No idea as I write this if the storm blew through, or is still around.
Got quite a lot of rain quickly though, even before I went to bed.
I’m trying to figure out what my feelings are about selling this house that I grew up in. It’s the only home I’ve ever known until I went out on my own. And I just realized that after the sale, I’ll lose access to it, and when I do, I’ll lose a touchstone in my life. I know every inch of this house. The basement, the under-eaves spaces, the rooms, smells, textures. I can move through the house in the dark or blindfolded. My dad is everywhere here. You can’t look in any direction and NOT see something he made, or shaped with his hands. The cool basement and the workshop were a refuge and my own ‘bat cave’ growing up. My bedroom (long since remodeled, but still ‘mine’) where I spent literal years, the yard, sheds, everything familiar despite the changes since I lived here. And when I walk out on Saturday or Sunday, it will likely be the last time I ever do.
THAT is freaking me out.
nick
added- spent an hour teaching my daughter to throw darts, in the same place I learned, and passing on the same lessons I learned from my dad. Caught fireflies in the same yard I did. Watched a momma robin feed her baby in a nest outside the window in my old bedroom, daughter jumping on the bed, playing with the blinds that I helped hang.
spent an hour teaching my daughter to throw darts, in the same place I learned, and passing on the same lessons I learned from my dad.
My daughter actually liked the original Billy Goat when I subjected them to “SNL Sunday” in March.
Sadly, with the Tribune building gutted and an Apple store across the street, the Billy Goat probably isn’t what it used to be, but you can now take a kid in there.
Remember, if you go, unlike the SNL sketch, it is *No Pepsi. Coke”.
And when I walk out on Saturday or Sunday, it will likely be the last time I ever do.
THAT is freaking me out.
I went through that 20 years ago when my parents divorced and sold off our family home. I haven’t even driven through the neighborhood since then.
Then I had a mini repeat when we sold off our FL house, but I don’t miss the neighbors. Putting a half dozen of them out of their homes as a result of me selling for market price was one of the few upsides of the Vantucky adventure.
Growing up, we lived around the corner from this school, and I went there for 7th grade the year the girl was killed. Election Day 1980.
https://www.tampabay.com/education/in-palm-harbor-an-old-school-gets-a-new-name-with-meaning-elisa-nelson-elementary-20190326/
I even know the minister, Tim Nehls, quoted in the article. The “Man of God” looked the other way and officiated at the wedding when my father married the neighbor woman. I forget how many commandments that violates — certainly Adultery and Thou Shalt Not Covet …
@Nick: Approximate location of house?
Such as, I grew up a little NE of Racine – Fullerton intersection.
Lansing Il, south suburb.
Where I 80 meets I 94 or where I 80 crosses the IL -IN line.
Dad grew up at 120th and Torrence on the south side, then Calumet City IL (home of the Blues Brothers- except they actually shot on Maxwell St on the south side.)
n
It’s funny how perception changes things. The north and north western and western suburbs seemed crazy far away, but they’re only 30 minutes by car. I drove farther than that every day to high school.
It only takes a couple of hours to get to southern IL or IN, yet we went there for vacations (and it was “far” away). Heck it’s less than 10 hours to MEMPHIS and we’d consider that a major trip.
n
It’s funny how perception changes things. The north and north western and western suburbs seemed crazy far away, but they’re only 30 minutes by car. I drove farther than that every day to high school.
I experienced the opposite perception the last two times I visited the house I owned as an adult in FL, outside Tampa. I said to my wife, “Why did we live so *far* from *anything*?”
Just getting to the Interstate through all the suburban dystopia-in-waiting took 20 minutes. Back at the height of the real estate bubble, my commute home was two hours to drive a “bird flies” distance of 15 miles.
Tampa is one solid hurricane hit away from a financial disaster. The area dodged a bullet when Charley turned up into Charlotte Harbor and through Orlando 15 years ago.
Nick, we all have to let go of things and places, but the memories live on forever in our minds.
Easier than moving that house to Texas 🙂
The ProgLibTurds are crowing over SCOTUS ruling on the citizenship question on the census. I don’t understand why you even have to go to court to find how many citizens are in your own country. Illegal Immigration will kill the FUSA.
The ProgLibTurds are crowing over SCOTUS ruling on the citizenship question on the census. I don’t understand why you even have to go to court to find how many citizens are in your own country. Illegal Immigration will kill the FUSA.
Roberts fretting about his legacy again.
If I was the cocktail waitress, I’d be concerned about NY losing even more Congressional seats to FL, CA and TX. As it is, absent a major pork win for NY, she will probably have to negotiate keeping her seat when NY loses at least two representatives after the census.
Dad grew up at 120th and Torrence on the south side, then Calumet City IL (home of the Blues Brothers- except they actually shot on Maxwell St on the south side.)
I still find it simultaneously believable and unbelievable that the Dixie Square Mall stood for another 33 years after Landis filmed the chase scene through the interior for “The Blues Brothers”.
Lower Whacker still looks the same as it did in the movie.
I haven’t followed the issue of the citizenship question, but…it seems rather odd to me *not* to ask. I would have thought that kind of question would have always been on the forms. I suppose the people running the census once were able to assume that only legal residents and citizens were filling out census forms.
Who remembers the uproar in the 1980s, when 2 million immigrants got amnesty, with the promise to secure the borders. So now it’s maybe 20 million, but no one actually knows. Crazy, literally insane. That cannot be how you run a country. Funny how the fans of immigration don’t have immigrant families sleeping in their spare rooms…
The Australian solution is the only possible solution: be absolutely hard-assed about people trying to illegally enter your country. Anything else just encourages the behavior.
I can understand. I lost my family home at age 11 when a tornado tore it up. I refused to go back to help pick through the debris because I literally couldn’t bear the thought of seeing my home in ruins. After that we never lived more than 4 years in the same place till I left home. Out on my own I bounced around a LOT, never staying in one place or job more than 4 years. Until we landed here in Mississippi been here 11 years. At age 55 I figured I needed to settle down as its been harder and harder to find new work. And so I will retire at the end of this year and leave our very large house for another one. It’s not really felt like home, none of them have since the Tornado.
Who remembers the uproar in the 1980s, when 2 million immigrants got amnesty, with the promise to secure the borders. So now it’s maybe 20 million, but no one actually knows. Crazy, literally insane. That cannot be how you run a country. Funny how the fans of immigration don’t have immigrant families sleeping in their spare rooms…
The 86 deal was 4 million, IIRC. Reagan needed some kind of tax code overhaul passed, and Ted Kennedy wanted a repeat of his 60s-era amnesty bill. The Dems were supposed to fund better border security after the election, but they hosed Reagan.
Reagan was another one too concerned about his legacy, especially during the second term. Way too many deals with Kennedy, Tip O’Neal, and Fort Worth(-less) Jim Wright.
As an aside, Austin will spend at least another generation without a decent airport thanks to Jim Wright’s obsession with protecting DFW.
The amnesty deals were supposed to happen every 20 years, but “W” and his point man in Congress on the issue, Adam “Opie” Putnam, botched the job in the last decade. Obama burned all his political capital and the majority on Doh-bamacare so now, having lost the White House, the Dems won’t get another chance until 2021 at the earliest.
(Again, if someone had told me a year ago that “Opie” would not be Governor of Florida this year, I would have dismissed them as nuts. An illustration that the winds change fast in US politics.)
The Australian solution is the only possible solution: be absolutely hard-assed about people trying to illegally enter your country. Anything else just encourages the behavior.
Australia has been a bit to lenient with the muslim immigration. They will pay a price for that eventually.
Crankshaft: old people using the bank teller
https://www.comicskingdom.com/crankshaft/2019-06-24
Be sure to see all three panels. And I prefer depositing checks using the ATM myself.
And the teller does not know what a Christmas Club account is !
https://www.comicskingdom.com/crankshaft/2019-06-27
I am old.
I’m trying to figure out what my feelings are about selling this house that I grew up in. It’s the only home I’ve ever known until I went out on my own. And I just realized that after the sale, I’ll lose access to it, and when I do, I’ll lose a touchstone in my life.
Life is about change. When you stop changing, you are not on a good path.
ADD: We moved nine times when I was a kid. From Freeport, Texas to Princeton, NJ to Norman, OK to Lake Jackson, TX to Houston, TX to Sugar Land, TX. The longest we lived in the same house was four years in Meyerland in Houston when I lived with my parents. They lived in the Sugar Land house for fifteen years but I only lived there one year and then back and forth to college.
Life is change. But it’s nice to have some things remain constant so you don’t have to keep relearning the path to the toilet in the dark.
Life is change. But it’s nice to have some things remain constant so you don’t have to keep relearning the path to the toilet in the dark.
A nightlight is your friend ? I’ve got cheap Walmart nightlights all over the house since my vision is so bad. But the daughter keeps on pulling them out and hiding them since she hates nightlites.
https://www.amazon.com/eufy-Nightlight-Bedroom-Bathroom-Efficient/dp/B076C9766Z/?tag=ttgnet-20
ADD: We moved nine times when I was a kid.
It looks like most of the moves were below the Manson-Nixon line. Coulda been worse … like Vantucky.
After moving our kids cross country twice in four years, the agreement is that we are in Austin in our current house until my daughter finishes high school (five years).
After that, who knows, but we will stick to places where snowfall is measured in mm annually.
@lynn – re disappearing night lights:
Maybe get the ones with lights built into the outlet cover. Like these:
https://amzn.to/2FDImOb
No wiring, no batteries, LED, automatically turn on when room is dim – just remove the old cover, and put on the new one.
_Mutineer’s Moon (Dahak Series)_ by David Weber
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number one of a three book space opera series. I read the well printed and bound MMPB published by Baen. This is my favorite SF book and series of all time as I have reread it six or ten times now. I am rereading the second book in the series now which sadly, has gone out of print as a standalone book.
https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Inheritance-David-Weber/dp/0671721976/?tag=ttgnet-20
I do not know why this is my favorite SF book and series of all time. I think that I like the standup position of the chief protagonist, Colin the First. Or that there are so many different species of intelligent space races. Or that the book is written so tightly, especially when compared to Weber’s later works. Or that an self aware artificial intelligence shares the main protagonist job in the book, much like Heinlein’s _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_.
I keep on hoping that David Weber will write more books in the Dahak series but, I doubt it. He did write the Safehold series which is along the same lines as this book, overpowering space aliens and self aware artificial intelligences. BTW, there is an ending to the Safehold, Honorverse, and Dahak series that David Weber wrote as joke:
http://www.davidweber.net/posts/443-how-safehold-wont-end.html
The entire series is also available in an omnibus book, _Empire From The Ashes_ in either kindle or trade paperback. I also own this book in trade paperback.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Ashes-David-Weber/dp/141650933X/?tag=ttgnet-20
Here is my 2006 review of the book:
“I love this book. Of my 5,000+ SciFi books, it is my favorite. True, it is a little bit raw. But, it tells a SOLID story and leaves you wanting more more more at the end. That is the sign of a great book. A sentient ship the size of the moon and the unique story of the “space aliens” makes for a totally cool story. BTW, I am reading it for the 5th or 6th time (who keeps count ?). Weber owes a couple of authors for his story: Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the Perry Rhodan series. There are two sequels to this book, also 5 stars. I am valiantly waiting for the fourth …”
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (yes 6 stars, get over it !)
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (71 reviews)
Like 1,000,000,000 mm?
Some of my pet peeves are 2000 milligrams and 37,000 mAh. Even countries on a metric system do this. Ranks right up there with 6/32″.
My parents have had one house. I don’t look forward to having to sell it when they eventually go. The good news is that Dad has kept it up, and while it’s full of stuff (47 years!) , it’s not hoarder full.
Last Fall we marked 40 years in the house we built. I want to die there, but not for a while 🙂
Nine moves?
Hmm. Twenty-Nine Palms to Roseburg to Hawaii to Oceanside to Mobile (and four houses in seven years) to Texas in a rented house for a few months while they built a house we lived in for three years, then an apt while they built the last house. I count twelve.
I think I’m missing one but Mom (at the nursing home) acts as if I don’t exist when I visit and I’m not talking to my sisters ever again.
Twelve. Plus however many after I moved from home. Eight (mostly apts) plus this house.
Twenty-Nine Palms to Roseburg was in a 1957 Windsor. I had the scratchy as all get out back seat, Dad drove, Mom had little sister with her in the front seat. I woke up when we went across the Golden State Bridge. That’s still “wow” to me. Almost two at the time.
I have a key for the Oceanside house. It was the spare they had hidden the garage. Was the spare. My souvenir. I drove past the house about ten years ago…. the fake bench on the front is gone, the trees Dad planted in the back yard are gone, and it’s still the same yellow it was in 1967. The front door still has the Contact Paper “stained glass”. I remember Mom putting it on and she left a couple of slivers on the edge so you could see who was at the door. I can draw the floor plan even after 50 years. The various split rail fences in folks front yards are all gone and it’s all “not white” now.
I can draw the plan for Granmama’s house too. All the rest? Not enough to build from….
Yesterday Nick mentioned Windows not purging temp and update files. At least things just slowed down. About six months ago, Linux did that to me. Root partition was full of undeleted update files. Unfortunately, not graceful. Libre Office Writer corrupted a couple of files. No error messages, just zeroed file contents. Took a while to figure out. Thank the FSM for backups.
Some of my pet peeves are 2000 milligrams and 37,000 mAh.
The mAh number is a pretty common battery capacity measurement.
2000 mg is easier to write than 2.000 g to express the number to four significant figures. Precision vs. accuracy.
@lynn – re disappearing night lights:
Maybe get the ones with lights built into the outlet cover. Like these:
https://amzn.to/2FDImOb
No wiring, no batteries, LED, automatically turn on when room is dim – just remove the old cover, and put on the new one.
Thanks, I will try it out.
Yesterday Nick mentioned Windows not purging temp and update files. At least things just slowed down. About six months ago, Linux did that to me. Root partition was full of undeleted update files. Unfortunately, not graceful. Libre Office Writer corrupted a couple of files. No error messages, just zeroed file contents. Took a while to figure out. Thank the FSM for backups.
I put my Linux laptops on Timeshift. I’ll do the same with my home server eventually, but I need to buy a big external disk.
Tried Timeshift, didn’t like it. Got rid of it.
Tried Timeshift, didn’t like it. Got rid of it.
I have pictures on my Linux laptops since I usually take those on the road. I need the backup.
I have a key for the Oceanside house. It was the spare they had hidden the garage. Was the spare. My souvenir.
I have the extra Craftsman garage door opener remote we bought for our rental in WA State. If we’re ever back that way, I may drive by with the remote and hit the button just for giggles. I have no doubt it would work since the opener was like new when we lived there until five years ago.
A short older blonde woman about my age sold me the opener remote back in 2010. I didn’t make the possible connection at the time, but I found out later that Tonya Harding worked at the Vantucky Sears in the tool area around that time.
A souvenir and a possible brush with fame.
Both Tonya Harding and her infamous mother live in Battle Ground, WA, north of Vancouver.
We have the integrated night light/ outlet covers too. They work well in the hallways.
Almost done with the workshop. have only a couple of things in the ceiling still to look at. Sibs dug a metric crapton of stuff out of storage and a bunch of it is mine. I don’t think I brought enough truck, or have anywhere in houston for it. I regretted losing all my records, but now that I found they were here all along, maybe I don’t need them after all.
n
We have the integrated night light/ outlet covers too. They work well in the hallways.
I may need this anyway. Lily (used to be Marie), the new miniature pinscher puppy, just turned five months old and is chewing on everything in sight. I have not seen her go after the night light in the game room yet, but she definitely could. She did test one of the wooden window sills and left a good teeth impression there. She has grown an inch in height and length since she came to live with us and is now 14 lbs. She was 11 lbs six weeks ago. She is a big time cuddler and the ladies love that.
Sibling has a minpin… like a tiny dobie…
likes laps and belly rubs, but is otherwise as aloof as a cat
n
@Nick: I appreciate the house location info, but I am not familiar with that south side area. Used to visit aunt and uncle who lived in the Inglewood area back in the mid ’40s, but then they moved away, maybe early ’50s.
Did go to ball games in Comiskey Park back in ’50s, but it was safe then if you just walked from train station to park not too much earlier than the game nor too much later.
Family moved from Mpls to Chicago, North Side, about 1948. Lived there for north side grammar school, high school, and university. Then left in ’62, a week after graduation, for aerospace job in Long Beach, CA.
Son-in-law, daughter, grandson, and granddaughter live in Costa Mesa, CA, 12 miles from my house, no reason for me to leave for sometucky.
We blew out of Vantucky five years ago today.
The last I saw of Oregon besides the freeway was a truck stop in Baker City.
Taking that eastbound ramp marked “Boise” out of Baker City was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Tuesday marked nine years since I blew out of the Death Star. I have mixed feelings about whether that was wise, especially since my wife was kinda clueless about the mess she was walking into in Vantucky. Management and I were at odds, but when have I ever not been at odds with tech managers?
Was I facing being fired? “Nah, I don’t think so … more like chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6ikN2O364
Currently in Crescent City CA, last stop on 101 South. The weather did not cooperate while in Florence OR. Rain, or significant mist, and about 55F. Thus no dune buggies and little sight seeing. I can only control the trip, but not the weather. Tomorrow we head to Rogue River for the first reunion event. Our hotel is in Grants Pass as local lodging jumped their prices 50% or more because of the Rooster Crow event. I will not pay that premium for what is an 8 mile trip.
Paid $2.89 for gas in Florence at Fred Meyer. Was not allowed to pump my own gas. Gas in CA, at least in Crescent City is running $3.95. I will get gas when I am back in Oregon.
Got stopped at the CA state line, fruit inspection. I remember that from when I was 7 years old and CA is still doing that inspection. Really nothing more than a question of if you are transporting fruit. I know CA has to protect their fruit crop. Or it is just another job to employ the unemployable. Thirty years asking the same question and you can retire, still as dumb as a rock.
Get a cage kennel. At that age they get used to it fast and it will save your house. Put her in at night or when you leave the house.
And Cali gas tax raises another $.06 per gallon on Monday. Thanks to the gullible voters of this state.
Got stopped at the CA state line, fruit inspection. I remember that from when I was 7 years old and CA is still doing that inspection.
The new fruit inspection station between NV and CA on I15 opened this year right at the border. They should just put a mannequin in the booth with a waving hand. Not much around so it is a good place for morons to earn a living.
I only used Timeshift to back up the root partition, which supposedly would allow me to revert to an older kernel and everything associated with it, including a myriad of settings.
Use rsync to back up the data partition.
Greg, that extra garage door remote control *will* work, but if it is rolling code it will not work if the other remotes have been used more than 255 times, almost a certainty. In that case, you would have to re-whatever it with the receiver. At least that’s how most of them work.
Greg, that extra garage door remote control *will* work, but if it is rolling code it will not work if the other remotes have been used more than 255 times, almost a certainty. In that case, you would have to re-whatever it with the receiver. At least that’s how most of them work.
I probably won’t be back in Vantucky anytime soon.
My employer would be the leading candidate for Portland’s plan to toll the Interstate miles around the city since our ORT tech actually works (imagine), but I don’t see us out that way for at least a year.
Our hotel is in Grants Pass as local lodging jumped their prices 50% or more because of the Rooster Crow event.
Plus The Britt starts tomorrow.
The Umphrey’s McGee concert next Friday will be the big stoner event of the season.
We saw Steve Martin play banjo at The Britt. Amazing venue, but the noise ordinances for the town cutting off the concert at Midnight meant that we didn’t see the “King Tut” encore Martin did at other tour stops that year.
Sarah Hoyt on prepping
Same feelings when I had to sell my parents place. My Dad built it, with some friends, in the mid-1950s (he was an electrician). Lived there with my Mom until she died and he had to move out a few years later. Almost 60 years of that house. I was there for 25 years – longer than any other place and will not be in this house that long. One of the sadder events as my Dad deteriorated was watching him lose himself in his own house. He used to know the name of every brick. Sadly, he was a bit of a hoarder – it was a lot of work getting it cleaned out for sale, knowing they would knock it down within weeks to build a monster-home on the property. I did go back to look – yep, it’s big and has no character. Life moves on.
Even with dad cleaning out the sheds and organizing them, and doing a lot of prep we didn’t know about, there is still a crapton of work to do. Mom wants to take everything with her to a smaller house. That is, what she hasn’t given away already. There isn’t going to be anything for the estate/downsizing sale except some collections. There are almost no tools left, and she wants all the furniture.
It looks like the deal to sell is falling through. The buyer has made some demands that we just can’t and won’t do, and one that is just petty. He wants 50Ft of gutter replaced. F that. He wants the foundation inspected and waterproofed. Not gonna happen. Didn’t happen in the 55 years my folks lived here, ain’t gonna happen now. $40K on a $140k house? Nope. He wants the fireplace completely redone. Nope, get an insert if you don’t like it. Ain’t gonna happen. The guy didn’t even look at the house until mom dropped the price to $157k and then he only offered $140k. At the original asking of $174k there might have been some room to do gutters and some fireplace work. Not at $30k less… Seriously, if you’re handy (and this guy says he is, the gutters are 4 hours tops, and less than $200 in materials. For my mom to have someone do it? $1000 minimum.
So I may be here a bit longer. At a minimum we need the house looking good for showings. It’s currently filled with boxes and bags and messy disorder. The house has to look like you would love living in it, not that you’d have to move out bags of stuff first.
Worst of worst cases, we do the chimney and gutters (and by we I mean ME) and relist) and re-stage for photos. JUST in time for the estate sellers to strip the house bare.
Best case, the guy and his lawyer blink and say “just kidding, can’t blame a guy for trying” and the sale proceeds.
My feeling is they will attempt to delay and pressure mom, until after the 4th. F that. I want the listing back up tomorrow, and the house dressed for visitors and photos by Saturday.
Whatever happens, I need to get to bed.
n
The guy didn’t even look at the house until mom dropped the price to $157k and then he only offered $140k. At the original asking of $174k there might have been some room to do gutters and some fireplace work. Not at $30k less… Seriously, if you’re handy (and this guy says he is, the gutters are 4 hours tops, and less than $200 in materials. For my mom to have someone do it? $1000 minimum.
I’m guessing Flipper. Or some flavor of Middle Eastern.
Sorry, folks. I call them as I see them.
Nope. The agency didn’t follow procedure and there were troubling emails about the whole thing. If they follow procedure and have a solid explanation for adding the question back in, they will get it through. Roberts is just following the law as written. Which is what we want.