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Sun. June 21, 2026 – Fathers Day in the USA

By on June 21st, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war, personal

Cool and wet to start, maybe clearing up later. Maybe not. The ground is saturated and the ditches around my client’s area were still full yesterday afternoon. I imagine they got even fuller… and the bayous are full too. We really don’t need more rain right now.

I spent yesterday morning getting ready and then on my site visit. No real progress was made but the gear swap should help to narrow down the problem. Having a house full of gear does let them do some cool things, but it takes maintenance.

Then I did my pickup and returned home. Puttered around the house more than working, but did get some small things done.

Today I’m going to have a nice lie in, then eat sugar for breakfast (bacon and bacon waffles are part of the plan.) After that, if I’m not asleep, I’ll see what low effort stuff I can get done. Hopefully it won’t be raining.

Can’t control the weather though, so we’ll see what happens.

My congrats to the other fathers out there. It’s a tough job, but the rewards are great.

Always be working. Stack.

nick

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Sat. June 20, 2026 – work work work

By on June 20th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool and damp, changing to warm and damp, and later hot and damp. Yea Houston! Swamp life rules. We did get a tiny bit of relief for a short time as the fronts moved past us in the early evening. A little cooler air mixed with our hot stagnant air… but it didn’t last.

Did my pickups yesterday. Chatted with one of my long time auctioneers. He and his wife are still plugging away at it. We were talking about changes in the reselling landscape and he thinks the big money has already started to move into the space. I thought they hadn’t moved quite yet, but he sees a couple of other auctions at a higher level than I do. One is massive and conveniently right next to an Amazon warehouse…

Cha- cha- cha- changes….

It’s like when house flipping went hedge-y.

Anyway, today I’ve got a service call at my client’s house, and then I’ll do a pickup on my way to the BOL, unless rain happens. Then I’ll just do my service call and pickup.

Money is a prep.

Stack it up if you can.

nick

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Fri. June 19, 2026 – not my circus, not my monkeys

By on June 19th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, mid 70sF to start but warming to over 100F by afternoon. That’s my guess anyway. Yesterday was sunny and hot. Really a pretty nice day if the humidity wasn’t so high. As it was, you could hurt yourself outside in the sun. Nice at night though.

Did my dad taxi in the morning, with a pickup included. Got some stuff for the household, the BOL, and to sell at my non-prepping hobby show in the Fall. Then I was kinda stuck close to home all afternoon with more taxi duties. I did get a few housekeeping and office things done.

But today, I’ll be running around doing pickups in various parts of town. At least gas is back down to $3.37. Every little bit helps.

I’m gathering supplies for fixes and improvements at home and the BOL, and I’m adding to the stacks. Which is something you should think about doing… hurricane season is coming.

nick

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Thur. June 18, 2026 – busy day, lots of driving

By on June 18th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Starting cool, and getting hot later. It was clear in the afternoon and evening, and ended up pretty nice, but that was true the night before and we still started with overcast and rain. Dunno what today will be like but there is weather in the Gulf of America so I suspect more of the same.

Did one pickup yesterday, along with household stuff. Moved the luggage back to the attic. Moved some other stuff too, hoping that it looks like a big improvement when W gets a good look at it. I’m trying to get my stacks of stuff organized and out of the living areas. Trying.

Today I’ve got at least two pickups that have to happen and they are in different directions. One is all the way down in Alvin. I’ve also got the kid’s dentist appointment in the morning, and taxiing her around in the afternoon. Maybe I can move one pickup to Friday and combine it with some others…

It’s a busy time, and I’m running around doing stuff when I should be selling and fixing and completing projects.

At least I’m working on it. Always be working. And stacking.

nick

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Wed. June 17, 2026 – try try again…

By on June 17th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall

Cool, then warm, then hot. Unless there is more rain. It rained all day yesterday and kept temps in the very low 80sF, until it stopped and the temp rose a bit. Then it cleared and the sun came out for a really pretty sunset. Forecast says we are still in the rain and storm zone though. I guess we’ll see.

Did mostly small things around the house yesterday. Didn’t get any big things done. I’m just not feeling it.

But today, well, today I’ll ROCK! Yeah, maybe not. We’ll see. Could be I get motivated.

I try but don’t always succeed.

Keep trying.
n

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Tues. June 16, 2026 – maybe less rain today?

By on June 16th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Once more starting cool and ending hot, if the rain doesn’t keep things a bit cooler. Mid 80sF yesterday during the rain… Won’t mind if today is similar.

Didn’t get much done, but did do some household and pc chores. Not as many as I needed to do. That’s starting to be the story of my life. Like all those weeks when RBT would start by saying he wasn’t posting, then posted a lot, we make plans but the gods laugh.

Today I’ll try to get a few more things done than I did yesterday.

That’s a pretty low bar to get over, so maybe I’ll succeed. It would be nice to have a win.

Always be working.

Stack. Our enemies and the whole world is still out there.

n

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Mon. June 15, 2026 – back at it

By on June 15th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, long-term food storage, march to war

Cool-ish to start but rapidly warming. Yesterday was mid-90sF before the rain came and it cooled off a little. Then it rained for a while in the evening and later. Dunno what the rain will do today, maybe stay away, but I’m pretty sure it will be hot.

Got up a bit late yesterday, then fixed my string trimmer and cut the back yard. I was so sweaty and hot after that, that I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I did auction and internet stuff in the evening and went to bed.

Today I’ve got more of my normal stuff to do. Between being sick and being out of town, I’ve got 20+ days to make up. That probably won’t happen. Some stuff will just get lost or left undone. Some stuff really needs to be done though.

That stuff will be hard. One thing that needs doing, the canned goods I put in milk crates and have left standing in the patio need going through… two popped while I was working on the string trimmer. FOUL smells, hissing, and stink. Oh, the joy of poor storage conditions. Rusty cans and 90 plus degrees = pop and fizz… I’m pretty sure everything in the bottom milk crates is gone. Some stuff in the crates in between has rusted too, even though the whole pile is covered with a waterproof fabric cover. A “cool dry place” my patio is not.

That’s part of the prepping life though, replace what goes bad, rotate, and retire. There is a constant need to stack as rust never sleeps, and neither does entropy. Stuff is damaged, stuff ages out.

Keep working, keep improving, keep stacking.
n

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Sun. June 14, 2026 – a day of rest, then more work

By on June 14th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall

Cool enough to start, but getting hot later. Yesterday started at 75F but ended around 95F, and it was still in the 80sF well after dark. Today should be similar, with the added spice of being in the national forecast’s “thunderstorms possible” zone.

I mostly did my non-prepping hobby yesterday. That took all morning and into the afternoon. And then it was too hot to do the outdoor stuff I thought I might get to. Some of that stuff will have to be done today, even if it’s hot.

So that’s my plan. Sleep in, then work. Joy. But rust never sleeps and entropy is the only constant in the world.

Some of my preps need updates and maintenance. Most of them in fact. So I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do.

You probably do too. Stack.
nick

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Sat. June 13, 2026 – non-prepping hobby day

By on June 13th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war, personal

Wet, but hopefully mostly clear. We got some rain yesterday. Some places got a LOT of rain yesterday. And in true Houston fashion, some got none. I’m hoping it moved through, as it was pretty nice last night.

Slept in a bit yesterday, then did some internet and office stuff, before venturing out to do two pickups. Unfortunately they were in opposite directions, so I wasn’t very efficient about it. Still, it’s done. Weird not to have a bunch of pickups.

Today will be more recovery from being out of town, but first I’ll have my monthly meeting. And it will be in a temporary space as no one made any decisions about our choices while I was gone. I’m about to withdraw myself from the process entirely.

This afternoon will probably involve yard work. After I put new carbs on the string trimmers, after getting my mail from the neighbors. There might even be some work on vehicles. Who knows besides The Shadow ™?

Some prepping is likely to happen too, if I’m not careful.

Maybe even some more stacking.

nick

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Fri. June 12, 2026 – home again, and glad

By on June 12th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war, personal

Hot, humid, sunny, some clouds. At least I’m guessing that is today, based on late yesterday’s weather. The weather in the Caribbean was nicer.

So yesterday was a travel day, and that meant mostly a sitting around the airport day. We didn’t want to rush in the morning, but didn’t have a good plan for what to do with the day, so we ended up sitting and reading at the airport. The issue was mainly what to do with our luggage if we wanted to do something. Dragging it around with us was not a real option. And the kids were tired of moving around. Naturally, after being at the airport for hours, our flight was delayed by a leaking hose… Did get home only an hour or two late.

Today will be a start to catching up with all the stuff I missed and put off by not being here. That’ll be super fun times…

Followed by more adjustments to the stacks. Several people mentioned after yesterday’s post that they stopped worrying about it since they had no control over what happens. While it’s true we can’t control the events, we can control our reaction to them and the impact they have on us. THAT is why we prep. And stack.

nick

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