Cool and damp, but maybe not raining today. That would be nice. It stayed damp and misty all day yesterday.
So I only did a little bit outdoors. I did break two more slabs of concrete from the front walk and move them to the pile of free concrete rubble. Don’t know for sure, but I think some of the pile might have gone away.
Spent some time chatting with a neighbor 2 houses down, who I don’t see often. And chatted for a bit with my fisherman friend. I even got a few minutes to practice fishing between little jobs. But mostly I was scraping ceilings. [that should be enough sentence fragments for a while… maybe I’ll do a run-on for balance]
My wife found the telescope last night as we were putting away the movie night stuff, unfortunately it’s been cloudy so I didn’t reveal it to her on purpose, since there was nothing to see, but she was surprised. “Now THAT’S a big telescope!” Maybe we’ll get a break tonight and it will clear up. It would be nice to at least look through it this weekend.
There were a few more boats on the lake yesterday and the level is up, so they could use the community launch ramp next door. Otherwise I might not have noticed. I expected more people to come up for the holiday weekend, but it’s anything but “busy”. I’m happy enough with that, we weren’t looking for a busy lake or a lot of people. So far none of the holidays have been particularly busy that I could see. Maybe on the other side of the lake the experience was different. In any case, I’m pleased.
Turkey and leftovers were tasty. Today D2 declared it was the best turkey every, although she prefers the “normal” way I make ribs. Hooray for that. Now to learn about smoking as a preservation technique and not just for flavor.
Maybe I’ll try salting some pork too. Hmm. Always good to learn new skills. Most of my chat with my fisherman friend was about making sausage. Time to start stacking up some more skills…
And in case those skills don’t work out, stack some more food. It’s pretty cheap now, and will likely be very dear later.
nick
We do some smoking for preservation. Less as a prep and more because we like smoked meat. As far as I understand it, the smoke is mainly to keeps the bugs off while the meat dries. The drying us the real preservation.
We’re in a dry climate, so drying is easy. To prevent spoilage, we only do it in the winter, in a cold room off the garage. Drying in a warm, humid climate would be very different – drying hot, I assume.
My plan was to work until I was 70 to get the maximum SS I could get. The spousal unit would be at normal retirement age and would get half of my benefit. Plans changed.
My best friend of 28 years passed away suddenly from a massive, as in not survivable in a hospital, heart attack. He was two months older than I. That changed my entire perspective and plans. He never got to enjoy any retirement. I decided I was going to enjoy retirement. I put in my notice at work, one year notice, that I was leaving.
I was almost old enough to draw SS at the normal retirement age. The retirement left me six months shy. I lived off savings for that time until I reached 66 (none of that hex stuff for me) and applied for SS. Put the wife on SS early so her benefit was half of mine then reduced by 25%. I calculated it was enough for us to live on with savings augmenting the rest.
Everything was paid off, no debt to anyone, so that made the decision easier. The VA money increased from a 20% rating to a 60% rating which really helped with the funding. That money is tax free.
I heard many arguments for drawing SS as early as possible, waiting until full retirement age, waiting until 70 to draw the maximum. All good and valid arguments. Everyone’s situation is different, and one must choose carefully based on their situation. It is a crap shoot. The government is betting a person will die early, the person is betting they will live longer. Family longevity plays a big role in that decision.
The spousal unit and I could live on just my SS if we needed. It would require eliminating many frivolous extras that make life more pleasant. Doable if necessary. The biggest issue is health care. Even with insurance we still pay about $12K a year for healthcare. That includes insurance, copays, and deductibles. I have VA for healthcare, so my costs are considerably reduced. The wife’s heart attack requires medicines that are $20.00 a day, after insurance.
I saw the number and assumed it was Rick rubbing it in about rare decent Thanksgiving weather in WA while we groused about the Seattle-type rain and temps here all week.
Apologies and Happy Birthday.
Central Texas BBQ traditions originate with German settlers who arrived here in the early-mid 1800s. The rest of the Southern US, heavy on pork, had influence from the Spanish colonial days in the Caribbean and Florida, when French hunters, brought in to deal with the wild pig populations on the islands, adopted the “boucaning” technique from Brazil to preserve the meat for later sale.
Eventually the Spaniards got tired of all the French hunters hanging around, carousing, drinking, and smoking meat all day, and encouraged them to find new careers. The “Boucaniers” obliged, and the rest is history.
I keep OsmAnd up to date on various Android devices to serve as a backup to Google/Apple maps when we drive across country. The accuracy isn’t bad through Central Texas, but I look at it as more of a city-to-city navigation tool than something I would depend on to navigate in town.
The accuracy probably isn’t any worse than the US automakers’ maps built into the cars over the last 10 years.
IIRC, VW/Audi owns HERE, and a lot of map service vendors depend on the same data as Tom Tom, which originated back under a failed effort by Nolan Bushnell to offer map services in cars in the 80s.
I’ve been to Cuban-style pig roasts where the animal is wrapped in palm fronds and buried on top of smoldering coals for a day, but it is more of a roasting thing, not long term preservation.
These boxes, attempting to replicate the environment, have been around Florida forever, but they became popular about 12 years ago thanks to Bobby Flay. I even saw one in use on a construction site in Seattle when I worked up there.
And, yes, I got a picture!
https://lacajachina.com
The Cuban restaurant here in town has a Caja China as a decorative item which kills me. Every time we go, I’m tempted to make an offer.
Ah retirement. I’m not quite 50, and would retire tomorrow if possible. I have enough interests and hobbies to keep me busy. I could always find something part time to do if I was truly bored. I want my schedule to be dictated by me, and no-one else.
When to take SS is a mess. I’ll likely take it no later than full retirement age. That assumes the program is the same in 15+ years as it is now – no guarantees.
Healthcare is the big issue. I can’t really plan for that right now – too much time for things to radically change. All I can really do right now is keep saving.
RIP.
https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/arts/movies/2022/11/26/irene-cara-star-flashdance-fame-dies-63-had-ties-tampa-bay/
I wondered what was up this morning when I noticed a performance of Cara’s suddenly posted to the official YouTube channel for David Letterman’s show material. Kinda creepy in that it happened as soon as the news broke.
59F and the rain stopped around 10am. Bright overcast at the moment.
Late start. Late night and arms above head for a couple of hours wiped me out.
Time to get set up to texture the ceilings.
Not much activity around here for a Sat. morning, I guess everyone had Tgiving plans. Didn’t see any reports of brawls or riots involving retail though…and if you aren’t staying home to riot, why not travel?
n
Didn’t the release frenzy of a Nike shoe end up being a super-spreader event early on in the pandemic?
Around here, the #1 demographic still masking are Asians, but in New Orleans, I noticed it was Amish.
Ah, the good old days of Black Friday riots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB5hYK0-__k
“That’s right coked up rooster.”
OTOH, there is a *lot* more FOMO today.
Indeed it is. Lots of good advice for multiple scenarios. Only you can decide what is best for you.
The biggest disadvantage to taking SS early is that the monthly amount is reduced if you make more than a set level of income. Once you reach full retirement there is no such reduction. That bites a lot of people who draw SS early and still want to work and bring in an income. It can still be done, just don’t exceed the SS income threshold.
Congress could cut the checks tomorrow. No guarantees thanks to Helvering v. Davis and Fleming v. Nestor, which have been touched on here recently.
I don’t expect to see much out of SS. My generation will spend the rest of our lives on mop duty in a figurative sense. Probably literally too.
The Feds took down Z-Library and all its sites. It’s onion site still is up.
Just for curiosity, I looked at the Friday of Color prices for my new PC and new monitor. The PC is down $45. The monitor, from Provantage anyway, is down $50 plus tax and shipping. About the same price drop at Newegg also. I expected this.
Kind of makes me wonder though. Did I overpay? I suspect I did a bit because you can’t have a Big Sale if you haven’t crept the prices up for a few months. Frog meet pot of water and all that.
I thought about it before I bought. I’ve had almost two months of use and I have what I wanted. If I had waited getting what I wanted was not a sure thing and then I’d have to do all the shopping hassle all over.
Not complaining. Just talking.
I’m casually looking for a case to make my 1TB SSD from the old machine an external drive. I have a couple of Seagate portable drives that have spinning rust. I don’t see an easy way to open the Seagate case. You can pull the end off of the case and that fits the SSD drive. I don’t know if it actually works but the connector fits. I’ll just buy a $10 case and not risk frying a $150 drive.
Have you bought something from China and the tracking number is beyond Google or DDG to decipher? So much for omnipotent. I found a site.
https://www.aftership.com/couriers/yunexpress
You just paste in your tracking number, for example, YT2232821272132711 and it works.
In this weekend’s “As The SEC Turns” drama, the Texas coach has probably saved his job by winning against Baylor and topping the previous coach’s final record.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/once-more-feeling-takeaways-texas-214337077.html
The hell. I’m not retyping my post. Stupid Internal Server nonsense.
Anyway, for me, start SS when you can. You get more each month if you wait. Then again, if you wait, will they still be paying?
My break even point was when I was almost 80.
I started SS early and quit my job. No more getting up at 4am except to pee. No more BS from clueless bosses. No more dealing with scheisskopf customers.
I liked my job but the BS was getting out of hand. The thing in my chest that felt like an ulcer went away.
I have water on three sides of my house today. We got somewhere between five and ten inches of rain over the last three days. The water on the back of my property is only six inches deep. The water on the east side of my property between me and my neighbor is a foot deep. And the water in the ditch in front of my house is about three feet deep. It will all drain off over the next day or two. Where was all this rain back last May and June when we really needed it ?
I love living in a swamp.
BTW, my house is two+ feet above the water. We are fine, we have taken much harder rains before and in no danger of getting our house flooded.
“Prisoner of Time (Perry Rhodan #56)” by Clark Darlton
https://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-Time-Perry-Rhodan-56/dp/B0007186Z8?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number fifty-six of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books #119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1974 that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #106, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
BTW, this is actually book number 64 of the German pamphlets written in 1962. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Im_Zeit-Gef%C3%A4ngnis
In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500. It has been over sixty-nine years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator.
The giant robot brain built by Atlan on Venus over 10,000 years ago has calculated that the mysterious time front will appear on the planet Tats-tor in the near future. Perry Rhodan’s people builds a special Gazelle with a projector that can breach the time front. The Gazelle is overrun by the time front but manages to create a window between the present time and the drastically slower time front. The crew of the Gazelle travel through the window which disappears after a while to their dismay.
Two observations:
1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three of the translated stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should read the totally awesome “Mutineer’s Moon” Dahak series of three books by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/MUTINEERS-Author-Market-Paperbound-01-Mar-1992/dp/B005CYZSEC?tag=ttgnet-20/
My rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 reviews)
I have several Rosewill (Newegg house brand) cases which I used for old laptop drives around here. They work.
I’ve only lost one and that was to theft — whoever cleaned out my desk at the tolling company helped themselves to the one that I used with an old drive to keep my company VirtualBox images backed up.
Thanks to all that noticed my possibly clever announcement of an age increase. (I often amuse myself but not others…)
Wasn’t a weather report – cold at home, but I’m not there. In UT (a bit north of SLC) for family stuff. Weather here is in the 40’s, with a light dust of snow a couple mornings ago. Cold and cloudy at the moment.
Plan to travel home on Tues. With any luck, between the series of storms that are coming in. Some snow predicted along the path home, but only looks like 2-3″ of accumulation, which the highway folks will be able to keep ahead of.
It’s about a 14 hour drive, so preliminary plans are to stop about 9-10 hours in – possibly Hood River OR. But depends on the weather. I’m OK with driving in snow – the 2019 Highlander AWD with ‘snow’ mode works well, but it does increase the total travel time.
The weather dweebs are forecasting possible low-land snow at my place (“just opposite Mutiny Bay WA”) mid-week.
I’m having a bit of fun with Amazon Vine. That thing that looks cool? Not cool enough to actually buy. But with Vine, it’s “free”. The deal is to “pick stuff you like, use and leave a review” and “oh yeah, fill out this W-2”.
They invited me via e-mail. It seems I write good reviews. I clicked the link to see what’s up and sure, I’m in.
So the stuff is free but I have to claim it as income. I’m cool with that. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get 12K or whatever the standard deduction is now. Because there is a lot of crap that I don’t want.
For example the other day had a wall mounted mouthwash dispenser. Pretty spiffy, two magnetic cups that hang upside down on the bottom of the machine so they dry. And I’m like “why”? Opening the bottle of mouthwash and pouring a bit into the cap and then into your mouth is not difficult. And if you’re sharing the bathroom, what’s the concern about cooties?
So far I’ve scored some seemingly quite decent LED bulbs. I’m set for the rest of my life I reckon. A pair of binocs that are a lot nicer than I would expect for $40. Heck, an expandable shoe rack (pretty nice, too).
A couple of sets of wind chimes. Just because.
Nothing super awesome like a P9 24 core tower computer with 20TB of storage and 640GB RAM. If that’s a thing. But hope springs eternal, right?
Retirement? I’m pretty well set; after 21 years in the US Navy, my military pension is about half of what I need to live on. And after 31 years in the private sector, I have a nice but not great nest egg of cash. I started taking SS at 67, so a small bump above the basic amount, but I figured I’d hate to wait until age 70 to start collecting it and then die early. And with my bride’s modest SS, we’re comfortable. That is, comfortable as long as Brandon dials back the inflation rate, which I had NOT planned for.
And for medical insurance, between Tricare for Life and Medicare, we’re well taken care of. That is, as long as the US Government doesn’t disintegrate.
Rookie. Swig straight from the bottle like real pros.
re retirement, my dad, a now-retired financial planner, said for years that we’ll get out as many dollars as we put into SS, but the dollars will be worth a lot less. Sounds about right. The hundreds of thousands of dollars I’ve put into the SS system, with compound interest until I take it out, will get a week’s worth of groceries by the time I get it.
I pour into the cap to prevent backwash. But I know what you mean.
Up to now, I believed that SteveF sprang forth from the brow of Zeus, fully grown and armed.
I must admit, I’m a little disappointed.
Based on my calculations, from what I have been forced to contribute, based on 5% interest, compounded monthly, after about 18 years of taking out SS I will be ahead of what I contributed. If the amount my employers have been forced to contribute is added in, it would take 35 years to break even. I would need to life over 100. Not going to happen.
This is taking my total contributions and dividing by the number of years I worked (51). Some years, especially the USAF years were very lean. Other years much better. Rough, on the cuff, calculations of course.
Right now I get more than a week’s worth of groceries. 10 years from now, who knows. SS will certainly be worth much less than it is now. Since I started I have probably lost 25% in purchasing power.
I don’t think my son will get SS. If he does, he will probably need to be 80 to apply. A lot of what is being contributed is being paid to leaches, the ones that claim a back injury from work, but spend the weekend running their 4-wheeler up and down the hills. I know of more than a couple in that scenario.
There are legitimate people that deserve SS. I know a couple. Others I know I question their need. I think, without any real evidence, they are committing fraud because they don’t work to work. Welfare was not paying enough. Their parents are leaches and they children are carrying on the tradition. Three generations on the public dole.
One person I know, that was married, worked mostly for cash. His wife was on SS disability because she claimed a back injury. Yet she was water skiing and 4-wheeling without issues. They owned two relatively new vehicles, one of them a Ford Expedition V10, the other a two year old Mustang, a travel trailer, a boat, a wave runner and a 4-wheeler. Once a year, for one month, the husband would go live with his parent. The wife could then claim she was the head of household, with two kids, and get a massive tax “refund”. She got rent assistance, utility assistance, and food stamps. Of course all her medical was at no cost to her. She complained that TNCare was going to limit her to no more than six ER visits a month and 20 prescriptions. The husband never reported his cash received for working. True leaches.
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
I expected to work at least to my SS full retirement age but my body had other plans. So far things are manageable with disability payments. Time will tell…and life is short, enjoy it while you can.
>> Ford map updates seem to be around $45-50 on the Zon.
Thanks, I looked, they are for older vehicles. Nothing for my 2019 F-150.
@lynn, this site says a 2019 F-150 has “Sync 3” for navigation (more details once you enter your VIN) and this appears to be the latest Sync 3 update.
YMMV.
Got the ceilings textured, and cleaned everything involved. Had a period of sunny nice day early afternoon. Then fished for about 20 mins with D2. It was crazy windy after that. GALE FORCE gusts, from all over the compass, with lesser gusts for most of the afternoon.
Crazy.
Then it all blew out. Currently 56F and gentle breezes, with a clear dark sky. Only a sliver of moon, and it’s on its way down. Wife may get to try out her new telescope tonight after all.
n
>> Ford map updates seem to be around $45-50 on the Zon.
Thanks, I looked, they are for older vehicles. Nothing for my 2019 F-150.
@lynn, this site says a 2019 F-150 has “Sync 3” for navigation (more details once you enter your VIN) and this appears to be the latest Sync 3 update.
YMMV.
Yup, I have a Sync 3 system which I updated to version 3.4 yesterday. Was 1.8 GB download from Ford that downloaded in less than two minutes, Comcast internet is fast ! I think that I have 400 mbps.
Sorry, I am worried about loading something from ebay on my $50K truck and bricking my radio / nav system. That would really suck just so I could buy a $109 nav upgrade for $50. I am getting leery in my old age. And my truck just hit 36 months of age so I am past the primary warranty. At 8 or 10 years I would probably try it.
“China To Double Coal-Fired Power Plant Capacity…Aims to Avoid European, US Blunders”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/11/26/china-to-double-coal-fired-power-plant-capacityaims-to-avoid-european-us-blunders/
“By the end of 2023, China plans to build new coal-fired power plants with a capacity of at least 165 gigawatts – which is equivalent to more than double of Germany’s current total electric power demand.”
Wow.
“The wacko protesters should be gluing themselves in China if they’re really concerned about green energy progress.”
Heh.
If Ford is smart, they are digitally signing the update packages and maintaining an interal PKI.
OTOH, they’re leading the industry with recalls this year so who knows.
If Ford is smart, they are digitally signing the update packages and maintaining an interal PKI.
What is PKI ?
My TAMU Aggies (unranked) just beat LSU (#5) ! ! !
>> “By the end of 2023, China plans to build new coal-fired power plants with a capacity of at least 165 gigawatts – which is equivalent to more than double of Germany’s current total electric power demand.”
I guess the Chinese like a little warmth in the winter without having to burn all their furniture.
Public key infrastructure. Doing it properly gets pricey.
Eight rabbits processed today. They are resting in the fridge and will go in the deep freeze Tuesday.
Also deep cleaned the wire on two cages. That was a nasty disagreeable job that was overdue.
I was doing a bash-n-slash technique tonight. One of the rabbits moved mid-bash and I nailed my left hand pretty hard. Nice bruise.
Hands are very tired and a bit sore.
Getting good yield on the carcasses, about 60% of live weight. Worth the effort. Hearts and some liver with dinner tonight. Yum.
Finished the Firefly episodes tonight, and got the new telescope out… BIG black sky after everything blew out.
Scope shows clear banding on Jupiter and the moons fill the extent of the higher power eyepiece. The “wide field” eyepiece was very helpful in finding Jupiter with the scope. The spotter scope isn’t aligned, and is out of focus. Time to download the manual. Wife is happy. Yea! Bright and clear image.
It got CHILLY with the front moving in/out. 47F with a light breeze at the moment. Ran a whole bottle of LPgas thru the patio heater in the last two nights. Good thing I have a supplier that is cheap, and a lot of bottles.
Way past time for bed…
n
Loved Firefly. Telescopes are great fun. Sounds like your find is a good one!