For those of you following the firewood saga, there is no major news. I carried perhaps 1/2 cord Friday. I had today set aside to finish (or at least get close to it), but sideways rain and lightning made that seem inadvisable. We’ll try again tomorrow.
I’ve went nowhere much since the fishing trip, mostly because I have nowhere much to go. We have done the normal shopping, as we are concentrating on keeping the pantry topped off. I got a haircut. I saw the chiropractor. I went to a couple of ham radio club meetings. Life pretty much goes on in its deceptively normal manner.
At both ham club meetings, there were books being given away from the collections of Silent Keys (SK). I always feel a little weird about taking any, but knowing hams, they would be happy to see them go somewhere besides the landfill. I know I feel that way about my books and gear. I’m going to try and put the two I got to good use. One was a Radio Shack Dictionary of Electronics New! for 1974-75. You may laugh, but there is still a lot of gear out there where the definitions of terms in this book still apply. I own quite a pile of it. The other was an RSGB book on VHF/UHF radio. I would like to try 2 meter simplex sometime, so it seemed like a good book to have.
Speaking of ham radio, Son and I spent Saturday putting in the conduit that will eventually carry the feedline to my new antenna installation. The next step is to put in the radial system, which will be 36 32′ buried radials. It might be more, but I’m committing to 36 for now.
The Walmart in Next Door Burg was the scene of pantry topping off. It seemed to be much better stocked than the last time I saw it. Most shelves were full, with only a few holes. Depth was variable, from full to 2-3 items deep. But you can still get anything you want and everything you need, as long as you can pay the price. The change in prices was noticeable. I got an email today from the NC Farm Bureau noting that food prices have been rising for 18 months now. Good thing there’s no inflation.
Mrs. Freeholder hit a grocery store in Bitty Burg last week. It seems that diet soda (my preferred poison these days is Pepsi Zero Sugar) isn’t available in quantity. It seems that Pepsi Zero Sugar just wasn’t available at all. Neither is Gatorade G2, the Preferred Hydration Drink of Summer, which is nearly over. Interestingly, we still have a very few hummingbirds hanging in here. I expect they’ll be gone soon enough.
We also hit the local meat packer for ground beast, chicken and other meats. I’m ecstatic to report that ground beast is the same price is was on our last visit. Ribeye steaks, though, were $14/lb, so we regretfully left them in the cooler.
Gasoline has popped back up to $3/gallon. Word from Son In Law is that tires are now short. He needed tires for his mother’s vehicle, and had to take what he could get (Pirelli) rather than what he wanted (Michelin), and it was going to take a couple of weeks to get them. Asking, he found out that this is the story across the tire size and type spectrum. And here I sit, wanting/needing to replace the tires on the RV over the winter. I guess I’ll have to start hitting up tire dealers pretty soon to get my name on the list.
Mountain Man reported in that automotive batteries are also getting hard to get. He had to wait a week for one, which meant a car was deadlined for a week. Fortunately, his family has spares.
Local “healthcare systems” are busy firing employees who refuse to accept the Wuflu injabulation. Unless they’ve changed their minds, I think there will be a couple of familiar faces that I’ll miss on my next visits.
I have the scanner going, and the local airport still has considerable traffic, even given the weather and the increase in fuel prices. No training flights so far today, but I’ve seen them overhead several times in the last few days. You can always spot them by watching the aerial maneuvers.
One of my next door neighbors’ entire family had the Wuflu recently. All 3 kids sailed right through. Mom and Dad took a bit more time to recover, but it was no big thing for any of them. I don’t know anyone’s vaxx status. It’s none of my business, really.
Looking ahead, I took advantage of today’s rainout to order Christmas presents for the family. That leaves just a few we need to get for friends and neighbors. Given the supply chain issues, I thought it better to get that one taken care of now.
As I said, life is continuing in a deceptively normal sort of way. I continue to wait patiently for the collapse, while hoping we don’t have one. The weather station is reporting more lightning strikes closing in so…
Out here.
