Font Size:    

Month: August 2021

Wed. Aug. 11, 2021 – hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

Slightly cooler, still hot and humid. It got a bit cooler yesterday in the late evening. Mid 80s with a nice breeze, so we took a walk as a family with the puppy. I was sweaty by the time we got back.

On the street we ran into a neighbor who I’ve seen walking in the evening with his wife. He uses a supportive rolling walker. We chatted, and he’s recovering from cancer not a stroke. They live about 6 houses down from us. Haven’t met him before. Politically conservative and well informed. Meatspace baby!

Did some more meatspace at daughter 1’s “meet the teacher, pickup your laptop” event at her school. Because of the lockdown, I’d never set foot in her school before. Spent some time catching up with one of the dads who I didn’t see this year, as we didn’t do swim team. He’s a good guy and a friend. He’s got medical issues so he’s been in pretty consistent isolation for the last year and a half. Nice to catch up.

The school doesn’t have much opportunity for volunteering but they do have a program where parent volunteers with a special interest can lead a seminar program the kids can sign up for. They are like electives merged with a club, and a short course. I’m thinking about radio or 3d printing as possible ways for me to do one. I want very much to get into the school this year. Still haven’t heard if we’re doing the “Hands On Science” program this year at D2’s school. I really hope we are, I miss the kids.

I also applied to be part of the school district advisory committee on technical education and votech… I don’t know how they choose, but I’d like to be a champion for shop class.

You have to be out there in the community and participate in the process to really know what is going on, whether it’s school, policing, politics, or any other local thing. Meatspace.

Did my pickup during the day. The most notable thing was the DSM-5 diagnostic manual brand new for $2. They sell for $50 pretty steadily, and that is easy money. I’m trying not to buy stuff for resale, but that I couldn’t pass up.

Money is an awesome prep as it is an enabler and force multiplier. I’d say that you should get as much of it as you reasonably can.

And then use some of it to buy stacks of stuff!

n

Read the comments: 68 Comments

Tues. Aug. 10, 2021 – stuff to do today, and kids at home

Hot and humid, chance of rain for parts of Houston. Yesterday didn’t get as hot as some days last week, but still crossed 100 in the sun. It wasn’t much cooler in the shade either. Stayed mostly sunny all day at my house. I’m thinking today will be pretty much the same. We do have a disturbance headed for Cuba, that might make it to the Gulf in a week, but it seems early to call that one.

Spent the day getting caught up on office and household stuff. Cut the back yard, restocked some of the cabinets. I need to do some shopping pretty soon too.

I’ve got a couple of pickups that need to be done, and no good route to combine them, small things for the house mainly. I like to combine trips for gas and time savings. Can’t always though.

Kids are at home this week so that limits me too.

I’m still pretty sore and stiff from swimming and jumping off the rope swing at the lake. My manboobs are aching. I’ll say it again, and maybe it will finally sink in that “I really need to start stretching again.” Before I can do any exercise, I need to get the planks of wood tenderized into bending again.

No way I will be doing any running or jogging, and especially no rucking, but it would be nice not to be so stiff. Just moving through my day isn’t enough any more. When to find the time though…

Garden is still producing tomatoes, although they are golf ball and racquetball sized. Caterpillars made their appearance and tried to eat what was left of my grape vine. I got them sprayed and might have saved something. No peaches again this year. Cabbage is still one plant with a baseball sized head, and two with just leaves. Collards are trying to grow, but not vigorously. At least the herbs are doing well, oh, except for the rosemary. I have killed another rosemary bush. We use a lot of rosemary too so I’ll be replacing that as soon as possible. Blueberries were done last week, and I’ll be able to take the bird netting down. Apple tree is still ok, no fruit, but the branches are thickening. I need to think about the fall garden soon, despite the 100F days.

There is always more to do and to be done. Somewhere near or in the back yard there is a dead rat. I can smell it, but can’t find it. Joy. I put poison in the garage after finding a box of Mountain House that had been nibbled on, so I’m looking forward to a dead rat in there too. Almond joy.

On top of all the daily normal stuff, and the backlogged stuff, I should know what my brakes and suspension work will cost later today. I’d like to have the Ranger back so I can get the body work done too. Or use it to move auction stuff around town. I need it done and back to work.

So much to do, so little actual desire to do it. I know I need to. I know I’ll feel better ticking the boxes off as the stuff gets done, but I’m weary of the grind. Worst possible time for that too. Oh well. Grinding away is something I’ve got plenty of experience with. It’s just not always the quickest way to get through the list.

Speaking of lists, besides knowing who would rat you out and who might help you, you might want to cast an eye around looking for resources too. If nothing else, it will help you see the area around you the same way the opportunists and criminals will. Start putting stuff away, and making your place less attractive to violence or bad actors.

And stack the stuff you like- buy it when you see it, and get out and look for it. Don’t count on anything being there at the same time you want it. Those days are probably gone for a while.

nick

Read the comments: 90 Comments

Mon. Aug. 9, 2021 – back home, stuff to do (‘natch’)

Maybe raining and hot today, maybe just raining and humid, or maybe just sunny and hot. Weather liars. I can be one of them…

It was a bit cooler at the lake with the breeze coming across the water, but in the sun, and out of the wind? It was STEAMY.

We did learn some things on our trip. We want trees on the lot. The difference it makes is dramatic. Many of the lots we’ve looked at online are as bare as a golf course. The grass grows better, but that’s about the only plus. Trees and shade are very important for comfort…

There are a lot of really sketchy decks and porches on lake houses. Especially given that the building code for decks has been dramatically upgraded in the last decade, the decks I saw were terrifyingly under built. Not a lot of code enforcement at most lake communities, and a whole lot of DIY.

I know very little about marine architecture, but I can recognize deferred maintenance and weather damage. Everyone I’ve talked to confirms that anything having to do with boats costs a LOT, and docks are no exception. One of our friends told us at the very beginning of our search to get a property with a good dock. Having talked to a bunch of lake home owners, I now have a better idea of why. And I can say with relief, at least we’re not looking at salt water. Bulkheads- improving the water’s edge with steel or concrete panels to prevent erosion/wave damage, are apparently $2700 PER FOOT. Yep, you want a property with good bulkheads. The takeaway is there is a LOT of money ‘hidden’ in the infrastructure. You buy the house and especially the view, but you PAY (through the nose) for the stuff most people overlook.

————————————————————-

There are lots of people out in web land making very good arguments for getting away from the cities to avoid what seems to be inevitable at this point. Lot of other people are making very good arguments that for work or access to healthcare or other reasons they need to stay close. I’m inside the second ‘ring road’ of a ‘purple’ city. I feel a lot better about Houston than I would about Chicago or Philly, but I still would like to have somewhere to go if need be. The simple thing would be to just get some cheap property, or a small lot in a small town, and maybe put a trailer on it, but that wouldn’t pass the spouse test.

The end is always nigh, but it usually doesn’t actually come. That means that any out of town property will have to fill an ordinary need or want, not just be a BOL, or “only if things get really bad” retreat. That does complicate things, but life is complicated. Add in the crazy run up in prices for anything outside of cities and it’s even harder to balance needs vs wants vs making good choices.

Think about where you’d go if you couldn’t stay where you are. Think about family or friends, or owning your own property. Think about what would make you leave, when or if you’d come back, what you’d take, what you’d burn on the way out… Even if you don’t do it, thinking about it is helpful. A lot of prepping is asking ‘what if?’ and answering to the best of your ability. For most things, you need to go ahead and take the next step and actually DO some of the things you’ve identified, or you don’t get the benefit.

Some things are so expensive or difficult that doing the thought experiment is the closest most people will get, and the benefit STARTS with the thoughts. Mentally rehearsing can be very useful, and having a plan is always better than trying to think something through under stress and ‘in the moment’.

Ike said that “in preparing for battle, plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

Get to planning. Think about what might be coming and what that will mean for you personally. Do what you can. Stack it high.

nick

Read the comments: 83 Comments

Sun. Aug. 8, 2021 – headed home this morning or later, but today for sure

The constant howling wind off the lake does seem to keep it cooler and more comfortable here than in Houston. On the other hand, it’s been a cooler summer than usual with temps below 80F most nights so if you only sat on the patio at night in front of a fan on high, you might feel comfortably cool even at home. During the day it is definitely more comfortable here, at least in the shade and once the wind starts back up. Oh, it’s LOUD too with the waves crashing into the bulkhead.

It has been a nice break and I would have enjoyed a couple more days of it, but that doesn’t change the fact I’ve got stuff I’m not doing.

And I feel like time’s a wasting.

Do a mental and physical inventory of what you need and what you have.

Stack some things.

nick

Read the comments: 58 Comments

Sat. Aug. 7, 2021 – lake life

Hot and humid, but not as much as Houston. We’ll see how windy it gets on this side of the lake. The wind was nice yesterday, and getting out of the bathwater warm lake got a nice chill with a wet shirt on.

Did most of my errands yesterday, then headed north to join the wife and kids at the rental. It’s a nice little family home. Clearly they spend more time here than they do renting it out. There are family pix and stuff all over the place. They have some locked closets, but there’s still plenty of personal stuff out. And the cabinets are full to bursting, and not with the sort of stuff left over in a vacation rental (although there is some of that too.)

Pretty sure the owner’s use this as as BOL at least casually. Always hard to judge someone by their bookshelf in a place that might have leftover guest books on the shelf, but… classic SciFi, a complete Rudyard Kipling, Ayn Rand, Ursula Le Guin, and James Wesley, Rawles…. some of the PA classics would confirm it, but I’m confident I’d like the person who owns these books. And they are at least some sort of prepper.

Of course it’s my plan too. Make sure any lake house we buy also works to get us out of dodge if need be. This place is only 1 1/2 hours north of Houston, so it’s still a little close, but it looks like a nice lake. It’s much bigger than our first choice, and this side we’re on is down wind and gets a lot of wave action. That is the kind of thing you don’t think to ask about unless someone clues you in. This house is in a quiet little development that has clearly been here for some time. This must be the hillbilly side of the lake. Most of the neighbors look like full time residents and while it is ‘country’ it looks pretty well kept up.

Today’s plan is fish, swim, kick back. Eat. Rinse and repeat. I was reluctant to take the time, but as long as I’m here, I’m going to get with the program.

Think about what you’d do if staying in your neighborhood became untenable. Not your classic bug out road trip, but how would you live your life. Gotta eat. Gotta work.

To make it easier no matter what comes, stack some more stuff.

nick

Read the comments: 80 Comments

Fri. Aug. 6, 2021 – this time for sure…

Hot and humid, chance of rain. Again. Like Thursday. Overcast all day, then some sprinkles, and it got cooler later in the day.

Wife and kids hit the road for the airbnb lakehouse, and I set out on my errands. First stop was my mechanic with my Ranger. I have the feeling it’s going to be a bunch of money. All the rubber bushes are ‘perished’. I’ve got a stuck caliper. I’m guessing new rotors and pads all around, and at least one caliper. I’ll know more Monday.

Then it was switch vehicles and off to my buddy’s gun store. Had a couple of people in waiting for their checks to come back, and a couple of random ‘concerning’ people. Crazy angry chicks that talk a lot can take up a lot of your attention. I lost track of a HUGE sketchy guy when I got distracted. Fortunately it was because he got done casing the joint and left. Lot of people case the place, none come back. I guess I should add “so far”. They had a few guns in inventory, but not many. No ammo.

Then it was on to my secondary where I spent about 4 hours moving stuff around and literally stacking some stuff. I can see floor, which is a big change. I intend to head over there today and do some more too. I want to be able to lot up some pallets of stuff next week.

I am hoping that my newest possibility of an auctioneer will be back from his mom’s funeral and back at work next week also. That way I can move a whole bunch of stuff to his place and out of my places. Having some sales from that would be nice too.

At some point during the day, I’ll head home, shower and hit the road for the lake. After all, it’s possible (I rate it ‘unlikely’) that I’m wrong and the world isn’t about to puke up its guts and rearrange things for the next period of about 70 years. I wish I could ask my grandmother how it felt in 1939, or ’40, or ’41. How she felt about the world, and if all the preparation and groundwork the government was doing affected her. I wonder if she saw what was happening in Europe and recognized that big change wasn’t done yet. I’ve got a feeling that these are ‘the good old days’ and I need to do my best to be sure the kids know what ‘good times’ look and feel like. Yeah I know, sounds overly dramatic and maudlin. But the US Civil War happened. The nazziz rose to power in Germany. Mussolini rose to power. Japan made their hubris filled miscalculation… there is absolutely no reason why similar things can’t happen again. History hasn’t stopped and humans are pretty much the same as they were 70, 700, or 2000 years ago.

The pace of change and the vitriolic rhetoric seem to be heating up. I’ve been feeling some urgency for the last couple of years to get all my unnecessary stuff out of here and the rest sorted out, but now I’m REALLY feeling it. Nobody is going to be buying any of this stuff if the world suddenly goes pear shaped. And it will be sudden.

Use the time you have to get squared away. Stack needful things.

n

Read the comments: 72 Comments

Thur. Aug. 5, 2021 – maybe headed out, maybe not

Hot and humid, chance of thunderstorms. Got the tiniest bit of rain late in the day yesterday, after a nice, slightly cooler day with a lot of overcast. Since it was under 100F I did some work at my storage unit. Still got soaked to the skin with sweat.

Spent the rest of the day doing small things, like getting my tire repaired, taking daughter the younger to the library. She had a book on hold that came in and was fairly vibrating with NEED to have it. She’d mostly finished it by bedtime. It was my first time in our local branch library, and it was full of weirdos. Yeah kid, I’m not sending you there alone. Another fallen institution. I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours alone at our local library when I was a kid. Now it’s full of homeless and degenerates.

Wife let the kids stay up late, until midnight, so not rising at the buttcrack of dawn this A.M. to get the car loaded. We had a talk and I may stay behind and then join them for the weekend. That will get me two more good working days that I really need. Between the truck maintenance and the auction clearing out and setting up, I’m falling further behind every day. If I keep posting throughout the day, I’m probably at home.

On a different note, scrap prices are back up. I took some of what I was throwing out to the scrapyard and got 60c/pound for dirty aluminum, and 67c/lb for stainless steel. Even regular steel brought 6c. $15 of the $53 was triple my money by selling off the cr@p that came with a lot of shelving I won last week. Go me. The columbians who bought out the previous owner have managed to clear out almost all the scrap that had piled up on the grounds and in the building. It’s quite amazing. I guess prices got to the point where they were motivated to move it all.

Now I need to keep moving and get more stuff out and sold or scrapped.

Maybe there is still some time left before the shooting starts. I was shocked to read Slow Joe’s comments on the eviction moratorium. He swore to uphold the Constitution, not look for ways around it. If we needed any confirmation that rule of law was dead, his statements about that put the final nail in the coffin. I know the guy isn’t a genius, and his ‘well spoken’ President often lamented that the Constitution got in the way of what he wanted to do, but to come out and say plainly that you know what you are doing doesn’t pass muster, but the length of time it takes the courts to address it will make it moot, so you’re gonna do it anyway, is just freaking nuts.

ANYTHING is possible under color of law now. ANYTHING. The Curmudgeon in charge over at https://adaptivecurmudgeon.com/ has some observations that are worth a consideration.

Irrational people are breaking things. They complain that the “other” is a terrorist, or a disease vector, or “bad for the earth”, or racist, or whatever. There’s a purpose to that. They’re working themselves up into evil actions. Once a person believes “others” must be “corrected” (by force if necessary) they can enjoy a righteous frenzy. Make no mistake, they will enjoy it. They seek to unload their hate and bloodlust. They want to experience the ecstasy of hurting “the other”; their society, their fellow citizens, friends, family, and neighbors. Most people would rather destroy than create. It’s the nature of man. It’s only civilization which keeps it at bay. So, they destroy civilization too. When the smoke clears and time passes, if they’re still standing, they’ll try to remember some version of events that makes them blameless, or even heroes. A few will repent, but it will mean nothing to the ashes under their feet.

This isn’t new. This has happened before. There are countless examples of whole societies losing their damn mind, working up to a religious fervor, and running amok…

Go and read it.

Then stack some more of everything. Keep in mind that money in the bank isn’t. The people that turned in Anne Frank were following the law and the people hiding her were breaking it. And no one cares about you as much as you do. Plan accordingly.

nick

Read the comments: 61 Comments

Wed. Aug. 4, 2021 – busy busy busy

Hot and humid, sunny. Possibility of rain. Like yesterday only hotter. It was under 100F for most of the afternoon so I worked outside.

Yeah, I wore a white shirt and my cool vest, big straw hat, and drank several electrolyte replacement drinks and took breaks. I did get the back yard mowed, edged, some weeds pulled, and I organized and cleaned and condensed stuff in the driveway. It was the stuff in the driveway that took the most time. Although edging took surprisingly long, far longer than usual and I don’t really know why. I did have to refill the string trimmer twice, and I don’t normally run out but that didn’t take long (since I have string stacked up.)

In the driveway I found some stuff that got water damaged. Freaking rain will find its way through 4 layers of tarp and plastic if you aren’t super careful. And the plastic sheet breaks down from UV. Nothing lasts anymore. The blue tarps get threadbare. The black sheet gets brittle. The white sheet I’m using does both as it has reinforcing threads. It lasted about a year so its actually pretty good. Everything plastic degrades in the sun now. Buckets too. Add salt air and there is no way the alarmists are correct about how long plastic will last in the environment. I can’t even get a tarp to last more than a few months.

The message for preppers is- keep your stuff out of the sun. Have some metal buckets for backup. You need more plastic sheet in storage to replace the stuff you used when it degrades. Plastic sheet and buckets are two of the most underappreciated preps, but they are two of the most versatile.

And if you are storing wood outside in Houston, it will rot. My pallets are squishing, stored 2x material is growing mushrooms, and anything in contact with the ground or concrete is wet. Firewood piles are doing the same.

The antidote for that? Stack more! Rotate your preps. And keep stuff in the proverbial cool dark place.

nick

Read the comments: 102 Comments

Tues. Aug. 3, 2021 – do all the things!

Hot and humid. Got over 100F at my house yesterday and the bright sun was like a laser scorching my eyes and skin. I got soaked in sweat just standing outside my truck talking on the phone.

Spent the morning sleeping. Then did a pickup of some vintage audio gear. Speakers need to be re-foamed, and all the other stuff needs to be tested but there should be some money there. Hit the goodwill outlet on the way home and grabbed most of the Harvard Five Foot Book Shelf books. I think I have 40+ of the 50+ volumes. 50c per book. Depending on the edition they should sell for $150 – 300. I picked them up to sell, but of course, I would like to have them on MY shelf. If I had room on my shelves. Which I don’t. At all. Funny, they are old so the book sellers skipped them completely. They were in the bin for at least an hour… but they don’t have UPC codes to scan so those guys don’t want them.

The goodwill outlet I stopped at is ‘in the hood’. It’s only the second time I’ve been in there. It’s a lot dirtier, with a lot more broken stuff than the outlet in my neighborhood. The other one, also in a ‘bad’ neighborhood (Greenspoint, known locally as ‘Gunspoint’) is dirty and full of broken junk too. I guess location might matter. Management probably does too.

I need to in-process the stuff I got, and get the auction stuff separated and stacked, as well as get back to my secondary and make some more progress there. I’m finally building momentum, so you know what comes next. . . long weekend away from home. Yup. 4 days, plus time to pack, and un-pack. At least it will be at one of the lakes we are looking at for a getaway house. We can drive around and maybe even see a property or two. That part is helpful for long term goals. 4 days off, not so much.

But there is more to life than work and prepping. These are the good old days and I do need to spend them with family.

And hey, maybe I’ll end up with a BOL after all…

(keep stacking)

nick

Read the comments: 96 Comments

Mon. Aug. 2, 2021 – same old stuff- you’d think I would try something new

Hot and humid, possible rain. Pretty much like every day here. We call it ‘summer’. Certainly was hot and humid yesterday. Hid in the house all day.

Didn’t get much done yesterday. Did some small office things, a couple of repairs from the stack. Finished the three small projects I started yesterday for auction. Opened some mail.

Cooked breakfast (spam slices and instant hash brown potatoes, d2’s favorite breakfast.)

Cooked dinner (lamb roast, canned peas, boiled cubed turnips, shelf stable bread.)

D1’s cut cheek continues to heal. Little bit of bruising showing now which is consistent with the mechanism of injury.

Puppy will poop in the house when there are people home, but mostly doesn’t when people are not here. Strange. He doesn’t get any attention at all unless we catch him in the act, so that’s not it. The joys of having a toddler in the house.

Today should be messing around in the house and yard, spending some time with the kids and dog, and one pickup.

Maybe move some more stuff around. So I can stack some more.

Stack it up. Bad times are coming.

nick

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