Cool and damp, followed by more damp, possibly even wet. It stayed fairly cool yesterday, but didn’t rain. Today’s forecast has us in the “possible” area for storms and rain. I’m hoping for ‘ not raining.’
Didn’t do much beyond auctions (gotta get those last few in before the end of the year, Texas charges tax on inventory.) I’ll probably do my pickup today for the stuff I won.
We did finally get the tree decorated, and some additional decoration done in the house. Christmas cards are clipped to a string to display them, and there has been an outbreak of gnomes in festive holiday gear…
And of course we watched the holiday classic, Die Hard.
These are the good old days. Stack some memories too.
nick
Die Hard first post!
Nothing in “Anna and the Apocalypse” will be a shock beyond how much effort the creative people put into making the musical numbers work far better than they should.
The other two films of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End” should be on the priority list, but they are not “Christmas” movies.
Well, unless you view “Roadhouse” as a Christmas classic as I do.
@Ken: Here is the link to order the report.
https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/request
I had the name wrong because autocorrect corrected lexis to Lexus (the car). You are allowed to get one report per year.
What a pile of snow. It’s hard to say how much, but at least 50cm, maybe 70cm. It’s hard to tell, because it’s windy, so as soon as you shovel (or snowblow) a patch, the wind fills it back in – not even counting the snow that is still falling heavily.
I’ve cleared the lower part of our driveway, and shoveled around the house, 2-3 times this morning. This afternoon, I’ll do it again, another couple of times. The snow should be tapering off this evening, so I can do the final “digging out” tomorrow.
For the Eco Power+ snowblower, the weird battery has started behaving normally again. So that’s good. I’d like to get a second pair of batteries, but… They are literally half the price in the US as they are here, but (of course) they refuse to ship them from the US. It’s $800 for a pair in the US, about $1200 in Germany, and around $1600 here in Switzerland. That’s just annoying price gouging.
By whom? The manufacturer or the import tariffs of the country?
I know most manufacturers of the battery powered stuff charge a hefty price for batteries. I needed a new battery for my Ego blower. The battery is $129.00. I can buy a new blower, with battery and charger, for $129.00. So I now have three blowers and four chargers having thrown away one charger.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/12/man-watched-woman-burn-to-death-after-he-allegedly-set-on-fire-on-nyc-subway/
Guatemalan confirmed.
Ray; Thank you very much!
It’s not tariffs. Dunno why the 12ah batteries are 50% more in Germany. The difference from Germany into Switzerland is just the usual rapaciousness.
Cleared a bit more snow. Threw the frisbee twice for the dog. He literally disappeared into the snow. Found the frisbee and took it under a tree where he could goof off with it.
Thanks for the poem, Lynn.
I knew the title and the history of it. In doing my research, I discovered there is another verse between the first and last.
There is a supposedly handwritten copy of the poem, all 3 verses, in RLS’s own hand. It leaves out the “the” before “sea”, and if you read closely, it plays games throughout with the octometer rythm. I wondered if RAH had included it or not.
I’m asking my son, the pianist/guitarist/bassist/percussionist/singer, to set it to music for me. The meter issues may appeal to him. He’s already told me that against my wishes he’ll do a metal version. While it’s not what I want, I think Stevenson would approve.
Stevenson was, as you might expect from the author of both Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde, not a normal man. That poem, or a form of it, is on his tombstone in Samoa. He died young.
Reminds me of stories about ink jet printers and cartridges. 😉
The batteries most likely originate in China. Beyond the liability issues and costs with shipping the cells across the ocean by ship, Germany and Switzerland probably assess steep tariffs to protect their domestic manufacturing industries.
Imagine.
My Canon inkjet was purchased from HSN for $50.00 (free shipping) with full size cartridges. To replace the cartridges was $64.00. I just tossed the printer and got a new one. I did that three times until the price of the printer jumped and the price of the cartridges dropped a little.
@Norman, thanks for checking in! Many people find that they are busier in retirement than they were while working.
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The additional cost of the batteries could be related to mandatory recycling or “life cycle management” charges. I believe those sorts of things are more prevalent on the continent…
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I often buy “tool kits” that include the tool, just to get the batteries when they are on sale. Christmas and Father’s Day being the best time for sale pricing. Otherwise, I just buy the ‘bare’ tool as I have batteries and chargers and won’t pay a premium for either.
I also bought the adapter to use modern 20v lithium batteries in my old 18v NiMH tools. Works well enough that I bought several of the adapters. This Christmas I asked for bare tools in 20v for the impact driver and circular saw as they are the ones I use most often with the adapter, and now I have two places I need to keep those tools. You can’t use the adapter and old chargers to charge the LiION batteries.
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63F and windy. A bit of damp in the breeze. Tried the Kuerig Duo for my coffee this morning, but the smallest batch it will make is double what I drink in the morning. I can consume more, save the second cup for afternoon, or keep using my 1-4 cup machine. It is a dang tasty cup of coffee…
n
I thought The Container Store had closed long ago. Guess that was Bed Bath and Beyond.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14221049/home-depot-rival-files-bankruptcy-sparks-fears-mass-closures.html
More “free” money coming home to roost.
n
The Container Store would be deferred student loan payment money.
The landlords holding commercial space aren’t accepting haircuts right now, but those will come.