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Sun. Dec. 28, 2025 – another day ‘between the years’

By on December 28th, 2025 in cooking/baking, culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool, but warming, and humid. Possibly getting cold tonight. Yesterday was just like Friday- other than being moist, it was a beautiful day. It’s a mild end to a mild year for us.

I arose late, somewhat sore and stiff, ate and did very little. I spent several hours working on a puzzle while W put Thompson’s Water Seal on the teak furniture. She sanded the top surfaces last visit. They look much better. Teak is pretty sturdy but it does benefit from maintenance.

I did manage some other very small tasks, and made dinner, so it was a pretty relaxed day.

We still haven’t decided if we’re headed home today, or tomorrow. I’ve got more small stuff I can do, and W wants to just do relaxing things and enjoy the place a bit. The only real reason to head home is D2’s plans and it might be easier to drop her where she wants to go on the way home tomorrow. (She wants to visit a friend who has a lakehouse on another sorta nearby lake.)

I’ve been pretty good about not thinking of all the things piling up on my lists. Mostly. Still, it niggles.

I have been taking notes about some stuff that needs to be bolstered here, or replaced. I let that slack off for a bit, but some basic stuff needs refinement. I really really need some secure storage here… and to sort out the networking.

But that’s for another day. Stack what you can, while you can. And stay frosty.

nick

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Sat. Dec. 27, 2025 – now we’re counting down the year…

By on December 27th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool and wet. REALLY damp. The sun does dry things out by about 4pm, but before and after that, it’s wet. On the plus side, it’s mid 70s to low 80sF during the day, and the sun is hot when it pokes through. In other words, pretty dang nice weather.

I spent yesterday trying not to do too much. Working on networking seemed like ‘too much’. Ate, played games, ate. Did some piddlefarting around. Split some firewood. Did some very small tasks on the dock and in the dockhouse.

Took the boat out for a spin with W driving. Pleasantly, it started right up. W changed out the fabric of the bimini top and I looked at some future small tweaks.

There is corrosion on some of the electrical system, I should install the isolation battery switch, a nav light wasn’t working (and now I need spare bulbs and fuses), and other small things.

Boats and boat related stuff are a whole ‘nother pile of stacks, tasks, maintenance, and knowledge. Yes, pretty much every aspect of life and prepping is, and here we went and added this whole new branch to the tree labeled “Boat stuff”. There is some overlap with “dock stuff” and “fishing stuff” as well as the more general “property on a lake” stuff. It adds capability too, and fits with the dual use nature of my prepping. Anything I do can’t negatively impact our everyday lives, and should have a dual use- normal life and prepper life.

I don’t always get it 100% right.

But I try.

Stack the usual, but try something new too.

n

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Fri. Dec. 26, 2025 – store returns day

By on December 26th, 2025 in cooking/baking, culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool, mid 60s all day, and maybe some overcast? It was pretty grey most of yesterday, so I expect the same today. It was 67F when I went to bed but also very wet.

We spent the day eating, opening presents, cooking, and playing board games. We played Catan in the afternoon, and Ticket to Ride after dinner. I had terrible luck with both games, and D1 dominated.

Santa brought good stuff, everyone was happy with their gifts. I got a couple of tools and another Morakniv. My fisherman friend brought be a box of 9mm for my next range day.

The oven roasted duck was a very simple recipe but was delicious. I made chopped carrots sauteed in butter with marjoram, and sauteed cabbage and onions as sides, with a loaf of shelf stable bread and some baked garlic clusters with blue cheese as appetizers. We were too full for dessert.

It’s only the second time I’ve made duck. It was cheaper than hamburger at Costco, and the kids liked it the first time, so I tried it again. Success. We’ll have a lamb roast this weekend,and probably a sirloin cap roast as well. They’re defrosted, and easy to cook, so they’re on the menu.

The “summer kitchen” idea of having an oven in the garage worked out well again. I’m glad to have that heat out there and not in the kitchen. I am thinking about where to put a 2 burner stove, and maybe a place for the deep fryer out there too. If I can get a small stainless steel table, about 2ft or 2x3ft, that would be perfect.

The prep for the week was to bring up the 5 buckets of Wise emergency food I got from that estate sale. At $6/ bucket I’m not too disappointed that two of the buckets are breakfast stuff, and three are essentially side dishes and soups. That’s typical for emergency buckets sold to preppers. Worth adding to the stacks, not worth buying at full price unless you supplement them and can’t get Mountain House.

Other than cooking, I tried not to ‘work’. Mostly succeeded.

Today I’ll take a look at networking and cameras. That should occupy me but not be too taxing.

Even on the holidays, always keep improving. And stacking if it doesn’t take away from family time.

nick

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Thur. Dec. 25, 2025 – Christmas Day

By on December 25th, 2025 in lakehouse, personal

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and hope the joy, hopefulness, and spirit of the season finds a place in your heart.
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Warm and wet here at the BOL. And cool and wet, which is pretty unpleasant. Still, it’s not 25F and a howling snowstorm… so it’s ok.

Did the rest of my stuff, then loaded up and finally got to the BOL. Spent some time putting stuff away, while W and D2 shot pool. D1 went back to sleep.

Had a nice meal. Opened most of the presents and got some useful things. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts.

Today we will open the rest of the gifts, empty our stockings and gorge on the candy, and eventually have a nice meal. Duck is on today’s menu.

I’m hoping everyone has a little bit of joy today, but if not, know that you are still loved, and a part of the community. Talk to someone if you need to.

I’m stacking good memories, and hoping they are enough to get me through the bad times.

Find your joy where you can, and treasure it.

nick

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Wed. Dec. 24, 2025 – Christmas Eve…

By on December 24th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Warm again, in Houston anyway. Some places are going to get some winter, and it looks like they are going to get it hard. Stay safe and use your preps… I’ll be wearing shorts. But then you all know that we sweat balls in the summer, and hurricanes regularly tear the place apart, so there is that.

Yesterday I did more present wrapping. Got W and D2 out the door and to the BOL. D1 made plans and W allowed them, that monkey wrenched our family plans. I am going to strenuously object next time. And I’ll have some leverage because D1 missed her curfew and caused further shifting in plans.

Today I’ll sleep in a bit to make up for the late night, then load the minivan and head up. We should be eating french meat pie and opening presents later tonight. Clearly, we won’t be having a white Christmas this year. One year we missed it by only a day or two though. We do get snow in Houston occasionally, but in my opinion and the opinion of my joints, warmer is better.

I hope no one here is doing any last minute rushing around unless it’s something you wanted to do. I know I wanted to be done with messing around before now. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

Enjoy the time we have. Stack a few things…

nick

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Tues. Dec. 23, 2025 – Christmas Eve, eve…

By on December 23rd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Warm again, and supposed to be clear. Might just end up that way too, if we’re lucky. Yesterday was mostly nice, if a bit overcast.

I spent most of the day alternating between errands, reading, and wrapping presents. Two pickups, a doctor visit, a quick stop at the newly remodeled Goodwill Outlet, and home. The Outlet is now a “Clearance Store” which only has clothes and shoes, and they are on sorted racks. Oddly, since it’s all stuff that didn’t sell, I found an UnderArmor T shirt that is like new, and a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes. $9 total. I miss the treasure hunt, and all the other stuff at the Outlet (bins) store, but I did ok in a 15 minute visit.

While the girls made cookies and watched Die Hard, I wrapped presents. I got everything for the kids and my wife wrapped, except a sign that needs some paint touchup, and lava lamp bulbs that will arrive today. I am still looking for the camera D1 wanted, but I’ll wrap that when I find it.

Plans to head to the BOL are in flux as D1 is working tonight. I thought we had it nailed down but I guess not. I am out of the loop and may just head up first some time today. We’ll see.

The stacked gifts worked out perfectly. I put some of D2’s gifts back in the stack for her birthday. D1 will need some more shopping before then. I had a lot more for W than I thought, which was nice.

In any case, time is running out if you aren’t ready for Christmas. Of course, I just realized that Hanukkah ended yesterday. A day late and a dollar short, but Happy Hanukkah!

Stack some things.

nick

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Mon. Dec. 22, 2025 – time is short, I need to get my head out..

By on December 22nd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Warm again, possibility of rain. Although yesterday was very nice indeed. Still around 70F at midnight, it was warm all day. Not very Christmas-y but really nice. I wouldn’t mind another couple of days like that.

I got very little done yesterday and have fallen even farther behind. Some kid drama (D1 involved in her SECOND road rage incident, this time over a stolen parking space) and general work avoidance, and reading too much.

Today I have a doctor’s appointment, one pickup, and a whole sh!teton of stuff to do. D1 took a shift on Tuesday night, so W and D2 will head to the BOL today, or possibly tonight, and we’ll follow later. It does give me a bit more time to find and wrap presents, but it wasn’t how I expected to spend Christmas break.

We all know the truth about plans though.

Add practice de-escalating and some defensive driving lessons for D1 to the list. I did a hotwash of the incident with her last night, and we’ll be doing some training soon. I’d already decided to do some more advanced driving stuff with her, now that she is past thinking about ‘right foot’ ‘left foot’ ‘turn’ as she drives, but it’s clear she’s a magnet for trouble and needs some training sooner rather than later. Silly me, I thought it would be easier with girls.

Do the best you can with what you’ve got, wherever you are. And stack.

nick

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Sun. Dec. 21, 2025 – I’m not ready, and probably won’t be…

By on December 21st, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Warm today? Or just wet? Why not both? It was much warmer yesterday than I expected, getting into the low 80sF in the sun, and well into the mid to high 70sF in the shade. Humidity was high too. It was still above 70F at midnight.

I got a few things done, but not all that I wanted to. A desire to quickly wash my truck so that I can better monitor the leaks underneath led to a long distraction involving pressure washers, ordering parts, and the sun going down. I did get a load of stuff moved to the shop, so at least that went well.

Today I’m working the same list. And moving present wrapping up the list. The girls want to do Christmas presents at the BOL, so everything needs to be ready by Tuesday afternoon latest. I need to identify any shortfalls or inequities early enough to remedy them… or there will be heck to pay.

I’ve got most of my shopping and stacking of presents done, but one kid might have gotten more stuff stacked than the other. If I have to, I can hold her to the smaller number of presents the other one gets, but I’d like to give them the stuff I stacked over the year. I wouldn’t have stacked it if I didn’t want them to have it.

Normal prepping stacks will have to wait. I’ve got holiday stuff to do.

nick

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Sat. Dec. 20, 2025 – working the list…

By on December 20th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Cold to start, but clear and warming later. Then chilly. That was yesterday, and probably today too. Winter is firmly here. Heat at night, A/C in the afternoon. Houston.

Did my pickups. Chatted with my auctioneers. Dropped a vintage hat off to be resized. I had three with me, but one needed repair, and the other, a bowler made in England, she determined was too well made to stretch. It’s brim is a bit small for me anyway, but it’s the only bowler I’ve got and the only one I’ve come across in the estate sales. One of the perks of being an “old man” is wearing hats that aren’t ball caps. Might as well have some nice ones.

We did get the tree decorated last night so that is off the list. Now to make some progress on other list items…

And of course, there will be stacking too.

nick

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Fri. Dec. 19, 2025 – perilously close to Christmas

By on December 19th, 2025 in computing, culture, decline and fall

Warm and wet again. 60s and 70sF with really high humidity. Yuck. Blue sky helps, but it’s still unpleasantly damp. And it will continue for a few days yet. Probably.

I spent the day on my computer and phone. Turns out I hit my deductible and so all medical expenses until the end of the year are paid for (subject to copays and other limits.) This is the opposite of what I thought happened, ie, I wouldn’t make it so save discretionary treatment until next year. It would have been nice to know last month. I was able to schedule one office visit this year. I haz a sad because I have a half dozen to schedule. Still checking things out, no bad thing lurking.

I’m also poking at my auto insurance both for an old claim, and for the possible new one. Fortunately Ranger parts are pretty cheap, and widely available. If I decide to fix my trucks axle, no matter who funds it, it should be doable and in the ‘reasonable to do’ range for me.

This means I didn’t get anything else done. Other than laundry. So I’ve got all that still to do.

It’s always something, and there’s always more.

Stack. Because the alternative is actually working on stuff…

nick

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