Month: April 2023

Thurs. Apr. 20, 2023 – 420 – haha, dopers are funny !

Cool and damp.  ‘Cuz Houston!   Joy.   Forecast has us in the storm zone.   As always, we’ll see.  It was pretty darn nice yesterday.   Nice temps, some sun, just generally nice.   More please.

Spent yesterday playing catch up on my auction sites.  Then did two pickups- almost entirely stuff for the BOL and plumbing supplies for here.   My sprinkler system froze, so there are parts that need to be replaced.   It’ll be hot soon and I’ll need to run the system, so I better get it fixed.  Conveniently, everything I think I need was in the auctions last week.

Today, I’ll be doing more home stuff, I think.    I keep putting it off, but especially if the weather isn’t great, it’s time to do some.

Time.   Who knows how much we have?   There were articles this week about some sub-prime lenders being in trouble.    Sub-prime is where the last bad thing got started.  More articles about food too, and issues with the food supply.   Time feels short to me.   I hope not.   But .mil and .gov are getting their ducks in a row.   I read Guns, Germs, and Steel and I was amazed by how long the process took to get ready for war, how much happened in full view and yet was dismissed, and I’m seeing many of those same things happening now.    War is always disruptive to society and the economy.  It’s also a great distraction from internal issues.  Think we have some of those?

My advice is the same.  Keep stacking.   It can’t hurt and it might save your life.

nick

 

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Wed. Apr. 19, 2023 – home, stuff got done, but there is always more…

Cool and damp.  Maybe some rain.   Nice break from the premature summer I thought we were getting.    It was cool and wet at the BOL, then beautiful in Houston after some rain in the AM.  Par for the course?  Probably.   Except the “beautiful” part.   That’s rare enough to be noted and enjoyed.

Had a pretty good extended weekend at the BOL.  Finished up a bunch of small things, and am almost done with a big one.   Done enough I could live with it if needed…  All the old plumbing has been replaced that I can replace, in the house anyway.   I have two hose bibs to connect, and I haven’t because I made it complicated when I decided they should be on their own “circuit” with a valve, so they could be shut off and drained in the winter.   And I wanted only one valve, somewhere easy to get to.  It’s a good idea, just getting in the way of the ‘done.’

Time to do a few more things here.   I still have the ‘gas engine day’ and the ‘plant something in the garden day’ and the fix stuff around the house day’ and the ‘clean up the mess from popped cans and sort your food day’ and ‘keep cleaning up and getting rid of stuff day’… well, y’all know that story by now.

Part of being a good steward and prepping is maintaining and fixing your stuff.  I’ve fallen a bit behind on that…

So I’ll be stacking up some work for a while.   I’ll still be adding stuff, but I need to do some hard work too.

Stack whatever you can.

nick

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Tues. Apr. 18, 2023 – NOW it’s Tax Day.

Huh,can’t do italics in the headline…

Cool and clear, warming later.    Spent pretty much all day yesterday indoors.   Only went out to cut stuff, and then back the the grindstone…

But a lot of stuff got done.  Closed in walls that were open for plumbing.   Disconnected the old copper- finally.  We are fully on the new pex everywhere that is connected.   I’ve still got 2 hose bibs to connect, but that’s it.

I’ve got some cleanup to do, and I’d like to get the berry bushes in the ground, even if I end up moving them later, but at least the plumbing made progress.

So I’ll do what I can this morning and then head home.  School function tonight that I can’t miss, and an auction pickup on the way home (!not a collectible computer!…) so I can’t extend my mini-break another night.

Skipped the fire and radio last night in lieu of home cooked dinner and conversation.  Meatspace, it’s what’s for dinner…

Stack what you can, especially relationships.

nick

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Mon. Apr. 17, 2023 – still not Tax Day.

Cold and clear.   Yesterday was cool in the morning and hit about 70F in the afternoon.   Got cold at night.   Didn’t see the thermometer, but it was cold nose and cold hands kinda cold.

Didn’t get done with plumbing yesterday.   Took 3 times as long to change out the tub and shower controls as it should have, but I was missing some pipe, had to make do with a couple of things, and did have to re-work one connection.   Hall tub/shower controls are all new now.

I spent some time outside taking inventory.   I’ve got some small trees and bushes that froze and need to be removed.  Also some big trees, but I’ll hire someone to do that.   Neighbor gave me a lead.  “He’s not cheap, but he’s good.”  Oh my.   I’m calling him today.

I’ve also got some pruning and ‘sprucing up’ to do.   Peach tree is covered with little fruits.   I hope they survive the deer and squirrels.   It would be nice to get some peaches.   So far this trip I’ve seen a road runner, cardinals, blue jay, wood pecker, some small finches, a hummingbird, and a beaver.    No camel or zebra this time, but I didn’t drive by where they live…

Around evening my fishing buddy came by and I had him critique my form.   All wrong as it turned out.   BUT this time he brought his own gear and SHOWED me how to do it.   He caught a bass on his first cast from my dock.   Now I know it’s possible to catch fish from my dock.   I’ll just have to figure out how.  To that end, he showed me more gear and explained another layer of depth to the subject.   He’s an encyclopedia of fishing this lake and bass in general.  Meatspace baby.

We’ll see how today goes.   If I can make appointments, I will.  If not, I’ll be cleaning up and putting back together, and doing yet more plumbing.   I can finally disconnect all the old copper and I will feel safer when it’s not under pressure any more.   If I can get a couple of hose bibs connected, that’s gravy.   If I can get the fruit bushes planted, I’ll feel like the king of the world.

It feels a bit like slacking when I take the time to talk to and learn from the fishing neighbor, but it’s stacking up good times, relationships, and connecting with the community.

Sometimes you stack rice, and sometimes you stack friends.  Both are good.

nick

 

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Sun. Apr. 16, 2023 – [insert pithy comment] [or something funny]

Cool but nice.   Clear.   Mid 70s to low 80s.  Nice.  But then again, I’m not in Houston.   It was certainly nice up here yesterday.  74F and clear, a bit humid, but not drippy like Houston was when I left.

Once I finally made it up here, I spent a couple hours cutting grass.   Then I got ready for my relaxing evening.

Fisherman neighbor dropped by while I was having my fire and we talked for a couple hours.   Local.   Meatspace.

Got to bed late, so late start today.   Late start on plumbing.  I’ve got to figure out if the tub valves I bought will work, and if not, what I’m going to do about it.   I did get a replacement for the whole assembly, but don’t want to go that far if I can avoid it.

I’ve got some hose bibs to connect and some walls to close too.  No leaks from the last visit’s work… so I can finish closing that.

Other ‘targets of opportunity’ are on the list.

Just gotta keep moving.

And stacking.

nick

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Sat. Apr. 15, 2023 – not Tax Day, psyche!

Cool and damp, not impossible that we’ll get rain, but I hope not.  Pretty nice yesterday for all my driving around.   Got a bit overcast in the late afternoon, and we had a tiny bit of moisture from the sky.

I did get almost all my pickups done.   I had one company that I thought was 9-5 pickup, but had closed at 3pm.  So I’ll get that pickup done later.  Got stuff for D2’s birthday, got stuff for my BOL, got some logging stuff, including a cant hook.  Who orders a cant hook from amazon, and then returns it? I even had time to stop at Microcenter and pick up some photoresin, and my free microSD card… and I popped into a nearby store to buy a couple things, and they were blowing them out.  Online from the maker, $8 each, marked $5 in the store, but discounted to $2 last visit, offered to me at $1 each.   I bought them all.  $70 for a lifetime supply or use them as gifts… score!

Got the kids to school for their show, and dressed up a bit to attend later.   It was about what you’d expect from 6-8th graders.   They did show noticeable improvement over the year.   Still, I was glad I had my ear pro when it got screeching loud.   I’m happy to support the school’s drama program and the kids.   Everyone starts someplace.   I just wish someone (with more actual knowledge of the subject than me) would work with them on audio reinforcement.   I can play the tune and march with the band doing audio, but if I was going to TEACH it, I’d want more actual training and theory than I have.  What I know I learned from necessity first hand, on my own, or in class 30 years ago, before there was much actual instruction in the subject.

Anyhow, got home, and now it’s time to face the weekend.

I’ll be going up to the BOL.  I just don’t know when, or for how long, or what will go with me.  If it’s pouring down rain, that will seriously limit me in what I can take up, and there is always a lot to take.   There is plenty to do when I get there too.   Hopefully,  I can get the hose bibs installed.   There are other things, like getting some seeds in the ground and making some progress on the sprinkler system, or doing more sorting and clean up, or breaking more concrete, that I can do too.  Who am I kidding?  There are ALWAYS more things that need doing than time to do them.

It would be nice to get the base for my 10″ dob assembled and get a look through it… or drop  a line in the water and catch some fish, or get the crawdad traps set…. But I think I’ll be doing trees, water lines, sprinklers, and putting the walls back together where I had to open stuff up.

Whatever it ends up being, progress is progress.

And that’s true with prepping too.   It’s very difficult to go from unaware to ready for the zombies in a short time.   It’s a journey, not a destination.  AND the path varies, and the destination keeps moving too…

Do what you can with what you have, and keep working to improve your position.   Stacking stuff doesn’t hurt and it’s easy.

nick

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Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 – TGIF, sorta. Maybe.

Cool and clear, possibility of rain but clearing later.  So we’ll see what happens.  Yesterday was so nice I sat out for an hour and contemplated the world.    Sunny and clear, with light variable breezes, just beautiful.

Of course, I spent a fair amount of time indoors first.   I fell down a rabbit hole moving stuff to the attic, moving stuff IN the attic, looking in some boxes I haven’t looked at in a while in the attic, and generally messing around in the attic.   I also did some sorting and organizing.

Went outside, noticed that the pond pump was barely circulating the water.   Spent some time cleaning the filters, and scooping out a bunch of muck from the bottom of the pond.   Fish was happier afterwards.   The fountain makes a soothing sound, the weather was great, and the seating was comfortable.   So I spent a bit of time smelling roses, so to speak.

Then I noticed that the automatic fish feeder that wasn’t working was driven by a simple quartz clock.   THAT  led to some repair work that involved files, nippers, and combining 3 clock movements to get it going again.   Not high on the priority list, but a satisfying fix and one that my wife will actually appreciate every day since manually feeding the fish was her task.  Sometimes a distraction is exactly what is called for.

Today I have a bunch of things to pick up.   They are scattered around town, so I’ll have to make a big loop.   I’ll have time to do more cleaning here first as none of them open before 10 am, and I have to wait even longer than that because of who opens when, and what order for the pickups makes the most sense.  And since I’ll be in the neighborhood, I’ll try to stop at Microcenter.   I need some resin for the 3D printer, and they are giving out 128Gig flash drives.  The store is very inconveniently located because of the intersecting expressways, and how the offramps work.  The whole area is also under construction as they re-do how those roads all come together.  Not a fun area to drive in at the best of times.

The day will culminate in the kids’ play at school, which means I’ll be heading to the BOL Saturday morning, instead of Friday afternoon.   I’ve got to get up there this weekend both to deliver all the cr@p that is piled up in my living room, and to make sure we are ready for guests NEXT weekend.  Plus I get anxious when I haven’t been there in a while.

So much stuff to do, so many things to stack.   So not motivated for the last few weeks…

Stack it up, buttercup.  Hard times are here and getting worse.  Gotta bring your A game.

nick

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Thur. Apr. 13, 2023 – Friday the 13th comes on a Thursday this month…

Cooler, and damp, but should be clear.   It might even warm up a bit later.    It was pretty nice until about 4 pm yesterday, when some moisture from the sky started hitting me in the face.   I think today will be even nicer.

I did get to storage yesterday and did move some stuff out of the house.   Spent some time sorting there.   When the rain started, I wrapped that up and went to get the kids.   Their rehearsal went longer than previous days, so it didn’t limit my afternoon much.

Today will be more of the same.  I’ll try to get some stuff done around the house, and then head to storage to do more sorting.   Stuff I can pull out for the “collectibles” auction will make room in the unit, and provide some cash flow.

Bigger picture I need to get serious about the garden, and really soon.  I’ve got some trees to buy and plant too.   Here I’d like to plant two more apple trees, to replace the citrus I lost in the freeze.  Needs to be two, because I can’t remember which variety I still have, and they need to be different for pollination.   If I get one from each group, I’ll have the pair set, and one or the other is bound to be the complement to the surviving one.   I’m done with trying to keep citrus alive, unless it’s in pots and can move indoors.

I’ve also got to do some landscaping and yard work, to include repairs to the freeze damaged sprinklers here.   Then I need to do sprinklers at the BOL.  And gardening.  And trees.  Oh, and having the dead trees cut down…    It’s a big list.

About this time, I’m sure my rental house will need some work or repair too.  Because that’s how it works…

No complaints though, it’s a good life.   It can take it out of you though.

Hard to stack up time, but using money to have someone else do the work effectively increases your time.   The trick is having the money, and FINDING the someone else.   When you find good someone elses, you stack them high!

So stack some good helpers.  They are literally a force multiplier.

nick

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Wed. Apr. 12, 2023 – “I know, right?”

Cool and damp, but no one could say for sure whether it will rain… I’m going with overcast but not raining…   yesterday ended up gorgeous.   Mid 70sF, sunny, light breeze…  please sir, can I have some more??

After a slow start, I did get out and dropped off some bins at one of my auctioneers.   He’s trying to downsize his building rental so he didn’t want all that I was hoping to bring.   In a couple of weeks he’ll be ready for more.  I hope.   I’ll do some more sorting and see what I can take to my other auction house.   Her next sale is ‘collectibles’ so I have to sort and only send her stuff that would fit with that.

I’ll do some of that today if the rain holds off.  I need to do some more cleaning up around the house too.    While I’m sorting, stuff tends to pile up.  Not something my wife likes to see.

If the rain comes, well, I’ve got stuff to do in that case too.


Out in the world, violence, particularly political violence, seems to be ramping up.   Be mindful of your surroundings, where you are, and who you are there with.  And although FBI stats suggest that most shootouts are less than 8 rounds, carry a reload.   Might be a second guy, might be you missed, but throwing your empty gun at an aggressor isn’t gonna do much.

And have a blow out kit, or stop the bleed kit handy.   Could be in your desk at work, could be in your car, could be both… or in your “murse” ie. EDC carry bag, but have access to what you need to help keep the red stuff on the inside…


I hit the local HEB grocery store last night to add to the stacks.   Bought stuff that wasn’t even on sale.   Added stuff that was on sale too.   Bought box meals, flavored pasta pouches, and some canned beans.   Bought a lot of snack stuff for the kids’ school lunch bags too.   Spent $350 but “saved” $42.   That’s about what I aim for.    I was surprised by how much canned veg has gone up, almost doubling in price.   Milk and eggs are still reasonable here in Texas, with 18 large eggs for ~$4.   And even my “lower cost” coffee has gone up dramatically in the small bags, from ~$5 per bag to ~$9.  I’ve been buying it in big bags online since costco switched flavors, and haven’t looked at the small bags in a while, but the reason I switched to Community was that it was less than $6 a bag.  Not any more.   Didn’t buy any meat this trip.   Nothing was on sale.


Real inflation is high, much higher than ‘official’ inflation, and that is high enough.  We’re gonna need more money and we’re gonna need more stuff to make it through this.

Stack accordingly.

nick

 

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Tues. Apr. 11, 2023 – you are thinking too much…

Cool and clear?  The national map has us on the edge of weather for the next couple of days.  That usually means no weather for us.   Monday didn’t rain, but after a promising start the overcast came back and it threatened to rain all day.

Didn’t feel great, so stayed in.   Took a nap.  Cleaners came and went.   Did some sorting and cleaning.  Found some things that will need closer looks and maybe some repair.  Stacked some more stuff for the BOL.  Picked up the kids from school.  Only 20 minutes late.  Practically on time.

Today I hope to sort a few more bins and drop some off at the auctioneer.   If not, more cleaning and sorting is on tap.

Speaking of, I dumped some more food that was just too old.  Only a few ‘box’ meals, but they were cheese based, and the cheese powder has gone off.  4 years past ‘best by’ is a lot for a fatty milk based product.   Mad Max, I’d have saved the pasta, it was in plastic and probably fine.   I’ll replace the boxes this shopping trip.  There is still some ebola era stuff on the shelves, and not all of it is in good shape.   Just another task on the list.

I noticed that I’ve been taking new box meals to the BOL, and not restocking here.   I need to catch up.   We do eat a lot of them, relatively speaking, and stocks are lower than I like for an item we eat regularly.

Also really need to do something with the garden here.  It’s actually  getting late…

Always something to do.   Find the time to join me in stacking the things.  All the things.

nick

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