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Month: July 2021

Sun. July 11, 2021 – family all together, briefly…

I’ll have a go… sunny and warm, possibly hot, with high humidity, possibly up to 100%RH. I can be just as wrong as the weather liars, and saves the hassle of looking it up and making fancy maps. Saturday was actually pretty nice, sunny but not boiling hot, RH below 60%, mild breeze.

I took youngest child with me to my hobby meeting, where she charmed the whole group, while mostly sitting in a corner reading. I learned some things about my hobby, and had a great time talking with some other members of the group that I don’t always get a chance to chat with.

My wife retrieved the oldest child from Girl Scout camp. Child had a good time, met some new girls and made friends. One big difference between my childhood and kids today, we seemed to be a lot more willing to make ‘friends of the moment’ with kids we just happened to be together with for some reason. What I see in today’s kids is less of that, and a more inward focus. I’m glad she went and met some new kids. Wife is leaving later today for the funeral and related stuff back east. I’ll be kid wrangling by myself for a couple of days.

On the way home from my meeting, I swung by one of my local auctioneers and picked up a check. Turned out I was owed a bit more than I thought. About $350 more, so I’m a happy boy. He’s still pushing me off for the next round of sales though. His current facility is full, and he hasn’t closed the deal for more space yet. My other, industrial auction doubled his space, and has a couple of storage containers. One of my other surplus (old school traditional) auctioneers reorganized after the death of the patriarch, and split into several independent houses, and started doing franchise deals with several more new startups. The auction business is booming. SOMEONE has to dispose of all the cheap chinese cr@p that gets returned to the online retailers when it becomes obvious just how cheap and sh!tty it is… and someone has to try to get some value out of all the returns fraud. If I was feeling uncharitable, I’d say that someone has to pick over the bones of our society too.

I also did a pickup at another new seller and we had a chat. He got burned buying bulq.com and liquidation.com pallets of returns. He mentioned whole pallets without anything but garbage in the boxes. I bought a Dell 30″ curved monitor for $35 from him. I’m pretty sure he was looking for more. Many of his items didn’t sell either, because they were just cheap junk. I’ll fire up the monitor today and see if I got a deal or got punked. He didn’t test any of the electrical items, and I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s working out of a storage unit with no power available. I guess $400/ month for the unit is cheaper than office/warehouse, but it’s not cheap enough, if you can’t sell the items.

A guy I used to read, the Head Druid for North America, writing as The Archdruid Report (iirc) talked a lot about ‘catabolic collapse’- when during the decline of society, we eat our seed corn so to speak. The auction business, selling bankruptcy assets, surplus, etc. performs a vital function in a healthy society that gets those assets back into circulation, and at a low price that helps the next round of businesses succeed. John Michael Greer was describing something else though. He was describing selling off the assets that made our culture and society possible, and the collapse inevitable. I think I’m seeing it happen in real time with some of my sellers.

It can be an opportunity to stack some things at reduced cost, assuming we’ll be able to use them later. The key will be deciding which things are just magpie things, shiny and useless, and which are a little bit of our civilization to hold onto just a bit longer.

Choose wisely, and stack it high.

nick

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Sat. July 10, 2021 – non prepping hobby day

Cooler, rainier, and more of a mess than yesterday? Maybe. Yesterday ended up being in the low 70s with rain off and on all day. It was cooler for the stuff I needed to do, but the 100% humidity made it just as miserable as if it was hot.

Yesterday, I parked the child and the dog so I could do several hours of continuous and uninterrupted work. I was able to get some done, but it’s grains of sand on a beach…

Small steps are still steps, right??

Today I’ve got my monthly non-prepping hobby meeting. I’m probably taking child two with, as she doesn’t want to ride with mom to get child one from GS camp. Oh, what a *joyous* noise there will be in the house again, as the two sisters pick up where they left off. Child two will sit quietly and read during the meeting, she’s accompanied me before. She even sometimes takes an interest in the meeting. Of course the old guys are all charmed by the power of ‘teh cute.’ It’s a potent force to unleash on what is basically a room full of grandfathers.

Maybe I’ll get some more work done in the afternoon, if only around the house. That will depend mostly on the weather.

Doggie continues to grow. He’s noticeably longer than he was. He’s got the power of the cute too. Grown women collapse in spasms of baby talk and scoop him up to snuzzle with him. Men too. Perhaps it’s because he’s a bit of pure joy and love in this crazy sour world? Don’t know, don’t care, as long as he’s licking my nose.

Don’t forget to stack some stuff for your four legged friends. And if you already are, keep stacking!

nick

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Fri. July 9, 2021 – hopefully working today

Spotty rain, humid and hot. It was a little cooler yesterday with the off and on rain helping to keep temps down. Still plenty hot, and uncomfortable though.

Rain kept me from working outside, so I mostly did auction stuff. Also did the tiniest bit of cleanup in the house, and of course puppy time.

Today though, I’m taking the child to day camp at the rock gym, the puppy to the dog sitter for doggie day care, and I’m headed to my secondary to clear some stuff out.

I’ve also got a couple of auction things to pick up- bought a 3d resin printer, and some housewares. I’m hoping the printer didn’t have the resin stolen… and that it works. 1/3 retail, I was willing to take the chance. The level of fine detail you can get on small parts is incredible, and it’s self contained, so I’m hoping the kids will be fired up to learn to use it. Their favorite modeler on youtube, Luke Towan, uses his all the time. The guy I like who does cheap table top gaming stuff uses his with a subscription service to create mini-figs for painting and gaming. I’ve wanted one for a long time.

It would be nice to have the time to actually play with all the maker stuff I’ve got. Perhaps I’ll get to that point if I can get some of the other cr@p out of here.

I’ve got a filament printer, a laser sintering powder printer, the new resin printer, mini CNC lathes and mini CNC mills, full sized manual lathes and manual mills, and all the normal workshop stuff too. A CNC router and a thermal cutter would round out the list nicely, because I don’t think a waterjet cutter is going to fall into my lap. Oh, and a lasercutter/engraver would be nice too. The thing about tools is there is always one more thing you could use…so collecting tools becomes a hobby in itself. I’ve actually printed the test file for the filament printer 🙂

I’ve spent the last couple of decades stacking tools so that I would end up in a position to build or repair most things. And, like the medical preps, having the stuff without the skills can be dangerous, but also allows for the chance that someone with the skills but not the gear can use the stuff to good effect, if I can’t. Of course the goal is that I learn to use everything to at least a passable level. Until then, I’ll have more tool than I can use.

Think about the tools you need to maintain the stuff you have. Think about the tools you might need to make some of the things you haven’t thought of. Hand tools, “primitive” tools, simple tools, those will fill a need if things get really bad. But if things get just bad, so that replacements and the original things themselves might not be easily obtainable, having higher level tools might save the day, or provide some extra income, or just build goodwill where you need it.

Stack tools, and the skills to use them. Stack the inputs to the tools (raw materials) too. In fact, Stack ALL THE THINGS!!! 😛

nick

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Thur. July 8, 2021 – flyin’ by…

Hot and humid, chance of rain. Might be sunny. Yadda yadda. Well, yesterday started cool, got hotter, got sunnier, and then ended hot and sticky. Lots of mosquitos in the yard too.

We are working on housebreaking the new puppy, which means sitting outside while he sniffs the entire yard looking for the perfect spot to NOT do his business, until we give up and let him back in the house. Then within a minute, he’ll have soiled something… so I’m getting reacquainted with sitting in the sun in the yard, swatting bugs. Joy.

Spent the day mostly not getting stuff done. I did get pickups done at two different auctions. One was half household stuff, the other half stuff for my non-prepping hobby, the other was all household. Got a tiny little dog life jacket for the new little guy. Fits him, and is even a bit big. He doesn’t like it at all, but if we ever find some lake property, we’ll need it. Got some pink safety glasses for the girls in my wife’s troops. If they’re gonna do woodworking with saws, hammers, and screwguns, they need safety gear. Got some small sized gloves for them too.

I did not get daughter two signed up for a day at the rock climbing gym today, but will get her in for tomorrow. She likes the gym and they had lots of day camps there the summer before wuflu. I will try to send the puppy to day care too. That should break me loose to actually do some work. And I REALLY need to get some auction stuff ready.

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Meanwhile, I think I’m starting to see the shape of the rest of the summer. The Dems in DC are establishing offices in other states for the DC police. Federal police force expansion cued up in 3, 2, 1 …

Chicago will ask for fedgov police or troops as the murders and lawlessness continue to get worse. They already have gangbangers trying to kill each other in the street with ARs firing 3 rnd bursts from 100 rnd Beta mags in broad daylight. I watched the video with my own eyes. Cops are saying “F this noise” and leaving or retiring on the job.

If Chicago falls, NYFC will be the next to ask for help. Cops in NYC are doing the same thing as cops in Chicago and elsewhere. Ie, leaving.

Whoever DC sends will just be more targets for the ‘bangers and revolutionaries who are already targeting cops (at least 3 that I can think of off the top of my head before the triple shooting in Chicago this week.)

NYC and Chicago are already blaming legal gun owners, and the gun manufacturers for the “gun” violence. The word they should be using starts with a “g” but rhymes with “bang”, and not “fun”. They’ll try to crack down even harder on the people who traditionally have just shut up and taken it. Only I don’t think they will this time.

Which should lead to even more sportiness, which the pro agitators will be sure to take advantage of. Their cadre has been blooded now, cycled away from the ‘front’ to share their experiences, and to gear up for the next wave. They haven’t gone home to tend their gardens and make war no more. They’re waiting, organizing, and equipping for the next skirmish.

Then there is the question of outside interference. Some people are concerned that China has used the foreign exchange student programs to pre-position tens of thousands of troops here already. We have a failed narco state to our south, that can move drugs, people, and guns over our border with impunity. THEIR fifth columnists are fully emplaced, dispersed to every city and town in the US, ready to provide an organized force either directly or as harassers. They are savage and have an ideological framework based on the Reconquista, and La Raza movements. If and when they are unleashed, the streets will run with blood and cities will burn.

There are many forces at work, they sense the weakness. Some of them have worked to create the weakness for decades. They’re looking at the fat, bloated, drug- addled Elvis, and they’re ready to kill the King and divide up the kingdom. My only hope is that we’ve been getting ready too, and no matter how much family fights, they all turn on the outsider.

The economy isn’t going to survive something like that. Personal violence is going to go through the roof. The economic engine of the world will stop, and then the whole world is in a world of hurt.

The elephants are dancing. I hope all the mice have a nice little bolt hole ready to hide in. If they don’t, what’s stopping you? Get to stacking.

nick

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Wed. July 7, 2021 – inflation, not just for grades and resume’s

Maybe a little cooler, still rain in the forecast though. Yesterday was a mixed bag of rain, sun, overcast, and sticky heat. Today probably will be too.

Spent part of yesterday doing an auction pickup. This was entirely books about my non-prepping hobby, so a pure waste of time :-p Took youngest, and stopped for a lesson in what I do for a living. Got her a nice piece of fabric in a cheetah print, which she loves, and we’ll use in a craft project. FWIW, thrift stores are a great place to get fabric very cheaply. Every one I frequent has draperies, linens, and other fabric, perfect for small projects, or big.

Then home to puppy love, yard care, cleaning, shopping for groceries, and cooking dinner.

I went to the HEB store near my house or what we call the “little” HEB. It doesn’t have the selection or the quality of the “big” HEB store in the better neighborhood, but it’s been getting better since we moved here. Some stuff I don’t want to get better. Corporate sends prime grade meat there, and it doesn’t sell, so when I’m lucky I get to buy it cheap!

I have some observations.

There were still gaps on the shelves. The staff was blitzing the aisles, facing product and cleaning up stock, but there were still gaps. Many products had reduced shelf space, or they were only one unit deep on the shelf. Some stuff is still in limited varieties, where there would have been more choices before- canned veg is the best ongoing example. Staples are there, but some of the tasty combinations aren’t. Ice cream flavors are reduced. Charmin red was on the shelf, but no blue, and not much red for that matter. No frozen chicken in the ready to eat section. I haven’t seen anything but wings in months.

Eggs were the weirdest thing. They normally have a whole cooler full of one dozen cartons, all different “special” kinds of eggs, one cooler with plain HEB branded eggs in different cartons, and one cooler of bulk cartons. The “special” eggs were half the normal display, and the HEB eggs were only available in 36 egg cartons. Two full coolers of 36 egg packaging, and severely reduced choices for the rest.

Soda was still hit or miss, with more flavors in stock but open shelves too. Diet ginger ale was back and several flavors of Dr Pepper. On the other side of the store, the apple display was 1/3 or less what it normally is. Avocados were crazy money. Potatoes and onions were there, but with reduced choices. Green beans and asparagus were horrible quality. Locally grown corn on the cob was only 6/$1 though.

On the other hand, HEB shelf coupons for in-store deals were back. Rice and potato box sides were on sale this month. I bought some of both. Pasta was BOGO, so I got another 10 pounds. They had a loss leader deal on meat- half off some cuts if you bought $10 of other stuff, limit two packages. I bought select grade ribeye steaks for <$6/pound. (We ate half of them for dinner, and they were delicious, far better than select usually is. The rest got vac sealed and frozen.) Milk, cream, fresh veg, and fruit rounded out my cart. For the first time ever they had marked down milk (for short time) in the cooler. It was the pricey organic gallons, 2 days left on 'sell by' and a dollar a gallon cheaper than regular whole milk. I've never seen that before. Through some luck and smart shopping I spent $250 but saved $68 on the cart. That's better than I used to do, when I averaged a 12-15% savings on the cart. The meat and pasta were the biggest contributors to the savings. It was nice to see discounts again. Prices for some things are definitely up. Lays potato chips used to be $2.50 a bag, they were $2.85 and the bags seem smaller. Canned veg was up slightly, meat has been way up in general, although I still paid the 24c/oz I've been paying for house brand thick sliced bacon. It's the best deal in the meat section. The breakfast sausages the kids like are up about 10%, and they never go on sale anymore. I didn't see any spiral sliced hams in the cooler, just like I didn't see them at costco last visit. Turkey was still the $1.28/lb it's been for 3 years (for their house brand whole frozen birds.) It's nice that coupons and deals are back, because prices are higher in general. This article is worth the read.

America stockpiles: Supermarkets buy up to 25% more supplies as they predict inflation will soar and cost of essentials like bacon and milk rising by up to 14%

Supermarkets are trying to protect their profits amid higher costs
Shoppers are buying more with grocery sales up 15% in June compared to last year, leaving shelves depleted
Food prices are surging as inflation rises to its highest level in 13 years
Associated Wholesale Grocers is buying 15 to 20% more goods while SpartanNash up to 25% more stock including frozen meat
Consumer price index for grocery store and supermarket food purchases was up 0.7 percent in May compared to May of last year

Food is pretty important. In general, I’m seeing higher prices, limited choices, unusual brands and suppliers, and I’ve been either skipping purchasing an item, or buying something that wasn’t my preference. I expect this to continue and worsen.

Save money where you can, you’ll need it elsewhere. If you see something you need or want, buy it now because it might not be available later. Get used to the idea you might not get your first choice, or be able to just buy something whenever you want to. Prepping and stacking will help with all of that.

Stack it up. Keep it secret, keep it safe.

nick

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Tues. July 6, 2021 – not much to say

Hot, rainy, humid, and more humid. Yesterday was typical Houston, depending on where in town you were, and when, you could have had sun most of the day. Or gully washer thunderstorms. Or both. I was driving around and most of the east and south east of Houston were sunny while I was there. Most of the west and NW got hammered.

Stopped in at my ‘industrial’ auctioneer, and he had left a few items off my last auction. We got that straightened out, and they are in the current one. I’ve got a huge pile of stuff for him, and I can’t even talk to his scheduling person until the 12th… I think I might have to try another local auction house for some bins of stuff. In person contact seems to work much better than anything else for the auction guys in town. Meatspace, it’s important.

Speaking of weather, it looks like TS Elsa is slowing? The last track I saw had it hitting Tampa later than I thought. I can watch it come in on my sibling’s newly installed Nest cam, if I want to… but I don’t think it will be too interesting at this point.

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Lot’s of violence reported this past weekend. NYFC, Chicago, the numbers are getting so high that MSM can’t ignore them. Even my wife made a comment in disbelief about the Chicago numbers, and she’s been purposely avoiding current news lately. Keep your eyes open if you are moving around in the wide world. Go armed if you are able. Have some trauma response first aid nearby.

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There’s a lot of stupidity going around too. More reason to keep your eyes open and your head down. The polarizing elements in our current situation haven’t gone anywhere, they are just getting ready for the next phase, and the next incident.

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I don’t know if we’re having too much water, too much heat, or too little of something else, but I read in different places that there are issues with food production and crop growth again this year. Previous years ate into any stores, bad crops will increasingly have a more immediate effect on the US and by extension, the world. Remember that there were food riots when US producers switched from food production to ethanol production. We still export a lot of food, but every farmer knows that no crop is guaranteed.

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I am seeing a bit of ammo hitting the market, and even a few guns. Prices are still crazy high, but I’d be sorely tempted to buy anyway, because there are a number of things that can cause prices to rise and supplies to decrease, and little that would cause them to drop.

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I think you know where all this is going. We’re already having floods, famine, storms, and plagues, war is next – in some form or another. Keep stacking. Or end up lacking.

nick

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Mon. July 5, 2021 – just another day to work, until it’s not.

Maybe cooler, but still wet… looks like we got almost an inch yesterday, by my weather station. I didn’t get the back yard grass cut, that’s for sure. The rain kept the heat down, but we did get some breaks in the overcast and rain during the day. I’m hoping we get a few more today. It was 75F when I went to bed, it would be nice to stay out of the 90s.

Spent the 4th working in my office and bedroom, cleaning up stuff and organizing. It’s hard to see what changed, but stuff did. My wife took child one to GS camp, while I stayed home with child two. She listened to music, played Animal Crossing, and played with the puppy. Just a normal day. The rain and the trip to Conroe put any plans we might have had to go to the pool for the 4th on hold.

My wife and I weren’t super excited to party and mingle anyway. In the morning my wife got word that her aunt had died, suddenly and unexpectedly. She came in from a walk, sat down on the couch, and died. Her husband found her shortly after, but it was too late to do anything. She was overweight, but vibrant and energetic with no known issues. Late 60s. I mention it because it will inevitably come up in the next week if my wife heads home to be with family, and because you never know the day, or the hour.

Loss of a job, a serious illness, and death of a spouse are the three most common disasters we face, yet we rarely prep for them. Most of us here are of an age where those things are distressingly common, and becoming more so. Review your plan. If you don’t have one, make one. Make sure someone knows about it. Live your life, pay attention. Revel in what’s good.

Accident, injury, illness, or simple bad luck- none of us knows the appointed hour, and it will probably come sooner than we would like.

Stuff set aside and standing ready can ease the impact of the disaster, if not the hurt, even the most personal ones.

nick

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Sun. July 4, 2021 – Independence Day…

Surprise! Hot and humid, possibility of rain… kinda like yesterday. So more of the same, and then possibly some tropical storm stuff coming. Joy.

Spent the rainy day indoors mostly doing auction stuff. I watched two auctions with good stuff that had very poor sales. One failed to sell anything on my watchlist, the other sold only 1/3 of the items. Both had higher starting bids. The prices were still discounted, and probably where the items would have sold, but buyers don’t like high opening bids. They want to feel like they’re getting a real deal, and they won’t if they are the only bidder. They will feel like they paid too much if no one bids against them. Turns out there is a lot of psychology to sales. (That should be obvious, but the sellers continue to bang their heads against it) I ended up buying stuff at two other auctions, mostly $1 and $2 lots of industrial stuff, or household stuff. There was a lot of stuff that went very cheaply.

The specialty tool I bought from amazon arrived, and it was clearly an open box item. Not sold that way, of course. It was cheap, and in fine condition, but I’d have expected to pay even less for it, if I’d known. I will likely only use it once or twice a year, just like whoever used it once and returned it.

In between the rain drops, I harvested another 1/3 cup of blueberries. I’m very pleased with the harvest from the skinny little twig ‘bushes’ this year. Goes to show that the best time to plant fruit trees was 5 years ago… so get something planted. It takes a while to develop.

Later today we’ll be taking child 1 to GS camp for the week. That should make it easier for me to do stuff, with just one child at home to keep occupied. I really hope I can do some of the stuff that needs doing.

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On this Independence Day, take some time to reflect on how far we’ve come away from personal independence, and think about any areas that you can improve your own independence, in whatever area you think you can. And teach your children well.

Of course, having a pile of resources helps maintain independence in a number of areas, so keep stacking too.

Celebrate what we had, and what we still have more of than almost anyone else on earth. If it turns out that these are ‘the good old days’, let’s make them as good as we can.

nick

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Sat. July 3, 2021 – no title for you!

Still forecast to be hot and humid with possibility of rain… and yesterday was hot and humid, but sunny too. There was a little overcast, but no rain.

I did some kid chauffeuring, got one quick in person estate sale in on the way home from that, cut my deadbeat neighbor’s grass because I couldn’t look at it any longer, fed kids, ate, and just lived my life.

I did sort through a bin full of medical supplies, and organize them. I still don’t have a good system for storing stuff I’m unlikely to need, but if I do, I’ll need it in a hurry. A lot of my medical stuff is really just to have a deep larder if things go very pear shaped, and as such doesn’t need to be ready to hand, but does need to be safe. As I was sorting this bin I was thinking about just HOW pear shaped things would need to get for some of it to make sense. And then I saw the article about Venezuela knocking 6 zeros off its currency, and I remembered that we got through the very unlikely pandemic without much disruption because I’d taken the chance of a pandemic seriously and prepared for it.

We have been lucky that drug supply lines weren’t more seriously disrupted, and that we didn’t see widespread shortages of critical meds in the US (there were shortages, and some suppliers had to look outside their normal vendors). I don’t want to depend on luck. So I stack stuff that I’m unlikely to need, and that I fervently hope I’ll NEVER use. There’s plenty in the stacks that I do use and that does get rotated too. And as has been pointed out here and elsewhere, wound care, and caring for the sick, will eat through supplies like Rosanne Barr at the Shakee’s pizza buffet. There are alternatives to toilet paper, there are fewer alternatives to meds and medical supplies.

Don’t forget simple soap and AB ointment. They are both cheap and both are literal lifesavers.

Hygiene and cleanliness are topics for whole books, but the short version is – a stitch in time saves nine. Don’t let infection get started, and you won’t be wishing you’d bought some fish meds… or that all the Drs didn’t die off in the first wave of the zombie plague. Ditto for keeping moist areas of the body clean and dry. Kilts were good for that at least, but I don’t see them coming into fashion here… and clean hands will prevent a whole host of ills.

With that cheery thought, I’m off to do more stuff around the house. ‘Cuz it ain’t gonna do itself…

n

(stack something)

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Fri. July 2, 2021 – getting close to Independence Day…

Hot and humid. No prediction about rain, because I was as wrong as the pros yesterday… Hurricane shaping up and aimed at south Florida with additional impacts in the Gulf, maybe next week. Weather is getting spicy.

Well, mostly I moved people and animals around yesterday. Puppy is doing fine, gained a pound in 3 weeks. He’s still so cute you can’t help yourself… Child is fine too. Second child is hopefully having a good time with her friends, I’ll get her back later today. My wife has a busy schedule of meetings and site visits at work, so I’ve been 100% stay at home dad this week.

And that’s fine. Except that I’m also supposed to be getting large piles of stuff out and to the auction, and I can’t. It’s very frustrating.

Add the hurricane prep, rotating gas cans, checking the generators, and all that, and I’m extra full again. Really couldn’t afford the week off in Florida wrt doing all the things, but couldn’t afford to miss the time with mom and family either. Balance, and priorities. I got ’em, but they don’t do me any good.

Just piling it up is easy. Making it all work is hard. I better get more practice.

Keep stacking, and practicing….

n

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