Category: ebay

Sun. Dec. 5, 2021 – maybe I can do some outdoor stuff

Possible rain. Yesterday was overcast most of the day and then we got a rip roaring gully washer around 4:30 or 5pm. Really came down. Nice and clear air when it was all done though. Killed any thoughts of a second trip to storage though.

I did get one load out of the toy room and foyer. One more today and then maybe tree shopping. I’ll let you all know how that goes.

Turns out that I have some stuff in another local auction. The lady who I did the pokemon cards, and collectible toys through finally relisted stuff that either went unsold, the buyer didn’t pay for, or didn’t make it into the previous auction. I’m hopeful for a good sale.

On ebay I got a low offer for some books, but I did sell a dvd today. At least that proves ebay is showing my stuff to people. They have always penalized me in the past for putting my store on vacation hold. I better get some more stuff listed and take advantage of it.

And I need to put out a whole bunch more rat poison…

I bought all that was in the store last time. That is definitely something to stack…

Stack what you use all the time. Stack stuff you only use infrequently but couldn’t substitute. Stack stuff you put off buying until you need it. Get spares for critical stuff.

If you see it, buy it. Stack it high.

nick

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Mon. Nov. 29, 2021 – ah Monday, a fresh start…

And it’s cool and damp. Yup, again, although there isn’t any rain in the forecast. Yesterday got misty drizzle throughout the day, which kept me inside.

Spent the time doing clean up and organizing and ebay stuff. I ‘temporarily’ put some stuff in the toy room/library and it has to go to make room for the tree. It was easier to sort it than just load it out, and with the rain, I wasn’t eager to take anything to storage.

That will be the plan for today- finish getting my stuff out of the library.

Also it makes sense to just list some of it before letting it out of the house. I’m going to list a couple of high dollar items, and we’ll see if they sell. It would be nice to get some good sales before the end of the year. As I’ve mentioned before, the high dollar things take more time to list though, but they are worth it if they sell, especially if it’s quick. At this point, I don’t want to list Christmas things and risk the shipping not getting them there in time.

I didn’t get to the store for fresh food yesterday so that will push to today as well. AND I’ve got two pickups (Christmas items, preps, and household stuff), and a short day because I pick up D2 from school…

So I better not spend all day online.

Talk amongst yourselves,

and stack some more food.

nick

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Thur. Nov. 18, 2021 – well, that happened.

Cool and clear for most of Houston, possibly someone gets some rain, but hope it’s not me. No rain on me yesterday, and suitably mild all day. Really nice weather.

Spent the day at my client’s house, doing stuff. Mainly getting networking up so my controls guy can work remotely. He even sent his guy to help. Together we got most of what we could get done. I’ll finish that up today and move on to video. That’s the plan anyway.

My local auction happened and was a bust. Something went wrong and stuff sold for no money at all, or didn’t even sell. I KNOW what stuff has been selling for in local auctions. I’m watching two that close later today that have unusually low bids at the moment, but not 0s like mine had. It’s possible that the mood could have flipped and I was just a month late. I predicted some time ago that there would be a point where it all just ended, but I was hoping it was farther off and I could get a couple of auctions in before then. Otherwise, I don’t know what the issue was. I’ll be talking with the auctioneer later today too. He’s got to be just as freaked as I am since he did all the work.

In other news, my wife wants to go look at a lake house this weekend. It looks nice in the pix and it’s on her preferred lake. I need to do other things, like get my pallet load auction listed, or spend the day on paying work if I have to finish up my client’s install. Having someplace to go if the need to go increases suddenly is a long term prep that I really need and want, but… it’s a big commitment and we’ve got a huge list of other things going on. Is it ever a good time?

I guess we’ll see if the Republic gets a pause on the downslope when the Rittenhouse verdict comes down. No matter what, I see fires on the streets of Kenosha.

Keep stacking. It’s getting more interesting every day.

nick

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Tues. Nov. 16, 2021 – ATT DSL SUX

Another cool clear day in the making, warming later.

Spent most of the morning and early afternoon at my client’s house. I’ve begun removing old gear from the rack and installing new. We are not going anywhere near to a “Rip and Replace”. We are upgrading control and audio, with some minor changes to video.

My business partner (on these sorts of jobs) is down from Dallas to get the control and networking sorted. But he’s having an issue. Last night he thought he’d killed the AT&T DSL somehow and spent a bunch of his and my time chasing it. Well, AT&T finally got back to him saying that their service was down and would be down until the 18th. WTH? Even a cable cut gets fixed faster than that. I can’t wait to get fiber or fixed wireless there. DSL is teh sux.

FWIW, I can tell it’s winter because the skin on my fingers is cracked open. My dad always had issues with skin cracking around his finger tips and now I do too. The crazy glue sealer only hurts for a short time… while the exposed crack burns constantly.

My client is about 30 miles from my house, so I had more time with the Jack Reacher audiobook. It’s chapter 12 before he does anything the least bit active… and he’s on his third day of exertion in the same clothes. Jeez.

Today I’ll be headed to my client’s early to go over system design with my partner, then a lunch break to do shipping (4 cases of Mold Armor brings the total for the last 15 days to 8 cases, the algorithm loves me for some reason) and some pickups. I’ve also got gear at my secondary that I need on the job.

And speaking of auctions, my local auction went live with over 300 lots. I hope it sells well and he doesn’t decide he’s not making enough money off my stuff… some stuff already has opening bids but it’s always nerve wracking.

I need to dig out more industrial stuff for him for the next one. Not really a problem.

And just like that, ebay is finally moving some stuff, I have stuff in two local auctions, and I’m earning in my “real” sideline business. Now I need to get some of the big ticket items listed so I can cash in.

And then I’ll buy some more stuff, and stack it high.

nick

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Sun. Nov. 14, 2021 – we’re gettin’ the band back together…

Cold and clear warming to cool and clear. Probably won’t get to hot and clear… It was beautiful on Saturday. I even got the mower out and cut the grass in the back yard.

Did my non-prepping hobby meeting with mini-swapmeet. We had a good turnout. Some cash was exchanged for some stuff I’d picked up over the past couple of months. Not much, it’s more about the camaraderie than making money most quarters. Nice to see people getting together for a shared interest. Lots of donuts were eaten too.

Came home and did some ebay listing, some housework, and general ‘real life’ stuff. Didn’t do much ‘prepping’ outside of building community and getting out into meatspace. In the mean time, my daughter is learning to shoot a rifle, so that is cool. She officially knows more about sailing very small boats than I do too. They had good weather for their day, with a chilly night. Wife and eldest will be home today some time around noon. It was a short camp outing.

Turns out that hamsters don’t like syringes full of liquid meds poked down their throats. Who knew? Yes, had to give the furball some meds last night, and this morning. Not an easy thing to do. Certainly harder than I expected. Little fluffy has a couple of tumors and a bare patch on his flank. So far he’s still active and eating. We take on an obligation to the animals under our care, but with $7 hamsters, there are limits. Meds and comfort are about as far as we’re prepared to go with this one. So the kids will probably soon get another life lesson. And the parents too.

These are the ‘good old days’ so make hay…

and stack all the things.

nick

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Fri. Nov. 12, 2021 – all out of fox to give

Cool and hopefully clear. We got some good rain yesterday but after it stopped everything dried out. We got more than an inch in about an hour at my house. Sun came out, the humidity was down, and it turned into a really nice day.

I sold a couple of items, so I had shipping to do. Listed a few smalls to keep the ball rolling. Sorted a couple of bags of inventory. Messed around with the parts truck a little bit (tried putting a battery on it to start it. Battery terminals have been removed so I shelved that for now.) There are a few parts I can grab, even if I sell it ‘whole’ to the repair shop. I need some switches from the doors and steering wheel. I also sprayed the interior liberally with anti-mold spray. I’ll get the switches today or this weekend.

This weekend. Busy again. Non-prepping hobby meeting and one day swap meet on Saturday. Wife and oldest off to GS camp for “Intro to rifle shooting” while youngest stays home with me. And somewhere in there I have to do a set of drawings to figure out what I am doing with all the new gear at my client’s house, which I’m supposed to spend next week installing. All the normal weekend stuff needs to happen too. Joy.

Daughter 1’s first theater show opened last night. Proud papa! Stage crew rocks! I’ll be helping with teardown tonight after the show. The show is a one act musical adaptation of the Junie B stories. It was pretty cute, and the kids did a pretty good job. I didn’t bring hearing protection, but I should have. WAY over mic’d and amplified. D1 says “they need the mics because they can’t project”. I say, “They’ll never learn to project if they have mics.” You can make an argument that because everyone uses mics, the kids should learn how to use them, but I argue that that MUST come after they learn to do it without a pile of gear. Kids today. We didn’t have mics and we survived. Bah.

I’ve got a couple of non-prepping hobby related pickups today, and hopefully at least a couple of bins to drop off. And a vet visit with the hamster late in the afternoon. He’s got a bare patch, that is swollen up like a nickel sized blister, with a couple of lumps in it. He’s eating and active, doesn’t flinch when you touch it, but it’s ugly. I guess were gonna spend some money to find out if Fluffy is ok or not. The wife and I agree that hamsters do not get expensive surgical interventions. That’s the current plan anyway.

Life proceeds as if everything was normal. It clearly is not, but we want the kids to have as much as possible, for as long as possible, a normal life. And if it never goes pear shaped, they had their childhood. We do talk about the issues though, and we had a lesson on percentages and inflation, and food prices at the dinner table the other night. D1 instantly understood that when I said, ‘we might be eating a lot of rice and pasta with a whole lot less meat for dinner’ that there were a lot of people that wouldn’t even have that. I’m getting a whole lot less “you have too much food” nonsense lately too.

“Laugh-a while you can, Monkey Boy!”

And stack while you can.

nick

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Wed. Nov. 10, 2021 – conservative means conserving…knowledge, skills, resources….

Cool and slightly increased chance of rain. Yesterday was overcast much of the day but when sunny it was very nice. A bit humid, but nice. This run of days without rain has really let me get some stuff done.

I spent a few hours sorting and pulling stuff to take to the auction yesterday. I am taking six black and yellow bins and a large box to the auctioneer today. I actually have more room in the storage unit than I did when I started. I still have far too much stuff that I’ve put in “ebay” bins though. I have to move some of it to “sell it now” from “sell it sometime”, even if it means less money. That will take another round of sorting.

I also have a bunch of books there. Some are ‘inventory’, some are ‘apocalypse library’ and some are all about gubs… I’ve put together a pretty good library for -smithing, or repair. I’d like to do some machine work and try my hand at some restoration or mods, eventually. Getting all this stuff out of the way so I can use my tools again is definitely one of the goals. And there is crossover to my non-prepping hobby too. Since I love books as objects as well as what they are, it’s hard to sell them, even when purchased explicitly to sell. So I have a few *cough* piled up. The ones for sale need to be sold.

Goals for today are to get some easy listings banged out. Test at least one major piece for sale (high end speakers probably). Take stuff to the auctioneer. Maybe later do a little paperwork for my client’s upgrade.

All the usual stuff.

Yesterday’s shopping trip let me stack a bit more food. We ate one steak for dinner, and I’ll freeze the rest. I may go back and see if there is any prime left and buy the limit again. And I might buy another 50 pounds of rice or flour. ‘Cuz the pasta aisle was wiped out.

I added a keyword for skills, and started with my comments about sewing. I’m hoping to fill in some other skills too. That would be in addition to the ones we’ve already spent time on like food- acquiring, storing, cooking; communication- meatspace, ham radio; medical; financial- planning, frugality/deals; teaching… and others, although the focus is often on the task, and not how to accomplish it. Perhaps we talk more about ENABLING the skill, than actually how to do it. Which is ok too.

Skills are enhanced when you have the stuff to use them with, so keep stacking.

nick

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Sat. Nov. 6, 2021 – alone again, naturally….

Cold, warming slightly, clear and breezy. Which is how yesterday played out. Chilly in the shade, not bad in the sun. 46F when I went to bed, mid 40s when I got up.

Did my pickups yesterday. Lots of driving. Some radio stuff, some home stuff. Dropped off at my local auctioneer, and he’s getting stuff listed and out of bins. I grabbed six bins to refill. He’s seen a bunch of it and wants more. I’ll bring him more.

Some excitement on the scanner last night, which I detailed in yesterday’s late night comments. If you get a scanner, and listen to it (I just leave mine running all the time in my office) you will learn stuff. It’ll be stuff that doesn’t hit the news. With actual news becoming harder to get, having the scanner can help establish some baselines, and alert you when activity is high. Like all things, you need to practice with it.

The goal for today, while the mice are away, this cat won’t play. I’ll WORK instead. Only me and the dog to worry about, so I can get out of the house for longer periods. I’ve got plenty to do here, but I really need to get out and to my secondary and to my storage units.

Hit a sale, order something for deliver, add to your stacks.

nick

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Thur. Nov. 4, 2021 – still no revolution, still no hot war…

We’re on the edge of the thunderstorm area on the national forecast map, so today I’m going with cool, clear, still quite damp, but occasional sun. It would be nice if the rain only lasted one day.

I spent the day doing some small tasks. Pack and ship one item. Pickup from a household auction. Then I realized I was far from home and running low on gas so I paid $3.09 / gallon for 87 octane. I only bought 5 gallons. It was up by the airport at a station just off the freeway but DANG. I think Costco still has it for $2.69/gallon. That’s a big enough difference to make the effort. I was in the Ranger, not the Expy, but still, not filling the tank if I can save 40c/gallon.

Picked two ripe tomatoes off the leftover bushes. Both had been nibbled by something, but there are other tomatoes ripening. That is just crazy, considering that most years the bushes don’t last through the summer, and they certainly don’t fruit in the Fall. Collards look good too, other than the leaves being a little smaller than normal. I’ve got 4 grapefruits on the potted tree that survived the freeze that just started turning yellow from green. They’re a good size, and I’m hoping they are nice and tasty. Herb garden is mostly dead, although the rosemary bush looks like it might have survived the freeze after all. Only about half the plant is dead. I don’t know why but I can’t keep a rosemary bush alive more than a couple of years. I use it a lot in cooking, so I like having it in the garden. Heck, I can and do kill MINT, and it’s invasive, so I’m far from a successful gardener. All the more reason to stack cans.

Plan your garden now, and get what you need for seeds, fertilizer, and pest control early.

Stack some extra in case you’re like me and can’t seem to grow anything. Consider that it might continue to get colder for a decade, look at ways to extend your growing season. Some plastic sheeting and plastic pipe for a greenhouse tunnel won’t cost much or take up much storage space.

Today should be a repeat of yesterday but without having to do a parent teacher conference at dinner time. I do get to pick up D2 early and spend an extra couple of hours with her. Maybe we’ll get some sewing projects done. That was the plan for Monday, before it got changed. I’ve got a number of projects backed up that involve sewing, maybe, just maybe, I can get one or two off the list. They’ve been on the list a long time and aren’t high priority, but my wife got the machine out, and I can jump in before putting it away again. Sometimes I get – squirrel! What was I saying? Targets of opportunity, that must have been it. Tasks or tree rats.

Anyway, think about expanding your garden, and stack what you need.

nick

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Wed. Nov. 3, 2021 – readership dropped by 2/3rds… or did it?

Cool, humid, and possibility of rain today. We got most of that, except the rain, yesterday. I did see a tiny bit of mist on the windshield while driving, and there were some dark clouds in the blue sky, but it stayed dry.

Which let me take down some of the Halloween decorations. I remembered last time having to leave stuff up too long because it was wet. I don’t have it all put away, but it’s mostly down. The HOA can’t complain about it at this point. It didn’t all get set up in one day, it won’t all go away in a day.

Spent the afternoon at the bank, then the other bank, then the Post Office, then picking up kid 2, then home for more decoration removal. In the process I bounced back and forth across town several times. I hate doing that. I’m no green weenie, but I do like saving money, so I usually try to keep my trips efficient. I like to either cluster stops, or do a big circle, or a simple out and back. I hate zig zags and retracing my route.

My wife did our volunteer hours for D1’s theater class yesterday too. I’m actually very happy to have missed that, it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday and I have a really hard time doing less than the best I can or dumbing down my work to match the capability and expectation of the ‘customer’. And they didn’t need a scenic carpenter, they needed people to sand boxes and position stuff. I would have been driven nuts. Hooray for my partner and helpmate for stepping up. Of course, she didn’t sand boxes either, she did stuff with the lighting system because that’s where her expertise and experience lie.

Yeah, meatspace. Still had other things to do.

The post title refers to the google stats for this site. I have no idea what they are basing it on, how the analytics work, or how accurate they are (not very is my suspicion), but the google says readership is down 63% iirc without checking… That’s month over month. If I trust that number, I gotta wonder why. Too much of the same stuff? Doom and gloom, my boring life, doom, inside Hollywood, doom. Or just burnout? No FLASHLIGHT talk? Glock vs 1911? Old Style vs Bud? Or was last month extra high for some reason?

I’ll take a closer look at the charts when I get time, and on the pc instead of tiny, tiny, tiny on the phone. One thing they say is that readership is 45% female, and 55% male. That’s a bit of a shocker. All you lurkers, consider this an invite to participate in any discussion or start your own! I really do want some diversity of viewpoints, experience, and knowledge.

Or should I start doing gear reviews, posting pics of my shelves and dog, or picking fights with other bloggers? Always keeping in mind, and in all seriousness, I like hanging out with all y’all, and don’t really want the issues in comments that other bloggers are having this year.

In the mean time, part of the reason for doing this is to keep all the old stuff on the site alive, so click on one of the keywords on the right once in a while and re-read (or ‘read’) some of the older posts and comments. There is some really good stuff there.

And, keep stacking.

nick

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