Hot later. Nice now. Too bad it only lasts until about 10am. ‘Course the humidity is there all day. The hot part of the day is getting shorter though. By yesterday evening it felt cool again. Still over 80F, but cool compared to 104F in the sun.
Did a couple of pickups. Lot of driving, but I got a steel cabinet (double door office supplies type cabinet) for less than $20. It’s in good shape, no rust or dents, and hasn’t been painted. I like to think I learn from my mistakes, so I’m going to use cabinets and not open shelves to store food at the BOL, when I can. The plastic tubs have been working great to keep the cans and boxes and pouches clean and un-eaten, but they make it harder to see what I’ve got, and harder to just grab something. My storage conditions suck. Cool, dry, and dark they ain’t. Hopefully at the BOL, I can get enough cabinets for the garage to keep everything out of sight, and rat pee free.
Speaking of the BOL, wife and kids took the dog and headed up last night. I’ve got a couple of pickups today, so I stayed home until later. I’ll head up as soon as I can. I may try to get a couple more plumbing parts before I leave. I’m thinking that I will have to run both my new pex and the old copper at the same time for a while. The easiest way to do that is T into the hot water heater, both the cold line, and the hot. They are the newest, are accessible, and are both the same 3/4″ size. I won’t have to cut and splice anything either to get supply into the pex if I do that. Every time I touch the existing copper, I cringe, just hoping it doesn’t break loose or spring a leak.
I’m sure I’ll be breaking some more concrete too. Joy.
But hey, I’m building out our BOL. That counts for a lot. And it gives me a whole new place to stack all the things.
Stack some of your own.
nick
HMG announced that, with effect 1st September, qualifying cohorts (over 50s, immunosuppressed, etc.) would be eligible for a “seasonal booster” kungflu jab. For most people, this will be a 2nd booster. But it’s “bivalent”, targeting both the original strain, and the latest mutation, BA5.
Of course, the mills of bureaucracy grind slow, so last week, absent written invitation, I visited the appropriate .gov.uk webpage, and booked. Oct 1st, late in the day, at one of the two pharmacies local to me. SWMBO was several days quicker, and scored earlier in the day, also on the 1st, at the same pharmacy.
Of course, the bureaucrats issued written invitation to book, which arrived today, courtesy Postie.
I anticipate this ritual every year, from now on, and have done for some months. Yearly boosters, anyone?
G.
BTW, HMG stands for “His Majesty’s Government”, now, having been ”Her Majesty” until the death of H.M. Elizabeth II, earlier this month.
G.
Lazy, rainy day. Not much rain – we need more – but maybe this is the harbinger of things to come…
@Geoff: That’s how I see it as well. I get the flu shot every year anyway, so this will make two. Things like the flu always wind up in my lungs, and I get pneumonia (twice) or bronchitis (too many times to count), so it’s definitely vaccinations for me. Looks like the new booster will arrive here in October.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian situation is heating up. Threats from Russia that attempts to retake Crimea will justify nuclear weapons. I can only hope that, if Putin gives that kind of crazy order, it will be a signal for his own people to take him out.
Ah, Berlusconi, never stop being you. I thought you were dead?
UT spent $90 million two years ago firing coaches, but that was football and basketball.
I’m not joking when I say that the current football coach is Fired Coach Walking. A loss at Texas Tech today could make it official. Otherwise, the alumni will wait until loss #5. Maybe.
Jimbo’s replacement won’t last long if the mess is like what he left behind in Tallahassee. Just ask Willie Taggert. 18 months and done.
Taggert was building something decent in Oregon when the call came. However, the legend is that his wife hated Eugene and Willie never got new plates for his cars.
I certainly understand the wife’s position. Again “Animal House” is the nicest Summer weather in Eugene and Cottage Grove, where the parade scenes were filmed.
Up and moving. Stiffly. 74F and 99%RH. Sunny. I’m sure it will warm up.
Need coffee, and food. THEN load truck. THEN do pickups.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11243917/Americans-lost-average-4-000-salary.html
— before adding in inflation in prices.
n
You heard it here first, months ago.
n
@Nick
I don’t know your layout or what is already installed for valves, but you might consider putting a ball valve on each side of the T. That would give you total flexibility for shutting things off if need be.
USPS couldn’t get my credit card payment to Dallas from Austin in less than 10 days. I’m supposed to worry about the same organization conducting surveillance on the mail?
I ended up paying the bill twice, and God help you if you want that extra payment back from Amex.
I’m used to Citi playing “the check was late game”, but now Amex is doing it too.
I am now a member of the Oliver Springs Sports Hall of Fame. Induction took place at half time of the homecoming football game. There were 10 other people inducted at the same time. I am the only non-coach, non-player that was inducted. There will a couple more of the non-players, non-coaches inducted next year. Small town, lot of people support and contribute to, and support, the local school sports. Benefit of a small town. In a big city I would have been just another flunky. Here in the small town, I am the flunky.
Local water board is playing the same game. Said I was late paying by one day, $18.00 more to pay. I printed a copy of the check from the credit union. The check cleared the credit union eight days before the bill was late. The water department failed to post the payment on time. I got my money back, sort of, they just credited my next bill. Wonderful.
The worst was when I paid my city taxes of $350.00. I sent the check to the proper address, on time. Then I find out that money was posted to the water bill, not the taxes. Of course there were late fees on my taxes I had to fight to get reversed.
The Funky Flunky!
Seriously though Ray, we talk about meatspace, but you are there doing it, congratulations on being recognized.
n
@lynn
Prayers for your aunt.
Go Aggies!
Judge blasts MN governor for “false” claims in massive fraud scandal
https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/09/24/judge-blasts-mn-governor-for-false-claims-in-massive-fraud-scandal-n498791
This one has the potential to heat up fast and affect the election.
$250 million down an largely Somali rathole, where at least 5 bogus operations were claiming to feed 2000-4000 kids per day. One of them was out of a second-floor apartment.
Yet no state official had any thought of a little oversight.
Were the local health inspectors busy harassing food trucks?
This popped up at Bearing Arms and I don’t remember if I posted the link when it came out in June:
Posted on June 18, 2022 by Scott johnson
Stephen Hunter: The massacre spree that never was
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/06/stephen-hunter-the-massacre-spree-that-never-was.php
As the duplicitously named “Banned Books” week ends, an interesting article:
https://pjmedia.com/columns/megan-fox/2022/09/23/banned-books-week-ends-with-massive-court-loss-for-porn-pushing-librarians-n1631835
I don’t want to over-quote, so I will just highly recommend the article, and the last four paragraphs in particular.
Jenny,
I will be very happy to meet with you again!
AKA CowboySlim
Re: Late payments,
I just wondering why anyone uses a paper check and the mail. ACH is available for most credit cards. All I ever use. Property tax bill too.
I do use electronic payments from my bill pay service. For those that do not accept electronic payments the bill pay service sends a check. During the problem with my property tax I was informed by the credit union that electronic checks to government entities are not allowed to be printed or a copy made. Something to do with the account number and ABA on the endorsement. I had to struggle hard to finally get a copy.
Dealing with the city taxing authority they wanted me to get the money back from the water board, then write the taxing authority another check. Of course that check would be late and result in late fees. I stood my ground and went to the city manager. I showed him the copy of the check (acquired with much difficulty), the address on the check, the account number on the check, all belonging to the city tax office. I told him if he did not correct the problem the local TV station would get involved and I would press charges against the city for possible theft and misappropriation of funds. He corrected the problem.
Because of that I never, ever, (well not anymore), use anything but a check that I produce to pay any government agency.
Easy to do in a small town. Because of the sports pictures, wife subbing, my subbing, probably every single person in town knows who we are. People say hello to me that I do not recognize.
People should get involved, volunteering, going to public meetings, helping at the school. We do not live on this planet as an island but as a group. That group can support each other. Maybe not as easily done in a city the size of Houston, but certainly easier in a town of 3,500.
Roger that! I only do three paper checks per month: bi-weekly to my house cleaner and monthly to my gardener. Both are Hispanic.
I don’t use a bill pay but only direct ACH from the vendor. The county tax collector take ACH on their site. I expect to get an email confirmation within minutes of any transaction made and I can see it hit my bank online that night. I hate to pay bills early but most I give a payment about 5 days ahead of due date.
I don’t believe in a credit card company having the ACH information on file.
Citi doesnt even handle the numbers themselves anymore, using a “cloud” third party service. Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
I did pay Amex with ACH when the check was “late”. The bank will allow me to reverse the payment if all else fails, but I still wouldn’t trust Amex with the numbers on a regular basis.
Maybe I’ve forgotten how payments work in the US, but: aren’t all the ACH numbers also on a physical check?
What I do remember is the ability of companies – or anyone really – to suck money out of an account. That’s just nuts. Payments should have to be initiated by the account owner.
My two paper check recipients probably don’t have checking accounts, they just get them cashed.
I write about six checks a year now. Property Taxes to pay the rent. A couple for license plates to skip the extra “service charge” for using plastic. A couple at the feed store, for the same reason.
Eight checks so far this year. I forgot about the tree trimming job and the a/c folks for that repair.
A month or so ago Wells Fargo wanted me to enter all my stuff so I could pay the truck note on their website. Why would I do that? Why would I want Wells Fargo to have direct access to my bank account? The bank that is so trusting that they wanted all ten finger prints to cash a $20 check? Yeah. No. It was a $20 check, the account is at that branch and I doubt the neighbor would give me a rubber check.
Frost’s Bill Pay seems to work fine. One log-in, pay three bills, done for the month.
I have almost $800 Cash Back on my Discover. Maybe I’ll buy a gub. Some kind of rifle that shoots 40 S&W and uses the same mags as my Glock would be extra neat. I haven’t shopped at all.
Those folks I like to just give cash. In fact I’ll call the tree man next week to do the eight palm trees I hate. Remove old fronds and those gigantic blossoms that turn into seeds. I always pay him cash. I’m sure he reports it.
Flu jabs:
As others have mentioned, an annual flu jab is probably a good idea for those of us of a certain age. I believe it is a good thing for me, so when SWMBO told me, by text, that the other local pharmacy (not the one where I’m booked to have my next wuflu booster) was doing flu jabs, on demand, for the eligible cohort, I availed myself of the service.
Totally drama-free, as usual. So now I’m safer (can’t say safe, because the formulation of the yearly flu shot is an educated medical guess as to which strains will be most prevalent) and hopefully will be more so after the wuflu booster in a week’s time.
G.
Paul says:
And now you don’t need to. https://www.keltecweapons.com/firearm/rifles/sub2000/ Folds in half for transport and storage, and concealability.
Available in 9mm or .40 cal. , and you can get it with several different magazine types. I’ve got the 9mm version with Beretta mags.
Grab your popcorn! The DRACO spacecraft is set to smash into an asteroid on Monday. There are on-board cameras broadcasting video feed from the spacecraft. From this article:
You just have to wonder how hard up those NASA nerds are, to look at a picture of an asteroid and say, “I’d smash that.”
Here’s a collection of ‘smash the asteroid’ movies: https://www.space.com/37351-7-great-asteroid-movies.html .
Like “Meteor” with Sean Connery (1979). And “Armegeddon” (1998):
>> And now you don’t need to. https://www.keltecweapons.com/firearm/rifles/sub2000/ Folds in half for transport and storage, and concealability.
You had to go and show me that?? 🙂
Gargoyles is on Svengoolie tonight. A made for TV movie that actually scared me when the Gargoyle jumped on the roof of the car. I have no idea why but my skin got goosebumps and I physically shook when I first saw the movie and that scene.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/rudy-giuliani-has-2-weeks-to-pay-ex-wife-225k-or-face-jail-time/3878518/
….Lock him up?
“Gargoyles” has really early Stan Winston make up work, Bernie Casey under the prosthetics,.
Believe it or not, the flick was a TV movie. CBS?
IIRC, “Svengoolie” has an interview with female lead Jennifer Salt from a convention. She’s still active in horror even though her most famous part was on “Soap”.
There is no joy on the 40 Acres tonight. UT lost … to Texas Tech.
I pay everything by credit card where possible. Utilities get paid by ACH. They take credit cards, but charge you a 2.5% fee. Governments will not eat the credit card company processing fees.
Since I refinanced and didn’t do an escrow account, I have paid my taxes by check. In person. I want to be on camera and get a receipt immediately. I print out the cashed check when it hits my account as well.
Got up here and got to work. Clearing overgrown grass along the bulkhead, so I can see and backfill the holes. Lots of string for the trimmer, lots of gas. Took a few hours. Did some cleanup on the HOA lot too, since I was there, and had the trimmer out.
Wife was busy priming out another room.
Always more to do, but right now, a fire and drink are calling my name.
n
“French Toast” weather alert for western Florida and northward, courtesy of Tropical Storm Ian as it strengthens into Category 4. Projected map in this article:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/weather/hurricane-forecast-gulf-of-mexico-florida-ian/index.html
My Aggies just beat Arkansas 23 to 21 in front of a sold out Jerry’s World. 100,000 fans.
75F and calm on the lake. Nice weather for a fire. No moon, black sky. Jupiter pretty dang bright. Can see the milky way. Some light haze so not perfectly clear, but still pretty nice. Campfire is blowing out our night vision, but life is compromise…
n
>> My Aggies just beat Arkansas 23 to 21 in front of a sold out Jerry’s World. 100,000 fans.
And they’ll all be stopping at Buc-ee’s on their way home.
Old news around here…
You really don’t understand how bad it could get in Europe this year
Uhh, yeah we do.
Joe consults with Dr Jill, “forgetting” once again that she’s not an MD…
The U.S. ordered 171 million updated COVID booster shots but only 4.4 million went into arms as Biden says ‘the pandemic is over’
Got another exterior light replaced. Same nonsense with the old fixture. I’ve got a lot of work to do fixing these weird electrical installations.
Picked up a new set of wire strippers. I’ve been using an old set kicking around my toolchest lo these many years. New set are smaller with fewer functions. Lighter. Made in the US. They fit my tiny hands (smaller than a 5th grader) and take no strength to use. Sharp. Glorious how much easier simple tasks are with the correct well maintained tool. I’m a fool for not replacing my old set years ago.
Went to a friends funeral. Well done. Sad and joyful. Ran three hours that were over in a blink. She was 68,
Finished light project on return home. Helped / not helpful helped my husband put a 7’ skeleton on the garage roof. I wanted to hit him with glow in the dark paint. Nope.
Took husband to watch “See How They Run”. So nice to hear him laugh. Home again. Child is due back very late tonight. Went to a cabin several hours south of us with friends. They just hit the road to come home. She will be weary at church tomorrow.
Tomorrow the Assembly is holding yet another homeless thing. middle of the day, unusual days of the week, smack dab in Rush Hoshanah I am told for a proposed homeless site in a building which the assembly individually swore hand to heart two years ago would never ever ever be a shelter. Smack dab in the middle of our largest Jewish community. I’m certain the timing of the meeting when the most devout most affected can’t attend was an oversight and well intentioned.
So. Church in the morning. Then the meeting. Then a visit with 8 week old Cardigan puppies. Then family dinner and bed. I have one more exterior light I’d really like to do. Probably not happening tomorrow. I am about halfway thru my winter prep list.
11 new rabbit kits from my younger doe. I currently have eight seven week old juveniles, eight two week old kits, and 11 newborn kits. I aim to slaughter at five pounds, about 12 weeks. That yields about a three pound dressed carcass. This will keep us two meals of rabbit a week for the next five to six months. Depending on youngest kits mortality. Losing a couple with a large litter isn’t unexpected.
Quoted for truth. It’s a good prep, too, for either TEOTWAWKI or supply chain delays or nasty consumer price inflation.
Thank you.