Hot and humid today, same as yesterday.\u00a0 Maybe some rain to make it interesting.<\/p>\n
It was certainly hot and humid yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 Kids got in the pool for a couple hours but I was out running errands.\u00a0 What little breeze there was made it tolerable, until that stopped around 6pm.\u00a0 Then I sweated through my shirt just getting stuff from the fridge in the garage.<\/p>\n
Since I spent the day running around I didn’t get much done.\u00a0 Today will likely be the same.\u00a0 I did get 4 big bins to the auctioneer, and I’m hoping to take several bins to my other local auction when I go there later today to pickup some items.\u00a0 Stuff is leaving, just not as quickly as hoped.\u00a0 That hope was misguided.\u00a0 Even if I just loaded everything and took it to a local auction (not the best way to get good money for some of it), it would be too much to just add to an existing auction, and too weird a mix for a stand alone auction.\u00a0 I’m going to continue as I have been lately, and keep sending it out the door.\u00a0 I’ll get there eventually.<\/p>\n
Talking to my wife about school in the fall, we’ve decided to take the remote learning option.\u00a0 We’re letting the other guys see if the flame is still hot.\u00a0 If it turns out the schools are a big bucket of disease, it should be obvious in 9 weeks.\u00a0 If their protocols are too onerous or if they can’t actually be applied, we’ll know that too.\u00a0\u00a0 Heck, even though we have to declare now, by the time school gets going, the whole situation could be changed again, with no in-person instruction option at all.\u00a0 The likelihood of the reverse happening is near zero.<\/p>\n
Seems crazy that we’re already thinking about school in the fall.\u00a0 Time is zooming by.<\/p>\n
Dinner was pulled pork from the freezer, cooked in the slow cooker with a crockpot sauce pack (apple smoked bbq), with assorted veg tray, and canned corn.\u00a0 Pulled pork is a staple here in Casa De Nick.<\/p>\n
Cracks are starting to appear in the economy.\u00a0 Bankruptcies are trending up dramatically.\u00a0 Storefronts are vacant.\u00a0 LOTS of For Lease signs locally, and I think we’re probably doing better than most of the country.\u00a0 I’m hearing anecdotally that people are starting to sell off their ‘toys’, ie. the extra things they probably shouldn’t have spent money on in the first place.\u00a0 Guns and ammo are still brisk sellers.\u00a0 So much ammo has sold that there is very little available at the retail level.\u00a0 What is left is either very expensive, or very weird.\u00a0 Gold and silver are selling in the auctions I watch for serious premiums over spot pricing.\u00a0 I don’t know what the retail environment for silver and gold looks like in terms of stock, but I’d guess pickins are slim…<\/p>\n
I’ve also heard about shortages in what would normally be ‘prepper supplies.’\u00a0 Big Berkey water filters, and parts seem to be in short supply.\u00a0 Freeze dried foods are just becoming available again with normal delivery times.\u00a0\u00a0 Freezers have long delivery times.\u00a0 Canning supplies are getting scarce according to some online commentors.\u00a0 Seeds and garden stuff are short according to other commentors.\u00a0\u00a0 I haven’t been in a store in 4 months so I can’t really say from personal experience, but the trends are starting to appear and seem pretty compelling to me.<\/p>\n
People are stocking up and getting ready for some really hard times.<\/p>\n
Others are getting ready to treat you and yours as a storehouse and mobile resupply pod, and likely sex toy.<\/p>\n
Consider also what happens when there is a power vacuum.\u00a0 If the cops retreat, who or what will step up to fill the vacuum?\u00a0 Warlords?\u00a0 Committees of Vigilance? Lone wolves?\u00a0 Think they’ll be more or less likely to use deadly force than the cops were… or maybe the cops go full jackboot, and when you do invoke them you get it like a rock dropped from orbit.<\/p>\n
Think about those things and consider what you want to do, or think you’d like to do in 3 months or 6 months.\u00a0\u00a0 If stuff is hard to get or expensive now, what will it be like then?\u00a0 Make some plans.\u00a0 Act on them.\u00a0 Seriously.<\/p>\n
And keep stacking.<\/p>\n
nick<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hot and humid today, same as yesterday.\u00a0 Maybe some rain to make it interesting.<\/p>\n
It was certainly hot and humid yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 Kids got in the pool for a couple hours but I was out running errands.\u00a0 What little breeze there was made it tolerable, until that stopped around 6pm.\u00a0 Then I sweated through my shirt just getting stuff from the fridge in the garage.<\/p>\n
Since I spent the day running around I didn’t get much done.\u00a0<\/p>\n