Category: march to war

Cold again, and probably nice later. Which is what yesterday turned into. I was in shirtsleeves by the middle of the day. Since today is supposed to be clear and sunny, I’m betting on the same weather striking twice.

Did my pickup in the morning. It was a bargain*, but it was also 2 hours of driving. Then I met with a neighbor about a place for my non-prepping hobby to meet. I’m hoping that works out as it’s closer to my house.

Didn’t get to my storage unit or my shop. Kid was supposed to need a ride at a specific time, and that just wouldn’t work with shop time, so I went home and waited. I did get a good nap, which mollified me slightly when I found out 2 hours later that she didn’t need the ride.

Everyone but me had stuff to do last night, so I ate leftovers and fell asleep from the carbs.

Today, well, I’ll try once again to make some progress. Sisyphus. Some days I’m Spartacus, but most days I’m Sisyphus. NOT syphilis. Sisyphus… Or maybe liver-pecked dood. Dood is good food**. Now I won’t be able to convince anyone that my brain isn’t rotten from syphilis.

Stack! There you go, classic me.
nick

*bargain is a weird way to spell that word, and just looking at the letters, it doesn’t even seem like a real word. Do I need a tag for silliness? Or Sisyphus? Or syphilis? and really, who decides when it’s a y and when it’s an i? or an -is or an -us?

**three different sounds for the same ‘oo’ WTF?

Cool, but maybe warmer later? The national forecast says Houston, and most of the country, will be clear for the next several days. Could be all the heat rises and it’s cold but clear. Could be something else. I’m going for cold and clear. Maybe mid 60s? We’ll see.

Yesterday was a mess. Didn’t get any sleep, so had to nap most of the morning. Then other stuff got in my way. I did get a couple of small things done, and made dinner, so there was that.

Today I’ve got plans to do a pickup and a venue visit, so I need to get moving this morning. After that, maybe the load from storage that didn’t happen yesterday? We’ll see.

In any case, SOMETHING will get started, worked on, or, if the universe is feeling kindly, finished.

I just can’t predict what.

So stack as that’s easiest, and get stuck in.

nick

Warm and wet. It’s like winter never happened all of a sudden. I’ve got to run the defroster in the truck to see because it’s so damp. That’s pretty unusual for Houston. We had rain yesterday, depending on the time of day and where you were, and I’m pretty sure some people had a sunny day, while others got gloom and rain. I got some of each because I was driving all over the north side of town.

And there were lots of cops and not a few accidents. I did get my pickup done. Mostly it was things for the BOL. I took them and staged them at the shop, then spent a while sorting and organizing there.

Today I’ve got another pickup, on the far south side of town this time. Nothing to combine it with either. Oh well, it was a great deal on a machine for my hobbies. I’m also going to see a potential new meeting space for my non-prepping hobby. Both things should be done in the morning though. If it’s not raining, or threatening rain, I’ll probably try for another load from storage. I just got charged another month’s rent and it stings.

I need to get rid of the “inventory” I’ve built up by buying stuff to sell, but then not selling it because I’m too busy. Buying is more fun, and less work. Let that be an example to everyone. You aren’t running a store, you don’t need inventory. Buy it, then SELL it. It’s called ‘flipping’ for a reason. And I forgot that.

It’s not stacking when it’s stuff you didn’t intend to keep in the first place.

Do some real stacking. Clear the decks for it.

nick

Cold and cold. Hopefully clear so that it gets a little warmer later. Yesterday didn’t get much warmer. It was 40s and 50sF all day and the breeze was bone chilling.

I did get a couple of things done. Got up at a reasonable time, for me, for a weekend. Did some cleanup. I cleaned a felt hat for me that I picked up a while ago. It’s been in my storage unit since then. Now I’m wearing it. It’s a soft felt packable fedora, with a wider brim than my other ones. Took some work to get the spots off of it but it looks good now. And I cleaned a pair of shoes for resale. Nice Prada driving moccasins. They’re too small for me but look nice after cleaning, reshaping, and conditioning.

Did some other home stuff then did my pickup. It was just down the road so it wasn’t a big commitment. I got three new galvanized steel buckets. Buckets are an important but undervalued prep, and plastic ones will break or degrade and then break. Long term prepping says “you better have some buckets that will last.”

Took a load from storage to the shop too. I’ve still got a lot of stuff in the unit. I made some more room in the shop with some more sorting and condensing, so maybe today I’ll get another load or two taken over. I should do some work on the patio or the driveway here too, but the cold makes it very painful to work outdoors.

No matter what else I do, I’ll find something on the list to chip away at.

Stack something. Learn something. Stay busy.
nick

Still cold, and headed colder. Supposed to get a hard freeze this weekend. Yesterday never warmed up much, staying overcast and mid 50sF for most of the day. I expect we’ll start cold and get colder today.

I had a eye doctor appointment in the morning yesterday, early enough that I was fighting my wife for shower access, and yet late enough to fill most of the morning. I did come home and mess around before going out to do pickups. They were not an efficient use of my time or gas as they were widely spaced, and the stuff wasn’t super valuable. Sometimes all your unlucky stacks.

Today the kids are busy, but at least nominally I am not. In fact, I’ll be working the list. Once I get up.

There will be some weather related stuff to do too, I’m sure. Maybe I’ll put a space heater out in the garage. It’s getting pretty cold out there and a freeze might have unfortunate consequences for some of the stuff stored there.

I’m sure I’ll also continue sorting and stacking both at home and the shop.

Stuff isn’t gonna stack itself…

nick

Cold. Then warmer later. It started mid 30sF yesterday but got all the way to mid 70sF and I expect that today too. It’s really pretty nice by afternoon. The sun and clear sky feels nice.

I didn’t do much in the morning. Some auction and pc stuff, and a bit of housework, but nothing on the list. By the afternoon though, I did get some stuff done. Took some stuff to the shop and then spent a couple of hours sorting and organizing. I’ve started to clear out some of the stuff I just threw down anywhere and make room for the last of the stuff from storage.

I’m sorting stuff for my local consignment auction, and for ebay. I’ve got far too much stuff that will only sell on ebay. I also have some stuff to sell locally by myself. Past time to actually sell some of this stuff.

I’d like to get some money for the stuff so I can STACK!

It’s a conundrum.

nick

Stupid school district. It was colder yesterday than the days they canceled school, with actual frost on the ground. But hey, gotta get the butts back in the seats and get paid. Started around 25F and got warmer, all the way into the low 40sF, but then crashed back down. Sunny and clear though. More of the same today.

I didn’t do anything but sleep in the morning. I went back to bed and tried to get 4 more hours. When I got up, I felt ok. 4-6 hours a night is more typical for me, which is probably why I crash out on the weekends when I can. Did my pickup in the afternoon, and will not buy from them again unless the deal is outrageous, because they aren’t nearby or easy to get to. Nor are they near other auctioneers so I can just make a loop or several stops.

I did stop in at the Goodwill Surplus store. It’s a new store and I’ve never been to it. It’s also not close to my house. It’s big, and wasn’t as nasty as they usually are. Still lots of hispanics digging through the bins for clothes and monopolizing carts for the whole day. The store is enforcing the ‘no unattended carts’ rule so they have to have someone stand with the cart. IDK why they just don’t take the cart and cash out when it gets full. They can come back in and fill it again.

I did grab a vintage Peavey guitar amp…

Then it was home to make dinner (canned red beans and rice with added sausage). It’s hearty, and can be eaten cold if needed. It’s my wife’s goto backup girl scout camping meal. I like disaster food that already has the water in it, is cooked, and won’t take a lot of time to prepare. Bulk rice and bulk beans are ok, and I have some, but canned and ready to eat wins for most disasters. Fuel, time, and water are all usually in short supply in a disaster. Canned food cuts the cost of those things dramatically.

Today I have a follow up doctor visit in the morning, and a local pickup in the afternoon. During the rest of the day I’ll work the list.

One fun thing, the dog presented me with a dead mouse yesterday. And he’s going nuts in the kitchen trying to get under the cabinets… so that’s something I’ll need to address. Ah, good times.

Stack some vermin control. You’ll need it.

nick

It snowed at the BOL yesterday! Enough to lightly cover the ground and cars. Wow. In Houston it was right around freezing until after dark when it got down to the mid-20sF. Today will probably stay below freezing in Houston, and maybe at the BOL too. For us, it’s definitely not the Snowpocalypse.

I do sincerely hope that it continues to not be a disaster for most people.

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Spent yesterday sitting at my computer. I ended up in hard core work avoidance mode and decided to do a bit of a refresh here. So I spent WAY too long messing with colors to get rid of most of the cyan and vaguely green edge to the blues. I kept the green accents, but might still change them if I find something I like better. Let me know what you think.

There are other things that are suddenly driving me nuts but I think I’ll ignore them. The biggest is the way no two elements line up vertically. Zoom in to a one column view and you’ll see what I mean. Content is more important than looks. And I’ve got a big list of other things to do.

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Today I’ll keep monitoring conditions at the BOL, but as long as there is power, it should be fine. I’m really glad I spent the time and money to put all the pex lines inside insulation. I also built a closet around the water heater and all the plumbing in the garage, so it should be warmer in there than the garage proper. I’m a bit concerned about the irrigation system, and the pump, but I did what I could to drain it a couple of months ago. The whole mess needs to be redone, but that is not at the top of my list.

I think I’ll bid a little harder the next time some pipe warming tape comes up in an auction. I can think of a few places it would be handy.

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If I get off my butt, I’ll do some more cleaning and sorting here, or at the shop, or I’ll work on networking stuff here. I’ve got the ubiquiti cloud key to install and configure, and a couple of ubiquiti WAPs that should give me better control over DNS and ad blocking than the ATT router and wifi. I might even get a pi-hole set up. If I can find my razberry pi…

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Stacks. Skills. Like minded friends. You need them all….

nick