I really need to sit down with Excel and whip out some solid spreadsheets listing things to buy, prices, costs per use, etc. and start making my purchases much more organized and regimented.
It also occurred to me that for $10 for 550 rounds of .22LR ammo I really should have a bit more of it than the lousy 5,000 rounds I have on hand at the moment.
Speaking of .22 , I really do need to look into picking up a Ruger MkII and a nice bolt action rifle.
Hmm…California is set on ‘broil’ and solar flare activity is causing concern.
There was a solar flare-related event a few years ago..wound up shutting down a wireless phone network. Not too big a deal except that it also managed to disable the phone service that allows gas pumps and ATMs to operate with credit cards. Does any of this matter to the Commander? Not really. Im pretty low-tech for most things… obviously, inability to use ATMs or to have debit/ATM cards suddenly not function is a headache, but not as critical as it would be to some urban professional who hasnt used cash in ten years.
Getting nippy here..supposed to be in the low teens for Halloween. Time to bring out the heavier clothing. Also probably time to start making the usual ‘just in case’ plans for what to do when pipes freeze, power goes out, etc, etc. One nice thing about power outages in the winter is that I dont have to worry about the meat in the freezer thawing…just stick it in a cooler in the yard and youre good to go.
Interesting link of the day: Bucket caches
In other matters, I need to spend some time in the kitchen as the Guerrilla Gourmet. The recipes I have for cooking with stored foods are either terribly bland or require additional ingredients that are definitely not long term. The Commander Zero Cookbook? Entirely possible.
I was reminded the other day that I still need to pick up a good shortwave radio for listening to various programs and news. Need to pick a good one and find it on eBay…
Project time…
One of the things Ive been wanting for a while is a dedicated lighting system for when the power goes out. Ideally, it is to be utterly and completely ‘normal’ looking. I’ve got a cabinet-type nightstand that would house a battery, charger and, if necessary, an inverter, quite nicely. What I was thinking of doing was picking up a 12v trouble light and swapping it out with the innards of a normal table lamp. Then I’d simply run the wires to the battery inside the nightstand and , ideally, run it off of the battery. Now, the problem is, I’m very fuzzy on battery/electronics. As I understand it, since I’d be charging this battery indoors I would want a sealed UPS-type battery so that no hazardous fumes/gases would be given off during the charging process? Is this correct? The other question is can I leave the battery hooked up to a charging device constantly so that it charges to the proper voltage and then maintains it? Ive seen several chargers that charge batteries and then ‘float’ them, keeping them topped off as necessary. This seems to be what Id be looking for..something I could plug into the wall and know the battery is always at its peak…and then when the power goes out I can operate the light off of this completely charged battery.
Or would doing such shorten battery life or short the battery itself?
The life of the Zero is , as always, unpredictable…
Winter is approaching so its time to start focussing on getting ready for it. It also means that in another three months it’ll be perfect weather for testing cold weather gear. Lotsa stuff either doesnt work or works differently in cold weather.. plus, some items are simply harder to operate if you have ice-cold hands or gloves on. So, winter gives me a chance to test out various goodies to see how they’ll work in ‘real world’ scenarios. Nothing worse than finding out that the ‘-10 degree’ rated sleeping bag you bought only keeps you warm to about +20.
Since winter approaches, now is a good time to make sure the kerosene heater is up to the task. Kerosene is a wonderful fuel…stores forever and throws a goodly anount of heat. I’ve stove, heater and lights that burn it so if power does go out this winter I’ll have hot food, light and heat. Let the sheeple huddle in their darm icy houses listening to their pipes burst….I’ll be warm, well lit and drinking hot chocolate.
Went to NorCo the other day. They sell welding and OSHA-rewuired supplies. They sell industrial first aid kits, which is nice, but more importantly they sell replacement components for those kits. Me and one of the LMI headed up there to see what could be had that would be of use. Neat little 1oz bottles of eyewash. Handy. Vaseline gauze (something you dont find in your average supermarket first aid aisle). Packets of aspirin, acedominphin, and ibuprofin..2 tablets per pack, 100 packs per box. Ideal for stocking first aid kits. They had a buncha other goodies I couldnt afford at the moment..burn gel, compress bandages, CPR shields, etc, etc. I’ll be heading back up there at the next opportunity. Always nice to find a local source for some of the harder-to-find items. And the packaging is exactly what im looking for – ‘single serving’ packages that fit nicely into smaller kits.
The website continues apace. I have most of the pages done but mostly with dead links. I’m trying to add to it at the rate of a page a day. However, theres enough there to entertain mildly. If youre reasonably intelligent it should be obvious what the URL is.
Hmmmm….German flectar parka and liners are on sale at Cheaper Than Dirt for $18. And, these are good pieces of gear. I bought mine from Major Surplus last year and its quite nice…longer in length than the US jacket, and the liner has a zip-up turtleneck that comes up to your nose. Very nice. And, heck, for twenty bucks who wouldnt want one? And its in that funky flectar pattern of camo.
As an aside, ‘Commander Zero’ is a noun, not a verb. “Yeah, the power went out but I CommanderZero’ed my way through it” or “I went to CostCo and bought a CommanderZeros worth of canned good” is not proper usage.
In other matters, Im still tinkering with website content. Will let you know how it goes.
Theres some sort of cosmic cruel joke played on me… naturally, when I have no money thats when the big sales occur. Case in point…my local Albertsons is having a dollar sale.. cases of bottled water, 28oz cans of vegetables, batteries, Campbells canned soups, etc..all for a buck. Just the thing for keeping the bunker stocked.
Ah well, this is what LMI’s are for. Call Capt. Insano and give him a heads up. He’s coming by later and he’ll no doubt want to participate…I’ll have him front me a few bucks until next week and that way I can take advantage of the sale.
Cant have too much bottled water…
One of my little projects has been to have my own website. Essentially, it would cover most of the things I chronicle here as well as house various useful files, book reviews, product reviews, etc. Add a PayPal ‘donate to the cause’ button and it might even make a few bucks allowing me to buy more freeze-dried food and ni-cads. There are actually several sites out there that list peoples adventures in preparedness (These guys, for example) but I’ve always fancied myself as something of a writer and when it comes to evaluating gear I have some very particular ideas. So I figured it might be fun, put me in touch with other people and generally be an interesting diversion.
As it is written, so shall it be done.
Been tinkering with Front Page and coming up with some fairly simple and unfancy pages. I’ll drop a link to it when its beyond the embryonic stage.
A few goodies from the gun show…..
Military compress bandages, individually sealed – $1 ea.
NBC suit stuff sack (these make great sleeping bag sacks) – $10 ea.
CFP-90 Daypacks – $50
So, naturally, I picked up a little of everything. They also had spam cans of lifeboat rations at $1 per can but other than novelty value, I couldnt see any need for them.
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I need to buy a router (the woodworking tool, thank you). I need one so I can make some seriously indestructo shelves for the basement. One drawback to stocking up on..well..everything…is that you need a place to put it. I’ve an entire basement to use, I just need to get some good shelving up that can handle heavy loads.
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Need more ammo cans.
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Working on an ‘all in one kit’ for one of my spare .38′s. For the guns I ‘lay back’ in storage, I try to keep them together with literally everything that they’d need for support. For example, my extra Model 10 is in a tall .50 cal can with holster, speedloaders, speedloader pouches, belt, squib rod, patches, jags, mops, solvent, patches, toothpicks, screwdrivers, brass hammer, spare grips, ammo, 310 tool in .38, mold and sizer, desicant, exploded disgram, springs, plastic bag, oil, etc, etc. (Do not comment and say ‘Hey, you forgot…’..thats what the etc. is)
Point being that each pistol is packed with everything you’d need to shoot it indefinitely as long as you could come up with ammo. Plus, its nice to have everything in one place. Should I ever need to leave in a hurry I can grab that ammo can and know I have everything I need for that particular gun. Or, if I need to loan it out to an LMI, I can just hand ‘em the ammo can and tell ‘em its a complete everything-you-need package.
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Need to purchase a couple large maps and make a mapwall of the county…always good to have five ways in and ten ways out, y’know?
I love Costco.
‘Kirkland Signature’ is CostCo’s ‘generic’ label. But the packagin is always identical to the ‘name brand’ and its probably made by the name-brand outfit for CostCo. Todays find:
CostCo brand triple antibiotic ointment versus Neosprin.
EXACT same ingredients. Price? Three tubes for $3.99 ($1.33@) versus 2/$9.00 ($4.50@) for an equal size on of neosporin. Needless to say, I’ll be distributing these amongst the bunker first aid supplies later.
And, since halloween is near, they have Cyalume lightsticks on sale. Fifteen for $12.49. Lightsticks are handy little rascals. No batteries, no flame, no heat, explosion-proof and reasonably effective. Only drawback is they do expire after a year or two. I keep one of these foil-sealed cigar-sized goodies on top of the doorways in each bedroom and the door to the basement. In case of power failure, I know where I can get some quick emergency lighting to help me find my way to my other lighting systems.
If you shop around, CostCo has some seriously nice stuff for those of us who are preparedness minded.
Was sitting at the computer reading LJ when all of a sudden the power went out. Looked outside and all the signage and traffic lights were out too. Hmmm. Probably a localized blackout. Got on my neighbors cell phone and tried various numbers around town…appears it was confined to this side of the river. I grabbed my big MagLite from its readyrack and went next door to the underground manufacturing facility my landlord has. Let him borrow the light since theres no windows down there and for some reason they have almost no emergency lighting. Came back here and pulled out the Baygen radio, wound it up, and started looking for stations…my initial concern was that this was the result of some sort of large-scale problem (terrorist attack on the power grid leaving the whole northwest in the dark, etc) but once I found it was confined to this side of town I was a bit relieved. Most of the stations were off the air and the ones I did pick up didnt have anything to say so that told me it definitely was small-scale. Grabbed my backpack, which I always keep an extra MiniMagLite in, and sat out front and waited for the power to come back on. Took about an hour so it must have been a minor thing that caused it. I was prepared to head home if it lasted more than an hour, but……
Lessons learned:
Spare flashlights for those who are less prepared and you want to share with
Battery radios are a must.. the Baygen is ideal
Have a way to find out the extent of the outage..I called people all the way on the other side of town who had answering machines to see if they had power
Things I was deficient on:
When power went out, my cordless phone became useless. Need to have a regular wall-mounted phone in here
