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Category: Random Stuff

Sat. April 1, 2023 – Fool’s Day. Nice that they get one too…

White rabbit white rabbit white rabbit.

Warmish and damp.   Overcast.   Yesterday was much nicer later in the day.   It even cleared up, although there was some moisture from the sky in various places, it never really rained and the sky was visible most of the time.

I did some errands in the morning, then helped out a friend in the afternoon.   At an auction I picked up a power chair for him to give to his mother.   It needs batteries and a little spring but is otherwise shiny and like new.   A lot of folks get a scooter and don’t last long enough to wear it out… but it will be a nice quality of life upgrade for his mom.  Anyway, got that delivered, then headed north.

I had an estate sale thing based on my non-prepping hobby, and it was more than an hour north.   It lasted a couple hours, then I headed home.   I did pick up some stuff, but not what I was hoping for based on the pictures.  None the less, I’ll have some good stuff for ‘show and tell’ next week.

The guy was a collector, not a hoarder.   He had several different, unrelated collections, and he tended to quantity over quality.   In a youtube video last night, someone I’ve started watching called himself ‘an accumulator’, not a ‘hoarder’.    There is a difference and the new word fits both the guy whose stuff I was going through, and me.   I ‘accumulate’.  I don’t ‘hoard’.

I think most of us accumulate.   It’s a very human thing to accumulate resources.   Even homeless people do it.   Prisoners do it.  The people featured in “Alone” do it.   The Jack Reacher character doesn’t do it and it freaks out everyone who notices.

I’m accumulating stuff I hope will help me later, mostly for living but also for recreation and hobby use.   I try to make sure the stuff I keep is good stuff, and not just a lot of stuff.   I recommend y’all do it too.   Stack it up.

nick

 

(and to back up my contention that there is money laying around everywhere, you just have to recognize it, I picked up an automobile transmission on the side of the road coming home from my buddy’s house, and dropped it off at the scrap yard.   Turned it into a quick $14.   Not gonna send the girls to college, but pays for a few gallons of gas, and only took a few extra minutes of life.)

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Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 – Hmmm, still got stuff to do, who woulda thunk it?

Cool and damp.  Clear later…  or that’s the hope and prediction.   Don’t know if it will be true.   I HOPE so.  Yesterday was variable, and different everywhere.   Stiff breeze, spatter of rain, distant rain while  the sun shone locally, all kinds of weather in Houston and all in the same day.

Did some errands.   Placed some orders.   Hit the bins…  now today I need to take some full bins of my own to the auction.  I’ve stacked a bunch of stuff ready to go, but I need clear weather to do it.

Today in addition to the (hopeful) dropoff, I’ve got two pickups.   Almost all of it is household stuff, or stuff for the BOL.   Everything ends up in the auctions, even the pimple cover dots that D1 uses, and hand cream that my wife uses, only in the auction, it’s cheaper.

I may even get to the grocery store later in the day.

It’s a full life, and fulfilling, but it sure takes a lot of time.

Stack something you haven’t been stacking.  Gloves.  Socks.  Underwear.  Glasses?  Hearing aid batteries?  There is something you haven’t even thought about because you buy it only  very infrequently…  stack some of that.

nick

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Sun. Feb. 19, 2023 – date feels weird somehow, what am I missing?

Cool here at the BOL, and damp of course.  Yesterday was nice.   Cool and clear with some clouds.  Bit nippy in the evening.  Today should be nice.

I did a couple of errands before heading up yesterday.  Dropped in on my gun store buddy.   Helped the wife and kids get ready for 6 hours of cookie booth…   then loaded up the truck and headed out.

Didn’t get much done other than putting food away, and unloading the truck.  Didn’t really expect to with the late start.

Today should be plumbing and electrical with a side of cleaning and organizing.  I might run the mower to keep the weeds down, and the gas fresh.  Battery is probably down though, in which case, I’ll get the charger going.   I need to do the full spring service before too long.   I have all the stuff but have been putting it off.

There are some branches to collect and maybe if there isn’t much wind, I’ll try burning some of my slash pile.  Lot of burning brush piles on the way in yesterday.  Given the level of the lake, there has been a lot of rain lately.  I might need to use an accelerant.  Always a good time…

The journey of a thousand steps– yada yada.

Prep.  Improve.  Stack…

 

n

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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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Sun. Oct. 2, 2022 – 10022022 – really just more of the same…

Cool and crisp.  Warming later.   Sun.   Beautiful weather.

I didn’t get to the BOL on Saturday.   Too many things to do, some of which went long, and some of which just popped up…   Sold my forklift.   Lost about $400, after having it for 3+ years.   Like boats, unless it is earning you money, rent, don’t buy.  Getting it started after a couple months sitting, after 3 years not moving, took a bit longer than I had budgeted, and the guy was an hour later than I hoped.   Still, not only did he come by, he bought it. A  Craigslist transaction that didn’t suck, yahoo!

But the delays started to pressure my schedule to do a pickup on the way to the lake.   Heading home, I chanced upon a yard sale… and really scored.  Not preps, but stuff for my workshop.  20 large, heavy duty, mostly made in USA C clamps for $50 was like STEALING.  A live animal trap, some extension cords, hitch stuff, stapler and staples, and some long reach welding visegrips, brought the total to $100.   Score.  But, that ate some time too.   When I finally looked at the google map, my drive time was one hour, not 45 minutes!   And all my slack was gone.   The straw the broke the dromedary’s hump was an ebay sale just as I was getting ready to leave.   No way I could pack the sale, get my food and clothes together, and make the hard deadline for the pickup (two roll around AC units and some romex.)    I just jumped in the truck and sped on my way.  I made the pickup with less than a minute to spare.  The guy was pulling through the gate to lock it and leave.   He was not thrilled, but I was there before 6…

So today I’ll pack and head out at a more leisurely pace.  There was stuff I could have done Sunday morning, but it will wait until Sunday afternoon, or during the week while the foundation guys work.

There is always more to be done.  Like stacking, you just have to keep after it.

n

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Tues. Sept. 27, 2022 – 4 years ago today…

…friend of the blog and prolific commentor OFD,   Dave Hardy, went to his reward.  Church-y language, because he believed in the power of The Church, as it was, and should be.   I hope he’s watching with a bowl of pretzels and a bottle of Moxie.   And if it turns out to be more than a spectator sport, we could all use a little help buddy… Prayers for those he left behind.    Raise a glass to Absent Friends.

 

Cooler but warming later here in Houston.

Didn’t get a lot done yesterday.  Did get some stuff sorted and put away.   Cut the grass.   Broke down and vac sealed the remaining meat from the shopping run (just the vac sealed pork tenderloin.)    Got three nice roasts out of it, and decided not to do any chops.   Cooked one roast for dinner with collard greens from the garden as a side.   Collards are on their second or possibly third year, and still produce.   Had a loaf of the shelf stable sourdough bread too, since I was already running the oven.

Felt kinda ‘off’ all day.   Too much sun on Sunday maybe.

Today I’ve got stuff to do.  Pickups, drop offs, and moving stuff around.   I need to do some more tax paperwork, and some office work too.  There is always something more to do.

Like stacking all the things, you need to do more of that.

n

 

(have I mentioned that D2 is taking up the trombone? And that beginning trombone sounds like moose in heat?  LOUDLY in heat.)

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Mon. Sept. 19, 2022 – yeeha! let’s get to work!

Hot again.  It was so nice to have the cooler weather.  But we get a little more of summer’s heat before Fall, I guess.   And no shortage of humidity.

It was pretty hot even at the lake.   Thermometer said 102F in the shade.   The sun was intense.

I decided to break up some more concrete, and clean up some more of the already broken chunks.   Spent a few hours moving rubble and filling holes behind my bulkhead.   Cut the grass that I had been leaving long to reveal the holes, since the foundation guy will be coming out later, and I figured he’d have a better idea of what was involved in stabilizing the bulkhead if he could see it.

Cutting the grass was interesting.   My electric string trimmer wasn’t making much progress, so I got out a manual tool.  Not really a sling blade, but made for swinging at long grass and plants to cut them off at the ground.  It worked ok, but there wasn’t any really good way to hold the handle of the thing to swing it.  And it was a lot of work.   I did about 20ft and was done.   I’ll bring up my gas powered trimmer for the rest of the tall grass.  Labor saving devices rock.   I’ll miss them when the fuel runs out and the machines don’t run anymore 😉

Did some other small electrical tasks.  Changed a light fixture in the kitchen (no box of course, no wire nuts, and the lamps were too hot and scorched the electrical tape until it was crunchy… scorched the wood of the soffit above the light too.  The new LED fixture doesn’t get hot, and I’ll install a box when we redo the kitchen.  Wire nuts are going to have to do for now.   Finished the circuit for the outlet in the master bath.   Pulled the romex with inches to spare, but needed to connect the outlets.  I have a quad above the vanity, and a duplex under the vanity.  That way someone can plug in a hairdryer underneath and store it in a drawer or the middle cabinet and the cord won’t get in the way, or need to be constantly plugged and unplugged.  And it still leaves 4 outlets above the vanity for phone chargers or curling irons, or whatever…. seems like there are never enough outlets in the bathroom.

I’m surprised the previous owner never had a house fire.   I’ve found so much overheated and scorched stuff, including circuit breakers, walls, and the chimney cap, that it’s clear he overloaded stuff and ran things way too hot.   I guess it shows how much tolerance is built into stuff.

My neighbor has started moving some of my leftover dirt to low spots in his yard.   He asked what I was going to do with the huge pile, and so I gave him half…   He had previously offered the use of his tractor, and he let me run an extension cord for the freezers when the electrical work was happening.   Besides being just good neighbors, I figure it’s time to start weaving ourselves into the community up there.   Webs of favors done and owed seem like  a good way to get started.   Because we’ve been so busy, we’ve declined some social offers.   I now think that was a bad choice, and now we need to work harder at joining in.    That’s one of the reasons I am willing to stop work and talk for however long someone wants to talk when they stop by.

Meatspace baby! and Local, Local, Local….  when every person I talk to has been in his house for 40 years, or has been coming to the lake and surrounding area that long, and has generations buried in local cemeteries, we’ll always be the ‘new family in George’s house’, but we can at least work at it.

Today I’ll be doing some more pickups, starting bright and early with the lot I forgot on Saturday.   Should have me out and about most of the day, especially if I get a chance to do some organizing in my storage unit.

Spend some time working on your network.  Stack up a few good relationships.

nick

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Sun. Sept. 18, 2022 – Sunny Sunday

Hotter than I expected.   And far more humid than I’d like.  That was yesterday, and today is likely to be the same.  Yuck.  Sun was INTENSE.

 

Did my pickups on the way up.   Forgot one big item that I’ll have to go back for on Monday.  Brainfart.  Just forgot to load it.

 

Did some small things when I got up here.  Mostly unloaded the truck.   Pulled romex to the master bath.   Had just exactly enough.  It’s actually tighter than I’d really like, but it reaches.  Not going to make the connection yet, but it’s in.   I can close up the wall in the bath, and my wife can paint.

 

Sky last night was big and black.   You could actually see the milky way.  I haven’t seen the milky way in decades.  Wife decided she wants a decent beginner telescope for her birthday.  Recommendations are welcome.   Size and cost will be considerations.  She will probably not be doing any traditional astronomy, like logging objects.   She just wants to look at cool things.  I’m not even sure that’s possible without a big ‘scope.  I guess I’m about to learn some things.

 

We’ll see what I get done today.  I’ll probably continue breaking concrete and moving it and dirt around.  So much concrete.  So much dirt.

Had dinner from the freezer up here.   I need to stock some bags of frozen veg.   Then we’ll be able to just come up and make normal meals without thinking about it ahead of time.

 

Always more to stack… get busy!

nick

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