If the weather continues to be something I can work with, I’ll keep working. It was 76F when I went to bed. Really nice. And it never got crazy hot except while the sun was shining. If we get more mixed clouds and overcast, with a breeze, it will be perfect for working on the chimney.
Speaking of which, I made good progress, tearing it down to the roof flashing. I will switch to working on a scaffold today which is shakier than working from the roof. I will continue to use my fall protection. I also got the mower running again, changed the oil, but didn’t have a filter. I dumped the dirty oil and reinstalled the filter, and will replace it when the correct filter comes in. I also ordered the gasket I need to replace on the old carb, so I’ll have a spare after that comes in. Three trailers of brick debris got hauled to my “piles of stuff” area. Then I even got to float on the water for a while at dusk.
Dinner was canned peas and a pork chop from 2023. Still delicious.
Today I’ll continue on the chimney if it’s not raining. I burned a tiny bit through my t shirt yesterday, so I’ll be more careful today. If it’s raining, there is a long list I can work on inside. There’s always more to do.
W is doing a bunch of household maintenance for her folks. The kids are sleeping. Teens.
Always be working to improve your situation, and stack what you might need.
nick
Monday. Good morning!
Megaproject murmured along yesterday afternoon. Stuff reached me at 23:38, and again around 03:00 this morning. I turned it around by 10:00, but I’m tired now at 11:00. Breakfast, then a nap.
Nick’s progress sounds good!
Thanks for the moral support, Nick!
I have no desire or need to be heroic (I will get no meaningful thanks), but I had to weigh up which is less unpleasant: working late at the weekend when all is relatively quiet, or leaving it until this morning when everyone around me is panicking and making my difficult work more difficult. The midnight oil won. I will recuperate the overtime, at least.
Ah, well, if you are rewarded and compensated for the extra effort, then ok. I had a mentor who said “always know how you are getting paid, and never work for free.” He went on to say that he didn’t mean that you had to be paid cash, or large amounts of cash, but you needed to know what you were getting for your work. You might volunteer but you are meeting people you would like to meet, or you might take a token fee, but you are getting a moral or emotional reward (working for a charity.) Or you might rake in big piles of money because you really don’t like the people involved.
———
77F and overcast, drippy rain, so 99%RH. Distant thunder too. I think I might not be able to start on the chimney.
Slept poorly. Woke every hour on the hour (plus or minus) probably because of neck pain. I will spend some time on the inversion table today. Low back is muscle pain, easily taken care of and normal. The pinching in the neck is new this last month.
——–
coffee is perking. Bacon is cooked. Once the coffee is ready, I’ll make the egg and english muffin.
n
About that…
During the lowest period of my life, while suffering from depression , in counseling, on antidepressants and antianxiety medication, and going through a divorce, I was also in the worst job I ever had. I knew I needed to change, and that it was time to do some serious job hunting.
But I was also a source of stability and strength to my coworkers, who were also suffering from the awful institution we worked for, Saint Louis University. I remember discussing this with my counselor, how I couldn’t just abandon them. I kept putting off my job search.
To my detriment, I stayed way too long, and ended up getting fired one day. It was not a surprise; I was a thorn in management’s side, what with insisting on doing things correctly and ethically.
What was a surprise was that all of them got fired the same day. It was a massacre. They only kept the youngest, prettiest female. Everyone over 40 and white was fired.
I was unemployed for 14 months, and that’s when I learned that EEOC is a joke if you’re old and white.
It’s back, and working to get free.
– um, in series, when a trial ending event takes place, none of the rest of the tests happen, right? In parallel, ALL the tests could have bad endings. The groups getting end stage tests in serial know that it passed all the earlier tests. Not so in parallel. I think this is a HUGE change, and looks like someone pulling a fast one.
n
“willing adults in the UK”
What genotype?
RIP Dr. Alan Grant.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/13/entertainment/sam-neill-jurassic-park-dead-intl-hnk
The Beard, Stan Winston, and the CGI team get the press for “Jurassic Park”, but Neill sells the first dinosaur reveal.
I’ve used Google Image search before. Drop a picture on the page and get more of the same. Like, what is this bug? More pictures and an answer.
Today all I get are fabric swatches. Various colors, various colors, even from the same picture. I disabled pi-hole and Adblock Plus. No change. Just fabric swatches.
I wonder if I broke something?
Various fabric textures, various colors. Proofreading? Who? Me?
Maybe AI has had a look at your interior decorating and has some advice?
Or is subtly suggesting some clothes would be appropriate??
n
For image searches, I’ve had great results pasting an image into the Grok search engine.
Upright and breathing.
Seeing a lot in the news about flock cameras getting knocked down . Interesting times.
Mother in law has graduated from the skilled nursing facility and returned home. Two stories with finished basement- they bought it ten years ago against our advice they hold out for a single story. So we emptied their dining room and made it a bedroom. Father in law has frequently joked over the years that “too much is never enough” and we felt the full force of him acting on that not so whimsical impulse as we struggled to make room in their home. First floor lacks a shower, she can sort of do stairs after lots of pt with a sturdy companion to steady her. Father in law is mighty ticked at us for intervening in making the home more or less safe for her after his months (years really) of inaction on their hoarder like living conditions.
It’s been a lot. We insisted they start in home care, compromised on two days a week, 4 hours a visit. We intend that to go to 5 days by the end of the month.
They’ve both got cognitive decline that prevents them from being reliable with their prescription meds.
A book that has been enormously helpful is
”My Mothers Money”
Highly recommend reading it for your own planning. My in laws have enough funds to deal with stuff, but they’ve been completely unprepared in terms of planning their graceful decline and setting up financial and health framework in advance of their cognitive stuff. It’s predictable that most of us will have serious cognitive decline. we should get our plans together and act on them before we get the dumb.
I’m fed up with old people right now. In case you hadn’t noticed rueful grin
Warm and almost muggy.
Spent the morning doing upkeep and maintenance – moving a soaker hose to a new tree, policing the yard for dog t*rds and then mowing (order of events is important), snipping away a some dead/diseased tomato plants,etc.
After a couple hours of enduring the humidity from the swamp cooler indoors I have turned to the mechanical air -so much nicer.
In theory the Chihuahuas go home today, in practice it depends on how tired my friends are when they get back to town: whether they can make it out here to pick them up usually depends on the traffic endured coming home.
Don‘t let that affect what needs to be done. You have to be stern and act in their best interests. My BIL got really ticked at his son for forcing the removal of junk from the BIL’s home. I was there and it had to be done.
Do what you need to accomplish.
I logged into Google. Still just fabric swatches. Maybe it’s a Mint thing? I’ll give it a try on Moa when I think about it. Not a big deal. Just, it use to work.
Thass rayciss!
“Trump Embraces Australian Retirement System Backed by Larry Fink”
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-embraces-australian-retirement-system-backed-by-larry-fink-130000612.html
“Asset managers and retirement policy experts alike often look with envy on Australia’s rapidly growing $3.1 trillion retirement system. In the early 1990s, that country passed legislation that required employers to supplement workers’ wages with contributions to privately managed pensions.”
“The contribution rate has gradually risen to 12% of employee salaries, including for part-time workers. In total, the system is on pace to be the world’s second-largest retirement plan within the next decade.”
“Meanwhile, the US is facing its own retirement crisis. The Social Security trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2032, which would require significant cuts to promised benefits. Outside of government benefits, most workers are woefully undersaved: Among the 5 million people in 401(k)-type plans administered by Vanguard, the median balance was just $44,115 last year. That’s not even accounting for the roughly 40% of private-sector workers who don’t have access to that kind of plan.”
Sounds like something the liberals would use for a huge slush fund in the USA.
Check your ‘Safe Search’ settings? In case it’s trying to protect you from yourself.
Over The Hedge: Yard Invaders
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2026/07/13
Yeah, we have almost ten million of these in Texas. I have shot them and shot at them. They all need to be shot on sight.
South Carolina Gov. McMaster Taps Darline Graham Nordone to Fulfill the Rest of Lindsey Graham’s Term
https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2026/07/13/south-carolina-gov-henry-mcmaster-taps-darline-graham-to-fulfill-the-rest-of-lindsey-grahams-term-n2204286
On Monday, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) held a press conference to announce the person who will serve the remainder of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R) term. As RedState reported earlier, both President Donald Trump and McMaster indicated that their choice to fill the seat would be none other than Lindsey Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone.
“Things That An Average Person Would Do During A Zombie Apocalypse”
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVetbrkZEL5SMncLAl0hGU4rySVzANjknUlAJs4btZkRF1U9mO0Hv2eycSc83swXYnQ2XrYP6rQ8-71KG4KuDw2tGhxpGgyYZlZtGmvqwe_6KASXUtoBIzdYiLk18iZLFGj2GzWnkI2ElU180dLJ3n-pPgvWCjSmKLDvgyL6OvNoX_gJ67MRH3ssJM2g4/s550/Meme%20-%20zombie%20apocalypse.png
Yup, those are all appropriate, especially the big one.
From:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/07/memes-that-made-me-laugh-319.html
Safe Search is off. Ain’t skeered of seeing naked pictures.
Aw heck, might even see a naked picture I like.
“Your Cars Are Snitches, Bitches”
https://areaocho.com/your-cars-are-snitches-bitches/
“In a sign of things to come, a Waymo autonomous vehicle in California pulled into a parking lot, locked the passengers inside, and notified police when two 15 year old passengers were drinking alcohol and shooting nearby pedestrians with water guns.”
“There are those who would call me a criminal lover for being opposed to that. Consider where this is going- your car will monitor you for everything illegal and drive you to the cops when it detects lawbreaking behavior. Tore the tags off your mattress? Didn’t follow the instructions on that can of bug spray to the letter? I promise you that each and every one of us breaks the law each and every day.”
Oh my. And you will pay through the nose for all of these features in your vehicle.
“We Will Build (The Kurtherian Gambit #8)” by Michael Anderle
https://www.amazon.com/We-Will-Build-Kurtherian-Gambit/dp/B0CHL9MZZ8?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number eight of a twenty-one book science fiction and paranormal fantasy series. There is also an eleven book follow on series and several other books related to the The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, over 200 books in total. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon in 2026. I own the next book in the series already. The related series are listed at:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?46598
The series is a cross between science fiction and paranormal fantasy. A thousand plus years ago, an alien space ship crash landed in the Baltics. A man, Michael, found the space ship, went inside, and was forever changed into the first vampire using alien nanocytes. However, there were werewolves and werebears already existing on Earth and they still exist.
Michael has sired vampires and they have sired vampires. But only one of the vampire “children” is a daywalker like Michael. And Michael enforces strict rules among the vampires and the weres, no blood drinking, no letting humans know of them, etc. Violators of Michael’s rules face swift termination.
But it has been thousand years since Michael was changed and he now sleeps for years at a time. Michael’s helpers found a young woman named Bethany Anne working for the USA government who is dying of a rare blood disease. Michael took her to the alien space ship to become the second first generation vampire on Earth. Bethany Anne’s people have duplicated the anti-gravity drive from the alien space ship and built many small space ships. Now Bethany Anne is cleaning Earth of terrorists and getting ready to launch her Moon base.
This series is real pulp like old science fiction with lots of action and dialogue. I love it !
Warning: this series might be damaging to your savings account since there are so many books.
The author has a website at:
https://lmbpn.com/
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (4,030 reviews)
Lynn
I need to buy a Starlink cable and get that run into the attic and down the wall. I can do it myself. Then I need to buy another eve mount.
The best place I see is on the front porch roof. It’s not flat. It’s a square. Tipped a bit with one corner up. Same metal as the roof. It’s tipped so it drains onto the roof. Which drains into the rain gutters.
Anyway. The mounting place is not quite vertical. Fender washers as shims will be needed. It’s cool. I have how to do it all in my head. But someone needs to hold the ladder or just be here to call 911 if I fall.
Eyeballing it, the tilt is about three inches across 17 or 18 feet. I can mount the new mount vertical in one direction but I need to be able to adjust the tilt in the other direction. So I guess about five fender washers or maybe two shock absorber washers would be enough.
Galvanized chain link fencing bolts will work perfectly.
Plans.
Fink is a leftist who has used Blackrock to drive the DEI agenda.
Wall Street is out of ideas about how to fund the capex to keep the Monkey Trick from running out of steam.
They can only unload so many IPOs like SpaceX onto the sheeple through the voluntary 401(k) plans.
Here is the roof: https://remsset.com/files/roof.jpg So you can see what I’m talking about.
Old picture. No ceiling fan. No gas grill or patio table because they are still on the back patio.
My plan is to mount the Starlink wall bracket about a foot and half to the right of the corner. Centered over the walkway.
VW CEO Taking Some Vicious Lumps on His Fahrvergnoggen
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/07/13/new-vw-ceo-taking-some-vicious-lumps-on-his-fahrvergnoggen-n3816896
The labor unions control the board. A rational man would call a press conference and tell them that they either trim the workforce of the whole company is going down and they will have nothing–no jobs and no pensions. In the meantime life is too short and they can take their job and shove it.
He should walk onstage to Johnny Paycheck.
The German auto labor unions should be sat down for a little chat with the machinist and pilot unions which refused to compromise, bankrupted Eastern Airlines, and resulted in the loss of those union jobs.
“Saudi Jets Bomb Sanaa International Airport to Stop Iranian Passenger Plane From Landing”
https://thelibertydaily.com/saudi-jets-bomb-sanaa-international-airport-stop-iranian/
“(ZeroHedge)—Renewed conflict continues to be potentially breaking out over Yemen, as on Monday Saudi Arabia struck the runway of the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport, amid growing allegations that Iranian flights have increasingly made use of Yemen’s airspace.”
The conflagration is spreading.
“Microsoft’s Indian CEO Just Fired 3,200 American Workers While Filing for 5,000 New H-1B Visas”
https://rumble.com/v7cnr5c-microsofts-indian-ceo-just-fired-3200-american-workers-while-filing-for-500.html?e9s=src_v1_upp_v
And another judge just said that Trump cannot charge $100,000 for each H-1B visa.
Another judge can cram tannerite up his fourth point of contact and sneeze.
If you need a diversion, tickets go on sale Friday for the Fathom Events 35th anniversary re-release of “Terminator 2”.
Vit ze Ahhhhnold und ze Linda Hamilton und ze Robert Patrick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZgIESxakso
BTW, where is “Aliens” this summer? It is 40 years for that flick, and, except for Paul Reiser’s hair and wardrobe, the movie has aged well.
Iranian Drones in Cuba? Here’s What Trump Knows.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cameron-arcand/2026/07/13/trump-reveals-hes-looking-into-reports-of-iranian-drones-in-cuba-n2679367
Treat them like they are still in Iran, and show the Cuban a map with their country labeled “Iran West” and annotated “Free Fire Zone”.
If they can afford drones then they aren’t getting squeezed hard enough.
For anyone who liked Godzilla Minus One (and if you saw it and didn’t like it, you’re wrong), Godzilla Minus Zero is scheduled for early November. Teasers show many returning cast members. Same director and same special effects studio. I’m pessimistic by policy but I think I’m going to set that aside and have high hopes for this one.
What a day.
Light rain on and off all day. I don’t think it got above 80F though. And during the dry times, I did get work done. I took down a couple more feet of chimney. Three garden trailers full, just like yesterday.
I fell asleep after lunch so I missed the hottest part of the day and the part that the chimbly is in full sun. So I worked a little later getting everything buttoned up. Had to make a temp panel to fill the gap in the roof. I’ll make something more permanently temporary before the week is over.
Nap cost me doing much of any inside work.
Dinner was spiral sliced ham frozen in 2023 and a can of beans. I guess I stocked the freezers up here in 2023.
Oh well, time for a tiny little fire and then an early bed.
n
added — even with the nap it’s clear I’m tired. I got several minor injuries, cuts and a pinch on my fingers. I banged my head twice on the scaffold too. Physical work takes it out of me.
n
Jeb!
Something doesn’t pass the smell test.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/iranian-drones-in-cuba-could-threaten-south-florida-officials-warn/3831377/
Likewise. No physical injuries (or no more than expected when getting a racecar ready for transport and loading up most of a ton of clutter into the towing truck, repairing fencing with wire and pliers, beating on a trailer because the dang ramp won’t extend, and so on) but I’ve been having a lot of errors in judgment. Plus sitting and staring when I should be doing paying work.
However, these errors in judgment aren’t as bad as the one on the day I got married, so there’s that.
Same. Most expensive decision of my life, ruined my physical health, caused mental trauma, and made me wonder if I should keep living.
Got a really cool $250,000 legal education, though. But no J.D. from it, just intimate experience with the “justice” system.
I had lunch with my younger sister today. It was a bit unexpected; she reached out a couple of days ago to set it up. Since our family is charitably described as “a bit distant” I was concerned that there was bad news coming. No, it was a sibling brag, showing off her new hybrid Jeep. Well, it could have been so much worse. At least it’s not a Tesla. There was other good news too; her younger offspring is now gainfully employed, which for him at 28 (or 29; Im not certain) is a win. Our family is an ASD showcase at least 2 generations deep, so personal success is never guaranteed. We discussed that as well as the startling observation that we are no longer the young’uns. A good visit, with the traditional “sometime again, but sooner” at the end.
It was monsoon weather in the high desert, tho nothing but a few hot drops of rain now and then. I knocked off yard work at lunch and just did some reading and a bit of YouTube afterwards.
The window units, 18k BTU altogether, kept it to a pleasant 75F or so Inside. They are saying 109F Wednesday, so I will bring out the other 12K unit before then.
Friends are back, late, but their car a/c failed at the start of their vacation and they asked if they coukd pick up dogs tomorrow. I’ve driven the I-5 in the southern valley in July myself, so yeah, no problem.
Nice quiet night on the lake, the way I like it. Almost no man made noise at all, and no dogs barking either.
Gonna have a snack and head to bed.
n