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Thur. Oct. 16, 2025 – oh oh, we’re half way there, oh oh livin’ on a prayer

By on October 16th, 2025 in cooking/baking, culture, decline and fall, march to war

It’s a good thing you can’t hear my voice when I sing. Continuing with the cool morning, warm afternoons, with overall cooling trend. Also supposed to be clear for the next couple of days. That’s a lot of clear, dry days in a row. My grass is crunchy and the grass over the septic field at the BOL is probably completely dead. That’s not good.

I did a couple of the things on my list, but avoided drywall mud again. It’s messy and I have to move stuff to do it, as well as diving deep in the garage for the tools… so I’ve been putting off what is a short and straightforward job. I have to get better at this. Picked up my stuff yesterday, with some stuff for the BOL, and a couple of household things. I’m stacked up on “pet stain and odor” remover. Damn dog.

Now to move a couple of things along, and then collect my stuff today. More stuff for the BOL, as well as some gub stuff. I won some mags and refills for the hole puncher. I’m stopping at an estate sale this morning to see if I can’t get some more. This sale also has a bunch of pews and a few dozen cans of freeze drieds… guy had some of his priorities straight.

The brand of FDs is unfamiliar to me, but matches the typical “buy this and you’ll be set” exploitive strategy employed by pretty much everyone but Auguson Farms and Mountain House. In other words, it’s all carb heavy, but still under caloried, and about half is breakfast or side dishes rather than main courses– with no real main courses except the few additional Mountain House cans. “Mac and Cheese with meat” is not dinner. A serving of meat, with a side of mac is. Soup mixes and oatmeal, cereal and pasta dishes are not really the best way to spend money on freeze dried foods, and are just in the kits to bulk out the days they can claim, and to extract extra money from your wallet.

Little protein and no fat isn’t going to keep you working in the fields all day. That’s one of the reasons I save all my bacon fat in jars. Fat is good energy and helps you feel full. The Oregon Trail cookbook I read has a surprising number of recipes that start with “melt 5 pounds of bear fat”. Heritage breeds of pig have about twice the fat of modern piggies (iirc), and the fat was more important to the household than the meat in the old days.

If you don’t have fat stored, you might want to reconsider that. You can buy ghee, lard, bacon fat, and beef tallow in the store and they all keep a really long time, especially if you put them in the fridge or freezer until they are needed. Fat can be used to preserve food too, as ‘potted’ meat for example. Saving your own is not only easy, but you paid for the fat when you bought the meat, so why NOT keep it?

Stacks don’t have to be separate from your normal life, and it’s a lot easier if they are just part of it. Put some back for later…

nick

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Wed. Oct. 15, 2025 – time to buy some candy

By on October 15th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cooler weather is nice. Forecast says ‘clear’ for a couple of days at least, and while it is getting hot in the afternoon, overall, it’s cooler.

Yesterday was nice. I even had the windows down on the truck for a while. Sunny and warm in the sun, but very nice. I did my pickups and took some of it to the shop where I’m piling up stuff for the BOL. I think I’ll head up this weekend by myself. Anyway, after that, I came home and made some steaks for dinner. One was from 2020 and was very tasty. The other was only from last year, so no big deal.

I didn’t get a layer of mud on my drywall seams so I’ve got that to do this am.

Then it’s a pickup or two, and a trip to IKEA for my pantry flat pack. It’s supposed to be ready at 1pm. I hope I get some sort of confirmation email in the morning.

Lots of stuff to do, and not a lot of motivation or energy. Time to grind.

Still stacking. Still working on improvements. Still lagging behind…

nick

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Tues. Oct. 14, 2025 – I wouldn’t mind an open source version of Shotspotter ™

By on October 14th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war, Surveillance State

Cool. Then warming. Still no rain. Well, not for me. I’m pretty sure some of those dark clouds that were roaming around rained on someone. It did stay relatively cooler all day though. I could actually do a little bit in the attic without overheating.

I was up at a reasonable time, and made breakfast for D2 before her friends came over. They spent a few hours watching Hamilton and singing along. I read while that was going on. Afterwards, I got busy with my pantry project.

I cleaned up the cutout drywall, insulated, and hung new drywall to close up the wall and ceiling. Of course it wasn’t as simple as that, and it took a quick trip to Lowe’s for spray foam. I picked up some screws and a fresh bucket of drywall compound while I was there.

I had the insulation stored in the attic, some from the bathroom project, and some stored there waiting for me to rip and replace the nasty 50 year old blown in insulation. That isn’t a job I’m looking forward to, and I’d just pay someone to do it if I didn’t have all the stuff stored up there in the way.

After I vacuumed up the drywall dust and assorted old insulation, I changed out the A/C filters. I’ll change them again after I’m done with all the mud and sanding too, but that is for another day.

While in the attic, I moved some stuff around, found more ebay ‘inventory’, and tossed out some rat poison baits.

I really hate doing anything with fiberglas insulation. REALLY hate it. When I do the attic, I’ll fully gear up in protective measures, but yesterday I just wore gloves and was very careful about what I touched.

Today I’ll do the first layer of mud and tape on the drywall, and do at least two pickups. I won a couple of things for next summer at the BOL, and some more supplies for projects there. Some small random things too, since I was making the trip.

Sometimes I just pick up things that might be useful later. They almost always turn out to be something I need in the future. I’m pretty sure I’ll need the foam version of a toilet wax ring, for example. Other stuff ends up coming in handy. IF I can find it and remember I have it…

Stacks are good. Skills are good. Friends are better.

nick

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Mon. Oct. 13, 2025 – Bringing civilization to the savages day.

By on October 13th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool. Later it’ll be warm to hot. Although the hot isn’t as hot and the cool keeps getting cooler. It was really a very nice day yesterday despite some occasional dark clouds. No rain on my patch.

I slept in and decided to do some work around the house. D2 wasn’t excited about heading to the BOL, and I convinced myself it wasn’t a good use of time. I wouldn’t get an real projects done with the late start. That’s my story anyway.

I did clear out a spot where a pantry cabinet is supposed to go. It’s the corner where the water heater used to be. I haven’t done anything to advance that project because I only tacked up the drywall repair because I needed to do some plumbing and insulating behind there. Then a dark stain appeared on the ceiling and I was sure something died there, which I really didn’t want to disturb.

Turns out, it was just from water coming down the open exhaust vent from the old water heater. Once I close that up, I can fix the ceiling. And once I insulate, I can fix the wall. Of course, the fractal nature of my tasks means that I REALLY want to put some pex in that wall and up into the attic while it’s all open. At some point I’ll need to make the connections, when I pex the whole house, and re-opening the wall would be dumb. Especially if there is a cabinet full of stuff in front of it.

So, I’ll try to stub up into the ceiling for the hot water line to the rest of the house, and the cold water line that feeds the heater. And I’ve got to install some hardware cloth to close up the wall and attic from the open soffit. I know that critters used it as a highway around the house, and they used the open wall to enter the house and eat dog food. That situation needs to be addressed. My tasks are fractal in nature.

So is prepping at an advanced level. Once you have the basics covered, you see that to advance there is always something else than can be done first, or to support the prep, or to leverage the prep. It’s like the first time you write an algorithm in school*. Pretty soon you realize that every task can be broken down farther into tasks which can be broken down farther…

Since there is an infinite number of things to do, you better get to stacking….

nick

*in my school daze, it was “write the algorithm for changing a car tire.” ‘Take the old tire off, put the new tire on’ expands pretty quickly…

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Sun. Oct. 12, 2025 – off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard

By on October 12th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool and warming later. Probably getting all the way to hot and sticky. It’s cooler at night and in the morning, but still getting well into “Summer” by most peoples’ standards.

I got a very early start yesterday getting D1 to her activity. I eventually picked her up a little after midnight. Long day for the kid but they took 3rd place out of 23 schools. Pretty good considering their size and lack of resources.

I spent the morning at my non-prepping hobby, which was nice. Good turn out and a fun day. I napped and read for the rest of the day. I was wiped out. I’m not as good at going without sleep as I used to be. Even just 15 years ago I could still push through an all nighter and be functional the next day. Not ‘normal’, but functional. I don’t think I could do that now, even though I seem to need less sleep overall.

Today I’ll let the kid sleep in as she didn’t get much more than me, and then later we’ll head to the BOL. We won’t be taking her friend with us, but there is already one extra kid there.

I’m debating taking the new 12v cooler and leaving it there as backup. I can make the case for using it here as backup or using it to transport food from here to there. I’ve got a couple of smaller 12v thermoelectric coolers there, but this would increase capacity. I’ve already got one bigger cooler here, and several of the smaller ones.

If you have something that needs to be kept cold to keep you alive, like meds, I think you should absolutely have a small 12v cooler as a minimum prep. On the other hand, a solar panel and inexpensive inverter, with a car battery, will keep most 3 and 7 cubic foot freezers running and you get to keep the freezer full of food…

Whatever your solution and the scale of it, having a way to keep stuff cold is a critical prep.

Stack what you need.

nick

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Sat. Oct. 11, 2025 – non-prepping hobby day, plus kid taxi service.

By on October 11th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool and clear, but still humid. Not as humid or as warm later though. It’d definitely Fall, although it’s staying warm later in the day than I expected. Odd weather this year.

Did auction stuff in the morning. Then did pickups. Got home at a reasonable time to work on the list but didn’t get much done. Did some work on my AAR for our non-prepping hobby convention/meeting which I hope to finally get to go through with my fellows this morning.

But first, I’ll be getting up before the butt-crack of dawn to take the kid to her thing. I might get an hour of nap before I have to head to my meeting. I can sleep when I’m dead.

Getting out among real people and engaging the world around us is a critical prep. It’s grounding, gives a reality check on our beliefs, and builds people skills and community. It’s the people that are closest to us that will help us or hurt us the most when times get bad. Knowing who they are is critically important. And getting together with people that share an interest is fun.

So get out there and do stuff with people. And stack. Resources make everything easier.

nick

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Fri. Oct. 10, 2025 – everyone knows sheep lie…

By on October 10th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool again. Moist. Then hotter later. It’s kinda boring, but the trend is cooler. We could use some rain though, and I can’t believe I’m even saying that here in the swamp. We do get droughts though.

I did get my major stuff done yesterday, but nothing extra. I spent too much time not working. A sore back is an excuse, but isn’t the whole story.

Today will be a bit different. I have to do some of the things in the morning, so I have to leave the house. Some of the things could happen in the afternoon, but I’d like to have time to do some work around the house. I’ll TRY to get done early.

D2 will be home since this is a four day weekend at school. W and D1 and Xtra1 are at the BOL. D2 is here because of school activity on Saturday. That’s right, in the middle of a 4 day weekend. Who the heII thinks that is ok? They don’t work for our benefit, but I don’t know how it benefits them either.

In any case, I’ve got stuff to do today, then my non-prepping hobby Saturday while D2 does her thing. Not much time for preps or anything else, unless I’m very disciplined. Anyone taking bets??

Stack something.

nick

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Thur. Oct. 9, 2025 – things continue to get spicy in our corner of the multiverse

By on October 9th, 2025 in cooking with LTS food, cooking/baking, culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool-ish. It was still very comfortable after midnight so I think it might be a bit warmer this morning. And since it was well into the 90sF yesterday afternoon, a little bit of summer is still holding on. Unless we get rain and a front moving through, I expect today to get hot and muggy too.

I did auction stuff in the morning, and then met a young man to sell my buddy’s item. He had Radio Operator plates on his vehicle, so that was pretty cool. He said he got licensed so he could do more drone stuff, rather than from any love of ham radio though. Some of the video from the bigger more pro level drones uses part of the ham spectrum. He’s got a drone operator’s license too. I’ll have to meet with him again on Friday because I forgot some of the paperwork he needs.

That took about an hour and a half to do, with a bit of chatting, and then it was home to do kid taxi stuff, after a local pickup.

Since I was home I cooked some pork tenderloin for dinner. Oven roasted potatoes, and baked apple slices with cinnamon and honey in bacon fat rounded out the meal. It was pretty good. I am wondering when the girls will get a bit more interested in cooking. I don’t think that they really consider it a skill, since it’s always just happened. Baking, that they were interested in, but mostly learned on their own. Dinner hasn’t caught their interest.

We all need to eat and being able to cook with whatever resources you have is a pretty big plus in my book. It’s funny, because my dad cooked all the big meals at our house, and we (me and my sibs) considered my mom’s cooking to be … workmanlike is probably the best description. We’d joke that she could burn water, but she pointed out that we didn’t starve while she did most of the weekday cooking.

I didn’t really learn cooking from either of them. I did basics when I was in school and afterwards, with some time working in a restaurant kitchen that helped me get the mechanics of it down. I’m no chef, can’t make hollandaise or a souffle’, but I can follow recipes and can even get a good idea what a basic recipe will taste like from reading it, and what can be altered or improvised.

I use some of my dad’s recipes and do my own versions of a couple of his signatures, which were pretty variable anyway. I’ve mentioned and recommended several books before, including

    The Simple Fools Handbook to Cooking

(very helpful when I went away to school and needed simple meals), a pre-1975* version of

    The Joy of Cooking

, and for apocalypse cooking using all those stored can goods

    A Man, A Can, and A Plan

. There are others to fill in the gaps and I love the ‘church lady’ recipe books, but Joy of Cooking will teach you everything you need to know, and it’s filled with humor too. If I could only have one book, my go to is Joy of Cooking.

Those other gaps are filled with

    Two Burners and an Ice Chest

(focused on cooking on a boat),

    America’s Favorite Brand Name Recipes

(all the best recipes from the back of cans and boxes), and a couple of books on wild game cooking.

Someone here recommended a good cast iron book or D/L but I never got to actually try it out.

I’m a firm believer that in addition to everyday feeding the family, everyone should have at least one meal that they can make for guests that, with a little attention to presentation, is restaurant quality at home.

Like any knowledge based skill with a large practical component, the only really good way to learn cooking is with practice. And by eating all the things…

——
Today I’ve got some pickups. Yeah, I’m cutting back, but there was a thing for my non-prepping hobby, and some things for vehicles and the BOL that I just couldn’t pass up. I am buying a lot less, and I do have more time since I’m doing fewer pickups.

Then I’ll try to get some more work in here at the house, and maybe at the shop. Some of it is actually synergistic as I can move stuff from here to there and kill two birds with one rock.

And some of it is managing the stacks. More breakage means more replacement… so stack it up.

nick

*versions after the mid 1970s (of all cookbooks, not just Joy) start to harp on salt, fat, cream, etc with some very sketchy “science” and I prefer to not have my recipes constantly nagging me.

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Wed. Oct. 8, 2025 – work work work and more work, maybe

By on October 8th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, then warm. Maybe hot again. We had some dark clouds but no actual rain. We could use some rain.

I woke up with a pretty sharp pinching pain in my back, in a spot that doesn’t usually feel like that. That put a bit of a crimp in my morning so I got back in bed after some stretching. Got up an hour later and did more stretching. And some more. Then a hot shower, and MORE stretching and twisting, and I finally felt a tiny little pop as it moved into where it was supposed to be. Immediately I felt better. And it was tiny, less then a pop you’d feel in your knuckle.

Learning to manipulate and deal with my neck and back issues has been an ongoing challenge but is absolutely worth doing, if I believe I may not always have access to a chiropractor and meds. And I believe that.

Once I got that fixed, I was able to start my day. Among all the other normal stuff I did two pickups. These two are within a mile of each other. Sitting in the truck did bring a little bit of my back issue but I’m still good as I write this. More stretching today.

Picked up a prescription at the HEB and did some weekly shopping. Hamburger, 77/23 was $5/pound. The ground chuck and ground sirloin was even more. Nothing good on sale either, but some cans of baked beans on the clearance shelf ended up in my cart. Some chinese seasonings too. I always check the clearance area in any store – you never know what you’ll find.

In the evening we had our local “Neighbors Night Out.” Nice to see the neighbors outside of a hurricane or storm. All their babies are little kids now. We were about 10 years early to this neighborhood.

After dinner I spent some time fixing something for D2. It’s been a while since I needed to. I used to fix something for them pretty much every couple of days. I guess that’s growing up.

Today I’ve got to meet the guy buying my buddy’s thing. I’ve also got a couple of pickups, one close to home, one on the other side of town. I’ve been putting that off in case I win something else on that side, so I can combine trips. Gas is fairly cheap, but my time, and the tolls are not.

The economy definitely feels tighter, even for me, and I live like I’m on my last dime pretty much all the time. Living on my ACTUAL last dime for a couple of years will do that, I think. I’m also hearing a lot more comments about it being tight, and the economy being bad. Since I’m in Texas, and it’s generally much better than the rest of the country, I can’t imagine how bad it must be in other places.

We’re seeing it too. I’ve noticed debris piling up on the highways, more illegal dumping, and more closed businesses than in the last couple of years. We’re very cyclical here, but we’re definitely going into a down phase, despite all the people fleeing blue cities moving here.

Think about your situation, and start making plans. If you’ve already made plans, start working them. If you are already working your plan, evaluate and adapt as needed.

And stack, because that’s the easiest to do.

nick

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Tues. Oct. 7, 2025 – the month is already a quarter gone…

By on October 7th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool. Warm. Hot. Sweaty throughout. Like most days in the Fall. Pretty much like yesterday. Until about 5pm when a front moved nearby and the dark clouds brought shade, and a 10 degree drop in temp. No rain for us though. And probably none today.

I messed around all morning, then did two pickups. The big item was two more solar panels. Freaking things are almost 4ft x 6ft. Took them to the shop, unloaded, cleared a path to the item I’m selling, and changed the locks on the door. It was a sorta productive day.

I hope today is more productive. I still haven’t made arrangements with the buyer for a real meeting time. I would like to get that taken care of. I could do two pickups today or put them off until tomorrow. I’m still pretty sore from all the bending and carrying… so not super motivated. We’ll see how the morning goes.

I’ve got plenty to do around the house. Not bidding on stuff is supposed to be freeing up time for me, and it has. I’m still working on it though. I need to be a little bit better during my mornings too.

The world is getting twitchier every day. Stuff could break loose anytime. There are typically some ‘fits and starts’ at the beginning, so you’ll know, but then it might be too late for real prepping. Get your stuff in order, like a hurricane was coming.

And big picture? Take a look at your easily searchable online history and see if you might be making yourself a target. Some of us, there isn’t anything we can do about it. Some of you might be better off without a target on your back. It’s all fun and games until the molotovs start flying.

Stack like you might not be able to next week.

nick

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