Month: March 2019

Chilly and damp today, after an absolutely gorgeous afternoon yesterday. Maybe today will come close later on.

I am sick with what feels like a cold, mixed with allergies. So I’m on my tried and true regimen of Airbourne and sleep. I have to stand outside for 10 hours on Saturday, so I really need to be over the worst of this by then. Of course, I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the Hamfest, so I’ll be getting less sleep than I’d like.

Squirrels are mating, buds are coming up, my Meyer lemon tree is fully in bloom, it must be spring. I hope we have a LONG spring this year, as summer is miserable.

Time to get serious about the gardens too.

For all of you outside the pestilential swamp, what are you going to do for a garden this year?? TIME TO START climbing the learning curve if you haven’t yet.

n

Cool and damp. So nice yesterday afternoon. Aside from the smoke and tree pollen, I mean. Well, I didn’t smell any smoke at my house, but the darkened sky and the huge column of black off in the distance was pretty impressive. It’s a BIG fire.

CPA class was interesting. Shoot/no shoot simulator was a bit more modern than the one I did with the Constables. Turns out that Houston has in house psychology staff, and has for a few decades. They treat the cops and their families for free. The group at highest risk for a successful suicide are middle aged white males, esp when there is a gun present. That describes the majority of cops. (young women attempt it more, but use less effective means and are less likely to actually succeed.) Nationally cops have more suicide deaths than line of duty deaths from shootings and traffic accidents combined. The group of 7 counselors stays pretty busy according to the numbers.

Busy day today, should be out and about most of the day. Ham club meeting, work for buddy, paying work in afternoon, then softball game late evening… this week I’m hopping. And I feel miserable from the pollen and this head cold and would rather be in bed. Poor me.

n

Chilly out this am. Yesterday got nice in the afternoon, a bit cooler than comfortable, but nice and dry with clear skies and sun.

I’m volunteering today at the kids’ school, so I have to get ready.

The world continues on in the same way it has been. That means ‘times a wasting’.

Get prepped!

n

Cool and damp, probably around 54F. Yesterday turned into a beautiful day- sunny with blue sky and just a hint of cool in the air. It sure would be nice to have today be similar.

Folks, the Second Amendment isn’t the only one under attack. The First is taking a beating too. The same people who are bleating for disarming themselves are bleating to muzzle themselves too. ‘Hate speech’ is like ‘assault weapon’. It’s a made up term that is being used to criminalize what was and should remain legal. Social pressure and “PC” cultural elements are no longer enough. They want to (and do) use companies to ‘de-platform’ users whose ideas and speech they don’t like, eliminating one of the great benefits of the internet, publishing with a worldwide reach for everyone. Now they want the power of government and the threat of violence to silence those they disagree with.

While we’ve been standing fast on gun rights, they did an end run on 1A issues. Most of the western democracies now criminalize speech and we are close behind.

We need to fight this, now while we still can.

They came for the 10th A, but I didn’t care because I don’t understand the issue
They came for the 4th A, but I did not care because I’m not a druggie
They came for the 5th A, but I did not care because I’m not a criminal
They came for the 2nd A, but I did not care because I’m not a murderer
They came for the 1st A, and now I can’t even tell you why they’re wrong

n

54F and damp this am. Intrepid backyard campers are still asleep.

My 54th birthday happened this week, marking 53 years on this earth. I always get a bit down near my birthday. Don’t know why.

That’s long enough to have seen several things come and go. It really does give some perspective when you can live thru the various cycles, and remember. It makes it harder to credit the ideas of younger people. EXTREMELY frustrating when I WAS the younger people, but clear as day now. Politicians NEED that sense of perspective and stored experience. 35 was fairly old in the 1700s. You had 18 or so years living as an adult, and yet were still vigorous enough for the demands of the job, with a dozen more good years left in you. I’d say the modern equivalent age is 50. So when people are talking about a 35yo (or YOUNGER) President, I want to start smashing heads. 16yo voters? These are the same kids who are too dumb to know not to eat SOAP fer Pete’s Sake.

Anyway, while I’m out filling my head and hands with only marginally useful info, what did you do to prep this week?

My grape vines now have 4 inches of green shoots. The Meyer lemon is heavy with great smelling flowers. The potted citrus is either flowering or in bud. Wife got some herbs planted in her garden. General spring cleaning has been happening.

I am buying extras every grocery trip to replace what got eaten or spoiled by the rats. Haven’t seen any evidence, but I’m pretty sure I heard the pitterpatter of rat feet while in the garage the other day. I’m going to move my super trap to the garage.

I cleaned out the new water tank. It’s the size of a 55 gallon drum on its side, with a big cleanout hole, and mounted on a frame with wheels. I haven’t sterilized it or filled it, as I need to replace 2 of the wheels.

I’ve been out and about, meeting new people and taking the mood of the clans…

What have you gotten done?? (or started?)

n

Cool and damp this am. Weather station is stuck on 79F which I know is wrong based on how much the furnace is running. Thank you to all the old white men who invented the stuff that keeps us warm and safe…

Not much changed in the news since I went to bed.

I’m off to a class in my hobby, I’ll be out most of the day.

n

Thermometer says 79F this morning, so I think it’s stuck again. Doesn’t seem likely.

Things are getting crazy. Brazil. New Zealand. Mob bosses. People are starting to act. The rules are breaking down. I don’t think this is coincidence but an indicator of the changes in the zeitgeist. A major candidate for US President from a mainstream party is running on the idea that we’ll ALL be DEAD in only TWELVE YEARS? and he’s not laughed out of the room? He may be right, at least for individuals, but it won’t be AGW that did the deed, it’ll be violent extremism of one sort or another.

Think about what it means if he’s sincere and his followers are too. It’s an end times apocalyptic cult. Those tend to end horrifically. Think about the world someone with that desperate belief would create. They’d do anything, justify anything to avert it. If half the population needed to die, well at least half would survive.

Early reports are almost always wrong, but this guy in NZ seems to have decided to take desperate action NOW, and he managed to convince 3 others too. Same for whoever ordered the hit in NY, and the two guys in Brazil. They all got to that point where talking didn’t make sense to them any more.

There are a lot of people in the US and online talking about CWII. They are talking about making lists, settling scores, taking action. Anyone out there still think it won’t finally get to the point where people are sick of just talking?

A lot of innocents were sucked into CW1. A lot of hardship fell on the ordinary people. I don’t know how to avoid it, or how to survive it, but making sure you can eat, defend yourself, and lie low have to be a pretty good start.

n

69F, sunny and only 65%RH- beautiful day!

Jeez, almost 10am and I’m just getting up. Kids, dog, wife and bladder all let me sleep. I still feel like going back to bed. It was 2 am before I finally got to sleep and I’m feeling it today. NOT as young and resilient as I was.

Seems that it’s Pi Day, so got get a slice! OH, not that kind of pie?? Dang. Well, MicroCenter has a Pi Zero W for $3.14 and there are probably other geek deals to be found.

Last night’s concert and rodeo went well. I checked the website for weapons policy and knives were not mentioned. I should have known- it’s a Rodeo in Texas, and everyone had a knife. I had two, so it helped the average. The bag search, metal detector search was lackluster at best. I left my flashlight in my pocket and it didn’t beep.

The Rodeo itself had a nice mix of events, pretty much everything you’d want to see. The concert was . . . meh. Sound was pretty bad. It’s a tricky venue, but despite tons of gear in the air, the best thing they could have done was turn it down. We were seated way up in the nose bleeds, so maybe it sounded good elsewhere, but we got almost no vocals, huge resonant bass in the low mids blowing out everything, and a ‘wall o noise’ for everything else. I was happy to have earplugs and so were the wife and kids. I did take them out periodically to check the sound, but it was uniformly bad. Pretty nice light show, and really effective use of video though.

All in all, Santana isn’t gonna live forever, it was good to see him play (has a young vocalist), and I’ve been to worse shows.

Kids wanted to ride carnival rides afterwards, and wife had prepaid ticket books, so we did. Left the park at 12 midnight. There was a heavy police presence by then [pairs at least, every 40-50 feet when I looked around]. LOTS of mounted Sheriff’s Deputies when we arrived, but double the number at close. LOTS of HPD officers too, and some were loaded for bear. 4 glock mags? Really? There were a couple of raised voices, and a couple of bleary-eyed people peg-legging around, but the crowd was light and pretty well behaved. Kids had fun, nobody got hurt, wife was happy, so all in all, a good day.

n

(even if the late night has repercussions for the next 4 days….)

-Rattling door, looking around-

Helloooo?

Looks like Santana’s got Nick sleeping in…

31 F today, 30% chance of snow followed by 40% chance of rain. Roads are going to be slicker n snake snot today.

j

—- Turned off commenting after Nicks post went up —-

71F and just slightly less than saturated. Never did rain yesterday. I got a couple of fence panels powerwashed and my wife got some gardening done. She takes the herb garden and landscape, I take the food and trees.

I’m meeting with the ham group for lunch, we’re going to the Rodeo carnival in the afternoon, and then the actual Rodeo and concert this evening. Busy day, once it gets going. Not much room for work in there.

I’ve ordered stuff for work and the house direct from the manufacturer or the distributor in the last couple of weeks. I must say, amazon prime and 2 day shipping has really spoiled me. My expectations need to be reset for normal. Several of the items I ordered are taking 5 days to arrive. It seems intolerably slow. Even my non-prime amazon order is taking 5 days. Since the 5 days cross a weekend, it seems even longer. I am bothered by how completely amazon has altered my brain and expectations. I made my choice of supplier based on availability and price, not speed of delivery, but it still feels wrong to wait so long. There’s a problem in there somewhere….

n