Weather

Anyone else feel the weather is just too freaky right now? All summer we had cool temperatures, I think we had only 2 or 3 days over 90 this year. Now, it's been a solid 55-60 every day for the past month. Not that I am complaining, as I am saving expensive oil. We had the quietest hurricane season in decades. All due to the solar cycle residing at it's lowest point of activity.

Farmer's Almanac is saying a lot of snow and ice for us this year, which means January and February is going to be a bitch. I have serious doubts about a white Christmas as well. Most of the trees and shrubs in my yard think it's springtime and have started to bud. I hope I do not lose too many when the frost sets in.

I've come to the realization that looking for a job is just as much work as having one. I normally use about 200 minutes on the cell phone a month. I've used 450 minutes, plus all my rollover minutes as of yesterday. My billing cycle starts the 18th, so I had to up my plan to 900 minutes a month. If AT&T didn't let me do this, my phone bill would be over $250. Yikes!

I have a phone screening interview tomorrow, and I need to head into PRC (the People's Republic of Cambridge) for a face to face interview. At least I am getting interviews. I haven't heard from the one last week, so I need to send an e-mail today to follow up. I'll never get anything done around the house!

I've cut way back on my news reading, it is refreshing to the mind not to be buried in the doom and gloom of what is really going on. Although the drawback is I'm limited in my foresight when the collapse actually happens. Contributing to this is a sad and terrible thing that happened to me.

You see, the day I got fired, my projector died. So I can't watch tv at all. To fix it it will cost $325 + S&H... I'll send it out once I have an offer. That's just my luck though.

Keep prepping, the crash is coming. Dubai is just another domino in the long line of causality that will terminate rather abruptly once the system collapses under the weight of it's own illicit trades and schemes.

A war in solitude

It's been real hard the last week or so. I've been trying to keep super-busy in order to keep from worrying about my financial situation.

I've been running a bunch of ads on craigslist in order to get some money in under the table, but no one has contacted me for any work. After talking with friends it is easier for people to deal with the crappy and slow computer, or charge the repairs on the credit card than to pay cash. Lots and lots of people are out of a job, and it's getting harder to make ends meet for everyone.

I had two phone interviews last week and I aced them both. I have another phone interview today, and I have a follow up face to face interview from one of the phone interviews from last week tomorrow afternoon. I should be happy because I am getting interviews because there are a lot of people out there who aren't even getting their foot in the door.

So I am fighting a war, a war versus expectations, versus depression, and verses the desire for revenge. Now I'm not going to do anything stupid or rash, so the last battle on the list has been won, but every now and then I get the urge to crack the last job's systems open and basically fuck with them. Set the screensavers to nasty messages, set virus scanning schedules for 2pm in the afternoon, etc. Just mean, but non-critical, things. But I won't do it even how fun it seems like it would be.

I just finished another phone interview, and I aced it again. With the holidays this week I doubt I will get anything going, but who knows? Phone interviews are tough. You need to be confident without being cocky. My problem is I know this shit cold. Like absolute zero cold. Like a witches' tit in a brass bra cold. One problem I am having is these managers are terrified I'll take their jobs so they want to hire someone smart, but not as smart as I am.

I've been thinking a lot about the Second American revolution, and trying to see a way to make it bloodless. I can't. When there is drastic change, there will be bloodshed. I just have to figure out how to keep it limited in scope. I honestly think that there will be a collapse in government, whether from the have-nots vs. the haves, racial tension, or a flat out open revolt due to government mismanagement and absurd taxation. There will be a collapse. I just need to do my part in keeping it as small and targeted as much as possible.

Congress and the leading political families will have to leave or face the wrath of the population. In a collapse of this magnitude, you can expect a backlash against those who put us here. So all of Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the last few presidents might fall victim to mob justice. In these days expect most of wall street to go with them to the chopping block, hangman's noose, or prison.

I hope we 3%'ers who come to lead these revolutions have the wisdom and common sense to keep it contained and directed towards the return of law here in America. The rule of Special Interest Groups and mob rule have no place in our country. We were founded as a republic, and the sooner we can strip away all the accumulated years of bullshit laws, the sooner we can start down the road to prosperity once again.

Reloading

Bitmap left a bunch of good reloading information on my Sunday post. For anyone interested in reloading you should check it out. I agree with what Bitmap is saying, but my problem is that the 7.62x51mm round is not the same as a .308 Winchester. The specs call for a 12,000 difference in pressure. So I could shoot 7.62x51mm out of my bolt action, but not the other way around.

Now I do use the same components. A Large rifle primer, H4895 powder and a 168grain HPBT. I use 39 grains of powder for the 7.62x51mm and 40.2 grains for the .308 Winchester. This gives me about 2 MOA from the M1A, and 3/4 MOA from the Remington 700. If I use 7.62x51mm in my Remington, I shoot about 3 MOA.

I've found that if I load the rounds long, I can squeak another 1/4 MOA of of my Remington 700, but the rounds will not load into the internal magazine. So my hunting ammo is 2.80 COAL, where my bench rounds are 2.92 COAL. I could easily seat the bullets deeper if the poop hit the fan, so that's not an issue.

Yesterday, I put 7 rounds into 3/4" at 100 yards. Five of them were in 1/4" or so. Now that's zombie hunting! If I could get a bit more consistent, I could get to the 1/2" MOA I am seeking for egg shoots.

I don't mind having different loads for each rifle. Each weapon has it's own purpose, and these don't overlap with each other. The M1A is a battle rifle, and 2 MOA is plenty. The Remington 700 is to put food on the table and to pull headshots on zombies out to 600 yards. The shotgun is for food on the table and close-quarters assault. If I ever have to kick in doors, that's what I'll use. The Sig220 is for personal protection. The .22's are for practice, small game and varmit shooting.

Thankfully, I have all the bases covered. I would love to buy a few more weapons, but considering my financial situation, I can easily make due with what I have.

Bitmap, thanks for the information! I've never used AA powders. I use H4895 for the rifles, Unique and Blue Dot for pistol, and Clays for the shotgun. I weigh my bullets for the rifle and use the odd ones for the M1A. Only those that weigh exactly 168.0 grains are used for the Remington 700. I use the Nosler Balistic Tip and Combined Technologies for hunting, and Nosler Competition HPBT for the bench shooting and the M1A rounds. For primers I prefer use CCI large rifle because they do not slam-fire like the others in the M1A. I use the bench rest version for the Remington 700. The bench rest primers are about 50% more expensive, but I have 2000 of them already :p

I need to shop around and do some research on 168 grain bullets. I'm concerned the thin-skinned 168 grain Nosler competition HPBT won't be effective enough at stopping zombies. I could use 168 grain ballistic tips, but they are about 5 times as expensive. I'd like to run some tests to see the differences, maybe in the spring I can.

Cloudy, with a chance of Apocalypse

Things are real bad in the job market, nothing is moving at all. I've done so many phone interviews that my head is spinning. It seems that the interviewers are only going through the motions. No one is serious about hiring with the holidays and such.

I've been able to reconnect with more people and actually have a chance to talk with then since I'm a jobless bum. The word on the street is simply "This can't go on." Whether it's the health care crap or the theoretical "jobless recovery" everyone agrees that there is no recovery, and we are in for worse times then we are seeing today.

Now what to do about it? I'm prepping like mad. Although I am dipping into my preps to save money, I am still doing what I can to get ready for anything that may come my way. I've been packaging foods into mason jars and using my foodsaver to seal them. I've been making (almost) all my meals myself, saving more money then if I ate out at a restaurant. I'm buying foods on sale in as much bulk as I can and packaging some and eating some.

Monday, I got to tidy up a bunch of things. I got my old jeep to sell, so I need to work on that. I got to get my COBRA health insurance squared away. I also need to get in touch with the mortgage company and see what I can do, I have a Fannie Mae loan, after all. Busy busy busy. I didn't finish cleanign the yard before the rain came through so I got a lot of yardwork to finish as well. That, and finish the in-law apartment and get it ready to rent.

For other preps I have been diligently working on reloading. I already own all the supplies, now I have the time to develop the best load for each application. I'll have to post my findings later on. I'm currently testing the 5 kinds of large rifle primers I own to learn what's better or worse between them, and which provides the most consistency in ignition. Then I need to work up hunting loads for the 150 and 180 grain bullets.

I really, really need to upgrade the scope on my rifle. It's 30+ years old, dark as heck to look through, and there is mold growing inside it. Just a little bit, but it will only get worse. I also need tires on my Cherokee, so I'll buy tires and a a scope if I manage to sell it.

If it wasn't for the holiday fueled consumer economy, I think we would already have seen the collapse of the dollar. So finish what you can for preps, keep and eye on the thieves on Wall Street, and have that bug-out bag ready to go.

Well it looks like gold has shaken free of the artificial restraints. I read that we would see $1500 per troy ounce by January 1st, and I think we will see it. We also saw predictions of $2000 and $3000 and ounce, but I dismissed those out of hand. Gold's price has been artificially manipulated for a while now, of this I have no doubt. I'm not claiming the Illuminati are doing it to further their plans of galactic, inter-dimensional conquest of the left wing conspiracy or whatever. Just with the inflation we have with a fiat currency gold should have broken $1000 a while ago, and is now going to correct itself relative to the weak US dollar.

Speaking of a weak dollar, I'm now having to pay attention to what stuff costs. And my dollar doesn't go that far at all. Not that the prices have changed that much, it's the contents and packaging. For example, Lay's Salt and Vinegar potato chips used to go on sale for $.99 for a 7oz bag. Now they no longer make them in that size, all you can buy is a 12 oz "family size" for $2.99. Huh, three times the price for less than double the amount of product. And Lay's saves production costs using less packaging, etc. Not that it's Lay's gouging us to make a huge profit, their costs have gone up as well.

I've been noticing this all over the place in the grocery store. I fully expect this trend to continue as people, even my frugal butt, don't notice these sorts of things until money becomes such an issue. They are sheeple for a reason, contentedly browsing the pasture, oblivious to the wolf in the woods.

One good thing about being a prepper, is you tend to buy a lot of extra when on sale. I bought all kinds of italian sausage the other day, as it was $1.99 a package instead of the normal $3.99. Took it home, vacuum sealed it in the foodsaver and tossed it into the freezer. Like wise, I bought a ton of pre-cooked breakfast sausage for a $1 a package. Handy because I actually eat breakfast these days. For a quick meal I'll heat them up and eat them with pork 'n' beans.

Back to the economy. Shadowstats.com has the unemployment at 22% nationally. Almost one in four people are out of work. How come there is no rioting in the streets is beyond my comprehension. I've been hitting the pavement real hard looking for a job, but it seems that almost all the companies slowed down their hiring this quarter. All the phone calls I was getting have dried up. I still have a few irons in the fire, but I'm not hanging my hat on anything.

Talking with guys at the club, or neighbors, or random strangers when standing in line, I get a pervasive sense that people are trying to be hopeful, but there is doubt lurking in the shadows. Everyone, and I mean everyone I spoke to has a brother or sister, son or daughter, mom or dad that has been out of work for months. As a country, we can't take much more of this. Someone is going to have to keep paying for the family member out of work. What happens when there are two, or three people in the family out of work? How much more debt can they pile on?

Stores are already running their "black Friday" sales, in order to lure customers into them. I wonder if they are trying to get the cash they need to stay afloat, hoping to lure consumers to spend more on the holidays then they normally would?

There is so many strange things going on, and it's not adding up. Consumer and retailer behavior are out of sync, the government is playing doctor instead of focusing on the economy. It's like they see the economy as fixed, when obviously it isn't. Maybe they realize it cannot be fixed, so they are throwing the mother of all smoke and mirrors show to distract everyone from something they would really freak out about?

Archery

I managed to take the bow down to the club today for a little while and get some practice in. It's currently archery season here in mass for deer, and I might go out and get one. I wanted to practice for a while anyway, as there is a serenity in shooting a bow that I don't feel with firearms. Maybe it is because of the muscles used, the weight of violence contained in my hands. Then again, maybe I just need more practice with my .22!

Now for those of you without an education on Zen, here is a brief primer. There is no past. There is no future. There is only Now. There is no target, there is no archer, they are one and the same. I think Zen translates to English as "no mind." Anyway that's the best way to not think about what you are doing.

I was only shooting 10 yards, as I haven't shot in a long time I didn't want to lose any arrows. It was more about emptying the noggin, and re-training my muscles. It was bliss.

Now I don't use a fancy compound bow, I have a German glass-reinforced, lemonwood bow that was given to me years ago. The finish is a little worse for wear, the gel coat is cracking. It still pulls over 60# when I draw it. I do own a 1968 Bear compound bow, but it's just as powerful as my recurve. If I'm going hunting, that recurve is going with me. I have added silencers on the string and they are surprisingly effective. I would have to buy new arrows, though. I do have some cedar shafts, and broadheads that can fit them, but the new lighter carbon fiber arrows are better suited for harvesting game. I like the expanding broadheads, as the slower speed of the recurve is more prone to crosswind interference. And I can get them in a subdued pattern, as my cedar arrows are white and red.

If you have a bow, you should shoot once a week to keep your muscles tuned up, and your arrows in the kill zone.

On an economic note we broke the 10% "magic number" for unemployment. Jobless recovery, indeed.

Fiction - Part X - Thieves and Miscreants

Peacefully asleep, Natog had been back a couple days when the dogs went ballistic in the middle of the night. Pulling on his boots, he grabbed his shotgun, and a flashlight, silently went up the stairs.

Sure enough, someone was trying to cut the chain securing his generator to the foundation of the house. Listening quietly, he could hear two voices, both male, as they whispered to each other.

"Hurry man! He's going to get up!"

"Fuck him, He's an asshole."

Now there was no way Natog was going to let himself get ripped off. But there was no way he could sneak around the house with the snow crunching underfoot. That left one option. Quickly and quietly he went downstairs and pulled on some pants. Putting his boots back on, he tied a quick knot, no need to lace the hiking boots all the way up. Climbing back up to the stairs, he quickly pulled the door open and the dogs just about went through the storm door. Hitting the pressure pad on the shotgun, the tactical light illuminated the two men, blinding them as the dogs attacked them.

"UP AGAINST THE FUCKING WALL!" Yelling at the top of his lungs Natog leveled the shotgun at the two men. The frightened faces as Thor and Loki growled and barked while nipping at the two figures sprawled out in the snow. Natog could see that one was George's boy, but the other he had no clue who he was.

George’s kid was cowering, as the dogs nipped at his hands and face. "Get your dogs off of me - I'll sue!" His reply was a few octaves higher than any normal male voice should be able to reach comfortably.

"Up against the fucking WALL, NOW!" Natog motioned with the shotgun.

The other boy rolled up and tried to make a run for it. Natog planted a swift short kick into the boy's quadricep, sprawling him on the ground again. Loki grabbed the boy's hat and started to attack it.

Cycling the shotgun, Natog yelled again for them to get up against the wall. Although this sent a shell spinning into the snow, it had the desired effect. George’s boy turned and faced the wall. The other kid was rolling around on the ground in pain, tears streaming down his face.

"On your knees, hands on your head, lace your fingers. Palms up. OK, do NOT FUCKING MOVE."

George's kid's voice cracked, "Don't shoot me!"

"Then don't move." moving so he could watch both teenagers, he motioned to the kid on the ground. "Get up, against the wall."

"It hurts!"

Natog planted a swift kick into the kid's backside, "Up, against the wall, NOW."

Half dragging, half crawling, the boy managed to get up to the wall.

George’s kid was sobbing now. "Please mister, don't kill me."

Natog spoke with what he hoped was a fatherly tone to his voice, "You'll be ok, just do what I say, OK?"

"Yeah"

The other boy chimed in "My father's going to kill you, man."

"He can try. Ok you on the left, lift your jacket, slowly." The boy lifted his jacket, and Natog took a look for a weapon. "Ok take off your belt and drop it in the snow."

Natog heard a door slam from the house behind him, and someone running through the snow. Keeping an eye on the two boys, he put the next boy through the same procedure.

Marty came into Natog's vision in pajamma's and a parka. He held a baseball bat and a flashlight. "Jesus, Natog!"

"Marty, it's alright. I caught these two trying to steal my generator."

"Those little shits, I wonder if they stole the gas from my shed last night!"

The two boys has their faces turned to each other, and were whispering to each other. Loki and Thor had wandered off, to chew on the boy's hat.

Marty looked over at Natog, "What are you going to do with them?"

"I'm not fer-sure yet. Don't even think of moving you little bastards."

Natog took the belts from the snow, and used them to lash the boy's hands behind their backs and quickly searched them. He pulled a pocket knife from George’s boy's pocket. The other boy tried to get up when Natog moved to him, but a heavy shove got the boy back on his knees. Squirming furiously was no help, as Natog pulled a small pocket pistol from the boy's jacket pocket.

"Well, well, well." Natog tsk'd tsk'd as he ejected the magazine and emptied the chamber. "Looks like a little .380 automatic."

"Christ, he had a GUN?"

"Yeah, at least he didn't try anything with it, or I would have shot him dead. That settles it though. This shit is going to the cops. Armed robbery, what are you, 16?"

The kid turned with a defiant look in his eye, "Seventeen. My dad is going to fucking kill you, man." Seems the boy got his courage back.

"I doubt that. Looks like you're going to be tried as an adult. Better start stretching that ass out now, they’re going to love you in prison."

Marty looked concerned, "Shit he's just a kid."

"He made his decision, now he will have to live by it."

"Fuck you man, my dad will get me out of it. He's a cop."

That sent a shiver down Natog's spine. Last thing he needed is a local cop with a thug kid fucking with him. "Alright, get up you two. We will drop this shit off with his dad. And the other's going to the Troopers.

"That's 2 miles away!"

"Yep, so you better get a move on."

"Hey, I'll get my car and we can drive him there. I need to change into something warmer, though." Marty was starting to shiver, you could tell because the beam on his flashlight was wiggling.

"That would be great, Marty, I'm sure our felon appreciates it."

Marty climbed back over the fence to his yard and went into the house. A few minutes later, his car pulled up onto Natog's lawn.

"Ok you fuckers, in you go."

Natog stuffed George's kid behind Marty, and the other boy into the passenger seat. Sitting behind him, he verified the safety was still on. Marty backed off the lawn and pulled into Georges driveway. Marty honked the horn until George's face looked out the window.

Natog got out of the car and slung the shotgun off of his shoulder. Pulling George's kid across the seat, Natog made sure he had a firm grip on the boy.

Geroge opened the door and cried, "What have you done to my son!"

"Your boy tried to steal my generator."

"I did ask you to share, now look what you have done!"

Natog let George grab his son from him, "I did? fuck you, that little shit is an accessory to armed robbery. I'm releasing him into your custody."

"W-w-what!" was all George could stammer out as he untied his son.

"Yeah that's right. The other boy was armed with a handgun."

"Junior, you get inside the house right now. I'll deal with you in a minute." George pushed George Jr. in the house. "Look, I didn't ask him to..."

"Relax. I know. But I have to tell the cops. Just make sure you keep an eye on him, and keep him away from my property."

"Will do."

"Know who that kid is?"

George looked into the car, "I think he lives a couple streets over. He got in trouble for spraying graffiti on the church up on Webster Street. His dad is a cop in Brockton.

"Brockton, huh."

"Yeah, rumor has it he's been on duty since the power went out."

"Ok George, you go have a chat with your boy, I'm taking this one to the cops."

George looked around a little lost, then climbed up the stairs to his kitchen door. With that, Natog got in the car, and Marty pulled out the driveway. About halfway to the Middleboro barracks the boy started crying. Marty tried to console the boy, but Natog's heart was as cold as the January night they drove through.

A few minutes later, they were pulling up to the front entrance of the barracks. A Trooper was there in his car, and he got out as Marty's car pulled up. Leaving the shotgun in the back, he got out with his hands visible.

The trooper shown the light into the car, "Tell your friend to cut the engine."

Marty turned off the car and got out. The trooper kept the flashlight on the boy in the front seat. "What have we here?"

"Trooper, that little shit tried to steal my generator."

"So you're the cops now?"

"Well yeah, it's not like the phones work."

"How did you catch him?"

"I got the drop on him, and convinced him to give up."

At this point the prisoner decided to start yelling how he was kidnapped, so on and so forth. The racket brought out another trooper from the barracks, which moved to cover the other Trooper.

"Hey, Troopers, I'm armed, and I got the pistol this kid had on him on me, and my shotgun is in the back seat. Just don't shoot me, ok?"

The two troopers drew their weapons, which solicited a quiet "Oh, Shit." from Marty. The two troopers looked at each other and the newer trooper moved in, "Just walk towards me slowly. Ok turn around, where is the pistol?"

"Right front jacket pocket. It's unloaded."

The trooper grabbed Natog's laced fingers and rummaged in his pocket. A quick frisk, and Natog was released. "Ok stand over by the door." Marty was quickly searched, and the trooper grabbed the shotgun. The other trooper grabbed the boy by his arm and pulled him from the car.

The troopers had taken the .380 as evidence, and locked the boy up in one of the cells. Two hours later, after Marty and Natog were interviewed, statements taken, so on and so forth they were allowed to head home. Marty dropped Natog off before going back home. Natog unlocked the generator and brought it in the house before collapsing in his cold bed.

Growth! Ha!

So last quarter we had "growth" in the economy. All those who are drinking the magic "green shoots" kool-aid are screaming from the rooftops that we have seen the end of the recession.

The trouble is we are in a depression, not a recession. More importantly, the reason we saw a positive growth in the economy is rather simple. It's the government-funded Cash for Clunkers and the $8000 Tax rebate for first home purchases.

So when you boil it down, there really was no growth whatsoever. More smoke and mirrors, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. This is probably the last trick they have up their sleeves, and it's perfect timing. Our economy is ~70% consumer spending, and with the holiday travel, gift buying, so on and so forth, I expect to see "growth" for this quarter as well.

The sheep will buy it lock, stock, and barrel, but it's just the eye of the storm. The financial hurricane is still raging around us, but the sheep will chill out in the pasture and think everything is just ducky.

Do not be fooled. Watch the year to year and "seasonally adjusted" numbers for a real look at our economy. Notice with all the hoopla around the growth, no one is mentioning these numbers in the MSM? It's propaganda. It would be right at home in the pages of 1970's Pravda Newspaper.

I have job interviews scheduled, so I'm not going to get to Maine this week it looks like. I'll be putting the time here to good use. I've got a lot of items I'm going to sell through craigslist, even an older Jeep I was going to work on. Bill needs ammo for the FrankenFAL, so I'll load some up for him. I hate working on new military brass, removing the pocket primer crimp is a pain in the wrists. Although, I'm not goign to drop $300 for the Sinclair tool that's motorized!

Goons!

Well D-Day H-Hour came and the goon squad showed up at my cube to "escort" me to HR for processing. Yep, I'm unemployed. At least I can pick between being fired and resigning. I got to decide by the end of next week.

So needless to say, I'm a bit out of sorts. I never guessed they would actually go through with it. I'm still getting phone interviews, and I'm off to see another (the 4th) recruiter in as many weeks. They have a job lined up, but it's a pretty big pay cut. Oh well, better that than losing the house.

Tomorrow, I put in for Unemployment Insurance. Dealing with that bureaucracy is always a hoot. At least with all the government extensions I might be able to collect until the system collapses. Hey, I might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, right?

To make matters worse, My projector is on the fritz. Can't even watch the boob tube. To keep busy, I've been cleaning the house, loading tons of ammunition, and playing some video games here and there. I'm planning on visiting the "Berger's Farm" in Maine tomorrow and spending a couple days helping my brother Bill finish building a barn for them.

I'm going to put together a couple of 6 gallon buckets of supplies to stash up there. Prepositioning some supplies would make sense, and I can increase the stash as I trust them more, or I hit the lottery and buy my own survival retreat. I'll be making my own desiccant
packs to keep the canned foods from rusting, and keeping the ammo good and dry. I'll also include come medical supplies like aspirin, ibuprofen, band-aids, super-glue, etc. I've vacuum bagged some pasta, rice and beans to go with the canned food, so I should be able to stretch it to a weeks worth of food for three of us. I'll also include 50 rounds of .45 ACP, at least 20 hunting .308 Winchester rounds, a box of .22LR, and 60 .308 FMJ for the M1A. Never know what you'll need, right.

Damn, hope I can fit it all in the buckets.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the next chapter of the story too.