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Month: January 2024

Thur. Jan. 11, 2024 – meatspace baby! Get out there and talk to people…

Cold and wet. Again. Or at least cold. Chance we might have another dry day like yesterday, with wind and sun. But we are definitely headed toward much colder. Because, it’s JANUARY and the middle of winter. Even in Texas.

Despite a nap, I did manage to get stuff done yesterday. I did a drop off at my auctioneer. I went by my storage unit and got some stuff out. Ran the kid to her things. Even stopped at a regular Goodwill store with her and got some T-shirts for her, some nice Allen Edmond shoes for me, a couple of LPs for resale, and a piece of artwork that is worth more than I thought. Case of beer money, nothing huge, but it definitely didn’t look like anything more than a pop culture print. I mention it mainly because I’ve said there was little left in the stores worth buying, but yesterday I got lucky.

I also met another pipe enthusiast. The guy in front of me at checkout had a pipe rack in his cart. I mentioned it, and it turns out he was buying for himself. Young guy too. Transitioning from cigars to pipes… which seems to be the path a lot of commentors on the youtube pipe channels are taking. It’s cheaper, smells better in a room, and there are cultural aspects that I’m trying to sort out… but it’s definitely a growing subculture.

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One interesting aspect of my shopping trip was D1’s reaction… She’s like “you just talked to that guy, and had a conversation and now you exchanged phone numbers? How does that happen so fast?? He volunteered his number and offered to buy something from you!” (guy was interested in seeing the pipes I’ve been working on to flip) “and then you had a chat with the cashier about California and the places you used to live and found out where she lived, how long she’s been here, and all that, just like that???” “Is that how it is for adults?” “How do you make friends so quickly??”

Well, I didn’t make friends, I made contact with people that COULD be turned into friendships… if I was looking I guess I could have further pursued the cashier (female), and I’ve already exchanged a couple of pipe related texts with the guy. I didn’t do anything weird or tricky, I just said “hi” in a way that engaged them for a couple of minutes, and had a brief friendly chat. I found a shared interest, pipes, and living in California, used that to make a few remarks, and let them make a few back. Friendly chitchat, nothing out of the ordinary or unusual… “making conversation” is what it used to be called. Except that I guess it IS out of the ordinary for kids today, and maybe for adults too. The phone number exchange would have been business cards just a couple of years ago, or if the guy was closer to my age, but it is easier for one person to just send a text to the other person’s phone, and then get a reply. It occurs to me that it’s the third time in a month that I had a younger person share contact info with me that way.

I wasn’t always able to just have a quick interaction with people like that. I had to work at it for a long time and specifically in work and business settings. That helped in non-business stuff too, and now I just do it. Could be because I sit at home alone so much of the day that I make up for lack of in person contact by trying to connect for at least a moment with others when I have a chance. Or it could be that the things that kept me from doing it in the past are no longer important to me. Not caring about some things can be very freeing… And if you have a lot of interactions, each one has less “weight” for lack of a better word- less of me is at risk in each one. In any case, it is definitely a skill that can be developed. Given that we live in the world, getting along with other people in it is something I think is important.

And it’s part of what I mean when I say “Meatspace baby!” When push comes to shove, who you know and who knows you is going to be vitally important. Heck it’s important now. Almost everyone I know had gotten jobs by word of mouth or through acquaintances, not through job boards, or services. Most people like to help out people they know and like. Most opportunities come when someone decides to share something… If your interpersonal skills are weak, it’s time to work on them. We are all going to need all the help we can get to get through the bad times.

Stack up some skills, and widen your circle of casual contacts. You never know what might come your way.

nick

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Wed. Jan. 10, 2024 – what do people who don’t read books do when they don’t want to sleep?

Cold and windy again. The wind never stopped blowing yesterday. Chilly and windy. At least the sun helped. Today should be the same, jackets and long pants, maybe even hats during the day. But no rain.

Did some auction stuff, but mainly had some gastric distress most of the day. Dunno what I ate, but I wish I hadn’t. Stayed close to home all day. Then did kid school run stuff in the afternoon. Not much actually accomplished. I did break down 10 pounds of pork loin for the freezer. Sliced some chops out of it, and made thin, breaded and pan fried pork chops for dinner. With pork being so cheap, I’m looking for new ways to cook it. I imagine I’m not the only one. Family liked it.

Speaking of cheap meat, I went back to get more of the cheap rib roasts, both pork and beef, but they were already gone. Missed that, much to my chagrin. Goes to show how important it is to get it while you can. I’ve got very little freezer space left here anyway, but I’d have found a way to fit more until I could transfer some to the BOL. I’m almost full up there, but I can use the freezer I had earmarked for the neighbor, and I’ve got an upright there I haven’t even plugged in. If the opportunity arose, I’d try to fill them too.

Today should be catching up what didn’t get done yesterday. Kid stuff in the afternoon, auction in the morning. Clean up and domestic bliss somewhere in there too.

It’s a great life if you don’t weaken, right?

Stay strong, and stack on!

n

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Tues. Jan. 9, 2024 – school days again

Cold and damp, but supposed to be clear today. Had all the weather yesterday- warm, cold, windy, wet, sunny, and dry… Just depended on where and when you were.

I did my pickups without incident. Stopped by my auctioneer and got approval to bring stuff by today. I’ll have to go to my storage unit and load up… and clear out the foyer. That will make the wife happier, as GS cookie season is going to start soon, and SHE’LL need the space.

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I’ve decided that I can’t arm wave it away anymore- I’ve got an animal living in my wall in the laundry room. It pushed the dryer vent out to get access, or maybe to escape when I initially walled it in with the poison blocks, a couple of months ago. It’s coming and going freely, and hasn’t died, so I’m betting on possum, not rat, at this point. It’s driving the dog nuts. I didn’t want to believe it, because I couldn’t figure out how it got in the wall alive, but now that I know the vent has been compromised, it makes sense.

Time to move and bait the live trap again. Then fix the vent.

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Probably time to do the bug spray around the foundation too.

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Nothing to report from the dentist visit, except that he’s planting 1 acre of veg garden this year. That’s at his country property. He runs some cattle too, probably for the ag exemption on property tax. He’s still got woods when all the surrounding wind break wooded patches are being turned into housing, so he’s getting all the deer. He’s got a ‘herd’ on his land now, and a problem with poachers. If the trucks stop rolling, his problem will briefly get very intense, then there won’t be any more deer for the poachers to poach. Which is, btw, what I expect to happen anywhere there are rifles and pickup trucks, good ol boys and deer.

Given their nature, there should still be pigs.

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Since I don’t hunt, or fish, or garden, at least not with any real success, I’m stacking cans.

Do I need to mention that you should too?

nick

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Mon. Jan. 8, 2024 – fang cleaning day…

Cold and probably wet. We’re in a “possible” rain zone today, but should be clear again tomorrow. And I don’t think it will warm significantly. So, cold and wet. Yuck. Stayed clear all day Sunday though, an it was on the chilly side of “warm enough”.

Spent the day doing little things. Domestic bliss. Maintenance. Some work for my client. Some auction stuff. Doesn’t feel as good as remodeling the bathroom, but it was all stuff on the list.

Today is “family visits the dentists” day. We see a father/daughter team practice, and we all go at once. Saves time. As RBT used to say, we’ll be getting our fangs cleaned.

Then the children will be returned home while I pick up the stuff I won. Good stuff for the BOL mostly, with a thing or two for the house here.

Pennies on the dollar at best, dimes on the dollar at worst. It’s worth the time it takes, to me anyway.

Time to get moving on the bigger projects too.

Do what you can when you can. And stack.

nick

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Sun. Jan. 7, 2024 – no rest for the wicked…

Cold, hopefully clear. It was clear during the day but started to get a bit cloudy with dusk, so it could continue cloudy today. High yesterday might have been in the 60s. A little bit warmer would be nice.

After my pickup, I stopped in at costco. I try to avoid the place on a Saturday, as it’s usually insanely busy. That worked to my advantage yesterday as all the lanes had cashiers and it went very smoothly. Some things were finally on sale. Charmin. Kleenex. Still none of the frozen cheeseburgers I like though. Oddly, australian lamb was CHEAPER by a buck or two. That HAS to be a currency thing.

They had a couple of beef cuts I haven’t seen there before and there were a couple that were “economical” like “beef stew” and eye round roasts at $4.xx per pound. I don’t usually buy that cut, because it’s super lean and can be tough. Thought I’d give it a try with the same sort of cooking I used on the prime rib. Worked ok, was done the way I wanted, had a great beef roast taste, but yeah, much tougher than the ribeye cut. Hamburger was $4.19 for 82/18 (lean vs fat) which I can’t even get at HEB anymore. So I bought a package. Already repacked as 1 1/2 pound freezer vac packs. Had to increase my single meal size from 1 pound to 1 1/3 pound and now to 1 1/2 pound as the kids have grown.

Looks like I’m going to have to figure out how to cook beef brisket as it was the cheapest beef in the cooler… and my Texas man card might be revoked if they realize I don’t know how 😉 It was less than $3/pound. Grind it and mix with hamburger??

Menu planning might have to get ‘creative’ if things keep getting weird. Like duck for $3.69/ pound. Granted you’re buying the bones too, but still, pretty cheap for a change of pace. That said a single frozen duck was still $21. Is that where we are? Dinner for a family of four at home, $30-40? That USED to be a nice meal at a sit down casual restaurant.

My current weekly meal “plan” is to have some cheap nights and some that are nicer but still inexpensive because I got the main meat on sale. (Plan is in “quotes” because I rarely have an actual plan.)(and I know talking about the economics of food can be divisive because of peoples’ differing situations and expectations. For a baseline, I use the Joy of Cooking, pre-1980s edition, for an idea about what dinner in America should look like with a bit of effort, and a middle class income.) My goal is to expose the kids to a variety of things, eat what I like and what they like, and do it as economically as possible while maintaining quality and quantity. That said, I’ve already altered my buying and cooking habits in the last couple of years or a bit longer. Doesn’t seem that long, and I had to revise the sentence to make the period longer, once I considered it.

Stocking up on sale items and just not buying stuff that isn’t on sale has been my main money saving strategy. That is kinda the heart of prepping too, buy now to save later…

I appreciate those of you who are sharing your dinner and menu choices too, and your local shopping reports. Information is power. And a burden shared is a load lightened.

Stack it if the price is right.

nick

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Sat. Jan. 6, 2024 – the day the coup went live?

Cold and clear, warmening later… Unless it gets colder, that is really the same right? Al Gore said so. It was mostly jacket weather yesterday until pretty late in the day, then I took it off for a while. Went back out after dark to move the truck and wished I had a jacket on again. Today should be much the same.

Did my pickups. Spent some time talking to one of the auctioneers I used to see a lot of the time, but she does mostly surplus and salvage, and I don’t do much of that any more. She’s expanded her business and built onto her building. And she’s done it mostly by what one of the guru books calls “sticking to your knitting” or concentrating on what you really do, and doing it well. She’s watching the new players getting into the game and watching them fail, just like I’m doing. We had some good conversation about that.

Then I did two more pickups and hit the Goodwill bins. Not much good stuff for me. Sometimes it’s like that. I’ve got too much stuff anyway.

Today I have to make the last pickup for the week, the solar panel. I’ll drop in on my auctioneer and see if I can pin him down for dropping off a load on Monday or Tuesday. Picking up a check would be nice too. Then it’s back to doing cleanup and put away stuff around the house.

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The post title asks about the deep state de-cloaking, btw. They seem to have manufactured a riot out of thin air, and the sideshow and show trials have had their chilling effect… and people are still in jail without trial. In America. For political reasons. It can’t be long before the shooting starts, nerves are starting to get really frayed. Could be everyone is playing ‘wait and see’ with the upcoming election. Could be they’ll always find a reason to wait a little longer. But I don’t think there’s much chance of something NOT setting the whole powder keg alight. Like most violence it will be sudden, and most people will think it came out of nowhere, but if you can step back and ‘watch the video’ you can see it as almost inevitably moving from step to step. If you were a historian writing 10 years from now, you could almost certainly link the things that have happened in the last 9-10 years into a narrative that looks natural and unstoppable. The only thing lacking is Pearl Harbor, or the Archduke’s bad day.

If you disagree, I would like to hear how and why. Because it seems to me that war and upheaval are the natural outcomes when a society gets as stressed as ours is. And that won’t be pretty. Assume it will happen. Assume it will be bad. Assume it will be worse than you think. And then–

Stack what you need.

nick

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Fri. Jan. 5, 2024 – Friday comes awfully early when the week starts on Wednesday…

Cold and clear, with overcast and a small chance of rain… says me. Dunno what the weather liars say. Couldn’t be bothered to check. It was cold yesterday and stayed cold all day. 50s. Yuck.

So I stayed in and did ‘in the house’ stuff. Payed taxes. Sorted bills. Filed. Cleaned and put away things. Fixed things. Got my soldering setup out and fixed 4 things that had been waiting for a while. I like fixing stuff, and it’s a valuable skill. I’ve got other stuff that needs solder repair and troubleshooting, but ran out of time.

Today I’ll do some more inside stuff, then leave the house and do a pickup or two. Time to get the stuff I won earlier in the week. It would be nice if it wasn’t raining, just to make the driving easier.

We’re also taking down inside Christmas stuff. I’d leave it for another week but someone else wants to clean the house. Oh well, Grinch wins this round. I’ll just leave the lights up for an extra week 😉 Can’t put them away if they’re wet, after all…

Seriously though, I should get some of the Christmas stuff put away, and the Halloween stuff too. I held it out so I could re-stack the stuff in chronological need order… but it means that some fake pumpkins are in the driveway still.

Can’t believe it’s already Friday. Kids are still out of school until Tuesday so they are keeping everyone up late at night. That’s what holiday breaks are for though, staying up reading, playing games, watching movies, sleeping late. Makes it harder to return to the school schedule though.

In the old days, you life revolved around the daylight, animals, and the seasons. Now our life revolves around school and the school schedule. Wonder if we’ll end up with something else to order our days in the not too distant future… like patrol schedules, watch rotations, AND the needs of the garden and animals.

Hope not, but I’m still stacking…

nick

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Thur. Jan. 4, 2024 – ah, that new year smell…

Cool and damp but maybe no rain? That would let things dry out a bit. There was still standing water last night after a full day without rain. There were some breaks in the overcast too, ‘poke your eyes out’ bright sun, but they didn’t last. Jacket weather all day. More of the same for today, most likely.

Did my pickup. Did some auction bidding. Really, low balling, so I didn’t win much. Bid on a 200w solar panel, but lost out. Bid on another 100w panel and won. I think I’m up to 6 100w panels now, still in boxes. Moving that project forward is now officially moving up the “do it when I can” list. I’m dropping out of the bidding at 50c per watt.

Moving my water collection and filtration ‘sorta plan’ forward is on the list too.

Immediate list items are more concerned with stuff around the house here in Houston. I’ve been neglecting some things too long.

The start of the new year is a good time to measure progress, reset goals, re-calibrate expectations, etc.

The high level pass at that is– I’m making good progress on the BOL, stabilizing what’s there, making improvements where we could, and most importantly, working to integrate into the community.

I’ve got food for us for at least 6 months with nothing coming in, and probably a lot longer than that. I don’t have an actual inventory, so it’s hard to say for sure, but there is a lot of food stacked here, there, and elsewhere.

I added to medical supplies, along a “community clinic” mode, and will continue to do so when it makes sense. For example, I don’t need 4 cases of sutures, but we might in aggregate. Ditto with some other things. I might not need an autoclave, but it doubles as a pressure canner…or maybe the other way around… I need to replace batteries in some of my AEDs, and I’ll be looking for more modern ones too. Science lab stuff might be ‘targets of opportunity’ if they fall in my lap.

I got as clean a bill of health as it’s possible to get this year, with tests and procedures to look for a lot of things- with no issues found.

I’ve been increasing our alternate power choices, adding to solar, gas generators, and storage. I need to go through the stored fuel and get that up to date, but that is less pressing than some other things.

I can provide drinking water from storage, and from stored materials, but I need to consider LONG term solutions too. Seems ‘one step too far’ but like most preps, there are benefits at lesser points too.

I’m looking to stack more butchery and processing stuff. I’m always looking for a Biro meat saw… and other things like tables, cutting boards, steam table pans, sharpening systems, etc. Also smoking, dehydrating, salting, etc. stuff for preservation. I’ve got some parts, some random bits and pieces, but no unified and tested method or system from end to end.

I have a dozen levels of redundancy in my cooking stacks, but not a solar oven. Maybe that will be the ‘add’ this year. Or maybe it will be more along the ‘smoke house’ line…

A lot of what I have is stacked here. Moving it to the BOL is going to be a priority. I won’t leave this place bare, but I need to acknowledge that we are building out the BOL to be a BOL and it needs to be equipped with what I’ve stacked up here.

There is a distinct lack of needful things at the BOL. I don’t have secure storage there yet, and that REALLY needs to be addressed. A friend might help out short term, and for a few things, but a real solution needs to be put into place.

Shelter, water, food, medical, defense, infrastructure, and social considerations, I’m working them, and encourage you to do so too. Get out of big cities. Start building or strengthening meatspace relationships. Increase your resilience and resources. Help yourself so that you can help others. Learn new skills, test old ones. Help the next generation, especially young men. They do the bulk of civilization building, and they have the strength and energy that we, more ‘seasoned’ individuals don’t have anymore. We can get through whatever bad thing is coming. And on a historical timeline, we are overdue for the next big bad.

Stack. It’ll help.

nick

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Wed. Jan. 3, 2024 – it’ll be a long time before I type the year correctly…

Cold. Wet. Rainy even. It’s possible anyway. It was steady raining when I went to bed. Didn’t check the forecast though, as I’m doing pickups anyway.

Well, I spent yesterday wrapping up and cleaning up at the BOL. Got the posts completed, and the tools put away. Put the new gennie in the shed. Moved some stuff around. Took down the Christmas decor. It’s earlier than I’d like but I don’t want to have it up until the next time we get there.

Drive home was mostly uneventful, except when I stopped for gas. First station had every diesel pump covered with an “out of order” bag. Second station had about 1/4 of the regular gas pumps marked out of order. I’m seeing more and more of that- stations with pump issues or no gas. Not a good sign. I ended up paying a bit more than I would have liked for gas, but in that part of town, choices are very limited.

Today will be auction pickups and catching up around the house. Some kid chauffeuring too.

Not much time for stacking, but I’ll try to fit in a costco or grocery run.

Maybe there will be some good sales after the holiday season.

Stack what you can. Conserve what you’ve got. Learn how to do more with less.

nick

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Tues. Jan. 2, 2024 – Ice on the puddles?

Cold, warming gradually, maybe still clear. Barometer was way high on Monday. 35F when I went to bed after a nice day.

I got a couple of things done Monday. I finished the replacement door on the dockhouse, installing the threshold was pretty straightforward for once. Then I finally got around to replacing the 3 posts holding up the roof over the porch on the dockhouse. That job has been on my list for months. They are in place, lagged to the roof, and screwed to the concrete. Today I’ll spend a couple of minutes adding the hurricane straps and I’ll be completely done with that task. It’ll be the wife’s job to paint them. (the hurricane straps are probably overkill, but hey, they’re cheap and quick to do.)

I made a lamb roast for New Year’s dinner. Discovered I didn’t bring any mint jelly up here,but I’m the only one that really missed it. Also discovered there is something consistently wrong with the scratch and dent oven I got at Habitat last year. It goes out about 5 minutes after you start it, but then runs fine when re-lit. At some point I guess I’ll have to look at it, but it was a temporary solution. Who knows when we’ll be redoing the kitchen though, so I should probably check it.

Played Risk with D2 and my wife. It only took about 2 1/2 hours which has to be some kind of record. My impression was that Risk took days to play, but this is the first time I can remember actually playing. It’s been at least 45 years if I did play before. I lost. D2 followed, and W1 swept through asia, Europe,and North America in one turn to win…

Today I’ll be buttoning up, doing some more maintenance things, and sorting and organizing. Already changed out the US flag. The wind beats up the cheap printed flags pretty quickly. I’ve got a bunch from the auctions so I change them whenever they look bad. I appreciate anyone who flies it, but I do get frustrated when they are in poor condition. Sewn and embroidered, from a US company, is the way to go to have them last.

Traditions are important.

As is stacking.

Let’s get this party started.

nick

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