Category: culture

Wed. Feb. 21, 2024 – just another, just another day-ay-ay-ay…

Cool and clear again/still. Yesterday turned into a beautiful day. Sunny, warm, nice breeze. Hoping for more of that today.

Spent yesterday continuing to address the tub issue in the morning, and then doing a couple of pickups in the afternoon. I decided to use epoxy to fix the pinhole, and then proceed with fixing the drain line. I have some heavy duty industrial fiber reinforced epoxy I picked up at some point. It is past its best by date, but it cured fine. IDK what the normal open time was but it kicked in a few minutes for me. I backed the hole with foil tape, then smeared the bare iron with the epoxy. As soon as it started to kick, I patted it with my fingers to shape it. Today I’ll do the drain line, if I can figure out the connection to the old lead drain. Furnco fitting to the rescue- I’m hoping.

Today I’ll have to hit the Home Depot or Lowes for the Furnco fittings, then do my pickups. It would have been more efficient to roll today’s pickups into my “big loop” yesterday, but it just didn’t work out. Sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve also got to get a couple of bins together for dropping off at my auctioneer Thursday. That shouldn’t be a problem.

So a standard day, with the exception of the added plumbing nonsense. Speaking of which, I should probably pick up some pex too, and start running the trunk lines in the attic.

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

Stack!

nick

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Tues. Feb. 20, 2024 – 02202024 – not meaningless, but certainly not full of hidden meaning…

Cool and clear, again. Hooray. I can use a few more cool and clear days. Like yesterday, and tomorrow. Nice weather lately, if a bit on the cool side in the morning and at night. Great for working outdoors or in an attic.

Which means I should be doing some of the attic work I’ve been putting off for the past year. I’ve got cleanup and organizing to do, insulation to install, and new pex to put in, in place of the rotten galvanized piping that is bound to fail at the least convenient time. Not to mention the bathroom reno that is now in its 13th year… or the outdoor work I’ve been putting off.

Instead, I’ll be kludging the tub back together. If I can get the fitting to work with the sewer connection, I’m going to epoxy the ‘pinhole’ and install the new drain parts. I don’t want to rip out the tub/shower until I have all the stuff ready to go for the rest of the reno. If I can get a functioning shower for a while longer, it’s worth the effort. Maybe we can even get a real contractor in to do the shower.

And because of the holiday, I’ve got one fewer day to do my pickups. Lots of stuff for the BOL and general living stuff too this week. Soap, cleaners, some stuff for the kids.

I’m looking at the pile, and thinking I might have to do a speed run to the BOL to take a load up, and empty my truck. I can bring back all my pex fittings and tools too, so that I can do some of the work here when I have the chance. I’m getting a really strong feeling I should have the plumbing stuff here… and I’ve learned that I ignore the little voice in my head at my peril.

Plans. I had ’em. Now I’ve got new ones. Flexibility is a virtue right?

——————-

Out in the world things are getting more strained. If the trucker boycott of NYC turns into something real, expect the feds and .gov to get really ugly. Trucking is federally regulated and that will be the first avenue of attack- threats. Seizures and replacement will surely follow.

The news says “gangs have formed” among the illegals in NYFC, but of course the gangs were always there. To admit the “immigrants” are really cartel ‘bangers is impossible, so they must have formed spontaneously in NYFC… and they are doing the same things they did at home. Don’t think it will be confined to NYFC, it will be true in every city by the end of the summer. The cartels, the chinese, the balkan mobs, and islamic invaders will be fighting over the corpse of American prosperity, with some real mobsters and some good ole boys getting into it too. Oh, don’t forget the africans. They have a long history of brutality against each other and their enemies. They don’t need guns either. Eritrean migrant gangs are tearing things up in the Netherlands and elsewhere, even North Carolina.

What we are about to see is the real world version of the ‘lily pads in the pond’ doubling thought experiment. We’re on about day 46, when 1/4 of the pond is covered. People are noticing that there are a lot of changes recently, and there seem to be a lot of young hispanic men around. Tomorrow (metaphorically) the pond will be half covered, and people will start to get concerned and maybe even freak out. Too late, because the next day, the pond is covered and we are a third world sh!tehole, and the illegals are everywhere and doing everything.

Yeah, we have a lot of guns. So do they. And no compunction about using them. Or machetes. They fill pits with severed heads and run slavery rings for fun and profit. How many of our people are willing to shoot on sight? Or burn down their clubhouses and homes? Add the disruptions of another covid, a crooked election, failing currency, worsening political situation overseas, and you don’t have enough stacked. Not enough of anything. So we can hope and pray it doesn’t get that bad, but you have to ask yourself, “why won’t it?” Feel free to share your thoughts if you come up with anything plausible.

As for me, I’m stacking what I can.

nick

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Mon. Feb. 19, 2024 – Presidents Day

Cool and clear, and supposed to be the same for the next couple of days too. It was pretty nice yesterday once the sun came up. Long pants and long sleeve shirt, but no jacket… I’m liking the weather for the next couple of days.

My plan for yesterday went all to heck and gone. What could have been a 10 minute plumbing repair is going to be several hours for a temporary kludge, or the opening of a big reno project. The project has been on the list for years, but it might be time to move it to the top… just wasn’t on my planning horizon. That’s how it goes with property ownership though, and it’s a 55 year old house. Even brass and copper fail after that long. I really need to get busy on the re-piping project too. If that fails under pressure, I’ve got an even bigger mess to clean up. It’s always something.

So today I’ll be exploring options for my new bathroom, or possibly trying to kick the can a bit down the road. I could just leave it with no tub or shower for now, but that is sub-optimal. It’s the easiest path though. Good thing we’ve got money set aside for emergencies and unexpected problems. The specific problem might be unexpected, but SOME sort of problem will visit you eventually. Money helps with almost any issue.

Stack some money as well as spares.

nick

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Sun. Feb. 18, 2024 – yep, lazy slacker, that’s me

Cold. Blustery. Day. It was pretty unpleasant most of yesterday. Wind was gusting hard enough to blow the truck around while driving on the expressway. There was a beautiful sunset though. You take your joy where you find it.

And I didn’t find any joy in plumbing. Pickups took longer than I hoped, and I decided to shop instead of lay on my belly doing plumbing. Sometimes, I make the bad choice. I’ll be paying for that today, I’m sure.

Dinner worked out though. I made brisket in the crockpot. After reviewing several recipes, I put 4 pounds in the ‘pot, liberally dosed it with Atkins (black pepper, salt, garlic) and a Texas rub (same plus paprika and some other stuff), thin sliced 3 sweet onions as a topper, 2 cups water, and more of both seasonings, and let it cook for 8 hours. It was like an extra beefy pot roast in onion soup. REALLY good. Served with instant mashed potatoes (also surprisingly good with added butter), and the shelf stable sourdough bread loaf. Just the sort of hearty stuff to fill your belly after manning a GS cookie booth for several hours on a blustery day. In other words, everyone licked their plates. Oh yeah, I finished it in the oven at 420F for 15 minutes while the bread warmed up. Nice brown crust…

Now I’ve got another crock pot dinner in the repertoire. Still learning!

Not counting last night’s dinner, I’ve put more than 35 pounds of brisket in the freezer this month. It’s the cheapest beef in the store right now, and only 50c/lb more than cheap pork. No clue why it’s on sale but I’ll stack it while I can.

I’ll be doing yesterday’s work today, if I can. Kids are home Monday too, so that pushes any normal Sunday domestic bliss down the road a day. Lots of laundry sitting on the floor by the machines waiting to be done… and plenty of time for me to do stuff around the house. If I get off my @rse to do it.

At least the food experiment was a success. Try new things and build off your successes. And stack the good results.

nick

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Sat. Feb. 17, 2024 – like I needed more work… but that’s the way it goes

Cool and damp. Really damp. Not supposed to be any rain today but it should remain cloudy. The rain yesterday was spotty and light. Not much of an impediment to my pickups, but the ground is saturated again.

I spent the morning on auction stuff, and the afternoon doing pickups, with a visit to the Goodwill bins, and a swing past my storage unit. One of the lots I won is a ridiculously tall extension ladder. It overhangs the back of the truck by about 4-6 ft, and is flush with the front bumper. I need it at the BOL to reach one limb, and maybe to do some antenna work. It was stupidly cheap, so worth it. Until I can take it up to the BOL I’ll have to either keep driving around town with it on the truck or find somewhere to stash it for a while. I don’t fancy leaving it on the truck, but it’s long and heavy and VERY unwieldy.

Today I’ve got to move some stuff around and make room in my storage unit for the stuff in my truck, until I can get it to auction or the BOL. Then I’ve got to do two pickups on opposite sides of town, and somewhere in there I need to fix, or at least diagnose, the leak under my tub. I think I have what I need to fix it, if the brass drain is what failed. I picked up a tub drain and overflow in brass at the bins a week or two ago. It’s at storage but I forgot to bring it home yesterday. I thought I was just getting it for the brass… universe had other plans.

That is often how my life works.

Wife and girls have their first cookie booth of the season today. Hope they sell a bunch, despite the price increase. We’re at $6/box here and supposedly other places like NYFC are at $7. People were moaning when it went to $5… Let’s go Brandon!

We’ll see how the day goes. I’m stacking stuff and skills, and hopefully goodwill today. Stack some yourself.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 16, 2024 – half way thru the month, already…

Cool and damp, maybe some rain today. It was overcast and damp all day Thursday, but never did rain. Today the forecast says “some rain”. I hope not much.

I looked at my posts and comments for the month around this date 4 years ago, and my lime tree was budding, the weather was similar, but prices for food were half. It’s very useful to have a daily journal to track what changes and what doesn’t. I felt like the lime had budded way early, and that $2/pound for pork on sale was reasonable. Checking allowed me to see that even “on sale” prices have doubled, and the weather is very much the same. Last year I suggested to D1 that she start a journal so she had something she trusted when the world tried to gaslight her. I recommend it to everyone now. Write down what is happening to you and around you. First person and contemporary accounts are valuable. Hand written hard copy is best, but anything you control is acceptable. Our memories are fallible and we adjust to accommodate our circumstances.

Didn’t get much done yesterday, I spent most of my day doing auction stuff online, and exploring my options for my new position in my non-prepping hobby club. I’ll be sharing some of that journey here too.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do, which will involve some driving. I’m really hoping for minimal rain as I need to use the pickup truck and rain always messes up the freeways. There’s a three day weekend ahead of us, and I’ll be using it to do stuff around the house here. It would be nice to have cool, dry weather for that. Anything else will mean picking and choosing what I can do. Pouring rain means I’m working on ebay listings, or my new website project. We’re not going to the BOL because it’s GS cookie sales weekend. Support your local troops, it really helps the girls do things, even though the price has increased per box. It makes a difference in getting them out of the house and interacting with people. And it’s a great way for you to impact your community.

Which is a good thing.

Stack up all the things. You won’t regret it.

nick

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Thur. Feb. 15, 2024 – Guess I should have mentioned Valentine’s Day…

Cool and crisp. Clear and warming somewhat later. I could see my breath yesterday morning, but was happy in a t shirt and shorts later. I should probably start getting the garden ready.

Did some errands yesterday. Did some personal maintenance. Did a bunch of relationship maintenance. It was The Feast of St. Valentine, and Ash Wednesday. (As an aside, a LOT more Catholics in my area than I thought. Refreshing to see young adults wearing the ashes.)

Some of that stuff involved a visit to my local HEB for a card, so I figured I’d check the meat aisle too. Prime sirloin, $6/ pound. Yes Please! I’ll take all you have left. I got three picanha roasts (the cap removed from the sirloin before slicing into steaks), and two packs of two sirloin steaks. I’d have gotten more if I could.

Coincidentally, I was making a picanha roast for dinner. I’d already defrosted one, so it was nice to replace it with more. At roughly 3 pounds, they are the perfect size for my family, and they cook in under an hour. Plus, they are delicious and look good on the table.

Dinner turned out well. Beef roast; asparagus sauteed with butter, garlic, and red onion with a splash of soy sauce; fresh bread (supposedly a french baguette, but that was a lie. LOOKED like a baguette. Wasn’t.); and garlic clusters baked in chicken stock with gorganzola cheese crumbles. Strawberry tres leches cake for dessert. Really a pretty simple meal, but dressed up a bit to LOOK and TASTE like a fancy restaurant. Garlic was to smear on the sliced baguette…

As a bonus, the whole house smells great while everything is cooking.

These are the good old days. Enjoy them while you can.

Today will involve more of the same. Nothing specific or out of the ordinary, just trying to keep the list under control. Some small progress is being made. Every day is a gift.

Stack the gifts.

nick

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Wed. Feb. 14, 2024 – my Ranger mileage was 144,444 yesterday…

Cold or maybe just chilly in the morning, warming gradually, with clear skies. Ever wonder why we use the plural there? It’s only one sky. Anyway, that is what yesterday was like and the national forecast is calling for the same today.

I did my auction stuff in the morning, then headed out to do pickups. I only had a couple of small items this week, but I also dug a small table saw out of storage for my buddy, which took about an hour or more, and dropped off a chest freezer for my auction friend. Meatspace.

Dinner was some of the on sale sirloins from last year. Yummy.

Today I’ve got one pickup appointment which is for the butcher saw and a couple of other small things. I’ll be doing domestic bliss for the rest of the day starting with a haircut. 4 years I’ve been doing that myself, and I’m still just OK at it. Can’t see the back, always hope it’s good. I like the results ok, and it doesn’t scare passersby, so I’ll rate it as a success. The main thing for me now is that it’s quick and convenient. I do miss the check in with my barber, but he’s charging $20 for a clipper cut now, which adds up when you get a cut every 3 weeks, and he’s in a part of town I don’t get to as often as I used to. Add that to the time it takes to get there and get the cut, and it’s a lot easier to just keep doing it myself.

There are a lot of things people currently pay for that they might consider doing for themselves if the economy, or their circumstances, continue to worsen. That has knock on effects of its own.

One thing I did yesterday was hit a couple of hispanic markets looking for mexican vanilla. 3 places, no one spoke english. One, the proprietor was middle eastern or persian, and all the workers spoke spanish, but he spoke broken english. The others? Yeah, no english at all. This is a few blocks from my rent house, which used to be our residence. Wasn’t like that 10 years ago. Yes hispanic market, but clearly their customers are only spanish speakers now. No pretense of serving everyone. FWIW, the mexican brands I found aren’t pure natural vanilla (in alcohol) anymore, they all had additional vanillin added. Even the one with the name “Pura”… sad state of affairs.

I could have used more of my spanish, but I have to think about it to put sentences together. I got by with mostly english and some spanish words and phrases. Interestingly, afterwards, I tried “Hey google, como se dice “vanilla” en espanol?” The reply was “In spanish, you say “vain-ee-ya”.” So google can do simple translation from voice commands and understands mixed english and spanish. That’s pretty slick and a long way from their starting point of free directory assistance- a service that barely exists anymore.

Time marches on, and incremental changes add up.

Make some small improvements in your life. Always be working and over time, the small effort will pay big dividends. Stacking works that way too. Build your food security one can at a time.

nick

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Tues. Feb. 13, 2024 – only been 4 years since wuflu started, but it feels like forever

Cool bordering on cold, with clear sky- hopefully. It warmed up and turned into a nice day yesterday, with a cool but pleasant afternoon.

I was out of the house most of the day, and then did kid chauffeur duties. Didn’t get much else done but that’s ok, because I was out in meatspace with people.

Today should be pickups, and maybe getting together with my local buddy. He’s moving out of town and has need of a table saw. I have several tablesaws, of varying size and quality, and states of repair. Perhaps a deal can be struck. His moving away kinda sucks as he is the best friend I have locally. His wife is great too, and his kids are about my kids ages, and we could get together and have a good time. He’s not much for prepping but shares my politics and worldview. He’s one of very few people that I have been putting aside extra preps to cover him and his family. It’s a good move for him, so I’m happy for him, but on a purely selfish level I lose a friend and co-conspirator AND access to his shop space where I currently have a very large powder sintering laser based 3D printer sitting idle. And a mid sized lathe. I’ll be finding space for those soon, or something…

Change is the only constant. Plans need re-evaluating and periodic adjustment. Supplies and capabilities need to be inventoried and re-distributed sometimes.

This preparedness thing is a journey, not a destination.

Keep walking the path, and stacking…

nick

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Mon. Feb. 12, 2024 – another Monday, and another week starts…

Cool. It was almost cold when I went to bed. Rainy and wet when I started my day at the BOL, clearing and normal wind patterns by mid afternoon when I headed home. Houston area was clear and crisp. So I figure today will be clear and crisp too. All together now… we’ll see.

Didn’t do a ton of stuff this trip to the BOL. Got the oven and stove unloaded, and loaded up a chest freezer. I was holding it for a neighbor up there, but he either changed his mind or can’t afford it. So I sold it here in Houston to one of my auction guy’s workers.

I did get a couple of small things done, one being a repair, one being to move some stuff around. The weather was getting to me so I called it an early day and drove home. I saw some evidence of powerful winds on the way, it even made the news. Giant piece of metal was on the side of the road on I-45. Looked like the whole roof from a metal building, all mangled up. In the background there were a half dozen power company trucks with crews working on power lines. Something blew that thing through the lines, either a tornado (which my wife had received a text alert was possible on her drive…) or “straight line winds.” That’s what they seem to say whenever the insurance doesn’t want to pay claims. Big bad wind, no matter what you call it if it ripped off a roof, balled it up, and threw it across the fields…

There are hazards no matter where you live.

I mentioned in the comments yesterday that I saw some motorcycle “club” activity along my route. Not thrilled about that, but better to know about it. Mutant biker zombies, oh my.

Today I’ll be running errands, shopping, doing pickups, having lunch, and who knows what sort of stuff will get done around the house. Ah, who am I kidding. I know for sure one of those things will happen. The others are on the list to pad it out so I feel like I’m getting stuff done.

Time feels pretty short for a couple of potential bad things coming this way. The political tides are turning, maybe into a whirlpool, or a tsunami. There could be another summer of rioting, or the wars could heat up. The confrontation at the border could go kinetic at any time. Or we could have a bad storm season. Take steps. Prep.

And stack.

nick

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