Category: march to war

Another cool sunny day is on order, like yesterday. It got pretty chilly when the sun set, and it was cold when we ate on an outdoor patio for dinner. Today should be similar. It’s not onerous, just a bit cold.

Spent the day spending time with family. Played a couple of games. Ate. Watched a movie. Read for a while. A good day. I’m still making inroads on the overabundance of baked goods too.

Today will be a visit to a local flea market, and some more eating. Maybe some more reading and games too.

I’m doing what I can to make sure there are some good old days.

I hope you can too. Stack them up for later. We will probably need them.

nick

Chilly to start, warming later, then back to chilly here in the home of Florida Man. It was nice yesterday, only a bit cool at dusk. Sunny and mostly clear. I’m expecting the same today.

We mostly hung out with family and played games yesterday, then went to see some holiday lights… and finished with our Christmas gift exchange. I got mostly snack items.

We’ve been eating tons of cookies and holiday treats. My sibling has lots of guests here, who often are world travelers, and they sent lots of foreign treats. Pine flavored hard candy from Belgium is the weirdest so far… and yep, it tastes like pine.

Today we’ll hang out some more, and eat some more, and play some more games. Good times for sure.

I hope everyone else here is easing into the new year. It’s certainly not been easy for far too many people and I’m pretty sure it will continue to get weirder and more violent. Consider what that might mean for your year and your activities. Take some steps to mitigate bad things happening around you. And be aware of your surroundings and risks.

Stacks can limit your exposure to other people and potentially bad places. And they feel good. So … stack. It’s easy.

Much easier than predicting the future.

nick

Cold and clear, warming a bit later. It was cold and clear yesterday, and did in fact warm later. All the way to comfortable in shirtsleeves. Odd use of words, that, but used in North America as a rough description of temperature for some time. Shirtsleeves. Odd.

Did my errands and scutwork in the morning. Drove to my pickups, got them done. Hit the Goodwill bins on the southwest side. Filled a cart. I know, I wasn’t going to, but the stuff was too good.

Stopped at EPO, an electronics store in the style of an old school Army Navy surplus store. Too much of the stuff is priced like a museum, but they’ve got what you need- and literal tons of sh!t no one needs (like stacks of broadcast quality VCRs- a whole room full). I noticed oil lamps hanging from the ceiling this time. Good oil lamps, like you would have found in a home when oil was the primary lighting tech. I haven’t seen anything besides the typical red or blue dietz style or a glass hurricane style in person, ever. Yet there they were. They are above the aisle with Metal Earth ™ laser cut metal model kits, tweezers, and RF connectors and patch cables…. down a bit from fuses… EPO is a Houston treasure.

Hit the costco on the way home, just for coffee and TP if it was on sale. It wasn’t. $29 for a bale of Charmin? No, I’ll pull down stock and wait for the sale. I ended up grabbing a couple of staples that don’t go on sale and got out for ~$200 which is the least I’ve spent at Costco in a single visit in years.

I hope the weather holds, because I still have stuff in the back of the truck that I need to get put away today.

I’ve also still got to pick up some Christmas gifts for my number one wife… which is critical and getting too close to the day. We’ll see what I get done on the list, but getting her something is VERY HIGH on the list all of a sudden.

Stack while you can. Fix what needs fixing. Get your ducks in a row. But also – breathe. Enjoy the moments you get. No one knows the number of our hours, and they are probably shorter than you think. May sure others know you care…

nick

*would an AI know the next number in the sequence to replace “?” It’s pretty straightforward for humans…

Damp and cool again, probably foggy. It did start that way but got a bit better yesterday. Until the rain came anyway. But even that didn’t last. So what kind of weather did we have yesterday? Yes.

Spent the morning on auction things and messing around. Got the kid and an extra from school at noon, and that killed my plans for the day. I ended up doing some cleaning and organizing around the house, and then made a nice dinner.

The sirloin cap roast was only a year old. Hardly worth mentioning, when there were steaks next to it from 2020… but it was delicious. Instant mashed potatoes were great with a bunch of butter, and my signature cabbage dish rounded out the menu. Cabbage, hard squashes, apples, onions, root veg, they are all traditional european and American foods that store well and can be used all winter long. It felt good to eat a sit down meal with the whole family and food from the pantry. We’ve been eating quick foods and leftovers too much lately. Dessert was cookies. Lots of cookies.

Today I’ve got a couple of pickups in opposite directions. I’ve been watching a lot of auctions lately and not even bidding if the pickup was inconvenient. I’ve got most of what I need, and the time to do the pickups is definitely eating into my workday, so I’m being a bit more conservative with what I’ve been buying lately. Got the kids this afternoon too, as they have testing in the morning and early dismissal. They can be home alone, but I don’t want any other kids here with them if I’m not here.

I’ve got nine pounds of stuff and only 5 pound bags. But I’ve got stacks. Lots of stacks. Maybe time to start putting some to use.

nick