the customer communicates through the app, so spelling is also a part of the communications.

Oh, and let’s talk about communications through the app. People order for their food to be left at the door. Hey, there is a nice guilt free way of adding a dollar as a tip and then forgetting about the human who is being robbed to make your food appear from McDonald’s because you are too poor to have a car, too lazy to go get food for yourself, or too busy earning money to buy food you cannot afford. A dollar? I spect I got a dollar, which was nice, but my delay in delivering the McDonald’s to the door of the driveway road house did not make it late, nor was the food any colder than it would have been if I had driven straight there. I resolved the issue with the GPS fast enough that had the customer not got on to start complaining only a couple of minutes after I picked up the food, they would have never known I was stalled up there.

Because I get communications through the app, and I get instructions to “leave it at the door” from almost everybody, I saw one customer last night face to face. The rest were drop and go, and I got almost nothing in tips with most of them, between a dollar and two and a couple of others lowballs, then the two closer to ten. And all that still added up, with my fares, to about $53. Before $18 in fuel. How is this profitable over eight hours, with wear and tear on my car? I last made this kind of money in high school in 1987, when the minimum wage was $3.35 an hour.

So, I don’t know that I will be doing Uber for food deliveries anymore. It is very much not worth it, especially when putting myself at serious risk of an accident in Logan, Utah. Anyone reading this who live there knows how likely I am to end up in an Air Ambulance heading down to Salk Lake City. Logan has serious traffic along its main roads, and it all goes up and down a narrow corridor of development. So when everybody gets off work, most of them are heading up and down that narrow corridor. It is like living in Los Angeles without the freeways. Well, not quite. It’s still loose enough to flow. But it is the speed that makes it worse. When people hit, they hit hard. And to drive among that, is not only very dangerous, but it also means harder starts, stops, and turns with the car. So harder wear.

Also, I expected there would be deliveries among the college housing, what, with a university in town and all. Not one. Deliveries were out in the mid and low-income houses of the regular people, with one on snob hill. That one was one of the two higher tipping deliveries, but not the high one. Past experience tells me that the working man is usually the one who tips fairly. But the masses in Utah are cheap where I worked.

So, what do I do? Drive a little more to transfer the value of my vehicle and my time into the bank account, try to get set up to take people, and then keep an eye open for a “real job.” I don’t know. I am still ambiguous about that. I could never get paid what my time with my family time is worth to me.

It smells like a slight whiff of smoke in here. Missus must be up trying to light the stove with the minimal amount of wood that’s in the house. I suppose I better get up now and get ready to go get her enough firewood to actually heat the place for a few hours.

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Yet Another Morning Entry

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Kelsey

It’s eight in the morning now, and I slept up till about an hour ago, so I am feeling pretty good. Out of bed, dressed, down the stairs, loo, kiss the wife, clear the ash out of the woodstove, load it with logs, coffee, tablets, and computer. It is rainy looking out the window, and when I looked, there was no sign of snow anywhere but on that little patch out front by the small pickup truck. Wind is ranging 15 to 24 miles an hour at the moment, and the weeds out the front window are showing with their rendition of the funky chicken.

Weather being like that, I don’t know so much that I am heading out to the yard to work today, or if Missus still wants to go to town to sort out some things. We do need to get her glasses. That reminds me, I also need to put gas in the car.

I am still astounded by that Uber delivery I took yesterday. With tip it ended up being $37! A check with Missus on the topic of going out, and she says Monday. Fine, and on goes the Uber App. Well, I am going to take it if it livens up! Might actually make some real money while running the little Door Dash runs in between. Who knows? I wish there was a consistent market close enough I could count on getting runs at will. I could make enough to live on with that. And I could do it at will. And enough, is enough. I’m happy with that.

The kids are up now, and the dishes are wandering through the kitchen sink. I have been doing them most of the time lately. So, the break is nice as my oldest goes on with it. I huffed and puffed on the hot coals in the stove and finally got it to light up. Another log on top, and the fire is beginning to put a little heat up the flu. It is windy, and there is definitely a certain amount of clogging in at least one of the choke points. That causes the wind coming into the chimney to have a great effect on pushing back against the heat trying to go up. One the flu is hot, there is a much greater force of hot air pushing back against it, and the chimney would have to be pretty plugged up for it to push hard enough for the air to come back down. But my sign that things are getting tight in those choke points is the smoke not flowing easily up the chimney. Or it could be just the force of the wind. But the wind needs to be stronger to stop it up that much when things are clean. It’s all a spectrum.

The thermometer placed correctly at 18 inches up the flue pipe from the stove top is now indicating a temperature that puts the needle on the border between the yellow and the green indices. When it gets there and into the green a fire will self-sustain just fine with the stove door closed, and I ca heat the house efficiently and more cleanly. Time to close the door! Next is to adjust the draft down till the fire slows some, and the stove just maintains the heat required to keep the house warm. I usually burn in the first quarter of the green zone, and let it burn down in the yellow. I don’t burn anywhere near the red, and I am certainly never one to do that stupid looking stunt of burning the stove to any shade of glowing red. I don’t understand that. I like my house more than that. I like my family more than that. It appears too high a risk to both, to me. I can feel the heat coming from the stove, but since closing the door, it has cooled down to the yellow.

The actual temperatures don’t really matter with such a visual indicator. But as you can see, the pipe wants to be at about 275F or above to keep a clean burn and in the case of my particular stove, a self-sustaining one. Mind, once it is going and the wood has formed charcoals on it, it will sustain in the yellow zone just fine. As you can also see, it is probably time to freshen up and get a new thermometer. I wonder if I can still find a nice one with that “Made In USA” label at the bottom? That would be nice.

I think it is time to get a new coffee, and remind the kids that mom included ‘put them away’ on the dishwashing chore list. Then ask them to toss the cats out before the house starts receiving parcels. One of the cats is called “Serious Black.” I am asking my youngest daughter to get Serious. We all love that name a little too much.

Coffee!

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First Uber Was Today

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Kelsey

Six and a half bucks with no tip on the one and only Door Dash I took today. That would have been it, but for Uber finally lighting up and sending me a request for a food delivery. Naturally I was about half a mile from home, and it tried, then somehow, I missed the accept, but when I got home, it did it again, and I was able to accept it, then drive all the way back up to town, then back down to Franklin. That would not have been worth it, but for the $35 fee and $2 tip. Holy crap! I have barely made that much all week with Door Dash the last two weeks. So of course I took this! Plus, I really wanted to see how Uber worked. After all, this is the first time I have seen that it DOES work. Not a bad profit for a burger and fries. It was some teen with mom’s credit card, I think. That’s as much info as I will talk about it, though. Privacy and all that.

So, I made as much today on one 26-minute drive as I made all of last week on Door Dash payments. Unbelievable. And that was from here in Idaho! I will go down to Utah and see if I can see some runs there in Logan next. I think that could really put me over the top on some earnings. Nice work if you can get it.

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Every Morning’s Thoughts

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Kelsey

The usual three Ante Meridian wake up today was because of the weather alarm sounding that the outside temperature has gone to below 20F. A quick jaunt down the stairs to the well-lit room and the woodstove, and back up again is as usual enough to wake me into thoughts of anxiety and eagerness. So therapeutic self-care requires I make a bit of writing to lose the thoughts and work out the logic that is my own personal philosophies on life. It is going to have to be either this or go on down the stairs again, but this time for a cup of coffee.

I passed the last hour and a half finishing the long video I started last night about spoke shaves. There is a strange thing about that tool that draws a person to wanting to work wood. I don’t know just what it is, but for some reason, whenever I get to thinking of it and using it, I want to go set up a piece and begin shaving it. It is a lovely tool and requires both hands to use it most of the time. The foot is short, and the feel of it against the wood is like how a Corvette feels on the road compared to the usual Camry. Every pebble, every crack is noticed, and it feels like your backside is in a hole that follows you around throughout the world as you go. The spoke shave is nimble and can hit a curve, even with a flat sole. I think it is something about all that which makes such a desirable tool to work with. The worst part of it is that it wants a good work holding device to get you going. Funny thing is that for such a small and nimble tool, it requires a shave horse or a work bench of some sort to keep the piece while you work with it.

What I need to do is make a piece of furniture. I want to do something with a cabinet. That generally does not require a spokeshave, by the way. But I would like to have some sort of piece to keep things in here in the house, and to have the practice and work out a few things that I have not got my head around just yet in the construction. I also want to do another table. It could be that what I need to do is a short cabinet for the bedside cupboard that will hold a shelf or two for books and a drawer above that I can put some other things into. I think an elevated back shelf on the top might be a good thing, too. Maybe that could be a lift top box that is sized to hold a tissue box or something. Point is that this idea might be just what I need to do to get some skills up and to put together something from some wood I have outside that should be dry by now.

I think I may be spending the weekend down in Logan driving if I really do see the Uber app light up when I am down there for some errands on Friday. We could really use the money to cover some bills and food. If that is successful, then I might have to do weekends down there and earn money, then spend the rest of the week making furniture and running my own at home business. I think it has the potential to be a good schedule.

Speaking of schedule, one of the best parts about doing Uber and Door Dash, if they work out with said plan above, is that I can just pack it in and leave work at any moment and not have to ask anyone for a bit of time off whenever I need. That is super appealing!

Also, speaking of schedule, Missus has got some markets scheduled as of yesterday, and we have some summer plans for her business. There is one coming in the next two weeks, in fact. I’ll be excited to see that play out. I need to make some things for it to try to flog off.

It is time to try to get an hour’s rest before it is time to wake up and take the kids to school. Cold weather is coming. I may have to get out and put some wood to the woodpile again. Also, I am still asking myself how getting two neighboring countries to put 10K soldiers each along our border is a victory? I am not seeing kt. Maybe I can sleep on it.

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Wooden Figures

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Kelsey

I moseyed out of the house this evening when there were no orders coming through on Door Dash and walked into the shop. I saw the stool I started for Missus as a warping stool for the big loom. It is not the greatest finish at all, but the shape and size will hopefully put her right where she needs to be to do her work. It needed a couple of coats of paint on it to call it finished. I brought it into the house so the temperature would be better for it and mixed up a small batch of black milk paint. I coated it with that, then after it dried, I mixed up some red. That has one coat on it drying now. I expect I will put on one more coat tomorrow.

I put Uber on when I got down to Utah on my route to pick up the kids from their bus stop. It lit up. It lit up more than it did when it showed me the red zone in Rexburg a week ago. That was the only other time I have seen anything show up on it. So, maybe I can go down there and work? I don’t know. Nothing showed up in Logan. All I saw was in the region from Ogden to Provo. I’ll have to see what it looks like when we go down there next. Maybe the thing will light up. If so, I will be going there to work and try to earn some money. I am not earning enough in the old hometown in a week to pay a day’s worth of overdraft fees. Let’s see what’s what.

Missus had an appointment with a doctor today to finalize her treatment for her kidney issue. That’s the thing, she finalized it! She is no longer required to take antibiotics or do blood tests and EKG readings. We will hopefully be able to keep her healthy and from doing a trip like this again.

I am listening to a reading of the resignation letter of General Mark Milley right now. Obviously, Trump is wanting him charged. Believe you me, between the two men, I support Milley. That man has served this nation for a lifetime. He has earned his way to where he got to, and he did so through service and training, and sacrifice and more. Right now, we have a President who is proposing war crimes to take over the Gaza Strip. He is a real estate developer. For fuck’s sake, how is this not another violation of the emolument’s clause of the Constitution? It is as plain as can be that his intent is to do such a thing for his own benefit. There are 2.1 million people living there now. Relocation is illegal. I will say it out loud at last, I do think the President will be impeached again, and I do think it will come to the Republicans to do it in the end. I mean, if any of them have the balls to stand up for anything at all. But then, dismantling the government and destroying American influence around the world may well be what they have wanted all along.

Okay, off to bed now. I have a stool to finish in the morning and would like to get something new going soon. The mother of a good friend is being remembered tomorrow. I cannot be there, and I am sad for that. But I will be thinking on her, and what a wonderful lady she was, and the way she smiled and was supportive to us as kids. Farewell Ma Stewart!

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Mallets For Every Room of the House!

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Kelsey

Mallets made of Walnut.

I turned another mallet recently, seen laying on its side in the picture above. I took from what I learned from the one on the far right and made the grip opposite in shape, wider at the pinky portion and narrower along the throat, which seemed better suited to the shape of my hand. The base at the bottom is thus heavier, and that seems to add an interesting balance to the whole thing that seems to want to make it fairly easy to swing. It feels like it is easy to reverse the direction of the momentum. I will have to try it with a chisel and see how it goes in action. Till then, I don’t know at all.

I need to list some of these up for sale eventually, but how difficult it is! They are my babies, every one of them! And the wood! So lovely!

Wind is gusting as high as 35 miles an hour outside right now, the temperature is 52.2F and it is 4:30 in the morning, mind! The forecast high for the day is 51. So, who knows where this is going to go? It sounds like it is raining right now. Without looking out the window, the weather map suggests that it is very true.

Missus is starting to do some workouts using the VR headset. She has found a program that she likes, and which makes it more like a game for her. It is really good to see her trying it out. I think she is fed up with the ‘getting older’ pains. I need to do the same. I need to at least put on my favorite 8-minute workout video and put an effort into that a couple of times a week so I can feel more energetic in the days. I feel pretty good for my age, I think, but I am competing against how I used to feel and that was never competitive as it was always diminished by the pain of joint inflammation. If that is going to be gone, then I need to take advantage and go into my second childhood with all the energy and vigor of a kid!

The wind is picking up out there right now. It is not gusting higher, but the run is stronger. It is great not to have that tree stood looming over the house now. I am assured by the way I took it down that had it fallen on its own, it would definitely have hit the house or one of the sheds. I managed to get it to come back first when it fell, shortening the length of the fall, then land in the exact corner between the house and the cottage. It was nothing short of miraculous how if it had fallen in any other direction or not shortened its reach, it would have clobbered something valuable. Now I don’t have to worry about it at all. And to think, our homeowner’s insurance policy threatened to cancel on us if we didn’t remove trees that were right next to the house and could not possibly have fallen on it because they were barely taller than the eves. They did rub their extremities against the roof, and that was what the insurance company brought up. Good grief! They never said anything about the huge tree further out in the yard!

One of the kids is coming down this weekend, and we are all excited to see his family, and him. It is not as often as we would have it that we do see him, but life is what it is. He has a good paying job in the oilfields of North Dakota, and it takes him away from the state for his shifts, and if he has to catch up around the house on his weekends, then we don’t see him for long periods. So, it is nice when we do!

We have not yet found a job for either of us that is appropriate. Missus has tried to find project manager work online, but the listings she has looked at are offering insane things such as $12 an hour or less. She was north of $35 when she left her previous work. We know she is worth more than that. She is looking for a hobby job, where she can just work part time, but also where she is valued for the time she is putting into it. $12 an hour or less is not serious. How can she be expected to be treated seriously? As for me, I am still in the position of not having experience for the last 20 years since I have been a stay-at-home dad. It is difficult for the job seeker to list that and expect anyone to think of him as a serious candidate at all. I have been doing DoorDash, and that is fun and something I enjoy just fine. But there are not a lot of orders in the area, so I have been cranking in like $35 a week so far. Also, not serious. I am under no threat of being able to afford food.

I have been informed that we are going to a couple of markets this month and in April. I need to plan and put together something for them. Hey! It would be easy to crank out some carver’s mallets! I would like something with the candles, and maybe some candle boxes, too. I also should be advertising my tree disposal service. (In other words, an open gate into a field where a person could drop a tree off in.) I would like more wood to consider using to make some furniture from. But I am also concerned about the mount of it that gets thrown into landfill and left to rot. That is uselessness, while I can make so much out of it that it is worthwhile to try to put it all to use in our fashion. Also, I would like to introduce the furniture making into the markets by April, since I have the opportunity. Now THAT would be a good job for me!

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Doing the Dishes

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Kelsey

It’s Sunday morning. I got up around six, before the curtain of night began to give way to the hot winter’s sun. It is stabbing now, killed the night and lights every corner outside, trying to find its way into the house and push everyone else out of bed. I did my usual wake up routine with coffee and a couple of tablets to help reduce inflammation and supplement my diet with vitamins and minerals, because the food pyramid and the diet I am not neither one provides enough from the foods I am recommended to eat. Then I took on a mountain of crockery that stood stacked high next to the kitchen sink.

While I washed and rinsed and stacked, I thought about the time recently when one of my daughters looked on at me washing the dishes kind of gleefully, and she asked why I liked doing the dishes so much lately. I have taken a break from doing them for years now, because in order to do them, I have to don some ridiculous looking long gloves that appear to be for preg-testing cattle. They are durable enough to give comfort to a man who is shoulder deep in a Heffer. They don’t contribute to the gentle nature required for some of the finer glassware, any they are an unnatural grip on any of the crocks. I don’t love doing the dishes that way, so my generous family has kept up on the chore while I took on other responsibilities that they are not well suited to. Feeding the livestock counts as one. Dealing with the firewood till it is split and stacked for winter is another.

My daughter is too young to have experienced years of feeling like a part of her life has been taken from her. But that’s what I feel. Years of my life have been spent feeling insufficient to keep up with some of the most basic household chores. But due to a change in diet and the inflammation diminishing for it, and due to my skin not cracking up leaving my hands feel like each has an hundred papercuts that feel like alcohol has been poured into them when they are submerged in hot soapy water, I have been able to do the dishes without suffering. That has been for me, much more than a welcomed relief. It has made me feel like I have been reborn into a new life.

It is such a simple thing, but I harken back to my grandfather and I going out for breakfast at one of the diners that once existed in Lompoc, CA. While we were there, a bubbly blonde waitress started her shift. It was a quiet Sunday morning, a bit like today. The sin was bright, and the red Beetle she drove up in glistened in the sun. She virtually exploded with happiness as she came into the large room and the chef called out from the kitchen and said her car looked really clean. She was so happy about this and went on about it and how she felt so good because it was. I was a bit awestruck by this attitude, and how something so simple made her so happy. I have always admired that moment in time, and the I have always treasured that little memory for the time spent with my grandfather and seeing such an example of how life can be filled with small things that make a person absolutely radiate with happiness. I have kept it, and now you can have a part.

It’s holding on to that and thigs like it that have made me to be happy to get back the ability to do a chore. I know that hose kids certainly appreciate me doing it. They say thank you, and I kind of grumble that they don’t need to. They don’t know what it means to me not do it and not just be repulsed by the pain, and they don’t know what it is like to have an ability taken from you, then to have to live with it for so long. The kids don’t appreciate what it means to feel like you are not doing your part or pulling your weight. Then to have that ability restored! It is a momentous event and can only be celebrated by living up to what you can do. It seems such a little thing to be able to do dishes, but in my mind, it is a red Beetle, glistening in the sun. And I know how to react to that. I was shown.

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Thomas Jefferson’s Report

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Kelsey

Today is February 1st. It has been raining last night. It is 33.5 degrees right now, so cold enough for snow, but when I looked out, there was no snow. We were meant to be getting three inches with this storm. Nothing yet on the ground. What a strange February 1st. I hac a local tell me this is normal. In my 12 years here in this part of Idaho, I started out walking at this time of year with the top of the fence almost to my elbow, and not the same fence is at my head. The snow levels are not the same as they once were. They were like that often in the beginning, but they have most definitely tapered off. Is this the effect of me not having seen as many winters here as the lifer? Or is it the lifer in denial that there is a change in the weather?

The average temperature for January in Preston since 1991 is 21.8F. Today is meant to get to 39F. Averages would include overnight temps and the coldest days, so the spread is not alarming. But it is not on the low end of the trend, either. I wonder if it will be sunny or not? If it is sunny, our front porch will produce plenty of heat to keep the house warm by just opening the door. If not, then the fire will be required for most of the day, but while it is above 35, there is almost no demand. A log or two continuously burning ought to be enough.

That’s my Thomas Jefferson for the day.

I did get two deliveries yesterday. I made nearly $14 for them both. Not too bad. It paid most of what I needed in milk and half and half. It could have been better. It could have been a lot better. I still have not seen a single offer from Uber. Door Dash barely pays for its space on the phone. It would be lovely if I could get more deliveries and make enough to cover the bills. But it is not looking like I will be able to from here at the house. Maybe I will need to drive down to Logan and spend the day sometime and see if these apps light up for my being there. I don’t know if they will or not.

I keep avoiding the shop because of the cold outside. This said in spite of the relatively warm weather. I wish I was braver against the cold. But being outside in the shop and working in the cold and holding cold tools is not a great way of spending the day, and using the sense numbing cold tools is no way to work safely. I have tried the Roman workbench in the front porch, and I kind of like it. I need to put together some jigs for it. I feel crowded out there, and like I need to be constantly cleaning wood shavings because of it. I think I need a table or something to go along with in order to put parts and tools down on in reach. Then I think it will do. I am not far off. I do lack a place to securely hold a piece while I saw it. I mean for things like dovetails, not long boards.

I think I could be making candle boxes and the like for the candle shop. I did see an amazing video showing how to make pipes for an organ. I am not going to lie, I would like to try a pipe or two and see if I can make them whistle. That would be cool. I can think of a couple of entertaining uses. But that would be just for fun. I would like to get the box making practice though, for sure. I would also like to make a table for the house. I need the experience. I need the practice there, too. So, there are some things to smile about and get on with it.

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Friday Morning and I Feel like Monday

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Kelsey

Trying Uber and DoorDash here is coming out as a bit of a failure. Uber has not even acted as though it were alive. I just get a standard map. There is one exception. It did pretend that it was alive in Rexburg, Idaho, and showed me a red zone for the pricing. Nothing more. IT was telling me that if I accepted any of the non-existent rides in a few blocks’ radius, I would get a $5.25 bonus pay. I am not driving to Rexburg. I’d spend more than that getting halfway there. Otherwise, the app has acted like it is not alive for a week now.

Door Dash on the other hand has been sporadic. It has offered me drives and I have taken them. They have been low earners. I got a decent one once, but I don’t think I will see a repeat of that feat. I am earning a tiny amount of money, but nowhere near enough to pay the bills or eat off of.

So, what will we do now? There is a fair amount of snow set to fall this weekend. I need to get some firewood cut and split today and put it on the pile ready to keep us warm for the next week or so. I think that’s almost what we are down to. I think we could last a week, or maybe a little more on what we have left. Probably two if I am a little more optimistic. But the point is, I will need to keep up for the rest of the winter. There is not enough to get us through. I wonder at times like this if I should finish my woodshed, then get more practice by making another one. Then keep them both full for winter firewood. I’d like to see a pile after that readying up for the following year and then start selling the rest. That requires a firewood sale rack.

My daughter just asked me if we still had the container for sourdough starter. I don’t know where it has gone, and if the lid has survived as it was seriously cracked, but not yet broken in half. Then I proclaimed that I could just turn a new one on the lathe. She laughed and said, “You probably could.” Well, yeah, I could. That’s the point. What’s more, I have that lovely walnut wood I can use to turn it from! That would make a lovely lid! Looks like I am looking for the ceramic sourdough starter pot today.

I could justify going down to Logan to see if the Uber app lights up there for me just being there. I could run in some bills that need paying with the hospital and with the eye doc. But I need to bring others along with me, so I could not earn a penny while there, unless I can get Door Dash to liven up. Then maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.

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