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Yesterday was a simply beautiful day. Exactly what summer in Chicagoland should be like. Don’t know what today is like yet…
I pick up my one way rental today to load up and get ready for departure. I’ll finish what tasks I can during the day, do a little IT work in the evening and get early to bed. That’s the plan anyway.
Then drive 2 days to Houston. NOAA predicts rain along my whole route. I hope not.
I got a tremendous amount of things done here, but there is so much left to do. Dad was sick for a while and wasn’t up to normal maintenance for a while before that. Old houses need upkeep.
My dad wasn’t any kind of prepper, but still had the things he needed get by, and to improvise, like a chainsaw and a generator. Those are two of the things my mom will not need. He also stocked the shed with auto care products, all neatly organized and placed on shelves. Mom won’t be needing those. I guess he thought someone would do those things for her, out of his stocks. It’s much more likely that she’ll be buying those services. Mom won’t be using the workshop or his tools, or the material he stockpiled for future projects. I suppose at some point, we’ll have a moving or downsizing sale, and all that stuff will return to the ecosystem in the same way I and my fellow thrift/yard/estate sale hunters do it. It’s a bit odd to see it from the other side, but it’s very comforting to know that I’ve got a solid handle on how that process works. For now, mom is overwhelmed with stuff, and doesn’t really want to see all my dad’s stuff leave. So it will stay, for now.
In the wider world, Hawaii is getting hammered about now. If we have any readers from there please share your experiences here, even if you normally just lurk. Stay safe.
You all know what I’ve been doing, what did you do to prep this week? Anyone been motivated to start sorting out their own endgame? Your survivors will be thankful that you made the time easier for them, and it has a 100% certainty of happening, unlike most of the things we prep for.
We are still in hurricane season here on the Gulf, and it’g getting to be time for you winter folks to start thinking about cold, snow, and ice.
Prep while you can, and oh, remember we’re only one plane ride away from having Ebola in the US….
n
$508 million for the local ISD. Cheap!
https://roundrockisd.org/2018/08/20/board-calls-for-508-4-million-bond-election-in-november-2018/
At least they had the balls to put it on the November ballot. The last time they tried to pass this package, the vote was a semi-secret, one issue election in the Spring two years ago.
The big headline project is a middle school rebuild, but I guarantee a football stadium and performing arts hall for Round Rock High are in there somewhere.
Strong Southwest winds have temporarily blown the smoke from British Columbia out of here. I was able to verify the existence of the sun this morning, so bright it hurt my eyes. The respite is welcome but the winds are predicted to shift back to the North so the smoke will return.
I am quite surprised at the number of people I see wearing particulate masks when I go out and about, at least 25%.
Got my blood work today for my invasive testing on Tuesday and my heart ablation surgery on Thursday. Tuesday, I will have a CTA test and a TEE test where they stick a probe down my throat into my esophagus to take detailed images of my heart. I get to have some twilight anesthesia (probably fentanyl) for 30 minutes.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/cardiovascular/computed_tomography_angiography_135,15
and
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/cardiovascular/transesophageal_echocardiogram_92,P07986
Thursday will be the heart abalation where he sticks a camera up one side of my groin and a cattle prod up the other side of my groin. I will be under general anesthesia for around three hours. Then I will wake up with two 40 lb sandbags on my groin holding the arterial incisions closed. I am just hoping that they are careful with the placement of the sandbags.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cardiac-ablation/about/pac-20384993
I went off my Rythmol medicine yesterday. So I woke up with afib this morning. Love it.
Over The Hedge: “Cookie Justice Warrier”
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2018/08/24
“Power to the Pecan Sandy !”
Yes, a trash panda (raccoon) after my own heart !
Thursday will be the heart abalation …
Best wishes for a positive outcome.
Old houses need upkeep.
Houses need upkeep. Continuous and expensive.
Fixed that for you.
@lynn, best wishes, and prayers for your Magical Mystery Tour.
When it’s all over you will feel like a new man. However, milk your recovery for all its worth.
Houses need upkeep. Continuous and expensive.
This week: $700 tree trimming/aeration — licensed, bonded, insured, professional arborist. No choice about taking care of a tree that I estimate is five figures extra value of the house.
Also got a $350 quote to replace our Nexia thermostat and relay board with Honeywell hardware. I’ll have to think about that one.
“guarantee a football stadium and performing arts hall ”
the law requires as much spending on the arts as sports, so if you get the stadium, then you get the theatre. Puts a lot of food on my table…..
n
@nick – your profession is related to football stadiums or theatres?
@lynn – sending good thoughts on the “magical medical tour’….
Praying the best for you, Mr. Lynn.
Best for you, lynn!
Major change in my life. Sold my boat. Have owned a boat for 40 years. No longer use it enough to justify the yearly maintenance and insurance. Sad day.
But I have purchased a 30 foot travel trailer. This will start a new adventure. Neither the wife or I are certain we will enjoy using a travel travel. We both like to travel but have always flown and stayed in hotels. So this will be a different experience.
The rational goes like this. If we don’t do the travel trailer we will always wonder if we would have enjoyed traveling that method. If we decide we don’t like doing the travel trailer method of traveling at least we will know. We would be out a few thousand dollars but past experience and regrets have taught me that sometimes you need to take the risk.
My F-150 is up to the task of pulling. Will be at about 75% of maximum towing weight with the trailer loaded with our stuff. Will need anti-sway and load leveling hitch installed on the trailer. Truck has trailer brake controller built-in so no worries there, just needs to be set to the correct level. Towing package includes transmission cooler, tow setting for the transmission (changes shift patterns), engine oil cooler, power wiring to support the trailer power needs.
Will also need to get a 30 ampere circuit installed on the outside of the house where the trailer will park. This will allow us to keep the trailer powered up when at the house.
Found out when I sold my boat that the dealer where I bought the boat failed to tell me to get the trailer registered. As far as the state is concerned the dealer still owns the trailer. So I have to get the title transferred on Monday. Pick up the trailer on Tuesday.
Thursday will be the heart abalation …
Best wishes for a positive outcome.
Thanks all !
the law requires as much spending on the arts as sports, so if you get the stadium, then you get the theatre. Puts a lot of food on my table…..
The bond issue was a tough sell two years ago, but Austin has a lot more transplants.
Among the plates I’ve seen on cars this summer, FL and CA are neck and neck for the lead. CA is pretty much a known quantity, but FL is a wildcard politically.
Among the plates I’ve seen on cars this summer, FL and CA are neck and neck for the lead. CA is pretty much a known quantity, but FL is a wildcard politically.
I wonder why Floridians are moving here ? I have yet to see any FL plates. I see CA plates all the time. And MI.
On the beach, Bolsa Chica State Beach, campground (40 ft. limit) about a mile from my house.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=642
PBRs on me.
But I have purchased a 30 foot travel trailer. This will start a new adventure. Neither the wife or I are certain we will enjoy using a travel travel. We both like to travel but have always flown and stayed in hotels. So this will be a different experience.
New ? What brand and model ?
I wonder why Floridians are moving here ? I have yet to see any FL plates. I see CA plates all the time. And MI.
University of Central Florida is quietly one of the strongest CS schools in the country, and I know GM recruits heavily for Austin out of Florida State.
The tech job market in Florida is mixed, and housing costs are out of control in relation to salaries.
@lynn Best wishes for a positive outcome!
Plan A was a failure. The clips arrived and fit the rod but… everything I found said “this” was the part. Not. Did not begin to fit the hole on the latch any better than a 1/4 inch bolt will thread onto a 3/8 nut. I returned them. Did you know Amazon doesn’t have an option to print just a return label? I would have used it. Depending on your reason for returning the package, you pay $5.99 or $0.
Well, $0 it is.
So much for doing this the easy way.
Plan B happened. I threaded the rod. Crappy tap and die set. Forced on a nut to finish cutting the threads. Put on a plain nut first. So the rod can’t bend some how and go through the hole. Then a nut with the nylon self-locking stuff. I have about 2 of my crappy screw threads showing. I should be good forever.
Just for fun, I caught a nose of something at the hardware store and now have a drip along with enough sinus pressure to make my upper teeth on the left hurt. Along with the “mah eye is gonna pop outta mah haid!” feeling.
But. Truck is fixed.
Text today from 325-309-5009:
“Hi Michael, this is Geoff volunteering w/ Beto O’Rourke’s campaign for U.S. Senate. We’re texting Texas voters today about the upcoming November election. Will you be voting for Beto O’Rourke or Ted Cruz for Senate?”
My reply, “cruz”.
Doofus’s reply, “Okay, we’ll mark that down now. Have a great day!”
I want to reach out and whack them.
How did these losers get my cell phone number ?
You were much more polite than I would have been.
You were much more polite than I would have been.
I viewed my reply as taunting. I am now considering a baseball bat text threat.
Or maybe “no real Texan would vote for slimeball like beto”.
“You were much more polite than I would have been.”
I viewed my reply as taunting. I am now considering a baseball bat text threat.
“Geoff” was probably a fresher sitting in Hyderabad.
Drive-in ‘sex boxes’ for prostitution, built by taxpayers, are a wild success in Switzerland
@Brad: Well, well, well–and what else haven’t you told us about your adopted country? 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thursday will be the heart abalation where he sticks a camera up one side of my groin and a cattle prod up the other side of my groin. I will be under general anesthesia for around three hours. Then I will wake up with two 40 lb sandbags on my groin holding the arterial incisions closed. I am just hoping that they are careful with the placement of the sandbags.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Cardiac care is amazing as of late. My son had open heart surgery a few years ago, and within a few days, he was off painkillers, bored and ready to go home.
@Lynn,
I got a “BETO” call at my house today.
They’re definitely data mining. I could hear the girl writing down something after she asked for my wife and I replied, “She’s not here. Can I take a message?”
“I’m a volunteer for Beto … ”
“No thank you.” Click.
Newsom 2020 starting early. Girl had that West Coast Asian coed accent that screams “Berkeley”.
I’ve gotten a Beto call too, don’t know if it was to land line and forwarded to my out of state cell number or if called the cell directly.
@ Lynn, please be ok! We’ll see you back here soon…
wrt stadiums and theaters, yep, wife’s business benefits from construction of both, but more from theatres….
n
New, Mallard M25. Had the configuration we liked and the features we liked. Came down to a couple of models we had seen at RV shows. Looked at both of them the same day. Wife and I came to the same conclusion. Something about the Mallard that we both liked.
Ray, I know you grew up on a farm and have been around trucks and towed lots of trailers but I would have some concerns about a 30 foot bumper hitch camper towed by an F150. You are talking about the right things with hitch and sway control but it can be a very white knuckle ride if you get it wrong. I have owned several pull campers and one fifth wheel pulled by both F150’s and Superduty Fords so I have some school of hard knocks experience here.
I currently have a 2018 F150 with max towing package. It has plenty of power and a great transmission but I would still think very hard about trading it for an F250 if I wanted to get back into large campers. The main issue is the 3/4 ton trucks and above have fully floating axles. This is a big deal if you are running hills or putting on significant towing miles. The 1/2 tons have semi floating axles, which is the same rear end Ford put in the RWD cars. Not made for heavy use. I know from experience. I towed my fifth wheel with an F150 and had rear end bearing troubles fairly quickly even though it was not overloaded per the specs. So have others I know. The Superduty I had for 19 years did not ever develop any issues of this type. It is a much better setup for heavy use.
Of course, it depends on what you want to do. If you are just going 100 miles from home, versus running the entire 48 for example. This is also where a diesel can make a lot of sense. They are way more suitable for heavy pulling than any spark ignition (gas) engine. “real trucks don’t have spark plugs” as the rednecks say.
No matter what, set the equalizer hitch up and load both the trailer and pickup up then weigh each axle and make sure you are OK for axle weights.
You will probably enjoy trailer camping – we sure did. It is nice to just hook up, throw some groceries in and go. And it makes a nice “guest house” when company comes. Small towns often have really nice free trailer camp sites, sometimes even with power. Just make sure you set it up right, monitor tire pressures, etc.
OK, I take most of the above back. I just looked up the M25. It only weighs about 5900 lbs so I would not be worried about towing it with an F150. With the proper hitch setup that is…
It is amazing how light these new trailers are.
The other comment is that as capable as the Ford Superduty is, I really like the ride and handling of my new F150.
@Lynn: Best of luck on your coming medical procedures. Doesn’t sound like much fun, but hopefully it will improve things a lot, and get you off some of your meds.
– – – – –
We’ve spent the last two weeks looking at land and houses. Geez, we’re weird. And apparently picky. We did narrow our list to two possibilities. Neither is ideal, but some compromises are inevitable.
The first I mentioned on Tuesday. The second one we just saw yesterday. It’s on a huge plot, with an absolutely gorgeous garden including a stream and a pond – my wife is absolutely in love with the garden. It has been neglected for several years, so we would be a while getting it under control, but – it really is gorgeous. However… There’s always a however…
The house is small, and (bizarre, since it was built in 2006) uninsulated. Worse, the woman’s ex-hubby fancied himself a handyman. He started all sorts of projects, most of which seem to have involved knocking holes in the house: ceilings, floors, interior walls, exterior walls, everywhere. None of those projects are finished; most of the holes have been crudely patched with spray foam. Even the doors have holes in them – pet doors, still in place, that have also been “patched” with more spray foam. I’ve never seen anything like it – it’s crazy.
Given all the damage, the house needs totally gutted, so it can be repaired and insulated, and then renovated. Which means that it is (imho) worth less than the current mortgage. I doubt that the woman who owns it will want to admit that she’s underwater, due to all the crap her ex-hubby did to the house.
tl;dr: my wife is in love with the garden, which I totally understand. She really, really wants to find a way to save the house. Happy wife, happy life? I dunno, I just dunno…
Nick or Rick: spam alert, at comment 150759 on Thursday.
You handled it wrong. You should have said “You have a really sexy voice. How old are you? What are you wearing?” Data mine that, bitch!
brad: I would walk away from that as fast as possible.
I’d suggest a low-ball offer, insultingly low. Your competition is other folks so enamored with the garden to grossly under estimate the house renovation. That scale of renovation, you will under estimate as well, nature of the beast. Hopefully, others will be put off by the crude repairs enough to forego any offer at all.
I’ve been living in a pre-oil crisis, uninsulated brick veneer building since 2005. Upper SW corner unit to boot. The thru wall A/C doesn’t even come close to keeping any but the room it is in below 80. Thank somebody that heat is included in the rent. It was most of $10k per winter month when I was manager at move-in. They have replaced roof, window$ (!), and boiler in the last few years but, I doubt they’ve reached break-even yet. The lower unit folks know EVERYTHING their upper neighbors are up to, as well.
You handled it wrong. You should have said “You have a really sexy voice. How old are you? What are you wearing?” Data mine that, bitch!
Rudeness is just another dimension for the vector. They get their money’s worth out of the operation if a cluster of rudeness shows up in the number crunching. It frees up their campaign spending if they can establish certain territories are lost causes. More money for Austin proper or Plano.
You game that by always being rude to people asking you survey questions.
Or you could say “I’m in love with Beto” to get them to waste time and effort on you in November. I loved chest bumping the cis-gayo Klinton volunteer off my property in 2016.
“I’d suggest a low-ball offer, insultingly low.”
Yeah, that’s what I figure. The offer will be much less than her mortgage. Since she wants us to assume the mortgage, that means that she will be paying us to take the house off of her hands. Of course, that almost certainly means that she will refuse the offer, even assuming she has the money in the first place.
I wonder what the bank would do, if they see the house being sold for less than the mortgage? Will they foreclose? Could be fun, watching the bank squirm – especially that bank, which I particularly dislike.
It’s just such a shame – the land and garden really are gorgeous. Why did that idiot have to screw up the house?
Anyway, before we do anything, I’m getting an expert to have a good, hard look at the place. Maybe it’s better than it looks, maybe it’s worse – I want a professional opinion. See if we can set that up in the next week or two.
When faced with “Why did he [something stupid]?” questions, you will find that “alcohol” usually provides an adequate explanation. Not always, as some people are just naturally stupid, but it usually fills in the gap between “what a normal person would do” and “what actually happened”.
Late start but headed out in the next 15 mins.
n
@brad
I’d agree that you should be careful with the house. If you are willing to put up with the not-insignificant hassle (and time and expense) of ‘rebuilding’ the house, then go for it.
But it would seem that you should be able to find another property with good land *and* house, with much less work involved. I don’t know the real estate market in your area. But that place sounds like the lot is the ‘lipstick’ and the house is the ‘pig’. (Although I like bacon and pork ribs.)
A major overhaul of a house is a big strain on the owners and their relationship/marriage. If you can handle it, fine. There is some great satisfaction in fixing things.
And a complete inspection of the house (by a certified inspector) is vitally important. You should be there shadowing the inspector during their inspection. An offer can be dependent on you accepting the inspector’s report – and the report can be a factor in your offer. A good inspector will be able to tell you how much money/time will be involved in fixing the problems.
Good luck!
I wonder what the bank would do, if they see the house being sold for less than the mortgage? Will they foreclose? Could be fun, watching the bank squirm – especially that bank, which I particularly dislike.
My brother the banker told me that it costs the bank 40% of the value of the house to foreclose the loan. Therefore, they hate foreclosing on loans unless …
I wonder what the bank would do, if they see the house being sold for less than the mortgage? Will they foreclose? Could be fun, watching the bank squirm – especially that bank, which I particularly dislike.
The homeowners would have to negotiate a short sale with the bank. Above a certain dollar amount, the seller would be liable for the taxes.
During the real estate bubble 10 years ago, Texas was spared the brunt of the disaster partially due to the tough appraisal process. I know the rules were still tight when we bought our house in 2014, but, from what I’ve seen in our immediate area, the appraisers have been playing fast and loose in the state lately.
That was one of my primary concerns. Wife and I looked at used trailers of about the same length. Trailers as new as five years old were pushing 8,000 pounds. Too much for my towing capacity.
Thus the purchase of a new trailer. Two reasons. One is weight is much less as construction is using aluminum alloys to reduce the overall weight. Two is that I did not want to inherit someone else’s problems and screw ups that are hidden.
I have been told by several people in the know that my F-150 as equipped is up to the task with no issues. I asked people that were not trying to sell me a trailer as those clods would tell me a used Yugo would pull a trailer. I bought the truck with the trailer towing option as I had a boat on a trailer that I pulled to the lake and back.
@rickH, did we get a mini- instalanch on the 20th? The site hits chart is over 8k on that day. it’s normally 3k…..
n
@Nick – spent a bit of time with the analytics that is in the dashboard. It’s an internal thing, not tied to Google Analytics. Couldn’t find anything significant in the visits; no one visitor/page stood out with that quick look.
But that stat package did show a big spike on the ‘hits’, with the ‘visitor’ count staying about the same. That would indicate a small percentage of users are requesting a bunch of pages on the same day. That would seem to be more of a ‘scanner’ visitor than a real visitor.
I decided to add a Google Analytics (GA) account for this place, and enabled it via my “Simple GDPR” plugin. The advantage to using my plugin is that tracking happens on the server side, rather than on the client side. Client-side tracking (which is what most sites do with a client-side script from GA) can be disabled by ad blockers, which results in numbers that aren’t as accurate.
So I built my plugin to do server-side analytics. Any page hit is registered on the GA for this site, even those with ad blockers. The Privacy Policy here details that we do that type of tracking.
So will have to wait a few days to see if that GA data will tell us anything. I will keep an eye on it. I’ll can add you (Nick) as a ‘read-only’ user on that GA tracking, so you can look at it also. But you need to have a Google Account for that, your AOL email won’t work. Send that to me privately if you want to look at the GA data.
@RickH, I use an RSS Reader (FeedDemon) that checks all my feeds every hour. Do things like RSS Readers affect the “hits/visits” count?
I wonder how many regulars and irregulars use an RSS Reader to follow this and other sites.