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Category: decline and fall

Mon. Dec. 30, 2024 – sneakin’ up on it…

Well, what do the weather gods have in store for us today? Probably cool, definitely damp bordering on wet. Like yesterday. Some days we have all the weather.

Did get some stuff done during the day. Finished up the trim in the dockhouse, with the exception of one baseboard. Did some other small things. Since I got a very late start, there wasn’t much time to do much more. I did get my teak patio table back together and swapped it for the decaying picnic table we’ve been using on the dock. It needs a power washing… but then most of the house, dock, patio, and brick need one too.

Today will be packing up, cleaning up, and heading home. Where I’ll have a day to do the same there before leaving again. Busy busy bee, that’s me.

Not much stacking going on this week but I am making progress on improvements. Oh, I did get 2 more 55 gallon drums up here for water storage, and more woodstove chimney parts, I guess that counts…

Stack something for yourselves. And always be working.

nick

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Sun. Dec. 29, 2024 – dang inconvenient to have the holidays mid week…

Cool and wet. That was how yesterday played out, and how today will likely go too. The rain dropped the temps, and the wet made every joint hurt. And it will probably be the same today.

I did get stuff done. The rain was patchy, and there were long enough periods between the squalls. I got almost all the trim installed in the dockhouse. I forgot my hammer drill at home, and I need it to install the baseboard on one wall. That will have to wait until next time. I got the chair rail in, and all the window stools.

Got the truck mostly unloaded. Did some small things in the garage. W cooked a prime rib roast with the new sou vide thing, and I finished it by searing on cast iron. The combo worked great, except I need to move a kitchen exhaust fan up the list… Saute’d mushrooms and onion, and fresh green beans rounded out the menu with store bought pumpkin pie for dessert.

Played pool with my wife, had a fire and s’mores with the kid and her friend. Talked about music. The rain had mostly cleared out by dusk and we had a nice sunset. Later it was still drippy wet, but I managed to get the fire going WITHOUT accelerants. I had some lamp oil standing by though.

I’ll keep working the list today. The cold and damp isn’t fun with the cumulative damage to my body, but I can still move and work, so I can’t b!tch too much.

Haven’t seen my buddy yet, which probably means he’s wiped out from the radiation and chemo, and the stress of the holidays. That’s got me worried and also thinking about my absent friends. Without the dark, we wouldn’t know the light. But it still sucks sometimes.

Stack time with friends and family. Tis the season.

nick

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Sat. Dec. 28, 2024 – counting down, kinda running out the clock…

Probably be clear and cool to start the day, warming to mid 70s F. Yesterday in Houston ended with overcast and 57F. A bit cooler but even wetter at the BOL.

Did my Dr visit. Prescription was wait and see, should be ok, recheck in 6 weeks. Clear on the glaucoma, cataracts, and detached retina, so that was good news. I’ve had a huge list of eye issues over the years, but I tested 20/20 yesterday despite some lingering issues.

Did my pickups on the way to the BOL. Took a different route for the first half of the trip. Much more rural, two lane county roads, and a lot of changing from one road to another. Not doing that in the dark again. I’m sticking to the straightest path. If it weren’t for turn by turn directions, I’d never have made it.

Today I’ll probably try to finish up the walls in the dockhouse. Then I will work the list.

Later, I’ll have a fake beer and some good eats.

These are the good old days, and I’m stacking as much as I can. You should too.

nick

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Fri. Dec. 27, 2024 – not many days left in 2024…

Cool and wet, or warm and wet, but certainly wet. Even without new wet, the old wet will suffice. We got some rain yesterday. Crashing huge rains, and little rains, and even periods with no rains, but mainly we had rain. Fog in the evening too. Roads were slicker than snot, even at 8pm.

Did some errands and some shopping yesterday. Got the stuff I need to finish the walls in the dockhouse at the BOL. Hit up Costco for TP and some other stuff. Either we are using more, or the sales are farther apart, because we’re a little shorter than I’d like by the time the next sale comes around.

On the plus side, Australian lamb is still a great value at Costco. The price has come down dramatically in real dollars over the years that the sell price remained pretty much the same. I think that lamb is underappreciated in the US. Modern lamb is not the lamb you grew up with, it’s so much better with very little of a mutton taste. If you haven’t had it in years, I recommend giving it a try.

Today I’ve got some errands in the morning, maybe a pickup or two later, a Dr appointment in the afternoon, and then I’m headed to the BOL. I might do one pickup on the way, it’ll depend on my mood and how long the Dr visit takes. And if the weather is bad, I’m less inclined to go out of my way to pick up one item.

The year is almost in the record books. It’s been a wild ride, and it isn’t over yet. Lots of change coming, both good and bad, and no way to predict which will be dominant and for who. Build up a reserve, so you have choices. Stack!

nick

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Thur. Dec. 26, 2024 – Boxing Day. Get out your gloves and mouthguard… What? No? Whoops!

Warm and damp. Possibly partly cloudy, possibly raining. We’ll see when it gets here. It was sorta nice for Christmas, but I mostly stayed in anyway. Today I have to leave the house, so weather will matter at least a little bit.

Didn’t do much except Christmas stuff yesterday. For us, that means “stocking” and “santa” gifts are opened, and then the rest of the presents. Then it’s food, food, and more food throughout the day.

Cooking dinner took up most of my afternoon and evening, and I spent the rest of the day puttering around the house and watching youtube videos. My back was killing me so that was about all I felt up to. By bedtime, I was feeling much better. We’ll see how today goes.

Today, despite the prospect of crowds, I would like to get some shopping done. The sale items at Costco change, and it’s stuff I need this month, so I’d like to at least hit those. And I’d like to hit the Lowes for the stuff I need to finish my project in the dockhouse at the BOL. I need some panel adhesive and some trim for the chair rail. We’re headed to the BOL for a couple of days, then visiting family for a few, then we’re headlong into the new year… without a lot of time in between to shop. Hence the need for today’s trip to the stores.

Given the dire state of retail, maybe there won’t be crowds. I can hope. Or I can push it off to Friday morning. I’ve got a appointment Friday afternoon that I can’t miss, so I won’t be headed to the BOL until after that anyway. Realistically though, I’ll use Friday morning to load the truck.

Three 55 gallon drums for rainwater collection. Three 3ft sections of stove pipe. A couple of new string trimmers. Some other stuff for the solar system, and the woodstoves… It’ll be a pretty full truck. Oh, almost forgot the kayak…

Stacks. I got ’em.

Get ready for the new year by deciding what you need to stack. Then get started.

nick

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Mon. Dec. 23, 2024 – stuff to do, but do I have the time?

Cool and damp, followed by more damp, possibly even wet. It stayed fairly cool yesterday, but didn’t rain. Today’s forecast has us in the “possible” area for storms and rain. I’m hoping for ‘ not raining.’

Didn’t do much beyond auctions (gotta get those last few in before the end of the year, Texas charges tax on inventory.) I’ll probably do my pickup today for the stuff I won.

We did finally get the tree decorated, and some additional decoration done in the house. Christmas cards are clipped to a string to display them, and there has been an outbreak of gnomes in festive holiday gear…

And of course we watched the holiday classic, Die Hard.

These are the good old days. Stack some memories too.

nick

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Sun. Dec. 22, 2024 – Christmas is coming, and SOON!

Cold today, at least to start. 44F when I went to bed. Never got very warm yesterday either. Rain shell jacket and a long sleeve T with a dress shirt over it kept me comfortable. It stayed clear and sunny too. More of that would be nice for today.

Did my driving around an got my pickups done. Picked up another kayak, it was only $40 so I couldn’t really say no. Smaller and lighter than some of my others, it should be easier to manage. It’s a little beat up, but a plastic kayak is pretty sturdy and near indestructible.

Since one pickup was near the store I stopped in at Deseret Industries, the LDS thrift store. Quality stuff. If there is one near you, it’s worth going by regularly. This time I picked up a novel rat trap that should be good for a couple kills before they figure it out. I got a couple of technical books, and one for the kid. Found a netgear firewall/vpn router for the BOL. Found some great T shirts for myself and for the kid. They don’t really have any cr@p, they send any that is donated to the dump or recycle or other thrifts. And prices are very low, even by thrift store standards.

Stopped in at an in person estate sale on my way home, hoping for some vinyl or audiophile gear, but it had all sold. The home was almost empty and it was a one day sale, so the prices were really good. They had a couple of nice watches left, a beautifully sleek Longines dress watch and a Seiko Kinetic diver with a pepsi bezel, but there was no way they’d fit my thick wrists, and there was about zero chance I’d find the extra links for the bracelets…and the Seiko was filthy. At ‘end of day’ 50% off they were a good price, so way overpriced earlier. Still too much for me if I couldn’t wear them. Funny that the watches would be so overpriced while the rest of the house was priced to move. And the family must have kept the turntable and amp, because only the giant speakers were for sale.

I miss going to in person estate sales. Online is easier, but there are usually hidden gems at the in person sales.

D2 had a babysitting job, so we STILL haven’t set up the Christmas tree. That will definitely happen today. AFAIK, we are all home, all day. Time to get caught up on family stuff.

So the only stacking I’ll be doing today is putting away stuff I picked up this week. It’s still progress…

Stack something of your own.

nick

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Sat. Dec. 21, 2024 – the missing digit was “6”

Cool and clear. Maybe cold and clear to start. No clouds to hold the day’s heat in… And there was a little bit of heat in the afternoon. I took my jacket off. Long sleeve shirt over a T was fine, even in the sun, but adding the windbreaker/rainshell made me a bit sweaty.

Did my errands. Went by my secondary to drop stuff off. Did pickups on the way. Went to Lowes and got a faucet (which was on sale, hooray!), and eventually made it to my rent house to replace the leaky faucet. That took an extra half hour due to me misplacing a rubber washer, and some corrosion on a nut. It was straightforward, but I was still laying on my back under the sink with my hands above me.

I don’t know how I ever got anything done without a headlamp. Since I started working at the BOL, I’ve been using a headlamp whenever I work. The extra illumination can make the difference between squinting and reading comfortably, and it makes so much work so much easier. Whether it’s working under the cabinet or just casting my own shadow on the electrical outlet, the light makes it better. I don’t have a specific recommendation, but the new ones are small and the batteries last a long time. Get something that uses normal AAA batteries, so you can change them and keep working without waiting for a recharge.

In the evening, D1 went with a friend to a basketball game in another district, and I had to pick her up at 9pm. That blew the chance of decorating the tree. That has now slipped to today. This is the latest we’ve ever been with getting a tree set up. Maybe because we did the one at the BOL it took the urgency away. Dunno, but I like a natural tree and colored lights in the house and it will be great to get this one ready.

Today I’ve got a nearby pickup. It’s a present for W, and some stuff for my hobby, and some preps. I’ve got to go to the store and get one of the things W asked for, and I might get something off D1’s list too. D2 has a big pile already. Then I just need to wrap presents, and I’ll be good to go. If I get there, it will feel nice. I’m usually wrapping on Christmas Eve…

I’m still adding to the stacks. The pace has slowed, as the stacks piled up, but there have been some great opportunities lately, and I’m taking advantage. Keep your eyes open, and someone else’s misfortune might be your gain. And then you can stack it up…

nick

(the pattern started with the date, then the first group of digits and the last group doubled while the middle two groups incremented by 1 each. That made the missing digit the 6 in 256.) (all those base 12 doublings were irresistible.)

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Fri. Dec. 20, 2024 – 12202024 24212148 48222296 962323192 192242425? 256…

Cold and clear, warming a bit later. It was cold and clear yesterday, and did in fact warm later. All the way to comfortable in shirtsleeves. Odd use of words, that, but used in North America as a rough description of temperature for some time. Shirtsleeves. Odd.

Did my errands and scutwork in the morning. Drove to my pickups, got them done. Hit the Goodwill bins on the southwest side. Filled a cart. I know, I wasn’t going to, but the stuff was too good.

Stopped at EPO, an electronics store in the style of an old school Army Navy surplus store. Too much of the stuff is priced like a museum, but they’ve got what you need- and literal tons of sh!t no one needs (like stacks of broadcast quality VCRs- a whole room full). I noticed oil lamps hanging from the ceiling this time. Good oil lamps, like you would have found in a home when oil was the primary lighting tech. I haven’t seen anything besides the typical red or blue dietz style or a glass hurricane style in person, ever. Yet there they were. They are above the aisle with Metal Earth ™ laser cut metal model kits, tweezers, and RF connectors and patch cables…. down a bit from fuses… EPO is a Houston treasure.

Hit the costco on the way home, just for coffee and TP if it was on sale. It wasn’t. $29 for a bale of Charmin? No, I’ll pull down stock and wait for the sale. I ended up grabbing a couple of staples that don’t go on sale and got out for ~$200 which is the least I’ve spent at Costco in a single visit in years.

I hope the weather holds, because I still have stuff in the back of the truck that I need to get put away today.

I’ve also still got to pick up some Christmas gifts for my number one wife… which is critical and getting too close to the day. We’ll see what I get done on the list, but getting her something is VERY HIGH on the list all of a sudden.

Stack while you can. Fix what needs fixing. Get your ducks in a row. But also – breathe. Enjoy the moments you get. No one knows the number of our hours, and they are probably shorter than you think. May sure others know you care…

nick

*would an AI know the next number in the sequence to replace “?” It’s pretty straightforward for humans…

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Thur. Dec. 19, 2024 – your most likely disaster to prep for is a personal one

Damp and cool again, probably foggy. It did start that way but got a bit better yesterday. Until the rain came anyway. But even that didn’t last. So what kind of weather did we have yesterday? Yes.

Spent the morning on auction things and messing around. Got the kid and an extra from school at noon, and that killed my plans for the day. I ended up doing some cleaning and organizing around the house, and then made a nice dinner.

The sirloin cap roast was only a year old. Hardly worth mentioning, when there were steaks next to it from 2020… but it was delicious. Instant mashed potatoes were great with a bunch of butter, and my signature cabbage dish rounded out the menu. Cabbage, hard squashes, apples, onions, root veg, they are all traditional european and American foods that store well and can be used all winter long. It felt good to eat a sit down meal with the whole family and food from the pantry. We’ve been eating quick foods and leftovers too much lately. Dessert was cookies. Lots of cookies.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups in opposite directions. I’ve been watching a lot of auctions lately and not even bidding if the pickup was inconvenient. I’ve got most of what I need, and the time to do the pickups is definitely eating into my workday, so I’m being a bit more conservative with what I’ve been buying lately. Got the kids this afternoon too, as they have testing in the morning and early dismissal. They can be home alone, but I don’t want any other kids here with them if I’m not here.

I’ve got nine pounds of stuff and only 5 pound bags. But I’ve got stacks. Lots of stacks. Maybe time to start putting some to use.

nick

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