10:38 – It was 41.1F (5C) when I took Colin out at 0730, clear and calm. We got a later start than usual this morning. That was down to me, not Colin.
Only two more days until Barbara returns home. It seems like she’s been gone a month, literally. I found Colin yesterday sitting at my computer, trying to get me signed up at a singles site. He thinks Barbara is gone forever.
I haven’t seen any more of the raccoons, but I haven’t seen Animal Control at all. They were supposed to come out and set traps. I guess they figured it’d be easier just to let me shoot them.
I mentioned in comments last night that the free ride at Walmart is over. They still offer “free” two-day shipping, but they charge a lot more for the same item if you have it shipped versus picking it up at a store.
Here’s a good example. A gallon of their store-brand vegetable oil, which will cost you $3.68 if you pick it up in the store. They’ll instead ship it to you “for free”, but then the item costs you literally twice what it does in the store.
I looked at prices on literally dozens of items I’ve ordered from Walmart. Some they apparently hadn’t gotten around to changing yet, but most had the shipped price padded, in some cases by more than double.
One of the things they hadn’t gotten around to was changing prices on items in the Saved for Later portion of my shopping cart. This time of year, canning jars are always hard to find and expensive, particularly the name-brand ones. (Avoid store-brand canning jars like the plague; they’re mostly made in China instead of the US and are very inferior quality.) I had a bundle of two dozen quart wide-mouth Ball jars with lids and bands in my saved cart, so I went ahead and moved it to my main cart, expecting it to jump in price. It didn’t, and it said they had only three left in stock, so I crossed my fingers, updated the amount to 3, and clicked on Order. Once those arrive, they’ll boost our stock of new, unused quart wide-mouth canning jars from 72 to 144. That’s sufficient to can roughly 288 pounds of meat.
A couple weeks ago, while we were watching a Guildbrook Farms canning video, Barbara mentioned that she’d just as soon stay stocked up on Keystone canned meats rather than canning our own. I agree, except that I want to can some types of meat that aren’t available or are very difficult to find commercially canned. Things like dark-meat chicken, the sausage Barbara buys from Costco and Jimmy Dean, and so on.
Look closely at the summary, not only double, but they added the $5.99 shipping too.
n
(Only in America) Why chicken exports result in pricey me too trucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc7YKYWLXww&t
Apparently Walmart is betting their in store distribution system will EVENTUALLY trump Amazon’s last mile setup. OTOH, jet.com, a Walmart acquisition, aims to directly compete with Amazon’s model. A nice hedge.
Demographics of shut ins by circumstance or choice vs. making a trip to go to the store.
“Look closely at the summary, not only double, but they added the $5.99 shipping too.”
That’s because there’s less than $35 in the cart.
Apparently Walmart is betting their in store distribution system will EVENTUALLY trump Amazon’s last mile setup. OTOH, jet.com, a Walmart acquisition, aims to directly compete with Amazon’s model. A nice hedge.
Stopping Amazon.com is personal for Marc Lore, the CEO of Jet.com. Google around or find a copy of “The Everything Store” for the Diapers.com story.
Mid 60s this am, and damp. Now up to 67F and down to 67%RH from 98%. Sky is patchy clouds with occasional sprinkles. And not the tasty donut kind…
City of Houston heavy waste finally picked up our hurricane debris this morning. That is a great sign that they are finally caught up in the heavy flooding areas. The local FB group says they will resume recycling pickup either this or next week. Also good news.
Unlike Haiti, or PR, we just pick up and get back to it. I talked to a couple people casually at school the other day and the consensus seems to be “Quit your bitchin’ and get to work” wrt the PR recovery.
FEMA update today had 2 hospitals move back to gennie power. That supports my theory that they are barely holding it together, at least at the hospitals, and that the PPT daily summary isn’t communicating the whole story.
Feeling much better today, although I suspect the drug that is supposed to be helping me pee just dries out my mouth and doesn’t seem to increase urine output. Haven’t passed the stone out of my body yet, that I know, and I’m told I WOULD know. Prepper note, increase hording of effective pain relievers. Grid down, or during a disaster, non-life threatening but still EXTREMELY PAINFUL stuff can happen to you.
n
Still no word from OFD?
Check in brother, or we’ll be forced to send the cops for a welfare check…..
n
Check in brother, or we’ll be forced to send the cops for a welfare check…..
When they arrive, I hope he isn’t locked and loaded.
“Visitor from Far, Far Away: Interstellar Object Spotted in Our Solar System”
https://www.space.com/38580-interstellar-object-spotted-comet-asteroid-mystery.html
and
“This mystery object may be our first visitor from another solar system”
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/us/mystery-object-solar-system-trnd/index.html
The Vulcans are here. I doubt that they will stop this time as they are already apparently accelerating outward. I suspect that their flyby revealed that we are still crazy.
Hat tip to:
rec.arts.sf.written posting
and
http://drudgereport.com/
Still no word from OFD?
Check in brother, or we’ll be forced to send the cops for a welfare check…..
I don’t think that he has a “smartypants” phone that he can post from. I would have driven up there if he was 200 miles away but 1,900 miles is just too far from Sugar Land, TX to St. Albans Township, VT. It would be a neat trip though.
I did add him to my daily prayer list.
He carries an iPhone.
They don’t use checks anymore. It’s EBT cards. And the term “welfare” is deprecated because it’s considered deprecatory. You should call it the “People of Non-whiteness, People of Non-maleness, and People of Non-possession-of-marketable-skills-ness Entitlement Card”.
Is that a noodge? He lives a smidge under 200 miles from me. However, I’m not a worrier by nature and him being offline a day is not cause to go up just to check.
Which no doubt shall be counted among his sins when the time comes.
Is that a noodge? He lives a smidge under 200 miles from me. However, I’m not a worrier by nature and him a day being offline is not cause to go up just to check.
Nah, I am about halfway crazy so I would do that. He did say that he expected to be offline for a while.
“Still no word from OFD?”
He mentioned going to an ER late Wed. They tend to separate patients from electronics and jewelry to avoid theft. Hopefully, they are doing him some good.
“And the term “welfare” is deprecated because it’s considered deprecatory. ”
YUUUP, like R-word (retarded), can’t use it anymore. Now, to be PC, we must use “special needs”.
… prevent patients from being able to make an undeniable record of inefficiency, fraud, abuse, and incompetence.
Not that I’m suspicious and hostile of every organization or anything.
Pfffft. Like I’d let that stop me. I fling “retard” around like confetti. Largely because it’s almost always appropriate. As I told my daughter recently, I’m prepared to prove that 99% of the species is retarded. (And should be put to death, but that’s merely my opinion, not something I’m prepared to prove logically.)
Some years ago I referred to the local city council as a bunch of retarded monkeys … and was immediately excoriated for racism. Turns out that half of the city council was black, which I didn’t know, and there was no possible explanation for my comment than racism. Of course. (IIRC, my response to that bit of flawless logic was “Go fuck yourself” or words to that effect.)
“(And should be put to death, but that’s merely my opinion, not something I’m prepared to prove logically.)”
To be PC, I prefer to recommend “retroactive birth control”.
I’m prepared to prove that 99% of the species is retarded. (And should be put to death, but that’s merely my opinion, not something I’m prepared to prove logically.)
Careful, at 99% you’re likely to get caught in your own trap.
100th-trimester abortion.
Some years ago I referred to the local city council as a bunch of retarded monkeys … and was immediately excoriated for racism.
Yeah all it take now is a banana peel.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4841892/Ole-Miss-cancels-event-banana-peel-tree.html
re 99%, by measured IQ I am* in the 1-in-a-million range. To the extent that IQ measurements that far from the mean are reliable, which is to say not very. Regardless, I’m not worried.
* Was, anyway. I’m not as quick on the uptake as I used to be. Don’t know how much of that is age, how much is accumulated brain damage, and how much is from sleeping so badly.
Everyone that posts here runs far to the right on the ol’ bell curve. I never pretend it doesn’t come with its own set of problems, like over-thinking things and being perceived as a smartass. (okay maybe I am)
Nah, I am about halfway crazy so I would do that. He did say that he expected to be offline for a while.
Road trip. If you’re lucky, Otis Day will be in town.
A road trip to the the Faber (University of Oregon) campus was one of the things I meant to do when we lived up there but never got around to doing before we left.
You’re saying that our average IQ is 75? That’s not very nice of you.
Trying to be a smart ass and rereading it found it was a poor post so I changed it.
Road trip. If you’re lucky, Otis Day will be in town.
I was sad to see that Fats Domino passed away, “Fats Domino dead at 89, medical examiner’s office says”
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/entertainment/fats-domino-obituary/index.html
The dude sold 110 million records in his lifetime.
It’s been a tough year for rock-n-roll and it ain’t over yet.
First snowfall of year here at the west end of Lake Superior. 6 inches and counting, reporting 17 foot waves doing some damage to boardwalk. It’s a good thing we picked up and cleaned up; sometimes we won’t see grass again till April. I hope OFD is doing OK. I spent 3 months in a hospital bed 6 years ago and recovered to about 60 per cent so he may have a good chance to recover. We are mostly all upright still and I’d like to continue reading your thoughts on this blog, even FLASHLIGHTS.
Mndave
“The Real Collusion: Democrats and Russia”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/10/27/the-real-collusion-democrats-and-russia/
“This goes all the way to the Obama White House. It involves Uranium One and now that informant having been granted the exemption from his nondisclosure agreement, and he is free to testify. His lawyer, Victoria Toensing, making the rounds in the media. And this is gonna be devastating. That scandal, the Uranium One scandal, I mean, stop and think of this for a second. Strip everything away, what happened?”
“Twenty percent of the American uranium supply ends up in a Russian company, and the route it took enriched Bill and Hillary Clinton and their foundation. Twenty percent of the American uranium supply. And it was a hidden transaction that they didn’t want anybody to ever know. Peter Schweizer first wrote about it in his book, Clinton Cash. It has all but been confirmed now. That has tentacles that reach all the way to the Obama White House.”
Can Obola and Hillary share a cell in the SuperMax ?
“And one of the things that is proving true here, when the Democrats start bellyaching and launching allegations about Republicans, it turns out more often than not the Democrats have actually done it.”
“Can Obola and Hillary share a cell in the SuperMax ?”
What? No golf course?
A grim visualization:
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/63-trillion-world-debt-one-visualization/
Lotsa good infographics there…
OFD is OK but hospitalized for days. More tomorrow.
2 CATS and 3 MRIs in 24 hours.
Will update tomorrow (Saturday)
Pax vobiscum!
Good to see you’re still on the right side of the pavement as well as the right side of the curve.
Friend had a MRI on his head a couple of days ago. Doctors reporting there’s nothing there (true). Seriously, rest and get better.
OFD is OK but hospitalized for days. More tomorrow. 2 CATS and 3 MRIs in 24 hours.
No wonder the lights dimmed in Vegas.
Take care, buddy. Keep us posted. Get better.
Can Obola and Hillary share a cell in the SuperMax ?
They’ll skate. Doh-bama too, but the Democrat party may not get off so lucky.
I’ve been waiting for the curtain to fall on the Clinton freak show since Gennifer Flowers stepped up to the podium and played the tape of Bill on the phone calling Mario Cuomo “a Mafioso … or something”.
Imagine the outrage if the voice on the tape had been Bush 41, Jack Kemp, or any of the other big Republican leaders circa 1990.
Conduct your own paralysis check: pinch a nurse!
Come out a new man!
Whew, glad to hear you made it home Dave.
n
You ate two cats and three Meal Ready to Ingest in 24 hours? Are you trying to put on weight?
Whew, glad to hear you made it home Dave.
I don’t think he is home. They won’t throw him out if he is not mobile, except to a care facility.
Ah, misread. Hospitalized for days is a prediction.
Well then. Get home soon!
n
OFD is OK but hospitalized for days
Take care, Mr. OFD.
“Big hard disks may be breaking the bathtub curve”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/big-hard-disks-may-be-breaking-the-bathtub-curve/
“1,240 10+TB hard disks installed, and not a single one has gone bad.”
I too wonder how long the helium is going to last in the drive. And the comment about the data center monkeys talking to each other in high pitched voices is funny.
Thanks much, sports fans.
Wife brought Kindle Fire and book; teevee shows SUCK!
She ‘s postponing ND trip and bringing fresh skivvies.
We’ll know more tomorrow but weIght is @ 219 and bp down too.
Can move arm & leg better!
10-4!!!
She ‘s postponing ND trip and bringing fresh skivvies.
Dude, I know that I have said it before but, you married up. They talk tough but the minute you are in trouble, they come running and won’t leave without a death match. When I had my first cardiac incident, I spent three days in the cardiac ward for observation and the wife would not leave. She slept on a camp cot in the corner of the room.
Take care of yourself and get better !
Is there feetsball there Mr. OFD?
Is there feetsball there Mr. OFD?
No, no, no ! Is there basaball there with my Astros in the World Series ?
No, no more sports-ball for me.
You were asking about head lamps a few days ago. I bought this one
https://www.amazon.com/Mifine-LED-Headlamp-Ultra-Bright-Rechargeable/dp/B01MU4AY2B/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509156622&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=LE+Headlamp+LED%2C+4+Modes+Headlight%2C+Battery+Powered+Helmet+Light+for+Camping%2C+Running%2C+Hiking+and+Reading%2C+3+AAA+Batteries
and it works like a champ. One tightly focused center light; two spread out lights to the side for a wide beam, or both – and for disco night, a strobe feature. (I’m not sure why, actually….) It’s lighter than you might think, and plenty bright.
My best wishes to Mr.OFD as well..
“OFD is OK but hospitalized for days. More tomorrow. 2 CATS and 3 MRIs in 24 hours.”
Good news, that. Especially that they let you have pets in the hospital.
Foggy morning here. The day of our annual Scottish market – only we cancelled it this year, because we just have too much other stuff to do. But it’s a long-standing tradition, last Saturday of October every year, so we’re expecting lots of people to come knocking on the door, asking the stupidly obvious question. Not sure if it’s better to hide inside, or leave for the day, or…
The weather in the carribean has shaped up into a storm. National weather forcast has it crossing Cuba, the FL Keys, and then up and east into the Atlantic.
“Tropical Outlook – Atlantic
Potential Tropical Cyclone Eighteen (Advisory #3A, as of 8:00 a.m. EDT)
• Located 250 miles SSW of Havana, Cuba
• Moving NNE at 10 mph; maximum sustained winds 35 mph
• Forecast to cross southern Florida early Sunday morning
• Two to four inches of rain (isolated areas of six inches) through
Sunday in southern Florida and the Keys; may produce flash
flooding, especially in urbanized areas
• Formation chance through 48 hours: High (90%)
• Formation chance through 5 days: High (90%)”
Not a hurry-cane but should be a nice storm if you are in the affected area.
n
45F and 65%RH here at 9am. Partly cloudy. Seems a bit mad to work in the garden, but I’m gonna try and get some peas in the dirt.
Kids have sports today, and I’ve got ebay shipping to do, and Halloween decor to finish up.
I did get 2 pieces of drywall up in the closet, but there are lots more to do.
Made dinner from medium term storage. Pouch meat (meatballs and spaghetti sauce) and pasta. Added some spice and it was good. Pouch was +6 months after expiry with no noticeable change in flavor or texture or appearance.
n
One last data point, wrt the veg oil in the original post, for 30c more you get 1 1/2 gallons at costco….
~$7.70 for 2 jugs totalling 1.5 gal.
In other words, $3 something a gallon is a pretty good price.
n
“Pouch was +6 months after expiry with no noticeable change in flavor or texture or appearance.”
What you call a pouch is referred to as a “retort pouch” by the industry. Essentially, it’s a canning jar made with zero glass and very little metal. I wish store.lds.org offered those, rather than just the foil-laminate Mylar bags. The problem with those is that Mylar (BO-PET) cannot be autoclaved. If they’d offer foil-laminate bags made with cast PP or another high-temp plastic, we could autoclave them at home in a pressure cooker at 15 PSI.
“One last data point, wrt the veg oil in the original post, for 30c more you get 1 1/2 gallons at costco….
~$7.70 for 2 jugs totalling 1.5 gal.
In other words, $3 something a gallon is a pretty good price.”
No kidding. But the last time I ordered the Walmart vegetable oil, I paid (IIRC) $2.67 per gallon. Their algorithm had apparently gotten into a fight with Amazon’s, and lost. So I went ahead and ordered, IIRC, sixteen gallons.
The pouches are susceptible to RODENT teeth though! And rats appear to like the shredded beef product A LOT.
I’m gonna keep buying them because they taste good and we use them for regular meals, so they get rotated, and they are a nice variety of flavors. But cans are certainly sturdier.
n
That’s why a prepper’s best friend is a cat. Keep Meowface a bit hungry and he/she/zir will catch and eat all those rats and mice. And leave the heads in the middle of the hallway, but that’s a separate matter. Cats are loyal. Cats are intelligent. Not like dawgs, who are dumb and just sit around the house farting. Yes, you need to get you a cat.
Got plenty of cats roaming thru the yard and driveway, pissing their foul cat piss on everything and driving my loyal companion [dog] mad with their presence.
Not one rat head to be seen, except attached to the live ones that are eating my stores.
Lazy freaking cats.
n
Cats are pretty worthless for rats. (Well, they’re pretty worthless, period, but even more so than usual with rats.)
What you need is a dog that was bred as a ratter. Basically any small terrier. Even Kim’s little Yorkies were hell on wheels when it came to keeping her yard and home rodent-free. As I said to Kim, we humans think Yorkies are adorable, friendly little dogs, but rodents probably have nightmares about them.
Cats in that ‘hood not hungry enough.
Where’s Mr. DadCooks? He needs to get you cat haters inline. Oh, yeah, I don’t like cats, either.
DadCooks is still here, with his own set of flared infirmities. This is the first chance I have been able to sit up and get my fingers and legs to work in 5-days. My problems are minor compared to Dave’s.
Regarding cats, you cat haters will get yours.
Regarding cats and rats, one of the feral cats (yes we feed them; trap, spay, and neuter all we can) presented us with a dead rat the other day. Pretty good size, about the size of a squirrel, and all the “good parts” of the innards had been eaten. I guess we are not important enough to get more than the leftovers.
We don’t get much for leftovers, either.
Regarding cats and rats, one of the feral cats (yes we feed them; trap, spay, and neuter all we can) presented us with a dead rat the other day. Pretty good size, about the size of a squirrel, and all the “good parts” of the innards had been eaten. I guess we are not important enough to get more than the leftovers.
If it was outside, you say “good boy” and sweep it off the porch. If it was inside, yuck !