In 9/99 (according to the sticker on the battery casing) I bought a 35 Ah marine battery to keep handy for powering some small devices. I kinda forgot it was down there in the bunker until the other day when I was dragging out the radio gear. It had enough of a charge to run some small lights but not enough to power the radio. Figured its been sitting for six years so perhaps its gone to battery heaven. Nope, threw it on the charger and it seems to run just fine. Need to get off my butt and get the several AGM batteries, charger and other goodies Ive been wanting and put together the bloody backup power supply….esp. since it looks more and more likely the girlfriend and I will be getting more radio gear.
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I had a source for Sellier & Bellot rubber buckshot and slugs but it seems to have dried up.  Watching Katrina footage reminded me that sometimes its easier to just start tromboning rounds into the legs of an unruly mob than it is to say “Get away from my house”. Anyway, I’ve only got a handfull of rounds sitting here and the more I think about it, Id like to have at least 50 rounds or so.
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Speaking of pre-Y2K preperations, I’m still working off my stockpile of rice from ’99 and can say that it appears to be just fine. Cooks up and tastes like it should. Stored in ‘blue barrels’ set on wooden blocks to keep them off the floor. Moral: rice doesnt require very complicated preservation. Keep it dry and big-free and it’ll last quite a while.
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Beaucoup mad props to lemonhd for riding out the last hurricane in grand style. Generator, steel shutters, fuel, water, guns & ammo and she not only came out just fine she’s probably made some new friends with her neighbors and her secret recipe for Fried Water. (She’s using a turkey fryer to heat large quantities of water.) Feels good to be amongst the prepared when your neighbors are huddled around candles like French  peasants.

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

In 9/99 (according to the sticker on the battery casing) I bought a 35 Ah marine battery to keep handy for powering some small devices. I kinda forgot it was down there in the bunker until the other day when I was dragging out the radio gear. It had enough of a charge to run some small lights but not enough to power the radio. Figured its been sitting for six years so perhaps its gone to battery heaven. Nope, threw it on the charger and it seems to run just fine. Need to get off my butt and get the several AGM batteries, charger and other goodies Ive been wanting and put together the bloody backup power supply….esp. since it looks more and more likely the girlfriend and I will be getting more radio gear.
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I had a source for Sellier & Bellot rubber buckshot and slugs but it seems to have dried up.  Watching Katrina footage reminded me that sometimes its easier to just start tromboning rounds into the legs of an unruly mob than it is to say “Get away from my house”. Anyway, I've only got a handfull of rounds sitting here and the more I think about it, Id like to have at least 50 rounds or so.
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Speaking of pre-Y2K preperations, I'm still working off my stockpile of rice from '99 and can say that it appears to be just fine. Cooks up and tastes like it should. Stored in 'blue barrels' set on wooden blocks to keep them off the floor. Moral: rice doesnt require very complicated preservation. Keep it dry and big-free and it'll last quite a while.
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Beaucoup mad props to for riding out the last hurricane in grand style. Generator, steel shutters, fuel, water, guns & ammo and she not only came out just fine she's probably made some new friends with her neighbors and her secret recipe for Fried Water. (She's using a turkey fryer to heat large quantities of water.) Feels good to be amongst the prepared when your neighbors are huddled around candles like French  peasants.

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

An impromptu day at the range. Me andone of the LMI figured we'd head to the range and practice moving-while-shooting drills. Since the crux of the matter is being able to move while hitting the target, we figured we could practice this cheaply with the .22 rifles since using the .223 or 7.62×39 would be more expensive and not really make any difference.

It was very simple..theres some steel tanks hanging at the end of the fifty yard range. Walk towards them while keeping your sights steady and youre dumping lead downrange. Then start walking to the side. Then backwards. Then to the side. When done you'll have walked a box-shaped path all the while firing and, hopefully, hitting your target. Good practice.

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

The head-rolling has started:

New Orleans Police Fire 51 for Desertion

I think they need to do more than that, they need to blacklist these guys and make sure they never work in law enforcement again. Be nice if they'd publish a list so I can Google the names once a year to see if theyre on another department.

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

The girlfriend has a loaner radio from her ham club. We need to set up an antanae for it and since we were going to be doing that I figured I'd pull my radio out of storage and hook it up as well since both radios operate on the same frequencies (Mine is an RCI-2950dx…noted for its 'modificationability'). For the antanae, its going to be a simple and cheap dipole for now since, well, I'm cheap.So we'll do the math to determine optimal length, cut the antanae, connect it to the insulator, plug in the coax, set up the SWR meter, and, maybe, get the bloody thing working. Pictures? Maybe, if I can remember.

It has, however, come to my attention that I need to pick up a battery charger for the 12 volt marine battery I keep on hand to power this thing in a blackout. One BatteryBuddy added to my list…
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God. Hates. Florida.

One of the cuties on my friends list  rode out the hurricane in grand style….steel sheeting over the windows, generator and fuel, thundertoys, and she seems to have weathered it just fine. I'd love to post some of her pics but I gotta clear it with her first. However, she gets major Zero points for being ready and prepared. Coolest thing? She has no water pressure at the moment but she does have a full swimming pool…niiiiiiice. Why is that cool? Because, my friend, you then have several thousand gallons of chlorinated water to bathe and wash with…and flush toilets. Even with a some minor hurricane debris like a lawn chair or some shingles in there, as long as you dont have the neighbors dog floating belly up it should be fine for non-potable uses. And a hot bath is a fine non-potable use.
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Bird flu. Hmmmm. As I read it, the situation is thus – an extremely virulent strain of flu is infecting birds across Asia and is now showing up in Europe. Migratory and wild birds are transmitting it to domestic birds. The concern is when/if the flu mutates to a version that jumps from birds to human.

The great flu pandemic of 1917 (I think thats the right year) was the last time we saw such a beastie. My grandmothers sister died in that one. There were stories, some more true than others, of rail/trolley cars starting with a load of healthy people and finishing the route with a load of corpses. The advent of modern air travel certainly would make the likelihood of infection spreading faster even greater. Not much you can do for it except be prepared to isolate yourself from other people. Might be a good idea to practice the most basic precaution against any infectious disease: soap and water. And for the love of Crom dont put your hands near your face after touching money, a doorknob, a telephone or anything else that a hundred wheezing, mucous-dripping people may have already touched. Buy the yuppie bottle of hand sanitizer and use it.

Is a government enforced quarantine a likely course of action in this case? The current administration seems to be thinking it is. Now, think about this…when the government says “Everyone MUST leave.” like in Hurricane Katrina, what happened? Right. So when the .gov says “Everyone MUST stay.” what do you think is going to happen. Uh-huh.

Hand sanitizer, soap, bleach, repeat.
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This is more personal politics than preparedness but….if you have one of those Big Brother neighborhood watch cameras monitoring your neighborhood you should know that paintball guns are readily available from a myriad of sources. That is all.
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Just found this link. Looks interesting but I havent gone entirely through it yet.

http://falloutshelter653.org/

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

Just found this link. Looks interesting but I havent gone entirely through it yet.

http://falloutshelter653.org/