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

From the I-Cant-Stop-Picking-At-It Department:

The Chief of the New Orleans Police Department (Motto: To serve and defect) resigned the other day. The next day (or maybe it was the same day) articles started appearing saying how federal investigators are finding that there may have been up to 500 'ghost' officers…cops on the payroll who didnt really exist. This just gets better and better!!! Compass needs to be hauled in and investigated so hard he cant sit properly. When thats done, get Nagin on the hot seat and sweat him too. After that, Blanco has some 'splainin' to do. These guys are the freaking poster child for why the nannystate doesnt work.
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Every little geegaw and gimmick that we use to give ourselves an edge requires a ceratin amount of support. That is to say, if you have a nice knife you need to have more than just a sheath for it, right? You need sharpening tools, oil, a rag, needle & thread for sheath maintenance, etc, etc. Same way if you have a generator you need fuel, oil, plugs, cables, etc, etc,…and it goes back even more generations than that – you cant just have the fuel you then have to have the fuel container, fuel stabilizer, fuel transfer tools, fire extinguishers, etc.  So, theres really a bit more to getting a pice of gear than just getting it and figuring 'okay, Im set'. Todays example: this is everything I need to maintain my S&W Model 10 .38 revolver. Excuse the formatting..its exported from a spreadsheet I maintain.

Accessory        speedloaders
Accessory        speedloader pouches
Accessory        holster
Accessory        plastic bag
Accessory        Gun rug
Accessory        Speed Strips
Ammo        ammo
Cleaning        Solvent
Cleaning        patches
Cleaning        rod
Cleaning        jag
Cleaning        mop
Cleaning        toothbrush
Cleaning        Q-tips
Cleaning        toothpicks
Cleaning        dental picks
Cleaning        bore brush
Cleaning        oil
Cleaning        rag
Cleaning        squib rod
Cleaning        bore snake
Information        exploded diagram
Parts        spare grips
Parts        screws
Parts        springs
Parts        other (bolt, hand, ratchet, etc)
Reloading        mould
Reloading        bullet lube
Reloading        sizer
Reloading        dies
Reloading        reloading tool
Tool        screwdriver
Tool        hammer

All of this fits in a watertight, airtight ammo can which means it can pretty much go anywhere although obviously you dont carry all this with you unless youre moving onto a new Area of Operations. But, if you came back to your flooded out house in Alabama or your submerged garage in Mississippi you could dig this thing out of the muck, crack it open, and some of the tension leave your body as you saw all that nice, dry, safe, usable ammo and support gear for your pistol. (And, actually, I keep one of the 'extra'/'spare' Model 10s in the can too.)

This same line of thinking has to go to , for example, my Coleman lanterns…something like this:
Lighting        Lantern         Coleman fuel        Carrycase       
Lighting        Lantern         Coleman fuel        Globe        #690A048
Lighting        Lantern         Mantles        #21A122 or #21A104       
Lighting        Lantern         Propane        Carrycase       
Lighting        Lantern         Propane        Globe        #214A0461
along with propane, Coleman fuel, funnels, etc, etc, etc.

The point, which I am slowly and quite inefficiently hammering to death, is that important gear does not stand alone..it needs to have all the support you can give it in the form of spare parts, accessories, etc. Either have the spare parts for repair/maintenace or have an entire duplicate of the item. Better to have both. (”One is none, two is one”) So think about the important stuff you have – the cookstove, the lantern, the Jeep, the AR-15, the Danner boots – and think what spares and maintenance parts you need and get them.

Finally, before I stop flogging this deceased equine, I will say that having spares and parts has already served me well. When the BunkerBabe lost a spring out of her AR, a quick trip to the 40mm can full of AR support gear kept us from losing a functional AR from our battery. Having spare flectar parkas kept her warm at a shooting class when she discovered one in the box of the truck. You get the idea?
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I want to quickly mention that at no point am I calling myself an expert or authority here. Im only telling what I've done or am doing and your mileage may vary…significantly. Lotsa folks do things differently and those ways may be worse, same or better. Im just speaking for myself and making suggestions off of my own experiences. I've been somewhat following the 'survivalist movement' since it started in the 1980's and had a mild interest up through the '90s when I got involved in it much more seriously…so, I've got some background but definitely not an expert.
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The BunkerBabe has set policy that we must acquire 1,000 rounds of ammo per month. I can agree with this. If money is tight, 1k of .22 LR is $20..and when things are going well 1k of 9mm is about $120. But, boy, there very little more satisfying then seeing a shelf loaded down with plenty of ammo…except the shelves in a pantry loaded down with yummy long term food.
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Speaking of food, it is my understanding that if you are in New Orleans the MRE's are free for the taking. You cannot begin to imagine how jealous I am of that. Seriously.

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

,Rawles has a link to a Mormon Interactive Food Storage calculator. Man, you dont see the Catholics or Lutherans  coming up with great stuff like this.

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

We've all heard stories about women who live with husbands that slap them around and otherwise hurt them..sometimes quite severely. Broken nose, black eyes, maybe a couple cracked ribs. And we, aghast at this, say “Get out of there. Pack your things and go!” and she says that he isnt a bad husband, its just that sometimes he gets drunk.or she 'makes him do it'…or otherwise makes excuses. And we ask, after she's had to wear a scarf to hide the handprints around her neck, why she doesnt leave? And she says that she cant make it on her own, or that she wants the security and its worth the tradeoff, or that her kids need his help, or something similar.

Now, lets replace a few words…..

We've all heard stories about women citizens who live with husbands governments that slap push them around and otherwise hurt abuse them..sometimes quite severely. Broken nose, black eyes, maybe a couple cracked ribsNo knock warrants, punishing taxes, curtailed liberties. And we, aghast at this, say “Get out of there. Pack your things and go!” and she they says that he it  isnt a bad husband government, its just that sometimes he it  gets drunk on power..or she they 'makes him them do it'…or otherwise makes excuses. And we ask, after she's they've had to wear a scarf to hide the handprints national ID around her their neck, why she doesntthey dont leave? And shethey says that she they cant make it on her their own, or that she they wants the security and its worth the tradeoff, or that her their kids need his governements help, or something similar.

Next time someone says that the goal of government is to take care of those who cant take care of themselves, think about that battered woman in the doublewide. You'd urgently try to convince her that she didnt need that abusive husband and that she could do fine without him and she could do fine on her own…same situation.

And, like the abused women who stay with their scumbag husbands/boyfriends, if you continue to stay after everyone has tried to convince you how bad and dangerous it is….well, you may not deserve what you get but youre going to get it anyway. (It is worth noting that there is almost universal satisfaction when one of these abusers is shot by the abusee…)

I think about this because I think the events of the last several weeks are going to push alot of fence-sitters into one of two camps – the 'government is there to help the helpless and if they cant do it then we need to make government bigger and more powerful' camp, on the left side of the fence. On the right side, we have the 'government cant pour piss out of a boot if they printed the instructions on the heel..I'm going to do all I can so that I'll never need to depend on them' camp. If youre reading this I can imagine which side of the fence youre on.

It would be very easy to say that the people who had literally nothing left but the clothes on their back approve of the government supporting them, at least for the short term. And it would be very easy to say that the folks that rode out the storm and survived quite handily through their own foresight and resourcefullness would be disdainful of making government even bigger to enable it to react better/faster.
But thats not necessarily the case…there were plenty of 'clothes on their back' refugees who shunned the FEMA man and beat feet to a relatives or friends home and 'kept it in the family'. And theres folks that had plenty of food and water who were more than happy to head down to the FEMA tent and collect free goodies they didnt need. So, you cant really pigeonhole a particular survivor into one of those two scenarios…it goes to who the person fundamentally is, not what the circumstances made them.

My point is, I think, that in the future it will be very interesting to see what side wins out, who got bumped from one ideal to the other, and who is supporting a particular ideal. Personally, Im of the opinion that government is very rarely the answer for personal safety and preparedness against disaster. National defense? Sure. Building roads? I suppose. Protecting me from natural disaster? Hardly. I'll take care of that on my own, thanks.

Also, given the phenominally poor response of the 'gov, coupled with the sheeple doing their sheeple thing, its obvious that .gov can't protect you…at all. So if youre counting on them to keep you safe, youre really, really screwed and should come over to my side of the fence before its too late.

We’ve all heard stories about women who live with husbands that slap them around and otherwise hurt them..sometimes quite severely. Broken nose, black eyes, maybe a couple cracked ribs. And we, aghast at this, say “Get out of there. Pack your things and go!” and she says that he isnt a bad husband, its just that sometimes he gets drunk.or she ‘makes him do it’…or otherwise makes excuses. And we ask, after she’s had to wear a scarf to hide the handprints around her neck, why she doesnt leave? And she says that she cant make it on her own, or that she wants the security and its worth the tradeoff, or that her kids need his help, or something similar.

Now, lets replace a few words…..

We’ve all heard stories about women citizens who live with husbands governments that slap push them around and otherwise hurt abuse them..sometimes quite severely. Broken nose, black eyes, maybe a couple cracked ribsNo knock warrants, punishing taxes, curtailed liberties. And we, aghast at this, say “Get out of there. Pack your things and go!” and she they says that he it  isnt a bad husband government, its just that sometimes he it  gets drunk on power..or she they ‘makes him them do it’…or otherwise makes excuses. And we ask, after she’s they’ve had to wear a scarf to hide the handprints national ID around her their neck, why she doesntthey dont leave? And shethey says that she they cant make it on her their own, or that she they wants the security and its worth the tradeoff, or that her their kids need his governements help, or something similar.

Next time someone says that the goal of government is to take care of those who cant take care of themselves, think about that battered woman in the doublewide. You’d urgently try to convince her that she didnt need that abusive husband and that she could do fine without him and she could do fine on her own…same situation.

And, like the abused women who stay with their scumbag husbands/boyfriends, if you continue to stay after everyone has tried to convince you how bad and dangerous it is….well, you may not deserve what you get but youre going to get it anyway. (It is worth noting that there is almost universal satisfaction when one of these abusers is shot by the abusee…)

I think about this because I think the events of the last several weeks are going to push alot of fence-sitters into one of two camps – the ‘government is there to help the helpless and if they cant do it then we need to make government bigger and more powerful’ camp, on the left side of the fence. On the right side, we have the ‘government cant pour piss out of a boot if they printed the instructions on the heel..I’m going to do all I can so that I’ll never need to depend on them’ camp. If youre reading this I can imagine which side of the fence youre on.

It would be very easy to say that the people who had literally nothing left but the clothes on their back approve of the government supporting them, at least for the short term. And it would be very easy to say that the folks that rode out the storm and survived quite handily through their own foresight and resourcefullness would be disdainful of making government even bigger to enable it to react better/faster.
But thats not necessarily the case…there were plenty of ‘clothes on their back’ refugees who shunned the FEMA man and beat feet to a relatives or friends home and ‘kept it in the family’. And theres folks that had plenty of food and water who were more than happy to head down to the FEMA tent and collect free goodies they didnt need. So, you cant really pigeonhole a particular survivor into one of those two scenarios…it goes to who the person fundamentally is, not what the circumstances made them.

My point is, I think, that in the future it will be very interesting to see what side wins out, who got bumped from one ideal to the other, and who is supporting a particular ideal. Personally, Im of the opinion that government is very rarely the answer for personal safety and preparedness against disaster. National defense? Sure. Building roads? I suppose. Protecting me from natural disaster? Hardly. I’ll take care of that on my own, thanks.

Also, given the phenominally poor response of the ‘gov, coupled with the sheeple doing their sheeple thing, its obvious that .gov can’t protect you…at all. So if youre counting on them to keep you safe, youre really, really screwed and should come over to my side of the fence before its too late.

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

More fun in traffic jams. One man's story about how even his best laid preps were barely enough.
http://headsbunker.com/html/blog.html (Entry for Monday 9/26)

Fuel. Its all about fuel.

More fun in traffic jams. One man’s story about how even his best laid preps were barely enough.
http://headsbunker.com/html/blog.html (Entry for Monday 9/26)

Fuel. Its all about fuel.

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

So I go to pick up the BunkerBabe from her civillian job…and she's not outside yet waiting, so I sit in the truck and wait patiently at the curb. Then I notice a nalgene water bottle sitting over by the doorway. Hmmm. Im guessing a bicyclist left it when he unlocked/locked his bike to the rack. Anyway, I get out of the truck and examine it. Its a genuine Nalgene brand, hard plastic, full of water. Probably a good quart of water right there. Now, Im not about to keep a water bottle I find on the street..not out of ethics but more from hygiene. On the other hand, I was curious how durable these bottles were and now was my chance to find out. Full bottle. Heavy. I hold it over my head at arms length and let it drop to the concrete. I made sure to drop it so it would land at an angle for maximum damage.

Nothing. Nada. A gouge on the edge of the bottom from the concrete but no cracks, no splits, no holes, no nothing. Hmmm. Tried it again. Same results.

I'll be buying a half dozen later this week.