Category: culture

Cool and damp. Again. But later it will be beautiful. Yesterday afternoon was still in the low 80sF but it felt great. More please. Oh, and the rest of the day it was partly cloudy and blindingly sunny the rest of the time.

Spent pretty much all day doing pickups and some related stuff, like taking a load of trash to the dumpster, and dropping stuff off at my shop. Then it was home to make dinner and do some of the domestic bliss I’d neglected. Yeah, I didn’t get to the gas station, pharmacy, or grocery store. That’ll be today.

Dinner was lamb roast, steamed brusselsprouts, tube biscuits, and a thrown together apple pie for dessert. One graham cracker pie crust, one can apple pie filling, second crust crumbled on top, bit of cinnamon, and about a stick of melted butter on the bottom and top crusts. 45 minutes later, and it was good.

The pre-made crusts and canned filling are the 80-20 rule made real. 20% of the work, and 80% of the result compared to fresh homemade. Actually more like 90-10 in this case, and it was all long term storage food.

Today I’ll do the grocery and meds run, get gas, and then switch back to my list. I didn’t have time to do any work on my office yesterday, and I want to move that along. I’ll try to do one trip to the shop too, and maybe break down more scrap. There is a certain appeal in the instant cash, even if the amount isn’t large.

Doing what I can with what I’ve got, at least partly. And stacking, that’s important.

nick

And supposed to be a nice one too. It got into the low 80sF yesterday, with sunshine between the clouds. Late afternoon and night were nice. Damp. But that’s Houston.

I spent all day yesterday at home, doing office stuff and cleaning up. I am trying to get stuff off the floor and into the closet in my office, which means moving stuff out of it. Stuff that hasn’t moved in a couple of years… Some of it, like the sewing and embroidery machine will stay. Some of it will go. The magazines I’m keeping are Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding, Nuts and Volts, and it’s companion Servo. If I every get my shop built at the BOL, I’ll have them to go through again, just like the first time. Woodworking doesn’t age out. The electronics stuff will, but some of it will still be fun to try.

I also did some driveway cleanup, and moved stuff around inside as well. My truck is loaded with scrap that needs to be processed, and trash to be dumped. I’m going past my dumpster today as I make my big loop to do pickups. I should be able to get a bunch of pickups out of the way in just a few hours. At least I’m not doing it every day like I was.

Some of it will be stacked, some is for the normal operation of my life. Some is just in case.

Stack what you can.

nick

Cool to start, warming later, and chance of sunny and clear. Yesterday ended up being beautiful in my neighborhood around 4pm. I sat out with a tiny little fire and read for an hour while waiting for the kid to call for a ride. REALLY nice day. Today should be similar, and the next couple of days get even more clear and sunny.

I went back to bed in the morning, as I only had three hours of sleep the night before. I was up and moving by 1030 though, as there is very little rest for the wicked.

Did my pickup and a few other things in the afternoon, while planning to stay close to home for dad’s taxi service. Of course, because I had a plan, the kid got big sis to do all the driving. Cool, I got more time to sit quietly in the shade and watch the squirrels foraging. Lots of juveniles this year.

Today I have a pickup I can do, although I might delay it until tomorrow and roll it into one trip. I can do work at home or work on getting the last of the storage into my shop. The shelf parts I ordered came in, so I can build more shelves… we’ll see how things develop. Since planning doesn’t seem to work.

Stacking does though.

nick

Cool to start, but warming later. And damp. Should be sunny though if the trend continues. I can’t be bothered to look, even though I know millions of dollars and thousands of man hours were spent to make a guess. I can guess for less, and be right about as often.

Spent the morning yesterday doing auction stuff. Even though I’m buying less, I’m still looking at them. Sometimes stuff like the image stabilized binos pops up. Some newer thermal or night vision gear would be great…

Spent the afternoon doing a pickup and thrifting. I need to find a new auction to sell for me, and to move a bunch of stuff. I’ve also got some craigslist stuff to list, and I’m thinking about FB Marketplace. I don’t want to set up a borg account, nor to I want to feed that beast, but it looks like that is where the buyers are. I just wonder if they are any less flaky than the CL buyers.

Today I’ve got some catching up to do on domestic bliss. One local pickup appointment and one closer to Lynn, in the early afternoon. I’ve got to do some more moving from the storage unit and the shop, but I’m waiting for my shelf parts to come in. Have to have someplace to put the stuff. I need to stay close to home for after school taxi duties, so I’ll probably cook dinner too.

The list is long. But the journey of 10000 starts with a single step.

Prepping is like that. Just get started, and then keep plugging away. It’s interesting watching Commander Zero start the BOL phase of his prepping. I’ve been reading him for years, and he’s about as squared away as anyone can be, but the BOL stuff is new to him and I’m sure he’s feeling a bunch of different things as he gets outside his routine and comfort zone. New stuff can be scary and nerve wracking, but it’s also exciting. And learning what you don’t know, and didn’t know you don’t know, is always an eye opener.

Stack. It gives you options and resilience.

nick

Cool and wet again? Probably. Rained off and on all day despite my prediction yesterday. Guess I don’t really control the weather. Today will be the same, and warmer at some point.

I didn’t get much done on my list, but I did get my paperwork done for my wife. She filed the taxes too. No idea how that went.

Today I’ll be doing some stuff around the house, then one pickup, maybe two. It will depend in part on the rain, as one item at least needs the pickup truck, I think.

I’ve got a ton of stuff backed up but no plan to do it. Maybe plans would help? Probably not, based on experience.

Oh well, there’s always stacking.
n

Cool and wet again. Or still. More rain in the forecast. Yesterday it rained all around the town, and twice at my house. I still suspect that some parts of town didn’t get any though. By dusk, we had some blue sky and patchy clouds to bring the mosquitos out… Today’s forecast is like yesterday’s.

I was up and out fairly early as I had a big loop to make. 6 pickups and an estate sale to hit… that kept me moving from 9am until 430pm. Funnily enough, I missed most of the heavy rain. I drove through some light to medium rain, small pockets, but when I got to some places it was clear they’d been pounded. Oh well, lucky me. I did get to my shop, the metal dealer, and Costco before coming home for dinner.

Today, I thought I’d have at least one auction pickup but I didn’t win. I’m going to sleep in, then get up and work the list. Unless someone else has been making plans for me. Then I’ll be doing what she wants.

Keep improving, keep stacking.

nick

And I was gonna say “still no war” but that’s not right. Cool and clear today, trending toward possible T storms and rain. National forecast has all of Texas in that zone by Sunday. I acknowledge that we need the rain. The cool and clear has been SOOOOOoooo nice though.

Yesterday I did computer and office stuff in the morning. My insurance claim settled. I don’t think it’s enough to have someone else fix the damage, but I do think it’s enough for me to pocket the check and use my parts truck to fix it myself. I wish I had at least one friend to help though. He moved away. The guys I do know aren’t the kind who would help me swap the bed on the Ranger.

Now, I think I could ask some of the guys at the lake for help doing that and they would. It’s part of building that web of obligation, favors, helpin’ out, and being a stand up guy. But I can’t get the parts up there and do the work up there without a lot of disruption in my day to day.

Anyway, today I have several pickups that need to happen, and they sort of combine into a big loop. I scored a pair of Canon active stabilization binos in an estate sale. I have one or two items for the house at several other auctions. My total spend is way down, but this week there were things I couldn’t resist at the price. It just means a lot of driving today, and tomorrow.

There really aren’t that many critical things left on my lists, just enhancements at this point- like image stabilized binos. Awesome for boating, and I have a boat now. More tools to equip the BOL. More depth in areas like power generation, or cooking. More defensive options.

It’s also clear I’ve let some of the stacks of food run down, or have too much ‘breakage’. I don’t like throwing away food, but I know that my family diet, combined with poor storage conditions, means I will have stuff that expires past the point where it’s edible, or the packaging becomes damaged. It’s part of the cost of the insurance policy that prepping is.

So work, improve, and stack.

nick

Cool, crisp. Warming later, and getting humid later, but still gorgeous. Like yesterday. I broke a sweat standing in the sun, but the breeze was cool. Drove around all day with the windows down.

Got a small nap in the morning, then did auction stuff before heading out. Wife had me on a mission to get free stuff from the neighborhood group. Aeron chair, genuine Herman Miller, free. Yes please. She will use it at the BOL for her desk chair. Did a pickup. Sold some scrap. Dropped off some trash. Met with my auctioneer. I need to find a new auctioneer. Home to feed some extra kids and crash from the carbs. Oh so exciting!

Today I’ve got pickups I can do, and office stuff that has to be done. Mileage. Invoicing. Insurance stuff. More indoor stuff while I just want to be outdoors in the nice weather. It was like San Diego yesterday.

I miss San Diego weather. And the food. But most of my friends have moved on too, and Texas is growth while Cali is decline. The world turns.

No regrets. Stack.

nick