Month: February 2025

Cool, cold even but not end of the world cold. It’s winter. The world has been so focused on the AGW scam they seem to have forgotten winter exists. And sometimes, winter is cold. Morons, deluded, or lemmings, who knows?

I had a pretty good day yesterday. Said goodby to visitors and got the RV stuff wrapped up. No evidence of flooding after using the unknown drain… looks like I have an additional septic system, of unknown design, age, condition, and capacity.

Spent the afternoon knocking little things off my list. Tree trimming. Work on the front walk. Work on the plantings. Work on the dock (replacing rotten deck boards). Work on the dockhouse (install and trim out threshold, which now finishes my part of the flood restoration.) Clear a path for the tree guy. Put some stuff away… All needed doing, none critical or high priority, but solid work off the ToDo list. It felt good to do a bunch of things.

Today I’ll be closing up and wrapping up this stay. I’ve got some stuff to put in the freezer, and some stuff to bring back home. I’ll fold my clean laundry, and put it away. Domestic bliss, can’t escape it.

Later I’ll head home, stopping for a couple of auction pickups along the way. I’m combining trips and saving gas and time. Go me!

The rest of the week I’ve got stuff to do at home. Like always. And maybe a couple of things I don’t usually do. We’ll see.

Don’t stop stacking, unless you are working to improve your situation… then you can shift focus!

nick

Chilly willy. It was 35F and falling when I went to bed. I expect it to be COLD this morning. Forecast calls for freezing again. It was chilly and clear yesterday. Really a nice day for working outdoors. I had a very light second layer on and that was enough.

I spent the morning with family. Spent the afternoon doing small tasks outdoors. I ran the string trimmer, and the blower. Cleaned up the leaves, and weed whacked the weeds in the wildflower garden, the vegetable garden, and the bulb garden. Blew leaves and raked twigs out of the dirt areas between the retaining walls. It’s the perfect time to do it, cool enough to do hard work, wet enough to not have dust, but dry enough that the blower moves a lot of it.

Met with the tree guy too. He’s finally got time to remove the remaining problem trees. Not the cheap guy, but the expert guy. He’s going to try to get them down this week.

Family is headed home later today. I’m staying another day. I’ve got pickups in Conroe that I can grab on my way home Tuesday, which saves an hour and a half round trip. It’ll give me time to get a few more jobs done too.

If you can’t stack, always be working to improve your situation…

nick

Cold, or maybe just cool, but certainly still wet. It’s been dreary here at the BOL. Yesterday wasn’t as cold as some days last week, but it was misty and drizzly all day. Sun finally broke through just before dusk, which was nice. Forecast is calling for lower temps but I am hoping it’s wrong.

Did some more cleanup, but mostly stayed inside and chatted with our visitors. Did a crockpot brisket for dinner, then played games for a while. It was too nasty out for a fire so I called it an early night.

Today I’m going to do some more cleanup, play some more games, and spend more time just chatting. If it’s not raining, we’ll do hamburgers for dinner. A simple easy day.

Sometimes that’s the best kind of day.

nick

(stacking up time with family, it’s important too.)

Chilly. I’ll check to see what the overnight low was, but I don’t think it will be freezing. It was a beautiful sunny clear day yesterday, which made the chill tolerable. I hope for some more sun today.

Got the electrical done, and the RV hooked up to power water and sewer. We’re just putting grey water in the mystery sewer line, not black. We’ll see if it fills up or if I’ve got an undocumented septic system for the RV pad. I suspect a septic system, or at least a buried tank. The previous owner put it in for his fifth wheel trailer…

Full moon and patchy clouds meant no good stars last night, even though the air was pretty clear.

Today I’ll be chilling with our guests, and maybe getting some more cleanup stuff done. I want to edge and blow the yard and weeds, and finish cleaning up some of the leftover building material that has been just stacking up under the carport. There are other things on the list too. There always are.

I might even bait the crawdad traps and get them in the lake. It’s the season. Lake is half a foot high, the rain must be working its way down the watershed.

Oh, I have cupcakes and cards for the girls for Valentine’s Day. Happy Feast of St. Valentine everyone. Eat some pink icing on some baked goods!

The heater worked well in the garage and I’m very glad I took the time to install it. I’m finally pulling stuff off the stacks. Gas line and a heater, electrical boxes and outlets, drinking water hose… and food.

I like to eat, and I like to be warm. Stacks are helping with both.

Stack some of your own…

nick

Mid 50s to start the day here at the BOL. Yesterday stayed overcast most of the day, but was warm enough for a T shirt and long pants. The attic got a bit warm, but not like summertime… today should be the same, but maybe a bit clearer.

I did my major task this weekend. I have installed the 50A 240V receptacle in the carport. I can feed an RV, or charge an EV now. I’m not completely done, I was short 4 wire nuts. They are to wire up the pass through to a second receptacle in a different style, so I can accommodate different plugs without adapters. I’ll have the two most common styles when I’m done. Won’t take but an hour when I get back up here.

I also got to clean up the yard with the mower, and it looks nicer. Old leaves and random weeds growing just look sloppy.

Today I’ll do some more cleanup and set up a water hose for the RV pad. I brought some drinking water safe hoses from home. I use them to fill my big water storage tanks, so they should be good for the RV. I’ll add an inline filter too, since I have it.

Then it’s back home for a couple of days, before returning.

I’ll catch a pickup on the way home to save a trip.

Stacks. Water hose, in line filters, electrical supplies. Knowledge.

Stack the stuff, but stack the skills too.

nick

Dunno about Houston, but here it’s a bit cool, then warmer. I will be in the attic so I am hoping for ‘cool’ to last a while. It was pretty nice all day yesterday, although very humid. Even with very light work I was sweating outdoors.

I did my home stuff, then went shopping and loaded the truck. Called one pickup and changed it to a shipment, moved the other to Monday afternoon. That got me some more time at home to get packed and ready before heading out.

I bought 3 apple trees at Lowes because they were in stock. I won’t plant them until later, but I learned last year that they don’t stay in the store very long. One tree for the house to replace a dead one, and two for the BOL. I’d have bought pears too, but they only had one variety in stock, and you need two for pollination.

The drive was uneventful, except seeing the cop pulling someone over outside of one of the small towns on the state highway. They had a rash of collisions, so they are upping enforcement. First time I’ve seen it.

I forgot we shut off the water main, so when I flushed and nothing happened I had a moment. Then I remembered and it was ok.

Only real goal for today is to get the new 50A 240V receptacles installed in the carport. I’m doing two, the most common styles, because I have them. That way, literally anything should be able to plug in- welding machine, EV Charger, RV, generator backfeed….

Good thing I had the receptacles and “in use” boxes. 75Ft of conductors and a breaker were expensive enough. If you see stuff you are thinking of using later on sale, or very cheap, it’s worth picking it up when you see it. I knew that eventually I’d put an outlet in the workshop area, and replace the RV outlet that burned up, but I didn’t have a timeline. I collected pieces when I saw them for pennies on the dollar. Having to buy the wire at retail was unpleasant. I’ll probably start seeing it in the auctions now that I don’t need it

Stacks saved a bunch of money on this project. They will certainly continue to save money, time, and effort on others. Stack wide and deep…

nick