Hot and humid. Possibly rainy.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all the dads. Becoming a dad and raising my kids has been the best thing that ever happened to me. It definitely changed my planning horizon 🙂
Yesterday did finally cool off a bit late in the day, but otherwise was hot and oppressively humid. I was north of the city running my errands, and could see the storm cells south of me. I did finally move south and got hammered by rain at my secondary location. As I moved away from there, only a mile west, it was dry as a bone.
I stopped at an estate sale, with a seller that I like whose prices are always good, and LO! the upright freezer they had listed was still there. Second day, discounted to $200. It’s older but a good brand and was plugged in and very cold, so I grabbed it. I’ll have to move even more stuff around in the garage to accommodate it… Funny thing was, as I was chatting with one of the helpers (who I see and talk to fairly often at sales, and is a friend of a friend) he looked at me and said “how you gonna fill it with meat? Cuz prices are crazy and you can’t get a lot.” It’s funny because I’ve been wondering the very same thing. If nothing else I’ve got some redundancy and excess space for a while. I am going to try to fill it though.
Dinner was beer brats on the grill, with cookies and cupcakes for dessert.
Followed dinner with family game night. One easy quick game of Sequence, and one long three way battle that ended in a draw. It’s a fun board game that uses playing cards, and even younger kids can play effectively with adults. Definitely recommended, and best played with two teams of two.
Sequence is one of my favorites, and I also really like Ticket To Ride. I’m always up for one or the other.
Later I got an email update from Frances. They have decide that Barbara has a staph infection and they are going to treat that with antibiotics. It will be a couple of months if everything goes well until she’s finally done, but hopefully she’ll see some improvement right away. We’re still holding off on cards and flowers. I’ll let you know if that changes.
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Out in the wider world, we’ve moved to full on third world behaviour. Mobs are pulling down statues of our country’s founders and military heroes. Armed insurgents have captured and barricaded off an area inside one of our cities. They’ve held it, and plan to continue holding it. Make and adjust your plans accordingly.
Keep stacking.
nick
Later I got an email update from Frances. They have decide that Barbara has a staph infection and they are going to treat that with antibiotics. It will be a couple of months if everything goes well until she’s finally done, but hopefully she’ll see some improvement right away. We’re still holding off on cards and flowers. I’ll let you know if that changes.
A staph infection isn’t cancer, but it could be serious in an agricultural area. Thoughts and prayers.
Out in the wider world, we’ve moved to full on third world behaviour. Mobs are pulling down statues of our country’s founders and military heroes. Armed insurgents have captured and barricaded off an area inside one of our cities. They’ve held it, and plan to continue holding it. Make and adjust your plans accordingly.
I wouldn’t read much into the CHAZ/CHOP. It has gone on too long to be viewed as anything but a stunt with full cooperation of the residents and state/county/city government. While Capitol Hill isn’t a slum, it isn’t a section of Seattle that normal people venture into without a very good reason.
When a group tried to create a CHAZ in Portland, at least they had the stones to try it in an important piece of real estate. Of course it didn’t work because The Pearl is filled with upper class white female voters, and there would have been hell to pay at City Hall. Things haven’t changed that much.
As for statues, I’m waiting for someone to pull down the first statue of Sam Houston in an important place in Texas. Or Stephen Austin. Austin didn’t own slaves, but, good or bad, he argued the need for flexibility on the subject during the founding of the colony, a point of contention with the Mexicans who found the practice of slaves as property abhorrent, regardless of what they did with regard to segments of their own population.
According to my kids, the organizers of the big anime show in San Antonio on Labor Day weekend are under intense pressure to invite more racial activists to speak, regardless of theties to the entertainment genre. The statue gallery inside the convention center would be something to worry about if they gave in.
Slaves? ¡No!
Peons who can’t change jobs, employers, or residence? ¡Si!
Slaves? ¡No!
Peons who can’t change jobs, employers, or residence? ¡Si!
I worked for GTE in the 90s. I’m familiar with the system. Only Zapatista rebels prevented the company from establishing what was effectively an IT plantation south of the border, complete with private residences for the labor force and golf course for the execs.
Indian indentured IT servants really didn’t get rolling until the runup to Y2k.
They are pulling down statues all over the place, not just Jizz…
n
“To Solve Climate Change: “stringent eco-taxes …, wealth redistribution … a maximum income, a guaranteed basic income … reduced working hours””
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/06/21/to-solve-climate-change-stringent-eco-taxes-wealth-redistribution-a-maximum-income-a-guaranteed-basic-income-reduced-working-hours/
“Central planning, rationing, price controls, punitive wealth taxes and wealth redistribution. The glorious future climate concerned scientists are planning for us.”
Uh, sure, yeah. That will do it. Turn us into a nation of do-nothings. And if you do produce anything, tax you into lower than the serfs.
Great comment, “Also don’t forget to turn in your guns, and report to the nearest re-education labor camp. “Arbeit macht frei “.”
“How I Made a Stock Tank Pool My Backyard Oasis”
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/diy-stock-tank-pool/
“My usual summer vacation plan is very simple: Stay cool in the sweltering Texas heat. That means lots of swimming at public pools, kayaking or paddleboarding in Austin’s Lady Bird Lake, and if I’m lucky, visiting a beach.”
“None of that is possible this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, so my husband and I decided on the next best thing: installing a stock tank pool in our backyard.”
“A stock tank is a standard farm fixture, typically used to feed and give water to livestock (and occasionally used as a DIY swimming pool). But in recent years, there’s been a trend of urban dwellers outfitting them with pumps and injecting them with chlorine to create backyard pools.”
@Nick, this one is for you !
The wife and I went to church this morning along with about 100 of our friends that we have been going to church with for 31 years now. It was nice ! And our preacher gave the obligatory Father’s Day lesson. Three men that I highly respect gave video testimonies about being a father, they are 75,60, and 50.
I’ve been a father for 36 years, it is much tougher than I ever thought it would be. And more rewarding than I ever thought it would be.
Over The Hedge: Tether Ball
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/06/21
Note to self, watch out for the T-Rex tail !
@Nick, this one is for you !
I’ve seen the tanks at American Fence in Georgetown. My backyard is narrow, however, and I doubt one would fit comfortably.
The tradeoff is that I have a huge front yard with a century-old oak so I’ll live with the smallish back yard. The community pool isn’t far … when it is open.
I saw that pool or one just like it somewhere else, or maybe they linked it from nyt…
$350 for the tank alone. You could probably get an intex above ground for that on ebay…
(of course the size and aesthetic wouldn’t match the author so well.)
n
Glad to hear that the doc’s have a plan for Barbara going forward, deep back pain is mentally and physically wearing.
Been there, done that.
Yeah me too. Chronic pain is absolutely draining, and for it to go acute, that’s just horrible. The single most painful thing I’ve ever had was a staph infection. And I’ve been hurt in a LOT of ways.
n
I’m pretty sure chlorine will eat a metal stock tank. It ate the brass hose fittings on my set-up in Austin.
I’m pretty sure chlorine will eat a metal stock tank. It ate the brass hose fittings on my set-up in Austin.
How long did it take ?
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tesla-considers-austin-texas-new-gigafactory
–bring it on, as long as we don’t give up any tax revenue, or cash.
n
–bring it on, as long as we don’t give up any tax revenue, or cash.
Please. It is The Real Life Tony Stark (TM) we’re talking about. So far, according to the local Fox station, the deal is contingent on a $70 million abatement from the local ISD, but I’m sure that will be the first of many tax breaks.
Happy Fathers’ Day, Nick!
Aitch e double tooth picks
One of these properties is far too close to our home for comfort.
Will be working on a mailing and door knocking of my neighbors.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/06/20/city-pursues-purchase-of-four-properties-to-relieve-anchorage-homelessness/
Aitch e double tooth picks
One of these properties is far too close to our home for comfort.
Will be working on a mailing and door knocking of my neighbors.
We’ve seen that trend here in Austin for a while. The Holiday Inn Express-type hotels get a little run down, the owners get tired of the 24/7 lifestyle, and before you know it, they’re a city homeless shelter. Eventually, I think the entire business park where I work will warehouse homeless away from Downtown Austin since it is bookended by a VA outpatient clinic — where my wife works — and a food pantry with one Microtel-to-shelter conversion somewhere in between and another in the early planning stages.
From what I understand, LA started the big multi-acre homeless services parks.
This motel-turned-shelter near where we used to live in WA State is really disturbing. The neighborhood is anything but blighted, with Trader Joes right across the street. The Interstate used to act as a barrier when we lived there, but not anymore.
https://www.columbian.com/news/2020/jun/13/east-vancouver-motel-6s-use-as-shelter-for-homeless-people-exposed-to-covid-19-extended/
@John Wilder, thanks! And to you too!
n
@greg, It was you that recommended Sky High wasn’t it?? Watched it tonight with the kids and really liked it. Good family movie, with plenty of funny lines. The soundtrack was like my personal playlist, only all done as covers. My wife thought they had to as the original versions were probably all too slow. I’m betting it was to get young Disney talent in the studio, but I can’t be sure without doing more googling than I care to. Kurt Russell was funny and there were lots of other actors as easter eggs too –Cloris Leachman! Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman)! Looking at imdb it looks like it was a vehicle for the spouses of hollywood insiders too, but nothing that clanged, so who cares? Fun for the whole family and the kids want to know if there was a sequel.
I’ve got Big Trouble in Little China, and Escape From New York cued up for a Kurt Russell film festival. I haven’t been able to find discs for all the movies he did for Disney. I watch for them but there is so much of their catalog that didn’t flood the home video market. It seems like he was in every live action film they did during my childhood. Good times 🙂
n
These last few days as I drove all over the city, basically doing a loop around the inner loop, with another loop around the outer loop, I’ve noticed a huge increase in the amount of trash and debris on the roadways. If you had to pull over on the shoulder, you’d be running over all kinds of crap. I’ve also noticed a huge increase in illegal dumping, piles of furniture in public right of ways. The homeless encampments under the bridges and in right of ways are growing and encroaching on areas that used to be free of them. The difference in the last couple of months is dramatic.
It’s not just me becoming aware of it more now than before, it’s an actual increase. I pay attention to those things, and make a note of it. They are indicators that I watch for. The bums, beggars, and drug addicts are noticeably skinnier now than they were a few months ago too, both the ‘regulars’ I see all the time, and the new ones moving in. The ones I’ve seen lately have no dogs with them either, which is weird. In the past, even the skinniest urban outdoorsman would have a dog with him.
I’m not drawing any conclusions, but I’m not liking the trend.
n
@jenny, isn’t “winter” and a bus ticket the way Anchorage usually deals with the homelessness problem?
n
(and have the ‘social scientists’ learned NOTHING from the failed projects of the past?)
@nick
Winters have been mild, fewer die of exposure than in the past. Anchorage has slowly but steadily turned more ‘blue’ with transplants. Villages are kicking out their addicts and trouble makers to Anchorage. And the city has been pouring money into the problem with predictable results.
It’s infuriating.
Tents encampments brazenly in place for days and weeks at a time on major roadways and along popular busy trails.
It’s a train wreck.