But it will be hot and humid. Some things in life are fairly predictable and hot and humid weather in Houston in June is one of the things… still I could be wrong. Yesterday was hot and humid though. And sunny. It didn’t seem as brutal as Wednesday though. Small mercies.
I did sleep in a bit, and then did auction stuff. I got some stuff listed, and I’ve got more to list too. Hopefully as I do more I can build some momentum. It would be nice to actually get stuff sold as well. Sold and paid for.
Today I’m building on yesterday. Move some stuff around. List some stuff. Try to get paid for stuff. I need to get into a storage unit and get out some stuff for one of my hobby buddies. My non-prepping hobby got moved to this Saturday and I promised him I’d try to bring him some stuff. I also need to get out of one unit or pay for another month. I’ve basically got today to do that. So I’ll be out sweating in the heat and humidity.
Suffering is good for the soul, right? Well, I’m not going to suffer too much, I’ve still got air conditioned spaces to get into and cool down. Small (or big) mercies…
And I’ll be improving, if not stacking. Which is always good.
nick
The banker is way ahead of you on the “hard to sell” aspect of the property.
How much “reform” is in the compressed numbers on the trim notice?
@Nick
Stay hydrated.
Summer Solstice today.
Stonehenge day.
I can imagine it now, with Wilma & Betty calling out and Fred and Barney moving a heavy stone out in the field.
“Left” … “left” … “more left” … “no, right” … “no, my right” … “ok” … “hmmm, what do you think Betty?” … “maybe we should have gone with a pink granite from Wales instead of that Northumberland basalt” …
Funny, but so true.
Between smoke breaks.
Winston was the sponsor of “The Flintstones” for its original run.
Slate Construction probably had a smoker cabal who really ran things after Mr Slate tried to ban smoking on the site.
YouTube has the old commercials.
Remember, something cannot be unseen if you are worried about tarnishing a childhood memory.
That was on the “do not show us” list for our Realtor. Also, no stairs.
There is a Senior Living facility right behind the house, too, if decrepitude gets too bad.
Ho,hum. Another judge blocks tRump. Says he can’t withhold funds from sanctuary cities. Why yes, yes he can. ‘Hello Roberts? Anybody home there?”
Which state?
Each Supreme Court Justice has responsibility for a section of the country for things like emergency appeals. That step needs to happen first.
The Court is almost done for the year except for the writing chores.
Rhode Island.
Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Withholding Grant Funding From Cities That Don’t Cooperate With ICE
Point is, doosh-Roberts needs to start making it clear “stay in your lane, you can’t impede the Executive, and issue country wide injunctions.” There is nothing unConstitutional about this.
89F and sunny. Took the trash out and I wasn’t immediately soaked with sweat so there are a few percentage points left in the RH… which is a blessing.
Wife kept waking up all night with acid reflux. Ate dinner too close to bed time. Kept me up to.
Neighbors down the block had a couple of trees removed. Both were damaged by the big wind we had last year. One looked like a Dr Seuss tree, and the other had fewer but still significant pruning issues. This is the third day the crew is working, and it looks like they are planting a good sized replacement. That’s nice because our wooded neighborhood has lost a lot of big trees in the last few years. Trees here tend to be varieties that splinter and shatter when stressed. That means they lose a limb, but stay upright in heavy wind, but it also means that the big ones can look pretty bad after a storm. The ones that don’t shed limbs end up toppled, so it’s an evolutionary thing.
n
Do the deed restrictions specify trees required in the front yard?
Jackson‘s jurisdiction. That isn’t happening.
Colorado or New Mexico under Gorsuch would be better routes, but I doubt anyone is in the building through the end of the month.
There is a phrase used in mystery novels: “cui bono?”, who benefits?
The controversial doctrine of Judicial Supremacy says the Supreme Court has the final say in any Constitutional question, over ruling the other branches interpretations.
Allowing inferior courts to expand that concept to order specific actions (i.e. turning a plane around mid-flight) with the only recourse of the executive branch to be the appeals courts and eventually (and only at their discretion) the Supremes makes them the de facto holder of executive power.
Roberts as the Chief Justice would therefore be the most powerful man in the government.
John Roberts benefits.
Do the deed restrictions specify trees required in the front yard?
– no the original development CC&Rs are very sensible and a short list. They added some in 2008 that I never saw or signed that are more restrictive but if push came to shove, I’d challenge them in court. In general, the HOA has done a good job of maintaining value. We pay $300 a year and they mow and water the common spaces out of that.
n
He can still make it known this is wrong through writings and speeches and embarrass the dooshes. If he doesn’t, tRump has no choice but to ignore the Districts. They don’t run the country.
“Branco Cartoon – Next Up”
https://comicallyincorrect.com/branco-cartoon-next-batter/
“A.F. Branco Cartoon – Reported that Israel has killed Iran’s top military leader and the 2nd in command. The 3rd in line must be getting nervous.”
Heh.
“Microsoft’s Windows 95 testing phase was so intense that it crashed cash registers with over $10,000 worth of software”
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-95-stress-test-nearly-crashed-register-10k-purchases
“Raymond Chen shares a story of how mass-purchased software for testing Windows 95 caused a little havoc at a retailer.”
Egghead.
“President Trump Does Not Want Iran to Become “Another Libya””
https://thelibertydaily.com/president-trump-does-not-want-iran-become-another/
“(Substack)—President Trump is hesitant to bomb Iran because he worries it could lead to chaos like in Libya after its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown in 2011, according to people close to his administration. They told The Post that Trump is delaying his decision on joining Israel’s airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program for up to two weeks.”
“Trump has mentioned Libya’s descent into disorder after the U.S. and NATO bombed the country to remove Gaddafi, three sources said. “Trump doesn’t want it to turn into Libya,” one insider explained, referring to the administration’s talks about possibly supporting Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.”
A very substantial concern.
Crude oil is up to $75 / US BBL
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL%3DF/
and natural gas is up to $4 / mmbtu.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NG%3DF/
Don’t stop now !
Yes, I am biased. I am trying to save my industry, energy, the number one employer in the USA.
The number of people working in the energy industry in the USA has dropped from 15 million to 10 million in the last two decades and is still dropping.
“Chloe Cole Humiliates Fake Indian Elizabeth Warren”
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/06/20/chloe-cole-humiliates-fake-indian-elizabeth-warren-n4940981
“Children can’t transition to the opposite sex, and you cannot transition to Native American.”
One of “The Mutilated” speaks out.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Wizard of Id: Pet Dragon
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2025/06/20
Oh yeah, Henry is a personal war machine.
“Intel Core Ultra 7 Desktop Processor 265KF – 20 cores (8 P-cores + 12 E-cores) up to 5.5 GHz”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFK2WHF8?tag=ttgnet-20
$230. Oh man, I want one of these ! Dadgum it, it requires a new motherboard.
Hat tip to:
https://www.tomshardware.com/
The Ponzi.
When I worked there, the Tampa Bay stores were contract deals with Workplace, a small regional chain of office supply superstores which eventually got merged into Staples during Mittens time at Bain.
I used Workplace‘s register system which was quite good.
Once a week, however, all of the sales for the preceding seven days and spot inventory checks got fed into a Ponzi corporate-supplied 12 MHz 286 system running Windows 2.01 and the first version of Excel. Each sale receipt required about a minute for the spreadsheet to recalculate after entry. At the end of what was usually an all day ordeal, the spreadsheet got uploaded via a dial account to the corporate AS400 server, protected only by a password set for each store.
What finally killed Egghead was that server being compromised by hackers. The costs to recover were deemed too high in the face of what would have been bankruptcy anyway so management pulled the plug.
The Ponzi had done what it was created to do.
As the banner behind Shrub read when he landed on that carrier, “Mission Accomplished”.
i have a 165H in my new corporate drone laptop. Redmond never fails to completely crush any hardware with the latest Windows.
I7 Ultra. 6 P + 10 E cores. 32 GB Ram. Barely adequate for Outlook, Office, and Putty thanks to Windows 11 and the spyware my employer installs.
They originally gave me an i5 with 16 GB Ram in the refresh in October. That system was useless with the corporate software build.
“KP George Switches Parties as Legal Troubles Mount in Fort Bend County”
https://texasscorecard.com/local/kp-george-switches-parties-as-legal-troubles-mount-in-fort-bend-county/
“George has switched to the Republican Party, shifting the balance of power on the county commissioners court.”
This is my county. Desperate people do desperate things.
“Rep. Burchett: Lawmakers Claimed $3 Billion for Trump’s Border Wall Would “Bankrupt Us” – Then Sent $200 Billion to Ukraine “Unchecked””
https://borderhawk.news/rep-burchett-lawmakers-claimed-3-billion-for-trumps-border-wall-would-bankrupt-us-then-sent-200-billion-to-ukraine-unchecked/
““In Trump’s first administration… the President requested three or four billion dollars for the border, and they said it would, in fact, bankrupt us. And here we’ve given Ukraine over $200 billion, unchecked, and we just keep throwing money at them,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Border Hawk.”
““Good fences make good neighbors, and we need a dadgum good fence between us and Mexico.””
Yup. And we will see NOTHING for our investment in Ukraine.
Up until two years ago, the State of Texas was looking the other way while Texas Children’s built a reassignment program in open defiance of state law, including a surgery center near my house which was probably intended for the “confirmation” surgeries.
Lots of money involved.
Up until two years ago, the State of Texas was looking the other way while Texas Children’s built a reassignment program in open defiance of state law, including a surgery center near my house which was probably intended for the “confirmation” surgeries.
Lots of money involved.
There was a TV show on ABC about a decade ago called “The Fosters”. I stopped watching it when a young teenage girl started taking testosterone and got her breasts cut off.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262532/
“Cartier Family Reacts to Goldberg’s Claim that Black Americans Have it Worse Than Iranians”
https://rumble.com/v6v0zid-cartier-family-reacts-to-goldbergs-claim-that-black-americans-have-it-worse.html?e9s=src_v1_upp
I watch these guys on Youtube every once in a while for their music reviews.
“Pakistan nominates Trump for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/pakistan-nominates-trump-2026-nobel-peace-prize
“The government of Pakistan on Friday recommended President Donald Trump for a 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in de-escalating a brief conflict between India and Pakistan earlier this year.”
Wow.
>> https://www.har.com/homedetail/9702-surrey-ln-richmond-tx-77469/2527183
On the market 111 days and price already cut 25% ($598K to 450K).
‘How low can he go?’
xkcd: Tukey
https://www.xkcd.com/3104/
So true, so true. I can always tell who is a new user of simulation software, they expect to get 9 (ppb, parts per billion) or 12 (ppt, parts per trillion) digits of precision out of our software. I will go through my explanation of how simulation software is based on experimental data of 2 or 3 digits of precision and watch their faces change when they start to understand.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3104:_Tukey
>> https://www.har.com/homedetail/9702-surrey-ln-richmond-tx-77469/2527183
On the market 111 days and price already cut 25% ($598K to 450K).
‘How low can he go?’
I offered $350K yesterday. He said no.
I will wait. It is really cool facility for somebody needing some covered and secure storage with some living area.
“I offered $350K yesterday. He said no.”
Knotty pine would have to go.
Whew. One fewer storage unit as of now. Of course the other one at the same facility was burgled AGAIN. This time they took speakers mostly. FFS, they cut the lock off, a good heavy Masterlock, and it doesn’t look like a grinder cut.
The one I emptied was the one with the lock almost completely cut thru.
Their cams are useless. The management doesn’t care. A dozen units got burglarized this time.
n
Took 4 trips to empty the half empty 5×10.
n
I’m lucky. I guess. I’m in a paid for house in the middle of 26 acres. This was all planned.
The monthly bills are electricity, generally total about $150 with both meters. (they jacked the price just to have a meter to $32 a month or so ago) (figure that math) Tack on a couple of hundred for things like Starlink and a cell phone and dental insurance.
Yeah, there’s things like property taxes. I think I have that under control. House insurance? Dunno but if they insist on their last evaluation of a house they have never seen, I’m gonna drop that policy. I have a problem paying USAA a month of my total income per year.
So I just paid the credit card bills and it was a wow moment. But I have a brand new living room floor that will last forever. I have the money. I don’t want to spend that money. Which might be why I have the money.
I forget where I was going. Buddy the Beagle wanted to go out to pee. And eat some grass. WTF.
I guess I’m just lucky. By some folks math. But WE worked for this. And….. ya know what? WE did good.
WE did, But that doesn’t make me less lonely.
Ok, ok, end of whine..
I’m really glad that I have this place of cool folks to talk to that talk back.
@paul
I suspect I’m not the only one who is glad you are here.
@Nick
Might be worthwhile to look at some better locks. I looked at these but have not tried them:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/196284059863
On the one hand, they might pass you for easier pickings; on the other hand, they might try harder because you might have better stuff.
If you do get better locks, beat them up a bit so they don’t look new. A light pass with spray paint the same color as the rollup door makes them look like they’ve been there for a while.
The standard cylinder locks are all about the same. I just ordered a set of eight keyed alike because my key ring could use some weight management. Less than five bucks apiece. I hit mine with WD40 once or twice a year.
Knotty pine would have to go.
The entire frame is knotty pine. That is about $150,000 of wood.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/06/20/vance-just-levels-padilla-but-causes-a-leftist-freakout-with-how-he-does-it-n2190721
Would “Senator Protaco” be better?
“The entire frame is knotty pine. That is about $150,000 of wood.”
I’d look at the frame after I get rid of the baseboards, trim , and cabinets. Might paint some of the trim, but the cabinets would get replaced.
As for the trim, there’s lots of old barn frames taken apart that have pieces that are damaged and unusable for new structures. I might see about getting some 1/8″ veneers sawed and just dress them up with some carefully matched butts and fake scarf joints. Sounds fiddly, but thinking about not seeing 1950’s knotty pine would get me through.
I had my share of knotty pine in a barn that was converted by the g-grandson of the original owner. Project was 90% good and the other 10% was light-a-match. Largely open floor plan with the ceiling in knotty pine. Metal roof was run horizontal–mis-designed and leaked. Roof insulation was fiberglass.
That project is why I do not ever put raw wood facing a wall cavity–it always gets painted before it goes up. Belt, suspenders, yup. Probably never need it until you do.
Judge Lays the Smack Down After Suspect in ‘Road Rage’ Incident Against GOP Congressman Turns Himself In
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2025/06/20/suspect-in-max-miller-case-turns-himself-in-judge-lays-the-smack-down-n2190719
Hard labor for 30 years or deport to Gaza immediately? I might favor the latter if we can entice his family to go with him.
“United States reaches $37 trillion in debt”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/united-states-reaches-37-trillion-debt
“The benchmark comes after the U.S. passed the $36 trillion debt threshold in November.”
Eeep !
I suspect that means testing for Social Security is in the near future.
And we need to get rid of the illegals on SSI and Medicaid. But it is costing $17,000 for each illegal to deport them.
“Today’s Supreme Court Decisions Pushed Back Hard Against the Administrative State”
https://redstate.com/joesquire/2025/06/20/todays-supreme-court-decisions-pushed-back-hard-against-the-administrative-state-n2190707
“A string of rulings issued Friday—from McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp. to Diamond Alternative Energy v. EPA to FDA v. R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.—shows the Court is serious about restoring balance between unelected regulators and the courts tasked with holding them accountable.”
“What ties these decisions together is not a single ideological agenda. It is a shared recognition that when agencies act like legislative bodies or try to wall themselves off from judicial review, they go beyond their constitutional limits. The Court’s recent work reminds us that regulatory power must remain subject to oversight and correction when needed.”
Basically, the bureaucrats cannot control things that Congress has not authorized them to control. And the bureaucrats do not get to have their own inhouse judges deciding everything.
I’d look at the frame after I get rid of the baseboards, trim , and cabinets. Might paint some of the trim, but the cabinets would get replaced.
No way. Everything inside the living quarters has never been lived in. It is all in perfect condition.
But those outside wood posts are already showing signs of weather damage.
“But those outside wood posts are already showing signs of weather damage.”
https://versatex.com/product/versawrap/
And imagine that interior concrete in white airport hanger grade epoxy.
“But those outside wood posts are already showing signs of weather damage.”
https://versatex.com/product/versawrap/
And imagine that interior concrete in white airport hanger grade epoxy.
Cool ! But that will not fix the weather damage to date nor will it stop the termites.
@paul
I am fortunate to have selected well enough off family as predecessors. On my own, as most Americans today, I lived comfortably enough but paycheck to paycheck. For a long time, I supported myself but was merely “broke” and felt much better off than the financially underwater American majority.
@nick
Self storage is an interesting, highly atomized, industry. Many investor/owners farm out all operating labor to a management company that has only small incentive to keep occupancy high and security tight. Or at least for the actual public facing employees.
Fences, gates and cameras? Many facilities have none of the above. OTOH, unscrupulous insiders may see recordings of “interesting” things going in/out, too.
When I moved here, the overflow stuff went into a wide open storage facility that had the Penske truck franchise. My Craigslist helpers did the humping. I spent the next month taking at least a load a day in the Forester to a closer, more security featured facility till empty. Thereby eliminating any possibility of temptation from my help. OTOH, the whole moving crew necessarily saw the contents of my cased armory and other obvious stacks. As a complex of many identical buildings there may be a degree of confusion by obfuscation, so I hope.
Secure locks are only so effective. Pry bars, bolt cutters and angle grinders are just as effective on the hasps as the locks.
That stinks, Nick.
The Lock Picking Lawyer picked that in two seconds:
https://www.tiktok.com/@lockpickinglawyer.d/video/7158091927022292266
Of course, picking really isn’t the threat, power tools make them almost pointless.
—
A little story: a couple of years ago I was helping somebody move some stuff, and we got to where we needed to be and they had lost the key to the enclosed trailer padlock. They started to hacksaw the master lock itself and I pointed out that the trailer latch itself was just made of soft aluminum angle stock.stock, and that went a lot quicker …
The first time for unit A they cut thru the sliding door lock thing. This time, the padlock. The other unit, the time they succeeded was the lock, this time that they didn’t succeed it was a hacksaw on the padlock. Both of my burgled units are in “cross” lanes. The cameras look down the long driveways, but not into the cross ways.
The other unit indoors at another facility, IDK what the other tenant used to get in, but I didn’t have anything in that unit that he wanted. And they had him on video. Drug use was strong with that guy.
————-
D2 has returned from time with grandma. The whole pack is back together for a day anyway.
n
D2 has returned from time with grandma. The whole pack is back together for a day anyway.
I used to spend a month each summer with grandparents. I had a good time with them and worked on a lot of stuff with them. They were always busy, the good old German “if you do not work, you shall not eat !” that we used to recite before eating meals.
I’m very glad the kids are spending time with grandma. I wish my dad had more time with them, and they with him. I know from my own childhood that they might have one or two memories, but nothing substantial. They will spend time all together with my wife’s parents later this summer. I’ll be at the lake working.
Past time for bed, but I was gluing and soldering D2’s souvenirs which got broken on the trip home. They were little resin dragons, and a resin dungeon for them to display on. Despite good packing, they didn’t survive the trip without a lot of damage. Mostly good as new now, and my fingers are covered with black crazy glue.
n
I just put the new 20 TB WD Red rotating drive into the main file server at the office. It went right in and I started the backup manually. It is going well and writes very quickly. That drive gets a full LAN backup with Administrator level access. I replaced an 8 TB WD White drive that I shucked from an external drive back in 2017, I think.
So, when the helium runs out of this drive in 5 years and the heads all crash onto the drive plates, will this be the last rotating drive I purchase ? Supposedly, the new M.2 drives are going to 100+ TB in a hurry with the new QLC stuff.
John Cornyn is so not going to be re-elected.
https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1lgcnva/i_honestly_feel_kinda_bad_for_him_this_is/
So am I, Paul, so am I. I am glad you are one of the cool folks!
>>https://www.tiktok.com/@lockpickinglawyer.d/video/7158091927022292266
@EdH, no concerns visiting the ‘Tic Tok’?
>>So am I, Paul, so am I. I am glad you are one of the cool folks!
What he said…