Cool and wet, maybe even cold. I’m also not believing the forecasts for 3″ of snow in Houston. It was kinda nice for most of yesterday, then it got kinda grey… there was some light fog in the valleys out in the country after nightfall too.
I did my pickup, hit the costco for gas and a couple of sale items. The gas line was possibly the longest I’ve ever seen it, at 3pm. No line at HEB and only 10c more. I opted for HEB for gas. I did go in the Costco since I was there, even with more cars in the parking lot than I’ve ever seen before. It wasn’t too crowded, but more than I’d like. They had a lot of lanes open for checkout, so it went quickly. Two observations. They didn’t have any chicken legs. Thighs, breasts, bone in or boneless, and even wings, but no legs. Lamb is a great value. Might be cheaper now in real terms than 4 years ago. That will end if the shipping gets too expensive. Oh, and a third observation, they had a new shelf stable bread. It’s a multi pack of small baguettes that you heat and eat. I’ll try them this weekend and let you know how they taste.
After shopping, getting the kid from school, getting gas, etc. I loaded up the truck and headed to my other pickups, on the way to the BOL. I underestimated the traffic. By a LOT. I made two stops, but I’ll have to beg forgiveness from the third.
Made it up here and decided to try for an early night. Hah. 2am might be considered early for me under some circumstances, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I’ll just have to sleep late.
I did bring some things to stack up here. I’ll be doing electrical today though. W just adjusted my priorities. She’s having guests, and they will need to plug in their camper. So that moved to the top of my list. I think I can make it work. I’ve been collecting parts, but it wasn’t top o the pile for me… until it was.
Flexibility. That’s a prep too.
Stacking is easier.
nick
Feb. 2021 was much worse than what is predicted for next week, nearly a week of highs below freezing in Austin, which was not prepared for that even though those kinds of temperatures are possible.
Back then, the forecast for Austin on Presidents Day was single digits a week out followed by teens at best for a few days, but everyone crossed their fingers, kept their weekend plans intact, and hoped someone would show up for work on Monday.
Jesus Truck sales are way down. They’re even considering actually shipping the sub $80k model.
Leases are even worse on anything with big depreciation like Tonymobiles.
Gotta park the extras somewhere other than the Austin Gigafactory — that lot looked full the last time we drove by in November.
Super Mario is coming to Orlando this Summer, and he’s bringing his friend, Donkey Kong.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-is-out-now-for-the-nintendo-switch-system/
“Look kids, the talking parrot is back at Jack Sparrow’s new bar! Watch the birdie!”
“Dad, can we go ride the Donkey Kong Mine Cart, now?”
Reminder for people in areas that don’t see freezing very often:
Cycling up and down past freezing will melt and refreeze any moisture on roads and walkways. If you have driveways, sidewalks, or other areas that you will be using, make sure you have traction sand you can broadcast. Above 15 degrees or so, ordinary salt (sodium chloride, aka table salt, Kosher salt) will melt ice. Coarse Kosher salt used sparingly is best if you don’t have an ice melt product. If you do any canning and have calcium chloride, that works even better to a lower temp, and isn’t as hard on plantings and pets. Cat litter or oil dry will give temporary traction, but it’s a clay product and breaks down very quickly to a thin layer of mud that tracks inside to your carpets.
If you have pipes that are prone to freezing leave any access doors open and promote air circulation with a fan. Leaving the water on to a thin trickle will provide enough flow to give you some protection. Check the pipes every few hours and have a hair dryer or heat gun ready if needed. This is where you should have a non-contact IR thermometer in your kit to help find problem areas.
And if you haven’t done some, check your FLASHLIGHTS!
BREAKING: Trump to announce Sean Curran, the head of his Secret Service campaign detail, as Secret Service director, according to three sources who I’ve spoken over several days this week. Curran is on the right in this iconic photo from the July 13 Butler assassination attempt.
https://x.com/susancrabtree/status/1879992579049287922
Here’s hoping he makes monthly range practice and quarterly qualification with carry weapons mandatory for all, including “management”, and extends that to subgums where needed.
Democratic Senators Pen Letter to Big Tech Leaders Rebuking Them for Donating to Trump’s Inaugural Fund
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/01/18/democrat-lawmakers-write-letter-to-big-tech-leaders-accusingg-them-of-trying-to-buy-favor-with-trump-n2650721
Two-faced hypocrites need to be censured by the Senate for attempting to chill First Amendment rights. Then laced to the stocks with a truckload of rotten tomatoes available for public use.
Johnson: Here’s When I Knew Biden Wasn’t Running Anything
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/01/18/johnson-heres-when-i-knew-biden-wasnt-running-anything-n3798948
Like we sdidn’t already know that Johnson was a milquetoast.
So Trump issues an Executive Order pausing every expenditure and EO that came out of the Biden White House since the election, pending an investigation as to whether Biden gave the order or whether traitors to the country were taking advantage of a poor, befuddled old man. tsk tsk. We’ll have to get to the bottom of this. Warm up the water boards.
Spend as much time at Mar-a-Lago as possible over the next four years.
DeSantis don’t surf, and he just made Ashley Moody the frontrunner to succeed him.
Get the hoods and the rats ready. Treason shouldn’t be taken lightly.
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50F this sunny day. Not much breeze, blue sky, sun… but TEOTWAWKI is just a few degrees away….
It’s hard to get motivated. Good reminder from Drwilliams, so I guess there is stuff that needs saying, but everyone here should be ready to go.
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I’ve had my breakfast, drinking coffee, and I’m on my way to doing something productive.
n
Productive? Just shoveled a ton or two of compacted snow off our grill area. Tired and parts hurt, but hopefully worth it.
It’s cold but sunny, and we want to sit out tomorrow.
I have absolutely no sympathy for the people in California who dropped homeowners insurance because it was too expensive. Now their home burns and they whine about not having insurance. Tough noogies. They gambled and lost. Not my problem. Why should my tax dollars pay their gambling debt?
I feel the same way about people in North Carolina that built on a river. Or those in Florida that build on the coast.
DeSantis don’t surf, and he just made Ashley Moody the frontrunner to succeed him.
Matt Gaetz has already thrown his hat in that ring.
Christopher Wray Gives Merrick Garland a Tommy Gun as a Going Away Gift
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2025/01/18/christopher-wray-gives-merrick-garland-a-tommy-gun-as-a-going-away-gift-n2406901
Sweet! After he gets convicted of multiple felonies the Trump DOJ can exhibit it as an example of a dangerous weapon confiscated from a felon.
Moody is a 5th generation Floridian with unfulfilled parental ambition issues of her own. She would be tough to beat in a Primary, but winning the Republian nomination for Governor anymore comes down to who plays better in The Villages. I think that would be a wash or lean in Moody’s direction.
Moody is definitely the more experienced lawyer with a decade as a Hillsborough County judge thrown in as well.
Strange games are afoot in Florida politics. No matter what happens, however, the Dems are out of power statewide for at least a generation.
“FAA Launches Investigation After Debris From SpaceX’s Starship Diverts Flights”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/faa-launches-investigation-after-debris-from-spacexs-starship-diverts-flights
“No injuries have been reported from falling debris after SpaceX’s Starship exploded in the sky over the Bahamas. However, the FAA has halted further test flights while it investigates.”
I predict that the investigation will end when Starship 8 is ready to fly.
“Maher on Fires: Climate’s Mostly Out of Our Hands, We Can Control High Taxes for Nothing, Stupid DEI, Bass Going Nero”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/01/17/maher-on-fires-climates-mostly-out-of-our-hands-we-can-control-high-taxes-for-nothing-stupid-dei-bass-going-nero/
“During his closing monologue on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that while climate change makes wildfires worse, “that’s largely out of our control. What are we going to do? Pass a ballot measure to make sure [the] Chinese stop burning coal?” But it’s “not wrong to associate some of the unforced errors our government made with the things normies see as hallmarks of uber-progressive politics, questionable budget priorities, high taxes that get you nothing, making everything about identity politics, virtue-signaling overseas instead of tending to the nuts and bolts at home.””
There is a lot of virtue signaling among dumbrocrats. Just wait until next week when Trump’s cabinet is up for confirmation. There will be a lot of virtue on display.
The purpose of the “halt” is to figure out what went wrong. But Starship is so heavily instrumented that SpaceX knew that afternoon what had gone wrong to cause the explosion, and Musk is already correcting the problem.
Aren’t the flights supposed to be re-routed out of the way anyway? FAA knows a lot less about the space business than RLTS… and probably shouldn’t have any real power.
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39F at the moment with 53% RH. Clear, black sky. After movie night we got out the 8″ dob and took a look at Jupiter. White and grey stripes, 4 moons visible. I think they were the moons anyway. 4 bright objects in a line with the planet, 2 above, 2 below.
Too cold to find Mars, I was shaking too bad. We really need to align the spotter scope. And frankly the dock doesn’t provide the most stable support for the scope… if we get serious we’ll have to make a patio space on dry land.
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Movie was “The Birdcage”, Nathan Lane, Robin Williams, Gene Hackman. I think it’s Robin Williams’ best performance.
Time to wrap up and get some reading time in. Dungeon Crawler Carl book 5, and I’m really liking the series.
n
I just realized that all the phone numbers I used to remember have been replaced in my brain with web addresses and passwords that I need to remember.
And by “remember” I mean, struggle to remember…
n