Sportsmans Guide is again selling the fabulous Flectar parka combo – liner and parka for $20. Their #JX5M-86391X ( http://www.sportsmansguide.com) I’ve got four of these (one for everyday use, one for the truck, two for storage) and am thoroughly pleased with them. When the girlfriend BunkerBabe took her shooting class and the weather turned nasty she was immensely pleased to find one of these parka/liner combos stowed in a drybag in the bag of the truck…that was worth $20 right there.Theyre superior to the US issue field jackets in a bunch of ways. It looks like these are seasonal offerings so get ’em while you can. Good stuff. Zero approved.
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I was in Albertsons the other day and found, check this out, extra-humongoid ZipLoc bags. Seriously. ZipLoc is making body bags! (“Keeps freshness out!”) Actually, theyre not quite that big…but they are 2’x2.7′ (“XXL”) and 2’x1.7′ (“XL”). Not sure I’d trust them on long-term waterproofness but they would be just the ticket for storing your sleeping bags or backpacks in such a way as to keep dust, dirt and moisture off them. These would be perfect if you had to toss your pack in the back of a truck and didnt want the rain/snow to get to it. Multitudes of uses limited by your imagination. I’ve picked up a couple boxes and will give a review of them later. In KatrinaWorld these would be great for keeping sleeping bags, clothes, portable devices, etc, etc protected from mold, damp and moisture. Im quite excited.
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Homemade noodles in chicken broth
1½ cup flour (either freshly ground whole wheat
or white
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs, reconstituted or fresh
Place flour in mound on board, making a nest or well in the center of the mound. Pour eggs into nest. Beat the
eggs with a fork, gradually bringing the flour into the mix. Work the dough into a ball with your hands, picking up only as much flour as it takes to make a stiff, but workable ball. Knead the dough for about five minutes. It should not stick to the board. If it seems too moist, add a little more flour; if too dry, dampen your hands and knead longer. Divide the ball into quarters. Cover three and reserve one to work with immediately. Lightly sprinkle board with flour and roll out dough, pulling it into a uniform thickness oval. Make it as thin as workable and let rest in a warm, dry place. Repeat with other three quarters. When all dough is dry, but not stiff and brittle, roll like a jelly roll, cutting into desired thickness with a sharp knife. You can then either fluff out to separate and then carefully hang to dry or lay it flat to air dry for an hour. Pour a quart of chicken broth (or use dry chicken granules to make a broth) into a large pot. Add diced, canned, or freeze dried chicken meat, if desired, as well as onion, carrots, and spices as wanted. Bring to a medium boil, then carefully add noodles, simmering just long enough to make them tender. The flour on the noodles provides natural thickening. You’ll get raves for this simple, yet satisfying meal.
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One of the things Ive been wanting to buy is map software for printing out your own topo maps. I see alot of uses for this stuff…not the least of which are:
- Evaluating routes and alternate routes out of your area
- Getting a broader picture of a property’s layout
- Using in conjunction with a GPS for geocaching
- Scoping out hunting and camping areas
Where it would really shine is if you found a pice of property you wanted to purchase for a retreat or other use, you could generate the top, check it against GPS coords, and then get the satellite image. How utterly cool would that be? Know where every ravine, gully, draw, creek, and neighbor is without getting away from your computer. (Although, obviously, theres no substitute for boots-on-the-ground.)
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I was thinking about how if you had survived Katrina, had five gallons of gas in your car, and decided it was time to leave you’d be severely screwed by not knowing what bridges, overpasses and other chokepoints were still usable and which weren’t. And you could really use up gasoline in a hurry driving through town looking for a bridge that wasnt washed away. The solution is to first of all know where all these chokepoints are, then find out somehow which ones are still usable. Maybe recon on bicycle? Ask a passing NG, if they look harmless. Tough situation to be in. Just enough gas for one chance and you can’t blow it. So, either have lotsa gas or lotsa info or both. And think ‘outside the box’ in terms of avenues of exits. Roads work, but so do railroad tracks/rightofways, bicycle trails and other usually-not-used-with-a-car avenues. This is where maps come in handy. I like to think that local broadcasting would be making announcements about which avenues were accessible and which werent but we’ve all seen how relying on gov’t pays off, right?
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Speaking of the Big Sleazy, it appears the mayor is now going to allow people to start repopulating parts of New Orleans. Never mind that a week ago he had his flunkies enthusiastically shoving grandmothers into cattle cars trucks to be taken for ‘processing’ for their own ‘safety’. FIrst off, as far as Im concerned the mayor of New Orleans is a puppet-figurehead for who’s really calling the shots – the feds. And thats fine, I can see him wanting to look like he actually has something to do. But I guarantee you this man’s career in politics , anywhere else in the country, would be toast…but Louisiana has a political history that beggars logic. Were it up to me, he’d never have a job in government again..which, unfortunately, means thats exactly what he’s going to have.
Speaking of beggars, I want to point out that the biggest recovery efforts in terms of rehabbing buildings, removing debris and the like are being done privately. Businesses are taking the steps to get up and running on their own and thats why they will succeed and rebuild cheaper, faster and better than the government will do it.
that mayor of NO, i wouldn’t hire him to clean bathrooms at a bus depot
i think he’s one of the BIGGEST dingalings, that i’ve EVER seen
Google Earth is free. I’ve used it to get very nice views of my land using combined topo+satellite views. The satellite images they’re using aren’t as high of resolution as more urban areas, but that may improve soon.
I love my Flectar parka combo. I think I’ll pick up a couple more to leave in the trucks.
I think Zip-lock bags are right up there with duct tape on the 1000s of Uses list. They don’t handle full submersion well, though. I prefer to use dry bags (like those sold for kayaking) or the gallon-size Nalgene bottles. Dry bags can even be used as passable flotation devices.
If you know anything about hydrology, topo maps can also help you find springs and other water sources. I would suggest staying off railroad tracks in an emergency. It’s a federal offense to be caught on them (you could risk losing your right to own guns), and they’ve beefed up security significantly since 911. They don’t mess around, either. The bulls are often well equipped with night-vision optics, etc.
Thanks for the parka heads-up. I was just thinking about looking for one. My M65 (a gift from my uncle – Sam) is getting a bit tattered and has no liner.
Nagin isn’t a tool of the feds. They’re basically ignoring him. He probably is somewhat of a tool of local power brokers, but I think his future in local politics is rather bleak at best, depending on whose toes he stepped on and whose property ended up being destroyed.
But like you say – it’s NO, so who knows…
I forgot to mention that I have a 1999 copy of DeLorme 3D TopoQuads. I haven’t used it in awhile, but if I remember correctly it interfaces with GPSs and allows you to print 3D views of the area you select. It gives you a much better idea of the terrain than just looking at the contour lines.
I just googled it and it looks pretty expensive – about $100 per state or half-state(!) Montana is two products at $100@. Good product, though. Although you should be able to get all the topo material online nowdays at places like USGS or Topozone.
FIrst off, as far as Im concerned the mayor of New Orleans is a puppet-figurehead for who’s really calling the shots – the feds.
What planet are you on?
Nagin is probably the biggest annoyance that anybody on the federal level has to deal with. He’s more of a loose cannon than the governor is. He keeps making unilateral decisions that FEMA and NG have to scramble to keep from turning into secondary disasters. If anything, he’s making the feds dance (though he seems to be doing it at random more than with any sort of plan). He’s an expert at ignoring everything anybody has ever learned about emergency management.
That being said, I agree that the private restorations will almost certainly turn out better than the government ones.
He’s a dog with all bark and very little bite. he’s in control of what? A shattered police force and a couple of fire departments at this point? Anything being done down there is being done by either private sector outfits or federal agencies, neither of which Nagin is exactly in charge of. He is, for all intents and purposes, a fifth wheel at this point in charge of essentially nothing.
How do their sizes run? True, or standard European small for the size.
Yet every time he gets on TV and says something stupid, thousands of people believe him and try to go places that can’t accommodate them or get assistance that isn’t available.
My exp. is if that you tell ’em you want L they give you what they feel is L, although by European standards in might be XL. Order by American sizing.
Thanks, I just ordered one, we’ll see what happens.
What’s the sizing like on the flectar parkas? It took me a long time to find an M65 that fit me in the sleeves. Normal-sized guys like you seem to have no problems, but the orangutan-armed, 6′, 220+-lb types like me are limited in what will fit.
That makes me glad I didn’t order any yet.
Im no expert but Id guess your going to have to try the XL..worst comes to worst, one of the Horde will fit it.
Rock on! I have one in size small now and it fits *perfectly*. I’m ordering two more if they’re that cheap. One for the truck toolbox, and one for my vacuum sealed emergency winter clothing stash, which I have recently been chastised for not working on.
I have the small and it fits me perfectly. I’m 5’3″, 120 pounds.
I saw the Ziplocs at Sams Club, but was in too big of a hurry at the time to get the price… but they’re roughly $9.03 according to the website for a 9 or 7 count bag…
Re: Ziplocs at Target
Fortunately, there was a stack of ‘$5.00 off’ coupons sitting there to promote this new product.
Re: Ziplocs at Target
I get catalogues from companies who supply warehouses and factories for packing and shipping…. They are full of the kinda stuff you’d love.
Re: Ziplocs at Target
ULINE!
Re: Ziplocs at Target
Try that again:
ULINE!
Re: Ziplocs at Target
That’s one of them… I get a few others too.
One of them deals specifically with how to outfit the van to become a serial killer.