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

Im being deficient as the Zero these days..Im behind on a few small projects that Ive been meaning to do. I need to refill the lamps and heater for winter, organize the food cupboards, add more bottled water to the freezer, etc, etc. And I need to keep up on my reloading…I’m getting a bit low on .45 and 9mm ammo.
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The girlfriend was reading a book about a (supposedly) upcoming economic upheaval. Theres alot of things to learn when youre Commander Zero and, honestly, economic theory hasnt quite made it to the top of the list yet. (Its there, I just havent gotten to it yet.) My belief is that rather than reptoids, graboids, invading Chinese, asteroid impacts or pandemic plague the one event that will effect a nationwide disaster will be economic. Ceratinly a terrorist incident has nationwide consequences (Patriot Act, for example) but in terms of damage/lives lost it tends to stay localized. Im more inclined to believe that therell be an economic disaster..a depression, devaluation, hyperinflation, whatever. My point being that if you think its tough meeting a mortgage and paying bills now, imagine what its going to be like when you cant find work (or sell your product/skills), theres lines for gas and toilet paper, foreclosures are occuring left and right, and your dollar isnt buying everything it used to. This is why rather than sink $500 into an oil painting for the living room, or $300 into patio furniture Id rather spend it on food, supplies, durable clothing and gold.

Naturally, the side effect of this is that as I prepare for an economic disaster I wind up being prepared for pretty much most other types as well.
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I left the new Eureka Combat Tent set up for the last week to let it air out and to get an overall feel for it. Ive used them before and thats part of what made me decide to get one. Even the girlfriend is impressed with it…apparently she was expecting a canvas shelter half or something. Nice thing is that since this thing is a freestanding tent, it could actually get set up in the bed of the truck. Handy.
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One thing thats been really annoying me as of late is that I dont have a convenient pantry area for my kitchen. The result is that my cupboards are a very disorganzied array of cans, boxes, pouches and assorted food packaging. I need to devise a simple and efficient system for storing the canned goods that are always around. The usual rolling dispenser like you see for pop cans would work. I just need to get one that will fit within the confines of the cabinet. Lately Ive become very enamored with the halfsize (8 oz. instead of 15 oz) cans of vegetables and fruits. They have pull tabs, arent too much for one person and are easy to store. Super WalMart has the usual varieties of corn, pears, tomatoes, onions, beans, etc….a couple cases of each would go a long way towards giving me that warm, fuzzy “Im not gonna stand on a half-mile long line for government handout food” feeling.
=====
Which also reminds me, I need to work on my oft-neglected project of playing in the kitchen to see what kind of recipes I can concoct using nothing but stored/canned food….if it wont keep for six months at room temperature on the shelf, it doesnt get used as an ingredient.

Im being deficient as the Zero these days..Im behind on a few small projects that Ive been meaning to do. I need to refill the lamps and heater for winter, organize the food cupboards, add more bottled water to the freezer, etc, etc. And I need to keep up on my reloading…I’m getting a bit low on .45 and 9mm ammo.
=====
The girlfriend was reading a book about a (supposedly) upcoming economic upheaval. Theres alot of things to learn when youre Commander Zero and, honestly, economic theory hasnt quite made it to the top of the list yet. (Its there, I just havent gotten to it yet.) My belief is that rather than reptoids, graboids, invading Chinese, asteroid impacts or pandemic plague the one event that will effect a nationwide disaster will be economic. Ceratinly a terrorist incident has nationwide consequences (Patriot Act, for example) but in terms of damage/lives lost it tends to stay localized. Im more inclined to believe that therell be an economic disaster..a depression, devaluation, hyperinflation, whatever. My point being that if you think its tough meeting a mortgage and paying bills now, imagine what its going to be like when you cant find work (or sell your product/skills), theres lines for gas and toilet paper, foreclosures are occuring left and right, and your dollar isnt buying everything it used to. This is why rather than sink $500 into an oil painting for the living room, or $300 into patio furniture Id rather spend it on food, supplies, durable clothing and gold.

Naturally, the side effect of this is that as I prepare for an economic disaster I wind up being prepared for pretty much most other types as well.
=====
I left the new Eureka Combat Tent set up for the last week to let it air out and to get an overall feel for it. Ive used them before and thats part of what made me decide to get one. Even the girlfriend is impressed with it…apparently she was expecting a canvas shelter half or something. Nice thing is that since this thing is a freestanding tent, it could actually get set up in the bed of the truck. Handy.
=====
One thing thats been really annoying me as of late is that I dont have a convenient pantry area for my kitchen. The result is that my cupboards are a very disorganzied array of cans, boxes, pouches and assorted food packaging. I need to devise a simple and efficient system for storing the canned goods that are always around. The usual rolling dispenser like you see for pop cans would work. I just need to get one that will fit within the confines of the cabinet. Lately Ive become very enamored with the halfsize (8 oz. instead of 15 oz) cans of vegetables and fruits. They have pull tabs, arent too much for one person and are easy to store. Super WalMart has the usual varieties of corn, pears, tomatoes, onions, beans, etc….a couple cases of each would go a long way towards giving me that warm, fuzzy “Im not gonna stand on a half-mile long line for government handout food” feeling.
=====
Which also reminds me, I need to work on my oft-neglected project of playing in the kitchen to see what kind of recipes I can concoct using nothing but stored/canned food….if it wont keep for six months at room temperature on the shelf, it doesnt get used as an ingredient.

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

Im pretty sure I dont need to tell you this, but just in case:

When launching parachute flares –

• Do not look up as you fire it … you’ll get a face full of backblast. Look down at your feet and stay that way until that sucker is waaaaay up in the air
• If wearing eyewear consider the blast might knock it from your face
• Make sure to point flare tube straight up and keep pointing straight up until that baby exits the tube

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In addition to the parachute flares, also tried the handheld signal flares (like steroidal road flares). These babies are great for signalling, put out tremendous amounts of light and heat, and would be an outstanding source of ignition for any arsonistic endeavours you may have.
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God really hates Florida.
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I have a trip to Seattle next week. Need to start packing for the trip. My greatest fear, and what a cosmic irony it would be, is to have TEOTWAWKI occur when Im far away from my happily fortified and stocked house. So, naturally, I’ll bring everything I can that I would need to work my way back to it. Come to think of it, I really need to come up with a ’standard’ checklist of things to bring on the long-ranging trips. Maybe later.
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Im quite happy with the Yugo SKS…I got about two dozen stripper clips for it and they work fine. Its a very handy, robust gun and I hope to get more of them. Ideally, I’d like to have one to keep in the truck at all times with about 20 stripper clips worth of ammo.

Im pretty sure I dont need to tell you this, but just in case:

When launching parachute flares –

• Do not look up as you fire it … you’ll get a face full of backblast. Look down at your feet and stay that way until that sucker is waaaaay up in the air
• If wearing eyewear consider the blast might knock it from your face
• Make sure to point flare tube straight up and keep pointing straight up until that baby exits the tube

=====
In addition to the parachute flares, also tried the handheld signal flares (like steroidal road flares). These babies are great for signalling, put out tremendous amounts of light and heat, and would be an outstanding source of ignition for any arsonistic endeavours you may have.
=====
God really hates Florida.
=====
I have a trip to Seattle next week. Need to start packing for the trip. My greatest fear, and what a cosmic irony it would be, is to have TEOTWAWKI occur when Im far away from my happily fortified and stocked house. So, naturally, I’ll bring everything I can that I would need to work my way back to it.  Come to think of it, I really need to come up with a ‘standard’ checklist of things to bring on the long-ranging trips. Maybe later.
=====
Im quite happy with the Yugo SKS…I got about two dozen stripper clips for it and they work fine. Its a very handy, robust gun and I hope to get more of them. Ideally, I’d like to have one to keep in the truck at all times with about 20 stripper clips worth of ammo.

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

Well, a happy little trip to the Great Falls gun show. What did the Zero purchase? Glad you asked….

Two dozen red parachute flares at $4@
A half dozen emergency smoke pots at $6@
A gen-u-ine 33-rd 9mm Glock magazine (and a healthy ‘nyah!’ to Dianne Feinstein and Bill Clinton on that one)

Went out and tried the parachute flares….and for $4 you get a hellacious bang, some serious altitude and a nice cheery red glow covering the immediate area. A fun purchase.

Well, a happy little trip to the Great Falls gun show. What did the Zero purchase? Glad you asked….

Two dozen red parachute flares at $4@
A half dozen emergency smoke pots at $6@
A gen-u-ine 33-rd 9mm Glock magazine (and a healthy ‘nyah!’ to Dianne Feinstein and Bill Clinton on that one)

Went out and tried the parachute flares….and for $4 you get a hellacious bang, some serious altitude and a nice cheery red glow covering the immediate area. A fun purchase.

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

A satisfying evening last night for the Zero…. put the lovely six cases of recent-manufacture MRE’s away (while calculating in my head what it does to my how-long-could-I-feed-myself timeline), set up my USMC Combat Tent and checked it for condition, and then sat around and stroked the FAL a while. Also straightened up the bunker a bit. I really, really, need to get more/better shelving down there and since I have the tools and lumber at the moment theres really no reason for me NOT to do it. Interestingly, what I dont have at the moment is the time. I have company visiting tomorrow so this evening will be full of household stuff.
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WalMart, particularly SuperWalmarts, are rapidly replacing CostCo as my first choice for bulk preparedness purchases. They simpy have a much larger selection that the typical CostCo. More importantly, they sell a far, far, broader selection of food items. And while lotsa guns & ammo are nice to have, a well-stocked pantry is even better.
=====
Once in a blue moon I listen to Coast To Coast AM on the radio…you know, getting my fill of alien conspiracies, trilateral conspiracies, impending asteroids-collision theories and that sort of thing. But, once you sift through all that stuff you sometimes find a nugget or two of info. One such nugget was someone explaining that Al-Qaeda really hasnt pulled anything off in the US since September 11, 2001 and that if they dont manage to pull off another attack soon theyre going to have lost whatever credibility (such as it is) that they have. Thus, the speaker was postulating that Al-Qaeda needs to do some kind of attack in the US to show that Bush didnt cripple them. The most spoken about times? Right before the election and also inaugural day. Hmm..I dunno..the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays would seem like a pretty good opportunity – lotsa travellers in one place, security stretched thin, etc, etc.

A satisfying evening last night for the Zero…. put the lovely six cases of recent-manufacture MRE’s away (while calculating in my head what it does to my how-long-could-I-feed-myself timeline), set up my USMC  Combat Tent and checked it for condition, and then sat around and stroked the FAL a while. Also straightened up the bunker a bit. I really, really, need to get more/better shelving down there and since I have the tools and lumber at the moment theres really no reason for me NOT to do it. Interestingly, what I dont have at the moment is the time. I have company visiting tomorrow so this evening will be full of household stuff.
=====
WalMart, particularly SuperWalmarts, are rapidly replacing CostCo as my first choice for bulk preparedness purchases. They simpy have a much larger selection that the typical CostCo. More importantly, they sell a far, far, broader selection of food items. And while lotsa guns & ammo are nice to have, a well-stocked pantry is even better.
=====
Once in a blue moon I listen to Coast To Coast AM on the radio…you know, getting my fill of alien conspiracies, trilateral conspiracies, impending asteroids-collision theories and that sort of thing. But, once you sift through all that stuff you sometimes find a nugget or two of info. One such nugget was someone explaining that Al-Qaeda really hasnt pulled anything off in the US since September 11, 2001 and that if they dont manage to pull off another attack soon theyre going to have lost whatever credibility (such as it is) that they have. Thus, the speaker was postulating that Al-Qaeda needs to do some kind of attack in the US to show that Bush didnt cripple them. The most spoken about times? Right before the election and also inaugural day. Hmm..I dunno..the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays would seem like a pretty good opportunity – lotsa travellers in one place, security stretched thin, etc, etc.

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

I hadnt had much experience with the ‘new’ MRE’s so the six cases that a customer traded to me today are an eye-opening experience.

First of all, the shape of the case is slightly different..not as flat as the old style Im familiar with (ca. 1992). Next up , the color of the bag is different…more of a coffee-with-cream brown rather than the chocolate brown of the old pouches. Also, the new ones have the heaters included…niiiiiiiiiiiiice. ANd then theres the menu…jambalya? Chicken cavatelli? Hmmm… sounds good to me. Anyway, I traded and wound up with six cases of these things that are dated as 2003 manufacture..so theyre relatively fresh. Should have at least a good five years in them stored in my nice cool dark basement.
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In other news the Eureka USMC Combat Tent has arrived. Oooh-rah. I’ll set it up tonight and inspect it for any problems. My buddy who has a couple of these things will come by and give me the benefit of his experience with them and we’ll do whatever seam sealing is necessary. Ive been wanting one of these things for a couple years now and theyve come down on eBay to the point where theyre right around $125-150. Why this tent? Well, first of all, its pretty bloody difficult finding tents in ’subdued’ colors like military tan and green. Secondly, it comes with soldier-proof instructions, a complete and extensive repair/patch kit, blocks light from inside the tent so you dont give away your position, has a stand-alone fly, and generally has features that make it useful to the LMI. And if Uncle Sugar can spend a couple million buckto develop this thing, why wouldnt I take advantage of that?
=====
Now the news reports are saying that Al-Qaeda is planning the usual ‘massive strike’ for Inauguration Day. When will these threats stop? Well, I suspect shortly after Bush finishes his second term and doesnt need to wave that particular red flag around anymore. Cynical, yes, but…..

If they were really worried about terrorists getting into this country maybe instead of stripsearching grandmas at the airport they might, oh, I dunno…put some teeth in the Mexico/US border?

I hadnt had much experience with the ‘new’ MRE’s so the six cases that a customer traded to me today are an eye-opening experience.

First of all, the shape of the case is slightly different..not as flat as the old style Im familiar with (ca. 1992). Next up , the color of the bag is different…more of a coffee-with-cream brown rather than the chocolate brown of the old pouches. Also, the new ones have the heaters included…niiiiiiiiiiiiice. ANd then theres the menu…jambalya? Chicken cavatelli? Hmmm… sounds good to me. Anyway, I traded and wound up with six cases of these things that are dated as 2003 manufacture..so theyre relatively fresh. Should have at least a good five years in them stored in my nice cool dark basement.
======
In other news the Eureka USMC Combat Tent has arrived. Oooh-rah. I’ll set it up tonight and inspect it for any problems. My buddy who has a couple of these things will come by and give me the benefit of his experience with them and we’ll do whatever seam sealing is necessary. Ive been wanting one of these things for a couple years now and theyve come down on eBay to the point where theyre right around $125-150. Why this tent? Well, first of all, its pretty bloody difficult finding tents in ‘subdued’ colors like military tan and green. Secondly, it comes with soldier-proof instructions, a complete and extensive repair/patch kit, blocks light from inside the tent so you dont give away your position, has a stand-alone fly, and generally has features that make it useful to the LMI. And if Uncle Sugar can spend a couple million buckto develop this thing, why wouldnt I take advantage of that?
=====
Now the news reports are saying that Al-Qaeda is planning the usual ‘massive strike’ for Inauguration Day. When will these threats stop? Well, I suspect shortly after Bush finishes his second term and doesnt need to wave that particular red flag around anymore. Cynical, yes, but…..

If they were really worried about terrorists getting into this country maybe instead of stripsearching grandmas at the airport they might, oh, I dunno…put some teeth in the Mexico/US border?