Huh? A Hiatus on Life? I Don’t Have TIme For This

I haven’t been anywhere lately. I’ve been working on health, projects, and mindset. I spent a period of my early twenties not focusing and feeling overwhelmed with everything in my life. I was able to resolve that for near forty years, but here I am in my mid-sixties, and I’m face to face with it again. Being overwhelmed, an emotion so complex that trying to truly explain it would be like trying to explain all the aspects of my life contributing to it. Finance, current events, projects, etc. have me in a whirlwind and I’m drastically trying to get my feet back on the ground and stop spinning. No doubt I’ll figure it out and it will only take a few things being under control to alleviate the feeling. Whatever measure of creativity I have has been put on hold as I work on what I can to eliminate the confusion. I’m thinking about some new business opportunities that need to become clear, this is probably the major source of my scrambled brain.

It seems like the more I work on this house the more that gets added to the list of must-do’s. Must-do’s, ha, what they really are is want-do’s and we-think-we-need-do’s. It seems like we check off something and three new things are added. I have a running joke when people ask about what project we’re working now, I usually respond that my list is down to four pages typed, but I see light at the end of the tunnel. I do feel good about getting a few things done this week that have been bothering me. When I split the guest house out on its own electrical service, I allowed the electricians to convince me to mount the mast and boxes on the storage building. What I discovered within weeks was the building was not secured to anything and the weight of the overhead service lines and natural movement in the wind had them pulling the building away at the top and slightly tweaking the building. So, a thousand dollars later, I got them moved where I wanted them in the beginning and now, I get to try and level the building and make it straight again. A shovel, floor-jack, and some nice stones from the wood & stone pile should do the trick. Some trim boards and spray foam will do the rest. I might actually have a sealed storage from the dirt-daubers and elements.

 We recently moved our long-term savings from a 401K to a traditional IRA. We were getting tired, finally, of the lack of available investment funds to invest in. However, once we had moved the money, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. Years ago, I had separate investment accounts and managed those investments and the day-to-day decisions that go along with it. One of the problems with the 401K was that any trade I made was done at the end of the day where the IRA is done as a market trade making it happen when I wanted. Potentially cutting losses on a market turn-down and nabbing a little of an upswing on a market climb. It has taken me a few weeks to get my sea legs back under me, but I’m starting to feel better about the research tools and the available options given to me. I was a little taken a back when they told me I’d have to go through them for withdrawals, but I have now found a way around that and don’t have to ask permission to spend my own money. Although not seemingly a big problem, it was on mind a lot and now is finding its place a little further back in the sub-conscience area of my brain, soon to be archived.

Politics in this country have gotten to a clownish state. But unfortunately, it isn’t funny, and no one is laughing. I’ve come to think Trump actually believes his tariffs are how this country returns to some dominance. Problem is that the rest of world already looked at our country as having dominance and now they look to us as being easily manipulated and run by a buffoon. Trump has shown a propensity to puff up his chest and demand his desires. What the world has learned, as in handling any petulant child, is to simply say no. Countries are showing he will back down from his position after Americans complain, countries say no, and then he blinks.  The latest funny thing is that Walmart came out and said they would have to be raising prices to compensate for Trump’s tariffs. Donald’s response was to tell Walmart to eat the losses to keep his constituency happy. This coming from the so-called businessman. The only thing Trump has had success in is to dupe thirty percent of the people in the country and bankrupt six times in his business dealing and has been able to build a semi-successful real estate business. Every other business venture he has delved into has been hugely unsuccessful. I trust Walmart to follow through with their raising prices and secure the business and not worry about a president that won’t be there in four years. Today, United States has been downgraded for it’s deficit refunding structure. In the same day, the Republican-led House passes a multi-trillion-dollar deficit growing budget named by Trump as the “Big Beautiful Bill”. Some say up to $10 Billion will be added over the next ten years. Economists say it will add Four Trillion this year. The only thing that is clear to me is that Trump is hellbent on destroying the United States. One thing is for sure; I can’t wait to vote in 2026 and get some of these ridiculous MAGA fools out of their bow-to-the-orange-God roles and replace with serious people.

Crawfish Boil weekend!  We are excited to see cousins and friends and share several meals and swap lots of stories and catch up on families. Watching Jen try a crawfish is pure fun. She has such fun with all the women and laughs and enjoys day-drinking. The only thing this weekend is no water time, at least no one has offered time on the water. Within minutes she found a golf cart that she feel in love with. I started the negotiations, but I’m sure I’ll give in to their best offer and Jen will be driving a teal-colored cutie around the neighborhood. I’m not going without getting some really appreciated gifts too. My cousin from Louisiana asked what we wanted from there, so I ended up with cracklins, boudin, tossa, and several other things. I may be happy enough to write the check for the golf cart and eat all the way home. Between this weekend and the July Fourth Weekend, which now has moved to third weekend in July, it’s hard to find a better party time weekend throughout the year. The only time that tops them is Christmas at our house with all the kids and grandkids. That’s a week that we need two more to recuperate from. There is no better time than spending it with family and feeling the love shared, stories to cringe at, and memories to laugh and cry about.

We never expected it to happen, but one of our kids is actually moving to East Texas. Our youngest and family are looking for change, lower cost of living, and not sure what else, but I know they have given it much consideration. We are over the moon at having one of our kids and a grandchild living near us and seeing them routinely. Although moving to Texas has been good for us, we certainly have missed having our kids near. Since moving here, we now will have kids in four states. Lots of travel opportunities but also harder to see more than one kid and their family. We still have two in California, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon, and we probably see them more often than the others because Jen misses her girls daily, by the minute. Daily portal calls and conversations while driving home from work help, but she travels there by herself at least a couple a year to get her fix. Maybe that will be lessened now that she’ll have a grandkid to hug and spoil anytime she wants, time will tell, but we are excited to have them moving here.

I hope to write more in the future. I’m not without things to write about it, it’s just that my arm and hand go numb with minutes. So, it’s hard to maintain my train of thought writing a paragraph a day. But it may be that I need to use my notes to try and kindle the same thoughts and emotions I felt at the time I started writing. Jen says go see the doctor, but I just have too much to do to be laid up for a couple of months. Maybe something will happen that frees the nerve from the pinch it is getting now. And a chicken might fly to the moon. I’ll make the damn appointment and try to work it into my schedule.