Summer touristy season is starting here in the great state of Montana (Motto: “Welcome! Now go back to California!”). As such the local RV place is doing their $5 fillup on propane tanks, so I’m taking the 20# barbecue bombs up for a refill. Kerosene is my first choice for end-of-the-world stove/lamp/heater fuel, but a good survivalist keeps his options open, y’know? I was at CostCo the other day and they had new 20# tanks for sale and I figured it couldnt hurt to have another one in the line up. Plus, who knows, maybe I’ll get off my armored butt and actually do some barbecuing this year.
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And, since it’s the weekend, it’s a trip to the ‘Co’s…CostCo and Winco. Sure, it serves the purpose of keeping the shelves filled, but it’s also a barometer of the Current Situation. I can see how prices and availability have changed since last week. Remember when this Wuhan Flu stuff started and rice and toilet paper were cleaned out? That was a pretty good gauge of how the public perceived the situation. The current ammogeddon is a similar canary-in-a-coal-mine as well. So, these grocery trips aren’t just about restocking…theyre also about taking the pulse of the population. When everyone in front of you at the checkout is loaded up on canned goods and bottled water, maybe you need to pay attention.
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And, because it’s better to be safe than sorry, an itsy bit of more gold was added to the stash. The Metals Pimp has been giving me a good deal on generic 1/10 gold lately so I’m working on getting a tube full of those. I think the odds of the day coming where I’m standing at some sort of flea market trading gold for antibiotics and batteries is as close to zero as you can get, but…I’ve been wrong before. And if the world doesn’t go off the rails I can always cash it out..any loss is simply allocated as the price of having that insurance and peace of mind over time.
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That video fo the guy blowing himself up with is .50 BMG has been getting massive airplay in the gunblogosphere. No doubt, it was an extremely sobering video. I’ve had guns blow up in my face before but nothing that caused the kinda physical trauma that poor bastard experienced. I got a little ‘shaving cut’ from the rear sight flying back in my face and that was about it. Nonetheless, I think I’ll start making sure the first aid gear is sitting on the table right next to the shooting gear next time i go shooting, rather than just sitting in the gear box behind the seat of the truck.
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Also wound up letting my lizard brain get the better of me and, in a spate of late-night websurfing, bought another (!) case of Magpul 27-rd Glock mags. I think that, at the moment, I’m sitting on something like a total of six or seven hundred Magpul Glock mags. :::shrug::: What can I say…I’m easily influenced. But tell you what…when the next mag ban comes down I am gonna be such a player.
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And, of course, I continue to work on the financial side of increased resilience. I’ve been dabbling in options and have been making a couple hundred bucks a week inside my Roth doing covered calls. As such, it’s a nice way to get more money in my Roth once I’ve maxed out my contributions for the year. In case anyone cares, it’s mostly the meme stocks..AMC, BB, and NOK. Absolutely no uncovered calls or naked shorts…thats a fast road to trouble.
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Still waiting for final grades to come in. Got one class that’s unaccounted for and thats, naturally, the one that I was most concerned about. Should be up next week, but I’m on pins and needles until then
Re: First aid at the range:
I’ve got a bright RED IFAK case (made in the People’s nylon sewing factory #223) that I loaded with the usual, and a red TQ carrier with another CAT-T that dangle from the strap to my main range bag…just in case.
Yes. Perhaps investing in one of those tall ginormous r.v. type propane tanks and having strapped to a dedicated dolly cart would be an astute magyver rig up since you’re in cold country, and a dual, multi fuel types sourcing is mandatory prudence. A capacity upgrade from little bubba the barbecue guy sizes, but not a ground placed bought or leased propane service company yard bomb configuration. I spied a crusty fellow employing such a big tank to his little trailer behind his truck in bed camper set up at a Salmon Id gas station. The Guy was a prepared mountain man type for sure. Summers are when us Ants prepare for winters. Stay Frosty.
Just for source info. Try Miles Stairs Wick Shoppe. (Since ’97) i got spare multiples wicks for Kero heaters there. Mine is a Korean dynaglo round type. Also get Mr. Funnel for water filtering among other crap elements from kerosene fuel storage sources. Important with long term post apoc stockpiles. Reference: http://www.Miles Stairs.com.
Keep up the good work Commander, we Ants need your postings.
i second on the mr.funnel. good gear.
I was watching a youtube yesterday, a guy who rebuilds generators…he tried Mr. Funnel and was seriously disappointed in it. YMMV.
And back in the day, we called those ‘Baja Funnels’…
“Nonetheless, I think I’ll start making sure the first aid gear is sitting on the table right next to the shooting gear next time i go shooting, rather than just sitting in the gear box behind the seat of the truck”
Myself, I am likely known as “the red medic bag guy”. Every range trip, I set my range bag next to my (surprisingly) red medic bag, with a IFAK/Oh Shit Kit on the handle. TK on the MOLLE webbing of the IFAK, TK inside as well as IBD, gauze, ABDs, and both roller gauze and Coban. And gloves. Gloves everywhere.
If you ever come across a good source of genuine ruger mini 14 mags, I’d be glad to buy some.
Last deal I found was a year ago: http://www.commanderzero.com/?p=7303
If I were you, I’d go hunt down some of these that might still be on shelves: http://www.commanderzero.com/?p=5630
local food lion was wiped out in the granola/breakfast bar/crackers/cookies sections. friend at glad said they had to shutdown some lines due to lack of packaging ie boxes. likely the granola etc is same reason. plenty of cardboard, no printing. don’t know why that is. glad buddy said corporate got hacked and lost all their label print software and backups. others?
Like your idea of the weekly trip to the CO’s . always keeping thing filled up as well as a barometer of how things are changing and where you need to increase your efforts – just stay away from the lumber yard. holy bajeezus – scary.
A buddy From Vancouver Isl. sent me a graph on the increase of housing prices over the last 20 years.
Looking at 10 countries worldwide the countries changed rank every year with Germany for the most part going into a decrease in costs for the first 10 years. Canada was at the low end of the scale for all but the last 5 years, ended up over the last few years at 169% increase. The highest increase of any country. I’m chalking that up to their practically non-existent immigration policy as well as their asinine lock everything down for eternity BS. US ended up in the middle, but that ain’t saying much cause it doesn’t reflect the recent increase in everything as well as scarcity in properties for sale.
Now I’ve actually had good luck using naked options yo limit risk!
If I’m bullish on a stock, I’ll buy ATM naked calls with 30-45 days on them (my typical trading timeframe).Bearish I pickup puts. My max risk, is the premium paid, but because they are options contracts, they’re levered 100:1. My risk is capped at the premium I paid the enter the trade. If I’m wrong, they expire worthless. If I’m right, they were already ATM when I bought them… theta becomes your friend!
Commander, do you know if the AC Unity glock and AK mags are any good? Always look for good deals for the stocks.
Beats me. Magpul Glock mags are a known quantity and cheap enough that I have a hard time believeing a mag cheaper than the magpul would be any good.