Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

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…

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…

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

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.

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.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

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.
——
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.
——
Need more ammo cans.
——
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.
——-
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?

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.
——
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.
——
Need more ammo cans.
——
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. Shuld 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.
——-
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?

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

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.

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.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

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

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