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Wed. Oct. 19, 2022 – still working, still stacking

Cold in the morning, cool all day, but warm in the sun.   That describes yesterday, and probably today.   It was gorgeous and sunny though the breeze was stiff and chilly at times.  It made working outdoors very pleasant.

Spent the day doing what I could to help the guys keep moving, and knocking off little tasks on my list.   The big thing I did was removing a 4 foot wide strip of decking from the dock so the guys can access the bulkhead today.   They are supposed to do the foam reinforcing and backfill later today.

Speaking of which, the sand fill under the house is so soft it’s essentially liquid.  The “Dingo” tracked machine can barely stay upright on the sand as it shifts around.  If I hadn’t been told to leave as much concrete as possible, they wouldn’t be able to use the machine.   Stabilizing the sand will move up my priority list.  Short of remove and replace, I’m thinking the foam injection makes sense.   Some sort of geotextile in layers might be possible but it would mean moving a bunch of the sand anyway.   Stabilizing the hill and the retaining walls was always on the radar, but the actual soil being wrong is a bit over the top…

I note that even if we’d scraped the house and started fresh, we’d still be facing some sort of soil and retaining corrections.   Ditto for the septic system.  And as an aside, the neighboring HOA park and boat launch is actually 2 lots, so I have even more distance on that side from any neighbors than I initially though.   You just don’t get that kind of space normally.   There is just a lot more up front work and expense than we’d have liked.

Today the guys will continue setting the helical piers, hopefully the foam guy will get started on the bulkhead, and after around noon, I’ll be headed home.   I’ve got a couple of pickups to do, some material to buy,  some tools I need to get from home, and I’m missing the kids.  After dinner  I’ll drive back up tonight so I can be here for the guys first thing on Thursday.

I should be able to bring up some more food stacks and maybe some medical as well.

Always be working to improve your position, and keep stacking!

nick

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Tues. Oct. 18, 2022 – work continues, rain didn’t stop them

Cool but damp in the morning, warming with the nuclear fire in the sky, but not getting crazy hot… that’s my hope anyway.   It stayed very nice (other than humid) all day yesterday.

The crew showed up and got to work.  The new machine does the job but has a learning curve.   Boss man did a pretty good job of climbing the curve.  He expects they’ll be faster today.  They started on the back side, where there wasn’t much, if any, water in the holes.  Most of the holes dried out while they were doing the other work.  If any are still wet today they have a pump.

I got a couple of smaller tasks done.  Moved my metal cabinet into the garage and moved all the canned goods and the freeze drieds to the cabinet.   Plenty of room for more.   I stacked the buckets beside it.   6x 30day buckets of freeze dried (but mostly breakfast and sides, no meat or good main meals).  60 days rice.  10 gallons of flour.  A shelf of pouch meat, and some canned chicken.  A couple of flats of veg and beans.   LOTS more to go before I feel comfortable but it would be good for a short term event.  It beats the heck out of foraging and eating cattail roots.

I’ve got a couple of different ways to cook up here, but need to get a set of coleman dual fuel appliances and some fuel stacked.   I’ve got the propane lantern and camp stove, and some 1 pound bottles already.  There is an electric hot plate and microwave too, if we lost gas, but had power.   I feel like I need some more depth, like I’ve got at home.  (Solid fuel camp stove, back packer stoves, butane table top stove, hobo stove, jet boil system, rocket stove, and more multiples of all that.)  I like to eat and I like to eat hot food.

Eventually we’ll get the wood burning stove in place and I’ll have that too.

There were TWO solar ovens, NIB, in an estate sale last week.  Never seen that before, but they got over $20 and I didn’t see where they ended up.   Too much for me anyway for something I’ve never used before and am a little dubious about.

Some accessories for cooking over an open fire would be nice too, tripod with chain, adjustable height grill, spit…and cast iron.  I need more cast iron up here.   I did bring up a turkey fryer propane ring and pots.   I can heat water in bulk, have a fish fry, or a crawdad boil with that.

I’m actually in good shape for alternative cooking.   I would like to be as set up for water treatment.  That is definitely on the list, beyond the sawyer mini and the other small filters.  We can always gross filter and boil, but that takes a lot of time and energy.  I need more bleach up here.

You can see that even with tall stacks there is always room for more.   Work on that!  Keep stacking!

nick

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Sun. Oct. 16, 2022 – headed out of town… got work to do

Cool and damp.   Getting warmer later.  It was fairly nice all day, but the humidity was high.   Sweat running down my back just standing around… yuck.  And likely more of the same today.

Did some of my stuff.   Got some Halloween stuff done, but first thing on the list today is getting a bunch of stuff out and set up.   I’m well known in the neighborhood for my decorations and that is a good thing.  I’m the guy with the great Halloween display and the cool Christmas stuff, not the weirdo waiting for the end of civilization.  I’m the guy who helped everyone out with plumbing parts after the freeze…   meatspace baby.

We’ll probably get around 150 kids if the weather is ok.    And I’m dressing up this year.   Been growing facial hair to help sell the costume.  It itches.  I don’t have a lot, and some of the facial scarring keeps hair from growing on one cheek, so it’s not symmetrical, but it’s the first time I’ve ever had sideburns.  My indian friends think it looks good.  Some of the younger guys think it looks good.  Everyone else thinks it looks silly.   I’m undecided.  Change is sometimes a good thing.  Hard to try something completely new at my age.   And I’ve been growing it for a couple of months, because it’s so thin and slow growing, so it looked even worse than it does now, as it finally looks intentional.  My oh my, don’t it make ya wanna cry.

Did some weeding in the raised beds.  The collards continue to do well, so I pruned them and weeded that bed.   And surprise, surprise, the watermelon started to grow!  It’s got vines and flowers.  Also, one pepper plant and one cabbage survived, and are growing now.  I weeded that bed too.  The biggest bed, that has the herb garden, is really only growing chives and the grape vines this season, but they are doing ok now.   Both vines had frozen back to the dirt, but they are climbing the trellis…  and even better, one of my potted citrus, that I thought was completely dead, is sprouting leaves and they are not growing just from the root stock but from the tree.  The other herbs are doing ok, other than the rosemary.  I can’t keep a rosemary bush alive for more than 2 seasons.  So it looks like I might have more garden than I thought.  Hooray.

Anyway, plan for today is more Halloween, some shopping at Lowes, maybe a dumpster run on the way out of town, and finally back up to the BOL.    Crew will be there around 9am  to start the actual foundation support work with the helical piles.  That should be interesting to watch.   If I get the plumbing parts I need at Lowes, I should have stuff to do all week while they work on the foundation.  If not, the list of other jobs is long and varied.  I’m sure I’ll stay occupied.

And I’ll be stacking more canned goods up there.   That will let me increase the stacks here too.   Stack it up fellow ants.  Don’t be a grasshopper.

nick

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Thur. Oct. 13, 2022 – Friday the thirteenth lands on a Thursday this month…

Cool and damp as a wet dishrag.   Sweating just waiting for the school bus.   And then hot in the afternoon sun.   Ol’ Sol still packs a wollop.   Last night it was still 79F at midnight.   That’s pretty warm and the reverse of the trend.  I am looking forward to Fall  getting here in earnest.

Spent the first part of the day online doing auction stuff.   Then went looking for some cables that someone wants to buy.   I haven’t sold any in a year, and I’ve “organized” stuff to the point that I couldn’t find them.   They weren’t at home, in the ready  to sell pile, nor were they where they used to be, in the deep storage.  I really hate when that happens.  I’ve got one more place to look today.

Then I went shopping, made dinner, did some auction stuff, and worked on mileage for taxes…  not a super fun day.

Today I’ve got to get to my storage unit and get stuff sorted and on shelves.  Shelves I have to clear a space for and assemble…  then get some more stuff out of the house.   I should do a pickup too.

No further word from the foundation guys.  I’m assuming we won’t try to do anything this week at this point.  I am frustrated by having to depend on these other guys for stuff I need.

How much more dependent am I on the bigger picture, society in general, for all my needs?   More than I’m comfortable with, that’s for sure.  They whole point of prepping is to reduce your dependence on others, to have backups to the “other controlled” aspects  of day to day life.   Disasters break those aspects of our lives, whether they be personal, or regional, or national, or global.   And we prep to minimize the effects when those dependencies break.

Stacks of stuff can help with most things.   Stacks of friends and acquaintances can help with the others.  Some you just have to ride out.

Stack what you can.

nick

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Wed. Oct. 12, 2022 – odometer rolled past 123456 and I missed it

Cool in Houston, getting warmer later.   It was very nice at the BOL.   It was reasonably nice in Houston.   It’s getting to be that time of year, like Spring, when it is very nice to live here.  Pity that the good weather is so short lived.

Mostly spent yesterday on nothing much.  Spent a couple hours chatting with my neighbor.   That was a lot of fun.  I’m learning alot about the history of the area and the lake.   Then I spent the afternoon locking up and driving home.

So not a productive day in the traditional sense.

Today I’m hoping to do some tax stuff, some ebay stuff, and some auction stuff.   First I have to get the kids out the door.  And I have to take a load of trash to my secondary location and dispose of it.   Lots of neglected things around the house here, and things to get together to take up to the BOL.

I’ll get to some of it.

And maybe I’ll get some stuff added to the stacks.   You should too.

 

nick

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Mon. Oct. 10, 2022 -10102022 – Columbus Day. Or shine the light of civilization on the vicious natives Day…

Cool now but hot later here at the BOL.  It got plenty hot later in the day yesterday, and I was sweating like crazy in the attic.  Today I’m hoping to avoid the attic.

My main task yesterday was running the pex in the attic and down to the kitchen.   If I stub out the kitchen, or just end the run, I can pressure test, as soon as I connect the stub out in the bathroom.  Dang it, I’m going to be in the attic anyway.  I forgot to connect the bathroom.   I knew there was more I needed to do while I was already covered in fiberglas…  now I’ll get sweaty and filthy again.  Maybe I’ll get it done early, before it gets so hot up there.   Pro tip, if you are going to be working with fiberglas, cover any exposed skin with talcum powder.  Wipe smooth with hand.  It will fill pores and stop most of the fiberglas from getting in your skin and itching.   Works for insulation or when working with resin and fiberglas, like on a boat.  Plain white ‘dryer sheets’ wiped across your skin will catch and remove any fibers that do get in your skin.  I like Bounce, but any of them will do.  Those two tricks will remove most of the discomfort from working with fiberglas.

I discovered while in the attic that there don’t appear to be any roof vents.   There are soffit vents, but nowhere for the hot air to exit.   I thought I was just unfamiliar with however they vent a metal roof, but from the inside, I don’t see any venting at all.   I’ll have to ask the roofing company about that.  Every roof I’ve ever seen has venting (except panelized cathedral ceiling.)

I also spent a little time on other things.  I sanded a bench. Pressure washing raised the grain, and eroded some of the softer part of the wood slats.   I did a quick and dirty sanding with the angle grinder.  It’s smooth, but worn.  Matches the rest of the condition, so it’s ok.  Next time, the slats will need to be replaced, and I’ll refurb the cast iron end frames then.  Until then, call it ‘shabby chic’.

My wife did some electrical, disconnecting the hall bathroom receptacle, installing light fixtures, tracing the circuits, and then installing a new fixture in the living room.   That was while I was in the attic doing plumbing.

I think I’ve got a good solution for attaching my cell booster antenna mast.   I picked up a basketball backboard mounting kit, and I’ve McGyvered the bracketry to clamp to a pipe and give me a place to clamp the mast, while extending it out past the roof overhang.  Feels like it will be very sturdy, and should work.   We’ll see, right?   At the moment, the mast, an extendable painting pole, is ratchet strapped to the chimney.  Redneck as all get out and it  has to move soon, so I can start taking down the chimney.

If the guys come today, we’ll work around them.  If they can’t get the part they’re waiting for, I’ll see them later in the week.  Wife and kids head home later today.  I’ll stay until I know the schedule has changed.   I may pause the fishing… and let my back recover.

Progress is being made.   Skills and contacts are stacking up.  Do some stacking of your own…

nick

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Sat. Oct. 8, 2022 – non- prepping hobby day, then back to the grind

Cooler and overcast in Houston today?  Maybe.  I got yesterday wrong at the lake, as it was overcast for at least the morning.  Houston was partly sunny, with rain in the distant south.   None at the house or while I was driving around.

And that’s mostly what I did yesterday, drove around.   Got home, planted myself in front of the panopticon and bathed in the flow from the fat pipe… or plopped down in front of multiple screens and surfed all my normal blogs ’til I was caught up.

I did spend some time cleaning up my ‘family’ blog.   We started it for hurricane comms to our families but most of that happens directly or through fakebook now.  We haven’t even done a ‘hi there’ post on it in years.   But  there are some good memories in the comments and posts, so we leave it up.  Unfortunately, askismet ran out, the comment spammers found the site, and I never closed comments on old posts.  So my inbox has been filling up with ‘someone posted a comment on your blog’ notices, and ‘please moderate this comment’ notices from WordPress.  I ended up deleting over 5000 spam comments and locking comments on all the posts.  Tedious, took a while, but not hard.  I should probably take it down, there is way to much personal info there, and I could save the hosting fees, but some of the comments are from people who have since died, and it doesn’t feel right.  For now, it’s up, but frozen.

No shoeboxes full of old photos for this generation.   Just bitrot, and ghost sites.  Maybe someone in the future will collect old thumbdrives, harddrives, and CDs like people now collect old photos, diaries, and other ephemera.  I can almost imagine a gallery show (virtual of course) “Curated photos from before The Fall, a collection of dinner entre’s from the early 2020s”  and the adjunct gallery “Desserts commonly available in “restaurants” during pre-Fall times…”

Today I’ve got my local get together, then a shopping trip, and back to the BOL for more work.   And a long weekend with family, of course.

Stack some of the things you need to pass on your history and culture to your ‘tribe’.  And stack some ‘tribe’ too.

nick

 

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Thur. Oct. 6, 2022 – plumbing and electrical on the schedule

Cool and damp this am, followed by really nice.  Thermometer says it got over 100F in the sun but I find that hard to believe.  Didn’t feel like it at all.

I got a bunch of stuff done, but the pace was a bit leisurely, and some stuff jumped up the list and had to be dealt with.  Stuff that I thought would be next week, and done by someone else!  It just points out that every single system here, and all the parts, will need to be updated.   I have no idea how I’ll get to the hose bibs, outside of opening interior walls, but I know I better do it before they fail.  I’ve got at least a rough plan for the other stuff.

Today should involve some electrical, some plumbing, and maybe some carpentry.  I’m also meeting with the foundation company’s foam guy to talk about getting the house ready, and to take a look at the bulkhead.  It’s a lot easier to do electrical and plumbing when the family isn’t here.   I can turn stuff off without considering them, and I’m not under the gun to get it back on.  On the other hand, it’s awfully quiet.

That should end tomorrow evening.

Having some spare parts stacked sure made yesterday’s issue a whole lot easier to tackle…   stack some repair and maintenance parts.  And if you don’t already have the knowledge and skills to use them, stack some reference books.   !Stack all the things!

 

nick

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Wed. Oct. 5, 2022 – le sigh. Work pauses…

Chilly in the morning getting hot in the afternoon, with cooler temps in the evening.

It was pretty darn chilly when the contractor got here yesterday.   Might have been 58F?  Felt cooler after they started working too.  It did get pretty hot in the sun.  I took a break and did some fishing, and I might have even got some sunburn on my neck.   Didn’t catch anything, although lots of fish were out eating.  The minnow were schooling and following my lure, and a turtle followed it all the way to the dock.  I could have let him catch it if I slowed a little bit.  Between the minnows and the turtle, I think the bait is convincing, the fish must just not have been biting.

The work crew got all the holes dug, and the house is ready for jacking… which might not happen until next week.  They are awaiting a deliver so they can use their  new machine.  Everybody seems to be waiting for deliveries.  In any case I get to sleep in today.

Then it will be working the list.   I think I may go into town for some plumbing  pipe.  The supply line cut off valve will need to be replaced, and a new service entry for water installed.  It was buried and it’s rotten.   The foundation guys are also licensed plumbers so I asked them to quote me for the work.   They will also need to fix the transition from the house’s iron sewer pipe to plastic that feeds into the septic tank.   The current joint is broken and leaking.   We didn’t see it during the septic work because it was under the sidewalk, and buried.

We also discovered that there aren’t any repair piers along one wall where we expected them to be.  Since the fill dirt level is only a couple of inches to a foot, the plan was to just ‘tune up’ those piers.  But they aren’t there at all, which would explain the foundation sinking there…  there will be additional charges for new (traditional) remediation piers along  that wall.  The other piers are mostly bearing on sand.  Not sharp, compact-able sand.  Soft sand. Or should I say, NOT bearing, as they are sinking through the sand.   Shoddy work.  All going to be replaced.  Just as soon as the part comes in.

So supply chain issues continue to plague industry.   Grab it if you need it,  there might not be any for a while…

Stack it high.

nick

 

 

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Tues. Oct. 4, 2022- holes are being dug, site is being prepared…

Another cool morning followed by hot afternoon, and cool evening.  Definitely Fall north of Houston.

Started yesterday about an hour earlier than planned, but on the other hand, they didn’t need me to move most of the stuff I was planning to move.  The holes confirm that the old foundation repair was doomed to fail from the beginning.   No soil to bear on under the down hill side of the house.  Sand, and silt.  Good thing these helical piles don’t care…  They are due back here today at 7am and hope to finish the digging today.

Lake was down even more.   This would be a good time to work on the rotten support pilings for the dock as most of them are out of the water now.   Too bad I’ve got other fish to fry.

Skeeters are out in force.   They don’t usually bite me, and if they do it doesn’t raise a welt, but the buzzing in my ear drives me mad, and I can feel them on my skin.   This is the first visit where they were really noticeable and for some reason the house is full of them.

Asked one of the neighbors that’s been up here a long time what fruit trees he thought would be hardy and would grow well, he suggested peach and plum.  Said that apples didn’t do well.  I already have a persimmon tree.  Can’t remember if I’d mentioned that.  Fruit is delicious and sweet.   Big seed though.  I can’t recall ever eating a persimmon before.

Didn’t see any animals last night, but there were lots of raccoon and deer tracks in the mud along the shoreline.  DID see a big snake in the water as I was packing up my radio…   since he was under the water and still, I’m guessing ‘Plain-bellied Water Snake’ based on color.   Hard to tell at a distance though.  I do not care for snakes, especially ones that lurk.   It’s country out here.

Stacking up good will and ties to the community this week.  Knowledge too.   Stack something good.

nick

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