Starlink?

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So, there’s a lot of things to think about and research in regards to the Beta Site. One of which is communications. There is no landline out there, cell signal is non-existent, the only electricity is what you bring or generate, and as wonderful as that sounds, I would like a modicum of connectivity to the world, particularly the internet, for those long winters of being snowed in.

So, there’s really only one off-the-shelf solution that doesn’t involve packet radio or that sort of thing – Starlink. I was wondering who here has some experience with it and can perhaps give some input on it’s practicality and utility..esp. in an environment where you’re on your own for power. (Meaning, running Starlink off of a battery system.)

My needs are simple – email, browsing news websites, blogging, and a bit of Spotify music. I’m not planning on streaming videos or any of the heavy-bandwidth activities. So, you off-grid types who maintain a connection to the internet…whats the scoop?

And, while on the subject of Starlink for secret squirrels, I pass along this entertaining and interesting video:

Propane and propane accessories

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So I’d like to keep a low profile in regards to..well..everything….as I develop stuff on the property. Propane tanks are, it seems, uniformly a bright white color that is going to look a tad conspicuous amongst all the greenery. My first inclination is to just grab a couple cans of olive green paint and a brush. Perusing the internet shows me that it may not be that simple.

From what I’ve read, propane tanks are the color they are in order to reflect and prevent the absorption of heat. If a tank heats up in the sun, the contents can expand and at some point vent themselves through a safety valve, thereby reducing your amount of available propane. Painting a propane tank a camo color would only increase its absorption of heat. And, although Im not clear on this, in some cases it may not be strictly legal to paint a propane tank. (Although that might only be for rented tanks. No matter, my plan is to buy.)

So, if you want a discreet propane tank, your other alternative, it seems, is to obscure it. But, propane tanks are one of those things that, as I read it, you don’t really want in an enclosed space. Personally, what I thought would be optimal would be to pour a slab to put the tank on and then build up a wall of railroad ties or similar on either side of the tank and then berm them to provide visual camo and protection from stray projectiles. Something not too dissimilar to this:

Again, this is my uninformed opinion, but it appears that enclosing/shrouding or otherwise corralling a propane tank is feasible as long as theres enough airflow so that if a tank springs a leak, the propane doesn’t all accumulate in one spot. (Being heavier than air, it will puddle out to low lying areas but I would think it’ll dissipate better in that circumstance than if it were all ‘bottled up’ in a structure of some kind.)

Whaddyou think?

Moving forward

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The realtor emailed me to say that the property purchase was recorded which means that The Property I Am Purchasing is officially just My Property. So I got that going for me…which is nice.

I also asked the realtor, who seemed fairly knowledgeable about the area, if she knew any vendors in the area for concrete, propane, well drilling, excavation, etc, who could handle the challenging ‘road’ infrastructure. To my surprise she came up with several, so I need to get those contacts filed and start asking some questions so I can start getting the money together for spring. June first is approximately 24 weeks away and I need to have enough cash on hand to actually get started on things.

If there is a somewhat-local vendor with a propane truck who can navigate into the boonies, then that opens up some very nice possibilities in that I won’t necessarily need to limit my propane logistics to what I can safely (and/or legally) transport up there on my own. I can put larger tanks in and have them filled onsite. And since my anticipated propane needs are pretty small, it seems like having at least a years worth of usage on hand might be in the realm of the do-able.

First order of business, though, is to clear and neaten up the unused and neglected ‘driveway’ that runs from the ‘road’ onto and into the property. I need to make sure it’s wide enough to accommodate service vehicles, and remove the small saplings that have grown in there, the deadfall that litters it, and the occasional large rock. Once thats done, I can bring in a small cargo container to use as a temporary base of operations and (more) secure storage option.

Thats the plan anyway. And we all know how plans work out.

Hamilton Gun Show

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Well, I just dropped a metric buttload of money on a piece of property, why not head to a gun show and inflict further financial damage? So, off to the Hamilton show we went.

First up was a Thompsen Contender with a 14″ .223 barrel with rings, frame, pistol grip, stock, and one of those older 10″ .45 Colt barrels that had a removable choke. No paperwork. Alright, I’ll take that.

(I took the .45 barrel and gifted it to a buddy, kept the .223 barrel.)

Also from the same guy, a Thompson Encore frame and stock with one 7mm Rem Mag barrel with Leupold Vari-x IIc 4-12x, and a muzzleloading barrel with a Leupold Vari-X II 3-9x on it. Again,no paperwork.

I have no love of the 7mm Mag, nor was I keen for an inline muzzle loader (although I am looking for a traditional one to take advantage of late season antlerless elk tag next year). What I was keen on , though, was the frames, stocks and the two Leupold scopes. I’ll unload the barrels somewhere and pick up a .308 barrel (or, Crom willing, a 7×57 or 7-08).

Did I see anything else of interest at the show? Not particularly although the same guy that sold me these Thompsons also had a night vision scope and a thermal scope that I was rather tempted by. But….one thing at a time. I really didnt wanna spend the money but couldnt pass up the deal. I need to show a bit more restraint since I have a rather lengthy list of things to spend money on next spring.

But….good show. If youre down Hamilton way, stop in at the fairgrounds.

ATACS of the clones

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I’m not a Star Wars person, but when Return Of The Jedi came out I recall being very interested in the camouflage outfits worn by the Rebels on Endor. Here’s an image of what Im talking about:

At the time, I thought it was a rather good camo pattern. Then, many years later, ATACS-FG came out:

A very similar pattern and style of camo, I thought. Apparently, Im not the only one. Columbia (the outdoorwear company, not the country [which, yes I know, is spelled differently]) has introduced a somewhat derivative camo pattern for a series of outwear styled after the movie outfits.

The colors are not the same as in the movie, but I do rather like the poncho/anorak style of design. WW2 die-hards will see some similarities to the old German zeltbahn.

I rather like ATACS-FG and I’m sorry it was, essentially, wiped out by Multicam (or the military ripoff of it…OCP). But I am amused that what I thought was a very good camo pattern, shown in a movie forty years ago, is making a bit of a comeback, in a way, today. Obviously I’m not saying that this product line from Columbia has any merit as actual fieldwear, but it does give one some ideas if they were handy with an industrial sewing machine.

Oddly, I’d swear that when ATACS-FG came out I recall reading on the internet somewhere people saying “Thats the camo pattern from Star Wars”.

Anyway, I thought it was amusing and an opportunity for me to plug one of my favorite camo patterns.

 

Tent and platform

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Guy goes to his therapist and says “Doc, I keep having these weird dreams every night. First I’m a wigwam, then I’m a teepee, then I’m a wigwam. What does it mean, doc?” The doctor thinks a minute and says, “Well, obviously, you’re two tents.” (“Two tents”, too tense…)

You guys getting tired of me talking about this land purchase and my ideas about it yet?

Someone asked what one of the first things I was going to do there is. Well, I need a little base of operations while working on the place, so I was thinking of building a small deck to support a wall tent. Something along these lines:

When I’m not up there I can take it down, roll it up, and secure it in a plastic barrel until Im up there again to need it. Then, later on, if I build the platform properly on piers, I can repurpose it for a dry cabin or storage shed.

As I’ve said repeatedly, and probably will say a bunch more times, purchasing the land will probably be the cheapest part of this adventure.

 

Plodding along

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Still waiting on paperwork to magically appear to get this property deal done. Its savagely frustrating to look at this, to me, enormous mountain of cash sitting in my bank account and knowing that I can’t do anything with it because it’s already spoken for. I mean, thats a lot of night vision and thermal vision sitting in that account right now.

But. I m using the time to try and wrap my head around things to have lined up in the spring. There’s no shortage of things to come up with…surveying, posting, access controls, a campsite, etc, etc. And maybe a door like this one when I finally get a place built.

In the meantime, I’m picking up tools and other items here and there to start staging for spring. In six months I’d like to have enough tools, materials, plans, and muscle on hand to start getting something in place. Probably one of the first things will be a small pier-supported deck to accommodate a tent for when Im up there doing stuff. Quite honestly, I’m looking forward to simply running away from work as fast as I can on a Friday, getting up there, and spending the weekend just exploring and taking notes.

But, the world is starting to catch alight, it seems, so I  need to get my head out of the clouds for the moment and focus on things other than the Beta Site. We got some snow today so winter is officially here and that means getting the usual domestic winter preps taken care of. I’d hate to spend all my time dreaming about spring at the Beta Site and wind up getting caught flatfooted when an ice storm passes through town, knocks everything out, and Im unprepared because..yknow…daydreaming.

But…hard not to spend a buncha time thinking “Im gonna need tyhis…gotta do this….cant forget about this…”

The listmaking/spreadsheeting is going to be impressive.

Update: America Stone knife sharpener

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About five years ago, a fella sent me a sharpening stone that he wanted me to try out. I did try it out and was really quite pleased. So much so, in fact, that it is my ‘go to’ sharpening stone. It sits in my kitchen on the windowsill above the sink and every few days when Im doing dishes I see it and am reminded to pull out my Benchmade folder and touch it up a bit. A few strokes on one side of the blade, a few strokes on the other, repeat a couple times and thats it. It does a magnificent job of keeping my folder ridiculously sharp.

A few weeks ago I got an email from the same person asking if I wanted to try a newer model that had a change made to its composition. Sure, why not? It arrived today.

It has the same footprint..that is to say overall shape and profile…of the original product. I’m given to understand theres a bit more synthetic diamond in the composition and that it sharpens a bit more aggressively. So, with that in mind I rounded up a couple pocket knives that needed a little work. The sharpener is definitly more aggressive than the older one. By ‘aggressive’ I mean that it takes fewer strokes to accomplish the same results as the older stone.

Its definitely as good a product as the older one, and I can tell that the composition of the stone is different by how quickly it works. Again, this is the first stone I go to when I need to sharpen something…including my expensive Henckel kitchen knives. One of the nice features of the stone is that one side has a pointed profile to it that is used for removing nicks in the edges of a blade…and indeed it does exactly that.

The stone is, as you can see from the picture, pretty compact. It’s handy and easy to slip in a hunting pack (strong recommend). It would, of course, also be a handy companion anytime youre spending a goodly amount of time away from your base of operations and need to keep your tools sharp.

If youre looking for a handy and very efficient sharpening stone, this one is a good choice. I don’t think youll be disappointed.

Thanksgiving 2026

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Man, I love turkey and stuffing…..

Ostensibly, the reason for Thanksgiving was to give thanks for what you have. I try to be grateful and recognize that gratitude on more than just Thanksgiving.

I am very aware that when someone does something for me they had a choice – expend that resource (money, time, interest, property, concern, emotion, etc.) on me or keep it for themselves (or someone else). As a result, I always try to be grateful, express my gratitude, and make sure they know I recognize that they had a choice and they chose me. Seems kinda basic to me.

At the moment (and this can change in the blink of an eye), I have a place to live, a job, a vehicle, a couple close friends, some money in the bank, food in the cupboards, and a margin of safety from all the bad things that lurk out there. Sure, it can change in an instant…but right now Im sitting in my warm house with electricity, hot water, food, arms, communications, clean clothing, and toilets that flush….and I am grateful for all of it.

I don’t want to say I worked hard for it all…I am, by nature, a really lazy person..doing just enough is usually my standard….but there were a lot of times I did things I didn’t want to do, denied myself things I wanted, and put my instant gratification desires on hold. And thats why I can take a hot shower, cook up a cheeseburger, listen to Spotify while I clean guns, and lead a calmer life than what I probably deserve.

I think part of preparedness is always being quite cognizant of just how tenuous our lives can be. We know that theres a future where we’re huddled around a campfire of burning 2×4’s where the tornado took the house, where we look in the fridge and theres nothing but a box of baking soda and ketchup, where we spend hours a day looking for a job as we watch our bank accounts dwindle, where we feel unsafe, insecure, and hopeless. Thats why we prepare…to mitigate those events, to reduce our fragility, to increase our resilience. And when you’re aware of what the bad side of life could look like, it tends to make you more aware and grateful for the good side that you’re experiencing.

So I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. Have an awesome time with the family and friends, eat turkey, watch football, drink and be merry. But at some point, either alone or with your close ones, recognize what you have and appreciate it. Maybe it isn’t all you want, maybe life is on a rocky path, maybe you’re fighting a fight that you’d rather not have to….but it could always be worse. Take a moment and genuinely appreciate what youve got.

Have a good holiday, guys.