Cooler, but nice out. That’s the plan anyway.
Started heading that way yesterday. It was sunny in places,overcast elsewhere and generally cooler than it had any right to be. Still saturated though as my driveway still has standing water on it.
Ran my errands, and now have another alternative for Things That Go Bang(tm). The current ammo situation points up the validity of having a couple of different systems in the safe. 556 or 762. Why not both? There was an argument to be made for .40S&W when 9mm was hard to get, and the agencies were all dumping 40s after the FBI changed… but I didn’t move on that. I’ve always been bi-curious when it came to rifles though….
Enough of that tomfoolery 🙂
I’m at home all day. My wife is off looking at another lake with a friend from the neighborhood who has decades on that lake and more than one property there. That should mean I’m working in the driveway, garage, and garden. I guess we’ll see.
And hopefully the females of the household let me sleep in today. I’m been short of sleep and very run down. Not a good place to be during a global pandemic. If not, I’m making waffles for breakfast.
Maybe I’m making waffles for brunch…
So much to do and so little energy. I better get started.
Tiny steps, big steps, doesn’t matter. TAKE A STEP toward improving your position. Stack something!
nick
Got some not-so-good news from the MIL on Friday. Years ago she had a heart valve replaced. Now there is something wrong and needs some ring in the valve replaced. The surgeon informed her that if she were to have the surgery she would not survive thus that option is off the table. She is at elevated risk of a stroke because of the valve issue. The surgeon offered blood thinners which the MIL refused because she has bleeding problems with surface veins and thinned skin.
MIL was informed that if she thinks she cannot do something, don’t do it. There are too many risks. She was in the process of doing the removal of some of the junk in her house and I suspect that will cease. The condition of the house will deteriorate as she will no longer mow or do what little maintenance of the yard she was doing.
All the grand kids have called her, basically one last phone call I suspect. The MIL is 86, 87 in February, and has resigned herself that her life is over. She is not afraid of dying and is okay with it. She considers her life over.
So if I was a betting person I would say the MIL will pass sometime next year. My parents and aunt and uncle are gone, wife’s father is gone, MIL’s husband is gone, all but one of her 13 siblings are gone. I suspect spousal unit will take it hard but I also think deep down she knows the end is close.
When it happens we (wife and I) along with her brother will travel to San Antonio to clean out the house and sell it. We will have to acquire a dumpster and throw everything in the house in the dumpster. We might get $20.00 for the TV, a few dollars for the microwave and some other odds and ends. It will not be worth our time or effort.
It will not be a fun trip which I suspect will happen within the year. However, my aunt’s doctor said she would not last a year when we brought her here. Six and half years in assisted living that broke the bank, then four more years in a nursing home. Strange things happen.
Death is just another part of living, the final part.
Finally got the CC charge for the lunch with Mr. Flandery. Took 12 days. Something obviously went wrong. The charge also did not include the tip. I suspect they lost the receipt I signed, or something went wrong in their posting. All they had was a register transaction and noticed the missing charge because the receipts did not match the register.
Finally got the CC charge for the lunch with Mr. Flandery. Took 12 days. Something obviously went wrong. The charge also did not include the tip. I suspect they lost the receipt I signed, or something went wrong in their posting. All they had was a register transaction and noticed the missing charge because the receipts did not match the register.
The pro alcoholic said that Houston has a problem with chargebacks due to missing paper.
Even a broken clock …
When it happens we (wife and I) along with her brother will travel to San Antonio to clean out the house and sell it. We will have to acquire a dumpster and throw everything in the house in the dumpster. We might get $20.00 for the TV, a few dollars for the microwave and some other odds and ends. It will not be worth our time or effort.
San Antonio within the city limits is Prog Central with the power vacuum in Austin since the last legislative session. Check the regulations about disposing of the electronics.
As for the Camry, I’m getting non-stop phone calls from the Austin dealers regarding my 2018, probably for warranty and/or Texas Lemon Law replacements since the cylinders were bored too big on about 1700 — Toyota’s numbers … so far — of the 2.5 L 4 cyl engines early in that model year.
You might be able to get a better number than CarMax, but get their number first since it is good for a week IIRC.
You might be able to get a better number than CarMax, but get their number first since it is good for a week IIRC.
I forgot to add that Austin *sometimes* de-ices the overpasses, but San Antonio doesn’t even bother with keeping the chemicals so the Camry has probably never seen salt. Every once in a while, misplaced government priorities work in your favor.
During my first tenure in SA, I learned when the goobermint said there is icing on the overpasses, I stay off 1605, 410 and any highways. The cops usually closed off the on/off ramps during those times.
The MSM has started the pre-attacks on Amy Coney Barrett:
“The Handmaid’s Tale TV show is based on her religion…”
“We need to look into how she adopted those two Haitian kids…”
Can you imagine how she will be treated during the hearings? Cocaine Mitch should just put it up for a vote and get it over with. If tRump loses the election, who cares? We got three SCOTUS justices.
Don’t you mean 1604?
When I was living in SA I was living in Live Oak and working on Randolph AFB for awhile. That never presented an issue for travel. No bridges if I took the back way home. Then I worked downtown in the bank building and unable to avoid bridges. When there was icing I just stayed home.
I remember one time when SA got six inches of snow. It started snowing when I was at work so I left at 3:30 on a Friday. I took back roads to get home avoiding the I-State and as many bridges as possible. It took almost 4 hours to make what is normally an hour journey in rush hour.
Biggest issue I remember in SA was when it rained hard and long. A lot of low water crossings that would trap the stupid. Others would go around barricades and become stupid with a traffic citation. There was even a low spot on I-35 that would flood. This was before the elevated deck. I knew to get on I-35 N well past that part of the highway.
Well I’m up and feel pretty good. Don’t know why I can’t do that normally- oh yeah, kids.
“We might get $20.00 for the TV, a few dollars for the microwave and some other odds and ends. It will not be worth our time or effort.” – Ray I’m sorry for what you are going to go thru. Please consider letting an estate sale company or estate buyout company do it. Go in, get out the papers and photos, any good jewelry, and turn the rest over. I kept telling my mom and siblings NOT to prejudge what will sell and what won’t. Even smelly neglected stuff sells. I’ve bought aluminum foil and cling wrap from kitchen drawers myself! And, I like to tell people the EVERYONE I’ve ever met has at least ONE nice thing they have hidden away.
Mid century clothes sell well. Kitchen ware. Linens. Tchotchke of all kinds… just cuz you wouldn’t buy it doesn’t mean someone else won’t.
Keep in mind there are sellers that will price stuff high, then offer a lowball buyout on whatever is left. In your case, this is ok as you will simply want an empty house. One of the sellers I like specializes in selling everything. If you tell her you want an empty house at the end, it will be as close to empty as possible. There will be companies like her’s in SA. (The problem with doing it yourself is you will touch and look at every thing and far too much of it will end up in a “keep” pile. Estate companies don’t have any attachment to the stuff.)
WRT the lunch bill, I’ll drop in and talk to the manager/owner and give him a tip for our meal. Hopefully it will get to the right place.
I watched several people spin out and get sideways on a bridge in SA when I was there working on a project at the base. 10mph and you still end up spinning. I couldn’t understand why they would shut the whole base down for a little cold until I saw it with my own eyes.
n
1605 is a special highway for Whitey! only.
I finally was able to stop in at the local gun store today. AR inventory was low, but they had them, many in the $675 – $800 range. Everything else looked normal stock. Granted, this guy always has a lot of inventory, but it’s still nice to see. They have ammo, but are limiting to 4 boxes of target ammo and 1 box of hp (at least for 9mm).
All other guns were plentiful. I may have picked up another g19 Glock….
Tried out my new drone this morning. The one I got to replace the one I let smash from 100 meters because I neglected to set the return-home-on-low-battery option. This one works fine but I couldn’t get a WiFi signal from it for the video. So I finally broke down and called the support line. Oddly enough a pleasant English speaking woman answered. When I explained my problem she asked what model phone I was using. That was the problem, the drone puts out a 5 GHZ WiFi signal and my older Nokia isn’t rated for 802.11 a. I looked at my options and found that I would need to buy a new phone at $300+ just to get the video. No way! Then I remembered my Samsung tablet does 802.11 a and tried it out. Sure it’s not as convenient as a phone but the screen is much bigger and the range is better so no new phone for me. I HATE smart phones. Got some good video of the city pool and splash pad beyond the golf course before the winds got too gusty for my limited skill. I think I will have some fun with this.
The signs said “Low Water Crossing”. Combine that with knowing almost enough English to order at McDonald’s, well, there you go.
Oh yeah, when I visited WallyMart yesterday the wife noted that had removed most of the entry restrictions and all the “shop-this-way” floor arrows. No one paid any attention anyway. They seem to have skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving and gone right to the Christmas decorations. LOTS of artificial trees and light sets. When the wife noted we were getting low on tinned veggies in the pantry I first went to Aldis where I had stocked up before March but they still have a 4 can per person limit. So I bought several flats of corn and beans etc. at WallyMart. No restrictions there just a little more expensive. Now I’ve moved all the safe goods to the bunker and installed the vent fan I have doubled the space in my pantry. Need to fill that up. The freezers are all full of beef from the cow I bought but now the wife wants pork and chicken. Sigh. You just can’t satisfy some people.
And 30 million acres of solar panels to provide electricity for the electrolysis.
Which only work at night and during sunny days. I guess they could cover Nevada and Arizona with solar panels. And Barstow, no one would miss Barstow. Migrant workers will now be hired to clean dust off solar panels rather than pick crops.
well, same thing applies to electric cars, I havent seen yet a paper like central generation plus transmission losses cost to outlet to customer/filling station vs carry your own fuel in terms of contamination and efficciency. Or local generation plus batteries
Unlike most if not all of the enviroweenies, I have worked extensively with hydrogen. Hydrogen really, really, really wants to be free. And when it gets free, it wants to combine with oxygen which it does in a rather noisome and heated fashion. If we were running out of fossil fuels, I would be all over moving to hydrogen as our primary fuel for making energy. But we have more fossil fuels than we know what to do with now. Shoot, we flare (burn straight in the atmosphere) about 60 to 70% of the natural gas used in the USA every day because there are no customers wanting it or the ability to get it to market.
BTW, the migrant workers will need to clean the snow off the panels in the winter time also. Yup, almost flat surfaces collect snow in the winter time.
Think of it as a permission slip to buy more preps. My wife has raised an eyebrow or 3 at my spending for the last 9 months, but I’ve realized how much she trusts me by asking very few direct questions about what I spent the money on, and whether it was really necessary.
Being able to satisfy almost every need or want during 6 months of (mostly) isolation from stocks probably has contributed to her acceptance. (and what I couldn’t just put hands on, I was able to quickly source at steep discounts.)
n
Over The Hedge: Alexa has secret super powers
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/09/26
Looks like you need the magic code to activate Alexa’s God mode.
BTW, the migrant workers will need to clean the snow off the panels in the winter time also. Yup, almost flat surfaces collect snow in the winter time.
Cheap labor will also be necessary to install replacement panels in rotation, figure every 10-12 years across millions of acres. The inverters have limited lifespans too.
NOt to mention the environmental impact of making those panels in china…. not a country known for environmental protection.
n
How do we dispose of hundreds of square miles of worn-out solar panels every year?
Sell them at auction to the rest of us….
n
Or bury them with all those wind turbine blades. Preferably in Kalifornia around San Francisco.
All other guns were plentiful. I may have picked up another g19 Glock….
One can not have too many good guns. And that is a good gun.
An e-mail from HEB says free curb side delivery through 10/6.
Hmm. I might take them up on that offer and re-stuff the pantry. If I get bored.
BTW, the migrant workers will need to clean the snow off the panels in the winter time also. Yup, almost flat surfaces collect snow in the winter time.
Cheap labor will also be necessary to install replacement panels in rotation, figure every 10-12 years across millions of acres. The inverters have limited lifespans too.
My understanding is that the solar panels decay linearly at about 1% per year. The inverters can be rebuilt as needed. We had some huge megawatt sized inverters at our power plants, I knew of several 20 years old and older.
Of course, before the 1970s we used motor – generator sets consisting of a DC motor on one side and a three phase motor – generator on the other side with self excitation of up to 400 hp with hundreds of deep cycle batteries feeding the DC motor. That is always an option to quickly replace a melted down inverter set.
An e-mail from HEB says free curb side delivery through 10/6.
Hmm. I might take them up on that offer and re-stuff the pantry. If I get bored.
I never stopped going inside HEB in all this mess, at least twice a week. I am a good citizen now and wear my face diaper. Of course, I may have had the evil virus back in February, I have no idea as I am not willing to pay $3,000 to take the flawed antibody test.
BTW, the items that HEB does not have that I want are being carried by Kroger still. I need to make another Kroger run soon to get some more Diet Dr. Pepper in cans as HEB has been out for over a month now. And Kroger has the Brachs Candy Corn that I am addicted to. I can stop anytime I want …
How do we dispose of hundreds of square miles of worn-out solar panels every year?
Just sell them as used for a penny on the dollar. Somebody will buy them. And replacing the glass which is the major problem (scuffing) will become an industry.
Kroger is not an option here. It’s HEB or Walmart. Ok, add Generally a Dollar and ilk plus a couple of other places that, bless their hearts, sell what HEB and Wally World sell for almost twice the price.
The lack of different places to shop is sometimes annoying but it’s better than living in Austin.
Kroger is not an option here. It’s HEB or Walmart. Ok, add Generally a Dollar and ilk plus a couple of other places that, bless their hearts, sell what HEB and Wally World sell for almost twice the price.
I don’t remember the exact location, but, returning from Florida in July, we stopped in one town about 20 minute before … Lafayette (?) that was down to a Family Dollar store as the only obvious retail beyond the gas station.
Not necessary. What I first saw on the CC site was the amount without the tip. What actually posted later in the day was the amount with the tip. Both posted the same day. The smaller one in the morning, the other later in the day with the earlier post now gone. Strange happenings.
If,,,,,,,I was doing it myself I would do that or a dumpster. I like the idea of someone else doing the work. But with the wife along she will try and keep a lot of stuff and drag it bag to our house to stash. Wife is a lot like her mother and refuses to throw away junk. We have crap that we have not touched in 30 years that is still hanging around. Never moved, barely looked at. Annoys me.
I guess I missed that road. My GPS must be racially balanced.
Its Pence payola.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/watch-live-president-trump-announces-his-supreme-court-nominee
“WATCH: President Trump Announces Supreme Court Nomination – Amy Coney Barrett”
https://therightscoop.com/watch-live-president-trump-announces-supreme-court-nomination/
The dum-bro-crats are going to attack her through her two Haitian children that she and her husband adopted. Apparently whites adopting mixed race children is now racist.
https://twitchy.com/brad-313037/2020/09/26/talking-points-have-gone-out-another-democrat-operative-goes-after-amy-coney-barrett-adoptions-and-then-locks-down-after-blowback/
And Wife knows exactly where every bit of crap is? That rules out tossing an item every couple of weeks.
Oh, the “disposing of electronics” comment…. take that stuff to Goodwill. They don’t have to be open, just saying.
My MIL recognizes she can’t safely live alone on her 40 rural acres anymore. We have shown her several nice, affordable homes in town, close to services and care facilities. She qualifies for twice weekly home cleaning and nurse visits but lives miles outside their radius. In each case she’s initially excited then starts to think about moving and having to leave her 4 bedrooms and 3 outbuildings full of “valuable antiques and keepsakes” (IE: trash)
Sadly, she will never leave. I’ve come to realize that one day I will show up to find her dead from a fall or something.
The one time we talked about having an estate sale and had a guy out to appraise, she was angry that the 50 yr old Gibson guitar wasn’t worth thousands and the 1990 Kabota tractor, rusting in the field for 20 years, wasn’t valued at what they had paid for it. She showed me her collection of classic 1950 country music records. Maybe it would have been worth something, but after being stored in an un-aircondioned outbuilding for decades, each 45 was warped and the labels were unreadable.
I have no illusions about any of my valuable stuff being worth a shit when I die. I hope to have it somewhat sorted out so it looks better than “bring in a BIG roll-off dumpster”.
Tho, between now and then, maybe I can sell off my stamp collection. Damn thing sucked down ALL allowance and collecting coke bottles money, and more. Lots of time there…. I don’t want it going to some idiot at Goodwill.
We have a 1980 ish Yanmar tractor. Runs like new. The paint is faded a bit, but no rust.
It’s all pretty simple, build a crummy little shed for your tractor to keep the sun and rain off. I mean, 4x whatever treated landscape timbers for posts, some treated wood for rafters, and some sheet metal for a roof and the sides. Don’t forget the diagonal bracing. And boom! You have a 10×10 shed.
@paul
Good advice on preserving a tractor, to bad its a couple of decades late.
The FIL bought a nice Kubota with all the accessories, front end loader, bush hog, plow, etc. When he had a stroke in 2001 he left the tractor in the field with all the accessories. When I first looked at it 5 years ago the hydraulic lines were shot, got a new battery but the engine wouldn’t turn. I offered to sell it for them but he was sure he would get back on it till the day he died. I’m sure someone could refurbish it but it wouldn’t be cheap or fast an the MIL expects to get full new tractor price for it. Sigh. Getting old stinks.
When confirmed, the Dumbos apparently think “The Notorious ACB” can unilaterally overturn Roe.
Cool! It should be left to the States like Scalia said.
My understanding is that the solar panels decay linearly at about 1% per year.
I have a friend who used to design and oversee installation of off-grid PV systems. He told me the panels came in different grades, rated for different lifespans. For his customers, he used panels that could last 30 years with (I wish I could remember)% decline in output. He also said more affordable and popular panels can degrade significantly in just 10 years. This was about 25+ years ago, so might no longer be relevant with newer panels.
As for inverters, I used to design some high power circuits like what is in modern inverters. We had no trouble with long life as long as we under stressed everything and protected semiconductors from spikes. Today’s semiconductors are likely better, although capacitors are probably not as good. We used some expensive and very reliable caps back then. I wonder how good components are today, with almost everything being made to a price with the assumption it will be replaced as technology improves.
MIL is the same way. She was angry that no one was willing to pay $100.00 for a Kodak slide projector that she paid $250.00 for about 50 years ago. Claimed it was worth at least what she was asking. It’s junk. No one projects slides. But could not convince her of that.
My wife refuses to get rid of my old projector screen. It is also worth nothing.
Or may not be relevant with made-in-china garbage which meets the design spec barely if at all, or else has such poor quality control that what you get is a crapshoot.
Or may not be relevant as manufacturers have become more sophisticated in designing and manufacturing products to be mostly reliable for a set period and fairly reliably fail shortly after the planned obsolescence point. Gone are the days of overengineering a product to account for quality variability in the components. With better control over component quality, designs can be optimized for build cost and lifespan — with “optimized for lifespan” being from the manufacturer’s perspective, not the consumers’.
The assumption of being replaced by a better next generation is reasonable, but see above.
“Texas woman says she was fired from Whataburger for wearing Black Lives Matter mask”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-woman-says-she-was-fired-from-Whataburger-15596979.php?cmpid=trend
She was not fired, she refused to follow company policy and quit. Willful bad behavior does not get you unemployment in Texas.
And go Whataburger !
I bought a pallet of used Kyocera (japanese) panels. They have an install w/ 20 years on it.
When I looked up some other panels I was bidding on, their chart showed most of the degradation happens in the first couple of years and they slowly degrade after that. Figure 10% down after 5 years and slow after that. Those were alibaba chinese panels and were 5 years old.
20 years ago, on a prestige project, the kyoceras would have been VERY high quality.
n
Excellent! Any lawyer that took her case is an idiot. Shysters suck a**. Money grubbing parasites.
And neither does getting fired. Or quitting. Unemployment is only for getting laid off.
With out even looking I knew the color of the skin.
And go Whataburger !
Another BLM victim–except that this time the injury was self-inflicted!
I’ve had to replace a couple of the TCL tvs I put in at my client’s house. They are the super cheap 4K tvs at Costco. They were the OEM for Insignia but they are even cheaper than insignia used to be.
The traces on the boards are very thin. The plating is thin. Heck, the boards are thin. They are built to just barely work. BUT they have a really good warranty and costco goes even farther, and if you make it past 2 years, the Square Trade warranty will get it replaced. As long as they keep replacing them (30 days before the warranty ran out for the last one) I’ll keep buying them because they look freaking fantastic and at $350 they are outstanding value… Now, if I had to BUY a new one every 2 years it would be a different story. But yeah, died one month short of the extended warranty…
n
The best thing about youtube is the musical recommendation engine. I’ve been surfing around all night.
Finished with Jim Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower wearing headphones. 50 years dead and still one of the best.
n