Sun. June 29, 2025 – a day of rest, then work.

By on June 29th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

More cool and sunny with scattered rain storms, probably. Saturday had storm cells dumping inches on limited areas while adjacent neighborhoods got nothing. There were flash ‘floods’ in some of the bayous (floods in quotes because it’s all designed to work like that.) I think we’re still in the same weather system, so today will be similar.

I got several pickups done. Even though the first one was quite a drive, and for little reward, I think I was there to meet the guy and invite him to come to my next non-prepping hobby meeting. He’s an enthusiast too, but didn’t know we get together every month. It’ll be nice to bring in a new member.

After that, I got a couple more pickups done. One for the hobby, and one was a couple of blacksmith tools. I would like to have a forge and bang on some metal at some point. Maybe at the BOL I’ll have a chance. I’m collecting the tools so I’ll be ready.

When I got home, after getting soaked by a cell, I took a load out of the house. It was dry, and the storm was moving away, so I could load up the truck. After that, since I still had some daylight and time before dinner, I attacked the back yard. I let it get too tall for the mower again, so I put the weed cutter on the string trimmer and knocked it down. I’ll run the mower over it today or tomorrow to mulch the stems.

I’m debating getting another goldfish for the water feature. The old one ended up about a foot long, but made his escape during a torrential downpour that flooded the whole yard. Seems like it would help keep down the frog and mosquito population…and it’s pretty low maintenance as far as pets go. It would be nice to have a fish in the pond again. The cost and effort is minimal, but I have to spend the time and effort to get the fish. Super low priority, but it’s taking up brain space.

The other stuff for today will depend on if we get rain or not, but will likely involve sleeping in, a big breakfast, and a bunch of work around the house. Oh, and migrating to my new phone. That’s always a joy.

Stack something useful.

nick

43 Comments and discussion on "Sun. June 29, 2025 – a day of rest, then work."

  1. Greg Norton says:

    The husband’s direct ancestor was a Continental Congress delegate.

    I don’t understand how that plays into her Amishness.

    When Breyer announced his retirement, Biden appointed Jackson as the “First African American woman on the Supreme Court”, but, culturally, she is about as “African American” as Breyer, who attended Stanford and married low level British aristocracy.

    Jackson even clerked for Breyer.

    If anything, Jackson sets back the cause sitting in that chair.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    You might want to think about getting a power of attorney, and taking over…

    Mom is sharp but Dad apparently changed some of the passwords recently so I had to give her some cash today.  She gave me a check so we will find out if she can write a check, her name was on it.

    My wife has signature authority to both of my personal checking/savings accounts and can write checks, even without her name at the top, but those accounts are at credit unions. I don’t know how Fidelity checking works.

    I do enough firewall in the banking to keep her employers from having an accurate picture about how much cash we really have in the bank at any given moment, but everything outside my 401(k) and IRAs is exposed in a malpractice lawsuit.

  3. Brad says:

    …to keep her employers from having an accurate picture about how much cash we really have in the bank

    Um…how would they know that? The bank surely does not share your account balances with third parties?? AFAIK, that would be all kinds of illegal.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    …to keep her employers from having an accurate picture about how much cash we really have in the bank

    Um…how would they know that? The bank surely does not share your account balances with third parties?? AFAIK, that would be all kinds of illegal.

    “Illegal” is such an ugly word.

    When the employer is the largest private payroll in the county, information gets shared, especially when the accounts are at the bank where the employer keeps that payroll and borrows short term to issue the checks.

    Beyond that, some kind of flaw exists in the direct deposit system which allows the employer to get a balance through a backdoor, but that number would only be for the single account receiving the deposit.

    In WA State, my wife’s employer was so confident that we didn’t have any money to cover her tail malpractice insurance that they didn’t have her exit paperwork ready until we presented a check for the premium, written on my local credit union account, essentially all the money I received as a stipend for the semester I worked as a TA at the university.

    Ever since then, we only bank at credit unions. My wife has Bank of America Visa, but that’s it for us and “too big to fail” banks.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    When the employer is the largest private payroll in the county, information gets shared, especially when the accounts are at the bank where the employer keeps that payroll and borrows short term to issue the checks.

    Borrowing to meet payrolls in the US is getting expensive.

    My balanced “cr*p” fund, where I throw capital gains, dividends, and interest income has a lot of short term paper, and the return is running close to 11% annually right now with only a 2% unrealized gain in share price.

  6. drwilliams says:

    So Senate Democrats, party of the Ku Klux Klan, are gaming the system with a partisan Democrat-appointed parliamentarian who is using a set of rules crafted by a racist long-dead senator who got his start in politics by recruiting for the Klan.

    I’m sure I could have added more.

  7. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    Our hearts and prayers are with you. Drive safely today.

  8. drwilliams says:

    Czech Study Finds Covid Vaccine Linked to One-Third Drop in Fertility Among Women

    Author Leslie Eastman is a science and technical writer with a like background, and puts that training first before any ideological considerations. Her analysis is spot on: 

    While the findings suggest a sustained association between covid vaccination prior to conception and lower SC rates, it must be noted that the study does not establish causality. Possible explanations include self-selection bias (e.g., women planning pregnancy may have avoided vaccination), but this does not fully account for the observed trends, as overall fertility rates also declined during the period.

    The authors also point out additional limitations, including a lack of data on confounders like age, socioeconomic status, health, and fertility intentions.

    That being said, the results are preliminary and hypothesis-generating, highlighting the need for further research into the potential effects of covid vaccination on human fertility. However, until these studies are conducted with no Big Pharma bias nor conducted in ways that are designed to promote the preferred political bias, all women should weigh these recent reports as part of their personal risk assessment.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    So Senate Democrats, party of the Ku Klux Klan, are gaming the system with a partisan Democrat-appointed parliamentarian who is using a set of rules crafted by a racist long-dead senator who got his start in politics by recruiting for the Klan.

    I’m sure I could have added more.

    You forgot to mention the late Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd.

    Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    that would be all kinds of illegal. 

    – yeah, decades ago I had a problem with the IRS that led to them seizing my account.   The DAY I made a deposit big enough to cover my debt.   They either have the absolute best luck in the world, an incredibly unlikely coincidence, or they can see account balances when they want to.

    The last would be the easiest to believe.  There are thousands of pages of law and regulation, and all kinds of dubious shite got thrown in in the name of fighting terror and money laundering…

    —————-

    @lynn, I hope today is better than yesterday.   Might want to use the lane holding feature today.  Maybe all of the features.

    —————

    91F, so not particularly cool, but it is 11am.   Light overcast.  Coffee should be ready.

    n

  11. Greg Norton says:

    Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd.

    Limbaugh called him Robert “Sheets” Byrd, but Sheetz is the name of a popular convenience store rival to Buc-ee’s in the Northeast, and most people under 40 would assume that’s what Rush was referencing with the name.

    BTW, you also forgot Governor KKKlansman in Virginia, Ralph Northam. He left office within the last four years.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/northam-blackface-photo/

    Rush had a particular way of saying Northams name which made me believe he was referencing something to which I wasn’t hip enough to understand.

    My all time favorite Limbaugh reference is the arrangement of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” he played for Ross Perot updates. That one was brutal, and I only recall him explaining it once due to overwhelming demand to know the source.

  12. mediumwave says:

    @lynn, I hope today is better than yesterday. 

    Ditto.

  13. Greg Norton says:

    The ICU managed to crash his INR from 19 on Monday to 1.7 over the last 48 hours by giving him vitamin k and 10 pints of whole blood.  They are installing a drain in his abdomen now.  This is our only current option other than just letting him pass away.  The upper drain is through the liver and was judged too risky.

    Hoping for the best. I trust the drain install went well.

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    The overcast turned into patchy clouds and sun, which turned into storm cells and thunder.   We are currently getting soaked with heavy rain and some soft thunder.

    This is a wet summer so far.

    n

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    One of my auctions has a T shirt in it with “There is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer.”  on the front.

    n

  16. Greg Norton says:

    One of my auctions has a T shirt in it with “There is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer.”  on the front.

    It should read, “There is no cloud, it’s just Jeff Bezos’ computer.”

    Those of you doing considerable amounts of shopping on Amazon paid for that wedding this weekend.

  17. drwilliams says:

    @Greg

    “You forgot to mention the late Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd.”

    Only by name–it’s his “rule”.

  18. drwilliams says:

    New: GOP Senator Thom Tillis Won’t Seek Reelection in 2026

    Look, everyone has their priorities and principles, but Senator Tillis (and a few others) should also know that their stands on principle could be costly. But the curious bit is why they would vote against even beginning debate on the bill. One would think, if Senator Tillis (and those few others) have serious issues with the bill, they would want it brought into the open, debated, and discussed, when and where they could make their cases.

    Instead, he voted to shut it down before that could happen

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/06/29/new-senator-tom-tillis-wont-seek-re-election-in-2026-n2191039

    Meanwhile, the Alaskan Princess lurks in the weeds frost.

    Cooked: Thom Tillis Is Not Running for Re-Election

    Within the Republican Party, Tillis has done wonders to blow up his base of support. Trying to nuke the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense was a grave error, and then he nixed the nomination of Ed Martin as DC Attorney. His vote against advancing the reconciliation package sealed his fate, with President Trump publicly stating that he would meet with individuals who could challenge the incumbent Republican in a primary

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/06/29/cooked-thom-tillis-is-not-running-for-re-election-n2659631

    The very last straw. The Republican leaders of the NC state legislature told him there would not b any problems.

  19. drwilliams says:

    Whatever This Is, It’s Being Called a Nazi Rally. Here’s Why.

    Since forever, we’ve mocked the Left for calling everyone a Nazi when it was never appropriate, but not only are these incidents disturbing—it’s pretty close to the Nuremberg rallies here. It’s not just conservatives who are noticing it, but reporters and self-identified progressives as well.  

    Lucy Brown, a reporter who has worked with Vogue, Vice, ITV, and Rolling Stone, tweeted, “In all my years skirting the fringes of right-wing groups, I’ve never once been at a meeting or rally where a crowd openly chanted death to anyone, let alone thousands screaming it in unison.”

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/06/29/did-this-uk-music-festival-devolve-into-a-nazi-rally-n2659622

    When the PLT’s call everyone they disagree with Nazis, they are providing cover for their real Nazis.

  20. drwilliams says:

    lifted this link from AoSHQ:

    A Gallery of Beautiful Home Libraries

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61U4UsOZVC0&t=1s

    Nice, but no references.

    Dust, temperature, moisture, and UV light are the primary enemies of books. I like the light open and spacious designs, but “Is that low-e glass” is always the first question. And too many open shelves are a nightmare for dust, although a controlled environment with filtered air will do wonders.

    If i had the space and time I’d design the library with an adjacent reading room that had the windows, seating, and limited shelving for a few hundred books.

  21. Gavin says:

    They either have the absolute best luck in the world, an incredibly unlikely coincidence, or they can see account balances when they want to.

    Real world account hack: I worked in car rentals briefly many years ago. A repeat customer paid for an extended rental with a cheque, but it was NSF. After several attempts to get him to come and cover the cheque, my boss sent me to the bank with a pocket full of cash, on the last day of the month. I played a game with the teller: “If I deposit $100, can you certify this cheque for me? No? How about $200? $300? $350? OK I’ll deposit $350 and pay you the $20 fee to certify the cheque.” Done. The next day his mortgage payment bounced, and he was all kinds of upset. FAFO, I guess.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    When the PLT’s call everyone they disagree with Nazis, they are providing cover for their real Nazis.

    When I hear UK PLTs calling people Nazis, I immediately think of “The Young Ones”, specifically Rik Mayall.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ocngVQ4XaE

    It was a satire not a lifestyle suggestion.

    Rik Mayall passed some time ago, but Adrian Edmonson is still very much alive.

    Probably voting Tory.

  23. Greg Norton says:

    “You forgot to mention the late Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd.”

    Only by name–it’s his “rule”.

    Senate history does not lack for Dem racists and/or Klansmen. Byrd was just the most well known.

    Dems also hold up Gore Sr. and Fullbright as role models, and they denied Johnson their votes on the Civil Rights Act, fearing how voters back home would react.

    Direct election of the Senate was never the Founders’ intent.

  24. Ken Mitchell says:

    The “Klanbake”.  https://x.com/RobbieA45578/status/1924110000223392103

    And NONE of the Constitutional Amendments presented under Woodrow Wilson’s administration should have been approved. ALL of them should be repealed; Income tax, Direct election of Senators, and Women’s Suffrage. Prohibition has already been repealed.

  25. Greg Norton says:

    And NONE of the Constitutional Amendments presented under Woodrow Wilson’s administration should have been approved. ALL of them should be repealed; Income tax, Direct election of Senators, and Women’s Suffrage. Prohibition has already been repealed.

    Hearst social engineering.

    Most of the South did not vote to ratify the 17th prior to the official date in 1913.

    The Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina Legislatures have never even debated the amendment.

  26. Ken Mitchell says:

    Hearst social engineering.

    I’d read that the 15th, 16th and 18th  were a quid pro quo between progressives wanting the income tax and the Abolitionists wanting to ban alcohol. 

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    open shelves are a nightmare for dust  

    – this is another place I use my small battery powered leaf blower.   I blow off the tops of the books periodically.   And if I shelved periodicals, I’d blow them off too…

    ————–

    I’ve been watching the youtube channel “Tasting History with Max miller” https://www.youtube.com/@TastingHistory while I do other work.   I find him to be a bit overly mannered, but the recipes with a lot of context have been very interesting.  I see a lot of application to austere environments and prepping, since food was rarely abundant in history.

    n

  28. Greg Norton says:

    I’d read that the 15th, 16th and 18th  were a quid pro quo between progressives wanting the income tax and the Abolitionists wanting to ban alcohol. 

    Ratification of the 15th happened right after the Civil War.

    The 16th, 17th, and 18th were Hearst social engineering, but the Temperance and Suffragette movements were tied at the hip, originating in the Northwest, so passage of the 19th was a given, especially since Wilson vetoed Prohibition, requiring an override.

    WA State has been a haven for what I call “Church Ladies without churches” for over 100 years.

    Oregon, meanwhile, was “Whites Only” until 1926, still within the last century.

  29. lynn says:

    Dad is doing slightly better.  They put in one drain. We are hoping for the endoscopy of the common bile duct Monday but the superstar surgeon already has 20 scheduled for tomorrow.

    11
  30. IT_Pro says:

    Lynn, I have been praying for your father and family.  I have been a reader of this site for many years and rarely post, but I regard many here as friends and I feel compelled to let you know that we care.

    10
  31. drwilliams says:

    Writing at Powerline, John Hinderaker remembers Eisenhower’s reply when asked why he displayed a portrait of Robert E. Lee in his office:

    Dear Dr. Scott:

    Respecting your August 1 [1960] inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War between the States, the issue of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.

    General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which, until 1865, was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting, and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God.

    Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as read the pages of our history. From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained. Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.

    Sincerely,
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2025/06/29/sun-june-29-2025-a-day-of-rest-then-work/#comments

  32. lynn says:

    Btw, we are still going down two paths for my Dad.  The first path is get the gall bladder out and go to rehab.  The secondary path is hospice.

    You have to keep this stuff basic.

    And we still have the DNR DNI in place.  DNI means Do Not Intubate.

    11
  33. Alan says:

    >>this is another place I use my small battery powered leaf blower.   I blow off the tops of the books periodically.   And if I shelved periodicals, I’d blow them off too…

    @nick, how do you keep loose papers, today’s mail, etc, from going airborne? 

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    I don’t put it in the library… er, toyroom, er former formal dining room.

    I can’t do it in my office because I use every inch of shelf, with lots of knick knacks in front of the books.  

    n

    added– and I have a tendency to lay books on top of the standing books.

  35. Nick Flandrey says:

    Gunman is found dead next to rifle after lighting ‘blaze as bait’ to ambush firefighters, cops: At least two first responders killed and multiple injured as terrifying dispatch audio reveals carnage

     

    SWAT teams found the unidentified male dead on Canfield Mountain outside of Coeur d’Alene with a firearm nearby after slaughtering two firefighters and wounding multiple police officers responding to a ‘blaze set as bait.’

    – spicy time is coming.

    n

  36. lpdbw says:

    If i had the space and time I’d design the library with an adjacent reading room that had the windows, seating, and limited shelving for a few hundred books.

    We are not like other people.  I think the majority, maybe a vast majority, of Americans think that “a few hundred books” in a house is an unusually large number.  Yet I find your perspective perfectly reasonable.

    Of course, as an undergrad I had access to the 3rd largest library in America (at the time).  

    After much culling, and loss due to flooding, I think I’m down to a few hundred books  accessible, and a few hundred more in boxes in the storage unit.  

    In spite of old lady teachers’ best efforts to ruin it for me, I became a reader.    Most boys are not so lucky and succumb to “reading is boring, because all there is to read is dull literature and chick lit”.

  37. lynn says:

    Hoping for the best. I trust the drain install went well

    We are thinking that after the drain install, they pressed on his abdomen to get all the nasty stuff out.  His abdomen is flat now and before it was six inches taller.  Full of blood and pus.  Gross.

  38. lynn says:

    Our hearts and prayers are with you. Drive safely today.

    Thank you all so much.  You really dont know how much this means to me and my entire family.  I figure that I have around 3,000 people praying for Dad.

    After all, I figure that I can get at least five more years of free fly fishing trips out of him this way.

    I learned three more things about his car today:

    1. How to use the navigation but not how to turn off the creepy womans voice
    2. How to turn on the radio but the volume control is an actual dial below the 17 inch center screen
    3. How to use the menu on the center screen but I still do not have a compass.  My prepping says nothing about bringing a compass on a car trip.
    14
  39. Alan says:

    >> Most boys are not so lucky and succumb to “reading is boring, because all there is to read is dull literature and chick lit”.

    And here I thought I was doing things right by getting copies of Playboy just to “read the articles.”

  40. MrK says:

    Thoughts and prayers still coming Mr Lynn..

  41. JimB says:

    Just caught up on my reading, Lynn. Guarded good news on your father and mother. Still praying. Every little prayer helps.

  42. Rolf Grunsky (A Crimson Tory) says:

    I’m a compulsive reader. I read everything. Even instructions.

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