Category: decline and fall

And still more of the same weather. We had a cell move through in the mid afternoon, and then we were back to sunny, but 10 degrees cooler. I’ll thinking more of that for today too.

I didn’t get stuff done. I took a pickup load to my new space (buddy’s old shop) but the power was out. All I could do was unload my truck, do some basic troubleshooting, and talk to the neighbor. I’ll have to do more poking around as no one has any idea why it might be out. It put a damper on my plan for the rest of the day.

Neighbor is an interesting guy. The company works as subcontractors for a couple of big internet infrastructure companies putting racks and power and connectivity in place, before the big bois fill their racks. You’d never know it in the little sh!tty commercial building we share, but their offices are very nice and their store room area is very well setup and organized. Very stealthy and much cheaper than the office/warehouse they were in before. Everyone needs to save a few bucks right now.

Today I’ve got some pickups I can’t put off any longer, taxi service for D2, and anything else that comes up. Some domestic bliss is sure to occur as well. Those clothes won’t fold themselves, ya know. A Costco run is in order too, if I can fit it in. Friday came very quickly this week.

I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting on Saturday which limits how much work I can do. I’ll be staying home and chipping at the list this weekend.

I’ll call it ‘working to improve my position’ and that’ll be the goal for the next couple of days.

There will be a bit of stacking too. Natch…

n

Another day of thunderstorm cells and rain keeping the temperature down, yesterday, today, and maybe even tomorrow too. It rained crazy hard in a lot of places around Houston yesterday, just like this whole week, and it will probably do the same today. It does make it harder to do pickups and move stuff with the pickup, if it can’t get wet.

So I did a couple of pickups with the expedition, then switched to the ranger for the bigger items. I got a nice short ladder, that I will be putting to good use. Some other stuff too.

Kid did another 1 1/2 hours of pressure washing. Still more to do, and she’s willing, as long as I’m paying, and it’s only an hour or two at a time. She managed to get herself covered in grime this time.

Today will be more of the same. Some auction, some fixing stuff, some cooking and cleaning, some pickup…

Some stacking too. Because it’s a good idea.

nick

Hot in Houston. Probably wet too. This year seems like it’s been really cool and really wet. The cool I’m ok with, the humidity, you just have to endure.

Started the day at the BOL. Did some messing around on the water with boats. Did some puttering and putting away. Poisoned ants. I don’t think the stuff I used works as well as the stuff I normally buy. We’ll see for sure when I get up there again, but I’m pretty sure the mounds I treated on Saturday were still alive on Sunday, and they should have been dead. I borrowed a different brand from my buddy, since I’d run out.

Made it home through a couple of storm cells. It’s been very localized storming in Houston. When a storm fills the whole watershed, it’s a much bigger problem.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups. I might let D1 drive me around as more ‘check ride’ and time to teach. If she’s interested. If not, it’ll just be me.

I’ve got plenty of other things on my list too. I’ll get to that as I can.

And I need to go through my canned goods and find out what popped. Something stinks…

Stack more than you think you’ll need, and ‘breakage’ won’t be a big issue.

nick

Still the same weather. Chased all over town by thunderstorm cells. Some people got none, some people got the paint washed off their cars. More of the same today, tomorrow, and maybe Thursday too. It’ll be a soggy 4th if we don’t get a break.

So I did some auction stuff in the morning. Then I rousted D1 and got her to drive the minivan all over Houston to do my pickups. I got to do more Driver’s Ed with her, specifically what it feels like when you spin out the back end (impressive in a front wheel drive car) and what it feels like when the anti-lock brakes engage. Lots of wrecks on the highways, but fortunately none were us. Luck was with us.

I did get most of my pickups done, but we did miss a couple as the day got pretty long. 5 hours of freeway driving, some in pouring rain, but she either doesn’t recognize how tiring it is, or won’t admit it. I can see when she starts making dumb mistakes though. I’ll get the last two pickups today. Or maybe the last 5.

D1 is going to drive D2 to her band thing and let me do my thing.

Did I mention that this sh!t is HARD? If you know, you know. That’s how the cool kids are saying it.

Meanwhile the world turns, the elephants dance, and the mice are rightly nervous.

Stack some mouse food so you can stay in your den…
nick

And another day of mixed sun and rain, while being a bit cooler if the rain actually happens. It did get hotter throughout the day, but after the rain it was cooler, and only 78F when I went to bed. I see more of that coming for today.

I spent most of the day in my office at my computer, doing auction stuff. I did some other office things too, but mostly the day was spent on my @ss. Not the productive day I was shooting for. I did learn a lot about WWII rationing and a couple of ersatz recipes. And although the channel creator didn’t emphasize it, it was clear that people knew that both war and rationing were coming. The rationing board in the US was set up some time before the Japanese attack, and promptly sprang into action. Which consisted of mostly following the British model.

Some other things are clear too. Once rationing starts, it gets worse. As time goes by, more items are added to the restricted list. It also won’t work without price controls, and a black market WILL arise to fulfill peoples’ wants and needs. In Italy, the rulers didn’t even pretend to suffer under the same restrictions as the people, but in the US and Britain they did. The black markets in the US and Britain were subsequently smaller due to social pressure and a sense of shared suffering. There may be the Italians’ relationship to law and order at play there too.

Anything imported is easily controlled and will be in short supply if your supply lines or overseas sources are disrupted. For us that is pretty much all the technology we use, and a good deal of the food, especially the luxury food like fruit and veg out of season. And by technology I mean everything, as everything is now touched or incorporates stupid levels of technology, to where the toaster has sensors and a computer inside, and even our lighting is dependent on foreign chip and component makers. Switching power supplies are in everything, and lithium batteries are too.

In the same way I can now recognize that TPTB knew war was coming, I can see them taking steps now. Re-shoring of electronic manufacturing and reopening of mines are pretty big clues. They’ll be putting infrastructure in place too, to restrict access to information, to disseminate the official truths, to look for spies and foreign agents. They can ration power in most areas. They’ve already passed the laws they’ll use to restrict access to money, and to monitor its flow. Restriction of movement will happen too. Real ID was widely feared to be a national id program, which we are adamantly against mainly BECAUSE of WWII…

Nothing I see has changed my mind that war is coming, or that major changes in the way the world is organized will happen in our lifetime, probably sooner rather than later. Secret preps in addition to your public or known preps will be needed. Lots of people remembered how bad WWI got, but few of them took steps to make the inevitable WWII more tolerable.

What will you do? Stack, I hope.

nick

More cool and sunny with scattered rain storms, probably. Saturday had storm cells dumping inches on limited areas while adjacent neighborhoods got nothing. There were flash ‘floods’ in some of the bayous (floods in quotes because it’s all designed to work like that.) I think we’re still in the same weather system, so today will be similar.

I got several pickups done. Even though the first one was quite a drive, and for little reward, I think I was there to meet the guy and invite him to come to my next non-prepping hobby meeting. He’s an enthusiast too, but didn’t know we get together every month. It’ll be nice to bring in a new member.

After that, I got a couple more pickups done. One for the hobby, and one was a couple of blacksmith tools. I would like to have a forge and bang on some metal at some point. Maybe at the BOL I’ll have a chance. I’m collecting the tools so I’ll be ready.

When I got home, after getting soaked by a cell, I took a load out of the house. It was dry, and the storm was moving away, so I could load up the truck. After that, since I still had some daylight and time before dinner, I attacked the back yard. I let it get too tall for the mower again, so I put the weed cutter on the string trimmer and knocked it down. I’ll run the mower over it today or tomorrow to mulch the stems.

I’m debating getting another goldfish for the water feature. The old one ended up about a foot long, but made his escape during a torrential downpour that flooded the whole yard. Seems like it would help keep down the frog and mosquito population…and it’s pretty low maintenance as far as pets go. It would be nice to have a fish in the pond again. The cost and effort is minimal, but I have to spend the time and effort to get the fish. Super low priority, but it’s taking up brain space.

The other stuff for today will depend on if we get rain or not, but will likely involve sleeping in, a big breakfast, and a bunch of work around the house. Oh, and migrating to my new phone. That’s always a joy.

Stack something useful.

nick