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Category: lakehouse

Mon. Dec. 26, 2022 – Boxing Day. No not that kind of boxing. Put down your fighting trousers!

Cold again, and damp up here at the BOL.   Supposed to be clear for a few days.  Yesterday was, and sunny.   Warm enough for a jacket while throwing  a lure into the water…

Didn’t catch anything.

Broke a little concrete.   About 15 ft2.   ‘Bout all I could do at one time.  I’ll pick it up and maybe break some more tomorrow.    Spent some time considering what earth needs to be moved where in the front and side yards.  That’s what prompted me to get started breaking the slab of patio in the side yard.   It has to be reduced at least a foot, maybe 2ft, and re-graded, while still keeping the plumbing under the dirt.   I won my roll of soil stabilizing geotextile, so I think I’ll over dig the sand, put down the geotex, then cover with clay mix from the front yard to bring it to finished grade.      There will have to be machines involved at some point.   The geotex might help stabilize and won’t interfere with anything we’ll do in the future, so not much of a risk and minimal cost.

There is still a lot of concrete to move and a lot of dirt too.   Oddly, I’d almost swear that someone took one or more of the giant root balls I had dug up from the shrubbery that was removed to make room for the septic tank.   I was going to try burning one today, and it’s not where I left it.   We’re talking about a ball 1 ft thick, 4-5 ft around, and a couple of hundred pounds.   Who the heck would want something like that?

Very dark last night.  Little sliver of a moon set early, and the sky was black and clear.   Wife says the stars were big and bright, but the telescope was too big to move for just a little viewing.   Maybe tonight we’ll set it up.   It was uncomfortably cold last night, which played a part in the decision too.

At some point today I need to unload my antenna tower.   I can unload it one section at a time if I have to.  I’d rather not, but I’m not superman, and my neighbor isn’t up this week.  On the plus side, if I separate the sections (they are nested for shipping) I should be able to read the actual model number and serial number.   Pretty sure the company will want that before selling me the attachments and accessories I need.   I want to be sure I have the right feet, hardware, and load ratings too.

Always something to do.   My mom said I was too old for this place, that I’d be working on it the rest of my life.   She’s got a point, but after hearing about what some of you are still up to, I think I’m ok with that.  After all, I’m stacking up the future for my kids.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, a little respite at the end of the year.   Now, get back to stacking!

 

nick

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Sat. Dec. 24th, 2022 – Christmas Eve

Still cold.   Still damp.   Still windy.   26F when I went to bed, and likely still pretty close to that at the start of today.  It did get above freezing, at least in the sun, for a bit yesterday.

We had some frozen pipes.   Namely the cold water supply to the on-demand water heater, which we moved from inside the house, to outside when we replaced our tank water heater.  All the lines were insulated at install, but for whatever reason, 8 inches of galvanized pipe coming out of the house and a valve were not insulated.   The bypass valves at the heater unit were also not insulated.  Predictably, that is what froze.   It took a while to slowly thaw, using an incandescent light bulb applied to the big valve and cold water line, and then later adding a ceramic ‘personal’ heater under the pipes and the unit, but we escaped without damage to the pipes or the heater itself.

Some lessons were learned.  I forgot about the hot water heater.   I forgot it was hanging out in the wind on the side of the house, and I didn’t even check to see if the pipes were insulated.  When my wife thought of it, I was already in my jammies ready for bed, and didn’t go out to check in the 17F wind.  I decided to go to bed and let fate take its course.  LAZY!  Of course I woke up to no hot water.   I don’t know if the additional insulation would have kept the pipe from freezing.   I don’t know if the “skirt” I’d planned to build to enclose the lower half of the unit and cover the pipes would have been enough.   The combination probably would have been, especially if I put a lamp bulb in there to raise the ambient temp.

So ‘prepper fail’ for sure.   If the job of installing the heater had been properly finished, likely no issues.  If I’d checked, no issues.  We got lucky.   Now, I did have the propane fired on-demand water heater we’ve been using for the outdoor shower at the BOL I could have plumbed in if the heater got damaged.  Or I could have used one of the two used on-demand heaters I’ve got stored in the attic at my rent house, or even the used on-demand heater I’ve got stored at the BOL, because if the heater got damaged, there would likely be a lot of people with damaged heaters and zero in stock to buy.   That happened last time.   I didn’t want to be in that position, so I bought the used one at the BOL as a spare.  NOT breaking the heater would be the best option by far.  And I didn’t take the steps I should have taken.

I also have most of my plumbing supplies and tools at the BOL.   I would be hard pressed to do more than very basic stuff here, and probably wouldn’t have the fittings.  I certainly wouldn’t be in a position to help other neighbors like last year.  Now my neighbors at the BOL- them I could help, and I let two of them know where the stuff was and how to get to it if needed.  It’s clear  that managing stores and logistics for this house and the BOL, making decisions about what and how much to stack at each location, is going to involve duplication and some compromise.  I need to get more serious about equipping the BOL with its own set of tools and supplies.  Can’t compromise the place we live most of the time, and don’t want to be moving stuff back and forth all the time.

That goes for food, water, meds, household supplies, etc.   I really need to make a place for a lot more stuff to be transferred and stored up there.  That is why I bought the shelving units from the circus estate.  Need to execute on the plan…

The biggest difference between this cold snap and the last one is that we didn’t lose power.  That makes all the difference.   Also, it’s going to be a much shorter event.  Probably.   Touch wood.

Today I’ll be in last minute present wrapping and food preparing mode.    Then we’ll open most of the gifts tonight.   Some will be tomorrow morning.   We’ll eat Christmas dinner here, then head to the BOL later Christmas day (probably.)  Or we might just stay here, and mom will see the BOL next visit.   Don’t really know.   I might end up driving up by myself to unload my tower, and check on everything.   It’s all kinda fluid at the moment.

Enjoy the days.   I hope you get some good preps from the jolly fat man.

nick

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Fri. Dec. 23, 2022 – we’ll soon know if we can stave off 3rd world status for a while

Cold.  Don’t know how cold when I am writing this but I know it will be cold.  Also, relatively damp.  ‘cuz Houston…   it was 20F when I went to sleep and that is pretty dang cold in Houston.  Don’t know what it got down to at the BOL, I’ll probably find out later today.  No precip in Houston.

I guess I’ll also find out if the outdoor water heater survived.   Kinda forgot about that, since this was our first weather event since we installed it.   It is outside the building envelope and not very well protected from cold.   Nothing I was willing to do at 1 am. when I thought about it.

I had a pretty normal day yesterday, probably should have done more cold prepping.   Instead I got my antenna tower (it’s in good shape, a couple of minor things will need fixing, and the missing stuff will need to be ordered, but otherwise- never installed.)  Wife got mom from the airport.  I went grocery shopping, we did some half-hearted preps, and spent the night decorating the tree and wrapping presents.   I’ll deal with aftermath later.

Worst case, if the heater is trashed, I’ll bring the propane one from the BOL home, and temp it into the plumbing while we find a replacement.   TOTALLY don’t want to do that, but missed the boat on weatherizing it.  It was working at 1am.

If the grid holds together, it’ll prove we can still do maintenance and planning.  If not, we’re skiing down the slope.  I’m hoping for “holds together.”

But I also know/believe we are on the slope, headed downhill, and accelerating.  Any gains will be local and short lived.

So stack the things you will need for a while.  Be flexible, and resourceful.  Plan to survive.

nick

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Wed. Dec. 21, 2022 – what to do, what to do, oh, I know, work!

Cold and wet, leading to more cold.  It was pretty cold and wet yesterday both at the BOL and in Houston.  Although cold is relative and it is going to get COLD soon…

I did get the dishwasher installed yesterday, and the wall insulated.   I didn’t quite get the kitchen back together but it’s pretty close.

Ran into my fishing neighbor on the way out the door and he’s fine, just been busy.  I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks, so I was starting to get worried.

The propane company didn’t refill my tank and left a note that they needed to talk to me.   Well, I found out why.   They don’t like the type of flexible piping I used.  Which sucks, because it was marked on the packaging for direct burial, but I didn’t keep the package.  Everything I can find online supports their position.  I did find the original amazon listing, which says “suitable for burial installation”, but I don’t think they’ll take that vs. what they know.  I might have to dig it up and replace it (or put it in a conduit, which is only specified by size not material).  I can’t tell you how much that would suck.  I will be meeting with their guy after Christmas.  We’ve got enough gas to get there easily.  So for now I’m punting.

Today I need to arrange pickup for my antenna tower, some geotextile I’m hoping will help stabilize some of my yard, and some stone veneer that I won.   I will need a trailer, and to figure out the schedule to combine the pickups and get the stuff up to the BOL, and unloaded.    It’s all big and heavy.  Nothing I haven’t managed before, but I don’t usually have my mom coming for a visit, or Christmas looming… or just a day or two to make it happen.

But that’s life.

Oh, and there is planning for extraordinary cold weather thrown on top of all that… in three different cities.

Joy.

Any day above ground is a good day.   Keep stacking.

nick

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Tues. Dec. 20,2022 – 12202022 – yes I still think dates are funny, at least the funny ones

Cold.  Wet.  Grey.   That’s my prediction.  ‘Course I’m not a certified weather liar, I’ve been right more often than wrong, but I blew it big time yesterday.   It was 46F when I headed to bed, and had been for hours, so I took the safe bet.   45F and wet.

I did get a bunch of stuff done yesterday, even with the late start.  Some of it just took longer than I hoped so I’m still behind where I wanted to be.   Got a bunch of work done in the kitchen.  Hopefully I can finish buttoning up the wall and finally install the dishwasher.

If I can do that, I can get some other cleaning and organizing stuff done before I leave.   I’d like to be in north Houston by 2pm, unless I blow off that pickup and spend more time up here.  I feel like I need to get home though.   Presents to wrap, house to get ready for mom… etc.  The pickup gives me a deadline.

I really need external deadlines.   Something in my personality, but it made me good at project work.   If left to set my own deadlines, I tend to slip the heII out of the schedule.  🙂

Since prepping is usually open ended, I often find myself with slipping deadlines.   That and general laziness mixed with weariness can leave me with things that should be done going undone.   Gotta fight it, but it’s tiring to keep up the pace all the time.     I guess that’s why I believe in a general preparedness rather than preparing for one particular scenario.   If that one scenario doesn’t have a date attached, or if the date comes and goes, the prepping can suffer.   But if you are prepped to a basic level, then whatever happens you are likely covered – at least partially.   And some is always better than none when it comes to preps.

Keep plugging away at it, maintain forward progress, and stack it up.

nick

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Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 – still at the BOL, still got stuff to do…

Cold and clear today, warming slightly.  It got up to shirtsleeves weather yesterday, and that made working in the attic ALMOST sweaty.  Still very nice for December.

Despite my late start, I did get stuff accomplished.   I got the hose bib outside the kitchen in, but not connected in the attic.   I’ll leave that for later.   I got the water line for the ice maker in, and it’s working again.   The main thing we use it for is the filtered drinking water.  Not having it working was inconvenient.

I did some other organizing and cleanup.  Got the newer, bigger tv installed.  It’s one I fixed by replacing the power board.   It lasted 9 years, so putting $20 into it wasn’t a killer.  And it was free.  Frankly I could do without any tv up here, but my wife wanted one to watch movies on when it’s too cold on the dock.

Today I’ll get the wall closed up behind the dishwasher and get that installed.  That will make the bride happy, which is worth doing…   I hope to get some of the shelves I brought up set up in the garage and get some stuff organized so I can find it.    I might open a wall and remove another hose bib, or drop in some pex for the hall bathroom tub.  Or I might do plumbing for the washer and dryer.  The current pipes are green with corrosion and very sketchy.

One thing I have to get done is whatever the gas company needs to do before they fill my tank.   I’ll call them as soon as they open today and see what that might entail.  I wish they’d have called or emailed instead of leaving the door hanger.  I’ve lost a week that I didn’t know about, and I’ll feel a lot better about my wife coming up this week, and all of use being here after Christmas, with a full tank.

I don’t have to be back in Houston until 2pm on Tuesday for a pickup, so I’m playing my return by ear.  As long as I’m making progress here, I feel like I should keep moving.

The fake tree looks nice, and I found a lighted angel for a topper.  Between that and the Christmas music on the radio last night, I’m starting to feel the season.   Since I had my non-prepping hobby Christmas dinner last week, I’ve been having weird flashes like Christmas already happened.  That is very odd and not at all like me.

I guess I should get home and do the Christmas stuff there soon, before it really is too late <|:-)

We’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul for a long time now, and Peter is out of stuff, while Paul wants more than ever.   Things are going to get weirder as that reality sets in with more people.  Enjoy the season, but don’t forget that the times they are a changing.

Keep stacking, and if you can, look for where you can spread a little joy, or help someone in need.  Good karma need stackin’ too.

 

nick

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Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 – think about it seriously, you know it makes sense

Cold and damp here at the BOL.  Should still be clear, but I gotta wonder if the lake is big enough to get ‘lake effect’ snow.   It was 36F when I went to bed.   That is pretty cold for Texas.

Yesterday turned into a gorgeous day as I got out of town.  Don’t know if it was the shift in location, or a shift in the weather, but the sun came out and it was comfortable in shirtsleeves.

I loaded up the truck and headed out.

Did my pickup, way out in the country outside of Conroe.

Guy had a thing for circuses.  There was an honest-to-Crom circus carousel set up in his man cave building.   They’ve been having estate sales since spring, every week or two, to clear out and it looks like they just started.  Figures, collectibles, circus stuff- the place was overflowing.   Garden scale railroad… never built that I could see, and it’s been selling cheap because it was all circus themed.   Man cave was only about 70% complete.  Guy had time to collect all the stuff, but ran out of time before he could get it set up to show it off.

There is a lesson in there somewhere.

Prepping is a bit like that.  Only you hope that you never get to ‘show it off’,  especially the really serious preps.   No one wants their home security upgrades tested, or their resolve and shot placement if someone breaks in.   No one wants to be eating freeze dried food for a year while their “doomsday garden seed package” grows.

What we do want, is the satisfaction of turning potential big problems into small problems.   We like saving the day by pulling a prep off the shelf and using it.  Making a quick dinner when you’re tired and hungry from stored food, grabbing up a once in a lifetime bargain because you have the funds saved, even just saving the third trip to the big box store while working around the house, because you picked up 2 of something last time you were there, instead of just one- those everyday moments when prepping or planning or foresight pay off are satisfying in and of themselves.

You don’t need the zombie apocalypse to show the value of your preps, and you hope you never get there.  I hope old boy didn’t hate that his room wasn’t done when he rode his carousel. I hope he  felt joy when he saw the posters on the wall, or the trains on the shelf, or the joy on his grandkids’ faces when they rode.

Take joy and satisfaction in the process.  The journey is as important as the destination.

Stack the things.

nick

 

 

*post title is from an 80s pop song, recruiting someone to join the singer’s [ criminal ] enterprise.

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Sat. Dec. 17, 2022 – not sure about the plan, but I’m sure it will go pear shaped…

Cool and wet, but hopefully clearing as the day goes on.  Depending on where in town you were yesterday, you either got hammered by rain, teased with  a few drops, or got nothing.  Most of the area south of Houston was clear when I was there.   But when I got home, it was to black sky and rain.

I am hoping to have clear sky today, so I can load up and head to the BOL.  I’ve got a pickup that I can make today or tomorrow, that is mostly on the way, and is heavy shelving for storage at the BOL anyway.  So I’d like to get it and get it up there in the same trip.   I got enough, that I’ll bring some back once I have somewhere cleared to put it here.  If it’s raining, I’ll delay the trip and pickup to tomorrow, and do stuff around the house.

Otherwise, I’m planning to spend a couple days doing plumbing at the lake, then come home to get ready for Christmas here.  My mom is coming in, so after Christmas, we’ll probably head up for a day or two so she can see the place.  It would be nice to have a few more things done before that.

And it would be a good idea to have all the hose bibs removed so they can’t freeze.  I’m anxious to get the old pipe de-commissioned before it leaks and floods the house, at least everything in exterior walls… so if I can at least get the old hose bibs disconnected I’ll feel better.  I can replace them later.

Of course there is always more to do.   And if I canna do one thing, I’ll do another…

All the while, stacking.

nick

 

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Mon. Dec. 12, 2022 -12122022- a whole new week…

Cooler, but still damp.  T-storms possible for a couple of days.  No snow-magedon like the north east is supposed to get…

Didn’t get much done yesterday, but I did get the important thing done.   I picked up an antenna tower.   It’s a lightweight Rohn truss tower, so not good for a huge ham antenna, but good for my TV, VHF, scanner, and cell booster antennas.   I may be able to hang an inverted V ham antenna for HF off it.  It will be a while before I get to install it, but I will get it up the the BOL soon.

Other than that, I mostly avoided my MIL.   No arguments or tears so it’s been a good visit.

Taking D2 to her Orthodontist appointment today, so that will eat my morning, but I’m hoping to get some stuff done this afternoon.  Plenty that needs doin’, that’s for sure.

Haven’t seen my fisherman neighbor in a couple of visits now, I hope I didn’t screw something up.  Networking and meatspace.   Gotta have ’em.

Moved a bit more food, some shelves, and some more fishing stuff to the BOL.  Progress is being made, just slowly.

Time to spend some time on the home front too.

‘Cuz there are stacks of things that need attention.   And I haven’t stacked anything here in a while.  Better get to it.   Stack it up.

nick

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Sun. Dec. 11, 2022 – stuff to do, maybe

Wet and pretty warm.   Should be drizzling and in the 60s, but we’ll see when I actually get up.   It did rain in Houston while I was at my lunch, but I was able to get some stuff done.

I put out some more lights, and a little bit of decor.   Then had a very convivial couple of hours with friendly people who share one of my enthusiasms.    Great food, fun times.

Swapped trucks, and headed to the BOL.   Drove through a bunch of rain.   Crazy people in pickups passing me at 90mph in driving rain on the freeway.   Nuts.

Today I’ve got stuff to do up here, but I won an antenna tower in an auction and I probably have to pick it up before 2pm.   That means leaving here at noon.   Not a lot of stuff can get done before noon.   I don’t want to drive down, back up here, and then later back down, even if the Rohn tower needs to be up here.   The most efficient thing would be picking it up on my way home, then bringing it back up here when I come back up next weekend.  The only downside is leaving here early today, and having the truss on my truck for a week.  I’m going to call and see about a later pickup.

Funny thing is I was also bidding on ANOTHER tower in a different auction that closes in a week.   It’s a much better tower, taller, stronger, and never installed.  But at $4000 retail, minimum,  I think  people will bid it up past where I’m comfortable.   I’m glad I got this smaller one as back up.  No towers in the auctions in years, then two in the same 2 weeks.  That’s how my life works.   I won’t chase the other tower as hard, since I have one now, but I won’t let someone steal it either.

There’s always something more in the ham radio hobby, and in prepping.

A nice self contained water treatment plant would make my day….

 

Stack the good times along with the stuff.   And if these are bad times for you, reach out.

Stack it up!

nick

 

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