Category: culture

Cool but maybe not cold. Yesterday was partly cloudy, partly sunny, mostly depending on what part of town you were in. At my house, we got some very light misty drizzle at around dusk. Nothing more, but I did empty the back of the pickup to be sure.

I did all my pickups. Lots of driving, but I got everything but one done. Didn’t get to the shop to get D1 her welding helmet. She’s not supposed to need one, but having your own is always nice. I did get the sleeves, gloves, and beanie that I bought for her. They are all medium sized and should fit better than whatever the class is using. W says the class will have all the gear sized for girls as it’s a girls welding class… I guess we’ll see.

Today while the kid is doing that, the other one has a competition to attend, starting with dropoff at school at 7am. That’ll be W’s job. I’ll be catching a bit of sleep before starting my hectic morning. We’ve got a whole committee of volunteer hosts for today’s potluck and gift exchange, but I’ve still got plenty to do. And start time for setup is 11am.

The festivities should take me through to evening, late afternoon at least. Then it’s home to clean up and set up the tree. Dunno why we’re so late this year, but I suspect having the room full of my stuff has contributed. All the rooms are full of my stuff to some degree. I am working on that.

No auctions won last night, so I’ll have a pause in pickups. That’s a good thing.

Later today I might have time to look through the freeze dried buckets and see what I got for my $6. Mostly breakfast cereal and side dishes if my guess is correct. I get the feeling that Wise is better than some of the “emergency food bucket” sellers, but not as good as Auguson or Mountain House. The pre-packaged buckets are not what they suggest they are… you will need a lot of additional protein.

So stack some. Use the FDs as supplemental, or really ‘just in case’ and stack real food. Keeping in mind, something is better than nothing. And even overpriced, under calorie’d buckets are better than hunger.

nick

Cool and clear, warming later. I hope. It was nice at the BOL this morning, a bit chilly but the sun was beating down. I was sweating while hanging Christmas lights. I’m hoping for similar here in Houston today.

Got up reasonably early. Did stuff. Little stuff, but mostly stuff that needed to be done. The extra Christmas lights on the dock went up when the mower didn’t start… no idea why, no time to troubleshoot or recharge the battery. Eventually drove home and did the thing I needed to do here.

Today I’m taking the truck in for a look-see at the drive line and rear end. I noticed a small visible wobble, really small, in the rear wheel that was hit, and there is a slight pull to the right. Getting it checked out is probably prudent.

Before that though, I’ve got a pickup to do, or maybe more than one, and some stuff that needs to be moved to the shop. I’ll have to leave the truck at the repair shop overnight, so I need to do some stuff today.

Other than that it is another normal day here at Casa de Nick.

Stack!

nick

Cold again, and probably overcast too. Maybe even some misty moisture from the sky, because that’s how yesterday ended up. I expect more of the same.

I did my pickups and chatted with a couple of my auction guys. The generator I picked up is worn but they are usually straightforward to fix. More than once it’s just been low oil cutoff that was the problem. The guys are amazed that new players keep joining the auction resale business. It’s tough, even for established players. New guys don’t stand a chance in this environment.

Hope springs eternal and reselling looks like easy money from the outside. We’ll see if they learn as they go and make the changes they need to make. I doubt it, based on what I’ve seen over the last few years.

I got a couple of decorations out last night, before full dark. I’ll try to get a few more out today, but my main goal will be pickups, and if the rain holds off, loading the truck for a trip to the BOL. I scored a couple of auto darkening welding helmets for $5 each from one of the new auctions. One was a Harbor Freight model, but the other was Lincoln Electric (ie. real welding company). They tried to not include them on the invoice, but I called them on it. They sent a new invoice with the helmets included, and the oscillating tool that they also took off the original invoice.

Sometimes stuff doesn’t sell for what it should, especially for a new auction house. That’s how auctions work. It could have been a mistake, but that’s a whole lot less likely than they just didn’t want to give it away. Sorry but the business doesn’t work that way. It will be interesting to talk with them today and see where their heads are at.

If the weather is good, we might head to the BOL tonight. If not, then tomorrow. I haven’t been up in too long, and I’d like to get the Christmas decorations and lights set up there too. It looks good to be part of the community, and it lets us have two trees. The tree at the lake is entirely decorated with glass ornaments that we don’t have an emotional attachment to. The one at home has all our fun and precious ornaments.

Taking the time to build the memories and find joy is important.

It’s just as important as stacking up stuff.

nick