And I’ll be doing it in the heat and humidity. Because it’s Summer in Houston. And it is HOT and it is HUMID. Well over 100F yesterday and still hot at night, although around midnight there were some oddly cool breezes from the south. Still, even with a couple of sprinkles and some clouds late yesterday, I think today will be sunny and hot.
I did a bunch of stuff yesterday, detailed in the comments. It was a mix of out in the world stuff, and sitting at the computer stuff.
I think today will be a bit more on the “out in the world” side of things as I have to drop off the Ranger, and still do several ‘clumped’ auction pickups. I’ll save the other pickups on the east side of town for Friday.
I don’t know how long I can continue my ‘strike’. I have to fight against my nature to not just do stuff, and it makes me unhappy. Now that it’s been long enough that the impact is starting to show, I need to be strong, but it’s getting close. Still no acknowledgement or apologies though. Fridge is looking bare and the TP is running out… something should crack loose soon.
Meanwhile, always be working to improve your position, whatever form that takes for you.
nick
(and stack, it’s not hoarding if you use it)
Wednesday. Good morning!
Last work day for me for a while. Hooray!
Also hooray! You are winning. Be strong (and hide your personal TP stash well).
Really enjoyed your discourse yesterday on protein. I like beef, pork, and game meat. I bring home more than enough game to feed the household plus to give some away, so we rarely buy meat from the butcher, other than bacon and charcuterie. Beef when I want to treat someone, but I usually just go to the local pub/steakhouse at the BOL, and let them do the work while I enjoy a “blue” Irish ribeye.
Not keen on mutton, as I got too much of it as a child, but maybe I need to try modern lamb more. I do enjoy roe deer “lollipop” chops, like you do with lamb. Great on the grill, especially for the “ooh” factor for guests.
I like salt-water fish, but having grown up near the sea, I find it difficult now to find fish that is truly fresh, as in caught-it-yourself fresh. I love crustaceans and shellfish, but the same problem. I usually just wait until we are in Ireland, get it from the lobster pot man at quayside, and binge.
I don’t much like chicken or turkey. Boring and bland. I never buy the latter, but occasionally pick up a roasted chicken on impulse when I see the rotisserie truck and get a whiff. I did that yesterday, which made for a convenient lunch with a salad. My local rotisserie truck guy, Nico, also does spare ribs, which are excellent.
Bon appétit!
Speaking of prepping, I sure do like my new distance vision, 20/20 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye. But I really do miss my near vision for reading. I have to use reading glasses for reading or computer unless I have half inch text and bright lights. I can read the dashboard on my old Highlander and my F-150 just fine though.
I figure that we will have reading glasses all over during and after the apocalypse. Shoot, I have about 30 of them all over the place.
Hold the line.
Keep in mind that they have each other, to tell themselves that they’re right and you’re the problem. All you have is us. Go ahead and vent if needed and listen when we tell you to hold the line.
Quoted for truth. Very annoying. Especially because I am of the demographic which does most of the paying.
Wouldn’t a wig have been cheaper, faster, and easier?
FWIW, when I bought the 60-whatever pounds of beef at the butcher shop a month ago, it came to about $7.20/pound. That’s for a chuck roll (almost half the total weight), a 12# ribeye, an 18# brisket, and an eye of round. The butcher gave a good discount because I bought subprimals and broke them down myself; I didn’t pay much attention to the marked price for each piece but the discount was at least $1/pound overall and maybe closer to $2. I didn’t worry about it because I wanted the meat and had the cash in my pocket (which was not a factor in the discount, as I didn’t mention that I’d be paying cash until we were at the register) and thought I had the freezer space. Turns out that I was wrong about that last part but I made do.
Grilled meat. Lots of grilled meat?
I really must talk to my butcher pals about getting some beef in a job lot. Have to make space in the freezers first, though…
The RINOs in Austin are getting scared now that the “Gina!” signs are starting to appear in places like my neighborhood.
Governor Abbott’s last three opponents have been loons.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/texas-halts-data-center-connections-to-power-grid-amid-overwhelming-demand/
Meat, yeah we eat a lot of it.
I’ve been low carb since 2013, so meat is a necessity.
I would say chicken, various cuts of steak. and ground beef are the staples. My wife is an excellent cook so I don’t have anything to complain about.
We buy NY Strip steaks from Fresh Market when they have a sale. They also have a good deal on tuna steaks periodically and I stock up on them too.
I’ve thought about purchasing a ¼ or ½ cow but I’ve yet to do it. Maybe next year.
It must be something going around. I have been generally the same way the last couple of days and today. Low tolerance for incompetence, stupidity, etc. The “pissed off bug”, not detectable except by external actions, no known medical cure.
My grandfather cooked his steaks beyond well done to the “shrapnel” stage. Face protection was a good idea when he
cutchiseled his meat into crunchy blocks of charcoal.We have the good fortune to have both in laws and a spare freezer to buy a 1\2 cow from them when they get one butchered. We tend to go for hamburger and sometimes a steak. Pretty reasonable compared to store bought beef.
I plan to buy a half cow once I’m in the family house. I brought in a large chest freezer about 35 years ago. Still works fine. The only difficulty will be in making sure it’s empty enough to put hundreds of pounds of meat into. It’s the same issue that I have in the current house, with the small chest freezer and the two refrigerator freezers. The issue is, I’m an idiot. I’ll go to the grocery store for whatever and pass by the meat coolers and pick up just couple pounds (by which I mean ten) of chicken thighs because it’s a good price, oh and a pork loin, and five pounds of pork sausage because it was right next to the pork loin. Then put half of the chicken thighs in the fridge to cook tomorrow and have to rearrange things to make space for the rest of the meat because the freezers are already full from my previous shopping trips. You would think that, after decades of doing this, I would learn. You would be wrong in thinking that.
Up and moving. Stiff. Light overcast and 87F at the moment. MIGHT have heard low thunder in the distance just now…
Time for coffee and something to eat.
n
Tony’s attempt to crush the SPCX shorts didn’t work.
Next!
The Child and I had a couple steaks. I used maybe 8# of stew meat in a pot of chili and something else which I don’t remember. The eye of round didn’t need freezer space, as it was sliced for jerky for The Child. (That was the reason for going to the butcher in the first place, to ask for a recommendation for jerky. Then, as long as I was there, I picked up the chuck roll. Oh, and the brisket. And the ribeye, as long as it was right there… I checked my pocket to make sure I had enough money and got it all. See previous comment about my repeated failures in estimating, planning, and organizing when it comes to buying food.) I moved a few pounds of butter from the freezer to the fridge, rearranged things, and managed to find places for all of the butchered and packaged meat.
Cue that Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith.
Remove Mother-in-Law before adding beef.
Cue that Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith.
– classic episode. Of course if that happened, make yourself a pinhole to look thru like a magnifying glass. A bunch of pinholes in a cluster might work even better since they let more light pass. My eye doc checked my astigmatism with such a device. Crazy the improvement it made.
n
Just mowed. Nothing special about that, other than I mowed the turn-around circle at the dead-end, as I do about once a month. Probably the last time I’ll do it. Four houses at the end of the road and no one else takes care of it. I’d have preferred to mow a few hours ago, when it was a bit cooler, but the grass was still wet until an hour or so ago. And the problem coming from that is that now I’m all sweaty and need another shower. Four showers in four days! This is unconscionable! The only saving grace is that I didn’t get doused with anything stinky today, unlike the previous three days.
It occurs to me that if I were to depopulate the planet, there would be fewer people around me and therefore fewer people to object if I work up a sweat and am too lazy to bathe afterward. Another entry in the “pro” column on my page of thoughts regarding “should I or shouldn’t I become an extinction event?”
The chickens enjoyed their bonus hour or so of freedom and came right to the run when I shook the treat bag. (Dried black fly larvae this time.) Except for one, who did come to the run but was stymied in figuring out how to get in because everyone else had gotten in before she got close and she couldn’t follow them. Remember, when you’re dumb even for a chicken, you’re really dumb.
A couple days ago I happened to be out front when a couple families with small children were walking past the house so I invited them over so the kids could see real, live animals. This happens once or twice a month. I handed the four kids crackers and told them to break them and toss them to the hens. This worked well and everyone enjoyed it. Except that the youngest, maybe just turned three, threw the cracker pieces right onto her feet. The chickens wanted the crackers but didn’t want to get close to the stranger. But they wanted the crackers. But they didn’t want to get close to the stranger. What to do? The kid moved and the chickens got their crackers. Crisis averted! As is usually the case in a suburban setting, none of the kids and only one of the four adults had ever been near livestock so everyone was full of questions.
United Airlines sent their weekly email with the title “Choose your adventure in El Salvador.” Ummm, NO.
n
Lots of fire bombers, fixed and rotary, going over towards the WNW.
Tis’ the season.
Monday I looked up the personal libraries of some famous authors (Wikipedia, via the iPad). One was Butler, Missouri, where R. A. Heinlein grew up and donated some of his.
This morning You Tube has ‘recommended for you’ network news from St.Louis.
The cloud is watching.
Yes. I suspect over half of my spam email is now coming from AI machines. I used to only get 5 to 10 spams a day past the gmail filters (the old postini system), now I am getting 30 to 50 spam emails a day. The spamming AIs obviously know things about me.
Knifewoman goes on horror stabbing spree in heart of London’s West End with at least four bystanders rushed to hospital
– yeah those aren’t “Bystanders” those are ‘victims’, or ‘patients’ or ‘casualties’.
lying liars that lie.
n
“The Hard Truth About the Sanctuary Movement” by Sean Davis, Co-Founder and CEO, The Federalist
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-hard-truth-about-the-sanctuary-movement/
“On July 1, 2015, 32-year-old Kathryn “Kate” Steinle was killed while sightseeing in San Francisco with her father and a family friend. According to federal prosecutors, Steinle was walking on Pier 14, a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco’s Embarcadero area, when she was shot in the back by Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a lengthy criminal record.”
“Although it seems impossible, the story gets worse. Garcia-Zarate claimed that he had accidentally picked up and fired the pistol that killed Steinle, and a San Francisco jury found him innocent of murder. He was convicted on a minor charge of illegal possession of a firearm, but not even that held up. In 2019, a California appeals court tossed the conviction on the grounds that if Garcia-Zarate had only held the gun for a little while—even if it was just barely long enough to shoot and kill an innocent woman—the jury should have been given the option to acquit him on the grounds that he didn’t technically possess it. In the end, Garcia-Zarate was simply deported in 2024—three decades after his first of seven illegal incursions into the U.S. and nearly nine years after he killed Kate Steinle.”
Huh, I had not thought about the current Sanctuary System being inspired by the sanctuary cities in the the Old Testament in Israel.
However, those old sanctuary cities were suppose to judge the refugees and kill the guilty. Today’s “modern” sanctuary cities have conveniently forgotten that judgement portion.
– yeah, my girlfriend, Morgan Fairchild, told me to dump the body… and take the money.
Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas. Or wake up dead.
n
The chickens enjoyed their bonus hour or so of freedom and came right to the run when I shook the treat bag. (Dried black fly larvae this time.) Except for one, who did come to the run but was stymied in figuring out how to get in because everyone else had gotten in before she got close and she couldn’t follow them. Remember, when you’re dumb even for a chicken, you’re really dumb.
So, are the chickens and their coop coming with you to the new place?
And the new place is two hours away from the current place? Sounds too close to me.
Does the wife know all this?
Dropped the Ranger at the mechanic’s. Walked home. 25 minutes in 98F and I was barely sweating when I got home.
Time to swap to the other truck and do my pickups now that I’m cooled down and fed.
n
Pier 14 doesnt feature many places where one could “find” a gun.
Yes.
About an hour and a quarter. “A couple hours of driving” is round trip.
I’ve told my wife that I plan to move out at some point but she’s good at not hearing what she doesn’t want to hear.
The timing is the issue. I’m still hoping that the m-i-l will die soon. That’s not as cold-hearted as it sounds. On her rare lucid days, she says that she doesn’t want to live like this.
“Defending Democracy”
https://areaocho.com/defending-democracy/
“54% of Americans think the Supreme Court is too political and favors President Trump. Only 3 in 10 Americans support the electoral college, with 63% of those surveyed thinking the President should be elected by popular vote. At least according to left leaning think tanks and propaganda sites like The Hill.”
“The Democrats have a plan. They want to expand SCOTUS to 13 Justices and eliminate the electoral college. Oh, and add Puerto Rico and DC as states.”
“We know the end goal- they have already told us.”
I skipped quite a few items.
The freebie list from the communists gets longer each time I see it.
Civil War is coming. Stack enough food and ammo to last for six months. Maybe a year.
Pier 14 doesnt feature many places where one could “find” a gun.
Yes, he “found” the gun in his pocket.
I am simply amazed that any jury, even a Sanfransicko jury, would believe his nonsense.
Gotta wonder where the commies think they’d live if there were no landlords.
‘cuz that anti-landlord schtick worked so well in Russia.
n
Google Fiber says I’m eligible for the 8 gig plan in SA. If only they offered that where I live in Vegas.
I am simply amazed that any jury, even a Sanfransicko jury, would believe his nonsense.
– “they’re depraved on account of they’re deprived”
Certain mindset will excuse anything if the noble savage is savage enough.
I remember the case. He claimed to have found it in a paper bag and was messing with it when it went off. At a minimum negligent homicide, max intentional. And to bend yourself into a pretzel and claim he didn’t “possess” it long enough is some crazy level crazy. Wonder what the jury instructions were.
n
The timing is the issue. I’m still hoping that the m-i-l will die soon. That’s not as cold-hearted as it sounds. On her rare lucid days, she says that she doesn’t want to live like this.
No, it is not cold hearted at all and I totally understand.
I do not know how to fix the problem of people lingering to their eventual deaths. My father-in-law’s death swoon lasted 6.5 years in three nursing homes. He was absolutely miserable. My sister-in-law now regrets calling the EMTs and having him resurrected twice, once at his house and once in the ambulance.
I now have my mother in an assisted living place that she tolerates. She misses her bayside house immensely. I often wonder if I made the right choice to move her, especially when she tells me the other day that my son and I kidnapped her. I think that she was teasing but I am not sure.
My father did not linger. Once I figured out that he was essentially dead, I moved him to a hospice place and he died three days later. With dignity and nothing tied to him and no support other than a comfortable place to sleep away the rest of his days. Many of his friends came and visited him in that three days even though he was unresponsive.
Canada is doing assisted suicides which I abhor. But something along that line may be tolerable. I do not want to spend my final years in a nursing home.
“The seven stages of Alzheimer’s disease”
https://www.molinahealthcare.com/blog/Pages/Alzheimers-and-Brain-Awareness-Month.aspx
“Stage 1: No impairment. …”
“Stage 2: Very mild cognitive decline. …”
“Stage 3: Mild cognitive decline. …”
“Stage 4: Moderate cognitive decline. …”
“Stage 5: Moderately severe cognitive decline. …”
“Stage 6: Severe cognitive decline. …”
“Stage 7: Very severe cognitive decline.”
My mother is in stage 4 according to my wife. I agree.
My wife’s sister’s 69 year old husband is in stage 7 and in a group home. We are on death watch again. He does not scream in the middle of the night anymore.
Federal Judge Deals Crushing Blow to NFA Rules
https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/08/05/huge-2a-win-n2205221
Sure. But according to SCOTUS the power to tax trumps any constitutional right.
My wife regrets her decisions a year and a half ago. She and her brother made the best decisions they could, given what they know at the time.
Logic, of course, has essentially no impact on feelings of regret.
You did make the correct decision. I have been through this with my aunt and I was blasted by her for putting her in assisted living, along the lines of she wished she had never taken me into her home. Dementia does strange things with the mind. You have to remember, that person you knew, effectively no longer exists.
I know exactly what you mean. My aunt did not want to exist in a nursing home as a shell. Yet, that is exactly what happened. 4.5 years, the last two years as a living corpse. If she had a decent mind she would have wanted someone to end her life.
I have mixed feelings about assisted suicide. It is wrong to kill another human according to The Bible. Yet seeing, and letting, someone suffer is also wrong. If the decision was by the individual, a panel of three doctors, and three family members, all in agreement, then perhaps it should happen. On the other hand, greed for some people with large estates would affect family members and some doctors can be “persuaded”.
I personally do not want to rot in some VA nursing home. I may not have a choice. And that bothers me. If I want to be done with life, should that not be my decision? If I am told I have a year to live, no cure, why am I still hanging around consuming resources?
There is no easy answer, wrong answer, or right answer as everyone has their opinion, and that opinion is correct in their mind. And I certainly don’t want to tell someone else what decision to make.
The devil’s in the details. And also in the perverse incentives. And also in the non-Western imported medical providers.
The compassionate, white, US educated GP who slips an overdose to grandma while she’s writhing in pain, in spite of laws against it, is an angel. The Paki doctor in Canada who smiles while killing another white woman suffering from temporary depression is a devil on Earth.
Canada gains. Cheap, soulless Muslim doctors replace natives. Since the death-dealers are also the primary providers of “free” healthcare, killing the patients is the cheapest treatment, thus saving millions.
Canadians lose. Rationed healthcare, long deadly wait times, and 2nd rate doctors who don’t speak English. And ultimately, death for trivial or imaginary illnesses.
Not that the doctor situation is that much better in the US. Medical schools and the AMA are doing their best to prevent qualified white males from becoming doctors.
@Lynn
“Civil War is coming. Stack enough food and ammo to last for six months. Maybe a year.”
Don’t forget to stock a couple “infinite repeaters”:
https://www.coldsteel.com/u-s-1860-heavy-cavalry-saber/
“8 Years Later, Ready Player One Is Finally Getting A Movie Sequel”
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/ready-player-two-movie-sequel
“Steven Spielberg may have made a grand return to science fiction with Disclosure Day, but we can’t forget his previous addition to the sci-fi canon: Ready Player One, the multiversal, pop-culture-stuffed epic starring Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke based on Ernest Cline’s book of the same name. The result was the epitome of nostalgia-bait, and while it was an interesting world and a box-office success, it hasn’t been remembered in the most favorable terms.”
“But almost a decade later, Ready Player One is getting a sequel, aptly titled Ready Player Two, based on the book sequel by Cline of the same name, published in 2020. But could the film version recreate the magic of the original? Or, like the first film, will it generate even more debate?”
I would watch it. I read “Ready Player Two” a while back.
“Gotta wonder where the commies think they’d live if there were no landlords. ”
Palaces, confiscated dachas.
What do you think the plans are for all those pied-à-terre’s in NYC?
Can you spell “subdivide into tiny apartments in the sky my ass”?
The key party membes doing the peoples work require extraordinary facilities to recharge so they can “fight!, Fight!!, FIGHT!!!”
Meanwhile. closer to the street, the rent-controlled apartments will get subdivided to make accommodations for the new citizens coming in from Morocco.
Oh boy. Yes.
I had my mother’s POA, and she had signed a DNR. Mom coded in the hospital, and my sister freaked out, big time. I stupidly let them resuscitate her, in the heat of the moment.
It’s not what she wanted. Fortunately, we were able to get her home and into home hospice care, and had about 10 days to say goodbye. 10 days too long for Mom, but not an eternity in pain, either. And she got to look out her picture window from the rented hospital bed at the farm and the lake and the birds.