Probably going to be beautiful here today. I haven’t seen any forecasts though. I’ll let you know later…. Yesterday in Houston was a scorcher- 108F in the sun by my roof, according to my weather station. It had fallen to 106F in a couple of hours.
I beat feet for more temperate climes. It was much cooler only a couple of hours north, and downright chilly at night on the water.
My schedule for today is … work. Lots to do and I hope to get some of it done. My goal is a bunch of little projects while my wife does flooring. Then a break for grass cutting or kayaking, then more work. Maybe a fire in the pit at night. If the wind cooperates I’ll do some burning of my slash piles during the day.
Neighbors say it will be busy up here this weekend and we’ll see some stupidity on the lake. That should be interesting. It’s all new to me anyway.
Maybe I’ll get my traps in the water and see if the crawdads are biting…
STack up some good memories this weekend. They’ll keep you motivated during the bad times.
n
Alcohol and boating. I imagine it will be more fun on the 4th when explosive devices get thrown in the mix.
When you read about manatee deaths in Florida, most not related to cold weather are caused by people being careless in the habitat, particularly with boats on holiday weekends.
I don’t think The Real Life Tony Stark (TM) completely understands his own customer base.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10859771/Elon-Musk-says-recession-GOOD-thing-raining-money-fools-long.html
Once the construction is complete on Phase I of the new Apple campus here in Austin, I imagine that a lot of “Come To Jesus” meetings will happen there and at most of the serious players in tech around town.
What does a lying, sick, self-centered fantabulist like Amber Heard do after getting destroyed in court and (anticipating) losing big time:
https://pjmedia.com/culture/megan-fox/2022/05/27/why-the-heck-did-amber-heards-legal-team-call-her-back-to-the-stand-n1601343
Find some none-pink DNA in her ancestry and run for president?
Beautiful morning. Sunny, clear, and COOOLLLLL. It will warm up, but what a difference.
Thin pipe for news, so if something major breaks, mention it.
Happy Saturday!
n
I put up a new porch flag pole along with the new flag this morning. We’d lost part of the old pole in a storm, so it was hanging down too low, and nearly touching the hedge.
Also hung the bunting on the porch, and put up the big flags on the two street sign poles at the corner. I wish other people who live on the corners in town would do that, now that we have the brackets. The guy who originally bought all the flags eventually abandoned them, and I’m the only one who saved my poles and bought new flags. Really surprised me – I thought people had a little more community spirit than that. A lot of folks fly porch flags … I guess they think that is enough.
We had a kid set up a subscription service as his Eagle Scout project. He glued a marker to the curb, and on flag holidays he would put a holder and a flag in your front yard. There were quite a few in the ‘hood. But he went to school, and whoever took it over hasn’t been aggressive about signing people up.
I replaced the light and put my pole and flag back out before leaving home. My pole mounts to my mailbox post, so it’s right at the street. I usually fly the state flag off the house, and there is another pole for other flags or holiday banners. I usually fly the thin blue line flag for a week if we’ve lost an officer locally.
I do not fly at half staff. I object to honoring victims. The honor is supposed to be for someone who accomplished great things.
I put up a 16ft pole here on my last visit, so I put the flag out this morning. I am looking for solar spotlights so I can leave it up all the time, even when we’re not here.
The previous owner had a big navy inverted triangle thing, but I’m not sure how or what to fly on it, and all the lines are gone. It’s on the list…
n
In our ‘villages’ here in my little town opposite Mutiny Bay WA, there is a regular display of flags on poles throughout the community. There are 3-5 flags on upright poles on each site of the entrances to each village area, plus more at the main intersections of ‘downtown’ area.
They are put in place by a volunteer group of the two main community groups (HOA-based), and the flags are maintained by those groups, I believe.
I need to put up the replacement holder for my flag. The old one fell apart (standard aluminum thing). I’ve got a new one somewhere in the garage. My flag is on the right side of the garage (as viewed from the street), with automatic lights just over it, so I can leave it up all the time.
My old flag got a bit tattered, so I ‘retired’ it. (Used the approved procedure of cutting it into four pieces- one of the stars, and the other three of the stripes area. Once cut apart, it is no longer a ‘flag’, so it can be tossed.) Found a newer one at a local garage / estate sale.
>> Really surprised me – I thought people had a little more community spirit than that.
They’re at the mall shopping the Memorial Day “sales.”
I didn’t know we could do that, cut it into pieces. Thank you. I have to replace ours at least twice a year, and the old ones stack up until I burn limbs. It will be much better to just cut it apart.
Ours is no longer lit, but does stay up 24/7. After the original solar light went kaput, it was a choice between letting it fly in the dark, or never having it out at all, so I chose the former.
Lots of folks fly the Texas flag…. it’s well-loved. I wonder if any other state’s people use their flag as widely as Texans do? Our garage door is painted with it! Not my doing, but I left it, and surprised it has held up all these years. People used to come stand in front of it for wedding or graduation photos. I suppose I should freshen the paint, and they might do so again. 🙂
I agree about the half-staff, although I hadn’t given it much thought. It just seems too political the way it is done now. Moot point with ours, because the pole isn’t long enough.
My favorite Black Friday Meme is: “Stay home and save 100%!”
You know, when you are getting ice cream out of the freezer, you are never alone.
When the septic tank is plugged up and backing up into the house at 3am, you are always alone. The other five people in the house were sound asleep or pretending to be as I was running around the place swearing loudly.
I need to find a high level alarm for my two foot tall four inch PVC septic line cleanout between the house and the septic tank. The first clue was that my toilet refused to flush. The second clue was the two inches of water backing up into my lowered jacuzzi tub. Maybe something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/High-or-Low-water-alarm/dp/B001B4VO36?tag=ttgnet-20/
I found that my generic chlorine tablets for my septic tank had broken up into ¼ inch and 1/8 inch chucks and plugged the grate in the 1,750 gallon finishing tank where the chlorine tablets rest on. No more generic chlorine tablets ! I cleared the grate and about a thousand plus gallons of nasty sewer water flowed into the finishing tank. I threw more chlorine tablets into the nasty water as I started the septic sprinklers to drain the finishing tank. I do have some of the Norweco chlorine tablets, I will be using those from now on. BTW, I used an old Woolworths wooden one yard measuring stick to clean the chlorine grate so never throw anything away.
But the septic cleanout did not drain and I still had 18 inches of nasty sewer water in it. And now it was 4 am and I was dog tired and mosquito bit. I opened the first tank, the thousand gallon “trash” tank and found that the backed sewage had plugged the line from the house that has the first separator in it. I used my six foot long two inch schedule 80 PVC pipe to stir the waste (the smell was horrible !), and the plug came free when I found it, dumping several hundred gallons from the house into the trash tank. There is about two foot deep of toilet paper and poo in the first tank which did not stir very well. I got my water hose and sprayed it down good so I could make sure that everything was now flowing well.
All is well now. I got the septic tank pumped out a year ago and it is ok for now. The problem was the “cheap” generic chlorine tablets. Only Norweco from now on, I have learned my lesson.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Norweco-10-lb-Pail-Blue-Crystal-Chlorine-Tablets-for-Aerobic-or-Septic-Systems-509/202194806
Regarding the disposal of flags: my research:
And.. from https://www.scarce.org/how-to-retire-old-glory/
The “Boy Scouts” link is this one https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/09/08/retiring-worn-out-american-flags/ .
Your local American Legion, VFW, etc. often have processes to properly dispose of the US flag.
The procedure for cutting apart and disposal is here: http://usscouts.org/ceremony/flagret1.asp , which states “A flag ceases to be a flag when it is cut into pieces.”.
Over The Hedge: A Billion Nuclear Bombs
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2022/05/28
That is a lot of nuclear bombs.
Dilbert: Musk Cuts Staff
https://dilbert.com/strip/2022-05-28
I think that Twitter already has a lot of bots.
LOL! Like the old print-shop sign:
“BIDEN INFLATION DISASTER: Natural Gas Prices Triple Under Joe Biden, Consumer Electricity Bills Expected to Skyrocket This Summer”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/05/biden-inflation-disaster-natural-gas-prices-triple-joe-biden-consumer-electricity-bills-expected-skyrocket-summer/
“Natural gas prices reached a new high on Friday in front of the Memorial Day weekend. Natural gas is about to hit $10. Natural Gas prices have tripled under Joe Biden.”
Not all Biden’s fault, just mostly. And the energy prices are going way higher.
Trump’s fault, obviously. Or Putin’s. Or Trumputin’s.
“Researchers Urge China to Develop Ways to Destroy Starlink Satellites”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/researchers-urge-china-to-develop-ways-to-destroy-starlink-satellites
“A recent paper from Chinese researchers outlines the potential military threat SpaceX’s satellite internet system poses to China, and how the country should respond.”
“Starlink already spans over 2,000 orbiting satellites. But SpaceX is working to one day expand the network to over 30,000 satellites in an effort to supply high-speed broadband to consumers and businesses across the globe. ”
This is a good thing. They cannot shoot down Starlink with just a few missiles now.
In “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” it was a leopard. At least, the book and 1980 BBC TV versions.
Ha! 42 years!
We saw “Top Gun” today. One of the trailers in front of the movie was a Fathom Event for the 40th anniversary of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”. June 19th.
Tomorrow’s Fathom Event is the 45th anniversary of “Smokey and the Bandit”, but they’re running the PG cut.
No, I won’t spoil anything. There are some twists in “Top Gun” that you won’t see coming … well, almost.
No KC BBQ this time. Apparently, this time, the bar was specially built on base for the movie.
Beautiful graduation ceremony this morning for my granddaughter. Outside at the football stadium, with Pike’s Peak in the background. Lots of snow still up there. Also snow in the forecast here next week, after I head back to Texas.
I survived a combined party for several graduates with my ex and her husband. At least there was a crowd. Still too much togetherness.
More togetherness at breakfast tomorrow morning. I make nice because I love my granddaughter.
I reconciled with my estranged son this trip, so that’s a positive thing. He’s a good dad, within his limitations, and that makes me happy. She’s turned out well considering her difficult childhood, and I’ve advised counseling in her future. I hope she listens. ACOA is a difficult row to hoe. She had to grow up too fast.
Talking with strangers at the party, it’s funny* how many convoluted family relationships there are now, what with divorces and remarriages. Half-siblings, step children, etc.
*funny is a word that has many meanings and connotations.
Long busy day.
I’ve got the lawn mowing down to an hour. Still terrifying on the hill.
Used the hoe on my garden, lots of grass growing. Still have the two rows that are covered with hardware cloth to hoe. I’m debating pulling the remaining grass by hand. It’s all single stalks and they are intermingled with the shoots. I have shoots too, mostly in the bean section.
Burned a good bit of the slash piles all of them on the ‘uphill’ side of the house anyway. Did a bunch of pruning. Those branches will have to sit a while and dry out.
Gorgeous day.
Even got out on the lily pad float thing this evening.
Met two more neighbors too.
wrt disposing of flags, I’ve got several that I was going to take to the VFW but now I’ll cut them up, thanks for that info.
Lots of folks up here this weekend. Lots of boats on the lake. Nothing crazy yet, but def more people just running fast in boats for the joy of running fast.
Dog is learning to be a ‘lake dog’ and roam around without getting into trouble. A huge pitbull mix even came to an arrangement with the little guy. Still too barky though.
Tomorrow should be great too.
n
Presumably the risky part is in going down a steep grade. Can you arrange the route so that you’re going up on the steepest parts and down on a gentler grade? That’s what I do on this property. If that’s not practical, see about going diagonally on the steep parts.
>> Lots of boats on the lake. Nothing crazy yet, but def more people just running fast in boats for the joy of running fast.
That ethanol-free marine gas must be pricey these days.
@greg
Tomorrow’s Fathom Event is the 45th anniversary of “Smokey and the Bandit”,
We are attending tomorrow. Bought our tickets months ago.
Helped out with maintenance chores at our church summer camp property today. Didn’t get as much done as hoped, but for good reason. Two of the preteen / teens expressed an interest in what I was doing. So included them in all the tasks. We installed two overhead lights – Artika brand flat panel LED, $50 from Costco. Into a plywood ceiling, no box, yikes. Went into the attic space a couple times for wire work. Many holes in the metal roof sealed some time in past with silicone caulk. The roof on this snd most of the buildings are past end of life. Beyond my strength snd skills to repair. I’ll take some products to try and see if I can make the roof less leaky next time.
Anyway, we did a third bare bulb base overhead light. Both children stripped wire, reconnected, drilled, etc. Then I had them work together to hang a window blind.
Great kids, enjoyed working with them. Others were more productive. Trees that were felled last weekend were limbed and bucked. Other kids made many trips to haul and stack the wood. Bringing it out of the woods was hot work. Even the youngest child, still learning to speak clearly, was walking the Kobolt 40v batteries back and forth to save the adults legs.
22 folks. Got a bit done. The deferrered maintenance is horrible, though. Lots of reasons / excuses. I think the camp was built in the 1960’s. Original buildings.
Really enjoyed today. We will make several trips out over the summer and keep knocking things off the list.
If you are a fan, “The Last Movie Star” is a tough watch but a very good film. Nothing gory/bloody/sexual but not even the Burt Reynolds cool of “Boogie Nights”. As a near native Foridian, I also had to overlook UT swapped out for FSU.
(I attended South Florida – a neutral party, but responsible for inflicting Jimbo Fisher on FSU and the NCAA in general.)
Also, most of the development of Bruce Dern’s character in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was done with Burt Reynolds’ input, Tarantino intending to film with Reynolds as the ranch owner.
I don’t want to reward Universal for continuing to distribute the PG cut. I’ve known since I was ten and saw the film on network TV for the first time that Jackie Gleason wasn’t saying “scum bum”.
@Lynn – I put up a github repository for f2c at
https://github.com/gsnorton/f2c
Any changes I make will go in there.
I am not an expert at Git, but I am at the point where I’ve used it enough on jobs to be able to fix any horrors I might inflict on a repository.
From SB1331
“To require the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to prescribe a Federal motor vehicle safety standard for advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology, and for other purposes.”
Other purposes being:
Requiring that an electric vehicle connect to the internet before charging, report mileage, routes, etc before charging
Preventing electric vehicles from charging from unauthorized sources
stopping the charge cycle if the internet connection is dropped or if the grid operator needs to prioritize loads
Download the audio and video of all activity in and around the vehicle since the last charge
The Kill Switch
The next time someone gets Elon in a press conference he should be asked what reporting provisions have been written into the vehicle software that can be remotely activated
Probably no worse than Ford. The last rev of the F150 introduced nanny state reporting software developed with … Prudential?
Or Toyota. I signed a waiver with my 2018 Camry acknowledging the presence of at least one cellular modem in the vehicle not under my control which reports telemetry back to the mothership.