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Category: march to war

Sun. Sept. 10, 2023 – a day to rest? Or just another day to work…

It’s been a bit cooler in the morning lately, not cool as such but cooler. And it was cooler at night last night. Still crossed 100F during the day, and was high 90s in the shade. It’s been a couple of years since we had a run like this, and I’ll be glad when it’s over.

Had my non-prepping hobby meeting. Went to lunch with a couple of the guys afterwards. I don’t usually take the time to do that, and I think I should. Ate at a burger joint near my house that I’ve been driving past for over a decade without going in. It was pretty old school, and the food was good honest and relatively cheap. Clientele bordered on creepy. There were a number of what looked like street people, and some very edgy types. Not a comfortable vibe. No families having brunch on Saturday. We were a group of five and I was glad for it being clear we were all together, and we were ‘self contained’ with social bubble around us. Hard to explain, but we all knew each other, and there wasn’t really an opening for anyone to intrude on that. Not a place I’d willingly take the kids, and I wouldn’t want my wife to go there alone. At least not at 1130am Saturday.

Very valuable intel and important to help me understand the area around my house. I might stop in for lunch or breakfast again, and see if it’s different at a different time. Or I might just mark it “here there might be dragons.”

Meatspace baby, you need to get out of the house. Things are changing rapidly out there in the world, and your mental model probably needs to be updated. Drive down the road you don’t usually take, drive the opposite direction of your normal path, and really look around. I’m betting there will be stuff that surprises you.

If nothing else, it might convince you to further fort up, and stack, because now you’ve seen and smelled some of your neighbors.

Stack some situational awareness this week. And more food.

n

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Fri. Sept. 8, 2023 – week flew by and I’m still behind…

Hot, humid, and hateful… that’s the weather for the last few months and for the next few days at least. In theory there may be some relief coming but I’ll believe it when I see it. And I’m not holding my breath. It was well into the 100s in the sun and humid as well. Felt like a laser burning my scalp and a wet towel over my mouth in the late afternoon. I think today will be similar.

Did some of my stuff yesterday. Got some stuff ready for the auction, looked at a few auctions. Didn’t end up driving across town for my pickups. That will have to happen today. I’ve got a lot of driving to do. But first I need to pull some stuff out of storage and take it to my auctioneer. I did put a bin or two together at the house, so I’m starting from that. Did I mention it was hot? The storage places are just big parking lots without any shade. My attic is just a slightly dry sauna. Neither is fun when it gets hot.

This weekend I’m home with my non-prepping hobby. We’ll do a show and tell of the cool stuff we got at the show, and after the meeting we’ll do an AAR on the show. First though I have to get through today.

Pickups, drop offs, and if there is time, some shopping. My stacks are woefully disarrayed and my pantry has been run down. I need to stock up on fresh. Maybe some meat will be on sale and I can stock up on that too.

So I can stack it!

Don’t face the future empty handed, stack!

nick

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Fri. Sept. 1, 2023 – 2/3 of the way through the year, already. Oh my.

Slightly less hot, but no less humid. And sunny. Days of summer still left, no matter what the calendar says. It was certainly hot in the afternoon yesterday, even if it did start out with the barest edge of ‘cool’ in the breeze while waiting for the school bus. National forecast has Houston in the clear, with no precip, for at least the next few days.

I sat at my desk pretty much all day. I did auction stuff, and medical stuff. The visit to my new GP resulted in a sheaf of recommended consults with specialists. I started booking them. Every one has a different online portal. Every one needs the same history entered. No one has access to any of my existing medical records, unless I can get them and have them transferred. And at that, they will probably be printouts.

The promise of electronic medical records and of course HIPAA (which has the word “portability” in the title) is an empty one. Since I’m convinced that you get the opposite of what a law is named, I’m not surprised, but I am frustrated and even saddened that it’s all come to this. We stopped being able to get things done, and to deal fairly and squarely with people as a society some time ago. Those of us that still remember the ‘before time’ are cursed by knowing what we could do, and what we’ve lost. *

I did get the initial meetings all scheduled. Since most of the specialist treatment will involve testing, I’m sure there will be a second round for the actual tests, and then a third round for communicating the results. It’s a fricking part time job worth of stuff to do.

Today I’ll be doing more paperwork for taxes. Maybe I’ll get some cleaning and organizing done too. I intend to head for the BOL at some point today. Wife and kids to follow later. The timing will depend entirely on what I get done, and what still needs doing.

Hopefully I’ll have some room in the truck for more food and supplies to shift from here to there. Gotta keep stacking.

These kids aren’t gonna feed themselves, and they do eat. Lots. Not as much as teen boys, but still………

Times are gonna get tougher. So suck it up, and stack it up.

nick

*anyone else notice the correlation with the anti-smoking campaigns and the decline in our ability to get things done as a nation? Weaning most of the population off of a powerful stimulant doesn’t seem to have helped productivity. And consider the Enlightenment… fueled by the new stimulants of coffee,tea, and chocolate, and social activity involving them. Tobacco was in that mix too. Reading the book of poetry “Ballads of a Bohemian” by Robert W. Service, published shortly after WWI, I was struck by how often he refers to his pipe, or to other peoples’ pipe smoking. No cigarettes, even though he was in Paris, but a pipe many times a day. Hmm.

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Thur. Aug. 31, 2023 – thirty days have September, April, June, and November…

Hot and humid. No rain in the forecast. Slightly cooler at night and in the morning but still brain roasting sun in the afternoon. It’s still Summer, no matter that school has started.

Took care of some business yesterday. Mostly ran around on little errands. Had to run a uniform to school for D1, then pick her up after school for an appointment. I sat in the truck for an hour listening to Fool Moon, the second Harry Dresden book. Did some returns to Lowes, got gas at Costco, picked up my auto repair parts at Home Depot. That was a weird bit of modern life, order the parts online from some sort of fulfillment portal, and have them delivered to a locker at HD for pickup. Worked though, and saved a bunch on shipping. Just had to wait a week for them to arrive.

The whole business has a lot going on- from the search engine, opening up pricing and stocking status to the search and ecommerce portal, then the warehousing and “last mile” solution, including the construction of the lockers and contracting to partner with HD. The lockers themselves have a degree of complexity that is a marvel of the age. Touch panel screen, automated locks, QR code scanner, and all the online back end to make it possible. The old system of stocking stores, or mail order, or even dealer networks and fulfillment houses seems so simple in comparison. All for a little plastic part that could have been a metal clip and never would have needed replacement.

I crammed a couple other errands and trips in there too.

Today should be similar, start at home, do some stuff, get out and do a bunch more… with hopefully a lot less interruption from das kinder. As I am wont to say, “we’ll see.”

Dinner yesterday included a rice and beans box meal from HEB that was 11 years past “best by”. It tasted ok, not great, not too bad. Some additional seasoning helped. Wife said she liked it, kids don’t normally eat that kind of thing anyway. And I could have eaten it without complaint. The critical thing was storing it indoors, in the dark, and that it was dry ingredients without fats. The directions included adding 2 tablespoons of oil. It’s pretty clear that if the pasta/rice doesn’t absorb weird flavors from the environment, the most common failure of boxed or prepared foods is the fats going old. Something to keep in mind when stocking for the long term.

One other observation, I pulled some pasta out of a bucket. I leave the stuff in the store packaging to isolate it in case of a failure or spoilage. A rat opening one package leaves the others ok to eat, a rat in a bucket of rice, not so much. I had a package of spaghetti noodles that had some kind of black bug in it, and some sort of residue on the pasta. Smelled bad too. The other pasta in the bucket was fine, as it was still sealed in 1 pound plastic packaging. The pasta had a ‘best by’ of Jan-2023 so it was barely out of range. Must have been contaminated at the factory or store and it failed long before I’d have expected.

You never know what a stored item will do until you open it. Have extra on hand.

And stack it up.

nick

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Wed. Aug. 30, 2023 – yup, windy and wet for some

Here in Houston it’s still hot and humid. Plenty hot during the day, but now we are getting some cooler temps in the late afternoon/early evening. It almost felt nice when I went out to get some stuff from the truck around 6pm.

Spent most of the day doing auction stuff. I took a bunch of stuff to my auctioneer in the afternoon. He’s recovering from his surgery but still slow and tires quickly. Quad bypass will do that to a guy. Unlike in the past, he hasn’t shut me down after a delivery or two, so I’ll keep bringing stuff. I’ve got a lot. I’ve also got a huge pile of stuff that won’t sell well locally, but will do ok on ebay. As I’m sorting and pulling, that pile keeps getting bigger. Don’t know what I’ll do about it, most of the stuff is ‘smalls’ that have great margin, but low overall profit. Ie. cheap to get but also selling cheaply.

I stocked up on smalls when my bigger stuff stopped selling. It’s a grind to sell smalls though, so it’s not what I want to do right now. If I can’t get the kids to do it, I might have to get serious about clearing my slush pile (sometimes called a ‘death pile’ because you’d rather kill yourself than list the stuff.) That won’t make me happy but it might be the only thing that sells. Everyone is concerned that buyers have run out of money.

Time will tell if that’s the case. It’s certainly causing me to change my habits. I’m just not buying stuff that I’d like to have, unless I really need to have it. There is always something to buy in the auctions but now I’m asking “how does it move me closer to my goals” and “is it worth the time and gas to go get it”? Lots I’d have bought without question a year ago, I’m letting go by now. Part of that is that I’ve got most of what I need and want. But part is definitely the changing economic landscape.

It’s time to internalize the ideas we’ve been thinking were coming in the future, as they are here now. Prices are higher. Goods are scarcer. Trouble is brewing. Once again we need to move from prepping for something into living with that thing, while prepping for the next thing.

Oh, and mom nature will still be kicking us in the nuts every once in a while too. Gotta be ready for that.

So there is still reason to stack it up… and make hay while the sun shines. I’m afraid these are ‘the good old days.’

nick

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Mon. Aug. 28, 2023 – back to school and life…

Hot and humid. It has been a bit cooler in the mornings. Barely noticeable, but just that little bit cooler that says ‘Fall is coming.’

Spent Sunday wrapping up at my show. Awards breakfast (I got a certificate for helping out). Some very slow show floor. Door prize drawing (didn’t win anything this year). Then pack up and get out. I had several empty bins and a couple that I sorted as I packed that are only 1/2 full. I’m taking some of the leftovers to my auctioneer.

Had a good time. Turned some inventory back into cash. Got some stuff sold and out of my storage unit. Chatted with people. Spent some time talking with D2 and showing her the ropes. All in all, well worth spending a weekend on it.

Now it’s back to the normal hustle and bustle. Today I’ll return the bins to storage, and pull out a few bins I didn’t have access to, and get ready to take more stuff to auction. I found several bins that should be full of auction stuff while looking for my show stuff. It almost looks like I could make enough space to move one of the other storage units into it, and cancel one. That would be awesome. Or I could use the space to move more stuff out of the house. That has it’s own appeal too.

Whatever I do, it’ll be hot and sweaty work. Attic, back yard, driveway, garage, or storage- it’s hot. And if prices or demand or both are falling, it behooves me to get as much stuff sold as quickly as possible.

Of course there is all the normal daily stuff to do to, and whatever got pushed back by taking the weekend off…

So I’ve got some stacking to do. And more work.

It’s a great life if you don’t falter…

Stack, it’s good for the soul.
n

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Fri. Aug. 25, 2023 – Oh, I’m busy today, buzzy bee busy…

Hopefully a bit cooler and dryer today, after yesterday’s rain, but I’m not holding my breath. Or my breadth. I’ll be doing stuff width my fellow enthusiasts… and part of that will involve unloading trucks, so I really hope for cooler and dryer.

As I mentioned, it rained on my yesterday. All day there were threatening clouds, but I didn’t believe it ’til it was smacking me in the face. I did get one pickup done of stuff I’m hoping to just flip this weekend. I also gathered in some of my hobby stuff. It was on my last stop that the rain came.

Now I’m actually behind where I should be with loading my stuff and the stuff I promised to bring.

I’ll have to scramble this morning from the minute the kids are out the door. And I won’t be checking in during the day, probably, so let’s hope today isn’t the day the hammer drops.

This weekend I’m in meatspace. We’ll see what the crowd feels like and what they’re thinking. It’s important to listen to a bit wider and more diverse group than usual. Gives a reality check. And I like to share my hobby with other enthusiasts.

Not much prepping or stacking, but maybe some simplifying and some earning.

One can always hope.

And stack. In case the hope don’t float.
nick

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Mon. Aug. 21, 2023 – lots to do this week, 1st full week of school too…

Hot, yep. Humid, yep. Miserable outdoors, yep. It does seem like this has been going on for longer than usual, outside of the drought year. Funny that I’m not seeing huge scare stories about the drought.

Lake at the BOL is still higher than last year too.

I did mostly small jobs all day yesterday. Other than cutting the grass in the back yard, I was doing non-essential or low priority jobs. Some for auctions, some for household cleanup, some just domestic bliss.

One of the things I did that definitely could have waited, but fits in the cleanup and auction categories, was going through a couple of pairs of boots in the closet. Had to determine if they were for me, and fit, or if they needed something before going to the auction. I ended up cleaning, conditioning, and even touching up the color on several pairs. At some point I picked up a box of leather paints and leather dyes. It’s pretty cool to do some quick fixes and have a dramatic improvement in look. Most boots and shoes look much better just with a leather treatment and a brushing. It’s definitely a prep to have good quality footwear and the tools to maintain it. Plus it is a lot cheaper to keep a pair nice than to replace them, or to get a used pair and bring them back to like new condition.

Today I should be able to take some stuff to my local auctioneer. Wife will be happy to have the bins out of the foyer. I should also list some high value items on ebay. It would be nice to do a couple of quick sales and make some money. Since I’ll be home this week and coming weekend, this will be a good time to list some things I think will sell right away.

While doing the other auction stuff I’ve also got to start pulling stuff together for my upcoming swapmeet/convention/show… It would be nice to make some real sales there too.

Focus this week will be on selling and getting ready to sell, so tangentially on money… Money is a prep. Earning it, spending it wisely, saving it, and making it work for you are all skills you can improve. Work on your money skills.

And stack. Always stack.
nick

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Sun. Aug. 13, 2023 – Serendipity

Of course it’s hot and humid today. It’s summer. It’s a bit hotter than usual, but not hotter than EVAH!11!1! And it looks like it will continue to be hot here for a while…

Did my thing yesterday. Met with people and shared our common interests. We’re counting down the days until our regional tradeshow/swapmeet/convention, and our pre-registration numbers are stronger than last year. There was talk about people still coming out of their covid ‘shell’…which is frankly amazing to me. We’ve been back to “normal” for long enough I find it hard to remember when we weren’t. I’m not sure what I feel for the people who are still living under the cloud of the chinese bioweapon, sadness? Pity? Both mixed together with a dash of disbelief? I hope they come to Texas and see how they could be living again.

After that I loaded up the truck and headed to the BOL. And when I got here it was HOT. The wind was blowing and it felt like leaning into an oven. I was going to mow, but decided to take the dog for a walk and see my friend the fisherman, and take a look at the work he’s been doing on his house. We ended up sitting in the air conditioning and chatting for a couple hours. I’ll mow today. Meatspace.

Made my dinner and went down to the dock. It was still in the low 90s and the lake wasn’t feeling cool, but sitting still in the gentle breeze wasn’t too bad. The sky was a bit hazy, but the Milky Way was out, and there was the tail end of this week’s meteor shower to look for. I saw a couple dozen shooting stars, about half were dim and short, but almost a dozen were really bright and long ones. One I could see go from white streak to orange red as it broke up. Really pretty nice.

That kept me down there past my cigar, listening to the radio and watching the sky. WRMI Legends, playing all the hits of rock and roll from the last several decades. They even do “instant requests” playing stuff the audience picks from their song library through the website. Shortwave radio on 9.455Mhz. Their playlist is very eclectic. The DJ was in a mellow mood last night, but where else can you hear “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”, “Cat’s in the Cradle”, “the Tracks of my Tears”, “Rag Doll”, and dozens of others in the same hour? Fleetwood Mac to Bobby Darin? I love the serendipity of radio. After 50 plus years of listening to popular music, there was very little I couldn’t sing along to, and very few songs that I wasn’t happy to hear.

Serendipity plays a big part in my life. I need something and it shows up in the auctions. I need a job, and someone who knows someone I know gives me a call… I get back in touch with a girl I knew because of an email address on a fund raising appeal that was cc’d to me and I end up married to her… Stuff that pushes the bounds of probability happens to me all the time. Serendipity and synchronicity. It’s a charmed life now, but it wasn’t always. I can appreciate it now, knowing how it used to be.

And I want it to continue, to see where it all leads, but there are people and forces who want to bring it all down. We don’t get to choose when we live, or what happens in the world, but we do get to choose how we respond. I choose to get through whatever is coming, and to see what the next era looks like. My grandmother saw the birth of manned flight, and men landing on the Moon. I can’t predict what my kids will see but I want it to be more than flickering shadows on the walls of our ruined civilization. So I prep, to give them the best start in whatever comes next.

You can too. Stack it up.

nick

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Mon. Aug. 7, 2023 – so, it’s kinda hot lately…

Hot AND humid! We got both kinds of misery. And I had to spend the day in it. Well it went very slowly. But it’s Houston, it’s summer, and OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS GONNA BURN!!11!!!1!! Or maybe not just yet. Gonna be hot for a while yet too. I was busy working in it so I didn’t get a high temp yesterday, but I haven’t got much doubt it was in the low 100s in the sun. On the roof, it was certainly that.

Spent the day working at the rent house. It’s looking good, and is just about ready to rent. Needed paint, some maintenance, and a few style upgrades. LOTS of cleaning. There are a few things left to do, some inside and some out. The fence still needs repair. The parking pad needs some work, and there is a trench drain for the driveway that has been sitting around for a year or more… waiting for someone to dig a trench. I’m trying really hard to not be that someone. We put off some upgrades because they would be disruptive to the tenants, so now is the time. The main thing is to get the inside done so the pix can be taken and the listing put together.

I don’t want to drag out the other stuff though. I’ve got plenty of open projects at the BOL and here as well. Time to be done, and back to earning money on the place. And back to work on the other places.

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Given all the stuff I’ve got on my plate, I guess I can be forgiven for not paying any attention to the hurricane season. We’ve had a couple of ‘invest’ systems identified, but nothing has really developed, and I’m glad for that. While we could use the rain, I’ve already got a full dance card. Very different this year though, without me mentioning anything for a month. Bigger fish to fry I guess.

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Plenty of small fish to fry too. One thing that is starting to worry me wrt stacking- it’s been a while since meat was on sale enough for me to buy any. I’ve been working out of the freezers, and we’ve got plenty, but plenty is reduced by one with every meal. Sometimes, if we have an extra child, plenty gets reduced by two…

Time to add some protein to the freezers. Tri-tip and brisket are still reasonably priced, I think I need to try my hand at cooking some. And put whatever IS cheap in the stacks.

After all, rice doubled with one announcement from India. That can happen with other foods too. A mad cow outbreak would send beef sky high, as would bird flu for chicken. Piggies get sick too. There is chatter about deflationary trends in some items, but I’m not seeing it in food.

So stack it while you can,

nick

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