Category: march to war

Raining. We had a nice day yesterday, until dusk, then it started to rain. And it rained for a few hours, with some thunder and lightning too. But, we had two beautiful, unexpected days. If it rains today too, then that’s ok.

I did some work on my hobby website shopping cart in the morning, then did my big loop of pickups in the early afternoon. Stopped in a couple of thrift stores and got some good stuff. That’s in yesterday’s comments. Then it was kid taxi stuff until late.

Today I am doing some more pickups and signing the transfer docs for the wife’s boat in the morning, and some moving stuff and cleaning up in the afternoon. The later depending on rain or no rain. Can’t do much moving stuff in the pickup if it’s pouring down rain.

Later in the day I will load my truck for my hobby quarterly mini-sale. It’ll be nice to finally get back to a meeting, between the March hamfest and cancellations, I haven’t been to a meeting since the first week of February. I know that I value them by the way I miss going regularly. Plus, meatspace baby. And I get to demo my shopping cart for the Board. But that will be Saturday.

Today, I might also get to Costco to add to the stacks. I didn’t yesterday despite good intentions. This is not really the time to get complacent. The elephants are dancing. The world is changing. There will be disruption, but it will all be better if you have food and basic needs covered.

Stack.
nick

Well, maybe we’ll get another beautiful day. Yesterday started wet and dreary but ended clear and sunny. From about noon on, it was a fantastic day. Not much evidence of the storm that went through, even on the southeast side of town. Ditches were full, and there were puddles in unusual spots, but the pavement was dry. We were forecast for rain and t-storms today, but who knows?

I spent the morning working on my hobby site shopping cart, mainly interfacing with my fellow enthusiasts on the board trying to get stuff like the actual paypal account and the email addy that gets all the confirmation emails and two factor challenges. Failed. Gave it up as a waste of time and got busy with my day.

Did a huge loop for pickups. Got another solar inverter, some small things for the BOL, some stuff for the next hamfest, and then I did my kid taxi duties… and did more taxi duties… Finally got out of my boots around 9:15pm. Caught up on auctions, and decided on an early bedtime.

Because when the world is burning, use it to light a candle. Or something. Nothing I can do about India and Pakistan. Nor the middle east. Nor even Washington state. I can up my preps a bit, and I will, because conflict disrupts supply chains. I’m doing a costco run today. Haven’t added any buckets lately, so I think I will buy some big bags o stuff. Salt seems like a good choice. I’ve got a bucket, and some pantry containers, but I don’t have enough to use as a preservative. or cleaner. It’s cheap and easy to store. It doesn’t expire. And it’s absolutely vital for life. Yes, I think I’ll add another bucket…

There is always more to stack. Fill your gaps.

nick

I’m expecting low 70sF and overcast. The national map shows weather in our part of Texas, rain and thunderstorms. We’re still a bit on the south side of the system, so we might not get it if stuff blows up from the Gulf. I’ve got stuff to do no matter what happens with the weather.

Yesterday was a nice day. Weather was good, sunny and hot. Some overcast. Maybe some rain some where in Houston, but not for me. Overcast in the evening.

I ended up rescheduling my client visit to next week. He went out of town, so wouldn’t be sending back the gear today anyway. That opened my schedule to watch the kid get “recognized” at school, and later to make some noise and smoke. That lightened my mood. Picked up the kid from school, did the kid taxi routine, and made dinner.

Fit in some other domestic bliss too.

Today I’ll be unloading the scrap I put in the back of the truck, then hitting a couple of estate sales, while doing my pickups. I’ll be making a big loop on the north side of Greater Houston. The main item is the solar panels, but the other things will go on stacks too, or in my “to be sold” pile. I’m buying less, but there are still things popping up that I can use or need.

Keep your eyes open. With the China trade war going on, the supply chains will be disrupted again. It may be the secondary economy is the only place to buy what you need.

Or shop your stacks…

nick

Cool and clear, with possible rain later. The forecast has southeast Texas in a possible rain and storm area, but it didn’t look like that when I went to bed. We’ll see what happens. What happened on Saturday was another beautiful day.

I got up and loaded the auction items I was dropping off onto the truck. Got D1 up and moving, and then we spent 5 hours driving around and doing auction pickups. She did ok, with coaching and me watching out. Only occasional “no,no, NO!” and only two blown stop signs… She’s improving but still needs a lot of practice, especially moving through the current task and into the next one. She wants to do them one at a time, and there is a mental pause between them. Can’t drive that way, have to be looking out, thinking ahead, and acting quickly and decisively when it’s called for.

We made a big loop, on some complicated and rough expressways, with a lot of crazy drivers, and she did OK. We also spent some time talking about what to do if cops pull you over, and what NOT to do. There is a lot to learn besides the ‘rules of the road’ and how to operate the vehicle.

Today I’m going to sleep in a bit, then if the weather holds, I’ll do some outdoor work around the house. If not, I’ll be doing indoor stacking and organizing.

From sun up to sun down, a prepper’s work is never done… or something like that.

Get out there and meet some people. Stack up the things you need. Raise the next generation.

nick

Cool and windy, part clouds, maybe some sun. Might be rain coming. It’s a mess. Nothing I can do about it, so I’ll enjoy it if it’s nice and deal with it if not. I did get the stuff out of the back of the truck, so it won’t get wet if it rains…

Did a bunch of driving around. BIG loop around Houston. Traffic was snarled later in the day, due to more than usual accidents, and more than usual debris on the roads. I was able to do a bunch of pickups. I got some stuff for the BOL and a couple of things for the house. Didn’t do kid taxi stuff as D2 was home sleeping all day. She’s feeling better now and will go to school today. Negative on the combined test for flu a and b, and wuflu. She says “I’ve got stuff to do.” Okay then.

Today I’ll be doing stuff at home. I’ve put some off too long, and I’m behind. We’ll see what actually gets done, but something is better than nothing, and I’ve been doing nothing for too long.

——–
I’m watching the political situation and it feels like a crash diet or a New Year’s gym membership. It’s starting out strong but there is a LOT of inertia to overcome and the system has started fighting back. It’s very difficult to make more than one big change at a time in your life, and big orgs are similar. I think Trump et al. are throwing everything against the wall, with the hopes that something sticks. War is coming, and that will drive the big changes. We won’t even recognize them though until afterwards.

What seems to be coming clear to me is the national version of “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” We might have left it too long, to the point where we can support a late game rally, but not a decisive and lasting change. I hope not. Individuals still can make a big difference. We are very much in the cult of personality stage… who will rise up?

No matter what, change is disruptive. Get your garden started. And stack in case you can’t grow anything but weeds.

nick

Cool and wet. Maybe cloudy all day. Unlike yesterday, when we had SOME clear and even a rainbow in the morning. The rain threatened all day but never arrived. We are supposed to get some precip, and I’d be ok with that, as long as we don’t get some on Friday and Saturday.

I wasn’t feeling great in the morning, I’ve had a bit of a “sour stomach” for a couple of days, and I decided to grab an hour or two napping. Felt better when I got up and got busy doing work.

A couple of pickups took up a good chunk of afternoon. It was mostly stuff for the BOL, but one thing for the house. If I get it installed, I’ll do a bit more commenting on it. After that it was stuck in traffic for about 20 extra minutes, then at least 20 minutes in line for gas at Costco, which messed up my timing to get D2 from her late after school pickup… So I spent 40 minutes reading while I waited for her. That was a better use of time than driving home, then all the way back. This unnecessary level of detail is to say that I lost a couple of hours of productive time. Jerryp would say the day was eaten by ducks.

Today will be some pickups and getting ready for the hamfest. I’ve got stuff scattered all over the place that I need to get together. I need to get the trailer reservation too. And maybe I’ll figure out a better way to get the stuff back on the trailer after the hamfest is over… maybe a come-a-long…

I’ve got to get ready but I feel like the Hamfest is coming too early this year. I’d skip it for half a reason… but I also know I picked stuff up specifically to sell and I’ll enjoy seeing all the guys I only see on that one day. Suck it up buttercup…

And stack it up too…

nick

And another beautiful day is on deck… which is really nice. Yesterday got nice, although it was a bit cooler all day than the previous couple of days. I’m hoping for another clear sunny day, with moderate temps. Everyone in the neighborhood is out walking with either babies, dogs, or sometimes both.

I mostly did auction pickups yesterday. It was domestic bliss in the morning, and driving around in the afternoon. Most of the stuff yesterday was for the BOL, although there were a couple items that will be gifts and a couple of things for resale.

Now I need to get busy listing some stuff to turn it back into money.

That probably won’t happen today though. If it is as nice as I hope, I’ll try doing some of the outdoor stuff I’ve been putting off. I do have to hit one of my auctioneers for a pickup, but that won’t take long.

I’m sleeping in as long as I can. It stops me getting a jump on stuff, but helps me with physical and mental health. Then if I can pull it together, I’ll tick off some boxes on the list. (Some of the stuff I need to do is to get access to my hamfest inventory. I’ve got this week to get ready.) Strangely, we don’t have a ton of family activities planned, only a Girl Scout cookie booth each day. I’m sure other things will pop up.

And I’m sure that stacks will help. No matter what the issue is. So get busy.

nick