Freeze dried ice cream sandwiches

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ETA: The Aborted Launch and Meteoric Rise of Astronaut Ice Cream

CostCo has been, as of late, carrying some Mountain House freeze dried meals in an ’emergency pack’. This is in addition to a couple other ‘survival bucket’ products that CostCo is carrying. Personally, I’d buy the MH product rather than the other survival food available at CostCo. At least the MH includes some minor degree of real meat…not TVP or ‘chicken flavor‘. (For example, these kits don’t offer ‘chicken soup’. No no no. They offer ‘Chicken flavored soup’ or ‘Beef flavored stew’. Because if you say ‘chicken soup’ then you better have some actual chicken in there or you could be construed as having misled the buyer.

Anyway…

In addition to the Mountain House emergency pack, I noticed that CostCo is also carrying these:

First off, you do not add hot (or cold) water to reconstitute this stuff. You simply eat it as is. I’ve had these before and many people have as well…theyre kind of a novelty in the world of survival food. Does it taste like ice cream? Well, yes. But it gets a bit gummy in your mouth. Still, its pretty cool and a nice treat.

Would I buy these? Nah. I mean, if you want something to hand out to impress your friends at a picnic, yeah. But its kinda expensive. Still, when you’re manning that roadblock after the fallout settles it might be a nice break from the MRE’s and Spam.

Trolling ATFE

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I had to order up a new stack of 4473 forms (“yellow sheets”) last week. Apparently I can just go online and order them so thats what I did. Now, I really can’t stand the ATFE but the hard truth is that I have to put up with them to have an FFL, and having an FFL makes things a lot more economical and beneficial for me in terms of gun acquisitions and value to the tribe. So, I put up with them.

But sometimes….you just wanna poke the bear.

The bundle of forms arrived at my PO box yesterday:Yeah, I know it was thirty years ago….so probably the drone at the ATFE clearing house has no idea of their history….or simply doesn’t care….but I still find this amusing.

Article – Inside the American Redoubt

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North Idaho has long been home to those seeking to escape the looming collapse of America. This is a region doused in frontier spirit; a land where people openly carry guns, and where bounty hunters still operate, tracking down fugitives hoping to bolt into Canada. It is here, on rugged fringes stalked by mountain lions, bears and wolves, that the American Redoubt was born.

Yet another article about the ‘American Redoubt’, as coined by Friend Of The Blog ™ ,Rawles.

The article doesn’t really cover any new ground, but I usually read these things with a critical eye because invariably they tend to imply a sinister racial overtone. People see ‘Idaho’, ‘Survivalist’, and ‘Bunker’ and the association is made. This article seems to skate around that but there is this gem “the Redoubt, and the man behind it, have become a threat to liberal America”. I wouldn’t have phrased it that way. Any threat is the kind posed by any idea that has the potential to change a  person’s beliefs.

Its the same ‘threat’ posed by reading ‘Atlas Shrugged’ or studying a new religion – a change to your way of thinking and evaluating the world. And, if someone thinks ideas are a threat then maybe they need to re-evaluate the belief they hold that feels so threatened.

The notion of a ‘Redoubt’ isn’t a threat to anyone except people who prefer that individuals who want to think for themselves be isolated from other like-minded folks. And, here’s the cool thing about living in a somewhat-free country – if you move to the Redoubt and don’t like it, you can move back.

Anyway, interesting article if you can adjust your footing for the slant.

Article – How Long Does Canned Food Last? Here’s What You Need to Know

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Here’s the good news: Canned goods actually last indefinitely if they’re kept in good condition, according to the USDA. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll still taste optimal ten years from now! There are actually several factors that limit the shelf life of canned goods, but in general, foods that are more acidic will expire sooner, while low-acid canned foods will actually last for longer. If you’re wondering about specific canned foods, though, here’s how long they’ll last on your shelf, as well as in the refrigerator after you open them.

Anyone who has been into preparedness/survivalism knows that canned goods last well beyond their ‘best by’ or expiration date. The internet is replete with stories of people eating canned goods that are five, ten, fifteen years old. Some things, like high-acid foods (pineapple, tomatoes, etc) don’t last long but most other stuff does. I’ve had canned meats that were several years past their dates and I’m still here.

Canned food, for me, is the first line of long(ish) term food. Canned vegetables, meats, sauces, etc. all are part of my layered food storage. Canned food is heavy to transport, but for a static situation it’s an excellent first choice.

Sadly, I know survivalists who have family members that will, under no circumstances, eat anything that is beyond that somewhat arbitrary ‘best by’ date (which is not the same thing as an expiration date, BTW.) Look, when the apocalypse gets here, in whatever form the destroyer chooses, and you havent had a real meal in days, you’re not really gonna care that the can of Hormel or Dinty Moore ‘expired’ six months ago. Crack it open, heat it up, and eat….you’ll be fine.

Link – With Tourniquets, You Get What You Pay For

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Friend Of The Blog ™ ,Rawles, over at SurvivalBlog has a link to this gem:

All 50 study volunteers were successful in applying the CAT tourniquet in under 60 seconds. With the MTET, only 40 combat medics (80%) succeeded, with the MTET requiring a longer median time overall to complete the task. In addition to failing the 60-second test, mechanical failures (14%) were encountered in the form of a bent windlass rod, ripped stitching, and a deformed buckle. I don’t need to tell you that mechanical failure of a tourniquet can mean the difference between life and death.

I’m amplifying ,Rawles’ post because while I am a fan of saving a buck, there are some things that one should just not cut corners on….stuff that keeps you from dying is some of that. A new real-deal CAT is less than thirty bucks. Paying half that for a knockoff only seems like good sense if you don’t really believe that there may someday be a time you’re gonna need the thing. And when you do need it, and your knockoff doesnt work right or breaks, and you’re watching the red stuff pouring out of you, you’ll happily pay anything to have it stop. Hope you enjoyed the $15.

I’m not saying don’t cheap out on some things, I’m just saying don’t cheap out on this.

When these things are on sale from a trusted source I will buy a bunch. And when they come up for sale again, I’ll buy more. Theyre great gifts, good trade items, and if you’re gonna carry one you really should be carrying more.

Maybe you read about someone in a car acccident or accidental shooting and their just-as-good knockoff TQ saved the day. Great, I’m happy for them. But they rolled some dice and got lucky. For me, being a survivalist is about always working to improve the odds in my favor. I’ll pay the extra fifteen bucks rather than spin the wheel next time something happens that makes me go “Uhm…thats not good.”

Article – An AR-15 ammunition factory built to supply the military shifted to commercial sales and is now tied to more than a dozen mass shootings

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While The Times found that the “vast majority” of rounds sold from Lake City to retailers end up in the hands of law-abiding citizens, they have also shown up in a number of mass shootings.

Rounds from Lake City have been tied to at least a dozen mass shootings, including the 2012 Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the 2017 Las Vegas Strip mass shooting, the deadliest in US history, the report says.

Gotta boil that water nice and slow so the frog doesn’t notice.

Its not enough to keep banging the drum about ‘assault weapons’ being bad. You have to keep that idea at the front of the public’s mind or you lose the narrative. So the media (or the people controlling them) keep the beat going….AR-15’s bad, AR-15 magazines bad, and now, AR-15 ammo bad. Do it long enough and hard enough and even the Fudds will start in with their ‘no one needs an AR15’ spiel. (Jim Zumbo has entered the chat.) [Sidenote: we now have .35 and .40 caliber rifle cartridges for using the AR as a hunting platform…so the notion of ‘not suitable for hunting’ has kinda evaporated. Although, honestly, an AR-10 has always been just fine for hunting.]

This is just more coordinated media manipulation to keep the fire burning that we need a 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: The Next Generation. As always, while you may not be able to prevent a ban you can be prepared for it. All it takes is resolute will and some money. Skip the jet skit, put off the new 72″ TV till next year, drive the clunker for another year…..take the money and buy what you need and what you think you’ll need.

Did LC ammo show up at ‘mass shootings’? Maybe. So what? LC probably cranks out millions and millions of rounds per year. The percentage of that ammo used in crimes? A fraction of a fraction of a percentage….just like ‘assault weapons’ themselves.

Go buy another AR. Go buy another dozen mags. Go buy another case of ammo. Even if they never ban them again you’ll still be ahead of the game just in terms of beating inflation and future price hikes.

El Paso Saddlery

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ETA article about El Paso Saddlery BBQ rigs.

Kydex is a great material for holsters and I have zero reservations about it (except I think sometimes it’s a bit hard on a guns finish). But, for some reason, I still like leather holsters for some applications. My usual go-to guys for gunleather are, first, DeSantis and then Bianchi. Between those two I can usually find the holster I want. There are, of course, some exceptions. For my BBQ gun I want something with a lot of style and eye-catchiness. For that, I wound up going to El Paso Saddlery. While I was there, I also picked up something I have always had a fondness for – a classic leather flap holster. You know, just like Indian Jones and every other adventurer. Since my running around in the woods gun is either a .44 revolver or a 10mm auto, I need a flap holster for those. The flap for the 10mm arrived today.

I must say, new gunleather has a pretty distinctive smell to it.

Nice, eh? Might take it to a saddlemaker in town and get my initials stamped in there or something.I also, by the way, have a tanker holster from these guys as well.

A tiny house, but not a Tiny House,

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From what I read, a ‘tiny house’ does not usually exceed about 400-500 sq ft. I was in a cottage this weekend that might be considered a ‘tiny house’. I was so curious, in fact, I measured the thing out. The main room was 14×17, which translates to around 238 sq. ft. But, it also had an upstairs loft with the same footprint ( although the sloping sides of the ceiling limited the amount of usable space.) To my surprise….it was quite livable. It had most of the amenities…real toilet, real shower, etc. Deficiencies were that there was no room in the bathroom for a sink, so the ‘kitchen’ sink doubled as a bathroom sink. But otherwise….surprisingly livalble for one person.

I wouldn’t want to live there for five years, but as a weekend or vacation kind of refuge it would be rather nice. What really caught my attention was that if I wanted a small, unnoticed, little ‘lifeboat’ to retreat to if I had to beat feet somewhere, it would actually be a very serviceable situation.

Of course, I’d deck it out in a more survivalist theme….heavy on storage options and off-grid resources. But I could very much see a smallish place like that working out quite well for a backup location.

As I said, it had an upstairs sleeping loft but it had no basement. If it had a basement, that would probably have made it pretty much ideal….plenty of storage while still maintaining a fairly small footprint.

At some point, I’m going to get my 20-40 acres of Montana and when I do, a small, well-equipped and well-appointed place like that might be just the thing while I set aside the greenbacks to build a more substantial palace at a later date.

It was interesting to look at such a small place with a survivalist’s critical eye and think ‘how could I better make this place fit my needs’.

Now, I will say that, as I see it, this was a tiny house but not a ‘Tiny House’ if you get my understanding. This was a stick-built-on-a-foundation sort of building (albeit looking like a gingerbread cottage) rather than the tiny-house-on-wheels that most tiny houses seem to be. And this had genuine grid power and water/sewage. No composting toilets, no water tanks. Real deal house. And the whole thing could have fit into the living room of my present day house.

Not my first choice of a place to live, but if I needed to go to a secondary location and spend a winter there or however much time until things calmed down, or I got back on my feet….well…it would actually be pretty nice.

So, maybe I’ll do some research and draw up some ideas for that day I finally get that acreage in the Middle O’ Nowhere.