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Article – Prepare for the Butter Shortage

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Brace yourself for bad news: It looks like we might be heading for a butter shortage, and the timing couldn’t be worse for holiday bakers. FOX Business reports that butter sitting in cold storage facilities amounts to just over 282 million pounds as of August of this year. That sounds like a lot, but it’s significantly down from the amount stored during the same period in 2021, which was over 362 million pounds

Here are a few of the problems plaguing our nation’s butter supply:

Yet another piece telling us that something will be (or is) in short supply and that we had best be ready for it.

It’s funny, I don’t recall this many articles about this sort of thing before January 2021.

Butter is awesome. Let’s face it, everything tastes better with it. Fortunately, it freezes rather well and I keep about 20# in the freezer at all times. The more astute will recall that ghee will provide butter flavor without needing the freezing/refrigeration of regular butter. And, the truly thoughtful, will have cases of Red Feather sitting in their bunker….just in case.

I haven’t seen any problems walking into CostCo and walking out with as much butter as I want, but perhaps I should bump up the house supply. Even if there isnt an availability issue the price certainly isnt going to go down.

And, yeah, bacon grease can be used for a lot of the things that I like to use butter for when it comes to cooking….but, there’s still alot of things out there that just arent the same without nice melted butter on them.

Staying focused

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In Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” one of the characters muses how civilians think things are ‘at peace’ because no one they know is involved in the fighting. As a military man, the character knows that there’s never really ‘peace’..there’s always a fight going on somewhere…it’s just that you don’t know about it, so you think everything is peaceful.

Right now, in my world, there is food in the freezer, the lights come on, the water flows, there’s money in the bank, clothes on my back, and gas in the tank. All must be right in the world, yes? Of course not. There are people in hurricane-ravaged areas eating MRE’s and crapping in portapotties, there are people overseas working to keep gas prices high, there’s morons in Washington blindly groping around for ‘mandates’, and there is always some idiot somewhere who is off his meds and on his way to a WalMart. So, yeah, it’s quiet in my immediate vicinity but does that mean it’s quiet everywhere else? Heck no.

So…gotta fight that complacency. Be conscious of the fact (and it is a fact, m’friends) that it can all change Just. Like. That. <snaps fingers> Yeah, its a nice day today and the sun is out….so what? You know life isn’t always gonna be like that. Go out and do something that you’ll thank yourself for later.

 

Outside of a Dog, a Book is Man’s Best Friend. Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read

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I had to re-arrange things in my computer room, or what we used to call a ‘home office’, the other day. One thing I did was consolidate a couple bookshelves onto one shelf. What sort of dead-tree reading material does the Zero keep around?

Among other things, the collected works of Ayn Rand, my autographed collection of ,Rawles’ books, Gun Jesus’ books, a fairly decent amount of medical and gardening texts, a buncha gun boffin books, some American history,  and some fiction that segues nicely into my interests.

And, yeah, there’s thundertoys laying around all over the place.

A goodly amount of those books could probably be disposed of. Once I read something, I’ve got a pretty good head for remembering most of it. The fiction I should probably unload somewhere and make some space, but I’ll always keep reference books, tutorials, and ‘how to’s. Interestingly, a large portion of these texts are available from various sources as .pdf’s….Tappan’s stuff, for example…but I’m a bit of a dinosaur in that I like the experience of a book…the tangibles, the smell, etc. And, yes, I know that a book makes more sense in the post-apocalyptic world than a .pdf.

As Groucho Marx famously said, Outside of a Dog, a Book is Man’s Best Friend. Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read.

Article – Keep it or toss it? ‘Best Before’ labels cause confusion

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Manufacturers have used the labels for decades to estimate peak freshness. Unlike “use by” labels, which are found on perishable foods like meat and dairy, “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety and may encourage consumers to throw away food that’s perfectly fine to eat.

“They read these dates and then they assume that it’s bad, they can’t eat it and they toss it, when these dates don’t actually mean that they’re not edible or they’re not still nutritious or tasty,” said Patty Apple, a manager at Food Shift, an Alameda, California, nonprofit that collects and uses expired or imperfect foods.

There’s a big difference between “Best By” and an expiration date. And, lets be real, those expiration dates are usually kinda bogus too. Here’s the simple truth: most canned food will be edible long past the dates on the can. Yes, there maybe some nutritional loss. Yes, there may be some loss of taste/texture. But will it be unhealthy or dangerous? Usually no.

I routinely eat stuff that is a year or two past the date on the can. (Non-canned food is a different matter. And, in this case, ‘canned’ means food in cans and jars.) I’ve had only a few bad experiences. Usually a can starts bulging and, as you know, thats theuniversal sign for ‘dont eat this or else’.

The ‘Best By’ hasnothing to do with food safety or an expiration date. I’d go so far as to say its just a convenient Jedi mind trick to make people throw away food that is past the date. Gyno-Americans are notorious for this. I have had arguments about using a can of corn that was two months past expiration, and I’ve had people absolutely aghast that I would eat meat out of my deep freeze that was more than six months old.

Hey, when youre hungry and broke you will discover rather quickly that those dates on the can are like Walk/DontWalk signs….you can obey them, but if you have half a brain you can ignore them and figure it out for yourself with good results most of the time.

Is there anything that I do get rigid about in regards to dates? Milk. Thats about it. And the people who actually observe the BestBy dates on bottled water are seriously in need of testosterone. it’s hydrogen and oxygen, fer Crom’s sake.

But…no one ever went broke underestimating the gullibility of the buying public.

Articles – Canadian police found in undercover operation at Great Falls gun show

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Two articles about a little Canuckistan/Federal op at the Great Falls gun show:

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – According to Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, local county employees and people noticed someone with Canadian plates watching people at the gun show.

Once deputies and the sheriff arrived, the operation was shut down immediately.
….
The police officer was assigned to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Task Force for gun smuggling and was working with ATF.

And

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter on Saturday broke up an investigation carried out in apparent coordination between federal and Canadian authorities at a Great Falls gun show, saying those agencies had not contacted his office beforehand.

Although state law does not require federal investigators to obtain approval from local law enforcement to conduct operations, the agents left the fairgrounds “reluctantly” and without issue. Slaughter has positioned himself as a “constitutional sheriff,” which theorizes sheriffs are the ultimate authority in their county — above local, state and federal officials — raising questions in this incident about possible friction between layers of law enforcement.

I suspect sheriff Slaughter just won himself a re-election.

This sort of behavior was notorious from California law enforcement. Theyd hit the Nevada gun shows, and sometimes even Nevada gun stores, and look for cars in the parking lots with CA plates. They’d then follow the CA-plated car back across the border into CA and pull them over to search for guns and related items that were prohibited in the glorious peoples republic of California. (Ever notice all the socialist places start with C and end with A? California, China, Cuba, Canada, etc…)

Remember guys – if youre buying thundertoys and ammo,keep that situational awareness going. Put that FAL or AUG in a case or something when you take it back to your car if you think its prudent. What you buy is no one’s business but your own.

I suppose the cautious man might remove the plates from his vehicle once he parks at the gun show. And the more JamesBond-y might keep a spare set of plates off a wrecked car to quickly swap out. But, regardless of your level of paranoia, it seems it might be a good idea to always operate under the assumption someone is watching.

Generator Day

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Today was Generator Day. Interestingly, it is also apparently Generator Day in a large part of the southeast US.

The purpose of Generator Day is to, periodically, run the generator under load for an hour or so in order to make sure everything functions and doesn’t get stagnant or stale. Usually I fire up the EU2000, plug in an electric leaf blower, and do some yardwork.

It’s been a while since I started this thing up. (Bad survivalist!) I had actually forgotten the startup procedure. Fortunately, part of my generator prep plan includes copying the startup/shutdown instructions from the .pdf, printing them out, putting them in a sealed page protector, and attaching them to the generator. As a result, I quickly had my memory refreshed. Started on pull #9.

This is, I believe, year nine for this particular EU2000. According to the run meter I put on this thing when I bought it, I’ve run it for about a total of 30 hours. Thats some pretty low miles.

The EU2000, when I purchased it, was the big thing in portable generators. Since then, upgraded versions have come out and when I get another spare or two, I’ll get the upgraded version. But, so far, for nine years this thing has been sitting quietly in it’s Hardigg case awaiting the infrequent power outage. Been quite pleased with it so far.

Of course, no man is an island and not piece of expensive gear is without support materials. The Hardigg case that houses the generator also contains a cable lock, spare air filters, printed directions, heavy duty extension cords, spare fuel cans, PRI-G, etc, etc.

In the nine years I’ve had this thing I’ve only needed to genuinely use it twice. Both times for only a few hours. And both times I felt pretty darn smug as I sat there with cable and internet as my neighbors suddenly became involuntary Luddites.

So, if you haven’t gotten one yet….thumbs up on the Honda EU series.

Cascade of fail

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“Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.” – B. Franklin

Buddy of mine gets a call from his 30-year old son. Son shot an elk 6.5 miles off the road in the backcountry and needs help hauling it out.

Turns out, the young man and his buddy were out bowhunting and shot this elk 6.5 miles off the road…at the end of the day. No way they were going to get it out in the dark, so they gutted it and prepared to spend the night outdoors. They built a fire and had their cheesy little space blankets so all was…ok. Next day, both their phones are at 2% from constantly looking for a signal. Neither guy thought to bring a small charger with them. And, most critically, after starting to haul the elk out, they had no water to drink. The place was lousy with creeks but they wouldnt drink from the creeks unfiltered.

Dad shows up, finally, after playing Marco Polo with handgun fire to locate each other. When he finds them, theyre both exhausted, theyve stopped sweating, and son is shaking from dehydration.

It was at this point I interjected that I had given dad one of these as a Paratus gift, and he needs to hustel junior and his buddy up to CostCo and buy a few for their hunting packs. If theyd had one of these things they could have drunk their fill from any of the creeks they were crossing. I always carry one of these in my bag anytime I’m out in the field.

Same thing for whistles. I always have at least two loud-as-funk whistles…one in my bag and one on my person. Thats the easiest and most efficient way to do that Marco Polo where-the-heck-are-you dance short of having a radio.

And speaking of electronics, I also carry a small battery pack to recharge my phone off of. Sometimes theres no signal when youre out in the sticks, but more often than not you can get a signal these days.

I would have thought his kid knew better, but I guess not. Moral of the story: even if youre not planning on spending the night afield, have some gear with you just in case.

 

Best millimeter

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Crossed another one off my wish list. I’ve been wanting one of these as a trail gun for quite a while and the stars just lined up today to present me with the opportunity to acquire this lovely paperless hand cannon:

This is not my daily driver. I’ll leave that to the likes of Ted Nugent. I’m quite happy toting a 9mm around for my day-to-day. But, for tromping in the woods, this little number is exactly what I’ve been wanting. I need to swap out the factory sights for something nicer, and I’m on the fence about the red dot, but once that’s done all thats left is a good field holster and I’m set.