Cold. Blustery. Day. It was pretty unpleasant most of yesterday. Wind was gusting hard enough to blow the truck around while driving on the expressway. There was a beautiful sunset though. You take your joy where you find it.
And I didn’t find any joy in plumbing. Pickups took longer than I hoped, and I decided to shop instead of lay on my belly doing plumbing. Sometimes, I make the bad choice. I’ll be paying for that today, I’m sure.
Dinner worked out though. I made brisket in the crockpot. After reviewing several recipes, I put 4 pounds in the ‘pot, liberally dosed it with Atkins (black pepper, salt, garlic) and a Texas rub (same plus paprika and some other stuff), thin sliced 3 sweet onions as a topper, 2 cups water, and more of both seasonings, and let it cook for 8 hours. It was like an extra beefy pot roast in onion soup. REALLY good. Served with instant mashed potatoes (also surprisingly good with added butter), and the shelf stable sourdough bread loaf. Just the sort of hearty stuff to fill your belly after manning a GS cookie booth for several hours on a blustery day. In other words, everyone licked their plates. Oh yeah, I finished it in the oven at 420F for 15 minutes while the bread warmed up. Nice brown crust…
Now I’ve got another crock pot dinner in the repertoire. Still learning!
Not counting last night’s dinner, I’ve put more than 35 pounds of brisket in the freezer this month. It’s the cheapest beef in the store right now, and only 50c/lb more than cheap pork. No clue why it’s on sale but I’ll stack it while I can.
I’ll be doing yesterday’s work today, if I can. Kids are home Monday too, so that pushes any normal Sunday domestic bliss down the road a day. Lots of laundry sitting on the floor by the machines waiting to be done… and plenty of time for me to do stuff around the house. If I get off my @rse to do it.
At least the food experiment was a success. Try new things and build off your successes. And stack the good results.
nick
It feels like it is really Spring here. Which, if true, would be a month earlier than usual. There’s still snow on the surrounding mountains, but temps are regularly in the 50s and lots of sunshine. Some snow flurries forecast for Friday, but nothing serious.
Worked in the garden some, yesterday, weeding out grass from where I don’t want it. The grass here has absolutely incredible roots, which makes sense given the dry climate. I’m sure a lot broke off and will re-sprout with the warm weather. So I’ll wait and weed it again in a couple of weeks.
The new semester starts this week, so it’s back to the grindstone. It’s a small grindstone, though, since most of my courses are in the Fall…
Coincidentally, I made a beef brisket on Saturday, too. I rubbed the meat with store-bought, er, rub and plopped it into the crockpot on low for a couple hours. Trew in coarse-chopped white potatoes, carrots, celery, yellow onion, and red onion, filling the pot, and cooked another eight or nine hours. The meat was fine but the vegetables were overcooked; if I’d known that The Child was going to be tied up and we’d have a late supper, I’d have put them in an hour or two later. When it was done cooking, I pulled out the vegetables with a slotted spoon and lifted the meat onto a cutting board and then made gravy with the drippings and about half a cup of flour; it came out practically perfect. Served with fresh-baked white rolls. Everything was a bit saltier than I’d prefer but that’s because the container of rub was almost empty so I threw the last tablespoon into the crockpot. “It’ll be fine!” I should have reserved it or even thrown it in the garbage.
I’ll be giving some fraction of the cooked vegetables to the chickens as a treat. They probably don’t need the nutrition but they like vegetable trimmings and table scraps and what-not for variety.
Yesterday was seasonally cold. A bit breezy early and a bit breezy! in the afternoon. Still, the chickens were out all day. I went looking for them as evening was coming on because they hadn’t returned to the run and found them in the garden, huddled against the windward edge where Grandma had set up some foot-wide particle board, probably in a futile effort to keep mice out. “Hey, guys, you know you can go home and get out of the wind, right?” No, they didn’t know that. They’re chickens. And their brains must have been chilled because it was rather challenging to get them all up and moving, then moving in the right direction, then get the last one, who broke off from the flock and ran into the bushes to hide. -sigh- But once they were in the run and discovered the treats and remembered that there’s a food bin and a water tank, they were happy. Oh, hey, there’s a heated coop, too! What a great idea! -sigh- Chickens.
re truckers and NYFC, nationwide there is more need for trucking than there are trucks or truckers. I couldn’t find numbers for that area in particular, but if the general shortfall is true there, then the boycotting truckers can just shift to different routes and not lose work. Need be, they can change employers to one who won’t require them to deliver to NYFC. Bottom line, the individual truckers shouldn’t lose money here.
As for the city, they’re already having some shortages but that’s more a money issue than a capacity issue. In particular, a government money issue. With a relative handful of truckers boycotting the city, surely replacements can be found but it’ll cost a little more. On top of the city’s current problems, will that be enough to cause failures? Who knows?
Florida’s and Texas’s (that is, DeSantis and Abbot’s) transport of “migrants” to NYFC, Chicongo, New England, and elsewhere was a tiny drop in the bucket, compared to the number of “migrants” coming in every day and to the population of the target cities. It was derided as a meaningless stunt. But look at the results. NYFC, already running a government deficit, is on the brink of collapse. Chicongo is on the verge of mass riots. True, that’s mainly because of the idiocy of the city governments … but can you believe that the same city government in NYFC isn’t going to grossly mishandle this truckers’ strike and blow the effects all out of proportion? We can hope.
>> Sh!te startin’ to get real.
Trump-supporting truckers REFUSE to take loads to New York and say they are ‘tired of leftists f***ing with’ the ex-president after he was fined $355M in NYC fraud case
could be a nothing burger or could take off like FJB and Let’s go brandon.
FJB and LGB didn’t cost you much more that a few bucks for a bumper sticker. Truckers refusing to take loads potentially costs them their income and/or their jobs. Gotta be a real hard-core DJT supporter.
I would be real worried about taking my expensive 18 wheeler into a blue state or especially a blue city. I am still hearing stories about truckers getting pulled over and searched for guns in Illinios, then arrested and spend a month in jail when they find a pistol.
36 F this morning and partly cloudy on the west side of the Brazos River.
Folks are still in a tizzy on nextdoor about the new subdivision located next to ours, across the main road, the future Grand Parkway. The traffic is gonna be nasty. The school overcrowding is gonna be awesome. There is no elementary over there and they are not leaving space for one.
Not counting last night’s dinner, I’ve put more than 35 pounds of brisket in the freezer this month. It’s the cheapest beef in the store right now, and only 50c/lb more than cheap pork. No clue why it’s on sale but I’ll stack it while I can.
The ranchers are culling their dairy herds still. The price of milk is still rising. It used to be that milk and gasoline and bread tracked each other. That means that gasoline and bread are getting ready to double in price because I dont see the price of milk coming down.
BTW, the EPA is now tracking animals at ranches for Global Warming. That makes the ranchers very nervous when a government woman shows up and starts counting cow heads.
BTW, that new methane tax applies to cows too.
TSLA is down, but people still want to believe.
Drive around the suburbus of a tech hub in a moderate climate like where I live, and the Model X has supplanted the BMW X5 as the vehicle of choice in the current leasing cycle among the Three Years And Out crowd.
There is no point to building a new school in a neighborhood meant for Colonists. They work the bureaucracy and get their offspring into the best (according to test scores) established schools in the district and ignore new schools built nearby. Then Mama plays all kinds of games with her employment to effectively work part time so she can play chauffeur.
I assume that the Grand Parkway is a toll road. How far is the drive to the new HPE campus from where you live if money is no object? It never is for Colonists even if they’re not paid well.
When the trim notices hit in 2026, the sell for the income tax at the state, county, and city level will be easy in the suburbs of Dallas, Houston, and Austin.
“Fairness in Taxation” on the November 2027 ballot … or something like that.
I have been selected to beta test another network product. I have tested before for this company, which I cannot name.
I have tested their cable modem with voice and am still using the device. The device never made it to retail for some reason but is supported by Comcast. That device was never released from testing or the NDA.
I also tested their wireless hot spot device, of which I have no use so I gave it to a relative. It required a new service line which I did not want to pay. An $800 product to do what I can do with my iPhone.
This new product is a WiFi router of some kind. It will be the latest and greatest and support WiFi 7. When the test is over I will probably put the device on the shelf as I like my ASUS mesh network.
Sunny today, but still pretty chilly. House is cold.
Coffee started, but my motivation is still low. I’m fairly certain 16oz will help that. I’m hungry too, so need some food. NNNNNNEEEEEEEDDDDDD FFFFFOOOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!! Says my belly….
n
I-90 in Illinois is tolled all the way down from the Wisconsin border into Chicago in both directions.
I tried avoiding the toll road driving from O’Scare out to the Spring Green area, but that ended up being a four hour trip.
Returning from The Dells to catch the flight, I took the toll road and gamed the ORT plazas as much as I could once I saw that they were using old tech. I had a 25% success rate (1 out of 4 plazas) but cut two hours from the drive.
IIRC, the trip was $6 after the one plaza missed us with the plate readers. One way.
The rental BMW’s safety systems were complaining the whole drive.
Wir fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n, auf der Autobahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c81X6BiI0Y
(I prefer Computerworld)
I’m working on adapting my favorite Puerco Pibil recipe for the crock pot.
I haven’t made any since we left Florida. Cleaning out the “cooling off” cabinet for sh*t I find around the house which will eventually get trashed if no one gripes, I discovered that’s where I put the blade coffee grinder we retired to spice blending duty about 15 years ago.
Autobahn
– I’ve got the album, it’s in D1’s room atm. She was not impressed.
n
Try Computerworld if you have it.
I assume that the Grand Parkway is a toll road. How far is the drive to the new HPE campus from where you live if money is no object? It never is for Colonists even if they’re not paid well.
The Grand Parkway is TX 99. It is the third ring around Houston with a 62 mile diameter. The first ring is I-610 (23 miles diameter), the second ring is Beltway 8, the tollway built in 1988 – on, 40 mile diameter.
The new subdivision is being developed and built by Pulte Homes. The house prices will probably be in the $350,000 (1,700 ft2) to $500,000 (3,000 ft2) range, all on 50 foot wide lots. In fact, I would not be surprised to see a lot of townhomes.
The new HPE campus is probably at the old Compaq campus which is 25 miles north of here. They are building thousands of new houses out there right now for the same prices with a far lesser drive. That 25 miles is an hour and a half each way during rush hour. The I-10 and 99 interchange is horribly overcrowded.
“Show Trials Continue”
https://areaocho.com/show-trials-continue/
“Half of the nation supports tossing the Republican candidate in jail, confiscating his property, and allowing one state (whether it be Colorado or New York) ban a candidate from running for President. These are the same people who, just four years ago, were advocating putting you into camps. They still want you in camps.”
“As for Trump, I have been saying this since January 7, 2021– the left will never allow Trump to enter the Oval office again. He will wind up in prison, where he will be killed. He had a chance to disappear into exile, and he chose not to take that chance and stayed until they revoked his passport. It will ultimately cost him and his family their lives and fortunes.”
I am surprised that Trump is still alive.
HPE is currently at the Compaq campus, but they are moving to a new facility under construction near the airport.
The schools are probably still decent for now.
We have a surprising number of employees who work remote from the Houston suburbs, particularly Colonist mommies.
So, a 23 mile diameter ring road, another 40 mile, and a third 63 mile ring.
Cities always go politically left, time to downsize.
I seem to recall an old Keith Laumer story where towns are limited to a population of 300 people…
Easiest way is probably a tax of some kind.
The Houston rings are colloquially known as the (inner, or 610) loop, the Beltway (or Sam Houston, or 8), and the outer loop is the Grand Parkway (99).
I live between Beltway and the Grand Parkway, nearer the Grand Parkway.
Those of us in the Katy area often complain about the need to go “inside the loop” for services, medical visits, or entertainment.
I went to see the Danish String Quartet Friday night. Very much inside the loop.
Purcell, Haydn, Schubert, Schostakovich. Excellent concert, BTW. Even the 20th century Russian.
The Houston rings are colloquially known as the (inner, or 610) loop, the Beltway (or Sam Houston, or 8), and the outer loop is the Grand Parkway (99).
I live between Beltway and the Grand Parkway, nearer the Grand Parkway.
Those of us in the Katy area often complain about the need to go “inside the loop” for services, medical visits, or entertainment.
I live 12 houses outside the Grand Parkway, TX 99.
I don’t like going inside Beltway 8 (the Tollway). Too much crazy.
I see a cardiologist out here in Sugar Land but in the same Medical Center practice as the one I have been going to since 2010.
I hate plumbing.
Diagnosed the leak as a deteriorated seal between the drain pipe and the tub. Simple and straightforward fix- remove the strainer basket from inside the tub, open a space, clean, insert new gasket ($3), reinstall strainer with new seal ($3 gasket or plumber’s putty.)
Except that my strainer is too small for the tool. I find a fitting that I can modify, change the blade on an angle grinder, modify the fitting into a t slot, find the right size wrench, insert into strainer, apply pressure and —– nothing. No movement. Work back and forth until the whole thing spins free of the rest of the brass plumbing pipe.
Cut the brass strainer into three, with a jigsaw blade held in a visegrip plier, and apply elbow grease…
In the process discover a slightly bigger than ‘pinhole’ hole in the cast iron where the enamel had chipped. Make plans to continue, with some epoxy to stop the pinhole. Then snarl in frustration when the whole overflow, drain, etc mess comes free of the drain pipe where it meets the ground. The lead drain pipe.
55 year old plumbing. Rotten to the core.
SO. Either start demolition on the tub and surround tomorrow, or try to get it back together for a while. Keeping in mind, this is the reno project that is in it’s 13th year since initial demo. The closet side is done, except the floor, but the bathroom side is still intact and original.
W has still not given me a definitive floorplan, tile layout, or vanity and countertop. I have sinks though, shower glass, a fan, and can lights.
The last contractor we had look at our ideas and the site, mumbled “$40K ” and never returned our calls.
If I start, I’ll be cranking on it, and I’ll just make the decisions and move forward. I don’t want to but I think the universe is insisting this project get moving.
I’m ordering pizza.
n
According to the CDC
so that’s the official line.
n
What’s the smart money on trusting liars?
Data Point: None of the proven liars have paid for the mortal consequences of their lies in any way except the most insignificant: the public opprobrium of the minority who have paid enough attention.
Fauci is the greatest mass murderer in history and walks free while drawing the largest U.S. government pension in history.
What conclusions are intelligent men to draw from this?
First is that human life is not only cheap, it is cheaper than anyone ever imagined.
TMZ Has the Still Shots From KC Parade Shooting and I Expect That’ll Be the Last We Hear About It
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/02/18/tmz-has-the-still-shots-from-kc-parade-shooting-and-i-expect-thatll-be-the-last-we-hear-about-it-n3783170
San Diego Releases 600 Million Gallons From Lake Hodges Dam Due to Safety Concerns
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/san-diego-releases-600-million-gallons-from-lake-hodges-dam-due-to-safety-concerns/
Ten years to fix it if they started now. But they have better things to spend their money on.
Bradley was Wade’s former law partner and personal attorney in his divorce case. Merchant, attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, had communications with Bradley that prompted her to subpoena him to testify that the relationship between Wade and Willis started before the date they had sworn in affidavits to the court. Bradley refused to testify on the basis of attorney-client privilege.
We’ve opened up a whole area’: Judge, lawyers stunned as Trump RICO special prosecutor attacks witness who was helping them all day, opening door for new revelations
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/weve-opened-up-a-whole-area-judge-lawyers-stunned-as-trump-rico-special-prosecutor-attacks-witness-who-was-helping-them-all-day-opening-door-for-new-revelations/
It will be interesting on Monday.
Judge McAfee may have a ruling that defines privilege rather more narrowly that the prosecution would like.
Bradley walked out of the courtroom with Wade’s knife in his back. I doubt that he spent a lot of time in church this weekend asking for the strength to forgive his old pal. I suspect that he did spent the weekend negotiating a suitcase full of cash to assuage his hurty feelings and promise that he would not willingly find a reason to spill the beans.
– I haven’t read all the way thru, but looks like people think they can go it alone.
n
Muxh as I hate the man and the evil he has done, he’s still (at this time) behind Mao and Stalin, and maybe even Hitler. Although he passed Pol Pot some time ago.
But…
I believe the death toll over time from the clot shots and their associated pathologies could top even Mao. Heart, blood vessel and artery issues, turbo cancers, autoimmune issues, and other “suddenly” diseases.
Excess deaths are up in all countries that track it, and news of strange clots found by undertakers is finally getting around the censors. Slowly.
“Foreign Billionaire-Backed Climate Org Pressuring Broadcasters To Censor Ads Critical Of Biden’s EV Mandate”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/02/18/foreign-billionaire-backed-climate-org-pressuring-broadcasters-to-censor-ads-critical-of-bidens-ev-mandate/
“Climate Power wrote to numerous broadcasters this week demanding that they stop airing American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)-funded advertisements in swing state markets that rail against President Joe Biden’s plans to impose widespread EV adoption in the coming years. The charitable organization affiliated with Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss health care mogul and billionaire philanthropist, donates millions of dollars to the Fund for a Better Future, which was the fiscal sponsor for Climate Power until 2023, a spokesperson for Climate Power previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.”
“AFPM launched its seven-figure ad campaign designed to highlight and criticize the administration’s EV policies on Tuesday. The ads, which describe Biden’s policies as an EV mandate, are airing in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Montana and Washington, D.C.”
Climate Power is lying to the public and has been doing so for many years.
– I haven’t read all the way thru, but looks like people think they can go it alone.
If you start planning with your neighbors, the FBI calls that a militia and will work to take you down.
Plus, the conservatives and liberals are very stratified throughout the populace until you get over a hundred miles away from the large cities. My own longtime county has transitioned to a dumbrocrat stronghold in just the last six years. You don’t know who to trust out there.
FWIW, it doesn’t help as much as it should. Even in our little town of just over 400, there are political factions. Is your family from here, or did you move here from somewhere else? It’s about half-and-half and that is a very difficult gulf to cross. Even among the true locals, there are factions. People are political creatures, and they inevitably form cliques.
That said, it is certainly true that small towns tend conservative. Just as an example: Being LGBT isn’t a problem, but those who are don’t walk around waving multicolored flags either.
That is the one job that I will almost always outsource. I not only dislike the work, it is also something where mistakes can have catastrophic consequences. Let the professionals do it…