Category: march to war

Fri. June 19, 2026 – not my circus, not my monkeys

Cool, mid 70sF to start but warming to over 100F by afternoon. That’s my guess anyway. Yesterday was sunny and hot. Really a pretty nice day if the humidity wasn’t so high. As it was, you could hurt yourself outside in the sun. Nice at night though.

Did my dad taxi in the morning, with a pickup included. Got some stuff for the household, the BOL, and to sell at my non-prepping hobby show in the Fall. Then I was kinda stuck close to home all afternoon with more taxi duties. I did get a few housekeeping and office things done.

But today, I’ll be running around doing pickups in various parts of town. At least gas is back down to $3.37. Every little bit helps.

I’m gathering supplies for fixes and improvements at home and the BOL, and I’m adding to the stacks. Which is something you should think about doing… hurricane season is coming.

nick

Read the comments: 54 Comments

Thur. June 18, 2026 – busy day, lots of driving

Starting cool, and getting hot later. It was clear in the afternoon and evening, and ended up pretty nice, but that was true the night before and we still started with overcast and rain. Dunno what today will be like but there is weather in the Gulf of America so I suspect more of the same.

Did one pickup yesterday, along with household stuff. Moved the luggage back to the attic. Moved some other stuff too, hoping that it looks like a big improvement when W gets a good look at it. I’m trying to get my stacks of stuff organized and out of the living areas. Trying.

Today I’ve got at least two pickups that have to happen and they are in different directions. One is all the way down in Alvin. I’ve also got the kid’s dentist appointment in the morning, and taxiing her around in the afternoon. Maybe I can move one pickup to Friday and combine it with some others…

It’s a busy time, and I’m running around doing stuff when I should be selling and fixing and completing projects.

At least I’m working on it. Always be working. And stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 91 Comments

Tues. June 16, 2026 – maybe less rain today?

Once more starting cool and ending hot, if the rain doesn’t keep things a bit cooler. Mid 80sF yesterday during the rain… Won’t mind if today is similar.

Didn’t get much done, but did do some household and pc chores. Not as many as I needed to do. That’s starting to be the story of my life. Like all those weeks when RBT would start by saying he wasn’t posting, then posted a lot, we make plans but the gods laugh.

Today I’ll try to get a few more things done than I did yesterday.

That’s a pretty low bar to get over, so maybe I’ll succeed. It would be nice to have a win.

Always be working.

Stack. Our enemies and the whole world is still out there.

n

Read the comments: 91 Comments

Mon. June 15, 2026 – back at it

Cool-ish to start but rapidly warming. Yesterday was mid-90sF before the rain came and it cooled off a little. Then it rained for a while in the evening and later. Dunno what the rain will do today, maybe stay away, but I’m pretty sure it will be hot.

Got up a bit late yesterday, then fixed my string trimmer and cut the back yard. I was so sweaty and hot after that, that I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I did auction and internet stuff in the evening and went to bed.

Today I’ve got more of my normal stuff to do. Between being sick and being out of town, I’ve got 20+ days to make up. That probably won’t happen. Some stuff will just get lost or left undone. Some stuff really needs to be done though.

That stuff will be hard. One thing that needs doing, the canned goods I put in milk crates and have left standing in the patio need going through… two popped while I was working on the string trimmer. FOUL smells, hissing, and stink. Oh, the joy of poor storage conditions. Rusty cans and 90 plus degrees = pop and fizz… I’m pretty sure everything in the bottom milk crates is gone. Some stuff in the crates in between has rusted too, even though the whole pile is covered with a waterproof fabric cover. A “cool dry place” my patio is not.

That’s part of the prepping life though, replace what goes bad, rotate, and retire. There is a constant need to stack as rust never sleeps, and neither does entropy. Stuff is damaged, stuff ages out.

Keep working, keep improving, keep stacking.
n

Read the comments: 63 Comments

Sat. June 13, 2026 – non-prepping hobby day

Wet, but hopefully mostly clear. We got some rain yesterday. Some places got a LOT of rain yesterday. And in true Houston fashion, some got none. I’m hoping it moved through, as it was pretty nice last night.

Slept in a bit yesterday, then did some internet and office stuff, before venturing out to do two pickups. Unfortunately they were in opposite directions, so I wasn’t very efficient about it. Still, it’s done. Weird not to have a bunch of pickups.

Today will be more recovery from being out of town, but first I’ll have my monthly meeting. And it will be in a temporary space as no one made any decisions about our choices while I was gone. I’m about to withdraw myself from the process entirely.

This afternoon will probably involve yard work. After I put new carbs on the string trimmers, after getting my mail from the neighbors. There might even be some work on vehicles. Who knows besides The Shadow ™?

Some prepping is likely to happen too, if I’m not careful.

Maybe even some more stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 42 Comments

Fri. June 12, 2026 – home again, and glad

Hot, humid, sunny, some clouds. At least I’m guessing that is today, based on late yesterday’s weather. The weather in the Caribbean was nicer.

So yesterday was a travel day, and that meant mostly a sitting around the airport day. We didn’t want to rush in the morning, but didn’t have a good plan for what to do with the day, so we ended up sitting and reading at the airport. The issue was mainly what to do with our luggage if we wanted to do something. Dragging it around with us was not a real option. And the kids were tired of moving around. Naturally, after being at the airport for hours, our flight was delayed by a leaking hose… Did get home only an hour or two late.

Today will be a start to catching up with all the stuff I missed and put off by not being here. That’ll be super fun times…

Followed by more adjustments to the stacks. Several people mentioned after yesterday’s post that they stopped worrying about it since they had no control over what happens. While it’s true we can’t control the events, we can control our reaction to them and the impact they have on us. THAT is why we prep. And stack.

nick

Read the comments: 49 Comments

Thur. June 11, 2026 – Stub number five (is alive)

More mild and windy days… or anyway that’s what they’ll probably get here. Yesterday was nice, with some sun, but a lot of overcast to keep the heat down.

Played games with W and mom, mini golf with the kinder… ate good food.

Today is kind of up in the air, and will take some juggling. The easiest solution is the most boring and tedious but we might just be up for it.

The question was asked, “Stack what?” The short answer is “everything” but of course that’s not a GOOD answer. I think that having enough of all the daily life stuff to stay home for a couple of months (I probably have 6 months) is about the best you could do on a normal budget, with a normal life. That covers most any normal threat, and eases the way into any ‘new normal’ from an extraordinary threat. Having spares for critical items should be a priority, and the ability to supply at least some quantity of the infrastructure you rely on is also a priority.

Average age here clearly influences both desire and ability to prepare. Everyone will have their own timeline. I just want to get through the massive world wide disruption that I believe has already started, and set my kids up to succeed in whatever comes next. I figure I have 20 decent years, and 10 after that with reduced capacity if things go well for me.

I ask myself what I’d have done in 1932 if I could go back from 1945, and then I see what the equivalent would be today. Out of any money shenannigans. Into goods and crucial services. War is always good for some people and companies, the question is which ones. Food never goes amiss. Imports vanish and simple things become luxuries. Having money means having options. Your neighbors will save you, or destroy you. Choose them wisely. Be neither the first, nor the last to act. If you think you should, it is probably too late so set some trigger points ahead of time.

Stack something that will give you options and prevent acting out of desperation.

nick

Read the comments: 56 Comments

Sat. June 6, 2026 – RBT’s birthday, so spend some time remembering friends

Warm and humid here in FL. Maybe a bit cooler than usual for this time of year? Hard for me to know, as I can’t remember last year when we were here.

Spent the day recovering. I hurt my neck on one of the coasters and I think that is making me feel ‘weird’. I’ll know better today.

Today we move to the next part of our trip. We’ve got a 1pm appointment so it’ll be re-packing and driving for a bit.

I’ve got solid, if not blindingly fast, internet so I’ll get the next 5 days stubbed out for the site. If I have time. It was too late and I was feeling too weird last night to be sure I’d get all the times right.

———
Take some time today to remember our absent friends. Anniversaries are a good time to spend a little extra effort.

And maybe do a little something extra today, be it a prep, something with computers or science, or astronomy… keep the spirit alive.

nick

Read the comments: 29 Comments

Fri. June 5, 2026 – splitting the party today

Another typical Florida June day, except possibly cooler and less wet than normal. Frankly the overcast is nice if you are outside at a park or elsewhere as it is much more comfortable. Without the June showers it gets pretty hot in the afternoon.

Did a summary of yesterday in the comments.

Today is a recovery day. W and the Ds will be trying for some beach time, and I’ll be sleeping in and relaxing.

Maybe I’ll post more today, later.

Until then, stack something. The sportiness isn’t going away. If they can’t get what they want by cheating, they’ll try to get it by force.

nick

Read the comments: 44 Comments

Tues. Jun. 2, 2026 – last year I was at WDW this week

We’re firmly in the “might get rain and storms” part of the national map today, and tomorrow. I’ll be flying so I hope we don’t get a bunch of weather. After yesterday’s nice day, it was a bit more cloudy in the evening and we even got a sprinkle that lasted less than 5 minutes, before it cleared again. It probably hit 100F in the late afternoon. My shaded thermometer read 99.6F. That’ll be the hottest day so far. Sure to get hotter though.

I did my pickups. The big TV was surprisingly easy to deal with on the drywall cart. I stashed it and the last two lappy stands at the shop and came home to do stuff for our trip. It’s not WDW, but it will be FL.

And after Florida, I should have some internet for the next 6 days, but IDK how good it will be or when I’ll have it. We’ll see what we get for the money. I’d bring the starlink mini but it is specifically verbotten. Blogging will perforce be lame, tired, perfunctory, minimal, and intermittent. Or it will be just like a normal day but I’ll only check in at night. I guess we’ll see.

Today I’m flying to FL. Hopefully it won’t be a dumpster fire of a day. I’m not thrilled.

But life is what happens while you are making plans. It’ll be good for some things.

Stack. It’s so much easier.

nick

Read the comments: 62 Comments
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // end of file archive.php // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------