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Category: decline and fall

Tues. Feb. 11, 2025 – never know what you’ll find if you actually look

Cool and damp in Houston. Slightly warmer than the BOL though. Still, chilly to start the day and a bit overcast too. The end of the week is looking better, so I’ll take a little grey now, if it helps.

Did my cleanup and closing up, then headed home from the BOL yesterday. Hit two auction pickups on the way home. Got mostly household stuff. I’m buying fewer things as I have most of what I need. And I’m considering the travel time and miles, and adding that to the price. Some of the auctions have had very high prices lately. That usually means new money is coming in. I’m guessing that more people have found the auctions. The sellers support that as they are complaining that the new buyers don’t really understand what they are bidding on and buying. I’ve been cheerleading for people to start shopping in the secondary economy, so I can’t really complain if they do, and if they run prices up because they don’t know any better…

Today I’ve got a Dr appointment in the morning, and then at least one pickup. I need to hit Lowes and get the stuff I need to finish at the BOL too. Plus, Tuesday is my big ‘kid taxi’ day. I’ll be busy, putting miles on the truck today. I guess I can complain, but no one really cares. And I really don’t either. I chose this, and I generally like it.

Doesn’t mean I won’t TRY to complain though. And of course, I’ll be stacking while doing it…

nick

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Mon. Feb. 10, 2025 – no song lyrics this week… probably

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

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Sun. Feb. 9, 2025 – Black Betty had a child {flamble damm} the damn thing went wild {flamble dammmm}

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

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Sat. Feb. 8, 2025 – People are strange, when you’re a stranger, faces look ugly when you’re alone…

STILL not freezing cold. I’m beginning to think the whole “winter returns” was ‘overblown’…. I expect today to be better than yesterday, ie. clearer, and about the same temperatures. I think it hit 82F in my driveway. Sun came out late in the day too.

I did a bunch of cleaning and putting away. Wellllll, putting somewhere else… in the morning. Then I did a pretty big round trip to pick up a bunch of auction items. The most notable from a prepping perspective included several dozen first aid kit reloads of single serving antibiotic cream packets. I put them in my altoids tin first aid kit, and altoids tin “everyday” survival kit. Of course I also put them in normal first aid kits too. I think it would be hard to have too much antibiotic cream.

The other interesting lot was several boxes of lumber crayons. I got boxes of black and of white. I put the lumber crayons in my bigger kits, in my vehicle kits, and just loose in the truck. They will write on just about any surface and if you have black and white, you can mark on dark or light surfaces. You can use them to leave notes for others in your party who are following you, blaze a trail, or to do the FEMA cross on buildings in a disaster… and they don’t dry out. Yeah, pretty extreme use case, but they are small, cheap, and durable. Low cost and low effort but might save a life later…

Speaking of blazing a trail, I also keep a couple of rolls of flagging tape in bright colors in my truck. It can be used for trail marking, but most often I use it for flagging lumber or pipe when it overhangs the back of my truck… or for marking guy wires for temp antennas. I’ve also used it as streamer to stabilize kites when I have big kites in the air at the beach. Florescent orange is the brightest and one I use most often. Cheap, small, and useful.

Today I’ll buy the rest of the electrical parts I need for my project at the BOL, and I’ll head up later in the day. I should be able to crank out the work, but may need to stay Monday as well. We’ll see, as always. And I’m sure there is something on the list that could be done too.

Whatever small steps you take, whatever small job you get done, that’s one more thing you’ve done to help yourself and the ones you love. Big steps are important, but little things are too.

Stack.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 7, 2025 – I’m the urban spaceman baby, I can fly, I’m a supersonic guy…

Still warm. Getting clearer. The forecast is for clearing over the weekend. There was also talk of more winter. Didn’t see it yesterday. It got to 82F despite the overcast. Only cleared around dusk and only on the north side of town. Perhaps today will be nicer.

Spent all day either running errands or napping. Every half hour of down time had me sleeping. I was simply up too late reading, and paid the price. The rest of the day was moving from appointment to appointment.

Crock pot dinner was easy enough and delicious- chicken drumsticks and veg in the Crockpot stewed chicken flavor mix.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do. Unfortunately they are all over town, so I’ll have more driving than I’d like. Then I’ve got to get the house ready for extra kids. D2 is having a couple friends over to get ready for a school dance. D1 is volunteering to chaperone a Girl Scout function. W1 wants a lot less of my stuff out and stacked when we have people over.

I’ve been working on it. Really I need to get sale stuff out of the house. And not bring more in.

And edit some of the other stuff piling up.

Maybe next week.

Stack!

nick

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Thur. Feb. 6, 2025 – I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok…

Warm and damp. Possibly clearing as we head into the weekend. Warmer later in the day. It’s been getting into the low 80s and I think we may get one more day of that. Then WINTER RETURNS!!1!!1!!!1!! Maybe. But for now, pleasant, if moist.

Did some stuff. Skipped some stuff. Still had kid2 home sick. Made her some soup and went out to do pickups. Got another 3D printer. It was $50. Now I really need to figure out what to do with them. Got some art supplies too. I grab them if they’re cheap. Both kids will occasionally paint something. I’d like to have time and energy to paint stuff again. I used to like doing art stuff. I don’t have much creative outlet anymore, and I’m not hanging around artistic people like I did for decades. Sometimes I miss it.

Today is a bunch of running around. D2 has an appointment in the morning to get her retainer repaired. Then it’s back to school for her. I’ve got a checkup in the afternoon, and some pickups to do. Later it’s D2’s extracurricular sport, and picking up D1 from hers… I think it will be a crock pot dinner night.

[just re-read that and it sure is brusk]

Mmmm, chicken in the crock pot…

Now I really should get busy. Don’t forget to stack something.
nick

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Wed. Feb. 5, 2025 – 02052025 – fire them all, rehire as needed…

Warmish and getting warmer. It was almost 70F yesterday morning and it got into the low 80s. The humidity was crazy high, and the short time I was working outdoors, sweat was running down my back. The sky was nice and blue with fluffy clouds… and I expect the same today.

Actually got some stuff done yesterday. Not as much as needed to be done, but more than some days. I did domestic bliss, getting a load of washing done. I made a crock pot pot roast. I got two of my cams back on line. One was a bad port on the switch, one was config issues, after I moved it 5 feet to get out from behind a tree. Thankfully I had the slack in the attic to move it. I also added a mic to the cam for the front porch, but haven’t tested or configured it yet. I have to print a different sticker for the front door to include audio recording.

In most states, audio recording is covered under wiretapping and eavesdropping laws, and can have very strong legal restrictions on use. This is why most surveillance video doesn’t include audio by default. No matter the legality, I’d rather have the audio, I just hadn’t taken down a cam to add a mic. Since I had the cam apart to troubleshoot, I added a mic.

I got some other small things done too. Fed the sick kid soup for lunch. She was feeling better at dinner time. Not sure if she’ll be back at school today or not. She’s not a shirker so I’m inclined to keep her home if she says she’s not feeling well.

Oh, and I put 50 pounds of flour into 5 gallon buckets, 25 pounds per bucket. That job has been sitting around waiting for far too long.

Today should be more of the same with an emphasis on cleaning up and putting away.

There’s always more to do, always more to stack. Stay busy.

nick

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Tues. Feb. 4, 2025 – sometimes when the pendulum swings, it’s a Damoclean Sword…

Dunno what the weather will be today. Forecast shows ‘clear’ and I’m going with “starts cool, but warms to low or mid 80s”… because that was yesterday. Except for the “clear” part. We’re in the south Texas “run the A/C and the heat in the same day” season.

I got a couple of pickups done yesterday. Mainly stuff for the BOL (driveway crack sealer, amongst other things), but a couple of household things too. Picked up the kid from her practice, and made tacos for my Ben… Sorry, tacos for dinner. Tried a new flavor packet, and it was pretty much like the other flavor packets.

Today I have one, possibly two, pickups. And I have some auction stuff to clear up. I’m also thinking it might be a good day to get some electrical stuff for the BOL, so I can find alternative sources if needed. Wife has relatives coming to visit us there, and they will need a hookup for their RV. I will need to install that hookup before hand… and I need to get the wire and the breaker. I’ve got outlets. Then I actually have to install it.

Sun up to sun down a farmer‘s husband’s work is never done…

Neither is a prepper’s. Get to stacking!

nick

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Mon. Feb. 3, 2025 – back to life, back to reality

Cool and clear, should be a nice day. Yesterday warmed up well into the 70s F. It would be nice to get another nice day.

Did computer and auction stuff all day. Skipped the household stuff until it was time to cook dinner. I’d defrosted a pork roast from 2018 and needed to cook it soon. I’d also brought home a free bag of apples from a “meal deal” and they were starting to get a bit beat up. I figured I’d make some stewed apples to go with the pork roast, and kill two birds with one stone… which is a good way to get more from your food budget money.

If you have something that is aging out, build a meal around it. Nothing like making french toast in a week when you have a lot more bread left than normal… The more active version of this is building meals around what is on sale, or what you got at the farmer’s market, or what your neighbor with the green thumb gave you. Or what the food bank was giving out on Tuesday.

Times being what they are, and likely to get worse, building good habits, being thrifty, making good use of available resources, and reducing waste are essential to living your ‘best life’. Good habits now will pay off later, and they help out now too.

Take a look at other areas of your life for opportunities to save. You are probably using too much of products you use frequently. Toothpaste, soap, shampoo, shaving cream- all are effective in much smaller quantities than suggested by the manufacturer. The huge curl of toothpaste, longer than the brush head, looks good on the box, but you really only need a pea sized squeeze. That picture on the box of “how to use the product” encourages you to waste it, and then you’ll buy more. Their motivations are not your motivations…

My motivation is to get the most-est with the least-est. And to make it through whatever bad times are coming. Stretching my stacks will help with that.

Stacking more helps too…

nick

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Sun. Feb. 2, 2025 – working the list…

Cold today? Yesterday morning caught me off guard with how cold it was. It did end up very comfortable in the afternoon, and it was sunny which was nice. Today will hopefully be a little warmer to start, but still sunny. It really helps to dry things out, and we need to dry.

I had my non-prepping hobby yesterday, and it was a good meeting. I sold some stuff and made a couple of guys happy. I will continue as webmaster, but fortunately I won’t be taking on any additional duties. Every organization has the 80/20 rule for member involvement, or even 90/10, with a core group doing most of the work to keep the group together. Ours is no exception. I would like to say I’m not in the 20% but a bit further down. I contribute, but I’m trying to limit my commitment at the same time. There are a couple of other people with similar levels of involvement.

I came home and napped, then did auction stuff for most of the day and evening.

Which means that today I feel like I should be working EXTRA hard. We’ll see how that turns out…

Don’t let my slackitude keep you from stacking though…

nick

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