Sat. Feb. 14, 2026 – The Feast of St Valentine…

By on February 14th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Well, we’re supposed to be getting rain today according to the national forecast. I’m betting on warm and moist. Very moist. But maybe no rain. It was partly nice yesterday, and partly overcast and damp. Still better than three feet of snow.

I spent the whole day moving, except right after lunch when I crashed out for an hour. Met my people to sell them the toilets. Did some cleaning, sorting, and organizing at the shop. Loaded the truck with trash and debris and got rid of that. Did an auction pickup and stopped in to see my local auctioneer – still no date for selling my stuff.

Did some other stuff too and made dinner. Go me.

Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting, and it’s our quarterly mini swapmeet too. And we have to talk about finding a new space for our meetings. Of course I think the nearby place I found is the best choice. I suspect it will be a long meeting.

After that, I’ve got a wife to treat to Valentine’s stuff. I’ve got a card, and I’ll cook, but that is really about it. I forgot to get chocolate, and she’s started going to the gym so maybe chocolate wouldn’t have been great anyway. At least that’s my story for now. If I disappear, you’ll know it didn’t go well.

One kid is off with friends for a birthday “girls weekend” (the girl’s mom will be present) and the other has a couple of school activities to do. I’ll be lucky if I get anything on the list done this weekend.

Sometimes it be that way.

Stacking is the least I can do.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 13, 2026 – Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month

By on February 13th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, ebay

And it’s a chilly morning but warmer later kinda Friday the Thirteenth. I hope. It did get pretty nice yesterday despite the forecast for rain. I’ve gotten used to the nice days and missed them. I know it is just setting me up for disappointment later, but I still like them now.

Spent the morning messing around. Spent the afternoon running around. Pickups in The Woodlands and then on the east side of town. Visit to my secondary to get some things and dump some trash. Then site visit for my hobby club finding a new space, then over to the shop to get the stuff I’m selling (toilets) together. (found that two more pieces were broken, so that sucked.) Then Home Depot, the chiropractor, and finally home for dinner. It was a busy day.

Oh, and I started by pulling my old sensor off (it left a ring of adhesive I can’t get to come off, and a mosquito bite where the needle was) and attaching the new sensor. Unfortunately, I seem to have stuck it right on a nerve. The first one didn’t hurt at all, but this one did. And does sometimes when I move my arm. At $150 each, I’m gonna try living with it rather than pulling it off and trying again with a new one. There is a down side to being a cyborg.

Of course the upside is that I get real feedback and can learn to moderate my behavior to get better outcomes.

Plus, it’s kinda cool.

Today I’ve got to meet my neighbors who are buying the toilets in the morning. Then I’ll probably work at the shop for a while since I’ll be there anyway. I should get some stuff together for my non-prepping hobby meeting on Saturday too, as that’s our quarterly ‘swapmeet’ day. The rest of the list calls to me too. It calls collect and in the middle of dinner. B@stard list.

But turning stuff into money is a good thing, so I should leverage that momentum and get some more stuff sold… so I can buy more stacks…

nick

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Thur. Feb. 12, 2026 – I’m the one that made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs

By on February 12th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool again, and maybe not clear. National forecast says rain today but clear tomorrow. Yesterday ended up gorgeous blue sky and mild temperatures in the afternoon. And end in the mid 50sF. So we’ll see, but I’m guessing damp and cool.

I spent the morning yesterday messing around and experimenting with my sugar intake, thinking it might be my last day to play with my glucose monitor (think sugar crash). I spent the afternoon at the doctor and doing one pickup and a run through the grocery store before getting home.

HEB had prime sirloin steaks on sale for $5.99/pound. I bought all that they had that were big enough cuts. There were also a lot more yellow tags (in store discounts, yellow tags on the shelf) than there have been lately. Even my favorite bacon had a price reduction from 32c/oz to 30c/oz. There was a buy one get one promo on nice Lavazza espresso cans too. My bill was ~$350 with a coupon and markdown saving of $120. I used to be happy to save 15% of the total. It was a good shopping day.

BTW, that broke the streak. I think it was 10 or 12 weeks without buying meat, other than one pork butt. Freezer meat for the win. I just wish there were some other cuts on sale besides the sirloin, but it’s a tasty cut.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do, and I want to look at another church event space for my non-prepping hobby. The president picked one near his house, but it’s a 25 minute drive for me, vs our old location (7-10) and the new potential locations (<5 minutes.) I'm selfish enough to want my trip to stay short, but I'll present to the group and the board and hopefully the group will decide to stay in my neighborhood. Yeah selfish. Don't care. I also feel like if I could get two locations with minimal effort, wtf is up with no one but the president finding even one for consideration? Volunteer orgs run on the 10% who do everything. So, my prep is stocking the freezer, and building community. Stack something of your own. n

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Wed. Feb. 11, 2026 – another day, another dollar

By on February 11th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war, personal

Warm and then warmer later. Unless the rain cools things down. We should have clear again by Thursday. Yesterday started with mostly cloudy and ended with full overcast and a bit of misty drizzle. The beautiful days couldn’t go on forever…

I spent the morning fixing things, not on the list. But it makes me feel good to get things working again. Then I finished up the work on the generator. I’ve still got a couple of minor things to do, but it’s functional.

Today I have a pickup and doctor appointment in the afternoon. Hopefully we’ll go over the last two weeks of blood sugar monitoring and he’ll give me some insight into what it all means, and what, if anything, I need to do. Since I stayed in the “good” range for almost the whole time, I expect tweaking of my diet to be mostly for my comfort. But we’ll see. I like having the monitor and hope to get at least another two weeks to see what changes do for me.

We are living in an age of miracles and the monkeys can’t see it.

Stack, because the monkeys are gonna try to tear it down.

nick

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Tues. Feb. 10, 2026 – A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies!

By on February 10th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, then warm. Maybe even hot! And the forecast calls for clear, which is very nice. I was sweating in the sun yesterday, but that was only in the sun. In mixed light or shade it was the perfect temperature. SOOOoooo nice. I just want to sit on the porch…

But the list is like rust and never sleeps.

Yesterday I mostly worked on getting the natgas gennie connected to the house. Well, really, putting the connectors in place and doing the wiring for real to connect it. Of course it wasn’t anywhere near as simple and straightforward as it should have been. But that’s my life.

I did manage to get my laundry done and folded. Dinner was made and eaten. And the whole family was at the table. That is increasingly rare with the kids’ school activities. A few more years and we’ll be empty-nesters. Time flies.

Today I’ll finish up the gennie so I can get that off my list. I’ve got at least one pickup to do too, and maybe some grocery shopping if the time works out. If not, tomorrow will be ok too.

I should stop in and see my buddy at the gub store too. It’s been a while since I dropped in. I’m always happy to see him and his wife and chat for a bit. And maybe he has some fantastic plastic in 22LR to use as a trainer…

The list is long, and my focus is short, but maybe I’ll get a couple of things done, while I … … … keep stacking.

nick

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Mon. Feb. 9, 2026 – here we go with another week…

By on February 9th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall

Cool to start, clear and warm later. Yesterday started with overcast but ended with clear and warm. Even at dusk it was still very pleasant to step outside.

So of course I spent most of the day inside. I did a bunch of stuff, none of it critical, and ignored the nice weather and my outdoor tasks. I sorted auction stuff. I listened to some vinyl. I made a pot roast, from scratch, and cooked it for dinner. Came out delicious. I suppose you can’t go wrong with a chunk of American wagu, red wine, vegetables, and time.

Some frustrating time was spent dealing with backing up my phone, microSD cards, and just automagic stupidity… which is still not resolved.

Wife and child returned home.

And now I have today to continue the nonsense.

So I will.

Stack while you can.

nick

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Sun. Feb. 8, 2026 – a day of rest

By on February 8th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool to start, and gorgeous later. That’s the plan anyway. Yesterday worked out that way and it was a beautiful day.

I spent most of the day ferrying kid and friends around. I did do a little sorting and domestic bliss, but didn’t get anything off the list. I’ll try again today.

About the only thing related to prepping was trying to back up more of the stuff on my phone. I didn’t realize that the camera was using the internal storage instead of the sd card, and that a lot of stuff wasn’t being backed up to the cloud. I pulled the card and copied it to my pc, and it took over 5 hours. That’s crazy long for just 32GB of data. SD card, through an adapter, and then the card reader in the pc is not quick. I’m not sure where the bottleneck is but it’s significant.

Today I’ll sleep late, and then do some more cleanup. I found more of the electrical parts I need for the whole house gennie, so I might move that up the list, just to get something done and marked off.

Or I might not. With beautiful weather, I might move stuff out of storage.

Plans, I’ve got ’em. We’ll see what really happens.

Stack some preps. It’s good for the soul.

nick

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Sat. Feb. 7, 2026 – up early for the kinder…

I guess I’ll see how cold it is at 7am. Probably 50F. Then warming throughout the day, much like Friday. In fact, Friday afternoon was really nice. Warm, sunny, clear… really nice. And I’m hoping for some more of that today.

I did office stuff in the morning, then did a pickup in the afternoon. Stopped and got a propane bottle filled, went by the secondary location, stopped at the shop and spent a couple of hours sorting and organizing. Didn’t get to storage, but did make progress so there might be room for it when it does come over.

Today I’m up early to get youngest and two of her friends to a school thing, then get them back home after. Then I need to get her to school for another thing that will go all afternoon and evening, with an afterparty…

W and D1 are headed to look at a college, with W continuing on to the BOL. She’ll stay the night and then pick up the kid on her way home. Kid will be staying with a friend. I’ll be home shuffling D2 around and working on the list.

It’s hard to complain. I will anyway. But by any metric I’m a blessed man. Gotta remember that.

Stack something. Count your blessings.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 6, 2026 – 02062026 – jenny don’t change your number…

By on February 6th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cold again, and probably nice later. Which is what yesterday turned into. I was in shirtsleeves by the middle of the day. Since today is supposed to be clear and sunny, I’m betting on the same weather striking twice.

Did my pickup in the morning. It was a bargain*, but it was also 2 hours of driving. Then I met with a neighbor about a place for my non-prepping hobby to meet. I’m hoping that works out as it’s closer to my house.

Didn’t get to my storage unit or my shop. Kid was supposed to need a ride at a specific time, and that just wouldn’t work with shop time, so I went home and waited. I did get a good nap, which mollified me slightly when I found out 2 hours later that she didn’t need the ride.

Everyone but me had stuff to do last night, so I ate leftovers and fell asleep from the carbs.

Today, well, I’ll try once again to make some progress. Sisyphus. Some days I’m Spartacus, but most days I’m Sisyphus. NOT syphilis. Sisyphus… Or maybe liver-pecked dood. Dood is good food**. Now I won’t be able to convince anyone that my brain isn’t rotten from syphilis.

Stack! There you go, classic me.
nick

*bargain is a weird way to spell that word, and just looking at the letters, it doesn’t even seem like a real word. Do I need a tag for silliness? Or Sisyphus? Or syphilis? and really, who decides when it’s a y and when it’s an i? or an -is or an -us?

**three different sounds for the same ‘oo’ WTF?

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Thur. Feb. 5, 2026 – two wongs make a white

By on February 5th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, but maybe warmer later? The national forecast says Houston, and most of the country, will be clear for the next several days. Could be all the heat rises and it’s cold but clear. Could be something else. I’m going for cold and clear. Maybe mid 60s? We’ll see.

Yesterday was a mess. Didn’t get any sleep, so had to nap most of the morning. Then other stuff got in my way. I did get a couple of small things done, and made dinner, so there was that.

Today I’ve got plans to do a pickup and a venue visit, so I need to get moving this morning. After that, maybe the load from storage that didn’t happen yesterday? We’ll see.

In any case, SOMETHING will get started, worked on, or, if the universe is feeling kindly, finished.

I just can’t predict what.

So stack as that’s easiest, and get stuck in.

nick

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