Category: decline and fall

Mon. July 13, 2020 – more work, little play

Hot and humid.  Of course.  Unless it’s raining.

Yesterday got hotter and hotter until it was 109F in the sun in my driveway.  It was over 100F in the garage.  I was moving, but sometimes a bit slower.  I tried to switch tasks, moving from the house to the garage to the sunny driveway to the shady yard, and back.   I drank 2 liters of lemonade, and some iced tea and some water.

I mostly was trying to clear out the four corners of the garage.  One corner blocks entry for the freezer.  One corner is where I want to put it.  The other corner is my main water and food storage area, now being re-purposed as my hobby area and storage for some bulk buckets, and non-perishables, as well as my fire rated file cabinet and a work area.  If I get to cutting the hole in the wall, that’s where the A/C unit will go too.  The last corner is the other side of the roll up door and completes a big U of clear space around the center of the garage, which is mostly full of stuff.

In any case, I made some slow progress.  Never got to my secondary location as I was on  a roll and didn’t want to stop.

Wife painted the new back door, and ordered dinner delivered from one of the local chinese food places.  It was pretty good, and I sure didn’t feel like cooking after being out in the heat all day.  It’s not the end of the world after all.  Except maybe for Florida, Arizona, and Texas.

I guess we’ll see, but the trends are worrying.  Our neighbor to the south seems to have completely lost control of the wuflu situation.  Their curve doesn’t look like it will flatten for some time.  The rest of latin america, africa, and india aren’t looking so good either.  Funny how little news we’re hearing from them.

I’m keeping on keeping on.  That’s the plan anyway.  One of the boxes I found in the garage cleanup was a bunch of wound care supplies from my mom.  Dad doesn’t need them anymore, so I’ll stack them and hope I never need them either.  Running into reminders like that is bittersweet.

But hey, while I was cleaning and organizing, I sold some speakers on ebay.  Turned around and spent the money on parts to fix the bandsaw in the garage.  If it’s gonna sit there, it should work.  One little casting broke, and the machine is NFG.  The casting was way under-engineered (or OVER engineered, and under-spec’d) and is an obvious weak point.  One of the medium term goals for the garage is to have a mini version of my bigger workshop close to hand.  Getting the little 9″ bandsaw running is a step in that direction.

Also found some airsoft and a CO2 powered bb pistol.  So I set up some cans in the yard and put a couple dozen rounds through them.  That was fun!  It was also a nice break from the heat to shoot in the 95F shade.   I’ve never shot a CO2 airgun before and I like it.   It’s way more like semi-auto and better ‘substitute’ practice as you don’t have to re-cock the spring, or pump up the air.  The pistol doesn’t jump around as much, the trigger is wobbly, and it’s a full sized handgun, but it’s still good practice for acquiring the target, getting sight alignment, etc.   I’ve even got retention holsters for them if I wanted to practice drawing and firing.  I’m not getting to the range any time soon, and ammo is expensive and hard to replace, so airgun practice it will be.  It does make a distinctive sound that carries quite well in the unusually quite suburbs…

So, even if you can’t do what you’d normally like to do, keep working on skills, and keep stacking.

 

nick

 

Wed. July 8, 2020 – lots of errands today

Hot and wet.  Possible storms.  Joy.

Tuesday was a bit cooler in the afternoon.  We almost got some rain in the morning, which should have increased the humidity but actually didn’t do too much.   Overcast helped keep the temps down.   The attic at my client’s house was only 96F and had a max high temp of 112F recorded.  Cool really.

I did go over to my client’s to chase internet and networking issues.  Found more lightning damage.  The Silicon Greybeard has shared some of his lightning strike travails on his blog.  Basically, everything in the house is suspect now that we’ve established that there was damage on some things.   I’ll be swapping out gear for the next year as it dies early and mysterious deaths.

Dinner was ribs from the freezer.  My wife did the honors while I was working.  Sides from the fridge, and pasta.  Not much long term storage, and no canned corn…

Today I’ve got to pick up a truck load of auction items.  Shopping for the wife’s list kinda got out of hand.  I ended up getting some stuff to resell, and some stuff for my various hobbies.  I took a gamble on one item I hope is a light bar for my truck.  Couldn’t quite make it out, but I wasn’t the only one bidding it up.  Hopefully the other guy was sure it was something desirable and not just following me 😉

The news hasn’t been screaming about cases this week, but they are still going up.  Deaths are up a bit, not enough for a trend but basically right on time.   Aesop has his hands full at his ER in Cali, and reports are that the ERs here in Texas are about full.  Florida is headed there too.

Economic impacts and real world effects are starting to hit locally.  Our city councilwoman told one of my neighbors that the city might have to hire contractors to catch up with heavy trash pickup.  They’re 2 weeks late this Friday.  She said too many city employees were out sick.   I’m seeing a lot more shuttered businesses this week too.  LOTS of empty storefronts in some parts of town, where I don’t expect to see them.  Even the Habitat for Humanity reStore on the north side of town  was closed down to “help keep everyone safe”.  And FFS people, update your website if you close your business.

Tomball Ford was running their $20K off list ad again, only this time they included Expedition, along with F series trucks.   Lots of lesser deals on other vehicles too.

If there are things you think you’ll need in the next year, you might want to start getting them while you can.  Maintenance parts, cleaning stuff, “just in case” like toilet rebuild kits, rake and shovel handles, etc. are all going to be in short supply if this keeps up.  I don’t see it getting better soon.  Think about how many batteries you’ll burn through if you have a community watch in your neighborhood running those little GMRS or FRS radios…   Start thinking about clothes too.  You probably have closets full, but do they fit?  Will they fit if you lose or gain weight?  Most of the clothes and cloth come from China and other far away shirtholes, as do most of the shoes and boots.

Anyway, the knock on effects of closing down our economy are starting.   The effects of our third world suppliers losing big chunks of their workers, either temporarily or permanently, are just starting to show up.

Time to stack it high…

 

nick

Mon. July 6, 2020 – turn down the suck…

Hot and humid.  Probably overcast with a chance of storms.    I guess we’ll see.

Yesterday was hot and humid.  Not as terrible as Saturday but still unpleasant in the garage and outdoors.  Wife and kids spent the whole day inside.  I did some outdoors stuff and worked in the garage.  I’m pretty much going to have to make time to put the A/C into the garage.  Otherwise, I won’t get much use during most of the year.  I will tell myself it’s better for my food storage too.

Projects.  I got ’em.

Did get some small progress done yesterday.  Found some more stuff for the auction.  Sold a speaker on ebay.  Bought a bunch of stuff in the housewares amazon returns auction.  Watching those bids took a lot of time in 15 minute slices.  Did some small cleanup in the garage.  Fixed a fan.  Read a few chapters of a book.  I was a  bit wiped out after Saturday.

Dinner was brats and fixin’s.   Brats were fresh from the last Costco supply drop, onions and potatoes from the one before that.  Corn and ice cream were from the HEB grocery drop.  I’ve said it before, but it’s a damn peculiar zombie apocalypse when you can have food delivered to your door.

Another peculiar thing was transitioning from “prepping” to “using”.   After a while, I realized I need to go back to buying stuff to replace stores as they are used.  I don’t NEED to get toilet paper right now, but if I don’t there will come a time when I’ve run out.  Hoping to resupply at some future date is not a prudent or practical plan.  So far, we’ve been mostly eating out of current shopping with additions from the long term stockpile.  I’d like to build up some extra protein storage, and adjust some of my long term canned food.  I’m heavy on canned corn, just as an example, and I’ve only used up one case so far.  It’s going to be more expensive to replace the stuff I’ve used, as I bought it only when it was on sale, and there are few sales at the moment.  I’ll call it ‘dollar cost averaging’ for food and stuff instead of investments.

On the plus side, being well prepared for something that was nowhere on my wife’s radar has built up a nice store of goodwill toward prepping and some of my more ‘out there’ preps.  Having the stuff and having it at hand has made a big difference.  When you hit on a long shot, some of your other long shots look a little more reasonable.  I’ve also gotten a nice bump in tolerance for auctions now that she’s figured out that I can buy the stuff SHE wants…  now, if I can get my sales up, I’ll be golden.

I’m going to advise accepting that this is the beginning of how things are going to be for a while, and that we’re probably not going back to “the way things were.”  The sooner you accept that as reality, and start adjusting to it, the better off you’ll be.   A lot of the lost jobs aren’t coming back anytime soon.  There is a glut of autos on the market, I’ve seen a local dealer using the dead mall parking lot as storage.  He hasn’t even bothered to fence it in.  I’m sure there are other areas of oversupply too.  Air travel capacity comes to mind.  Shopping malls.  Theaters.  Fitness centers.  Party rental places.  Foreign workers. *

Start focusing on the basics.  You’ll be ahead of the curve and the pack.

Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

*notice how quickly the furor over the H1B visas has died down?

Sun. July 5, 2020 – more of yesterday, with fewer fireworks

Hot again, although we are supposed to be on the edge of a weather system, so that might mess things up.

Yesterday was hot.  Humid and hot.  Some relief in the shade when the breeze was blowing, but overall, hot.

I got several little things done, or moved along a bit.  Got a log storage rack built and in place.  Stacked all the logs and sticks that were already cut to length.  I’ve still got a couple of limbs to cut to length and stack but I didn’t want to get the chainsaw out yesterday.  I’ll probably do that today.

I worked on getting some of the garage cleaned so I can get the new freezer in, and that wall of the garage rearranged.  It’s gonna take some work, and it’s hot.  All the stuff has to come out into the driveway for a while.  Some of it wouldn’t do well in the sun, so I’ve dithered.  It’s hard to stay focused and productive when it’s so hot.

I did pull two more bins of stuff to go to the local auction.  So many more to go through.

The daughter’s new bedroom paint color is purple.  REALLY purple.  She likes it.  That’s the important bit.  I love that she’s growing up, but I miss the little kid too.  Change.  It keeps happening, no matter what the world is doing around you.

Businesses are adapting to the current conditions.  Sherwin Williams has you order online, then do curbside pickup.  Lowes and Home Depot have online ordering with curbside too.  I waited about 10 minutes for my load of pool salt at HD.   The only downside is when an item isn’t really in stock, or when you would normally browse to what you want/need.   We’re used to instant or very near instant availability to almost everything.  That seems to be changing too.  Our pizza place was very busy.   The only obvious change is that their newly renovated dine in area was empty.   Some businesses will adapt, some will die.  I’m sure some completely new businesses will arise too.

After all, change is the only constant…

And the certainty that some sort of bad thing WILL happen.  So keep working on skills.  Keep building relationships.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

Sat. July 4th, 2020 – Independence Day.

Hot and humid.  Like yesterday.  Possibility of rain.

Yesterday it was very hot and very humid.  The sun, when it was out, was set to ‘crispy’.  Just putting a few bins of auction items in my truck had me soaked to the skin.

I took the bins to the auction house, and got my settlement check from the last time.  It was short by half, as some numbnuts didn’t pay or pickup, and he bought a bunch of my items.  The auction will have to relist them and we’ll see where the prices end up.

My wife spent the afternoon setting up the salt water chlorination system for our pool.  I told her if she wanted to get fancy with the chemicals it would be her job, and she’s stepped up.

Dinner was frozen fish, baked on the grill, canned beans, and boiled carrots from the kids’ school lunches.

I noticed that the corn in the garden has at least two small ears started.  Hooray me.  We’ll see if I get them or the squirrels.

Today, however, is Independence Day here in the States.   Traditionally an unabashed good time.  The freaking wokescolds have got their bony fingers pointed at everyone this year though, and the wuflu got the fireworks shows.

Take some time today and celebrate independence, both our original departure from Merry Olde, and your personal independence.  If, upon reflection, you don’t have all you’d like, then by all means make a plan to get to where you’d like to be…  make big picture plans, and small personal plans.  Start accumulating the resources.  Declare your independence.

And get ready for what may be coming.  Lots of opportunity in periods of great change.

Keep stacking, enjoy the 4th, and please don’t shoot your guns into the air.  Shoot them into the targets.

nick

Fri. July 3, 2020 – another Friday, more to come

Hot and humid.

Less hot yesterday by the end of the day, but furnace hot for most of it.  Just standing outdoors was enough to soak my shirt with sweat.

We spent the morning at swim practice, hit the school for the free lunch for the kids (mini pizzas), and then I was free to work on stuff around the house.   Cleaned the pool.  Did some garden work.  Picked up the yard.  Cleaned and put a couple of things away.  Hid from the heat until I felt normal again, then back outside sorting inventory to take to this week’s auction.  Which is what I’ll be doing later today, dropping off several bins of stuff.    Ran some errands for my wife.

Boy howdy it was hot.

The news is full of idiots.  COVID parties.  FFS.

Meanwhile all the nation state stuff is still happening.  Players are still moving the pieces on the board.  What haven’t we heard anything about lately?*  I’m reasonably sure that the distraction is made to order for some of the players.   Elephants dancing.  Nervous mice.

One of the newsletters I get lists “Line of Duty” deaths for fire/police and it was a bit of a shock to see 2 of the 20 were in Houston.  One was an HPD helo pilot that went down (possibly to hostile fire) in north Houston, and the other was a deputy that got blue on blued during a call in Fort Bend.  They are counting COVID deaths as LOD, and they are roughly equal to the gunshot deaths for the last couple of months.    It’s been a heavier than normal couple of months too.

The celebration of Independence Day is coming up.  Bob used it as a convenient marker for his switch to Linux, which was never quite complete.  I don’t have any personal observances, but I think our founding fathers** would be horrified and angry beyond belief at what we’ve done with their new country.  This used to be the one purely enjoyable, unabashedly celebratory holiday of the summer.  But the taint of irony has cast a pall on even that day.

Take what joy you can.  We are currently living in the good old days.

Keep your eyes open.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

*GWOT, scourge of islam, global financial crisis, etc

**not zers, or trans anything, nor co-parenting, but FATHERS.

Thur. July 2, 2020 – last day of swim team

Hot and humid.

Yesterday was hot and humid, with a bit of a strong wind from the south on the south side of town.  The breeze helped a lot, but it was still stinking humid anywhere the breeze wasn’t.

Ran around town all afternoon doing pickups.   Stuff for my wife, and a few tactical items, and one or two lots of my hobby items.

Supply drop from Costco and HEB is mostly put away.  I spent last night breaking down the bulk meat into dinner sized packages, then vac sealed and froze them.   They’re in the new freezer too, even though it’s just sitting in the driveway.

I baked bread in the machine again Tuesday, and again it had a ‘sharp’ flavor too it.  I suspect that even though it’s edible, and not actually bad tasting, the flour from 2014 isn’t great.  So I ordered and received 50 pounds to replace the bucket or two from 2014.  Flour is cheap, we can get it, and I knew there would be some spoilage and waste with the way I stored it.  As mentioned, it doesn’t smell or taste funny or bad, but there is something that isn’t quite delicious when you bake with it.   Given that this isn’t the actual zombie apocalypse, replacing it makes sense.  Six years with no particular care taken to store it is a long time.

I was able to get clorox bleach from costco, the 3 gallon pack.  That’s a change.  Still only Kirkland brand TP, although they had kleenex tissues.  Still no clorox cleaners or wipes, and no lysol spray.

HEB had Prime top sirloin for $7/ pound.  I bought 6 pounds.  It was definitely ‘short time’ but that doesn’t bother me as it got vac sealed and frozen.  It wasn’t listed as short though.   That is cheaper than almost any of the beef except hamburger, and there were hamburger choices that were that much or more.  It is still possible to be a smart shopper, even remotely with instacart.

Today will be one last trip to the pool for swim team.  I decided that the kids really needed to see their friends and say goodbye.  They missed that when school ended and it really bothered them.  I hope it isn’t a mistake.  Cases and hospitalizations are both rising quite steadily in Houston and the rest of Texas, no matter what my friend says.  Hopefully he’s right and there is enough of everything, and that the panic is overblown.  I’m not panicked, I’m just sticking to what I decided to do early on.  It’s not ebola, but I still don’t want to roll the dice on it.

One of the local country clubs does a nice little fireworks show for their members that is visible from some public spots.  We went there last year, and they say they’ll be doing a show this year too.  We’ll be outdoors and distanced… if the weather is good.  Trying to find the balance  between staying isolated and going out to play in it is difficult.   Even I’m glad to be out and about, getting a break from being in the house.

It’s not just wuflu either.  The madness of some black lives matter is still ongoing, although it looks to be thoroughly co-opted by antifa and the prog/socialist left.  I put some links up yesterday or the night before with violence directed as us ‘normals’.  Keep your awareness up if you are going out.

And keep stacking while we can.

nick

 

Wed. July 1, 2020 – July here we come!

Hot and humid.  Tending toward more humid.

Yesterday was exceptionally nasty out.  Just standing outside would soak you to the skin in no time.  I’m hoping for a break as it was nicer late.

I went to my client’s house, got a bunch of stuff done. I let him know I’d be back 14 days after his 4th Party.  He thinks it’s unnecessary but he’s also understanding.

Kids have the last couple of days of swim team today and tomorrow and it would be nice for them to go back to say goodbye.  Of course, all the reasons we STOPPED last week are still there, and are even worse.   It’s sentimentalism like this that gets people sick.  LOTS of sick people right now that don’t know it yet.

The crazy continues to build.  Some things to be aware of– the ‘protestors’ shooting the SUV driver in Utah as he drives through the crowd.   If you can’t avoid the crowd, and you can’t go some other way, I can’t recommend anything other than DON’T STOP, keep moving, and keep your eyes open.  If it was an ambush, as some people are saying, that is a serious escalation. Best plan is “Don’t be there.”  Recognize that sometimes, “there” comes to you.

Maybe Waze will start routing around street ‘demonstrations’.

The funny thing is, with MSM attempting to control the narrative, alternative voices went online.  Now with the NewMedia attempting to control the narrative, alternative voices need to find new platforms.  If they don’t, and they can’t find a new outlet, and the need for them to express themselves continues to grow, they may end up out in the streets-where the footsoldiers for the left are already well represented, funded, and practiced.  And as is becoming obvious, the left has some guns too.  That won’t end well…

Think about what the irish troubles would look like played out here, where we’ve got hundreds of thousands of well armed veterans, some on each side, little geographic separation, and 10 times the population.

Start prepping for that- at least as a contingency.

And keep stacking.

 

n

Tues. June 30, 2020 – srsly, the world has lost it’s collective mind…

Hot and humid.  Rain?  [overcast, 82F and saturated]

No rain yesterday, but hot and humid all right.  Overcast until late in the day, so a bit cooler.  Still plenty damp though.

Spent part of the morning on auctions stuff, part on getting parts for my client, and part getting ready for what I needed to do in the afternoon.  Spent the afternoon and evening working over there.  Got stuff done, just not enough.  I’ll be headed back over today to pull stuff for service and to do network stuff.  Fortunately I only had to spend minutes rather than hours in the attic, and it was relatively cool.

Dinner when I finally got home was leftovers.  Turkey, yum.

Out in the wider world someone is increasingly desperate, and doesn’t understand roughly half the US population.  Riots didn’t help.  Tearing down statues is only hurting.  School’s out and not coming back for a while, so easy access to moldable footsoldiers is limited.   Attempts at controlling the population (for good or ill) are getting all kinds of pushback.  So what to do?  Use your house organ for one of the most improbable stories of the year, that Russia was paying bounties for US servicemen.  Because Trump’s a Russian agent, and is too friendly with Putin for the good of America, we can finally reveal that Putin is evil?  And contradictory?  Or it’s all part of Trump and Putin’s secret plan to destroy the US?  Because reasons?

I thought that was weird enough and a desperation move, but then they said “Hold my beer” and now purport to have committed high treason, and oathbreaking at a level that should result in firing squads or rock breaking for the next 100 years– by releasing the President of the United States’ private phone conversations.  No matter where you stand on the Trump continuum, that is OUTRAGEOUS.  As in should cause RAGE against the leakers and their mouthpieces.  Of course, the likelihood of it being genuine, and not wholly fabricated is minimal given that every single other thing they’ve tried has turned out to be fabricated.  But…

It doesn’t matter if every single word is accurate and true.  DOESN’T matter.  Boils down to “he’s mean” “he says mean things” ” he’s full of himself” “he doesn’t like or respect the people we do” ” he doesn’t play the game the right way”  and those are not reasons to betray your oath and country.

Nothing good will come of this, and we’re still months out from the election.

On top of everything else, we do not need political operatives destabilizing our government.

As for me, the mice get nervous when elephants dance.   Freezer.  Meat.  Shelf stable food.  Meds.  Weapons.  Armor.  Training.  Toiletries.  Utilities.  Garden.  Network.  Meatspace.*

Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

*funny how suddenly it’s much harder to get together to talk, plan, train, move toward a common goal, etc.  unless you are part of the anointed class…

Mon. June 29, 2020 – another week, Let’s get started!

Hot, humid, but perhaps not so hot as last week.  And in theory, we’re on the edge of a system with T storms and heavy rain.

Yesterday stayed mostly overcast, which helped with the temps.  It still got over 100F in the driveway.

After cutting the grass, blowing the debris, and weeding the gardens, I got some small things done.  I finished changing out the sprinkler heads that were sticking up too far.   I’d gotten 70% of the way done and stopped, so today I finished.  I did a couple of other small tasks too.

Then I thoroughly cleaned the new freezer inside and out.  I’ve got a bit more to do on the door.  The outside is streaky where the clorox bleach cleaner lifted some 28 year old dirt but left the rest.  I’d really like to go over that when I refill my spray bottle.  The inside was in great shape.  It’s been wet in the heat, so anything that WOULD grow in it DID grow in it.  And that was very little.  I plugged it in to start it getting cold again, and to keep it clean inside.

I’ve figured out how I want to change my garage layout to accommodate the new freezer.  I’m taking out an old workbench that did nothing but catch piles of junk.    I’ll slide the old fridge and new freezer to the end of the wall, and move the chest freezer over too.  I’ll have a chance to put a file cabinet and some shelves where the chest freezer used to live.   It will open stuff up a bit.  Hopefully it will be a better use of the space, with less opportunity to just pile stuff on horizontal surfaces.

I need a dry, cooler day, to pull everything out of that side of the garage and move stuff around.   Hope I get one soon.

The gardens are what they are… something has eaten almost every onion I planted.  There are only a couple left.  The broccoli is struggling.  One plant died off this week.  The others might or might not produce another stalk for my dinner.  Probably not.  The grape vine that lived is going gangbusters and has taken over the whole trellis.  I don’t know if that means grapes or no grapes though.  I haven’t seen any yet.  The vine that died back to within a foot of the ground has put out new leaves and grown a bit.  Maybe next year it will be back up the trellis.

Tomato plants are still alive, still setting flowers, and have a couple more tomatoes growing.  I took two last week.  Tomatoes have never grown well for me.  One potato tower is empty of living plants, the other is down to one remaining plant.  No idea if they died or were eaten.  I can’t keep up with the sweet peppers.  I had several rot on the bush.  They are really tasty but I’m the only one who eats them.  The brusselsprouts are finally thriving but haven’t put up the sprout stalk yet.  Cabbages are about tennis ball sized through to slow pitch softball sized and looking good.  Corn is about 2 1/2 to 3 feet high and has tassels.   It LOOKS like it is growing well.  I guess we’ll see later in the year.   The melons/squash are still alive, with flowers, so I’m hopeful they’ll continue to grow.

I harvested 6 more blueberries today- go me!   I was pleasantly surprised to realize I had more green fruits on the orange and grapefruit trees than I thought.  I hope they ripen into good fruit.  The container lime has a fruit or two left.  The Meyer lemon is heavy with fruit.  I had some garlic cloves sprout in the cabinet, so I stuck them in the window box today.  No idea if they’ll root and grow, but the box was empty, and I’m not eating the sprouted cloves.  I’ve got a couple of small cilantro plants started.  I love cilantro and will eat and cook with it if I have it.  It will be nice if the heat doesn’t kill them.  Now if only I had 10 to 20 times the stuff planted, I might get more than the occasional taste… Growing food has a long learning curve, better get started.

Because the world isn’t getting better.  “Protests” and rioting are continuing.  Wuflu is continuing, although as the people getting sick are younger this time around, maybe it won’t kill so many of them.  I’m nervous about it.  My neighbor at my secondary location told me one of his coworkers and his whole family have it.  Several of his other coworkers all have strong exposures now, as they drove around in the truck with the sick guy.  My neighbor said he was outdoors (construction) and wearing a mask, but he’s still been told to stay home until he’s clear.   I spent a few hours chatting with him in the parking lot.   I’m hoping like he11 that 6 feet and a steady cross breeze is enough to keep me well.  My next door neighbor at the house went to the Doctor in a big hurry this evening.  I haven’t had a chance to find out why, but I really hope it wasn’t for a covid test.

Today I’ll be headed out to my client’s house to try to get him buttoned up before the Fourth.  I’ve got auction pickups too (for my wife and her projects mainly, now that she’s discovered how handy and economical it is to have me on the lookout for stuff.)  Since I was going anyway, I got some web gear, gub accessories, and a couple of things for me as well.

The scanner last night had someone in town running a drug surveillance op.   Last I heard, they were watching a group of about 30 people hanging out, having a bonfire in the middle of the street around midnight.  “That’s a really big fire!” says one cop.  Just another weekend night in the ‘hood, I guess.   Not something you’d know about from the news.

I hope everyone is healthy this week.  And working on preps for the future.  It’s comin’ like a freight train….

Keep stacking,

 

nick