Surprisingly, “Good Eats” had an episode involving what to do with your 50# bag of wheat. Cracked wheat, bulghur, etc, etc. Very informative. Wheat is, from a preparedness standpoint, cool stuff since if stored properly it’ll last virtually forever and is versatile enough to make breads, porridges, bulghur, and even meat-substitutes. Ranks right up there with beans and rice in terms of cheap food that will store well and keep you off the FEMA food lines. Of course, man does not live on wheat alone and thats where the freze-dried lasagna and MRE pork comes in.
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Briefly caught a thing on CNN about how some company has come up with an LED lightbulb to replace standard bulbs but still throw off the spectrum of color that we’re used to. Very cool…LED technology is going to render the incandescent, heat generating bulb obsolete for many functions (but not all). Bulb life that is almost indefinite, requires less electricity, not as delicate as a filamented bulb…good stuff. Except for my MagLite and tactical gunlights I use LED’s for all my flashlights these days.
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Winter is approaching, which means that soon it’ll be time to endurance test various bits of gear to see how they function in cold weather. I refilled the lamps and heater a few weeks ago and still have over 50 gallons of kerosene on hand so Im way ahead of the curve on this one…although I still want the extra kero heater. Definitely time to get the storm windows in.
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Man, if you saw Commander Zero’s What-I-Want-For-Christmas list…..Ive got some expensive and somewhat wierd tastes.

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

I wonder what ever happened to the Four Corners ’survivalists’…

What? You dont know that story? Ah, well, its an interesting story with a few lessons for those willing to look past the obvious.

Succinctly, three buddies fancied themselves survivalists. They bought all the accoutrements, set out caches in the desert, spent plenty of time out in the sticks, etc, etc. One day they stole a water truck (yes, a water tanker truck) and when confronted by the cops, started shooting. Wound up killing the one cop and then they disappeared into the desert. The cops, naturally, responded in kind. Dogs couldnt handle the heat, thermal imaging was useless against sun-baked rocks in the background, and the trackers were stymied with simple foils. Time goes by and one day some guy breaking for lunch finds himself staring down the wrong end of a .308 sniper gun. Manages to escape and calls the cops. Another cop gets shot. This time, they manage to surround the bad guy who takes his own life. Time goes by. Many months later hunters stumble across a skeleton clad in camo. Ankle is broken, gunshot to the head. Gear and guns missing. Specualtion? He was injured in the escape after the water truck incident, busted his ankle, his buddies shot him and took his gear.

Present day: one of these guys is still unaccounted for. No sign of him has been found, although in the process of combing the desert the law *did* find other peoples caches and even an underground hidden bunker.

If youre curious, search using names “mason mcvean pilon” and read the various accounts.

For the record, Im also curious about Eric Rudolph’s story about how he managed to hide out for several years before getting caught……..

I wonder what ever happened to the Four Corners ‘survivalists’…

What? You dont know that story? Ah, well, its an interesting story with a few lessons for those willing to look past the obvious.

Succinctly, three buddies fancied themselves survivalists. They bought all the accoutrements, set out caches in the desert, spent plenty of time out in the sticks, etc, etc. One day they stole a water truck (yes, a water tanker truck) and when confronted by the cops, started shooting. Wound up killing the one cop and then they disappeared into the desert. The cops, naturally, responded in kind. Dogs couldnt handle the heat, thermal imaging was useless against sun-baked rocks in the background, and the trackers were stymied with simple foils. Time goes by and one day some guy breaking for lunch finds himself staring down the wrong end of a .308 sniper gun. Manages to escape and calls the cops. Another cop gets shot. This time, they manage to surround the bad guy who takes his own life. Time goes by. Many months later hunters stumble across a skeleton clad in camo. Ankle is broken, gunshot to the head. Gear and guns missing. Specualtion? He was injured in the escape after the water truck incident, busted his ankle, his buddies shot him and took his gear.

Present day: one of these guys is still unaccounted for. No sign of him has been found, although in the process of combing the desert the law *did* find other peoples caches and even an underground hidden bunker.

If youre curious, search using names “mason mcvean pilon” and read the various accounts.

For the record, Im also curious about Eric Rudolph’s story about how he managed to hide out for several years before getting caught……..

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

As far as Im concerned, that election was something of a nailbiter….from my perspective it worked out as well as could be expected. Doesnt change anything in terms of my plans or preperations…simply gives me a bit more time to accumulate certain things that a political seachange could make difficult.
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I visited Eureka’s military division’s website (http://www.eurekatents.com/tents/combat.html] and saw that they have a really cool individual shelter I want. Didnt see any on ebay so theyre probably going to be pretty hard to find.
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Found a fairly decent deal ($12.95) for the large 90mm steel ammo cans…these are the ones with the six locking dogs on the sides of the lid. Watertight, airtight, and big enough to hold a good amount of gear. Never know when things are gonna take a soaking…watertight is a good thing. Esp. if youre gear is going to be sitting in the back of a pickup truck in the snow and rain or have to be left out under a tree somewhere for an indefinite amount of time.
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Speaking of leaving stuff in the boonies, the subject of geocaching has a certain appeal to me. Someone gives you coordinates to a hidden object and you use your GPS to track down the cache of goodies. I would think the appeal is obvious. This is something I need to do some more of.
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Christmas is coming and Ive figured out what Im getting the LMI this year.

As far as Im concerned, that election was something of a nailbiter….from my perspective it worked out as well as could be expected. Doesnt change anything in terms of my plans or preperations…simply gives me a bit more time to accumulate certain things that a political seachange could make difficult.
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I visited Eureka’s military division’s website (http://www.eurekatents.com/tents/combat.html] and saw that they have a really cool individual shelter I want. Didnt see any on ebay so theyre probably going to be pretty hard to find.
=====
Found a fairly decent deal ($12.95) for the large 90mm steel ammo cans…these are the ones with the six locking dogs on the sides of the lid. Watertight, airtight, and big enough to hold a good amount of gear. Never know when things are gonna take a soaking…watertight is a good thing. Esp. if youre gear is going to be sitting in the back of a pickup truck in the snow and rain or have to be left out under a tree somewhere for an indefinite amount of time.
=====
Speaking of leaving stuff in the boonies, the subject of geocaching has a certain appeal to me. Someone gives you coordinates to a hidden object and you use your GPS to track down the cache of goodies. I would think the appeal is obvious. This is something I need to do some more of.
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Christmas is coming and Ive figured out what Im getting the LMI this year.

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

Mmmmm..at the moment its still anyones ballgame. I need to start planning in case the political tide turns. More mags, couple more guns, more mags.
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Surprisingly, no big terrorist event. I wonder if maybe they figured that doing something spectacular, as in Spain, would galvanize people to keep Bush in office since he has a track record of invading two countries and jailing at least one head of government.

The videotape by Bin Laden may be all they could muster up..and if you read the transcripts, it isnt even a trheat..its a ‘leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone’ sort of thing. Sounds like maybe someone has had enough.
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Eureaka has a webpage devoted to their several military tents…including a lightweight camouflage one-man model that Im going to have to try and get my hands on.
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Need: AR mags, AK mags, P35 mags, FAL mags.

Mmmmm..at the moment its still anyones ballgame. I need to start planning in case the political tide turns. More mags, couple more guns, more mags.
========
Surprisingly, no big terrorist event. I wonder if maybe they figured that doing something spectacular, as in Spain, would galvanize people to keep Bush in office since he has a track record of invading two countries and jailing at least one head of government.

The videotape by Bin Laden may be all they could muster up..and if you read the transcripts, it isnt even a trheat..its a ‘leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone’ sort of thing. Sounds like maybe someone has had enough.
========
Eureaka has a webpage devoted to their several military tents…including a lightweight camouflage one-man model that Im going to have to try and get my hands on.
========
Need: AR mags, AK mags, P35 mags, FAL mags.

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

Ok, this is fascinating. A blog of day to day existence during a zombie takeover of the world. Yeah its fiction, but many of the scenarios (food,water and ammo shortages, etc) are real-world enough to make it interesting. Regardless its a very entertaining read (go to the “Journal’ section) and one that I’m enjoying.
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Less than a week to the election. Should be interesting.
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I really need to pick up a radio scanner. I need something that will pick up cell phones (either by design [older style] or by mods), cordless phones, my intruder alarms (133.5 mHz) and the usual cop/fire traffic (150~ mHz)..needs to be durable, run on AA batteries, be adaptable to a larger antanae, be portable, have a backlit display and be reasonably priced. Anyone?

Ok, this is fascinating. A blog of day to day existence during a zombie takeover of the world. Yeah its fiction, but many of the scenarios (food,water and ammo shortages, etc) are real-world enough to make it interesting. Regardless its a very entertaining read (go to the “Journal’ section) and one that I’m enjoying.
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Less than a week to the election. Should be interesting.
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I really need to pick up a radio scanner. I need something that will pick up cell phones (either by design [older style] or by mods), cordless phones, my intruder alarms (133.5 mHz) and the usual cop/fire traffic (150~ mHz)..needs to be durable, run on AA batteries, be adaptable to a larger antanae, be portable, have a backlit display and be reasonably priced. Anyone?

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

Drudge is reporting that theres a videotape from Al Qaeda saying that ‘the big one’ is planned for some time in the next couple weeks.

Ive heard this tune before.

On the other hand, I still think Something is going to happen in time for the election. Im not terribly worried about danger from the act itself, my neck of the woods isnt anything close to a target…my concern would be from the fallout, so to speak, in terms of actions the government takes in the name of security.

Nonetheless, its always good to be prepared so, of course, I’ll be making strides in that direction. Some extra cash on hand incase the electronic banking system gets fubared. (Which is easy enough if you knock out the right satellite relay station, etc.) Everything else Im pretty well covered on.
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Watched ‘Dawn of The Dead (2004)’ last night. Tactics, tactics, tactics! These people….no fallback positions, no bugout bags, no Plan B, and the only halfway decent idea they had was fortifying a couple of shuttle buses like they were the A-Team.
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From a pure survivalist standpoint I genuinely think that either candidate is just as likely to be unable to reduce the threats we face as the other guy. If we get Bush, we get more terrorist attacks because we’re aggressively stomping on bad guys, if we get Kerry we get more terrorist attacks because we appear weak and indecisive. So, from a terrorist standpoint I see no difference. There are, of course, differences on other issues but from the backpack-nuke-in-NYC standpoint I think it wont make a difference.
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Weather here has definitely gotten colder, so its time to break out the cold-weather gear. Sportsmans Guide has my absolute favorite German flectar parka and liner on sale for $20 again. I plan on getting at least two mroe this time.