Monthly Archives: April 2024

Nice jugs

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Remember kids: guns are the sexy part of survivalism. There’s still a lot of other stuff involved that isnt nearly as fun or sexy. Case in point:


One

One of Canada’s few leading exports that isn’t toxic… (Canaduh is North America’s leading exporter of asbestos, acid rain, and Biebers.) The Scepter cans have a decent reputation and for water storage I rather like them. I don’t like them for fuel storage but then again I am not a fan of any plastic fuel container. When it comes to fuel, it’s Wavian/Valpro or nothing.

Anyway, I was thinking that it was time to replace my ancient surplus British water cans that I bought about 15 years ago. Or, at least retire them to secondary status. The thing I like about these Scepter cans is the enormous mouth on them. It’s large enough that  I can fit the end of a stirrup pump in there and have five-gallons of water for firefighting anywhere I can haul this on an ALICE frame. And, of course, the large  mouth makes it easier to get in there and clean.

I’ll rinse these out with hot water and dish detergent, and then it’s a fillup of clean water and baking soda to eliminate that annoying plastic smell. Then it’s time to fill them, hang them from the rafters with some newsprint on the floor below them, and check on them the next day for leaks. (You do always check your liquid containers for leaks before you commit to using them, don’t you?)

These cans aren’t cheap. I can get cheaper ones from Winco that will probably do just as good a job sitting on a shelf in my basement. But the apocalypse doesn’t always look like a simple trip to my safe, secure, well-lit, temperate basement. Sometimes it looks like heaving 40# cans of water into the back of a truck and bouncing them down a fire road as the bang up and jostle with other gear. Thats what I’m paying the extra for…survivability. Its a virtual certainty these will sit on the shelf in the basement until such time as I need them and their contents….and any reasonably well made plastic water container will work for that. But for that (waitforit) dark and stormy night at 3am where we’re tossing ammo, water, fuel, packs, and food in the back of a truck with the goal of getting outta here now now now….well, thats where the extra money is going.

Article – Biden to close ‘gun-show loophole’ and expand background checks for firearms

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The Biden administration is moving to expand background checks for gun purchases, fulfilling a key demand of advocates following the deadly shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

The final rule, expected to be submitted Thursday to the Federal Register by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, would eliminate a loophole that has allowed sales of guns without background checks of guns outside of brick-and-mortar stores.

The rule was issued under a provision of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. It requires that anyone who sells guns for profit to have a license and that buyers be subject to a background check, including at firearms shows and flea markets. The administration had been working on the rule since last spring. Once publicized, it will take effect in 30 days.

Remember: if a law allows something that Democrats don’t like, its a ‘loophole’.

Should be interesting to pick this apart and see exactly what is and isn’t defined as being ‘engaged in the business’. The important takeaway here is that if you believe that a paperless gun transaction is important to your privacy and well-being, yo u may wish to make those purchases sooner rather than later.

Pistol evolution

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I really don’t like making too many posts that are firearms-related because, nominally, this blog isn’t about firearms but rather about preparedness. And while firearms are certainly a part of that, they are but a small part. Unfortunately, the free ice cream machine is clogged today and firearms posts are sort of a low-hanging fruit.

As years come on apace I am slowly moving forward in terms of firearms technology. I’ve put red dots on a couple carbines and I’ve decided I want to try out a red dot pistol. To that end, I’ve decided to assemble a moderately tweaked out G17 (or G34….haven’t decided yet). The reason for the red dot is simply for speed and increased accuracy.

I’ve learned, at some expense, that the world does throw the odd curve ball every once in a while and that when that pitch leaves the mound youre gonna want every advantage you can get. For me, that means fast(er) and (more) accurate shooting.

I’m looking at getting a Trijicon RMR. I’ve talked to several people and gotten some mixed messages regarding slides with optic cuts. Glock makes their optic-ready MOS series and my initial thought was just to pick up a 17MOS or 34MOS (which, sadly, are not available as Gen3 versions.) However, I’ve had a couple people tell me that the MOS mounting system leaves a bit to be desired and that I would be better serviced to send a regular Glock slide off and have the optics cut milled out specifically for the RMR, rather than using adaptor plates.

Another alternative, which is rapidly gaining favor with me, is to buy an aftermarket slide that is already cut for the RMR. In this manner I can have a Gen3 pistol with the optics. (It’s a personal preference thing…the Gen3, to me, is the more comfortable and reliable of all the Glock generations. Fuddlore perhaps, but I have the money to get what I want so …why not?)

Once that optic issue is in the rearview mirror the rest is simple. A quality threaded barrel, a nice trigger, suppressor-height night sites, light, and a good holster. And then loads of practice.

But, for now, the bugaboo is the optics mounting issue….after that everything else seems simple.

Nothing stirs the blood against .gov like taxes

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Im simply going to state that I did my taxes this weekend. I’m not going to bother talking about how much I hate paying those taxes because I think we can all agree that paying taxes sucks.

The only nice thing is that there’s a refund on the way. As you know, if you could adjust your withholdings perfectly you would owe nothing and have no refund. Unfortunately, that is a virtual impossibility. So…Im getting a bit of a refund. And, please do not forget – tax refunds aren’t (usually) ‘free money’. It just means you handed over too much money to Uncle Sam and he’s returning it.

And what really annoys me is that there is someone, somewhere, who is thinking I’m not paying enough in taxes. You know, not paying my ‘fair share’. Keep in mind that I pay more in taxes, and use less government services, than the ‘victims of inequity’ who, literally, pay no taxes at all and use the most services. Their ‘fair share’ is zero? That doesn’t seem fair.

And then people like Fake Indian Woman want people to pay taxes on money that they haven’t actually gotten yet (unrealized gains), and even a percentage of your annual worth (wealth tax). But it’s okay because we all know that the government will manage that additional tax revenue wisely, frugally, and efficiently. Oh, and by the way the national debt is around $34 trillion dollars.

The more centrist-lefty minded will say something like “Don’t you like having a police and fire department? Don’t you like having roads to drive on? Don’t you like having infrastructure?” Why, yes…yes, I do. But Stuff like that makes up a tiny percentage of my taxes. The rest is stuff of questionable utility to me. It’s easy to jump on the government for the classic $900 toilet seats, but its more than that. I would say that .gov spend money like drunken sailors, but a) thats an unfair comparison to sailors everywhere and b) drunken sailors at least have the decency to spend their own money.

Whats the solution? Honestly, there isn’t one. Everyone is happy to tax someone as long as it isn’t them. “Free” health care, college education, housing, and that sort of ting isn’t ‘free’ by any stretch of the imagination. If you think it’s free then ask yourself how the teachers, doctors, and other people are getting paid. They don’t work for nothing, right?

“Oh, we’ll tax the rich!” Yeah, sure you will. Anyone remember when Clinton promised that he’d only raise taxes on ‘the rich’ and said that if you made less than $XXX,XXX per year your taxes wouldn’t change? And then what happened? Why, they lowered the dollar threshold lower and lower until all of a sudden almost everyone was considered ‘rich’…and then taxed ‘the rich’.

I’m trying not to be bitter, but I have enough business, accounting, and finance classes under my belt to know that there is a tremendously strong case for a) cash businesses and b) converting that cash to cash-like instruments (gold, silver, land, etc.)

And here’s a head scratcher….remember when the .gov was talking about a trillion dollar coin? If .gov can just mint a coin to give themselves a trillion dollars to beat a budget restriction, then why do they need to collect taxes at all? Why not just ‘print money’ like they already do? Don’t use the argument that doing so will cause inflation…no one seemed too worried about that when they were bandying the idea about.

I’ll leave you with what Will Rogers said about the difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.

Link – Zimbabwe launches new gold-backed currency – ZiG

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Zimbabwe has introduced a new gold-backed currency called ZiG – the name stands for “Zimbabwe Gold”.

It is the latest attempt to stabilise an economy that has lurched from crisis to crisis for the past 25 years.

Unveiling the new notes, central bank governor John Mushayavanhu said the ZiG would be structured, and set at a market-determined exchange rate.

The ZiG replaces a Zimbabwean dollar, the RTGS, that had lost three-quarters of its value so far this year.

Annual inflation in March reached 55% – a seven-month high.

Zimbabweans have 21 days to exchange old, inflation-hit notes for the new currency.

Glaringly absent is anything about whether you’ll be able to actually walk into a Zim bank (which I imagine as being like a cross between a bank and a 7-11 in a bad neighborhood) and redeem that paper for actual gold. Because…if you can’t, then you’re right back to a faith-based currency.

I’ve actually stopped buying gold and silver for right now because I just don’t wanna spend that kind of money. But, Im both delighted and terrified to see how the metals I have are increasing in value. (Or, more accurately, how the value of the metals is staying the same and the value of the currency is declining.)

 

Pay yourself first

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I took the last two days off from work because I caught some bug (not Wuhan Flu) and didn’t want to wind up knocking out half the people at work by giving it to them. I very seldom take Paid Time Off (PTO) so I’ve accrued a hundred or so hours of PTO that I can use. And I accrue another five hours every pay period. SO…taking yesterday and today off.

One of the things I did with the time was update my personal finance stuff. I’ve been using the same budget and spending plan since 2017. Hey, if it works, it works. But I needed to clean it up and streamline it a bit to reflect that I earn a bit more money now than I did seven years ago.

Succinctly, I live on about 45% of my income. The rest is immediately whisked off to various little hides. 15% goes into retirement investing, %15 goes into savings, %10 goes into an emergency fund, 10% goes into land fund, and %5 goes into my HSA. I very much understand that this is quite a departure from how most people live. Because of the way I live, I have a pretty small amount of living expenses. I don’t have a house payment, car payment, student loan payment, credit card payment, kids, or anything like that. My property rental covers my property taxes and insurance. My actual out-of-pocket living expenses are about $675 a month. That 45% of my paycheck covers that nut pretty quickly and leaves me a bunch left over for pretty much whatever I want. I don’t have the latest and greatest, and I’m using a ten year old computer (mostly for sentimental reasons), but ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ was never a thing with me.

What’s interesting, though, is that I have learned (the hard way) what the expression ‘pay yourself first’ means. I know most of us here are old-timers who have made way, way too many trips around the sun but for the younger crowd who maybe never had someone explain it to them, now might be a good time.

When I was younger, I had always heard the expression ‘pay yourself first’ when it came to money. I had no idea what that  meant. I just got my paycheck, doesn’t that mean I got paid? Pay myself what?

You are the main character in your life’s story. No one, and nothing, is more important than you. Ford financing, the electric company, Krogers, the local ISP, and the kid who mows your lawn are not  more important than you. When you get your paycheck (or any other income…be it lottery winnings, a gift, or $20 found in your winter coat pocket) the first person on the list of ‘where does this money go’ is you. You pull out the money that is earmarked for your savings, your investment, your ‘just in case’. Once that money is pulled out and safely stowed, then everyone else gets paid. That’s it.

Why is it so important? Because, as I have repeatedly hammered into the blogosphere, you will need $50 bills far more often in life than you will need .50 BMG. You will have job losses, personal losses, medical issues, sick kids, bad transmissions, leaky water heaters, broken pipes, emergency travel needs, desperate loved ones, and a million other emergencies that will magically be downgraded to ‘inconveniences’ because you were able to just Write. A. Check.

It doesn’t matter how much you earn…calculate a dollar value or a percentage value and that’s the amount you take off the top, first thing, every time. Large amount or small amount, doesn’t matter as long as its something. To paraphrase Shepherd Book: “I don’t care how much you save, just save it.”

Ten years ago I made so little money it was ridiculous, and that lack of earning wound up costing me a lot . When my head cleared, I looked for a career path that would provide better for me, I worked my way though the necessary education, and now I do okay for myself. I’m not rich, and I still make less than many people, (but my net worth, on the other hand….) but at the end of the month I have money in the bank, a roof over my head, food in the fridge, hot water in the pipes, and the security of knowing I have the financial resources to cover emergencies.

Part of preparedness includes being prepared in case the world doesn’t end. That starts with paying yourself first.