Sunday, 30 April 2017

By on April 30th, 2017 in personal, science kits

08:53 – It was 64.5F (18C) when I took Colin out at 0645 this morning, sunny and calm. There were half a dozen cows up near the back fence. Colin and the cows just looked at each other. When I checked the thermometer yesterday mid-afternoon, it was up to 82.2F (28C), the first time we’ve hit 80F this year.

I’m closing out the books for April. Barring any more orders coming in today, we’ll finish April slightly above April of last year. YTD, we’re roughly 33% above last year’s numbers for kit units and revenue, and slightly above the 2015 YTD numbers. We’re still well behind the 2014 numbers, but even so we’ll have a pretty decent year if the current trend continues.

We had barbecue chicken for dinner last night, using a can of Costco chicken and a pint of our homemade barbecue sauce. It tasted fine. As I commented to Barbara, the flavor of the sauce is strong enough that it doesn’t really matter what kind of meat we use with it. I’d even try barbecue diced-Spam if Barbara would let me get away with it. She’s not a big fan of Spam, although I have a couple of cases of it in our LTS pantry.

We have a quiet day planned.


45 Comments and discussion on "Sunday, 30 April 2017"

  1. SteveF says:

    We have a quiet day planned.

    Arrgh! It always pains me when people tempt fate like that.

    I believe in a sapient universe. A sapient, hostile universe.

    (Well, I don’t believe in it, per se. But as an engineer and as someone who makes plans, it’s useful to act as though it were true.)

  2. OFD says:

    42 with a light breeze, partly sunny, with rain showers expected. I’ll try to get some more outside stuff done. GG is bringing wife up at some point, but probably a quiet day here, too. Skipping mass today, due to the probability of me having coughing and choking fits and spreading nasty germs to others.

    Local lefty online news aggregator has a lot of potentially useful nooz and intel that the MSM here does not cover, but the latest summary of the past week or two has them gushingly reporting crowds of Vermonters showing up at the usual lefty demonstrations in Montpeculiar and taking buses to Mordor. There are so, so many useful idiots and tools up here, concentrated mainly in the cities and college towns, and they really grate on my nerves. Arrogant smartypants urban cosmopolites; a handful over in Rail City but none that I know of so far here in Retroville.

  3. dkreck says:

    I guess the main reason to buy SPAM is it’s low cost. I can eat it but don’t find it near as good as just plain canned ham. Too much fat and salt. Is there another reason to use it instead of plain ham?

    Don’t be dicing SPAM and putting in in my macaroni salad either.

  4. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    It doesn’t really matter. I found a really good deal on it a couple years ago, so I ordered two cases, 48 total 12-ounce cans.

    I remember a scene in Dawson’s Creek where Dawson and Katie Holmes were trapped in a room and getting hungry. Katie found a can of Spam. Dawson looked at the best-by date and said EWWW. Katie told him not to be ridiculous, opened it, and they ate it. The series ran for many more episodes, so obviously it didn’t poison them.

    Or maybe it was vice-versa. That’d be more realistic. Guys’ll eat pretty much anything.

  5. nick flandrey says:

    Modern beta males are all like “ewwww’. That’s icky. Raised by females, they’re confused by their natural and normal reactions to stimuli. Every normal thing has been turned around, blunted, and redirected.

    n

  6. nick flandrey says:

    64F with 67%RH and dreary grey here this am. Perfect for working outside. I better get busy.

    n

  7. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Heh. I can hear it now.

    Barbara: “You ordered WHAT!? We already HAVE toilet paper.”
    Me: “I ordered only 800 rolls.”
    Barbara: “!!#%^&!!!!!”
    Me: “Relax. I actually ordered only one case of 80 rolls.”

    https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040ZFAQ0

    I checked out reviews. I figure worst case we’ll end up with two rolls of TP open in each bathroom. Barbara will use the Costco stuff and I’ll be sentenced to using the GP stuff.

    The Costco stuff weighs 202.183 grams/roll gross, or 196.136 g/roll after subtracting 6.047 g for the cardboard core. It’s 425 sheets/roll, which works out to about 461 mg/sheet. One Amazon review gives the weight of GP TP as 186 g/roll. I’ll assume that’s gross, because even that reviewer isn’t as Asperger’s as I am. So I’ll subtract 6 grams for the core, for a net of 180 g/roll. That means the 80 rolls of GP TP equal about 73.4 rolls of Costco.

  8. OFD says:

    Now for usage calculations: how many sheets does the average Murkan derp use with each sitting?

    C’mon math-heads, get busy!

  9. Greg Norton says:

    It doesn’t really matter. I found a really good deal on it a couple years ago, so I ordered two cases, 48 total 12-ounce cans.

    Spam is another item which is in short supply at our local Sam’s Clubs around Austin. I suspect a lot of preppers are holed up in the Hill Country and make runs into town to stock up.

    I don’t know if the Hill Country makes strategic sense, but prior to the election, the area was ground zero for the Successionist movement in Texas. Also , my wife’s prog associate in the Northwest fled Fredericksburg after just two years practicing there — in other words, she was interviewing within a few months of setting up shop in town, the Northwest job search subsidized by the local hospital’s grant for her office.

    Typical prog behavior, but a good indicator for Fredericksburg.

  10. nick flandrey says:

    All I buy anymore is the name brand that happens to be onsale this period at Costco. they are all big fat dense rolls. We use about a roll a day, normal usage for me, wife, and 2 little girls. That’s all the math I need…..

    n

    (every so often I’d do the math to compare brands or store prices. every store package has a different amount, or # of plies, or ‘double rolls’ and it’s intentionally hard and tedious to make apples to apples comparisons. So I said “F it” I’ll just by the sale brand at costco.) I’ll spend the time I save watching youtube vids of cats, and feel better for it 🙂

  11. Miles_Teg says:

    Life’s too short to eat SPAM. I’d rather almost anything else, even fruit and veg.

  12. nick flandrey says:

    Speaking of pets, we stopped at Petsmart yesterday to get a fish for the (now) 6yo child. They were having a rescue adoption day for dogs. Oh, my. The BC/beagle mix puppy is gonna be a handful for someone. That little guy NEVER stopped moving, sniffing, turning, looking, licking, etc.

    We escaped without another dog…..

    n

  13. MrAtoz says:

    MrsAtoz was raised on Spam/knockoffs as a chile’. Slice it thin and fry it. A couple of fried eggs. Smother in homemade hot sauce. Not bad. I’ll pass on the “potted” meat she loves, though. It tastes OK, I just don’t like it for some reason. You’d think after Army chow, I could eat stuff that would “make a billy goat puke.”

  14. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    “Now for usage calculations: how many sheets does the average Murkan derp use with each sitting?

    C’mon math-heads, get busy!”

    The last time I checked, the National Toilet Paper Association (or something like that) says that US adults average about one roll/week each, but with women using about twice as much as men and women of menstrual age using even more.

  15. Miles_Teg says:

    I’d kinda like a beagle or a BC, but I just don’t have the energy.

    I *can* think of a use for BCs though. Saw a guy on a pushbike being towed by a couple of BCs, with a third BC running free on the other side of the cycle path. I was sure glad I had time to take evasive action.

  16. Miles_Teg says:

    I really stockpiled dunnie paper a couple of years ago – so much that I still haven’t run out. I can’t even remember offhand what my favourite brand is.

  17. nick flandrey says:

    Just got my new Ben Meadows catalog.

    This is about the coolest catalog ever for ‘outdoors’ work stuff. HUGE selection. Items I didn’t know existed. Items I wouldn’t know where to buy.

    https://www.benmeadows.com/

    Worth a good look for any outdoor gear. LOTS of pro-level preps in there…

    n

  18. nick flandrey says:

    Which reminds me of this site and catalog for hard to find stuff

    http://www.awdirect.com/

    Mainly supplies for the tow business, but lots of cool stuff truck/car related. Pro-level gear.

    n

  19. nick flandrey says:

    Spam beats Scrapple hands down.

    n

    can’t find the hormel can any where….

    used to be the only way to eat it was pan fried and covered in maple syrup to hide the taste.

  20. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I do believe I’d eat boneless, skinless vulture breasts if they were drenched in BBQ sauce. Rat, for that matter.

  21. pcb_duffer says:

    [snip] We use about a roll a day, normal usage for me, wife, and 2 little girls [snip]
    To really be accurate, you’d need a breakdown for weekends (everyone’s home, not using the toilets at school / work) vs. weekdays.

    [snip] I’d rather almost anything else, even fruit and veg. [snip]
    That’s crazy talk, there.

    [snip] boneless, skinless vulture breasts if they were drenched in BBQ sauce. [snip]
    I was raised to believe that granny’s milk gravy was the universal cook’s cover up.

  22. OFD says:

    I very much like me some corned-beef hash and roast-beef hash but wife can’t stand it, or the smell of it cooking. I poach three or four eggs on top, with a side of grits, English muffins, pitcher of iced fruit juice. Ready for the day.

    I noticed there now seem to be half a dozen flavors of Spam out there.

    Thanks for them links, Mr. Nick.

  23. OFD says:

    Just mowed the yard/lawn and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, with a head cold and back issues. Took several water breaks and Bob’s yer uncle!

    And naturally saw half a dozen more things to put on the five-page to-do list.

    Dump run tomorrow, maybe a couple of them. Selectboard meeting tomorrow night; I think the agenda might include the pending solar panel spread coming for the south of town, with company and gummint officials giving us the scoop. Good meatspace and intel opportunities with this stuff.

  24. nick flandrey says:

    Busted up some electronics for the scrap run in the morning.

    Found that one was a desirable amplifier, so I’ll be listing that on ebay instead.

    Shot photos and listed 2 gennies and a plumbing snake on craigslist. Need them out of the driveway…..

    Did a little cleaning in the garage, very little. Did a bit of yard and garden. Harvested one Roma and one regular tomato. Lots of good green tomatoes getting ready.

    Pecan tree is fully leafed in, so I get a good idea what is still getting sun in the garden. I’ve got a couple things to transplant. No asparagus this year. It went strait to running away.

    Back at it while I’ve got the sun…

    n

  25. lynn says:

    “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria”
    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/the-tragedy-of-google-books/523320/#?single_page=true

    Wow, Google spent $400 million digitizing 25 million books out of 130 million books published in the world.

    Hat tip to:
    http://www.osnews.com/story/29783/Torching_the_modern-day_Library_of_Alexandria

  26. OFD says:

    FYI, esp. for Kalifornia peeps here:

    Based Stick Man will be countering the antifa assholes doing their commie May Day bullshit at the Fed building in LA tomorrow at 1100. Could be some fun vids and pics coming out of this during and after.

    Likewise, more sportiness potential around the country in other cities when commies get bused in and stir the shit. Mostly, far as I can tell, with Soros money. Why can’t a Seal or Delta team take that piece of shit out?

  27. OFD says:

    ““Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria””

    That first link had a weird pop-up window that wouldn’t go away and also no way to access the article.

    Second one had the nooz and I’d already seen it elsewhere. Google is not our friend, nor is FaceCrack or SnapChat or any of that stuff.

  28. SteveF says:

    The “popup” at the Atlantic page was a gif at the top of the article. Just scroll down.

    Your takeaway “Google is not our friend” is nothing but truth.

  29. MrAtoz says:

    I like the Indiana Jones reference at the end of the article. WTF, Google? Are they just one day post all the books and kill thousands of authors income?

  30. MrAtoz says:

    I read Megyn Kelly’s first interview at NBC is “The Kardashians”. From mediocre to shitty reporting. Maybe Greta Van Susteren can follow up with “I Am Cockless Cait.”

  31. Miles_Teg says:

    I read part of the Atlantic article, but gave up when it wouldn’t come to the point.

  32. OFD says:

    The Atlantic used to be a pretty good literate magazine, dating back a long time, but in recent years it’s gone whole-Left, like so many other publications. I took a quick look at the last two issues at the supermarket and shed a virtual tear and gave them a pass again.

    As even Mrs. OFD has pointed out more than once, so many articles in nooz-papers and magazines nowadays are more about the writers than what they are writing. It’s that “me–me–look at me” generation of scribes and of course, all the derp chillunz masquerading as adult derps. So there rarely is an actual point, other than them getting our admiration for their brilliance.

  33. SteveF says:

    more about the writers than what they are writing

    Bingo. My only objection to what you wrote is that these scribblers write essays, not articles. Articles are fact-based while essays are feeling-based. And, as Miles_Teg notes, essayists labor under no requirement to come to a point, nor even to inform the reader.

  34. OFD says:

    The scribblers write articles and essays, both of which are often claimed to be objective nooz stories by objective “journalists.”

    And here’s an interesting nooz item which quite frankly shocked me considerably; who would have thought such a connection could happen?

    http://conservative-headlines.org/documents-tie-berkeley-riot-organizers-to-pro-pedophilia-group-nambla/

    Lefty perverts. I’m gobsmacked.

  35. H. Combs says:

    I’m not normal. I really enjoy SPAM. Dad fixed it a number of ways when we were kids and I find it’s now a comfort food. The wife hates even the smell of it so I only fix it when she’s away. I love it fried up but sometimes just throw a SPAM single in a sandwich when I’m​ in a hurry. I have a couple of cases of the cans and of the singles too.

  36. MrAtoz says:

    I’m reading that a $1 trillion budget will pass the House. Nothing is cut, increased mil spending. The Redumblicans just gave everything to the Dumbocrats, again, and a big middle finger to tRump. It’s almost as if they are the same party. Duh.

  37. MrAtoz says:

    The mil will need the loot when we level Dough Boy. I think the Chicomms and Russkies will sut back and smile. The NORKs can’t do much. Who cares if Seoul gets leveled? Apparently not tRump. The can could get kicked a decade down the road.

  38. OFD says:

    As we all MUST know by NOW, it’s all the same fucking Party. They play these games all the time with the contempt and loathing they have for us rubes and bumpkins out here, because the shell game keeps working. Just like an old-fashioned carny trick. And once again, that sorry old tune keeps playing about how our poor depleted military under the previous regime is now faltering and terribly vulnerable and can’t protect our alleged interests, so we gotta empty our pockets again for it. Buy more wunnerful toyz like the F-35 and build more bases worldwide and stick our noses into one fucking hornets’ nest after another. And it increasingly appears as though tRump has been suborned by the Deep State, right on schedule. Unless he’s some kinda wicked Machiavellian trickster who’s playing them all for foolz. We’ll see soon enough.

    As for the NORKs, I say again, let the Japanese and SORKs deal with them. WE ought to sit the fuck back, too, along with the Russians and Chicoms. If it looks, however, like the real deal is about to happen and DoughBoy is launching nuke warheads, wipe out Pyongyang accordingly. We could do it with mega firepower left over from just one sub. Sure, the Russians and Chicoms would wail for public entertainment but soon have a laugh with us in a back room with the cigars and cognac. One nasty little headache removed. Next?

  39. lynn says:

    Wow, we started off Sunday at 55 F and we are back to 55 F already here in Sugar Land on the Brazos. Our Sunday School teacher showed us a facebook video this morning of it snowing at his friend’s church this morning in Amarillo, just 600 miles northwest of here. Amarillo apparently got eight inches of snow this morning.

    We did get up to 75 F today. And we are suppose to be 87 F tomorrow.
    https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=ksgr&MR=1

    I love Texas weather. Except tornadoes, nobody loves tornadoes.

  40. lynn says:

    I’m reading that a $1 trillion budget will pass the House

    Is that for a week, a month, or from now until Sept 30 ? I’ll bet that amount does not include Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Or Obolacare.

    And it increasingly appears as though tRump has been suborned by the Deep State, right on schedule. Unless he’s some kinda wicked Machiavellian trickster who’s playing them all for foolz. We’ll see soon enough.

    Trump is his own man. Time will show that. Look at everything that that he has gotten done so far. Remember, he is trying to turn the Titanic with all eight boilers steaming. It will not happen fast but it will happen.

    I admire Trump for trying to deal with the Nork problem that has been kicked down the road by the eight presidents before him. I just hope that he does not get 14 ??? million people in Seoul killed by Nork artillery. Do remember this, Trump is not a can kicker. He will resolve problems handed to him even if they are covered in dog excrement. You may not like his resolution though. BTW, Iran is watching and will act accordingly afterwards.

    Just imagine what would be happening if the Hillster won the presidency. The Marshalls service would be coming to pick up your guns now since you are VA disabled. And we would have some new prog on SCOTUS, ready to vote just like the ultra progs there already. We would be going down in a hurry as Hill doubled down on all of Obola’s bets. And, she would paint all of the Navy ships pink (I threw that in for fun !).

  41. Ray Thompson says:

    nobody loves tornadoes

    Except the trailer manufacturers who do a dynamite business in replacements.

    she would paint all of the Navy ships pink

    Already been done

    Just imagine what would be happening if the Hillster won the presidency

    I think you are being optimistic. The bitch queen would be doing a lot more damage.

    wipe out Pyongyang

    That would kill a lot of people that probably don’t support the doughboy. I fail to see why the US could not send a team that would eliminate the little ferret face completely. Or a targeted attack (big ass bomb) when the fag is visiting some location. Surely the US knows his whereabouts.

  42. nick flandrey says:

    We missed Kaddaffi.

    It seems like it’s harder than it looks.

    n

  43. MrAtoz says:

    We missed miss Kaddaffi.

    FIFY

  44. SteveF says:

    We missed miss Kaddaffi.

    Another Obama/Clinton success. Gaddafi publicly and actually renounced his (half-assed) nuclear program after the stomping that Iraq and most especially Hussein got. The implicit bargain was that he personally would be allowed to remain in power. Then came Arab Spring, and the UN and NATO cut off the Gaddafi government (in particular munitions supply) and turned a blind eye to other nations supporting the rebels and then NATO started attacking Libyan government buildings and military positions. Eventually the rebels captured Gaddafi and tortured him to death.

    You think Kim Jong Un will give up North Korea’s nuclear program? Not for all the tea in China.

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