and thats the gist,,, read on if you wish.

Lost going on, between Buff blowin’ seals (damned slore! cross species sex is gross!)(apologies,,, bad joke) and needing to get propane tanks and other things

and being the po’boy I is,,,

Well, its all doable, but that also means this Po’boy has-ta do the labors,,, Money only goes so flippin far when there ain’ta much of it (and unlike Congress, I can’t write checks on future revenues that won’t be available,,,)

short version,,, No kayaking for Dio this weekend,,, WHaaaaaaa!!! boohooboohoo! sob!

sigh!

Is what it is,,, Weather liars are saying it would be a shitty kayaky weekend anyways,,, Enough that my kayaky group already moved our NewYears BLowoUt to next weekend for ‘reasons’, and good ones at that. (now!, If’n I were positioned on the great lakes, this would be a fun weekend of sorts or so out of control that I wouldn’t be upset about not going,,,,)

Nopes,,,, nopenopenopenope,,,Gots work to do,,, Buffy needs new seals (she STINKS, Blech!!!!) I need a new tank but am going to get the one that is ‘almost’ out refilled instead, and call it good. Move that expenditure a little further down the road. As for the tank that I have that I don’t trust with high pressure ‘splody stuff,,, Its getting its valve pulled and flooded to get all the ‘splody stuff out and I have plans to turn it into a wood burner. Don’t know that I will use,,,,, Likely put it up for sale and see what I can get. (part of me wants to put it in the house and do away with this over-kill woodburner I have dealt with for 6 years. Bloody thing runs me out of the house unless its below freezing out, and even then, I am opening windows in the dead of winter. And part of why I went with a propane space heater,, to fill the lower temps side when one is enough and the other is TOO MUCH! ) I probably won’t be doing much more than that flooding thing this weekend, since Buff is priority, but I always have little snips of time where I am looking at my thumbs,,,, That will fills some of those spaces and keep me from dwelling on ‘lack o water’ time.

I’s all good,,, Grizzy is already looking forward to a weekend of halpin’ daddy play on trucky,,, ( he loves it when I stay home all weekend,,, gets greasy with me too..)(ya ever try to wash truck grease out of kat fur? Not fun, but he does so love getting into things with me.)

Time to go make the donuts,,,

keep on livin’

It’s 0700 right now,,, I have to go pickup Burnout here shortly and get our butts to the J.O.B.

And I have spent this morning putting 85/90 gear oil in the rear Diff of Buff, made a breakfast, had a cuppa, and contemplated the various differences of War that have taken place in the last 100 years since 1914 (the start of WW1 the supposed war to end all wars.)

wha?!?!?!

Where the heck did that come from,,,

We’re talking Dio, my mind never rests on ONE thing, EVER!!!

I was thinking how WW1, the aeroplane (terms from then) was THE game changer then,,

NOW, we have Drones, remotely piloted flying bombs, and tactical info gatherers.

and somehow, there are still trenches in use,,, Seems a bit dated,,, And, as a Marine, my take on ‘Trenches’ is: pre-dug grave. Marines were (are?) taught move and manuever tactics,,, small squad stuff where you have 4 or 5 man fireteams, three fireteams make a platoon, four platoons make a company, and 4-5 companies make a battalion. Numbers are sorta fluid, and ranks/hierarchy gets pretty fluid too. I was the perpetual PFC during my time (even though I was eventually promoted to Sgt, busted down to Corporal,,, Self and the Marines had different points of view about things,,) but I held a Gunnies billet for 2 years, because we just didn’t have the personal with time in to fill all the slots. Let me tell ya, being a not so buck private in rank holding a slot that was 5 paygrades higher sorta sucked,,, Ya have the responsibility, but not the rank to back it up. Some Corporal decided he didn’t wanna,,, You could get ugly, but you had better have a shit ton of witnesses on your side,,,, Office hours and I were pretty regular acquantences. (and a large part of why the Marines and I had our falling out in 92)

but I was talking Drones.

Starting to look like my book Wings has a slightly prophetic spin to it. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if Trump were re-elected and some of the details of my book started to take place (the National divorce thing for instance)?

Not a fun time to be had, but then, whatever is coming, no matter which fork in the road this country takes, there are no fun times to be had in the bigger picture; are there?

but its time to get a move on, not sit here tapping away my thoughts (which I would highly prefer to do and wait until light out so I can get the Buff back up to snuff,,,, Gotta make the duckies to buy her stuff first,,,, Can’t win for losin’,,,,

Keep on livin’

I’d think I have no luck at all. 

And I am starting to think some of those ‘your thoughts are what you attract’ meme’s have a little bit of validity to them,,,,  Ugly thoughts attract bad things, good thoughts attract good things,,,,

Been giving a fellow Emp at work, a hand up, picking him up for work every mornin’.   Guy seems to be a shit magnet though.  Been a couple of times where he would get in the truck and things started acting up.   Not saying HE is the reason, but his negativity can be overwhelming at times.   Dude makes me look like downright sedate in negativity,,,

Tonight, had to do a wally-world run, simple shit, but stuff that local doesn’t carry: Kitteh Crunchies that Mama will eat, some other stuff since I had to go there,,,,

Came out and Trucks deader than a doornail.  Plenty of juice at the battery, but no love from the starter.   NOTHING,,, used my Powerprobe II to check if the selenoid would kick if I ‘bumped it’,,, Popped the breaker on my probe,, DEAD IN WATER.   Ok,  Da arrives, go to local parts place and get a new Starter ($170,,, OUCH!!!) and do the swap right there in the parking lot of Wally’s,,, 

Did I mention that when I got there, I was smelling axle grease?

No? 

Well I was,,,   and saw some smoke from the rear drivers side tire as well.   Wasn’t hearing any noise and figured I could get her home and check things over,,,,

Starter in, fires up just fine, start the drive home and ‘heard something’,,,,

At first I was thinking I hadn’t tightened the lugs enough (I had pulled the passenger front tire for access to the starter area), so I stopped, jacked the front end back up, loosened and retightened the lugs,,,, back on road.

Same noise,,, not constant, just an occasional bllerrrt,,   Stop one more time at a different store and I am ready to blow a top right now,,,,

Smoke pouring out that back wheel well.  Shine a light down there and see HOT grease pouring out the axle,,  forming a puddle.   

Just get me home Buffalo, just get me home.  

As I was pulling up my hill, I heard the pinion gear whining.  Granted, fluid levels are low and running up hill, that fluid would have moved away from the pinion.   As soon as I was back on flat, she went silent again.

I’m trying like hell to not have negative thoughts at Buffalo right now,,, Two diffs in less than 8 months?   Come on, give me a break, please!!!   And I don’t really know what the problem is (other than a blown seal, but WHAT caused it to blow?   Plugged vent lines are the usual suspect,,,   and there is seepage from the pinion seal as well that I can see (not dripping, but wet,,,)  Passengers side is dry.

I guess you know what Dio’s weekend looks like.   And its supposed to snow all weekend,,, Lovely,,,

nice thoughts, happy thoughts, kick the bad thoughts aside,,, happy thoughts, nice thoughts,,, no bad no bad no bad,,,,

oh, and I still have two days of getting to and from work to deal with,,,,   Thinking the shit magnet is gonna get a call that he needs to find alternate transport the next couple of days.

Post script update,,, To be fair, the dude I have been giving rides to, IS trying to turn his life around. And of course, I offer some advice or at least kind words in his world where he doesn’t seem to get any.

But, as we used to say in the Corps,,, “no good deed will go unpunished” And here I am,,, Wallet is taking a beating on this, my mindset as well. AND I WILL SURVIVE IT. Just need to keep an open mind, baby the crap out of Buff in the meantime and make sure that diff doesnt fall into the danger zone. I caught this one before it locked up on me as the last one did, so there IS THAT positive note.

And I need to keep thinking these positive thoughts,,,, I will get through this,,,,

Gotta say it

THE WORLD IS NUCKING FUTZ!!!

Feeds that I trusted over the years are in contradiction to previous stances, others are bending in strange ways,

and ALL of them are trying to ‘sway my opinion’ with language twists.

Thats called propaganda

Here is what I DO KNOW,,, Our country is at war with itself; it may not have gone kinetic YET, but that is simply a matter of time. We do know that the people ‘formally’ in charge (I say that meaning they are not legitimate, but acccepted as such, for now, for civility sake) are doing everything they can to tear this country to shreds and replace vast swaths of it with ‘others’ for ‘reasons’. You can extrapolate whatever those reasons are for your own self, and have the same chance at a correct answer as the next guy. Not gonna say you are right, nor wrong, only going to note that this thing is very much happening, and leaving myself open to options for when it goes critical.

but its not just at the border. You see it across the social strata. WOKE stupidity being shoved down throats despite the obvious backlash against it, and the facts that every, EVERY illustrious and grand WOKE pedestal has fallen into shit when exposed to ANY light of inquiry. (looking at Mz Gay for current such.) And there is some backlash coming from within the Corps that coddled such ideology: too little too late IMO, but take it as you can cuz every little bit helps, no?

The (w)Hole Jew/Hamas/Islam thing,,,, My only opinion would match that of the Sauds,,, Let ’em duke it out, BY THEMSELVES,,, No support and if they aren’t up to snuff, then maybe they needed to get beat up,,,,

And I am no fan of Islam,,, and yes, I have my reasons, But! I am also no friend of Israel. Seen too much of that ‘ethnic pride’ thing from both sides. Got news for y’all (both Islam and Israel) WE ARE ALL MUTTS!!! Y’ain’t special!!! so get your shit off the high-horse and get back to livin’ life!

As for (S)election Cycle’24,,,, I don’t see it happening,,,,

AT ALL.

The divisions have gaping chasms between them, chasms deeper than the Marianas Trench,,,, Those don’t just close up because some ballots were cast, or not cast,,, Those sorts of chasms WIDEN,,, And the handlers of this current ShamGov KNOW IT. They either WANT civil war (observable in many ways) or they are that frickin’ clueless and desperate (also observable)

which leads me to believe that as November gets closer, the chances for kinetic action are going to climb. And it will be orchestrated from within,,,, At least at first, but like an avalanche, once it starts rolling, only one things stops it,,, THE BOTTOM.

canned goods

Water filtration systems and sanitzers

lower end high speed precious metals

KNOWLEDGE

if you haven’t, you’re behind the ball, if you have, accelerate more.

and if come July 2025 you are looking at shelves of unopened canned goods while having a full belly; you can laugh at me and yourself then.

And I am not worried (as much) about an Immivasion,,, I can see how that is going to be an issue, but loose cannons (which is what un-ranked warriors are) have a short half life when confronted with defenders. Will they be a problem? Already are in many ways, but they aren’t forming ranks and taking over swaths of land to start training ops,,, That tells me they are said loose cannons and even if they get armed, won’t form ‘armies’, they will at best form gangs and the occasional warlord, and that sort of thing becomes tribal FAST and tribes hate other tribes,,,, Be outside of that mess and you have better chances. If you can’t be outside that, start looking for firepower options, or MOVE. Watch the first 20 minutes of “13 hours” See how the capitol of Libya was divided up by gangs of islamist factions,,,, Then compare that to L.A. CA,,, Bloods and Crips in the 90’s,,,, See any similarities? There ya go! Stop thinking so much in ORG mindset, start thinking base animal/tribal instincts. Toss in the ‘race’ card that has been taught to so many world-wide and see the numerous divisions even amongst ‘those that tan’ (as Sarah likes to say) There is no homogeny there; shits fractured like the windsheild in Buffalo.

Look at it another way: for the most part, many of the “refugees” coming in, are the debris getting kicked out of less than successful countries. Many are former prisoners for whatever reason, and now their former country doesn’t have to pay to house them, or support them, or whatever,,, There may be a few shining examples in the mix that are here for oppurtunity, but most are here because they were shipped here to unload the machinations at ‘home’. The only part of that where I worry is the Chinese Immigre,,,, They may be the Beachhead for something bigger from CCP,,, dunno, no way to know until its too late either, but I don’t think it will blow up to that,,, they aren’t that large a portion of the incoming.

And when things get really bad, think about the mess that is going to happen at the southern border when a majority of those that came here for the free ride, realize that the free-ride ain’t all that, and try to head home. The cartels and the Mexican GoV are in for a world of shit,,,, That border may grow green grass for years with all the shallowly planted fertilzer thats going to be introduced.

Gah!!!! I hate starting the day on the Neg,,,,

one more cuppa than I gotta go make the donuts.,..

They say when the fourth turning comes, it will be well upon us before we realize that its here.

I think, at least from what I can see from the ramparts, we are THERE,,,, Again, please Lord, let me be wrong,,,

Only,,,, a part of me is begging for it so that we can just get through this shit and return the inmates back to the asylums where they belong,,,

TL Davis posted on his substack yesterday,

after a good day of paddling, even such a small amount, I wasn’t prepared for how this one hit me. He ain’t wrong,,, no where, no how,,,, I spent quite a bit of time last night getting the beast back in the cage. It surprised me at how easy it was to get loose again, even though it was only nosing the cage door. It’s not TL’s fault, he just triggered a key to turn, one that has had quite a bit of pressure applied to it of late, and suddenly, in my head, I am going through processes of manufacture, procurement of materials, where and how to test, and then,,,,

Drops to floor, hugs knees, rocking back and forth on my heels, eyes clenched tight with one small part of my brain trying to recall paddling days of peace: ‘not yet, not yet, not yet, not time yet, not time yet,,,’

When that switch is thrown, Dio Dies! That beast consumes everything, it decimates the moral codes that keep it in check, ethics become hyperbole, and the beast FEEDS,,,, There is no coming back from that, and the people that continue to push this country to a kinetic Civil War have NO FUCKIN’ CLUE how ruthless that beast is. They think they have mostly eliminated that beast in the populace because it hasn’t risen up, yet. There will be no surrender, there will be no aftermath courts system, there will be no quarter given. Because we, quite literally, kill all that is good inside us when that beast goes rogue and then the beast kills everything else.

Its what made the first Civil War so bloody, its why WW1 wrapped up so quickly once ‘WE the PEOPLE’ joined the fight, Its why we were able to fight a two theater war in WW2 and come out on top world-wide DESPITE our government being heavily infiltrated with Communists. That beast is insatiable, ruthless, cunning, and VERY VERY HARD TO KILL,,,

And it always sends a blood-torn honor guard before it when it does ‘die’,,,

A plea to the Law Enforcement people: You know your job, you see from the sidelines the breaking of the laws they are doing,,, All of this could be averted TONIGHT if law enforcement would do thier jobs, IF the military weren’t emasculated from inside,,,

IF the courts weren’t riddled with traitors,,,,

If the corruption weren’t a Cancer of the Governmental Lymphatic system, touching everything of the body politic,,,,

‘not yet, not yet, not yet,,,not time yet, not time yet, not time yet,,,,’

But there IS coming a day,,,,

I fear that day is somewhere within the next 354 remaining,,,,

And I don’t think I will be alone when it comes.

((note: I have been watching uTo0b quite a bit of late, and have been getting ‘gaslighting’ vids in my feeds. I started reporting them as ‘false information’,,, If you see something similar, tag it, bag it, The AI doesn’t ‘know’ diddly but learns pretty quickly, and as long as we are tagging and bagging BS, the programmers have to work overtime to counter what the AI is learning,,, Its not much, but anything in this WAR is something,,,

and the fact that they must resort to gaslighting us tells us they are on the ropes getting beat to shit, NO MATTER what the Enemedia is trying to spin,,,,

))

made it out,

sorta

didn’t go far

and that water and wind combination is colder than my Ex-Wifes frozen methane heart,,,, I can feel my boogerhooks again. Tried something different this time out and won’t be doin’ it again. I always use pogies when the water is cold; these are like mittens that velcro around you paddle loom and let you slide your hands in to grip the paddle. The ones I have are ‘reactor’ neoprene that reflects your heat back at you, and usually are enough to keep the digits warm, or at least not so cold they go numb. Well, today, I had the pogies, worked good, hands cold but not bad, and then, I screwed up. I added a pair of neoprene gloves. 10 minutes later, the needles of cold were digging DEEP,,,, once they go cold like that, there is only one solution: get off the water ASAP.

and that was the only part of me (‘side me noze) that was cold. Toesies said they could use a warm up, but not bad, wet waist area from paddle splash felt that cold but wasn’t cold itself. and what was under the drytop felt toasty warm.

NOT ze handz,,, oh no,,, PAIN cold,,, nearing frostbite level cold (not exactly, they never started ‘feeling warm’, which is sure sign you are losing nerve endings.)

but now, I can’t be mad with myself,,, I went out, paddled a bit, even tried to do a ‘paddle nap’, that ended up being a half roll/recovery. I’ll figure that shit out yet,,,

When that drysuit gets here,,,, House looks like a surfers den again (minus all the pizza boxes and beer can pyramids). The only odd ball in that is the drytop,,, I like it, but really, its meant for early fall weather when staying mostly dry is in order,,, it sure won’t stay dry if I have to escape a capsized boat, seeing how it only covers from my belly up. It does seal up pretty well there, but water will seep in over time if immersed.

Water temp today: 40F

Air temp: 36F, with 3-5mph winds

Bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that twilight just before first light. Blue world,,,,

Good lord, Looking for that link, my world went upside down,,,, Look at the prices of deadtree editions,,,,W! T! ever lovin’ F!!?!???

sigh,,, just another point that makes going indy and ebook that much easier,,,,

Anywhooos,,, I read that book back in the mid 90’s, not long after it was released, and it still lingers in parts of my cranium as ‘How I want to write,,,,’. The man took a really twisted set of events and wove them together so believably,,,,

and here I go digressing from my post,,,, apologies.

Its dark out there, looking at the weather liar page, not supposed to go over 36 today. Flat line temps until dusk when they drop deeper into the mercury. Kittehs are all IN HOUSE this morning,,,,, I guess there is only so much hormones can do to keep you out katting around when OlManWinter comes callin’.

Lord knows I am looking at that temp and thinking, ‘Maybe I wanna stay home and write, or read,,,,, I can make up the physical in the erg,,,,’

and yet, there is that part of me that says ‘the ergometer is like masturbating dude,,,, feels good but just not as satisfying as gettin’ wet!’

always little wars goin’ on in me head,,,, I don’t like bein’ that nervous Nellie, but I’m sort of addicted to breathing too. And that there is real potential for disaster in paddling in these temperatures can’t be argued. 3mm wetsuits, even if layered (thick and cumbersome), only give you minutes of protection at these temps. Some would say that my chance of capsize is so minimal, that I’m being silly: and yah, maybe a little, but I mitigate my risks. The wetsuits are only part of the equation and I KNOW, from experience, that capsizes DO HAPPEN and are never planned, so you plan FOR them.

Maybe I need a VR hood and play some paddling footage as I paddle my erg,,, LOL (there’s a thought there that isn’t facetious)

That drysuit can’t get here soon enough IMO,,,, Now that I have made the purchase, my mindset is shifting (what all of this is REALLY about,,,) (that real problem: I over analyze EVERYTHING,, )

Theres a thought here that is roaming the backbrain,,, not gelled up and very elusive like a wolf in the brush at twilight,,, Glimpses only, occasional twig snap; you know its there, but you can’t quite pin where,,,,

I don’t think I am going out today,,, Wanna, don’t wanna tug-o-war goin’ on, and that usually leads to other turmoil later down the road no matter which side wins. Its that time of year where the weather isn’t on my JUST DO IT side; proper gear will help that argument,

but not today

I wanna say that this year is already starting out rough, but its still early, that Get-er-Dun part of my mind may win out after the sun comes up and the day starts to look interminably long.

and its not like I don’t have a list of stuff I can do to keep me occupied,,, I just don’t like sittin’round for long these days: gets stiff and cranky, I do,,, especially when its cold out.

UPDATED: Getting out there, Kold be damned. If I don’t, gonna spend the next week pissed off at myself,,,, Not a good thing to be mad at the only person you live with, right?