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

Man, I gotta post more………

Acquisitions from the Butte gun show –

German rain poncho – Dang it, is there a single piece of US field gear that the West Germans cant beat???? Their poncho is heavier, has nicer snaps and folds neater. How the hell did these people lose World War Two? If it wasnt for their pornographic fascination with poop and puke films these guys would be the country to emulate.

Surplus Brit sleeping bags – On the other side of the coin, you get the Brits who cannot create good food, good cars or a good .223 weapon. However, the sleeping bags were of decent quality, roll up into their own pouch, and look like the may be pretty warm. They were purchased as ‘truck bags’ for that unexpected winter adventure when you get stuck in the snow and cold.

WaterGel – Never enough burn treatments.

And a few Glock 17 mags…although we have Glock 19’s, and the 17 mags stick out the bottom of the gun a bit, this allows us to use this magazine in any 9mm Glock whereas the 19 mag only fits 19’s and the miniguns.

Bunker maintenance….must. organize. bunker.

Theres really no excuse for..uhm..well..excuses.

I’ve been a very, very bad paranoid survivalist lately. I’ve completely neglected my duties as Commander Zero. Oh, sure, I could handle a couple months of chaos and everything just with whats sitting around the bunker at the moment, but, dang it, I should be better than that.

Simply put, I’ve been too busy. I get home in the evening, eat and by then its about 8 and I want to just relax for an hour or two and the next thing you know its bedtime.

Did manage to get a freezer alrm put in, so at least some things have been getting done.

Biggest thing I want to get done is to go down to the bunker and organize things a bit better. It would take at least a couple hours, so maybe if I just go home and skip a meal I can focus on it and maybe get things done. I’d feel a little better if I knew everything was neatly organized and arranged for immediate usage.

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

Theres really no excuse for..uhm..well..excuses.

I’ve been a very, very bad paranoid survivalist lately. I’ve completely neglected my duties as Commander Zero. Oh, sure, I could handle a couple months of chaos and everything just with whats sitting around the bunker at the moment, but, dang it, I should be better than that.

Simply put, I’ve been too busy. I get home in the evening, eat and by then its about 8 and I want to just relax for an hour or two and the next thing you know its bedtime.

Did manage to get a freezer alarm put in, so at least some things have been getting done.

Biggest thing I want to get done is to go down to the bunker and organize things a bit better. It would take at least a couple hours, so maybe if I just go home and skip a meal I can focus on it and maybe get things done. I’d feel a little better if I knew everything was neatly organized and arranged for immediate usage.

New toys arrived the other day. Tritium safety markers.

These are glow-in-the-dark elements like what are used in night sights. Theyre used for marking safe passageways through darkened areas…like in stairwells and that sort of thing. No batteries, no maintenance and reliable for at least ten years. $13 ea. I wanted to get a bunch to mark off the bunker so that in the dark I’d be able to find the doorways easily.

The company makes the Betalight. A handheld tritium lightsource that, unfortunately, is difficult to get ahold of in this country. They also make some severely cool ‘tactical’ stuff as well.

Anyway, I called the US distributor and asked about these things. Apparently they are a little fussy about who they sell them to. I told them I needed it for marking egress in a powder bunker where a stray electrical spark would be bad news. The guy said that sounded like a ‘legitimate end use’ to him and took my order. Like Im gonna crack a couple thousand of these things open and make my own nuclear bomb or something….

They are quite bright and since they have a screwhole on either side for mounting to a surface, I can simply slip a split ring on one end and affix it to my medic bag to make it easy to find in the dark.

Nice product.

And, found a place locally selling Glock knives for $30, brand new. Picked up a new one to add to my stash. Just happened to be desert tan in color, so I now have one in black, one in olive and one in desert, which also works for snow camo as well.

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

New toys arrived the other day. Tritium safety markers.

These are glow-in-the-dark elements like what are used in night sights. Theyre used for marking safe passageways through darkened areas…like in stairwells and that sort of thing. No batteries, no maintenance and reliable for at least ten years. $13 ea. I wanted to get a bunch to mark off the bunker so that in the dark I’d be able to find the doorways easily.

The company makes the Betalight. A handheld tritium lightsource that, unfortunately, is difficult to get ahold of in this country. They also make some severely cool ‘tactical’ stuff as well.

Anyway, I called the US distributor and asked about these things. Apparently they are a little fussy about who they sell them to. I told them I needed it for marking egress in a powder bunker where a stray electrical spark would be bad news. The guy said that sounded like a ‘legitimate end use’ to him and took my order. Like Im gonna crack a couple thousand of these things open and make my own nuclear bomb or something….

They are quite bright and since they have a screwhole on either side for mounting to a surface, I can simply slip a split ring on one end and affix it to my medic bag to make it easy to find in the dark.

Nice product.

And, found a place locally selling Glock knives for $30, brand new. Picked up a new one to add to my stash. Just happened to be desert tan in color, so I now have one in black, one in olive and one in desert, which also works for snow camo as well.

The amount of suckage from that earthquake movie is waaaaaay past 10.5 on the Suck-O-Meter. yeah, I was expecting it to be bad..but how bad? This bad: they show a scene of a tv broadcast and the crawl on the bottom of the news screen says that “marshal law” is in effect. Hmmm..think maybe they meant martial law?

How can you live in a place like California, the terrestrial equivalent of Jell-O, and not have at least three ways out of the state mapped off? Or have your emergency gear ready to go on a moments notice? Take the freeway? Its LA for cryin’ out loud, traffic is a mess even on a good day…add a couple million panicked motorists and all you have is a parking lot.

Well, maybe “Day After Tomorrow” will be more entertaining.

Biggest amusement for me: waiting for Fred Ward to tell ‘the President’ that the source of the tremors is graboid activity. Paging Burt Gummer, paging Burt Gummer…

Oh, and someone get Kim Delaney some acting lessons huh?

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

The amount of suckage from that earthquake movie is waaaaaay past 10.5 on the Suck-O-Meter. yeah, I was expecting it to be bad..but how bad? This bad: they show a scene of a tv broadcast and the crawl on the bottom of the news screen says that “marshal law” is in effect. Hmmm..think maybe they meant martial law?

How can you live in a place like California, the terrestrial equivalent of Jell-O, and not have at least three ways out of the state mapped off? Or have your emergency gear ready to go on a moments notice? Take the freeway? Its LA for cryin’ out loud, traffic is a mess even on a good day…add a couple million panicked motorists and all you have is a parking lot.

Well, maybe “Day After Tomorrow” will be more entertaining.

Biggest amusement for me: waiting for Fred Ward to tell ‘the President’ that the source of the tremors is graboid activity. Paging Burt Gummer, paging Burt Gummer…

Oh, and someone get Kim Delaney some acting lessons huh?

Finally got around to trying the packet of long-life pre-cooked ground beef that I mentioned in a few earlier posts. The package was ‘Italian Flavored’ indicating that this would seem to be just the ticket for pasta sauce, right? Way too much fennel….too much spices in general. The texture of the meat was okay, but its definitely in the I-probably-wouldnt-eat-it-unless-it-were-a-disaster sort of thing. Not to be dissuaded, I will try the “Mexican Flavored” (Tastes like Mexicans??) and the other spiced flavor as well. Sensing my disappointment, my lovely partner in preparedness (How prepared? Theres 1000 rounds of 9mm in her truck at the moment) picked me up some foil pouches of chicken and another of turkey breast. One way or another, by god, I am not going through the apocalypse as a freakin’ vegetarian. (Although, from a logistics standpoint it would be a good idea.)
====================
Had some excitement at the Zerostead the other day. Broken pipe in the basement. In the process of dealing with it I managed to cut my hand up nicely. So, being the Zero, I knew exactly where my amply stocked first aid kit was and retrieved it. That was the plan. The reality was that Zero’s partner-in-preparedness had moved it to a cabinet that had some stuff piled in front of it. So, I had to remove objects to allow access to the cabinet door and then retrieve my bag from the cabinet. I didnt *need* to say anything, she obviously recognized that there *was* a good reason I left the bag tucked in the corner of the room where it could be easily found. But, nonetheless, I did say “See, this is why I want to keep this bag out in the open.” She readily agreed and its been sitting on the floor under one of the pieces of furniture quietly waiting for its next moment to shine.
====================
“Day After Tomorrow” comes out in a few weeks and a TV disaster movie (“10.5”) is on this weekend. Im sure therell be shots of the stereotypical camouflage-clad survivalists threatening people with guns or whatnot. (shrug) Maybe it’ll make some people think “Hey, maybe we should keep a footlocker of gear in the house just in case”.
====================
Took the Tactical Tailor backpack out for a spin up to the ‘M’ the other day. Comfortable, hydration system worked nicely in it, and it rode very well. I am pleased with this piece of gear. How pleased? Well, my lovely partner got one and I coveted it so much that she got me one. I showed it to my LMI buddies and one of them wound up getting one. The other LMI buddy saw that one, thought it was great, and will be getting one. www.tacticaltailor.com … some good stuff.
====================
Finally got out to do some shooting the other day. The 10/22 were having some problems with my Butler Creek hi-caps, but I attribute that to the guns needing cleaning. The Ruger 10-round mags worked flawlessly.
====================
So much to do………

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

Finally got around to trying the packet of long-life pre-cooked ground beef that I mentioned in a few earlier posts. The package was ‘Italian Flavored’ indicating that this would seem to be just the ticket for pasta sauce, right? Way too much fennel….too much spices in general. The texture of the meat was okay, but its definitely in the I-probably-wouldnt-eat-it-unless-it-were-a-disaster sort of thing. Not to be dissuaded, I will try the “Mexican Flavored” (Tastes like Mexicans??) and the other spiced flavor as well. Sensing my disappointment, my lovely partner in preparedness (How prepared? Theres 1000 rounds of 9mm in her truck at the moment) picked me up some foil pouches of chicken and another of turkey breast. One way or another, by god, I am not going through the apocalypse as a freakin’ vegetarian. (Although, from a logistics standpoint it would be a good idea.)
====================
Had some excitement at the Zerostead the other day. Broken pipe in the basement. In the process of dealing with it I managed to cut my hand up nicely. So, being the Zero, I knew exactly where my amply stocked first aid kit was and retrieved it. That was the plan. The reality was that Zero’s partner-in-preparedness had moved it to a cabinet that had some stuff piled in front of it. So, I had to remove objects to allow access to the cabinet door and then retrieve my bag from the cabinet. I didnt *need* to say anything, she obviously recognized that there *was* a good reason I left the bag tucked in the corner of the room where it could be easily found. But, nonetheless, I did say “See, this is why I want to keep this bag out in the open.” She readily agreed and its been sitting on the floor under one of the pieces of furniture quietly waiting for its next moment to shine.
====================
“Day After Tomorrow” comes out in a few weeks and a TV disaster movie (”10.5″) is on this weekend. Im sure therell be shots of the stereotypical camouflage-clad survivalists threatening people with guns or whatnot. (shrug) Maybe it’ll make some people think “Hey, maybe we should keep a footlocker of gear in the house just in case”.
====================
Took the Tactical Tailor backpack out for a spin up to the ‘M’ the other day. Comfortable, hydration system worked nicely in it, and it rode very well. I am pleased with this piece of gear. How pleased? Well, my lovely partner got one and I coveted it so much that she got me one. I showed it to my LMI buddies and one of them wound up getting one. The other LMI buddy saw that one, thought it was great, and will be getting one. www.tacticaltailor.com … some good stuff.
====================
Finally got out to do some shooting the other day. The 10/22 were having some problems with my Butler Creek hi-caps, but I attribute that to the guns needing cleaning. The Ruger 10-round mags worked flawlessly.
====================
So much to do………

Im starting to think that the ‘Zero’ in Commander Zero stands for my bank balance. I went to the gun show today and found all sortsa goodies…

Sutures, sutures, sutures.
Lightstick carrycases
A nice all Belgian old HiPower for $395. Good shape but missing bluing. A serious candidate for purchase. (sigh)
Some books on various useful subjects.
Glock knives, Glock e-tools (entrenching tools, not mailware)
33-rd Glock mags (just the thing for when I get my KelTec carbine)
Some niiiiiice AR accessories
Tracer & incendiary ammo in .223 and .30-06

I need some sort of federal grant. Maybe the Dept. Of Fatherland Security has an extra couple million for ‘Montana Civil Defense’.