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Category: book-batteries

Tues. Jan. 9, 2024 – school days again

Cold and damp, but supposed to be clear today. Had all the weather yesterday- warm, cold, windy, wet, sunny, and dry… Just depended on where and when you were.

I did my pickups without incident. Stopped by my auctioneer and got approval to bring stuff by today. I’ll have to go to my storage unit and load up… and clear out the foyer. That will make the wife happier, as GS cookie season is going to start soon, and SHE’LL need the space.

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I’ve decided that I can’t arm wave it away anymore- I’ve got an animal living in my wall in the laundry room. It pushed the dryer vent out to get access, or maybe to escape when I initially walled it in with the poison blocks, a couple of months ago. It’s coming and going freely, and hasn’t died, so I’m betting on possum, not rat, at this point. It’s driving the dog nuts. I didn’t want to believe it, because I couldn’t figure out how it got in the wall alive, but now that I know the vent has been compromised, it makes sense.

Time to move and bait the live trap again. Then fix the vent.

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Probably time to do the bug spray around the foundation too.

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Nothing to report from the dentist visit, except that he’s planting 1 acre of veg garden this year. That’s at his country property. He runs some cattle too, probably for the ag exemption on property tax. He’s still got woods when all the surrounding wind break wooded patches are being turned into housing, so he’s getting all the deer. He’s got a ‘herd’ on his land now, and a problem with poachers. If the trucks stop rolling, his problem will briefly get very intense, then there won’t be any more deer for the poachers to poach. Which is, btw, what I expect to happen anywhere there are rifles and pickup trucks, good ol boys and deer.

Given their nature, there should still be pigs.

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Since I don’t hunt, or fish, or garden, at least not with any real success, I’m stacking cans.

Do I need to mention that you should too?

nick

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Thur. July 29, 2021 – kids at rock gym, me working…

Sunny and hot, chance of rain. We’re in the middle of the thunderstorm zone today and tomorrow so we might actually get it. We didn’t get any rain yesterday despite the possibility. I even drove across town, and didn’t get wet.

Did my pickup yesterday and have a couple to do today. Then I’m off to my secondary to do a bunch more clean up. It’s gonna be a long day of hot hard work if everything goes to plan.

And I need to keep an eye on some auctions. There is a vet clinic selling everything, not too far from my house. There are a number of things I’d like to have from that auction… if the zombies ever come.

There’s another fairly close auction with a bunch of air rifles and the current prices are low. In the auctions in general, there has been a lot of late bidding lately, so low prices 8 hours out might not mean what it would have last year, but I’d like to pick up a couple of nice ones for the stacks…

And there is another auction with a bunch of stuff for my non-prepping hobby. I didn’t win any of the stuff I was bidding on this week, so I’m keeping an eye on this sale.

But I can’t sit in front of the computer all day, the kids are out of my hair, and I’ve got stuff to get done.

SO MUCH STUFF.

But it will let me break this log jam and keep making forward progress. “Everything takes longer and costs more.” If I repeated that mantra at work, I should understand that it applies to me in my home life too, right? But I’m SPECIAL and I operate as if it wasn’t true. Well it is true, and not acknowledging that can lead to frustration and disappointment and discouragement. Time to deal with it and just keep pushing through.

The end goal is to have stacks of stuff that will help me, not hinder me. Anything that hinders has to go. And if it helps, it gets priority.

I’m picking up more shelves today… and while it costs time, they should help organize, condense, and ultimately improve my situation.

Keep working to improve your situation. By stacking, or by getting rid of some stuff. Sometimes getting rid of a stack is the best thing you can do.

nick

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Sun. June 20, 2021 – Fathers’ Day

Hot and humid here in Fla. High of 90, low of 70F, sure to be humid.

Flight was ok. Pretty bumpy for about half the trip, but because of hearing issues, PA issues, and a thick spanish accent, I don’t know which route the pilot chose. It must have been the one with the best flight characteristics, but it still knocked us around.

Mask usage was mandatory at the airport and on the flight. Silly to raise and lower a mask between bites of food and sips of drink, all that does is contaminate your mask and your food. I guess no one said this stuff was supposed to make sense or work.

I think we’re headed to the beach today. In any case, it will be short shrift from me on the keys….

y’all talk amongst yourselves.

nick

keep stacking!

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Sat. June 19, 2021 – travel day.

In theory, we’re getting stormed on by the thing in the Gulf. In practice, yesterday was nice and sunny all day, and HOT reaching 109F in the sun by my roof. I guess if there is weather in NOLA, my flight to the Tampa area will either go through it or around it. It makes more sense to go south of it, but then your plane needs to be rated for ‘over water’. What to do, what to do.

Spent yesterday tying up some loose ends around the house and around town.

Today we’re flying, after dropping the dog (and hamster) off with friends, the fish having become an ex-fish just a few weeks ago. This will be my first flight post-wuflu lockdown and frankly I’m not looking forward to it. I no longer like to fly anyway, but the additional nonsense is just that much more to hate.

I told the kids we will be practicing grace and flexibility on the trip, and I’ll have to remind myself.

Still lots to do before I’m ready to leave, so I better get busy.

I’m hoping, as I always do, the world holds together until I’m back home.

So I can get back to stacking.

nick

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Sat. April 17, 2021 – Rain? could be, or not, work to do regardless.

Possibility of rain, and moderate temperatures. Like yesterday. For some values of Houston. I heard on the radio that areas got hammered with hail Thursday night, while we got nothing. That’s why, despite looking at it every day, I don’t put much stock in the forecast. I don’t think anyone was predicting hail…

Spent a lot of time yesterday driving around. Between wasting time on the internet with my friends, and driving, I do come up short on actual work time, some days at least.

Cut my hair, did some laundry.

Bought some shirts a couple of sizes too big. Just in case I might find myself in a situation where I was wearing something that I wanted to put a shirt over, but it was thicker than my cool vest. I don’t know where that thicker vest or vest like garment might fall on your preparedness spectrum or threat continuum, or just contingency planning, but if you own or think you might have cause to wear something like that, you might want jackets and shirts that you could wear over it. So much of what we do to prep can be thought of as systems- a collection of parts that work together in a way that is more useful that just the parts themselves. The more complete your system is, the more effective it will be. I think being stealthy and unobtrusive is going to be the uniform of the day for a long time.

I’ll be working the list today, depending on weather.

I’m going to link Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man for today’s political/observational/situational update. https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-consequences-of-stolen-election.html

“If you’re stuck in a conflict zone, or a city likely to become one, I can only recommend that you prepare as best you can. This article and this one offer many helpful suggestions. Prepare today, so you aren’t caught unawares and unprepared tomorrow.”

Saves me a bunch of typing.

Keep stacking.

n

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Sat. April 11, 2020 – gonna be Easter soon, hope the bunny is ‘essential’

 

Cool and clear, rain in the forecast.

Did not get as much done I hoped. Spent time reading fiction during the day. I don’t usually do that, because I’d get nothing done at all if it became a habit.

I did get a low voltage power line run through the attic to the back of the house. I got the IR emitter hung and thought everything was good to go. Unfortunately, I’m not seeing much IR in the camera image at night. There is a BIT of foliage, but not enough. Maybe the camera doesn’t have good IR capability. In any case, not the slam dunk I hoped for. (Looking at a different camera with good IR capability, it looks like a floodlight is on, so I think it’s the camera. Bummer. One more thing to look at changing.) In the process though, I found a setting that needed to be changed on the other camera that is looking at my front porch, so net-net it was a positive.

Started to get kinda warm up in the attic in the afternoon, despite the cooler outdoor temps. I managed to run another network line for new camera number two, if I can find a good way to mount it on my chimney. It’s the other new 8mpx camera to cover the other end of my street. With possibly sketchy neighbors on that side, I would like to have more coverage of the street. Camera’s not doing anyone any good sitting in a box, I might as well hang it.

Still have a lot of outdoor stuff to do, so I’m hoping the rain holds off again.

Dinner was leftovers. Wasting food is a lot more of an issue when you’re in a lifeboat…. which is the metaphor I’ve been using with the kids.

Take a bit of a break this weekend. Recharge mentally and physically. Do something nice with your other shut-ins….

Stay in, stay safe.

n

 

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