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

Okay, back from the honeymoon. Alaska was an interesting place and other than that whole ocean and coastline thing, it looked a lot like Idaho and parts of Montana. Oh, and gunpowder was $30 a pound. Tough on your wallet, that state. Fishing was good though, and I would suspect that if a person could keep their boat fueled up you could subsist very well on the fish and game up there.

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Im a fan of the surplussed out HK flare guns that show up in Cheaper Than Dirt, Sportsmans Guide HQ, etc. The trick, however, is a source for the 26.5mm flares. Well, Ive got the new SG HQ catalog and in addition to selling the guns they are now selling the flares. I’ve shot these HK guns with the flares (mostly Czech surplus) and all fire and perform fine. They’re a real hoot. Not cheap at $3-4 ea. But when you need the signaling advantages of a flare gun, they’ll definitely do the job.

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Like a lot of people with a preparedness mindset, I have more backpacks than I know what to do with. So many, in fact, that the notion of buying luggage seems absurd. Why buy luggage when I’ve got perfectly good backpacks and duffels sitting in the bunker? For the honeymoon trip I just took, I used my Kifaru Marauder pack along with the Kifaru E&E bag as my ‘carry-on’ bag. The E&E ‘docks’ to the Marauder to allow me to carry both…much like the daypack on the CFP-90 military packs. Since I carried the E&E around on a shoulder strap I added a couple Maxpedition RolyPoly fold out pouches in case I needed extra space. Worked great. Yes, I probably could have done close to the same thing with an inexpensive ALICE pack but I like the Kifaru products and I can afford them, so why wouldn’t I?

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Can’t come up with a premise for your next end-of-the-world novel? Have the survivors out on a cruise ship when the zombie apocalypse starts. Lotsa great plot devices right there, I’m tellin’ ya.

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Politics:

Hillary is down but not out. That concession speech where she did everything but stick her hand down Obama’s pants? What do you think the price of that was? Im guessing a seat on the Supreme Court, ambassadorship to the UN or paying off her campaign debt.

I predicted an Obama/Clinton ticket way back when and I still haven’t ruled it out. Hillary is still a threat to my way of life…vice president, Supreme Court justice, health care czar, whatever. My point: don’t slack off. You still need to get out there and buy the things that she and her fellow travelers would prefer we not have.