Category: WuFlu

Wed. April 28, 2021 – busy day, and another on the way

Warm and moist, after a mostly ugly day on Tuesday. It was overcast and humid all day but got really uncomfortable late in the afternoon. One little spritz of rain was no help either. Today we’re on the edge of t-storms, which means we probably won’t get them. We could use a gully washer.

Did a bunch of errands yesterday but didn’t really advance toward the goals other than some grocery shopping. Oh, and trying to raise good kids. That one is kinda important.

Today I’m working on fixing one truck and possibly replacing the other. I’ve got to get them sorted and stop spending time on them.

The news was pretty quiet yesterday, what little I saw, and there wasn’t much link posting here. No idea if that is significant or not, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, right? It’s probably not the calm before the storm….

Whatever’s coming, it’ll be better with bacon. So stack some more bacon. And water. And meds. And guns and ammo. All the things.

nick

Read the comments: 64 Comments

Tues. April 27, 2021 – lots to do today, all about the kid’s birthday

Cooler and sunny, should be nice. Hot and humid by late afternoon yesterday, although it started cool and ended cool.

I got mom to the airport and then on home successfully. Got my auction purchase American Girl doll wardrobe touched up and ready for today (for the daughter’s birthday, not for me.) AG is crazy expensive new and has a very active resale market, btw. A couple of nicks filled with paint and a good cleaning and about $225 savings later it looks pretty good and I think she’ll squeal well up into the ultrasonic…

And I’ve got to get the dinner together– grilled chicken hearts, baby back ribs, peach or mango cobbler for dessert. I’ve got everything in the freezer but it might just be easier to buy fresh. Kid’s got eclectic tastes, but she loves my cooking 🙂

So I’m going to get started. in 3, 2, 1, …

nick

(you keep stacking)

Read the comments: 78 Comments

Mon. April 26, 2021 – another week closer to whatever is coming

Sunny and clear, probably, and warm. Three days without precip according to the national high level map. Yesterday was nice, even hot in the sun, but cool in the shade. Just on the edge of too much humidity.

I took a break from grandma and the kids and finished cleaning and reloading my Ranger. Since I had everything out, I figured I’d vacuum and sort. I put the more ‘survival’ stuff in a tub, and re-org’d the rest. At some point I want to build some plywood organizers but that will have to wait. I got everything back in that I wanted to, so far. Then another project jumped up and down demanding attention too.

My extended cab Ranger has “suicide” doors. A few years ago they failed, like all of them do. The cables that go from the handle to the latch have a plastic end and that end gets soft and crumbly. Once that happens, you can’t get the doors open without a pliers. I bought some milled aluminum replacements from a guy on ebay who has a little mini-business making and selling them. But, the instructions said it took 2 hours and I just never got around to it.

So yesterday I finally did. I was able to work around a step that involved drilling out rivets and save a bunch of time and effort. I spent about two hours on the first door and 45 minutes on the second. It would have been even less time, but I broke a part and misaligned another, and that took 15 minutes to work around. I’ve finally got that project off my list, and I’ve got 4 working doors on my truck again. I also found a bunch of stuff that should go on ebay.

Once again, circumstances dictated that I do projects that I otherwise just wouldn’t do yet. And with the time and hassle of getting the truck repaired, I will lose some other time I’d have been working the list. I tells ya, it’s always somethin’.

Today I have to get mom to the airport, make my repair appointment, arrange some sort of rental, as I can’t be without a car for a week, AND do all the normal things. Tuesday is a child’s birthday, and we’re having a sleepover for one, with dinner and treats, and cake, so I’ve got that to organize too. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken, right?

The wide world continues to be violent, unpredictable, and full of hazards. So keep stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 73 Comments

Sun. April 25, 2021 – nothing but quality content here

Cooler and still nice, I hope. Yesterday was nice. It got to 90F in the sun, but was much more comfortable in the shade. Gentle breezes and low humidity made it very pleasant outside.

Spent the morning hanging out with mom, the afternoon doing my insurance filing, and the late afternoon cleaning out my truck. I took three bins of stuff out of the extended cab. A bunch of it will not be going back in, and some that will will be far better organized. Over the last year or two I got in the habit of just adding stuff to the stack, like I found 5 first aid kits. No spare flashlights though. Several tarps and rolls of big trash bags. Rolls of tape. Water bottles and civilian versions of MREs. 4 fire extinguishers and 4 smaller aerosol extinguisher cans. I lost track of the number of plastic rain coats and ponchos… and I’d stashed some LBE vests there and forgotten about them. 12 vests. 12.

While I had the stuff out, I decided to vacuum too. Might as well give it it’s tri-annual cleaning. I’ll be finishing the job today if the weather stays clear. It’s probably a good idea to go through your vehicle kit at least once a year. Jeez.

Family stuff today too, maybe a dinner out with mom. I haven’t done that in a long time now. Supposed to be time to reenter the world.

Didn’t get a Costco order in, won’t do it on a Sunday either. It’ll have to wait for Monday.

All the rest of you should be stacking it up though…

nick

Read the comments: 50 Comments

Sat. April 24, 2021 – I wonder if there is a universe where unused batteries are sad that they never lived up to their potential…

Not so cool, still damp, possibly raining. Yesterday I was dodging raindrops all over town. No real storms though, that I was aware of. The most rain I saw was a hard drizzle and was very brief.

The rain I did see was while driving around the city doing pickups/dropoffs/meetings with my various local auctioneers, and then doing the airport run. Good news is that I have another auction house willing to take a bunch of stuff that I didn’t know where I was going to be able to sell it. Bad news is that I currently don’t have anywhere to stage 6-10 pallets of stuff. They will do the auction with the stuff in place so I don’t have to deliver it to them, and charge less if I do some of the work. Sounds like a deal to me.

And then I got rear ended in my Ranger. Slippery, light misty drizzle, and as I came over the hill and was forced to slow because of merging traffic slowing the whole lane, the guy behind me couldn’t stop in time. He tried to get around on the right and off to the shoulder but didn’t make it. I might have had less damage if he bumped me straight on, instead of just hitting the right corner of the bumper. The Ranger is a framed vehicle and the bumper is steel. The bumper got bent, pushing the right rear side of the bed forward, which crumpled at the wheel well. The Tail light is popped out of place but works. His little Kia lost the left headlight assembly, part of the bumper and likely the hood and quarter panel, as well as structural components in the front end. MASS wins every time.

I wasn’t even sure we were hit, because I didn’t see him behind me (he was on the shoulder I was in the lane) after the noise and movement. I bounced around a bit, not much as the speed was low. Mom got whipped around a bit more. I handed her a cold pack from the trauma bag, but she’ll be stiff and sore today. She was just feeling good after a previous back and neck injury so she’s not happy at all. The other driver had no license, insurance or english. I’ll be dealing with my insurance today. Cop said they can do most of the work needed before the official report gets through channels, in a week. That should be interesting. Slightly less damage, and alone in the car, and I might have opted to do it informally, but I need for mom to get whatever care she needs.

Hotwash, bonus points for having the ice pack and bag, minus for being caught off guard by the slowing traffic. Bonus for being insured, minus for realizing that my registration was out of date. And while it’s great that the Ranger is drive-able, and insured, it was my backup vehicle, with my primary STILL not having been replaced. I need to get it back to ‘spare’ status ASAP. Bonus, having and showing the city credential finally stopped the other driver from trying to convince me not to call the police, I told him that I was a volunteer, worked with them, and HAD to report it. Never claimed anything that I’m not, but with his limited english it surely seemed to be more than it was.

Second time in two days I had the credential out. Day before was when I gave some gear to the officers that were outside my secondary location dealing with some street guy. Since I had the stuff out (having just picked it up cheap) I thought I’d hand it out and get some karma. PD is much more likely to accept a gift, be it a set of yellow rain gear, or Girl Scout cookies, from someone that is ‘part of the family’ even if just a distant cousin… I still support the idea of Rule of Law, and the guys on the street. And if there are any benefits to be had, I’m cynical enough to want them.

Plan for today is spend time with mom and the kids, do stuff around the house. Work the list. All depending on if I hurt or not. And deal with the paperwork. Maybe I should get my registration up to date too…

Oh, and Costco has a bunch of my normal purchases on sale this week which means I should do an Instacart order so I can…………………. keep stacking!

nick

Read the comments: 44 Comments

Fri. April 23, 2021 – Blank page, so much potential, but…

Cool again, an supposedly rain with nasty stuff mixed in. Yesterday was nice, most of the day was clear, with some occasional overcast. Not to hot, but a little sweaty. Very light rain started around 11pm.

I didn’t get as much done as I’d have liked because I felt just a bit weird all day. My back was kind of on edge, with my neck doing strange feeling things, and I felt a bit dizzy at times. Not a day for a lot of driving, or hard lifting. (I mention it mainly so I have a record of it, not because I am looking for anything, part of this is a daily journal for me too. I was surprised when looking at old posts that it’s been 2 months since I thought about doing an article on buckets for example. Time flies lately.)

I did get some stuff moved out of the house and into storage. Some food got stored and organized, and some pantry stuff got restocked. Some small cleanup happened. A couple of auction items were picked up. I’ve got some tools and radio stuff still waiting for pickup today. House looks a bit better but there is still a lot of stuff here. I’m meeting with one of my local auctioneers today, and hopefully I can talk him into taking another big delivery. The auctioneer I was supposed to drop off the last of my next auction with yesterday begged off, she wasn’t feeling good after her second moderna shot. I hope she’s doing better today, I’d like to get the 450 pokemon cards I’m selling into her next toy and collectible auction.

Out in the wider world, I’m hoping that we get a little pause, a little chance to draw breath and rearrange our worldview before the next step down the slope. Heck, it would be nice to not take the next step down, but I don’t think that is likely at all.

I’d really like some more ‘normal’ time to get stuff in order. Lots of projects to do, lots of preps to stack, lots of stuff to sell, all dependent on things holding together for a while longer.

We’ve got a little time, use it wisely. Plenty of things that need stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 64 Comments

Thur. April 22, 2021- the rules changed.

Cool and wet, possible rain. Yesterday was so nice though. So very nice and clear, moderate temps, and sunny… I don’t know how many more we’ll get like that.

I packed my day full of errands, and I did them this time. Two pickups, very near to each other, then on the way back, stops at my secondary (to unload some stuff), my rent house (to install the fridge), another auctioneer (to drop off sale items and pick up a check), and finally back home to get kid2 from school on time.

After that, I hit the grocery store for $330 worth of food security.

I don’t have quite as much on the schedule for today, nor are the times as tight, but I do hope to get a few things done.

I am getting the feeling that I might need to take some more drastic steps to clear out ‘stuff’ around the house. The plan was to start doing my own auctions, but it’s taking a long time and time is feeling short. I need to think on this a bit.

Time feels short because I think the rules have changed for how the world works. The interwebs are full of people saying that the difference between how antifa/blm and MAGA day in DC are treated, the outcome of the Chauvin trial, and a wide variety of other events show that Rule of Law or ROL is dead in the US. The corpse is still twitching, but it’s dead. People are saying that, but I don’t think they are following through and thinking about the rest of what that means. What you do and how you react to a country WROL* is going to be THE critical thing going forward.

Someone in the comments over at Sarah Hoyt’s place had this to say (minor edits for clarity)…

The rules changed.

All over the ‘net people are saying and saying and re-saying that ROL is dead in the US. Surprise! It’s been dead for a while now, and every case like this just exposes that to more Normies. So stop and think about what that means. Rule of Law is DEAD. Internalize that. REALLY internalize that. You (general ‘you’) have to start dealing with that idea. They can and will do whatever they want to us at any point that we come to their attention. No one will come to save us. No one will blow the ceiling and fast rope down to rescue us at the last minute.

What does history teach us about times like this? You must be ready to denounce the people that come to ‘their’ attention. You must expect your friends and relations to denounce YOU when they come for you. Why would you want them dragged to the gulag (real or virtual) along with you? If you want to have a chance at changing anything you have to remain free and effective. Your friends LIKEWISE have to remain free to act.

There won’t be any gofundme to replace a conservative’s burned out house. No gofundme to heal his daughter after she’s raped at school because her father is a ‘bad’ man and she deserves it. No gofundme to replace the lost job that feeds that daughter (and buys the guns and ammo and armor and radios and medical and every other needful thing.) There is no underground to move your family to safety after the mob catches you alone. There is no established safe haven for you to flee to. There is no way to start over in a new place with a new name once panopticon focuses on YOU and your family (seriously, look at any kid moved to a new school because of bullying or any other issue, the kids have the new kid doxed eight ways to Sunday within hours.)

The other thing that history teaches us is that This Too Shall Pass. You (Sarah) have even written about it here. They can’t hold it together. The Third Reich fell. The Soviet Union fell. Communist Cuba is going to fall. People SURVIVED those times and those places. They may have even acted to hasten the fall if they were able. There were lots who didn’t survive, and some of them included the principled, the committed, and ultimately the futile sacrifice.

[I don’t intend to sacrifice myself for an ideal, especially given the current legal environment.]

My daughter wants her Daddy. I want to be here to guide and protect her thru what’s coming. I can’t do that if I’m dead or destitute. It’d be cold comfort for her to know that her father loved an ideal more than her. I’d love to think she’d rally around my banner, but the more likely outcome is hating me for leaving her alone in the Brave New World, or only marginally less worse, raised by her lefty Kennedy worshiping [east coast] grandparents to hate me for leaving her alone.

The rules have changed. If we don’t survive, there won’t be anyone left to rebuild what was lost.

I intend to survive this.

Something to think about. While you’re stacking needful things.

nick

*this in no way means “without consequences”. The consequences of your actions are potentially more severe than ever.

Read the comments: 88 Comments

Wed. April 21, 2021 – and here we go! not in a good way though…

Cool and pleasant ending in downright cold is the forecast, but what do they know? It was beautiful all day on Tuesday. Chamber of Commerce weather. Some of you older guys will recognize that phrase. (Means it was nice out young’uns.)

So naturally I spent the day inside. I thought, “Gee, I better get busy on finding a truck, everything I read says the price is going up and the supply is going down.” And so I resigned myself to paying a little more and figured I’d have some candidates by noon. Not so much. I actually called on 4 or 5 vehicles and they were all in the process of being sold, or had already sold. New strategy will be scan the listings every day and jump if something is right for me. Or I’ll have to pay a lot more, or accept a lot less than I would like. It’s interesting that with the Expeditions I’m looking at, they really don’t sort out consistently. Every other mass market thing I’ve looked at there seemed to be “bins” or clusters of attributes around certain prices. That isn’t so true with the Expedition, it seems that the single most important thing is mileage, and particularly total miles, not necessarily miles per year. I’m going to assume, based on the years I owned my old truck and my experiences with it, that what drives that is limited longevity of the motor. At some point it will cost you a bunch of money, so you want as many miles of use as you can get before that point. A low miles 2017 is worth more than a high miles 2019 for example. Crazy, but now I know better what to look for.

And I want something pretty soon. Things are getting bad quicker than I thought, and getting a newer reliable truck that will hold a bunch of stuff and my whole family is moving to the top of the list, right behind a place out in the country to get away to… And on that front, there is a real fixer upper priced right, on one of the lakes my wife likes, but the agent has been very lax getting back to us. That tells me it’s probably effectively sold already. What I really hope is that in a year I won’t be hating that we passed on the self-sufficient 11 acre property because we’re in real trouble. That would suck mightily.

Regarding MN and jury intimidation, well, that’s what it looks like from here. I didn’t see the evidence presented in the courtroom, but I would have thought that the official coroner’s report listing the cause of death as pretty much anything BUT the officer’s actions, would have mooted the whole murder charge, and probably the manslaughter as well. If the coroner is so incompetent or politically compromised that his report can’t be trusted, then he needs to be removed immediately. And if it can be trusted, “reasonable doubt” should have taken care of the rest. Since he’s not being removed, and since I saw witness intimidation, and jury intimidation reported widely and in fact GLEEFULLY, that’s what I’m going with. Nothing good will come of this.

Whites will not allow themselves to become second class citizens in the country their ancestors built. I don’t care how much cuckold and BBC pron you shove at them, they just aren’t gonna take it forever. The worst case for what happens is a decimation* of the black population of the US. I don’t think that’s likely btw. I’m not sure when or where the sniping and street fighting will start, or where the old monsters will come out to play, but it will happen now. It’s only a question of how widespread it becomes, and how long it lasts. How it ends, I’ve got no idea. The knock on effects- martial law, oppressive destruction of freedoms, local massacres, roundups- are going to bring the rest down too. Fundamental change, it’s coming alright.

I’m pretty sure that all over America there are people who marked the verdict as just one more step on the countdown. People who are making plans, thinking about contingencies, wondering if it’s too late, or not soon enough. Someone, if there are enough of them, someone will do the math and decide it’s time.

For us, I think it’s certainly time to consider your lifestyle, your public persona, your exposure to the wider world, and to decide how you want to proceed. On the one hand, you can pull in, go ‘grey man’, order your affairs so that you fit in, and arrange to get through the bad stuff as best you can. On the other hand, if you’ve been assuming you had freedom of speech and freedom to act, well, there are people who made a note of that, and no matter what you do, they’ll be ready to denounce you when the time is right. Whether for their own benefit, or because they truly believe they are ‘helping’ you, they’ll do it. History tells us that pretty clearly. Pulling in won’t save you. Going balls out won’t save you either. So what can you do?

On the gripping hand, maybe I’m just feeling hysterical today. Although I’m quite sure there were Germans who felt like it couldn’t get that bad. And Poles. And Russians. And Venezuelans. And Cubans. And Argentinians. And South Africans. And Frenchmen. And even Loyalists in 1776. And they were ALL WRONG at some point in history.

Stack it up.

nick

*decimation in the literal sense won’t be enough. Decimate that data set several times in a row though, and you might get to a point where no one has the will to continue.

Read the comments: 60 Comments

Tues. April 20, 2021 – special day for the dopey, not for me

Cool and sunny, scattered showers. That’s what we had yesterday. Beautiful blue sky, sun, and the occasional spatter of rain for a few minutes.

I made my dropoff at the auctioneer. He doesn’t want the second load today as he’s full up. I will be able to drop off a couple of big lab microscopes Thursday or Friday, if I can find the eyepieces. I’ve got several bins for the other auctioneer, and settlement to do for my last auction with her. She has a bunch of stuff already for the next auction, but I’ve got more waiting… I think I’m going to have to do some ebay listings because I’ve got more than anyone wants.

I picked up my new rent house fridge, so I hope to install it today too. Didn’t get in touch with the tenants yesterday but she works from home so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Then work the list some more. I am building a little bit of momentum that I want to keep going.

All I can say about the news is, there are now several places in the US with Army NG manning perimeters and providing security. If that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will. And did anyone else notice how the local PD was outfitted for the search for their erstwhile colleague who went all shooty all of a sudden? See the pic of the one with the shotgun strapped to his side? It was stuck in his belt and strapped up under his arm. Pistol and rifle completed the loadout. So the PD has short barreled shotties in holsters and as part of their load out to make entry now? The guys were in full battle rattle. Cops. Cops that are undergoing a very strong selection pressure at the moment. Who’s gonna be left and what will their attitude be in a few months?

Keep stacking.

n

Read the comments: 104 Comments

Sun. April 18, 2021 – keep plugging away…

Cool and damp, but precip should be limited. Yesterday was nice, cool, but damp, with periods of blue sky and sunshine. At least at my house. We did get a bit of rain but very little.

I got a bunch of little things done after a slow start, mostly outside in the yard, because it was a really nice day when it wasn’t raining or grey.

Still, not super productive.

Today I’m hoping to get to my secondary and load up a bunch of auction stuff. Forecast shows no rain for two or three days, so I can load the truck and make a delivery. If I can’t load up, I’ll stage it by the door and work on throwing stuff out. Or I’ll stay home and work on the garage and driveway. Either thing is a good thing, and I’ve got plenty to load up here as well.

I feel the need to do some inventory, at least by getting stuff in the same place so I can see how big the stack is. Then I can add to the stacks as needed. On the plus side, a lot of what I bought in March a year ago is stuff I’d be buying now, so other than being a year older, I’ve already got that base level of new stuff.

More is better when things start feeling this weird. I read through the last couple of weeks of my posts and I’m using the word ‘weird’ a lot. It’s appropriate though, and you’ll probably hear it a lot more in the coming weeks.

Someone used to say “When the going get’s weird, the weird turn pro.” I’ve been thinking that phrase often, although I can’t bend it to apply, it feels like it’s about 80% of a truth. We’re getting to pro level weird, or will be soon.

So stack it up. Learn about it. Think of two ways to do all the things. Make sure you have the stuff for alternatives. Get out and take a good look around, note the changes from the last time you really looked. Do it again later. Rinse and repeat. Keep your grocery receipts and compare them from month to month, week to week. Note what you see and act on it. There will be national and international events but the most important are going to be local, and it’s your local response that will have the biggest impact on you and your family. Consider that the conflict has already started, sides are already chosen, people already have mental plans. Act accordingly.

Head on a swivel…

n

Read the comments: 70 Comments
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // end of file archive.php // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------