Category: lakehouse

Hot. Humid. Still. Still Summer. But we can see Fall from here. It was almost chilly at night at the BOL, as long as the air was moving. I’ll be lamenting the cold soon. Well, not too soon. Still Summer in Houston.

Took Sunday kinda slow. Made breakfast for the wife and the kids ate too. Pancakes with chocolate chips, while I had pancakes with bacon bits… Wife opened some presents. Then I eventually got to work. Ended up leaving for home around 745pm. I’ve got too much to do today to stay at the lake.

Today’s list is auction pickups, mainly. Cameras from one auction, household stuff from another. As auctioneers throw in the towel, I’m starting to worry I won’t be able to find the good deals anymore. Something as simple as furnace filters used to be in several auctions, and they were available often, but I haven’t seen many lately. I pay about $2/filter for 3M in the auctions, but they’re ~$20 in the store. Good thing I stocked up. Bad thing, I got the size wrong for the BOL, so I either need new ones, or I keep cutting the ones I have to fit. I’m thrifty, so I’ll keep cutting them if the alternative is $20 at the store. I’ve gotten used to buying most of my household stuff in the auctions for 10c on the dollar.

Estate sales will continue, and there are bargains there too.

It sure made stacking easier, when the cost was so low…

nick

It’ll be hot again in the afternoon, but it’s reasonable in the morning. Night is almost chilly with the damp near the water. It was 75F when I went to bed.

Didn’t get much work done. More cleaning, with some floor scraping thrown in. There was a tiled area in front of the patio doors and the fireplace hearth that had a bunch of mortar still stuck to it. A new floor scraper with a razor sharp blade got rid of almost all of it. Old boy didn’t use a primer or adhesion promoter on the slab before tiling, so it didn’t stick as well as it could have. Of course such things might not have been available when he did the work.

W got the tv and game systems set up and we played Simpson’s Road Rage for a while too. It’s a very fun game, even if the graphics look chunky. With video games it’s always more about the gameplay than the graphics, as long as they don’t distract. I enjoy playing older games when I do play.

Today it’ll be birthday breakfast, then I’ll fix the last two bricks in place so we can finish the exterior trim around the window. The interior is done. The ceiling still needs repair and scraping, and then a new finish, but that will be a big messy job and will have to wait some more. This trip wasn’t really a big work trip, but a chance for W to spend time using the place with the kids.

Gotta remember to stack up some good times too.

nick

And it will be hot during the day, even if it’s getting into the mid 70sF at night. The sun will still roast my brains in my skull. And it’s still humid. Summer isn’t quite ready to change to Fall.

I did my pickups, mostly. Chatted with on of the auctioneers I’ve known for a while. He confirmed that the big place in the Woodlands has thrown in the towel. They couldn’t get loads at the price they needed to be profitable. Their costs were high too, being in The Woodlands. The other stopped doing retail auctions and will be selling whole pallets, probably until they run out of stock, but maybe he’ll make that work. He was the last place getting really good loads.

Then I got gas at Costco. We’ll see how my mileage looks on this tank. The last HEB tank I only got 14 mpg. I usually get closer to 18. I suspect too much alcohol in the fuel. Also picked up flowers and cake for my wife, and some crab claws. They’ll make a nice treat.

Today I’ll work on stuff. Dunno which stuff, but I’m sure there will be plenty.

Always be working to improve your situation.

nick

Hot still. And crazy humid at the BOL. I’m hoping Houston is a little better. Not counting on it. Yesterday at the BOL it went over 100F and the air was saturated. It was still 88F at 9pm and felt like it. I’ll be happy when Fall arrives. Until I’m too cold…

Did a bunch of stuff yesterday before finally leaving the BOL at 9pm. Look at yesterday’s comments to see how little I actually did…

Today is mostly about pickups. One in Alvin, a couple others scattered around. I could push the Alvin pickup to tomorrow, but IDK if I’ll have any better plan then. I’d like to at least cluster a couple.

And I’ve got other stuff to do today now that I’m home. Kid taxi is one of them. Grrr.

Stacking is easy.

Do it. You know you want to.

nick

On the plus side, I usually get more done when I’m up here alone. As long as the heat isn’t too bad. Which it probably will be. If yesterday is anything to go by, it was over 100F and saturated. I was sweating just walking in the shade.

Did a bunch of stuff. More ceiling repair. Some work on my arm chair. Various small things around the house. String trimming and branch clearing… W did network and IOT things. Most important was getting the water sensors connected and in place. Under the washing machine, under the A/C unit, and under something else that she picked. They did need 2.4ghz wifi. All low bandwidth, so that’s ok. When I get the ubiquiti stuff set up it will be even easier to segregate them.

Today I’ve got some more outdoor work and cleanup to finish, and we’ll see what else strikes my fancy from the list.

Then it will be back home and back to the school week.

And stacking. There’s still some of that going on.

nick

And it will be both hot and humid today. Supposed to be the end of Summer, but here in Texas, Summer hangs around for a bit longer. It wasn’t as hot yesterday, and it cooled off below 80F at night so we are headed in the right direction.

Worked on the ceiling in the living room all afternoon. Got the saggy ceiling reattached. Got a new piece of drywall in place where the fireplace used to be. W did some scraping of popcorn in the kitchen. I’ll do the living room once I have all the drywall firmly attached. So not this trip. I ran out of the washer that keep the screws from pulling through.

I did a few smaller things as I took breaks during the day. Treated the oil stains on the cheap leather chair I bought. We’ll see today if it had any effect on the stains. I also moved stuff around and put stuff away.

Dinner was grilled steaks from 2024 and it was delicious. Choice from Costco is almost as good as Prime from anywhere else. It took longer than I expected for the beef shortage to show up in stores, but I’m glad I jumped the gun a bit and filled the freezers when I did.

Today will be more cleanup of construction debris, maybe some brick work, and definitely some more smaller tasks from the list. Always be working.

And stacking.

nick

And it’ll be hot and humid here. The front and the rain might have cooled stuff down a bit, but still hot and humid if the sun is out. Last hurrah of Summer, maybe.

Took most of the day but I eventually loaded up and made it to the BOL. Missed the sunset while dealing with Johnny Law. Pretty minor, so I can’t really complain.

Today we’ll see what needs doing first, and what the weather will allow. I’m sure there will be plenty of stuff to do, and some of it might even be on the list already.

W and D2 made it up last night, so priorities might be reassigned. My strike does not extend to the BOL as everything here benefits me.

Always be working. Entropy never sleeps. Stack so you have something to work with.

nick