Month: August 2018

75F and sure to get higher….

Survived a day of gainful employment, doing what I did 7 years ago. Still are poorly designed systems out there that need fixing, and I can still go do it if needed. That’s nice to know.

Ebay sales are $0 for the month. Admittedly I had the store shuttered for two weeks, and that always seems to have long lasting effects, but jeez. I think this ebay store thing might have been a mistake. I was moving a lot more before I converted to a store. Coincidence or some issue with their recommendation engine?

It’s both the end of the week and the end of the month, and the end of summer as well…

I feel a real need to get back to stacking preps. I haven’t bought any ammo in a while, nor have I gotten to the range. Wife went thru and removed the oldest of my expired food, and the rats have reduced my stack, so with ebola and a 45 day quarantine rising in possibility, I’m actually getting nervous.

Time to get the fall garden in too.

So much to do, and regular maintenance on 2 houses and 3 vehicles, and trying to get stuff cleaned up and organized, and NOTHING IS SELLING>>>>>

What have you guys been up to??

n

A bit cooler this morning after a slightly cooler night. 73F and very humid. Wonder what the dew point is?

Gonna do some work for hire today, so I’ll be away from my desk. Hope I can remember how!

I’m sure there is something out there to talk about….

n

77F with 90%RH, but that is misleading, since it will all change as the sun comes up. Suffice to say “Hot and Humid” today…

More stuff to do today, personal, rental, and to get ready for the first gainful employment in a few years that I haven’t been in control of. That’s a bit nervous-making…

Nice to expand the range of potential income though. Doing occasional day labor for this company could be a nice supplement, esp as the ebay sales remain at zero for the moment.

And I better get the family up, and breakfast going, or everyone will be late today.

n

78F at 6am. Hot and humid today, I think.

Finally rented the rent house. Which is great, but now I have to change the locks, and empty the garage. At least this will be the last time I mow….

Also have the job that was interrupted to finish, one day of consulting for a company this week, and all the other stuff going on too.

Not feeling well either.

Poor me. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.

n

Back home, where it’s 78F with 80%RH this morning. I’m sure as it heats up the RH number will go down…. I sure hope so anyway.

Good to be home.

We have a really great interstate highway system, mostly for free (except tax money, of course) that could never have been built privately despite what the libertarians might say. There are state to state, and even county differences, but it all works together. The last 2-300 miles of my journey were on US and TX roads and the differences were stark, even when the design was similar.

I’m amazed by the number of truckers who appear to be driving tired and falling asleep. I’m amazed by the number of smashed up guardrails that haven’t been fixed in Arkansas. I think the two probably go together. Arkansas rest stops look and smell like prison latrines. Everywhere else, they were nicely designed, and well maintained.

Thank old white men for satellite radio. I’d have lost my mind without it. It’s a great distraction and a welcome diversion.

There is a lot of great music available from the last 75 years. Not so much from the last 5.

There is a LOT of Illinois in the long direction. Almost all of it farms. The cities are smaller than you’d think, and farther apart than your mental model might suggest. They are islands surrounded by a sea of farmland.

There is a lot of poverty in the rural areas as well as the sort of city neighborhoods that get bulldozed for highway projects.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be back in Chicago for the Celebration of Life, or whatever we’re gonna call it. Until then, it’s good to be home.

nick

or so I hope. Google says 8 more hours. My butt and back hurt. I’ll be a cripple by the time I get home.

n

Autoposting, so who knows.

Grey most of yesterday, and forecast was for t-storms all thru Illinois today.

Hopefully I’m on my way already, but if not, I’ll be soon.

Will post a comment or two while underway.

Goal for today is somewhere outside of Memphis.

n

Auto posting-

Yesterday was a simply beautiful day. Exactly what summer in Chicagoland should be like. Don’t know what today is like yet…

I pick up my one way rental today to load up and get ready for departure. I’ll finish what tasks I can during the day, do a little IT work in the evening and get early to bed. That’s the plan anyway.

Then drive 2 days to Houston. NOAA predicts rain along my whole route. I hope not.

I got a tremendous amount of things done here, but there is so much left to do. Dad was sick for a while and wasn’t up to normal maintenance for a while before that. Old houses need upkeep.

My dad wasn’t any kind of prepper, but still had the things he needed get by, and to improvise, like a chainsaw and a generator. Those are two of the things my mom will not need. He also stocked the shed with auto care products, all neatly organized and placed on shelves. Mom won’t be needing those. I guess he thought someone would do those things for her, out of his stocks. It’s much more likely that she’ll be buying those services. Mom won’t be using the workshop or his tools, or the material he stockpiled for future projects. I suppose at some point, we’ll have a moving or downsizing sale, and all that stuff will return to the ecosystem in the same way I and my fellow thrift/yard/estate sale hunters do it. It’s a bit odd to see it from the other side, but it’s very comforting to know that I’ve got a solid handle on how that process works. For now, mom is overwhelmed with stuff, and doesn’t really want to see all my dad’s stuff leave. So it will stay, for now.

In the wider world, Hawaii is getting hammered about now. If we have any readers from there please share your experiences here, even if you normally just lurk. Stay safe.

You all know what I’ve been doing, what did you do to prep this week? Anyone been motivated to start sorting out their own endgame? Your survivors will be thankful that you made the time easier for them, and it has a 100% certainty of happening, unlike most of the things we prep for.

We are still in hurricane season here on the Gulf, and it’g getting to be time for you winter folks to start thinking about cold, snow, and ice.

Prep while you can, and oh, remember we’re only one plane ride away from having Ebola in the US….

n

Gorgeous day here. Wanted to read just a few short chapters before bed, but too much caffeine at dinner kept me reading straight through. Very late bedtime, and I finally slept in.

Resolve “High traffic area” carpet cleaner, in the spray, foam, dry and vacuum can is absolutely useless, and fills the whole house with its fragrance. What it promises is a pipe dream. It didn’t TOUCH any of the various stains and soils in a 3 ft square area, and I agitated it with a brush. At least it’s not expensive. What a failure. And a stinky one.

As you can guess, cleaning and searching continues. Some success was had, and the work will continue.

So I better get to it.

n

More rain overnight, although there were some breaks.

Mid week, and mom’s got a Dr appt this am, and her bridge club in the afternoon. That will give me time to get some things done. It’s starting to feel like I’ll be able to head home. In a few weeks we’ll be back for the “Celebration of Life” and that will open the scabs again. Maybe by then I’ll be better, but I’m still crashing into the loss a couple of times a day. “Wracked” describes it.

I’m putting this up on auto, in case I do get to sleep in a bit. I’m certainly tired enough.

n

OH, and our old ‘friend’ Ebola is back…

“Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DNC), South Africa, announced five new cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Mabalako hot zone of the North Kivu district, bringing the total number deaths to 55. Of the 69 currently infected with the disease, 13 are heath workers – just under 20%. ”

—

“”This epidemic (in north Kivu) is going to bring a lot of surprises. It is not like the epidemic in the Equator that we have known already. This epidemic will bring with it a lot of surprises: the number of cases is going up and the number of infected zones is increasing so it will take a long time to control this epidemic and for the anti-virals which the companies will provide us, they are ready to increase the doses,” said Muyembe.”