Snow

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If you’ve never been to Montana, you’d probably think that once winter sets in we get 6′ of snow and everything comes to a halt. Not true. The eastern part of the state, flat as a cookie sheet, gets bone-numbing cold and some amazing snow…the mountains on the western side also get a goodly amount of snow. But, this little valley Im in is, for some reason, one of the warmest parts of Montana. We refer to it as The Banana Belt. This area gets the least snowfall of anywhere in the state. That’s not to say we don”t get any, it means that when Helena, Kalispell, and Butte are getting 15″ of snow we get 5″.

Today was the first “major” snowfall of the season, with about 2″ piling up. This is barely enough to break out the snow shovels, although in the redneck states this wolud be considered an apocalyptic amount of snow. But, it does mean that winter is pretty much here.

Being a survivalist in the winter is a lot different than being a survivalist in the summer. The biggest problem in winter is simply not having power. If the electricity goes out you lose lighting (which isn’t that big a deal), refrigeration (which is no deal at all when you can just put your freezer’s contents on the porch and they’ll stay frozen), and heating/circulation (which is a big deal).

Around this household, the goal for emergency heating is simple: keep the house warm enough so the pipes don’t freeze. Now, yes, you could eliminate that threat by draining the pipes but I really don’t relish living through a crisis without flush toilets or showers. So, I’ve a kerosene heater for the basement, and one for the main floor of the house. Additionally, I’ve a few small propane heaters as well to be moved around as necessary for ‘spot heating’. In the time I’ve lived in this house, there’s only been one or two winter power failures and they’ve never gone more than five or six hours. But…thats no guarantee that a big one won’t happen. If I lived out of town or out in the hills…well, at that point it’s almost a certainty that at some point you’re going to get a power outage measured in days (or weeks). Last years windstorm knocked out power here in town for almost ten hours, but The Metals Pimp was out for a couple days. Folks further down the valley in the smaller towns and out in the hills were without for weeks.

Needless to say, winter also seriously changes the gear loadout for the vehicle. The big Pelican Case O’ Survival Gear comes out of storage and goes in the vehicle. I don’t want to get into a long list, but right off the bat theres an extreme cold weather bag in there, blankets, candles, water pouches, a complete change of clothes, spare winter outerwear, and a host of other things to let me stay with the vehicle. (A couple thick books are a good idea.) Sure it takes up a bit of space in the vehicle, but I’d rather deal with that than deal with losing a few fingers and toes because my failure to plan put me in touch with my inner Jim Kim.

Come to think of it, I could use some low-hanging fruit in terms of blog fodder…maybe I’ll crack open the Pelican case and do a little show and tell. Anyone wanna link a picture of their winter gear?

Pearl Harbor Day

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Man, it’s cold out here today. But, if I thought there was a nip in the air today….well….75 years ago it was even worse.

The attack on Pearl Harbor is interesting because I really can’t think of any event since then that was so abrupt and world-changing. At least, up until 9/11. Think about it…you wake up one morning, everything is normal, and by dinner that evening you’re in a global war that would change the political landscape for the the next hundred years. All with (supposedly) no warning. (And, yes, I think FDR knew.)

Point being, world-altering stuff can happen without warning and with unbelievable consequences. Best you can do is be as ready as you can be. Could be Japanese torpedo bombers over Hawaii, could be a nuclear artillery shell in the backseat of a Cessna detonated over the Pentagon, could be The Big One that creates Nevada beachfront property….you never know. But it can happen and it can happen like that :::snaps fingers:::.

Pearl Harbor Day is a great day to remember the sacrifices and bravery of World War Two, but it’s also an excellent reminder that big stuff happens, and it can happen so fast you won’t know what hit you.

 

Food. It’s what’s for dinner.

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The post Thanksgiving turkey abundance has finally abated. I was in my local Albertson’s and, as usual, I did a quick pass through the meat department looking for bargains. They had boneless turkey breast, seasoned with rosemary or garlic, marked down 30% off the regular price. Hmmm.

“Excuse me. Is the manager around?”
“Is there a problem?”
“No problem, just wanted to ask him something.”
:::she trundles off to get the manager. Manager shows up.:::
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, you’ve got a dozen trays of turkey breast in the bin there marked down 30%. Would you gimme a better deal if I took all of them?”
“Best I can do is 50%, I can’t…”
“Done.”

20161202_152435So, these will get vacuum sealed and then off to the cryo-nap. Now, lets do some math. Each turkey breast is enough for two people. With the discount, that’s about $1.35#. Add in a box of Stove Top stuffing at $1.00 (purchased in bulk when on sale), add a can of corn (also purchased by the case on sale). And you have a basic turkey dinner for two people at a price of..hmmm…about $1.50 per person. And thats for a not-inconsequential amount of food landing on your plate. It all comes out of storage or the deep freeze, so it’s good to go for the next, oh, five years or so.

We may store ammo & camo, but food is something we know we’re gonna wind up using. You can never go wrong taking advantage of sales like that. And…don’t be afraid to ask for a discount. They’re not gonna throw you out of the store or anything..worst that happens is they say no.

Security, thy name is food.

 

Castro

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Fidel Castro died the other day and I didn’t really have anything to say about it.

What’s to say? The guy played the US wonderfully when he overthrew Batista and got to die somewhat peacefully despite giving the Soviets the opportunity to put nuclear missles closer to the US than some people drive to CostCo. I suspect that Cuban relations will be very different in a year or so.

I should be getting my invite to the Alpha 66 celebratory barbecue any day now…….

ETS Mags

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Before the election, I wanted to pick up some more Glock happysticks. They are moderately practical for pistol use, but at some point I plan on having a Glock-mag-compatible carbine and I’d like to have some mags on hand for when that day happens. Anyway, the Glock-branded mags are, of course, flawless. They are also, of course, expensive. Magpul is supposed to be coming out with their own version, and based on my experience with their 17-rd mags I have no reason to think they won’t be an excellent alternative to the Glock magazine. But….Magpul is taking their time getting the bloody things on the market. Alternatives are the Scherer (utter junk) brand mags and the Korean (hit-n-miss with an emphasis on ‘miss’) mags. But, nature (and the market) abhor a vacuum. One of my regular reads is Tam’s blog and in it I found this post. Tam shoot’s more in a month than many of us shoot in a year, and I’m not one of those gunnies who gets hung up on who has two x-chromosomes and who doesn’t, so I respect her opinion. If she’s having a good experience with them, that’s enough for me to try a few. So…Palmetto has a sale on the ETS happysticks and I ordered up a few. So…when they get here we’ll see how they run.

Black Fridays Matter

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Don’t forget, day after Thanksgiving:

Friday Of Color sales – save your pennies and go nuts on Friday. Now is the time to hedge your bets after a close election. Black Fridays Matter!

Turkey sales – Day after T-Day is the day to lay back a flock of turkeys if your freezer can handle it. Turkey is dang good anytime if the year. Who doesn’t love them some turkey sandwiches???

 

The Meat Tray

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As I’ve mentioned a few times here, my local Albertson’s grocery (and many other groceries as well) have a little bin in the meat department where the put the stuff that is about to expire and mark it down for a quick sale. I call it ‘Remaindered Meat’. It’s perfectly good, you just have to either use it or freeze it within the next day or so. A few months back, I discovered what I have come to call The Meat Tray:

20161028_141108They take four trays of remaindered meat, bundle it together, and drop the price to a flat twenty bucks per. usually its steak, chicken, pork and then some other random meat. In the image above, the random meat is a package of precooked BBQ ribs. This is pretty much a weeks worth of dinner meat if you plan properly. I usually break the package in half – one half into vacuum sealed bags for the long cryo nap, and the other half goes in my kitchen freezer for immediate usage. Hey, for twenty bucks how can you go wrong?

Check your local grocery store next time youre there…chances are good they do something similar. You may find it all the way at the end of the display case, or you may find it mixed in with the ‘regular’ meats…but it’s worth the effort to find those remaindered meats.

When the apocalypse gets here, I am NOT eating TVP.

The Deep Sleepers

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Being a survivalist, you tend to ‘go long’ on stuff…a hundred rolls of TP at a time, canned goods by the case, socks by the dozen, etc. On a long enough timeline, all this stuff will get used. Some sooner than others. For example, the canned goods will probably get used up within a year or two, but some things, like the #10 cans of freezedrieds, are meant to never be used. They are a ‘only in case of apocalypse’ sort of thing. Some other items, like the bulk AR mags I bought a few weeks ago, aren’t meant to be used but rather tucked away safely for, probably, at least a decade or two.

Items that are meant to be put into long, long, long-term storage are referred to around these parts as ‘Deep Sleepers’. They are items that are not intended to be used anytime within the foreseeable future. And, honestly, probably not even after that.

Case in point, the recent stash of Magpul AR mags. I have no intention of using them. I have enough mags on hand to handle my needs for quite some time. So, this recent batch of Magpuls are Deep Sleepers. They are there as a ward against a new ban, in case the next civil war breaks out, or some other Very Bad Thing happens.

First thing we do is stuff them away into a clean, solid, ammo can with good seals. They’re arranged carefully and sealed up in the ammo can. Once the can is closed up, I put a couple loops of poly strapping around it. This serves two purposes – first, it makes sure the lid stays closed. Second, it keeps me from sneaking a mag or two out of there when I think “Ah, I’ll just take a couple from the stash and put them back later.” (Trust me…you are your own worst looter.) Once that can is sealed up it gets marked up with the contents and quantity on it..preferably on each side and top so I can see at a glance whats in it. After that, I write the contents on a ‘key tag’ and wire it to the bail on the ammo can. After that, the can gets tucked way back in storage and…byebye, baby…see you in twenty years. Once that’s done, the records (I use Evernote and Excel) are updated. In Evernote, this is tagged as “magazines”,”Deep Sleeper”, “Storage”, “AR”, and “MagPul”. I also make a note that this is an item that does not need to be periodically inspected.

20161120_110025That’s it. Right now, as I think about it, Deep Sleepers include stashes of magazines, clothes, freezedrieds, and a few other things. But, most importantly, I know what I have, how much of it I have, where I have it, and how well it is stored. Peace of mind.