Font Size:     

Month: October 2020

Sun. Oct.11, 2020 – 2020 11 10 10 11 2020 11 10 10 11 2020

Maybe a bit cooler?  It would be nice.

Despite the overcast, yesterday stayed hot and stuffy all day.

I got a laundry list of small things done, and I’m going to take the ‘baby steps’ are still steps award.

Other than taking down my 40m dipole wire antenna, very little involved preps.  Oh, I had a can of mango explode, and another bulging.  I cleaned up that mess, and washed out the bin, and the cans.  Used another can to make cobbler for dessert.  I like mango cobbler better than peach so I stock mango.

While cleaning up that mess, I found some mouse droppings and a 2/3’s empty peanut butter jar.  Another jar was gnawed and open.  F me.   Set some glue traps in the shelves.  Cleaned up the mess.  Putting the cans (everything really) in shallow lidded bins payed off.  The mold from the exploding can only affected the one bin.   All the other food was untouched by mice except the aging peanut butter that wasn’t in a bin.  Given enough time, the peanut oil seems to migrate through the plastic jar, and I’m sure that was an attractant. The cans that failed were the ‘pop top’ style and the top did indeed POP.  It couldn’t be rats because my colony of rats learned that peanut butter = death, and they wouldn’t touch the stuff.  Time to refresh the poison bait boxes too.

I did manage to go through a couple of boxes in the garage that I haven’t opened in a while.  Moved some of the contents to the trash, some to the ebay pile, some to the local auction pile, and some to the ‘hamfest’ pile.  I really hope we can have our hamfest in March.  My non-prepping hobby club is planning a meeting next Saturday in a much larger space than we used to use.  I intend to attend.    I’ve got no problem masking and staying masked, most of the guys are older than me.  Funny, my ham radio meetings are that way too.  My part of the hamfest is the swapmeet and that is all outside anyway.

My plan for today is the same as always.  We’ll see how the plan does against reality.   Keep stacking.

nick

 

 

Read the comments: 59 Comments

Sat. Oct. 10, 2020 – so much stuff to do

Humid and warm.  Some wind.  Probably.

It was very pleasant Friday, if windy and overcast.

I did get a few things done, but mostly it was a day of domestic bliss.  Make breakfast for 3, one after the other, lunch for 2, separately, then dinner for all of us.  That takes a surprising amount of time.  A bit of cleaning, mostly with the leaf blower, and picking up stuff.   I went through some more ebay and auction stuff.  Did some very minor stuff in the garage, and did a bit more decorating.  Lots of time got eaten with real estate research – driven by my wife…

The roofer confirmed Monday and Tuesday, so I have to get the antennas down today or tomorrow.  Late Sunday I’ll have to move some of the Halloween decorations too.

I looked at all the garden beds.  The beets might be starting.  The peas are coming in, but only a few plants.  Nothing else sprouted.   The citrus is starting to get close.   I will recheck the timing, but if I don’t see sprouts soon, I’ll open a new packet of seeds, and try again.  It’ll have to be soon though.

One thing I did mostly for fun was to take apart the slow cooker and see if I could find the fault.  I did, the thermal cutoff switch has failed.  It’s a  $2 part if you can wait for it to come from china.  I have  a whole bin of salvaged ones, but they may have a different temp rating.  I’ll check them out in a day or two.  The control board also had two swollen capacitors.   If I have the temp switch, I’ll probably change the caps too.  Then it will be back in service.   They are not super expensive, and real Croc-pot cookers come up in the auctions and at goodwill all the time, but I do like fixing things and it’s good practice.  It’s also a quick fix.  The longest time would be spent replacing the caps, second longest was taking out all the screws.

“make it do” is part of my ethos, as is fixing stuff, and I learn a lot whenever I fix something.   Valuable skills if things go south, valuable in any case even now.

Fix something.  Get something old working again.  Conserve something.  And stack what you can.

nick

Read the comments: 71 Comments

Fri. Oct. 9, 2020 – week FLEW by, 20 days ’til Halloween

Dreary and warm.  Humid and overcast.

Thursday was overcast with scattered showers.  Most parts of town got at least a bit of rain.  I dodged through it mostly as I drove all over town and back.

Picked up the new desk chair to complete my daughter’s room makeover.  It’s purple mesh!!11!!111!11   It’ll match very well.

I also swung by my secondary location and did a small bit of reorganization.

All in all, didn’t get that much done this week.    Not really thrilled about the progress.  I better get something done this weekend.  Oops, probably won’t as we’ll have rain and weather.  And Monday-Tuesday I’ll have roofers messing up everything and making noise.

It was nice eating mostly out of the freezer this week, with a few canned goods.  King’s Hawaiian rolls freeze very well, fwiw.  The new temp monitors give me some peace of mind too.

The peas have sprouted and are currently growing.  None of the other seeds have sprouted yet.   I super suck at gardening.  My wife made the argument that I should just give it up as I’ve only really grown collards and carrots, and a couple of beets.  I’m going to keep at it though.  Eventually I’ll have to find stuff that grows just through blind luck, right?

The oranges and grapefruits continue to ripen.  I’m really hoping for a success there.  Unless they’re ‘woody’ they should be fine as the color is coming in, and they are a good size.  The Meyer Lemons are like weeds, they grown in spite of me.

The second house search continues.  They’re doing land office business for rural properties at the moment.  Lot’s of people planning to GOOD…

And now we’ve got Delta headed across the Gulf.  Fortunately for Texas, it is supposed to turn north, which is un-fortunate for Louisiana.  They are going to get hammered again.

Fires are burning, riots are raging, hurricanes are still coming in, and civil war 2 looks to be heating up.   About all I can say is — keep stacking.

 

n

 

 

Read the comments: 65 Comments

Thur. Oct. 8, 2020 – out and about

Nice day, warm, but with a breeze.  Or so I hope…

That pretty much describes yesterday.  Another beautiful fall day.  Got some of my auction stuff sorted out.   Helped the daughter with classwork and discovered just how bad it is.  Made lunch.

Then I started getting some of my Halloween decorations out.  I don’t want to get everything set, because we have a hurricane that could hit us, and then I’ve got roofers coming.  I have to move everything to a safe distance from the house and get out of their way, so I’m only setting up stuff that’s either easy to move, or out of the way.  I like to do a big scene for Halloween.

Today my wife is home working, so she’ll have oversight of the kids while I run errands.   I’ve got pickups (stuff for HER) and hopefully some cleanup at my secondary location.  I’m also hoping to take 3 or 4 big bins to my local auction.  That will help at home.

I watched about half of the VP debate.  While it was less rancorous, the two realities that the candidates (and by extension their supporters) live in are very far apart.  That is the most I’ve seen of Pence, well, ever.  Seems nice enough.   The other one, not so much.

I’m also seeing so many articles about how Trump is cooked, done, over, crashing and burning, definitely gonna lose big, etc.  Where do those people live?  What are they watching? *  A commentor here brought up some good points, but I don’t see it.  Trump’s supporters from last time are out in force this time.  Tentative supporters from last time are feeling freer to support him this time.  I don’t see supporters leaving him in droves.  And he seems to be attracting new supporters as well.    Further, nobody “loves” Joe Biden.   No one that I can see is psyched that he’s running, or excited by the idea.  His slogan is that he’s a “uniter”.   No one would ever believe that.  I just don’t see it.    I really hope I’m not wrong, but the ‘two different worlds’ problem is getting bigger and I’m just as likely (ok, not quite as likely) to be stuck in mine as they are stuck in theirs.

Either way, things are not going to ‘get better’ any time soon.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

*or it’s pure spin and gaslighting.

 

 

Read the comments: 70 Comments

Wed. Oct. 7, 2020 – nothing clever left to say

Cool and dry, hurricane headed right for us, although the model says it’ll turn.

Which is good because I’ve got stuff to do. Roofer will be back Monday, ready to finish by Tuesday unless there is rain or the storm track is wrong. That means I’ve got stuff to move and clear away from around the house.

Add it to the list.

Home all day because my wife’s at work. I’ll have plenty to do.

Making room for the next load (or just making room), keep stacking.

nick

Read the comments: 93 Comments

Tues. Oct. 6, 2020 – client visit today

Another cool but sunny day I hope.  Yesterday was nice, with some clouds but really a nice day.

I did my pickup, and drop off in the afternoon, so I did get out of the house.  It was my wife’s first day back in the office “for real” so I was mostly home with the kids.  I spent the morning fighting with USB sticks and microSD cards, with the goal of installing linux and the linux version of my security cam NVR software.  I’m done with windows updating and taking down my cameras.    Some of that tale of woe is in yesterday’s comments.   Late last night I got the image onto a USB drive but didn’t have time to install or test.  I won’t today either.

I’ve got to do a site visit and install some stuff for my client out in the country.  That will take whatever of the day remains when I head out there.  Before that, I’ve got some access points to configure.

And we’re meeting with the roofer this morning to sign the contract for our hail damage replacement roof.   Once that work is done, getting the HVAC replaced is next on the list.  We’ve made it through summer one last time (touch wood) but neither I nor my wife want to roll the dice for next year.  And we don’t want to have to do the work in the hot months, or under the gun.  Comments about HVAC manufacturers welcome.

Trump is home at the White House and people are acting like he’s going to Outer Mongolia.  He’s still going to get the best care available and Walter Reed is still just a short helo ride away.   Given the back stabbing doctors, he may not have felt safe there anyway, and there were far too many leaks and comments from people who should have known better.

And to all the people acting like he’s going to infect people on purpose because he’s evil, HE got the wuflu from someone else.  All those other people could also have gotten it from the same source or each other.  I haven’t seen anything convincing that Trump is personally spreading covid.  And if he is?  If freaking grocery store workers are ‘essential’ and MUST work with strangers and coworkers all day long, what is the President and the halls of government?  I guess no one cares if the deli clerk gets it from a customer, but if a White House aide gets it at work it’s a national event?  Gimme a break.

Anyway, stuff to do.  Better get to it.  I need more room for preps and less room for things that aren’t selling.  So I can keep stacking the good stuff.

nick

Read the comments: 84 Comments

Mon. Oct. 5, 2020 – lotta layoffs, more coming…

Cool and nice.  Dry and breezy.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Like Sunday, without the late afternoon threat of rain.

I did make it out of the house.  I decided to head to Home Depot.  I needed dirt, drip irrigation, and some paint  stuff for my wife’s project.  Then off to the pet store for dog food (to replace the 2 bags that were ruined by mold.)

Then surprise surprise, wife wants me to look at a house for sale.  Better section of our neighborhood, bigger, and has a pool.  Spent an hour doing that, plus there and back.

Other than getting some grass seed planted and some low spots in the yard filled, not much of anything got done around here.  And that is becoming an issue.

A quick survey of headlines shows that meanwhile in the world, crazy is breaking out all over.  Trump is in the hospital, at death’s door to hear the media salivating, then he’s out, but he’s the most irresponsible person evah, but the covid will guarantee his victory, except that the covid will guarantee his defeat, and on and on.

Turkey is helping stir the pot in one of the oldest conflicts in the world that continues to this day, with actual cities being shelled.

The hell that is NYFC continues to get worse in every way.

Disney laid off 28000, each airline is going to or has already laid off about 15k-20k workers, and on and on.  That’s about half a million pink slips coming with a few more companies joining in in a few weeks time.  Tell me that that won’t have an effect on the economy and just before the election.

Portland is rioting again.

We are just getting started with spicy times.  Do what you can in the time you have.  Keep stacking.

 

nick

 

(and if you missed it in comments, my wuflu test was negative, so dodged that this time)

Read the comments: 80 Comments

Sun. Oct. 4, 2020 – time to get the Halloween decor out

Cool and sunny.  Nice.  I hope.

Was a nice day Saturday.  Sunny but not too hot.  It did get to 90F in the sun at some point, but there was a breeze.  Kids and wife even got in the pool although they thought it was chilly in the beginning.

I did get some things done and chipped away at the list.  I’ve got so much more to do.

That’s my plan for today.  Sleep in, make breakfast, work.

Keep chipping away, and keep stacking.

 

nick

Read the comments: 35 Comments

Sat. Oct. 3, 2020 – stuff to do, so much stuff

Cooler and sunny.

Yesterday was nice.  Even in the sun, there was a nice cooling breeze.

I picked up my auction stuff, mainly shelving.  There was a bit of other stuff including 24 rat snap traps.  I paid 50c each.  I’m stocked up on rat traps now.  Funny thing is, I originally bought rat traps to catch squirrels for dinner if SHTF big time.   Then I used them on rats.   Who knows where we’ll be in a year, but I sure hope squirrel isn’t a staple on the dinner table.

One of the other things I got was a small fire safe.  It’s a little one, about the size of a dorm fridge.  There are videos online showing how to decode and reset the combination.  The door is currently open, so it should be a simple matter to get it working again.  I’ll either resell it, or find a place for another safe.  Maybe at my secondary location, although I’ve got several ‘security containers’ there already…

Today I’m going to continue chipping away at the list.  The flood lights I was waiting to replace have died.  I’ll change them out to LED today.  There will also be some more cleaning and organizing and putting away.

I’ve got the meat to still break down and freeze too.

All after getting my covid test.  Fun times.

There were some disturbing late reports before I went to bed suggesting Trump’s health was deteriorating.  I REALLY hope not.  We do not need the added distraction and uncertainty.   The speculation that there might have been sabotage or deliberate infection is hard to consider, but I’m taking it as a sign of the state of things that it even occurs to so many people.

No matter what happens, it’ll be better if you have big stacks.

nick

Read the comments: 53 Comments

Fri. Oct. 2, 2020 – another week gone and good riddance

Cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon, cool again at night.

That’s what yesterday was like anyway.

I did a few little things.  The main two were looking at roofing samples with the wife under various lighting conditions trying to pick the one to go with.  Simple for me, not so simple for her.  And D/L’ing and trying some different security cam NVR software.   I like the one from Russia with love, Xeoma Video.  The playback is very nice and intuitive.  It’s easy to zoom both the live video and the recording.  The load on my pc is MUCH less as well.  The main difference is that there are license fees for the product.  There is a free version, some limited versions, and lots of additional cost add ons.  I like it, but I’ll have to see what the cost would end up being.  I was able to add all my cameras, even the weird old ones.  There is a version that runs on linux.  This may be the case where the additional cost is well worth it.

Couldn’t find my micro drip irrigation supplies.  Bummer.  I’ll have to buy some to water the ‘window’ boxes on the fence.  If I don’t, I can be pretty sure I won’t be successful growing anything in them.

I ate too many carbs at lunch and had to take a nap.  I decided to lay down, as I’m tired of waking up in my chair with a sore neck.  That’s been happening more than I’d like.  I’ve been coughing more than I’d like too.  Part of cleaning up my bedroom was to control the dust under the bed and around the corners…but that didn’t solve the issue.   My temp is normal as is my pulse ox, but I can’t help but consider that I might have picked up the wuflu.  I think I picked up something, which is a breach of my protocol somewhere.  It could just be lack of sleep and seasonal allergies, but now my wife thinks I should get tested.  I’ll report on that when it happens.

Grocery order today, and more stuff for the freezer.  Wife took a look at the canned goods and questioned some of the more unusual items.  I like to have some choices, so I buy some stuff we don’t normally eat.  Heck, until I started storing long term food we rarely ate anything out of cans at all.  I have them to combat appetite fatigue if we’re ever forced to eat out of stores for a long time, and alot of them can be  added to rice too, for a change of pace.  I shudder to think of a time when lima beans will be welcome on the plate.

We can’t know for certain what tomorrow will bring, but we can prepare for the likely things.   No one knew on September 10th, 2001 that the world would change forever the next day.   So get ready for what you can, and plan to deal with the rest.  Stack it high.

nick

Read the comments: 87 Comments
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // end of file archive.php // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------