Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
I started to walk to the shop this morning and got about 100 yards before I thought “You know, it’s a nice day. Lets get the bike out.” So, unless the temperatures dip back into the low 30’s, we’re back into bicycle season. Although there didn’t seem to be any problems, I replaced both tubes today with Slime’d tubes. Always good to have a little extra something in your favor. Ninetynine percent of my bije riding is in town and the next time I have a flat due to nails or broken glass won’t be the first.
I paid what I thought at the time was an outrageous sum for my mountain bike about five years ago but as I’ve discovered in most things, I got what I paid for. The bike has held up exceptionally well over the years and has suited my needs quite well. I work close enough to where I live that theres really no practical reason to drive between the two unless its craptacular weather or I have a bunch of stuff to haul. If you haven’t gotten yourself a decent mountain bike, I highly advise getting one. The one I have now could use some tweaking…a nice matte OD finish, for example….but its been an excellent purchase. Im no enviroweenie or Peak Oil doomist but if I can save a few bucks by riding instead of driving, hey that’s more money to spend on other goodies.
=-=-=-=-=-=
Theres a bit more in the mainstream news about ammo shortages. Is there anyone at all who didn’t see this coming? Anyone? I get calls from people wanting to stock up on .223 or AR’s and they say something like “I figured I better stock up while I can” and these retards are surprised when I tell them “Good luck.” You don’t decide to buy your parachute after the #2 engine fails. I’ve been predicting all along that there would be 4 waves of panic buying: election, inauguration, proposed legislation, signing of legislation. We’re done with the first two and are creeping into the third. If you don’t have what you want now does this mean you’ll never have it? No, of course not. Despite the administrations obvious disdain for free-market principles this is still a somewhat capitalist society. You’ll always be able to get what you want. Always. You just have to be willing to pay the price. You can buy AR’s and ammo all day long right now…if youre willing to pay the outrageous prices. I decided a few weeks ago that I was done helping other people stock up on their AR’s and the like. Anyone who comes up to me today and says “I was thinking maybe I should get an AR and some magazines” is a Johnny-Come-Lately of the worst order. Go away, you’re triaged with the rest of the sheep. I’m only interested in working with those with a better sense of self-preservation.
As an aside, the shortage of reloading components and ammo has also extended to reloading gear. I’ve been having a difficult (but not impossible…yet) time getting in reloading dies for the usual calibers (223, 308, .30-06. 45ACP, etc). Had to jump through several vendors before finding what I needed. Interesting times we live in, eh?
=-=-=-=-=-=
Speaking of self-preservation. The economy is continuing its decline recovery decline recovery. The economy will recover, theres no doubt about that, the only question is whats left standing when it does recover….a bloated centrally planned Soviet-style economy, a laissez-faire capitalist system, a ‘somewhat regulated’ system or some bastard hybrid of all that.
Add to the economic situation and you have our old competitors, the Soviet Russians, making noises about establishing air bases off of Cuba. Ignoring for a minute why you would even need an air base in Cuba when you’ve got ballistic submarines and ICBM’s, is there anyone who thinks this would have even been an issue a year ago? Last time the Russians tried stuffing Cuba full of that sort of crap Jack Kennedy zipped up his pants long enough to take us all to the brink of World War Three. (And lest you think that the Cuban Missile Crisis was an unequivocal success for JFK, keep in mind that those missiles left Cuba only after we agreed to pull ours out of, I believe, Turkey and a few other places.) Additionally, Raoul Castro, in my opinion, is a lot more tractable than his brother and is probably not eager to get into a North Korean-style pissing contest with the US and the UN. He seems more interested in gradually thawing things, not making them worse. Whats more interesting here is the notion that our current administration is seen as the kind that would tolerate such saber rattling from second raters like the Russians.
=-=-=-=-=-=
The missus and I were discussing the attitude changes that come with gun ownership. Not the casual I-have-a-.22-in-the-closet ownership. More like the I-have-a-Sig220-with-a-Surefire type of ownership. She opined that when you develop the confidence to be less scared of the bad things in the world around you the bad things are more likely to leave you alone. I agree. Mike Tyson probably doesn’t worry about getting mugged, Alton Brown probably never worries about getting hungry and Angelina Jolie probably never worries about getting laid. People who own defensive guns and practice with them regularly probably don’t worry too much about the random home invasion or violent encounter nearly as much as the terrified unarmed city dweller. In our case theres probably some sort of subconsciously recognized aura of confidence or competence that makes potential predators want to move on to more sheepish prey. Fine with me. The less conflict in my life the better. If I live to be a hundred and never shoot at anything other than Bambi, I’ll be pleased.
=-=-=-=-=-=
Cannery trip next week. Always nice to spend some time with Those People. I just need to round out some odd numbers of stuff and then there wont be any real reason for me to go there except possibly entertainment and, I hate using this word, ‘fellowship’. Not the bible-thumping-bow-our-heads-and-pray type of fellowship but more of the hanging-out-with-people-who-think-like-me fellowship. That’s always nice.
