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Category: march to war

Thur. Feb. 27, 2025 – more grid up get it while you can visits…

Cool and clear. Temps around 70F. Blue skies. That was yesterday and I’m hoping for the same today. It’s been a really nice couple of days after the wet gloominess.

Yesterday was mostly spent at the doctor’s in the morning. I fell asleep for a couple hours in the afternoon when I got home and ate. Then it was kid stuff and family stuff for the rest of the day. A normal day for most people, but kind of abnormal for me.

Today I’ve got another visit in the morning, echo cardiogram, all just routine at this point and mainly driven by age and family history. Nice to have access to this sort of thing. I’ll miss civilization when it crumbles completely but maybe something better will come after. That’s the usual pattern.

There are still Romans living in Rome. And maybe it won’t be that dire. We might be able to pull back from the brink. Wouldn’t take much to pitch us over though. A single bullet might be enough. Everything I see is still telling me we’re living in one of those times when everything changes…

So I’ll be stacking, and working. It’s all little ol’ me can do.

nick

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Wed. Feb. 19, 2025 – back home, back to it…

Cool, sure. Wet, oh my. After yesterday’s rainstorm? Oh my. Bayous be flooded yo! Dunno about getting down as low as they have been talking about. With this much moisture in the air, land and sea? Seems unlikely to me, but hey, you can be wrong most of the time and still make a living as a financial pundit or a weatherman…

Started the day early, 730AM, when I heard the rumble of diesel engines and truck doors slamming. The tree guy must have decided not to wait, and instead of showing up “later this week”, he showed up Tuesday. I had done most of the prep for him, moving lighting strings, marking trees with paint, etc. but I hadn’t moved my truck. He wanted a clear path to hand carry out all the debris. So I did that in my PJs then started some coffee.

They were done and gone by noon. Meanwhile I got all my “leaving the BOL” stuff done, and I left shortly after they finished.

Did a couple of pickups on my way home. Stopped to dump my trash and some debris in a dumpster. Don’t fret. It’s one I have use of.

Got home in time to get the kid from after-school activities. And the sky opened and dumped buckets on us. It kept raining and thundering for a couple of hours, and it was still lightly raining when I went to bed. Since it was coming down buckets, the gutters, ditches, creeks, and bayous all filled. Should be gone by today though.

Today I’ve got another pickup, and some other messing around to do. I lost my secondary key ring. That’s my ring with a few dozen keys I don’t need every day, but are still important. Like for all my various padlocks… I’m pretty sure it’s in one of my storage units, but of course there is a lock on the unit. I went through a few dozen master lock keys in my collection without finding a match for the lock on the unit… so I need to look at a few more, or get my bump key set out. I don’t want to cut the lock, as I have several “keyed alike” on my storage places, and can’t afford to lose one… and cutting the lock is kinda suspicious looking… I’m pretty sure I can bump key it open without arousing suspicion. I don’t want to pay the storage company to cut the lock either.

I’m usually very careful to handle and move my lock and keys in a specific order to avoid this exact issue, but I had the wrong truck, and so couldn’t use my normal habit… and unlocking that storage unit was the last place I’m sure I had the ring. Dumb, and a waste of my time, all because I was in a hurry. Hopefully the keys are hanging on the shelf when I open the door.

Thrilling stuff, I know…

No access to those stacks without the keys though… and I’m pretty sure my wife had the dupes at some point, but not any more. Prepper fail.

So don’t be like me, make sure you have access to your stored preps. And stack some extras…

nick

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Sat. Feb. 1, 2025 – non-prepping hobby day, or meatspace baby!!

Cool again, and supposed to be clear. That will be nice. It was clear on Friday and crazy bright. Nice temps too. I was back in shorts.

Did a whole bunch of pickups yesterday. I made a big loop, west side to Alvin, to Pasadena, to Kingwood, to The Woodlands, to The Heights, and then home… Didn’t look at the mileage, but it was a lot. I hit two estate sales along the way, since I didn’t have a lot of actual stuff to pickup. Got some good books. Almost bought another telescope, a Meade LS200, but the drive was NFG and it wasn’t priced with that in mind.

I almost didn’t bother stopping at the sale, as the seller was a guy I thought had really high prices, but the title of the sale said “Priced to sell”. And the estate had ham stuff, astronomy stuff, woodworking stuff, and vintage vinyl with age appropriate hardware. It was a bust though. Prices were NOT good. I don’t understand estate sellers that won’t believe ebay sold listings for what an item is worth. There were a LOT of people attending, but no one was leaving with purchases. That is what is called “a clue”.

Did stop at the seller I used to use to move my stuff. He’s just about ready to start taking consignments again. Oh, and the first pickup seller will take some golf stuff on consignment for me as his next auction is featuring golf stuff.

Maybe I’ll sell some stuff at today’s swapfest… it’s our quarterly members sale and general meeting. I am hoping to avoid a board position… webmaster is taxing enough. But that is one of the risks and benefits of getting out there in meatspace, getting sucked into the groups you participate in.

After this morning’s meeting, I’m doing house stuff all day.

Working to improve my position. That’s me…

Somehow the stacking takes care of itself.

nick

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Thur. Jan. 30, 2025 – youtube shorts are the devil…

Cool and damp, but warmer overall. That’s the trend and I don’t need to bet against the trend. I think it made it to 70F yesterday despite the overcast. And it never really rained, although the dew point was making everything wet with condensation. I think we’ll get more of that today.

So I did my pickups for the day, got gas, went to Costco… did some other auction stuff. Moved some stuff around the house to make room for Girl Scout cookies. Yup, it’s cookie season again. Get ready to support your local troop.

The threat of rain did limit some of what I wanted to do. I had some stuff I should have moved to storage, but I didn’t want to get it wet in the back of the truck… or that’s the excuse I’m going with anyway…

Today, after helping to stack cases of cookies, I’ll be moving and cleaning up more stuff. Can’t have all my crep stacked around the house if people are coming to get their cookies. I should have gotten it all taken care of before now, but didn’t. I really need deadlines.

The problem with that as it relates to prepping is that you never know the date of the thing you are prepping for (Y2K being an exception). Most bad things happen suddenly, and while there may have been plenty of warning, the actual event doesn’t usually kick off on a schedule. Some people try to maintain that top level of readiness for any disaster, but I mostly end up trying to maintain a baseline of readiness that meets most needs most of the time, but might leave me short in some specific areas and some specific scenarios. It’s easier my way, and I’m generally comfortable with it, but it may not be good enough for anyone else.

Find a level you are comfortable with, aim to achieve that. Then work to build on that incrementally. Always be working, just maybe not always at a fever pitch.

And stack of course.

nick

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Wed. Jan. 29, 2025 – maybe a bit of a break today

Still cool and wet. Damp at least. This time of year is monotonous and tedious if you like sun. That’s probably true of winter everywhere but Southern California and the desert… We had overcast and misty drizzle most of the day yesterday and I don’t think I saw the sun.

It was a pretty non-stop day. Kids and wife in the morning, doctor visit, client visit, kid taxi, dinner, more kid taxi… just a bit more non-negotiable tasks than usual. Never made it to the grocery store. That’ll be today.

Today should have a bit more flexibility. I have pickups to do, so I’ll be out and about. That helps with grabbing a quick visit to the grocery store. It also helps with stuff like getting gas, and other everyday sort of tasks. I usually try to combine trips and tasks as a way to save time and money. My kid taxi duties are reduced on Mon, Wed, and Fri, so that helps, and D1’s new choice for after-school activity moves her pickup to 5pm from 3pm. That helps a lot by not shortening my afternoon “me” time.

Super compelling content, I know…

The first week of the new administration is just freaking insane. More real change, or attempted change, in one week than in a couple of decades. My only feeling is that it won’t last. It won’t hold up. Too much inertia, too many rice bowls getting slapped out of peoples’ hands. Too much change too fast. On the other hand… lot’s of pent up demand might mean it really does change. For a while anyway. It will revert to the mean. Everything does. Maybe though, the new mean will be lower than the old one. Any thing will be an improvement.

Not a reason to stop stacking though. Stuff is going to be massively disrupted. Preps will help, as they will in any disaster. Disasters are just REALLY quick and massive change after all…

nick

Read the comments: 50 Comments

Mon. Jan. 27, 2025 – …but I did not shoot the deputy…

Cool and wet. Maybe soaking wet. Rained on and off all day yesterday, and into the night. Even if it doesn’t rain today it will be wet from all the rain we’ve been getting. And I think it will rain.

Did some small things, mostly computer related, yesterday. The weather was an impediment to some of what I wanted to do, and so was my motivation. I’m not feeling 100%… and wasn’t up to a bunch of work. Excuses. I’ve got um.

Anyway, today is another day. Get the kids and wife out the door. Get the auction stuff done. Do some domestic bliss. Do something off the list. Rinse and repeat. Do kid taxi stuff. Maybe have dinner with sibling… We have Christmas gifts to exchange after all…

Meanwhile the world turns and the deep state reels in horror… and begins to fight for their lives. I’m sure it will come to bloodshed. Don’t know when or why exactly, but it will.

Prep ye while ye still can.

That’s all I’ve got.

nick

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Wed. Jan. 22, 2025 – Still some snow on the ground.

Cold again, and still some snow on the ground. Warming later. Wicked Witch of the West inbound (help me I’m melting)… IDK what the final low was, but we didn’t see much below freezing. That’s enough to cause problems here, but really, even here household infrastructure SHOULD be able to take freezing temps. Kinda disgraceful that it can’t.

I didn’t do much of anything other than get caught up on auctions. I did go for a walk later in the day, and I spent almost an hour working with D1 on driving skills. Not super productive, but maybe it will save a life. That would be a pretty good payout.

Oh, and preps paid off when my wife asked is we had a space heater as her desk area was very cold and drafty. Why yes, I do…

Today I’ll do a bit more. I am caught up on auction stuff, and need to not spend the day sitting. I’m sure I’ll find something that needs to be done…

Or stacked.

nick

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Tues. Jan. 21, 2025 – actual snow. And a new President.

Well, IDK what it’s going to be like today. Real snow started at about 2am, and I went to bed. The forecasts are all suspect, so I’m going with “temps around freezing” with some precipitation. I don’t really expect there to be much accumulation when I get up today. I could be wrong. We’ll see. And I have no idea at all what to expect today and tonight, except that it’s about 90% certain to be less than what was predicted.

Spent yesterday buttoning up the BOL, driving home, and then doing a couple of small things to “get ready” for the snowpocalypse…. Mainly doing something to protect the hot water heater on the side of the house. I insulated all the lines last time it got cold. That has worked fine. I put a 100w flood light under the unit by the lines and valves, and put a metal screen over the whole thing to block some of the wind. Hopefully that will be enough. Turns out, putting the water heater outside the conditioned volume of the house is risky. I won’t be doing that again.

My doctor’s appointment for today got cancelled so I’ll probably just stay in and do some cleaning/organizing and some computer work. Maybe I’ll get the wifi changed over to ubiquiti WAPs like I’ve been planning. It would be nice to get a pi-hole set up too, although I’m not ready for that. I should really pull some backups too.

There’s always more to do. Always be working…

and stack some good stuff…

nick

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Thur. Jan. 16, 2025 – low vibrational energy. Hmm.

Another winter day in Houston is about to start. Cold and wet. Place is a swamp so it’s usually wet. Cold air pushes down from the north, and we get cold. SO we get cold and wet. We did yesterday, we will today, and tomorrow is likely to be cold and wet too. Or at least cool and damp…

Very short shrift today.

Spent yesterday doing a few things. Morning was full of domestic bliss. Early afternoon too. Kid celebrated her braces removal with donuts, and I had too much sugar to stay awake.

Afternoon was taken up with the other kid.

Rainy and grey all day had me hiding in the house. Not much got done. I’m also not feeling 100%. Could be too much sugar poisoning me, or I could be getting sick. In any case I am dragging.

I did get a bit of cleaning done, but there is so much left to do.

Today I have some pickups to do. Then there will be kid taxi stuff. Not much else getting done. I guess that’s ok but it feels like slacking.

Should I be the best possible slacker I can be?? Hmm, probably not.

I will just keep on plodding along, and stacking.

nick

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Mon. Jan. 13, 2025 – back to it…

Warmer, and damp but maybe not wet. It was misty,drippy and grey most of Sunday, but it did get a little bit of blue sky before dusk. I’m hoping the blue was a harbinger of today’s weather. But if not, I’ll deal.

Spent yesterday casually doing stuff around the house. I was poking at my office cleanup, watching some auctions close, putting Christmas decor away, and half a dozen other things. W did get the tree stripped and the bins loaded for the attic. I put them away at the end of the day. It’s opened up the foyer and living room… and if I can get some of my auction stuff out of here it will open up even more. That’s the goal anyway.

Today I’ll be on the phone making some appointments, if I can. I’ll be trying to get an auction set up too. And I might head south to do a pickup, so that I don’t have to go in opposite directions tomorrow. I’m sure some domestic bliss will happen too. Then it’s a kid pickup in the middle of the afternoon, and the other kid in early evening. I have to build my schedule around that. Finally, if it’s dry enough, I’ll get the last of the outdoor decor down. Or maybe I’ll go back to bed, and spend the day reading. Probably not.

There is always work to be done, and preps to be stacked.

So I’ll get to work, stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 66 Comments
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