I need mailing address confirmation for the following peeps:
RyanAesop- MattU
If you received a card/gift last year, and your address has changed, you need to let me know ASAP.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Tableware
‘Twas my birthday last weekend. I received a couple gifts…a nice BK&T camp knife, and a very expensive, very Japanese, mechanical pencil set. (In my line of work, mechanical pencils are far handier than the usual yellow #2 variety.)
As I was admiring my loot, I was reminded of an article I saw a while back about the gear that soldiers have carried throughout the centuries. This isn’t the same article, but it’s close to it. The original article, which I can’t find, noted that even in the most underequipped armies, across the span of time, there has been one piece of equipment that nearly all soldiers or combatants carried. Surprisingly, it’s not a knife. It’s a pice of ‘field gear’ that is about as innocuous and undeadly as you can get. But…every soldier since the Romans carries one in some form or another.
A spoon.
If you think about it, it makes sense. There’s nothing you can eat with a fork that you can’t eat with your hands. But a spoon…..a spoon makes soups and stews possible to eat. A spoon makes forkable food faster to eat. A spoon is pretty much the one eating utensil to have. Knife? You already have one on your belt or attached to the tip of your rifle. Fork? Anything forkable is fingerable. But a spoon is a completely different story.
Not content to let things lay after a couple thousand years of fine tuning, mankind tried the two-fer of the spork. While I appreciate the intent, I have found that, again, anything I can eat with a fork I can eat with my fingers. So why compromise the efficacy of my spoon?
Having said that, there is a certain appeal to the spork that is not a spork…the ‘reversible grip’ eating implement. This is what I use when I’m afield. Actually, thats not true. Because I’m an evil yuppie survivalist, I spent the extra coin and got the titanium version because titanium.
It actually rides in my pack when I’m traveling, along with a couple freeze dried meals, a canteen cup, esbit stove, and a bottle or two of water. Does the titanium version do anything the plastic version does not? Mostly no, but I like the notion of a tool that is wildly overbuilt for its intended purpose. Gotta say, it is delightfully lightweight, though.
And while I love imagining what sort of ‘load out’ I’ll need for Der Tag, the simple truth is that even in the best of times a man’s gotta eat… so even when the zombies are shamblin’ about, I’ll still probably be needing to eat more than I need to shoot. So, I give some thought to my eatin’ irons and think the reverse-grip sppon/fork combo is the way to go.
I know, I know…nothing sexy about a spoon. Hard to imagine a survivalist getting worked up over tableware when there’s guns and knives to get excited about. But…the amateurs talk tactics, the professionals talk logistics. And nothing is more logistical than figuring out how the hell youre gonna eat soup after the apocalypse when you don’t have a spoon.
Paratus approaches
Paratus is next month. If you received a Paratus card from me last year, you’re probably on track to get one this year. If your address has changed then you need to email a new mailing address. Didn’t get a card and want one? Then you need to interact with me more. Anyone who sends me a Christmas or birthday card? On the list. Patreon? On the list. Sends me a gift or just a supportive note? On the list. Intereacts with me in ‘real life’? On the list. Fellow blogger? Usually on the list.
Still haven’t finalized this years design but I’m working on it. Don’t forget, Paratus is the holiday about you, you deplorable, crazy, survivalist. Get together with your like-minded buddies and have a nice gift exchange and some range time. Are you the quiet type lives a secret life as a survivalist? Then use it as an excuse to by yourself that nice Icom or Glock you’ve been wanting.
And feel free to send me a card!
Youre not as alone as you think
I restocked on some household staples the other day and, as often happens, the guy hauling the cases of food from the ‘special order’ repository asks what I’m buying all this stuff for. And, as of late, I’m deadly honest with them…”I’m one of those crazy survivalist types. Stocking up against price increases and supply issues.” No lie, thats what I say.
And every single time, the other person has come back with something along the lines of “Yeah, I do that too. I just bought a couple cases of….”
Every. Single. Time.
So, mi amigos, don’t feel that you’re alone in this world as you push your shopping cart with 48 cans of tomatoes and 50-pound sacks of rice through the Kroeger. It is a virtual certainty that you are amongst your own kind and you don’t even recognize it.
As I pointed out to someone the other day, for the last thirty years I’ve been viewed as some sort of right-wing, anti-government, Montana survivalist….but lately I’m viewed more as a prophet.
As the world gets weirder and weirder, with dystopian tropes becoming tomorrow’s headlines, absolve yourself from any self-doubt or self-consciousness about what you’re doing in the name of resilience and being prepared. When your neighbor is selling his jet ski to pay the light bill, pulling his kids out of private school to afford to eat, and brown bagging his lunch to his new-job-at-a-lower-wage-because-thats-all-that-was-available, you can pat yourself on the back and take some pride in what you’ve done, and are still doing, to secure the safety of yourself and your loved ones.
Rock on with your bad self, fellow survivalist.
Article – Magnet fishers fined after pulling 86 rockets from Fort Stewart river
If you hit YouTube, and search for ‘magnet fishing’, you can come up with some fascinating videos. And, not surprisingly, there’s a lot of firearms at the bottom of some of these bodies of water. The Europeans, especially, seem to have quite a few bodies of water that are 90% guns. (The original quote was that the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn was the only body of water in the world that was 90% guns.)
I’m not sure if I’d have kept ‘fishing’ after the first couple of rockets turned up. I’ve no experience with those sorts of things and who knows if they were just inert projectiles or actually had some juice behind them. But, if someone knew what they were doing, and had some grande cajones, they could probably do pretty good for themselves salvaging explosive components.
I actually have a couple of magnets like those used in the video. Sadly, I havent found anything nearly as interesting with them. But, maybe someday I’ll dredge up an old ’73 WInchester from under an old bridge or something. More likely just lots of lost car keys.
Still, armies have to practice somewhere…and not every piece of ordnance goes boom like its supposed to. Never know what you might stumble across.
Scenes from CostCo
Hmmm. A package of four Lifestraws for $35. That’s..uhm…carry the one….$8.75 ea. Thats not a terrible deal for something that you should have in your truck, go-bag, hunting pack, and elsewhere. My local CostCo also had some Goal0 stuff, but I was more interested in the deal on the LifeStraws. If I didnt already have a dozen of these I might pick up a package of these to use as Paratus gifts.
Article – Zimbabwe debuts gold coins as legal tender to stem inflation
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has launched gold coins to be sold to the public in a bid to tame runaway inflation that has further eroded the country’s unstable currency. The unprecedented move was announced Monday by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in the local currency. Trust in Zimbabwe’s currency is low after people saw their savings wiped out by hyperinflation in 2008 which reached 5 billion%, according to the IMF.This would, I think, actually make Zimbabwe’s currency more stable than the dollar. Economics and goldbugging are two flavors that are tough to get into one candy. There’s a line in the book The Mandibles where the character is talking about how the independent nation-state of Nevada is on the gold standard..he says something along the lines of ‘Gold is useless..can’t eat it, can grow it, but for some reason it works as money…even if no one seems to know why.’ I’ve often that that gold is about as close as you’ll ever come to a global currency. According to the article, Zimbabwe will sell you all the minted coins you’d like as long as you pay in foreign currency. I wonder how Zimbabwe will acquire enough gold to make a difference in their economy..I wouldn’t want to be paid for my gold in those crappy Zimbabwe dollars. Theyre gonna have to pay in other ways…foreign currency, military land leases to the Chinese, oil, etc. I’d be curious to see where this goes. I suspect what will happen is that this plan, like every other great idea in Africa, will fizzle out from mismanagement and the resources (gold) will disappear into some general or prime minister’s pocket. And the Zim gold coins will become collectors items that are seen ore outside Zimbabwe than in.
Pantsless
I was out in the world doing Stuff and, somehow, tore my pants. Not just tore them, but I mean a gaping hole from the base of the crotch all the way up to the beltline, running parallel to the fly. In short, if it wasnt for the fact I was wearing a very long t-shirt, I would have been running around with Commander Seven-and-a-half snorkeling for air like an asthmatic elephant. To compound matters, there was no place nearby to purchase another pair of pants.
So..I dealt with it. But then I kept having a nagging thought in the back of my head….don’t I have an extra pair of pants in the vehicle? So, I checked the laminated card in the glove box that details all the gear I keep in the truckbox and…yes….a vacuum-sealed pair of jeans was, in fact, part of the loadout. Dug through the backpack, found them, retired the destroyed pair, and got back to business.
Preparedness for the win!
As an aside, I apparently keep, individually vacuum sealed: jeans, t-shirt, heavy shirt, boxer briefs, long underwear, and socks. Essentially, one complete change of clothes suitable for any season. Theres also a winter coat, gloves, scarf, hat, etc in there. The vacuum sealing helps keep the space requirements down.
Moral of the story: A spare change of clothes is a good idea because you never know when you might accidentally wind up ruining whatever it is you’re wearing.
And I pat myself on the back for my tremendous foresight.
Article -In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything
An interesting read on what you have to deal with when the nearest Trader Joe’s, HEB, or Safeway is hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.
Have you actually done menu planning for The End Of The World? I mean, I know you’ve got all sorts of stored food, but have you actually thought about what a particular meal, say breakfast, would look like? I have. For me, breakfast looks like the following:
- Oatmeal, Cream of What, Cornmeal porridge
- Scrambled eggs
- Hash browns
- Corned beef hash
- Pork chops
- Orange drink
- Biscuits
- Strawberries, blueberries, bananas
- Instant milk
Thats actually a better breakfast than what I eat now. See, it isn’t enough to just throw back an assortment of storage food. You have to give some thought to what sort of menus youre going to be looking at. How many different breakfasts can you do? Lunches? Sinners? Snacks?
For some ideas, I have always recommended this website and it’s very impressive list of ‘storage food recipes’: http://safelygatheredin2.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabetical-recipe-list.html
But the important thing to take away from the article listed above is that you have to plan out what your meals will be if you have any hope of efficiently and economically getting your food storage squared away. Go plan a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. How many ingredients ‘cross over’ to other meals? Figure it out, get the most variety and utility from the least amount of items. Its a good exercise.
Bargains — $5 AK mags
You know I love you crazy, prepping deplorables, right? Well, I do. Most of you, anyway. But…as much as I love you, I need to put my needs first. Thats why when I come across a bargain I don’t share it until I’ve taken my bite. Once thats done, its a free for all. Case in point:
A Friend of The Blog ™ and fellow blogger tipped me off to this deal:
AC Unity (Bosnia and Herzegovina..screw it, just call them Yugoslovian) AK mags in 30- and 40-rd capacity for a mere $5 ea.
20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 30RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH
20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 40RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH
While I respect the AK platform, I’m an AR guy. And, somehow, I’ve managed to wind up with a handful of AK’s as of late. Well, might as well get mags for them, right? I ordered a hundred of these, a mix of 30- and 40-rd, and they arrived today. They seem to fit well enough, and they have metal reinforcements at the magazine contact points (nose for the ‘rock in’, and rear for the magazine latch.) For $5 a mag, theyre a nice hedge against the looming bans.
I went long on AK mags a few years ago when those Korean-made AK mags were coming in. Good mags, although the metal was thinner than youre average Chinese mag. Worked fine though and the price was right. These are even cheaper. Go grab a few and tuck ’em back in the attic or basement for that rainy day. Or buy a bunch and resell them for a couple hundred percent profit. Either way, not a lot of reasons not to drop a hundred bucks (or more) on this.
