I have the utmost confidence in my CZ550 to hit targets out to probably 600 yards, assuming I do my part. Howver, Im the first to admit the .308 may be a little light for longer than 1000 yards and for busting up things like vehicles and the like. Which is why I feel the need for this:
Image ahead
Author Archives: Commander Zero
Bad choices, Hillary, vacuum sealed blankets
I don’t feel too compelled to say anything about the fella that got lost and stuck while driving his family through Oregon. Suffice to say that if youre reading this, you already know the mistakes this guy made and what would have prevented them.
The experience does point out that in winter you have to know your limitations, know what youre doing and, above all, be prepared for problems. So, your homework assignment is to think about what things would be needed to if you were stranded in your car for a week in the snow Middle O’ Nowhere….and then make sure that gear is in your vehicle.
Here endeth the lecture.
=====
So, to the surprise of pretty much no one, Hillary Clinton has said that, gosh, maybe she does want to take a shot at the big time in 2008. Is there anyone on this planet who hasn’t seen this coming? I welcome it. I embrace it. I encourage it. Why? Because Bush has left such a bad taste in so many peoples mouths that the only way a Republican is going to get elected in 2008 is for the Democrats to run someone so polarizing, someone so dividing, someone so you-either-love-her-or-you-hate-her, that voters will say “I’d rather vote for the Republican than that Clinton.”
And, even then, that might not be enough. So, dear friends, if you don’t spend 2007 socking away magazines and AR receivers youre not nearly as smart and cautious as I’d hoped my readership to be.
=====
Another fun use for my vacuum sealer, other than preserving bargain food for the big cryo-nap, has been to compact and protect surplus military wool blankets. One of the big hassles of keeping a blanket in the truck has been that they are bulky, get unfolded and wind up in a wad, get wet and dirty, and generally make their presence so annoying that youre more likely to just yank the damn thing from the truck and leave it behind which, if you ask any San Francisco Korean widow, might be a bad idea.
Thus, the benefit of the vacuum sealer. I roll up the blanket into a nice tight roll, stuff it in the bag, pull all the air out, seal it up and its now protected from dirt, moisture and all the other nasties. To be on the safe side I then wrap some duct tape around it from all sides. This helps to protect the plastic and if the plastic does lose its integrity from a puncture or other damage the rolled blanket will still stay in its compressed form. The truly clever will take this rolled and sealed blanket and put it into some sort of hardside container (even a stiff cardboard tube will work) to protect the plastic from punctures.
A buddy of mine uses a simpler, low-tech method. He finds a blanket he can fold small enough and stuffs it into a couple of the large Tyvek envelopes provided free at post offices for Priority and Express mail. Its worth pointing out they also provide cardboard boxes that are pretty close to the perfect size for a folded blanket.
Food stuff, links
Hormel/Stagg exp. date codes:
http://www.staggchili.com/default.asp?req=faqs/
=====
I was wandering through Albertsons getting some vegetables to make turkey stock with and discovered this in the baking aisle. Previously, the only product sold was the ‘Just Whites’ dehydrated egg whites. These are whole eggs..suitable for omlettes, scrambled eggs, etc. These are dehydrated whole eggs, just as the can says. The container is like a coffe can…foil peel-back lid at the top with a plastic lid for keeping things fresh once opened. Pricing at my local Albertsons was outrageous – $8.25 ea. Figuring the 8 oz. can equals 16 eggs youre looking at $0.50 per egg. Not good. Internet grocers bring that down a bit though. I fired off an email to Deb El (sounds like a town in Iraq, dont it?) asking the usual questions about shelf life and whatnot. Interestingly, this same product is offered in food-service size portions of 50#…but not exactly packaged for long life. However, if youve got a Mormon cannery and a sack of oxygen absorbers perhaps you could repackage it as you see fit. Im already doing well on the dehydrated eggs scene but its nice to see I have another option/source locally, even if slightly overpriced.
=====
Made a turkey today and am in the process of boiling down the carcass and some veggies to make stock. I could never be a vegetarian…just can’t. The turkey is one from the Great Turkey Purchse of 2004 when I wound up with around 100# of remaindered frozen turkeys.
=====
Found another discussion board that might be of interest. I havent looked into it too deeply yet, so it may or may not be any good: http://forum.survivalistssite.com/
Interesting .pdf for the amateur explosives enthusiast wanting to go pro: http://forum.survivalistssite.com/index.php?topic=92.msg250#msg250
And another interesting link: http://standeyo.com/News_Files/menu.food.store.html
MH Shipping info emails
Emails listing your goodies and the anticipated UPS costs have been sent. Check yo’ email!
MH- Distribution
Okay, Ive sent emails to everyone who is splitting a case or two with someone else. The purpose of this is to make sure that Person A and Person B are both aware of whats going on. I want to make sure theres no “Hey, I paid for a case of xxxx but Person X never said anything about splitting it” type of situations. So….
Person X and Person Y agree to split a case of [Food]
Both parties get an email saying ‘Person X & Person Y are splitting this case of [Food], right?”
Both folks email me back with a “yup”
All is good.
Those emails have been sent, please reply soonest so we can get these babies enroute to your respective bunkers!
Showing off
Oh the feelings of security from a mountain of freeze-dried food sealed in #10 cans…..
Thats 28 cases, or 168 #10 cans. The absolutely coolest part: stamped on the bottom of the can ‘BEST IF USED BY 2031’
MH Update – I’ve been wrong before
Hmmm. Things move faster than I thought.
Thats 28 cases, or 168 #10 cans. The absolutely coolest part: stamped on the bottom of the can ‘BEST IF USED BY 2031’
Pat yourselves on the back people, youre way ahead of the sheep…..
I’ll start repackaging this weekend and have shipping weights and all in a few days. Those of you who are splitting orders or swapping with others, youll both be getting cc’d email from me to confirm whats what. UPS will probably be the most likely shipping although I’ll check the parcel post rates as well. If anyone wants these sent to an address other than the one given with their PayPal info, lemme know as soon as you can, mkaythx.
MH Update – Shipped 11/15
Confirmation arrived in email from MH that the order was shipped on the 15th. I’m guessing this means Tuesday delivery. We shall see. When it gets here:
- I’ll separate out everyones orders
- Email a couple of you about your swaps that youve arranged
- Repack, weigh and calculate shipping
- Send emails requesting funds for shipping ( and any additional monies that were owed from earlier) and an address to ship to
When all thats done and the cash is in hand, I’ll ship ’em out and email you with any tracking information thats avaialble.
MH – Update
Was billed today for the Montain House order (or most of it anyway…its split amongst two cards for logistics reasons). I expect that if this means it was shipped today it should be here around Monday. As always, will keep you updated.
Also…next time I do this (and I cant say if there’ll actually be anext time, but if there is…) I’ll be posting:
a) an Excel worksheet that calculates total pricing + 3% PayPal fee + shipping
b) posting a link to a page I’ve made up using PayPal buttons to make keeping track of things less of a hair-pulling experience
Will update when the goods arrive.
Food
I was going through the kitchen cupboards trying to make space and Im amazed at those little forgotten foods that wind up in the corner on a dark shelf. You know the ones – you see a can of something in the store and you think ‘Hey, that looks good. Lets get some of that.’ And then it sits on a shelf and gets pushed further and further back until finally its out of sight and you don’t see it for a couple years. In the meantime it takes up valuable space in the cabinets. So, I need to go through and start pulling out stuff to heave into a box that will be destined for the local food bank.
Next house is gonna have a huge honkin’ pantry. Not just the usual couple of cabinets above the counter. No sirree… Im talking a walk-in, floor-to-ceiling shelved, storage binned pantry. Something so capacious and well stocked it may need its own shopping cart.
Why? Because nothing, nothing, nothing gives one a warm, fuzzy feeling more than standing in your kitchen with the cabinets open and looking at all the food just waiting for its eventual destiny. Canned goods, bags of pasta, jars of fruit, boxes of this, foil pouches of that… mmmmmm. Power outage? Infrastructure failure? Spiraling inflation? A bout of unemployment? All of these are major suckage, to be sure… but being able to have a steaming hot meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, butter and dessert in the midst of it sure helps to keep the feelings of despair at bay. And, more importantly, its one less thing to worry about and lets you focus on solving other problems.
Having had a stage in my life where I didn’t know where tomorrows meal was coming from I seem to value food very highly these days. Its proven by examples from various points in history that hungry people are dangerous people. Dangerous to themselves and most assuredly dangerous to those who have food. Don’t think so? Read about the starvations in Stalingrad during the war, North Korea in the late 90’s (and more recently), Africa at any given point, and a dozen other places. Theres no shortage of stories about people looting bakeries, stealing food from the rations of others, committing all sorts of deplorable acts for food and, of course, that old school favorite – cannibalism.
Even recent history like Katrina where people grabbed water bottles from the clutches of others and took whatever they needed shows that such extreme situations and behaviors aren’t relegated to the past. Sure, there may not be another Dust Bowl around the corner but it doesn’t take much to disrupt the ability of a region to get food. Heck, just a major banking snafu can cut off the ability to buy food even when its available.
Being a cheap bastard and a bit far-sighted, I am always amused, fascinated and repulsed by people who a) waste food b) take some sort of pride in not being able to cook and c) people who buy food in incredibly wasteful ways.
Having been in the not-knowing-where-the-next-meal-is-coming-from camp I try to not waste food. If theres more than a few bites left on my plate and I cant eat anymore it gets a coating of plastic wrap and goes into the fridge for the next meal. For me, breakfast is usually leftovers from dinner. I remember working in a restaurant and the amount of food that was thrown away in an evening was incredible. People would pay for a meal and leave half of it. Heck, even the cooking process wound up with a good deal of waste… if the bin of salad greens didn’t have enough for one full salad it was discarded, things like that.
People who take pride in not being able to cook truly appall me. You would regard a person who couldn’t be bothered to learn to read as something of an idiot…not because they couldn’t read but because they refuse to learn. Willful ignorance being the most deplorable kind. When you don’t learn how to cook anything you are basically saying ‘I rely on other people to feed me’ which is a pretty cavalier way to go through life. Now, sure, you can be too busy to cook, and you can make so much money that you don’t need to cook, but knowing how to turn a package of ground beef and some vegetables into stuffed peppers, spaghetti sauce, chili, meatloaf, hamburgers or a dozen other edibles is certainly a survival skill worth having. I should have some sort of baseline of culinary expertise for people in my life… the Steak And Potatoes Test.
And then theres the worst – people who buy food without thinking. I especially get annoyed when the person in front of me is buying food with food stamps (or the new dignity-enhancing debit cards) and theyre buying worthless food (frozen pizza???? Orange soda??? Beef jerky?!?!) or theyre buying already prepared foods (ready-to-serve heat-n-eat roast turkey and potatoes). For the price of one days worth of already prepared foods they could buy three days worth of real food..if they knew how to cook it. And it seems that if your situation is so desperate that you have to have .gov give you money for food you would use those food dollars as wisely as possible.. buying meat, vegetables, fruits, milk, cereal, rice, pasta, cheese, etc…. all the things necessary to create a dozen different meals from a handful of basic ingredients. But no… they’ll buy a stack of ‘Lunchables’, some frozen pizza, a package of fried chicken from the deli counter, and a tub of ice cream, pay $25 and wonder why they have no money for ‘food’ at the end of the month.
Now, some folks will say ‘Hey, youre being too hard on these people. No one ever taught them proper nutrition and how to cook.’ First of all, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a diet of frozen pizza, pop and Oreos is bad for you. Secondly, any idiot can learn to cook the things they like if they are willing to learn.
I point out the existence of these people not because they deserve pity (they don’t) or because they deserve scorn (they do) but because when the supermarket’s shelves are bare or the food stamps aren’t being distributed these are the people who are going to be a problem for those who have a nice pantry full of food. Of course, if youre prepared enough to have a pantry full of food youre most likely prepared enough to prevent its being forcibly taken from you.
Dinner the other night: taking some canned tomatoes, onions and garlic and making spaghetti sauce. Pull some chicken from 2004 out of the deep freeze. Boil up some spaghetti purchased in bulk in 2005. Get some shredded mozzarella out of the deep freeze (ca. spring 2006) and melt it over the top of the whole mess. Mmmmmm. And I can have that anytime for the next couple years.