Category: lakehouse

Cooler, but warming later. Maybe not hot though. Yesterday stayed very nice even in the afternoon. Perfect shorts and t shirt weather. Clear too, so really a very nice day. I am looking forward to a couple more days like that.

Yesterday my day got off to a very weird start, and didn’t really improve until later. I spent the morning doing domestic bliss, and shuffling some stuff around the house. Set up and tested the gear I bought to resell last week in Leander. There are issues, but I think they are worth fixing rather than selling “as is for parts or repair.” Worth a quick look see anyway. Spent the late afternoon running kids around.

Wife and kids headed to the BOL for the long weekend, but I stayed behind. I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting this weekend, and I’ve got a maintenance issue at my rent house to address today. I’ll head up after my meeting on Saturday, and because it’s a long weekend, I’ll have an extra day to work up there…

That does mean I have the house to myself for a bit. I’ll do some more cleaning up today. Then I’ll head to my rental, my secondary location, and an auction pickup. Those three kind of clump so it makes sense to combine them. I like to combine trips and do my part to save the environment.

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I said that with a straight face! I like to save the gas money, my time, and the wear and tear on the truck… which is good for my environment.

Dunno what or how much I’ll get done here or at the BOL, but I’ll give it the old school try. And I’ll stack. Oh yes. I will.

nick

And the weather is hot too. Yesterday got very hot in the sun, so I tried mightily to stay in the shade. Humidity was a bit lower than last month, so there was that.

Changed the belt on my mower deck. I hit a piece of 2×4 that was under some leaves last time, and shredded the belt that was new this year. Good thing I bought several in the auctions. I should have changed the blades too, while I had the deck off, but I just ran a file over the edge. The cheap chinese steel is very soft and the blades wear quickly. I’ve got a bunch from the auctions ready to go, but I didn’t feel like taking the time, and I was hoping to get through the season on one set. I should have changed them or done a better job sharpening. I got terrible cut quality.

I did spend some more time on the irrigation pump. I rigged a second pump to fill the supply side, and try to get and hold prime. I was able to run all the zones one at a time doing that. That’s good news, as both the pump motor and the impeller seem to work fine, it’s just that it won’t prime and hold prime. That’s a plumbing issue and I can work on it. New pump would be about $700… so I dodged a bullet there.

Today I will try to get the wife’s speakers installed at the dock. I just didn’t get to it yesterday after mowing and working on the sprinklers. (and the grass was so crunchy I needed to water even if I had to rig it or do it manually.) Then it’s clean up and stow the new stuff on the stacks, and head home.

There is always plenty to do.

And plenty to stack.

nick

Forecast is for cloudy, cooler, and 60% chance of rain. I’m guessing we won’t get much though. Yesterday was overcast with occasional showers most of the day, but sunny later. It got cool for a while at night, but the breeze died and it was warm again. Texas.

Didn’t actually get much done. I took an ‘off’ day and mostly read and hung around the house. Best laid plans and all that.

So today we’ll see what we can do. One thing I did check was the moisture level in the walls that got flooded. They are back to ambient and match the studs that didn’t flood, so I can plan to close those walls back in. That should give me some projects. 😛

I took yesterday off so I’ll labor today.

Always be working. And stacking.

Enjoy the day.

nick

It has been cooler. Mid 80s during the day in the shade, with a nice breeze. Humidity is still high, and when the sun is shining down, it will bake your brain. I was fine on the mower, and in the shade, but in the afternoon, I managed to get overheated and had to take a break.

I spent a couple of hours mowing. The grass wasn’t crazy long, but there were spots with decent growth. We’ve had enough rain up here that the grass is green and long.

After that, I did some smaller projects and mostly unloaded the truck.

Dinner from the freezers was tilapia on the grill, frozen biscuits, and fresh veg. Despite pounding electrolyte drinks all day, I was still behind when I went to bed. Gotta watch myself.

Still, got most of the slash piles burned, and had s’mores with D2 in the evening over the coals.

Today will be more of the project list. Maybe I’ll even get in the water later, once the sun is behind some clouds.

Stack some good memories. We’ll need them.

nick

A bit cooler. And wetter. And still humid, but less so. Scattered showers yesterday with occasional localized thunderstorm cells… so some places in Houston and surrounds got hammered. Some didn’t. Some got it twice. Today should be similar.

I did my pickup. Missed two that I’ll have to get today, as well as two more. That should keep me busy this morning. I ran out of time because I was dealing with my truck issues. Did the stuff that had to be done, put off the stuff I could. Kinda the story of my life, actually.

So today I’ll do some pickups, then some shopping if I have time. I need some stuff from Lowe’s to finish a project or two at the BOL. Later in the day I am supposed to pickup my pickup, and then load up for the BOL. Wife and D2 hope to leave before traffic gets bad, and I would like to too. Dunno if I’ll manage it. I’ve got one pickup that is in the wrong direction, and will take longer than I’d like. I originally thought I’d be able to get it on the way out of town but the truck repairs changed that. I’ll be lucky to hit the road before dark if I’m being realistic.

It’s always something. Still, I spent a couple hours listening to music from South Africa last night while I was reading, and at least we aren’t there yet. ‘One Man, One Vote’ by Johnny Clegg struck a chord … as did ‘Sufferin’ in the Land’ by Jimmy Cliff…

I managed to catch part of Jimmy Cliff’s set at the summer street festival in San Diego back in 1993, good times.

Civilization was nice while it lasted.

Stack. Prep. Upskill.

nick

Hot. Broken record time. hot hot hot. And humid. Because summer in Houston.Yesterday started nice and got hot. Ended nice, although it was a bit too hot. Even though it’s hot, it’s been cooling down at night, so I know Fall is coming.

I started slow, but did get some stuff done. The biggest thing was to swap out the washing machine and cut the grass. I moved and put some stuff away too. And I mounted shelf standards and put a couple of shelves in the bookcase. I’m moving a lot of the apocalypse library to the BOL. That is the most likely place to need it after all. That will have the side benefit of making some space in my office at home… which is also a good thing.

I got pulled over on my way home. It was a BS stop, one of my license plate lights was out and he “couldn’t read the plate from 50 feet.” I always have the cruise control locked at the speed limit, and I’ve taken care of my registration issues, so I wasn’t too worried, mostly just puzzled when he lit me up. Must have been a slow night for the Deputy. In any case, the plot thickened when he re-ran the plates and they came up for my other truck. He’d never seen Radio Operator plates, and had to “check” that I was telling the truth when I pointed out that you can have multiple vehicles with the same plate IF you’re a Radio Operator. Eventually he learned something, and I got a warning. I’m gonna say it was basically ‘stop and frisk’ and BS from the first question. “Where are you coming from?” and “Where are you going?” “What were you doing tonight?” All the BS questions. I was polite and helpful. I was an ambassador for ham radio after all. Still just bullshite though.

Today is a catch up day at home. I’ve got some auctions stuff to do, then errands, and a bit of moving kids around. School is starting soon, and then all of our schedules should firm up. Of course the demands of the school year will make their own issues, but that’s for later. For now, it will help.

I really need to be more scheduled, and actually knock out some of the stuff I’ve let linger too long. I need to take my own advice, and always be working to improve my situation.

The stacking part, I’ve got that down…

nick

Hot later today, but started cool. It was 75F and chilly last night. I’m sure it will be smoking hot and sunny today.

Did my hobby meeting yesterday, and had some good chats with folks. It was well attended and we had a new guy. Nice to see new faces in the hobby. Then I did a bunch of chores and it took a while to get ready to go. I finally got to the BOL around 9pm.

Wife and D2 have been up here with a couple of D2’s friends and have been having a great time in the sun and on the water. Kids are very polite and crazy smart. There is hope for the younger ones.

Today I will try to get a few things done. Swapping out the laundry machine and testing that will be top of the list. Doing some more organizing and putting stuff away is on the list too.

There is always something that needs doing.

Try to get something off your list. It’ll give you more time to stack!

n