Unfortunately, I am traveling for the holiday….so no shooty goodness for me.

But…I hope you get out there and reaffirm (and re-zero) your dedication to the cause.

That stupid annual quandry I always get: is it Patriot’s, Patriots, or Patriots’?

Regardless, today is the day the more historically orthodox of us observe the start of the American Revolution and ponder it’s implications.

Heinlein said that “the price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.” How do you do that? As a wise man once said, “with heart, faith, and skill.” But it also helps to have a good rifle, the skill to wield it effectively, and the mindset necessary to know when.

I’m trapped in an office today, so no range time today. But, definitely this weekend.

Remember, guys – this nation was founded by a buncha guys with guns who didn’t like paying taxes and being pushed around by .gov. It’s in your national DNA to dig in your heels and say BFYTW. Accept it, embrace it, live it.

Whatever your particular flavor of year-end holiday is, have a happy.

Go ahead, Kris…you earned it.

After-action gift reports are encouraged.

Real life has been fairly exhausting as of late and it means that at the end of the day, when its a choice between blog posting or climbing into bed…well…bed is often the winner.

I normally don’t go too far out of my way for Halloween but I admire people who do. I as in CostCo today and this effort just made my day:

But what really makes it baller…what really sells it….is he went and had a CostCo badge made up that says WASHINGTON. That, sir, is icing on the cake. Well done!

I love costumes like these, but the problem is that they seem a rather high investment for something that, really, you can only wear once. Doing the same costume year after year seems very not in the spirit of things.

Enjoy the candy sales tomorrow!

It’s Independence Day (if you call it ‘4th of July’ then, for the sake of consistency, you should call Christmas ’25th of December’). Independence comes from self-determination and, as Heinlein said, “…willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.”

And nothing says ‘freedom’ like being proficient and prodigious with your thundertoys.

Shoot your fireworks, cook your hot dogs, drink your beer. But those things aren’t what gave us this holiday. Guns and the willingness to use them did.

The range. Go.

Year-end reviews are one of the low-hanging fruits of the blogging world. And, who am I to turn away a post topic that doesn’t require any imagination on my part?

My biggest goal for 2022 was to, at right about this time, be purchasing a nice chunk of middle o’ nowhere. Sadly, the stock market decided not to cooperate and as a result this particular goal is getting bumped into 2023. On the bright side, with interest rates going up dramatically, the pool of qualified buyers will be smaller, demand will drop, and hopefully prices will start to come down as well. In other words, 2023 may provide a better buying opportunity than 2022.

Gun-wise, 2022 was a fairly heavy year. What can I say, this Biden clown and whoever is pulling his strings have made no secret about their plan ro ‘ban assault weapons’. So…if what I have today may be all I have for the rest of my life, well, I better make sure what I have today is a lot.

As for the rest of the year…no blackouts, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no Xenu, no zombies, no riots in the street, no intruders, no blue helmets….I didnt have to use my AK, it was a good year.

Gilded the lily a bit and beefed up my stockpiles of food and fuel cans. Picked up a bit more silver. Spent a lot of time keeping an eye on the news and trying to scry what sorta unpleasantness may be looming ahead.

As for 2023, well….I’ll be another year older, dang it. Other than that my big goal for 2023 is to redouble my efforts and work on getting that piece of land out in the boonies. And, if a little Serbu semi auto .50 happens to cross my path, I wouldn’t say no to that. Other than those things….not much to do for 2023 that isnt already taken care of.

Ah, ‘Tis becoming the holiday season….Chrismahanakwanzakah. Funny how all those gift-giving holidays are timed right around December, isn’t it?

Slightly dated, still on-point.

What does the Zero want for gifts this year? Well, a series of huge rallies in the stock market would be nice. Other than that, I’m fairly content with what I have. Just gild the lily a bit here and there….a little ammo to top things off, a little more freeze drieds to top things off, etc. But, by and large, I’m good with just a card or something.

However….. 😉

If you’re the generous type who thinks, “You know, that long-suffering survivalist in Montana does a fairly good job of entertaining me. Heck, I should do something for him.” Well….Im not gonna say no.

Either sign up through Patreon to kick in a couple bucks a month, or email me an Amazon gift card I can use to buy..well…pretty much anything. Esbt tabs, mag pouchs, radio cables, CR123 batts, knife sharpeners, that sort of thing.

Being Commander Zero is an often thankless task, but sometimes nice things occur. A couple times this year I got a silver dime or quarter in the mail, or someone sent a gift card or similar code for Amazon. All very thoughtful and greatly appreciated actions.

Regardless, whatever holiday you observe/celebrate/emulate/ridicule this season, try to have fun and ennjoy whats left of the American economy and civilization.