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Category: prepping

Wed. Sept. 2, 2020 – jeez, Wednesday? already?

Hot and humid.  Yep.  Again.

Didn’t see the high yesterday, but it was hot.  High 90s in the shade for sure.

I took a few minutes and got a coat of Thompsons colored water seal on the teak table.  I was sweating by the time I was done, despite being in the shade, and hardly exerting myself wiping the oil on…

After that I did a couple of pickups.  Talked to my auctioneer and he put me off until Friday.  He’s busy.  Picked up a hundred 12ga rounds at one auction, and some dental tools.  I intend to use the tools for working with clay not teeth 🙂   I also swung by my secondary location, and picked up some stuff.  Both kids want second monitors for their school laptops.  The teacher sends links to content during the video call, and there isn’t room onscreen for everything.   I’ve got lots of monitors, so it was no biggie, but I’m betting most of the other kids don’t have a <s>hoarder</s> prepper for a dad.   I grabbed #1 daughter a keyboard too.  I didn’t have a USB port replicator or dock, since their lappys are all USB C.  That’s too new for me.  Once again though, backups for the win!

I also picked up a black and white laser printer for me.   My HP P1005 finally stopped working.  I had a pallet of old laser printers I paid $5 for some years ago.   My intention was to swap printers instead of toner.  I liked my P1005 though, and bought one $10 toner for it.  I’ve got 2 HP lasers left.  I hope the one I brought home works still.  I’ll find out later today.  I must have scrapped out the rest of the pile at some point.  I don’t remember.  I probably kept the toner carts though…

Yeah, there is a cost to keeping all the cr– ,  er… stuff.  I get that.  But it’s immensely satisfying to just grab something that will get the job done, without any drama or time used.  If we were further down the slope of the collapse, I can imagine situations where what you’ve got is all you can safely get…  a big chunk of the world works that way now.  Thank Gnu we’re not there yet.  It’s Wednesday and already I’ve pulled a couple monitors, cables, a monitor stand, a printer, keyboard, can of spray sticky, some decorative fabric, and a variety of other stuff off the pile and put them to use.  That’s cool.

Speaking of cool, I received the fridge monitor someone recommended, I’ll be installing that today.  Thanks for the tip.  So far, touch wood, everything has  been fine in the fridge zone… trust, but verify.

I also got most of my gennie parts, so that’s on the list today too.

I’ve got a vet appointment for my little guy this AM.  He’s due for heartworm and some other shots, and we want to talk to the Dr about his fairly sudden hearing loss.  It seems like it happened in a matter of weeks that we noticed something, and now he’s almost entirely deaf.  Maybe there’s some reason besides old age, and we can help.

Grid’s up, and bodies aren’t stacked in the street.  USE the time you have, and stack it high.

 

nick

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Mon. Aug. 31, 2020 – second week of school

Hot and humid although we might be on the downward side of the hill.  I think it only got to 107 in the driveway yesterday.

Regardless of the high temp, I hid inside most of the day.  All hail Mr. Carrier, without whom, life in Houston wouldn’t be tolerable for most people.

I did some exploration on the honda gennie in the late afternoon, and either found or created an issue with an O ring, so I’ll be waiting for the parts to come in before trying the thing I just discovered.  I took my own advice and searched on youtube with a slightly more general string, and the first hit described two things that historically fail on this model, and how to fix them.  This was the first time I saw the particular info, and I suspect it’s my problem.  I was almost there with my exploration before I obviated any more work by tearing the O ring.   There is a filter INSIDE the tank that “looks fine” but the mesh swells with time and exposure to gas, and restricts flow.   I was getting steady flow out the bowl drain when I emptied the tank of old gas, but maybe it wasn’t enough.  There is also ANOTHER filter inside the fuel petcock, that needs to be replaced sometimes.  Both filters are in the petcock replacement kit.  According to the YT creator, these are a common but hidden and non-obvious problem with old eu3000 gennies.  F me.  I hope that replacing those works.  They’re not even expensive.  Ebay has the petcock kit for ~$30.  I went ahead and bought a new spark plug, the O ring, the fuel level gauge, and I’ll get the petcock if cutting a hole in that filter solves my problem.  (keeping in mind that this is a ~$2000 gennie new, it’s worth fixing.)

I also spent some time with the manual for my inverter, and started actually planning my little mini-backup battery solution.  It looks like the inverter only works as a charger when connected to shore power (120v AC) and not from solar panels.  I’m willing to work around and compromise, since I am getting the stuff piecemeal and cheap.  It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.  Some time ago I got rid of the big pile of commercial UPSs that I was using as battery backup.  The batteries finally failed and I wasn’t interested in rebuilding what was only a temporary measure anyway.  Plus, I had a running generator…

My wife asked how many backups I planned to have.  The quiet gennie, the bigger noisier gennie, the whole house natgas gennie, and eventually installed solar…. with individual inverters and car batteries to back that all up, as well as LiON jump boxes, 7Ah gel cells, small solar USB charging panels, and maybe a biofuel fed peltier USB charger.*  Kinda like my plans to keep cooking…

There is no overkill…

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right?

More cops killed this weekend, more civil unrest.  I’m long body armor, bear spray, and staying away from crowds.  That means stores too.  Which you can do if you keep stacking…

 

nick

*I have all these already, but don’t have them all in working condition or ready to run.  That’s what I’m working on now with a renewed sense of urgency.   I’ve listed my plans for cooking before, starting with my electric range and going all the way down to open fires.

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Wed. Aug. 26, 2020 – well, better get ready

Hot and humid.  Sweaty like a fat guy’s thighs.

I did move some stuff from the house to storage yesterday.  Not enough.  Not nearly enough.  I’ve got so much loose stuff laying around that I can only hope we don’t actually get high winds, or whale oil beef hooked.

Both of my auction contacts pushed me off on taking them loads of stuff.  Jeez.  I can’t get rid of this stuff.

I did spend some time in meatspace chatting with my buddy and his wife at the gu–  toy store.   He’s gonna consign a couple of things for me.  He’s still doing a brisk business in transfers, but what happens when ALL the inventory is gone and no one can buy anything that needs transferring, and there is no new inventory?  Other people have commented elsewhere that in the short and medium run, gu— toy stores are in economic trouble, despite high demand and prices.

There was a steady stream of people looking for ammo, and not finding it.  I’ll drop a small box by today if I get a chance to sweeten the deal on one of my items.

School is cancelled for today and tomorrow, with Friday still up in the air.  It all depends on Laura, and what she leaves in her wake here in Texas.  I’m hoping for a non-event.  Prepping for a big one, but hoping for small.

And I’m watching the insurgency spread.

At some point in the not too distance past, the move toward ‘officer safety’ started.  Cops began training to avoid going ‘hands on’ to prevent them from being injured*.  At the same time, someone decided that it didn’t look good for cops to be hitting The Usual Suspects(tm) with their fists or ESPECIALLY with sticks.   So someone made a change to policy, and the end state of that is cops are trained to shoot rather than grapple or fight.  Guns are stand off weapons.  Nightsticks, batons, etc, are close in weapons.  The cops can now keep their distance, but changes in doctrine let to changes in tactics.   Policy changes led to us being where we are today.  The same people that don’t want to see a cop with a stick hitting a suspect now cry out when the cop uses the tools and tactics he’s been trained to use, and shoots instead of strikes.  How’s that working out?  Ripples turning into waves….

Speaking of that, John Wilder throws out a number in his recent post, saying ” the dollar losing 7% of its value in three months”.   Without knowing where he got it, I was caught off guard because it was the first time I saw it put so starkly.   It’s what you’d expect when .gov makes the money printers go “brrrrrrr”.  It’s what you see when you’re paying more for everything, especially metals like gold and silver.  But upon reflection 7% seems way too small.  TP is almost double.  Gold went from $1500/oz to almost $2000.  Silver went from $17 to 26 (with higher spots in the last week).  Ammo and gun prices are sky high.  Granted that a lot of the increase in consumer goods pricing is due to scarcity, the metal pricing is more purely inflation for monetary reasons.  Either way, it looks like the dollar is buying a LOT LESS than 93% of what it did in March or June.  Taking a step back, that ripple looks like it could be a really big wave if it gets going.   Ask yourself why it isn’t front page news.  And why no one is framing that decline in purchasing power in terms of inflation.  Venezuela here we come.  Everyone will be shocked when they realize we’re suddenly there “without warning”.  Consider this (and the last couple of years) your fair warning. **

Everything’s better with bacon.  And butter.  And a full pantry.  Keep stacking.

nick

 

* also about the same time, physical fitness standards were relaxed, and the recruiting pool was broadened.  A whole lot of cops were produced that couldn’t go hands on if they wanted to.

**I’m no financial guru and nothing I say is “financial advice” but I’m certainly taking a hard look at what my condition would be if all my cash and cash equivalents bought me half as much stuff, or one quarter as much, next year.   It might be a good idea to turn some of that cash into something that holds value a bit better, especially if there are bargains to be had.  Assuming I had any cash tucked away…

 

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Tues. Aug. 25, 2020 – more school, more to do, wind coming

Hot and humid, slightly less so.

Monday was a tiny big cooler and dryer than the last few days.   It still got pretty hot especially once the sun came out.  It was ‘roast your scalp’ hot then.

So when it got hot I did my errands.   Picked up my client’s dead projector.  Still dead.  Picked up my auction items.  Went by my secondary storage.  I really need to get stuff to auction.  I’ve got piles here and I need to get them under cover or out of here before the big wind.  Both of my local auctions are not returning my calls, which means they are super busy with their own stuff.  Bummer for me.

I’ll be trying to get a bunch more stuff into the garage and out of the driveway today.   I’ve got a bunch of stuff sitting on the patio that I don’t really want torn up by the wind either.

On the other hand, the pool is sparkling clean now.  Keeping the pecan debris, and the squirrel waste out helped a lot.  Of course it will be messed up by rain and hurricane wind.

I’m debating what to do with my antennas.  I might try to get the big one down.  The little ones should be ok even if the wind gets high.  I will see what kind of time I have after doing the other ground based stuff first.

Lots to do in little time.  Time to get the lead out.  I was really hoping to do this in an organized way but I think it’s going to come down to chucking stuff in a pile.  Oh well, best laid plans and all that.

Second day of school too.  We’ll see how that goes this time around.

I did get some stuff taken over to my secondary.  I’ll work on building that back up and it will help me to get some of the stuff out of here too.

Always something that needs stacking…  gotta keep it up.

n

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Sat. Aug. 22, 2020 – home again home again jiggity jig

Hot.  Humid.  and now ocean breeze,    yet…

Left Galveston for home after spending an hour in the water, and a half hour flying a kite.   Wind was too variable for my new stunt kite (well, technically, too variable for ME to run my new stunt kite.)   The early part of the day the sea was calm and quiet, cooler, and there was no breeze at all.  It was like floating in the bathtub.   The wind picked up and so did the waves, and it eventually started raining.  So we beat feet back to Houston, where — it started raining shortly after we got home.  At least we didn’t have to drive in it.

Everything was fine at home, and the dog is happily tucked into his bed next to my wife as I write this.

I had a couple of observations comparing this trip to our last visit to Galveston.  We never go into town, or do tourist-y things, just the beach.  That said, it was super quiet in town and at the beach.  To get to where we stayed you have to basically drive along 12 miles of oceanfront, which I’ve never seen as empty as this week.  Even if I went down for an auction pickup, the beaches and parking along the beach, were always busy.  Not this week.

Our beachhouse rental happened because they didn’t have a booking and reduced the rate enough that my wife jumped on it.  They didn’t have a rental for this weekend either.   As is normal for second homes/beach/lake/or other houses, the owners use them for part of the year and count on rentals during the rest of the year to pay the upkeep and outrageously high taxes.  With rentals down, there are sure to be families that lose houses that have been in their families for a long time (pretty much the only way normal people end up with beach houses is they inherit them.   The only way to keep them is as income properties.)  If investors and speculators playing a cash flow rental property game lose out, I’m not that heartbroken.  There are risks with every reward, and airbnb super renters are not much more than gamblers in my book.

There was a lot of economic collateral damage visible too, with  restaurants and other small businesses closed.  Even the strip clubs were shuttered.  We would normally have eaten out at least one night, and probably would have bought at least some food and drink in local stores.  Instead we brought it all in with us (the owner told us we should) and cooked for ourselves.

One of the things I noticed was the complete lack of commercial shipping visible.  Last time we were down there, there was a line of ships waiting to get into the bay to unload that stretched across half the horizon.  This time there were NONE.  I didn’t see any steaming in or out either.

There are usually a couple of sport fishers out and visible too.  Only one this trip in three days of looking.

Road traffic was light both going and coming home, even though we were coming north on the Beltway into an area that is reliably congested on most afternoons, and backed up and slow on a typical Friday.  We sailed right through the toll plaza with barely a brake light showing.  This is the last weekend before school starts, and would normally be crowded with trailers and RVs trying to get out of town.  Not now.

There are going to be some really long term effects on real estate from this year’s events.  If you have the money and want to live in NYFC, apparently rents and sale prices are WAY down already.  Elsewhere there are going to be vacation houses for sale soon, as people can’t make the payments, or pay the taxes.  Local economies based on tourism are either going to crater, or see an influx of new ‘refugee’ residents, vis The Hamptons or other toney areas near NYFC.  Good schools and high speed internet are probably going to be very important to which way each community goes.  The influx of people from a different culture is going to be disruptive to those communities too.  It’s also probably going to depend on if the community has a lot of outsiders who are familiar with that community.  The Hamptons are already familiar to the new monied ‘refugees’ whereas Panama City Beach, or Galveston draw primarily from the local area anyway.   There will be some even longer term effects when the new ‘refugees’ realize there are good reasons not to live in those resort areas year ’round…

Stepping aside from all that for a moment, it looks like Florida and the Gulf Coast are about to get smacked around by TWO named storms in the same week.   Or one giant superstorm, if the Gates have opened and the Horsemen are on the prowl….

All of it tells me that we really ‘ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.’   And there will be opportunities for the prepared and well positioned, as well as devastation for the unwise and unlucky.  I know which of those groups I want to be in.  I want you in there too, so get stacking…

 

n

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Sat. Aug. 15, 2020 – hurray for the weekend, just 2 more days to work…

Yup, hot.  Real hot.  Sunny and humid too.

Friday was a bit of a bust.  I got done the stuff outside the house that I needed to do.  Did some organization at my secondary space.  Picked up some stuff.

Today I need to do some catching up here at the house.  I’ve been slack.

I don’t think I mentioned it on Wednesday, but I broke down and vac sealed a bunch of meat for the freezer.  9 pounds of pig roast, into 3 smaller roasts and 4 chops, 6 pounds of hamburger into 1 1/3 pound blocks, 6 pounds of bacon into 1 pound bags, and we ate the steaks I’d bought in the last order.  It’s great having <s>some</s> lots of freezer space.  I also vac sealed a couple pounds of coffee that I got from my auction guy, $1 / pound.  I’d have bought more if he had more in roasts that I like.  You get what you see, when you see it if you want it.  The vac seal and freezer let you keep it a long time.

Speaking of which, I can’t really imagine prepping without a vac sealer.  It lets you keep stuff fresh for a LOT longer than any other packaging technique I know of for the freezer.  I’m still using the same one I bought on sale at Costco 5 or six years ago (or maybe 10 years ago).  I do have a backup that I picked up at a yard sale (same model), and a couple of backups to that that are simpler and more in the original Seal-a-meal style.  I like backups.  They were all super cheap at yard sales or thrift stores.  Even new in the store, the vac sealer will earn it’s cost back when you can buy cheap bulk food and break it down or when you can buy lots of food when it’s on sale and keep it in good condition for years.

Of course, with a freezer full of food, you’ll want a gennie, or solar setup.  Or battery backup and inverters, or hamsters on a wheel…. but that’s prepping too, it’s fractal.   And some people have opted for pallets of freeze dried food, or shelves full of canning to avoid worrying about the freezer.  If you do that, you need canning supplies, ways to clean them, heat source, storage, etc, and if you go for freeze drieds, you’ll need deep pockets 🙂

Whichever way you go, get busy.  You will feel better with food in the pantry.  So keep stacking!

 

nick

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Wed. Aug. 5, 2020 – wouldn’t be prudent

Hot and humid.  Of course.

It hit 111F in my driveway according to my weather station yesterday.  I know it felt damned hot.

Didn’t get much done.  Back hurts and I’m trying not to aggravate it.  I did get some stuff over to my secondary location, and some debris for the dumpster there.  I picked up my 3 cases of TP and misc. assorted other auction items.  (mainly art supplies for the kids)  I went to the chiropractor.  Got a doc I haven’t seen before, but she seemed competent.  Made me feel better, moved some stuff around.   Didn’t hurt me like some of the guys have done.  I’ll go back on Friday for another adjustment.  Lots of people put chiropractors with witch doctors and ambulance chasers, but I’ve always had good results and I’ve been going for decades.  Good and bad in any field I guess.

I haven’t made it in to see my buddy at the toy store in a while.  I’m starting to get anxious.  They have reduced their store hours because their employees have all decided to stay home, and they don’t have any inventory aside from a few consignments.  They do transfers all day long though for online buyers.  They are good people and I miss dropping in just to say hi.

I noticed while I was out that the Goodwill Outlet was “Temporarily Closed”.  No explanation, no reopen date.  I wonder if they’ve had an outbreak.  I hope not.

I saw a bunch of new empty storefronts and new “For Lease” signs.  Some on brand new businesses that never even really had a chance to open.  Even here we’re feeling the downturn coming.

One of my buddies is having some successes with his new prepping lifestyle- he’s got his first eggs from his new chickens, and he’s successfully made cheese from his excess .gov milk… so I guess he’s made government cheese…*

People are adapting and overcoming.  If you sit around waiting for things to go ‘back to normal’ I have a feeling you’ll be left behind.  Nothing irrevocable, but start moving forward.  There are always opportunities.

Everything is easier with resources.  So…….. keep stacking 🙂

 

nick

 

*I loved the taste of the government cheese.   What was it, late 70s?  Giant block of mild cheddar cheese, enough to build a fort with.  Grandma shared with the whole family.  I’d cut 1/2 inch thick slabs off and eat that like candy.  Big slabs on white bread as sandwiches.  Good times.

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Mon. Aug. 3, 2020 – new month, new week, same stuff on my list

Warmer, wetter, swamp-ier.

Because yesterday wasn’t humid enough, it rained.  And got to over 100F in my yard, even without sun.

But I mostly didn’t do much anyway.  Sometimes I hurt, sometimes I didn’t.  Didn’t want to push it too much in any case.

Cleaned the pool, opened a power supply that let the smoke out to show the daughter what magic smoke smells like, piddled around.

I did get a crossbow pistol in an auction, and I got it together and shot it a few times.  It says it is a 25 pound pull, and it looks like a toy, but it was putting quarrels 4 inches deep into the same target our little bows were putting arrows 2  inches deep.   It is a toy, really, but I sure wouldn’t want to be in front of it.  I’ll probably add a fishing reel and set it up as a line thrower for getting temporary wire antennas up into trees.    It’s really unpleasant to shoot, not fun at all.  The frame is polymer, and the spring is a nasty piece of shaped spring steel.   Lots of sharp edges and it takes two fingers to pull the trigger.  Using it once or twice a year sounds about right.

Dinner was courtesy of oldest daughter.  She wanted to make spaghetti and meatballs.  Do we have any hamburger defrosted?  No, but we do have frozen meatballs…. and lots of pasta.  So she heated everything up and we had dinner from stores.

I’ve done a pretty good job of stocking the larder.  There are things that tripped me up, mainly when my wife wants to cook.  She uses stuff I don’t even think about.  Diced tomatoes for example.  I have diced tomatoes with chilis.  I have tomato paste.  No plain diced, because I don’t use them.  Same with Worcestershire sauce.  I ordered a couple of bottles on my last HEB order because I had none on the shelves and she used the last in the cupboard.  So if your spouse isn’t fully involved in your stacking, find some way to address the things s/he uses and buys, that you don’t even think about, or you’ll be the goat and not the hero when the item is needed.

If you think you’re all set, and just need to add more of what you’ve already got, you’re probably missing something.  So look for gaps, and keep stacking.

nick

 

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Wed. July 29, 2020 – Halfway to more of the same

Hot and wet.

Not only was it super humid and warm yesterday, it rained too.    I managed to unload my auction delivery just as the drops started falling.   Did my pickups and headed home.

Spent most of the rest of the day indoors, except that I cleaned the pool, and cut the grass in the back yard.  It was soggy, but I figured I better get it done before it rains again.  I picked up the dog bombs and 3 bags of inedible pecans too.  I got a tiny bit of organization done in the garage.

Today I’m hoping to get another truckload of stuff to my other auctioneer.  It’ll depend on his schedule and weather.  More garage work and driveway org too, if the weather is good.

I linked to a couple of videos yesterday.  One shows the results of shooting a suspect TWICE with an AR.  It’s not the instant magic wand of death in every case.  If you aren’t training for follow up shots, you’re probably not doing it right.

The situation in Portland continues to escalate with the rioters now attempting to blind cops with lasers, spray them with bleach (blinding), and they are building bombs to lob at them too.  It’s WAY beyond throwing a pack of firecrackers…  Anarchists throwing bombs.  In 2020.  Everything old is new again.

And it’s spreading.  Tempe AZ had riots.  (home of Arizona State University, but otherwise a smallish town on the edge of Phoenix)  BLM and a laundry list of groups were blocking streets and harassing cops.  I don’t know what the demographics look like now, but when I was there I don’t think there were 10 blacks in the whole city.  But they’ve got riots now.  FFS.

Avoid crowds.  Go armed all the time.  Get some less than lethal for your vehicles.  Check the news to see what’s going on in town before you drive through something you didn’t know about.  Review your state’s use of force laws regarding riots, and attempts to enter your vehicle.  Don’t stop moving.

The economic and social effects are going to make the shutdown look like a walk in the park.  They’re already starting and won’t be getting better for some time.  Stock up while you can.

Got enough fire extinguishers?  After that one year where I was first on the scene at a half dozen wrecks and fires, I’ve now got several in each truck.  I’ve got one next to the kitchen, and one in my master bath.  Big ones.  More than one in the garage, by the door out.  Change the batteries or test your smoke detectors if you haven’t lately.  Change the detectors if they are a few years old.  Add a couple outside the bedrooms, inside the bedrooms, in the hall.  If you close a door at night, put one on each side of the door.  They are small and the new ones last years on a single non-removable battery.

Preps aren’t all freeze dried food and ammo…

Although you should stack those too.

nick

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Fri. July 24, 2020 – Friday again.

Hot and humid.

Yesterday was hot.  Humid.  Hot.  105F in my driveway.

I didn’t make much progress on my list, as I was out all afternoon.  I did pick up the fridge/freezer, and a bunch of stuff that I needed for my forklift, and if things ever get back to “normal”.   Chain and load binders are crazy expensive for what they are so I got some cheap.  Might just be wasted if I never have to move the forklift again.  On the other hand, this can’t go on forever.

I did get a bunch of meat broken down, vac sealed, and into the new freezer.  I’m checking temps several times a day now.  Freaking thing has me paranoid.

I got a couple of small projects inside the house done, and one part way done.  It’s time to cut the grass again and with the rain, it really needs it.   The week flew by.

I also took a little bit and shot the airsoft, the co2 bb gun, and the classic kids red rider bb rifle.  With the airsoft I was working standing unsupported snap shots, both hands.  With the bb pistol, I doubled my distance and shot for accuracy, supported strong hand, and with the little rifle, I was just shooting for fun, but I did double my distance.  I think I’m going to make a target with tin cans hanging from a board instead of sitting on one.   They won’t get knocked off and need resetting,  but they’ll still move and “ping” when hit.  I’ve been shooting at a windchime in the driveway from inside the garage every so often, and it gave me the idea.  It’ll look like some kind of hillbilly trash sculpture!

In all seriousness, shooting the bb and airsoft every day is starting to feel really good.  Go, shoot something!

And keep stacking.  Before you know it, Fall will be here.

nick

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