Category: personal

Mon. Feb. 21, 2022 – 02212022 – Presidents’ Day, or just another day to work

Cool-ish and plenty damp. Misty fog in the forecast.  Probably clearing later.  It’s how yesterday started, and ended.  With parts of Houston getting showers, I only got mist on the north side, and west side.

I spent the day doing stuff, and then the afternoon and evening moving heavy stuff around at my secondary and storage unit.  That made two days in a row with lifting and carrying and my back is killing me.

Kids are home today, so I’m home too.   I have plenty to do but very little interest in doing it.  I feel like I should be doing our normal hurricane prep– what with the things going on on the world stage, and closer to home.

I should feel a sense of urgency, but I can’t muster the energy.  Disaster fatigue?  Who knows.  Time is short though.

Go stack something.  Lots of somethings.

n

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Sun. Feb. 20, 2022 – a day of rest……………. ha! only kidding!

Cool and damp, maybe even cold…   It wasn’t bad yesterday.  Started cold, got cool, then even nice later in the day.  Sun was out and that was nice.  Today should be similar.

Did my volunteer time at the kid’s school.   We updated and installed a bunch of lights in their theater.  Turns out, my wife is working a plan in meatspace, as well as helping out with the theater and PTA.  It’s not an ulterior motive, it’s just that her involvement has multiple motives.

Closed out the basketball season with younger kid.

‘Bout ready to close out winter and start on Spring, truth be told.

No further info about closing tomorrow on the BOL… but we filed and amendment to move closing to next week.  Probably not necessary, but in the current real estate market, crossing every T and dotting every I is advisable.

And none of my tasks got accomplished on Saturday.  So I have more than ever to do today.  If I’m not a groaning sore broken wreck…

Build some relationships out in meatspace.  Move a project or three forward.  Stack some stuff.  Ya know ya wanna….

n

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Sat. Feb. 19, 2022 – it certainly keeps me busy…

Cold and windy, and cold.  Yesterday started cold and stayed cool all day, although the sun did come out and it did warm up somewhat.

I ran a bunch of errands during the day.   Cooked some of the $5/pound T bone steaks for dinner.  Read.  Went to bed early.  I was wiped out.

Today I’ll be helping my wife upgrade the lighting in the theatre in the school D1 attends.  I’ll also be taking a bunch of BOL stuff to my secondary.  I’ve got a plan, but it’s probably not a good one… gonna try anyway.

 

While I do believe bad things will be happening and bad times will come and get worse, I still have to live my life like there IS a tomorrow.  Hence the volunteer hours at school, and the getting together with other families, and buying a lakehouse…   Forecast calls for pain, but the forecasters are wrong all the time too.

So stack, but LIVE too.

n

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Fri. Feb. 18, 2022 – you load 16 tons and whadda ya get???

Cold today.  Yesterday was rainy in the morning, but dried up and got hot in the afternoon. Temps  started dropping in the late afternoon and it was down to 42F at 11pm.  Wind was variable but quite gusty.  Stuff was blowing around in the yard and driveway. Today is supposed to be cold with overcast.  Joy.

Did my pickups.  Got some stuff for the BOL.   Got some stuff for this household.   Picked up a couple of small things to resell to pay for the rest and one item for my hobby.

Got stuff to donate to school.  White man’s burden?  Noblesse oblige?  Can’t call it either, but in our district they definitely expect parents with the means to step up and contribute in some way to the schools and the district in general and there isn’t a lot of diversite’ above certain income levels.   It’s not just income though, it’s free time and the ability to work at something effectively.  The loss of the fraternal service organizations and their ‘women’s auxiliary’ and the womens service clubs was a nearly fatal blow to US society and western culture.  “Moms’ Clubs” and other informal groups are stepping up, but they lack the continuity and structure of the old groups.  The transition from high trust to low trust is everywhere and increasingly common.

Stuff for the BOL is piling up.   I need to close so we can start moving stuff out of my spaces and out to the country.  Unfortunately,  unless the title company pulls their head out of their backside, I don’t think we’ll be closing on Monday.

There is the additional macroeconomic consideration too.  We transferred a bunch of money into one place, in preparation for buying the BOL.  Now Canada has gone and said they will seize bank accounts if they feel like it.   That SHOULD cause a bank run.  There is some suggestion that at least a low key bank run is happening.  A real bank run could cause widespread damage and disruption worldwide, but certainly in their largest trading partner, the US.    So, I want to get the transaction done without delay, so as to avoid getting screwed if the banks shut down.

And all of the vehicles need maintenance of some kind.  Ranger and Expy need oil changes.   Expy is going to need new front brake pads soon.  Wife’s minivan probably needs everything…  it never ends.

The house still needs all the stuff it needed a couple of months ago, with the only exception being that the water heater is installed and making hot water.   Not completely installed, or anywhere near finished, but installed.

After a month or two of feeling resigned, I feel like fighting again.   Not rested, but going back at it anyway.

I’m stacking, hopefully the right things, and you should be too.

 

N

 

(and congrats to everyone that is, Mr Lynn, Mr Atoz, and anyone else who is trying out a prep, or stacking.)

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Thur. Feb. 17, 2022 – Entropy, perversity, and tyranny — the universe must love them

Cool and damp.  Like yesterday turned out to be.  We got some rain in the morning, and misty drizzle later too.   Just enough to be grey and damp, and to make the road slippery.  It was warm long enough that I ended up turning on the A/C before bed as temps in the house crept up to 77F.  That meant 82F in my office which was just too dang hot.  We’ll see how today goes, but I need to do the pickups I didn’t do yesterday, so I’m hoping it’s not too wet.

 

I was coughing and didn’t feel great in the morning so I took a wuflu self test.  Negative again.   That’s something like 6 times I felt bad enough to test, and yet still don’t have the coof.  I’ll head to bed early as the universal remedy for sickness.

Spent most of yesterday on domestic bliss.  Did 2 loads of laundry, folded same.   Did some cleanup and putting away of stuff that’s been out for far too long.   Did some restocking of cabinets.  Then got the kid and went book shopping at the thrifts.   She bought more clothes than books, but did manage to find a half dozen.  Prices in the independent thrift store were high.   Much higher than normal.  It could be a new manager setting prices more aggressively, or it could be inflation showing up in the staff’s perception of what a good price would be.   I managed to get a couple of books, and a benchrest for shooting gubs.

Today I’ve got pickups if it’s not raining.  That will free me up to get out to my client on Friday.  Bought some stuff to donate to daughter’s school.  Wife is already donating both our time this weekend, and something they need in the theater showed up in my auction.  Funny how that happens in my life.

The world continues in its tendency toward increasing tyranny.  The latest from our neighbors to the north slid right by, with nary an objection, and might be used lightly this first time.   They always come back and use it full strength at some point though.   I’d be decreasing my cash in the bank, and increasing my valuable stuff close at hand.  No one ever thinks they’ll come for them, until it’s too late and they have.

The tendency toward increased perversity should be obvious after 10 minutes review of current pop culture.  It wasn’t that long ago that a band could sing a song based on Bible stories.   In fact many bands could do so and each could make it their own, and no one would object, and most people hearing it would already know the story.   Today the dominant pop culture celebrates drug use, violence, misogyny, obscenity, and pornography.

Our president says the smartest guy he knows is a crack head who films himself using drugs and having sex with whores, and who can’t even keep  track of his own laptop with the videos on it, as well as evidence of his other crooked deals.  The previous Democrat administration was so crooked, listing the crimes would get a novel with that plot thrown out as completely impossible fantasy.

Legal abortion, which was supposed to be ‘rare’ has killed 23 million black babies alone, by some estimates.  The social “reforms” of the 60s and 70s have destroyed the black family, destroyed the cities and black neighborhoods, and encouraged a culture of decadence and dependence that has poisoned the soul of black America instead of uplifting it.

This person is reading stories to our kids in the library, and this person is now in charge of our nuclear waste…  At least he has some background in the field, but he seems to have gotten the position “because of” not “in spite of” his clear mental illness.

 

I’m not just a grumpy old man complaining about the kids today.  This stuff that would have been unimaginable a decade ago is really happening.   And it’s being CELEBRATED.

The center cannot hold.

You and I don’t have enough preps.  Stack it up.  Keep it secret.  Keep it safe.

n

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Tues. Feb. 15, 2022 – some days it’s just a journal…

Cold changing to cool, changing to really pleasant later in the day.   I really enjoyed yesterday afternoon.  Blue sky, nice breeze,  moderate temps.  I’ll love another couple of days like that.

Spent the morning at my desk then on a pickup in Sugar Land.  Then on to my secondary location.   After that it was pick up the brat (couldn’t resist the rhyme, but she’s really very sweet).  We went grocery shopping, picked up some cards, then got dinner started.  Played my third game of chess and lost.  Made a stupid mistake and didn’t defend my king properly.  We replayed from that point on and I eventually won, but it took a lot more than the 3-4 moves I initially thought it would.   I’m liking playing with a 10 yo.  Probably wouldn’t like playing with someone who knew all the games and moves for thousands of variations by heart.

Today I’ve got a whole bunch of pickups in the same general direction, so I’ll do a big loop.   It’s mostly stuff for this house or the BOL.   I keep bidding on kayaks but I don’t want to pay!  I’ll get one eventually for cheap enough that I can afford it AND the foundation work…

Speaking of fixes, at the BOL they have a system to pump lake water into the grass sprinklers.   That pump is about the only thing I’m worried about freezing last week.  Anyone know if a ‘shallow well jet pump’ is what that might be or if such a beast is appropriate for that job?   There are a bunch of them in the auctions this week, and it seems like the universe telling me something…  Signs and portents, they are everywhere.  It’s just one of a thousand small jobs that might or will need to be done pretty soon after we take possession.  The list of stuff is long.  The house didn’t have much maintenance for the last dozen years, and no style or tech updates in 40…

There’s always something more to do.  The plumbers came back and finished their work, so now the rest of putting the wall and ceiling back together is on me, as well as the siding and any sort of dressing up that the piping needs.  I hope my wife will arrange the electrician, or I’ll be doing that too.  I need two of me.

It’s all in the service of getting set for what’s coming.  Old water heater was failing in 2008 when we bought the house.  We got our money’s worth but it was WAY past time to replace it.   Same with the HVAC system.  The trick will be finding a replacement as sturdy, simple, and long lasting.  The shortage of very high end systems may work in our favor there.  I don’t need a Lambo, I need a Ford truck.

There’s always more to stack, another skill to learn or practice, more gear, more parts… more people.  Get busy!

 

n

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Mon. Feb. 14, 2022 – Valentine’s Day in the US, so pony up for the pretty….

Cool, clear, some wind…  I hope.   Yesterday was, with a gorgeous sky.   I could use more nice days, without the freezing howling wind.

Did some stuff during the day, but mostly auction shopping for the <s>new house</s>  BOL.  Then ran a couple of errands, swung by the storage unit, and got ready for today.

Pickup and drop off today, with a visit to my secondary.  Then daddy and D2 will do some projects or play chess… and dinner, etc.

I feel more sense of accomplishment when I don’t list all the things I am not going to get done.  Funny that.

Getting to be time for some planting.  Officially, we could still get a frost, but it doesn’t feel like it this year.  I need a plan for home and for the BOL.  We’re still a week or more from signing, but there’s a lot to do and I’d hate to miss a planting because I didn’t do the planning.  I’m bidding on another of the seed displays too.  Isn’t it Alas Babylon that the lady decides to store seed packets as light and cheap trade goods?

Needles and thread might be a good choice too.   The old treadle powered sewing machines are going for crazy money in the estate auctions.   Hundreds of dollars if they are in good shape and running.   Electric ones, unless they are brand new and feature rich, are going for $20-50 for the most part.  Older Kenmores are solid machines and can be had cheaply.  If you don’t have a sewing machine, I’d recommend getting a used one, and a basic book on sewing, and use it.  Since the crowd here is mostly men, use it to do some masculine stuff, like making your own web gear, or covering some old furniture… or make a shop apron.  Or doll clothes for the kid.  Think of it as just another power tool to learn and use.

Stack some tools and the knowledge to use them.  Stack the stuff needed too.

 

n

 

(and get something nice for your spouse.  you need the support and help.)

 

 

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Sun. Feb. 13, 2022 – Friday the 13th falls on a Sunday this month…

Cold again, and still damp.   I could barely walk yesterday morning.  And it was blowing to beat the band.  Today should be more of the same.

Did my stuff yesterday.   Been doing a lot of driving around so I’ve got various audio books in the vehicles to keep me interested and awake.  I am finding that I really like it, if I like the reader.   In the pickup, Frozen Heat, Richard Castle.  Melodrama in the pretend style of pretend author, spun off [or filled in?] from the TV show Castle.  Nathan Fillon in the original role, and I keep trying to hear his voice, but the reader does a good job despite not being Fillon.   It’s silly, and very much a ‘play within a play, within a play.’   Really liked the show, and I’m enjoying the silly book.  It has some easter eggs, like a cop duo named Malcom, and Reynolds and it doesn’t take itself seriously.

In the Expy, Einstein, Walter  Isaacson.  Well read, it’s a bio of Einstein along with an explanation of his ideas.  Very accessible, and I’m learning things.

Also in the Expy, when the kid is in the truck, The Magician’s Nephew, Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis.  Produced by Focus on the Family, it’s a dramatization and is fully produced with voice talent, sound effects, etc.   I read through the Chronicles many times, but don’t remember this one so it’s fun to hear it.  All of the discs in this set are well done, with the exception of a VERY strange vocal acting choice for Aslan.  Recommended if you liked the stories.

I ran out of the Louis Lamour stories, but I found some more of the Sherlock Holmes, and I’ve got a couple more of the Richard Castle books too.   Audiobooks on CD are cheap on ebay, and I’m really enjoying listening to them, which I really didn’t expect.  Beats the snot out of AM talk radio….

 

I’ve talked to a lot of people this week, during my errands.   Most of them thing wuflu is about over, and certainly treating it as a special ongoing disaster is D O N E done.    There is a broad awareness of coming hard times.  People see the shortages, they feel the pinch of the inflation.  Let’s Go Brandon got a return chorus from the group at my hobby club meeting when someone mentioned inflation.   There are a lot of retired technical specialists and small business owners in the group, but this is the first year there has been much mention of politics.  It’s normally a politely politics free space  focused on our common interest.   I spent about 10-15 minutes talking to one of the guys about lakehouses, rent houses, and how he’s selling stuff off and getting out of his investments.  He figures property is about as high as it’s really likely to go, and interest rates will kill it.  I’m kinda inclined to agree.  And everyone was talking about supply chain issues and scarcity impacts on construction, repair, and the economy.

 

Do your own research, draw your own conclusions, but I’m betting on “much worse before it gets better” and while I can’t pick a specific time, “soon” seems about right.   Stack all the things.   It’s gonna get sporty.

nick

 

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Sat. Feb. 12, 2022 – non-prepping hobby day

Cool and damp but clear and not cold… I hope.  Really nice yesterday as long as you were in the sun.

Got a bunch of stuff yesterday, drove all over town.   Picked up D2 from early dismissal, and went out for more.

Today I’ve got my quarterly hobby mini-swapmeet and get together, which will keep me occupied for a few hours this morning.  Then I’m driving out to Conroe to pick up some patio furniture.   Aluminum chairs and table, definitely not new, but holy cow the stuff is expensive new.  Used will be  just fine for a while.

I’ll be away from the keyboard but will check in.  Keep it to a dull roar…

 

and stack something.

n

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Fri. Feb. 11, 2022 -02112022 – well this week zipped by….

Cool, eventually, but starting cold.    It was 38F Thursday morning, but 54F at midnight, with gorgeous skies and temps in between.

Got dressed and did some small things to get ready for no water most of the day, but then I left… so I didn’t have to suffer the consequences of not having a pitcher of drinking water available.   It wasn’t really a big deal.   There was plenty  of other stuff available, and there were hundreds of gallons I would have used if needed.

Drove around and did my pickups.   Hit the Habitat reStore, and a couple of thrifts looking for stuff for the lakehouse.  Got stuff to resell instead, and stuff for this house.

Did I mention I bought a little boat?  Well, I un-bought it too.  It was a vintage Terry bass boat, a project about half done.  It was cheap, and the repairs were straightforward.  BUT I found out yesterday that it didn’t have a title.  It’s a huge pain in the butt to even try to title an old boat in Texas.   The official TX agency says “Don’t buy a boat without a title in Texas!” right on their website.  So I told the seller I wouldn’t be buying it after all.  Saves figuring out how to get it here… and doing the work.  I’ll need to do some work, no matter what I eventually buy, simply because I can’t afford and probably couldn’t bring myself to buy a new boat anyway…  but this one isn’t THE one.

If you own stuff with titles, put them somewhere your heirs and assigns can find them.

Today is more pickups.  First auction stuff, then D2 from her early dismissal, then another pickup or two.  And shipping.  Sold something so I need to find it and ship it.   I should probably do some cleaning up around here too.

Mundane, everyday life.  Cook, clean, work, repeat.

And stacking, don’t forget that.

n

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