Sun. Oct. 6, 2024 – hope I get something done today…

By on October 6th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

And hope the rain holds off. We got just a thin spatter yesterday. Not even enough to get things wet. Still had to cover the truck bed with a tarp, just in case. I use magnets to hold it in place, so it’s not difficult, just a step I dislike dealing with. The humidity would have benefited from some rain to clear the air. Temps were nice all day though.

Did my pickup, went by my secondary location to drop some stuff off. Dropped off filters for the A/C at my rent house, and stopped in to chat with my auctioneer. He’s still not ready to start selling my stuff again. I also picked up some books from him. Good stuff like animal husbandry, small engine repair, and a multi volume “best works in English” set. Hit the Goodwill bins for an hour on my way home. Got some books for me, and some for eventual resale. Of course I grabbed some DVDs too.

Did a tiny bit of cleaning up and organizing. Mainly avoided working at home though…

So hopefully today I can get caught up with SOME of the tasks.

Maybe I’ll cook something too.

I will surely stack or restack something. You should too.

nick

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Sat. Oct. 5, 2024 – home this weekend, so work will be avoided…

By on October 5th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

I suck as a weatherman… today will likely be hot and humid, because we did get some rain yesterday, just after I said we wouldn’t. Just enough to wet everything in my truck… and today will probably be similar, threatening clouds, while slightly warmer and more humid than the last week. Or not, as I said, I suck at forecasting. Of course, so do they.

I did my long round trip yesterday. Took routes I haven’t taken in a while (290 to Austin) and never took (Alt 90 back to Houston instead of I-10.) I am a firm believer in taking different routes places so you see new things.

The stuff I picked up is in pretty good shape. I’ll test the big money pieces today, but I already got a working pro level fog machine, and two older but still working moving lights. My living room was like a disco last night…

Today I’ll do some more testing, and work my list of normal stuff. I really hope I can work outside in comfort. I’ve got a lot to do out there.

There is always stuff to do.

Since I’m moving and re-stacking food preps, I’ll encourage you to do the same. I’ve had some losses, both food and water storage. Those will have to be replaced. My buckets are getting brittle from the UV of indirect sunlight, just like my Aquatainers did. And I’ve had several gamma lids fail. It’s an argument for keeping stuff in the bags it came in, inside the buckets. You won’t fit as much, but it might reduce spoilage in the event of a failure. Also, gamma lids are for buckets that are “in use” not long term storage. Make sure you have extra buckets, lids, and gamma lids.

Stack what you need.

nick

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Fri. Oct. 4, 2024 – and I’m on the road again, going places.

Warm and clear, gonna be hot later. Yesterday didn’t break 90F in the shade but in the sun it got brain boiling hot. Today will probably be the same. No rain forecast either.

I think I saved the grass in the front yard, or at least most of it. It seems to not be as brown or crunchy.

I spent yesterday moving stuff on the back patio. I swapped an open shelf for a close cabinet, that is also in the same color as our house siding. It will look a lot neater back there now. I ran out of daylight, so I’ll be reorganizing and putting stuff away for a couple of days.

I’d do it today, but I have to go pick up my lots in Leander… that is about 6 hours of driving and some time to load up. Then later I’ll have to sort and store it. Should be a good quick flip though that is worth all the driving.

I’ll try to check in during the day, but you should talk amongst yourselves…

And stack.

nick

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Thur. Oct. 3, 2024 – Thursday again. Well who knew?

Still warm in the late afternoon. OK, hot in the late afternoon. Morning temps are around 70F which is nice, and the RH is down with the lower temps. BUT while it’s finally Fall, we aren’t into sweater weather yet. Still hitting 90F most days.

WELL, yesterday was a big fat bust. Didn’t get much sleep the night before and was in no condition to drive 3 hours each way to pick up my items. No way, no how. I fight to stay awake while driving in the best of conditions. Running on only a couple of hours of broken sleep was not going to help. So I rescheduled my pickup to tomorrow. I’ll get to bed early tonight, and make an early start.

I did manage to do a couple of small projects before getting to all the kid stuff and dinner.

Today is more of the same. Whatever I can do in the morning, and then late afternoon occupied by kid chores. D2 has an activity from 630-830 which really breaks up the evening too. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are not my own.

It would be nice to get some cabinets and shelves moved around today. W1 is definitely getting agitated by the lack of progress in the back yard and the driveway. I’m hoping for a cool morning and a strong back today.

So much to do, and so long not really being productive. I need to break out of this funk and get back to making progress. Being well rested is probably desirable to make that happen, as is eating less sugar. I’m going to make an extra effort now. There is a ton of stuff happening on the family calendar, with very little unallocated time between now and the new year. We’re about to start the headlong rush to the Christmas and I’m not ready.

Time seems to be flying by.

Get your life organized, your stacks topped up, and your friends on speed dial…

nick

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Wed, Oct. 2, 2024 – driving all day, my hands wet on the wheel…

Cool to start, then warming. And maybe getting all the way to “hot”. Dry, only in the sense of no precip, it’s still humid and muggy. But, it is a little bit less of everything, which is moving in the right direction after a long hot summer.

Yesterday I did my big circle of pickups. Skipped one that I had already made arrangements to ship my small items, but ended up wishing I’d gone by. They missed my instructions, and ended up nagging me to pick up my items. I will still have them shipped…

Spent some time getting the front yard sprinklers to run. Grass is crunchy. I’ve got to replace at least one head. I’ve got spares, but no time.

So I’m taking today to drive out past Austin for a pickup. WTH? The payoff is potentially massive though, and one of the lots consists of expired proprietary filament for my commercial 3D printer. It’s pretty hard to find the consumables for that printer, so I was a bidder on that stuff. As long as I was making the trip, I might as well make money flipping something. And, if I’m honest, I started bidding thinking this school district was in Rosenburg, only an hour away, not three… I’m happy to have won, and happy to have the stuff for the printer, and have the stuff to flip, but I could have skipped the whole thing and my life would be the same. I am looking at it as the universe giving me a gift…

One I have to spend a day getting.

So while I’m hopefully adding to my stack of stuff for making stuff, and adding to my stack of money, I’m also losing time, which I probably should have spent in a different way. I’m conflicted, obviously. Feel free to discount any whining about not having enough time to do stuff for a few days at least…

And while I’m doing my thing, do some stacking of your own.

Because who had “union shuts down shipping” on their card for October?

Stacks are a good thing.

nick

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Tues. Oct. 1, 2024 – time to start decorating??

By on October 1st, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Still starting a bit cooler, under 70F, but warming into the 90s later in the day. It was still 89F at 5pm in my driveway, in the shade. The forecast has no rain for Houston for at least the next three days, so I’ll have to break down and water the yard. I’ve been watering what’s left of the garden, and my potted lime tree, now I’ll run the sprinklers for a while. That will mean fixing them, which wasn’t on the list…

Speaking of lists, only very minor things got done yesterday. I did get the lappy my wife brought home cracked and set up for us. I still need to do some de-installation, and tweaking, but we can use it. Still pretty decent hardware for something the company thought was obsolete.

I got a few things off the list. Moved some stuff around, cleaned some stuff up. SO MUCH MORE of that to do. But not today.

Today I’m making a scrap run with what’s in the truck. Then I’ll do a big loop of pickups, errands for the girls, and dinner… and that will be the whole day. I’ve got a couple of auctions in the morning before I leave the house though. Mostly I’m watching an epilog laser engraver at a school district surplus sale. It’s not even $200 now, and they still sell online for thousands. Plus, I’ve always wanted one…

We’ll see. I won’t spend real money on it, but I won’t let anyone else steal it either. It’s a side hustle in one box…

Meanwhile, stuff is heating up all over the world.

Well, y’all know what to do, get to doin’ it….

n

****Stack!******

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Mon. Sept. 30, 2024 – a whole new world… or week… or something…

By on September 30th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

And it’s still hot. In the afternoon anyway. Very nice in the morning and evening. Mostly because the humidity is lower. I’m actually wishing we’d have some rain, as the grass is getting crunchy. I might run the sprinklers today.

Did NOT get stuff done yesterday. Slept late after being up most of the night, then had to do some stuff with the kids that ate my late afternoon. I did move some more books from my library to milk crates for transport to the BOL. I’ve got 5 or six full for this next trip.

The rest of the day was spent doing various dad things. Took the girls shopping for dresses for Homecoming. Ay carumba. At least it didn’t take long. Only one store. And I did get a pat on the back from some random mom about being involved in my daughters’ lives…

Bought the kids dinner at Jack in the Box. One meal, two additional Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburgers, a shake, and small fries, and the bill was almost $40. That made $160 for a dress seem reasonable. Inflation is out of control. Oh, and the store was being run by two employees, one of whom was on break, so really one guy on the window, and cooking. If it weren’t for mistrust and safety issues, I think they’d drop to one employee for most shifts. With few customers, one person can handle it. And that’s not a pretty picture of the state of the economy.

Today I will try to do the things I blew off this weekend. I HAVE to start making progress on some of this domestic stuff. Stuff is piling up, both metaphorically and physically. Not in a good way either.

So I’m looking at the same list of projects, and the same list of normal everyday stuff. I’m hoping to get some of it done.

Wish me luck, and stack some stuff of your own…

nick

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Sun. Sept. 29, 2024 – even more still to do…

By on September 29th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Another cool-ish Fall day is headed this way. I hope. Yesterday was actually pretty nice as long as I avoided the sun. In the shade, in the breeze, it was pleasant. Oh, it was sweaty, but much less so than recent days. I spent some time working in the garage, and it was ok.

I did sleep in and get a bit of a late start, and I was a bit overwhelmed when I finally got out and walked through some of the stuff that needs doing…

So I decided to just get started by removing a first layer, stuff for the scrap man. Unfortunately, that led me down a bit of a rabbit hole. I did break down a pile of stuff that was in the driveway, and actually blocking the gate, but it was a VERY small change overall. I’d have been better off moving some big stuff around, and making big visible changes.

So that’s what is on today’s agenda. Yes, things need to got to the scrapyard. But things also need big moves and rearranging. The plus is that it will actually complete some things that have been in process for a while, and should make a visual improvement too. IF I get them done.

Which is still kinda up in the air.

Stack some stuff. Do yourself a favor, and stack it neatly the first time…

nick

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Sat. Sept. 28, 2024 – gotta lotta stuff to do today…

By on September 28th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

So I hope it will be cool for most of the day. Should be reasonable, but … yesterday started at 65F but ended just under 90F. It was still nicer out than it has been. I’ll take it for today if that’s what I can get.

Hopefully none of our readers are suffering from Helene. If you were in the path of the storm, let us know what worked and what didn’t.

I got out of the house for a bit yesterday. Had some stomach upset that kept me home until after noon, but then I got out to do a pickup. I hit a local estate sale too. Guy was a bit of an audiophile, a bit of a photographer, and did some woodworking. I got an old Pexto hatchet, some circuit breakers, and a RAID enclosure… because the prices on everything else were crazy high. The sale was run by an english guy and his prices are never good. I probably wouldn’t have even stopped in if I recognized that it was him, even though it was only blocks from my house. The things I bought were not pre-priced and were things he doesn’t care about, so I got lucky.

Then I did my pickup, got the kid from school, and did some grocery shopping. Plenty of in store savings this trip. I had over $12 in coupons… Mostly I needed snacks for the kids’ lunches and sodas. Grabbed some fresh veg, and two chuck roasts that were on sale. Still managed to spend over $300. Push comes to shove, snacks and sodas will be on the chopping block. They are very expensive for what they are.

Today if the weather is nice, I’m doing outside work. I’ve got stuff to do in the garage, attic, driveway, and back yard. I’ve been putting it off for most of the summer and it looks it. Of course, if I catch whatever the wife has, I’ll be laying in bed, not working. That would suck.

I will have a better idea about some of my restocking after I re-stack and rearrange the stuff this time.

There is always something that needs to be re-balanced, or replaced.

Stack all the things111!11!!!1

And look at what you already have.

nick

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Fri. Sept. 27, 2024 – another week, and most of a month gone…

By on September 27th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool to start, then hot. No rain for us either, at least not in the forecast. I might have to water the grass… It went from low 70s to low 90s yesterday, but at dusk, it was a very comfortable 80F. I’ve been driving around with the A/C on but the windows down, and it’s nice.

Speaking of driving around, I did one local pickup but it was lots from 6 auctions. Ball jars, solar panels, stuff for the kids, everything comes through the auctions eventually. I am buying less though, just usually one or two items per auction now. I guess I’ve got most of what I need, and I have better self control regarding buying stuff just ‘cuz it’s cheap. Or not.

Today I’ve got a pickup to do, some grocery shopping to do, kid stuff, and all the other normal domestic bliss. Like laundry. I cut my hair yesterday so that’s done. Good value for money spent on that clipper set, and it saves me time too.

Staying home this weekend, to do some work around here. I really am hoping for some cooler weather, as that’s what I need to be productive. Can’t really count on it though, so plans might change.

I’m hoping everyone in the path of Helene is safe and well prepped. If you have any stories to share, please do so. If something worked or didn’t work, let us know.

And if you aren’t prepped, why not?

Stack something useful.

nick

(food and water are always useful)

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