Mylar after two years of exposure

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A few years back I picked up a heat-sealer and a supply of heavy-duty mylar pouches. The goal was to use them to store small first aid items in a protective package that would be impervious to dirt, moisture, etc. (Links are still good in that post, so if you want your own sealer and bags go hit those links.)

SO, I went through my extensive piles of first aid supplies and pulled out the basics, loaded them into a mylar bag, and sealed them up. This was, ostensibly, for me to basically throw under the seat in the vehicle.

At some point, I needed to clean out the accumulated detritus in the vehicle and loaded all the loose items that were kicking around (water bottles, pens, loose ammo, maps, e-tool, etc.) into a milk crate and kept that milk crate in the vehicle. One day, I needed to maximize the space in the vehicle so I pulled out the milk crate and tucked it away in a corner of the yard while I did what needed doing. And then forgot about it. That was two years ago.

So, I was straightening things up and found this mylar pouch of first aid supplies that had been sitting out in the elements – snow, rain,sun, heat, cold – for two years…completely unprotected. Seems like a good opportunity to see how it held up.

Two years in the sun, rain, snow, heat, and cold of Western Montana. Dusty, but otherwise undamaged.

Tear it open and take a look inside. Contents appear to be undamaged and just fine.

Everything appears as good as it was when I packed it up two years prior.

Unfortunately, I loaned my heat sealer to someone last year and despite my occasional requests for it back they’ve not returned it, so unless they get a sudden dose of responsibility I’m probably going to have to order another one. I still have a goodly supply of pouches and the evidence seems to show that they are very good at protecting important items from the elements. In addition to the obvious things like a bit of first aid supplies, small objects that need to stay clean and dry would be suitable candidates….small electronics like radios and such spring to mind.

I rather like the convenience of having several of these pouches sitting in a bin in storage and I can just grab one and throw it in a pack or bag if I’m going somewhere. And when you buy the stuff in bulk like I do, it’s ridiculously cheap to put one of these together. Cheap enough to the point that I can just give them away to friends and like minded individuals, keep on e in every bag, stash a bunch at some offsite location, etc. Of course, if you’re willing to pop for the larger size pouches you can put together some extensive kits.

By the by, these pouches are the resealable kind…so once open, the contents can be put back inside and the bag ‘zipped’ closed. But if you really wanna go the suspender-n-belt route you could easily stuff a ziploc bag in there to perform the same function.

The upcoming 20th anniversary of……..

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I realized something today as I was trolling around through my library of various survival books. Do you guys know what this December is? Think about it a moment….what happened 20 years ago this December? Correct! It will be the 20th anniversary of The Great Y2K Scare!

An interesting book at the time, it’s downright amusing to read now. Technology, especially on alternative energy systems, has changed so much in price and performance that the recommendations in this book are like reading Tappan’s “Survival Guns” and being amused at the anachronistic recommendations. HOWEVER, what worked twenty years ago would work now, just not as efficiently or economically…so there is still some merit here.

Ah, remember that? We were going to have to face the apocalypse with 10-rd magazines and nothing to fix our bayonets to because the Assault Weapons Ban was still in effect. I remember seeing news articles about True Believers selling the condo in California’s wine country and buying scrub land in Arizona to build a bunker, fence it in, and ride out the massive civil disturbance that would happen as we all suddenly found ourselves in a Stirling/Kunstler/Forstchen novel. Everyone laughed and pointed fingers at people who were concerned over it while secretly doing a little extra shopping and stockpiling.

With hindsight being 20/20 and all, we know now that Y2K turned out to be prety much a bust. The following summer there were some fascinating garage sales as people sheepishly sold off their new-in-box generators and whatnot. But, just as people started laughing at the foolishness of the preparedness crowd we had the Septenber 11th terrorist attacks and suddenly having a few goodies tucked away didnt seem so unreasonable.

Its a toss up as to which thing made preparedness more mainstream…Y2k or 9/11. Either one, on its face, wouldn’t have been enough but the two events (or non-event, I suppose) together within a short timeframe….thats a different story. But, that was almost twenty years ago and many people who jumped on the bandwagon after those events have probably slacked off a good bit. However, those of us who were of that mind before those events took it as validation of our beliefs and continued apace with the conviction of the vindicated.

9/11 also sent a whole generation of people into the military and overseas where a good chunk of them, now in their 30’s and 40’s, got exposed to what the rest of the workd is like when you’re away from the relative civility of the First World and it’s people. I’ve met plenty of Afghanistan/Iraq vets who were not into preparedness, but I’ve never met one who thought it was stupid. They have a perspective that people who have never been to Third World violence-fests simply don’t have.

I do recall sitting around at midnight on New Years Eve 1999 with an AR across my lap waiting to see what happened. As it turned out….virtually nothing. Certainly nothing catastrophic to my world. Oh, maybe there were some isolated incidents here and there of time locks not functioning, extremely localized grid failures, that sort of thing….but a Purge-like, blood-in-the-streets, we’re-on-our-own sort of situation? Nope.

It was about ten years before I finally used up all the rice I had laid back, and I’m fairly confident theres still a few ammo cans of .38 and .308 ammo sitting in storage from that era. A lot of the consumables (toilet paper, batteries, canned goods, etc.) were used and replaced as time went on, so no real waste there. I would guess that the only real ‘wasted effort’ was that instead of finding a New Years Eve party to attend for the big event I chose to hole up in my house with a very attentive eye and ear on the news.

But, of course, the world is a somewhat different place now. Terrorism was something that happened overseas, digital infrastructure attacks were a theory, people with too many vowels in their name limited themselves to blowing up cars in distant lands, and no one got strip searched for trying to bring more than 3 oz. of shampoo on an airplane. I would guess that the reasons to be prepared are even more pressing than they were then. :::shrug::: Makes no difference to me. Even if the world suddenly turned into a quiet, peaceful place tomorrow I’d still keep a secret room in the house….just in case.

 

 

Goal 0 Extreme 350

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I have a couple ‘battery in a box’ setups around the house. I have an ancient (pre-Y2K) ConSci powerpack that has, rather unbelievably, held up for the last twenty years. And, as of late, I picked up a battery jumpbox that ran an LED desk lamp for a week. That told me that as far as emergency lighting needs go: a) anything other than LED’s is a remarkably foolish choice and b) assuming six hours of use per night, I can light the house up for a month with a lamp and a charged battery. So, the logical conclusion was to get a couple lamps,a couple batteries, and keep them charged. This I have done.

Now, the emergency lights I use are from Goal 0. I have fabbed up my own in the past, and I’ll probably do that again, but Goal 0 had some nice, simple, daisy chainable lights. Goal 0 also makes various battery packs. I was gifted a dead one last week, along with a Goal 0 panel to charge it. And thus begins our tale.

So I was generously given a Goal Zero Extreme 350…a discontinued batterybox type of product. It featured Anderson power pole connectors, charging regulator, charging input, fuses, and a battery meter. Really, you could put together the exact same thing for less than what Goal 0 charges but some of us are not terribly handy with tools and prefer an out-of-the-box turnkey solution.

Anyway, this thing had sat in storage and was deader than Hillary Clintons presidential chances. I let it sit on the supplied charger for a couple days and got no joy at all. Clearly the long period of non-use, and slow discharge (because the battery meter is on all the time), led to the sealed lead-acid battery becoming unrecoverable.

But..I liked the other features. Perhaps Goal 0 has a replacement for this battery? Nope. And the replacement batteries they do sell are $$$. So….off to the itnernet. Which is where I found this – directions on DIYing a replacement battery off Amazon. Since my basis was $0 in this, I didn’t mind dropping the coin for a new AGM battery to replace the dead SLA battery. So, ran off to Amazon and ordered up the suggested battery which was an exact dimensional fit, gives me the advantage of AGM, and was an extra 5 amp/hour. Followed the instructions and – voila – brought it back to life. I’ve got my desk lamp hooked up to it to see how long it’ll run on a full charge, and then to see how long it takes to charge it using the panel. I’e no doubt this thing willrun the lamp for at least three or four days…and probably longer. It’ll give me one more self-contained lighting unit to distribute where needed next time the power goes out. And the price was right.

Gun hoarding

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:::sigh::: I still seem to be singlehandedly waging a War On The War On Guns…. it’s gotten to the point that even people who didn’t bat an eye when I had…’a lot’…of guns are now saying things like “they’re taking over your house”. I feel like I’m heading for an episode of ‘Hoarders: The Ballistic Edition’.

In reality, it isn’t that bad. The main crux of the issue is that I’ve just gotta pick up the guns laying around, box them up , and tuck them into the Deep Sleep. Certainly, thats what I need to do with the dozen Ruger P95’s I’ve got sitting here. (And the three matching PC9 carbines that go with them.)

I’ve long thought that I need to pick up a couple large Pelican rifle cases, drop an AR, 870, 10/22, and a Glock in each one and tuck ’em away…sort of an ‘in case of apocalypse, break glass’ kinda thing.

I still believe, with utter conviction, that 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: The Next Generation is brewing and will be served at some point…maybe next year, maybe in ten years…but I have utterly no doubt it’s going to happen. I’d like to be in a position to take financial advantage of it when it does and that means a big ‘ol box of stripped lowers and a couple footlockers of Pmags.

But, in the meantime, if it’s gotten to the point that even ballistically-minded people are starting to say “Dude, you’ve got guns all over the place” then perhaps it is indeed time to do a gun roundup and get these things put away.

 

Hurricanes

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It appears that Florida may be “Smack in the bullseye” of a “Possibly Category 4” hurricane. Mid you, predicting the power and path of a storm several days out is a lot like trying to predict any weather pattern several days….:::waggles hand::: MMMmmmaybe cat 4, maybe tropical storm….

But, the media loves getting a frenzy going so we’ll be inundated with the ‘residents stockpile food and water’ stories, pictures of crowds at stores and gas stations, and the ubiquitous picture of some poor bastard from the weather channel standing on a beach as the hurricane comes ashore.

I like living in the relatively disaster-free environs of Montana. Earthquakes are rare, hurricanes unknown, tornadoes virtually non-existent, and about all we have to contend with are blizzards and forest fires…and if you live in town, those last two things are basically non-events.

But…because we never know what sort of Black Swan in lurking around the corner we try to be prepared anyway. Yknow, just in case.

As of late, I haven’t really done anything new in terms of preparedness. Just more of the same…keep up on stockpiles of food, fuel etc; try and keep money in the bank, etc, etc.

I am reminded, as the days get shorter, that winter is on its way so soon it’ll be time to break out the winter gear, check the heaters, and make sure the emergency lighting is up to snuff.

All in all, though….I suspect that were I in Florida I would read the news of the impending hurricane and think to myself “Nah, I think I’m pretty good…no need to go to the store.”

Closeout Blackhawk pouches

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ETA: Well nuts….looks like they won’t deal with anyone without a resale certificate or FFL. My suggestion is to trot down to your local gun shop and see if, in exchange for turning them onto this deal, they’ll let you piggyback on their order.

Someone asked if I’d be doing some sorta group buy on this…nope. Too much work, not enough profit. But if you look hard enough I’m sure you can find someone to order for you.

One of my vendors is having a sale on some closeout Blackhawk gear. You know…Blackhawk…the guys that brought you such classics as the Derpa Serpa holster.

Since the pouches are non-FFL items, and on a closeout which means they probablt are happy to unload them as fast as they can, perhaps you can order without an FFL.

I ordered the M4 pouches, upright GP pouch, medical pouch, Nalgene bottle pouch, and utility pouch in…uhm…’quantity’.

Watergun: The triumphant return of the Watergun

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Ok, for those of you who missed the backstory, you can do a quick trip down memory lane. 

The short version is this: a P35 from the bottom of Lake Michigan came into my hands. It was a shoebox full of parts, and although there was severe pitting everything seemed functional. I replaced three or four small parts and, surprise, the thing ran just fine. Only trouble was, the finish, such as it was, looked ‘like a topographical map of Utah’. At the gun show a couple weeks ago I met some folks who were local, had some very impressive samples of their coating work, and seemed to have some very good prices. So…why not? To recap:

And, as you’ve been waiting for:

And for full effect:

Work was done by these guys:

Now, let’s address an elephant in the room…yes, you can still see the deep pitting under the coating. Well duh. I didnt expect the coating to fill in potholes like those. Much like how there isn’t enough Bondo and tequila to make Hilllary Clinton look like Jennifer Lawrence, it would take a 50# bag of ceramic mix (or whatever they use) to smooth out this P35. But I wasn’t after ‘make it look like new’..I was after ‘make it look nice and protect the bare metal’. And…seems legit. Price? Well, the gave me a nice discount which I very much appreciated. You can see their prices on the website. I’ve no complaints.

I’ll be sending a couple guns out for coating, I think. Most notably an AR and PTR to get bit of Danish M84 on ’em.

So there you have it, gang. The Watergun is now pretty much done. Since it is in no way a ‘safe queen’ candidate, it is pretty much a ‘truck gun’ in terms of being babied. Can’t really ruin any value on it since my basis is darn near zero and any collector value sailed about the same time the gun did.No, this might just get tucked into my Avenger holster and start carrying the P35 again.

 

A couple CostCo finds

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CostCo, once in a while, winds up selling something worthy of catching the interest of those of us who share our rarefied interest. Notably, their canned pork and canned beef, which are surprisingly good. Todays discovery was that the Idahoan potatoes, which, according to the blog, I came to love about 16 years ago(!) are now being sold by CostCo in ten-packs.

And, much more interestingly, we have powdered eggs now.

Six 6-oz. packages per box, $6.97/box

That was a real eye-opener. You don’t normally see large-ish quantities of this sort of thing for sale pretty much anywhere except maybe restaurant supply stores. The Deb-El show up in supermarkets, but its a small quantity for a large price. My original experience with powdered eggs was way back in 2004. Interesting to note that fifteen years later the CostCo product is actually cheaper than the 2004 product. However, to be fair, the 2004 product was purchased at REI… a place not known for being a bargain hunters paradise.

I already have several cases of #10 cans of powdered eggs from Mountain House and Augason Farms. And, in fact, I still have a 5-gallon bucket of vacuum sealed powdered eggs from that initial 2004 encounter. (I should crack one of those open and see how it held up.)

Powdered eggs are 13g of protein per ounce. For comparison meat, like, say, canned beef, is about 5g per ounce. A nice option over shooting your dog and eating it. But, of course, if protein is all youre after you could probably just store some protein powder from the gym-shop…but it wouldnt make scrambled eggs, omelets, french toast, or any of the other foody things that you can do with eggs.

Anyway, for those who are interested, you may wanna hit your local CostCo and see if they’re carrying these. I’ll be trying them out over the next few days so I’ll let you know how they cook up but based on my previous experiences I expect nothing but positive results.