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Tues. Nov. 12, 2024 – another volunteer day, and some auction stuff

Cool and damp, warming to hot and damp. It will probably be damp… for all that it started out sopping wet, yesterday ended very nice. It was low 70s and comfortable at dusk. I enjoy driving with the windows down when I can. It would be nice to get a little more Fall before Winter arrives.

Did some household stuff, some auction stuff, picked up one kid, then went to the dress rehearsal for the other kid’s school musical. Spent a couple hours doing audio tweaks and teaching the mixer board kid how to listen and adjust EQ. Hit the HEB for some “show buddy” treats that D2 needed to pick up. They had choice beef chuck roast on sale cheap, so I bought a couple. Ground chuck was only $3.75/pound, so I got some of that too. Even the beef jerky I eat was $1 off with in store coupon…so it was a decent trip despite being unplanned and out of order.

Today I’m headed into school to set up a monitor speaker for the Music Director, so she won’t demand changes to my front of house mix. Then I’ll do some auction stuff, and finally go back to second dress rehearsal, so that I can show the Musical Director how to adjust her monitor, and so I can keep working with the kid mixing the show. There is an alternate casting of the 4 leads and this is their rehearsal. First time to set mics for them. And the kid needs encouragement to stick to his guns and keep the volume levels below painful, even when a Musical Director wants to mess up the whole show so she can hear better…

Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in… /end Pachino voice

It’s not a prep, but I get to use skills and knowledge and gear that I have had in storage for a long time. And it’s meatspace, engaging with my community.

Stacking is easier and takes less time.

nick

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Mon. Nov. 11, 2024 – 11:11 – if you know, you know.

Cool but damp. Warming later. Weather yesterday at the BOL was hot in the sun, drippy with humidity, but cool breezes. Today, back in Houston, I just want a couple of dry days so I can take down and put away the Halloween decor…

I got a leisurely start to the day yesterday, but then did a bunch of work. After getting the truck unloaded and the bed set up, I did a whole bunch of yard work. I’d skipped the detail work the last couple of times I was up, and it showed. Time to get the string trimmer and blower out. Plus, tons of leaves on the ground and caught in all the underbrush, all of which needed blowing out so they don’t hold moisture and mold.

I followed that with mowing, and then string trimming and blowing again. It was getting pretty dark at that point, so I called it a day and put everything away.

Lots of stuff that didn’t get done, but it looked lived in and cared for when I finished the yard stuff. And for a place you don’t live in, that’s important.

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Today I’ll be returning the trailer, and doing all the other normal things I fail to do on a regular basis. Well, I’ll be trying to do some of them. Maybe.

I’ve got stacks to sort, move, and store. I’ve got auction stuff to get ready. I’ve got kid taxi duties and pickups around town too. A busy day, like most of them.

So get to stackin’. Don’t get caught lackin’.

nick

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Sun. Nov. 10, 2024 – working the list at the BOL…

Low 70s today with a lot of damp. Lake is high, with soggy ground everywhere. Yesterday got pretty hot in Houston in the afternoon, to the point where I was soaked to the skin loading my trailer with my new bed.

I started my Saturday with my non-prepping hobby. It was good to see everyone, and we had a nice meeting. I sold some stuff, which is always good. Followed that up with a pickup in the Woodlands (the bed and some vintage pipes) and then on to the BOL. Had a nice dinner, which D1 and friend grilled. Radio was wide open later that night. I really need to get a radio and antenna set up here.

Today I’ll get the bed set up, and work on some other small things. I forgot/didn’t have time to get the electrical stuff I needed to do the work in the dockhouse, so I’ll probably just do the speakers and sound stuff, and whatever other small things I can get off the list. Can’t do much major as I’ll be heading home tonight.

I did bring up 4 gallons of the lamp oil, a Coleman propane stove, and a couple of bottles of propane. I brought a few more books for the library up here too. Some prepping is happening…

Oh, and D1’s friend caught a fish off our dock. The kids are making a big deal about it since I’ve only managed to catch one fish in 2 years of trying. Clearly it’s possible. The problem must lie with me. 🙂

Do some stacking of your own, and work to improve your situation, whatever it is.

nick

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Sat. Nov. 9, 2024 – hope it’s not raining…

Probably damp and cool, but maybe raining… It was really humid yesterday, and got up into the low 80s in the afternoon, but after the morning showers, the rain held off until after midnight. Mostly. Today I’m doing stuff that I would prefer didn’t get wet.

I started yesterday with volunteer work at the kid’s middle school. Then I headed south to do a pickup. On the way I stopped at Northern Tool and bought two small furniture dollies and a drywall dolly. I want to cover my bases for moving the mattresses and bed frames today. Stopped at Habitat reStore on my way home, but they didn’t have anything I needed. Seems like they are getting fewer donations…

Did kid taxi stuff in the late afternoon. Got my trailer and stuff from storage for my non-prepping hobby swapmeet this morning. Put stuff in the truck… Basically got ready to do my things today.

Hobby, pickup bed for BOL, head to BOL… I should be moving non-stop for most of the day.

Not much choice in the matter now either.

Fortunately we have choices when it comes to prepping. I choose to stack!

nick

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Fri. Nov. 8, 2024 – another busy day

Warm, damp, and might rain. I hope not. It threatened most of yesterday but never did rain on me, and it cleared up by afternoon. I drove around with the windows open and it was nice. Had the A/C on too, in the later afternoon when the heat caught up with the humidity.

Spent the day doing domestic bliss. Laundry, taking down some of the decor. I can’t take down anything that’s not really dry. Or I could, but it wouldn’t be smart… so I hope it stays dry today.

Checked the traps while I was in the attic. Turns out I had a small rat in the trap after all. One of the new, tunnel traps, the same one that got the first rat on the first day, got another. He was smaller and didn’t move the tunnel, so I didn’t see him on the cam. Guess I should check more often. In any case, I re-baited the live traps, and the other new tunnel trap. I didn’t clean and reset the first one, I’ll save that for another day. I did take it outside, in a bucket.

Then it was kid taxi service, and a quick trip to the theater when they thought they had an issue with sound. They didn’t really but the kid has his hands full and he didn’t have time to troubleshoot. One of the reasons the shows always sound so bad is that they never give any time to the sound guy to work with the actors and the mics. They don’t have enough rehearsal anyway, barely getting the show blocked before opening, so sound gets short shrift.

Like most things in life, if you don’t take the time, practice, test, and refine, you won’t get a good result.

Today I’ve got an auction pickup or two. I need to buy and assemble a drywall dolly to use when I pick up my new bed. It was $130 to rent one, and $199 to buy, so I’m buying. I’ll use it again. Later in the day I’ll pick up the trailer for the bed too. Lots of running around. AND I’ve got to get some stuff together for my non-prepping hobby quarterly swapmeet on Saturday. I’ll do that, then drive toward the BOL, picking up the bed and some other stuff on the way. Busy, busy, that’s me.

Don’t falter, right?

And find some time to improve your situation. Stacking is easiest.

nick

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Thur. Nov. 7, 2024 – so it’s all so very obvious now, is it?

Cool but still damp. Clear and sunny warming things up later. Yesterday was pretty nice by the afternoon. It’s great to drive around with the windows open, even if you might need a bit of heat or A/C to put things right. I need another warm dry day to get my decor dried out and put away.

Yesterday I did some auction stuff. Did one pickup on the north side. It’s near the LDS thrift store, Deseret Industries. I always go in and shop when I’m in the area and it usually pays off. This time I got an Aquatainer for $3, two big spools of direct burial cat 6 cable, which I have plans for here and at the BOL for $25 each, and a big old CB radio for resale, either at the Hamfest or online… and I got some irrigation supplies and some medical stuff too. Then I got the kid from school, and did stuff at home including some domestic bliss. I’ll fold the clean clothes later today.

Today I’ll be trying to rent a drywall cart to help with moving my new bed, and doing other stuff on the list. I rented the trailer so that’s done. I shouldn’t have any pickups, and kid taxi duties don’t kick in until 3pm so I MIGHT be able to make some progress around the house. That’s the plan, Stan.

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I’m finding the news to be entertaining… lot’s of “this is why the Kamel failed” articles. NOW they see it, NOW they know it, NOW it’s so obvious. Well, where were you last week, or the previous months when it was obvious to US? In South Park getting high on your own smug?

The only question now is, well there are lots of questions. Still plenty of uncertainty, even if one branch of the tree is known. We’re on the “Trump won the election” branch, but it forks and twists, and is riddled with parasites, storm damage, weakened branches, etc… There are still a million bad things that can happen, but now there are also good things too.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and try to get through it.

And stack of course.

nick

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Wed. Nov. 6, 2024 – nope, I don’t know yet…

Cooler and still very damp. It was 65F when I went to bed and I expect it will be near that to start today. We did have a very nice clear afternoon yesterday but there were still rain showers in different parts of town. You could clearly see the rain in the distance.

I got my pickups done, got to my storage unit, and my secondary, and got stuff from my driveway, and loaded stuff for my dropoff. I made it there with 15 minutes to spare… and unloaded what I had. Because time was so tight, I didn’t get everything I hoped, so I expect to make a second dropoff trip, maybe Thursday.

Spent some time doing tech support for my client. Windows issues.

Spent some time avoiding getting sucked into the play by play of the election. I did that last time. Still woke disappointed. We’ll see if today is any different. I hope so.

I’ve got a ton of stuff to do today, and probably won’t get a third of it done, but maybe… just maybe, I’ll get a thing or two done.

And stack. Twice as hard.

n

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Mon. Nov. 4, 2024 – on more day until we see if they take their “last chance” seriously

Hot and humid, although it will start cooler. Yesterday was a mix of sunny and hot, crashing downpours, high winds, and gentle rain. What kind of weather? Yes. Today shouldn’t have rain, but we’ll see. Still very wet out so the humidity will likely be high. Joy.

I did indoor things yesterday. Fixed some cables for the school, and for me. Did some troubleshooting on other tech that’s been stacked up waiting to be fixed. Nothing complete, but some small progress made.

Did a bunch of auction stuff. Won a very nice new bed for the BOL. The mattress we’ve been using is small (queen vs the cal king we have at home) and not very comfortable. I won a split king Tempur Pedic. Picking it up and moving it will be the hardest part. Everything about the Tempur Pedic is heavy. At least it’s 2 mattresses. Moving the cal king was almost too much for me and the wife. Being able to sleep for more than a couple of days without causing crippling neck and back pain will be nice. I’ll probably rent a trailer and a drywall dolly. That’s about the easiest way I can think to handle it.

Today I’m starting back at the kid’s school. I hope to get a couple more problems resolved so the kids can start actually working during the rehearsals. They have two weeks (a bit less actually) before opening night. Then I’ll be getting some auction dropoff stuff together, even if I don’t hear back from my auctioneer. I want it ready to go and all in one place. Well, I can dream, right?

Then there will be kid taxi service in the afternoon, and the rest of the domestic bliss…

Dunno when I’ll stack anything, but I’ll try. After all, we have an extra hour in the day, right?? ;-P

Stack while you can.

nick

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Sun. Nov. 3, 2024 – Rain! oh yeah, and FALL BACK! Standard time ahead!

Rain continues. With a multi-week dry spell, finally getting some rain is nice, but getting caught up in a day or two is not great. Some people are going to flood… not me, but someone.

Spent part of Saturday driving around to do auction pickups. Spent part of it doing domestic bliss. Part of it I hid while W was doing a deep clean on D2’s closet… the height of exciting.

But not every day is exciting or interesting. Some days are just days. And that’s ok.

Like today. After sleeping late, eating a leisurely breakfast, I don’t know what I’ll do. Oh, I’ve got a list. I’ll be checking it twice. I’ll fall further behind my goals and desires when I don’t get stuff done. But there probably won’t be any major drama or excitement. At least I hope not. There will just be steadfast plugging away…

Keep the faith, and keep stacking.

n

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Sat. Nov. 2, 2024 – Next up- it’s erection you plick…

Muggy, maybe rainy, and warmer today, although yesterday had those things too. Just enough rain to wet stuff, and not enough to matter to the plants. And humid too.

So I went in to volunteer some more time… and instead of getting out in two hours and doing the stuff I really needed to do, I was there 6 hours, and then kid taxi service, and all the rest of the day killed my todo list.

So TODAY I’m trying to salvage some of that.

But first I’ve got pickups to do.

And the usual list of domestic bliss, with the addition of cleanup from Halloween.

Busy, that is me. Just a busy bee…

Anyone here ever keep bees? I bought a starter kit, and I’ve bought some other bee keeping stuff as it came up cheap in auctions, and I’ve got a bee hive in a hollow tree at the BOL. The tree needs to be cut down, and I thought this might be the perfect time to use some of the stuff I picked up… but other than a vague idea, I got no clue about bees… I’m pretty sure this is the starter kit I have…

It’ll bee at least a week or two before I get up to the BOL again, so I have time to get a clue.

And I’m thinking that a beehive is a pretty good stack, if it doesn’t just turn out to be food or home for wasps.

Gotta stack something…

nick

Bonus points to anyone who names the inspiration for today’s post title.

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