Jiminy Christmas – glad I don’t live on the East Coast. Or anywhere near the Gulf of Mexico. Or in Cali, Washington, or Oregon. For my friends who do, I hope you’re safe, dry, and well away from the wildfires.
Yeah, we’re ready to ditch the desert when I retire, hopefully in a couple of years. But any tangential thoughts of a beach home, however remote, took a hike after the past few weeks. If you’re reading this and you’re in Florida, I assume you’re a ghost, since the whole damned state is without power and underwater. And this beast of a storm is still grinding across the state before taking its shot at the Carolinas.
Not making fun, not even a little bit. My heart goes out to the people still trapped in their attics or worse. Mother Nature doesn’t mess around.
Dell is still percolating around the replacement lappy. They don’t have any of my specific model in their refurb stock.
Surprise! (Not really – I expected it.)
Which means they’re going to have a tough time finding a refurb to equal or exceed my specs. If this computer hadn’t had so many issues, it was a killer build. I still love it – when it works.
My current rig is big (17″) and has a lot of still-high-level specs I won’t bore you with. The monkey wrench in the match process, though, will be the size and the dual-drive system. At some point Dell will likely come up short on at one or both of the above and say, “Can you live with this?”
Supposedly they’re getting back to me within a few more days with info on the replacement unit. Here’s hoping it’s something functional.
The photo up top is an oldie, from the last trip we made to Globe. I don’t recall the exact date, though I know it was at least a couple of years ago.
This weekend will likely not include a photo run – subject to change, depending on health and other details. We’re both scheduled for vaccinations tomorrow: COVID, flu, etc. Other than a grocery run and the vaccination hopskotch (two different locations – don’t ask, ugh) I’ll gladly sleep all weekend, if I can.
I love the “you can live cheaper!” articles.
In one I read today it went through a long list of things you can make for cheaper than you can buy.
There was the usual – loaves of bread, homemade cooking in general. I do as much homemade cooking as my health permits. I haven’t made homemade bread in a while. I’d love to – if time and health permitted. I use boxed noodles and mixes, and jarred pesto. I buy pre-chopped veggies whenever possible. It may not be cheaper, but it’s better than glops of canned stuff, and FAR better than fast food.
However, this article took it further. It literally said you could create homemade chicken, duck, and homemade eggs. Yeah, advice-writer, about that… While I assume she meant keeping chickens/ducks and collecting their eggs, she simply wrote to make ’em.
Other suggestions to make-from-scratch included laundry detergent. Can you make homemade detergent? Of course. To make it truly homemade you’re gonna have to start by making your own soap. From scratch, of course. If you really want to go authentic, make your own lye with wood ashes. Y’all, I’m not gonna mess around with lye and lard. If you go with the fels naptha and other ingredients premade, it involves a grater and a big bar o’ soap. Suffice to say, I’m not making homemade laundry detergent any time soon.