Wed. Oct. 14, 2026 – hmm, what will today bring?

By on October 14th, 2026 in culture

Probably more oppressive humidity and moderate heat. Yesterday I was sweating through my clothes just standing in the driveway poking at my new/old golf cart. The sun wasn’t even particularly broiling, since we had partly cloudy skies. It was just thick. At least there was some cooler gusting wind at night.

I didn’t volunteer yesterday. The lack of sleep clobbered me, and I had stuff to do at home, so I called off. I won’t go in today either.

What I did get done was some poking at the cart. I got all the parts out that I’ve accumulated stacked and I had a bunch of stuff that should be useful. Of course, some of the boxes of stuff were returns fraud, with an old used part returned to amazon. They’re still better than the fire damaged pieces. I also topped up the liquid level in the batteries, but I was missing the cord I needed for the charger. I’ve got one at my secondary location, so I’ll get that today. Other than the fire damage, it’s in pretty good shape.

Today I need to order parts for the cart, and also for my Ranger rear end project. I might order the parts I need to finish my BOL vent fan projects too, rather than roam the aisles at Home Depot. It’s faster to just go pull them off the shelf, but that can lead to unnecessary spending and time wasted shopping.

I also need to do a pickup, and a run to my secondary location. I can almost combine those trips. All in all, I think today will be busy.

Stack what you can.

nick

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Tues. Oct. 13, 2026 – halfway to Halloween

By on October 13th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Warm. Humid. Probably hot later, although I haven’t checked the national forecast. It was nice at the BOL until it got steamy moist and mid to high 80sF. Then I was soaked to the skin just riding the mower. And it was 80F when I got back to Houston last night.

I slept in and missed my “cool morning” so I didn’t do any attic work. I did continue to advance a couple of other tasks though, and ended the day mowing my lot and the park. Some of the grass grew a lot. Some that is always in direct sun, well, it just got crunchy. Fixing the irrigation is definitely back on the to do list.

Today I was going to do some volunteer work, we’ll see how I feel when I get up. Back was in spasms last night when I got home, so I might not feel up to it. If not, I’ve got a truck load of golf cart parts to install, and the alignment ‘shim kit’ arrived for the Ranger, so I can take that in if I have time. And of course, all the other stuff is still there.

It’ll be busy, I’m sure of that. Doing what? That’s the mystery.

Stack.

nick

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Mon. Oct. 12, 2026 – bringing civilization to the savages day

By on October 12th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, prepping

Cool to start, but getting pretty warm late in the day. It was at least in the high 80sF yesterday afternoon, and maybe a bit beyond. Cool night though, with a nice breeze after dusk. I’m hoping for more of the same today.

I slept in but still got a couple of the tasks further toward completion. I put off the attic stuff until today as it was pretty hot by the time I was ready to crawl into it.

Today will be continuing on those things, and maybe landing the circuits into the breaker panel. I’ll mow late in the day before I head home. I’m sure there will be some other smaller tasks like applying another de-greasing treatment to the leather chair I bought and brought up weeks ago. The commercial treatment really does work, it just needs several applications.

Anyway, plenty of stuff from the stacks will be coming home with me to advance the golf cart project, and several items were used in yesterday’s work. Prepping for the win!

Stack what you’ll need later, if you can find it now and the price is right.

nick

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Sun. Oct. 11, 2026 – at the BOL, working

By on October 11th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cooler for certain. Yesterday was nice, mid 80sF high and somewhat muggy in the afternoon, but until then it was cool. 72F when I got to the BOL with a very light fog in the valleys. Hopefully today will be cool.

Did my non-prepping hobby meeting, then came home and napped for a few hours. Loaded the truck and headed to the BOL. Still managed to forget a big box. Arrived without incident despite some light fog in the valleys.

Today I’ll sleep in a bit, then see what I feel like doing on the list. There is electrical work to do. I’d like to finish the circuits I ran for the server closet, the bath fans, and the towel warmer. I’ve got lighting to replace on the dock too. And mowing and and and…

Lot’s of folks up for the long weekend.

There’s always more to do. Don’t falter. And keep stacking.

nick

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Sat. Oct. 10, 2026 – hobby day, then off to the BOL?

By on October 10th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cooler and drier than lately, but still with sunshine and blue sky. That’s my hope anyway as I left the chair I bought in the back of the truck… It was nice all day yesterday, even a bit cool in the shade. Fall has arrived.

Slept in, then did office and auction stuff in the morning, followed by a pickup and auction stuff in the afternoon and evening. Bit of a late night playing kid taxi.

Today is my non-prepping hobby meeting. I am still planning to head to the BOL for a couple of days following that. I’ll have to see how tired I am, but that’s the plan as of now.

I’ve got a load of stuff to take up, and stuff to do while there. And that list won’t do itself.

Always be stacking, and always be improving.

Life is short.

nick

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Fri. Oct. 9, 2026 – couple of things to do today

By on October 9th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

And we might have a slightly cooler day to do them. It was pretty nice yesterday, just a bit warmer than I’d have liked, especially in the sun, but humidity was a bit lower which helped. I’m hoping today is even cooler and drier, as that would really help sell the idea of Fall. Still 79F when I went to bed though.

Did my volunteer effort at the middle school. District guy brought a piece of gear to swap out for the dead one. The dead one did have some slightly swollen caps on the PSU board, but I’ve seen worse in running gear, so IDK if that really was the issue. In any case we swapped it out and were back up and running. We made a couple of additional changes that will help the kids with some minor but tedious issues. I’ll be going back next week to go through every mic and channel and make sure it’s working. There isn’t enough time to share anything with the kids AND troubleshoot.

Spent the afternoon doing a couple of pickups. I got a “Relax the Back” lazyboy style massage chair for cheap. Now I need to decide where it will live. I’m thinking bedroom, but it might replace a bigger fatter chair at the BOL. That would make a bit more room in the living room area. I’m sure my fisherman buddy would like a new chair.

Today I’m sleeping in as the kids’ have the day off. Youngest still has an event to do tonight, and I have my hobby meeting on Saturday, so no heading to the BOL. I might still go up by myself Saturday night to do some work, and cut the grass. We’ve all got Monday off so I’d have a normal weekend up there.

Later today I’ll do a pickup or possibly two, and then work on the cart or my office. I couldn’t find distilled water at the HEB, so I’ll have to figure out where to get some, or get out and run the distiller I have tucked away. I’d like to top up the cart batteries and see if they take a charge.

I’m sure there will be other tasks tacked onto my list.

Keep working on it. And stacking. Ebola and global conflict are still out there.

nick

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Thur. Oct. 8, 2026 – busy and getting busier

By on October 8th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

At least Fall has finally arrived. It’s still hot but the humidity is lower and so is the max temperature. It was pleasant all day yesterday and the sun wasn’t set on ‘brain broil’. It was 77F by the time I finished my evening quiet time.

I spent part of the morning doing office stuff, then I spent some time poking at the golf cart. I cut away some of the melted plastic body, took a cover off, and triaged the damaged bits. The solenoid and motor controller look ok. The motor controller got VERY hot though, so I’m going to replace it anyway. I’ll test the solenoid before making a decision about it. The Forward/Reverse switch seems to have been the start of the fire and suffered the most heat damage. Luckily the wiring harness will just need some ends spliced on, and not complete replacement. The fat DC cables to the motor look fine. I’ll order the parts later today. After looking at video of a golf cart burning down a home after being subjected to flood water, I don’t think swapping for a liIon battery system is a good idea anymore.

Speaking of today, I’ll spend a few hours this morning at the middle school with the district’s staff guy, poking at stuff. If we can confirm the PSU is toast, that should move the district’s replacement policy along, and I can move on to working on the theater program’s show without worrying about it.

After that, I’ll do a pickup and head home to poke at the cart. And continue working on my client’s issues, and probably go grocery shopping. And I’m sure there will be at least one more ‘and’ before I’m done…

Keep working. Keep stacking. Keep improving.

nick

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Wed. Oct. 7, 2026 – this first week is flying by

Some relief from Summer. A bit cooler yesterday and a lot less humid, made for a pleasant day to drive around. The sun was even a bit less broiling. I would like to have the same today. Maybe Fall is starting to assert itself.

Spent the day doing stuff to get the new golf cart home. Uhaul trailer rental, driving out to Montgomery to pick up, returning the trailer, and starting to evaluate the cart took most of the day.

I did get my initial settlement from my second auction. Some stuff went crazy cheap. Some playing cards went for $170 so they must have been even more collectible than I thought when I picked them up. They got my average lot value up to about $12, and I’m getting a better handle on what this auctioneer’s audience likes to buy. It’s funny but they all have slightly different buyers, even though I watch and buy from them all.

Today I am hoping to do a bit more testing and poking at the cart to see what I need to order. It’s a project I didn’t have scheduled, but one that has been on my “when it happens” list for a long time. I don’t want to lose momentum on my other stuff but I need to get it into running condition quickly so I can get back to the list.

I’ve also got some pickups on the west side that have to happen today, and some office work that needs to happen, so I might spend the morning doing stuff at home, and head out in the afternoon. That should be my guiding intent anyway.

We all know what happens when we make plans though.

Just have to keep working, and stacking. Trust the process…

nick

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Tues. Oct. 6, 2026 – 10062026 – less busy, but more driving

By on October 6th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

And the weather is variable. Probably hot and humid. Maybe just really warm and humid. Yesterday was mostly in the 70sF but ended over 80F. It was sunny with fluffy clouds in a blue sky and breezy which was vary nice. And then it got still, hotter, and damp.

I did go to the kids’ old middle school to help out with the theater audio. I found a couple of problems. I was able to resolve a couple, pass the buck after troubleshooting one, and gather some info to keep looking into the problem on Thursday when I go back. It’s hard to get anything done during a 50 minute class, so I stayed an extra hour working by myself. The main task is figuring out what changed between last year when everything was fine, to this year when stuff is not fine.

Some of the old gear was replaced with shiny new gear, but not fully tested. Some of the old gear no longer has das blinkenlights where it should have das blinkenlights. Dead network port, or a dead selector switch, or possibly a locked up piece of gear. No lights except power, and no displays, so no way to know if it’s even on because you are supposed to use the web interface to interact with it.

The new crew kids seem eager and committed. We’ll get it figured out.

————–
Today I’ve got to pick up a uhaul trailer, and then do an auction pickup. I bought a golf cart for the BOL. It’s not running, had an electrical fire, but it was very cheap for all the parts that are there. I’m hoping that some of the parts I’ve been accumulating in the hope of buying a project cart will actually work to get this one back running. I don’t need more projects so if it’s extensive (like replacing the motor, controller, and batteries — they make drop in kits) I’ll park it at the BOL for a while. Lots of upgrade options, I’d just like to do it with cheapness in mind. I’m usually going to pick good and cheap as my two sides of the value triangle. (Good, fast, or cheap, pick any two.)

That should take up most of the day.

It’s a prep. Really. For the BOL. and it will let me use some of the parts I stacked….

nick

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Mon. Oct. 5, 2026 – lots to do today

By on October 5th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

So I hope the weather is nice. National forecast has a fringe of t-storm possible zone along the Coast today and tomorrow, but clear inland. We finally got enough rain to make the grass green, now I need to do a bunch of stuff with the pickup truck. Yesterday was cooler and overcast with hazy mist and super light drizzle most of the day. It would be nice if it wasn’t super hot today.

Didn’t get much done yesterday. Did a few things around the house but mostly read. Oh well. Today will be a full day.

I’m going in to the kids’ former middle school and helping out with the theater audio. Then I’ve got at least one pickup to do. It’s mostly tools and supplies, all good things to have in the stacks.

Should be a long and full day.

Keep stacking. Keep working.

nick

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