Wed. May 6, 2026 – it was pretty quiet last night, maybe no one wanted to attract the attention of ICE?

Warm and damp to start, and then more. It was pretty warm yesterday, and overcast for most of the day. I think we’ll get a bit more moisture today. But I could be wrong if the balance between the fronts moving down from the NW and the air moving NW out of the Gulf changes. It doesn’t have to move much for Houston to get or not get weather.

I didn’t get much done yesterday. I did hit HEB for groceries and did some office type stuff. Had a D2 thing in the evening at school. My time sitting out at night wasn’t marred by a lot of gunfire, only a few distant rounds, and a few squealing tires. Not much Sinkhole de mayo celebrating that I saw. No media pushing it reached me either.

Today I’ll do a couple of pickups, some office stuff, and some more errands. I’ve got plenty of stuff piling up. Sometimes, I’m just not that motivated. And then some days, I get a lot done. It evens out but I’m not catching up or getting ahead.

I suppose not falling farther behind is a win of sorts.

Stack. Improve. Do what you can.
n

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Tues. May 5, 2026 – no sink of mayo for me. Miracle Whip!

Cool and overcast, warming later. Lots of humidity. Although the national forecast still has us outside the storms zone, we seem to be set for a little weather. That’s ok, it’s been a great run of gorgeous days. Thank you global cooling.

Spent the day doing stuff. Mostly auction stuff but some household stuff to, like shopping. The costco changed their checkout lanes and moved the self checkout. I tried it as I only had 7 items. Yeah, I still prefer people. Plus, there was no signage or guidance so it was a bit of a clusterflock. I much prefer the “leave it all in the cart and we’ll scan it” method. I’ve been loading the cart with UPC codes clearly visible, and it makes the whole process very quick. There is a big savings in not handling everything out of and back into the cart. I miss the boxes to carry the stuff into the house, but I like the speed of checkout.

Today I’ll be working the list. There is plenty to do, I can choose what strikes my fancy or what has risen to the top of the ‘do it now’ list. Or I can go do something else. I do have one pickup, the medical lappy carts with the batteries in them. That is relatively nearby so not a burden. Whatever I choose, I’m sure my day will be full.

Stacking to do! Get busy!

nick

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Mon. May 4, 2026 – Star Wars Day

Cool and damp, but clear. Should be another beautiful day. I’ll have to remember these days when I’m whining about how hot and muggy it is later on. Yesterday was gorgeous too. Moar plz!!111!!

Spent all of yesterday doing family stuff, preparing to do family stuff, or recovering from family stuff. A good day.

We’ll see what happens today, but I think I’ll be working at least part of the list. Maybe some more scrapping and salvage too. Ending the day with that is actually pretty satisfying, and then I can cash out first thing the next day.

I do have one pickup to make, out in Sealy. I won some locksmithing stuff. Kinda hard to tell for sure what it is, but there are some interesting key blanks, and some very nice commercial high security locks in the photos. Other than the drive out to Sealy being longer than I’d like, it’s the kind of lot I used to buy often, hopefully getting something that is hard to get through normal channels.

You never know what you might need in the after times.

Stack some weird stuff too.

nick

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Sun. May 3, 2026 – busy with family stuff today

Cool and clear to start, and hopefully warming later. It was like a Fall day yesterday with sunny and clear, but a chill in the air. I’d call this Spring the result of global cooling but weather isn’t climate, right? Today should be a nice day to be outdoors but IDK if I’d want to swim.

Spent yesterday sleeping in, then puttered around the house. I did get some stuff cleaned up and put away, which was good. I kept moving most of the day, but it still wasn’t super productive.

Today, D2 is having a pool party for her birthday. ~40 kids at our old rec association pool. It’s in the afternoon, so I hope it warms up by then. Getting ready for that should take most of my morning, and the event will keep me busy the rest of the day. I’m not going to get much done on the list, but hopefully we will be making some good memories, which is probably more important.

Stack up some good times. They are food for the soul.
nick

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Sat. May 2, 2026 – will it be clear? Or will it be wet?

Probably clear and wet. It rained all day yesterday so wet is almost a guarantee. I am also thinking “cool” like mid 60sF cool, or maybe low 70sF cool.

I spent the morning yesterday doing office stuff. Spent the afternoon drive around and pickup auction stuff. Spent the evening doing more computer stuff.

Today, I’m sleeping in a bit, then I’ll see what the weather is like. Inside work or outside work? We’ll see.

There is always work.

And stacking.
n

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Fri. May 1, 2026 – busy week…

Hopefully going to be cool and clear today, but the local forecast says ‘nope’. Supposed to be cold, raining, and flood-y here today, but then clearing by Sunday. We’ll see. It was light overcast until late afternoon, then it got cool and gorgeous again. Wow, I’m really loving the weather this Spring.

I did office stuff, including working on my non-prepping hobby website, and some auction stuff in the morning, then I went to my shop and broke down the laptop cart/stand/rolling things. I won more so I’ll be doing more of that next week too. With the scrap sale, I’m actually being paid to harvest the stuff I want from the carts. Crazy.

Today I have a pickup or two to do and more stuff to break down and organize. I’ve also got household stuff to do, and office stuff as well. We’ll see what gets done and what doesn’t.

I am stacking good stuff with the batteries and chargers. I just need to find the time to do all the regular stuff too.

Do not falter.

Stack.

nick

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Thur. Apr. 30, 2026 – well, that didn’t go exactly to plan

By on April 30th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Warm and humid. I think we’re really in Spring now. It cleared up by later afternoon, what with the gusting wind from the Gulf blowing all the stuff north… and it ended up being quite nice, if a bit humid. So my guess for today is overcast, clearing later, and mid 80sF and humid.

I did my big loop of pickups. All stuff for the house and the BOL. More lappy carts to break down for batteries, food, coffee, and some small electronics and household stuff. Since I was running late, I called D1 and had her put the roast in the oven.

That worked out well. I put 3 lbs of eye round roast in for about 1 1/2 hours at 220F and by the time I got home, it was 130F internally. Slightly more towards medium than rare, but not dried up and grey. It’s so lean that it’s hard to get it cooked but also not overcooked and tough. I seasoned some canned peas and canned carrots as sides, which were better than I expected, and threw a shelf stable sourdough loaf in the oven too. Kid made ‘break and bake’ chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

When I was sitting out having my tiny little fire and a book, twice Lifeflight went overhead outbound. The first was low and very fast, the second was low and moving briskly but not “OMG that thing is booking it…” One possum went by on his rounds, and three shots sounded like they came from the end of the block. No cats though. Lifeflight came back over inbound when I was back in the house. Kinda busy night.

Today I’m definitely getting a nap as I don’t have any pickups scheduled. I won a vintage Hallicrafters ham tranceiver that I could pick up today, but tomorrow is fine too. Later today I’ll break down the laptop carts and take most of the BOL stuff to the shop, if I don’t spend the day doing web stuff for my hobby.

And I’ve got some office type stuff that needs doing too, so that could eat some time.

I will be stacking the batteries and chargers, and the spare parts I got, and some of the other things that need to go to the BOL. I do need to test some of them first, like the aerator for the septic system. It LOOKS new, but who knows, could be returns fraud. Backup for that system has been on my list for some time.

It’s been a busy day or two. Sometimes it be that way. Stack what you can.

nick

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Wed. Apr. 29, 2026 – this time for sure!

By on April 29th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool, then warm, then hot. Unless it rains. Then cool to cool. There is a chance we’re in the Tstorm area for the next couple of days but the wind from the Gulf was so strong yesterday, that could have changed. We’ll get what we get.

Spent the morning asleep. Back hurt, and I was tired. So I slept.

Spent the afternoon doing minor car repair, a couple of office things, and a bit of poking around.

Today, I have to do the pickups I missed in the last 2 days. I did score 3 more of the laptop stands, so more batteries, chargers, and scrap to come. I’m bidding on even more. Now that I know what scrap I’ll get, I’m even more inclined to buy them as I make 60-80USD scrapping them after paying for them. IE, they’re not just free, I get paid to take them and salvage the parts I want.

I’ve got a couple of other pickups to do too, one is mostly food, the other is odds and ends for the house and the BOL.

There are fewer and fewer auctions and I’m winning less. Hmm.

Still stacking though.

nick

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Tues. Apr. 28, 2026 – well, that didn’t work out so well

By on April 28th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Starting a little warmer every day now, and hitting a little bit higher in the afternoon. REAL Spring must be here, with Summer right behind. It hit mid to high 80sF yesterday, and probably will again today. The overcast never lifted, but on the national forecast we’re right on the southern edge of the Tstorm possible zone, so if there is a little bit more pressure from the Gulf, we’ll be clear. No one knows for certain.

I didn’t do much beyond getting ready for the kid’s special dinner. I like cooking so that was fine, and the result was really good. I filtered and recovered the lard, but it’s not pure white anymore. I’ll save it in the fridge. I’d had it stored in the freezer for the last few years. The temperature difference between “flows thru the filter paper” and “congeals” is somewhere above room temperature. I got “most” of it through the filter…

Cast iron cleaned up with a couple of wipes of damp paper towel.

Today I’ll do the stuff I didn’t do yesterday. If I’ve had enough sleep.

The pile up is getting deep.

Stack.

nick

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Mon. Apr. 27, 2026 – a whole new week…

By on April 27th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Cool, then warm and humid here in Houston. Probably some gloom too. Maybe even rain. Who really knows? The shadow might.

I was at the BOL yesterday, and didn’t get much done. I did get the truck unloaded and the mower powerwashed. I even got some stuff load on the truck to bring home. Kid wants some water toys for her swim party, and I sold one of the big floating foam pads to someone, so that stuff needed to come home.

I stayed later than I was hoping but did eventually get home.

Today I’ve got stuff to do. Gotta do some grocery shopping for the kid, and some present wrapping too. Already have the cake and card, so that’s covered.

There is other ‘real’ work to be done too. We’ll see how much of that happens.

It’s a great life if you don’t falter…

n

(stack)

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