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Thur. May 15, 2025 – yeah, let’s try that again…

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

Warm then getting hot. Not brain melting hot though. Just ordinary May/June hot. Beautiful clear day, lots of wind, and a little dust or smoke in the air. Today will probably be the same as yesterday. Because that’s how it usually works.

Spent yesterday morning mostly on the phone or asleep. Yup. Fell asleep. I have to get my bedtime under control, or I’m not getting anything done in the morning. I can’t go on too little sleep like I could just a year ago.

When I got back to work, it was domestic bliss and appointment setting, followed by ‘get the oldest from school because she’s not feeling well.’ I did because that gave me my afternoon free, instead of having to be home to get her later… Is that wrong of me? Oh well. It’s the last week of school and they aren’t doing much.

Did several pickups in the afternoon. I was only going to do one, but then remembered a couple others that I could get out of the way. So I did. I fit in a trash run too. Then it was home to deal with moving people around for a band concert and a sports team recognition dinner. It was 930pm by the time I was home again. This is what I signed up for, but the pace is increasing. And it’s only going to get worse next year when youngest is doing band and theater while oldest is doing boys, and sports. Yeah, I said it.

Ay carumba. We’ll see how today goes. Maybe if I keep my plans secret from the universe it won’t conspire to thwart me.

nick

ps. stack something.

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Wed. May 14, 2025 – catch up day… yeah right.

By on May 14th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Supposed to be warmer, maybe a LOT warmer today. It sure was nice yesterday. The morning overcast broke up and we had blue skies and sun most of the day. Another stunning sunset too. At some point it was 95F in my driveway, but the sun might have been shining on the thermometer for a while too. There is apparently a warning that we might get dangerous and record highs in the next couple of days. We’ve had good weather for a while, some reversion to the norm has to happen.

Spent the day doing hobby stuff, then kid stuff, then wife stuff, and finally hobby and web stuff. Made dinner in there too. Picanha roast, or the “cap” from a sirloin roast. Prime, and on sale at HEB, I made one of the almost three pound chunks for dinner. Season, put in roasting pan, put in oven for 40 minutes. Slice and serve with sides. Easy peasy. In fact, I made canned peas, and instant mashed potatoes with some warmed up naan bread. Very low effort, very high payoff.

Today I’ll be at home doing computer stuff, auction stuff, and household stuff. I’ll do one local pickup in the afternoon, and then it will be kid stuff culminating in a band concert in the evening. I may get a trash run in, as I’ve still got debris in my truck from the BOL. Maybe a scrap run too. That is going to depend on the weather.

Who knows, I might even get some stacking in. You should to.

nick

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Tues. May 13, 2025 – missed it by a mile

By on May 13th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, mainstream media, march to war

Cool again. Clear too. Maybe warmer later? It was gorgeous yesterday. Loving this weather. Windows down, stereo cranked… National map has us in the clear for at least a couple of days more. Weehaa…

Did a bunch of stuff yesterday. Internet and truck stuff in the morning, then kid stuff in the afternoon, with hobby stuff in between. There are some details in yesterday’s comments.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups, and some other stuff to do, as well as the normal kid taxi duties. It’ll be a busy day. They are all shaping up to be busy for the next few weeks as school ends and summer begins. I have a feeling that the next four years of High School and college will be a flurry of activity. Hopefully there will be time in there for some contemplation and remembrance.

Hopefully, the world won’t implode.

If it does, stacks will help.

nick

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Mon. May 12, 2025 – car stuff today.

By on May 12th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool and wet in Houston. Possibly getting warmer later, and maybe the sun will come out. Or not. Yesterday at the BOL was unseasonably cool, especially with the occasional drops of water from the sky. I do enjoy the cooler days when we get them.

I didn’t get a lot done, because of the short trip, but I moved stuff around and put some things away. Also took the boat out, cut the grass, and brought trash and debris home. Wife got a present for Mom’s Day that matched the decor at the BOL.

Today I will be getting both trucks inspected and also changing their oil. Both are due. Overdue really. And I don’t want to have any registration issues since I got them both back to current status. After that I’ve got other errands and domestic bliss, followed by kid taxi service. I am making slow progress on cleaning up the house though.

I may or may not get to Costco… there is still stacking to do.

And I’ll get to it eventually.
n

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Sun. May 11, 2025 – Mother’s Day in the US

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

Cool again, and maybe staying cool all day. Weird weather for May. We do have May flowers, since we got April showers. The rose bushes are still producing, and whatever bulb based perennial flower is in the beds is still occasionally blooming.

Saturday was a good day. My non-prepping hobby meeting went well and was well attended. After that, my drive to the BOL was uneventful too. Beautiful weather all day.

I had time to cut my lot and the HOA lot next door when I got up here. Had a chat with one of the neighbors too. He was just getting his bass boat out of the water when I was finishing up the HOA lot. Didn’t catch anything, but still had a good day on the water…

Today I’ll unload the solar stuff from my truck and get some stuff put away. Wife has been putting LVT plank flooring in the hall bathroom. She’ll hopefully finish that and then we can take the boat out for some practice driving, even if the kids think it’s too cold to get wet.Both kids were being brats yesterday so I hope they’re better today.

We’ll put the solar project in the “working to improve my situation” category. And I’ve got a couple of things to stack – a water filter and a storage bladder for the shelves here. Some more cleaning supplies will go in the stacks too. It’s mostly tweaks at this point.

Do what you can with what you’ve got, when you can. Stacks will help.

nick

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Sat. May 10, 2025 – non-prepping hobby day, and a busy one at that…

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

Cool and clear, if I’m lucky. Yesterday ended up clear and warm, but a cool front moved in around dusk. Wind had a chill to it. Still, it was another beautiful afternoon. I’m loving this global cooling so far.

I’ve got my pickup loaded with solar for the BOL, but have to load up the inverters and some misc. other stuff when I get back from my meeting. I’ve got the Expedition loaded up with non-prepping hobby stuff for our quarterly swap-o-rama, and for show and tell. I’ll be demoing my shopping cart pages for the website too. Good to stay active and keep the old bean working,but do I have the time to build web stuff? Not really.

I spent yesterday afternoon doing pickups, trying to get the paperwork for the boat finished, and generally arranging my life for next week. Did most of it. I have to get both trucks through inspection and an oil change on Monday so I made appointments. I’ve got kid stuff to do too. It’s a good life if you don’t falter.

Didn’t get to Costco. Hope the canned sunshine stays canned for a while longer. Not quite ready for the apocalypse.

There is still stacking to do. Get busy.

nick

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Fri. May 9, 2025 – can I get a witness?

By on May 9th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Raining. We had a nice day yesterday, until dusk, then it started to rain. And it rained for a few hours, with some thunder and lightning too. But, we had two beautiful, unexpected days. If it rains today too, then that’s ok.

I did some work on my hobby website shopping cart in the morning, then did my big loop of pickups in the early afternoon. Stopped in a couple of thrift stores and got some good stuff. That’s in yesterday’s comments. Then it was kid taxi stuff until late.

Today I am doing some more pickups and signing the transfer docs for the wife’s boat in the morning, and some moving stuff and cleaning up in the afternoon. The later depending on rain or no rain. Can’t do much moving stuff in the pickup if it’s pouring down rain.

Later in the day I will load my truck for my hobby quarterly mini-sale. It’ll be nice to finally get back to a meeting, between the March hamfest and cancellations, I haven’t been to a meeting since the first week of February. I know that I value them by the way I miss going regularly. Plus, meatspace baby. And I get to demo my shopping cart for the Board. But that will be Saturday.

Today, I might also get to Costco to add to the stacks. I didn’t yesterday despite good intentions. This is not really the time to get complacent. The elephants are dancing. The world is changing. There will be disruption, but it will all be better if you have food and basic needs covered.

Stack.
nick

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Thur. May 8, 2025 – can I get an amen?

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

Well, maybe we’ll get another beautiful day. Yesterday started wet and dreary but ended clear and sunny. From about noon on, it was a fantastic day. Not much evidence of the storm that went through, even on the southeast side of town. Ditches were full, and there were puddles in unusual spots, but the pavement was dry. We were forecast for rain and t-storms today, but who knows?

I spent the morning working on my hobby site shopping cart, mainly interfacing with my fellow enthusiasts on the board trying to get stuff like the actual paypal account and the email addy that gets all the confirmation emails and two factor challenges. Failed. Gave it up as a waste of time and got busy with my day.

Did a huge loop for pickups. Got another solar inverter, some small things for the BOL, some stuff for the next hamfest, and then I did my kid taxi duties… and did more taxi duties… Finally got out of my boots around 9:15pm. Caught up on auctions, and decided on an early bedtime.

Because when the world is burning, use it to light a candle. Or something. Nothing I can do about India and Pakistan. Nor the middle east. Nor even Washington state. I can up my preps a bit, and I will, because conflict disrupts supply chains. I’m doing a costco run today. Haven’t added any buckets lately, so I think I will buy some big bags o stuff. Salt seems like a good choice. I’ve got a bucket, and some pantry containers, but I don’t have enough to use as a preservative. or cleaner. It’s cheap and easy to store. It doesn’t expire. And it’s absolutely vital for life. Yes, I think I’ll add another bucket…

There is always more to stack. Fill your gaps.

nick

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Wed. May 7, 2025 – did WWIII just kick off?

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

Wet and cool in Houston today. Supposed to have gotten a bunch of rain overnight, but I haven’t confirmed that yet. It was misty drizzle most of yesterday until evening. Then it came down a bit harder. Nothing like some other parts of the state got though.

I was busy most of the day. Did a couple of pickups, then did my kid taxi stuff. Worked on my hobby website all evening. Didn’t even make or eat dinner until late, as I was immersed in what should have been a pretty straight forward thing to do. I am trying to add a simple store to my hobby site, with about 6 line items for sale. It looks oh so easy in the demos, but little tiny secret gotchas ate hours. And then some of it is fractal. I can’t test the function without a ‘sandbox’ to play in for payments. WP and paypal provide such a thing, but you have to sign up, get some fake credentials, and then install them in the right places. All while working in an offline copy of your site, so you don’t bork your deployed live site, or charge yourself real money while testing.

Every step of the process has a little bit of a learning curve, something that takes a couple of tries, or takes looking up. And when there is a very subtle bug like curly quotes break the module when it’s expecting straight quotes, but in a way that partly works, you can spend even more time looking for the issue or a workaround. In other words, this web mess is a pain in the fundament. 7 or 8 hours to add one page of copy and paste info, and one page of ‘store’ with 6 items for sale. Not my cuppa. No sir.

And at some point I’ll have to either do it all again, or figure out how to migrate the new pages to the live site. I’m sure that will happen without any glitches…

It is a new skill to keep the mind active. Learning is always useful. So I keep telling myself.

Stacking up the new skills. I should be stacking potassium tablets… oh, right, already did. I should find them and make sure the kids have the correct dose. F me, who had “potential nuclear exchange” on the card for 2025?

Stack it high, and stack it deep. Anything can happen, and it usually does.

nick

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Tues. May 6, 2025 – rainy and wet, changes my todo list

By on May 6th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Raining and wet, cool, and probably nasty out. It was like that when I went to bed, and the forecast was for worse today. Yesterday was overcast most of the day, with occasional light misty drizzle. Until dinner time, then the rain started in earnest. It would be nice if it wasn’t raining all day.

I did a bunch of running around yesterday. I bored everyone to death with it in comments, so I won’t repeat it. Just that I was busy all day, did a bunch of driving, and wouldn’t have liked to do it in an EV.

Today I have a couple of must do pickups in the afternoon. Then I have the kid taxi stuff, only more, because she’s doing extra stuff for a dance recital, as well as her normal Tuesday stuff. Some of the pickup is bulk medical, some hobby stuff. For some reason there has been a fair amount of medical stuff in the auctions lately. I’m a buyer when it’s cheap.

You can improvise many things, but it’s easy enough to have the right stuff in the stacks.

Make your stacks as comprehensive as you can. No one is coming to save you, you are on your own.

nick

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