08:58 – It was 69.6F (21C) when I took Colin out at 0700, overcast and drippy.
The basement den and master bath are both complete except for some punch-list items like re-installing vent grills and installing the ceiling light fixtures downstairs. We’ll stay off the ceramic tile in the master bath until tomorrow, by which time Justin says it’ll be fully set. We have all of the furniture in place in the downstairs den, although Barbara still has to re-shelve a whole bunch of books. The unfinished lab/work area is pretty much cleared out and the food storage room is in reasonably good shape.
We’re going to walk next door this morning, where Bonnie’s house and its contents are being auctioned. Barbara is very concerned about who will end up buying it. She afraid it’ll become a rent house. I’m not too concerned. Not all renters are undesirable neighbors. After all, we rented for the first four years after we were married. Ideally, we’d like to see a nice young couple buy it. Either that or weekenders from Winston or wherever. But we’ll deal with whatever happens. If worst comes to horrible, we’ll put up a tall hedge or similar barrier along the property line.
Email from Kathy, who says she’s all dressed up and nowhere to go. They’d planned to spend this weekend repackaging bulk food, but the foil-laminate Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers they ordered from LDS online haven’t arrived yet.
They don’t drink much that is sold in 2-liter bottles, but they do drink a lot of flavored sparkling water that comes in heavy 1-liter bottles, which they’ve been washing out and saving for the last couple of weeks. The only food they have that made sense to repackage in those was the case of twelve 4-pound boxes of Morton iodized table salt they got at Sam’s Club. So they transferred that yesterday afternoon. One box fits nicely in a 1-liter bottle and doesn’t need an oxygen absorber, so they now have a dozen or so neatly labeled bottles of table salt. As Kathy said, it isn’t much, but it’s a start.
10:27 – There are scores of cars parked up and down the street for the auction, which just started at 10:00. When I walked up to the house around 0930, there must have been 150 or 200 people there already. Barbara was looking around at the personal possessions, but I don’t think she’ll bid on anything. We agreed standing there that she won’t bid on the house.
More email from Kathy. Mike decided that since they couldn’t repackage their LTS bulk food this weekend he’d spend the weekend building more shelves. Their food-storage-room-to-be is in the basement, with concrete walls and floor. There are already solidly-built, foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling shelves around the perimeter of the room, but they agreed they were going to need more shelving. They have room for two eight-by-two foot islands in the middle of the room, so they decided to build them themselves rather than mess around with modular steel shelving. Four 2X4-foot steel units would have cost them around $400 at the local building supply place, and the plywood and lumber Mike needs to build them will probably cost at least as much, but Mike prefers to build them himself from US-sourced materials rather than buy Chinese-made stuff.
They’ll end up with more shelf space than they actually need for what they’ve bought and have on-order, but Kathy thinks one can never have enough shelf space. And she’s probably right.
“If worst comes to horrible, we’ll put up a tall hedge or similar barrier along the property line.”
Was Bonnie’s house the one with the Black Angas Squirrels?
There are Black Angus in the field that backs up to our back fence. Bonnie’s property is only about 0.6 acre (~0.25 hectare), but her sister owns 9 acres adjoining Bonnie’s land on the far side from us. The guy who owns the pasture behind us owns several cattle farms scattered around the county, and runs something close to a thousand head total. I think he’s interested in Bonnie’s property and the adjoining 9 acres. If he is and he gets both, he’d fence them in and we’d have cows surrounding us on our west and north property lines.
“I’m not too concerned. Not all renters are undesirable neighbors. ”
Roger that. 2,500 sq. ft. house next to me has been rental for several years. Third occupant family just moved in. All have been good folks….I have no complaints. Neither trash types nor section 8’ers at near $4,000/mo.
Well, we can hope. Barbara and I actually talked about buying Bonnie’s house if it looked like the alternative would be to risk trash neighbors, but there’s just no way we can handle a second house. And what would we do with it? So, we’ll hope things work out. If they don’t, we’ll put up a barrier.
at near $4,000/mo
Holy money bags batman. That much to rent a house! Around here that would get 3,000 SQFT lake front property with a Jacuzzi and enough left over to pay the electric bill.
at near $4000/mo
Welcome to California – now go home.
An Aussie friend is a real estate agent in Santa Clara, near Sodom on the Bay. The prices there are simply insane. If you list at $1.0M you can bet on getting offers of $1.2M or more.
Not all renters are undesirable neighbors.
There are several rental houses on our street. Most seem to be occupied by families with kids near or at high school age. We are a short walk from one of the “best” public high schools in the US, an IB and language magnet school, that also has a good baseball program, so it’s a desirable place to live.
Tiny bit cooler here today, as it’s only 95F and 63%RH. FEELS like 108 with that high humidity.
Gonna have to suck it up and do some sweating today.
One cool thing, my neighbor who’s selling 40 gallon stainless steel tanks is gonna sell me 2 more for $70. I’ve got 2 already as part of my water storage. I don’t know where these two will go, but I couldn’t pass them up.
https://wholesale.oliveoilsource.com/product/superfustinox-stainless-steel-fusti-spigot-100-liter
-Only 2x as big.
If I’m gonna make room, I got stuff to scrap out…..
n
50s here overnight; wife was freezing. For me it’s nice sleeping weather.
That seems to be the deal for this weekend and into early this coming week; 70s during the days with more potential rain showers and te-storms, and 50s at night. Suite me right down to the ground. Though we could use a few days of sun.
I mowed the front lawn, tiny as it is, and the neighbor kid did the back and sides. Otherwise, it’s a jungle back there; tomato plants taller than wife now, artichokes, and quite a lot of herbs, which leads me to believe we might have some success with medicinal herbs out there. Told wife we need to get the septic drainage guys in there and I’ll ask them about putting more raised beds over that area, as that is where most of our sunlight hits.
She’s out on the garden stuff today before it rains again, and I’m off on a couple of errands and then I’m gonna get my junk off the porch so she can repaint the floor and we can fix a couple of screens. Then we’ll be able to sit out THERE and read and listen to the radio like the two old fogie farts we are; no rock concerts for us!
95 with a “Real-Feel” of 108 just ain’t our cup o’ tea, mates. Seriously, if it goes into the low 80s, I ain’t real happy. 65 is PERFECT. With sun and blue skies. Heaven. Surrounded by a zillion shades of green.
The auction just ended. On a scale of 100, the outcome was 100. Our new neighbor is a 22 yo cutie who’s a first-year teacher in the local school system.
” Our new neighbor is a 22 yo cutie who’s a first-year teacher in the local school system.”
Single? No kids?
Keep an eye on single guys sniffing around like ol’ yaller houn’ dawgs in the near future.
“Our new neighbor is a 22 yo cutie who’s a first-year teacher in the local school system.”
How did she come up with the cash and credit score for that? Sugar daddy or parents? Either way looks like a “Princess”.
Probably her parents loaned her the money. But I’ll bet that the house and land sold for $150k at absolute most. And having a teacher next door is nice.
She’s actually the niece of the couple who bought it, who also own a lot of farmland just across US21 from us. Single, no kids, and the opposite of a princess. She’s a good kid, and she’ll probably be living there for years. If/when she does move, the owners will rent it to someone good. They don’t want trash living in the neighborhood any more than we do.
“$150k at absolute most”
$67,000
Wow. $67k. I woulda used my GI Bill bennies to grab that for our Southern Redoubt Retreat. My next-younger brother would have happily kicked in, too.
Good deal all the way round for y’all, Mr. and Mrs. RBT! Congrats!
Good neighbors are wicked important in these times; we’ve also lucked out, not counting the wallyhawgs. Even the denizens in the subsidized housing sort of across the street are mostly OK. But we have another ‘Nam vet across the street with his wife, and their kids are grown; our next-door neighbor who used to run the security at the IBM plantation that I worked at until four years ago. And a couple more up the street that we don’t see as often but seem friendly enough, and I either know or suspect that at least a couple of parties are armed.
Making more friends and acquaintances via meatspace contacts at the Planning Commission and Selectboard currently, and moving on this month to the local ham radio club, gun club, Legion post, and the VFW post. This has been a kinda huge step for me; one thing to meet every week with like-minded fellow combat vets; quite another to mesh with “civilians” up this way, and it’s taken nearly five years now.
Congrats, again, Bob; you’re doing swell down there in the Mango Belt.
Yeah, and I met two of the major landowners and cattle ranchers and PTB in this county today, along with their wives and adult kids.
Oh, and our new neighbor, Grace, is of course a salt-of-the-earth local girl, AND she loves dogs. Colin has yet another friend for life.
My Key Tronics lifetime keyboard has developed a problem. Space is not working properly. Probably had the keyboard for 20 years. Key Tronic no longer makes the keyboard and will send a substitute after I send them the old keyboard. Not sure if it is even worth the $10.00 to send the old keyboard back for a replacement. I really liked that keyboard. Full size with full travel keys.
The new keyboards, the really good ones seem to be designed for gaming. High quality keys with quick response to key presses, etc. I want a keyboard with key lighting as that means the letters are molded into the keys and not simply silk screened onto the keys.
So I picked up a Logitech G413 gaming keyboard. I don’t game but the keyboard has a feel that is OK to me. Not the mushy keys of the thin keyboards. Cable is thick as it is two USB circuits, one a pass through for a USB port on the keyboard. I did not want wireless as I feel wired is more reliable and I don’t have to worry about batteries. Keyboard is on metal frame rather than plastic so there is some heft to the keyboard. Key lights level can be adjusted via some keystrokes.
Of concern is that I will not be able to access the BIOS with this keyboard. If the use of a prior lighted keyboard experience proves true, the LEDs draw too much power and the BIOS will not respond to key presses. I have a spare, wired, no frills, Dell keyboard that is a piece of crap but works when I need to access the BIOS.
So far the keyboard seems OK. A little smaller than my old keyboard which will take some adjustment. I really miss the old IBM PC keyboards, full travel, tactile feedback, rugged, and just worked. Hard to find anymore and if you do they are expensive.
And from the You Caint Ax Me No Questions, Bitch! Department:
https://twitter.com/BasedMonitored/status/886283118965141504?s=09
That dude is funny as chit. “I’m in fear o’ my fuckin’ life, bitch!”
From the Lacking in Cultural Competency Department:
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2017/07/15/new-hampshire-congolese-refugee-escapes-prosecution-in-domestic-violence-case/
These commie judges just make chit up as they go along. Ima gon go on over to Saudi Arabia and start grabbin’ me up some hijab wimmenz and drinking and carrying on and smoking dope and see if that legal chit works for ME there. Or over to North Korea and take me some iMovies of their rocket pads; yo, mofos, I lacks the cultural competency, you dig it?
“$150k at absolute most”
$67,000
Cool. I almost said $100K since the property was probably not in good shape. But I bounced the SWAG.
Was it an open auction or a closed auction ?
Open. There were a couple hundred people there. The house is tiny. A cottage, actually. One small bedroom, one smaller, and one what I’d call a walk-in closet. One bathroom.
So I picked up a Logitech G413 gaming keyboard. I don’t game but the keyboard has a feel that is OK to me. Not the mushy keys of the thin keyboards. Cable is thick as it is two USB circuits, one a pass through for a USB port on the keyboard. I did not want wireless as I feel wired is more reliable and I don’t have to worry about batteries. Keyboard is on metal frame rather than plastic so there is some heft to the keyboard. Key lights level can be adjusted via some keystrokes.
I am currently using a Logitech G610 keyboard at home. My wife gave it to me last Christmas after I “suggested” it. I like it but am not in love with it. The rolling light across the keyboard is a little strange. No USB passthru.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Backlit-Mechanical-Keyboard-920-007857/dp/B01CDYB8F6/
I did not know that the backlit keys meant that they are molded rather than silk-screened. I vastly prefer the molded also. And the metal backplate is awesome ae the keyboard does not move at all when I pound on it.
At the office, I am still using my 1992 Northgate Omnikey 102 Gold keyboard. I will never, ever stop using this keyboard. It is bulletproof and simply the best keyboard ever built. The 12 function keys on the left side are perfect for debugging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxgmyKtNKvI
[snip] An Aussie friend is a real estate agent in Santa Clara, near Sodom on the Bay. [snip]
A college budy & his husband live in San Francisco proper. He tells me that the number on a real estate listing is understood as an opening bid. 🙁
[snip] My Key Tronics lifetime keyboard has developed a problem [snip]
NPR had a piece yesterday (I think) about some guy who has contracted to have the original IBM PC style keyboards made again (naturally in the PRC). Very heavy, spring activated, highest quality. Say what you will about the folks at IBM, but from their years of making Selectrics they knew what made for a good keyboard. As I remember, Pournelle used to sing the praises of some aftermarket brand, but I would assume they perished in the invasion of $8 throwaways. Alas.
The keyboard on my main laptop is failing. This began shortly after the six-year-old spilled soda in it two weeks ago, at my daughter’s birthday party. In theory I can disassemble the laptop and wash the keyboard, but I’m pretty sure it’s not worth the effort.
I’m still using an AST keyboard. Model SK-1200. It came with a long long gone 486/66.
Somehow I manage to suffer life without a Win key. 🙂
I did not know that the backlit keys meant that they are molded rather than silk-screened
Upon closer examination that may no longer be true. It appears on my keyboard that the base key is translucent with the black surrounding the translucent portion thus making the letters show through. That may be considered a form of molding as the outer black covering may be molded on the keys. I do know the letters are much more resilient to wear from past experience.
I am still using my 1992 Northgate Omnikey 102 Gold keyboard
I remember those keyboards. Some of the best in the industry perhaps only surpassed by IBM. Don’t let anyone pry that keyboard out of your hands unless you are dead. Even then consider being buried with the keyboard or as an alternative put me in you will to get the keyboard.
some guy who has contracted to have the original IBM PC style keyboards made again
I would like to get one if possible and affordable. I have a hard time paying more than $100 for a keyboard. Perhaps years past when I was slinging code but now my needs are much less.
they perished in the invasion of $8 throwaways
Your price is too high. My wife wanted a new keyboard to replace the one that came with her Dell computer. She settled on a keyboard we found at Micro Center. Cost was $4.99 for the keyboard. We bought two for when one of them fail. I don’t expect a lot of life. Of course she does not use a keyboard as much as I do.
I manage to suffer life without a Win key
Even though that key is on my keyboard as it is on all modern keyboards, I have yet to really use the key. Guess I am too old school and set in my crotchety old ways. I suppose I should learn to use the Windows key and start typing the name of the program and then use enter to start the program. It would be faster. But that would require me to think as I change my ways. At my age, NFW.
NPR had a piece yesterday (I think) about some guy who has contracted to have the original IBM PC style keyboards made again (naturally in the PRC). Very heavy, spring activated, highest quality. Say what you will about the folks at IBM, but from their years of making Selectrics they knew what made for a good keyboard. As I remember, Pournelle used to sing the praises of some aftermarket brand, but I would assume they perished in the invasion of $8 throwaways. Alas.
The Northgate keyboards were resurrected as the CVT Avant Steller for a while but that ship has sailed. I bought one for the office and it is still being used daily. I think that this the keyboard that Pournelle advocated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant_Stellar
The IBM AT buckling spring keyboards have been duplicated but I have yet to buy one and test it out. I used to have the 3270 (122 key) version of this at TXU since my pc had a full 3270 terminal built into it.
http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD
The IBM AT buckling spring keyboards have been duplicated but I have yet to buy one and test it out
Hmmm, not too far from me. Would make a good day trip to visit the place and check out their keyboards.
“The keyboard on my main laptop is failing. This began shortly after the six-year-old spilled soda in it two weeks ago, at my daughter’s birthday party. In theory I can disassemble the laptop and wash the keyboard, but I’m pretty sure it’s not worth the effort.”
I spilt a bourbon and coke on a laptop keyboard about 10 years ago. The screen went light blue, then off. I ended up turfing it. It cost about AUD3700 in October 2001.
Yes, I was pissed off…
Somehow I manage to suffer life without a Win key.
Me too. I used a Focus 2001 keyboard for a long time at home. Almost as good as a Northgate keyboard. But several of the keys broke off eventually and it is unreplaceable like just about anything else in the industry older than two years.
https://deskthority.net/wiki/Focus_FK-2001
The IBM AT buckling spring keyboards have been duplicated but I have yet to buy one and test it out
Hmmm, not too far from me. Would make a good day trip to visit the place and check out their keyboards.
Road trip ! Road trip ! Road trip !
“The first “Sanctuary State” (Oregon): exactly as I predicted a year ago”
http://299days.com/the-first-sanctuary-state-oregon-exactly-as-i-predicted-a-year-ago/
““Sanctuary State.” Huh?”
“Seems a strange term since we’ve all become accustomed to the term “Sanctuary City.” No one asks what it means anymore. It’s a city that doesn’t recognize immigration laws, and provides legal “sanctuary” for illegal aliens. Illegal aliens migrate to them to avoid legal prosecution for being in the United States illegally.”
I for one think we need MUCH more discussion of keyboards on here!
I have a Logitech that is flat and suits my pounding pretty well so fah, and has backlit keys which I like at night when I just have the light from the monitor so it doesn’t light up the hallway if wife is trying to sleep. I don’t spend a lotta $ on keyboards because that same wife likes to eat and drink in here and has spilled crap, including PAINT, on keyboards in the past and rendered them null and void.
WRT “sanctuary states;” I’d expect MA, CT, NJ, NY, etc., to follow at some point. I note, however, as have others, that rarely, if ever, do the advocates and enablers of this stuff take in any illegal immigrants to their own homes. Typical fucking hypocrital libturds, where their virtue signalling causes shit for somebody else, just like the old Boston busing atrocity, enforced by Fed judges and U.S. Marshals. While the libturds sent their own brats to private skools outside the city.
Scum.
“The keyboard on my main laptop is failing. This began shortly after the six-year-old spilled soda in it two weeks ago, at my daughter’s birthday party. In theory I can disassemble the laptop and wash the keyboard, but I’m pretty sure it’s not worth the effort.”
I was successful in replacing an elderly lady’s laptop keyboard with one from a similar model. A delicate but straightforward bit of surgery. She smoked and gummed up the original with ash droppings and cat hair to the extent that compressed air and even prying off and wiping out didn’t help. She used a USB keyboard for quite awhile, until the replacement showed up.
I’m fortunate to have an original IBM keyboard, corporate surplus from a long gone 286, well used and carefully packed away. As I recall it needs an adapter to fit a PS/2 socket. The pckeyboards are certainly acceptable to me. I got one in stylish black with grey keys, and used it to control my 3 desktops for several years. Then I succumbed to a gaming LED type with mechanical keys built down the road in Kenosha. The only bummer was paying sales tax. Kinda purty.
The one I’m actually using is an Anker wireless USB so I can couch surf the HP laptop/tablet hybrid with the living room big screen slaved via HDMI. Nearly a dozen external USB drives store a bit of video so that I rarely switch modes to see what is available on the antenna.
That big screen Samsung is getting wonky though. It will go black for several seconds for no good reason intermittently. I wonder if a new power supply would help and how much bother it will be to get one and swap it.
WRT “sanctuary states;” I’d expect MA, CT, NJ, NY, etc., to follow at some point.
Game over, Man, game over. The SJW/Commie/Libturdians have won for now. When TSHTF, it will be a bloody revolution where *The Resistance* provides most of the blood.
Um, are those old keyboards worth something??
I think I’ve got a box of them buried in storage.
I have a Keytronics on my keyboard tray ATM, for my secondary machine. I don’t do any real typing on that machine, so I’m willing to pass it along if someone is in need. It’s model E03601P21PK It’s got the full 12 F keys on top, the editing keys (home, pg up/dn, end,etc) and arrow in the inverted T, then the number pad. Does have the windows key. Doesn’t seem as clicky as my old Digital keyboard that was on my 2ndary machine.
I quite like the new Dell kb that came with my pc. It looks like chicklet keys but they have a lot of travel.
If I end up back at my storage I’ll see if I can tunnel to the box where the old kbds are. I’ll be happy to share if there’s any wealth there…..
n
“When TSHTF, it will be a bloody revolution where *The Resistance* provides most of the blood.”
To be tediously accurate, it will be a counter-revolution. They’re the revolutionaries, not us. And I will be happy to see them provide as much blood as they are capable of spilling, which I imagine is quite a lot.
That day is coming, folks. Maybe not this year, maybe not next, but it’s coming.
The IBM AT buckling spring keyboards have been duplicated but I have yet to buy one and test it out. I used to have the 3270 (122 key) version of this at TXU since my pc had a full 3270 terminal built into it.
I have a keyboard from Unicomp. Their keyboards are built well, and customer service is great. For the last two years, however, as I finished my Masters, I got in the habit of spending most of my time on laptops in my kitchen and not in my home office.
I actually use the Win key … with Fedora.
“The first “Sanctuary State” (Oregon): exactly as I predicted a year ago”
Oregon already has enough problems.
I think I’ve pointed out before that the radio call in the opening credits of “Cops”, a dispatch to “132nd and Bush”, is an address in a cr*phole section of SE Portland. I don’t view that as a coincidence on the part of the producers; live up there for any length of time and you learn the truth about the place.
While living in Vantucky, every time the news opened with a convenience store employee shooting, we used to joke that the life expectancy of a Plaid Pantry (OR convenience store chain) clerk in Gresham was about the same as that of Ensign Ricky, the red shirt of the week on “Star Trek”.
“The first “Sanctuary State” (Oregon): exactly as I predicted a year ago”
Also, Kate Brown never would have been elected Governor of OR on her own without the bait-n-switch pulled by Gov. Kitzhaber in 2014. She’s a loon even by that state’s standards, but she stands a good chance of being reelected thanks to having incumbency handed to her by her predecessor a month into his second term.
Kitzhaber deserves prison time just for gaming the election, but he’ll end up in the pen for the antics with his girlfriend related to Oracle’s failed Cover Oregon exchange. Maybe they’ll let him wear his suit coat over the orange jumpsuit.
@nightraker,
WRT your monitor/tv, google the model and symptoms. Sounds like bad capacitors or bad backlight inverter.
Is the tv turning off and back on? Is it just the backlight? IE can you see content if you hold a flashlight to it? Is the picture just going blank with backlight still on? These are all different problems, but the most common fixes are “replace the backlight inverter”- for smaller pc type monitors, and “replace the caps on the power supply board” -for monitors and tvs.
If you are at all handy you can do it. If you don’t solder, then buy the fixed power supply board on ebay. It’s a mechanical swap that should take less than 20 minutes and cost less than $40.
I’ve done a bunch on both tvs and monitors. If it doesn’t solve the problem, you are only out $40 and 1/2hour…
nick
@nick
Thanks! Thought it was probably something relatively simple, although I know zippo about what goes on behind the screen, other than the screamingly obvious. The 55″
TV doesn’t really owe me anything being some years out from its extended warranty, but it has the advantage of not being all that smart: no apps or other frippery.
The symptom is just going blank, not a reboot, for a few seconds a few times / day, so I’ll do some Ebay spelunking.
If that doesn’t cure it, there’s always Black Friday. 🙂
Somehow I manage to suffer life without a Win key.
As have I. Oh, wait this is a Chromebook.
(I never use it on a win box either)