Maybe today will be beautiful. It was really nice at sunset last night, after a day of light drizzly rain and overcast. By dinnertime it was drying out and clearing up. By sunset, the sky was clear, and the sun was a gorgeous golden/red/orange. If the clear holds, today will be very nice.
At the BOL, they have been getting a lot of rain, and upstream in the watershed they got even more. The lake is up, and even the main road is flooded. There is an alternate route but it’s longer and less well traveled. Depending on where you need to go, having that main road closed can add quite a bit of time to get to town.
My fishing buddy called to let me know his grandson died yesterday. 22 years old, and apparently just dropped dead. Between his and his wife’s cancer treatments, adding the death of a young man in a close family is a real blow. He would appreciate your prayers.
I did get some stuff done yesterday. One pickup. Dinner into the crockpot. Kid to doc for required physicals. Kid to Costco Optical to get new eyeglasses. Two loads of domestic bliss. Dinner. Kids to the gym. Kid to her activity. Kid home from activity….
Today I’ve got pickups. All over town too. It’s gonna be a juggle to hit them all in any kind of efficient way, because the northern ones might be only in the afternoon, and the southern ones might be all day, but there will be ONE that is in the middle or doesn’t quite work with the others in the area. Still waiting to see if I won anything that I haven’t counted on yet.
I think I’m not going to the BOL this weekend. W is going to a conference next week and would have to come home early. One kid is flying to visit with grandma, the other is volunteering at the local high school in a program for kids and STEM. I’m still not feeling 100%, the jobs I want to do at the BOL are mostly outdoors and not doable with all the rain, and I’ve got a ton to do here. And there is Father’s Day to consider. I’ll do that at home and it will be easier for everyone.
I will be taking my purchases and stacking some, using others to make improvements, and putting some away for later. It’s kinda the definition of prepping.
Get yourself ready for summer and the hurricane/civil war season. It’s coming.
Stack.
nick
My money is still on Taiwan detonating the next nuke in a war situation.
Or the Afrikaners.
I think more has been going on in South Africa than we know.
I hope you are wrong. I don’t believe you are, but I hope.
“My fishing buddy called to let me know his grandson died yesterday. 22 years old, and apparently just dropped dead. Between his and his wife’s cancer treatments, adding the death of a young man in a close family is a real blow. He would appreciate your prayers.”
Sad to hear. He has them.
The Israeli nuclear deterrent is a factor keeping Iran and certain of Israel’s neighbours from attempting to re-run the Yom Kippur war. If it ever looked like the attackers were going to win, I have no doubt that Israel would turn various cities to glowing glass, probably including Mecca and Qom.
The credibility of that position is what keeps Israel safe, for various values of “safe”.
When it looked like the Israelis were close to losing the war in 1973, the US and others promptly provided the materiel they needed to put them back in the fight and win it. Kissinger obviously advised Nixon that the nuclear option was a real one for an Israel faced with annihilation.
Deterrence works best on rational or at least semi-rational opponents. If your opponent truly believes his rhetoric that having himself, his people and cities melted just brings them all to paradise as martyrs quicker, provided he also eliminates the little Satan, then he has no incentive not to provoke nuclear war, or even to initiate it himself if he has the means. As I see it, gambling on that rationality is a risk the Israelis can’t afford to take.
And prayers for all the innocents in the Middle East whose governments are led by despots and zealots.
Nick, sorry to hear about your flooding at the BOL, and very sorry for your friends’ bereavement. They will be in my prayers.
Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month.
That sucks, and is a reminder: Time with your family is what makes the good old days good.
87F and overcast. I’m late getting out of the house. There is one pickup in particular that has to happen at a particular time, and I slept too long.
Time to go.
n
Friday the 13th is a good day for me. Well, at least this one.
I just a message from the VA that the judge has made a decision on my claim for TDIU. The claim was granted and the VA will now be rating me at 100% disability. A little over $4K a month tax free. I am also owed 14 months back pay on the difference between 70% and 100%.
The best thing I ever did in the service was breaking my back. Doing a “bubba watch this stunt” that did not work out.
@nick
Sorry about the excessive rain at your BOL. And for your fishing buddy. That’s a lot of hard. Adding to my prayers. And I hope you continue to get better, too.
@dcp
Thanks for the nod to the 13th. I shared some of Bob‘s science books with a friend and was thinking of him this morning.
@EdH
time with family
Wise words indeed.
@Gregg
Dogma. It was magnificent on the big screen. I’d only seen clips previously.
and from the north –
more rabbits, more fresh eggs, more rain, more odd health stuff, more music, more cheese.
Work is really good. Loved our last senior DBA, ecstatic about our current senior DBA. He’s crazy smart, highly skilled, shares his knowledge, and is humble without downplaying his skills. I’ve worked with him several times in the past and he really is that good. No idea why he’s willing to work here when he could be commanding the big bucks. I’m pulling in as much knowledge as I can while he’s here. Because yeah, I figure he’s too good to stay.
Health stuff – meh. Working on it. Energy level is poor.
Our locally produced milk is sold by Walmart. They drop the price from $8/gallon to $5/gallon on the old stuff when they restock on Friday. I picked up two gallons and made Brie with my teen earlier this week. It’s one of her favorite foods and she was happily excited and engaged. It won’t be ready to eat for another few weeks. The ‘active’ part of the cheese making is only a few hours, and the last part, flipping the curds in their open ended molds, was the cause of much hilarity. And happiness on the part of the corgis who cheerfully scarfed up flying whey and curds during our fails.
Folks have been gathering at my home the last couple months to do a ‘slow jam’. Picking up music by ear, at speeds amateurs can manage and still sound good. Plugging away at cello having a lot of fun. The mandola has helped a lot, it’s small enough I can take it into office and practice at lunch.
lots of wet and cool weather, though we’ve got a string of warmer 65° F) days ahead of us. The backyard is a wreck, the teen mows it for spending money when she feels broke otherwise I’m ignoring it. Front yard is a little better. I threw potatoes that had gone to root into the raised bed so there’ll be something green that’s not dandelions. Unconventional landscaping and that’s fine.
A friend came and harvested most of 6 rhubarb plants. She left with 20 – 30 pounds of stalks. She takes them to a local ice cream producer. They exchange for ”free ice cream” tickets. Good deal.
@Ray
Congratulations! Thats been a long haul. I’m very glad you were successful.
Ray, I am glad for you that your disability has been recognised in its entirety. I hope you can think of something good to do with the back pay.
Jenny, lovely to hear about life, Corgis and cheese! Good luck and improving health to you. Care to share how you make brie? I have never tried cheese-making, but would love to. Blessed are the cheesemakers!
Hopefully, you also caught the brief Q&A reel after the credits.
The restoration was amazing. Time has been very kind to that film.
George Carlin is timeless.
I had to explain Carlin’s importance to the culture of the 80s to our son. Which cable movie channel your parents had installed really did depend on what you father was into back then.
HBO – George Carlin. Clint Eastwood. “Not Necessarily the News”.
Showtime – Gratuitous nudity and Super Dave on “Bizarre”. “Star Trek” and “Indiana Jones”.
Nick: Sorry to hear about your fishing buddy’s loss. There are no easy days.
I am actually going to give a $1K each to football, basketball (boys and girls), soccer (boys and girls), band, baseball and softball at the local high school.
Longer than you realize. I had been fighting for an increase from 30% to 70% for six years. That was approved in October 2024. The increase to 100% via TDIU was started in April 2024. I did not know about TDIU until my claim to 70% was remanded by a judge to TDIU. 70% because the VA pays for a nursing home at that level. I then decided to fight for the 100% TDIU because it fit my situation.
The VA never informed me of TDIU until it was remanded by a judge I had to do web research.
Those time frames for higher levels are about normal. A friend of my brother fought for 5 years for his 70%. He was finally awarded and got 5 years back benefits, a little over $100K. A friend of mine fought for 4 years for his 100% rating due to breathing issues from Iraq. He got a little over $160K in back benefits.
The common theme in the VA is multiple appeals are necessary taking years. As one wise person said, “The appeals aren’t done until the veteran quits.” I did not quit and would have kept fighting. One of the reasons I quit work was because of the back issue.
I was told when I left the service I would get nothing for my back injury. I was lied to by the service. I missed 20 years of benefits. I decided that was not happening again.
The next time you go into a VA office or clinic, keep in mind that every employee in the place receives an annual salary which disqualified them to receive stimulus checks during Covid.
“…whey and curds….” reminded me of “Little Miss Muffet,” which in turn reminded me of this re-telling of the tale: https://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/gwc-muff.htm
I was told when I left the service I would get nothing for my back injury. I was lied to by the service. I missed 20 years of benefits. I decided that was not happening again.
My father-in-law was forcibly retired by the Army after breaking his back twice in the Army. Once while diving in Chesapeake Bay with a bunch of buddies and once while carrying Army quadriplegics around in Japan during the Korean War in the 1950s that they could not bring back to the States.
They gave him 30% disability to start at age 35 and he started working as an orderly in the Abilene nursing home. The Army docs told him he would be in a wheelchair by age 45, they were wrong, he walked until he was 81 when we put him in a rehab after three surgeries in a month.
Even then the VA had him at 70% disability. My wife spent 1.5 years on the phone with the VA who raised him to 100% payment but still kept him at 90% on the books. Crazy people. Rehab became permanent and he lived in a nursing home for 6.5 years before passing away. Freaking warehouse but we had no other options with a 6’2″ man who weighed over 300 lbs.
“Palate Cleanser: Baby Goat Wakes Up From Nap and Panics After Realizing the Herd Moved”
https://rumble.com/v6upty7-palate-cleanser-baby-goat-wakes-up-from-nap-and-panics-after-realizing-the-.html?e9s=src_v1_upp
Cute.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
My fishing buddy called to let me know his grandson died yesterday. 22 years old, and apparently just dropped dead. Between his and his wife’s cancer treatments, adding the death of a young man in a close family is a real blow. He would appreciate your prayers.
Done. God knows his name.
“Iran shoots down two Israeli jets, captures one pilot: Iranian media”
https://justthenews.com/government/security/iran-shoots-down-two-israeli-jets-captures-one-pilot-iranian-media
“Iranian media outlet Tasnim has claimed Tehran shot down two Israeli fighter jets on Friday and managed to capture the female pilot of one plane alive.”
“Unconfirmed footage appears show the pilot deploy a parachute while in the air. Some reports have claimed that the pilot’s aircraft was an F-35 fighter jet and western media has confirmed their use in the Israeli strikes, but the make of the plane the pilot flew remains unconfirmed as well.”
“The news comes as Iran mounts a counterattack against Israel, launching multiple waves of missiles at the Levantine nation and landing apparent hits in downtown Tel-Aviv.”
This will get far worse.
I am wondering if Israel has armed the Jerichos yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(missile)
I have read that three of the Israeli nuclear armed submarines are in the Persian Gulf.
1.5 years is quick by the VA timetable. I have been at this current round since April of 2018. I have been through multiple appeals and three judges at various levels. I even got my congress critter involved, who did nothing to help.
My question of back benefits is now somewhat of a mystery.
Two months ago the VA combined the back claim and the TDIU claim into one claim. This was, guess, in accordance with the instructions from the judge who remanded the claim to TDIU. Initially the VA decided the TDIU claim before the back claim and I wrote the VA and informed them they were in error by not following the judge’s instructions.
The increased rating for the back was denied by the judge. Will this void the VA’s initial increase? Will I have to pay back that money to the VA? I won’t pay any physical money but would have my back benefits reduced by a significant amount..
Now the VA’s view of the date of initial claim becomes important. Will the TDIU claim effective date become the date I actually applied for TDIU because of when the judge remanded the case? Or will the TDIU claim now be the date of the initial claim since the claims were combined?
If the date for back benefits is only back to March of 2024, then I am looking at less than $30K. If the effective date of TDIU is back to April of 2018, then based on napkin math, the back benefits are around $200K.
@Denis
My favorite cheese making book is called Homemade Cheese by Janet Hurst. The big key to cheese making of course is the milk if you can gain access to locally produced goat or cow milk that’s wonderful and you should count yourself fortunate. I use a local commercially produced milk that is non-homogenized and low temperature pasteurized that works quite well for cheese. What won’t work for cheese is milk that is ultra pasteurized. It breaks the milk proteins. Some of the fancy organic commercial milks will work. It really depends on how the pasteurization is done and how processed the milk is at the plant. Less is best. You can work around some of the shortcomings of commercial milk by adding calcium chloride.
To make brie a warm milk to 86°F. Add mesophilic culture, penicillum candidum, and rennet. Wait half an hour. Cut the curds into half inch cubes and rest for 10 minutes. Ladle into open ended round molds set on a mat on a cookie sheet to keep the curds from running away from you while permitting the whey to drain. You add another mat on top, and a cookie sheet. Then every 20 minutes you flip that whole mess so the curds can slide to the other end of the mold. This is entertaining because nothing stays where it’s supposed to and curds go everywhere. The curds get flipped three times then you let them sit overnight in the mold. All this flipping is to develop a consistent density and even height. In the morning, you remove the molds. Let the cheese rest and air dry for a few hours until lightly firm to the touch. Place the cheese in a fully saturated salt brine for 10 minutes. You know your brine is fully saturated if the cheese floats. Air dry again. When dry enough (few hours) place in a cheese cave for the next 10 days or so. Cheese should be on an elevated mat to keep bottom dry. Lovely white mold will develop. After that 10 days of mold development wrap the cheese in wax or cheese paper and let it rest for another 10 days or so in the fridge. The cheese will be at its best 21 days from date of start.
For a cheese cave, I use a sanitized plastic storage box that I leave in my garage where the temperature is a stable 55°F
It sounds like a lot, but cheese making is mostly having good milk, a decent thermometer, patience, and a sense of humor. The culture and molds are often carried by brewing supply stores, or online. They keep for years well wrapped in the freezer.
Feta is even easier and more forgiving of inadequate milk.
You can also make a delicious paneer – bring milk to a boil, remove from heat, add a bunch of lemon juice. Let sit for awhile. Pour through a fine cloth. Twist gently to remove most whey. Put between two plates with something to catch the whey and a weight on top to apply pressure. Into the fridge. In the morning you’ll have a hard disc of cheese that can be cubed and fried. Oh – some people rinse the curds before playing to remove the lemon flavor but I don’t as I like the flavor.
Cheese making really is pretty easy.
My wife says I cut the cheese too much.
@Jenny: I was in your state a couple of weeks ago. Sitka, Haines, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Part of a cruise so all I saw was mostly tourist stuff.
And you don’t have to buy fancy equipment. I recycle quart yogurt containers for cheese molds. Depending on the mold shaoe required I cut the bottom off the container.
Jenny, thank you so much. How inspiring.
I think getting good milk here in the city might be a challenge, but the BOL is in a rural area with dairy farming, so I might only need to spread word that I need a gallon or three… Will give it a try.
@Ray
What a wonderful trip and you hit some of the most beautiful places.
I was stranded in Haines for several weeks when I drove to Alaska way back in 1993. I’d run out of cash in Skagway. I’d assumed my debit card would work in Canada (nope) then that I’d hit the ATM in Skagway (nope ATM) then used the last of my cash to get to Haines (nope ATM).
I camped for weeks waiting for my friend to use the debit card I left behind to mail me cash.
It was a great community and they were very kind to the stranded Californian. I had an annual pass for state campgrounds, a station wagon full of food and supplies, and no set schedule. So I was fine waiting.
I‘d love to return to Haines. It’s difficult because of distance, though. It’s the back end of nowhere. I hope they’ve hung onto the self sufficient true Alaskan culture I encountered 30 years ago.
We saw “The Blues Brothers” on a big screen back at the beginning of the year.
That was a whole different experience than home video.
The production design in the set for the Illinois Nazi’s HQ was unbelievably funny. “White Power” was slapped on everything.
Of course, I was, once again, the only one laughing.
Austin.
“Commentary: Global mayhem comes for Trump”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/commentary-global-mayhem-comes-for-trump-175045646.html
“Donald Trump promised a safer and saner world while running for president last year. The world hasn’t cooperated.”
“Trump famously said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in a day, yet the war rages on with no end in sight. He also vowed to end the bloodshed in Gaza, where Israel is trying to eradicate the Hamas terrorist group. Instead, that conflict has escalated into an all-out war between Israel and Iran, Hamas’s godfather, that could metastasize into the most tumultuous development in the Middle East since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.”
“Trump’s campaign bluster was silly, but now he faces the sort of complex predicament that can make or break presidents. Israel’s attack on Iran comes as the Islamic theocracy appears to be on the threshold of developing nuclear weapons. Israel directly targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in its opening salvo on June 13, along with other military targets. It also assassinated several leaders involved with Iran’s military and nuclear program.”
I do not see any one backing down at this moment. Iran wants nuclear weapons at any cost. Israel will not let Iran have nuclear weapons at any cost. Etc, etc, etc.
Any article that contains the sentence —
“Israel’s attack on Iran comes as the Islamic theocracy appears to be on the threshold of developing nuclear weapons.”
– can be discounted to almost worthless. The iranians have been pursuing nuclear weapons for decades, and every time they are near to getting them, the israelis bomb them. We’ll know the iranians succeeded when Tel Aviv disappears under a mushroom cloud.
The lack of understanding of the situation makes every other statement suspect too. I especially like the jump from “bloodshed in Gaza” to bombing in Iran.
———-
Home from my pickups. Good stuff, and worth having, but a huge PITA to get today.
———-
One of my neighbors at the lake sent me a picture of the water level and is going to enter my dockhouse and see if any got in. That might save me a trip up there.
———
Thank you for your prayers for my friend, I will pass it along to him.
———
@jenny, glad to hear from you! One of my buddies has been successful making cheese from food bank milk when they gave him far too many gallons to drink. Cheesemaking is one of those foundational prepper things, like soapmaking, that I’ve never had the time to do.
I did crack open a jar of “refrigerator” pickles I made several years ago. They’ve been in the fridge, sealed, the whole time and they are delicious and still have good texture. That’s as close as I’ve gotten to preserving food this decade.
n
Looks like the water hasn’t entered the dock house yet. That means if it starts going down, I don’t have to head up. If it keeps rising, I’ll head up and move everything out of the lower level.
n
Sorry. I may be an ignorant asshole but to me anything on the TV is commie propaganda. That is, with small words, it is all pure bullshit.
PIC had over 8K hours, second chair had 1100…
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14810957/expert-theory-mistake-air-india-pilot-plane-crash.html
The gear handle is on the forward panel. The flaps handle is on the right of the center console on the right side of the engine controls. There is no way the pilot or first officer accidentally activated the incorrect control. The first officer may have misunderstood the pilot’s instruction as the first officer would have been looking at the instruments and not out the window. However, flaps are not fully retracted at once but are done in stages as airspeed increases. Fully retracting immediately at once is highly unlikely.
The video does seem to show the gear still down and no flaps. How, or why, is a big question.
PIC had over 8K hours, second chair had 1100…
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14810957/expert-theory-mistake-air-india-pilot-plane-crash.html
My theory is bad fuel cratered both engines. “Air India Pilot’s Last Words To Air Traffic Control Are A Chilling Prelude To Tragedy”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/air-india-pilots-last-words-154025369.html
“The pilot of the London-bound Air India jet that crashed Thursday put out an urgent call as the Boeing 787-8 quickly lost altitude on takeoff.”
““Mayday … no thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” Sumeet Sabharwal told traffic control less than a minute into the flight, perreports.”
“USAID Official, Three Corporate Executives Plead Guilty to Decade-Long Bribery Scheme Involving Over $550 Million in Contracts: DOJ”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/06/usaid-official-three-corporate-executives-plead-guilty-decade/
Did DOGE find this ?
Huh, Dogma just made it to the top of my encode stack.
n
https://x.com/i/status/1933472706424680523
plz I can haz kitton dizpenzer in my desk?
“11 confirmed dead after flooding, identities of three victims released”
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/search-continues-for-driver-missing-after-san-antonio-flood-leaves-5-dead-texas-bexar-county-fire-department-vehicles-victims-hospital
“UPDATE: As of 3:30 p.m., the San Antonio Fire Department confirmed 11 fatalities from Thursday’s flooding.”
“Several individuals are still missing; however, the number is reducing.”
What the heck happened in San Antonio yesterday, Thursday ?
The disc might be worth something on EBay. “Dogma” has been out of print for a while.
The restoration is very cool, however. I’m sure Smith will release new DVDs and BluRays.
Fulbright scholarship board protests Trump’s authority, all members but one resign
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/06/fulbright_scholarship_board_protests_trump_s_authority_all_members_but_one_resign.html
Entitled little yellow running dogs of progessivism.
Fell asleep scanning pokemon cards, looking for a payday. Couple hundred scanned, most $1.
Headed to bed.
n
@Jenny: Thanks for your comments about cheese-making. My wife tried once, and it was pretty gross. I’m pretty sure she’d like to try again, so I’ll probably get that book for her birthday.
Living in a rural village, it seems likely we could get milk from a local farmer. I will have to figure out who to ask…