Chilly and clear, then colder and colder until we all freeze to death. Or not. In any case, the forecast calls for more cold until the vortex hits, or the sun winks out, and it’s all because of global warming, or something. Not “winter” because that’s not climate… Yesterday started nice, but got pretty chilly in the afternoon. Colder after dark too.
I did some of my auction stuff. Then headed to my rent house to address the tenant’s issues. Cleared the slow bathroom drain. Found a hairball about 6 feet in. Looked at the security door not locking, and found that the house had shifted enough that the door frame was 1/2 inch out of square. There isn’t enough adjustment in the locking mechanism, so we’ll just wait for the house to shift back. The actual entry door still locks. Then I took a look at the clothes washer, which wasn’t agitating properly- mainly because the bolt holding it in place on the mechanism broke off and vanished. Unfortunately, after some more research, what is normally a straightforward and quick repair isn’t in this case. The bolt shaft seems to be still in the splined drive shaft, and that isn’t going to be quick or easy to fix. I don’t need a project either, so I’ll be shopping for another machine. Maybe one of the used appliance guys will give me some money for this one as all the other parts are still in good shape and worth money. It’s a Whirlpool and I am pretty sure we bought it used, so we got our money’s worth. I’ll swap it out soon enough.
Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting, then a couple of auction pickups, then I’ll be doing work around the house. I still have a couple of Christmas things up, and I need to properly store the stuff I took down already. As a point of reference, a nylon suit bag makes a pretty good storage bag for a medium sized artificial Christmas tree. Goodwill normally has them very cheap too. No need for a fancy-schmancy red tree storage bag… at least not for a $10 tree. It does look a bit more suspicious when you are carrying it.
On my way home from the rent house, I stopped in the Goodwill store in the Heights part of Houston. Nice tony area, with a younger, boho vibe… so the Goodwill gets some nice stuff. It’s worth a look when I’m in the area. I got lucky and picked up a pair of logger style Red Wing steel toe boots (4420), in my size, and in good shape with lots of wear left in them. All leather, with heavy rubber Vibram soles. Interior in great shape too. $15. Boots in similar size and condition are selling for around $100 on ebay, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less, but I’ll probably rehab them and keep them. Good sturdy footwear is an essential prep, and real rubber soles are hard to find. It’d be better if they were vintage and made in the USA, but they will make a nice backup to my other pair of logger boots. They are VERY heavy. They’ll live at the BOL. Duplication solves the issue of what to keep where 😉
I know that buying used isn’t everyone’s cuppa, but consider… do you really want to have or wear something obviously brand new when the economy is collapsing around you? Or does being the grey man mean wearing stuff that looks like it’s well used and not marking you out as different from everyone else. Consider the money savings too. Saving money means more preps, and more of the other things you’d like to buy. Consider that it might be a ‘nice to have’ or a backup, or duplicate of your existing preps, and not high enough priority that it makes sense to spend the money for new. Or consider that the new versions might be inferior to the older versions in terms of materials or workmanship. A lot of old tools are built much better than new ones.
There are things that make sense to buy new. If the hassle of replacing it is large, then getting the longest lifetime of use makes sense, IF the new will last longer than old. Things like HVAC units, and other infrastructure fall into this category. If features or capabilities are only available on new, and those things are important to you, then buy new. Sawstop technology on a tablesaw is an excellent example. There isn’t any real reason NOT to buy the Sawstop (for most woodworkers), the additional cost is far less than your insurance deductible even if they can save your fingers in the event of an accident. Imagine being maimed and thinking, I could be whole if I’d spent the extra money. Sometimes you want to be sure you aren’t buying someone else’s problems. Won’t guarantee you aren’t buying your OWN problems though.
The world is changing around us. Acknowledge that, embrace the good changes, reject the bad, and do the best you can with what you have.
Stack if you can, and do it in a way that is an efficient use of your resources.
nick
Picking up some discussions from yesterday:
Well, it’s not totally unrealistic. The military offers lots of opportunities. The thing is: he would have to put in at least, say, 10 years in the military, working towards his goal. Plus, he would have to actually be competent enough that he gets the responsibilities he wants. Lacking the effort or the competence, well…
Raise your hand, if you remember OFD’s adventures with the IRS. Just randomly finding his bank account emptied, for example. As I recall, he always got the money back, but it still led to unpaid bills, missed mortgage payments, etc..
Which part of “illegal” did they not understand. The only thing you should do with an illegal immigrant is deport them.
Here, part of the problem is that the illegals know to apply for asylum when they get caught. That puts them on a years-long delay, because you have to prove they don’t actually need asylum.
I don’t know if it has any chance, but Switzerland is at least considering creating a facility in some African country, where these people would have to stay during the process. That would make it a *lot* less attractive, which would (long term) reduce the number of applicants down to those who actually do need asylum. Which, in turn, would make the process a lot faster and more efficient for those people.
Soon the sounds of J Philip Sousa marches will fill the air. Is there nothing the kazoo cannot do?
Almost nothing, and for the rest, there is the schalmei…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinshorn
With regards to lyrics for the original “Star Trek” theme song, they exist and were written by Gene Roddenberry for less than honorable reasons. The story below:
https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2022/01/23/why-gene-roddenberry-wrote-lyrics-to-star-trek-the-original-series-theme-song/
Don’t give Jar Jar Abrams any leeway to futher pollute the legacy.
Paramount announced another Bad Reboot/”Kelvin” movie this week, but, sadly, it won’t be the Tarantino remake of “A Piece of the Action”.
Don’t mess with the music from “Giligan’s Island” either, whose composers included “Johnny” Williams and Gerald Fried.
There’s a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights…
Amputation fetish is a thing.
I once saw a journal article on that flipping through a cr*p publication before tossing it into the recycle bin.
At our house, the list of cr*p publications starts with JAMA so it could have been that rag.
One disturbing trend I’ve seen at cons recently is women who identify as men, some getting the surgery and hormones, but still competing as very female characters in cosplay contests hoping to land a gig on the professional “player” circuit or in Hollywood.
Taxes and the elimination of natural gas use in the home, which is much harder to control at an individual address level than electricity.
Atmos did cut gas flows to Fancy Lad subdivisions in Leander during the 2021 freeze, but they’ve never really explained the rationale for that other than an unusual spike in demand jeopardizing the supply grid.
BTW, the politicians in Austin were putting on a pretty good show on local Faux News last night.
In the US, a lot of leeway is given to Venezuelan nationals as of late because of a few prominent expats involved in conservative circles, and the Republicans buy into the concept that the refugees wouldn’t be automatic Dem voters once established in this country, believing that the diaspora’s integration would be similar to how the Cubans assimilated over the last 60 years.
Venezuelans are not Cubans, but try telling that to a RINO.
On shipping containers:
During my first tour in Koreas as a battalion S4 ( logistics officer), we purchased shipping containers for each company in the battalion for gear storage. My solution to placing was 3” of gravel, leveled, with 4×4’s down the length for support and keep the bottom off the ground. That worked fine. Those containers had doors at both ends and one in the middle. My Korean workers built three compartments in each for a company’s three platoons.
Fast forward to Las Vegas and the Downtown Container Park. If you are bored in Vegas, and want to see what can be done with shipping containers, visit the DCP. It has/had one main entrance, with staff to keep out the riffraff, and one-way turnstile exits around the park. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, so things may operate differently. The Twins needed to attend a jazz concert for Music 101 at UNLV and there happened to be a concert there. It was at night, so I dropped them off out front and had to park on a side street with the riffraff. The sided street lighting and buildings have a definite “CSI” vibe. They located CSI in Vegas for a reason. Inside was bright, cheery, with a play area for little ones and a stage for concerts. Around the outside the containers went as high as three stories with walkways. All stores. Not a bad idea. I think they placed it NE of Strip to try and lure people into the jungle.
Isn’t Gold and Silver Pawn out that way? I swear I remember reading that Rick Harrison was involved with the container park in some capacity.
To me, you can thank goobermint involvement at every level for representing Alphabet People for more than what they are. Federal funds to encourage and promote mutilation. State funds for trans surgery for prisons. Local funds for Pride Parades, etc. Without goobermint money and influence, there would not be a screeching Gay Mafia for more than equal rights. Alphabet’s like to squawk how we are all on a gender spectrum. That is a lie promoted by the small percentage of people who are LGB that want more than equal rights. Think reparations for the QWERTY folks.
It is East of the Strip, but not as far North, if I remember correctly. A group of us went there once. Meh. Why would I wait in line, surrounded by security thugs, at a pawn shop. None of the “stars” were there. I guess they only show up by appointment for filming.
I forgot our pussyfied military. The best way to transition. Then claim you need to get out because your “man period” is so rough on you. LOL!
About the problem with illegal aliens mentioned above: Where does the USA constitution say: We the people of the USA and those criminally sneaking in ……………..”.
Wearing my Kennedy Meadows tee shirt today, purchased here: https://www.facebook.com/KennedyMeadowsGeneralStore
I’ve been driving 4WDs for 50 years and they are different from AWDs. If you want the difference, let me know and I’ll post back.
A true sign of mental illness is transwomen suffering a period. Even buying hygiene supplies and using tomato juice or other red liquids to simulate a period. And goobermint and public schools insisting on, and getting, women’s hygiene supplies in the mens bathrooms. The Alphabet people took a page out of the commie playbook and infiltrated the goobermint at all levels and took over without firing a shot.
Let’s not forget Justice Brennan‘s footnote on “anchor” babies. Run over the border and drop your baby and it is a natural born citizen. tRump has squawked he will get that eliminated. I think that is the right way to go, just like RvW, which doesn not make abortion illegal anywhere, btw. Unfortunately, only the hated tRump mentions the anchors.
Rick Harrison lives in Oregon, not far from Coos Bay.
A survivalist publication profiled his “off grid” compound within the last 4-5 years. I’m sure the Googles or the Duck would have the link for anyone curious.
Under Biden, the VA has been under pressure to provide transwomen with the full gynecological experience, complete with the pelvic exam in the stirrups, but the management has been able to push back on that one because of the resources involved for procedures which are medically unnecessary and, as is, the clinics do not have enough resources to cover those procedures for genetic women.
I don’t remember if the private OB/GYN “experience” is covered, but private practice doctors can refuse to see a genetic male where the VA has to oblige once a procedure gets approved, no matter how bonkers.
When Corn Pop first took office, I remember overhearing one conference call at the house where the management was trying to stir up an AIDS “crisis” to placate the new bosses. That went nowhere, but VA management could at least say they tried.
@Casper
I’d never read that 2022 story.
The 2000 interview with Alexander Courage is good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvftpMe97_0
he talks about the recording session, the band, and personally doing the sound effect for the “swoosh” when the Enterprise goes by the camera.
But the dispute over the lyrics is laid out in this 1999 Snopes entry:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/unthemely-behavior/
More tarnish for the legend of Saint Gene.
Getting pulled into another link I found a discussion about a “lost” script from D.C. Fontana:
“When Dr. McCoy discovers that Captain Kirk has taken an interest in his daughter, he warns him off but not because she’s his daughter. Instead he says that Joanna is a witch like her mother and that’s why he left. He added that she was no good and would cut his heart out and carry it around in a jar. Pretty harsh words from a father who had only seen his daughter three times in her life.”
Sounds like D.C. knew something about bad relationships.
An I also did some searching but did not find that the drama of the rediscovery of the original 3-foot model of the Enterprise–allegedly found in poor condition in a storage locker and briefly offered for sale on eBay–has been resolved.
more tiny limp danglers trying to be big swingers:
https://redstate.com/jeffc/2024/01/12/ohio-swat-team-raids-wrong-house-seriously-injures-baby-with-flashbang-grenade-and-denies-responsibility-n2168653
The Johnson Space Center visitor center in Houston has the restored Galileo shuttle, but don’t make any plans for a special trip to see it without checking that the vehicle is on display.
“D.C.” was a woman.
The Jar Jar Abrams 2009 movie establishes the McCoy divorce as the source of the name “Bones”, but I had to wonder if the Kiwi improvised that line which was too good to throw away once captured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlphfLO3MYA
Okay movie, but terrific casting. I understand why Tarantino offered to make a “Star Trek” movie outside of his self-imposed 10 film career limit as long as he could use that cast.
I know exactly what Tarantino would have done with “A Piece of the Action”, with a rumored different contaminant introduced into the Iotian culture in the form of 70s exploitation flicks.
“Blackula” would have to top the list given its “Star Trek” ties.
I watched a YT video, hosted by Battle Born Batteriers IIRC, with a limited tour of the property. Hydro 24/7 was cool, but could be a major maintenance issue in the future. Harrison was expanding his electric storage with BBBs. No Tesla Walls as far as I could see.
There is more and more use of “swatting” people that are unclean to the Alphabet People. Police/Fed SWAT teams are looking like the Keystone Kops. Do they even check on who calls it in? Do they even recon the location? Any “swat” level call where the caller won’t identify itself should be ignored.
The Hollywood legend is that Roddenberry’s lawyer reviewed and had final approval for every script in the first season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
Unfortunately, between burner phones and the callers misidentifying themselves intentionally, 911 operators can’t verify the truth of the call.
They often identify themselves as the swatting victim, and claim suicide, hostage taking, murder/suicide in progress.
Any police department that doesn’t have a list of prominent or noteworthy potential swatting victims is incompetent.
I suppose it’s progress, of a sort, that PLTs are getting swatted now, not just conservatives.
Fat posturing billionaire hypocrite whines about getting what he wanted:
“Pritzker signed a bill in 2021 that made Illinois the “most welcoming state in the nation” for illegal aliens.”
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/01/13/illinois-governor-pritzker-slams-governor-abbott-in-letter-and-then-asks-for-mercy-n604672
There’s not one Democrat voter out of a hundred in Chicago that put any thought before voting for this pious servant of the people who knows that they can be counted on to do the same thing next time and can be safely screwed over as resources are diverted to illegally giving the alien invaders the cover to vote and ensure the Democrats maintain power.
Re Nick’s opening remarks about new vs used, I have always bought used cars (except one case under special circumstances.) I not only save on the initial purchase, I avoid early problems typical of new cars, plus the hassles of warranties.
Example, I have a car where a tiny percentage of the engine family had a serious problem that always manifested by 4,000 miles, requiring replacement. Having a new car with a dealer-replaced engine would spoil the new-car feeling for me. No thanks. I like that mine is proven to not have that problem.
Speaking of new-car feeling, I took a friend out of town to pick up his new car, and it had 73 miles already on it! IMO, he paid new price for a car that was used. For what? Test drives? No thanks.
I will admit that my method requires a lot of careful shopping, but that is just part of the fun, the thrill of the hunt.
I have become very selective from experience, but I used to buy, shall we say, well-used cars. Not as much now. I also like that I can buy examples that are no longer being made. I have decades to choose from. Many of these cars are having love lavished on them by their current owners, who want to see them go to a good home.
Pardon me while I go to the garage and dust our daily driver for dinner out tonight. 🙂
SWAT-teams mostly should not exist. There are very, very few situations where violently breaking into a home can be justified.
Being at the wrong address? Utterly inexcusable. Grovel, and pay up. Not only the department, but also personal liability for whoever is responsible for the mistake.
Related: I never understood BLM making a hero out of Floyd, when they had Breonna.
The state, county, and city will all continue to see bailouts regardless of which party wins in November.
And don’t hold your breath waiting for the Orange Man to do anything differently. He has one of the best pieces of real estate in Chicago, the site of the old Chicago Sun Times building.
Freeze the opening shot of this video, one of the “postcard” angles of the city skyline. The Sun Times is the first building on the left bank of the river, just past the bridge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCA9_OxNio
Later in the video, the place where Gene Siskel gets into the cab is now the location of the Chicago Apple Store.
More holiday winter “storm” fallout in Austin – everyone is out of propane this weekend.
Two Texas football teams in the playoffs probably doesn’t help the situation.
A dime probably got dropped this morning. The NFL and CBS can’t afford a “Texas” Super Bowl. I’m guessing the phone rang in The Colony.
The Yucs would have received the same call earlier this week. The TV money isn’t in Tampa without Brady.
“D.C.” was a woman.
Yup. Dorothy Fontana. Arguably a key component in the success of Star Trek both long and short term.
As writer of several classic scripts and story editor for half the first and all of the second season she was indispensable. When she left the quality of the third season took a dive, despite her being writer or co-writer for several episodes. Her absence meant that she wasn’t doing the uncredited script polishing that made the characters and their interactions believable. Her “Journey to Babel” gave much of the definition to Spock’s backstory and pointed to way not only for his development but Sarek’s as well. Without D.C. Fontana, Mark Lenard’s contribution to the Star Trek oeuvre would be a footnote as a Romulan commander.
She did an early rewrite of Ellison’s “City” script. I’ve never had the time to study it, but I strongly doubt that the relationships between Kirk, Elizabeth Keeler, Spock and McCoy as portrayed on the small screen came out of Ellison’s pages.
She was largely responsible for the success of the animated series, and contributed scripts to a number of other science fiction series. Her bad experience with Battlestar Galactica reportedly warned several famous writers off.
She wrote the initial draft for the STNG premier, “Encounter at Far Point”. She argued for and got an associate producer’s credit for STNG, but the fallout caused her to leave the show, and contributed to tarnishing Saint Gene’s rep.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150315082117/http://wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4799
She may have broken the Hollywood ground for women writers, but she needs no qualifier: Dorothy Fontana was a fine writer.
Breonna is vastly more complex situation which has taken more time to vet. BLM probably won’t even exist anymore by the time the second attempt at a Federal trial begins later this year … if it happens at all.
The first trial, which ended with a hung jury due to lack of evidence, was probably a gift to the Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshar, who ran for reelection last fall as the case hit the courtroom.
Beshar is another name that comes up in the VP calculus for the Dems, yet another dim bulb US pol with unfulfilled Daddy ambition problems, put into office four years ago with a narrow margin mostly because voters were fond of the father.
“Two Texas football teams in the playoffs probably doesn’t help the situation.”
Makes no difference to me. College football ruined decades of bowl tradition by going to the NC bucks, and the images of supposedly big tough football players getting pussified and kneeling on the sidelines because they wouldn’t stand up to the woke rabble almost got my tv Elvised.
For all you four wheelers, a splash from the past:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=M5wBHmHGlGs
Found this at random. I didn’t know Top Gear went back so far. Two surprises at the end. There will always be an England!
I stocked up on ribeyes for the coming “cold” week in San Antonio. I’ve got my big Anker “solar” generator topped off for juice. A couple of Mr. Heater Buddy propane heaters. Some “green” propane canisters. 2+ 20gl propane tanks and an adapter for the heaters. A propane steak cooker and an electric smoker. The Anker might not power up the smoker for a 3-hour rack of ribs, but I think it might. I also have two induction cooking plates I can pan fry a ribeye in. Bacon and eggs are on hand, too. The Anker will easily power the covfefe pot. Plus charge the iPad(s). Dogs have plenty of food laid in.
MrsAtoz is on gigs in Cacafornia all next week.
D3 has paid for a trip to Disney World at the end of January. We are staying at the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve. A steakhouse is a short walk away. MrsAtoz and I may spend the 5 days right there while D3 (and MIL) and family go park hopping.
Lynn, or anyone, did you say that Stranger Things season 4 was good? I thought that S1 was good, S2 was bad, and S3 was wretched. I hesitate to start watching S4 if it’s not worth the twelve hours or so. (Or less, if I rage quit. I watched all of S3, thinking that it would redeem itself at the end because of what some others had said, but it didn’t.)
Overnight low here in Olympic Peninsula (WA) was 8F. High today forecast for 17F. Slow ‘warm up’ to just above freezing (day/night) on Tue/Wed, with maybe 2″ of snow forecast for Tuesday possible. That turns to showers and slightly warmer through the week, so that will help clear the snow and ice.
Local Public Utility District warnings of near capacity usage yesterday through the weekend, asking folks to reduce power usage. Some scattered outages in the general area, but PUD is responding well. FLASHLIGHTS and generator (with 15 gallons gas total) at the ready.
Roads still icy in spots – too cold for salt to melt the ice enough for the snow plows to get rid of the ice. Only the main roads are being plowed. “Minor” streets not being plowed; priorities are main thoroughfares (county roads) and highways (done by the state).
Two inches of snow on the ground from the storm at my house; not melting due to the cold. Staying home, but have to travel on Monday 30 miles for wife doctor appt. That route on state highways, so should be OK. The 2019 Highlander with AWD and ‘snow’ mode should handle things OK, with cautious driving.
Well above freezing here. Rained yesterday, last night, and most of the morning. The ground is pretty squishy. Sky cleared late morning so I let the birds out while I did chores and then just read while making sure they stayed in the yard. Then the sky darkened in the course of a few minutes. Then the pelting rain started, followed a minute and a half later by hail, large enough to sting when it hit. The chickens were milling around until I told them “go home!” and shooed them that way, then they ran toward the run and zipped right in. Except for two, who got confused and went into the bushes. It took me several minutes to get them out and headed in the right direction, pelted by rain and hail the whole time, but they were glad to get under cover. I found an hour later that one of the other hens had come back out of the run while I was getting the two lost lambs. I saw her walking on the patio, trying to get into the run, looking soaked and bedraggled. She ran up as soon as I went outside and whistled.
I whistle a particular way to get their attention, such as to bring them into the garden or to point out worms on the driveway. They sometimes look and sometimes come. More often than not, not. However, incidents like the above lead me to suspect that they do understand what the whistle means, it’s just that they usually ignore me. I have raised children, so I recognize this pattern.
I liked S04 of ST more than 2 and 3, as you said. I thought the Russia plot with Hopper was the best.
You might like it. Give it a shot.
S05 probably takes place after 11 turns 30 and has a Masters Degree. Sheesh, about two years between seasons is ridiculous. Remember when your favorite TV show was every year and had 22+ hour (42 min) episodes? Now actors want millions for an 8-10 episode season.
I like “Stray Horses” with Gary Oldman on Apple. But 6 episode seasons? Give me a break.
We are forecasted to get 3.5″ of snow on Monday. We will not get above freezing until Thursday after the snow event. The low on Wednesday will be 5F. That is really cold for here.
Friday they closed the schools because of predicted wind gusts of 60+ MPH. The schools were concerned about the buses being affected by the wind. It never happened in our area and the parents were upset, but not the students. I understand the school administration has to err on the side of caution and rely on the experts and their predictions. If school was in session, and a bus had an accident everyone would have been on the school administration like corruption in the Biden family.
There are 10 days built into the school year for snow days. The school should use them if there is a chance of problems.
Yes, it should. I have used snow mode on my 2013 AWD Highlander and everything was OK. The biggest issue here is the numbnuts in their 4WD pickemup trucks. They think they can drive in the snow without issues. Going may work for them. Stopping is the same as all other vehicles on the road. They all have 4 wheel brakes. I would more concerned about the other idiots than yourself.
When I was living on the farm my uncle had developed a particular call for the cattle to come. And they generally would. Really helped when moving the cattle to another field. A few calls and they would come running. It also helped that we had two Border Collies that really knew how to herd. If we had issues we would tell the dogs to get the cows and off the dogs would go.
We never trained the dogs, it was just something they knew instinctively. They were outside dogs preferring to stay in their dog houses in the coldest of weather. They had really thick hair.
Your electric company is called PUD?
Well, I can’t come up with anything better than being 14 and laughing at a certain planet’s name. And a Michael Jackson song called “Beat It”. 🙂
PUD = Public Utility District. Common suffix for the utility name. In our case, the county name pre-pends the suffix.
“Get your mind out of the gutter; you’re crowding me”
( actually spoken by a cartoon dog named Droopy in the 1943 short film “Dumb Patrol.” Droopy is known for his slow, monotone voice and deadpan humor. The line in question is delivered in response to another character, Wolf, making suggestive comments. Droopy’s sardonic wit and unexpected retorts often provide the comedic punchline in his cartoons.
I remember Droopy Dog.
If you head to the parks, be aware that Disney is gaming the Genie system as they turn over the seat cushions in Burbank looking for spare change to stave off Bankruptcy.
When we were on the property for a conference at the end of March last year, waiting for my wife before heading to lunch, I overheard one doctor’s spouse kvetching to another about paying ~ $200 on top of admission tickets to get a decent sampling of the big rides in the Magic Kingdom the day before.
Yeah, Spring Break, but I’ve heard from AP holder friends that Christmas was a big money grab too.
New (to us) places we ate were Raglan Road, the splurge of the trip, and the Portillo’s, not far from the Lake Buena Vista entrance at the new strip mall area which replaced Crossroads.
Oh, yeah, Crossroads was erased from existence a few years ago, but DeSantis isn’t in a big hurry to start on the I-4 offramp which is supposed to replace the shopping center.
@MrAtoZ: Sounds like your place is the place to be! Mmmm, ribeye…
Just make sure you check those Chinese import hoses on your adapters for leaks, I’ve had a couple that were bad right out of the plastic wrap, and none of them last more than a year or two now.
Just a wind storm here in the California high desert, but my niece sent me a picture of the garden thermometer at my sisters place in Greenwater, Wa., 2F right now.
p.s. I wonder if lp hoses made for automotive use are better quality?
Roddenberry did a lot of things, good and bad, but the Stage 8/9 era producers weren’t saints, and the less said about Jar Jar Abrams/Bad Reboot the better.
If you doubt the talent of Roddenberry as a writer, go back and watch “The Savage Curtain” and wait for the line of the original series, which is possibly more profound now than 55 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BBOWsWODX4
Nichelle Nichols nails it.
It was 36F this morning as I headed out.
Had a great meeting, got volunteered to do a website revamp. Oy. Gonna need some help there.
Did my auction pickups, then hit the bins. I needed one more suit bag for the last Christmas tree, and I got it. Also picked up about 60 more DVDs from my youth, many in shrinkwarp. Picked up a couple of Van Halen albums too. Lots of people there on a Saturday afternoon, so no great scores, but a bag of stuff that will be useful.
Wife and D2 headed out on time. Hope they have fun.
Now to get down the last of the decor and put it away.
Maybe I’ll eat something first though.
n
Nick:
Questions that need answers. Maybe not public ones, but for yourself.
W1 and D2 at a remote site over a weekend containing a weather event. Without you.
Do they know what you’ve got stored up there? And how to find what’s needful? You’ve already indicated W is handy with tools, so that’s good, but she needs to find the tools and supplies that are necessary.
Is the BOL easily weatherized to avoid freezing problems in the event of power failure? Particularly water pipes. What happens if power is out and no one is there?
Same questions about your freezer up there. What happens if power goes out for more than 24 hours?
Nope. Get stuff done before the front arrives.
Not sure about When it arrives, it’s 60f now. But tonight is forecasted (yes, that’s a word) (and I predict it will catch on) to be 20f and a whopping 27f tomorrow.
Time for a double check on faucets /and/ give the bird an extra large scoop of food.
I went to Lowe’s to swap out our spare propane tank, but they were out. I guess there was a run before the snow comes.
I had meatballs for lunch, and grabbed a jar of spaghetti sauce from the pantry. Purchased at Costco, and had an expiration date of 2022. The seal was fine. after opening, there was some crusty stuff around the top edge that I scraped away. The color of the sauce looked good, it smelled fine, and tasted fine. It’s been almost 7 hours since lunch, so I say we call it good.
“You might want to strap on … I mean strap in.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_zWPfd6OWY
Be sure to buy a copy for the kids next week.
To paraphrase another comic book film bomb from a generation ago … which seems like friggin’ Shakespeare in comparison to “The Marvels”:
Disney has a blind date with Bankruptcy … and it looks like she just ordered the lobster.
If your area is dependent on the Colonial or Plantation pipelines for the gasoline supply, you may want to top off the tank before the fun begins tomorrow afternoon in Texas.
Dont know where our gas comes from, but I always fill up on Friday after work, and I never go below half a tank. I also have a decent emergency reserve of approximately 14 gallons sitting in the Corvette’s tank, it is trivial to siphon out.
@lpdbw – given that she’s literally at the BOL, she should be fine, but they are good questions nevertheless.
For truly needful things, fishing neighbor will step in from his safe. Until I get secure storage there, mine stay with me, and W won’t carry.
For alt heat and other preps, she knows where the MrBuddys are, the 1 pound bottles, and the kero heater. Lighting she can provide. (I will be taking the long hose and MrBuddy filters up with me next trip to run the heat off the BBQ bottles if needed. *
The freezers are supposed to hold for 36 hours without power, and there are two gennies there. One in the garage, one new one in the shed with the gas. Neighbor can help if she can’t figure it out. She ran ours here during IKE while I was in china… The local rural co-op is pretty good about getting power back on, even during the big freeze they only lost power for a few hours.
For this particular event, they have their cold weather camping gear with them, including their food and stoves.
WRT the water, I put the hose bibs on a separate loop of pex so I can shut them off and drain them. If we had to drain the house, it’s close one valve, open another. SUPPOSEDLY she’s aware of the steps… although I already drained the hose bibs.
If she wasn’t paying attention when we went thru the stuff, she’s clever enough to figure it out, and fishing neighbor is close by if she needed to go to his place.
All good questions though.
n
*medium term plan for alt heat HERE is to add a connection at the fireplace for a Mr Buddy nat gas unvented heater sized for home use. I’ve already got it, currently stored at the secondary location. Medium term plan at the BOL is to do the same, add another gas line drop, for the Mr Buddy indoor unit in the living room (I didn’t win this unit last week but I’m sure another will pop up in an auction,) OR since the BOL is propane, one of the smaller Mr Buddy heaters with the adapter hose should work. Long term at the BOL is install the wood stove.
Honest, even though I’m a gub nut, I was thinking of needful things as food, water, heat, and cooking supplies and equipment.
Although TBH I also thought about defense.
Oh, well all those things are there in abundance.
n
Lessee, for SteveF that is probably the size of bowling balls? 😉
Heh. The biggest that I saw were about pea-sized, probably small peas. Hard to say, as the air was around 40F and the ground was soaked so they were melting as I watched.
I was wearing a sweatshirt and a felt stetson and a pair of light work gloves, so I was pretty well covered. Legs were bare but they’re always bare and are toughened up pretty well. When I leaned over to chase the simpletons out of the bushes, I got pinged on the neck and ears a few times. Several of the birds were squawking and one was flapping right after the hail started, so either they got nailed in the head or feet or they were hit hard enough to feel it through the feathers.
But does someone know where everything is? Know how to light the fireplace or camp stove or whatever? Know to shut off water and drain the system if the power goes out and the house can’t be heated?
I’ve been going over things with my daughter, everything from the combination of the lockbox with emergency cash to the location of the water, gas, and electricity shutoffs to the daily tasks for keeping the chickens alive. My wife’s and mother-in-law’s brain rot makes them unreliable for things that have to be done, so it falls on my daughter if I’m not at the house.
@ITGuy1998
“there was some crusty stuff around the top edge”
The three jars of sauce I bought last Saturday in the afternoon and opened in the evening to make lasagna had a ring of thickened, not actually dried sauce.
“Remember when your favorite TV show was every year and had 22+ hour (42 min) episodes? Now actors want millions for an 8-10 episode season.”
More like 26 52-min episodes.
“The Best Silkpunk Books” by Dan Livingston
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/the-best-silkpunk-books/
“There are a couple of science fiction books in this list, but right now, most silkpunk stories are fantasy. Here be dragons.”
“Author Ken Liu freely admits that he came up with the term “silkpunk” to sell his book The Grace of Kings. The publisher needed a way to sell the book, and “silkpunk” was Liu’s answer.”
Out of the fifteen books, I have 11. “The Windup Girl” by Paulo Bacigalupi – 2009 and 9. “The Three-Body Problem” by Cixin Liu – 2008 in my SBR (strategic book reserve).
“Starlink Mini Dish Coming Later This Year, Elon Musk Says”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-mini-dish-coming-later-this-year-elon-musk-says
“The dish will be small enough to fit into a backpack, SpaceX’s CEO says. Musk also talks about the upcoming cellular Starlink service, which will offer 7Mbps in bandwidth per cell.”
So in order to use to use your cell with Starlink, you have to use a powered antenna and haul around a car battery. Gotcha.
“As for the regular Starlink service, Musk said a major goal is to reduce the system’s latency to under 20 milliseconds. To do so, the company is building more “gateway” stations connected to fiber networks on the ground. These ground stations can then beam the high-speed internet to Starlink satellites in orbit.”
If they reduce the latency then that will make Starlink the premier Internet service across the planet.
>> I don’t know if it has any chance, but Switzerland is at least considering creating a facility in some African country, where these people would have to stay during the process.
@brad, what country is this? What’s in it for them? Whose paying for the plane(?) tickets?
>> Amputation fetish is a thing.
Has been for a while. See the “Penthouse” magazine reference. All this information from a friend, of course…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4094630/
“Not Conflict Resolution”
https://areaocho.com/not-conflict-resolution/
“This guy, who is supposed to be interested in conflict resolution, is advocating for the one thing that is guaranteed to cause more conflict than any other single thing that the government could do. Clueless, but the left’s ideas usually are.”
Repealing the Second Amendment would cause an immediate Civil War in the USA.
What is the government going to do about cows? Cows belch and fart massive amounts of methane. The piles of manure that must be collected produce large amounts of methane. Common knowledge to anyone that has lived on a farm.
I produce methane. Am I going to be fined for producing excess methane? How are they going to measure? Will there be a line item on the IRS 1040? Or will there just be a surcharge at Mexican restaurants?
Cows ? We don’t need any stinking cows. Why would we need cows in our utopia ? Everyone will eat Kale and love it.
>> Repealing the Second Amendment would cause an immediate Civil War in the USA.
@lynn, start carrying at your local Post Office…just in case, you know, somebody there ‘goes postal.’
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/01/13/bruen-strikes-again-ban-on-guns-in-post-offices-tossed-out-ruled-unconstitutional-n2168690
I’ve been driving 4WDs for 50 years and they are different from AWDs. If you want the difference, let me know and I’ll post back.
My F-150 is a 4WD. My buddy has the limited F-150 with the Raptor engine (+100 hp) and the Raptor AWD / 4WD transmission with the extra AWD notch on his round selector. I am wondering how they change 4WD to AWD and does it have a real 4WD ?
I know what 4WD is and what AWD is. I am just wondering how Ford combines them in the F-150.
Lynn, or anyone, did you say that Stranger Things season 4 was good? I thought that S1 was good, S2 was bad, and S3 was wretched. I hesitate to start watching S4 if it’s not worth the twelve hours or so. (Or less, if I rage quit. I watched all of S3, thinking that it would redeem itself at the end because of what some others had said, but it didn’t.)
S1 and S2 were awesome (except when they killed Sean Astin). S3 was weird except for the Russian scenes (good). S4 was good, the Siberian scenes were awesome, the trailer park scenes were nasty evil.
I had forgotten how we felt about Russia in the 1980s. The series has brought back a lot of memories about Reagan and such. Not bad memories, just crazy stuff.
It was 36F this morning as I headed out.
It was 65 F when I got my lazy ass out of bed at 2 pm. It was 34 F when I went to bed at 4 am. The wife fed me brunch of freshly cooked corn fritters and turkey bacon while mentioning that she was getting ready to drag my lazy ass (she probably said go wake me up, she is a nice lady) out of bed.
Then I went over to a friend’s house to watch the Houston Texans beat the snot out of the Cleveland Browns in a proper covered stadium where it is always 72 F on his 75 inch tv. Next week, the Baltimore Ravens will probably beat the snot out of the Texans in six inches of snow at 15 F in their uncovered stadium.
Just finished watching Robocop and Real Genius with D1. She liked Real Genius a lot, was kinda meh on Robocop. And really, so was I. Couple of good gags, and real funny to see the time capsule of the future that could have been…
And what they missed. Detroit, yup, a hellhole. But not black gangs fighting each other while zombie junkies slump in trash filled streets, and the muzzie call to prayer rings out over the city… endless Reagan bashing, I’d forgotten how much the commie left hated the star wars defense program. No cell phones, no flat screens… shoulder pads and floofy hair…
and an almost japanese fetishizing of big guns.
n
Methane: I have never understood the burnoffs you see at wells. That’s a valuable resource just being wasted. If a well is worthwhile enough to build an oil pipeline to it, capturing the volatiles and sending them through a second pipeline next to the first should be a trivial additional cost. If the current legislation would require capturing those volatiles, then it makes sense to me. Bonus: the company gets more stuff to sell: not only hydrocarbons like methane but also helium, which is in increasingly short supply.
To an outsider, the oil industry is weird anyway. I have fractions of interests on at least a dozen different plots in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle. Apparently no longer useful, as I get nearly nothing from them. What I find weird, is that the name of the company sending the checks changes constantly. I get a bankruptcy notice, and the next check has a different name on it. Seriously strange…
The oil pipeline became a political football as it is. I don’t understand why the Feds have any say so in that matter. Peter Zeihan’s many Youtube presentations points to the satellite night view of North Dakota where the impression is that a massively dense population is there. As you know there are no significant numbers of folks living there. The bright light emanating from ND is the waste flare off of gas.
(As an aside, his analysis of demographics and geographic realities is quite compelling. I’m not sure his thoughts on fiat finance is as well reasoned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXtScb_IZdg&t=16s&pp=ygUMcGV0ZXIgemVpaGFu or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdP01go8wdQ )
Collecting, compressing and capturing that gas for distribution hundreds of miles away is the definition of an uneconomic investment. At 2,3 or even 6 dollars per MBTU for gas vs $80+ per barrel of oil is the reality that makes gas a waste product. More is the pity.