Nice thing about the TiVo is that I can ignore the TV for a week or two and then catch up on everything in one sitting. For example, I missed several episodes of ‘Jericho’ but now that they are being rebroadcast the TiVo kindly collected them for me as they came. So, I got to see some stuff I’d been missing. In case you’ve been under a rock, the show was cancelled and then brought back for a several episode order on the strength of a viewer campaign to bring it back. As I’ve said before, Im amused by this because across the board the preparedness forums almost universally were critical of it for too much drama, not enough gunplay, etc, etc, etc….yet when it gets cancelled theyre up in arms, so to speak, to get it back.
=-=-=
Im cleaning out a buddy’s house since he’s now in a nursing home and am sifting through his library of books. A lot of historical stuff but a lot of preparedness/gun stuff too. Theres a couple really good books in there and as I come across them I’ll mention them in case you want a copy.

Pretty much all of us have a copy of ‘Where There Is no Doctor’ which is an excellent book. For me, its greatest value is in the back ¼ for the book where the drug information is. If youre out there looting a Walgreens its always good to know which pills are the ones you want.

Anyway, another excellent medical book I came across is ‘Medicine For The Outdoors’ (Auerbach, Lyons Press, #1-55821-723-1) In this case, ‘outodoors’ means ‘where youre not gonna have access to 911, EMS or anything close to a real doctor’ which is the situation we are likely to be in when [insert your particular flavor of TEOTWAWKI] occurs. 500 pages, plenty of illustrations, and good detail on drug names, usage, etc. Not a ‘one book for all occasions’ but it seems to be a worthy addition to the home library.
=-=-=
The first step is admitting you have a problem. So..(deep breath)..Im a Glockaholic. Sure, it started easy enough..a used police trade-in G19 here, a bargain 2nd gen. G17 there. And then two days ago I …I…went for the hard stuff – brand new 3rd Gen G17.

Okay, enough kidding around…this is the first factory new handgun I’ve bought in probably ten years. I tend to buy used stuff because its cheaper but this one..well, the stars lined up for me to be able to get it.

Anyway, without mentioning specific numbers, this is a redundant Glock but having levels of redundancy is what being prepared is all about. So, this one will get a few hundred rounds through it to make sure it works, get cleaned, and get tucked into the safe ‘just in case’. It’ll be nice to have if I need a loaner for a friend, something happens to one of my other Glock 9mms, or if I need to stash an extra somewhere.

I took this occasion to re-read the big Glock book and reacquaint myself with the Glock disassemblys and whatnot. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, I will say that they are excellent examples of mass-production engineering. Except for the big parts like barrels and whatnot all spare parts are less than five bucks, theres 34 parts versus who knows how many for other pistols, all the parts can be removed..nothing is staked on except the front sight (and even that is removable without special tools), and nothing requires fitting. Drawbacks? Well, they’ve got no soul or personality. Theyre like Bic lighters versus Zippo lighters, one carried more style and history but may not be nearly as convenient, reliable and durable as the other. On the other hand, if it goes bang every single time I pull the trigger that’s really all that matters.

I see the 1911 guys going on about how anything since 1912 is a step down in handgun development. I wonder if they also say that switching from the .45-70 to the .30 calibers was a mistake. After all, that ‘big heavy .45 bullet’ always ‘knocked em down’ whereas those pipsqueak ‘minor caliber’ .30’s required high magazine capacity (5 rounds vs. 1 round) to make up for the lack of stopping power.
I appreciate tradition and ‘classics’ as much as anyone else, but at the same time I’m not going to let that stand in the way of recognizing improvements in design.

=-=-=

Speaking of guns and ammo…the .40S&W conversion for the big Dillon arrived the other day. I was examining the dies and conversion and discovered that Dillon shipped me a .40 S&W carbide sizer die that was missing the carbide sizer ring. Ooops. A quick call to them got me the customer service theyre famous for. They’d send another die right out…no need to send back the other die. Keep it for spare parts or something. Good outfit to do business with, those Dillon guys.

The Dillon RL1050, by the way, Was. Not. Cheap. However, it does crank out 1000 rounds an hour without much fuss. Since factory ammo is so expensive these days, and reloading a thousand rounds on a single-stage press is a major time sink, this thing does start to pay for itself fairly quickly in terms of time and money saved. (And since this is the ‘super’ 1050 it’ll do .223, .308, .30-06, etc, etc. as well…..good to know since the South African .308 has dried up and gone through the roof when you can find it.)

Speaking of ammo, I saw a link to a news piece about how the military has started reducing its orders for small arms ammo. Read into that what you will. The practical result is that those facilities will have been tooled for producing huge amounts of .223 and they’ll need work. So….possibly expect to see availability increase and prices decrease in the future. Don’t bet on it, but don’t be surprised if it happens.

=-=-=

Elections are still ahead of us and the prognosis, as far as Im concerned, is not good. I can understand if you take everything I say with a grain of salt since Im basically a faceless stranger to you…I can accept that. But if you decide to not value my opinions on anything else, accept and act upon my opinion that if you do not start stocking up on spare guns and especially magazines very soon you are going to be kicking yourself after the elections. You don’t have to go nuts and sell the jet ski, just get some spare mags for your rifles and pistols. How many? By the dozen. Buy the dozen.

=-=-=

Still have the C Products AR mags. Not as many as before but still enough to take the edge off the upcoming election. Also have about a dozen of the ChipMcCormick 1911 mags left as well if anyone is interested. (Very nice 1911 mags, by the way.)

=-=-=-

Need a Titan complex? its sorta telling that theres no photos of any of the underground portions of the 57-acre complex. Probably flooded. Who can say? Cough up $10 grand and get a tour.
The eBay auction
The website

Nice thing about the TiVo is that I can ignore the TV for a week or two and then catch up on everything in one sitting. For example, I missed several episodes of ‘Jericho’ but now that they are being rebroadcast the TiVo kindly collected them for me as they came. So, I got to see some stuff I’d been missing. In case you’ve been under a rock, the show was cancelled and then brought back for a several episode order on the strength of a viewer campaign to bring it back. As I’ve said before, Im amused by this because across the board the preparedness forums almost universally were critical of it for too much drama, not enough gunplay, etc, etc, etc….yet when it gets cancelled theyre up in arms, so to speak, to get it back.
=-=-=
Im cleaning out a buddy’s house since he’s now in a nursing home and am sifting through his library of books. A lot of historical stuff but a lot of preparedness/gun stuff too. Theres a couple really good books in there and as I come across them I’ll mention them in case you want a copy.

Pretty much all of us have a copy of ‘Where There Is no Doctor’ which is an excellent book. For me, its greatest value is in the back ¼ for the book where the drug information is. If youre out there looting a Walgreens its always good to know which pills are the ones you want.

Anyway, another excellent medical book I came across is ‘Medicine For The Outdoors’ (Auerbach, Lyons Press, #1-55821-723-1) In this case, ‘outodoors’ means ‘where youre not gonna have access to 911, EMS or anything close to a real doctor’ which is the situation we are likely to be in when [insert your particular flavor of TEOTWAWKI] occurs. 500 pages, plenty of illustrations, and good detail on drug names, usage, etc. Not a ‘one book for all occasions’ but it seems to be a worthy addition to the home library.
=-=-=
The first step is admitting you have a problem. So..(deep breath)..Im a Glockaholic. Sure, it started easy enough..a used police trade-in G19 here, a bargain 2nd gen. G17 there. And then two days ago I …I…went for the hard stuff – brand new 3rd Gen G17.

Okay, enough kidding around…this is the first factory new handgun I’ve bought in probably ten years. I tend to buy used stuff because its cheaper but this one..well, the stars lined up for me to be able to get it.

Anyway, without mentioning specific numbers, this is a redundant Glock but having levels of redundancy is what being prepared is all about. So, this one will get a few hundred rounds through it to make sure it works, get cleaned, and get tucked into the safe ‘just in case’. It’ll be nice to have if I need a loaner for a friend, something happens to one of my other Glock 9mms, or if I need to stash an extra somewhere.

I took this occasion to re-read the big Glock book and reacquaint myself with the Glock disassemblys and whatnot. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, I will say that they are excellent examples of mass-production engineering. Except for the big parts like barrels and whatnot all spare parts are less than five bucks, theres 34 parts versus who knows how many for other pistols, all the parts can be removed..nothing is staked on except the front sight (and even that is removable without special tools), and nothing requires fitting. Drawbacks? Well, they’ve got no soul or personality. Theyre like Bic lighters versus Zippo lighters, one carried more style and history but may not be nearly as convenient, reliable and durable as the other. On the other hand, if it goes bang every single time I pull the trigger that’s really all that matters.

I see the 1911 guys going on about how anything since 1912 is a step down in handgun development. I wonder if they also say that switching from the .45-70 to the .30 calibers was a mistake. After all, that ‘big heavy .45 bullet’ always ‘knocked em down’ whereas those pipsqueak ‘minor caliber’ .30’s required high magazine capacity (5 rounds vs. 1 round) to make up for the lack of stopping power.
I appreciate tradition and ‘classics’ as much as anyone else, but at the same time I’m not going to let that stand in the way of recognizing improvements in design.

=-=-=

Speaking of guns and ammo…the .40S&W conversion for the big Dillon arrived the other day. I was examining the dies and conversion and discovered that Dillon shipped me a .40 S&W carbide sizer die that was missing the carbide sizer ring. Ooops. A quick call to them got me the customer service theyre famous for. They’d send another die right out…no need to send back the other die. Keep it for spare parts or something. Good outfit to do business with, those Dillon guys.

The Dillon RL1050, by the way, Was. Not. Cheap. However, it does crank out 1000 rounds an hour without much fuss. Since factory ammo is so expensive these days, and reloading a thousand rounds on a single-stage press is a major time sink, this thing does start to pay for itself fairly quickly in terms of time and money saved. (And since this is the ‘super’ 1050 it’ll do .223, .308, .30-06, etc, etc. as well…..good to know since the South African .308 has dried up and gone through the roof when you can find it.)

Speaking of ammo, I saw a link to a news piece about how the military has started reducing its orders for small arms ammo. Read into that what you will. The practical result is that those facilities will have been tooled for producing huge amounts of .223 and they’ll need work. So….possibly expect to see availability increase and prices decrease in the future. Don’t bet on it, but don’t be surprised if it happens.

=-=-=

Elections are still ahead of us and the prognosis, as far as Im concerned, is not good. I can understand if you take everything I say with a grain of salt since Im basically a faceless stranger to you…I can accept that. But if you decide to not value my opinions on anything else, accept and act upon my opinion that if you do not start stocking up on spare guns and especially magazines very soon you are going to be kicking yourself after the elections. You don’t have to go nuts and sell the jet ski, just get some spare mags for your rifles and pistols. How many? By the dozen. Buy the dozen.

=-=-=

Still have the C Products AR mags. Not as many as before but still enough to take the edge off the upcoming election. Also have about a dozen of the ChipMcCormick 1911 mags left as well if anyone is interested. (Very nice 1911 mags, by the way.)

=-=-=-

Need a Titan complex? its sorta telling that theres no photos of any of the underground portions of the 57-acre complex. Probably flooded. Who can say? Cough up $10 grand and get a tour.
The eBay auction
The website

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

Okay, theyre up.

C Products AR mag, 30 rd., aluminum, black, Magpull follower
Packaged in quantities of 5 they are $12 ea. Discount on 15+ at $11@.
My vendor does not have a huge amount of these and I suspect that when theyre gone they’ll be gone for good at that price.
Standard boilerplate: Shipping is a flat nine bucks regardless of quantity. 4% transaction fee for our friends at PayPal. No such transaction fee for mail order or walk-ins.

Order ‘em while you can

They’re shipping today so they’ll be ready to head to your firebase or bunker by the end of the week.

I am getting less than 100 of these in this order.

Edit: 15% sold
Edit: 39% sold
Edit: 61% sold

Okay, theyre up.

C Products AR mag, 30 rd., aluminum, black, Magpull follower
Packaged in quantities of 5 they are $12 ea. Discount on 15+ at $11@.
My vendor does not have a huge amount of these and I suspect that when theyre gone they’ll be gone for good at that price.
Standard boilerplate: Shipping is a flat nine bucks regardless of quantity. 4% transaction fee for our friends at PayPal. No such transaction fee for mail order or walk-ins.

Order ’em while you can

They’re shipping today so they’ll be ready to head to your firebase or bunker by the end of the week.

I am getting less than 100 of these in this order.

Edit: 15% sold
Edit: 39% sold
Edit: 61% sold

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

One of my vendors has C Products mags theyre moving out. Aluminum body, black finish, Magpull follower, stainless or silicone chromium springs. These’d be $12 ea. in bundles of 5. $11 ea. at 3 bundles or more. If theres enough interest I can make it happen but I need to have a good idea if the demand is there.

One of my vendors has C Products mags theyre moving out. Aluminum body, black finish, Magpull follower, stainless or silicone chromium springs. These’d be $12 ea. in buundes of 5. $11 ea. at 3 bundles ormore. If theres enough interest I can make it happen but I need to have a good idea if the demand is there.

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

It is just way too bloody hot here in the Northwest. Usually we get two weeks out of the year where temperatures are unbearably high…we passed that two week mark about two weeks ago. Increased heat means an increased chance of dehydration, heatstroke, heat exhaustion and the usual infirmities that come from laboring in unbearably high temperatures.

Probably more energy is used for heating/cooling than for any other household use. I know that in places like Florida the generators people buy are bought more with an eye towards keeping the air conditioning going more than anything else.

You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to know that if youre going to either muddle through a power outage or live in a situation where every watt counts (an off grid location, for example) some form of low-energy climate control would be nice. It seems like theres a lot more options for heat than there are for cooling.

I read somewhere about sinking long lengths of poly pipe a few feet underground and blowing air through them. The idea was that the air is cooled as it travels through the pipe, because of the fairly constant temperature in the ground, and that cool air is then vented into the structure you want to cool. The drawback, as I recall, was that condensation/moisture became an issue. A ground heat pump system works on a similar principle, I think, but your power requirements are higher because of the need to run pumps. The former idea would use, at most, an electric fan, which is easier on the wattage than a pump.

I’ve read very nice things about the dome homes that periodically pop up on the forums. Proponents say they are easy to heat and easy to cool. Maybe, but I’ll bet the thermal mass of the concrete, rather than the shape, has the most influence.

Speaking of high temperatures and the subsequent heat related issues, I cannot stress enough how important it is to ‘keep hydrated’ which simply means ‘drink lots’. How much? Every idiot knows you can die from not drinking enough water, and Im sure many folks know you can die from drinking too much water (and Im not talking about drowning). How do you know how much is enough? When I taught hunter safety to kids the rule we taught was that when you go take a leak and your urine is clear (like water) then you’ve done a good job keeping hydrated.

Water is bulky, heavy awkward stuff to sling around but theres no way around it (short of prepositining it or grabbing it on-the-go from natural sources). The best method of carrying water in such a way that you can use it on demand is the CamelBack type hydration systems. Canteens are swell but they are noisy when half full. Nalgene bottles are even better than canteens but they can be awkward to swig out of and they also slosh. Both containers require you to remove them from a pocket or pouch to use. The CamelBacks (which Im now going to simply call ‘hydration systems’) allow the user to drink hands-free while on the move by utilizing a flexible drink tube. I cant imagine you’ve never seen a hydration system but think of a medical IV with tube (which is in fact how the original idea evolved). You sling the pouch of liquid over your shoulder or in your pack, snake the tube over your shoulder to a convenient location (like your pack strap) and suck liquid through the tube as you need it.

Several brands of hydration systems are out there and I’ve tried all of them. CamelBack makes some good stuff as does BlackHawks ‘Hydrastorm’ line. The edge for ‘tacticool’ goes to the Hydrastorm for inline filters, bigger bite valves and disposable reservoirs. If you put a flavored liquid, Gatorade for example, in your hydration reservoir youre always going to have some residual flavor and the increased possibility of bacterial growth. Disposable reservoirs let you fill ‘em with whatever you want and then toss ‘em rather than clean ‘em.

Hydration systems usually come with a ‘carrier’ of some sort – a fabric pouch to protect the plastic reservoir and provide some thermal insulation and attachment points. Some carriers are simply fabric pouches with D-rings for attaching to packs and other carriers are entire backpacks. I prefer the former since I can then use whatever pack suits my needs best, but I do have a few of the hydration systems that come with their own pack…theyre handy for bike rides and that sort of thing.

If youre gonna go buy a new hydration pack, make sure the fill opening is big enough to handle ice cubes…it’s a big deal. Also, larger fill openings mean its easier and faster to fill the darn things.

I prefer hydration systems that have a ‘lock’ on the business end of the drink tube. Why? If the reservoir is in your pack, and your pack is compressed by you leaning against something or taking a fall that pressure is going to squeeze that reservoir and force the liquid down that tube and if theres no lock on the end of your drink tube your going to get wet. And waste drinking water.

If, like me, you prefer to use a hydration system in conjunction with your own pack theres a few things to consider – make sure theres nothing that can poke a hole in the reservoir. I usually leave my reservoir in a cordura pouch to protect it inside the pack. A little forethought goes a long way here.

The section of drink tube that exits your bag will be exposed to the elements…liquid inside will freeze in the winter and get hot in the summer. When youre done drinking, blow into the drink tube to force the liquid in the tube back into the bladder. This clears the drink tube so it wont freeze or heat up.

The drink tube will flop around in a most annoying fashion if you don’t secure the end of it to something. Easiest way is find one of those metal spring clips with plastic loop that businesses use on ID badges. They usually consist of an alligator clip with a short length of clear vinyl strip attached. The vinyl strip has a snap fastener to form a loop that usually goes through a slot on the ID badge. Sound familiar? Put the plastic around the end of your drink tube and clip it to your gear to keep it from flopping around. CamelBack sells these things for a few bucks or you can get ‘em at office supply shops for less, or for free from your company’s front reception area.

Keep in mind many of these hydration reservoirs hold 70-100 oz. Of water. That can add up to some serious weight so try to load them up with only as much water as you think you’ll want. Make sure to squeeze out all excess air before closing the fill cap.

Now, with all those advantages I think so. They are the most convenient way to offer water to someone else, they are good for carrying water to cook with, and they are convenient to simply throw into a bag or box. I’ve become very fond of the Nalgene bottles for this role because of their nigh-invulnerability and the surprising amount of usability with other products (for example, some water filters are threaded to simply screw onto the top of the bottle). Nalgenes usually run $6-9 but in my opinion they are a bargain given the enormous abuse they can take. Get the genuine article. Accept no Chinese made substitute. I’ve taken my Nalgene bottle, filled it with water, and hurled it high and far across concrete parking lots and it doesn’t spill a drop. When the mushroom clouds fade the only things left will be cockroaches, mutants, and scratched but otherwise intact Nalgene bottles.

Someone, Im sure, will chime in about how they re-use 2-liter pop bottles or other one-time-use plastic bottles. Hey, more power to you. Two liter pop bottles are some tough customers…the soft drink industry spent a lot of money to come up with a container for liquids that could handle the stresses of interstate travel so why not take advantage of it. To me, there are some drawbacks..first, you’ll never get the taste of whatever was in there completely out. Second, these bottles tend to be clear and stored water usually fares better in opaque containers. Less likelihood of stuff growing in it. Also, theres not a lot of suitable pouches for 2-liter (or even 1 liter) pop bottles. Having said that, I do re-use my 20 oz, 1- and 2-liter pop bottles. I washe them out, fill them with water and put them in my freezer to help keep things cold in there if the power goes out.

It is just way too bloody hot here in the Northwest. Usually we get two weeks out of the year where temperatures are unbearably high…we passed that two week mark about two weeks ago. Increased heat means an increased chance of dehydration, heatstroke, heat exhaustion and the usual infirmities that come from laboring in unbearably high temperatures.

Probably more energy is used for heating/cooling than for any other household use. I know that in places like Florida the generators people buy are bought more with an eye towards keeping the air conditioning going more than anything else.

You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to know that if youre going to either muddle through a power outage or live in a situation where every watt counts (an off grid location, for example) some form of low-energy climate control would be nice. It seems like theres a lot more options for heat than there are for cooling.

I read somewhere about sinking long lengths of poly pipe a few feet underground and blowing air through them. The idea was that the air is cooled as it travels through the pipe, because of the fairly constant temperature in the ground, and that cool air is then vented into the structure you want to cool. The drawback, as I recall, was that condensation/moisture became an issue. A ground heat pump system works on a similar principle, I think, but your power requirements are higher because of the need to run pumps. The former idea would use, at most, an electric fan, which is easier on the wattage than a pump.

I’ve read very nice things about the dome homes that periodically pop up on the forums. Proponents say they are easy to heat and easy to cool. Maybe, but I’ll bet the thermal mass of the concrete, rather than the shape, has the most influence.

Speaking of high temperatures and the subsequent heat related issues, I cannot stress enough how important it is to ‘keep hydrated’ which simply means ‘drink lots’. How much? Every idiot knows you can die from not drinking enough water, and Im sure many folks know you can die from drinking too much water (and Im not talking about drowning). How do you know how much is enough? When I taught hunter safety to kids the rule we taught was that when you go take a leak and your urine is clear (like water) then you’ve done a good job keeping hydrated.

Water is bulky, heavy awkward stuff to sling around but theres no way around it (short of prepositining it or grabbing it on-the-go from natural sources). The best method of carrying water in such a way that you can use it on demand is the CamelBack type hydration systems. Canteens are swell but they are noisy when half full. Nalgene bottles are even better than canteens but they can be awkward to swig out of and they also slosh. Both containers require you to remove them from a pocket or pouch to use. The CamelBacks (which Im now going to simply call ‘hydration systems’) allow the user to drink hands-free while on the move by utilizing a flexible drink tube. I cant imagine you’ve never seen a hydration system but think of a medical IV with tube (which is in fact how the original idea evolved). You sling the pouch of liquid over your shoulder or in your pack, snake the tube over your shoulder to a convenient location (like your pack strap) and suck liquid through the tube as you need it.

Several brands of hydration systems are out there and I’ve tried all of them. CamelBack makes some good stuff as does BlackHawks ‘Hydrastorm’ line. The edge for ‘tacticool’ goes to the Hydrastorm for inline filters, bigger bite valves and disposable reservoirs. If you put a flavored liquid, Gatorade for example, in your hydration reservoir youre always going to have some residual flavor and the increased possibility of bacterial growth. Disposable reservoirs let you fill ‘em with whatever you want and then toss ‘em rather than clean ‘em.

Hydration systems usually come with a ‘carrier’ of some sort – a fabric pouch to protect the plastic reservoir and provide some thermal insulation and attachment points. Some carriers are simply fabric pouches with D-rings for attaching to packs and other carriers are entire backpacks. I prefer the former since I can then use whatever pack suits my needs best, but I do have a few of the hydration systems that come with their own pack…theyre handy for bike rides and that sort of thing.

If youre gonna go buy a new hydration pack, make sure the fill opening is big enough to handle ice cubes…it’s a big deal. Also, larger fill openings mean its easier and faster to fill the darn things.

I prefer hydration systems that have a ‘lock’ on the business end of the drink tube. Why? If the reservoir is in your pack, and your pack is compressed by you leaning against something or taking a fall that pressure is going to squeeze that reservoir and force the liquid down that tube and if theres no lock on the end of your drink tube your going to get wet. And waste drinking water.

If, like me, you prefer to use a hydration system in conjunction with your own pack theres a few things to consider – make sure theres nothing that can poke a hole in the reservoir. I usually leave my reservoir in a cordura pouch to protect it inside the pack. A little forethought goes a long way here.

The section of drink tube that exits your bag will be exposed to the elements…liquid inside will freeze in the winter and get hot in the summer. When youre done drinking, blow into the drink tube to force the liquid in the tube back into the bladder. This clears the drink tube so it wont freeze or heat up.

The drink tube will flop around in a most annoying fashion if you don’t secure the end of it to something. Easiest way is find one of those metal spring clips with plastic loop that businesses use on ID badges. They usually consist of an alligator clip with a short length of clear vinyl strip attached. The vinyl strip has a snap fastener to form a loop that usually goes through a slot on the ID badge. Sound familiar? Put the plastic around the end of your drink tube and clip it to your gear to keep it from flopping around. CamelBack sells these things for a few bucks or you can get ‘em at office supply shops for less, or for free from your company’s front reception area.

Keep in mind many of these hydration reservoirs hold 70-100 oz. Of water. That can add up to some serious weight so try to load them up with only as much water as you think you’ll want. Make sure to squeeze out all excess air before closing the fill cap.

Now, with all those advantages I think so. They are the most convenient way to offer water to someone else, they are good for carrying water to cook with, and they are convenient to simply throw into a bag or box. I’ve become very fond of the Nalgene bottles for this role because of their nigh-invulnerability and the surprising amount of usability with other products (for example, some water filters are threaded to simply screw onto the top of the bottle). Nalgenes usually run $6-9 but in my opinion they are a bargain given the enormous abuse they can take. Get the genuine article. Accept no Chinese made substitute. I’ve taken my Nalgene bottle, filled it with water, and hurled it high and far across concrete parking lots and it doesn’t spill a drop. When the mushroom clouds fade the only things left will be cockroaches, mutants, and scratched but otherwise intact Nalgene bottles.

Someone, Im sure, will chime in about how they re-use 2-liter pop bottles or other one-time-use plastic bottles. Hey, more power to you. Two liter pop bottles are some tough customers…the soft drink industry spent a lot of money to come up with a container for liquids that could handle the stresses of interstate travel so why not take advantage of it. To me, there are some drawbacks..first, you’ll never get the taste of whatever was in there completely out. Second, these bottles tend to be clear and stored water usually fares better in opaque containers. Less likelihood of stuff growing in it. Also, theres not a lot of suitable pouches for 2-liter (or even 1 liter) pop bottles. Having said that, I do re-use my 20 oz, 1- and 2-liter pop bottles. I washe them out, fill them with water and put them in my freezer to help keep things cold in there if the power goes out.

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

I was mucking around the Popular Mechanics website and found this review of emergency ration bars. Im in agreement…Ive tried the ones tehre and the Mainstay, while not something youd wanna have to live on, were certainly palatable. The Datrex, in my opinion, has always tasted like chipboard with a similar consistency.

Speaking of PM’s website, theres actually some interesting stuff related to the things Im interested in. A few links:
Alternative energy stuff
Preparedness main page
And lotsa stuff on renewable energy

Sorta thing that makes me think I should keep my subscription up.

=====

Its continuing to be record breaking heat here in the Great Northwest. My motivation to do anything is barely there…thus, Im fairly quiet at the moment. On the other hadn, sitting in front of the air conditioner and surfing the interweb is alwys an educating experience.

I was mucking around the Popular Mechanics website and found this review of emergency ration bars. Im in agreement…Ive tried the ones tehre and the Mainstay, while not something youd wanna have to live on, were certainly palatable. The Datrex, in my opinion, has always tasted like chipboard with a similar consistency.

Speaking of PM’s website, theres actually some interesting stuff related to the things Im interested in. A few links:
Alternative energy stuff
Preparedness main page
And lotsa stuff on renewable energy

Sorta thing that makes me think I should keep my subscription up.

=====

Its continuing to be record breaking heat here in the Great Northwest. My motivation to do anything is barely there…thus, Im fairly quiet at the moment. On the other hadn, sitting in front of the air conditioner and surfing the interweb is alwys an educating experience.