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Category: Random Stuff

Wed. Jun. 29, 2022 – sweet home, or sweat home?

Hot and humid.   Natch.  Being Houston TX and all…   still, unseasonably reasonable would be nice once in a while.   Probably get to over 100F here in the swamp.

I’ll be doing things to get ready for not being here for a few days.   In a few days.   And I’ll be doing the pickups I delayed due to the koof.

And yes, I will be looking at some upgrades to surveillance here…  and a gate latch for the driveway.

This local crime spree (see yesterday’s comments, late) was one kid.   I’m sure we’ll see more going forward though.   Time to review your physical security and cams to prosecute.  Or to know better what happened so you can work on it not happening again.

The easiest thing, and free to boot, is LOCK YOUR LOCKS.   If it has a lock on it, use it.   If it has a place for a lock, put a lock on it.   Your zip code won’t protect you.   It will determine likelihood, but not possibility.

Even if you can’t do the physical hardening now, buy the stuff to do it.    There are several discussions here about hardening your home, the search tool should find them, with specific products listed.  Your  local PD might even offer free review of you security situation, or your insurance might offer the same service.  If you don’t have a good idea what to look for, take advantage of the help.

I’ll note that this kid, and every other one I’ve looked at committing crimes on video, was not at all concerned about lighting.   The motion activated light just helped him search for something to steal.   The lights do make for better recordings, and help YOU to see the perp…  but don’t expect them to keep away bad guys or make them flee.

People are going to get desperate.  They are going to be emboldened.   Harden your home, and harden your heart.

n

and stack some stuff

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Tues. Jun. 28, 2022 – headed home later

Hot and humid, but less of both than Houston proper.  It got plenty hot yesterday but I did a bunch of work anyway.

Weeded the garden.  Not seeing any veg plants.  Could be a total failure.   Well, I’ll learn something in any case.

Cut the grass, did extra string trimming for the big holiday weekend, and poisoned the ant mounds I felt comfortable using the poison on.

Cut the grass in the adjacent community lot and boatramp too.   I was on the mower, had enough gas, and was feeling pretty good.   It coincidentally let me explore an unimproved version of my lot.   I’m pretty sure it was deeded to the HOA because of the little creeks running through it.   There would be some challenges building on it.   Nothing you couldn’t overcome for lakefront land, but not as simple as throwing up a house.  Anyway, we missed the community cleanup event so I felt like it would be a good deed in advance of the busiest weekend of the year.

You might guess I was feeling pretty good.   I’m headed home today because I think I’ve finished with this cold.  Cough may stick around for a while, but I felt pretty much normal all day.

I’ll get a couple more things done, after sleeping as long as I can, and then I’ll head home to reload and head back, in a couple of days.

My buddy is giving me more contractor names, so maybe we can get moving.  Or maybe it will be more of the same, but at least it MIGHT move.

FWIW, this is apparently a great time to be a contractor.   More work than you can do, and people are resigned to paying high prices.   If you can get the stuff to do the job, Robert is your father’s brother…

If you think you might need work done, you better stack up the stuff you will need.   Because it might not be there later.

So stack it up.   And start collecting names of contractors and tradesmen.  You will need them eventually, and it can’t hurt to be known to them.  Meatspace.

Oh, turns out there was some petty crime drama at home while I was up here.   More on that later.

Stack it up!

nick

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Mon. Jun. 27, 2022 – rain last night

After a quiet and hot  day, it rained late last night.  Temps dropped, moisture fell from the sky.   NO idea what effect it will have on today’s weather, but I’m guessing it’ll still be hot and humid.

Did some small thing yesterday but mostly hid from the heat and continued my convalescence.  No point in taking a step back because I pushed too hard.

There were a bunch of piddle around things to do, so I did some of them after dinner.   Unboxed and set up the new string trimmer, a couple of small ottomen, brought the tv in from the garage and set it up.

The TV powers on, has internal menues but no channels, and can’t see the external blueray player, so more to do there.    I have an amplified antenna, but may not set it up.  TV isn’t a priority for us, and especially not here but having the ability to watch a movie would be nice.  As to no picture, the TV could have a blown input card, the blueray player might be NFG or, most likely, the HDMI cable is bad.  Everything came out of my junk box, and I didn’t bring spares.   I guess I could try the wii console later, if I get motivated.

Today’s plan will depend on how I feel, and the weather.   I would like to cut the grass before it gets too hot.  And I can do more sprinkler work if I go slow.  Or there is plumbing inside that needs attention… we’ll see how it goes.

Seems like summer riot season started a bit late this year, but I suppose it’s getting in full swing.   Keep your awareness up, and avoid trouble.

You should be able to stay away from trouble, if you’re prepped up….

More than one reason to stack all the things!

Seriously though, stay safe out there.

nick

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Sun. Jun. 26, 2022 – isolated, sorta

Here a few hours north of Houston, it will be hot, and maybe even humid, but LESS of both and that is oh so nice.

I’m here at the BOL by myself so the kids and my wife don’t get the ‘rona.   Which I’m still not sure I actually have.  I’m sick, and the chinese booger test was positive, but I only have cold symptoms and mild ones at that.   It would be unfair to people who really got sick with the chinkyflu to claim I’ve got it.  Floating on the water last night, I felt completely and perfectly fine.

I’m still a bit sick, head isn’t back to full engagement, and I’m still coughing occasionally.  So I’ll take it super easy for the next couple of days.  I’ve got plenty of simple tasks that shouldn’t be too tasking.  Hah!

I did bring up more long term storage food, and some other stuff to improve the readiness here.

I’ll take a good look and weed the garden later today too.   I can see what looks like bean plants.  Don’t see anything in the squash mounds, and don’t see any carrot greens either, so those might be a bust.   I’ll know better when I cut the grass, and remove the hardware cloth screens.

One of the other things I need to do is figure out where some fruit trees can go, and where the berries should be planted.  I’m thinking the fruit will have to be in the front, near the road.   Less than ideal, but it needs light and space.   The good spots in the back (lake side) are too shaded.   The septic drip field will use most of the available space that gets sun.  No planting trees there.

I spent some time yesterday working on the existing sprinklers.  I don’t want to spend too much effort as they will need to be ripped out and redone after the septic field goes in, but it would be nice to have grass until then.   I got the pump running, found a bunch of broken sprinkler heads, and started fixing stuff.  I think the whole half of the yard with no sprinklers must be the existing leach field.  Either that, or I haven’t found the buried heads yet.  Grass isn’t growing there anyway, but the weeds are getting ‘crunchy’.

Dang fire ants about ate me alive while I was working on the sprinklers.   They are a real issue as most if not all the good poisons are deadly to aquatic life and not allowed near the lake.  I’m going to be spot applying the granules instead of broadcasting them, but I’ll kill the dang things.   Can’t even use the yard with them there.  If anyone knows a  good way to kill them without poisoning the lake, please let me know.   A cursory search of the shelves at Lowe’s didn’t turn up a product.

See, plenty to do.  So I better do something.  Besides stacking.  But stack some stuff too.

nick

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Sat. Jun. 25, 2022 – as I flee before the onslaught, err, the return, err, the kinder..

Hot and humid again.   Bet it’s cooler by the lake.

It was 96F at 8pm yesterday, and that was when it finally started to cool off.

I spent the day online, and asleep.

Coughing continues to get a little worse, and I felt kinda light headed most of the day.  Took another test, same maker, and was positive within seconds…

so I’m off to the lake for a couple of days.   D1 and D2 arrive home from camp today, and D2 will be headed back out tomorrow, but only if she doesn’t have a wuflu exposure.   So I’m outta here for a couple of days.  Wife tested again and is still negative.

I don’t think I’ll get much if anything done at the lake.  I’m not really feeling up to power tool usage.  Don’t even want to drive really, but I also don’t want to spoil D2’s plans.   So I’ll sleep, read, and putter for a day or two.   Then home in time to pack up for returning for the Fourth.  It’d be cheaper and less hassle to get a hotel room but then I’d be exposing those folks.  Assuming I’m not just sick with a cold.

In any case I’ll get another truck load of stuff up there.

So that’s me, load the truck and be gone before the kids get home.

I’ll be stacking some more up there, so let that be an example for you too.  Stack, stack, stack it up…

n

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Mon. Jun. 13, 2022 – huh, Friday the 13th falls on a Monday this month

Hot, more hot, and a side of humid…

Starting at the BOL this morning.  Then home later.

Did a bunch of work yesterday.  Mostly cosmetic, but a couple of logistical things too.  See yesterday’s late comments for details.

And then I saw a beaver.  Still pumped about that.

I need to head over to the electric co-op, then get started home.   Normal crazy Monday too, with an ‘away’ swim meet on top of everything else.

Practice a little extra awareness today.  Things are getting weird.

And stack some food.

n

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Sun. Jun. 12, 2022 – I beg your pardon, I never promised you a …..

Texas morning, hot and humid, followed by Texas afternoon, hotter still.  And fwiw, there are a lot more bugs here than at home.   More biomes means more bugs I guess.

Got ceilings scraped.   Some stuff put away.  Got the yard mowed, and in under an hour.  Doesn’t look like a baseball stadium, but doesn’t look like a jungle either.

 

Spent some time floating in the water, and some time eating s’mores and listening to the radio by the fire.  Big bright almost full moon meant few stars, and I didn’t see any more meteors.  WTWW played today’s post title, and I was surprised when I listened to a song I can sing along with…it’s pretty good advice.

The garden has actual vegetables in it, and will take a bunch of weeding to put it right.  The nut grass is relentless and thrives here.   I’ve cut back the watering schedule again, as it is clearly too wet and nut grass loves wet.  Don’t know if I’ll get to the weeding…   but even if I don’t I’ll try spraying it with molasses, as the intarwebs suggest.

That said, I might stay through to Monday.   The main benefit is going and standing in the electric co-op lobby until I get to see the person I need to see to proceed with the electrical work.  Calling has not worked.  The secondary benefit would be time in the garden Sunday evening  AFTER the sun stops trying to boil my brains in my head.

Playing that decision by ear, and with an eye on the septic system.  We’ll see.

In the mean time, I hope everyone is still stacking…

nick

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Sun. May 29, 2022 – oy, over did it yesterday

Another sunny day with a cool breeze off the lake….  like yesterday.   It got plenty hot in the sun but was nice in the shade all day.   Looking forward to another day like that.

Did a bunch of stuff, see last night’s comment for details.

 

Got a bunch of stuff to do today too.   Maybe even more stuff in or on the water, or maybe a drink with the neighbors.   Wife should be doing remodeling stuff in one of the bedrooms and I’ve got inside stuff to do, plumbing stuff.

Back is squawking at me.   Too much bending and lifting yesterday.   Getting all worn out sucks.

Hope the world holds together, I’ve got more to do up here.

Y’all have a nice day today.

n

 

Oh, stack some stuff while you can.

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Sat. May 28, 2022 – work, work, play, work

Probably going to be beautiful here today.  I haven’t seen any forecasts though.   I’ll let you know later…. Yesterday in Houston was a scorcher-  108F in the sun by my roof, according to my weather station.  It had fallen to 106F in a couple of hours.

I beat feet for more temperate climes.  It was much cooler only a couple of hours north, and downright chilly at night on the water.

 

My schedule for today is … work.   Lots to do and I hope to get some of it done.  My goal is a bunch of little projects while my wife does flooring.   Then a break for grass cutting or kayaking, then more work.  Maybe a fire in the pit at night.   If the wind cooperates I’ll do some burning of my slash piles during the day.

Neighbors say it will be busy up here this weekend and we’ll see some stupidity on the lake.   That should be interesting.   It’s all new to me anyway.

Maybe I’ll get my traps in the water and see if the crawdads are biting…

STack up some good memories this weekend.   They’ll keep you motivated during the bad times.

 

n

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