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

Hmm…California is set on ‘broil’ and solar flare activity is causing concern.

There was a solar flare-related event a few years ago..wound up shutting down a wireless phone network. Not too big a deal except that it also managed to disable the phone service that allows gas pumps and ATMs to operate with credit cards. Does any of this matter to the Commander? Not really. Im pretty low-tech for most things… obviously, inability to use ATMs or to have debit/ATM cards suddenly not function is a headache, but not as critical as it would be to some urban professional who hasnt used cash in ten years.

Getting nippy here..supposed to be in the low teens for Halloween. Time to bring out the heavier clothing. Also probably time to start making the usual ‘just in case’ plans for what to do when pipes freeze, power goes out, etc, etc. One nice thing about power outages in the winter is that I dont have to worry about the meat in the freezer thawing…just stick it in a cooler in the yard and youre good to go.

Interesting link of the day: Bucket caches

In other matters, I need to spend some time in the kitchen as the Guerrilla Gourmet. The recipes I have for cooking with stored foods are either terribly bland or require additional ingredients that are definitely not long term. The Commander Zero Cookbook? Entirely possible.

I was reminded the other day that I still need to pick up a good shortwave radio for listening to various programs and news. Need to pick a good one and find it on eBay…