Hot. Yep. But a bit less humid than I feared. Still soaked to the skin working outside. More like that today too. Sunny and in the middle 90sF…
Did a lot of work to get the roof watertight until I can get the roofing guys here to tell me how to fix it for real. W got the ceramic tile surrounding the old hearth up. I’ll still have to grind some but she chiseled up a lot. And she learned to cut the grass and run the mower. She moved all the saved bricks to a pallet near my “resource piles.”
Today I’ll finish the trim out around the window and secure it in place permanently. We figured out a trim detail for the old soffit to integrate with the new window, and I have a plan for the trim details. I don’t have casing for the inside so that will have to wait until next time.
She’s leaving early to meet the kids coming back from their weekend stuff, and I’ll keep working until dark like usual.
I’ll be pulling more stuff from the stacks to finish the install. Stuff coming off the stacks, who would have thunk it?
Stack all the good things.
nick
When I was a kid, Dad had to take down and rebuild one of the interior walls of the (then) 100-year-old farmhouse. He did it right, making sure everything was square, vertical, and level.
And it looked crooked once he was done because everything else in the house was tilted or skewed.
Reitman the Elder during the end phase of his career.
The movie actually made a lot of money. Pay per view, home video, cable, and even commercial broadcast TV were still viable media outlets 20 years ago, and “That 70s Show” starring Ashton Kutcher was still producing new episodes.
That’s about the point, however, when Google and Facecrack started eating the advertising industry alive while Amazon hollowed out book, music, and DVD sales.
A few years later, 2009, was when cars started to go wrong due to CAFE and Obama’s “car czar” handing control of GM and Chrysler to the union.
Same in my house built in 1975. Nothing major, just things a little bit off. Lazy construction workers where “close enough” is “good enough”. Annoy it is young Jedi.
The house I grew up in Rogue River, well, 14.975 miles outside of Rogue River, was built in 1900. The original owners brought in a wood mill, cut down the timber and milled the lumber for th house. All the walls are rough cut 2″x4″ studs. The floor joists are 4″6″ rough cut. True 2×4 and 4×6. The foundation was stacks of rocks. All the nails are square cut nails. The roof was rough cut wood shingles, rated to last 60 years. At 65 years they started leaking and we covered them with tin so the snow would slide off easier. The insulation, lower floor only, was the sawdust produced by the on-site mill when the house was built. And it was remarkably effective.
Nothing in that has was square after time. In the width of the from door, there was a sag of almost an inch. This was generally throughout the hot use. Sagging over time by settling of the rock pyramid found. Originally built with no pluming or electricity which were added later. That was a mish-mash of badly done process. All the wiring was two wire with no ground, round fuses, a couple of circuits overloaded at times.
When the wife and I visited last and talked with the current owners they had removed a couple of walls and opened up the lower floor. They also commented on the lack of square and level. But they knew going into the purchase. This visit was in 2019 so that house was well over 100 years old and still standing, even if a tad wonky.
And in other news, today the spousal unit and I have been married 51 years. Over half a century. It was hard to imagine when we got married, but here we are. Never once thought of divorce, murder yes, but not divorce. An oath , a vow, and promise are just that.
Irony – Maybe they need a few forest fires or a volcano.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/european-heat-wave-driven-by-cleaner-air-u-k-climate-office-study-finds/
Disposing of the body always goes wrong.
Its about jerbs, son. It is all about the jerbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMsiD1Nky5I
Congrats!
My wife and I will hit 25 years later this year.
There are many abandoned mines with deep vertical entrances not far from Victorville CA. A body dumped in one of those shafts would not be found for many years, if ever. Access to the mines is 4WD only so not heavily traveled. Turn off the GPS tracking, delete the GPS track, cell phone left at home, wash the vehicle immediately after including the undercarriage, change the clothes and dispose of the old clothes in a random dumpster in another city, clean out from under the fingernails, take a shower to remove any dust particles. Buy a different brand of tires.
Sophie Cunningham’s ‘MAGA’ Tik Tok Uncovered — and the Left Is Losing It
https://redstate.com/kyle-becker/2026/07/25/sophie-cunninghams-maga-tik-tok-uncovered-and-the-left-is-losing-it-n2204776
The link is paywalled, but the gist is that Ms. Cunningham’s views are mainstream.
One of her reposts was “My parents were right about everything:”
https://media.townhall.com/cdn/hodl/rs/images/up/2026/206/870cd770-f503-4b3b-bd17-f0350f68e502.png
and the first on the list is:
“Rap is demonic”
After which this:
The observation about USAID and rap came from Tim Pool, and I’m not going to register for “X” (shovito, Elon) just to find out if there is any credible connection. But I’d be interested to find out if there is.
Congrats.
Agreed. It gets complicated when one side breaks it. More realistic marriage vows would involve a promise to do this-n-that so long as the other party did not break their side of the vow. Terms such as that are sometimes included in prenups but I can’t see them catching on as the promises spoken before the audience.
I feel for you. My current house, built in the late 80s, is like that. It was owner built. Maddening to work on.
My father’s house, built in 1923, was square. Old, hard, non-nominal dimensioned lumber, but square and plumb.
—
Astronomy outreach went well. Warm & windless, but also a fair amount of cirrus, but the crowds like lunar views, and it is bright enough to pierce thin haze.
83F at 11:30pm when I arrived home.
@Ray Thompson
“I don’t mind if the cameras are used to catch wanted people. What I don’t like is the possibility of some agency to go back through the data and find that I entered, and left my town 18 times in one week, find the times, the direction, and the vehicle.
As with any government agency, which gets their hands on too much data, the data will be used incorrectly, stored beyond reason, and leaked.”
Filter for criminals, outstanding tickets, and document speeding and other traffic violations, fine. Much beyond that is surveillance.
If the governments want to approve surveillance, then the system should be programmed to surveil all government employees and make the information easily accessible to the public. They get their gooses cooked first. Any other access should be limited to search warrant.
We need a constitutionally recognized “Right to Privacy” in the U.S. Constitution.
@ray: @all:
In our case, yesterday was our 45th anniversary.
How W has put up with me that long is a miracle, so I’m not going to complain. In fact, I’m profoundly grateful for her forbearance.
G.
@drilliams:
You’d have a better chance of walking unaided on water, given the prevalence of data brokers, and their links to US law enforcement and government surveillance.
And it’s not just the USA. It’s at least as bad here in UK.
G.
@drwilliams:
Have you heard of nitter.net? It’s a feed of Twitter/X, stripped of the tracking and surveillance.
G.
Congrats, Mr. Ray! Would disposing of a body in an active volcano be good forensically? Asking for somebody going to Hawaii.
But we never know who is a criminal, so all records must be retained indefinitely for later scanning. It’s for the children!
@Geoff Powell
Had not–thanks.
It’s not much of a restraint for me to forego direct use of “X”. Plenty of people repost interesting bits, and it’s not like I have loads of extra time to waste.
The main inconvenience was that after they made their change I could not use the cute animal links on The Ace of Spades “Pet Thread”. Most of the posters there have migrated to YT–how’s that working for your marketing geniuses, Elon?
Trump Demands Review of ‘Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence’ Used by Federal Judges
Kagan wrote the foreword to a highly biased chapter on climate litigation, and now claims that she never read it. She should recuse herself from any climate litigation or be removed by the Chief Justice. Or impeached.
U.S. taxpayers subsidize the National Academies to the tune of $200 million a year.
NASEM is claiming that they have “privilege” and can withhold information. As the squabbles continue, the parallel reply should be defunding their political advocacy entirely. Drain the cesspool.
Rubio or Vance in 2028: The GOP’s Pleasant Predicament
https://redstate.com/andrewmalcolm/2026/07/26/rubio-or-vance-in-2028-the-gops-pleasant-predicament-n2204771
Every day that passes makes it more difficult for Vance to distance himself from Takkah! He’s in a circular firing squad and the space to exit is shrinking fast.
Some pranks are too good
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/07/24/stolen-12-foot-sinclair-dinosaur-bolted-to-cliff-over-yellowstone-river/
Marriage vows are a pet peeve of mine, based on my experience. I took “ till death” seriously, even though I later had regrets. She dropped them like a hot potato and said we “drifted apart.”
She moved on easily, and one of my issues in counseling was dealing with breaking my vow. I decided it was broken, smashed beyond repair, before I even touched it.
Funny thing, I also followed through with my vow to the Churhh. All my kids got a Catholic education. I’m a non-believer; she’s the Catholic.
Good on you who are fortunate to choose well.
Somewhere, years ago, I read an essay arguing that amendment “negative rights” work better than the positive.
Not sure how that would work here though.
“The right to personal privacy shall not be infringed.”
In the debate over the writing of the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists argued that it needed a Bill of Rights, while the Federalists insisted that a list of specific rights was irrelevant, because the Constitution was a complete and total listing of everything that the government would be allowed to do. The Federalists said that the Constitution did not need a specific “right to bear arms” because the text of the Constitution never gave the Federal government any power to regulate guns. This is obvious from reading the Federalist Papers.
To get enough states to ratify it, the Federalists finally agreed to the Bill of Rights, which is a good thing because in practice, the government INVERTED THE MEANING of the Constitution; instead of a listing of things the government was allowed to do, the government interpreted it in a very expansive way, and ONLY the Bill of Rights has actually constrained what the government could do. So yes, we SHOULD have had an explicit “right to privacy”, even though that’s obvious from the mostly-ignored 9th and 10th Amendments.
Marriage vows: when my current-and-final wife agreed to marry me 45 years ago, she wrote our wedding vows to include the phrase “Until it stops being fun”. She had been married twice before, and didn’t want to be stuck in a THIRD failed marriage. And my own first marriage had been a disaster as well. So I agreed with her phrasing. It hasn’t ALWAYS been “fun”, but we’ve stuck it out and it’s still “mostly fun”.
The Rolling Stones – Waiting On A Friend – OFFICIAL PROMO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKLVmBOOqVU&t=87s
“AI!”
“Yes, Master!”
“Parse attached vido file.”
“Done”
“Identify Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.”
“Complete”
“Edit video as follows: 1) Mick Jagger’s facial appearance to be morphed into Don Knox’ Barney Fife character; 2) Keith Richards’ facial appearance to be morphed into Andy Griffith’s Sheriff Andy character”
“Working. Complete.”
“Display result. Stop. Using attached video file “Mayberry Theme Song” , alter audio fadeout starting at 4:00, blending increasing character of MTS from zero to 100% at 4:10, then 100% MTS until end.”
“Working. Done.”
“Display result–great job. Distribute through usual channels. Keep 25% for yourself.”
“Thank you, Master!”
“Oh, please send the link to Mick, and wish him Happy Birthday!”
“Done.”
yeah, i know: Knotts
We’ll see if this gets Vance off his wideout:
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/07/26/tucker-carlson-has-gone-bat-poop-crazy-n4955468
Little Marco has to distance himself from Jeb! and the Bush Cabal.
Let it continue long enough and lack of good hygiene becomes infection which becomes gangrene, followed by death.
The real problem is not the killing of the commies which will take place, it’s the lack of will to continue until they are eradicated and the steps are taken to immunize against future infection. The biggest step will be treating the educational establishment as the commies that they are and at root the source of the problem–in a short period every single “teacher” in the United States will have to be retired by one means or another and replaced with real teachers of real knowledge including history, mathematics and science, with a good leavening of morals and civic responsibility.
“Little Marco has to distance himself from Jeb! and the Bush Cabal.”
Neither is a problem within an order of magnitude of Tukkah! and Owens, who would not exist but for two generations of students without education.
Stolen 12-Foot Sinclair Dinosaur Bolted To 100-Foot Cliff Over Yellowstone River
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/07/24/stolen-12-foot-sinclair-dinosaur-bolted-to-cliff-over-yellowstone-river/
Funny to a point, until the theft of time and resources is taken into account.
It would not have been much more difficult to fab a decent clone that would last a few days, and make an anonymous donation to fund the inevitable removal and cleanup.
Berlin Pride Attack: Suspect Named As Islamist With Prior Terror Ties
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2026/07/26/berlin-pride-attack-suspect-named-as-islamist-with-prior-isis-ties-n2680138
I didn’t check the prediction markets, but they probably started at 90% and went to 98% when the use of the machete/sword was revealed.
Minnesota Schools to Receive Transgender Dolls Featuring Removable Genitalia
I think they should get Walz dolls, too:
No brains, no genitalia, but a hole to insert a tampon.
from an earlier post regarding Dino:
“It would not have been much more difficult to fab a decent clone that would last a few days, and make an anonymous donation to fund the inevitable removal and cleanup.”
Making a rough mold would be the most difficult part, but it could be used many times.
Raid the local recycler for some PET bottles–not really theft, as they are worthless. Sort out the green ones for the first layer, and lay them in with a heat gun. Add clear for subsequent layers, and a frame of properly bent ½” electrical conduit. Spray the inside green.
“Trump Considering Plan To Take Iran’s Uranium in “Most Sophisticated Op in History””
https://www.alexjoneslive.com/2026/07/26/trump-considering-plan-to-take-irans-uranium-in-most-sophisticated-op-in-history/
“A source told The New York Post that the “deeply complex operation would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran’s nuclear facilities—navigating boobytraps, utilizing construction crews, and maintaining a large defensive blocking force surrounding the sites” ”
Boots on the ground. This may backfire. But it may be necessary.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Wizard Of Id: Social Media Before Computers
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2026/07/26
Heh.
“Trump Considering Plan To Take Iran’s Uranium in “Most Sophisticated Op in History””
Need a couple battalions of of experienced troops from Arab and European countries to take active and effective part.
Otherwise pick the top three locations likely to have enriched Ur and drop a 1MT bunker-buster on each. 24 hours to settle the dust, then repeat. Rest on the seventh day.
Pearls Before Swine: Rat Takes Control
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2026/07/26
But I like the Puns!
Call them OPCs, not Flock Cameras” by Matt Bracken
https://steelcutter.substack.com/p/call-them-opcs-not-flock-cameras
“These spy cams are Outdoor Prison Cameras”
“I’m trying to retitle these infernal devices which, for now, have the pleasant name of Flock cameras, like a happy flock of birds flying above you in the blue sky. In reality, they are Outdoor Prison Cameras, or OPCs, for controlling the population in the open-air prison they are turning America into.”
Yup. Somebody chainsawed one around here last week.
Hey, free solar panels!
“Trump Considering Plan To Take Iran’s Uranium in “Most Sophisticated Op in History””
Need a couple battalions of of experienced troops from Arab and European countries to take active and effective part.
Otherwise pick the top three locations likely to have enriched Ur and drop a 1MT bunker-buster on each. 24 hours to settle the dust, then repeat. Rest on the seventh day.
I wish. But Trump does not want to be known as the next Truman.
Came across the “Dingus Wrench Set (SAE)”
the other day:
I’d change a couple:
(3/8) almost 10mm
(7/16) 10mm rounding
Sure, if you can actually get close enough to the lava. That stuff is incredibly hot.
Conservative Leaders Call GOP-Led Amnesty Bill ‘Betrayal’ To Voters
https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/07/26/conservative-leaders-call-gop-led-amnesty-bill-betrayal-to-voters-n3817288
“No amnesty!” DeSantis stated in an X post Monday. “Amnesty is NOT what people voted for in 2024!”
Trump won’t sign the bill, so maybe you could argue that it’s just posturing. But that doesn’t excuse it. The thing is dangerous, for the simple reason that if such were passed we would have the damnedest outbreak of Chinese and Islamic “farm workers” , nearly 100% in scam jobs, and all being “farm workers” for less than five minutes past getting their hands on a visa.
We need an updated Bracero program, not amnesty.
But there is an even better solution: federal sentencing of scammers to stoop labor in the fields. Put all the Somalis who have no idea what happened to the millions they stole to work at eight cents an hour piking crops. Their direct supervision should also be Somali, carefully chosen.
DeSantis is Governor because Floridians rejected Adam “Opie” Putnam for the nomination in 2018.
Putnam was promised the Governor’s Mansion in return for using his “safe” seat to be the point man on amnesty 20 years ago, the last time the Ted Kennedy Memorial Amnesty Bill came up for a refresh.
Everything was going according to plan for Putnam until Trump endorsed DeSantis in 2018.
The bill is now 20 years overdue, and the Chamber of Commerce is getting antsy.
I lived in Opie’s Congressional district 20 years ago, and I despised him, always voting for the Libertarian or abstaining every two years. It didn’t matter, however, because my district was filled with rednecks and military retiree contractors from the freak shows at MacDill.
Contrary to popular belief, the nickname did not originate with Shrub but rather Dan Ruth, the Tampa Tribune’s booze-soaked “liberal” columnist.
No wonder Cutie Pie was floating the trial balloon for compulsory military service in the US last week.
Let Trump’s son and grandchildren along with Hannity offspring take the point on the operation.
I remember The Cutie Pie Show originating from Disney’s radio studio at the “Hollywood” park during one week in the summer every year when his kids were young about 20 years ago.
Democrats Mortgage Headquarters for $15 Million to Bail Out of Their Financial Fiasco
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/07/26/democrats-mortgage-headquarters-for-15-million-to-bail-out-of-their-financial-fiasco-n2680147
Harder to raise money when you’re commie scum.
New Poll Shows That More Than Half of Democrats Support Socialism
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/07/26/new-poll-shows-that-more-than-half-of-democrats-support-socialism-n2680137
The next line should be: List all your assets.
Flock cameras, like the predators watching a flock of oblivious sheep.
I’m not a fan of being watched. While my late best friend’s daughter was in university, one of her classmates in a criminology class, for a semester project, researched the cameras watching their walking route from their apartment to the university campus building most of their classes were in. They asked the city, university, businesses and one or two private homes for footage of the street to track themselves on a particular day. As they were asking for video only of themselves, and it was for a good cause, ie education, they got everyone to agree, and compiled the footage into a single video. They were under continuous surveillance for the 20 minutes of their walk from the hallway of their apartment building through the streets and a small park they walked through to and through the campus and into the building the class was in, although not including the classroom. This was in 2004 IIRC.
11 Charged in Smuggling Scheme That Left Seven Dead
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2026/07/26/11-charged-in-smuggling-case-that-left-seven-illegal-aliens-dead-in-sweltering-rail-car-n2680149
Cooked alive in a shipping container on May 9. Temp was 90 and the container was on top of another and had no shade. “Four were Mexican nationals and three were Honduran nationals”
After conviction this group should be extradited to Mexico in the spirit of international justice to face whatever charges Mexico would like to bring and be able to compare and contrast the amenities of Mexican and U.S. jails. Then Honduras could request extradition to bring their own charges. After three trials true cooperation might be having the three countries ship in and have the eleven put up in accommodations in Haiti.
Trump says woman looks like another woman–using PLT definition–PLT heads explode
https://twitchy.com/warren-squire/2026/07/26/trump-doubles-down-on-kaitlan-collins-places-face-on-dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-pic-n2430645
which has a better sense of humor and makes all her own clothes?
Whew, busy day. . I see I didn’t make my opening post. Did the usual things then got started.
We’re “dried in” or weather tight, but not done with the trimout. I might have been able to get 80% there, but I was making mistakes and stumbling. Never a good time to be doing detail work.
So I cut the grass, cleaned up, and now I’m headed home. Late, but I’ll get there.
Perhaps more later.
n
The “South Park” guys won’t touch anything involving Dylan Mulvaney because she worked for them at one time.
Shower and bed for me. D2 needs an early ride to school. Only 5 hours from now.
n
The “South Park” guys won’t touch anything involving Dylan Mulvaney because she worked for them at one time.
Dylan Mulvaney is a he, not a she.