What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

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From somethign I've been told (many years ago / unverified source, etc..) is that "mail" usually is a filler for planes & such. and AUS is a long way away.. so, with Covid: few flights to Oz.. Few ships directly to Oz.. Big fancy paid stuff get priority, US mail (or any mail that is passing thru the US: Canadian mail for instance) is 2nd class, and fills up whatever hole is available, on whatever available flight / boat..

Very true. Mail isn't sent on a Mail Plane any more, prolly not since Moses played second base for Jerusalem. Mail is a 'filler' on passenger flights and no passenger flights = no mail. I just wish big companies (Australia Post/USPS) would stop blaming each other and just be honest with their customers.
 
Very true. Mail isn't sent on a Mail Plane any more, prolly not since Moses played second base for Jerusalem. Mail is a 'filler' on passenger flights and no passenger flights = no mail. I just wish big companies (Australia Post/USPS) would stop blaming each other and just be honest with their customers.

I guess there's a level of logic, but at the same time I feel bad for what is happening as far as shipping goes. Sure, if there are fewer planes flying with 'filler mail' then I guess I would understand a delay, but I agree that USPS saying 'Australia is not accepting' and 'Australia saying USPS won't ship' is super lame.

I hope (it will never happen. . . ) that people will say the what and why as to why you can't get US products and why we would have a similar problem getting your products.

Sorry for the needless struggle.

Sandy.
 
Went to the bank and closed on an equity line of credit. The rate was so low we are going to pay off the mortgage and save money. Then went to Home Depot and looked at new faucets and bought a fire pit. The metal kind. Now I'm going to Walmart and get a new grill. We have had the one we have now for 30 years, Yikes. How in the heck did I get this old and not notice it happening.
 
Just got back from Walmart. The grill I went to get was $396 regularly. On sale for $173. They sold out before I got up there. So I'm standing in front of another grill trying to decide what to do. I was specifically looking for a grill with a window in the door. And have been looking for years. The one I have has a window. I have not seen another grill with a window until I saw one at Walmart this summer. I have been waiting for it to go on sale. The grill I was standing in front of had the lids up. I look at the box next to it and it has windows. Ok how much. I knew that one was $600 in season. They wanted $150!. I suddenly became very possessive of that box. It is a propane and wood pellet grill with 2 side burners. It is about 5 feet long in the box in the back of our Explorer and I have no idea how to get it out. Took 4 people to put it in. But I finally got a new grill.
 
Very true. Mail isn't sent on a Mail Plane any more, prolly not since Moses played second base for Jerusalem. Mail is a 'filler' on passenger flights and no passenger flights = no mail.
Timely, reliable mail is a public good, and used to be treated as such. Here in the US, George Washington (the first president under our present constitution, for you ferners ;)) signed the act creating the cabinet level Post Office Department in 1792, the third department created, and one of only five in the 18th century, and one that is explicitly authorized by the constitution. (The next created was not until 1870.)

The department was dissolved in 1971, replaced by the USPS, an independent agency (which means it is not a department but is not under any department) and it's been downhill, in some senses, ever since. Mind you, they still do a remarkable job in most respects (I've written on this forum in their defense a few times) but the increasing emphasis on cost cutting has led to them doing a rather less remarkable job. I have nothing against cost savings. Using available space on commercial trains and the planes was a good idea. But depending extensively on such space (even exclusively for some services) is decidedly not a good idea.

The disaster of last year's holiday season was largely a COVID thing and an excusable one-off (or two-off; let's see what happens a month or two from now). But it was surely made worse than it had to be by prior excessive cost cutting, and the cutting has continued to get worse since.

EDIT. Also:
Australia's population is about 26 million. North Carolina is around 11 million, so call it 2 times smaller for easy math. NC had 3700 new cases today (NC.gov website), Australia had 2400 cases on 10/5 (worldomiters.info).
That makes Australia's per capita rate 53% higher than North Carolina's.
 
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The package is now coming UPS and the price difference is almost exactly $2.

@Five is spooky... 👻
Even though Im a customer counter clerk and have twenty two years under my belt at UPS, there’s still no way I could have known that.
Spooky indeed…
 
Finally pouring apron. Keep water away. Rotten
 

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I had doctors appointment this morning. Then with some help got the new grill out of the Explorer. In the afternoon I took my wife into Vegas for a doctors appointment. We had just got to town when she got a call canceling her appointment. The Doc called in sick. So we went and looked a patio furniture. And today is my wife's birthday so we will be having cake later.
 
My father in-law's hotplate had one electric burner that was stuck on. Switched it off at the breaker and pulled out the electronics. Stuck relay I presume, so I have ordered some today and extracted the six old relays in preparation for the replacement. Driver chip for the relay checks out ok.

Pulled a couple of circuit boards out of our ducted heating system. Ignition has been unreliable and getting worse. I suspect it is the gas control valve (22 years old) but a couple of solder joints were looking decidedly marginal so I cleaned them up and cleaned and re-seated the processor chip anyway. If it is still unreliable this week then I'll get a new gas control valve over the summer period.

Also some hunting and gathering at the local supermarkets.
 
Started the day with this (the wind was a beating today):

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After a few hours to -kinda- recover; I tested our race timing equipment for our annual charity 5K next Sat, went to the books store with wifey, filled Lab Rat orders, made some grilled pork tenderloin with beer-mustard sauce for dinner, and walked to the Walgreens about half a mile away with little dude so he could spend some allowance on a Milky Way (I needed an excuse to stretch my legs)...glad I go to work tomorrow to get a rest.
 
Started the day with this (the wind was a beating today):

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After a few hours to -kinda- recover; I tested our race timing equipment for our annual charity 5K next Sat, went to the books store with wifey, filled Lab Rat orders, made some grilled pork tenderloin with beer-mustard sauce for dinner, and walked to the Walgreens about half a mile away with little dude so he could spend some allowance on a Milky Way (I needed an excuse to stretch my legs)...glad I go to work tomorrow to get a rest.

Nice! I jumped on Zwift for an hour. 😆 We had plans to ride Trek's private MTB trails today through my son's NICA team, but mother nature wanted to rain and close the trails.
 
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