Sat. Dec. 30,2023 – New Year’s Eve, eve…

Cold and clear. 33F when I went to bed, and pretty sure it went below freezing after that. Cold enough, we didn’t want to have a fire on the dock, but stayed in to play cards…

Spent what was left of Friday (most of the day really) doing chores and small projects. The majority of which I did in the garage, where the kero heater brought the ambient from 54F to 64F in an hour or two. Considering the lack of insulation, and the gaps around the door, that’s pretty good. A small fan to break up the stratification would have helped too.

I wore a variety of overclothes throughout the day, adding and subtracting to be comfortable. In the old days, I’d have just toughed it out, either too cold or too hot, but I’ve got a variety of coats, vests, and layers so I’m using them. I guess I’m getting smarter with age šŸ˜‰

Had dinner and opened Christmas presents with Grandma, then played cards for a couple hours. NOT bridge. šŸ˜‰ Oh, and Rumikub, which is a tile game that has elements from rummy… It’s one of my mom’s favorites. Since there is luck involved everyone can win if they play well. Kids like it too.

Fired the garage heater back up and played a couple of games of pool before bed against my wife. I won 2 of 3 but we both kinda suck. It’s been a long time since I played with any regularity and I was never really good. She played a lot when she was a kid but that was (mummble mummmble, mmuuuummmbbllle) years ago… If the world holds onto its collective marbles for a while longer, we might get better.

One of the things I did was spend some time talking to my fisherman buddy about doing a joint garden in the spring. There is a plot across from his house he has permission to use and has used in the past. I showed him a couple of 100 gallon rain barrels and a 40 gallon tank on wheels we can fill from the lake and tow up to the garden. I’ve actually got another at home too that I could bring up. If we can do some rainwater capture, and supplement that with hauled water from the lake, that will save a bunch of money for irrigating with drinking water.

The time to plant a garden is BEFORE you are hungry.

And the time to stack is before you need it. Get some plans in the works…

nick

21 Comments and discussion on "Sat. Dec. 30,2023 – New Year’s Eve, eve…"

  1. drwilliams says:

    Coffee is a humanizing rite. 

  2. Greg Norton says:

    There should be a term for national weather patterns where youā€™re colder than us. Iā€™d call it the Hahaha Inversion Effect, but Iā€™m not that mean ā€“ I realize that you down there really arenā€™t able to handle the cold more than briefly, between lack of snowplows, shallow pipes, building codes, and so on. And, lately, the push for ā€œrenewableā€ electricity sources, which, very inconveniently, become less reliable just when theyā€™re most needed.

    Texas also has a vacuum of leadership at the state level with the exception of a few social issues that the RINOs use to keep the base coming back for more of the same every two years.

    Nothing has really changed since the February 2021 freeze debacle, and we face another similar extended holiday period coming up again with Lunar New Year, Ash Wednesday/Lent, and President’s Day in 2024. This time, however, everyone is looking forward to 10+ days off and/or ā€œworking from homeā€ instead of just a long weekend.

    Austin will be a ghost town after 4 PM on Thursday, Feb. 8 until (maybe) 8 AM on Tuesday Feb. 20. 

  3. MrAtoz says:

    drwilliams, is that a complete trilogy or is it an open-ended series which currently has three books? 

    The series is complete and should be read in order. Lee was brought up once before when we were talking about SciFi. He has other books I have enjoyed.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    44F and sunny clear this am.   Coffee incoming, eggs scrambledā€¦

    n

  5. Alan says:

    >> I guess Iā€™m getting smarter with age

    Me, I’m happy just to be getting older with age šŸ™‚ 

  6. Lynn says:

    One of the things I did was spend some time talking to my fisherman buddy about doing a joint garden in the spring. There is a plot across from his house he has permission to use and has used in the past. I showed him a couple of 100 gallon rain barrels and a 40 gallon tank on wheels we can fill from the lake and tow up to the garden. Iā€™ve actually got another at home too that I could bring up. If we can do some rainwater capture, and supplement that with hauled water from the lake, that will save a bunch of money for irrigating with drinking water.

    We are still under a drought in Texas.  My back pond at the office is still three feet down, the front pond is a foot down (bigger watershed).

  7. Lynn says:

    ā€œNavajo Nation president asks NASA to delay Moon launch over possible human remainsā€

       https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/30/decolonizing-the-moon/

    And the crazy marches on and on.

  8. Lynn says:

    ā€œTesla’s Cybertruck Involved In Its First Accident”

        https://www.pcmag.com/news/teslas-cybertruck-involved-in-its-first-accident

    “The driver of Cybertruck, however, does not appear to be at fault.ā€

    Mass wins.  Always.

  9. SteveF says:

    Listening to the news on the car radio this afternoon, I heard a blurb about Gropy Joe’s Department of Injustice blustering about pursuing all avenues against Texas and Greg Abbott because of Abbott’s order regarding intercept-detain-eject invaders. Abbott’s office replied with blah-blah-blah, which was a shame. They should have copied Musk’s three-word response to libtard CEOs.

  10. Ray Thompson says:

    Me, Iā€™m happy just to be getting older with age

    Me, Iā€™m happy just to be vertical with age

  11. RickH says:

    Me, Iā€™m happy just to be getting older with age

    Me, Iā€™m happy just to be vertical with age

    I’m happy to be seen and not viewed.

  12. SteveF says:

    Iā€™m happy to be seen and not viewed.

    Just prepare for the day when you are viewed: Arrange for a handful of tough-looking men in black suits to stand around your coffin and say, ā€œWe’re sorry, Boss. We messed up and couldn’t keep them from getting you.ā€

  13. Lynn says:

    ā€œSaturday Snippet – video, not written, but still criminalā€

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/12/saturday-snippet-video-not-audio-but.html

    ā€œYesterday, via MeWe, I came across a link to an 8m.25s. video on Twitter (or X, or whatever it is these days).  It shows in graphic detail what cops have to put up with these days when dealing with hardened criminals.  Note how the perpetrator knows exactly what “politically correct” phrases to say, and when to say them;  how to act out his “feelings” at being unable to breathe;  and how to essentially dare the cops to take stronger action against him, because he knows that if the ever-present cameras catch even one unprofessional incident, he can use it to get out of jail free due to “police brutality”.ā€

    Lovely, just lovely.

  14. Lynn says:

    ā€œā€˜Tremendously Damagingā€™: Hereā€™s The Most Aggressive Restrictions Bidenā€™s EPA Pushed On Americans In 2023ā€

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/12/29/tremendously-damaging-heres-the-most-aggressive-restrictions-bidens-epa-pushed-on-americans-in-2023/

    ā€œThe agency proposed or finalized rules that would spur the electric vehicle (EV) transition, decrease power grid reliability by imposing costly restrictions on power plants, tighten air quality standards and more in 2023. Under the Biden administration, the EPA has made considerable efforts to further regulations that would nominally help to counter climate change, often at the expense of the American economy, energy policy experts told the DCNF.ā€

    But we were born free !

  15. drwilliams says:

    drwilliams, is that a complete trilogy or is it an open-ended series which currently has three books? 

    ā€œThe series is complete and should be read in order. Lee was brought up once before when we were talking about SciFi. He has other books I have enjoyed.ā€

    Thanks @MrAtoZ!

  16. drwilliams says:

    I’ve rethought my advocation of closing the EPA in Jan 2025.

    There’s a better path:

    Presidential Order identifies an absolutely critical need to make progress on Superfund sites, creates new department within EPA to take charge. With the exception of one manager all EPA employees are transferred to the new department and permanently relocated to the states to focus on solving the problem. EPA gives up all office space in Washington, and the new legion of field employees will be housed in Motel-6 level motels formerly used by the illegal alien invaders. Baseline vehicle for field employees will be the Chevy Volt. Employees with inadequate skill sets  (writing white papers, disbursing grants, emitting CO2 in their breath) will be re-trained, starting with Basic Dirt Shoveling 101.

    No new rules will be issued or entertained until the nation’s top priority–clearing the Superfund backlog–is complete.

    The single remaining manager will be relocated to the BLM office in Missoula, MT (secretarial services provided by pool).

  17. Greg Norton says:

    ā€œNavajo Nation president asks NASA to delay Moon launch over possible human remainsā€

    And the crazy marches on and on.

    He wants a check. Bill Nelson will probably oblige him.

    Nelson is possibly the one person in the Administration further down the senility trail than Corn Pop.

  18. Lynn says:

    “We Shall Rise (11) (Black Tide Rising)” edited by John Ringo and Gary Poole
       https://www.amazon.com/River-Night-Black-Tide-Rising/dp/1982124792?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number eleven of a twelve book zombie fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2022. I will purchase and read future books in the series as they are released in MMPB. In addition, I will read any book written by John Ringo as I have read many of his 44 ??? books to date.

    There are many stories to be told in John Ringo’s fantasy series about a manmade zombie virus that spreads throughout the world like fire. This is the third anthology book with twelve short stories written by several authors.

    My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (617 reviews)

  19. drwilliams says:

    Cargo Ship Battling Li-Ion Fires in Hold Diverted to Alaska

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/12/30/cargo-ship-battling-li-ion-fires-in-hold-diverted-to-alaska-n601874

    Fire in #1 hold snuffed by CO2 system.

    Fire in #2 hold–no CO2 left.

    800 tons of lithium batteries on board.

  20. drwilliams says:

    The Saturday Night Joke
    ļ»æ
    A former Sergeant in the Marine Corps took a new job as a high school teacher.

    Just before the school year started, he injured his back. He was required to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body.
    Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn’t noticeable. On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in the school. The smart-aleck punks, having already heard the new teacher was a former Marine, were leery of him and he knew they would be testing his discipline in the classroom.

    Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, the new teacher opened the window wide and sat down at his desk. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he picked up a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.

    Dead silence………..

    The rest of the year went very smoothly.

    h/t to AoSHQ

  21. nick flandrey says:

    Ah, great story.   

    Someone yesterday mentioned steel cans as part of the cost for kerosene, but everything I’ve purchased in the last 2 years has been in plastic, 1 gallon, or 2.5.

    Somewhere I have  a 5 gallon round steel can, but I’ll be fooked if I can find it.

    Got a lot of little things done today while the weather was nice.   

    Even played some pool.

    n

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