Cool to start, warming later, and chance of sunny and clear. Yesterday ended up being beautiful in my neighborhood around 4pm. I sat out with a tiny little fire and read for an hour while waiting for the kid to call for a ride. REALLY nice day. Today should be similar, and the next couple of days get even more clear and sunny.
I went back to bed in the morning, as I only had three hours of sleep the night before. I was up and moving by 1030 though, as there is very little rest for the wicked.
Did my pickup and a few other things in the afternoon, while planning to stay close to home for dad’s taxi service. Of course, because I had a plan, the kid got big sis to do all the driving. Cool, I got more time to sit quietly in the shade and watch the squirrels foraging. Lots of juveniles this year.
Today I have a pickup I can do, although I might delay it until tomorrow and roll it into one trip. I can do work at home or work on getting the last of the storage into my shop. The shelf parts I ordered came in, so I can build more shelves… we’ll see how things develop. Since planning doesn’t seem to work.
Stacking does though.
nick
Wednesday. Good morning!
I was afraid Tax Day had got Nick, so this morning’s greetings went in yesterday’s comments, so here are today’s greetings again, today.
Confused? So am I, but one mustn’t let Chicken Boy get in first…
We get a lot of harmless little black ants in the grass here. They aerate and improve our clay soil, and the handsome big green woodpeckers like to eat them, so we tolerate the odd small baldy patch in the lawn and leave them alone.
While I was out turning money into noise yesterday evening W1, for reasons known only to herself, brought into the kitchen a paper bag of organic waste, mainly fruit peelings, that had been sitting outside on the patio en route to the compost heap.
Unfortunately, the bag was full of little ants, doubtless happily enjoying the sweet fruit bits. Before W1 caught on and brought the bag to the compost bin where it belonged, the creepies had crawlied all around the kitchen, much to her dismay. Hilarity ensued. It’s probably a good thing that I was at the range with earmuffs on…
There are still a few lost ants wandering aimlessly indoors this morning, but I am mopping them up as they appear. Mighty white hunter, that’s me!
Another book with a space shuttle landing in Rapa Nui, Earth by David Brin. Has people causing targeted earthquakes and energy spikes by manipulating a small black hole trapped with the earth’s core.
Wow.
I seem to remember reading an old pulp Sci-Fi short story in which a miniscule black hole was used as an undiscoverable murder weapon.
OK. Second cup of tea has been consumed. Time to get back to the grind…
One more, before I forget…
Browning BuckMark .22 pistols. Accurate, dependable, reliable, reasonably priced. Everybody should have one, or many. Recommended.
The club got some new ones yesterday, and I was fortunate enough to be among the first testers. New gub smell! Fresh out of the box, one failure to feed on the very first round (heavy oil still on the slide rails), then ticking like a Swiss watch thereafter and probably for evermore. Get some!
Except for Reagan in 1984, I’ve never voted for a Presidential candidate who won. (I would have voted for Trump in 2016 and 2024 but there was no record of my having registered. Corruption or incompetence? Good question. )
I’ve never voted for a Congressional candidate who won.
I don’t recall ever having voted for a state governor, legislator, or judge who won, though it’s possible that I did in my 20s.
In local races, I often know something about the candidates and will vote accordingly. Otherwise, I’ll generally vote against the incumbent.
I’ve helped local candidates on their campaigns, through time or donations. (Not both. When I have time, I don’t have money and vice versa.)
About the only thing I haven’t done is assassinate politicians of whom I disapprove. (In the United States. Overseas? Further deponent saith not.)
Take your collective guilt and shove it.
I approve, but getting this accomplished will require the politicians to push it through. This isn’t going to happen unless they are in fear of their lives by lynching or worse.
Let’s go with worse.
RIP.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/puppeteer-tv-producer-sid-krofft-142032819.html
I’ve never lived in a competitive House district since I turned 18.
Most of the districts were Republican-held “safe” seats.
Our last Congresscritter in Forida, Adam “Opie” Putnam, was the point man for Shrub in Congress on the last serious attempt at Amnesty. In return, he was promised the Florida Governor’s Mansion by 2018, but, thankfully, DeSantis made sure that didn’t happen by winning the Primary and then narrowly defeating the meth addict the Dems ran that year, preventing Opie from trying again in 2022.
I always voted against Opie but never for the Dem. I just picked one of the other names at random. Not that it mattered since he victory margin for that seat was always ~ 70-30.
I’m beginning to think that smugly telling Cali voters (or any) they got what they voted for is wrong. I don’t believe there has been an honest election in any Dem run county in decades.
————-
And then how well to those whole-house NG-powered gennies work?
— not very well. Even more importantly, what about the NG gennies at the hospital? The data center or telcom NOC? The regional 911 call center? The local fire house?
A lot of emgmt planning had to be redone when that idiotic ruling came down. Now most of those places have their gennies sitting on big tanks of diesel, but they aren’t big enough. Now there is a log train to get diesel powered trucks to deliver diesel to the gennies… which all generates soot and diesel exhaust.
NG is still the first line of defense, and probably good enough for most users, but the EPA made a robust system less robust, because their goals are not our goals.
———
71F this morning. I’m sneezing like crazy with watery eyes. Have been for the past couple of days too. Not awesome.
Didn’t sleep well. Don’t know why but woke about every hour. Probably too hot. I’m definitely removing the offending blanket from the bed today and going back to the old one. W says I brought the ‘new’ one home. Well, in the dead of winter it was fine. Now it’s too much.
——–
Time to re-poke the females. They’ve been late and rushing to school, which I don’t like, and there is no reason for except stubbornness.
n
Hey, did I mention that my last visit to Costco they’d cut the wine and beer area in half? And the wine emphasis was definitely on the low end of the price range. Pallets of Kirkland brand, only a few cases of others.
I’m seeing a trend to offer more lower cost options in stores.
n
The cigar catalogs I get have been focusing on the lower end of the price range too. The ad copy mentions value, affordability, poor man’s treats, discounts, and less desireable brands have been featured in the front of the catalog… one even did a feature on cheaper machine made cigars, which I haven’t seen in the years I’ve been getting the catalogs.
I’m taking it as a sign that buyers are hurting.
I’d still bet on “affordable luxury” doing ok, but I bet overall numbers will be down for everyone.
n
Costco is going to carry what generates cashflow and not what sells at the end of a contemplative process.
Colonists don’t care about the label on what they drink as long as the end result is getting wasted.
Also, Costco literally wrote the liquor deregulation in WA State and tried to do the same in other states as part of political packages tied to weed legalization. Deregulation is great for Costco’s cashflow but lousy for smaller players, incuding craft distillers, wineries, and breweries.
Strictly anectdotal, but, after weed legalization and the associated liquor deregulation passed, I noticed even Kroger struggled with the new retail environment in Vantucky.
“Affordable luxury” is a credit card transaction for most buyers. Those are going away.
BNPL will extend the insanity for a while, but the end is near as that kind of transaction is now covering rent and groceries.
Time for the return of Two Buck Chuck?
And intentionally drinking Hamm’s beer.
Or Garcia & Vega cigars (which my good friend Butch used to call “the best 50c cigar you’ll ever smoke”. 🙂
n
Or Pabst Blue Ribbon, “Dude, grab a PBR and chill.”
Colonists don’t go for cigars, and it was Show Ya types who used to work the IT jobs who had the money for that indulgence who fueled the industry emergence from being a fringe thing.
The remaining Show Yas and Propellerheads I work with are spending their money on weed and GLP-1.
The guy who sits right next to me at work has been on a GLP-1 for a couple of years. He’s a few years younger than I am but looks 70.
Two Buck Chuck is not $2 anymore, and my wife likes the Shaw wines for cooking since discovering them when we moved to WA State and had access to a real “neighborhood store” Trader Joe’s on a regular basis.
The closest Trader Joe’s to us in Texas is in a Fancy Lad shopping area 30 minutes from the house with limited parking. It isn’t a run in to get one item like the chain was for us in Vantucky.
The return of Hamm’s is a very carefully crafted marketing campaign run by MillerCoors since the pandemic ended and Canadians took control of the various brands under one corporate entity.
We saw the early stages of the marketing push in the merchandise store at the Miller Plank Road facility in 2023, the first tourist season at the brewery since the lockdowns in March 2020.
Madwoman, 31, abducts stranger’s toddler at knifepoint in Walmart and cuts him… before armed cops bring abduction to deadly conclusion
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15733315/walmart-omaha-noemi-guzman-toddler-abduction.html
– and in this case, “madwoman” is not hyperbole.
– always carry.
n
Colonists don’t go for cigars
– all the more reason to smoke them.
n
Finally the right treatment.
A beautiful cool morning.
From my favorite chair (think Sheldon) the sun has moved north far enough that, on rising, it is shining in my eyes for the first time this morning.
What we need is a good cigar with a bacon-flavored wrapper.
Well, it is “Hamms, the beer refreshing, Hamms.”
Wine and beer; What surprises ME here in Texas is that HEB has what appears to be an excellent selection of wine, and very reasonably priced. I’m the opposite of a “wine snob”; I don’t like the bitter taste of “dry” wines. My favorite wine is Berenger White Zinfandel, which is neither dry nor sweet, and HEB has it for a SUBSTANTIALLY lower price than the military package store at Ft. Sam Houston here in San Antonio.
Even our local “small” HEB has a decent wine selection. One whole aisle as long as the beer cooler.
n
Booze used to be tax exempt on military installations. Federal property not subject to state taxes. That produced too many people with alcohol problems. Tax is now collected on military installations. Same thing for cigarettes.
I will be going to Joint Base Randolph on this trip to the exchange, just to see if there is anything decent. It will be interesting to find if my DOD ID card works. The last trip my VA card would not work as access expired for Randolph even though the card was still valid. Randolph validation is only good for a year at a time. I will find out if Randolph will jerk me around on the DOD card, which is supposed to be valid at all installations at all times.
I’ve been looking for a used buckmark for a while. Haven’t found one at the right price yet.
n
Why go for used? Just press Ctrl-D and you can have a new one.
“The Hole Man” by Larry Niven. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hole_Man
I don’t think there has been an honest election in some California counties in about a decade, but, prior to that, the people in that state voted for it. They voted for it good and hard thinking that, in return, they would get that tenbagger on the stucco cr*p shacks their parents left them, protected from the real costs of funding that government under Proposition 13.
Now they are moving to Texas after cashing out in California and repeating the same voting patterns. They’ve already mortgaged this state’s residential real estate to the bond ghouls in the name of “education”. Next will be the US Senate seat in the Fall giving them election data to win statewide in the 2028 Presidential race and whenever Rafael Edward is up for reelection next.
The Republicans are only slightly less corrupt than the Dems. In my precinct, at least, the Republican party did not allow the Dominion ballot scanners to process their manually marked ballots on site.
Again, in Texas, it is the pursuit of the tenbagger. We may well get an income tax out of the next Legislative session, labelled “tax fairness”, similar to the large surplus giveaways labeled as “reform” in 2023 and 2025.
IDK, the people in my neighborhood are buying houses to live in, and to have access to our school district. I think there is a lot less “I’ll ride my house valuation up to wealth” than simply living.
Recent arrivals, economic migrants, may be different. I don’t see them so I don’t know.
Austin is very different from Houston though, being Cali light.
n
Austin is more like Hyderabad Light at this point, particularly the Williamson County part of the metro.
If the new residents move into your neighborhood for the school district, they are paying top dollar for the real estate. Even if they don’t expect a tenbagger, they will not accept a haircut when it comes time to downsize, and they will want compensation for feeding the bond ghouls over about a dozen years so that Snowflake has the best of everything at school.
I had to drive The Child up to college last night. She brought her car down here for some work and needed to leave it for a few days. During the hour drive she mentioned that she finds herself saying things like “I’m infected with a virus called Being Good At Everything” and then has to scream silently. “Aagggh! I sound like my dad!” (These statements are not unprompted. Her classmates will find out that she has the world record for speedrunning some games, gets paid to play piano, and is on the dean’s list and ask “How can you do all that?”)
If someone were to start crucifying colonists from the subcontinent, would that slow down the invasion?
Follow-up question: Why hasn’t someone who lives in or near Austin started doing so? Just lazy?
Easier to do what white people have always done, move away and make someplace else nice. Goes in waves, started with settlers and homesteaders, ends with “gentrification”.
n
More seriously, what do y’all think is the most pressing threat to US society:
Each is a more serious threat than the others on some axis.
It is said that the entire real estate market in the US is based on getting as far as possible from urban blacks without having a three-hour commute to work.
There’s a lot of truth to that. I’m not sure that’s entirely correct.
Yes.
I can say, because I saw it happen, Northcross Mall and Highland Mall in Austin went to shit very soon with OFE youths running around the place after the bus lines were extended.
I wonder if or when the bus lines will extend to The Domain? Or The Arboretum?
– the traditional boogie man (no second meaning meant) but less than 7% of the country and could be controlled with violence or incarceration
– indians (dot) are only 1.5% but are concentrated in specific areas. They have motivation and resources (some would say unlike urban blacks) and want things THEIR way. They will get it to, at least regionally. Our schools have ‘color runs’ as do our neighborhood groups, for example, and we are told when their major holidays are. They will colonize locally, but not a national problem – except in tech.
– the biggest group, with the most political and economic power, so the biggest threat. They hold so many contradictory and wrong ideas in their heads it’s impossible for them to see the future brought about by their actions, so they will put in motion things that will essentially end them. See also the destruction of the middle class by women’s lib (doubling the number of available workers, only half of them can’t do the jobs that needed doing, hence the shift from blue collar jobs being IN the USA), the civil rights movement (took the .gov coin and gave up control of their own lives and communities destroying the black middle class and the nuclear family in the process), sublimating “the white man’s burden” without getting rid of it, just shifting it to .gov, and the adoption of socialism and liberal progressivism as a religion while they abandoned trad religions.
Some of those factors interact and reinforce each other and enable the changes the first two groups would enact if they could.
n
There is much truth in what you say.
The light rail’s single line already runs from downtown to Q2 stadium near The Domain.
Cap Metro does limit the operating hours.
The big tech players like the indentured servant labor, and everyone’s retirement beyond Social Security is tied to the seven biggest stocks in the S&P, all some form of tech, so don’t expect a serious change in direction on H1B policy.
Nothing from the tech companies gets made for the consumer space within the US anymore. Maybe we will see some change in niche categories like routers in light of the upcoming import ban, but don’t expect MacBook Pro laptops rolling off of an assembly line domestically.
iPhones? Fuggedaboudit.
When the new ID card rules went into effect last year, the gates started inspecting IDs real close. I was able to get on with my 5 year expired card no problemo. The wife and I got our cards confiscated last year at Nellis. You couldn’t turn around and leave. You had to surrender your card or be arrested. Fortunately, we were there to get new IDs and got a pass at the guest shack pretty quickly. New cards don’t have an expiry date.y
Is Cap Metro even worth bothering with?
When I worked at 505 E 6th Street, I tried to use the bus. I really did. But first I had to walk about 10 blocks through neighborhoods to get to the stop on Burnet Road. Sometimes, maybe once a week, the bus was on time.
Lots of stops along the way and my get off stop was at 6th and Lamar. So, uh, another 12 block hike.
I gave up. I just rode my bicycle. Raining? Take a change of clothes. From 183 at Ohlen to work on my bike was easily an hour faster. Plus, I had a way home because working 4 to midnight and the busses stop at 11 pm.
I’m just sorta of aiming at the point that running the bus line to Highland Mall was intended to kill the mall.
Folks that have to use the bus to get around are not buying much of anything at Joskes or Dillards.
It’s very quiet today. Almost no traffic noise. Barely enough breeze to blow the cigarette smoke out of your face. If you smoke, I quit. Dark. I have to turn on the light in the kitchen to see what I’m doing. Might rain. Nothing but a few sprinkles. Pretty humid.
Spring!!!
Working around the house. Trying to make room in my office closet so I can move some stuff into it.
I’ve got 4 legal boxes of old magazines pulled out already.
Found some old tech.
Arduino. servo control board. TI “Launchpad” dev kits.
Good intentions. No follow thru.
n
Yeah, you don’ t want a bus stop outside your business.
n
The Highland Mall gradually became an ACC campus, slowly at first and then all at once.
Refusing to move a bus transfer station in Tampa killed the mall which used to be where the Tampa Bay Yucs training facility and VIP stadium parking now sits.
Once the football team tore down the mall, the county gave in to the demand to relocate the bus station.
I dunno, some strip malls might do well. Likely with tenants like this:
I had been saying, starting 15 or so years ago, that Austin was the “Berkeley of Texas”.
I forget if I mentioned this.
I’m going to smoke a brisket. Smoke it on Friday and into the oven overnight. Ready to eat on Saturday the 16rh of May. I texted a few folks. I’ll have a brisket, tortillas, some deviled eggs, and maybe Rotel cheese dip.
Y’all bring the sides you want. Beans, tater salad, lettuce and tomato salad, desserts. Oh, and what you want to drink.
Simple, yes? Two thumbs up and one “we’ll have to decide on the sides closer to the date”.
There’s nothing for me to decide. I’m making what I said. Come visit and eat. Bring what you want to share. Or not.
This event will work. If not, I’ll not try again.
I’m perhaps a jerk but I’m taking “the we’ll have to decide on the sides” as a way of saying No in a very passive way.
@paul, it’s certainly weird.
n
I need to swap out the UPS in the EDC. A power blink turns it off. Yeah, I get it, the batteries are shot. But turn back on, ok?
Grumble.
The spare is a year or two newer. And he’s not used it at all for the last two years.
Which is, well, I don’t know that word.
My DOD IS card has no expiration date. The card was issued about eight months ago at a DEERS office in Cookeville TN, basically a National Guard Installation. The problem is knowing if the card is registered to use at Randolph. Or is the card in the system that is used at the bases and having the card is good enough?
When I was told my VA Health Card, that had been registered before and allowed base access, and was still valid, but apparently not with Randolph, I had to do the turn-around of shame. The guard blocked the road and made me follow him to where I could turn around and exit. I am certain that people in back of me, that got delayed, probably thought I was some kind of loser.
My experience with the Exchange at Lackland was that it was loaded with cheap crap that basic trainees would buy for girlfriends visiting. A lot of perfume and purses.
Randolph Exchange was a little better. I was looking at the Apple products. Price was the same as Apple, but no tax. Big deal. I can save 10% on the Apple VA site which is a bigger savings than the tax. I thought I would do better with gas. Nope. Costco was cheaper.
ACC is a scam.
What is EDC other than Everyday Carry or Enterprise Domain Controller?
Typical Amish Woman at 50 vs Typical American Woman at 50
Should be no surprise to anyone.
Caution: not for those with queasy stomachs
>>NG pipeline compressors used to run on NG, so they were completely independent of the power grid. EPA mandated the compressors be replaced with electric ones, and now when the electric grid goes down, the NG system will follow it.
And then how well to those whole-house NG-powered gennies work?
My whole house NG powered genny works great. Starts in ten seconds when the grid power goes away. But I spent the extra bucks and bought a liquid cooled unit with plenty of reserve power so I can build a second house, man cave, at my property.
But if the pipeline NG goes away then life will suck as it uses $30 of natural gas a day at 0.8 psig pressure.
ERCOT now knows where the pipeline NG wells and compressors are at and will not black them out unless the whole state goes in the ditch. Which, almost happened in Feb 2021 but that was only a 50% reduction in the ability to serve the electric demand.
EDC is Embryo Development Center. The building where the incubator for emu eggs was.
I forget how we came up with the name. It’s been a while.
Probably a sitting on the porch thing like when we had 18 P words for Penny.
Precious Perfect Puppy Princess Poo Pup Pretty Paws Penny. etc.
Beer involved? Yes. Embarrassed? Not a bit.
Anyway. When I first got a wireless connection, I did not want a 40 foot pushup mast lightning rod attached to the house. I had Ethernet from the house to the EDC. Back then we called it the Incubator Building. This was in the days of Win3.11. Simple. Put that out there. Along with the spare fridge and a deep freezer.
Things change. EDC stuck as a name.
Arlo and Janis: Outdoor Shower
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2026/04/14
All outdoor showers that I have seen have a door.
Go to the previous day to see Janis in the outdoor shower without a door.
“Do You See Where This is Headed?”
https://areaocho.com/do-you-see-where-this-is-headed/
“They are “othering” the right so they can justify what they are about to do. Look, my wife and I made a quarter million last year. They already took more than a quarter of what I made through taxes, and that isn’t enough. It’s coming, and things are going to get ugly as hell.”
“I’ve been warning my readers for 6 years that this is a communist takeover in the making. I’ve been telling you to prep. They are coming. Trump was only a speedbump.”
Gated neighborhoods will only be a speedbump also.
“That’s Just Crazy Talk”
https://areaocho.com/thats-just-crazy-talk/
“Of course, it is foolish to engage in an armed battle with the cops when they show up to your house to confiscate your guns. That’s letting the enemy dictate the time and place of the engagement.”
“Instead, fight them the way the left fought Charlie Kirk.”
“You know, with discussion and debate. What else did you think I meant?”
Crap, it is time to start burying our guns. I though we had two more years.
Buried guns are worthless.
My backup generator runs on propane and I have a 325 gallon tank. Natural gas is not available here. Doesn’t seem to use a lot. I kicked on last year and ran for three hours and I was only barely able to see the useage on the guage.
If you think it’s time to start burying guns, it’s time to dig them up and get them ready for use. And get yourself ready.
Well, TBH, you should have enough gubs to do both…
I don’t know what a DOD IS card is. Your VA Health Card should get you onto any DOD facility that has a commissary, clinic/hospital or Exchange. If it meets the current CAC standards it should be in the system. Randolph may be manned by baboons. How old is you VA card?
I assumed it was a typo for DOD ID card.
I assumed it was a typo for DOD ID card.
Ah, in that case it has to meet the new standards.
Sen. Ruben Gallego Suddenly Seems Panicky for Some Reason
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/04/15/sen-ruben-gallego-seems-panicky-for-some-reason-n2201328
The Dem coverup machine seems to be having a bit of a problem.
If Gallego goes down a lot of other victims will be emboldened. It’s going to be interesting to see how desperate things get. Will the Dems target a Republican, or attempt to cut a deal with the RINO’s? Will it be time to pull the wraps off the House r*pist protection fund?
I don’t either. I have the DOD ID card, the “S” is next to “D” on the iPad keyboard.
It does, or supposed to. The first time I used Randolph I had to get the card and myself registered at guest services. I think/guess that registration expires after a year even though the VA health card is still active. That card is still good until 2028.
I cannot use the hospital unless the injury is life threatening.
I don’t know if I have to get registered at Randolph the first time I access the base. And do it every year. Does the DEERS registration database span all military facilities?
downvote?
the Dem coverup machine has tentacles into this very board!
Excellent podcast by my son-in-law. Brad’s first is well done.
https://youtube.com/shorts/c90mU8sZ148?si=RFnBaFQ9eXe383q5
B-21 Raider Seen From Above For The First Time
https://www.twz.com/air/b-21-raider-like-you-have-never-seen-it-before
A couple of mysteries tonight.
I was about to say the same thing; don’t bury your guns. USE THEM.
>>There are still a few lost ants wandering aimlessly indoors this morning, but I am mopping them up as they appear.
Hopefully no M/F pairs left behind…we see how that worked out for Adam/Eve…
>>I’ve got 4 legal boxes of old magazines pulled out already.
Stacked as tinder, right?
I’ve been
hoardingsaving the quarterly journal published for one of my non-prep hobbies and the large-format catalogs sold for the other. Both stacks will be some bit of profit on eBay when I get to listing them. If nothing else it covers the dues.>>Yeah, you don’ t want a bus stop outside your business.
Better than having one inside…all those diesel fumes and such 😉
>>If you think it’s time to start burying guns, it’s time to dig them up and get them ready for use. And get yourself ready.
Plenty of DIY articles out there (DDGIYF) on in-house concealment projects so that when the doorbell rings you can say “what gubs? Lost them all in the ’16 flood.”
better to have some to give up, while the unpapered ones are elsewhere. If they’re at the door, they know you had some.
n
Sat out for a bit, had a nice tiny little fire. Saw a dark colored cat – pretty big one. And the giant ginger cat came by for a look… these strays are huge. And it’s weird the way they walk on the side walk and flagstone path, instead of cutting across the lawn.
—-
Time for a shower and bed. I should have taken some meds proactively, but didn’t remember until it was too late to have them out of my system by morning. Dang. Maybe just some tylenol then. Those boxes of magazines were almost too heavy for me to manage. I’m getting weak in my old age.
n
added- and of course, the answer is ‘use smaller boxes.’