NextTex: Recovery Woes, Life Slows – a “Climate Kill”

by

Political Control 101: “Never let a Good Crisis Go to Waste.”

Something very strange jumped out at us while looking at the AI looking at the news flow:  I think, by-golly, we may just have the first “political climate character assassination” to do a post-mort on.

The story, under headlines like “Ted Cruz flew to Mexico as Texans froze in storms” seems to us a rather deft (though possibly daft), of the same sort used as a major factor in the demise of Donald Trump:  Success Envy.

No, this is not to excuse Trump for anything – don’t go there – any Trump comments from today forward will simply be trashed on the comment side (Trumps gone, move on).

BUT – until you have been in those circles where you can see “Call Jesse and have him get the jet ready…” – the difference in thinking between the ultra-deep of pocket and “everyday folks” like us is immense.

In politics that translates to “exploitable.”

Ted Cruz had – going into the storm – a very good change of being a Pres-Cand. come 2024.  Minimum of GOP VP wannabe who could carry a state.

All smacks of Romney and the family dog on the roof story.  Facts today don’t matter.  Instead, impressions and emotions rule.  America’s nerves have been scratched raw and it makes us all so much easier to control; manipulate.

People are becoming ever-more thin-skinned under this controlled assault, as well.  Thus, the banter between humans has been crushed.  Humor has been killed.  Swedish jokes?  Remember them?  All humans have the same foibles…

But ask yourself the Big Friday Question:  What’s funny, anymore?  Besides the hubris of humans, of course…

This Storm Has Slowed Time

But, not everyone can see it, yet.  Instead, you might see whines like Axios’ “Texas power outage shows America’s inability to solve crises.”

Which, in our view,  misses many of the Key Deal Points:

  • This has happened before (1899) when there was no man-made climate change.
  • Any “Can’t Do” attitude springs from the outbreeding of delayed gratification.  Which means that anything taking time is bad – and thus a monetization opportunity.
  • Put another way, we live in the Nanny State with a side of whiners.
  • Which has rippled into society as:  Instant (baseless) violence, Instant messaging, Instant Social, instant rice, even instant…..  See how “instant” the world is?
  • When a time change event (snowtex) comes along, things slow.  We see it evidenced as:
    • Slower goods shipments on I-10 and I-40.  (You do monitor truck volumes on webcams, do you not?)
    • When the top end of the distro chain freezes up, the unthaw can take several weeks.  So things like fresh fruits and veggies may keep you “in the can” (so to speak) for a while longer.
    • Critical items – including meds – may be impacted, as well.

Earlier this morning, I was remarking to a reader (Andy) that most humans run around wasting personal processor clicks.  If you had just used them in advance, you could still have heat, water, and another month of food.

The storm has slowed deliveries – and that’s effectively slowing time.  Patience and strategic restocking is the order of the day.

Texas Rehab Work Plans

Since we still have enough to keep us going until well into fall (and that’s without the garden going in next week when things warm), we won’t be part of the shelf-clearing episodes that will predictably come next.

Water, heat, electric, and comms are all rolling fine here, knock on wood.

Your restoration priorities might include:

  • Getting a heat source going.
  • Repairing water supplies (check for boiling notices, a good idea to boil anyway…
  • Inventory what food you have (and toilet paper, lol) and make a back-filling plan to implement over the summer.

As one of our readers shared on the Comments section as an Austin Area Prepper’s Report:

  • Used dual natural gas/gas generator worked perfectly.
    Used Big Berkey water filter, especially important on a boiled water notice.
    Have natural gas stove, lucked out, in 1958 house in older neighborhood.
    Stocked up on food pre-covid per this site’s recommendations.
    Have all wheel drive 17 year old gas car, did great.
    Saved up 4 propane tanks and one gallon distilled water. Gave distilled water and 1 propane tank to friends in need.
    Stocked up on pet food for three months last week, listening to intuition.
  • No paper plates in house.
    Filled tub with water.
    Afghans and boots.
    Hats, scarfs, and gloves.
    No winter coat, haven’t needed one, have to remedy that.

Home phone went down when electric went down which means the old dependable SWBell lines (now AT&T) are no longer useful in an electrical disaster. In the 1990’s earthquake in California, I was able to get through to family there when cells would not work. My consumer cellular stayed up, but we know any number of things which can take down service.

Hope my report helps other people plan for next time.”

As do we, but remember, for every smart person in America, there is a dumb one to keep the average IQ around 100…

Grimly: Toro recalls snow blowers due to amputation hazard.

Snow Life

Here in the Outback – past the end of the “white string” we still haven’t had mail or UPS show up, yet.  Again, maybe that is part of planning, though.  Only thing due to land now is a two-pack of hot-set PVC glue.

Dinner last night was a simple affair:  spaghetti and meatballs, with enough leftovers (including most of a fresh loaf of bread baked last night) for meatball and provolone sandwiches for lunch.

Dinner’s a prime rib roast…birthday fare to make 72-years.

What really matters most?  The freezing point of Champagne is 15F.

One has to keep their priorities upright, even in tough times.

Maunder Mania

Predictably, when the weather takes a turn, the Charlatans come out of the woodwork trying to scam and ram a “climate tax” or “accord” or other foolishness on people.

Crap on the net, forecasting this as the leading edge of a New Maunder Minimum, though is seriously overwrought.  Here’s how solar output looks in the longer view:

Since the peak of (pending) Solar Cycle 25 is estimated to be low (compared to adjacent) we might look forward to weather similar to the 1800-1850 period.

We recall the Donner Party disaster came toward the end of this weak period (1846-`47.  Not to be confused with FYC Or finger-food..)  But, as Oilman2 sagely advised this week:  “If we get another winter like this NEXT winter, then OK, we change plans a bit.  Otherwise…one off…”

Still, America markets hysteria well.  Which in turn slows time (as shelves are swept) and panic grabs the sheep.  Rather than living, what my buddy Gaye Levy calls the strategic Life.   People don’t plan to Live which is tantamount to planning to fail by failing to plan.

Markets:  Working the Sheep

Dow Futures are up 82 while the S&P is up 14.

Way I figure it, the commercials drove down index options Thursday, so equities to cover would drive prices up today.  At least for a while.  After that?

The good news is natural disasters are a form of synthetic growth.  We get that (it’s a subset of the “climate change” work/tax plan to keep everyone distracted and busy…)  Living under Razor-wire Management in DC.

Sautéed Money

Fed is gently goosing the printing presses:

This infers they are happy with where the market is now…and are dialing it back a bit.  The variable ahead:  If the Blizzard of ’21 doesn’t kick some employment and lots of spending out, the larger problem will come knocking.  That’s the turnover of money at M2:

You’ll see that:

  • We are at one-in-a-lifetime lows in “turnover” of money.  Which means less “economic work” is being done.
  • The Policy Hipshot for the Fed is to drive enough inflation that all this pent up money comes out and goes into the economy.
  • But as I told you previously, the wrong-headed “war-like job creation” idea being pressed by the Fed is really silly.  Comes down to “What will people put their nuts on the chopping block it’s so important to buy?”

The last point is terrible.  If you get a totally successful (low impact, has everything) society, where’s the expansion incentive?  See how periodic collapse is good for building activity levels?

Short Takes

Look what we found in the snow drifts of data this morning!  How is this for pseudo-important?

CNN is on the attack against (bad) White people:  “How White nationalists evade the law and continue profiting off hate…”  Here’s what we find so entertaining about such stories:  Quotes a “bearded neo-Nazi” as saying that “Jews are terrorists” or some-such.  But, when a Palestinian makes such a claim, that’s something the Left embraces.  See how deep discrimination and unbalanced news runs?    And that’s before the ad hominem attack on beards…  And while we’re waiting for CNN to take a similar stand on (bad) Black people… (don’t hold your breath).

Hand me an icepick, would yah?

Following the British Unemployment Crisis?  Harry and Meghan not returning as working members of Royal Family.

Hitting a Half Million CV Deaths.  Just as we see that Pfizer First Dose 85% Effective After 2-4 Weeks: Study.  Jab marketing ramp continues.  I’m waiting to see how much they will pay for my arm.  Could they just mail a check, though?  The only one benefiting from all the vax marketing is the media…we take PayPal and cash…

Those Dopes in Sacramento:  NBC is reporting that “New California bill would decriminalize psychedelics, expunge criminal records.”  We’ll only discuss this after a pee test and blood draw, now.  (LSD is 6-hours for urine, up to 12-hours in blood…but you of course knew that.)

It all makes perfect sense.  That is, the Fortune article “Bitcoin hits a new all-time high as investors surge back into stocks.  The way we figure it is simple:  With Vegas shut down – and most people have some urge to gamble, if only an occasional marriage or two – where else can you put money, these days?

  • Drug buzzes are cheaper thanks to legalization.
  • You can only buy so-many-ex’es homes (Ed McMahon’s experiences, not withstanding).
  • People can spend infinitely on increasing their knowledge, but that’s almost, you know, work.  So forget about THAT.
  • Somewhere I’d pencil in spiritual growth is an investment area…except the Greater Fool is always ourselves.  And a zillion zealots want that many dollars…stairways to Heaven ain’t cheap, Zepp.

The other option is to cherry-pick the knowledge tree.  We live in a trailer in the woods in Texas in 10–inches of snow.  If you don’t have money, trust us, you can still be happy.

Which is the WHOLE point.

Around the Ranch

Walking Elaine is taking up most of our time as hip surgery recovery seems slow.  The pain doesn’t go away nearly as fast as reasonable border policies, or honest money, for example.

On Peoplenomics tomorrow, we solve all the world’s problems in 3-deft moves.  Yellow Cake recipe from LOOB tomorrow morning on the SatGourmet.  And some cold weather lessons in ShopTalk Sunday.

Sometime I gotta get serious about this retiring stuff now that 72’s here…the “Texas power breakfast” of coffee and delta-8 CBD gummies just isn’t, oh, you know….

Write you get rich, thaw out, or have a better idea,

George@Ure.net

117 thoughts on “NextTex: Recovery Woes, Life Slows – a “Climate Kill””

  1. Poor Ted Cruz. The little fur ball was just trying to vacation. He’s misunderstood. Like when he traded $35,000,000 in COVID fracking relief for $15,000,000 in campaign contributions with the Wilks brothers.

    • O’Rourke made welfare calls. AOC raised $2 million dollars for relief efforts. Biden sent generators, fuel, blankets and meals. That is how leadership in government works. That is true unity.
      GOP leaders? Not so much.

      Politically opportunistic or not….Repugnants could have done the same and chose not to.

      • You mean government can actually help things? Who knew? Ted Cruz and many others of his ilk say it can’t. And with Ted’s ideas, he’s absolutely right…how could it? Especially when he runs away to Cancun while people freeze….C’mon Ted….

        • So lemme see here: So if you were off shift, had the money and snow was about to hit, you wouldn’t take your family to safety, z’at what ur saying?

      • George,
        Yes, that’s what I’m saying, if I was an elected official paid to serve and represent the state and its people.
        I don’t care if a private citizen leaves but a US Senator who runs away during an emergency like the namby pamby Ted is, tells me everything. Even though a Senator can’t do much during a crisis like that, symbolically staying and offering support in any way possible would show leadership, honesty, and concern. But of course, Ted has none of those qualities so why should I be surprised at the coward?

      • Ah shucks, our Austin Democrat Mayor went to Cabo San Lucas during terrible covid conditions telling us all to stay home and stay isolated from our families while he partied with his. We got our marching non orders from a video from his private plane trip to Cabo from a odd angled room shot as he was lying his ass off. Get off your low Tesla horse, big little man. They ALL DO IT, some just get caught!

      • According to Wikipedia, the democrat party affiliated fundraising platform AOC used charges a 3.95% processing fee. Apparently the platform was used by Mrs. Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Pops in past campaigns for elected office.

      • This was Ted’s chance to hand out bottled water to texans …to actually feign interest..and try to show that he was part of the community in a time of crisis. This was a moment for Ted to show how he could be a role model and all texans could tough it out together.

      • Quit making excuses and putting party before common sense George. Cruz is the captain that abandoned his ship. Horrible optics…and if Ted Cruz can’t see that…then he doesn’t deserve to serve the people of Texas. He only is interested in serving himself it seems.

    • The old, “I’m on break excuse.”

      Like George W. Bush, “It’s reading time for the children. Twenty more minutes.”

  2. “Home phone went down when electric went down which means the old dependable SWBell lines (now AT&T) are no longer useful in an electrical disaster. In the 1990’s earthquake in California, I was able to get through to family there when cells would not work. My consumer cellular stayed up, but we know any number of things which can take down service.”

    This may seem redundant but if anyone besides me still has a landline telephone service, yet uses portable wireless phones, look around at swap meets and garage sales for an OLD SCOOL touch-tone or rotary dial phone to backup your comms.
    If there is a power outage, your portable won’t work as it is little more than a cheap radio. The base set needs AC power. Cel phones have their weaknesses too.

    • Been trying to do just this especially since our “landline” is part of the Xfinity bundle. Have one old school princess phone plugged in to an phone outlet. Although one ‘thinks’ it is a landline, when the cable and/or internet go out, typically/most of the time/98% based on experience- the phone is down as well. Got to have a dedicated ‘landline’ service- but that comes with extra cost (i.e., around where I live, having a dedicated Centurylink ‘landline’ runs about $50/mo), and since phone lines are now mostly fiberoptic, wouldn’t that require electricity to run?

      • Get a Computer Battery Back Up box!! Don’t have to plug your computer into it but makes a nice cell phone charger bank that will keep charging those cell phones for a coupe of weeks!!

        We still can a paired copper in Ohio, the Public Utilities Commission has NOT allowed the phone companies to switch those over much to the chagrin of the regulated companies … well it is mostly paired copper, the copper runs is mandated to run to the local switch box building but then the phone company can run fiber from that local switch box building to where ever.

        ATT, the provider in my city, does have automatic natural gas (or propane) fired generators at EACH of those local switch box buildings where ever they provide basic service in the state, not just batteries, and so far everything seems to still work fine with ATT paired copper lines. Alas the pricing is $50/mo for standard touch tone service WITHOUT voice mail. (the other big providers in our state are Century Link and Cincinnati Bell – too complex to explain why Cincinnati Bell is NOT part of ATT but goes back to when the first phones were installed in the 1890’s – and both of those companies have been paired copper dependable)

        Instead of paying ATT $50/mo for a phone PLUS then paying them or another carrier for Internet service I went with just ATT Internet service, same power backup system as for their phone lines (100 meg/sec – 1 terrabit monthly allowance) for the same $50/mo and then added a Magic Jack telephone line for $3.25/mo. Now I pay $53.25/mo for my internet and phone combined … there is a downside though. Since the telephone now has to go through my ATT modem I did add a decent size battery computer power backup box and plugged both the ATT modem and my Magic Jack into that (nothing else plugged into it, just there for the modem and the MJ line). (I have two other internet options at my location, both cheaper, but both of those use battery backup systems for their internet … which I did NOT want – willing to pay more for the ATT power redundancy)

        That computer battery back up box will keep me going with both phone and internet for about 24+- hours I figure IF I leave it turned on all the time, more if I bother to turn it on and off. Looking at Texas and it’s problems though I am debating getting a second one and putting it in line with the first, both to extend the run time and to allow me to grab one of the two and take somewhere where I can plug it in for a few hours so as to recharge it if we have an extended power outage. fwiw I have experienced TWO extended power outages here even though well Inside the beltway around the city, one for 7 days (summer – hurricane Ike taking out tens of thousands of trees in the city) and winter 3 days (ice storm taking out lines all over the city some places out for two weeks – weather was below zero weather at night for half of that time and below freezing even during the day for ALL of that time)

        Winter Weather Prep is a SERIOUS consideration for me, though many I know don’t prep at all even up here in winter weather country.

      • I haven’t had a landline since 2005…no need for one. Even if cell service is disrupted, Wi-Fi calling is still an option in most places. And here where I live who doesn’t have access to some sort of city/county free Wi-Fi?

        Besides…the landline became an annoyance with robo and sales calls accounting for 90% of the activity. I am starting to get them on my cell phone again, but the IPhone 12Pro recognizes spam calls and will automatically send them toblock call status with the proper set up.

    • 10-4 good buddy, mine were old school phones, non electric. It has something to do with their back up battery switching stations. A change they have made in last 20 years. Kept my landline for emergencies like this, but it failed completely. Came back on when electricity was restored to area. I know that seems oxymorish, but it’s not.

      All neighbors with cable tv, internet, and internet phones lost all communications, too.

    • Remember, aluminum used to be a precious metal. New refining methods brought the price down. Now we use it for beer cans.
      Gold can be synthesized.

  4. Happy Birthsday G Pops!

    “Somewhere I’d pencil in spiritual growth as an investment area..”

    NO SHIT SHERLOCK !

    Dude George – that is the BIG SECRET.
    – what ALL the noise, religion, mockingbird media, wars,cia/fbi/Fed/USD/IRS is all about – Keeping US separate from SOURCE… of Creation. Everything in modern life = beast system is designed to keep U out of Ure own “heart/mind system”.

    George you have touched on THE greatest secret in modern times – the greatest fear of our “controllers/slavers is – we as a collective realize/communicate with our Higher Selves and grow and expand greatly our Auras.
    Why children should never be put in/on/around synthetic clothes, structures, devices like smart phones – cuts them off from SOURCE.

    But hey Money is Cheaper than FREE now – Rates are Negative – Copper is killing it and making coot some serious cashish..BHP, FCX, TGB.

    Family office was denied by compliance dept at MS to purchase Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for fam trusts.
    Complained bitterly – they dont f-ing care – so been pulling out serious Cash as Income to Beneficiaries.
    – for Purchase of Bitcoins and hard wallets(trezor). Curiously I have purchased grayscale bitcoin trust for self directed IRA for ages, at different financial institution – hello Roth !

    Selling gold, shitcoins – buying Siver, while I still can…premiums are around 40%-50% for physical currently.

    *PS current solar cycle has already peaked – and turned down, reminds me of Ure view of Nat gas Futures & predicted temps – how did that work? I know how it worked in the options market..how did all Ure insulation work this week? One off huh, okay – good luck wit that, hope U dont need it.

      • when presactly does that “normally” arrive in Texas ? Wanna bet ?

        coot will be in cental america summer time – basically naked 24/7 sunglasses/flipflops/t-shirt/shorts worn commando style.

        trendchannels smendchannels – they dont work – hate that crap – see SPY/BTC/Commodities – INFLATION is raging – just as the Mogambo Guru had predicted.

      • (You do monitor truck volumes on webcams, do you not?) No George I do not. You do it for me thanks. But I really dig the sentiment. I have my own sets of data I keep an eye on. Particular trends observed ect…
        I have always maintained nothing is hidden, you just need to know where to look. This has proved remarkably true.

  7. George,

    I know this may sound nutty, but next hip surgery might need a schedule tweak. My family and I try, as best as possible (except for emergency), to schedule surgery, dental work, etc. according to the signs.

    Signs for given dates are easy to find in the “Old Farmers Almanac”. Example: If you going to have dental surgery, try to schedule with the signs as far from the head/mouth as possible and going away (that is moving further down the body). For hip surgery, I would say signs in the feet or head. I know this sounds crazy, but it seems to speed recovery and reduce complications.

    I even try to plant crops the same way. Weather does not always cooperate. Additional crazy thing related to signs. Post holes dug in the proper sign will have exactly the right amount of dirt to fill the hole with the post. Wrong sign, either too much dirt left over, or not enough to fill the hole around the post. Has worked for years for me, so I am not changing now.

    Old saying “No good deed goes unpunished”, came true for me yesterday. Took backhoe to clean neighbors driveway so he could get to work. Blew out a power steering hose on the backhoe. Limped it home so I could get it in equipment shed and start repairs. Not high dollar fix, just nasty in the cold weather. Can’t stand seeing hydraulic oil on the ground, so didn’t use steering to return. Lower front loader bucket and used the left/right brake pedals to steer. Same trick works for a flat front tire, just go slow. In this case, snow on road worked to my advantage. Also works better in reverse, so that you are dragging the front bucket not pushing.

  8. What would happen to the USA, if every white person refused to go to work for a week? Gee 59 percent of the USA is white, or calls themselves white. Let’s have an white work stoppage for a week, see what happens to the USA then. Can all the people who hate whites pick up and run all the businesses, what about doctor’s and hospitals, what about our water, electrical, and gas, and nuclear energy.

      • Sure do! And I demand TPTB schedule “White history month”. Hey, if the woke bunch insist on the existence of “White privilege”, then maybe we should act accordingly and see how all the wokesters like it.
        P.S. If Black is to always be capitalized, then damn it, White should be as well!!

    • go to work.. just don’t spend a dime…

      Only pay for the essentials and don’t spend a dime on anything at all… nothing… no retail stores.. turn off cable and write to all the sponsors that are negative citizens.. I was told once that for every one that writes they assume there are a thousand more that feel the same way..

    • Even here in NZ, from this perspective, The whole viscous and dangerous talk about the great sins and crimes of White people (Like Myself), cannot and will not result in anything good, and will be / is extremely dangerous to said White people.
      Actions follow words and thoughts.
      Have you thought about what is driving this. And if you say the left then you have leant nothing of the reality driving this. Ideology is for the little people. Let them have it
      Divide and rule. The only care for power.

    • We are definitely underappreciated, thanks for giving what’s left of us tireless workers, natural teachers, careers, good neighbors, faithful servants,LOOBERS, God seekers, and all around next generation growing servant minded decent people a shout out.

  9. Everyone will have a story or three on how they coped/suffered in this one.
    We lost power Saturday night, didn’t get any back until late Wednesday night.

    What we were missing:

    Alternative electric beyond some battery powered devices.

    Firewood: we had a ‘token gesture’ of wood for cold but romantic nights, and had to scramble to get more as the storm approached. Like everyone else. Waco area ran out fast in the usual places.

    Firewood again: Underestimated how fast we’d go through the new stash (I’m from the South, dang it!) and had to slip/slide in the Jeep and load what we could on Tuesday after sitting in line on a frozen road for hours.
    Had good conversations with others about the situation. Fabulous land/business owner was doing it all by donation only. He and his crew were out there for hours with a splitter, and loading up cars/trucks as fast as they could. They were so tired by the end, that my stepson and I loaded our own.
    Blessed people. I didn’t have as much cash as I’d like to give him, but I handed it all over and was very grateful. Word of mouth was how we heard about it.

    More cash on hand was desired. I know better too.

    Didn’t go through the refrigerated items fast enough. Lost some food there but not too much.

    Needed more people with camping experience to help handle things that came up.

    Lots of tools on hand, but my hand saws are minimal and no axe/hatchet.

    I had the only 4×4 really capable of driving in the snow/ice. All wheel drive with performance tires wouldn’t help so the Cayenne and 911 hid from it all. :)

    Some good/comfortable way of bathing several people. It’s amazing how much you can handle if you “feel clean.”

    The cellular net quickly became overloaded, and things like weather apps ran very slowly compared to normal, if they worked at all.

    I have battery backups on all networking equipment and computers, but of course not for four days. :)

    It was fricking cold!

    ——————————————–

    What good we had:

    Plenty of food for several people (ended up with 8 total in the home before it was ending and power started coming back)

    Cooking: Had two gas grills, 3 cans of gas, and an indoor single cooktop (food services use) and several cans of gas for that. went through 1-1/2 cans total on the indoor, almost none outside. 95% of the cooking was on that single top.

    The decorative fireplace did better than I thought it would, but required almost 24×7 tending. I didn’t get much sleep this week. Only one other person could do any tending, and was better than I was.

    We didn’t lose water but was sparing with it. I keep eight 4 gallon cans and three 100 gallon water bobs (for the two tubs and a spare) and filled them up before it all hit. Better safe than sorry.

    Had plenty of candles, scented and otherwise.

    Played chauffeur a lot as many other vehicles couldn’t move. Just got new serious off-road tires a few weeks ago. Fabulous investment in that and the Jeep. Purred like a mountain lion the whole time. :) Love my Jeep!

    We had plenty of entertainment that didn’t require electronics. (also have a pretty good library with well over 500 books. Love the smell of a good book!)

    Had several LiPo bricks that we pre-charged and kept multiple phones going for the whole period.

    No TV. Awesome. Makes me want to throw them out after all this.

    Great conversations were had. Lost art.

    Big Berkey water filter. Been using one for years with a fluoride filter add-on for drinking water. Awesome stuff.

    No one “lost it”, and all kept their cool. Grandkids handled it all ok, even the electronic addiction was overshadowed by the adventure (versus ordeal)

    Have an emergency jump battery setup but didn’t need it. Was ready to go though.

    Big stash of paper plates/cups/utensils. (used to throw PCA parties so started keeping that sort of thing on hand.)

    Probably more but that’s what I’ve thought of this morning.

    • I was 12 before my family had electricity in Minnesota. This week’s Oregon ice storm caused 3 days without electricity, internet went down 6 hrs. earlier from a fallen branch.

      I converted my refrigerator into an old fashion icebox. Took casserole bowls and plastic storage bags outside and filled them with ice and snow then placed into the refrigerator and freezer so all my food was kept cold which prevented any loss. After the internet cable went, I focused on cooking food so I would have plenty to eat if the electricity went.

      What also helped was I own extra blankets and comforters to pile on top of the bed, so I was warm and toasty while sleeping. The coldest was 48 degrees in the house.

    • “Didn’t go through the refrigerated items fast enough. Lost some food there but not too much.”

      Bear in-mind when temps are below freezing and there’s shade, you can stash frozen food outdoors. If you’ve nighttime prowlers (bear, raccoon, etc.) a guard will be needed, or stuff can be crammed into a vehicle that’s outside and not going to be driven until the weather breaks.
      ______

      “Some good/comfortable way of bathing several people. It’s amazing how much you can handle if you “feel clean.””

      “Good” and “comfortable” ain’ta gonna happen, but it’s doable.

      WITH electricity – Purchase a livestock tank heater similar to this: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/farm-innovators-1500w-sinking-tank-deicer
      (this particular one won’t do the job adequately. Find one which “requires external thermostat.” Non-thermostatically-controlled tank heaters will heat water until it boils, but more-importantly, will heat it to more-than lukewarm. It takes 3-5hrs to heat a tub full of water.

      WITHOUT electricity (or without a tank heater) – Acquire a 10gal stock pot. Run 2″ of ice water into tub. Fill pot with water, heat on gas burner, ladle into tub, repeat as-necessary.
      ______

      “I have battery backups on all networking equipment and computers, but of course not for four days.”

      Shut everything down immediately, if the situ looks like it’s going to last a while. Use one computer, preferably a laptop, for Internet comms, and only boot it once every few hours.
      ______

      “Have an emergency jump battery setup but didn’t need it. Was ready to go though.”

      I lost power for weeks, some years ago. I had one of these with a built-in inverter. I plugged in a clamp-lamp with a then newfangled 18w CFL, until I could get my portable gasoline generator online. Just the fact the fam wasn’t sitting in darkness elevated everyone’s mood. I used a Kero-Sun heater to keep things toasty, until the genset was powering the furnace and ‘frig (and a couple lights, also hastily converted to CFLs) and used dialup Internet on a laptop to check-in every few hours…

      It’s fun for da kiddies, never a good thing for da grups, but it is always manageable.

      Ya done good…

  10. Oh, and yes! Happy Birthday!!!!!

    Thanks for all you do. Couldn’t (or wouldn’t want to) make it without your daily wisdom and wit.

  11. George, looking for your comments on the latest push for a constitutional convention. Starting to look a little spooky to me.

  12. “(Trumps gone, move on)”

    Thanks for the laugh!
    I almost fell out of my chair when I read that.

    Do you have a favorite sauce to put on those words when you are forced to eat them?????

      • 2/22-2/24 – Silver/Bullion Banks..Houston, we have a huuuuge physical problem..those lying, deceitful..
        then watch Mar 11 – occulted, hard to envision.. for clues..moar popcorn.
        -and I aint talking the fearsome reptos in Moon/Ancient Andromedan Spacecraft..they build em real big on Andromeda – or so I’m told..

      • What is happening on March 17th…other than St. Patty’s Day? I have heard the Q-tards say something about March 4th… which is nothing more than a cute and remedial play on the term… March Forth!

      • No secrets..just Numbers – just plain ole in Ure face numbers;1,2,3,…
        repeating numbers like 111,222,333,..or combos’ 112,113,114,..
        idiot?? I am not the one in roller skates behind the dumpster,

        U cipher, no?

  14. Happy Birthday, George.

    Give yourself a gift and forget about all this nonsense for a little while. Take a day or two and live in the moment with your lovely bride.

  16. Now it seems you’re complaining about media discrimination against bearded neo nazis. The experiences and perceptions of a palestinian living in the israeli territories and some bearded neo nazi living in the states could not be more different. The palestinian lives in an occupied territory. I doubt you’ve actually known any palestinians. The bearded neo nazi hates because of religion. If that bearded neo nazi gets arrested for storming the capital and his family’s home is bulldozed than we can talk. This isn’t nuance. It should be simple to understand.

    I’d rather see you and your readers say that neo nazism, white supremacy and any form of discrimination is wrong. You’re wrong to conflate negative reporting about hate groups into discrimination against the majority white populace.

    • How exactly does any person of sound mind think history will treat the Portland activists and anarchists who are systematically destroying businesses and property under the pretense of social justice? Just as with the DC Capitol rioters, senseless violence is antithetical to the American rule of law. The radical right and radical left are, willingly or not, puppets of tyrants lurking in the shadows, cancers to democracy who are antithetical to the fundamental precepts of America’s venerable Constitution. Sadly, the spread of such polarized social discord paves the way for and enables strong armed despots. America is in very real danger of falling into a nightmare from which awakening proves quite difficult.

      • It will be reported similarly to the watts riot and the summer of 67 riots. The US has a long and storied history of racism against blacks. It’s unlike almost all other countries. The bigger story from history will be trump’s insurrection.

  17. Nanny State? You’re kidding right? All of your pseudo-machismo has blinded you to the need for, and goal of an organized civil society; to anticipate and provide for the needs of the very people who comprise and fund it. Everyone isn’t enamored by the rugged individualism of 1860’s Texas and actually embrace a society more reflective of the discoveries and advancement of this century.
    Failure to mandate winterization of the power production equipment in the interest of coddling unfettered capitalism is the reason that you had to consider how to stay warm and keep your devices charged.
    Severe and protracted cold weather in Texas remains possible and probable over time. Recommendations from 2011 went largely unheeded and the first thing out of the Governor’s mouth was to politicize the travesty by trying to besmirch a concept that had nothing to do with the issue while your Senator headed to a “shithole country” with power and water.
    These known unknowns will continue to plague Texas specifically and society in general until people wake up and realize that the role of a government of, by and FOR the people is to anticipate and avoid these eventualities, and failing that, to do a much better job at rapidly mitigating the effects.

    • “Severe and protracted cold weather in Texas remains possible and probable over time.”

      Four years ago it was “sever and protracted hot/dry weather in Texas remains possible and probable over time.” Placing bets on both side only works when addressing stupid people and/or those with limited RAM.

      • E
        N
        R
        O
        N
        ed U be
        See T cruz wife – mgt partner Gold Sachs – which owns how many texas Utililies ? BOHICA baby!

    • Monopolies need some regulation to assure that they can fulfill their mission, but those regulators should be engineers, not bureaucrats. There’s little to no need to regulate rugged individualism. It’s the core value of our nation. We already have laws against hurting or stealing from others. What we do to ourselves is our business.

      Building and other codes are stifling and often mandate things that the individuals owning houses don’t want(too many windows, not high enough sills, restrictions on materials, mechanical systems, etc). IMHO, they should be guidelines without the force of law. Let individuals do as they wish other than perhaps reasonable setbacks for the good(or safety) of neighbors. Most people don’t want to build up to the property line anyway(other than fences). Let people suffer the consequences(good and bad) of their own choices.

      Happy birthday to the Ox in the family and happy healing to Elaine. I truly hope she’s beginning to feel better and will be ready and able to fix the other hip.

    • …need for, and goal of an organized civil society; to anticipate and provide for the needs of the very people who comprise and fund it.

      Um, in a free Nation, the “need and goal of…” is to construct a legal framework which maximizes the abilities of the individual, while maintaining an ability to check any management segment which oversteps the bounds of decency or liberty.

      It is under socialism, that a government “provides the needs” for the people who fund it.

      It is under anarchy, that a society comprises government.
      ______

      “embrace a society more reflective of the discoveries and advancement of this century.”

      Socially and politically speaking, there haven’t been any.

      What there has been is the emergence of a leisure never before seen in the history of Mankind. That leisure has foist a class of intellectual idiots who ask “why,” instead of cracking a history book and learning “why not.” The current status of our species has come about from thousands of years of trial and error — learning “what works” by trying and failing miserably at “what doesn’t.”
      ______

      “Failure to mandate winterization of the power production…”

      Failure to ignore the Federal mandate regarding CO2 emissions

      Fixed that for you.
      ______

      “the role of a government of, by and FOR the people is to anticipate and avoid these eventualities”

      No. That is the role of the individual.

      The role of our FEDERAL government is to protect its Citizens from invasion and war as best it can, to prevent States from competing unfairly with one-another and businesses from engaging in unfair trade practices, to deliver the Mail and maintain the roads which enable same, and to guarantee our God-given (or natural) Rights, both those enumerated in our Bill of Rights and any others which may be discovered, from being abridged.

      “Government” is not your mommy.

      Its function is not to take care of your needs, but to enable you to take care of your needs, which are different than the needs of every other human on the planet.

      The only governmental entity actually charged with any responsibility whatsoever, with respect to the individual, is the Township Government. This is because our Founders, both those in Philly and their political progeny in each State, recognized that the “government which is most-responsive is that government which is closest to its constituency.”
      ______

      I’m unfamiliar with anything Abbott might have said.

      I have no problem with Cruz running off to Mexico for vacation. I have a BIG problem with the timing of same, unless he intends to retire, ’cause politically, that was just stucking foopid…

  18. “With Vegas shut down – and most people have some urge to gamble, if only an occasional marriage or two – where else can you put money, these days?”

    I advocate playing the ponies. I play thousands of small bets (usually under $3) and make about $6000 a year off a $1500 outlay. Fun, and with tracks all over the world, usually something is accessible online all year long. Of course, you have to live in a state that allows online betting. . . . And beware of gambling addiction. . . . And suffer the emotional trauma of seeing occasional horse and jockey injuries. . . .

    • Many of us have no urge to gamble unless we have a logical reason to believe that our bets will pay off. I’ve never understood gambling, unless I’m involved in changing the odds, like buying a house for renovation that nobody else wants. I don’t understand how to consistently win with casinos or ponies, but I do understand that some people enjoy the exercise. Good luck.

  19. Yo Jorge, Happy Birthday and many more. New bumper sticker seen on Air force one: Drive it like you stole it! Who sez there is no humor left in the world?

  20. End of Swedish Jokes? I don’t think so, Tim…

    Ole wakes up one morning, remembering that it’s his and Lena’s 25th wedding anniversary. Ole punches Lena in the arm. Lena awakes and asks, “What was that for?” Ole says, “That’s for 25 years of bad sex!” Lena then punches Ole in the arm. Ole asks, “Why did you hit me?” Lena says, “That’s for knowing the difference!”

    Ja, I can tell’em because my Muttlish-American heritage includes Swedish. Yu betcha!

  21. Hi, George,

    I wish you a very happy birthday!

    Got ten inches of snow at my place, also. Had to dig out front and the back to get to the woodpile.

    That was quite some remarkable report of Andy and you in the dream world, not to mention the part where you described your physical “this world” connection. Quite unique.

  22. Happy Birthday, George!

    And best wishes for Elaine’s recovery. We will keep her (and you) in our daily prayers until she is back to normal.

  23. Now that most of the storm has passed it’s time for reflecting on what you can do better. Some of my kids lost power and water. No problems to speak of. Fired up the fireplace and gas grill. Played board games (as the family tends to do when ever we lose the grid), read books and enjoyed each others company. Then again when they grew up and the grid went down they had bacon and eggs with home fries for breakfast. Roasted hot dogs and marshmallows with hot chocolate in the evening and had a good time. Putting up a chimney on new fireplace today. Life past 75 is wonderful! Cheers.

  24. Texans better duck, gas and electric spot prices spiked 1000% and the utility companies are passing it on to customers before even finding a patsy for the outage. zerohedge has some horror stories (what else is there on zerohedge?) of utility bills also going up 1000%. I hope your billing exposed to open market.
    zerohedge.com/markets/power-bills-moon-chaos-shock-electricity-prices-across-us-explode

    • A friend in CA sent me a couple of horror stories from the news web about insane price gouging on electricity here in Texas. Since we were down solidly, even the telephone land line which has never happened before, I don’t expect much more than a reduced bill. We had a house in town where everything stayed up and running to our surprise and helped out with flushing water and showers for our son who still has no water on his end of town. But the biggest surprise was when I got a note from Bulb Energy that provides power to that house this week. They assured me our rates would not go up as a result of this current weather phenomenon and, to make sure we knew, we could see the rates for this next billing cycle on my current bill. Up until Feb. 1 the rate was 4.6c/kwh and from then to the next bill it would be 4.3c/kwh. The bill for the previous 31 days was $10.27, taxes and delivery fees included, which is about right for this house (2700 sq. ft. but we closed off about a quarter of it to save heating costs) no one lives in on a regular basis but I expect it to double for the wife and I staying there this week. The biggest surprise in all of this is that Bulb professes to source all of its power from renewable resources! I don’t know how it does this, especially when Georgetown, TX was screwed, blued and tattooed by the power companies they signed on with that produce power from renewable power sources. If you have Bulb available in your area look into their plans for you. This isn’t an ad nor is it some starting rate anomaly, just my experience. I wish we could get it for our house here in the sticks, not that it would have kept us going. Oh no! That little eff-up sits squarely in ERCOT’s lap and we still don’t have power on at the ranch because they won’t authorize the Co-op. we belong to to turning it on.

    • Oh, and happy birthday to you, too, George. Just tripped over the 64 year marker myself yesterday. Makes slinging the hay bales and feed sacks a lot more painful than it used to be, let me tell ya.

      All our prayers and wishes go out to Elaine’s speedy recovery, too. Days go by much slower in the cold but I know the two of you together will get through it just fine.

  25. Water:
    Get one of these and put with your emergency preps – a water bag you put in your bathtub and fill up when you think you might be losing water, holds 100 gallons. $35
    https://www.amazon.com/WaterBOB-Emergency-Container-Drinking-Hurricane/dp/B001AXLUX2

    Heat:
    Kerosene Heater – round ones are about the best imo for most uses since little smell as long as you keep them cranked up to high and let them fully burn the kerosene – about $130 is the proper price
    (will use 5 to 6 gal/day so need to get your kerosene AHEAD of time, minimum of 2 days imo, 5 days worth is safer – need to store OUTSIDE in an outside shed imo)
    https://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/gas-kerosene-heaters/nonvented-convection/dyna-glo-trade-23-800-btu-indoor-portable-convection-kerosene-heater/wk95c8c/p-7919224477831659-c-6861.htm?tid=-4283628524587393026&ipos=13

    Cooking:
    Single Burner Butane Stove is my #1 choice, use it when go trunk camping since easier to use than anything else. $20
    (I do have both a 2 burner Coleman dual fuel stove AND a Coleman Stove/Oven combo that they only sold for a short time – both work great, but the single burner butane stove is just easier to use).
    Get your Butane Canisters at Asian Supermarkets – 1/3 the price of Wally World or other camping /hardware stores, about $1.25 to $1.50 each or so around here at the Asian markets
    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Tabletop-Butane-Gas-Camping-Stove-1-Burner-Gray/34761205

    So for $185+- plus the fuel for your heater and stove you have covered the basics of the equipment you NEED for surviving a few days without electric or water service. That is well within the budget of most families

    • To add about the Kero heater:

      ALWAYS start and stop them OUTSIDE … that is when they outgas kero which is when most of the smell (95%) is generated

      Also have at least TWO battry powered carbon monoxide detectors with GOOD batteries. Have one low and one mid level in case CO starts to accumlate. Also crack a window for fresh air.

  26. Happy Birthday George, and best wishes for Elaine’s speedy recovery.
    On Reparation’s, vs Space Exploration funding. One buys votes, the other buys the future. Guess where the current gang will pick.

  27. Texas and Electric Power:

    I feel sorry for individuals in Texas with this entire fiasco … but this was a GUARANTEED EVENT FOR TEXAS when the first extended Cold Weather Event hit Texas. It was only a question of “WHEN” … not “IF”.

    After the Texas 2011 cold weather power fiasco (3.5 million without electric in winter) the FERC, which can enforce standards nationwide EXCEPT for Texas since Texas’s electrical providers are Intrastate and NOT Interstate, came out with a series of recommendations for Texas utilities the most important of which was to WINTERIZE their system to the levels called for in the National Standards that EVERY OTHER UTILITY IN THE US was doing.

    NOPE … Texans being Texans basically through their actions said NO F-CKING WAY!! We will NOT retrofit our electrical system to the National Standards!

    Going to be a great spring and summer for plumbers, drywall guys, and flooring guys!! A shitty period for home owners and building owners though as they fight with their insurance companies to get repairs made

    Read it yourself:
    FERC Report on the 2011 Cold Weather Event on electrical power generation and distribution
    https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

  28. I am at the point where I have to make some …

    Tato puffs

    [redacted till SatGourmet in morning – hungry sysadmin…]

  29. OH … and Happy Birthday George!!

    Hope you are finally getting the problems with Elaine’s after surgery care ironed out. Tell her to keep up with her exercises … those are NEEDED for a full recovery.

  30. Happy Birthday, George !! And many more full of energy and excitement !

    Certainly wish Elaine speedy and less painful recovery.
    Recuperation seems to vary a lot depending on the person.

  31. May you enjoy a blessed 33rd anniversary of your 39th birthday! (Jack Benny reference) I’m 7 years ahead of you, looking forward to #80 in August should the Good Lord see fit.

    As for prepping, we’re about 100 miles north of you, still in Texas (barely), and this is the third storm like this we’ve seen in our 42 years in this corner of Texas. I actually was expecting this storm 3 years ago, as they generally run on 17 year cycles.

    We heat with wood, in spite of having a propane furnace and about 400 gallons of propane. I cut and split all of our firewood, and I had 2 cords stacked at the start of this winter. We’re down to about the last 1/4 cord, so probably will make it through the cold wx without having to buy any. We also keep a large stock pot of water on the wood stove to keep our air humidified for healthy breathing.

    Our local power co-op woke up after our previous big snow/ice storm in 2001 and did something intelligent. They spent the next 10 years clearing trees along their right-of-ways. Therefore we had NO power outages this time, I’m pleased to report. We have a diesel generator and 150 gallons of fuel for it and the tractor just in case anything gets out of hand. Now if only I could get the county to scrape the road…

    We have two old landline phones and one portable, although the landline has not always been reliable. Our neighbors up the road used to cut the line on an almost regular basis when they’d dig a post hole or clean out the ditch along the road.

    We have a community water supply that we joined about 20 years ago, and it has functioned throughout the storm. We also have a well and a water tower that we can fall back on if needed, and we have a Big Berkey that we run all our drinking water through, just in case.

    Like you, we have enough food stocked to carry us a minimum of 6 months, likely more. We tapped our reserve today just to change things up a little. We haven’t been to town in a week now, and the Wally World list is getting long.

  32. Happy Birthday George. Sure glad you saved that Champagne when you fell a couple of weeks ago.

    I never totally understood how Bitcoin works but this article and video explains it really well, especially the incredible power consumption it uses – more than the country of Argentina.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-560129

    I am wondering when it starts to outpace the power production of the new windmills and solar panels in the new green deal when Joe will issue an executive order to shut it down.

  34. One thing mentioned by long term survivors of different situations (like Bosnia) is death from disease and infection. And many of these are deaths with gut problems from bad food. Sanitation becomes the biggest killer when space runs out for toilets and garbage disposal. Before antibiotics, infection was the leading cause of death world wide. Since you cannot buy and stockpile antibiotics without prescription (no prescription required in Ecuador) I suggest researching colloidal silver, MMS, and homeopathics. Arnica homeopathic is worth its weight in gold for recovering from falls, and other bangs and bruises.

    Also important are plain soap and water for hand washing, dish soap, and the means to dispose of sewage safely long term.

    • MMS pulled me through a ruptured appendix in one week without medical attention. I had no insurance and no money.

      Learn about MMS — it can save your life.

    • Fish Mox Fish Flex and all the other antibiotics that company makes can be ordered over the Internet. I’ve stocked up on just about every “‘cyllin” there is and a few others this way or I’ve found them in Tractor Supply. These meds come from the same factories that make human antibiotics and I have no worries taking them. I, also, try and wash my hands often, especially when I’ve been working at the ranch where everything is covered in just about every kind of poop you can imagine, but now and then it’s just not possible. Exercise your immune system! That’s what it’s there for!

    • https://www.homebiogas.com/Products/HomeBiogas2

      I totally plan on owning one of these… if for nothing else but to put on the shelf..
      Years ago I bought a bunch of chickens.. anyway the guy at the hatchery was telling me how much it took to heat the buildings .. ( he also had laying hens and sold eggs) I said dam that must cost a fortune.. he said not a dime.. then took me on a tour.. clean hen houses.. everything was washed into a digester.. he ran his tractors on it.. heated his house and ran his cars on compressed methane gas.. heated everything.. then after the stuff was all digested he dried it and bagged it and sold it at nurseries.. It was by far one of the most informational things I have seen.. a professor at a college had his class build one to test..I talked with him a month ago and asked him how it was working he was full of information even in the cold he is getting gas off of it..

  35. Yet another reason to hate the Dallas Cowboys…

    Jerry Jones…CEO of TX gas company is giddy on call with shareholders over profits this week from storm. “This week is like hitting the jackpot with some of these incredible prices. We were able to sell at super premium prices for a material amount of production.”

    Nothing like Texas citizens suffering to bring out the giddiness in a jerk like Jones.

  36. “Swedish jokes? Remember them?”

    Being part-Swede, I was the number one source for “dumb Swede” jokes, all through school. One of my Black friends was the number one source for (y’all know what.) A girl of Polish ancestry was (guess what?) We laughed at ourselves, at each other, and no one took it seriously.

    THEN Haight-Ashbury “enlightenment” crept into youth society…

  39. Wow . The cold has snapped your brain to think correct !!! Money velocity !!!! There yah dog gone psyops worker . You can print as you like . But . No velocity kaputsky depression . Tell dagolio or mick moriarty in between bottles . Hooray George figured it out . And your real estate sheet drops. Velocity!!! Yay freeze and think

  40. F*ck it. She calls or text than she does if she don’t she don’t. I just changed all my passwords, locked that shit down and that old email will swept clean and expired. I dont care. If the world burns to a crips. Aint my frickn job to stop it. Lol

    Either God will make it all happen or He won’t. He ain’t never let me down and everything always works out the way it does. I got other shit to do besides sitting here on my phone trying to figure this shit out.

    Im going to the gym. Ya all have a great day. I might shut my website down and walk away. I dont care anymore. More to life than this shit.

    Whoever im supposed to help will be right in front of me or they won’t. Im just a puzzle piece like everyone else. Im not here to save the world and im done being captain save a hoe. Atleast for today.

  42. Hi George.

    I worked this out a few weeks ago and posted about it here. We are at herd immunity. Nothing else can explain the global decline of COVID.

    This means your projections about the spread, from early on, that seemed astronomical, were probably closer to reality than what we have measured officially. It’s looking to me more like a critical mass of people have had it, which is far greater than the known cases and vaccinated numbers combined. Anyway, WSJ seems to have figured it out too.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/well-have-herd-immunity-by-april-11613669731

  43. G, I do hope Elaine keeps up the therapy and doesn’t stop moving. Mobility depends on that. Truth. My Mom had knee replacement surgery. She’s super sensitive to pain, and needed alot of painkiller to get through the first few weeks. During which she refuse the therapy at a facility (all of two weeks) because she thought it was an old folks home and is terrified of being dumped in one (no, that’ll never happen). So when she finally DID actually do the therapy, she lost that window to making it easier. She now walks with a cane and struggles to be active for any length of time.

    I know it’s hard, but I think Elaine is tough as a diamond. Wishing the best for her recovery.

  44. oops one more.. seems I am baby sitting tomorrow.. and we are having stew.. so I need to make some crackers… and since I am baby sitting we will get out the animal cracker cutters.. for the graham crackers.. smores may be in the mix for granpa’s babysitting time.. and the kids love to make them..
    https://www.target.com/p/wilton-50pc-animal-cookie-cutters/-/A-17194671?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df_free_online&CPNG=Kitchen&adgroup=70-2&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=bing_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012733995&CPNG=PLA_Kitchen%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Kitchen&LID=700000001230728&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=o&device=c&location=&targetid=pla-4585032210965343&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1248099&ds_rl=1247068&msclkid=76dd32c5e1d51e51e3d152f56e5e2dbc&gclid=76dd32c5e1d51e51e3d152f56e5e2dbc&gclsrc=3p.ds

    Crackers
    1 ½ cups of flour
    2tsp of yeast
    ¼ tsp salt
    ¼ tsp baking soda
    ¼ tsp cream of tarter
    2/3 cup hot water
    1 tsp sugar
    2 tbsp of Crisco butter flavor

    For the topping.. two tbsp of melted butter… salt poppy seeds etc.. what ever you want..
    Preheat oven to 400 degrees.. mix all the ingredients together.. pour in water slowly till it makes a nice dough.. then roll out to 1/8 of an inch if you want just salted crackers this is when you sprinkle the salt on top of them and run over it lightly with the roller…. run a dough perforator over the dough then take your cracker cutters.. I like to use a beer bottle cap.. put a handle on it with a little screw then stamp out the small soda crackers..
    Line your pans with parchment paper then bake.. about five minutes..
    Brush them with butter then cool…

    Butter Crackers
    My personal favorite cracker of all..
    1 ¼ cups of flour
    1 ½ tsp of baking powder
    1 ½ tbsp sugar
    ½ tsp of salt
    1 stick of butter
    1 tbsp of oil
    ¼ cup of cold water
    1 egg
    1 tbsp sweet cream
    Preheat oven to 400 degrees mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork.. ( or mixing wisk .. just like a pie crust you want these flacky..) add the cold water slowly till it makes a nice dough.( at this point if you want to flavor the crackers with your beef or cheese or chicken.. put this in the water to mix in..) . roll out to about 1/8 inch thick.. then cut out.. place on parchment paper and bake.. about five minutes.. till golden brown.. brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt..

    Graham Crackers

    2 cups of whole wheat or graham flour..
    1 Tsp of ground cinnamon
    1tsp of baking soda
    ½ tsp of salt
    1 stick of butter
    1 cup of brown sugar
    3 Tbsp of cream
    ½ cup of honey
    2 tsp of vanilla extract
    1 egg
    ¼ cup of oil

    Mix the ingredients until you get a nice dough.. roll out the dough to about 1/8 to ¼ inch thick.. roll your dough perforator over it and cut out with a pizza cutter.. or if you want you can let the kids use whatever cookie cutter they want to cut their very own graham cracker out of..
    Line baking pans with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400 degrees.. bake until golden brown.. lay out to cool brush with butter then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mix..

    • its always cheaper to make them yourself.. we had to learn because we went a year without an income.. well to have the things we take for granted every day and we couldn’t just run down to the store and buy them.. we learned to make our own or do without.. needless to say.. that muscle of mine isn’t because I starved LOL…. I put in more butter than most.. but then I love butter.. I make cheese to.. love to make cheese.. fresh home made cheese.. there is a dairy farmer.. well he can’t sell me milk.. because it is fresh milk.. but I can trade him or he can give me some.. for pets.. that way we had cheese and he had cheese.. I keep the cultures in the freezer.. for the different types of cheese.. I like greek yogurt.. and will drain the whey off of it to get a really nice almost cream cheese yougurt.. great stuff..

    • Looking..
      My wife loves butter crackers and I am a sucker for Graham crackers. Good project for a rainy weekend. Thanks. Never made my own Graham crackers. Always store bought. That’s about to change.

  45. phew.. I was just watching a show on the troubles in Texas with this cold snap..
    I didn’t realize that texas doesn’t have their utilities buried below frost level.. no wonder there was so many frozen lines.. around here it is mandatory to bury below the frost line.. but if you live in an area that doesn’t have that to worry about on the normal.. it could be a real issue..
    https://earth.org/climate-change-is-driving-a-deep-freeze-into-texas/
    Now… the question..after reading a few articles.. and listening to Ama on tv.. could this happen more frequently than once every hundred years….
    It would suck to be the only texan with a snow blower then not have it happen ever again in your lifetime.. but then if it came around again.. you would be set….

  46. was reading through all the comments on today’s post, and am wondering –
    how that guy who does all the bitcoin promoting here was doing should he live in Texas. Because it is my understanding about bitcoin that to buy it/sell it/use it, one needs electricity and internet connection…something so much of Texas was without. If one should happen upon some very needed items that were available during the power outage – how would one use bitcoin for such transactions?? In other words, in order for bitcoin to have ‘value’ of any kind, there would be a need for power and internet access. Or am I mistaken?

    • Ure Phone is all that U need to transact with BTC. Used to be that was how U got Ure Bitcoins …meet up with a seller in a cafe/coffee shop – and buy them in person, still need a “smart’ Phone, and instead of costing $200-$300 per – now..

      Internet Hard Down ?? Everything is down, EVERYTHING.

  47. Ok, I knocked 4 of them of the list tonight George. Got the gestation girl, shg, Alaska girl and the one who starts with E. All off the list tonight all by synchronicity and coincidence. Gas station girl felt bad about steeling my old phone but I got a new set of numbers and I just smiled and tip my hat. She understood. She had a big old sad face on her but that was that. She is in good hands now.

    3 or 4 more to go and I picked up 3 new women and a new dude on a new list. Im pretty spent. I just let that shit go, say guide me and boom everything starts lining up all like im on an Amazon package delivery route.

    Shg is a pain in the ass. God may be bringing me into enlightenment through the avenue of frustration. She is just like a kitty. Pet me pet me pet me. Feed me feed me feed me. Meow! Then stop touching me and acts like she don’t know ya. As soon as she sees ya doing something else and not paying attention to her? All over to ya and purring and rubbing her body and tail between your legs. I love cats. Don’t get me wrong. But they are alot different than dogs. Lmao

    All the passwords are changed. Except my email, but I have access to it and I think I can get that fixed tomorrow. Once that is fixed I can get bomb shelter chicks info and knock her and maybe another one off. I dont know the one who’s name sounds like “okay” but i will tell ya what. I got out of the car, shut my door, lit up a cigarette walked around the corner and saw gestation girl standing there outside the place. Lol easy peasy.

    One thing I noticed after doing all that subconscious reprogramming? I just am always in Karios time. Like seeing gas station girl. When I was stopping to see someone else on a hunch. Lol

    This concludes the latest riveting episode of Captain save a hoe.

    Y’all come back now ya here.

    • God i sound like a fricken hit man or a fricken jigalo.

      George, hmmmmmm i may be spiritual jigalo. They dont all believe in Jesus when I meet them. After about 20 minutes in the sack I swear they are screaming his name. Oh God! Oh God! OH JESUS! Every time.

      I think Warhammer said it best when he said,

      There is no atheist in Fox holes.

      ROTFLMFAO!

      *tips hat.

  49. You forgot all your training from 25 years ago George . Now it’s urban greeeedddd. Grease . Dagolio and moriarty cook up

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