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Category: march to war

Thur. Oct. 22, 2020 – lots of weird looking dates this month

Cooler, maybe some rain.  Certainly humid.

Almost 10F cooler outside than in my  office when I wrote this late last night.   During the day it got into the low 90s in the sun, but it took longer, and it didn’t stay there very long.  I expect the same today, only there is a bigger chance of rain.

Daughter one got on the right bus twice yesterday and got where she was supposed to be first try.  Nice change of pace :-/   She’s still adjusting to being at school all day.  She says “it’s exhausting”.   Daughter two likes virtual better than in person, but is getting bored being chained to the lappy.  The district (passing the buck to the state) has managed to crush the best aspect of remote learning by requiring the kids to stay in sight of the lappy camera for their  required time.  No more finishing your work and taking out a book… no  more working ahead either- by diktat of the district.

I managed to sell a couple of items on ebay, so I’ve got shipping to do today.  One is easy, just a medium flat rate box.   The other is sensitive and going to Germany, so needs a sturdy and large box.  I hope I got the weight right, for the buyer’s sake.  He’s pre-paying for the shipping based on what I had in the listing.  I was offering free shipping so I didn’t worry too much about the weight I listed.  Hmm.  I wonder what happens if it weighs more than I thought? Never came up before.  Nice to have some items selling though.

Spent a bunch of time getting some stuff ready to list.  It ate more time than I thought, so I still don’t have my NVR running on linux.   It’s running under windows, even if I can’t see the live cam view, it is still saving the video files so I’ve got coverage if something happens.  I got really used to just glancing up to see what’s going on outside though.  I can still access the stream from the cameras individually, it just takes another couple of steps.   Carry that task over to today.

Not much movement on the campaign trail, given the explosive nature of the allegations against the Bidens.  There must be some frantic activity behind closed doors.  If the stuff in the emails is true, and no one seems to be saying it’s not, then the only way to avoid jail is to win the Presidency, or hope that being the failed candidate is a shield, like it was for Hillarity.   Or fake a medical issue and then retire to ‘spend more time with family.’

Uncertainty is not good for markets.  The markets and the ‘financialization’ of our economy have gotten us into a lot of trouble and will likely get us into more.  I feel better with food in the freezer and a big pile of stuff to use if the going gets tough.  I think it’s probably a question of ‘when’ not ‘if’, so keep stacking.

n

 

 

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Wed. Oct. 21, 2020 – busy at home today

Cooler, cold front supposed to be coming in, and I can’t wait.

It was very humid but a bit cooler yesterday.  That made it nice for most of the day.  It was a bit too warm in the afternoon for me to wear my LA Police Gear Covert Casual Shirt.  I don’t know why but it’s the hottest shirt I own, short of flannel.  The idea is great- longer tail and hem, snaps instead of buttons, pattern to break up any ‘printing’… all details that are well executed and aimed at concealed handgun carriers.  Unfortunately, I broil in the shirt.  Oh well, maybe it’ll be cool enough next month.

Today’s agenda includes the computer work I didn’t get done yesterday which is mainly getting the PC I use with my security cams completely switched over to linux.   If that goes well, maybe I’ll get my NAS out of the safe and run some backups.

At some point, in the interest of reducing clutter (for my wife) I want to start ripping all my bluray and dvd movies.  Anyone who has built a home media library, I’d like to hear about what you did and if you like the result. Also, what you use to access it.  It’s something I can do in between other things, just feeding disks into  a machine while working at my desk.  I think it’s a massive undertaking, but I might as well get started.

I’ve also got to get more stuff out of the house.  I did get a few more things listed, and even got a lowball offer one item.  SO MUCH more to go though.

Socially, there is Halloween coming too.  With the rain, I haven’t done any more decor, but I did decide what I want to do to keep my distance from the little disease bags that come begging…  I think I can do it with a minimum of effort, using stuff I already have.  Just have to dress it up a bit.  I want to do at least one of the new elements I’ve been planning for a couple of years to the displays too.  I’ve got everything I need for an awesome 3D Eye of Sauron.  I haven’t picked a spot for it or put all the elements together yet.  I still have a couple of days to do something.   I think it’s REALLY important to continue participating in the social and cultural milieu especially as things get bad.  Not ‘band on the Titanic’ bad, but I want to keep the normal traditions going as much as possible.  It’s our culture that needs to be preserved.

Add in the normal ‘kids are home’ and domestic bliss activities, along with my never ending list of cleaning and organizing, and my day should be full.

I can’t even begin to make a prediction about the current Presidential race, but I don’t see how Sleepy Joe can avoid the taint of what’s coming out involving his son and family.  If it was Trump’s son in Hunter’s place, the mob would be screaming for his blood, not making excuses and trying to discredit the revelations or bury them.  The world has gone mad, with the population gone bi-polar.  I try to sit on the fulcrum and watch both sides move up and down, but I know which side I’d declare for if I had to.  I put up my Thin Blue Line flag last night, even if it gets me on some lefty’s list.  It’s not very grey man, but then I normally fly the Stars and Strips, and the Lone Star, so adding a flag isn’t much of an additional statement.  They already know where my sympathies lie.

I’m trying to get my house in order, and make room for more stacks… I’ll suggest that if you haven’t started putting some by, it’ll cost you more at this point, but it will likely be invaluable later.  Get started.  Keep going.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

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Thur. Oct. 15, 2020 – Home with the kids today

Cooler and mostly overcast.  Or raining.

Yesterday was fairly cool, and mostly overcast, but not unpleasant.  Even in the attic doing the last walkthrough with the roofer it was cool.

Knocked off a couple of little things, and did some meatspace relationship maintenance.  Today I’m home so I’ll be working my list.  If it’s cooler, it will make everything go that much easier.

I’d also like to get some more Halloween decor out, and get some of the house cleaned up.  I’m hoping that there won’t be any rain though as I also need to get my antennas back up.

I checked my gardens, and it’s been long enough I should be seeing sprouts if I’m going to get any.  I’m not seeing any.  So I’ll be replanting with a different seed packet.  It won’t take long but it’s another little thing on the list.

Mainly though, I need to get stuff out of the house.  That’s hardest because I’m relying on other people.  I may have to take some interim steps and move stuff twice, just to get it moving.

Meanwhile, out in the bigger world, it sure looks like Biden has a problem to address.    In a normal political cycle, he’d be toast at this point.  Certainly a republican would be falling on his sword and looking to ‘take more time with family’.   In the current bizarro world, I can’t even begin to make predictions other than ‘standard program of denial’ and ‘accuse the opposition of doing what they say I did.’

Every chop at the rule of law, every political prosecution, every new act of violence and I want MOAR!!!!!!11!!! .  More food, more guns, more ammo, more friends, more skills, and most of all, more time.

Work on what you can.  Keep stacking.

nick

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Mon. Oct. 12, 2020 – Columbus Day.

Hot and humid.  Because why not?

Happy Columbus Day.  Without whom we might still be serfs in Europe.  And because FYTW.

The air was saturated all day Sunday, to the point that water in the driveway didn’t dry.

I worked on little things all day.  Got ready for the roofers.  Did some stuff in the house to make my wife happier.   Did a little bit of stuff in the garage.  Set another rat trap for whatever is roaming my food shelves.  There was gnawing on a bucket overnight so the visitor is still coming.  Nothing in the glue traps, so I moved them around a bit.  I’ll add more if the problem doesn’t resolve itself in a day or two.  I may add more anyway.

Spent an hour in the pool with the family.  It was a good day.

I’m starting to see stuff online that is adding to my concerns about the insurgency.  People are noticing and identifying the Command and Control structure for the socialists driving the protests and riots.  Well, not the structure, but that there is one.  Things are starting to show up in the live streams, and during the incidents that are clear indicators to people who know what to look for.   There is an organization at work.   They are training.  They are supplying.  They are escalating.  They are exploring tactics.   The latest incident is the “security guard” shooting a ‘patriot’ protester in the face and killing him.

There is evidence that the security guard/ bodyguard is more than he seems, or at least a fellow traveler.   There is some video that looks suspiciously like the event was instigated and controlled and provoked.  What happens with the guy next should be revelatory.  Spicy times are here for some people and in some places.  Don’t be there applies.

What would your life look like if your movements were constrained by real, well considered fear/concern over being physically attacked in public if you just happened to be in the wrong place?  The baying mob can make your supermarket a no-go zone.  Or your bank.  Or the mall where your kid works.  Or your block.  What if they decide your day care or private school has too much ‘privilege’ and mobs it?  Can’t happen?  There are places where the private school kids don’t wear uniforms anymore because it marks them for kidnapping.  There are places where having a sticker for your kids’ school on your vehicle can set you up for all sorts of bad things.

Do you have a company parking sticker or hang tag on your vehicle?  Does your neighborhood have parking stickers?  Do you have a school or team sticker on your car?  What about your license plate trim ring?  A school sign in your yard?  Any political slogans?  Vanity plates that are easy to remember?  How easy would it be to dox you from a picture of you or your car?  There are people on the right making note of campaign signs in people’s yards, I’m certain the left is doing so too.

I don’t want to believe that is the direction we’re headed, but I see escalation wherever I look.  We all know the end state of marxist/socialist government- people kneeling next to an open grave.  As I pointed out at dinner to my kids, it has happened within living memory and on this planet.  100 Million dead.  There are wealthy and powerful forces at work here trying it again.

Yes, resist.  No, don’t stick out.  The best partisan is the guy no one would ever suspect.  It may come to that.  I hope not, but because hope isn’t a strategy, I’ll keep working to improve my situation, and to keep stacking.

nick

 

added- note too that whenever there is an incident like this now, someone finds the pics that link X person to other protests, other gatherings.  Often it’s their own social media that provides the link.  The cops and three letter agencies are using social media as the world’s most pervasive intelligence gathering tool, even our locals mention it on the scanner.   Don’t feed the beast.  And don’t be complacent.  If your smartphone, vizio tv, or alexa can hear you talk about vacations and you start to see targeted ads, it can certainly hear political speech too.  Is anyone doing that today?  Will they be in 6 months?  6 years?  The recordings never go away.

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Fri. Oct. 9, 2020 – week FLEW by, 20 days ’til Halloween

Dreary and warm.  Humid and overcast.

Thursday was overcast with scattered showers.  Most parts of town got at least a bit of rain.  I dodged through it mostly as I drove all over town and back.

Picked up the new desk chair to complete my daughter’s room makeover.  It’s purple mesh!!11!!111!11   It’ll match very well.

I also swung by my secondary location and did a small bit of reorganization.

All in all, didn’t get that much done this week.    Not really thrilled about the progress.  I better get something done this weekend.  Oops, probably won’t as we’ll have rain and weather.  And Monday-Tuesday I’ll have roofers messing up everything and making noise.

It was nice eating mostly out of the freezer this week, with a few canned goods.  King’s Hawaiian rolls freeze very well, fwiw.  The new temp monitors give me some peace of mind too.

The peas have sprouted and are currently growing.  None of the other seeds have sprouted yet.   I super suck at gardening.  My wife made the argument that I should just give it up as I’ve only really grown collards and carrots, and a couple of beets.  I’m going to keep at it though.  Eventually I’ll have to find stuff that grows just through blind luck, right?

The oranges and grapefruits continue to ripen.  I’m really hoping for a success there.  Unless they’re ‘woody’ they should be fine as the color is coming in, and they are a good size.  The Meyer Lemons are like weeds, they grown in spite of me.

The second house search continues.  They’re doing land office business for rural properties at the moment.  Lot’s of people planning to GOOD…

And now we’ve got Delta headed across the Gulf.  Fortunately for Texas, it is supposed to turn north, which is un-fortunate for Louisiana.  They are going to get hammered again.

Fires are burning, riots are raging, hurricanes are still coming in, and civil war 2 looks to be heating up.   About all I can say is — keep stacking.

 

n

 

 

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Mon. Oct. 5, 2020 – lotta layoffs, more coming…

Cool and nice.  Dry and breezy.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Like Sunday, without the late afternoon threat of rain.

I did make it out of the house.  I decided to head to Home Depot.  I needed dirt, drip irrigation, and some paint  stuff for my wife’s project.  Then off to the pet store for dog food (to replace the 2 bags that were ruined by mold.)

Then surprise surprise, wife wants me to look at a house for sale.  Better section of our neighborhood, bigger, and has a pool.  Spent an hour doing that, plus there and back.

Other than getting some grass seed planted and some low spots in the yard filled, not much of anything got done around here.  And that is becoming an issue.

A quick survey of headlines shows that meanwhile in the world, crazy is breaking out all over.  Trump is in the hospital, at death’s door to hear the media salivating, then he’s out, but he’s the most irresponsible person evah, but the covid will guarantee his victory, except that the covid will guarantee his defeat, and on and on.

Turkey is helping stir the pot in one of the oldest conflicts in the world that continues to this day, with actual cities being shelled.

The hell that is NYFC continues to get worse in every way.

Disney laid off 28000, each airline is going to or has already laid off about 15k-20k workers, and on and on.  That’s about half a million pink slips coming with a few more companies joining in in a few weeks time.  Tell me that that won’t have an effect on the economy and just before the election.

Portland is rioting again.

We are just getting started with spicy times.  Do what you can in the time you have.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

(and if you missed it in comments, my wuflu test was negative, so dodged that this time)

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Sat. Oct. 3, 2020 – stuff to do, so much stuff

Cooler and sunny.

Yesterday was nice.  Even in the sun, there was a nice cooling breeze.

I picked up my auction stuff, mainly shelving.  There was a bit of other stuff including 24 rat snap traps.  I paid 50c each.  I’m stocked up on rat traps now.  Funny thing is, I originally bought rat traps to catch squirrels for dinner if SHTF big time.   Then I used them on rats.   Who knows where we’ll be in a year, but I sure hope squirrel isn’t a staple on the dinner table.

One of the other things I got was a small fire safe.  It’s a little one, about the size of a dorm fridge.  There are videos online showing how to decode and reset the combination.  The door is currently open, so it should be a simple matter to get it working again.  I’ll either resell it, or find a place for another safe.  Maybe at my secondary location, although I’ve got several ‘security containers’ there already…

Today I’m going to continue chipping away at the list.  The flood lights I was waiting to replace have died.  I’ll change them out to LED today.  There will also be some more cleaning and organizing and putting away.

I’ve got the meat to still break down and freeze too.

All after getting my covid test.  Fun times.

There were some disturbing late reports before I went to bed suggesting Trump’s health was deteriorating.  I REALLY hope not.  We do not need the added distraction and uncertainty.   The speculation that there might have been sabotage or deliberate infection is hard to consider, but I’m taking it as a sign of the state of things that it even occurs to so many people.

No matter what happens, it’ll be better if you have big stacks.

nick

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Wed. Sept. 30, 2020 – well, that went by fast

Cool and breezy.  I hope.

Yesterday stayed cooler all day, starting out and ending up positively chilly for this time of year.  Of course, this is Houston, so we could still get some 90F days before Fall really gets here.  In any case, September is on it’s way out the door, and we’re on the downhill slide through the Holidays and into the New Year.

I did spend yesterday running a bunch of errands.  Picked up my auction items.  Dropped off some clothes for goodwill, and some cleaner for my buddy who got water in his house during the flooding.   Best to nip any issues in the bud, before mold has a chance to get established.  Sold one of the things he listed for me— I mean ALL of the things that weren’t lost in a boating accident.

Took 166 pounds of dead lead acid batteries to the scrapyard.  With a couple of pounds of aluminum and some motors, I got $40.   Prices have not recovered from the china trade war, or covid.  Not gonna get rich scrappin’ but it gets the stuff out of here and it’s money.

Fixed an issue with the A/C blower in my Expedition.  Only took a few minutes to find that the plug on the resistor pack had come undone.  Much easier and cheaper than replacing the pack, but unfortunately, I already bought the pack.  I guess I have a spare for a common issue now.  Nice to have a choice of fan speeds again.

Gave the down coat I washed to youngest, who loves it.  Gave the down vest to my wife.  Fits great and is true outdoor gear from Eastern Mountain Sports.  I’d like to find a down coat for daughter one, then we’ll all have a couple of choices for cold weather gear.  Don’t usually need it, but my girls are southern belles.  Daughter one was wearing a coat in the house today, ‘cuz it was 74F inside and she was chilly sitting on the couch.  They’ll freeze solid if it ever gets really cold 😉

The shouting match sold as a debate did not reassure me of anything.  They got sleepy Joe to stand up for over an hour, and he only slurred and lost focus once that I saw.   Other than that he was rude, dismissive, called Trump names, and seems to think he only has one son, the dead one.  I noticed that whenever he says “my son” he means the dead one.

Trump avoided making definitive statements on the Proud Boys and AGW.  Got lots of shots in about Hunter, socialists, law and order, and ballot irregularities.  He was a bit squirrely on his taxes.

None of it showed me a likelihood of a peaceful transition.  Both vehemently denied the others’ statements calling them lies, and I’m sure the partisan supporters feel the same way.    Certainly no one’s mind was likely to have been changed about who to vote for.

Which means, you guessed it, stack it high.  Find a place to hide out for the duration, even if it’s your living room.  The streets will not be safe.

nick

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Sat. Sept. 26, 2020 – still asleep if all goes to plan

Cooler, but nice out.  That’s the plan anyway.

Started heading that way yesterday.  It was sunny in places,overcast elsewhere and generally cooler than it had any right to be.  Still saturated though as my driveway still has standing water on it.

Ran my errands, and now have another alternative for Things That Go Bang(tm).  The current ammo situation points up the validity of having a couple of different systems in the safe.  556 or 762.  Why not both?  There was an argument to be made for .40S&W when 9mm was hard to get, and the agencies were all dumping 40s after the FBI changed… but I didn’t move on that.  I’ve always been bi-curious when it came to rifles though….

Enough of that tomfoolery 🙂

I’m at home all day.  My wife is off looking at another lake with a friend from the neighborhood who has decades on that lake and more than one property there.  That should mean I’m working in the driveway, garage, and garden.  I guess we’ll see.

And hopefully the females of the household let me sleep in today.  I’m been short of sleep and very run down.  Not a good place to be during a global pandemic.  If not, I’m making waffles for breakfast.

Maybe I’m making waffles for brunch…

So much to do and so little energy.  I better get started.

Tiny steps, big steps, doesn’t matter.  TAKE A STEP toward improving your position.  Stack something!

 

nick

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Fri. Sept. 25, 2020 – month and week are almost gone by

Cool and overcast.

Thursday was both cooler and overcast.  I did some cleanup in the driveway, which mostly involved dumping out water from any place it accumulated.  I’m pretty confident that we got slightly more than 12 inches over the last few days.  Three different containers had that much water in them.

I managed to get a bunch of little things done.  Mostly cleaning and organizing, but also ordering some stuff.  I ordered the weird N size batteries for one of my night vision devices, and moved that case out of the house into the garage for storage.  I ordered the switch for the drain cleaner machine I bought.  I have to clear our main kitchen drain line twice a year.  The machine will pay for itself in one year or less.  I’m hoping the current snake is a good size to work with my pipes.  I’ll see when I use it I guess.  One less thing to call a specialist for, or make the trip to the rental yard.

I received the power switch for my new mower, just in time to cut the grass this weekend.  Hope that goes in without difficulty.

The national security situation continues to fluctuate locally.  The rioters in STL went right to shooting and firebombs this time.    That’s an escalation.  Riots in other uninvolved cities too.

I never did hear what our local disturbance was about.  The coppers did chase the guy around my neighborhood, and the FB group says “low speed chase”.     The disturbance at the neighbor’s house a couple of nights ago seems to have been a domestic.  His girlfriend was the one in the squad car, and she hasn’t been back around since.

I did a bit more research on the possible lake house, and surrounding area, looked at some historical topo maps and current maps.  There is a 2 acre lot for $24k with lake ‘view’ that also caught my eye.  There are smaller lots for $9-14K 1/4 and 1/2 acre, unimproved, in the same area.  If there are lots still around this lake, there are probably lots around others not too far away.  You might be surprised if you go looking.  Better to have somewhere definite to go, if you have to go…

Speaking of my lake house stay, I had a couple of lessons learned to share.

–the matches I’ve been carrying in a tube in my Dopp kit for the last few years didn’t light.  They weren’t damp exactly, but they weren’t dry either.  I didn’t have a lighter due to air travel restrictions.  I DID have a bunch of fire starting stuff in my wife’s car in the ‘bail out kit’.   The commercial fire lighter sticks that look like square slim jim sausages work very well, even if they are years old.  I will be adding some of the big brick of lighters to all sorts of places, including my carry on bag.

–I have been carrying one of those cheap hotel corkscrews for years.  Used it for the first time last weekend.  It was pretty flimsy, but got the job done.  Happy wife, happy life…

–I like to carry my little shortwave radio on trips to the country.  I forgot it.   I was a tiny bit disappointing.

–one of the neighbors was a ham with a big antenna setup.  They aren’t subtle, if it ever turns out to be a liability.  If I needed help, I would consider a fellow ham before random strangers.  Conversely, I’d be willing to help if approached by another ham.

–I know NOTHING useful about fishing in Texas.  I need someone to help me go through all the fishing gear I’ve accumulated and help set me up for salt and fresh water fishing.  Some lessons would be useful too.  The kids have expressed interest in fishing, and I’d like to be able to encourage that.

–Modern kayaks are inexpensive and fun.  I looked at a map once and discovered that I could get from my folk’s house south of Chicago, all the way to Peoria IL and beyond by water… probably all the way to New Orleans although I didn’t map that.

–there are pipelines everywhere.  If you know what to look for while driving you will see the markers, and the cuts through the forest.  Pipeline rights of way might be an easier and less traveled path if you ever had to walk out, or ride a dirt bike, or atv.  Look for them if you think things might get that bad.

–I had no cell service at all in the rental house, except one room upstairs.  My wife has a wifi calling app so she barely noticed.  I don’t.  It was radio silence for me.  I don’t think I’ll be ebaying the cell booster I have sitting here at the house.

–I’ve been stacking stuff for a second home for a long time.  It would be nice to actually use it.  This lockdown has proven the wisdom of having stuff, and backups to the stuff, to me and to my wife (not that I needed convincing, but she’s always been skeptical past a certain point.)

Well, that’s it for now, I’ve got auction pickups and gardening and repairs to do.  Maybe I’ll get some of it done…

Meanwhile, keep improving your position, and keep stacking.

 

nick

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