Category: culture

Another nice day I hope. Cool to start, 75F in the shade, it’s like a warm hug. The sun is a furnace lasering off my skin when there isn’t any shade, but I can still cool down. Plus, the humidity is low and the breeze is gentle. More please.

Slept in, ate breakfast, drank coffee with heavy cream. Finally got motivated to work, so I took up the leaf blower and attacked the front yard again. Did a couple of hours of that, trying to get all the accumulated leaves out of the bushes and plantings and into the yard so the yard guys can remove them later. I almost got finished when the blower stopped working.

Quick testing showed no gas getting into the carb. That will have to wait a bit, so I got a rake and did the last little bit of leaf redistribution manually.

Sat for a while with W and the dog admiring the day and the sound of the water feature. Eventually, kid 2 called for her pickup and we all went to dinner.

After a bit of intarweb nonsense, I went back out to have a tiny little fire and read.

All in all, a very nice day.

Today- well, we’ll see. Maybe scrapping out stuff to start, then more cleaning and organizing. If it’s nice out, I really want to be out in it. Even if I do break a sweat, it’s loads better than doing it in 89,90, or 100+ degree heat and similar humidity.

I’ll go with the flow today, and maybe the universe won’t kick me in the teeth.

Always be working. Or stacking.

nick

It was so nice yesterday that I worked outside and got a little sunburnt. Mid 80sF and fairly dry, I was able to break a sweat blowing leaves and cutting the grass. 68F when I went to bed, and I expect today to be just as nice.

I got off to a slow start, the meds make me a little groggy and leave me just a little bit ‘off’ in the morning. But I did get out and cut the grass in the back yard. Then I blew all the leaves in the back off the patio. I decided to blow all the leaves out of piles so I did parts of the driveway, under the cars, and all around the front of the house. The lawn guys don’t blow them away from the house, or clean out around the plants, so they have been building up. I decided it was time to clean all that up.

Several hours later, all the leaves were in the grass. Well, all the ones I was able to blow out of the stone, plants, and mulch. I’ll do it again today as the next layer down will have dried out a bit and they’ll move a little easier. I also cleaned leaves out of the ‘pond’ water feature, and cleaned the pump for the waterfall. That was way overdue. I need a fish or two to eat the worms and squiggly things in the pond.

Afterwards, I sat out and had a tiny little fire, a fake beer, and read for a bit. The huge stray orange cat came and looked at me for a while. There was a lot of looking. Then it vanished into thin air. A squirrel came within 5ft of me and got a long drink out of the pond too. Nice sunset. I wonder if my kids can sit quietly outside and just look around. Maybe. But I bet their peers can’t.

Today I’ll probably continue cleaning up the yard and patio and driveway. I’ve got a bunch of “environmental monitoring stations” in the back of the truck. They were originally installed around town and have some air quality sensors as well as a radiation sensor, and maybe some chemical sensors inside them. I’ve been meaning to break them down or sell them for several years. I might do that today.

If I could figure out how to talk to or listen to the rad monitor that would be cool. It’s all custom modules in metal boxes connected to a backplane though, and controlled by another box, with a radio and cell for linking back to whoever was doing the monitoring. Not much chance I’ll actually figure out anything, especially given the amount of time I have for new projects… so most of it will be scrapped.

I’ve got a lot of stuff like that, stuff that I thought might be useful or cool, that I never did anything with. I need the space and some extra money wouldn’t be a bad thing either, so I might save one, and scrap the rest. Time to look at a lot of stuff and make similar decisions.

All so I can stack stuff that IS useful… right?

nick

I know. WORK.

Another beautiful day, and I’m not at the BOL, I’m in Houston. At least it’s cool and clear, with low humidity. Like yesterday and the day before.

I had my whole plan yesterday get scrambled up. Of course. Ended up spending the morning on the computer ordering a new TV for my client instead of picking one up and installing it. Then I spent most of an hour on the phone trying to get my insurance claim from 2021 when I was rear-ended on the freeway by some diversity. Uninsured of course. It’s my fault it dragged out, but now I want it settled. They seem to have confused my original pics of the damage, dated from 2021, with evidence of pre-existing damage prior to the pics from their app in 2026. In fact, it’s pics of the same damage taken 5 years later, as it still hasn’t been fixed.

Luckily the lady on the phone understands there is a problem and I sent her pics of the UN-damaged truck from just a month prior to the accident. I suspect an AI is involved and was never trained on a dumb@ss taking 5 years to finish his claim for loss. In my defense, I did get a letter telling me there would be a delay in my claim while they investigated and tried to recover from the uninsured motorist. And a lot of stuff has been going on in my life and the world since then. They told me not to worry, and I didn’t– until a couple of years went by and I found the paperwork on my desk. Buried about 8 inches down.

So that’s fun.

Anyway, I’ll install my client’s TV after it gets delivered next week, and I’ll talk to another person at my insurance next week.

I did spend the afternoon doing my two pickups and a thrift store, then dropping stuff off at my shop.

Which is where I’ll be spending at least part of today. I need to keep working over there to make the room to get my storage unit emptied. I’m bleeding money that I could be spending on boat stuff, or tiny little fires, or to make smokey noise…

The rest of today will be eaten by other needs. House and yard stuff. Cleanup. Scrapping. So much fun.

Stack. It’s less work.

nick

Cool and crisp, clear and sunny later. So nice. Like a gift. I stayed inside most of yesterday, nursing my back, but when I did go out it was fantastic. More please.

Short story, I was trying really hard not to make my back worse or backslide on the progress I’d made. Lost a day. But that’s ok if I’m back to normal today. At least if I’m back to 85% or more of my normal. Sometimes you just take what you can get.

Dunno what I’ll do today. If I’m feeling good, I’ll try some things with the caveat that I’m being very careful of my back. Probably won’t mow the lawn, or move cabinets and scrap metal around. But who knows? Stuff needs to get done.

And I’m just the man to do it! Kinda, sorta, maybe. I can at least half ass it.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Right?

And stack.

nick