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Category: culture

Tues. Aug. 25, 2026 – back to the other list

Hot and humid again. Still Summer in Houston for a while yet. It was well over 100F yesterday and probably will be today too. Early morning temps are starting to move down, so Fall is coming, just not right now.

Did a lot of stuff yesterday, mostly detailed in the comments. Some of it has added items to my list, so there’s that. Nothing like problems popping up and derailing “normal”. Knowledge, money, and effort go a long way towards turning potential hardship into manageable problems.

Today I will do some follow up for our event, possibly some work at the rent house, and who knows what else. I’m sure it will be a day filled with me doing things. I’ve always taken pride in myself and my ability to get things done, and to solve problems. However, it sure would be nice to have a period without any interruptions from NEW problems.

It’s a great life if you don’t falter.

And if you stack and prepare for the problems you can foresee.

nick

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Mon. Aug. 24, 2026 – back to normal, AF’dUP

Hot and steamy. Yep. And yesterday was too. Maybe slightly less hot than Saturday, but you wouldn’t know it without a thermometer.

Did my event in the morning. Even made some last minute sales. Didn’t win a door prize. Loaded the trailer and was home early. Ate something and fell asleep for a bit, and then a bunch of stuff happened. See yesterday’s comments for details.

W and D2 made it home from the lake just about the time the power went out.

The upshot of yesterday is that I have to figure out what’s wrong with my freezer and fix it today, or replace it post haste. I’d rather fix it as there is a lot of stuff in the way of replacing it. I’ve also got to unload the trailer at my shop and return it. And it’s Monday, so school stuff too.

IF I’d found the freezer issue before it got down to fridge temps, I’d have loaded up coolers, and bought some time. Instead, I’ve loaded up fridges, a portable freezer, and all the free space in the other freezers. It’s a lot of meat.

Oh well, this is normal life. I’ll deal with it, I just don’t like the urgency or hassle. AND other stuff is falling farther down the list.

Stack it high. Hope for the best.

nick

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Sun. Aug. 23, 2026 – last show day, I’m gonna hurt on Monday

Hot. Still hot. And humid. I think today will be hot too. 100+F in the day, high 80sF at night. Still milder than a couple of years ago.

Had a pretty good day at the event. Talked with lots of people. Some sold well and made money but some didn’t. I sold pretty well, but I was also cutting prices to the bone. Some younger people shopping as guests on our public day. Nice to see it. All the hobbies need new people to come in in order to survive.

Today I am going in a bit earlier for a group breakfast, and then a few hours of selling. The pack and load out takes me some time, so it will be late afternoon or evening before I’m home. Then Monday I’ll have to unload the trailer and return it, while storing stuff away at the shop.

All in all, a good show for me. We’ll see how the club does later.

Networking, getting out with fellow enthusiasts, and talking to all sorts of people. Valuable things to do.

Get out there!

nick
and stack, of course.

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Sat. Aug. 22, 2026 – day two of my event

And it will be hot and humid again. Because it’s still Summer in Houston. There was a little relief from the heat today in the form of a slightly cooler breeze, if you were in shadow. Otherwise it was brain broiling hot in the sun. Expect more of the same.

Got some ice on the way in for the crew drinks, and the price of a bag has gone from $2 to $3 in only a couple of years. That’s real inflation. Had a good load in and setup, and then I got busy selling. I didn’t pick up a bunch of good resale inventory, but I did organize what was left from last year and people did buy a lot of that. I did a bunch of small sales, and feel like I grossed at least $500 yesterday. If I can do the same or more over Sat. and Sun., it will have been a pretty good show.

So that’s the goal for today. Move some of the slightly bigger ticket items, and a lot of the old stale inventory even if it’s at fire sale prices. I’m even going to give away some stuff to another hobby group that can use it at the end of the show. The goal is to reduce the number of bins I’m storing, and improve the overall value of what I do store.

It’s a plan. We’ll see if it works out.

Meet some people. Talk to people about their version of the real world. Stack the good stuff.

nick

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Fri. Aug. 21, 2026 – first day of my event, I’m busy

It’ll be hot and sweaty as we set up our show. Most of the hard work will happen in the morning, when it should be under 90F, but I’m sure we’ll be doing plenty after it hits 100F later in the day. Yesterday was REALLY humid. IDK the official figure, but sweat was not drying, and it was oppressively wet. Even at midnight.

Spent the day getting ready for my show. Trailer, load, display stuff, and family time… it was a long day.

Today will be even longer. I’ll start by getting ice for the coolers for the crew to stay hydrated, then head to the venue. Setup starts at 9am and we hope to have attendees start moving in around 11am. Technically the show is open at 2pm but a lot of good business will have already happened by then. I get a late start setting my own stuff up, as I’m helping others most of the morning.

Hopefully I’ll sell some stuff and make some money. That’s the goal anyway. My hobbies are supposed to be self funding, so I do one sale in March for ham stuff, and one in August for the other thing.

It’s real world networking and a look at some folks from out of state too. It was very valuable during the covidiocy to see and talk with people from other areas. I’ll be interested to hear what people think about the economy.

Intel. Stack some of that too.

nick

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Thur. Aug. 20, 2026 – lots to do today

And it will be hot while I do it. And humid, although it’s been a little bit less humid than last week. Still freaking hot though. Over 100F again yesterday and probably later today. Should make moving all the bins into a trailer a swamp-ish hell.

Did some prep for my non-prepping hobby event, and some recovery from my weekend. Getting older has some limits and downsides, but it does beat not getting older.

Today I’ll be doing a little shopping, some final computer work, and then getting and loading a uHaul trailer. I expect it to take all day, and probably most of the evening. I might need a break to cool down… or two. We’ll see. I can still grind if I have to.

This show and my hamfest are my two big chances to be part of the world. It’s easy to retreat and mentally and physically withdraw from people and society. It takes me effort to engage, but it is worth it.

While we prep, it’s still important to live in the world. Mainly because the EOTW rarely comes, but our lives are what we do while living. Don’t miss out.

But still stack, in case.

nick

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Wed. Aug. 19, 2026 – and now I’m behind

Hot and humid, because still Summer in Houston. We could do with a bit of rain, especially at the BOL. But it will probably be the same today as yesterday, 100+F, and high humidity.

Started yesterday at the BOL but didn’t do much besides pack up and leave. On the way home I went by the rent house and dropped off cedar boards for the fence repairs. Went by my secondary location and dropped off some construction debris and trash in the dumpster, then hit Costco for gas, and Lowes to check the ‘cull’ pile for more cedar boards. They had them, as well as fence pickets and a lot of nice 1x lumber. Dunno why they’ve had such good stuff in the cull pile, but for 50% off, I’ll take it.

Hit the chiropractor after that, and went home. Napped almost immediately. Some leftover beef roast for dinner, and I’m a new man.

So today I need to focus on getting ready for my event this weekend. I’ve got a lot of stuff to dig out and pull to the front of the shop for ease of loading on Thursday.

And all the normal things need to happen too. My client wants me to come by and diagnose some ongoing issues. I’m thinking aging gear, but I could be wrong. It’ll have to wait until next week though.

Always be working, and stacking, but also, don’t forget about living.
nick

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Tues. Aug. 18, 2026 – homeward bound, I hope

Hot and humid. Still dry too. Crunchy grass. It got well above 100F yesterday and was still 84F at midnight. There was a breeze which helped. I mostly worked indoors, but going out to cut stuff was like an oven. Probably the same today too.

Did my interior trimout for the window. I have two “soldier course” bricks to mortar back into place and the project will be finished. I might try to do that today, depending on my back mostly. Had some drama with the A/C in yesterday’s comments, so I didn’t get home last night.

My plan for today is to sleep, get up, maybe do the brick work, and then head home. I’ve got a ton of stuff to do to get ready for my event, and I feel a little behind. A lot of it is “winging it” and just doing what I did last year, but I do have some new stuff to sell too. That should at least get a quick checkout.

We’ll see what actually happens. It’s always something…

So stack and prep, then the big things turn out to be smaller things, and the drama goes away.

nick

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Mon. Aug. 17, 2026 – still working at the BOL

Still hot. Still humid. Still no rain. Grass is crunchy, and something is seriously distressing the peach tree. I’m hoping it’s only heat and drought. More of the same expected for today.

I spent most of yesterday doing the trimout for the exterior of the window. My general plan of attack took some finagling but I got it done in the end. I’ll take off two boards and put the last two bricks back into place today. I also got started on the interior trimout, but most of that will happen today.

Which is the plan. Sleep for a bit, because of the muscle relaxer, then get busy putting the wall back together from the inside. If it was drywall, it would be straightforward, but it’s paneling. We’ve painted all the paneling in the house (all shades of grey that my wife insists are different but all look blue-grey to me) and I saved paneling whenever we took it down, so I just have to find pieces that match and can be cut to fit. W will paint later.

Everything takes longer and costs more… so stack while it’s cheap and available. And then you’ll have plenty to work on later.

nick

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Sun. Aug. 16, 2026 – time to make some progress

It’ll be hot. Of that I’m certain. And humid. It was plenty hot here yesterday, although the breeze helped. Even at midnight it was still high 80sF. In fact I think it may be hotter here than at home.

In the morning I slept, did the things I needed to do, and finally got on my way. Did my pickup, and the blower is in rough shape. Didn’t try starting it yet, but it’s not one of the expensive models. It might not be worth the time to replace all the worn out things. Then I hit a Lowes store on my way and bought more trim. I’ll put that to use today.

Plan is… do more work on the window. Start outside before the sun really bakes that side of the house, then move into the airconditioned living room to work inside later. We’ll see if it goes that easily. If not, I’ll find something to do. Plenty to choose from.

Always be working to improve. Stack what resources you’ll need to keep working.

nick

Read the comments: 49 Comments
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