09:02 – It was 60.9F (16C) and still dark when I took Colin out at 0645. He just trotted off down the road, which is becoming a usual thing. I’m going to have start taking him out on leash, particularly when it’s still dark out.
Barbara is off to the gym, after which she’ll be building kit sub-assemblies. I’m not sure if she has any outside stuff to do today. The only thing in the garden is turnips, which are starting to come up nicely. A lot of turnips, which will need to be thinned. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a turnip, so I’m looking forward to trying them.
Work on the house next door continues to progress. Yesterday, Billings Heating and Air was installing a heat pump. They left the oil furnace in place, and will use the heat pump only for air conditioning. The deck looks to be complete, all the new windows are installed, and the outside looks good. Barbara mentioned that they’re spending as much on renovations as they did to buy the house. I’m sure Grace is champing at the bit to get in there.
I have a bunch of stuff coming from Amazon today, including six rolls of packing tape. Since we started the business, I’ve been buying U-Line packing tape by the case of 36 rolls. We’re down to eight rolls or so, so it was time to re-order.
But before I order another case of U-Line tape, I decided to try a different brand. The U-Line tape works, but it can be very aggravating. It often doesn’t stick to the tape dispenser cutter bar, and the end flops loose and sticks itself to the plate below the cutting bar, which is a pain to free up.
The U-Line tape is 2.0 mil. Amazon has another brand that’s 3.2 mil, and I thought maybe the thicker tape would work better. The U-Line stuff by the case costs $1.60 per 110-yard roll, plus shipping, or about $0.015/yard. The new stuff is just over $2.00 for a 60-yard roll if I buy a six-pack, or about $0.036/yard. But we don’t use THAT much packing tape, so if the new stuff works better it’ll be worth paying twice as much for it, just to avoid the aggravation. Of course, it may turn out to be even worse. We’ll see.
The morning paper reports another cluster of shootings down in Winston. Six people shot in 24 hours, in four separate incidents. There was a similar cluster there a couple weeks ago. I remember when shootings in Winston were extremely rare. They’re starting to become commonplace. Winston isn’t Chicongo, yet, but like most cities it’s heading in that direction.