I write this in a mood of deep introspection and uncharacteristic melancholy.
You may want to re-read Curve Ball, No Fun Anymore and Terminal Thoughts first to save me a lengthy exposition of my current mood.
Done? Then we’ll continue.
I’m going to be reducing the contents of my gun safes over time. As the Son & Heir has no interest in acquiring my collection of WWI / WWII and other old rifles after I snuff it, and I can’t really shoot them anymore, there’s no point (other than nostalgia) in keeping them. I’d rather they went to people who appreciate them for what they are. S&H already has the Swede (Princess Gertrude) because he loves that rifle even though he hardly ever shoots it, so the rest are up for grabs, so to speak — details on this later in this post. Also going will be any unscoped rifle other than the Browning 1885 High Wall, which was given to me by my Readers and which the S&H will keep, in my memory.
The second part of this post has to do with fucking money. In the past, my SocSec payments covered our immediate costs — rent, a car payment and insurance. The rest was covered by New Wife’s tiny salary (school admin staff are not highly paid), and we have been able to bumble along with only occasional dips into our savings when liquidity was short — immediately replenished when the checks cleared, in other words. We even had a little left over to indulge my ammo costs and the (very) occasional gun purchase and New Wife’s visits for Grandchildren Spoilage.
None of that exists anymore.
Thanks mostly to Bidenflation, my income no longer covers my costs, and our joint income just barely. Forget any indulgences like travel, new guns, ammo and even visits to Central Market for the occasional treat: none of them are possible anymore.
New Wife is facing retirement age quite soon — and thus we will not be able to make it.
Which means I have to raise money, somehow, and the only possible way I can do it is through this blog. Unlike previous times, I no longer have the readership that can generate funds through mass subscription, but it’s all I have left: to earn money through my writing.
So here’s the plan. Like Chris Muir’s Day By Day, I’m going to have an annual subscription drive; only unlike Chris, I can’t lure people to contribute by creating pictures of BOOOBS. Likewise, I can’t give away artwork like Sarah Hoyt has been doing, because I have none.
All I have to go on is doing what I always do: daily posts on topics which interest me and others. But even here are constraints.
- I will not turn this collection of crazed rants into a two-tiered “premium”-type website like the PJ Media group
- I do not want to subject my Readers to frequent pleadings for money
- I do not want to subject my Readers to advertising — pop-ups, in-body ads etc.
- Nor do I want to have “guest posts” from companies who would use thinly-disguised advertorials to lure my Readers to their get-rich-quick schemes, intrusively-advertised sites and similar dubious content (I turn down about two of these approaches every week, by the way)
- Forget being an Amazon “business partner” and the like, which could jeopardize my independence to write whatever I want
So I’m going to be holding an annual subscription drive in August from now on. If you are a daily Reader (as many seem to be), please contribute accordingly. At this point, I’m not going to make suggestions as to how much this website is worth to you, other than to say that I humbly believe that my gun posts and socio-political commentary are arguably the best reasons to come here, with beautiful women, cars and the rest as a bonus.
That said, I do want to reward Reader generosity, so here’s what I’m thinking: the largest contribution or group of contributions (I haven’t decided the parameters, yet) will get one of my prized rifles as a token of my appreciation. You’ll have to trust me on deciding who gets what, but you folks have trusted me in past Boomershoot sweepstakes and such, and that ethic is not going to change.
I understand too that a lot of folks won’t have a lot of cash lying around, but could afford a small monthly amount, for which there is Patreon (I know, I know, but at least it’s already set up).
If all this fails, I’m not going to shut down this blog — why end one of the few things that actually gives me satisfaction and pleasure? — but I’ll just have to make changes to my life, changes that are both unpleasant and embarrassing.
So it’s come to this. I’m going to reduce my gun collection (sadly, but logically) and ask for an annual subscription, all in one go. What I hope is that I will be able to use that subscription money to keep my head above water, and to fund an ever-shrinking list of activities that make my life worth the hassle (that’s not repeat NOT some loony implied threat). Of course, I will have to declare such income to the IRS… don’t get me started.
When the time comes, please be generous.
My wife and I drive what most would consider “old” rides. A 2001 Blazer 2dr 4×4 and a 2006 Equinox 4dr AWD. Both are long paid for and thus the insurance is reduced to minimal, about $800 a year. Between the 2 of us we drive less than 2000 miles per year. We are both “retired” after having been self employed since the 80’s but we both continue to work because we mostly like what we do and it give us some fuck you money.
Having new rides, along with eating out, are just 2 of the many things we have learned to do with out over the past 10 years and we don’t really miss them. Things change and you have to change also. Best.
Do you use Venmo? I’m not a fan of Patreon, TBH.
Indeed. Paypal is also a non starter. And I have as much faith in the Unbelievably Stupid Postal Service (USPS) as I do in Lisa Murkowski. Venmo or Zelle are preferable.
Unfortunately, Venmo is owned by PayPal.
I’m here for you, brother, even if you have to periodically pass the hat
Look forward to signing up
May I assume you will accept cash or check?
LOL Gerry
As one of your Patreons, I’m disappointed to hear it’s not working out for you. Are they taking too large a cut?
As for your guns, do remember that you have grandchildren and that they may one day take an interest.
While it’s probably time to increase my Patreon donation to you and yours, give us an address where we can send chests full of doubloons or personal checks. Who deserves it more than you?
Sooper-seekrit mailing address is in the masthead…
Ouch.
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I and mine enjoy your eloquence, right on par with Ol’ Remus and Virtual Mirage… daily.
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Your financial admission parallels our situation.
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Over the past two months, we sold six of our beloved RedHeelers.
With years of training and experience in agility competition and herding expositions, they earned top-dollar from eager buyers.
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And I miss them terribly.
Their joy and curiosity was contagious for this old heart.
Although we have seven remaining, the hollow I feel… I feel cheated by the decades of ballyhoo, blathering, and fuss promising my pot of gold at my end of my rainbow.
Neither here nor there.
Pity-party cancelled for lack of interest.
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Today and again, I realize the insipid foolishness of losing the ‘relationships’ I treasure with my invisible friends on the WorldWideWeb.
Although we share the acreage with about thirty decent kind souls in a vast variety of RecreateVehicles and home-built HouseTrucks on the farm — and none of us anticipate returning to our nomadic roots — those relationships are day-to-day.
A grand total of two here are younger than me, and I will be 71 in a few weeks.
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I think TheTragedy© is the hole we create by our passing into befuddlement.
That ‘library closed’ sign, the requirement for the younger set to go through some very rough times ahead without us geezers to delay the horde, to sacrifice our physical form so the whippersnappers have time to mount a reasonably successful counter.
The ‘close ranks’ order falls on struggling ears with barely enough to sustain their faltering lines.
The Resilience! may turn out to be a myth, nice to discuss and pleasant to imagine, but in the thick of it, mere dust without substance.
Rambling.
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And so, I will send money.
And I really do not care if I am reading the spewings of some algorithms from the basement of some bureaucracy someplace, its generic scribblings formulated specifically for my appetite.
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Mister Du Toit, you (or your well-writ algo) is a bright shining beacon of worldly eloquence in a society besot by the acceptance of the crushing bore of mediocrity.
I enjoy your ‘joy and curiosity’.
It is contagious.
“… the crushing apathetic bore of mediocrity…”
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*****
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“… the insipid foolishness of mediocrity…”
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*****
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“… with only moments to spare before the mediocre hordes ransack the library to jealously destroy the final remnants of eloquence…”
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[dusts hands]
I think my work here is done.
Joel, I feel you and I agree with all above. My situation is a little better. Doesnt your son get what that collection would be worse in the future? My 2 sons would be interested in the gun collection that fell off the boat last spring. But My oldest wasnt stupid enough to find one of these screaming karens, so he is single, so where would they go after him. My youngest is going thru a NASTY divorce to someone we begged him not to marry when he was stationed in Hawaii, ( I love you no shit, I get ID card?, what time BX open),WTF did we know then but now we were freaking brilliant it seems!!!! And it will be a cold day in hell before I give that BITCH any access to my guns thru my 2 grandsons that I’m sure she will have ruined by the time they are of legal age… So I just hope daily for the collapse or the asteroid to come soon enough for me to enjoy the chaos, I’m SOOOO tired of the slow collapse just get this crap over with. Never in my wildest dreams did I envision my retirement being this bad……….
Hey, Kim, that’s a bastard. Selling assets is a one time fix. I’ve been waiting for you to announce Uncle Kim’s shooting experience coming to a range near you or some such as a way to monetise a passion. You must know a couple of ladies who know how to shoot? Set up a ladies learn to shoot school. What about “Kim’s Voortrekker Jerkey” direct sale through your website? Get into partnership with a like minded butcher and start making those South African sausages you like so much. Try a stand at your local produce market, jerkey, sausages and set up a bbq and sell them hot in bread. I’ve a mate who makes sourdough bread. He is not a baker. He sells enough at a Saturday market to pay his weekly expenses. Not saying take up baking, but leveraging your skills, especially if you don’t price your time can generate cash. I restore old chisels and planes and hand tools as a bit of a hobby. A Stanley No 4 plane at a flea market is worth $20.00. Four hours and I can turn that into a nice rehabbed functional tool that I sell on the local equivalent of eBay for $75 to $120. Now, if I cared about hourly rate forget it. My granddaughter discovered money a couple of years ago. We propagated cuttings of roses from our and her mothers garden. Lifted and potted self seeded Japanese maples from our garden. Six to 12 months later she was selling those plants at carboot sales and making $200 to $300 a day. Again, it’s not a living, but it is cash. None of these ideas need capital. Just effort.
Well, Kim – I completely understand your situation, since I have been in it my entire life. Never hit “the big one”, but had just enough fun to make life enjoyable. I will help in any way I can.
I just doubled my Patreon contribution. It’s not much – I retired last year – but it’s something.
As much as you enjoy writing, have you tried putting together a few collections of your stories from Africa/US for sale as an ebook? Something like what Lawdog did, with an Africa-themed collection and a policing-in-rural-Texas collection. I have them both and they are great, so I would definitely be interested in your tales from over there.
I will send money and and some kind of smoked meat.
Kim, what happened to the Savage Apex Predator that was the original boomershoot gun? I thought you were going to get Savage to fix it,did they? If yes, then how about raffling it off to raise some funds?
Swapped it for an old WWI rifle of equivalent value. It too will be going…
If you are of full retirement age you can work and not worry about the SS payment. With your gun experience you could get a job at a sportsman’s kind of place. I know our hires old guys and the work 20-30 hours a week. Win for all involved.
I know it is hard to keep going day after day, but if you quit you are dead so there is that. You where doing some car thing. did that die off?
I definitely would participate in any raffle you come up with.
Nobody makes money from Uber except Uber, and my car won’t stand the extra mileage.
You’re a man of the pen, why not double down on the writing? North Texas Troublemakers seem to have a lot of fun, and they’re mostly old fucks… I guarantee your reputation proceeds you there. (If nothing else you’re in the august company of Jim Curtis, Peter Grant, and Lawdog in my bookmarks)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/550287496070842
Or brand something like SkippyTony said. People pay for an image, and your jerky and sausages with the South African theme could work. Those tards over at Black Rifle Coffee sell an image, why not you? It’s not like their coffee is actually good, but they’re swimming in money..
Maybe network locally? I’m on my county fair board and the old fucks there keep plenty busy. We’d kill for a man of your intellect and experience to help run things. I have to assume there are equivalent positions in Tejas… Better still, come one as a contractor and make the big money. We paid a capital consultant $80K over six months to raise $2.5 mil for a project. All that guy had was charisma and drive to get it done. Admitted, he’d been doing it for a while but the guy was 73 and still killing it. And no one gave a shit about his politics on the interwebs.
I don’t know what else to tell you, but you’ve got a vicious wit and extensive knowledge of gun stuff. There has to be something you can sink your teeth into that also generates cash.
I hate to see a man part with his rifles.
I’ve been as close to a daily reader as possible since somewhere in (I think) 2000. I’ll be happy to chip in as needed.
Been reading you since I can’t remember when. I’d be more than happy to send some bucks your way. If I can do it for Sarah, I can do it for you. This blog is well worth the money.