Author Archives: Commander Zero

Lifestyle vs. lifeboat

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What exactly is the purpose of the Beta Site? Is it the next step in my life where I eschew living in town and move to an ‘off grid’ lifestyle of careful energy usage, wood chopping, always worrying about well pumps and water…or is it an ‘in case of emergency’ sort of ‘acceptable’ shelter that while not having ‘all the comforts of home’ does provide orders of magnitude of safety over being homeless?

In short, is it a lifestyle or a lifeboat? Well, kinda sorta both…but not at the same time.

At the moment, and for the immediate future, it’s a lifeboat. A secondary location to pick up and run to in case, for whatever reason, living where I live now becomes untenable. As a lifeboat, it doesn’t need to look like something out of ‘Country Living Magazine’. It just needs to keep me warm, fed, safe, and secure. That can look like just a glorified campsite, it can look like a tweaked out garden shed, it can look like a small trailer, that can look like…well…any weatherproof box with a roof and some accommodations.

But the end goal is for it to be more than that. The end goal is for it to be a comfortable, functional, ‘homey’ place where I can snowmobile in on Dec 1, turn on the lights, fire up the woodstove, put on some quiet Spotify Christmas music, put my feet up, and watch the snow fall outside without seeing another human being until Jan 1. Thats the idealized and romanticized version, of course. I’m fully aware that its going to take a good bit of time (and money, unfortunately) to get to that.

So lifeboat vs lifestyle…for the next year, maybe two, its definitely just a place that I can run off to if need be. It’ll have some very(!) basic features but it will still give me more options than if I didn’t have the place at all. And over the next year or two, it’ll morph into something more than just a ‘bare bones’ destination. The final goal is something that is on par, in terms of convenience and appointments, with where I live now…flush toilet, hot water, heat and lighting, etc, etc. all hidden away at the end of a road no one really wants to drive down.

My birthday is in the summer, so Im thinkng that at my next milestone birthday in 2027 I’d like to have the overwhelming majority of things done, if not entirely done. We’ll see how it goes.

 

Uneasy writer

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Reading the news is like trying to read tea leaves these days. Every nation seems to be ‘gearing up for something’, as the kids say. The news is certainly full of things that could make one feel like its 1939 and something big is about to kick off, but the challenge is figuring out what the likelihood of that is. Civil war? Economic collapse? Nato v. Russia? Us v. China?

Out of curiosity, I looked up the things that were in short supply in the US as a result of the war back in the 1940’s. That was a completely different time and the supply chain was quite different back then. But the question I was curious about was what would be affected in the event of a larger conflict in modern times? Perhaps a NATO vs Russia event. Or the Mideast does one of its periodical explosions into violence. Or the Chinese invade Taiwan.

There are supply chain interconnectivity issues that weren’t even dreamed about 80 years ago. And the threat to the mainland US involved bombers and invasion, nowadays its a cargo-container-nuke, cyberattack, or ‘bad actors’ plowing through a shopping mall. Different times.

And, I swear, this feeling gets more pronounced every year. It seems like every year I say “this year feels like something big is going to happen’, and, for the most part, I’ve been mostly-wrong. But even a broken calendar is right once a year, and, eventually, something will happen. The history of the world is not exactly replete with moments of quiet and calm. To be fair, though, the US has historically been the best place to be when the wheels start to fly off civilization, diplomacy fails, the tanks roll, and markets crash.

I dropped a good chunk of cash and precious metals to acquire the Beta Site, but I was careful to make sure I didn’t spend all my cash and metals. I held back what I thought would be a goodly amount for something unexpected. But still, I feel a lot more secure with money in the bank and a big ‘ol box of silver bars in the safe. Now I have to juggle replenishing the precious metals with using that money to advance things at the Beta Site.

I’ve no idea what World War 3 (or is it 3.5 or 4 these days?) is going to look like but whatever form it takes, its likelihood seems more these days. Of course, when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you’ve spent 35 years gearing up for the end of the world, every newsflash looks like the kickoff to World War Whatever.

At the moment, my focus is getting the Beta Site up to a point where at least I could relocate there and have a bit of distance and safety from whatever goes on in the world. At this exact second that looks like simply a place to park a tent and some supplies. But I’m going to try to get it to the point that from a year from now its at least graduated into something a bit more civilized with walls, roof, heat, and basic power. And from that point it advances to running water, creature comforts, and everything else needed to go from bolt-hole to small-year-round-capable dwelling.

But in the meantime I feel like I’m racing the clock…between getting older and the feeling of impending crises theres a bit of a sense of urgency. Not sure if its justified or not, just sayin’ it’s there. But I suspect I’m not the only one, hm?

 

Lithium AA batts at CostCo Pt II

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Someone asked me in email about the circumstances under which Id use the more expensive lithium batts as opposed to the less expensive ‘regular’ batts.

The biggest gripe I have against non-lithium batts is their propensity to leak and absolutely destroy whatever device they were in (lookin’ at you, Duracell!). For something like my pocket flashlight it isn’t that big a deal..go on Amazon, spend $25, get another flashlight. But there is some fairly expensive stuff…GPS, trail cams, radios, night vision, thermal vision, weaponlights, optics,etc…that take AA batteries and the last thing I want is to have that expensive gear rendered useless and needing replacement. The financial hit isn’t insignificant.

But, more importantly, if a piece of gear is critical then it is absolutely worth the extra expense to use the lithium batteries. For example, all the spare AA batts in my Bag O’ Tricks are lithium. Why? Because if I’m in a situation where I need to reload my electronic device from the spare batteries I carry in my Bag, then the situation is such that the last thing I need is to a) discover that the batteries that have been in my bag for the last year are dead, and b) have my device, whatever it is, get taken out of service because the batteries puked in it.

Any piece of critical gear needs every advantage it can get in terms of reliability, performance, resilience, and longevity. If I’m out hunting and I break a leg, have to call in search and rescue, and they ask for my location, the last thing I want is a) my phone charger being dead, b) my GPS being dead, c) my emergency locator being dead, and d) me being dead.

Crom forbid I ever have to point a rifle at anything thats got language skills, but if it comes to that I sure don’t want that little red dot or MOA circle to not be there when I bring the rifle up. (Backup iron sights? Of course!) And I also don’t want to replace a $600 Eotech because CostCo Duracells ossified the internals of the battery compartment.

Lithium batts aren’t infallible, I’ve read of occasions where they’ve crapped the bed too. But I’d say I’ve read about that happening once for every hundred stories I’ve read about Duracells and other batteries puking their guts out.

TL,DR: if its a piece of gear that is critical to your survival, painful to replace, or both…feed it the batteries that are least likely to crap out on you in a pinch.Upfront costs will be a little higher but, IMHO, worth it.

Lithium AA batts at CostCo

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One of the things that has been on my ‘need to buy’ list for some time has been lithium batteries. We all know that the Duracell batteries crap the bed more often than not. For critical gear like radios, GPS, etc, I only use lithium batteries. They have less self-discharge, have a long storage life, and are not usually affected by heat or cold.

Years and years ago, CostCo carried Energizer lithium batts. But, I can say with some certainty, that I have not seen them there in years. Like, at least five years, probably more like ten. Until today…

Well, geez….I wasnt planning on picking up a big batch o’ batteries but here we are.

Perhaps your CostCo carries these all the time. Mine doesn’t. So, when something like this becomes available, I feel its worth pointing out the to local LMI. If you’re within range of the Missoula CostCo, they got yer batts.

Musings from Year One of the blog

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I was digging through the blog and this post from 2003, the first year of the blog, caught my eye….

Its nice to see my ideas about what I wanted have stayed fairly consistent, if not realistic, over the years. Some grandiose ideas that ain’t gonna be cheap, but I’m gonna do what I can. Took 22 years, but I finally managed to get the ball rolling. Now I just gotta get it into the goal before Im too old to enjoy it.

Grok

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A friend pointed out that Musk’s AI, Grok, was a useful resource for some things I was researching. But, I was curious…I know some people use Grok for creative purposes so I decided to test it and the results were…not bad. Check this out:

“write a haiku about the browning hipower” and Grok spit out this:

Steel curves gleam coldly
Thirteen rounds wait in silence
Browning’s final breath

Interesting…lets try another….

“write a haiku about preparedness”

Quiet dawn whispers,
Supplies stacked, mind calm and clear—
Storm comes, we stand firm.

But haikus aren’t as challenging as a real poem. So….

“write a short poem about survivalism” …and we get:

In shadowed woods where echoes call, The survivor stands alone, With knife and fire, through rise and fall, He carves his fate from stone.

No grid to cradle, no light to borrow, He reads the wind, the stars, the rain, In chaos born, he finds tomorrow— Endurance etched in every vein.

When empires crumble, cities fade, The wild heart beats, unbowed, unafraid.

After that point it just devolved into me having Grok write haikus about various sexual kinks. But the point is, artificial intelligence….free consumer grade AI…can do some pretty interesting things.

I was reading the other day about how people are using AI to scam DoorDash and GrubHub for free food. They take pictures of their food, have AI doctor the picture to show the food as undercooked or contaminated with insects, and then they demand (and receive) refunds.

And, of course, the AI generated videos we now see everywhere do nothing but nmake you critical and suspicious of every ‘breaking news’ video you see online.

I can see where AI has some very cool uses, but its also paramount to remember that theres a lot of people taking advantage of it for nefarious reasons. But…it does have some utility for those of use interested in preparedness… looking up the tow capacity of various vehicles, trailer dimensions and capacities, etc, all related to locating a trailer for hauling the side-by-side to the beta site.

Tool acquisitions

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Man, I knew 2026 was gonna be an interesting-in-the-Chinese-way kind of year but I didn’t have ‘black bag a foreign dictator’ on my bingo card at all. And the year is only three days old. Interestingt imes, indeed.

I’ve decided that Uponor Pex is going to be the way to go. There are other options, to be sure, but from talking to professionals in the trade, as well as my own research, it appears to me that for the ease of install, repair, maintenance, modification, resilience, and freeze resistance, the pex is the way to go. To that end, I picked up this little jewel:

See, the fittings for the pex are of the expansion type. You stick this tool in there, like a speculum, and open up the end of the pipe. Push it over the connector and the pipe shrinks back down to its original size, making a tight connection. There are hand tools to do this process, and I’ll probably pick one up ‘just in case’, but for the initial construction there’s probably going to be a lot of call for the powered tool rather than the hand tool. But, suspenders and a belt…..get both. In addition to this, I need to pick up a buncha 1/2″ and 3/4″ pex (which is about $1/foot), connectors, fittings, etc. It really is a very affordable system.

This isnt the only tool hoarding that is going on. I’ve been steadily acquiring tools and putting them up at the storage unit in anticipation of spring/summer. Table saw, table saw workbench, transfer pump, hand tools, work lights, etc, etc. Still gotta pick up a trailer for the side-by-side.

As I said, the property will be cheapest part of this project. However, given the way the world seems to be spinning, having a well-stocked little hideyhole may not be the worst idea in the world these days.

The closing of the year

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Limping to the finish line, 2025 comes to a close.

Let’s see, didnt have to use my AK this year,  so I’ve got that going for me…which is nice. Still have a truck, a house, a job, and reasonable health. I have a lot less money in the bank than I did at this time last year, but I also now have a lot more land holding than I did last year, so that seems a reasonable trade.

The big news, of course, is that I finally bought some property to work on Commander Zero’s Post-Nuclear Bunker O’ Love and Lingerie Proving Ground….something I’ve been wanting for as along as I’ve been writing this blog. In fact, here’s the receipts:

Do I have any goals for 2006? Sure. Some are more reasonable than others….I’d love to have Commander Zero’s Post nuclear Bunker Of Love And Lingerie Proving Ground up and running but thats fairly unlikely at this point….no, the more realistic goals….

And I’m pretty sure thats not the earliest mention of it, so this is something I’ve been wanting for over twenty years and only really developed the ability to make it real in the last five or so. Like a dog that caught the car and now has no idea what to do with the dang thing, I’ve been so focused on getting the land for the last twenty years that I never put a terrible amount of brainwork in what to do after I got it. No better time than the present to learn, I suppose.

My forecasts for 2025 were as follows:

Forecast for ’25: Ukraine winds up having to come to the table as war fatigue sets in. Inflation is above 2% but nothing like what it was under Biden. Bidenistas become the Japanese hold outs of the political world, staying behind in government to crap in Trumps punch bowl every chance they get. At least one more assassination attempt is made/thwarted. Gas prices drop to lowest prices in four years. Markets are shaky, but ultimately trend upward. Wall does not get built. China continues to be the biggest threat to…everything. Alec Baldwin does not move to France. Cubs don’t win Series.

Other than the additional assassination attempt (although perhaps they didnt tell us about any more) and the Ukes having to roll over, everything else was right…but, to be fair, that was low hanging fruit.

Forecast for 2026? I spend a metric buttload of money getting the Beta Site developed. Silver crosses $100. Putin challenges NATO harder and harder until someone loses a jet fighter…then both sides hurriedly retreat from each other. Ukraine-Russia resolves itself one way or another by the end of the year. China keeps doing what its been doing. Gavin Newsom becomes heir apparent as the Democrats start to rally around him as the only viable candidate. No new assault weapons ban in 2026. Political Balkanization continues. Cubs do not win Series.

Thats about it. 2025 sails into history with all sorts of historical footnotes attached to it.

The year closes, the year opens. It closes with my favorite version of my seasonal favorite:

Dome on the range

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Independent-minded, and often libertarian, off-grid types often gravitate towards geodesic domes. The domes do have a lot going for them, but they aren’t what I had in mind. At least, not for a primary dwelling. However, for a storage shed or similar structure, there is some appeal…most notably space. I was curious and started dinking around the internet and found this. As a storage building, this would have a lot going for it. Most notably, the requisite building materials…2×4’s, a saw, and a cordless screwdriver…are easily transportable and easy to work with. The size of the dome is just a matter of deciding how long you want to make your 2×4 segments.

I like the idea of something that is relatively simple to put together and doesn’t require anything that doesn’t fit in the back of a pickup truck. I also like the idea that since the construction requires a known number of pieces of particular lenght, I can easily calculate a finished cost and calculate a revised cost if I want to change the dimensions slightly.

Disadvantages? Well, they sure look weird. But Im less about aesthetics, in this case, and more about utility and ease of construction.Then theres also the matter of how to skin it. I’d be curious if covering it in layers of hardware cloth or chicken wire would allow a person to skin it with cement. There would be weight considerations, but Id think you wouldnt need a terribly thick layer to create a waterproof and durable covering.

I might need to investigate this a bit further. One of the first things I need to do at the Beta Site is get some sort of covered structure up there to enable me to stage things, have a place to roll out a sleeping bag, and act as a small workspace. As I’ve said before, the road infrastructure up there isn’t, in my opinion, up to snuff for hauling in a prefabricated storage shed. I suppose a knocked-down storage shed might work but any one wall is going to be larger than the space available in the back of a pickup truck.

Interesting stuff to explore and think about.

On a side note, I’m curious to see how many posts I need to make tagged ‘Beta Site’ before it appears as a ‘frequently used tag’ in the sidebar.