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

The problem with having a dog, and I suspect it is a similar situation with children, is that your previous indifference about them not only goes out the window once you have one of your own but suddenly every child/dog everywhere becomes a concern to you. I dodged a bullet in the kid department, but after raising Nuke up from a puppy I feel amazing empathy and concern for almost every dog. Which sucks because this popped up on Facebook and I cannot get away from it in my mind.

I was going to treat myself to ten bucks worth of Chinese food for lunch but I think I’ll do something else with it instead.

Damn puppies.

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

Buddy of mine called me yesterday to alert me that our local CostCo was selling Pelican cases. Hmmmm. I went up there and, sure enough, there was a stack of ‘em. Two different sizes – the Pelican 1750 for $199.99 and the Pelican 1400 for , I think, $69.99.

These prices aren’t great, but if you peruse Amazon and a few other sources you’ll see that these cases are often on a two-tier pricing: for cases with or without foam. These cases at CostCo come with the foam, and even if the prices are the same as elsewhere on the net at least you can save a few bucks on shipping.

However, I suspect if you shop hard on eBay you might find a better deal, even with the shipping. Nonetheless, for the local LMI, it might be worth heading up there and checking it out.

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

A couple of people have asked how the bioweapon is doing. Sub-commander Nuke is approximately 16 months old. He weighs in at just a hair under 80#. He still looks far too skinny for my tastes. In fact, I took him to the vet because I was worried. The vet came into the examination room and asked me what the reason for the visit was. I said I thought my dog was too skinny. She looked at me like I was the dumberst person on earth. “He’s a teenager“, she explained to me, “he’s going to be skinny for a while. In a few years I’ll be having to convince you to stop feeding him so much!”

His ability to destroy/deflate every toy he comes across is uncanny

He has stopped chewing things he isn’t supposed to. He can do ’sit’, ’stay’, ‘come’, ‘down’ and ‘up’. This isnt a 100% thing, but if you’ve got food in your hand its a virtual certainty he will do whatever you want him to. ‘Heel’ is still kinda hit-n-miss.

In addition to the basics, he also practices his kung fu

He’s better at letting the humans sleep. I take him for his final walk at midnight and then he’s pretty content to not bother us until morning. He’s not a fan of other dogs. He doesn’t want to hurt them, but he wants to run over and play and jump and generally be a puppy…which is great except he’s eighty pounds of teeth and fur.

His ability to be tube-launched from submersibles is sometimes apparent

The biggest thing right now is teaching him that when we go for walks at night, the humans approaching us on the sidewalk are okay and not to lunge and bark at them. It’s a work in progress.

Then there was the time he got loaded and went to Mardi Gras

And that’s pretty much the state of the bioweapon.

‘Quiet! I think I hear someone dropping a piece of chicken on the floor!’

Oh..and there was a second bear spray episode but the less said about that, the better.

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

I’ve been quiet for the last few days because, honestly, I’ve not much to say. :::shrug::: I’d say that on the average I probably post every third day or so. It would be nice to post something relevant, timely, and original every day but that’s just too much work for a non-commercial endeavor. Non-commercial? Pretty much. I see quite a few blogs that have links to stuff to purchase off Amazon and while that seems like a great idea, I didn’t really get into this for the money. (Fame, sure; ego gratification, yes; chicks, absolutely; money, not so much.) I originally started blogging because preparedness was something of a large interest in my life and I wanted to write about my experiences and ideas but wanted to keep it separate from another blog I was doing.

How long? Well, the first post I made would have been around 2003 which puts me a bit earlier than our buddy ,Rawles at SurvivalBlog. I havent looked around too deeply, but I dont see many survival/preparedness blogs that are still active that go back that far. I might be in a fairly small group.

Has the blogging been rewarding? Yes and no. Sometimes it’s a chore, there’s a small amount of expense involved, and often it feels like talking into a microphone that isn’t wired to anything. On the other hand, I’ve met some nice people (online and in real life), discovered many other blogs that I enjoy reading, have learned things, discovered new resources, and have sometimes gotten a free goodie out of the deal. Overall, the best thing I get out of the blogging experience is validation. Other than opsec, one reason many people keep their interest to themselves is because they don’t want to be thought of as weird, strange or nuts. But through blogging I encounter many, many people with the same interests, the same ideas, the same concerns, and the same beliefs…and it’s refreshing to be able to talk freely about this sort of stuff and not get people looking at me like I have two heads. (This is one of the reasons I enjoy going to the LDS cannery – a dozen people packaging food for long term storage are all going to have similar mindsets as myself and be a pleasure to talk to.)

Do I have any plans to change things? Not really. Things on this blog aren’t really driven by readership because, well, I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for me. I like writing and , hopefully, you like reading. But I write about what I want, when I want, how I want….thats just the way it is when you don’t have to answer to anybody. I try to keep to a few simple guidelines – I avoid profanity (although youre welcome to use it), I try to keep the politics to a minimum, I try to keep the place religion-free, and I try to keep a fairly open mind. Pretty simple stuff, really.

I bring all of this up because, as I mentioned, I haven’t posted much the last few days. Every day isn’t an adventure in preparedness…or even a mundane day in preparedness. Theres the usual grind of regular day-to-day living that has nothing to do with preparedness, but why would I post about that here? So if you see things seem quiet for a few days it is most likely because I simply have ‘real life’ stuff to do and the preparedness stuff and my secret life as Commander Zero get put aside for a few days while I do work stuff, play Warcraft, hang out with friends, etc, etc.

Will I ever stop blogging about this stuff? Sure. Someday there’ll be a post saying that I’ve said all I need to say and that I’m moving on to other things. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I like blogging and scattering my ‘brain droppings’, as Carlin would call them, all over the internet. There may be times when there’ll be nothing new to say and I might cover some old ground, but I think I’ll be good for at least several posts a week for the forseeable future.

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

Sadly, one of my favorite preparedness blogs has disappeared. No point listing which one it was, but it was quite easily one of my favorites as evidenced by the fact that the majority of the commenters were other bloggers as well. It was rather nice to see that same circle of people at the same location. I hope that even though his blog is apparently gone, the blogger himself might chime in from time to time to say howdy and comment.
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I’m jazzed! LDS cannery trip tomorrow. This will be my opportunity to fill in the gaps in a few ‘broken’ cases of stuff. Since each case holds six #10 cans, a case that has less than six in it is incomplete or ‘broken’. If you havent been to the LDS cannery, here’s an order form of what you can get and the pricing. Keep in mind that, usually, you cant just walk in and say “I’d like five cases of….”. No, no, no…you have to put in a bit of ’sweat equity’. You get put into a group of other customers and you take part in the process…you might be the guy who fills the cans, or seals them, or fills them from the bags, or slaps the labels on them, or helps box up the finished one, but you have to take part in the canning process. If nothing else, it gives you an appreciation of how the stuff is packaged and gives you the skills to DIY if you wind up borrowing their portable canner unit. Sometimes when I see a pair of missionaries walking around I’ll offer to buy them lunch (or give them a ride) as a way of ‘paying back’ for letting me use their facilities. And, before anyone asks, no they don’t preach at you at these things. They start the whole process with a pretty non-denominational prayer and thats about all the preaching they do. After that, it’s all business and bunker-stocking. Good folks.
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Got to handle a Bushmaster ACR yesterday. Didnt get to shoot it but sure got to put my fingerprints all over one. Ambi bolt release, ambi charging handle, ambi selector, ambi mag release, quick change barrel, side folding stock, gas piston system…pretty cool gun. Also one of the most expensive guns I’ve ever ordered in for a customer at a shade under two grand. For that kind of money I could get two ARs and about 40 mags, 4 Glocks and a handful of mags, or a PTR-91 and 750 mags. The fella who got the gun said he’d let me know when he was going to go shoot it and that I could come along. Should be interesting.
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As I was walking to the shop this morning, I saw that the puddles on the ground had frozen over during the night. ‘Tis the begining of the cold season. Coincidentally, hunting season is now in swing. I need to check the zero on the PTR and get out there and show Bambi who sits at the top of the food chain around here.

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

Out of curiosity, I visited my local Rosauers grocery store that was carrying a small selection of the Augason Farms storage food. To my surprise, it had been moved from the endcap and given about three feet of shelf space over in the baking area. So, the good news was that this was a product that they appeared to intend to carry for at least a while longer. The bad news was that, in the space of 30 days (which is when I last made a note of the prices they were charging), prices had gone up as much as $9 per can. (Eggs and FD blueberries took the biggest jump.) Could be a couple reasons for that……..the ‘introductory’ period for a new product has passed and theyre going to their standard pricing schedule, the distributor or manufacturer has increased the price, your dollar has devalued even further, etc. Whatever the reason, the lesson is fairly plain – prices are going up, buy when you can. For those of you in Missoula, its the Rosauers on South & Reserve, aisle 6.

A larger selection of this product is supposedly available that Sam’s Club but the nearest one to me is Great Falls and then Billings. Both of which are a long drive at $4/gallon. Fortunately the folks at Augason Farms have a pretty decent freight policy so it just makes more sense to order direct.

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

Thanks to the person who sent me this link:
Arrest made in Arlington gun stash

Kinda halfway surprised it isnt GunKid.

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

I’m cleaning up some stuff around the bunker and have some extras of the #1010 Pelican Micro cases laying around. They are solid black, with lanyard, and brand new. They were made for use with some Nikon product so they have a removable Nikon sticker on ‘em. The foam inside them is uncut and removable if you want maximum space. If you want one, they’re $12.49 shipped. ($9.99 and $2.50 to ship) And by shipped, I mean I’m gonna slap a label and postage on the side of it and drop it in a mailbox…finding a box to put it in just adds weight and cost. Have about 20 18 16 14 13 9 left. Details, including dimensions, can be found at the link above. Perfect size for spare parts kits for guns, small electronic devices, or geocaching.

If you want one (or more), here’s the button. US shipping only.

All gone!

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

,Rawles mentioned that the folks at Beta now have a 100-round BetaMag for the Glock 9mm. He says that it seems rather absurd and I can kinda see that when you use it with a pistol. (Even if you had a G18, how is the pistol and drum any more or less concealable than, say, an MP5?)

However, there are several carbines out there that use Glock magazines (including the KelTec and ATI’s new import) including at least one 9mm AR (Olympic). So, yeah, probably silly for handgun use but for carbine use….perhaps not as silly.

Hey, speaking of the G18 and magazines, it came as a surprise to me that Glock is actually producing a ‘happy stick’ (22 rd.) for the .40 caliber Glocks these days. Previously, only the 9mm was available and if you wanted a happy stick in a caliber other than 9mm you had to go to one of the aftermarket outfits like Scherer which, in my experience, have less-than-sterling qualities.

Even SureFire, the flashlight folks, have jumped on the bandwagon with 60- and 100-rd non-drum magazines.

Since the expiration of the Assault Weapons ban it seems that capacity is back with a vengeance. (7-, 8- and 10-shot revolvers! 50- and 100-rd drum mags for rifles!) Are these mega-magazines useful? I suppose it depends on what you anticipate needing them for. Certainly there is no legitimate reason NOT to manufacture them except from a sales/profit standpoint. In my humble opinion, I think I can see some occasions where the ability to keep shooting without having to reload can be pretty important. The one that springs to mind most readily is any situation where you only have one hand available to shoot with. If you’re running outside to drag someone (or something) back to safety and you need one hand free to do the dragging, if youre in a tight space and don’t really have the room/flexibility to reload, if one hand/arm is out of commission and subsequent reloads will be virtually impossible, etc, etc. And, of course, those John Woo moments when dual wielding a pair of 33-rd Glocks seems like a good idea. (As an aside, every so often I take a pair of Glocks to the range and try firing 33-rd mags out of both at the same time. 1) You can’t hit a bloody thing 2) your trigger fingers get tired in a hurry )

While I love the trend towards these higher-than-usual capacity magazines, realistically the’yre probably one of those things where 99 times out of 100 they’re just not needed. On the other hand, on that 1 time out of 100 where you might need them, theyre just the ticket. I suspect that where they really shine is as trading stock for the future. If theres another magazine ban on the horizon these things will go through the roof and keep going. And if there isnt a ban but the world does indeed comec rashing down there’ll be no shortage of folks who figure 60 rounds is better than 30 rounds.