Still hot, gonna be 100+F today. And humid too. We’ve had such a nice mild spring and summer that it’s a bit shocking when it goes back to normal. Good money for the HVAC guys.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t find a real definitive problem with my rent house HVAC. I think just age and filth combined to cause an issue. But I’m meeting my new HVAC guy there today to see what he says. Ask a barber if you need a haircut…
I also did a couple of pickups. Got a case of “ear candling” cones that will make excellent fire starters at the BOL. They had 70K of them so they were giving them away by the case. It’s a lifetime’s worth.
Today, besides the HVAC, I’ve got to go to Alvin to pickup some stuff. That’s a bunch of driving and I have to be back to get the kid home from her school thing. If I can, I’ll swing by a second pickup and get that stuff too. It’s a mix of resale, preps, and household stuff.
There’s always more to do.
Stack so you can save a little time, you’ll need it to do something later.
nick
Furrin fraud for SteveF. Come in, SteveF…
Thursday. Good morning!
I see that the old photos went up in the week my mother died. No wonder I missed them. Thinking of absent friends… The Child has doubtless grown into a lovely young woman in the meanwhile. Too bad about the dad!
Back at the BOL. Domestic stuff to do this morning, including bringing a carload to the recycling park. Getting a new head joint put on my e-Bike too. My semi-centenarian back is not liking the low mountain-bike angle, so I need to raise the handlebars by an inch or two.
Back to the woods and bashing Bambi this evening.
Have a lovely day!
TFFT. Just heard on the news that megaproject has concluded. Now I can, hopefully, relax and enjoy the rest of my time off until next week.
They grew up and became music producers listening to crap that I don’t identify as music. AI will replace then and the timeline is months.
The pump itself is not the problem as much as the hand-beaded (!) seals which keep the coolant out of the crankcase.
A vigilant shop has to maintain the vehicle and check the weephole hidden between the alternator and the engine block for signs of coolant leaking.
We got “lucky” in that the inner seal failed and the coolant leaked in a sufficiently large quantity out the weephole that the alternator was damaged before the outer seal failed and dropped fluid into the engine oil.
That generation was a popular grocery getter ten years ago and was a cross shop with the Honda Pilot with a usable third row of seats thanks to the front wheel drive platform.
The Muppets replaced Aerosmith on the roller coaster at whatever The Mouse calls its LA/studio-themed park in Orlando these days, closing the old ride before the 50th anniversary of the band’s breakthrough album.
I can’t decide if that is deliberate or a goof on Disney’s part.
I’m one of a handful of people on the planet who appreciate the gag behind the casting of the band’s manager in the previous incarnation of the ride, but I’m old.
Share please!
84 F at 7 am here in Fort Bend County. That is abnormal. Bertha is right off the coast and compressing our atmosphere, making things hotter. It was 104 F here yesterday about 5 pm.
Bertha is coming back our way and gonna dump some rain on us inland hopefully.
https://spacecityweather.com/blobby-bertha-will-pass-through-houston-later-with-a-few-gusty-downpours/
They’re baby ducks, but at least they are finally realizing they need to know more. Note that he’s a music PRODUCER and he’d never heard Boston, or Supertramp…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD5Rv7YWccg
Gen-Z Music Producer Listens to SUPERTRAMP for the First Time | Breakfast In America
There are a bunch of these kids on youtube and their lack of awareness is stunning, but at least they’re working on it.
n
I really enjoyed this. Stayed up way too late listening. My daughter came in and stated that she knew several of these songs from remakes, especially the title song.
It was an awesome album. When I was young and just listening to whatever was on AM radio (WLS in Chicago, followed by WLUP on FM, and sometimes WXRT) I didn’t understand what made the song or album great, I just knew it was. I’m learning more than I ever knew about music from Rick Beato and the youtube algorithm suggesting stuff. Rick is doing some fantastic interviews too.
————–
87F and gusty here. FEMA map says houston is in the “maybe gets up to ½ rain ” in the next three days zone. This should be a nothingburger for us.
————–
Time to grab breakfast and head to my rent house. I”m fairly certain the HVAC guy will be late, but if not, I know he’s busy and don’t want him waiting for me.
n
Time to grab breakfast and head to my rent house. I”m fairly certain the HVAC guy will be late, but if not, I know he’s busy and don’t want him waiting for me.
All of the HVAC guys around here are triple booked until November when hunting season starts.
I am free, I am free. Good Lord, I am free. The defendants all settled their cases and the judge told us thanks and goodbye.
I suspect that the defendants took a look at the 40 of us pissed off people and decided that the prosecutors offer was not so bad after all.
It was an awesome album. When I was young and just listening to whatever was on AM radio (WLS in Chicago, followed by WLUP on FM, and sometimes WXRT) I didn’t understand what made the song or album great, I just knew it was. I’m learning more than I ever knew about music from Rick Beato and the youtube algorithm suggesting stuff. Rick is doing some fantastic interviews too.
I am looking forward to his analysis of the first Boston album. The band Boston was unique since the lead guitarist owned the band, wrote the songs and music, is 6’5″, and has a bachelors and masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltKhK8a1ZZU
My middle brother had this album in vinyl in 1979 or so. I would steal it and play on my stereo system when I came home from college.
“Jack Smith Hit With Criminal Referral for Lying to Congress About Spying on Lawmakers”
https://economiccollapse.report/jack-smith-hit-with-criminal-referral-for-lying-to-congress-about-spying-on-lawmakers/
“The special counsel who spent years trying to put Donald Trump in prison just got referred for criminal investigation himself. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan dropped the hammer Wednesday, accusing Jack Smith of willfully lying under oath about how deep his team dug into private text messages from members of Congress.”
“This is not some technical dispute over paperwork. This is about a prosecutor who told Congress one story under oath, then got caught by documents showing something else entirely.”
Yes, throw this lying and spying scumbag in jail!
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“PATRIOTS: Here Is a List of the 7 Republicans Who Voted Against the NDAA”
https://thelibertydaily.com/here-is-list-7-republicans-who-voted-against/
And Chip Roy from Texas is in that list. Yup, I am glad that he lost his bid for state office. Chip Roy is not a good guy.
I don’t know about the DOW and Israel thing. I am not worried though, maybe I should be.
And the crude oil futures is up to $92 today. Actually, Crude Oil should be $100 per US barrel to make the industry healthier.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL%3DF/
I am looking forward to his analysis of the first Boston album. The band Boston was unique since the lead guitarist owned the band, wrote the songs and music, is 6’5″, and has a bachelors and masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltKhK8a1ZZU
Yeah , he is correct. Boston’s problem was that they released their Greatest Hits album first so that all the follow on albums could not measure up to the first album.
I saw Boston in concert a decade ago here in Sugar Land. They were awesome.
Sigh:
Rep Brandon Gill Introduces Bill to End Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal ‘Invaders’
Does this bill have any chance of making it to tRump’s desk? Congress never seems to act on Constitutional issues.
Why make a definitive statement when you can rely on judges and emanations to mean whatever you want them to mean?
———
Back from my rent house. $165 for cleaning and adjusting. Basically cleaned the coils and adjusted air balance. That dropped the system temp, making it cool better, and got more air into the bedroom.
The compressor replacement at the house only cost $1300 in labor. I thought it would be double that. Good guy, good company.
———
It’s starting to be windy and overcast here. LOOKS stormy… even if we’re not supposed to get much.
I’m headed to Alvin for a pickup so I hope the rain holds off. It def isn’t as hot as yesterday.
n
As long as you include rap with that. I’m with you. Aside from not being music, the lyrics are too often just unimaginative, offensive crap.
That sounds like great design…not. Reminds me of a car I owned briefly. The fuel feed to the carbuerator was a copper pipe plugged into a hole. Which was fine. The problem was: GM apparently used the carbuerator on a lot of different models, so there were a lot of holes. Plugged with little bits of lead. Lead softens when warm. One time, when driving, one of those other plugs came out, along with lots of gas, which caught fire.
The main damage was the wiring harness, which was a total loss. Thankfully, old car, so I was able to trace all of the wires and replace them one by one. Then I sold the damned thing as fast as I could. This was late 1970s, but still: a $200 car, and you know what you’re getting…
In other news, I finished my latest dry stone wall on Wednesday. I have one, at most two more than I intend to build. Not sure if I will do another one this summer – time is flying by, and school start in 3-4 weeks. I’ve done zero prep, so I’ll have to start on that soon.
For my old school, I am teaching one last course. The damned bureaucracy has gotten out of hand: extending my contract to cover just one more course is apparently too difficult. So I’m teaching it as what the US would call an “adjunct”. Aside from the lower pay, it also means that I basically had to fill out forms like I’ve never been there: Name, address, marital status, bank account, etc. Dumb, just dumb.
I’d tell them where to stuff it, but I don’t want to let my boss down – he’s a good guy, and has gone to bat for me in other areas over the years. Also the students – some number of them are in the course precisely because I’m teaching it for the last time ever. And it’s not bad money – not like the starvation wages adjuncts in the US get – but a lot lower than what I earned as a professor.
Ah, well, life moves on. And I’m enjoying teaching the teenies at the trade school.
I went into town yesterday and picked up a window swamp cooler, to assist the anemic roof unit. And a gear puller from HF for said roof unit.
Now to decide where to put the new unit.
Went by my friend’s son’s house with lunch & dropped off a 12 pack of beer as a temporary housewarming gift. He is headed out on overseas work today, so I told him he had until he got back to think of a real gift. He and the GF are in their late 20s and have lots of stuff, so it is hard to think of something.
Home at 3pm and too tired to do anything else.
Maybe something today, but probably not.
As long as you include rap with that. I’m with you. Aside from not being music, the lyrics are too often just unimaginative, offensive crap.
I like Slim Shady … sometimes. Eminem.
For my old school, I am teaching one last course. The damned bureaucracy has gotten out of hand: extending my contract to cover just one more course is apparently too difficult. So I’m teaching it as what the US would call an “adjunct”. Aside from the lower pay, it also means that I basically had to fill out forms like I’ve never been there: Name, address, marital status, bank account, etc. Dumb, just dumb.
I’d tell them where to stuff it, but I don’t want to let my boss down – he’s a good guy, and has gone to bat for me in other areas over the years. Also the students – some number of them are in the course precisely because I’m teaching it for the last time ever. And it’s not bad money – not like the starvation wages adjuncts in the US get – but a lot lower than what I earned as a professor.
You know, when they say it is not about the money, it is about the money.
@brad
rap is crap
I cleaned and moved the chicken coop this morning, then mowed. The hens were out for a couple hours and greatly enjoyed their freedom … except that several wanted to get into the coop before I’d finished moving it. I finished it, put the washed parts back in (they weren’t bone-dry after sitting in the sun, but close enough), and threw in straw and wood chips. Several went up, scratched disapprovingly at the new straw, then settled in.
I’m pretty sure one hen laid in the bushes, from the clucking before I’d finished moving things. I looked but didn’t see anything. But the bushes are a dense mass and I generally can’t see even a grown chicken when they’re under them.
They really really like the “treat” feed that I got a few weeks ago, the mix of cracked corn, seeds, crumble, dried fruit bits, and I don’t know what else. I got about a pint of the feed, let a few of them smell it from where they were scratching in the mulch under some trees, and easily led them into the run, where I scattered the feed into the grass.
One of these times I might set out a handful of dishes with different treats: fresh lettuce, a handful of dried black fly larvae, diced fat trimmed from a beef subprimal, the treat feed, raisins, and watermelon. See if I can make their tiny little brains explode from having too many choices. Most likely it wouldn’t even be an issue. Each hen would run to a random dish, then constantly shuttle to another dish when they saw that some other hen was eating from it.
A year or two ago I set out two small piles of corn, separated by six or eight feet, for three hens who happened to wander near where I was working. They spent more time running between piles than pecking at the corn. This surely demonstrates something, possibly that chickens have very small brains but more likely just that I’m getting too much entertainment from these dumbheads.
@brad
For my old school, I am teaching one last course. The damned bureaucracy has gotten out of hand: extending my contract to cover just one more course is apparently too difficult. So I’m teaching it as what the US would call an “adjunct”. Aside from the lower pay, it also means that I basically had to fill out forms like I’ve never been there: Name, address, marital status, bank account, etc. Dumb, just dumb.
I’d tell them where to stuff it, but I don’t want to let my boss down – he’s a good guy, and has gone to bat for me in other areas over the years. Also the students – some number of them are in the course precisely because I’m teaching it for the last time ever. And it’s not bad money – not like the starvation wages adjuncts in the US get – but a lot lower than what I earned as a professor.”
Not just no.
You got flim-flammed by a bunch of useless gits who have never taken a pay cut in their life, and negotiate a golden handshake when they get caught being useless gits.
What does the school charge for credit hours? Credits x number of students >> what you get paid?
When they piss in your face and call it rain that does not make it rain.
Forgot to mention: I’m down to a little under ten dozen eggs in the basement fridge. My wife’s given away probably ten dozen over the last month or so, to various people who’ve helped with her mother (not the paid aides, though I gave the most reliable one a dozen and a half) and a few friends.
The hens continue to lay more than we normally eat. Not many, but two excess per day is five dozen per month.
@Lynn
“I like Slim Shady … sometimes. Eminem.”
I played America, The Carpenters, and Mary Chapin Carpenter this morning. Music.
“Legal Weapon Against Sovereignty: The UN’s Global Climate Change Mandate Has All The Characteristics Of A Scam”
https://harbingersdaily.com/power-grab-the-uns-global-climate-change-mandate-has-all-the-characteristics-of-a-scam/
“Reports about the death of climate alarmism have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, obeying United Nations climate decrees is now officially “international law.” At least that is what two key UN entities and more than 140 national governments would like humanity to believe.”
“In one of the most consequential developments yet for the global climate movement, the UN General Assembly voted to formally endorse and “operationalize” a 2025 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declaring that governments are legally obligated to combat climate change.”
Can we nuke the UN?
You know the next socialist president is going to want to follow this nonsense.
@SteveF
“too much entertainment from these dumbheads”
Toxic overexposure to people requires withdrawal and focus on small pleasures. Carry on.
You give the administration too much credit. It’s not greed, just bloat and incompetence.
I am continuously reminded of the old saying: “The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.”
You give the administration too much credit. It’s not greed, just bloat and incompetence.
I am continuously reminded of the old saying: “The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.”
If I had a fly on the wall with a tape recorder I would make you a bet that I could get a recording of them telling how they put it over on you.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49306657/sophie-cunningham-finger-point-indiana-fever-wnba
Love her.
Get married. Make the next generation of Cunningham’s a big one. We need them all.
My silly gate opener is being silly. It runs on a battery The solar panel I use or the wall wart transformer just charge the battery. When the battery goes bad you get things like opening a few inches or even halfway and stopping. Or closing a foot or so and stopping. Always with chirping noises.
I replaced the battery. A couple of days later the gate was beeping once a second. Closed, not jammed closed. I turned it off and back on. That fixed it. I’m thinking low battery. Let’s give it time to fully charge.
It happened again. And again. Sure enough, a beep a second means low battery.
It’s 95 and sunny. Tomorrow before it gets hot I’ll put the Fluke on it to check voltage. Then loosen and re-tighten the wiring. Maybe that’s all I need to do. Maybe the solar panel is flaking out.
Maybe the new battery is defective and not holding a full charge. That’s my guess. But I’ll check the wiring first. It is possible I have just enough tarnish on the wires to block voltage. But I doubt it.
My silly gate opener is being silly. It runs on a battery The solar panel I use or the wall wart transformer just charge the battery. When the battery goes bad you get things like opening a few inches or even halfway and stopping. Or closing a foot or so and stopping. Always with chirping noises.
How old is the solar panel? These have a life of 10 to 20 years.
It’s been toasty the last few days. I’m not sure where the cats are hanging out but it’s not on the back deck-walk.
Penny, she sleeps a lot. When she wants out she goes. It’s been too hot for her to bother inspecting the cat food dishes. She stays in the shade.
Buddy goes out on a leash. 24 foot retractable. Most of the time a walk is to the EDC and then up the hill and through through the boat shed and back to the house. Buddy the Beagle is not one for hot weather. So mid-afternoon he’s happy to stay in the shade and water the grass in a few spots and maybe do some 3-D printing and right back in the house.
We do the morning walk to the gate. And usually the evening walk is to the gate. Sometimes we go half way and Penny turns around and heads to the house.
Shrug. It’s all good.
That’s something I’ve wondered about. It’s a 5 watt panel. I bought the original system in ‘07. So maybe the panel is about shot.
I’ll see what the Fluke says for voltages. I can go to Tractor Supply for a new 10 watt panel. They don’t make the 5 watt panels anymore.
Tractor Supply….. sheesh. Ok, Starlink says I’m in the DFW area. So the store in Mesquite has one solar panel in stock. On sale! $115. Nice.
I’m not in Mesquite. Change to the Burnet store. They have two in stock. On sale! $124.
I thought the panels cost more. Closer to $175.
But first, volt meter.
It was an awesome album. When I was young and just listening to whatever was on AM radio (WLS in Chicago, followed by WLUP on FM, and sometimes WXRT) I didn’t understand what made the song or album great, I just knew it was. I’m learning more than I ever knew about music from Rick Beato and the youtube algorithm suggesting stuff. Rick is doing some fantastic interviews too.
I am looking forward to his analysis of the first Boston album. The band Boston was unique since the lead guitarist owned the band, wrote the songs and music, is 6’5″, and has a bachelors and masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltKhK8a1ZZU
My middle brother had this album in vinyl in 1979 or so. I would steal it and play on my stereo system when I came home from college.
I am now listening to “Gen-Z Music Producer SHOCKED listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (Blind Reaction)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g6GH_t1DJw&t=17s
Stevie Nicks sings “Take your silver spoon and dig your grave”.
Isaac Brown states “This girl is brutal”.
He doesn’t even know that she has been nominated for over a dozen grammies and is in the Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame with Fleetwood Mac AND by herself.
One comment: “Taylor Swift sings about her X boyfriend. Stevie Nicks writes a song about hers and makes him play guitar while singing it to his face on stage”
Supertramp’s Breakfast in America is right up in the top twenty.
Wanna dust your speaker cones? Supertramp – Crime Of The Century – (07) If Everyone Was Listening
Crank the volume to eight.
I like Supertramp.
Just cut the power so there is no A/C. Watch them apply for US Citizenship immediately. They won’t flee back to the shit-holes they came from because there is no A/C once they are out of office.
Turn the UN buildings into another alligator alley for crimmigrants.
I remember surprise visits by my parents. They just showed up at my apartment in McAllen. About every month and a half. I figure they were just checking on me. This was after my motorcycle wreck and well, I just wasn’t exactly right. Cracking a helmet, dude.
I didn’t have a lot. A dining room table and chairs was it for furniture. $180 a month rent plus electricity. I really liked the place. It was mine.
Fish tank on a cinder block shelf. Ditto the stereo. I had an ok job and paid all of my bills and I was slowly “making it”.
I did have a stereo. Nothing fancy like NAD or Onkyo or (drool) B&O. Just a Yamaha CR220 15 watt receiver. I think I had the Acculab speakers at the time.
And my BRAND NEW (you could walk in and smell the German air) Dual 1264 turntable. Ortofon cartridge… the one that looks like the nose of the Concorde is riding your LP.
So the ‘rents show up and I have The Wall playing. Not cranked, maybe about 4 on the knob. Dad LIKED it. Huh? Dad never liked any music I ever had on the radio.
Then Mom. Oh, a new turntable? What did that cost? Uh. $330. She started to flip out. Well, I guess, that was almost two weeks pay. Dad told her “it’s his money”.
Hey Mom, if it lasts ten years that’s like $33 a year and that’s like oh, uh, 70 cents a week or three cokes from a vending machine.
My Dad was good with math. I wasn’t. But he looked at me and looked at her and said “he’s right”.
I still have the Dual. It still works as perfectly as it did in 1978.
So we listened to The Wall and then we had bologna sandwiches with Cool aide to drink while listening to Crime of the Century.
I must have passed a test. They never dropped in again.
And yeah, Dad liked Supertramp, too.
Oh. And I’m still not exactly right. I’ll never be. That flying nun over a car and landing in the gutter with a broken leg and a cracked helmet routine? Do not recommend.
Folks have told me I’m the smartest guy they have ever met. The teachers when talking to my Mom said I was pushing 140 on the IQ stuff. I don’t know, I felt normal. I don’t think I’m smart
After the wreck some days I have to think about how to put my socks on. So, there’s that.
Adjunct pay is actually up in the US since the student loan program was nationalized under Reconciliation to pay for Obamacare. Even our resident troll isn’t doing too badly at God Forsaken Blue State U.
Of course, that assumes he survives the budget cuts rolling out from Blue State Capitol City every year.
I’m not voting for “MAGA” Mays. If the Libertarian turns out to be a weed head, I’ll skip that spot on the ballot.
Stopping Middleton now is as important as turning out P. Diddly Bush four years ago IMHO. “MAGA” has a troubling record with the Islamic problem growing in all of the major Texas cities as well as a somewhat distant relationship with honesty.
Some years ago, Kim Du Toit asked on his blog how far readers had to go to use a high-caliber shooting range. I commented that the UN building was a couple hours away. He replied “OK, that surprised a laugh out of me” and someone else said I won the internet.