Cold-ish to start, getting mildly nice later, and cool again in the evening… like yesterday. Hopefully without a lot of wind. Yesterday was very nice, if a bit chilly after dark.
I did get my pickups done, but basically resigned myself to not doing a crazy display this year. We had weather, I got a late start, and I just wasn’t feeling it this year. Usually I love Halloween, not for any occult or religious reason, but because I can decorate and make props letting a bit of my theater background out. This year, it will be some of my classic decor but not much new. And usually I have a bunch of it out for weeks before the day. Not this time, which is a little disappointing and sad if I’m honest with myself. NEXT year…
I will have to spend some time getting stuff out of the attic and getting a few things in place. Foam headstones and some lighting, animated witch figures, some skeletons (maybe wrapped like mummies as I’ve decided on that for next year.) Certainly the fog machine and the video projection of Sauron’s Eye. It should still be fun, even if not as much stuff as usual.
I’ve got other stuff from the list to do too, but that will have to wait until Saturday and Sunday. We’re here for kid stuff anyway.
Enjoy the secular version of the holiday, pass out candy and treats to the little beggars, and maybe chat with your neighbors. Building community is a prep.
So is stacking, but you knew that.
nick
Happy Hallow’een, all!
My celebrations will fall flat this year. I had hoped to get to the BOL, do a bit of decorating, and then lie in wait for the few little beggars with goodies. Hallow’een is not really a thing here, but we do get a few kids entering into the spirit. Alas, I am stuck at base on account of work, and our house here is so hidden from the street that we never get any little beggars… I might just have to eat all the confectionery myself.
@Lynn
The law already covers Fair Use and Derivative Works. This may be an area that the law cannot be stretched and contorted to cover.
The closest I can think of is a case from the 80’s where a person performing a rather unique drum solo at a party was recorded without his knowledge. The recording was sampled and transformed and ended up being the basis for the theme song of a popular tv show.
I say, boy, what are you? Some kind of Communist?
Florida-Georgia. “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”!
What? An antenna? ABC? Now I know you’re some kind of Communist longhair.
Nothing compares to the dopamine hit from the phone or tablet.
49F this am… chilly in anyone’s book.
Not much movement in the lions’ dens…
Coffee, however, is ready to be my friend.
n
No hot water this am, out of propane. Bah.
Will methane work? Get hold of Ray.
You should hit one of the new, er, Asian-themed video slots. “Shiny…” They give you constant dope hits that the pot is gonna pop.
Well, Mr. Ray is a giant among the Gas Giants.
Speaking of, I just got email from google letting me know that my google local guide account hit 30K views of my photos, and one review hit 1K views.
Go me!
n
Hrrrrrrmmmpppppphhhhhh.
Double Hrrrrrrmmmpppppphhhhhh.
Well I might want to heat water but less so drying clothes or cooking.
I have just signed up for surgery to replace my left eye lens with a distance lens on December 2, 2025. My eye surgeon is very busy. Tuesday is his surgery day of the week and he does 12 to 20 cataract lens replacements on that day each week.
Well I might want to heat water but less so drying clothes or cooking.
The btu content of farts is about 300 btu / ft3 for the very best of farters. That is not good enough to maintain a flame which requires 450 btu / ft3. You have to cofire with natural gas and bring the btu content up to 600 btu / ft3 to get a stable flame. Pipeline natural gas in the USA is generally 1,000 btu / ft3 and is 1,100 btu / ft3 in Europe (more butane).
A btu is the amount of energy required to raise 1 pound of water by 1 F.
My accountant just gave me a 90 day notice that she is going to retire on Jan 31, 2026. Lovely.
But I appreciate the 90 day notice.
She works around 21 hours per week for me.
I saw a guy in college jump three feet out of a chair in the tv lounge when he decided to see if his farts would light. Singed him pretty good without a sustained flame. Chair was okay.
Sounds like time to train an AI.
You are talking about rookies. Leave the real BTU values to the pros.
The depth of your knowledge on this topic is rather disturbing. We may only hope that this is because of the relevance to your professional work rather than because of, ah, intense personal interest in the topic.
“Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS makes mysterious move toward the sun TODAY in a cosmic turning point”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15238359/Interstellar-visitor-3I-ATLAS-sun-TODAY.html
“The mysterious interstellar visitor passing through our solar system has reached the sun, and what happens next will reveal if it’s an ordinary comet or a spacecraft.”
“As the massive object dubbed 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to our sun on Wednesday, many scientists believe it will begin to break up like a normal comet does under extreme heat.”
“However, if 3I/ATLAS remains intact and maneuvers away from the sun, it would be a sign of extraterrestrial intelligence, just like manmade spacecraft use rocket engines to veer away from objects in the solar system.”
“Wednesday’s critical milestone is called the perihelion, with the object moving approximately 126million miles away from the sun, which also marks the halfway point of 3I/ATLAS’ journey through our solar system.”
“Harvard physicist Avi Loeb called today’s move towards the sun ‘the acid test of 3I/ATLAS‘.”
“Currently, the object is unusually heavy, weighing approximately 33billion tons, has an oddly flat shape like a pancake, and has a surface covered in nickel.”
Alien spacecraft. Big sucker at 33 billion tons. Probably uses nukes for propulsion.
In case anyone is free to watch, the ARD Klassik channel on YouTube is now livestreaming Mozart’s Requiem with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
The depth of your knowledge on this topic is rather disturbing. We may only hope that this is because of the relevance to your professional work rather than because of, ah, intense personal interest in the topic.
I was involved in trying to run a small 2,500 kW (3,000 hp) gas turbine on landfill gas in Lewisville, Texas in 1987 – 1989 when I worked at TXU. The initial rating on the landfill gas coming from the several 300 foot deep wells in the landfill were 600 btu/ft3 of natural gas. Over the next six months, the landfill gas deteriorated to 450/ft3 and they were getting flameouts and then suddenly down to 300 btu/ft3 at which point they could not even start the gas turbine anymore. They had atmospheric oxygen / nitrogen leakage into the landfill well gathering system which they could not separate out.
They eventually got permission from the EPA to cofire the gas turbine with 50% natural gas and their problems went away. It was a fairly lame system and we had to buy the electricity from them since they were a cogeneration site. I was way more interested in our 125 generating units and five other cogenerators that could make 22,000 MW of electric power for our two million customers. Our smallest generating unit was 22 MW and our largest was 750 MW. Our other cogenerators were 450 MW to 8 MW.
Never shall this forum be accused of lacking knowledge of vital interest.
Why do programmers confuse Halloween with Christmas?
Because 31 OCT = 25 DEC
I will let myself out.
“Courts Order Trump to Keep Paying Food Stamps Amid Shutdown”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/courts-order-trump-keep-paying-185824128.html
“(Bloomberg) — Two federal judges ruled the Trump administration’s decision to suspend food-aid benefits for tens of millions of Americans during the government shutdown is likely unlawful and that US officials must use contingency funding to at least partially keep the program operational.”
We need to cut those judges pay to zero first.
And you cannot get blood out of turnip. The USA is broke. We are starting a compete new cycle of running out of money.
I do not know if the USA financial apocalypse will precede or follow the USA civil war.
“The US Economy Is Putting All Its Chips Down On AI”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-putting-chips-down-203100569.html
“The U.S. economy has grown increasingly concentrated in AI, with the biggest tech companies now making up about a third of the value of the entire stock market.”
“Companies are investing in AI at a titanic scale, building colossal data centers all over the country to the tune of $400 billion in 2025.”
“As the U.S. economy becomes increasingly concentrated in AI, more economists have warned of catastrophic consequences if it doesn’t pan out at the market crashes.”
It may be time to head for the hills.
Lies.
Uh, “Trump administration”? Congress has to pass a budget of some kind to fund the program. Oh well. The judges have made their ruling and now let’s see them enforce it.
“JUST IN: FBI Thwarts Potential Halloween Terror Attack—Several Arrests Made In Muslim Majority Michigan City”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/10/dearborn-michigan-fbi-thwarts-potential-halloween-terror-attack/
“Early this morning, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that they have thwarted a potential terrorist attack in Michigan. In his post on “X,” Patel said that “several people” were arrested, calling it “an incredible success.””
“Although the FBI has not named any of the suspects, Dearborn is a Muslim majority city and has recently been in the news. On September 9, during a city council meeting, the City’s Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told Dearborn resident Ted Barham he wasn’t welcome in the City after he objected to Wayne County’s decision to name a major street in Dearborn after longtime Arab-American leader Osama Siblani. Barham’s objection to the street being named after the 70-year-old Siblani was due to his ties to terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.”
This will get worse and worse until we get the muslims out of the USA.
Uh, “Trump administration”? Congress has to pass a budget of some kind to fund the program. Oh well. The judges have made their ruling and now let’s see them enforce it.
The judges will threaten to arrest Trump and the USDA.
“Do We Have Another Chip Shortage Coming?”
https://www.carpro.com/blog/do-we-have-another-chip-shortage-coming
“Japan’s auto industry is warning of renewed semiconductor shortages stemming from a now escalating trade dispute between between the Netherlands and China over Dutch chipmaker Nexperia that is threatening global vehicle production. Nexperia makes chips used for vehicle basics like power windows and windshield wipers.”
“The crisis has left automakers scrambling to find chips and check with their suppliers. According to a report in Ford Authority, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) says the auto industry could see significant impacts in two to four weeks. Already, this week Honda announced production slowdowns or suspensions at its plants in North America. Nissan and Mercedes-Benz are also sounding the alarm, but no announced production cuts yet. The shortage also threatens Ford and GM production.”
Here we go again.
I voted today. Just 17 or 18 Props, no school bonds were on the ballot.
Paper ballot! The “check-in” part was the same. ID and voter’s card. The machine somehow scans the driver’s license. You sign the screen and get a slip of paper to take to the next table. With the machines, you got another slip of paper with your 4 digit code to enter on the machine. Now she then scans your slip and your ballot is printed. Hot off the laser printer. Legal size paper with one corner rounded off. Then you wait for a desk to sit at to fill your ballot.
On the way out there is a scanner you feed your ballot into. The lady monitor/helper there said it doesn’t matter which way you insert your ballot. And you’re done. Get yer “I Voted” sticker at the next table.
I think having the scanner tell you it scanned X votes of X options would be useful. Sometimes I skip voting for an office.
Are Flair or other felt tip pens other than Sharpies still a thing? Sharpies tend to bleed through. A BIC ballpoint pen takes a while to fill in the blocks. Just a thought. A #2 pencil would be quicker than a ball point pen but then maybe you have pencil dust clogging the scanner.
The boxes you fill in, like the achievement tests from High School, are about a quarter of an inch tall but not an eighth inch wide, closer to a centimeter wide. Probably improves accuracy…
Just crazy. Why don’t the judges rule the Dumbocrat votes are immaterial and tell tRump the goobermint is now open? Why don’t they rule the “goobermint is funded with a $100 trillion budget with Dumbocrat items only? Why, because the Judicial Branch has NO SAY over the execution of fund.
SCOTUS will overrule this.
“George Santos: Being Tortured, Finding God, and Hearing of Charlie Kirk’s Murder From Behind Bars”
https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-george-santos-2
George Santos was not sent to a white collar prison by the Biden administration.
I dropped cable TV way back around 1988. I might have had MTv on DirecTv but I never watched it.
So. I stumbled across this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M6samPEMpM
It’s The Backstreet Boys meet Thriller. Pretty neat mini-movie.
I mostly like The Backstreet Boys. No clue as to who is who. They sound good together. I Want It That Way is a “crank it up song”.
I dropped cable TV way back around 1988. I might have had MTv on DirecTv but I never watched it.
So. I stumbled across this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M6samPEMpM
It’s The Backstreet Boys meet Thriller. Pretty neat mini-movie.
I mostly like The Backstreet Boys. No clue as to who is who. They sound good together. I Want It That Way is a “crank it up song”.
FM 95.7 in Houston plays this song all the time. Yes, crank up song.
I can make multilingual puns, a vital interest. Though I suppose that’s more of a skill than knowledge.
Who would pun would pick a pocket…
“Taunt the witch they said, it will be fun they said”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/10/happy-or-horrible-halloween-depending.html
Oh my goodness !
We know the answer. Get rid of the computer controlled stuff that doesn’t involve the drive train. That’s all we actually need to do.
Bring back crank windows. Remote unlock and remote start is nice but really, just use the key to unlock the door.
My microwave died. Walmart had one I wanted. They don’t sell the floor models. I have an Emerson. 600 watts. It’s got to be pushing 20 years old…. paid maybe $80 for it and we took it camping in the pop-up trailer years ago and then it lived on the SeaRay.
I wanted a new machine and I wanted a Potato button. Huh, go figure, my Emerson has a little picture of a potato and it says 6 minutes. Maybe 2 minutes longer than the dead 1000 watt nuker. That’s all I need, actually,
I like this nuker. No clock. Just a 15 minute mechanical timer. Simple.
For those sneering at “just 600 watts”, my first nuker was a Litton. About $900. It was expensive enough to come with cooking classes. It was 600 watts.
Hah!
I sent that to my brother the retired C++ programmer, literally the only person I know that would get it.
In return he sent me a picture of him playing pickle ball with somebody dressed as a pickle.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who still tells that joke.
For “HItchhiker’s Guide” fans:
“What do you get when you multiply six by nine?”
“42?”
“I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.”
The universe isn’t binary, octal, hexadecimal, or even digital.
It is base 13.
“Alien spacecraft. Big sucker at 33 billion tons. Probably uses nukes for propulsion.”
It will land in Nebraska looking for the whales that were there last time they visited. Then they will skip to the Atlantic and their new whale friends will tell them about being tortured by wind farms. Then we will find out how to say “really freaking pissed off” in alien, just before they start melting the caps and making the oceans bigger for their new friends. Our final language lesson will be “suck icicles, monkey scum”.
If you read the enabling clause for the $6 billion SNAP contingency fund, it orders those funds to be available until Sept 2026. Since there is no extension in the works at present, one interpretation could be that the money be used over the next 10 months, which would fund the $8 billion/month program at about 7.5%.
Or just tell the judges to suck it—they don’t have the power to decide spending.
Chase Citibank and the other “too big to fail” banks processes a lot of the EBT transactions … for a price.
I’m sure someone dropped a dime on the judges.
Just thinking out loud here.
A couple of weeks ago I was informed that Jim and the next door neighbor were coming to visit yesterday. No specific time.
They arrived, the dogs got an extra cookie because of course. The dogs love having company visit.
They liked the way the house looks with the new flooring. And the living room “is so roomy now!”. I got rid of a couple of recliners, so, yeah, ya reckon? The floor was installed in June, but ne’er mind that. So we’re yakking and they gave me a corny birthday card. Nice!
Then it’s “time to feed the dogs”. The dogs have a schedule and they complain if I ignore their schedule. I got that done and then the neighbor asked “when are we eating?” I’m like “huh?” Blindsided. I thought we were just gonna drink a lot of beer?
Well. I missed the memo where I’m cooking for company on my birthday. And I’m always happy to make supper. Give me a couple hours to go from frozen hamburger to great spag sauce. Just need a loaf of french bread from the HEB for garlic toast and maybe a salad. But I missed the memo.
I have decided she was messing with me. Has to be. Because for all past events she brings something, a cobbler like dessert or a salad.
But still. I feel like I F’ed up somehow. So much for the Happy turning 68 BS.
Jim is 72. Neighbor is 73. They have both had various shots for covid. Just saying, not judging. But they ain’t right. They sat in my living room last evening discussing the benefits of various brands of compression socks and how to put them on.
Oh! And “how to stand up from sitting but don’t use your arms”. I’m listening and learning nothing new and yet still, thinking “this is nursing home shit”.
Great great, just effing great. Well, I’ve always expected to outlive everyone I know. I’m not liking it happen. Never expected to like it.
Ah, well, I’ve out lived the only one that mattered to me. All the other folks are “dust in the wind”. Shrug.
Done thinking for now.
The SNAP stuff? Turn it off for a couple of months.
Downside is folks like my sister being screwed when she needed the stuff for a few months.
Upside is well. lots of upsides….. one facet is the wetbacks go home. AKA folks not a citizen deport on their on.
Paul, Happy Birthday !
I am hoping that 68 does not hurt worse than 65 does.
Thank you Lynn,
Actually, 68 is like 58. It’s a little harder to get up from the floor. But I don’t sit on the floor much anymore. The kickstand seems to be dead even as it wants attention. Eyes are a bit more blurry but nothing a new pair of glasses won’t fix. It’s not a big deal for me.
Last time I looked the Garmin watch said I was 52.
And here I am feeling the way I do and wait, this is how being 52 is? Crazy.
The SNAP stuff? Turn it off for a couple of months.
Downside is folks like my sister being screwed when she needed the stuff for a few months.
Upside is well. lots of upsides….. one facet is the wetbacks go home. AKA folks not a citizen deport on their on.
I am OK with turning off SNAP forever. WIC is funded separately and still running which is good. SNAP has been abused over and over again. In fact, you should get three months max on SNAP, with no questions asked, for a few years.
I actually would like to replace SNAP with MREs at the Post Office. If you are hungry, go to the Post Office, wait in line and they will hand you three MREs. More if you got kids with you.
EBT cards, give me a break. That is a ripoff for the rest of us hardworking taxpayers.
A lot of supermarkets depend on subsidies from SNAP to remain profitable on thin margins, particularly the big publicly traded chains such as Albertsons-Safeway and Kroger, another favorite of the Geico Gecko, who holds 7% of the company.
Also, some prepared food outlets such as Papa Murphy’s and Panera depend on exploiting EBT card loopholes to make money, and, prior to the Amazon acquisition, the Whole Foods Market expansion mirrored the growth in the EBT program.
Papa Murphy’s HQ is in Vantucky. I doubt that chain would survive EBT cards going away.
A lot of supermarkets depend on subsidies from SNAP to remain profitable on thin margins, particularly the big publicly traded chains such as Albertsons-Safeway and Kroger, another favorite of the Geico Gecko, who holds 7% of the company.
The USA government HAS gone broke. $38 trillion in debt and climbing rapidly. If Albertsons, Walmart, Kroger, HEB, and Papa Murphys ??? cannot make it without EBT cards, then so be it.
3122 Kueck Rd, Rosenberg, TX 77471 for WinSim office for $689,000
https://www.har.com/homedetail/3122-kueck-rd-rosenberg-tx-77471/2388294
3/2/0, 1976, 2,998 ft2 house on 2.39 acres with a 2,000 ft2 old warehouse.
Eight foot ceilings, house has a metal roof, nice circular driveway.
The garage was converted into a big room inside the house.
No HOA, no deed restrictions as far as I can tell.
10.9 miles away from the house.
Has a water well and a septic system.
There is a pond ???
506 Twin Ln, Rosenberg, TX 77471 for new WinSim office
https://www.har.com/homedetail/506-twin-ln-rosenberg-tx-77471/10525252
4/3/3, 2,334 ft2, 1978 house, on 3.5 acres for $619,500
No HOA, no deed restrictions as far as I can tell.
1,200 ft2 barn next to house. Eight foot ceilings.
12.3 miles from my house.
Water well and septic tank.
Very weird shaped lot.
Lots of parking.
@Lynn … I think houses built in the mid-1970’s may have asbestos issues, so you should be aware of that. There might also be lead paint issues. Mitigation of abestos and/or lead paint can be a bit expensive if you plan on any remodeling.
Well, it’s been a long day.
Got my display set up and even went above and beyond. It looked good and was what I was hoping for. Made me feel like less of a slacker. Mummy theme, light on the Egyptian stuff. Next year there will be more Egyptian stuff.
Had a lot of kids come by. Of three bags o Costco candy, we have less than ½ bag left and W only gave one candy per kid. Timing was about like previous years, petered out after 830pm, but we had a couple of stragglers after 9pm when I started taking stuff down.
My smoke machine was smoking up the whole block downwind. It was cool.
Almost everyone was in costume, and uniformly under 36″ tall. I got a lot of complements and several people wanted my picture in front of the main display. (I did dress up in my ‘explorer’ outfit, big lumberjack boots, khaki shorts and shirt, pith helmet, leather bag, GIANT pipe. ) It was a fun night.
Currently waiting for D2 to head home from her school thing. I’ll have to pick her up around 11pm. D1 went to a party dressed as a ‘sexy cheetah’. I’m so screwed. Waiting for her to get home too.
I think I’ll sit out reading for a bit with a tiny little fire.
nick
Happy Halloween from J.P.:
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2025/10/31/vance-responds-halloween-meme-n2421109
Or I could go ahead and move WinSim over to Wharton, Texas. 2026 County Road 216, Hungerford, TX 77435 for $599,000:
https://www.har.com/homedetail/2026-county-road-216-east-bernard-tx-77435/7333220
Just 28.5 miles from my house. 3/2.5/2, 3,295 ft2, 2019 house on 2 acres.
>>The law already covers Fair Use and Derivative Works. This may be an area that the law cannot be stretched and contorted to cover.
Well, Anthropic thought otherwise, or at least their lawyers did, to the tune of $1.5 BILLION.
https://authorsguild.org/advocacy/artificial-intelligence/what-authors-need-to-know-about-the-anthropic-settlement/
https://hotair.com/headlines/2025/10/31/uw-madison-dean-trump-racist-claimed-education-system-math-inherently-violent-to-black-students-n3808375
https://edpsych.education.wisc.edu/fac-staff/matthews-percival/
Would it be impolite to wonder if this idiot have never read his university me-me page, or is just incapable of proofreading?
It was revealed this week that 60% of Harvard grades are “A”.
This travesty has three degrees (Harvard, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt) and the reasoning ability of an East Saint Louis ESL gang-banger.
Another data point in the argument for getting the federal government entirely out of student loans and reducing grants by 90%. There is literally not a single piece of crap labeled “scholarship” that drops out of this cloaca in Wisconsin that can possibly contribute to anything that a society with $38T in national debt can afford.
In the best of all possible worlds the 6-year-old would-be killer with a gun in his backpack would be retrained and given a stack of loaded magazines before being dropped off in the building and told he could have ice cream when he was done.
Would replacing the victimization culture that has been imposed by the new slaveholders of the poc psyche over the last half-century with the common sense recipe of “work hard, improve yourself, and make a better life for your children” be a pedagogical technique?
All the pack is safely home. I’m chilled to the bone. I will have to get a MrHeater if I’m going to sit out, or fire up the Solo firepit.
After the kids are done, it will be time for a shower and bed.
All in all, a good day.
n
Surprise, surprise, dime dropped and the World Series goes to a Game Seven tomorrow night…
https://www.mlb.com/news/world-series-game-6-ends-with-game-saving-double-play
Nice DP to end Game Six.
—–
Oh right, all anyone cares about is getting the college footie ball games back on the air by tomorrow.
No hot water this am, out of propane. Bah.
Yup, the downside of a propane system. I like the twin 500 gallon tank system myself, with an alarm and automatic fail over.
I understand it’s a big industry, even if I don’t care to participate in it. Sport is entertainment, and we are good at entertainment. Lots of money flows when the teams are playing. From a civilizational (totally a word) standpoint I wish we were not so invested in the circuses.
Time for me to hit the hay.
n
Surprise, surprise, dime dropped and the World Series goes to a Game Seven tomorrow night…
https://www.mlb.com/news/world-series-game-6-ends-with-game-saving-double-play
Nice DP to end Game Six.
I did not even know that the World Series was going on.
And my #3 Aggies have a bye day tomorrow before playing Missouri on Nov 8, then South Carolina (I hate that gamecock noise), Samford, and U of Texas after Thanksgiving.
I grew up in the St. Louis area, and I was at one time a big fan of the Cardinals.
For years, up until the baseball strike removed all my enthusiasm, I had one rule: Baseball season ended when the Cardinals season ended.
That was before playoffs, before steroids, and in the days when players all spoke English.
When my son was little, he asked me the difference between the National League and the American League. I told him the American League was just like Major League Baseball, but the pitchers don’t bat.
Or I could go ahead and move WinSim over to Wharton, Texas. 2026 County Road 216, Hungerford, TX 77435 for $599,000:
Or I could go ahead with my long term plan and move myself and WinSim to central Texas around Temple, 180 miles northwest.
A place for WinSim:
https://www.har.com/homedetail/4630-lantana-rd-belton-tx-76513/305641
A place for me and the wife and the daughter:
https://www.har.com/homedetail/686-benchmark-trl-belton-tx-76513/246706
Ask lots of questions. Belton is where “Austin” will eventually start if real estate developers have their way.
Salado and Jerrell have strict anti growth philosophies, but Colonist interests have been working on properties up Ronald Reagan, to the point where the road intersects I-35 again north of Georgetown, incuding a plan for toll express lanes.
Over at a friend’s house for Halloween, handed out a fair amount of candy. The weather was nice: short sleeve weather at first, finally transitioning into a hoodie about 9 o’clock.
The crowds were decent, probably in the top five, not upto the time that someone called us into a local radio station, but still good.
An oddity: everyone was very nice, I had noticed that the children and adults were quite polite, and my friend’s wife brought it up later as well. Even the teenagers seemed nice (for them).