08:17 – We’re still packing up for the move. There are boxes stacked all over the place, and more yet to be packed. We’ve segregated the items we’ll need to take up to the closing next Monday afternoon so that we can stay at the new house Monday night. Those items are all going into Barbara’s car and my SUV, which makes it hard to use them for anything else in the interim. Fortunately, we don’t have anywhere we need to go between now and then. Last in will be trash bags full of empty 2L and one-gallon PET bottles. I’ll fill those once we get up there to give us an emergency water supply. I want to have at least 30 liters per day stored for Barbara, Colin, and me, which means we’ll need a couple hundred of those bottles for a two-week supply.
I have a NIB TV I got from Costco. It’s a smart TV, which is supposed to be able to get Netflix and Amazon streaming over a Wi-Fi connection without using a Roku or other external adapter. Just in case, I’m packing up our old Roku 2 adapter, which we kept as a spare when we got the Roku 3. I’m also taking along my notebook, which I have to get set up to use for processing kit orders and printing labels, a laser printer and a supply of paper and labels, a NIB Wi-Fi router, and assorted cables. I have another box with a charger for our cell-phones, a Kindle Fire fast charger, and assorted other minor gear. And lots of AA, AAA, C, and 9V alkalines to power various stuff.
Barbara is also clearing the steel shelving unit we use to store our long-term supply of canned and bottled foods. Most of those are already in cardboard or shrink-wrapped cases, so they won’t need further packaging. Some are individual cans, which she’ll transfer to boxes or flats. All the LDS store stuff is in cases of six #10 cans each, so it’s ready to go. We won’t have room in the vehicles to transfer much of it on our first trip up to the closing, but it’s a high priority to get it up to Sparta as soon as possible thereafter. I’ll expand our inventory of long-term dry staples once we’re up there, either by getting more stuff from the LDS HSC or just by repackaging stuff like flour, beans, sugar, and rice from 50-pound bags into gallon Mylar foil-laminate bags. We’re already in pretty good shape in terms of meal extenders like powdered eggs, cheese and butter powder, bouillon, canned meats, and so on, but I want to expand our inventory of bulk dry staples significantly. They’re cheap, compact, last forever, and it makes sense to have a large amount of them on hand.
Back to packing.
@RBT,
Don’t forget that a week from Wednesday is Barbara’s birthday. The only reason I remember, is that my wife was also born on the second of December. Usually I read your blog and I am reminded of the upcoming event. This year I’m figuring you’re too busy to remind me.
Woke up to frost on the roof. Weather station says it never got below 34 but I can see the frost with my own eyes. I know it shouldn’t surprise me in mid-November, but it was so hot for so long, I am surprised.
Read the PA young adult novel “Land” that was recommended. It was pretty good.
–spoilers–
A little rough getting going, and uneven in spots but way above a lot of first novels. It’s a YA adventure, so of course the teens are the plucky band of heroes. The author did a pretty good job with copyediting too. Only one thing really jumped out at me other than some gun stuff, and that was a discussion about taking chickens on the road with them, and then it was never mentioned again. The gun stuff can be forgiven for the sexist and nationalist reasons (female and Canadian) as well as her unconscious biases (the kids aren’t worried in Canada because there are fewer handguns) despite the plot revolving around bad guys seizing a town. Characters are a bit undifferentiated despite telling us they are, but not too much adolescent whining.
–end spoilers–
Not as good as YA zombies from Jonathan Maberry (Rot and Ruin series) but all in all, I’ll read the second novel.
nick
Now here’s a fascinating little study: it claims that the achievement gap between black and white boys disappears, when the boys are raised by white mothers.
I hope the authors own asbestos suits. Their results are so non-PC that they are guaranteed all sorts of trouble.
The Jeld-Wen window technician, Hector, called me at 630 am this morning and showed up at 645 am. He promptly tested one of the problem windows (6 of 8 are retaining water in the bottom channel) using a glass of water I brought him. I managed to hear him mutter under his breath, “not again”. I asked him if weep hole problems in new windows is a common problem lately and he said yes.
So, we tested all the windows and found that every window had weep hole problems. The two windows that drained only had one functioning weep hole each. Nice to know that one weep hole will drain the entire window bottom channel though. So, he used a 1/2 inch wood chisel and a hammer to create a hole for the windows to drain into. Each window now has two working weep holes.
Bring on the driving rain!
Cankles opens mouth, inserts foot.
On the night CNN aired a controversial and, as many legal critics call it, flawed documentary on sexual assault on college campuses, Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton tweeted solidarity with victims of sexual assault. The response could not have been what she was hoping for.
he used a 1/2 inch wood chisel and a hammer to create a hole for the windows to drain into
This does not sound like the kind of solution one wants to think about too closely…
Not that we have any room to talk. We replaced all of our windows with high-end, 3-pane, wood/metal windows. We have had endless problems with leakage. Not so much with the windows themselves, as with errors in the way they were mounted. One of the first windows mounted – nearly 10 years ago now – they finally made weatherproof this past summer.
_Dispatches_ (The Perseid Collapse Series) (Volume 4) by Steven Konkoly
http://www.amazon.com/Dispatches-Perseid-Collapse-Series-Volume/dp/1507646623/
Book number five of a five book series. This is actually a four book series plus a prequel book, _The Jakarta Pandemic_. The book is a POD, print on demand, printing in trade paperback (my favorite!).
Six years after the Jakarta Pandemic in 2013 that killed 30 million people in the USA and one billion people worldwide, the USA economy has mostly recovered from the pandemic. Then, an asteroid entered the atmosphere traveling low over Boston and crashed into the Atlantic. The author never explained where the asteroid came from but that it was “as large as a city business center”. The USA government did not detect the asteroid which seems a little far fetched to me. The kicker is that the PRC used the satellite event to explode a large nuclear bomb in LEO over the eastern USA. The resulting asteroid passover over Boston, 60 foot tsunami, and EMP practically destroy the entire eastern seaboard of the USA. Please note that this explanation is not consistent over the books.
The first book in this series is the prequel flu pandemic that happens in 2013 with severe loss of life across the world. The second book is the first 48 hours after the EMP event in 2019. The third book is the second 48 hours after the EMP event. The fourth book is the next two weeks, starting at four days after the EMP event.
The fifth book, this book, is basically two novellas put together. The first portion of the book is what happens to the rest of the world while the USA puts itself back together. China invades Taiwan, Russia invades Ukraine and Poland, are a few items. The USA deals a little revenge of its own, EMPing China using two submarine launched nuclear bombs at 65,000 meters (200,000 feet) over Beijing and Shanghai.
The second portion of the book deals with Alex Fletcher and his family / friends surviving the winter in Maine along with 400,000 starving refugees from Boston. The award for surviving the winter is that you get to survive the summer with high tensions between the state government and the RRZ (regional recovery zone) governor.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (129 reviews)
he used a 1/2 inch wood chisel and a hammer to create a hole for the windows to drain into
This does not sound like the kind of solution one wants to think about too closely…
This is the solution that I was going to use if he failed. Except I was going to use a 3/16 inch drill bit. His chisel was way better.
Not that we have any room to talk. We replaced all of our windows with high-end, 3-pane, wood/metal windows. We have had endless problems with leakage. Not so much with the windows themselves, as with errors in the way they were mounted. One of the first windows mounted – nearly 10 years ago now – they finally made weatherproof this past summer.
My folks put Anderson windows into their addition 15 years ago (expensive windows). Now all of the wooden bases of the windows are rotting away due to excessive moisture and leakage. I never knew that windows were such a pain in the butt.
My dad highly regrets not putting a bathroom with shower in their addition though. I am very glad I did that even though the incremental cost was $40,000.
I so wanted to like the Jakarta Pandemic, but it was so inconsistent. I mean, the main character would have a discussion (in his head) how terrible the childcare pool was and how everyone should just go in their homes and bunker down, but then in the very next paragraph he would shake hands with his friends. That sort of thing happened throughout the book.
Then we get the HEMP attack that also creates Tsunami and breaks everything.
“Paris. Coming soon to a location near you. Mumbai, Beslan, and a thousand others, we’ve seen this before, and we’ll see it again.”
“On the personal, local level, this is another example of why you should carry a gun. No, we don’t expect every permit holder to be a Navy SEAL, just a speed bump. The best way to stop a mass shooter is an immediate violent response. At best, you drop them before they can hurt too many people. At worst, congratulations you were a distraction, but even distractions can save lives or derail plans.”
“Running is great. I’ll never fault somebody who chooses to run or hide when bad things happen. Every one of us has a different level of training, knowledge, and commitment, and what is the right answer for you, isn’t the right answer for your grandma. If you are the kind of person to get involved, you need to have a clue. However, since the only constant of gunfights is that they suck for somebody, you can do everything right and still die. On the bright side you at least bought everybody else some time.”
http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/11/16/thoughts-on-paris/
Yup, that’s me, speed bump.
I’m not physically capable of running away; hobbling at a fast pace, maybe, for a very short distance. I’d rather bring the counter battery fire.
Hillary…
https://twitter.com/lisalunu/status/668639674492174336/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
The Clock Kid wants $15 million from Irving, TX city and ISD. lol Like that wasn’t coming. $15 million? WTF, over?
A similar study 15-ish years ago was similar, but the conclusion was that the best thing you could do for any boy was have a white father raise him. I don’t recall any flap arising from that study; I suspect it was memory-holed with indecorous haste.
Those racial study thangs disappear faster than Cankles’s emails.
Speaking of which, the insane witch did the Southern accent thang again at some speech down there, and yeah, has solidarity with sexual abuse victims, while the latest book out on them both, by, IIRC, Roger Stone, has him down as one sick, demented serial rapist bastard. Violent fucker, too. And President of the U.S.A. for two terms. Can’t wait for the Stone volume on the Incumbent.
As for terrorist attacks and mass shootings, I hope, first of all, that I never run into one, and it’s not bloody likely up here in Retroville. I’d then hope to be a small cut above a speed bump, however, and get peeps to safety, treat the wounded/injured, stuff like that. And if I get a decent shot at the fuckers I’m mos def gonna take it. In fact, I would probably go for that right away; hell, I’m 62, had an interesting life, why not?
But our biggest probable threat along those lines is local muffs breaking in, junkies, thieves, etc. All they gotta do is get through the various obstacles and security measures and past the barking dog, and then they’re gonna have some real fun.
Ah, today keeps on getting better. Started off at dark thirty with the window guy. Then counciled the wife on getting quotes for her 2005 Honda civic car engine rebuild (head gasket is leaking at 91K miles). Then she called me at 4pm from east side of Sugar Land and the old Honda Civic (the 1997) has stranded her and the daughter. I got there at 5pm, started the Honda and spent the next HOUR driving ten miles to home in horrible traffic. The clutch starter interlock switch is out but it will start with manually pressing it down at the firewall (most uncomfortable position ever for this big guy).
I figure tomorrow morning that I will start my 2005 Expedition and have all 8 pistons fly through the hood with my luck lately. We’ve gotta stop driving these old paid for cars.
#WhileLivesMatter… Don’t hate me. Where’s BLM now.
Larry Taylor, 18, Jalen Watson, 21, and Diano Gordon, 24, were arrested and taken into custody in connection with the homicide of Amanda Blackburn, 28.
I have a NIB TV I got from Costco.
NIB = not in box?
New In Box, Like NOS, New Old Stock, used as a description for condition, very common on internet trading and auction sites…..
nick
IMHO the best way to raise any boy is to have an actual father, or a caring, attentive substitute therefore, in the house. Many, many bonus points if the parents actually read, and read to the kid(s) rather than being slaves to the idiot box. That class of parent, almost by default, also gives a damn about said kid’s education, giving him another leg up. Finally, enough material wealth to ensure that the basic needs of nutrition, housing, and clothing are provided, without so much as to eliminate the notion of a work ethic.
In truth, this is essentially exactly how I & my younger sister were raised. Alas, there have been multiple generations of children, of any & all melanin content, who have been raised 180* out of phase to this ideal, and we are reaping the whirlwind. 🙁
“Don’t hate me. Where’s BLM now.”
There are MANY stories like this from around the continent; only reason it made the MSM is because the widower husband apparently is the forgiving sort, which is WAY beyond what I could do. Otherwise it’d never see the light of day. Reverse the races and watch the MSM light up like the Fourth of July. It would still be in the MSM years from now, too.
“…and we are reaping the whirlwind.”
Not yet, we’re not. That day is coming, though. I’ve just been reading the current issue of Chronicles and a couple of the stories involve guys from our generation, roughly, interacting and observing the younger one, and by that I mean teens and twenties, of very little melanin content, and it’s pretty scary. Zero interest in the real world or real life, depressed and bummed out about it, actually, with plenty of ready cash to blow, and feeling eminently entitled. They’re “connected” 7×24 some way or other and if you suddenly took that away they’d be utterly fucking lost.
Mrs. OFD and I, and I’m sure many here, are the last generation that might actually read books and pay attention to things like trees and flowers and the stars in the night sky. Or listen to any music that isn’t the thumping animal beat of a psycho jungle full of screaming mutants. Us even mentioning any of this to them would be met with blank stares and total incomprehension.
Hell, we have a 32-year-old DIL with a bit of college who can’t place the War Between the States in the right century or identify the major combatants in the Good War, even though some of her older or recently deceased relatives fought in it. But by Jeezum she can put away a couple of Big Macs and supersized fries in a nanosecond and knows how to run the five-year-old’s fucking iPad.
Can’t disagree with the father thing. Above the age of 5 or 6, a boy needs a father figure, that’s pretty clear. Black inner-city culture in the US is a fail on so many fronts, and the lack of stable families is yet another one. OTOH, I give the study credit for not trying to analyze too many variables at once. They picked one, and concentrated on it. While I didn’t analyze their statistics in detail, it looks like they did a pretty solid job. I wonder how this study can be reconciled with the studies showing genetic differences in intelligence, though.
In the end, it’s pretty much just a theoretical exercise. I mean, what kind of practical action are you gonna take? Prohibit people from having kids? Good luck with that.
– – – – –
Over here, the big news is the continuing lockdown in Belgium. Apparently, the Belgian authorities are doing their best to roll up a lot of extremists in one go. The authorities asked the social media types to please not tweet about pending police actions, to “not let the cat out of the bag”. For those who have missed the meme, the Belgians are now very busy letting lots of cats out of bags. And more. And my favorite collection from BBC.
Hell, we have a 32-year-old DIL with a bit of college who can’t place the War Between the States in the right century or identify the major combatants in the Good War, even though some of her older or recently deceased relatives fought in it.
Wasn’t gonna post this mainly because it ain’t exactly news, but it’s not just the thirtysomethings who are pig-ignorant: 94 Maidens – The Mandate Video.
(When I posted a similar video here this past summer, one of the commenters suggested that all the informed, intelligent responses had been left on the cutting-room floor. In this case, for the sake of this country’s future, I certainly hope so. 🙁 )
A followup to yesterday’s story about the attempted execution of that Good Samaritan Tulane med student: Suspect arrested in Tulane med student’s shooting. The police also nabbed the GF who was harboring him. I suspect Mr. Cain’s public defender is going to have just a leetle trouble winning his case.
The crime scene is 35 minutes from my house and less than 15 minutes from my doctor’s office. It’s also less than 10 minutes from the most crime ridden shopping mall in Indianapolis.