Busy

So I have been quite the industrious little prepper. Yesterday I went for a drive up to Kittery Trading Post up in Maine. Was such a beautiful day yesterday with clear skies and a mild 40 degrees. I ordered a few items from amazon and they came in today. I stocked up on more food, and even got in the surgical stapler kit from Cabelas I mentioned a while ago.

So up in Kittery I bought a few things. I picked up additional reloading supplies for my .308 Winchester, including case neck brushes and a sweet primer pocket cleaner from Lee. A $1.89
very well spent as that little tool does an awesome job. I picked up some bulk primers and some 168gr. ballistic tip bullets. Although $30 for 50 bullets, these are supposed to be the cat's meow for hunting. I was disappointed they didn't have the new Nosler 168gr. ballistic tip, but oh well.

I finally got some broadheads for my cedar arrows too. I didn't get carbon shafts because they are two separate models for the compound and recurve bow. I would buy the tougher ones for the recurve and use them in my compound, but they were out of stock.

I also picked up everything I need to start hand loading .45ACP. I got primers, powder and 230gr lead round nose bullets. I've been shopping for JHP's so I can make my own combat ammo, but so far no luck. Guess I need to shop online, although the LRN round would make a mess of anyone dumb enough to come in the house and attack me.

I tried to pick up the supplies for making my own buckshot, but sorry to say, I failed. The wads needed for me to turn my skeet hulls into buckshot are not available. Now I'm going to look into buying all the components: hulls, wads, and shot, and making it myself that way. I'll keep everyone posted. In the meantime I have ~500 .45ACP bass I scavenged to keep my occupied. I have 15 rounds loaded at the minimum load to see how that shoots, then work my way up to the maximum. I am using Unique powder. I know it's dirty as a whore's ass or a sailor's mouth, but it's cheap and it works. My Sig is so easy to clean it's not that big of a deal.

I'm still leaning to a slow slide so that's why I'm focused on the .45 ammo. There is a much higher chance of my carrying around a pistol to protect myself than my shotgun. I can walk the streets and draw minimal attention to myself with a pistol, but I'd be an obvious target with the shotty.

So I also got the regular mason jar sealing attachment thingy for my Foodsaver. I did find some 1 pint jars, and I'm going to put spices in some of them, then vacuum them up to keep the spices fresh. I also bought more bags, since they were on sale. I love my foodsaver, and if you want one cheap then go to survivalblog and look at the bottom of each post, he has the link and code you need there.

I also bought two books. The first, "The Encylopedia of Country Living" is just too handy not to have. I know squat about a lot of things, and this will help me fill in the gaps. I also broke down and bought Rawles book "Patriots!" I'll read it next and let you know what I think.

Tomorrow is new years eve, and I hope everyone will have a safe and happy new year. Don't forget tomorrow, along with St. Patrick's Day, is amature night. All the idiots who don't know how to drink go out and go wild. I'll probably be home, unless I score a ticket for the Mighty Mighty Bosstone's Hometown Throwdown.

Asshats

It's all the rage these days for you to wear your own ass for a hat. One look in the media is proof positive that this new fashion is sweeping the country. while at Mum's for dinner on x-mas, There was something on CBS about Obammy, I didn't watch it, as I rather stick my hand in a blender than listen to that meatball. It was obvious they all had on their asshats sucking up to the media king. Howard Stern thinks he's the "king of all media" well he isn't fit to hold obammy's jockstrap. Obammy even leaked a shirtless photo to the media so he can get E! network blabbing about him. Narcissism anyone?

So leading the asshat brigade is the federal reserve. There is a huge assumption going on that just might bite us in the collective butt. The assumption is that we are facing another Depression like the one in 1929. The question I have to ask is what if we are not? Then all that Heliocopter Berneke is doing is screwing the pooch that much harder.

Let's review. The Fed lowered the interest rate to get the banks to loan the 700B bailout money. But the banks have zero confidence in each other, so they are sitting on huge sums of capital. Plenty of money out there, just everyone is too damn skittish to loan it to each other. Not that I blame them I trust bankers about as much as lawyers and politicians, which is to say not at all.

The problem here is what next? So the Fed has shot the wad, so to speak, but he's far from done. The crisis has not resolved itself one bit and the Fed's empty. They got nothing to bring to the table. They are D-U-N.

Which leads me to the idea that while their head is firmly planted in their ass they might get some harebrained scheme to make banks lend money. Negative interest, taxation on cash-on-hand, or some other terrible notion. I think the Fed has reached the point of desperation, which is not a good thing for the average citizen. I've been re-reading "1984" so I think doubleplusungood is an appropriate term.

I haven't even looked at the Stock market because everyone is quite fat and happy from the holidays, and are starting to look forward to their W2's and thier tax returns. But soon Wall street will start smelling the bullpucky, and will slide all over the place like a pickup in a icestorm without bags of sand in the back.

Then Obammy comes to the rescue. He's talking about another 700 to 1000 billion of dollars to rescue the economy. So where does the line form for my handout? I have just as much right to one as the lazy fucker who won't get a job and lives off welfare. He's going to invest it in infrastructure, he's giving economic stimulus, he's got a plan!

Translation: Bridges to nowhere, print money for a handout, he has no freaking clue what to do.

I'm revising my earlier prediction of deflation, I am back to 50/50 between deflation and hyper inflation. Remember it takes 9 to 18 months to see the effects of a cash infusion in the economy. I'll be prepping like mad in the mean time, and so should you!

I've been thinking it over
And I know just what to do
I've been thinking it over
And I know I just can't trust myself

I'm a Gypsy prince
Covered with diamonds and jewels
But then my lover exposes me
I know I'm just a damn fool

[CHORUS]

I give what I've got to give
I give what I need to live
I give what I've got to give
It's important if I wanna live
I wanna live
I want to live my life
I wanna live
I want to live my life

As I load my pistol
Of fine German steel
I never thought I'd be so down and out
Having my last meal
But I know I can do it
It just took a few years
As I execute my killer
The morning is near
- The Ramones "I wanna Live"

In order to keep my skills sharp I practiced with my pistol yesterday morning. If bad things are going to go down, I want to be ready to defend myself in an efficient and effective manner.

I think it's best to draw as little attention to yourself as possible, but once your singled out, what do you do? I'm a big guy, so I have some innate intimidation that I can work off of. That has pretty much been my mode of operation, act like the Grey Man, but when confronted, puff out the chest and take charge of the situation.

So far, so good for me. The abrupt switch in demeanor and appearance is usually enough to cause enough confusion so that I'm left alone. At some point, I am going to be called out by some meatball who needs their attitude adjusted. Then things will get messy.

Back to the original idea for this post. When and if they come after you, whether it's the zombie mutants, Obammy's thought police, or the fedz. You got to make a stand. The might want to take your guns, or your food, or your freedom. Make them pay dearly for it. Also spread the word so they don't have easy pickings somewhere else.

There comes a time in everyones life when they need to draw a line, and stand tall. It's different for everyone, and it changes as events happen in our world. These are big decisions. To be honest I don't know what I am going to do if I get a knock on my door and it's Obammy's thought police looking for my guns. Surender and live on to fight another day? Is it worth living in a world of fear, barely scraping by?

If "they" told you to go to a FEMA camp "for your own safety" would you comply if you have food, water, and shelter? Would you go if they asked a second time with your house about to be assaulted by the SWAT team?

With hard times you need to make hard decisions. Prep the mind, the body and the soul to give you and those who depend on you the best chance for survival.

Spaghetti-oh's and TEOTWAWKI

As a kid, I loved them. I'd get a grilled cheese on rye and dunk it in the Spaghetti-Oh's and eat it, while scooping out the oh's with salt and vinegar chips. Yummy.

So what's this have to do with The End of the World? Well I made sure that I had a few cans in my preps for boosting morale. Depending on why your digging into your preps, either from a slow slide or from a sudden event like a hurricane, you need to keep your spirits up. That is what this post is about.

The human spirit can take a lot of shots, and keep getting up for more, but let's face facts: It's not a pleasant experience. So to cushion our spirit, we need to stock some supplies ahead of time. So we nourish the body, we need to nourish the soul. Kinda weird coming from and agnostic I know, but Just because I haven't "found God(s)(ess)(es), etc. doesn't mean I' don't believe we have something after this world.

Anyway, be sure to pack some "soul food" away. If you have a female within 1000 miles of your retreat, I cannot stress enough the importance of chocolate. I'm not sure the best way to store it, but I've got some vacuum packed and frozen. Obviously, canned goods are the way to go for durability. They are heavy but the idea is to have some, not a lot. If you love hamburger helper for whatever reason, grab some, and rotate it out. The trick is to have fatty, comfort foods to help you cope in the first 72 hours of trouble.

Also I feel it is very important to have whatever you need for your faith. If you have a religious book, a separate copy should be with your preps, preferably in your BOB waterproofed. Any items like rosary beads or prayer rugs, etc should have backups stored with your preps. Anything that brings serenity and a peaceful frame of mind should be with your preps. I, for example, love the cranberry chutney scented candle from Yankee Candle, so I have half a one stored with my preps. Light + comfort.

So kick back and take inventory of the things that bring peace and serenity and make sure some of those items are with your preps. It'd be a shame to have all the firearms and food for a year, if you go nucking futs after a month.

One of these days

The thing that I tell you now
It may not go over well
And it may not be photo-op
in the way that I spell it out

But you won't hear from the messenger,
don't wanna know bout something that you don't understand,
You got no fear of the underdog,
that's why you will not survive!
-"Underdog" by Spoon

I never believed in the power of subliminal advertising. I never held the thought that peer pressure could make me do anything I didn't want to do. But it has. I bought me a house, and I've been having trouble paying for it. I bought into the American Dream™ lock, stock, and barrel. I figured that the majority of a man's (monetary) wealth was his home, and since I had jack shit for retirement, that by purchasing a home I would be investing in myself.

Now I was at least smart enough to get a 30 year fixed mortgage, not a ARM or whatever other subprime shenanigans that was available at the time. The big problem is that I have come to the conclusion that we are heading for a deflation. Any debt you carry into a deflation is going to fuck you over so fast and hard you would wish you were born without a hoop.

You see, in a deflation, the dollar buys more goods and services, which isn't a bad thing except the $2,300 mortgage payment can now buy a brand new car, and the $75,000 salary you used to make is now $25,000/year. But the bank still wants that $2,300 a month! When that happens I think the mailmen delivering to the banks are all going to throw out their backs because of all they keys being mailed in!

So in a deflation you hoard cash. Cash is king. If it comes to that, I'm going to stop making payments, slap an Obammy sticker on my bumper and wait for a handout. I'll save the cash so when they finally evict me I'll be able to rent a house for $400/month. Something with a swimming pool. Maybe give up the rat race and move up north to Maine and go native. Buy me some land and see if I can telecommute for a job. Live in a tent, poop in the woods. Build me a cabin.

It's not that simple though, is it?

I've been trying to wrap my head around how a few hundred thousand troops and 700,000 cops are going to pacify and control 330,000,000 irate Americans when the economy goes tits-up. I know the media will have a large part, as the propaganda machine for the police state. That will pacify a portion of the population. Jail? Concentration Camps? Obammy's SA civilian police force?

I figure some sections would be too lawless for even troops to enter. Chicago, LA, NY, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, etc. would be isolated until the population inside self-destructs to the point that a military force can be brought in with air support for a mop-up and pacification. Survivors go to a concentration camp for processing. Maybe this is Obammy's idea of "wealth distribution" as the townhouses are reassigned or sold to the pacified citizenry.

A concerted effort would have to be made to prevent patriots who are sick of the bullpucky from rising up in outright rebellion. I just cannot see the Federal government having the resources to take on it's own population. This is where I see the need for insurgents to conduct anti-propaganda rallies, flashmob protests, cyber warfare, etc. That's what I see myself doing if this scenario happens. A can of spraypaint in one hand and a laptop in the other.

I need to mull this over some more. Perhaps the NSA, CIA, FBI, FEMA, etc. ideas of control are illusionary. Vaporware. Perhaps the beast in every man, woman, and child's soul will rise as the economy crumbles turning America into a giant violent orgy of self-destruction. There will be many of us who will stand against the hordes, some overwhelmed, some still standing when the dust settles.

So here I sit, with beer in hand, exercising the first right, the right of free thought, trying to put the puzzle together before all the bits and pieces are available. Most of this country has given up on that most inalienable right, the right to think for oneself.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Well New England got turned into a winter wonderland this weekend. This photo is from my buddies deck at halftime on Sunday. It's amazing to me how many chuckleheads slid off the road this weekend. I went to the range on Saturday, froze my beans off, but I got to practice.

It's very important to practice in ALL weather conditions, so if and when you need to make a tough shot that means the difference between supper and starvation, your going to be ready. Plus, I had the place to myself, no one was there, except the plow guy who stated " you're insane to be out here." I was bundled up with four layers, so i was rather toasty. I told him he was crazy for only wearing 2 layers in this weather!

I got paroled early from work in anticipation of the storm, so I made use of the time and built myself a reloading bench.
Not too shabby, considering I have a tradition of drinking many a brew whilst in the middle of a snowstorm. Got the use of all power tools out of the way before I got too hammered. Carrying it into NSB (Natog's Sekret Bunker) was a hoot when I couldn't walk a straight line!

No reloading was done until I was quite sober on Sunday afternoon. I have loaded 28 rounds to see the difference between Nosler and Sierra bullets, and the difference between Winchester and some other mystery cases I inherited with my rifle. They are labeled 7mm-08 but either come perfectly sized or are identical to .308 Winchester brass. I verified them extensively with my calipers before reloading them.

So bright and early Christmas morning I'll be shooting my .308 rifle. Iread that 7 round groups provide the best tradeoff between statistical accuracy and economy, so that's wht I'm using. I'll let you know my results!

Big storm commin'

Yep, the big snowstorm that's been hammering the Midwest is on a road trip to Boston. I drove into work today in anticipation of being let out early. My Jeep is quite the snow pig, and has seen many a winter storm. Just remember that having a4x4 means you don't get stuck, but it does not stop you from sliding around. Also it does jack shit for helping you stop faster. Like any skill, you need to learn how to do it right, then practice it.

We are expecting 1-2" of snow an hour, totaling about a foot. I have plenty of food stored in my pantry and fridge. You won't find me in the supermarket on a BEM run (that's bread, eggs, and milk). It's a snowstorm tradition out here. Panic buying of dairy items that need refrigeration... just when the power might go out. Keep sleeping sheeple!

I'm going to build me a reloading bench. I got all the supplies I need, so as long as the power stays on I'll be in my workshop building it. I'll take photos and post the plans for everyone. Might spark a few ideas for your own gardening, reloading, or work bench.

Woodworking has been a hobby of mine over the years, and you might be wondering why I haven't been mentioning it in my blog over the last seven months. Well I have a heavy workload, that doesn't end when I walk out the door at work. That leaves little time for myself and my hobbies. So I put off all woodworking until I got my preps to such a point that I felt confident in my ability to weather a moderate disaster. I feel I am at that point, so my first project will be to build something with a purpose.

So I'll be making snowangels tonight. Have a safe weekend everyone.

In the comments to my earlier post on grain storage, hotdogjam had this to say.

No insult intended.

Do you like grain? Do you plan on rotating the grain? How long will it take you to work through 50 pounds of grain?

Man, I stick to what I like and eat regularly.

An excellent point. And no insult taken. I wholeheartedly agree that you need to store what you eat, so it can be properly rotated, and you will enjoy eating it in a stressful event.

I love cornbread, and I'm in the process of figuring out the recipe I like the most, and stocking the supplies I need to make it. I also enjoy johnny cakes, and taco's. Both of which come from corn.

The dried corn is intended for me to stretch my prep dollar farther, by supplementing the canned goods I have with wholesome cornbread. Lots of fiber, carbs and protein in there. Depending on the situation I would tap into the corn after using all the corn meal I have in my kitchen. Granted I, do not eat cornbread as often as I would if I was living off of my preps, but I don't eat a lot of canned food either.

Don't overlook the value from storing grains. As best as I can figure without doing any real math, 50# of dried corn would make about 75 - 100 skillet-sized cornbreads. That is a lot of food in a compact form that has a very long shelf life for short money. Dried corn in mylar bags is good for over 10 years. So:

$14 for the corn
$2 for the mylar
$1 for the O2 absorbers
$5 for the bucket and lid
$21 total

That's $2.10 a year it cost me for a lot of wholesome food. $2.10 will buy four cans of generic canned food here, most of it has an expiration date in a little over a year. Economically there is no comparison between storage of whole grain and canned goods. Freeze dried lasts 25+ years but is really, really expensive. I'm eyeballing freeze dried dairy products in #10 cans because that is what makes the most sense. Buying freeze dried noodles seems crazy to me, as the grain to make the noodle has a great shelf life with the simple addition of an O2 barrier.

I'll start worrying about rotating it in about 5 years. I will, however, check it every three months to make sure it's still sealed, and I poke around my food storage every few days to make sure no mice are around. Everything is sealed but I still don't like vermin anywhere near my preps.

So yes, I eat grain. I just process it some.

How to store grain

Well things have been very, very busy for me at work. I've been dialed into the job from home too, so no time to post. Sorry about that. I did get in my FoodSaver, and it is SWEET. I also took the time last night to pack the last of my grain up for storage. I'm going to go over exactly how I did it for you, so there is no excuse not to do this yourself.

1) OK the first step is to collect up your gear. You need an iron set on "cotton", a thick oversize paperback book, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, buckets with lids, and your grain. I'm using the homer buckets because I ate plenty of "wall candy" as a kid, and I am gambling the releasing agents won't eat through the mylar and spoil my grain.

2) Then put a mylar bag in the bucket and fill it to about 1 1/2" below the top.


3) Pull up the mylar and fold it back and forth so you have a nice flat area with no creases. Work out the air pockets in the bottom of the bag while you are at it. You might be able to get more grain in, or have to take some out to get it right.

4) Get as many buckets in this ready position as you can, because once you open the O2 absorbers you don't want to dilly-dally. The longer they are exposed to air, the less O2 they will absorb.

5) Crack open the package of absorbers and put the correct amount in each bucket. I stuff them in different depths and sides to try to maximize their effectiveness. Just remember to take them out before you put the grain in the grinder! I sealed my extra o2 absorbers in a FoodSaver bag as soon as I pulled the ones I needed out.

6) I couldn't snap a photo of the next step as I have yet to grow a third arm, guess I need to eat more wall candy. With the book on one side and the iron on the other, you iron a seam about 1 1/2" wide across the top, leaving a gap so you get the air out. I let that one cool and go down the line of buckets so the first one is cooled off for the next step.

7) Start folding the mylar into the bucket, trying not to manhandle it too much and punch holes in it. After getting as much air out as you can, use your book and iron to seal the last bit you left open.

8) Fold the last of the mylar bag into the bucket and snap on the lid.

9) Finally LABEL IT. What's in it, and when it was packaged. Then store it in a cool, dry spot.


I used my FoodSaver to seal some of the extra corn I couldn't fit into the buckets into bags. I labeled these and put them in the Galvanized trash can with the two full mylar bags I had in there. There is no chance of light getting in there so that's good enough for me.

Hope this helps, and Good luck!

Ice Storms

Well last week we got the business end of some serious storms. Many of my coworkers from NH and VT are still without power three days later. Some don't anticipate getting power back for another few days.

I took an informal poll of those affected by the storm, and of the four only one had a generator, Granted it's not working, so that doesn't count for squat. He went and moved the wife and kids to his parents house until they get power back. Another had power back in 6 hours, but when you live on the same street as a hospital, you get power back soon. Another toughed it out in his house with no heat, he's sick as a dog and banged in sick to work today. Another was in, relying on a wood stove to keep the house at a balmy 43 degrees. The last one was in, having showered at the gym before work.

I spoke with all of them, and except for the one who had a generator, none were planning on getting one. This boggles my mind because it's not like ice storms don't happen in New England...

The Inflation Indoctrination

The title of this post says it all. We consumers are so used to having inflation that without it we wouldn't know what to do without the price of the basic staples going up year after year. In 1974 gas was 53 cents a gallon, and a loaf of bread cost 28 cents. The national average salary was $14, 747 a year. Now, a loaf of bread is $3.80 and gas is (roughly) $2.00 a gallon.

With these numbers gas is about right, 4x the salary, and 4x the price of gas. It's the basic foodstuffs is where our money is going, the price of bread is about 13x as expensive, while the salary has only increased 4x! And I wonder where my disposable income went - I'm eating it.

I get a cost of living raise of 3% a year. Where I work you never get a performance raise - ever. I've personally saved the company millions of dollars of downtime, lawsuits, etc. and will never see a performance raise. But I'm in a recession-proof job. With the real inflation level 7% what the government is saying, no wonder I am having trouble making ends meet. In the next year or so I will be forced to leave just to get a raise so I can keep the house.

Part of this credit crunch is because many, many families were using their credit cards to make up the difference between their salaries and the inflated cost of living. I personally have friends that have a $300k mortgage and $62k in credit card debt. I'm at $260k and $476 myself...

Break the cycle. Learn what the real inflation rate is and bitch about it to your congressperson and other reps in state and federal government. Push to have the real numbers published, not the "cooked" ones. Keep your eye on the real number so you can plan your household finances accordingly.

Gear Check - Mini BOB

Last night I took some time to bust out my mini-BOB and see what I could improve. It's kinda big and heavy to carry in my work bag, and I would like to improve upon that.

Now I busted it open and immediately saw some problems. I had a small plastic case with some candles in it, and they melted some - Not enough to seal the case shut, but enough to get all over each other and make a mess. The roll of quarters had busted open and worked themselves into every nook and cranny in the mini-BOB. The three day emergency food pack was no longer vacuum sealed, and had to be tossed. My first aid kit is missing some meds.

I also need to get one of those collapsible water bottles. I have a 1L bottle at work, and one stashed in the truck, but I would like to have one with the mini-BOB. I need the 1L bottle to use the water purification tablets I have in the kit.

Using my new food vacuum sealer, I would like to make my own food pack. I would double bag it to make it more durable. I could wrap electrical tape on the corners to prevent wear. I'm thinking a pack of hot chocolate, energy bar, package of soup mix, and some nuts would be good for a "meal". This gives me fats, sugars and some protein from the chicken soup and nuts. Also I've seen people using the food saver to make single-use packages of meds - I need to do this.

I could take care of the candle-problem too by sealing them in a little vacuum bag. I have five tea light candles in the kit, I really only need two or three. Every gram saved makes a difference.

Curretly in the kit is a mini-maglight, and a 9LED flashlight that runs on three AAA batteries. I think I'll swap out the mini-maglite with a tiny keychain led light to save weight. It would just be a backup for the 9LED light anyway as it is plenty bright enough.

So here is what I need to do:

1. Use the vacuum sealer to make small packets of meds.
2. Add Tums, Amonium AD, Nyquil, and Dayquil to the first aid kit.
3. Build a one or two day supply of food for the kit.
4. I need to add a needle and some thread.
5. I need to figure out how to add a small cup for boiling water to the kit.
6. I need some sunscreen wipes.
7. I need to add some babywipes, like 20 or so for TP and field bathing.
8. Find or build a smaller bag for the kit, belt mountable or with it's own sling.

Now the container would have to be a little roomier that the kit is in it's most compressed form because when you start using it you will not have the time to pack it all back up.

The lesson learned from this is twofold. First, you need to go through your gear on a regular basis. Secondly, no matter how good your kit is, there are always a few improvements that can be made.

Interesting Pamphlet

A while ago, in one of my utility bills, I got a flyer from the MRC - the Medical Reserve Corps. They list all the area chapters contacts and phone numbers,and a bit about what they do. They even offer free training if you join for family preparedness, first aid, CPR, pandemic planning and even behavioral health. Interesting.

In the flyer they also list a complete guide on what everyone should have in a "Emergency supply kit" Basically a week of water (1 gal per day per person) and a week of food. Also on the list is the various bits that everyone should have, flashlight & extra batteries, Bleach, garbage bags TP, battery powered radio, etc.

If I knew nothing about it, this pamphlet is a good list to start from. I know better so I'm up to nine months worth of food, and over three weeks of water. I also have way more than a "basic first aid kit" and so on and so forth. I just find it very interesting that the flyer is going out now. I just poked around FEMA's site and nothing new is there.

Other than this flyer, the prevailing message from the media is this "SLEEP" Go back to bed, wrap yourself back up in the Comforter of Ignorance, and Sleep. Meanwhile, the dare I say it enlightened among the populace are yelling "Wake Up!" at the top of their lungs.

Over the next year or so we preppers need to maintain a rational and keen mind. The blanace between planning for a collapse tomorrow and one in 6 months, or twelve, etc. must be maintained. Don't max your credit cards buying gear or food. Go out for dinner and dancing every now and then, some might not because "it" could happen then. Well you have to do stuff for your mental health and well being every now and then. Just think of it as a mental preperation when you tippy-toe out the bunker to wonder what the bright thing in the sky is...

The Sleeper Must Awaken!

Economy

My head hurts. For an engineer like me to make sense of the inflation vs. deflation crap is going to throw a vein in my noggin'. I'm understanding on a macro level what would happen is easy, what that means to my daily life is another story altogether.

I braved a few large retail stores this weekend, and even a mall. I hate malls. Malls are all that is evil in the consumer economy we have in the US. Even the store that sells useful gear - EMS Mountain Sports - is overpriced, and filled with yuppie camping gear. Yuck.

The one constant was how empty they were. Even the Mall Rats were absent, lending an eerie silence to the place. Even small children were reserved, afraid to wake the boogie-men from their tomb. Sunday afternoon, and I counted about 50 shopping groups in the place. That is absurd with the oncoming x-mas holiday.

My buddy recently got a second job at Dick's Sporting Goods, and even he was saying the place wasn't busy at all. I was their to take advantage of the Friends & Family sale, 35% OFF!, but not on Guns or ammo (boo!). I did pick up a bipod, a sling, and an archery target for short money.

Now Obammy on Sunday had this to say:

"We've got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means that we can't worry short term about the deficit. We've got to make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get the economy moving," Obama said during an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

I guess the Fed has put the Fear of God into Obammy that deflation = Bad. So much so that he's willing to spend us into whatever comes after Trillions to keep us out of it. Now evidently you don't see Inflation for 9-18 months after an injection of surplus cash into our economy. Slow slide indeed. TARP was passed in October, So we should see effects of this reckless spending starting around June.

That's the trouble with the economy, it's not a linear equation. I see it as two major waves of effect, a bunch on small effects, and a trillion tiny ones. So buy pumping cash into the economy bailing out banks and automakers you get an immediate effect of a rally on wall street. Down the road you have another effect because of the surplus cash. I was a big fan of Chaos Theory long before Jurassic Park made it famous. In short, Chaos Theory deals with math that doesn't exactly add up. Very complex equations are used to model environments where a tiny, almost imperceptible change in one variable has a huge effect on the result. In other words, a Kobe cow farts in Japan and we get a tornado in the Midwest.

So every manipulation made to the economy has wide ranging effects down the road. Well all those changes made by Greenspan over the years has come due. The closer you come to the crash, the bigger a change you need to make to have an effect. As the ETA approaches zero, the amount of money needed to affect change rises to infinity.

Prepping for the long haul

Well it was time to enter the big time of food preservation. This weekend I put up 250# of dried corn packed in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. I learned a LOT, and I would consider this only mostly successful.

I bought my mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from a prevalent online survival-related retailer. It took them a log time to get me the stuff, so no free advertising for them! The O2 absorbers are 500cc and the bags are 4mil.

After reading and watching and reading about a variety of methods let me describe what I was doing. The plan was to pack the corn into mylar bags using the buckets, then pull the bags out and store them in a galvanized trash can I bought a while ago. Now I could over-fill the buckets because the bags were coming out, so I fit about 40# per bag. These were 20" x 30" bags, suitable for 5 or 6 gallon buckets.

Once the bag was full I'd put in four 500cc O2 absorbers, and seal the bag up. To seal it I bought a cheap clothes iron at wally world for $10. I set it on high (cotton) and once heated up, I'd get the bag ready for sealing. What worked for me was to pull the bag up, getting a nice big flap to seal. I'd pull this opening back and forth to fold it nicely across the top where I could get at it to seal it. The actual sealing was done with the iron and a thick paperback book on the other side.

First, I wiped the seal clean with a finger, the corn has a lot of dust in it and I didn't want the seal to be weak. I would seal agross the seam leaving a 2" gap. All I can say is take the time to make it pretty before you start to seal, otherwise you will screw yourself as soon as hot iron touches mylar - any crease is there for good. I'd then compress it to get out as much air as possible and quickly seal the remaining gap.

Now it was recommended to use a teflon coated iron, but I forgot about that part. It worked fine for me, but don't let it linger in any one spot.

Now the first thing I learned is a galvanized garbage can holds only two of the filled mylar bags. So here I am with 4 others trying to figure out what to do with them. I put them in plastic bins, and I'll just have to keep an eye out for rodents. The other thing I learned is that dried corn is sharp as hell, and it will put a bazillion tiny punctures in a mylar bag... only 2 of mine are 100% sealed at this time. I bought extra O2 absorbers and bags, so it's no biggie.

I am buying a few more of the homer buckets this week, and will re-pack the bags that are no longer 100% air proof. To keep the corn from pucturing the bags I'll fill them in buckets, then seal them, fold it all up and put a homer lid on the bucket. The less screwing around means less chance a kernel has enough pressure on it to pop a hole. A lot of hooplah has been made about the chemical residue that may or may not be in the releasing agent for the homer buckets. My grain is in mylar bags so the food never contacts it, and the buckets are cheaper than the internet ones these days. Good enough for me.

I also took advantage of the foodsaver deal advertised on survivalblog and bought one. $60 + $15 for tax, shipping and handling. I wasn't pleased with the $15 bucks extra, but oh well. I think when I repack I'll put some grain in the foodsaver bags so I do not need to crack open a 40# bag for charity. I will need to do some experimentation, as I also want to store some powdered items. So this should be interesting on how to vacuum seal a bag with a powder in it. I bought a 20# bag of baking soda for $6 at BJ's and I'd like to re-package it into smaller containers. Also powdered milk, flour, cocoa, etc would all have thier shelf lives greatly extended by being vacuum packed.

When I re-package the grain I will take better pictures so you guys can see how I did it.

Viral Marketing

I have to admit the interest in the New England Prepper Network has been rather low. I'm wondering if I ran my own marketing campaign how successful it would be? My idea is to print off a ton of stickers with the web address and a little logo for the NEPN and slap them on street signs and such. Also print out flyers and stick them on bulletin boards.

Yeah it's technically vandalism, but I think the message has to get out there somehow. If Cartoon Network can do it for a show I think I can to save lives. I'll have to think about this some more, especially on where I can put them to at least reach a few more people.

I suspect the low interest in the NEPN is because of a few factors.
1) The bulk of the population is asleep.
2) We have a larger percentage of Moon-bat liberals.
3) The vast majority of the population is urban, not rural.

I think I'll map out all the local gun ranges in the area, and start with putting flyers up there.

Great article!

I got this from Jim Rawles' site: World Stability hangs by a thread.

Read it. It is loaded with key bits of information that I have not seen in the US news. Here are a few snippits from the article.

Events are moving briskly in China too. Wudu was torched by rioters this month in a pitched battle with police. Violence has spread to the export hub of Guangdong as workers protest at the mass closure of toy, textile, and furniture factories.

I didn't hear squat about rioting in China.

The shocking detail in the World Bank's latest report on China is that wages have fallen from 52pc to 40pc of GDP since 1999. This is evidence of an economic model that is disastrously out of kilter, and unlikely to retain popular support.

So the seemingly invulnerable China has trouble brewing. Through Hong Kong the populace has had a taste of the Western gluttonous lifestyle, and the Commies can't deliver.

Russia is a hostage to oil prices. If Urals oil stays below $50 a barrel for long, we are going to see an earthquake of one kind or another.

Ok, So the US of A, Russia, and China are in trouble. The three major powers have their dicks swinging in the breeze. Add Japan, UK, and Germany as second-tier powers with big problems.

In the 1930s, it was not obvious to people living through debt deflation that their world was coming apart. The crisis came in pulses, each followed by months of apparent normality – like today.

Lulled to sleep by the government outright lying about the inflation and unemployment rates the sheeple don't have a chance. I've found the foreign news is filled with better information the local Media doesn't share with us.

This news is troubling for me. My Grandfather, on his death bed, looked me right in the eye and with a moment of lucidity through the haze of drugs told me: "Beware of China!" It was the last thing he said to me.

The Communist Party lost its ideological mission long ago. The regime depends on perpetual boom to stay in power. As the economy sours, there must be a high risk that it will resort to the nationalist card instead.

Tokyo certainly thinks so. When I visited Japan's Defence Ministry last year the deputy minister showed me charts detailing the intrusion of China's fast-growing fleet of attack submarines into Japanese waters. "We see its warships in the Sea of Japan all the time," he said.

Yikes!

I smell Bullshit

I was born at 7pm, but it wasn't last night. In this article Bernanke claims that this is nothing like the Great Depression. Technically, he's right, but he's not telling the truth: It's much worse.

Let's start with the urban vs rural life of the '30's. Like some Vegan Femnazi or Metrosexual knows how to kill, eviscerate, butcher and cook an animal. I was raised in the sticks and I'm clueless on how to do it.

He talks of a "social structure" we have in the US. He's talking about welfare, food stamps and social security. So I have to ask what happens when the US currency is reduced to Monopoly Money?

These press releases, conferences, statements, etc. are all designed to lull you into sleep. This is what's going on with the stock market. The investors are nodding off at the wheel and trading as if the economy is fine, leading to a 4-5 day rally. Then the next bit of bad news from the real world filters into their dream world, jarring them awake for a dip that wipes out most of the gains. Then another round of Kool-Aid press conferences to lull them back to sleep.

I'm going to quote one of my favorite books, Dune by Frank Hebert,

"The Sleeper must awaken."

To boil down 600+ pages, the book is about a human being evolving. Granted he's doing this to revenge his slain father, and establish himself as the Emperor of the Known Universe. But this man evolved to fit his new circumstances, and triumphed.

This is what I am doing. I am evolving. I'm not planning on growing a third arm, or flippers, but they way I think. They way I look at the world. I am changing how I process information. Not just from the Mass Media but the data from the world around me. Noticing graffiti, deer tracks, or where the Geese poop. Tuning my hearing to catch codewords to alert my attention too.

It's not easy, but I think I have a bit of advantage in that I have had to wrestle with my thought patterns before. Changing my thinking from an ignorant racist, to a more enlightened (but not perfect) way of thinking. Break the mental chains, free your mind.

I guess The Matrix has a similar vein of thought. The protagonist doesn't accept the world he sees is real, and evolves (with a lot of help) to help overthrow their oppressors. The first step is to see the Truth of the situation. The only way to do this is to educate yourself. Read history to bring to light the past influences, to see the foundations of the current event. Then fill in the details until you see what is really going on.

In the past six months I've come to see the Federal Reserve system for what it is. I have always known the Democrat and Republican parties were terrible for the US, but now I'm seeing the depth of just how bad they are for us Serfs. I've always suspected the Mass Media as being corrupt, but the past election has shown just how little they can be trusted. I've found many individuals on the web with similar ways of thinking.

Now it's my turn to pass along my knowledge to others.

Quiet

I don't know it's me, or if it's the blogosphere, or even the news outlets, but for me it seems things are weirdly quiet. Perhaps it's a global hush from the bold and well executed assault on western tourists in Bombay. From what I've read, it seems that the body count is a bit low. There are rumblings that this is a false flag attack from Pakistan. If that is the case I expect a big throw-down out there. Both of them have nukes, so it's no joke.

I cannot shake the thought that I was meant to have that rifle. Now I'm an agnostic, not an atheist, so the call of the divine is something I don't scoff at. I firmly believe in Karma, and the series of events that lead up to me buying the rifle rings of otherworldly influence. Now no angel or demon, no valkyrie or totem animal came up to me and said " wants you to have this." But the series of coincidences that unfolded in such a short piece of time is just too coincidental.

I hope it's all just a weird sense of coincidences, because that means I was meant to use it. That's not a good thing if I have to use that rifle. On the other hand, the touch of a benevolent spiritual being is to be cherished. I really hope I don't need to use it. When I shot that rifle on the weekend, I could put three rounds @ 100 yards so they were touching. That's without a toe bag, just a crappy bench rest I made from plywood. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that rifle trying to not get shot.

Now combine this with a buddy lending me a whole bunch of American Gunsmithing Institute DVD's on long range shooting, more accurate handloads, and the Sig pistol, M1A, Remington 700, and SKS armorer's courses. That's a lot of information to process, and another coincidence.

And don't forget out of the blue my Fam is on board with the preparedness thing. Very strange set of coincidences. Very strange.

Now I know a preponderance of my readers are Christians, and I respect that. I don't think it's the path I was meant to follow. So for now, let's leave it at that.

Back to the quiet. It's heavy, like the cold mist on a March morning. It's clinging, wrapping it's cold embrace to the bone. Is it a warning? A premonition? Yesterday I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. I normally cannot sleep during the day, a bad flaw for an IT professional who pulls all nighters about one a month. But I napped all afternoon, me on the loveseat, and my dogs on the couch. I did not dream, or if I did, I don't remember it.

As an aside, I'm almost done with "The protectors War" the second book of the Change trilogy. It's very, very good. I like the first one better because it dealt more with the crisis itself, and I fear we all can relate to that. I highly recommend the series.