Font Size:     

Category: open thread

Fri. Jun. 17, 2022 – life. the universe. everything

Moderately hot weather, with clear skies, somewhere north of Houston, and north of Texas.

Seeing family (wife’s father’s side) and hanging out.

Meatspace.

At least some of the kids are alright.

Plan for the day is maybe a movie, maybe just pool and people time.

Had some excellent BBQ yesterday, no sauce needed.

Hotel is very nice.  Courtyard is really upping their design game.  Two big tvs in the room, both with fast internet streaming services included.   Watching our favorite youtube channels is nice.  Lots of signs and video about how clean they are keeping everything to keep us safe.   Restaurant next door had “social distancing” signs on the tables and had them set up for half capacity.   Not many masks on anyone other than service people, and a few airline passengers.  Definitely seeing that stratification by class/job duties.  Don’t care for it in the USA.

The airport and flight didn’t suck.  Waiting for the rental car shuttle did.  Small problems.

n

Use the time wisely.  Stack it up.

Read the comments: 51 Comments

Thur. Jun. 16, 2022 – travel day

Hot and humid, clear for another day or two.   But I’m not going to be here…

Spent yesterday hiding from the heat and working on the computer.  Had to get a Scope of Work and drawings done for the new electrical service at the BOL.  Took longer than it should have.   Then swim team, dinner, packing…

Packing? Why yes.  Family thing happening needs us to travel today.   I guess I’ll see the airport first hand, and on cattle car Southwest at that.  No perks for me.  As boarding chute C, we probably won’t even get to sit together as a family.   If nothing else, it should convince my wife that paying up to fly on an airline where I have status is worth it.

I’ll stub out posts for the next couple of days, just in case I have connectivity issues.

In any case, I probably won’t be checking in much for the next couple of days.  Talk amongst yourselves, and put any breaking news here.   I will have a thin pipe and not much time to surf my usual sources.

And if y’all are dying for some prime content, Peter at bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com has several things up lately that are worth a read.  He’s of the same mind as me, better stack it up.

nick

Read the comments: 63 Comments

Tues. Jun. 14, 2022 – Flag Day

Hot and humid, still, again, and always.  Really unpleasant here in Houston.  Much nicer 2 hours north.

Got a bunch of stuff done before leaving the lake for Houston.   Got home in time to see D2 swim two races.

These are the good old days.

Today I’ve got to do some stuff involving auction items and a forklift.   A forklift that hasn’t moved in 2 years.  It will move today, one way or the other.

There isn’t enough time in the day/week/month/year to do everything, and some stuff slipped.  Now it has to unslip, and in a great big hurry.   Bugger me.

So probably short shrift today.   Amuse yourselves as western civilization crumbles around us…  might as well.

And stack something needful.  In case, you know, you need it.

n

Read the comments: 63 Comments

Fri. May 20, 2022 – at the BOL, doing stuff

Fantastic day here in the north, sunny and clear.   Hot and humid later, but probably not as hot and humid as Houston.  I’ll find out when I get home.

Met with the electrician yesterday.  Our next step is to talk to the provider, a co-op, and determine how much capacity we can get, schedule, etc.

He’s proposed a couple changes that would let us do the work for the service and the septic, while taking longer to do the work on the grounding and outbuildings.  All the old will come out, and new will go in.  Except for wiring inside the house, that will stay but have grounds added, I think.  He’s pretty sure we’ll find the buried electrical when we start trenching for the septic 😛

Oh yeah, when I fired up the mower a huge doe ran across the yard.  She looked pretty panicked.   Did I mention she was huge?   Mmmmm, tasty deer…

Watered the garden.  No sign of raiders yet, but no shoots either.

I’ve got a couple of things to do here today before I can leave.  I need to remove the paneling around the current breaker panels so the electrician can see what he’s working with to land in the new panel, and I’d like to plant one more row of salad veg, with some squash, pumpkin, and watermelon.  That may not get done, if it’s hot or if I run out of time.

 

Gas was $4 at costco and there were weekend long lines at 1pm on Thursday.   I saw it as high as $4.39 at the HEB next to the freeway.  My 260 mile round trip costs double what it did a year ago.

Refilling all my hurricane gas storage will HURT this year.

Stash some stuff, stack some more stuff.

 

n

Read the comments: 65 Comments

Mon. May 9, 2022 – let’s get this party started…

Hot and humid, not much chance of clouds.  The next three days look the same.   Yesterday was hot in Houston, and at the BOL.

Some work got done, some fun was had.

Today is nose to the grindstone.   Again.   This time for realz.

Because hard times are coming.

Stack it up.

n

Read the comments: 79 Comments

Sun. May 8, 2022 – Happy Mother’s Day

Hot here, and continues to be hot in Texas, and much of the mid-west.  It was in the 80’s even with some overcast, and late in the day.  I’m expecting the same today, but maybe today I’ll get in the lake.

Saturday had me doing a bunch of stuff before leaving the house.  One thing was putting my network rack back together and making sure my cams were up and recording.   Two of the neighbors had their trucks burglarized the night before and I didn’t get any video.  Both left the trucks unlocked, both lost gubs.   That is just seriously stupid, and it’s the second time for the one guy.

Finally I got on the road.  Stopped in Conroe to do a pickup.  More stuff for the BOL.   Eventually got here.

My perfectly prepped garden has sprouted GRASS in a uniform layer.   If I’d  planted it, I doubt it would have looked so good.  That’s going away today, and some veg WILL get planted.  One good thing, it showed that the back two feet of tilled earth don’t really get enough sunlight.  The new grass was much thinner there.  I will keep that in mind as I plant.

Lots of projects today, we’ll see what gets done.   We will get out on the water, and I think I’ll probably get into the water this trip.   My wife insists that we have some fun today.

And since it’s Mother’s Day, and she’s a mom, I guess I better do what she tells me to do….

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms.

n

Read the comments: 29 Comments

Tues. Apr. 19, 2022 – now the week can really get started

Clear and moderate again today.  Like yesterday I hope.

Didn’t get much done on my personal list yesterday.  My wife had a list for me, and the universe laughs in my face when I make plans…

So some will shift to today, and some will fall by the wayside.

And some other tasks will get added to the pile.   Stack up all the things, he said.   Stacked up all the tasks is what happened!

Ah well, life IS the stuff we do while we’re planning to do something else.

So, start the day at the desk, get out of the house, do some things, and come home and do some more.   Simple, and yet complex.

Like everything, including prepping.

Stack up the stuff you need.   Including the knowledge that you won’t get it all, and you won’t get it all done.  Journey, not destination, and it has its own rewards.

n

Read the comments: 46 Comments

Thur. Apr. 14, 2022 – driving to BOL

Clear and comfortable today.  I hope.  Yesterday was overcast and some parts of Houston and surrounds got hammered with rain.  I never saw more than a drizzle.

Picked up a third of the pipes I went north for yesterday.   What looked like ordinary light weight fence posts turned out to be crazy heavy, schedule 80 galvanized pipe.   I only got six 10ft pipes on the truck and it was already caving in the roof.   I’ll either get a trailer for the rest, including the 20ft pipes, or have them deliver to the  BOL.   I did not know delivery was an option.  It might not be if the cost is more than renting a trailer and buying the gas.   The pipe is so heavy I might save it for the dock repairs and use pipe instead of pilings.

 

Today I’ve got two pickups on the way to the BOL to meet with the second opinion septic engineer.  Haven’t heard back from the first guy yet about schedule, or cost.  He’s got a reputation for good work but also for being hard to pin down.  Considering we’ll be living with the system for a long time, it makes sense to have another opinion.

So I will not be commenting or riding herd for most of the day.   I’ll likely spend the night up there, and drive home on Friday to get ready for Easter.   There I go, making plans.   Hope that doesn’t bite my backside later.

I’ve got a bunch of stuff to take up with me of course, and work to do while I’m there.  No rest for the wicked I’m afraid.

Stacking for two now, turning money into stuff.  It’s one strategy for dealing with high inflation.  Stack it up, while it’s still cheap.

nick

 

Read the comments: 46 Comments

Sun. Apr. 10, 2022 – day of rest. Trying to anyway…

Another crisp and clear day, cool but warming through the day.   It was beautiful.  Hoping for more.

It was 66F when I went to bed, instead of the two previous nights when it was 46F.  Perhaps winter’s last hurrah, and now we’re moving safely into spring and then summer…

Did my errands.   Did not go to the BOL.  Didn’t get any calls from the new septic guy either.   I hope he went by the property.  I hope he can design a system that meets our goals.

Went by my storage unit twice.  Got one auctioneer to commit to taking another load on Tues.  Found a couple of real good resale items.   All in all a good day yesterday.

 

Today I’m sleeping in.   I’m wiped out and need to catch up.  Can’t face the new world order on a sleep deprived brain.

Can’t  really face anything well, with a sleep deprived brain.

So talk amongst yourselves, until I bestir myself.

n

 

(and stack something)

Read the comments: 20 Comments
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // end of file archive.php // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------