Cool and probably raining. High humidity if not rain.
Yesterday was mostly overcast with occasional sun, but got misty drizzle in the late afternoon.
I did some more cleanup. Stacked some of the cut pecan tree. Washed some stuff. Raked. I am going to be sore today. Very glad the pressure washer survived being frozen. It’s common for the pumps to split if they freeze with water in them. I guess mine sat long enough before the freeze that it was dried out.
Headed over to the rent house later today to look at the A/C and see if I can diagnose what the problem is, or at least decide if a pro needs to be involved. I hope I don’t need the same part that everyone else needs.
Supply lines continue to be disrupted in Houston, and there are shortages of plumbing stuff you might not even think of. People are offering crazy money for outdoor on demand hot water heaters. And I have one new in the box… but. It would set our own plan back 3-6 months, and any profit selling it would be eaten up when we needed to replace it with new for our install. It’s going to continue sitting in storage, because we can’t (in good conscience) get a plumber to do the work now anyway. We had one scheduled to give us a bid the day everything froze. Seems like a waste to let it sit though while people don’t have hot water at home, so I might do some more thinking on the subject.
It occurs to me that it is a bit difficult to tell if the high prices are organic supply vs demand driven or if it is inflation starting to take off. SOME of it is organic, but I’m getting worried that we’re about to see inflation really take off, and that the rapid increase is masked by genuine real demand driven increases. Historically the strategies for dealing with rapid inflation are simple. Borrow money that you will pay back with devalued money and spend it on durable goods that you know you will need later, or that you can sell. And spend every dime as soon as you get it on the same things. Savers get destroyed by high inflation. People who own real stuff have a buffer. Those on fixed incomes get destroyed. Make some plans. Start moving on them.
I’m no financial genius, but gold isn’t crazy high at the moment (compared to some other things), if you can find some, and that makes me wonder what’s going on. I mention it only in passing, and not as advice. And I point out that Ferfal talks about the value of broken gold necklaces and bracelets in his book. With a bracelet or necklace, you can just cut off an inch at a time… and Selco points out the value of wedding rings, you can feign a great deal of reluctance with a ring, and no one wonders if you have more stashed away. Give some serious thought to a world where your savings are gone. It happens all the time in other places. It can happen here. Our ‘reserve currency’ status won’t save us forever, foreign powers are working as hard as they can to obviate that advantage. At some point they will succeed. Think hard about this.
Stacking can help. Stacking will help. Keep stacking.
nick