And I was gonna say “still no war” but that’s not right. Cool and clear today, trending toward possible T storms and rain. National forecast has all of Texas in that zone by Sunday. I acknowledge that we need the rain. The cool and clear has been SOOOOOoooo nice though.
Yesterday I did computer and office stuff in the morning. My insurance claim settled. I don’t think it’s enough to have someone else fix the damage, but I do think it’s enough for me to pocket the check and use my parts truck to fix it myself. I wish I had at least one friend to help though. He moved away. The guys I do know aren’t the kind who would help me swap the bed on the Ranger.
Now, I think I could ask some of the guys at the lake for help doing that and they would. It’s part of building that web of obligation, favors, helpin’ out, and being a stand up guy. But I can’t get the parts up there and do the work up there without a lot of disruption in my day to day.
Anyway, today I have several pickups that need to happen, and they sort of combine into a big loop. I scored a pair of Canon active stabilization binos in an estate sale. I have one or two items for the house at several other auctions. My total spend is way down, but this week there were things I couldn’t resist at the price. It just means a lot of driving today, and tomorrow.
There really aren’t that many critical things left on my lists, just enhancements at this point- like image stabilized binos. Awesome for boating, and I have a boat now. More tools to equip the BOL. More depth in areas like power generation, or cooking. More defensive options.
It’s also clear I’ve let some of the stacks of food run down, or have too much ‘breakage’. I don’t like throwing away food, but I know that my family diet, combined with poor storage conditions, means I will have stuff that expires past the point where it’s edible, or the packaging becomes damaged. It’s part of the cost of the insurance policy that prepping is.
So work, improve, and stack.
nick
Friday. Good morning.
I slept late. Was that last night’s venison pizza and excellent Romanian cabernet sauvignon? Am feeling refreshed, though, and look: I am still here before Chicken Boy!
Today is a bit last-chance to do some stuff at the BOL, like those shelves…. Better get up and busy!
Have a lovely day!
PS: Nick, if those binos are surplus to requirements, please let me know more…
I don’t kill everyone who annoys me. Not more than a very tiny fraction, even. And I didn’t say there would be no consequences.
The individuals involved don’t seem to have had any dishonest intent. They needed another person for paperwork purposes. The other person was supposed to be actively involved in the operations and especially in the paperwork, not just a name on a form, which was where the appearance of fraud came in. And they got caught, as it were, because they’d done several things wrong in doing the paperwork themselves.
It’s also possible that they asked me if I’d be OK with them using my name. It’s very unlikely that I’d have given the go-ahead, even if I was asked when tired or distracted, but I might have said something like, “Probably ok. Send me a list of responsibilities” and forgotten it, and they used that as a go-ahead.
It might be worth doing specifically to strengthen the web of obligation. “Studies show” – psychological studies, so take with a grain of salt even when they seem to be correct – that doing someone a favor builds stronger ties than receiving a favor.
Otherwise, you do have a couple of daughters who can presumably put on gloves and help take the old bed off after you’ve removed the bolts, then help lift the new into place. The bed shouldn’t weigh more than 400# or so. They should be strong enough to help with wiggling things into place.
Or you could talk to the people at the halfway house next door. One might be willing to do ten minutes of work for $20.