The Intergalactic Cowboy

I listened to a tape of my current musical project with the harmonica player. The recording was better than I expected; dark, spooky; almost psychobilly in atmosphere. I now hear the possibilities of a grungy, southern, gothic, lunatic band coming into existence. The intonation on my guitar was really o.k. So, today at practice I will bring the other hollowbody guitar and begin adjusting the string length on it to accomodate the estimated 85 degree temperatures of the practice room. The outside temperature is supposed to hit 97 degrees today. Next week, a bass player, with long, flowing white hair and beard will be joining us. He will look good in the band photos if he sticks with us. There is talk of a window unit air conditioner being installed into the practice area. I am afraid that the high temperatures could dissuade any new musicians from joining this band.
Suvy has been brought inside by no later than 7pm each night, so as to prevent any future nighttime injuries to her leg. Her leg does seem to be improving fortunately. On Saturday, I found her curled up, asleep, under a camellia bush. She was so cute.
More later,
I.C.

It was Sunday night. Suvy, in her usual summertime habit was out late. At 9 pm, when it gets dark, she enjoys chasing the insects that come out after dark. But this night was different. At 8:30 pm, when I checked on her, I heard an unusual, plaintif, high pitched wail coming from the back lot. I walked back there and found nothing unusual and the wailing stopped. Suvy did not come when I called her at 9:30; she didn’t even run past me to let me know she was alright as she often does. At 10 pm, I turned on all of the outdoor lights and took a flashlight outside to find her. I was assuming that she was hiding from me in an attempt to stay out all night. After five minutes of calling her, here she came, limping out of the dark shadows of the bushes. She then lay down in front of me in a gesture of wanting her stomach rubbed, which I did. I then picked her up and brought her inside. Her leg was injured but not broken apparently. When I put some Aspercreme on it, she scratched me with her paw. She would occassionally meow in a way that signaled pain and aggravation. She slept next to me on my bed and I gave her all of the room that she needed to get comfortable. Neither she nor I got much sleep that night.
On today, Wednesday, I am proud to report that her leg is better. Unfortunately my plans to begin letting her stay out all night have to be changed. Her previous leg injury happened after dark one night and I feel that she has misjudged her ability to safely function after dark. My new policy is to bring her in before dark until she is able to walk without limping. Her ability to jump and to climb have been impared since her broken leg occured months ago and I feel that she needs to be able to jump and climb in order to escape the occasional predators that visit this property. We have had visits from coyotes and foxes late at night. I am happy that Suvy did not get killed in this latest mishap.
With relief,
I.C.

Well, the stock market went up 275 points yesterday and the price of crude oil went down ten dollars a barrel over a two day period. So, life is a pop of the cherry isn’t it ? Do you think that we should all put second and third mortgages on our homes and either invest the money or put it in the bank ? Well let me tell you a little story…
Many years ago I was speaking to a bank employee about how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation only insures bank deposits for a total of $100,000. The bank employee corrected me by saying, ” that $100,000 of insurance is for each account.” That statement implied that if you had a million dollars, that you could insure the money by opening up ten bank accounts with $100,000 in each one. This was comforting to me despite the fact that I never expected to have a million dollars; and I don’t.
An earlier diary entry of mine made reference to a California bank that was taken over by the FDIC for losing five hundred million dollars in foreclosed loans. One of the depositors in that bank had depositied $236,000 and had divided the money into four different accounts, which were presumeably insured for $100,000 each. This money was his life savings that he was very careful to protect. When he went to the bank to withdraw his money the other day, he was told by the FDIC that since all four accounts were in the same name, that they considered them to be one account, that was only insured for $100,000 ! The FDIC eventually gave the man $170,000 out of the $236,000 that he had deposited in good faith. That is all that he is getting. Another customer had purchased two Certificates of Deposit at this same financial institution. These CDs were for the amount of $75,000 each. This customer was told that he would not be getting the full amount that he deposited either.
So what’s going on here ? Did the FDIC change its rules in recent years ? It was about ten years ago when I was told that each account was insured. Was this information bad ? So, if anyone reading this has more than $100,000 in any one bank, you need to withdraw the surplus money TODAY and put it into another bank. So, hypothetically, if you have a million dollars, you need to deposit $100,000 in ten different banks in order to be protected. Now, most of the musicians that I know are lucky to have $100 dollars in their account, much less $100,000; but many of us on occaision sell our house and need to deposit more than $100,000 into the bank for a short time. Please share this information with everyone that may need to know this. There are still ninety banks on the FDIC watch list for possible takeover.
Unbelievable,
I.C.

The financial markets had a volatile week here in the U.S. this past week. The coming week looks just as unstable. Friday was the crescendo of panic when the market sold off on rumors of financial institutions Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae being close to financial insolvency. These two institutions facilitate home loans to millions of Americans each year. At about 3pm on Friday, a rumor was broadcast over the media that the Federal Reserve Bank had agreed to loan these two institutions enough money to keep themselves afloat. Those of you in the know will understand what I mean when I say that the Fed Discount Window was alledgedly made available to them. On the announcement of this rumor, the stock market reversed all of its losses for the day and regained an even keel. At about 3:30 pm, the Federal Reserve Bank told the media that they had no comment on the rumor. If the rumor was true, they would have no reason to deny it. Then the markets sold off a little until 4 pm when the market closed. At about 4:15 pm, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that they had taken over a California bank, which happens to be the second largest mortgage lender in the United States. This after the bell announcement, was not a rumor. This California mortgage bank had accepted a billion dollars of deposits and was approaching bankruptcy. The FDIC is required to insure accounts of up to $100,000. At last count, the FDIC will have to pay out 500 million dollars of money on insured account holdings, but will not be responsible for the other 500 million dollars of lost money. It is estimated that 10,000 people will not be reimbursed for their account holdings of over $100,000. It is also predicted that this news could cause a stock market panic during this coming week.
Caveat Emptor,
I.C.
10:13 pm I was just informed that 90 U.S. banks informed the U.S. government today that they might not be able to fulfill their customers’ withdrawals on Monday morning !

Well, things have stabilized a little bit in my musico / financio world.
Yesterday, I worked with harmonica wizard J.G. at his 85 degree workshop. As suspected, my guitar neck went flat, up the neck, as a result of the ten degree increase in temperature from my house to his workshop. I brought a stage tuner with me to confirm this. Step one was raising the string height by raising the height of the bridge. No improvement. After a couple of songs, I asked for a break so that I could pull out a small screwdriver and adjust the length of each string. The third and fourth strings were the biggest offenders. With a trial and error process, I firstly caused the intonation to go sharp up the neck and finally on pitch up the neck. Frustratingly, the well adjusted strings then emitted a buzzing sound as a result of the string touching the screw that adjusts the string length. I had to put the screwdriver in between the screw and the string and move the screw over slightly in order to correct this new problem that I had created. I hope that the screw is not now bent out of shape ! If this paragraph has been tedious to read, believe me it was more tedious to do this work on the guitar while my fellow musician waited for me to fix this problem. My guitar now has acceptable intonation at an 85 degree temperature. I have not checked it in my 75 degree practice area.
As I suspected in my last diary entry, Jean Claude Truchet of the European Central Bank raised interest rates by 1/4 point on Thursday. This increased the value of the Euro, due to the lower amount of Euros that can now be borrowed at this higher interest rate. Another way of looking at this is to say that the U.S. dollar is now worth less as compared with the Euro. With the dollar worth less, the relative price of crude oil in dollars is more, with crude oil rising to above 145 dollars a barrel yesterday. Fortunately today, the price of oil has gone down to just over $144. Fortunately also, the fund managers of this world did not pull their money out of the market and the U.S. markets rose and fell within the range that day traders have influence upon. Unfortunately, a couple of respected stock market analysts have predicted that the market will stagnate at this current level for the rest of the year…
With moderation,
I.C.