Went to bed late, so put this post on automatic…
Some heavy rain and later scattered showers overnight, with more forecast for today. Joy.
Lots of appointments today, then mom is out of the house for a few hours. I’ll have my hands full, but maybe I can make good progress.
We’ll see.
n
Overcast and dreary here in the southern suburbs of gangland. Cool but clammy.
Sibs have returned to work so it’s just me and Mom for most of this week. Lots on the list to do.
Plugging away, dust vacuuming and sort, contents triage, some wiping and cleaning, and then re-stack the stuff. Lots of actually dirty and gross surfaces. Poor eyesight, limited mobility and energy, and a tendency to bleed whenever anything made contact with skin makes for some rubber glove moments.
Better get started.
n
Headed back to my folks house today. This will be the last day I have the help of my siblings. Didn’t know that, don’t like it, but I’ll Charlie Mike anyway…
Travel, then work. Talk amongst yourselves….
N
Added @rick, Some weirdness with comments this morning, had to reenter my personal info, which never happens to me
Back in Coast Guard City USA.
Siblings felt like we had to take a break from digging through the house and all the papers, so we are.
Still feeling like two people inside my head. One continuing on normally and the other occasionally just losing it. The trigger is usually something very mundane.
Hoping for good weather today…
N
Today I need to do some plumbing repairs as well as continue the search.
I’ll be getting the truck ready for a test run too. Will take it to the same place I was last week, in convoy with sibs, to make sure it still runs. Need to get gas, air, and maybe an oil change first. Gonna stomp on the brakes pretty hard too.
Thanks for the input on brake lines.
n
Lots to do.
Hot and humid here. Cleaned the air filters in the ac unit. Oh my.
Truck is older than I remember. Gonna have to do some things before the cross country trip. Oil change at minimum, possibly more. Brake lines are really corroded. Might need to have someone look at that.
Still no will. Sibs are a bit calmer. Mom is doing well.
Thanks to everyone who shared their condolences and concern. I’ve passed it along to my mom and sibs.
Perhaps some more later.
n
80F at 730am is a bad sign for the day’s heat.
My father died yesterday. We were able to spend time together last week while I was in Chicago with family. Thought he’d beat this one too, like he has so many others. He’d have preferred it this way vs. a lot of other possibilities.
In any case, I’ll be traveling to Chicago to help my mom and siblings settle things, so posts will be short, and comments are likely to be fewer. Or I may unload here every day. I have no idea what to expect. So far it’s been a mix of practical thoughts and being overwhelmed that I’ve lost my daddy, almost like there are two people in my head.
If the day’s open post doesn’t launch by 9am CT, someone else please open the door and start the coffee machine…
n
80F at 9am, so the inferno is off to a slow start today, but the 80%RH makes up for it in misery.
Tons of stuff to do today. Fall garden to consider, a week of neglect to overcome in the yard and gardens, ongoing cleanup efforts at home and elsewhere, all need my attention today.
Add on sales and yard sale season and I’m a busy boy. So, those are the first two things to get cut today.
We’ll see how much of the rest gets addressed.
What did you do to prep/garden/learn/interact with people this week?
n
Back in the swamp, I mean Tree City USA, I mean Bayou City, I mean… Houston. 80F at 8am.
So. Prepper fail.
Yep. I left my carry on bag at the house we were staying at. My airline ‘bug out bag’. My ‘get home bag’. I left it. Sitting on the bedroom floor. Didn’t realize until returning the rental car, and that was too late. I’ll get it UPS’d to me next week, but I was NAKED for my flight.
What didn’t I have?
No change of shirts and underwear
No ‘one day’ of meds
No reading glasses
No blow out kit
No boo boo kit
No first responder IDs (CERT, ham radio, Constable’s program)
No snacks or water bottle
No electronics- 2 kindles and a tablet
No chargers or batteries
No noise cancelling headphones
No shortwave radio or dual band ham radio
No backup money, $1000 in cash, 1 oz gold in coins, extra clean credit card
No loyalty cards
No toys for the kids (2x nintendo DS)
No rain jacket
Like I said, NAKED.
And I made it home fine. I was almost caught by irony as there was a hail storm in Houston that could have messed up my travel, exactly the sort of thing my bag is meant to make more tolerable. Imagine that I needed all that crap for once and didn’t have it because I’m an idiot. Fortunately it didn’t.
Home safe, but VERY weird to be on an airplane without the comfort and convenience stuff I’ve become accustom to.
Because I AM a prepper, I did have my ID, money, phone, and FLASHLIGHT. I always carry that on my person. Especially on a plane, you need that base level of stuff on you. DON’T put it in your bag. If you have to get off the plane in a hurry, you won’t be allowed to bring your bag. Then you’ll be sitting in a shelter area without your id, money, or phone.
LEARN from my stupidity! Double check. Even a seasoned traveler can have a lapse.
n