Hot. Yup. Hot and humid. Although we have a forecast that puts us on the edge of some possible storms for the next few days, that usually means we won’t get any rain. We could use some, both to break the hot streak and to water the world…
It was only 94F in the late afternoon, so I cut the grass.
You know it’s hot when 94F is a welcome respite, that allows you to get some work done outside. Of course, I lived in the Phoenix area for 4 years, and it was hot, really hot, but the humidity is lower and that makes a huge difference. When it’s 110F and the humidity rises to 30% from 3%, it’s MISERABLE. We used to know that Fall had arrived when the nighttime temps were finally below 100F. I’ve got some experience living in hot areas… and 20 years in Houston too. Still, this year has been hot.
That is kind of amazing to me, the “20 years in Houston” part. Time flies when you are having fun. And life is what happens to you while you are waiting for something else.
Don’t wait. If I’d kept up my practice, I would have a couple of decades of martial arts study under my belt. If I’d spent just an hour a week, I would be fluent in at least one other language, maybe two. There are many other skills and growth opportunities that I didn’t keep up, and suddenly it’s 20 years later.
I did start preparing to live a robust and resilient life, no matter what happened, and without much help from outside. And I’m years along that path. That, in its various aspects has been a motivating and organizing factor in my day to day life for years. It’s only intensified as time went on and the things we prepped for have happened. I’ve seen earthquakes, riots, terror attacks, fires, floods, hurricanes, financial troubles, personal injury, pandemic, government overreach, urban decay, inflation, social decay, crime, and many other things worth preparing for happen- some more than once. Whatever else happens, we’ll likely see some of those come back again.
You don’t have to devote your life to it, or change your lifestyle significantly. You do need to start, and continue to work at it. Over time, you will build the buffer, the resources, the resiliency, that prepping aspires to. You will have the peace of mind of knowing that you have taken control of what aspects of your life you can control, provided yourself and your family with options, choices, alternatives, and a path forward, even if horrible things happen. Even if ORDINARY things happen.
We still have time. The resources are out there and they are available. There are even bargains to be had, if you are alert and ready. You can improve your situation. You can make a difference in your future. But if you don’t start the journey, you will never get to the destination.
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Today I’ve got pickups, and shopping to do. I am trying to get a load of stuff to one of my auctioneers, and if not, then I need to sort and bin stuff for another guy that I’ve bought from but not sold through. He’s looking for consignments, and I have stuff to sell. I need to sort it, so that it’s stuff that will sell in his auction, and stuff I don’t need to make a bunch of money on, because he doesn’t get the big money buyers.
I’m also picking up stuff for my non-prepping hobby and our upcoming swapmeet/convention/tradeshow in late August. I can’t keep trying to sell the same old stuff, I need some new stuff. I think I found something that will sell and I got it at a good price. I do need to do a bit of custom work to show it’s potential though. I also need to start going through my stuff and deciding what I really have a chance of selling. It would be nice to see the stuff again before unloading the bins at my tables…
This week should be me catching up on the stuff I didn’t get done last time I had a week at home. We’ll see if that happens.
There is prepping and stacking to do too. It’s hurricane season after all, and the Gulf is warm. We should get at least one big storm this year. That’s in addition to ongoing preparation for our slide into economic collapse. There is always bad stuff out there, coming down the pike. There is the good stuff that happens too. So.
Be of stout heart, but stack some stuff.
nick