Cool and damp, but hopefully another clear day. Yesterday started cool, but got unpleasantly hot in the sun by later afternoon. It was still cool in the shade, but I was sweating when the sun shone…
I had planned to do some carpentry, and replace some support posts for the porch of the dockhouse. Instead we went to the local small town USA Christmas Festival. And it was exactly what I hoped and better than expected. It’s the kind of thing my family would go to all over southern Illinois and Indiana back in the day.
Close the streets around the town square and courthouse, have some vendors selling homemade stuff,and trinkets, and have food vendors-lots of food vendors with different meats on a stick, and of course funnel cakes. Mix in a small stage with a band or guitar player,and a bunch of local churches and charities doing stuff to raise money and you have small town USA celebrating.
In this case, there were several different biker groups raising money, one was cops, one was witnessing for Jesus, never figured out what the other was doing. County Sheriff was raising money for new radios, Search and Rescue was there, along with the local ham club, and all the churches and charities. I lost track of the number of gun raffles after 12. Very popular fundraiser apparently. I have a half dozen tickets… no one called yet.
The vendors were mostly local people doing some sort of craft as a side hustle or retirement project. Lots of little crocheted stuffed animals. Lots of artisanal soaps. Several woodworkers with cutting boards, or laser etched signs. One guy with a bunch of CNC’d plaques with various subjects. Hand made jewelry. Supposedly hand made knives. One guy with rocket stoves,which were very well made, and a sturdy design. Lots of food.
One interesting thing was a couple of guys with 3d printed objects for sale. They’re local and doing it as a business. They’ve got a couple of lasers too. Resolution of filament printers has gotten so good the little toys and knickknacks looked traditionally manufactured. D2 bought an articulated dragon about 18″ long that was printed in one run. Really neat, like a spiky plastic snake.
We spent a few hours walking around. Meatspace baby. It was an interesting crowd too. Mostly white, but normal proportions of blacks and hispanics. A couple of asians, and surprisingly two different food vendors from the subcontinent. Lots of older folks, but a large number of young couples and families too. Wiry young men with wives that made me think “modern homesteading”. BIG men with BIG wives that made me think “skilled trades” for the men, loudmouth trailer trash for the women. One stick figure woman with meth sores on her face and some bedraggled kids. Mostly people looked happy, and healthy.
No Biden supporters visible, but one or more vendors selling Trump merch, and other MAGA stuff, like FJB hats.
All in all, a nice afternoon.
Then it was home to work,but since it was late I decided to work on replacing the man door in the garage. Got that 90% done, shot some pool with the wife and kid, then we played cards for a couple of hours. It was pretty late but my fishing buddy called and he came by with his wife to give us some deer meat. He got a buck and doe last week. It’s a half dozen meals worth, and I’m looking forward to eating it.
The result of all that was an early night without the fire I’d laid in the pit, or a tiny little fire.
Today I’ll get the posts replaced and maybe the door of the dockhouse too. And finish unloading and putting away the stuff I brought up this time and last.
Always be working to improve you situation. And stacking, that has to continue too.
nick
Subcontinent has bucket lists too. And why sit at home and be bored?
At the rate Houston and Austin are being colonized, you shouldn’t be surprised that they want to get out and survey their country’s new overseas possession.
Labor Day Weekend in San Antonio, every tourist boat which passed us on the Riverwalk at ~ 9PM Sunday night was full of that tourist demo.
Mainland Chinese are not so interested in mingling, partially because many find Americans disgusting, but also they never know when the intelligence services of Uncle Mao are watching, even in tourist areas.
Orlando had a well documented Mainland spy base at the Splended China attraction for decades.
Ironically, the property is now a Margaritaville Resort.
“Lookin for my lost shaker of salt…”
Who knows why the DM is indulging in DeSants schadenfreude beyond the weather turning in Old Blighty and understanding of the issues in the throwdown with Disney are not well understood beyond the borders of the state of Florida.
“I say, Millicent, this Italian chap is in quite a row with Mickey Mouse. Don’t the Yanks understand a little gratitude for the local gentry who own the land under their homes? Haven’t the ‘Downton Abbey’ propoganda films we sent over to start the conditioning sunk in yet?”
Maybe they feel had by the “leak” of DeSantis wedding photos.
Also not clearly understood is that DeSantis is still young and winning the throwdown with Disney.
If DeSantis really wanted to torque The Mouse, he could do far worse. How about a Casa Bonita at the abandoned Crossroads site, within visual distance of the Mickey Mouse sign?
Personally, I’d favor a giant pop-up Super Mario gift shop, complete with statue featuring the posterior subtly aimed at Mickey on the sign at the east entrance of the property, where the lazy DM photographers snap pics of the “Nazi protests”.
10% discount for Disney employees presenting ID at Super Mario Gift Superstore.
54 F and super foggy this morning. Crossing the river to church might be interesting this morning. I won’t be driving my normal 70 mph.
Houston has two mottos: “Houston is Hot !” and “Onward through the Fog !”. Not many people know the latter until they move here.
The sky was cloudy all afternoon in Todd Mission yesterday.
Fortunately, no rain.
At daybreak it was several degrees below freezing, here. It’s slightly above freezing now, several hours after sunrise.
The heater in the chicken coop works fine. It doesn’t kick on much yet, so long as the sliding door doesn’t have too big a gap. The birds’ body heat mostly keeps the inside temperature above the 35F set point. This does mean that I need to keep the door’s track clear of straw, feathers, and poop, or else there’ll be a gap. The heated water tank also works fine. I’d prefer a different style, as this one lets them kick dirt and grass into the water tray (and poop into it, because they’re dumb and uncouth), but it’ll do for now. I got a dimmer to reduce the power of the coop’s heat lamp, per Paul’s (?) suggestion a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if it’ll make a practical difference in comfort for the birds or longevity for the bulb but it won’t hurt anything.
Meanwhile, the chickens still get to run around several hours a day. The 200 sq ft run is more than big enough for seven chickens to live in comfort but they’re spoiled and have gotten used to the 1000+ sq ft garden and the half acre of cleared land with shrubs and mulched flower beds and what-not. (Plus the neighbors’ yards and the forest if I don’t notice them wandering off.) It’ll be a sad day for them when we get snow that sticks and I move the run to the patio under the deck and they’re stuck in it all day for five months.
They’ve also learned to recognize the sound of food wrappers crinkling. When they’re running loose I’ll either sit with them and work or do chores around the yard so I can keep an eye on them. As this is usually several hours per day, I’ll sometimes grab a package of crackers or something to eat while I work. My chickens really like round, orange-colored crackers (store-brand Ritz), so now if I start to open a package of them, or of anything with a crinkly wrapper, they all come running as fast as their little legs can waddle. I’m usually willing to share my food but if I don’t, or I fed them first and now I’m eating the second half myself, they’ll cluster around my legs and make pitiful begging sounds and the little red hen will peck my legs. I mentioned that they’re spoiled, right?
You assume that The Real Life Tony Stark (TM) is unhappy with the coverage of the launch and subsequent explosion.
The Jesus Truck will disappoint at the end of the month and Tony needs the distraction from the stench of that failure.
The FAA was pressured into signing off on the launch for a reason.
58F sunny and clear with a heavy dew on everything. Coffee is brewing. Can’t find any thawed breakfast meat, so I’ll have to improvise something. Dunno what I want for b-fast yet anyway, but probably not more sugar.
Went to bed early (for me) so I’m up early (for me at the BOL on a weekend….) No sir, I don’t like it.
Bit chilly in the house. Wife loves it being a New Englander in her heart. I hate it, being a midwesterner at heart. I may nudge the heat on for an hour.
n
I’m a KING, I tells ya, a KING.
Ok, now that was funny. I just sent some email, and I get a dialog popup asking if I want to send it or review my spelling errors. I’ve seen the message 10s of thousands of times, but this time I read it as ‘do I want to review my “appalling errors.” ’
Something in my brain got all judgemental this morning….
n
I had to laugh: in the prelaunch coverage, one of those was very obviously shown towing something across the launch area. Subtle, real subtle.
That said, I don’t expect it to disappoint. Much the opposite, in fact.
Interesting email experience. A very simple email (list of people) sent to a group (bcc) was sent to recipients’ googlemail spam folder. I initially thought that it was the bcc that caused this, but looked into it further, I found that the email I sent was 1.4MB, which was largely the html generated to replicate the simple text list. I had cut and amended the list from an historic email, which must have been the source of the complex html,
I guess I need to transit simple text via a text editor next time.
PS (a reply ended up at 8.6MB, again html) so this ‘feature’ seems to be compounding.
Anyone come across this?
In the side bar of the DM story on the Florida polling numbers.
The Legend Of Jeff, Ladies Man, Texan, Hasn’t Driven An Accord In Years, Maybe Ever.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12748343/Lauren-Sanchez-transformation-career-relationships-jeff-bezos.html
My wife’s contact at Toyota San Antonio still sticks by his ~ $100k street price prediction, with a few delivered by Tesla below $80k in order to qualify for the new tax credit.
A lot of people are horny for that vehicle, but no one will be able to afford it.
What are you talking about, “lazy”? It’s hard work, finding the right angle to show off some 50-year-old former star’s “fabulous curves” without making her look like a land whale. And don’t get me started on how much time, effort, expensive gear, experience, and downright genius it takes to make Madonna look like a human being.
The DM US bureau staff don’t seem to venture far from South Florida, where I think most of them really live/work.
I’d put the office somewhere in Sunrise, just outside Fort Lauderdale, but “office” could be a Starbucks or WeWork space.
Otherwise, they pull stories/photos from wires. That’s where the “lazy” part comes into play.
Pffft! Make an updated version of the original roadster with multiple motors and uncivilized performance to blow the doors off a Viper, and I would be willing to pay $30k for it. $50k?
Oh well, even Elon wouldn’t have the unmitigated guts to do that. And… I don’t have a death wish. Sadly.
At daybreak it was several degrees below freezing, here. It’s slightly above freezing now, several hours after sunrise.
What is your elevation ? My wife’s grandparents were at 4,500 feet over in Chenango Falls.
“Yemen’s Houthis hijack Israeli-linked ship in Red Sea, take 25 crew members hostage”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/11/19/Israeli-ship-reportedly-hijacked-by-Yemen-s-Houthis-in-Red-Sea
“Israeli officials insisted the ship was British-owned and Japanese-operated. However, ownership details in public shipping databases associated the ship’s owners with Ray Car Carriers, which was founded by Abraham “Rami” Ungar, who is known as one of the richest men in Israel.”
This will not end well.
About 300′.
The house I grew up in is about 800. My dad’s house is a bit higher. My uncle’s house, the drunken, snaggle-toothed hillbilly uncle, is 1300 or so.
Ironically, the property is now a Margaritaville Resort.
They have good chicken salads.
Here in the California high desert there were steady state winds at 45 mph gusting to 58 this morning. I knew something was up when I noticed the tumbleweeds were pacing my truck on the way to shopping.
I had heard from friends that the shopping crowds were something fierce on Friday and Saturday at Costco & Albertsons, but they were quite small this morning, I would say actually a little lighter than the usual crowds.
I was elected to host T day again, came home with a 21# bird ($0.98/lb): so everyone is going home with leftovers, I have no intention of eating turkey through MLK day.
I had to laugh: in the prelaunch coverage, one of those was very obviously shown towing something across the launch area. Subtle, real subtle.
That said, I don’t expect it to disappoint. Much the opposite, in fact.
I expect Tony to sell the hound out of the Cybertrucks for the $40K that he has presold a quarter million of them for. Tony is going to lose his shirt.
You’ve got to quit bragging about your relatives. You’re making us all jealous.
About 300′.
The house I grew up in is about 800. My dad’s house is a bit higher. My uncle’s house, the drunken, snaggle-toothed hillbilly uncle, is 1300 or so.
There is an unwritten law that all hillbillies must live above 1,000 feet elevation.
Not me.
the drunken, snaggle-toothed hillbilly uncle,
I am a bit envious. Mine were all respectable middle/working class.
My friends uncle lived up in the Ohio hollers, made shine, used an old Nash as generator/sawmill for the white oak on his 160ac property. Old ’Doc’ was a hoot.
In the side bar of the DM story on the Florida polling numbers.
The Legend Of Jeff, Ladies Man, Texan, Hasn’t Driven An Accord In Years, Maybe Ever.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12748343/Lauren-Sanchez-transformation-career-relationships-jeff-bezos.html
I am fairly sure that there is going to be a very strong prenup should they ever actually get married.
“More Despotism”
https://areaocho.com/more-despotism/
“Our government is really doing some stupid ****. For starters, Biden is writing orders that take over sectors of the economy because, well because he wants to.”
“He is using the Wartime Production Act, an act meant to allow the president to mandate production of necessary materials during wartime, to mandate the production of heat pumps. Most of the companies announced in the order, seven out of the nine, don’t manufacture heat pumps. Now they do. Or else.”
I wish that DiveMedic was kidding. This is just crazy.
We had a new BMW X5 as a rental last week. IIRC, that’s one of the models where the trial balloon was floated about seat warmers being available only on a paid monthly subscription.
You would think that the software would be perfected if they were attempting that kind of rentier skim racket, but the car had … quirks. I always had to double check the ‘fly by wire’ shifting to make sure that I was in ‘R’ not ‘D’, and, on one cold morning morning, the passenger door lock would not disengage until I cycled locked/unlocked several times.
Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, the X5 was the German Grocery Getter I saw broken down most frequently around where I live.
Telsa will play the same game with the Jesus Truck that Ford played with F150 trim levels during the pandemic.
Sure, we can deliver what you ordered from the factory in two years, but if you are willing to spend an extra $20k for the X package, we can put the vehicle in your driveway next week. Your call.
Except with the $40k truck, it will be an extra $40-50k.
As with the $20k Maverick, very few of the $40k trucks will actually see delivery.
Who wouldn’t want a Viper class performance vehicle for $30k?
Corolla/Sentra/Civic class vehicles are fast approaching $30k.
>> Houston has two mottos: “Houston is Hot !” and “Onward through the Fog !”. Not many people know the latter until they move here.
No fog here in the desert…dust storms, that’s a different story.
https://shallowsky.com/blog/travel/burma-shave-dust-storm.html
Jill remember Mrs. Peanut. Joe says, ‘Who?”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4317809-jill-biden-remembers-rosalynn-carter-for-efforts-with-mental-health-caregiving/
As with the $20k Maverick, very few of the $40k trucks will actually see delivery.
The Cybertruck base price is now $70K. But they have dropped the single motor model which was the $40K model and plan to only sell the dual and triple motor models.
https://www.caranddriver.com/tesla/cybertruck
Say what you will about him, the Carters were married for 76 years. You don’t see any young couples celebrating their 76th anniversary.
Say what you will about him, the Carters were married for 76 years. You don’t see any young couples celebrating their 76th anniversary.
My parents have been married for 64 years. Dad is 85 and Mom is 82. 76 years is quite a ways off for them.
Carter was a graduate of the Naval Academy and Rickover’s nuclear school, and I clearly remember the night in 1980 at the Dem Convention when the old Sunday School teacher refused to turn his delegates loose to vote for Kennedy knowing what that would mean for the country if the un-indicted murderer won the Presidency.
Some might interpret it as ego in the face of certain loss to Regan, but, believe it or not, Reagan winning was not certain that Summer.
I have no clue on how Tesla financing works, but, on a loan for a similar priced F150 from Ford Credit, a household without ~ $10k in take home monthly and sterling credit will get hosed on the terms.
Ford is having a lot of trouble moving the $70k trucks to provide the profits to subsidize the EVs, but try to find a base model F150 or a Maverick on a dealer lot not already spoken for by a customer.
We’ll see how truck horny the reservation holders are soon.
My parents married in January 1956. I came along in October 1957. Fertile much? 🙂 Anyway. Dad died in August 2010. He was 84 plus several months. That’s 54 pushing 55 years married. Seems like a pretty good run……
I am at 0 ft. above MSL about 1 ½ miles from the Pacific Ocean in Huntinton Beach, Ca, 92649.
Bah. That’s not high fertility. My parents got married and my mother had morning sickness negative two months later.
There seems to be very little good to be said about my father, but after 29-year-old him got a teenager knocked up at least he married her. Whether her brother and a shotgun were involved in this bout of responsibility has never been revealed to me.
(And he avoided leeching off of society into his 80s through the expedient of dying young of alcohol and stupid, so I guess that’s to his credit, too.)
Your memory is awesome.
I also remember 1980. Was I still in McAllen or freshly moved into the roachy apartment on Research Blvd. (aka US 183) in Austin where one kept everything but canned goods in the fridge? It’s hard to say, I was busy working mostly evenings and nights so I could pay my bills and maybe have a little bit extra for things like buying a hibachi from K-Mart and grilling hamburger patties. Yeah, and tires and tubes for the bicycle. And a new rear wheel for the bike when the 3-speed transmission wore out. And socks and underwear. Not much watching Prime Time TV for me.
Yeah, folks were saying Reagan was doing a super job. Not what I remember. But I managed to get by all by myself.
Forty years ago is sort of a blur. I could dig into my files to find the old phone bills, I kept last and first bills every time I moved to remember the dates. I think I still have them. It’s possible, I have every bank statement with cancelled checks since that time. Stuff is all probably a nest of silverfish and needs to go away.
Time to feed the dogs.
They got married on Jan 20 and I came along Oct 30. I’m a Honeymoon Baby. Grin.
My father explained “Chappaquiddick” that night to help me understand the magnitude of what the Dems were asking Carter to do by turning his delegates loose to “vote their conscience”.
My mother quaffed deeply from the Camelot Kool Aid vat despite generally voting Republican, but the old man was not under any illusion about the un-indicted murderer.
A typo in the years of the marriage and of your birth, it appears. From what you typed, you were born 21 months after the wedding.
But no need to blame yourself for the misunderstanding. Anthropogenic Global Warming (which is real) reached back in time and changed the date of your birth. There’s no mischief AGW cannot perpetrate!
Sitting in Safelite waiting for a repair about six weeks ago, I caught one of the morning “news” show’s third hours, and the topic of discussion was – I’m not kidding – the affect of global warming on the unborn fetus and the long term psychological aspects after the infant is born.
The segment was a interesting glimpse into what the Wine Mom’s who stay at home all day consume as “fact” right now.
Via Instapundit: ‘Incredibly Successful Day’: SpaceX Launches Largest Rocket Ever Before It Explodes‘
Just gonna come out and say it: dang hard to launch after exploding.
Currently 64F and windy. Did get some stuff done. Didn’t get some other stuff done. Played games with the kids. Had a nice fire tonight.
Headed to bed.
n
>> Forty years ago is sort of a blur. I could dig into my files to find the old phone bills, I kept last and first bills every time I moved to remember the dates. I think I still have them. It’s possible, I have every bank statement with cancelled checks since that time. Stuff is all probably a nest of silverfish and needs to go away.
Time to feed the dogs.
@paul, no implied connection, right??
Well, that’s a relief. I think. Finally found the time and energy to look at the failed drive on our little home server. It’s one of a RAID pair, so there wasn’t a huge hurry. It’s in an external casing, so I just had to figure out which one it was, and unplug it. Plugged it into my PC, and – everything’s fine ?! Plugged it back into the little server, and – everything’s fine?!
I’m guessing it’s a JerryP moment: Probably a cable that wasn’t making good contact anymore. Anyhow, that’s what I’m hoping.
The Carters are great human beings. Jimmy Carter was a poor President, for all the right reasons: he was too damned nice and too damned honest to play the dirty politics required.