Thur. Apr. 9, 2026 – I look at Iran and I see dead people…

By on April 9th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, crisp. Warming later, and getting humid later, but still gorgeous. Like yesterday. I broke a sweat standing in the sun, but the breeze was cool. Drove around all day with the windows down.

Got a small nap in the morning, then did auction stuff before heading out. Wife had me on a mission to get free stuff from the neighborhood group. Aeron chair, genuine Herman Miller, free. Yes please. She will use it at the BOL for her desk chair. Did a pickup. Sold some scrap. Dropped off some trash. Met with my auctioneer. I need to find a new auctioneer. Home to feed some extra kids and crash from the carbs. Oh so exciting!

Today I’ve got pickups I can do, and office stuff that has to be done. Mileage. Invoicing. Insurance stuff. More indoor stuff while I just want to be outdoors in the nice weather. It was like San Diego yesterday.

I miss San Diego weather. And the food. But most of my friends have moved on too, and Texas is growth while Cali is decline. The world turns.

No regrets. Stack.

nick

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Wed. Apr. 8, 2026 – well, the week is half over already

Cool, crisp, sunny and clear. And warmer later. Like yesterday. Second false Spring is over, with morning temps of 53F! but we’ll soon get into real Spring, I’m sure. Until then, I’m loving this Global Cooling. NY and Canadia aren’t gonna like it much.

So yesterday started out pretty blurry. I take meds when I need to, painkillers and antibiotics are the miracles of the modern world, and there’s no shame in using them. Not that there should be. I did mostly office and internet stuff when I finally got out of bed. Felt sore, but nothing like I expected. It really makes a difference to be proactive.

In the afternoon, I did a little cleaning, a little putting away, and I took some stuff to the shop. I am still waiting on an ebay sale to move forward. It will clear up some room and I can finally get my storage unit emptied. And the money won’t hurt.

Today I’ll try to get rid of those cats again, and maybe do some more moving and scrapping. Who knows. W wants me to pick up some free stuff in the neighborhood. A nice desk chair and some other things. Hope the lady is there to meet me on time.

I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I can’t remember what…

Oh well, stack like your life depends on it. It just might.

nick

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Tues. Apr. 7, 2026 – dunno what happened..

Cool and damp, then warm and damp. Yesterday at the BOL was the nicest day of the year. Cool, crisp, sunny and bright. More please.

Did my thing at the BOL in the morning. Tried to do a number of things in the afternoon, but mostly spent it trying to clear a drain.

Today, I’m sleeping in a bit, the back at it.

Dunno what happened to the post, or if I wrote one. Not really sure. Meds kicked in for my back and I went to sleep. Thought I did everything I usually do…

Stack something!

nick

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Mon. Apr. 6, 2026 – still at the BOL, still working

Cool and damp to start, but should warm up and the local forecast calls for sunny and clear. Yesterday was nice, despite some overcast and a bit of coolness. Today should be nice too.

Did Easter with the kids. As long as they want to do kid stuff, I’m willing to play along. Our “big” meal was Saturday night, so they could head home in the afternoon Sunday. Kids have stuff to do this week.

I got the outdoor stuff mostly done, and even started on moving stuff around and sorting, but didn’t get any “real” work from the list done. That is the plan for today.

If I can get a couple of things started, even just to prep for the next visit, I’ll feel good about staying up here. There is a lot to do and we’re busy for most of the next couple months worth of weekends. I will probably have to come up mid-week at some point, if only to cut the grass. I really need to crank out a few things to feel like I’m making progress.

I need to look at some of the stacks here too, it’s been long enough now that some of it might be aging out. Fortunately, my storage conditions are actually better up here than at home. Still should probably rotate some things.

There’s always more to do.

And to stack.

nick

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Sun. Apr. 5, 2026 – Easter Sunday

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

Cool and wet. Maybe even raining. It rained on and off all day yesterday, and today should be similar. It got chilly when the real front moved in, dropping from mid 70sF to low 60sF and even lower at night.

I did get some stuff done, but of course not as much as I’d hoped. I spent time working on drainage that I hadn’t planned for, and didn’t get any electrical done. Did get some stuff moved, organized, and put away. Then it was time to cook, nap, and sleep.

Today will start with us hiding eggs, and the kids finding them. After that, it will be a few more tasks from the list and at some point, W and the Ds will head home. I might stay, as the forecast for Monday is clear and the grass really needs to be mowed. I don’t have anything scheduled at home on Monday. It’s turning into a pattern for me to stay an extra day. I get more done when I’m alone.

I will take some time to consider the religious aspects of the day and even try talking through the theology and myth with the kids. We’ll see how that goes. We have been criminally negligent about educating them in Christian theology, which shaped the Western world. Kinda late now, but there never seemed to be a good time. Time flies.

Do what you can with what you have, where you are.

And stack.

nick

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Sat. Apr. 4, 2026 – depends whether the weather cooperates…

Mid 70sF and probably damp. Maybe even wet. We apparently got almost 4 inches of rain on Thursday, and there was water on the garage floor when W arrived. It was mostly cloudy when I arrived, but the forecast is for rain. Lake is very high.

I did a bunch of things in the morning, including writing checks and going to the mailbox. I also did some ebay correspondence. Then I got the truck loaded, two new propane bottles filled, and headed out.

When I got here I did a quick and brutal mow of the front and side areas. It was pretty dark when I finished so I bet it looks bad. The grass was about 18″ on the side area and I mostly pushed it over with the mower. It has to look better than the overgrowth. If not, I’ll mow again. Weather permitting.

And if the weather is nice, I’ll do outdoor stuff, including hanging some cameras and pulling cat cable, as well as getting the mower serviced and put to good use. If it’s not nice, I’ll do inside stuff. There is plenty to do.

Too much really. I need to find some stuff to outsource. I can’t do it all, even if I could do the work. I just don’t have time.

I will do what I can in the mean time.

And stack.

nick

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Fri. Apr. 3, 2026 – Good Friday.

Cool and damp, possibly with moisture from the sky. National forecast has Houston on the southern edge of the possible rain and T storms part of the country. We usually don’t get any when we’re there, due to the difficulty of predicting just how strong the pressure from the Gulf of America is. Today is supposed to be pretty much like yesterday, with the area of rain moving south for Saturday, and presumably also Easter Sunday. I hope we don’t get rain, and that the micro climate at the BOL keeps the rain away too, as I’ve got a truck bed full of stuff.

Yesterday was like so many days lately, where I start with a plan, but fail to execute. Most of the day got eaten by other things, like cutting my hair and ebay stuff.

Turned out I didn’t have to hold myself ready to get D2 from school, so I went to the shop and did a bunch of organizing and arranging. I needed to get the shipping dims and weight of a big thing I might have finally sold, and to get to it, I needed to clean. I also assembled 2 sets of metro rack shelves to put some of it on, instead of just stacking it on the floor. If I palletize and ship the items, I’ll finally have room to get the rest of my storage unit cleaned out. All in all, less than I’d hoped, but decent progress after all.

Today I hope to do a trash run, LP gas refill, and recycle the catalytic converters that are in the bed of the truck. Those things are all near each other. Then I can load up with stuff for the BOL and head out. W plans to take the kids up sometime in the morning. Early afternoon is more likely. We’ll spend Easter at the lake, which is becoming a tradition. Everyone seems to want steak for our Easter dinner, so that will be a bit non-traditional, but we’ll hide eggs (more money than candy in them this year) and play some games together.

I’ll have a list of stuff I need to work on, but that might be limited by weather. There is always more to do than I have energy and motivation to do.

That is the story of my life though.

Always be working. Always be stacking.

nick

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Thur. Apr. 2, 2026 – no japery for you!

By on April 2nd, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Well, it wasn’t entirely clear and sunny yesterday. Some parts of town got a lot of rain, but it didn’t last long. I saw the result but not the actual rain… W got rained on though. Nothing at my house. I’ve got a feeling that today will be similar. Some people are gonna get wet. Some of us will just sweat.

Got a little nap, then headed out. One pickup, client’s house – success, second pickup, shop to unload, home. W made dinner. I wasn’t in the mood.

Today won’t be anywhere near that busy. I have to make a trash run, go to the shop, and I’ll try for the cat recycler if they’re open. All in the service of the list… and if it’s not raining, I’ll do more cleaning and moving with the goal of getting more stuff out of my storage unit. It’s cost me $500 more than it should have, but I keep finding other things to do.

Lists. I’ve got ’em. We’ll see if that makes a difference.

Stacking never lets me down…
nick

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Wed. Apr. 1, 2026 – Fool’s Day? A day for foolin’ around? A day for japes and mischief…

And I’ll sit it out. Cool to start, warm later. It was very moist last night and the trend has been rising humidity all week. We’ll get rain at some point. As long as it stays relatively cool, even the high humidity hasn’t dampened my love of our current weather. More please.

So I spent the morning doing stuff, then went out to do stuff. And indeed, some stuff did get done. Not all the stuff, or even most of the stuff, but some stuff.

Today, I’ve got to do my speaker install at my client’s house. I’ll do a pickup on the way there (most expensive item on the invoice? $15 for Tide powder) and on the way home I’ll grab another pickup of some other household stuff. I can combine trips, and they are mostly a big loop to the northwest, and back. That saves money and time.

I’ve cut back on buying. There’s less stuff I want or need, and there are fewer auctions tempting me. Plus, some are just farther than I’d like to drive nowadays. With the decrease in sellers, it’s harder to combine trips, especially to distant places. When I started, I could combine 3, 4, 5 or sometimes 6 pickups in one loop down to Dickenson and back. Now I don’t go to Dickenson unless it’s a fantastic deal on something I really need.

There are changes in the secondary/reseller market. They don’t benefit me, the buyer. We’ll see if they even survive or if we go back to a time when only a few big retailers were doing it.

Things change. That is the only constant.

That and the prudence of stacking of course!

nick the prudent…

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Tues. Mar. 31, 2026 – what are ya gonna do?

By on March 31st, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Another great day. At least weatherwise. Today should be just as nice. Mid 80sF in the afternoon, but fairly dry, and some clouds in the morning. More please.

Yesterday ended up being a bit weird. I really didn’t get everything I’d hoped to do done. Called it a day early so I could cook dinner (pre-wuflu pork chops.) Everyone was in a mood though, and I spent most of the evening ignoring everything and everyone.

Grump.

Today, maybe I’ll get some productive work done. I’m waiting for delivery of my client’s speakers. I’m hoping to install them tomorrow, but we’ll see. In the mean time, the list is long and my patience is short.

But I’ll soldier on because that’s what we do.

That and stacking.

nick

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