Cool and dreary. Supposed to rain today, but we’ll see. Got the faintest couple of drops late in the day yesterday, barely a mist. That would be fine with me for today too…
Spent most of yesterday driving around. Got some good stuff so that’s ok. New in box inverter generator, 1/3 retail. That will go to the BOL asap. Solid core door that matches my interior doors. Some tools and supplies. Fishing gear. Some stuff for resale, some stuff to bribe gift to people.
Got home and unloaded the truck. Took some time to add lights to my display. I wrapped a couple of strings around several wreaths, now they look nice at night too.
Then I did one of the security upgrades I first thought about years ago- I replaced the door between the living/public areas of the house and the bedrooms with a solid core door. I still have to change one hinge, and add reinforcement to the frame around it, as well as a couple of deadbolts. Then my wife will need to paint it, but for now, it’s in place. It was an exact fit with even the hinges lining up. It already makes a difference in noise transmission. Next will be the master bedroom door, or the master closet door. It’s been on my list for a long time, but there were always other ways to spend the money or time. This time it all fell in my lap.
I’m hoping the universe will give me what I need for the bedroom project, and for the front door to the house. I need to do some work to the door jamb and the side lites and I’d like to upgrade and make them more sturdy and break-in resistant. The door itself is solid core with fiberglas skin, so it’s pretty strong, but over the last 50+ years the bottom of the strike side of the jamb has rotted loose. Ideally I’d find a metal door jamb that would fit. They come through the auctions, but I haven’t caught one that was just right, yet. I reinforced the strike area with additional steel long ago. Hardening your residence is something everyone should do.
My stop at REI didn’t get me a water filter, but it did get presents for my wife. And I got a few more isobutane canisters for the jet boil and little backpack stoves. She likes them for camping with the GS troop, when they are backpacking. I like them as one of several layers of backup for cooking food and boiling water. Which reminds me, I should just bite the bullet and buy a case of 1 pound propane bottles for the BOL, and one for here. I have been coming across them in the auctions and estate sales, but I guess everyone knows how pricey they’ve gotten and I can’t pick them up cheap like I used to.
I did get several kerosene lanterns in the past couple of weeks. I really like using a small one when I’m at the lake sitting on the dock. They seem to attract fewer bugs, and I like the soft light. Easier and longer lasting than the candles that I used to use too. So I’ve added several to the stacks. I used the kerosene heater in the garage last time I was up there too, so now I need to increase my kero stacks. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any ‘end of season’ sales last year, and the stuff is expensive. It’s very common to see the wick based heaters out in the country as supplemental or even the main heat source for a home, so I won’t find any bargains at Tractor Supply either.
Today I’ve got two minor pickups. One for my hobby, one is some maintenance items, and I’ve really got to get some stuff out of the house and over to my secondary location. That should occupy my time for the middle of the day. If it’s raining, I’ll be confined to the house for the rest of the time, but that’s ok too. Still plenty of stuff on the list for indoors.
And there is Christmas to get ready for. I’ve got presents to wrap, and it would be nice to have them done BEFORE 10 minutes prior to opening them… like last year. Baking would be nice too. Even just watching the kids playing Skyrim would be nice.
Stacking memories as well as stuff. It’s all good.
nick