Cold here in the Windy City.
Arrived safely. Stopped for dinner. Yummy Chinese food. Ate Christmas cookies. Went to bed.
Today we’ll continue on to Michigan. I hear reports that there might be snow! I hope so. That was one of the main goals- to have the kids playing in snow.
I guess we’ll know soon enough.
I’ll check in later. Don’t burn the joint down…
N
Cold and damp. Again. [well, COOL and damp. 50F and 99%RH]
Yesterday warmed up during the day to the point where shirtsleeves were fine outdoors. Then it got chilly again.
Today I’m scrambling to get packed and ready to go away for a long week.
Got all but one gift done last night. I’ll have to find the time to get the last little one done this morning.
Still so much to do.
n
Cold. Damp. Still/again/of course… [36F and frost on the cars]
Did my volunteer edumacating of the kinder yesterday. It’s really fun and very satisfying. I will point out, I’m like a grandparent. I can spoil them/ get them wound up and then give them back. It’s not something I think I could do every day.
Today should be wrapping up things here around the house before my Christmas trip. Presents, yard work and decor, cleaning, and dropping off presents to my gub store buddies. Oh, laundry and packing too.
I’m having a real internal debate about carrying to MI. I’m not just passing through Illinois on my way there, so I’m not protected by Federal law. I’m staying with my sibling the first night in Illinois. That opens me up to potential issues that I have avoided in the past. No one wants to be the test case. On the other hand, I can provide the locked case, and probably mostly comply. Not having it, and having to drive home if something bad happened would be very unpleasant. There is a lot of bad area between here and there. It will probably come down to whether I have any weight left in my checked bag…
Meanwhile, they world continues on pace for meltdown and realignment. Big trouble brewing domestically too. Virginia is nuts, as Gov. Blackface seems intent on testing the resolve of the population wrt gun confiscation and posse comitatus. There are so many ways this could go wrong I can’t even make a prediction. When I get nervous though, I tend to stack gear and preps. There are many things easily and cheaply available right now, that might not be if things go pear shaped. And there are SO MANY ways things can go pear shaped. I know, we’ve been saying that for a long time and nothing drastic has happened. Just the slow drip drip drip of constraints building and freedoms eroding. One day the icicle falls though.
With that cheery thought, time’s a wasting. Better get the kids out the door and start my day.
nick
Cold and damp this am.
We were threatened with freezing, but I don’t know if we got there. Still haven’t changed the batteries in my weather station, and when it’s cold or cloudy too long, they don’t have enough umph.
Today is my volunteer day at school for the morning, followed with my ham group lunch. I’m going this week as it’s the last I can make before Christmas, and it’s near me and at a favorite restaurant….
Then ebay shipping, haircut?, and decor… followed by packing and wrapping gifts both to take with and to leave here under the tree. I’m not even sure what all I have stacked in the closet. Gonna be down to the wire………
n
Cold and wet.
That brief thundershower yesterday was the front coming in. It went from 60/70s to mid 40s in a matter of minutes. Then it stayed cold for the rest of the day and night. From 85F to 43F in a day. Welcome to Texas!
Ordered a couple of Victorinox Swiss army knives for my daughters. This will be their first knife, and they’ve passed their girl scout knife unit. I picked the Manager multitool style knife, based on Ferfal’s recommendation. I like it. The only thing I don’t like is the lack of a blade lock. Kinda ironic that I bought two new from amazon, when I’ve got a bag full of knives from the TSA seizure store. But I didn’t grab any like this, and I think that they’ll be well served by a small multi bladed knife.
I’ll be out and about, mostly getting a haircut and finishing up at my customer’s house. It looks like my fixes might have been good…. and I’ll be relocating the tv we removed into the mother in law suite/guest house.
I bought a bunch of stuff at auction this weekend. I need to get it listed. And some of the other stuff that’s been sitting around needs to get photographed and put in storage.
The Christmas decor isn’t quite done either.
Tomorrow, I’ve got my science class in the morning, and my ham lunch, which I’ll try mightily to make. It’s the last of the year for me, and it’s the closest restaurant too.
So much to do before departure… and the kids want to take an afternoon and go shopping for mom….
Gah. I had more time when I was working 80 hrs/week.
nick
Warm and wet. [72F and 99%RH]
Finally did get some lights up yesterday. I had no problem with the stuff going back into the same place as last year. I put some of the moving effects in different places this year and I’ve got a couple more things to do today. I have changed the display nightly in the past, but I’ll just be adding to mine this year.
There is a bunch of discussion around the blogs about Virginia, gun grabbers, and the shot (to be) heard round the world. People are making a good case for it happening soon. Since history is rarely that neat, I’m gonna say that it won’t be there. Could be though. Pay attention, and keep stacking. Priority to defensive tools.
I don’t like the idea of being away from home for a week, but at least it’s not the east coast this time. I intend to rotate and supplement the basic food and gear stockpile I have started there. There are worse places to be stuck if the balloon goes up than small town Michigan, while waiting to see how things shake out. Worst case, we can drive home from there.
Closer to home, I added to the cans stored here. I bought a ton of cold weather preps this week at auction and some minor medical stuff that doesn’t usually come up for sale. Some bits and pieces of add on gear and parts for defensive tools fell into the box too.
Dinner tonight was rotating a beef roast out of the freezer, roasted new potatoes, canned peas (which I prefer to almost any other peas), and shelf stable bread. Dessert was mini pumpkin pies, tiny crusts from the fridge, filling and condensed milk from storage cans, whipped cream fresh from the store. Bits and pieces, bits and pieces. Tried some canned kale at dinner last week. Shop the ethnic aisle for some variety in your stored food. It wasn’t terrible, but a little bland. Nothing bacon wouldn’t fix…
Busy week ahead. Wed. I have my fourth grade science class. Thur. and Friday are half days at school and we travel Friday after school. I’ve got to get back out to my customer’s house during the week too. What did Jerry say? It’s a great life if you don’t falter….
n
Moderately cool, and damp.
I’m sleeping in today, as much as my bladder, back, and kids will let me.
I don’t have anything on my calendar and nothing specific except the ToDo list, starting with Christmas lights. I do have to hang them every year. The HOA sends out nastygrams if you leave them up. And I do something different every year, so even the common elements probably wouldn’t be common for more than a couple of years.
In the mean time, here are a few interesting links to eat up some of your free time.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/landslide-risks-highlighted-new-online-tool
https://www.domesticpreparedness.com/site/assets/files/11020/navy_yard_book_9_12_19_final.pdf
https://archive.defense.gov/pubs/Navy-Investigation-into-the-WNY-Shooting_final-report.pdf
n
Cool and wet.
Nice day yesterday, with a nice community event in the evening. Meatspace baby. Get to know your local pols.
Runoff election today, so I will be voting again. Local local local…
And all the stuff that has been piling up needs to get done this weekend. I’m not optimistic.
So, off to work I go.
n
Cool and damp. [55F and 98%RH]
Well, I got through my volunteer day yesterday. The guy who normally leads the fifth grade sessions no showed. I stepped up and did a Geology class. I had the ppt from the previous year so I had some good pictures of land and rocks to riff off of, and the school has a set of nice rock sample kits. I also brought my personal collection of rocks, minerals, and fossils. I brought my rock hammer too. It went pretty well considering I was winging it with no prep at all. I’m pretty sure picking up interesting rocks is universal with kids. I’ve got some cool examples of quartz, petrified wood, amethyst, coral and other fossils that the kids liked, and the school has a quartz crystal as big as the kids’ heads. I really like working with the kids, and the little girl who asked me to write down “geologist” last year was there asking me questions again this year. Lots of the kids answered my questions, not many ASKED questions.
It’s still not dissection, which it looks like we are caving in and skipping at least this year. PETA and activists suck.
I made it out to my customer’s house and solved a couple of issues. I’ll be headed out there today to hopefully solve the remaining issues or at least identify a path forward.
Not much prepping happened this week. It’s been really busy IRL…
And I STILL don’t have my Christmas lights up.
n
Cold and wet.
I got a couple of things done yesterday but spent the whole afternoon driving around town. Traffic was horrible with accidents and road closures all over.
Today I’m actually doing my volunteer day with the fifth grade science class. I’m just a helper monkey for this class as I learn it for next year. I have no idea what old boy plans to do, and I’d bet money he doesn’t either.
After that. I need to do onside service for my last remaining customer. He’s got a list of stuff to address, so I expect I’ll be back out there tomorrow or Monday too. And here I was thinking that it must be going ok if I hadn’t heard from him…
Not much time this AM to get the kids and myself ready, so I’m off like a prom dress….
n