Category: decline and fall

Stupid school district. It was colder yesterday than the days they canceled school, with actual frost on the ground. But hey, gotta get the butts back in the seats and get paid. Started around 25F and got warmer, all the way into the low 40sF, but then crashed back down. Sunny and clear though. More of the same today.

I didn’t do anything but sleep in the morning. I went back to bed and tried to get 4 more hours. When I got up, I felt ok. 4-6 hours a night is more typical for me, which is probably why I crash out on the weekends when I can. Did my pickup in the afternoon, and will not buy from them again unless the deal is outrageous, because they aren’t nearby or easy to get to. Nor are they near other auctioneers so I can just make a loop or several stops.

I did stop in at the Goodwill Surplus store. It’s a new store and I’ve never been to it. It’s also not close to my house. It’s big, and wasn’t as nasty as they usually are. Still lots of hispanics digging through the bins for clothes and monopolizing carts for the whole day. The store is enforcing the ‘no unattended carts’ rule so they have to have someone stand with the cart. IDK why they just don’t take the cart and cash out when it gets full. They can come back in and fill it again.

I did grab a vintage Peavey guitar amp…

Then it was home to make dinner (canned red beans and rice with added sausage). It’s hearty, and can be eaten cold if needed. It’s my wife’s goto backup girl scout camping meal. I like disaster food that already has the water in it, is cooked, and won’t take a lot of time to prepare. Bulk rice and bulk beans are ok, and I have some, but canned and ready to eat wins for most disasters. Fuel, time, and water are all usually in short supply in a disaster. Canned food cuts the cost of those things dramatically.

Today I have a follow up doctor visit in the morning, and a local pickup in the afternoon. During the rest of the day I’ll work the list.

One fun thing, the dog presented me with a dead mouse yesterday. And he’s going nuts in the kitchen trying to get under the cabinets… so that’s something I’ll need to address. Ah, good times.

Stack some vermin control. You’ll need it.

nick

It snowed at the BOL yesterday! Enough to lightly cover the ground and cars. Wow. In Houston it was right around freezing until after dark when it got down to the mid-20sF. Today will probably stay below freezing in Houston, and maybe at the BOL too. For us, it’s definitely not the Snowpocalypse.

I do sincerely hope that it continues to not be a disaster for most people.

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Spent yesterday sitting at my computer. I ended up in hard core work avoidance mode and decided to do a bit of a refresh here. So I spent WAY too long messing with colors to get rid of most of the cyan and vaguely green edge to the blues. I kept the green accents, but might still change them if I find something I like better. Let me know what you think.

There are other things that are suddenly driving me nuts but I think I’ll ignore them. The biggest is the way no two elements line up vertically. Zoom in to a one column view and you’ll see what I mean. Content is more important than looks. And I’ve got a big list of other things to do.

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Today I’ll keep monitoring conditions at the BOL, but as long as there is power, it should be fine. I’m really glad I spent the time and money to put all the pex lines inside insulation. I also built a closet around the water heater and all the plumbing in the garage, so it should be warmer in there than the garage proper. I’m a bit concerned about the irrigation system, and the pump, but I did what I could to drain it a couple of months ago. The whole mess needs to be redone, but that is not at the top of my list.

I think I’ll bid a little harder the next time some pipe warming tape comes up in an auction. I can think of a few places it would be handy.

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If I get off my butt, I’ll do some more cleaning and sorting here, or at the shop, or I’ll work on networking stuff here. I’ve got the ubiquiti cloud key to install and configure, and a couple of ubiquiti WAPs that should give me better control over DNS and ad blocking than the ATT router and wifi. I might even get a pi-hole set up. If I can find my razberry pi…

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Stacks. Skills. Like minded friends. You need them all….

nick

Maybe we’ll start to see some cold coming in… or maybe not. They pushed our forecast back a bit. School district cancelled sports and extracurricular events this weekend, so there won’t be any busloads of students trying to move around on Saturday night. It’s still reasonably warm during the day though. It was grey and misty all day yesterday, and I think today will probably be similar.

I did some stuff around the house in the morning, including working on finding a new meeting place for my non-prepping hobby. Community rooms are kinda pricey and most won’t book recurring events. I might have found something though.

In the afternoon I did a pickup, then took a load from the house to the shop. I really need to spend some time there, and get stuff sorted. With uncertainty over any rain it’s hard to move stuff in my pickup truck. Even yesterday with only threatening skies and heavy mist, stuff was wet by the time I got to the shop.

Today I’ll continue working the list. I’ve got a couple of pickups and I need to go by my secondary. I’ll pick up the natgas heater I have there and bring it home just in case things do get chilly this weekend.

Preps, I’ve got ’em. Stacks too.

Build some resilience and some choices. Stack.

nick

Cool and very damp. Then at some point it will get cold. Cold I say. Freezing cold. Or maybe it won’t. We’ll see when we get there. Everyone here should be just fine with some extreme weather, and even some outages.

Didn’t get anything on my list done. Yep, good intentions, poor follow through. I spent some time in the rabbit hole of Social Security payouts. I spent some time on auction stuff. Spent the rest of the daylight hours getting my natgas gennie hooked up to the house. Not in any real or permanent way, but it’s safe and ok for now. Still a manual switchover if needed, but less messing around with the gasoline powered 26 year old Generac that I normally use if I have to feed the house.

Today, I’ve got some pickups to do. Well, one for sure, maybe two. Anything else will depend on the weather. If it’s not raining, I can get stuff moved around. If there’s moisture from the sky, I’ll find other things to do. Right. Sure I will.

Hard to be motivated even in the face of pretty certain need. I do have an issue with self sabotage and needing external deadlines to motivate me. It’s something to be aware of and to work on…

Easier to stack.

Get busy!

nick

Cold and clear, warming a bit. Or something. Yesterday was chilly all day. I even put on a sweatshirt and long pants. And then avoided going out. It’s nice that it’s sunny and clear though.

Did a few small things during the day. Moved stuff around in the attic and put some stuff away. Did some auction stuff. Ended up not buying anything. W got home and we had dinner. Just an ordinary day, but actually I wouldn’t mind a couple years of ordinary days.

Today I’m starting with a glucose reaction test. No breakfast for me. I will get some black coffee or unsweet tea though. That will suck up my entire morning and start into my afternoon as well. Kids are home from school and will have to amuse themselves.

I suppose the biggest prep of all is being healthy and in good physical condition. Working on it.

Stacking is easy by comparison.

nick