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

Its worth noting that, according to various news reports, the market for recyclables has dropped quite a bit. Things like paper, aluminum, scrap steel, etc, etc, are bringing a fraction of what they were a few months ago. More importantly certain metals, such as copper and lead, are trading way below what they were a few months ago. So does this tumbling of copper prices mean that the cost of bullets will go down? Dunno…if the price of steel goes down does that mean the price of a Cadillac goes down? Probably not. While the material cost (in this case, copper) may go down, that drop may not translate into a drop in the price of the finished good. After all, that bullet still needs to have the copper made into blanks, cupped, drawn, trimmed, swaged, polished, etc, etc. The costs of those processes aren’t really affected by the lower price of the material. Still, I like to think that there may be some relief down the road in terms of bullet and ammo pricing. Regardless, while I cant say with any certainty if the price of ammo and bullets will go down, I can say that it is more likely that prices wilremain high or go higher. As political situations unfold there will, naturally, be issues with availability that will push prices higher (supply and demand, that old axiom). So…I’d say youre more likely to save money than waste money if you continue buying ammo and bullets at the moment.

Tangentially, I suppose its possible that people who have been cashing in scrap to ‘make ends meet’ or help mitigate their financial problems are going to be outta luck…which, I guess, could translate into a bit of social instability in regions where homeless and poverty-stricken people rely on a few dollars from recycling to keep them from being ‘forced’ to do other unsavory things. But, hey, they’ll be okay because ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are coming. Right? Right??

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Bloody hell, its cold outside. You know its going to be an interesting time when the forecasted daily high temperature is still below zero. However, this is Montana…you have to expect this sort of thing from time to time. For weather like this, if you have to be outside in it, those military ‘Mickey Mouse’ boots do a pretty good job. Fella at the gun show was selling them but, unfortunately, he didn’t have them in my weird foot size. (And before anyone starts sending links, yes, I can find them online but I hate buying clothes and footwear online…if it’s the wrong size it takes two weeks to try again with a different size.)

The belt for the furnace blower broke the other day. Makes sense, its probably about as old as me. Didn’t notice it until I wondered why it was 53 degrees in the house. Could have improvised, I suppose, with some pantyhose or other McGyver-esque improvisation but it was easier to just go to the hardware store and get another belt. ‘Course, if it had been a more catastrophic failure we might have had a problem….or not. We’ve got kerosene and propane heaters and plenty of fuel for both. Might be chilly but the pipes won’t freeze and we won’t get frostbite.

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Cold (really cold) weather means vehicle precautions. The cheapest, best precaution you can take is simply not to drive anywhere when the weather is life-threateningly cold. Realistically, however, that isn’t terribly likely. We gotta go to work, get groceries, go to the range, etc, etc. So the next cheapest insurance you can have is a couple heavy duty blankets or sleeping bags. I’m a suspenders-and-a-belt kind of guy so I prefer a couple heavy military wool blankets (excellent bargains) in the truck along with a military cold weather bag. That’s the minimum. A candle lantern with a few extra candles and matches will help keep things warm and bright if one is forced to sit by the road for any amount of time. The usual carbon monoxide warnings apply, naturally. When the missus was commuting to and from school every weekend I gave her a Rubbermaid container to take with her with all sortsa cold weather gear..as I recall it was a candle lantern, candles, matches, flashlight, batteries, a couple MRE’s with heaters, hand warmers, packets of drinking water (the small ‘lifeboat’ pouches will freeze solid but because of their small size they are fast and easy to thaw whereas a liter bottle of water, once frozen, is going to take a good deal of time and heat to thaw), sleeping bag and a few other odds and ends. And, obviously, its always a good idea to throw a shovel or two in the vehicle if you can.

Also, and this is one of those things that should be written in stone, stay with the vehicle. In almost every news story about someone getting stranded and dying the rescuers find the vehicle first and then find the hapless, lifeless victim. (Yeah, one or two exceptions, but easily 90%+ of these things have the rescuers finding the vehicle first.) If you have water, blankets/sleeping bag, a little food and some candles why wouldn’t you sit tight? Vehicles are usually pretty easy to find since they follow known courses (called ‘roads’) whereas a guy on foot could be anywhere. So…stay with the vehicle. And if you wind up getting a ride from a good Samaritan, leave a note at your stranded vehicle so no one thinks you wandered off to die.

We’re supposed to go to Helena tomorrow but the weather forecast is calling for some winter nastiness. We’ll head out and once on the interstate we’ll see how things look. If it looks ugly or even remotely dangerous we’ll do the smart thing: turn the bloody truck around and return. Sure, the odds would probably be good that we’d make it okay but why take chances? However, just to be on the safe side, I’ll be packing up all the necessary surivival gear as well as adding a few sundry items to the truck (like a few extra flares, another 5-gallons of gas, my insulated Carhart bibs, and the like.)