Wed. Aug. 3, 2022 – meetings, and driving, and driving the meetings…

By on August 3rd, 2022 in decline and fall, lakehouse, personal

Hot and humid but still nicer than Houston.    Even though I don’t think Houston hit 100F at my house, it was still nicer up here.

Did some stuff at home in the morning, including seeing my tire guy.   The tires on the Ranger need to be replaced.   They are approaching the wear bars, and were pretty slick on wet roads last month.  I didn’t fix my own flat- ran out of time,  so I had my local guy fix it, just so I’d have a spare for this trip.

He had 4 new Goodyear tires in my size in the shop, with a heavy duty load rating, so I’ll go with those.  $540 for 4 installed (and should be all the fees included too.)  I’ll get that done on Thursday morning.

Then I loaded up the truck and headed to the country.   Unloaded by myself here.  I hate moving matresses, especially by myself.  Rope and dragging was involved.   Good thing it had a protective cover on it.  Note to self, if it takes two people to load, it probably should have two people to UNload too.

Met with the new electrical company.  He didn’t run screaming… so I’m hopeful.  He did say it would be the 18th at the earliest to start work, and that he wouldn’t have any supply issues with what I need.  That’s really only a couple of weeks away so I hope his bid is reasonable.

After that I cut the grass and moved some landscaping rock.   I have been moving it from one flower bed to another, a couple of shovels full at a time.   Because of where it is I really only want to be running the shovel and rake after the sun sets.  And since shovelling hurts, I only want to do it for short periods.    No rush on this project anyway, but I can chip away at it every time I’m up here.

Some things I can “slow and steady” and some need to be dogpiled.


 

I’m meeting the new foundation guy today, then the septic guy again.   Hopefully the septic guy can help me with grading, demo, and site prep.  And hopefully now that I have a tentative electrician and schedule, he’ll order the tanks.

I need the foundation guy to say “yes, we have what you need to do this job, and we want to do it.”   THAT will really start things moving in the right direction.

So fingers crossed…..

Stacking up bills today.   I’ll stack stuff again tomorrow.

n

 

46 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Aug. 3, 2022 – meetings, and driving, and driving the meetings…"

  1. Clayton W. says:

    backup chime system that is somewhat annoying.  And in forward, it has a strange sound until it hits 25 mph which it then drops

    Federal safety law requires the care make a sound up to a certain speed when tire noise will be load enough.  

    ====================================

    My step-mom had breast cancer that mestastised and her “level” have recently started to rise again.  She has said this will eventually kill her.  🙁  Check early and often.

    ====================================

    I had a interview in Eufaula, Alabama last week and stent some time in a germ tube.  Guess what, I now have the Wuhan Flu!  I believe we will all get it eventually.  Feels much like a bad flu with a fever and various aches and pains.  And sinus issues, I though I got by with just that at first.

    My Doctor did NOT prescribe Paxlovid:  Vitamin C, D2, and Zinc with OTC meds to cover the symptoms.  Quarantine for 5 days, which, of course, I will do.  I will retest Sunday morning to see if I am clear.  I also let everyone I was in contact with last week know.  IF peeps would self-quarantine, this would have been much better.  

    Probably should have convicted people that went out knowing they had it with reckless endangerment, like the couple that died on the plane (Well, only the husband died).  130 cases served consecutively would have gotten peoples attention!

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Tyler Durden cowardice protecting the source for a report about the energy crisis at German crematoriums.

    Zis isn’t like ze old days, ja. We used to run ze crematoriums day and night … What? … Never mind.

    Still, the money quote is disturbing if you consider the nationality of the source.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/you-cant-switch-death-german-crematoriums-warn-energy-crisis

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Probably should have convicted people that went out knowing they had it with reckless endangerment, like the couple that died on the plane (Well, only the husband died).  130 cases served consecutively would have gotten peoples attention!

    I’ve pointed out many times since the start of this mess that the public health rules for TB are much tougher, and TB is treatable.

    Instead applying centuries of public health knowledge of what works, we conducted a mass drug trial for mRNA vaccine tech.

    Were you jabbed before catching the bug?

    Still part of the control group – no jab here. At this point, I’m not getting one either.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Catching up from Monday:

    So not just black, not just gay, but trans companion as well?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11070165/Neil-Patrick-Harris-reveals-Ncuti-Gatwa-play-gay-Time-Lord-new-Doctor-series.html 

    Yeah, not interested.

    The group that ran the show into the ground are still in charge, including handling PR.

    Like a lot of fans, I’ll reserve judgement until I see the first episode. Sony will own production moving forward, and the Japanese understand the value of these franchises.

    If it doesn’t work, the upcoming competition will eat the show alive, including two David Tennant projects with Steven Moffat writing.

  5. Clayton W. says:

    Were you jabbed before catching the bug?

    I had both Moderna doses, no boosters.  But we now know that the vaccine does not prevent the disease.  We will all get Covid, eventually.  It is endemic and too virulent, like the cold or the Flu.  The vaccine may reduce severity.  It appears to, but I don’t trust the powers that be any longer.  They have lied to us too many times.

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  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    84F and sunny this morning.  Nice day.

    Foundation guy in an hour, so I still have time to sit with a coffee.

    Must have had too much iced tea yesterday, couldn’t sleep.    

    WRT the gin hag and Taiwan, I don’t think CCP will move until they control the fabs, through bribery, assassination,  hostages, or black helicopters and commandoes in the night.

    Is it worth three carrier groups?

    • kinda low estimate of the groups’ abilities… but might be justified
    • depends who you ask, think of all the money spent to replace them
    • the chip fabs are like lungs or kidneys, we can live without some but it would be limiting

    Most of china is rural still and those are the people the CCP nominally idealizes, which has to factor in.   CCP loves their luxuries like anyone but also loves vast armies of serfs.

    It will play out as it plays out.   I don’t like being separated from my family though.

    n

  7. Alan says:

    >> Then I loaded up the truck and headed to the country.   Unloaded by myself here.  I hate moving matresses, especially by myself.  Rope and dragging was involved.   Good thing it had a protective cover on it.  Note to self, if it takes two people to load, it probably should have two people to UNload too.

    It still baffles me as to why so many mattress manufacturers don’t include carrying handles on their mattresses. 

  8. Alan says:

    >> The vaccine may reduce severity.  It appears to, but I don’t trust the powers that be any longer.  They have lied to us too many times.

    TPTB all got the same sugar water mRNA jab as us common folk, right??

  9. Pecancorner says:

    It still baffles me as to why so many mattress manufacturers don’t include carrying handles on their mattresses. 

    They used to, back when both sides of a mattress were usable, so people actually turned them over regularly, and the mattress lasted 25 or more years with care.

    Now, it would cost them an extra nickle, and it’s not much of a selling point, for a mattress that will be lumpy in 5 years.  

    We have one old mattress, that I turn regularly. I believe it is 40 years old, and it is still in good condition, firm and comfortable. 

    I’ve been looking for a well-stuffed 100% cotton mattress for a while, but have not yet found one. Got one for the convertable sofa, but it is only partially filled, needs another bale of cotton in it to be firm enough.  Many of them now are packed with wool instead of cotton, so they aren’t firm. 

  10. Paul Hampson says:

    It still baffles me as to why so many mattress manufacturers don’t include carrying handles on their mattresses.

    I remember when they did, used to be able to turn them over to extend useful life too.  Follow the money.

  11. dkreck says:

    Moving mattresses without handles I’ve wrapped cargo straps around them. Usually the only difficult ones are big kings. Of course I consider move move three years ago to be my last and even if it isn’t I won’t be moving heavy things. Now in my seventies I break a lot easier.

  12. lynn says:

    Alley Oop: Earth’s Population in 2155

        https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2022/08/02

    Nearly 100 billion people in 2155.  No wonder why they are moving to other time periods.

  13. lynn says:

    Are we willing to kiss off three carrier groups ?

    No. 

    I believe the Taiwanese have at least one nuke. Certainly, they can muster up as much resistance as the Ukrainians. Put up or shut up. Don’t be the frigging elite Venezuelansm cooling their heels on Collins Avenue for over 20 years waiting for the US Marines to put them back in power. The Taiwanese have even *more* money.

    And blow the fabs if it comes to that. 

    I suspect that the Taiwanese have a couple of nukes.  I just think that they do not have a delivery mechanism other than the open back hatch of a slow moving C-130.

  14. lynn says:

    “Then I loaded up the truck and headed to the country.”

    Neil Young, “Are You Ready For The Country”

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wA3u6RgZ0A

  15. EdH says:

    I suspect that the Taiwanese have a couple of nukes.  I just think that they do not have a delivery mechanism other than the open back hatch of a slow moving C-130.
     

    Not even that is needed.  A couple of frogmen and a sled could deposit a weapon just off the mainland coast. 
     

  16. lynn says:

    “Peter at BayouRenaissanceMan has a post up about natgas and fertilizer, in Germany.  It quotes Michael Yon on the subject.

    We need fertilizer to grow the food to feed the people.  Or <insert Jar Jar Binks quote >

    n

    You won’t read about this in US news media…

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/08/you-wont-read-about-this-in-us-news.html

    “This does not feel like the Germany I lived in. The Germany I remember was clean, safe, orderly. Today, Germany feels like a Blue State in America. Going broke while preparing to freeze and starve. Still waving rainbow and Ukrainian war flags from the windows.”

    “Germany is running amok. Flinging open the barn doors to invasion. Hitching crucial energy dependence to the Russian wagon after being warned by President Trump, as if adults should have needed to be warned.”

    The news reports this coming winter for Germany are not going to be good. There will be a lot of pressure to bail them out somehow.

  17. lynn says:

    WRT the gin hag and Taiwan, I don’t think CCP will move until they control the fabs, through bribery, assassination,  hostages, or black helicopters and commandoes in the night.

    Is it worth three carrier groups?

    • kinda low estimate of the groups’ abilities… but might be justified
    • depends who you ask, think of all the money spent to replace them
    • the chip fabs are like lungs or kidneys, we can live without some but it would be limiting

    BTW, each of the carriers has 200+ nuclear weapons, deliverable using F-18s.  The carriers might go down (after all they only have so many destroyers to take the incoming Silkworm missile hits for them) but they can deliver a mighty sting to the Chinese mainland.

    I am not sure that the CCP cares about the Taiwan fabs.  I think that they care that 23 million people live within shouting distance and do not bow down to them.

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  18. Alan says:

    >> The news reports this coming winter for Germany are not going to be good. There will be a lot of pressure to bail them out somehow.

    Ahh, now you’ve done it…SloJoe will have those printing presses over at Treasury running overtime.

  19. lynn says:

    I suspect that the Taiwanese have a couple of nukes.  I just think that they do not have a delivery mechanism other than the open back hatch of a slow moving C-130.
     

    Not even that is needed.  A couple of frogmen and a sled could deposit a weapon just off the mainland coast. 

    Taiwan has threatened to nuke the Three Gorges Dam in China.  That dam supplies 22,500 MW and protects 30 million people from drowning.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam

  20. lynn says:

    >> The news reports this coming winter for Germany are not going to be good. There will be a lot of pressure to bail them out somehow.

    Ahh, now you’ve done it…SloJoe will have those printing presses over at Treasury running overtime.

    More like the Berlin airlift with each plane carrying hundreds of propane bottles.  No smoking !

  21. Alan says:

    Batgirl, we barely knew ya…

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/batgirl-shelved-at-warner-bros-hbo-max-1235191371/

    J.K. Simmons was going to play Commissioner Gordon.

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    Whew.   I suddenly feel good.

    I’ve got tentative dates for the electrician, septic, and foundation repair.

    Foundation guy is a geek in a good way.  Likes a challenge, likes his products to solve the challenge.   I have a good feeling about him, the company and the tech.  Very different from the first guys.

    Septic guy and I walked thru the project and have a good plan.   

    Using this foundation tech separates the septic work, and the retaining wall work.   That means I can do septic first and retaining later.  As a cherry on top, he thinks they can stabilise the hill without tearing everything apart.

    It’s not cheap, or even inexpensive, but splitting up the work makes it all possible and suddenly the schedules work.   That’s if everything holds together….

    I was afraid he’d look at it and tell me it was too big, to far from Houston, to risky, and walk but instead his software produced a quote while he was sitting in the truck.  

    n

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  23. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    Moving mattresses?  With a SleepNumber air bed, it’s easy. Air is light, and you can take the thing apart and move it in sections.

    And it’s the best bed we’ve ever had.  My first one lasted for 18 years, with no degradation in quality, because air doesn’t get lumpy.  We replaced it with another, which is just as good. It’ll probably last the rest of our lives. 

  24. Greg Norton says:

    I am not sure that the CCP cares about the Taiwan fabs.  I think that they care that 23 million people live within shouting distance and do not bow down to them.

    Reestablishing the soft tyranny of “Number One Son” is definitely part of the calculus, but seizing the fabs intact would put China in the driver’s seat of the world economy at lest for a little while.

    Being “Number Two Son” or lower gets old. My wife was “Number One Female Cousin” in Vantucky, and that wore thin until I had my “it” moment.

    These days, when “Number One Son” travels to town on business, he’s banned from the house.

    No word on whether he’s installing Silkworm missiles within range of my front door to reestablish his authority.

  25. lynn says:

    “Walmart Lays Off Hundreds of Corporate Workers”

        https://www.wsj.com/articles/walmart-lays-off-hundreds-of-corporate-workers-11659558590

    “Retailer is restructuring headquarters operations after warning of profit troubles””

    Wow, we are in a recession !

    Hat tip to:
    https://www.drudgereport.com/

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  26. lynn says:

    The IRS has changed the mileage rate from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

        https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-increases-mileage-rate-for-remainder-of-2022

    “For the final 6 months of 2022, the standard mileage rate for business travel will be 62.5 cents per mile, up 4 cents from the rate effective at the start of the year.”

    That is mighty generous of them.  Oh wait, the price of gasoline and diesel went up back in 2021.

  27. mediumwave says:

    A suggestion to the commentariat: Shunning in its purest form should involve complete ostracism of the shunnee; no up votes or down votes, no emoticons, no acknowledgement no matter what the provocation that the shunnee has posted anything at all at any time on this blog–in short, no response at all.

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  28. ITGuy1998 says:

    @mediumwave: +1

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  29. drwilliams says:

    Canada’s travel ban found to have “no scientific basis”

    Jazz Shaw Aug 03, 2022 2:31 PM ET

    But who developed those policies and how did they arrive at their conclusions? That’s what two men who were heavily impacted by the policies, Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickard, decided to find out. They went to court and demanded information on the process and the people involved in imposing these rules on the country. After a long battle, they finally were rewarded for their efforts and government documentation was provided, along with testimony from some of the people inside the government who had been involved. As it turns out, the job had been handed to a group of people in the “COVID Recovery Unit” with no relevant medical training to inform their actions and the group had been unable to cite a single medical study justifying the travel ban. (Common Sense)

    No one in the COVID Recovery unit, including Jennifer Little, the director-general, had any formal education in epidemiology, medicine or public health.

    Little, who has an undergraduate degree in literature from the University of Toronto, testified that there were 20 people in the unit. When Presvelos asked her whether anyone in the unit had any professional experience in public health, she said there was one person, Monique St.-Laurent. According to St.-Laurent’s LinkedIn profile, she appears to be a civil servant who briefly worked for the Public Health Agency of Canada. St.-Laurent is not a doctor, Little said…

    https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/08/03/canadas-travel-ban-found-to-have-no-scientific-basis-n487184

    At least they’re better than the “top” people we have working on monkeypox.

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  30. drwilliams says:

    ‘He shot my arm off’: Elderly store owner opens fire on would-be robber in Norco

    The suspects were located at a Southern California  hospital, one of whom was suffering from a gunshot wound consistent with a shotgun blast, authorities said. Three additional suspects were also located at the hospital in the suspect vehicle, which had been previously reported stolen. The BMW SUV was also found to contain numerous stolen firearms.

    https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/norco-video-elderly-store-owner-opens-fire-on-would-be-robber

    So how is it that a video can be downloaded to your personal permanent library for repeated enjoyment?

    Garland is probably sending the ATF with micrometers to prove that the shotgun is actually an illegal assault weapon.

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  31. drwilliams says:

    DC CEO Ann Sarnov and “Woke” out at DC, “Batgirl” canceled, “Flash” under deathwatch.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v0Uyk6kK_4

    Double butter on that popcorn!

    Note: I picked this up from Ace, who made me spill coffee with:

    “Jezebel — the AllahPundit of film commentary…”

    and followed it up by reposting:

    Allahpundit
    @allahpundit

    Personal news: My last day at Hot Air will be Friday, September 2

    and predicting that the Nevertrumpt PLT is Bulwark bound.

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  32. Rick H says:

    I note, as has been mentioned before, that there are three people that have the ability and authority to mark comments as spam. It is not just one person, as some have theorized (and trolled).

    We’ve discussed (ad nauseum) the comment policy (which are guidelines). Those (anyone) that prefer to enter trollish comments will have their comments deleted when they are seen.

    We strive for intelligent discussions here. We don’t remove comments of any particular viewpoint. But trollish comments – from anyone – are immediately removed when seen.

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  33. drwilliams says:

    With all those burner phones being used to rate comments, might be worth a look to see where the sales spike shows up.

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  34. Greg Norton says:

    DC CEO Ann Sarnov and “Woke” out at DC, “Batgirl” canceled, “Flash” under deathwatch.

    The “Flash” movie has Michael Keaton returning as Batman.

    That had to be expensive, but a lot more than money would be lost if it was canceled.

  35. Nick Flandrey says:

    How does she avoid dehydration?

    n

  36. Nick Flandrey says:

    Home, fed.   Have an actual contract in my inbox for foundation work.   Hooray.

    n

  37. lynn says:

    How does she avoid dehydration?

    n

    Dude, you rock !

  38. Greg Norton says:

    The Tampa Bay Times has an agenda. Fact check their fact checks.

    The paper literally bought out the more moderate competition in Tampa, fired everyone, and tore down the building.

  39. drwilliams says:

    How does she avoid dehydration?

    Sucking blood.

  40. lynn says:

    “Texas Power Grid Facing Test as 104-Degree Heat Bakes State”

         https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-power-grid-facing-test-154938968.html

    “Electricity use on the grid serving more than 26 million customers is expected to peak at more than 81.4 gigawatts on Thursday afternoon, which would set a record for the 12th time in less two months, according to data from Ercot, as the grid operator is known. The current record of 79.8 gigawatts was set on July 20.”

    Hang on to your hats, ERCOT is going to have a rough ride Thursday.  Hopefully those piece of junk wind turbines are going to make some power over the day time tomorrow.

        https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

    ERCOT hit 78,000 MW on Wednesday. The wind turbines made 12,000 MW over peak and the solar made 9,000 MW. The total installed capacity of wind turbines is 34,000 MW and solar is 12,000 MW.

    The previous peak was 74,800 MW in Aug 2019. The forty (SWAG) new gas turbines, 5,000 MW of solar, and 12,000 MW of wind turbines installed since then have been well used.

  41. lynn says:

    My step-mom had breast cancer that mestastised and her “level” have recently started to rise again.  She has said this will eventually kill her.    Check early and often.

    I am sorry to hear that.  Breast Cancer sucks and 1 out of 11 women will probably have to deal with it in their lifetimes.  MDACC will treat stage 4 breast cancer but the odds are not good.  Although, a friend’s mother made it 20 years after she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.  She got a mastectomy and lived her life.  She got to watch her only grandson walk across the stage at Texas Tech with a Architecture degree in both bachelors and masters levels.

    My wife got her first mammogram when she was 42 or 43 and then waited until she was 47 for the next one.  If her father had bothered to inform her about his family history then she would have been more proactive.  One aunt on her mother’s side, both her father’s sisters (one at 45 and 65 (yes, twice), the other at 62), her oldest cousin on her father’s side died at 49, and one of her father’s grandmothers died at 48 or 49 of unknown causes (probably breast cancer). 

    The wife has been told that her odds of the other breast getting cancer start going up when she hits 65 in a few months.  She is not happy about this since her invasive ductal breast cancer came on so fast when she was 47.

  42. lynn says:

    I suspect that the Taiwanese have a couple of nukes.  I just think that they do not have a delivery mechanism other than the open back hatch of a slow moving C-130.

    BTW, when I was a junior engineer at Morgan Creek Steam Electric Station outside Colorado City, TX in 1982-1985, the C-130 bomber squadron at Abilene’s AFB used to use our 175 foot tall microwave tower as an aiming sight, at least once a week.  They would come over the hill at 300+ knots about 200 feet off the ground.  We would feel the entire plant ground moving a minute before we saw them.  All four engines would be smoking and when they got to the edge of the plant, the pilot would go vertical, the rear hatch would open, and a simulated 20,000 lb bomb would be dropped on us (simulated, nothing was dropped).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-82

  43. Alan says:

    >> Wow, we are in a recession !

    Come on now and pay attention…KJP clearly told us that it’s just a “transition.”

  44. Alan says:

    >> The “Flash” movie has Michael Keaton returning as Batman.

    So did Batgirl iirc. 

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