Dollar store best buys.
There are dollar stores everywhere.
Here are what I consider to be the best deals at my local store for a preparing individual.
Playing cards. Two decks for a buck, fairly decent quality. Useful in economic depressions and grid down situations.
Razor knives. The kind with the snap off tip when it gets dull. Usually come in 3 or 4 packs. Lately there is another new kind with about 8 extra re-fill blades
Kids coloring books. A buck goes a long way toward keeping the smaller kids happy, quiet and occupied.
Generic Q-Tips. besides getting the wax out of ears, these are great for gun cleaning time.
Reading glasses. Besides reading, will be very useful for those over 40-50 when their eyes start to go bad. Think threading needles, removing small glass or metallic slivers etc.
Feminine pads. Depending on absorbency, usually about 20 in a package. According to my wife, quality is not as good as the name brands, but still very usable. Better than rags SHTF. Doubles as a wound dressing.
Hacksaw blades. Usually about 10 in a pack. Medium quality.
Hats. Medium quality. Living in a northern state, I keep one in the car for winter use.
Wire. Lots of uses for wire. Spring is the best time to get it. They usually have the green vinyl coated wire for training plants. Rust resistance.
Toothbrushes. Best toothbrush deal I ever found was 8 quality, flexible, angle head, soft brushes. They were in a compact 10" X 3" storage case. The bottom was the toothbrush holder and the top was a rinsing cup. Recently in a cost saving measure, they reduced the number of brushes to 6. ALWAYS try out a single purchase of any toothbrushes you are thinking of stocking up on. Never mind that the package says "soft". Some of these are really HARD bristles. They will tear your gums up the same as sandpaper would.
Mentionable bargains elsewhere:
Wal-mart back to school sale
24 pack "CRAYOLA" crayons 22 cents. The crayola are quality. Don't even
bother with that other 24 pack brand they offer for a few cents less. They are
junk!
5 cents! 70 page spiral notebook. How can this be beat?
Wal-mart everyday.
33 cents. One 26 oz. canister of iodized salt.
94 cents. Folding campknife.
Handgun ammo
7.62x25. Buy it in a tin of 1224 rounds and it is 11 cents a round before shipping.
A lot of places have it, pick it up in person and save on shipping. This is the best deal
out there on centerfire pistol ammo. This cartridge is no slouch. When some of the
Warsaw pact countries were upgrading their submachine guns, the 7.62x25 was
considered instead of the 9x18. Why? It will go thru light armor vests! Hot stuff.
Handgun
CZ52 (7.62x25) $135 before shipping and dealer fee. Includes 2 magazines, holster,
cleaning rod and lanyard. In very good to excellent from SOG (Southern Ohio Gun)
As Boston in Bostons Gun Bible says: " the CZ52 is a very strong handgun" and.....
"Think of it as the SKS of handguns" (page 25/18)
That's it.
I'm sure everyone has a favorite bargain they can share?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
two gallons a day
TWO GALLONS A DAY
Those readers that have stuck with me for years against all common sense ( explained perhaps by being an alumni of my Special Education class ) will recall my articles on frugal showers and other water conserving tips. The majority of you, on the other hand, might be scratching your head in confusion as how one can live on very little water. Actually, I’m sure I covered this somewhere in the last five hundred articles but since someone asked about hygiene with little water in the comments section last week I get to assume everyone wants to hear about this. If you don’t, just leave a nasty comment yourself to try and influence my future behavior.
*
Most Americans don’t think about wasting resources. It is second nature to piss away everything from food to fuel to automobiles to personal relationships. Water is a great example. Most think nothing of flushing away gallons in the toilet, taking twenty minute showers, growing lawns in the desert ( and watering during the hottest part of the day to ensure maximum evaporation ) and washing cars every week just to have a shiny status symbol. Waste is the ultimate status symbol and always has been. But when an entire population ( third largest in the world ) acts like royalty the various costs become staggering. So it is natural to resist a life time of conditioning and live a stingy and conserving lifestyle. For those of you wishing to simplify your life and living on far fewer resources part of that is going to be hauling and using very little water.
*
Hauling water is nothing new. It’s been done since suitable containers were built. Yet every self-sufficiency expert thinks in terms of wells and energy to power them. A few will advise rain catchment but that suffers from high material cost for most that don’t have a suitable roof ( most roofs are asphalt shingle so even a cheap container system such as used plastic barrels will still need a re-roofing and metal sheets are going for $20 a 3x8 ). You could argue that hauling water has high costs, and it does. Either petroleum shipped from an occupied middle east or fertile acreage devoted to animal feed. But since we have all already invested in transportation for jobs or shopping there is no extra cost. If you live in an area without enough rainfall or being too far away from a natural source of water you should be moving anyway. You should be planning on a lack of oil to transport water to you anyway, come the future interruption of imported oil. If hoofing it or a bicycle can’t get you to water you are in trouble. I know a well is a good insurance policy for a number of reasons ( depleting snow pack, changing weather patterns, siege, municipal contamination ) but it is also a luxury. Hauling water is free, a well means mortgaging your future to the corporate masters.
*
And assuming a high cost energy future ( or a reduced availability future ), it behooves you to need to haul as little water as possible. I can easily survive just fine on about two gallons a day per person. Sometimes it is nice to have a little extra, but you can easily make it on one gallon a day for drinking and one gallon for cooking and cleaning. A half gallon is used to take a shower. I put a few cups in a bucket and the rest goes into a weed sprayer type pressure wash ( for those held back from second grade, buy a new one rather than using one with chemicals in it ). Quickly spray yourself down. Not enough to get sopping wet, just enough where you aren’t bone dry. Wet your bar of soap, lather up. This won’t be easy since you are using almost no water. You will need to continually wet the soap from the bucket. I do my head first, spray off and dry. This process is a bit slower than a real shower so I don’t want soap in my eyes. The trick is, don’t try to get all the soap off with the sprayer. After you soap up, take a washcloth and get it wet, but not where it drips too much. Remember, you are only working with a few cups of water here. Take the clothe and scrape the soap off. You won’t get it all, especially since after a time or two the washcloth will be full of soap. But you are using it as a squeegee so you will get a fair amount of soap off. Then you spray off the remainder. If you were just using the sprayer alone it would take more than the half gallon.
*
To wash dishes, I only need a few cups of water. I put that in a small plastic tub ( three pound potato salad or margarine size ) with some dish soap. I take a sponge with an abrasive side and wash each dish over the tub ( to reclaim most of the water ). I then rinse off with the remainder of my shower water, or if that is not enough I have one of those dollar hand held sprayers you get in the food half of Wal-Mart in the bleach isle. I can use almost no water for dishes since I use a cast iron pan ( wipe out with a paper towel, then it takes almost no water to wash ). I also wash as soon as dinner is over to avoid caked on food so I don’t need to soak. If I think it might be awhile between cooking and washing I squirt the dishes with the sprayer. To clean the tub or toilet I use baby wet wipes with cleaner. The baby wipes also act as my morning face wash ( I shower in the afternoon when it is warmer ). To shave I use two cups of water. Wet face, soap up. Wash off soap, lather again. The pre-wash softens the skin and preps for shaving ( even with an old razor ) much better than lots of hot water or steam. To brush my teeth, I put a very small amount of paste on my brush dry. This generates less to spit out. Spit paste out in the smallest possible area. When done, suck the remaining paste from the brush and spit. Take a mouthful of water and hold the toothbrush bristle side up in front of your mouth. Slowly release the water, over the bristles and down the brush. Move the brush so the water washes the paste down the drain.
*
Yes, a bit extra is nice. It is nice to flush out the urine from the holding tanks every few days. Sometimes I drink more than a gallon a day, either water or by consuming extra coffee. Two gallons a day is a nice guideline, but always try to have extra stored up. For this winter I want to have several extra weeks stocked up in case of road closures. And, yes, I do have to go into town to wash clothes. There is really no way around that. I could get a bigger holding tank and haul much more water. And no electric washing is not a big deal. But right now if needed I can haul everything by bike. I don’t want to be too reliant on a motor vehicle. Right now it is merely an affordable luxury. Come crunch time I would go 100% bicycle. Easier to take clothes to the laundry than to haul the water back to do it myself. Hey, I ain’t self sufficient in food, so why worry about being able to wash my own clothes at home? This is all about reducing reliance, not eliminating it ( which is pretty much just a pipe dream anyway ).
END
I'll get around to posting some guest articles real soon so be on the lookout.
Those readers that have stuck with me for years against all common sense ( explained perhaps by being an alumni of my Special Education class ) will recall my articles on frugal showers and other water conserving tips. The majority of you, on the other hand, might be scratching your head in confusion as how one can live on very little water. Actually, I’m sure I covered this somewhere in the last five hundred articles but since someone asked about hygiene with little water in the comments section last week I get to assume everyone wants to hear about this. If you don’t, just leave a nasty comment yourself to try and influence my future behavior.
*
Most Americans don’t think about wasting resources. It is second nature to piss away everything from food to fuel to automobiles to personal relationships. Water is a great example. Most think nothing of flushing away gallons in the toilet, taking twenty minute showers, growing lawns in the desert ( and watering during the hottest part of the day to ensure maximum evaporation ) and washing cars every week just to have a shiny status symbol. Waste is the ultimate status symbol and always has been. But when an entire population ( third largest in the world ) acts like royalty the various costs become staggering. So it is natural to resist a life time of conditioning and live a stingy and conserving lifestyle. For those of you wishing to simplify your life and living on far fewer resources part of that is going to be hauling and using very little water.
*
Hauling water is nothing new. It’s been done since suitable containers were built. Yet every self-sufficiency expert thinks in terms of wells and energy to power them. A few will advise rain catchment but that suffers from high material cost for most that don’t have a suitable roof ( most roofs are asphalt shingle so even a cheap container system such as used plastic barrels will still need a re-roofing and metal sheets are going for $20 a 3x8 ). You could argue that hauling water has high costs, and it does. Either petroleum shipped from an occupied middle east or fertile acreage devoted to animal feed. But since we have all already invested in transportation for jobs or shopping there is no extra cost. If you live in an area without enough rainfall or being too far away from a natural source of water you should be moving anyway. You should be planning on a lack of oil to transport water to you anyway, come the future interruption of imported oil. If hoofing it or a bicycle can’t get you to water you are in trouble. I know a well is a good insurance policy for a number of reasons ( depleting snow pack, changing weather patterns, siege, municipal contamination ) but it is also a luxury. Hauling water is free, a well means mortgaging your future to the corporate masters.
*
And assuming a high cost energy future ( or a reduced availability future ), it behooves you to need to haul as little water as possible. I can easily survive just fine on about two gallons a day per person. Sometimes it is nice to have a little extra, but you can easily make it on one gallon a day for drinking and one gallon for cooking and cleaning. A half gallon is used to take a shower. I put a few cups in a bucket and the rest goes into a weed sprayer type pressure wash ( for those held back from second grade, buy a new one rather than using one with chemicals in it ). Quickly spray yourself down. Not enough to get sopping wet, just enough where you aren’t bone dry. Wet your bar of soap, lather up. This won’t be easy since you are using almost no water. You will need to continually wet the soap from the bucket. I do my head first, spray off and dry. This process is a bit slower than a real shower so I don’t want soap in my eyes. The trick is, don’t try to get all the soap off with the sprayer. After you soap up, take a washcloth and get it wet, but not where it drips too much. Remember, you are only working with a few cups of water here. Take the clothe and scrape the soap off. You won’t get it all, especially since after a time or two the washcloth will be full of soap. But you are using it as a squeegee so you will get a fair amount of soap off. Then you spray off the remainder. If you were just using the sprayer alone it would take more than the half gallon.
*
To wash dishes, I only need a few cups of water. I put that in a small plastic tub ( three pound potato salad or margarine size ) with some dish soap. I take a sponge with an abrasive side and wash each dish over the tub ( to reclaim most of the water ). I then rinse off with the remainder of my shower water, or if that is not enough I have one of those dollar hand held sprayers you get in the food half of Wal-Mart in the bleach isle. I can use almost no water for dishes since I use a cast iron pan ( wipe out with a paper towel, then it takes almost no water to wash ). I also wash as soon as dinner is over to avoid caked on food so I don’t need to soak. If I think it might be awhile between cooking and washing I squirt the dishes with the sprayer. To clean the tub or toilet I use baby wet wipes with cleaner. The baby wipes also act as my morning face wash ( I shower in the afternoon when it is warmer ). To shave I use two cups of water. Wet face, soap up. Wash off soap, lather again. The pre-wash softens the skin and preps for shaving ( even with an old razor ) much better than lots of hot water or steam. To brush my teeth, I put a very small amount of paste on my brush dry. This generates less to spit out. Spit paste out in the smallest possible area. When done, suck the remaining paste from the brush and spit. Take a mouthful of water and hold the toothbrush bristle side up in front of your mouth. Slowly release the water, over the bristles and down the brush. Move the brush so the water washes the paste down the drain.
*
Yes, a bit extra is nice. It is nice to flush out the urine from the holding tanks every few days. Sometimes I drink more than a gallon a day, either water or by consuming extra coffee. Two gallons a day is a nice guideline, but always try to have extra stored up. For this winter I want to have several extra weeks stocked up in case of road closures. And, yes, I do have to go into town to wash clothes. There is really no way around that. I could get a bigger holding tank and haul much more water. And no electric washing is not a big deal. But right now if needed I can haul everything by bike. I don’t want to be too reliant on a motor vehicle. Right now it is merely an affordable luxury. Come crunch time I would go 100% bicycle. Easier to take clothes to the laundry than to haul the water back to do it myself. Hey, I ain’t self sufficient in food, so why worry about being able to wash my own clothes at home? This is all about reducing reliance, not eliminating it ( which is pretty much just a pipe dream anyway ).
END
I'll get around to posting some guest articles real soon so be on the lookout.
Friday, August 22, 2008
cargo cult
CARGO CULT
“Overshoot” by William R Catton Jr. is a pretty old book, from the late 1970’s. At the time it was groundbreaking in its themes. Today you won’t find much new there you haven’t already heard about off hand. The book is still a good read for the detail it covers about ecological niches ( to include man’s ) being over exploited and failing, the primary example being the yeast in a vat exploding in population to consume sugars and then dying off for lack of food. The book was brought to my attention from the Web site by the Arch Druid Dude whose name escapes me at this point. Anyway, today’s article and that of a forthcoming article on the source of America’s wealth are thanks to this book and indirectly to the Druid Dude.
*
We all know about the Cargo Cults of the South Pacific. First realized after the exploration of Whites, popularized after WWII when ships were replaced by airplanes. White boys were not in the habit of doing hard manual labor, at least as seen from the islanders who were paid for that ( please, no Irish railroad descendant comments, please ). Yet these guys had all the cool toys thought normal by Industrial Man and looked upon as miraculous by Hunter/Gatherer Dudes. So if Whites did no work, it only followed that all their cool tools such as sailing ships or airplanes, canned goods, metal tools, cigarettes, etc., had to be magic. So the islanders built landing strips and air control towers and such out of native materials to copy the Whites totems to lure the magic over to themselves. They had no idea of how the industrial process or the harnessing of carbon fuels worked.
*
Today, the majority of the population has the level of understanding about what makes the modern economy possible as the Cargo Cults did. No one assumes America’s wealth is a process of Draw Down ( using up resources faster than they are produced ) of a continent previously unexploited. Rather, they attribute it to the Democratic process or the Constitution or racial superiority or some such nonsense. They give technology and attitude magic like qualities rather than acknowledge the resources behind our growth. Despite a long list of previous examples, the latest being the ’30’s Dust Bowl, they refuse to believe our soil has become depleted. Despite previous examples of fuel shortages such as England’s wood crisis prior to the Industrial Revolution they think the oil will last forever. Despite soil infertility and oil depletion they think the food will never run out, even as weather changes moving gardening zones northward and the huge sea food price increases and growing Dead Zones give warning.
*
We are at the point where the yeast has consumed more sugar than ever before, and it is thought to be the normal course of events. Look, Ma, we’ve never eaten as good as this-look at how much more is available all the time! Then the sugar is all consumed and the yeast all die off. Then some guy drinks the dead yeast and gets hammered. Then while sleeping off the drunk on a park bench he soils himself and a pretty flower grows in that fertilized spot. Just remember, as you are huddling in a cave sharpening a leaf spring into a sword, civilizations passing will benefit other life, also.
END
“Overshoot” by William R Catton Jr. is a pretty old book, from the late 1970’s. At the time it was groundbreaking in its themes. Today you won’t find much new there you haven’t already heard about off hand. The book is still a good read for the detail it covers about ecological niches ( to include man’s ) being over exploited and failing, the primary example being the yeast in a vat exploding in population to consume sugars and then dying off for lack of food. The book was brought to my attention from the Web site by the Arch Druid Dude whose name escapes me at this point. Anyway, today’s article and that of a forthcoming article on the source of America’s wealth are thanks to this book and indirectly to the Druid Dude.
*
We all know about the Cargo Cults of the South Pacific. First realized after the exploration of Whites, popularized after WWII when ships were replaced by airplanes. White boys were not in the habit of doing hard manual labor, at least as seen from the islanders who were paid for that ( please, no Irish railroad descendant comments, please ). Yet these guys had all the cool toys thought normal by Industrial Man and looked upon as miraculous by Hunter/Gatherer Dudes. So if Whites did no work, it only followed that all their cool tools such as sailing ships or airplanes, canned goods, metal tools, cigarettes, etc., had to be magic. So the islanders built landing strips and air control towers and such out of native materials to copy the Whites totems to lure the magic over to themselves. They had no idea of how the industrial process or the harnessing of carbon fuels worked.
*
Today, the majority of the population has the level of understanding about what makes the modern economy possible as the Cargo Cults did. No one assumes America’s wealth is a process of Draw Down ( using up resources faster than they are produced ) of a continent previously unexploited. Rather, they attribute it to the Democratic process or the Constitution or racial superiority or some such nonsense. They give technology and attitude magic like qualities rather than acknowledge the resources behind our growth. Despite a long list of previous examples, the latest being the ’30’s Dust Bowl, they refuse to believe our soil has become depleted. Despite previous examples of fuel shortages such as England’s wood crisis prior to the Industrial Revolution they think the oil will last forever. Despite soil infertility and oil depletion they think the food will never run out, even as weather changes moving gardening zones northward and the huge sea food price increases and growing Dead Zones give warning.
*
We are at the point where the yeast has consumed more sugar than ever before, and it is thought to be the normal course of events. Look, Ma, we’ve never eaten as good as this-look at how much more is available all the time! Then the sugar is all consumed and the yeast all die off. Then some guy drinks the dead yeast and gets hammered. Then while sleeping off the drunk on a park bench he soils himself and a pretty flower grows in that fertilized spot. Just remember, as you are huddling in a cave sharpening a leaf spring into a sword, civilizations passing will benefit other life, also.
END
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
double doodie bags
DOUBLE DOODIE BAGS
Double Doodie Bags are a product you take camping. You befoul them with your body waste, seal them up and throw them in the municipal landfill where some poor schmuck digging for aluminum cans to support his meth habit unknowingly opens them up and is showered with fecal matter as the methane gases swell the bag and manufacture a crap grenade. This product came about, I am positive, simply because modern American man has become so lazy he can’t even conceive of digging a hole in the woods anymore but must use a manufactured product to separate himself from his waste products. The affluent Yuppie scum drive an RV into the woods so as not to deprive themselves of running water to flush their waste with ( and so that they are never more than a few hours without TV or a ice cold beer ). Those in the lower economic spectrum just under Yuppie’s must be content to buy Double Doodie Bags and a plastic pail to put them in. The economic level under them must resort to actual labor and dig their own crap holes. So, our economy is divided by how hard it is to go pinch a loaf. The super rich have a toilet that squirts water on their ass at which time they ring a bell and Pedro the illegal from El Salvador comes along with soft linen and wipes the Masters ass for him. Those that actually have to work for a living are allowed the luxury of running water to carry their waste away, but no water is spared to clean off their ass at that time ( water saving measures ) and they must do their own wiping. The dregs of society are not allowed running water since they refuse to live with a mortgage and zoning laws.
*
When I first heard of Double Doodie bags I was somewhat excited. A relatively cheap and easy way to dispose of body waste. I already had a bucket and lid/seat but as time ran out and I moved without realizing I had already taken that item to the new area on my first trip up. So I bought the Wal-Mart version for twenty bucks. I installed my first Double Doodie bag and waited with child like excitement for my first off-grid dump. I hadn’t been this excited about a new toy since I saved up for my first G.I. Joe Full Size Jeep With Towed Cannon. And not the cheap pieces of crap that are four inches tall but the full size one foot tall Joe with jeep at that appropriate scale. I mean, what kind of fast one were they trying to pull on us? If I had been born just a few years too late I would have been stuck with smaller size Action Figures ( real boys don’t play with dolls ) rather than the ones you could buy different uniforms and weapons for. Next to the jeep purchase, it was almost as exciting to buy a brand new set of Joe clothes. Like the sailor suit with the orange juice squeezer hat and M-1 Garand, or the jungle combat unit with Tommy Gun and helmet with net. Generations of children were ripped off when they shrunk Joe down in size, if for no other reason that you couldn’t dress him up anymore. Or shave his head into a Mohawk or High & Tight. I even shaved off one side of his beard once, just because I could. Ah, good times!
*
The first Doodie Deposit went well. It was a bit uncomfortable, being unable to do the one cheek lean for wiping. One had to carefully remove any dangerous Cling-Ons and then stand up to finish wiping, surely a hilarious site if one was silly enough to look in the mirror. The second deposit was less than ideal. As soon as the lib was opened a hideous cloud of poisonous gases engulfed the unfortunate user. Fortunately I had read a few reviews of our product in question prior to purchase and had remembered the advice on sprinkling any leavings with baking soda. The box claimed odor control but as I saw it this was on par with National Enquirer claims to UFO sightings or first hand reports from Las Vegas from a reporter eating lunch with Elvis and Hoffa. The chemicals in the bag did not form a gel to control odor, nor did they form a gel at all. To be fair this could have been my fault as I didn’t initially urinate into the bag. Perhaps it took a lot of water to turn the powder in the bottom into a gel. But if I had done that the bag surely would not have lasted longer than a day or two. And at $2 a pop ( from Wal-Mart no less ) it is bad enough the bag doesn’t last longer than two or three days for two people.
*
I understand that most of you are squirming in your seats and raising your hand to be recognized and passing notes to your classmates claiming I am a complete idiot for not using another method such as a sawdust toilet or whatnot. I could use a composting toilet, an outhouse, a portable chemical toilet to dispose of at a RV dump site. I chose this way for the low cost and the less-pain-in-the-butt factor. Eventually I am going to be independent of the need for a motor vehicle. But for now as I do laundry in town and haul water this is an easy and cheap way. So accept this way of waste disposal works best for me. Now, to continue my turd travails. The smell problem and the cost factor worked against this product. Not only that, but about half the time after using and sealing the damn bag popped open and spilled. The Double Doodie bag is best envisioned as a big garbage sack inside an oversized Ziplock bag. The Ziplock sits on the bottom of the toilet and the garbage sack is unfolded and opened, resting over the bucket and under the seat. You fill, tie the sack and tuck it into the Ziplock, sealing the outer bag. The problem is that the outer bag, although very thick plastic, has a substandard zip lock. The slightest cross eyed look and it pops open. And even though we use the regular trailer toilet to urinate in ( and a grey water system to dispose of ) when one is voiding the bowels there can sometimes be the inevitable urination. So there is a disgusting fecal soup in the bag after a few days. The flies smell it from miles away and converge.
*
I started using pine shavings from the pet department of Wal-Mart to help with the odor problem ( works much better than the baking soda ), under three bucks for a big bag that lasts months. So I had to ask myself, why am I buying these Doodie Bags? Just for the plastic. And crappy plastic at that. So I decided to make my own Double Doodie bags. The toilet is lined with a thirty gallon kitchen trash bag. At the bottom is some cat litter, to highlight and catch any drippings. I have free cat litter to use since I scoop out the cats box each day and at the end of the week I change the litter. That litter has no turds in it, only urine. I reuse it on my Doodie Bags since it is going to soak up waste anyway. And you thought used cat litter couldn’t be recycled. I place the bags in a 12 quart kitchen trash can that I cut down a few inches to fit in a five gallon bucket ( which has the snap on seat ). Inside the big bag I place in a Wal-Mart plastic bag ( the ones with handles ), also with a cup or two of litter in the bottom. On top of that litter I place a piece of newspaper. Then one more Wal-Mart bag on top of that with a cup of litter on the bottom and a handful of pine shavings. If nothing leaks past the second bag I simply tie up the top bag after three or four days when it is half full ( remember, this is for two people ). If the leaks go all the way through the outer bag catches it and I then replace that. Each bag is tied up and so you have two or three bags sealed up in each other. It is now hard to smell what is inside.
*
Each week I go to the city public park, fill up my water jugs and throw away my trash in the dumpsters. One large black plastic trash bags holds two Doodie Bags and all my household garbage. My cost is under fifty cents for one or two trash bags and a few cups of pine shavings. It sure beats $4 just in Double Doodie Bags.
END
Look for another article on Friday
Double Doodie Bags are a product you take camping. You befoul them with your body waste, seal them up and throw them in the municipal landfill where some poor schmuck digging for aluminum cans to support his meth habit unknowingly opens them up and is showered with fecal matter as the methane gases swell the bag and manufacture a crap grenade. This product came about, I am positive, simply because modern American man has become so lazy he can’t even conceive of digging a hole in the woods anymore but must use a manufactured product to separate himself from his waste products. The affluent Yuppie scum drive an RV into the woods so as not to deprive themselves of running water to flush their waste with ( and so that they are never more than a few hours without TV or a ice cold beer ). Those in the lower economic spectrum just under Yuppie’s must be content to buy Double Doodie Bags and a plastic pail to put them in. The economic level under them must resort to actual labor and dig their own crap holes. So, our economy is divided by how hard it is to go pinch a loaf. The super rich have a toilet that squirts water on their ass at which time they ring a bell and Pedro the illegal from El Salvador comes along with soft linen and wipes the Masters ass for him. Those that actually have to work for a living are allowed the luxury of running water to carry their waste away, but no water is spared to clean off their ass at that time ( water saving measures ) and they must do their own wiping. The dregs of society are not allowed running water since they refuse to live with a mortgage and zoning laws.
*
When I first heard of Double Doodie bags I was somewhat excited. A relatively cheap and easy way to dispose of body waste. I already had a bucket and lid/seat but as time ran out and I moved without realizing I had already taken that item to the new area on my first trip up. So I bought the Wal-Mart version for twenty bucks. I installed my first Double Doodie bag and waited with child like excitement for my first off-grid dump. I hadn’t been this excited about a new toy since I saved up for my first G.I. Joe Full Size Jeep With Towed Cannon. And not the cheap pieces of crap that are four inches tall but the full size one foot tall Joe with jeep at that appropriate scale. I mean, what kind of fast one were they trying to pull on us? If I had been born just a few years too late I would have been stuck with smaller size Action Figures ( real boys don’t play with dolls ) rather than the ones you could buy different uniforms and weapons for. Next to the jeep purchase, it was almost as exciting to buy a brand new set of Joe clothes. Like the sailor suit with the orange juice squeezer hat and M-1 Garand, or the jungle combat unit with Tommy Gun and helmet with net. Generations of children were ripped off when they shrunk Joe down in size, if for no other reason that you couldn’t dress him up anymore. Or shave his head into a Mohawk or High & Tight. I even shaved off one side of his beard once, just because I could. Ah, good times!
*
The first Doodie Deposit went well. It was a bit uncomfortable, being unable to do the one cheek lean for wiping. One had to carefully remove any dangerous Cling-Ons and then stand up to finish wiping, surely a hilarious site if one was silly enough to look in the mirror. The second deposit was less than ideal. As soon as the lib was opened a hideous cloud of poisonous gases engulfed the unfortunate user. Fortunately I had read a few reviews of our product in question prior to purchase and had remembered the advice on sprinkling any leavings with baking soda. The box claimed odor control but as I saw it this was on par with National Enquirer claims to UFO sightings or first hand reports from Las Vegas from a reporter eating lunch with Elvis and Hoffa. The chemicals in the bag did not form a gel to control odor, nor did they form a gel at all. To be fair this could have been my fault as I didn’t initially urinate into the bag. Perhaps it took a lot of water to turn the powder in the bottom into a gel. But if I had done that the bag surely would not have lasted longer than a day or two. And at $2 a pop ( from Wal-Mart no less ) it is bad enough the bag doesn’t last longer than two or three days for two people.
*
I understand that most of you are squirming in your seats and raising your hand to be recognized and passing notes to your classmates claiming I am a complete idiot for not using another method such as a sawdust toilet or whatnot. I could use a composting toilet, an outhouse, a portable chemical toilet to dispose of at a RV dump site. I chose this way for the low cost and the less-pain-in-the-butt factor. Eventually I am going to be independent of the need for a motor vehicle. But for now as I do laundry in town and haul water this is an easy and cheap way. So accept this way of waste disposal works best for me. Now, to continue my turd travails. The smell problem and the cost factor worked against this product. Not only that, but about half the time after using and sealing the damn bag popped open and spilled. The Double Doodie bag is best envisioned as a big garbage sack inside an oversized Ziplock bag. The Ziplock sits on the bottom of the toilet and the garbage sack is unfolded and opened, resting over the bucket and under the seat. You fill, tie the sack and tuck it into the Ziplock, sealing the outer bag. The problem is that the outer bag, although very thick plastic, has a substandard zip lock. The slightest cross eyed look and it pops open. And even though we use the regular trailer toilet to urinate in ( and a grey water system to dispose of ) when one is voiding the bowels there can sometimes be the inevitable urination. So there is a disgusting fecal soup in the bag after a few days. The flies smell it from miles away and converge.
*
I started using pine shavings from the pet department of Wal-Mart to help with the odor problem ( works much better than the baking soda ), under three bucks for a big bag that lasts months. So I had to ask myself, why am I buying these Doodie Bags? Just for the plastic. And crappy plastic at that. So I decided to make my own Double Doodie bags. The toilet is lined with a thirty gallon kitchen trash bag. At the bottom is some cat litter, to highlight and catch any drippings. I have free cat litter to use since I scoop out the cats box each day and at the end of the week I change the litter. That litter has no turds in it, only urine. I reuse it on my Doodie Bags since it is going to soak up waste anyway. And you thought used cat litter couldn’t be recycled. I place the bags in a 12 quart kitchen trash can that I cut down a few inches to fit in a five gallon bucket ( which has the snap on seat ). Inside the big bag I place in a Wal-Mart plastic bag ( the ones with handles ), also with a cup or two of litter in the bottom. On top of that litter I place a piece of newspaper. Then one more Wal-Mart bag on top of that with a cup of litter on the bottom and a handful of pine shavings. If nothing leaks past the second bag I simply tie up the top bag after three or four days when it is half full ( remember, this is for two people ). If the leaks go all the way through the outer bag catches it and I then replace that. Each bag is tied up and so you have two or three bags sealed up in each other. It is now hard to smell what is inside.
*
Each week I go to the city public park, fill up my water jugs and throw away my trash in the dumpsters. One large black plastic trash bags holds two Doodie Bags and all my household garbage. My cost is under fifty cents for one or two trash bags and a few cups of pine shavings. It sure beats $4 just in Double Doodie Bags.
END
Look for another article on Friday
Monday, August 18, 2008
guest article
GUEST ARTICLE
This might hack a lot of you off, but at least think about it. I think it has merit-Jim ( my article in a day or two ).
*
I laugh at all the posts from individuals who boast, that they will be the baddest mamba-jamba in the forest, in the streets, or hunkered down in their secret bunker watching for invading hordes...because they are prepped, ready, armed, and will take no prisoners, WSHTF!
What a bunch of malarky!
*
If you watch the daily news, both local, and national, you will see stories everyday where some unfortunate soul has gone through some tragedy. Whether it be a house or apartment fire, a car accident, bridge collapse, building evacuatations due to gas leaks or something else, or whatever, they lose all abilty to control their emotions...especially if they know the cameras are on them, and if anyone in an official capasity is there...
*
The tears, blubbering, swooning, and screaming are the standard reactions, not some cold, callus, Dirty Harry type standing there amidst the mayhem, cooly walking out of the dust and debris like it is all a days work! Even police panic in real events, and they are trained not too!
The Twin Towers collapse was another example of where people paniced, for the were running and screaming, waving their arms in the air, as their world comes crashing down on them. The shock in the civilians eyes was the same look that military men have, who just went through a massive fire fight, and survived!
*
People who get into a severe car accident, and survive with bumps and bruises, will sit at the curb side, shaking and trembling, partly in shock, as they watch the flurry of responder actions take place, and see their vehicle is a wrecked hulk. Their emotional abilty to just blow the whole thing off, is not possible...
*
This is the world we all live in today! Like it our not. It is the culmination of generational efforts of the past, that has brought us the normalcy, the peace, and the unthreatened day to day existance nearly all of us live in the modern world.
*
Americans are not Europeans, especially the Europeans who have lived through WW2, and the civil unrest throughout much of that continent over the last 50+ years. Americans have never had a complete over throw of their government, such as some of Europes peoples have had.. We have lived in an islolated existance without threats to our daily lives or cities for over 200 years...and that is the problem! We are not battle hardened, emotionless, hard scrap survivors of war zones, coups, death squad patrols, ethic cleansings or the like. We are pretty much a bunch of marshmallow soft, take it all for granted, it can't happen here, the government will protect me, selfish wusses! Like it or not, that is the truth! This isn't the pioneering days of the old west and it's hard tack life style, it is a modern life in a paradigm of living easy in comfort. *
We all live like this, like it or not! I don't care if you occasionally go out and bag a deer during hunting season, and stay with a group of beer swilling, beans and bacon gobbling, unshaven, foul joke telling, buddies....it still isn't the same thing as living in the wilderness without all the modern day convienances backing your escapade up. You are not Daniel Boone, or Davy Crocket! You are not roughing it! Your are modern day camping, and your life isn't under threat from hostile Indians, or other hostilities...Is isn't a war zone either.
*
So what happens when, all these self professing, big plans of action, gunned up, local yolkels are really faced with a senario where folks are dying by the thousands daily, and gun fire and the smell of cordite fills the air near their bunkers? What happens when they tune in a radio, and hear of massive killings and arrests as Federal goon squads clear urban areas of resistors and SURVIVALISTS? What happens when they see some of their own family die, or taken away to barbed wire hotels?
*
I'll tell you what they'll do, and how they will react; They'll shit their pants, and piss themselves is what they will do! They won't be John Rambo, singularly taking out platoons of well trained mercenaries with just his big bad knife or his super bad compound bow!
*
No, the terrified to death people will trying to get out of town, in droves, screaming and clawing to get away from the threats. Chaos will ensue. Nobody will be thinking about grabbing the Henry 44, and saddling up and forming a posse!
*
No one who says he will be in the fight, and defending his retreat from all comers has any idea of what the hell he is talking about. He'll be so rattled and afraid of being killed, or captured, that he wouldn't even be able to steadily aim and fire his assault weapon!
*
Americans civilians are not soldiers, with battle experience. They are modern paradigm civilians period. Not John or Sarah Conner battling the Terminator cyborgs....Not the farmers of Colonial America who took on the Red Coats with Brown Bess Muskets....
*
So, if and when anything like the fabled " The End Of The World As We Know It", or "When Shit Hit's The Fan" , senarios or "End Times" happens; NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE is going to go Segal's/Casey Ryback and take on the bad guys...
*
American civilians, gunned up or not, are no match for any modern military force. Just wait untill any bunker hunkering civilian survivalist with a semi auto M-15 faces the wrath of a Cobra gun ship with a mini gun! I am sick of the bullshit being posted by arm chair wannabe's,with delusions of steel nerved granure! Trust me, survivalist wannabe's aren't going to fan their .38 special with spectacular hip shots, like Roy Rogers, and kill all the guys in black hats! All the supposed online SURVIVAL web sites do, is sell wholesale crazy to any and all who'll buy into their online posturing crap...they aren't helping anything! Like it or not!
R.ANDRE
This might hack a lot of you off, but at least think about it. I think it has merit-Jim ( my article in a day or two ).
*
I laugh at all the posts from individuals who boast, that they will be the baddest mamba-jamba in the forest, in the streets, or hunkered down in their secret bunker watching for invading hordes...because they are prepped, ready, armed, and will take no prisoners, WSHTF!
What a bunch of malarky!
*
If you watch the daily news, both local, and national, you will see stories everyday where some unfortunate soul has gone through some tragedy. Whether it be a house or apartment fire, a car accident, bridge collapse, building evacuatations due to gas leaks or something else, or whatever, they lose all abilty to control their emotions...especially if they know the cameras are on them, and if anyone in an official capasity is there...
*
The tears, blubbering, swooning, and screaming are the standard reactions, not some cold, callus, Dirty Harry type standing there amidst the mayhem, cooly walking out of the dust and debris like it is all a days work! Even police panic in real events, and they are trained not too!
The Twin Towers collapse was another example of where people paniced, for the were running and screaming, waving their arms in the air, as their world comes crashing down on them. The shock in the civilians eyes was the same look that military men have, who just went through a massive fire fight, and survived!
*
People who get into a severe car accident, and survive with bumps and bruises, will sit at the curb side, shaking and trembling, partly in shock, as they watch the flurry of responder actions take place, and see their vehicle is a wrecked hulk. Their emotional abilty to just blow the whole thing off, is not possible...
*
This is the world we all live in today! Like it our not. It is the culmination of generational efforts of the past, that has brought us the normalcy, the peace, and the unthreatened day to day existance nearly all of us live in the modern world.
*
Americans are not Europeans, especially the Europeans who have lived through WW2, and the civil unrest throughout much of that continent over the last 50+ years. Americans have never had a complete over throw of their government, such as some of Europes peoples have had.. We have lived in an islolated existance without threats to our daily lives or cities for over 200 years...and that is the problem! We are not battle hardened, emotionless, hard scrap survivors of war zones, coups, death squad patrols, ethic cleansings or the like. We are pretty much a bunch of marshmallow soft, take it all for granted, it can't happen here, the government will protect me, selfish wusses! Like it or not, that is the truth! This isn't the pioneering days of the old west and it's hard tack life style, it is a modern life in a paradigm of living easy in comfort. *
We all live like this, like it or not! I don't care if you occasionally go out and bag a deer during hunting season, and stay with a group of beer swilling, beans and bacon gobbling, unshaven, foul joke telling, buddies....it still isn't the same thing as living in the wilderness without all the modern day convienances backing your escapade up. You are not Daniel Boone, or Davy Crocket! You are not roughing it! Your are modern day camping, and your life isn't under threat from hostile Indians, or other hostilities...Is isn't a war zone either.
*
So what happens when, all these self professing, big plans of action, gunned up, local yolkels are really faced with a senario where folks are dying by the thousands daily, and gun fire and the smell of cordite fills the air near their bunkers? What happens when they tune in a radio, and hear of massive killings and arrests as Federal goon squads clear urban areas of resistors and SURVIVALISTS? What happens when they see some of their own family die, or taken away to barbed wire hotels?
*
I'll tell you what they'll do, and how they will react; They'll shit their pants, and piss themselves is what they will do! They won't be John Rambo, singularly taking out platoons of well trained mercenaries with just his big bad knife or his super bad compound bow!
*
No, the terrified to death people will trying to get out of town, in droves, screaming and clawing to get away from the threats. Chaos will ensue. Nobody will be thinking about grabbing the Henry 44, and saddling up and forming a posse!
*
No one who says he will be in the fight, and defending his retreat from all comers has any idea of what the hell he is talking about. He'll be so rattled and afraid of being killed, or captured, that he wouldn't even be able to steadily aim and fire his assault weapon!
*
Americans civilians are not soldiers, with battle experience. They are modern paradigm civilians period. Not John or Sarah Conner battling the Terminator cyborgs....Not the farmers of Colonial America who took on the Red Coats with Brown Bess Muskets....
*
So, if and when anything like the fabled " The End Of The World As We Know It", or "When Shit Hit's The Fan" , senarios or "End Times" happens; NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE is going to go Segal's/Casey Ryback and take on the bad guys...
*
American civilians, gunned up or not, are no match for any modern military force. Just wait untill any bunker hunkering civilian survivalist with a semi auto M-15 faces the wrath of a Cobra gun ship with a mini gun! I am sick of the bullshit being posted by arm chair wannabe's,with delusions of steel nerved granure! Trust me, survivalist wannabe's aren't going to fan their .38 special with spectacular hip shots, like Roy Rogers, and kill all the guys in black hats! All the supposed online SURVIVAL web sites do, is sell wholesale crazy to any and all who'll buy into their online posturing crap...they aren't helping anything! Like it or not!
R.ANDRE
Friday, August 15, 2008
guest article
GUEST ARTICLE
"REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE LMI MAGAZINE - theindependentamerican.freeyellow.com"
Cartridges For Survivalwritten by Douglas P. BellWay back when, the 1950's-60's and 70's, if you saw a magazine with an article on or about survival, it was a "lost in the woods" or "take a 72 hour kit with you in the woods" (72 hours - three days - being the average length someone was lost or time it took to get to safety), and recommended some sort of .22 handgun or rifle. Nothing wrong with that of course, you are still more likely to get lost out in the wilderness than you are likely to need your BOB (Bug Out Bag) and Zombie Gun (admittedly this was a new term to me, which apparently means some sort of a so called "assault" style rifle kept loaded with accessories in case of TEOTWAWKI - The End Of The World As We Know It - or COWC - Collapse of Western Civilization. Read "Prayers for the Assassin" and "Sins of the Assassin" by Rob Ferrigno for one all too likely COWC, and to really scare you because it looks all too true, "JET STREAM" by R. Lee Muehlberg, the first of three books in the series - available from Amazon.com). But that was then, this is now, is there something better than a .22 or an assault style weapon? Realistically, what type or kind of ammunition are you most likely to find on the ammunition seller's shelf, anywhere, north or south, east or west? What's the twelve most popular types of ammunition? Let's see.*Since we started talking about "survival guns" being .22s, let's continue on in that vein. Looking at probabilities, you are much more likely to get lost in the woods then get caught in some sort of major self-defense scenario, the L.A. riots and New Orleans not withstanding, both of which we will cover in another article (see HOW TO SURVIVE A RIOT). Realistically, a .22 LR would be near ideal for 99.99% of the "lost in the woods" survival situations, most of which are resolved in under three days, hence the 72 hour pack. Even in big bear country, people have been running around unarmed or with nothing more than a bow or spear for thousands of years, which does you absolutely no good if you are one of the "one in a million" poor bastards which runs into a large animal, bear, moose, or even whitetail deer (don't laugh, deer kill more people a year in the USSA than dogs, lightening, bees, snakes and sharks, combined) that doesn't realize that humans are on top of the food chain and they should fear us, then takes exception to having you around, which is happening more and more as humans infringe on their territory.*On "Sniper's Hide Forums", one shooter calling himself "Desert Frog", decided to test the .22 LR cartridge at 100 yards to 300 yards. He bought a small frozen turkey, thawed it and wrapped it in a light T-shirt, a heavy cotton shirt and a canvas coat with white paper over everything so he could see the hits. At 100 yards the standard velocity .22 LRs went through all seven inches easily. At 250 yards the .22s also went completely through the bird and at 300 yards the bullets penetrated the bird but got caught under the skin on the far side.*Now you are waiting for me to trash the test, so here goes. The test was not perfect. First it was a domestic turkey, bred for it's large breast and not for muscle tone. Second it was a frozen turkey and then thawed out, which will affect the tissue. Third the turkey is basically hollow, not solid. Fourth, turkey, like all birds, has hollow and light bones which provide much less resistance to bullets. On the other hand, at least this guy went out and tried it, and I say "GOOD ON YOU DESERT FROG!" So what if the test wasn't perfect? At least this guy went out and tried it and was kind enough to write it up for the rest of us. As I keep telling the armchair experts, who shoot their mouths off, but not their guns, and if they do shoot, shoot less a year than I do a month, "go out and try this stuff for yourself!" Since deer are all over here and quite often found dead along the side of the road, along with small game like raccoons, I normally tell people who want to know how this cartridge or that bullet works in flesh, go out and pick up a deer off the side of the road and actually shoot it! Why a deer? Well while it isn't perfect either, a deer is about the same size, shape, thickness, weight and build as a human and is far more reliable as an indicator than wet paper, clay, and all the other nice clean and easy to photo materials normally used.*In any case, the .22 LR would be impossible to bypass for no other reason than it is the most popular cartridge ever made, and is popular world wide, and can be found at any wide spot in the road that sells ammunition. The .22 LR is made by the billions every year and in standard velocity, high velocity, hyper velocity, hollow point, solids, shot, tracer, and who knows what else. A rifle battery without a .22 LR in it is like an honest judge, politico, or cop. You hear of them, but you never actually get to see one, and the reason you do hear about them is due to their extreme rarity, which borders on mythology, if not out right lies and trickery.*As long as we are on the subject of .22 calibers, the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO cartridge would be next. Of course there are lots of other centerfire .22s we could mention or talk about, such as the .22 Hornet supplied with pilot's bail out kits, the .222 Remington, the bench rest shooters darling, the .222 Reminton Magnum that almost became the M-16 cartridge and is a ballistic twin/clone of the .223 Remington, the .220 Swift and .22-250, both long range varmint cartridges, but no matter how popular these cartridges are, again, they aren't one of the "top twelve cartridges most likely to be found anywhere", and the .223 is. Being adopted by the US military is one of the best ways for a cartridge to become popular, although it didn't seem to do the .30-40 Krag, .236/6mm Lee Navy, or .38 Long Colt much good, although the sole reason anyone has ever even heard of any of these cartridges was because they were used by the US military, but they have all faded to obscurity now, with the .236/6mm Lee Navy barely even getting a footnote in history.*What else? I don't think I've ever been anywhere that sold ammunition that didn't have at least one box of .30-30 Winchester on hand. With the million of Winchester 94s, 336 Marlins, Mossbergs and who knows what all having been chambered for the .30-30 Winchester, the number of centerfire rifles chambered for the .30-30 is staggering and probably rival any other commercial rifle chambering worldwide. While the so called experts poo-poo the .30-30, and assure us we need the latest super doper super short ultra long magnum to shoot a deer at 150 yards, millions of deer who obvioulsy didn't read the ballistic charts drop dead every year and are turned into venison due to the .30-30 dropping a bullet of 150 gr to 170 gr right where it needs to be to get the job done. With light recoil and the handy rifles it comes chambered in, this cartridge's popularity, much like the .223, is due entirely to the guns it is used in. Name anything the .30-30 can do, and there are other cartridges that can do the same thing, possibly/probably even better, but none are as popular or chambered in the light and handy rifles the .30-30 is chambered for. When you absolutely have to have ammunition for it, the, the .30-30 is one of the top twleve most likely to be found on the shelf cartridges.*Next on our "top twleve list" would be the .308 Winchester/7.62x51 NATO. Chambered for the M-14 rifle in 1957, it was first introduced to the American public by Winchester in 1954 in the Model 70 rifle, the "Rifleman's Rifle". The 7.62x51, called the T65 cartridge by the US military while it was being designed, replaced the .30-06 Springfield (which replaced the .30-03 Springfield, which replaced the .30-40 Krag/.30 Gov't, which replaced the .45-70 Gov't in case you were wondering) and is basicly 1/2" (.479") shorter then the .30-06. The military seriously looked at the .300 Savage cartridge, but the neck was too short, so they lengthened the neck, tweaked the case and Winchester and the US military moved mountains to come up with the 1888 8x51mm cartridge case necked down to .308"/7.62mm. Due to it's 1/2" shorter length than the .30-06, it can be chambered in actions either too short for the .30-06 (such as the Savage 99 lever action. The original 1920 .300 Savage cartridge was designed to match the .30-06) or have the action shorted (M-14 compared to the M1 "Garand" Rifle) thereby reducing weight or bolt throw. Commerically loaded with bullets from 110 gr to 200 gr., it is about 100 fps (feet per second) slower than the .30-06 and about 450 fps faster than the .30-30 when all are loaded with 150 gr bullets. Available in every action type, single shot, bolt, lever, pump and self-loading automatic, and a wide array of bullet weights and types, it may well be the mythical all around "mouse to moose" rifle cartridge.*No listing of the top twelve cartridges likely to be found anywhere would be complete if the list didn't include the .30-06. Adopted in 1906 to replace the .30-03 cartridged introduced with the 1903 Springfield Rifle, by lengthening the neck, the .30-06 is easily one of the most popular hunting cartridges worldwide. Loaded with bullets from 110 gr to 220 gr., Remington even loads the "Accelerater" cartridge which uses a 55 gr .22 caliber bullet in a plastic sabot (they are also loaded for the .30-30 Win. and possibly the .308 Win. as well). As to which is "better", the .30-06 or .308, a staple of the various gun rags, the .30-06 always beats the .308 velocity wise with all bullet weights and can use heavier bullets effectively. The .308, being shorter, is chambered for more different models of rifles, and the rifles can be made lighter. Nothing hit properly under 800 yards will know the difference between the two.
*
So much for rifle cartridges, what about handgun cartridges? Well naturally the .22 is equally popular as a handgun cartridge as it is a rifle cartridge, so anything said earlier would equally apply here. So what other cartridges would fill out our "top twelve"? Next would be the ever popular .38 S&W Special, introduced in 1902. The .38 Special is (or was) an extremely popular target round with wadcutter bullets and a popular police cartridge until the last few years when it was replaced by the 9mm Luger and .40 S&W automatics. The .38 Special has probably been the most popular commercial centerfire handgun cartreidge in history and easily earns it's place here and uses .357" bullets.
Anywhere the .38 Special can be found, the 9mm Luger (or Parabellum as it was originally called in Europe, after the latin, "to have peace, prepare for war") can be found as well. Also introduced in 1902 in the Luger pistol (the Luger pistol was adopted by the Swiss military in 1900 in the .30 Luger cartridge, and the German Army in 9mm Luger in 1908, as the P-08) it came about because the German Army wanted a larger diameter bullet than the .30 Luger (still loaded by Winchester) used by the Swiss Luger. The .30 Luger when blown out more or less straight, mostly less, was .355"/9mm and named the 9mm Parabellum. Popular in Europe for years, it wasn't until the 1950's when the 9mm became popular in the USSA and started replacing the .38 Special in the holsters of the police. The 9mm was adopted by the US military in the Beretta 92 pistol (called the M-9 by the US military) which has turned out to be a disaster much like the .38 Colt was during the Phillipine campaign and the military is once again looking to replace the 9mm with another .45 ACP pistol.
*
A lengthened .38 Special, the .357 S&W Magnum, introduced in 1935, is another "found anywhere ammunition is sold" handgun cartridge. The cartridge case was lengthened by 1/8" so the .357 Magnum wouldn't chamber in a .38 Special chamber because the .357 Magnum operates at over twice the pressure of the .38 Special. While the .38 Special can be fired in a .357 Magnum, for inexpensive and low recoil practice, DO NOT try to fire a .357 Magnum in a .38 Special, even if it will chamber! The .357 has twice the chamber pressure and might blow the .38 Special up, especially if the .38 Special is an older or low quality pistol.
Of course, naturally, the next cartridge is the .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). Introduced in 1905 for the Colt 1905 Automatic Pistol, and adopted by the US military in 1911 for the Colt 1911 Automatic Pistol, it has been an American favorite ever since. Originally designed with a 200 grain bullet, the military wanted a 230 gr bullet for greater pentration. From 1873 until the Gulf War, the .45 caliber has soldiered on for with only two disasterious forays into .38/9mm calibers. The first attempt to change from the .45 caliber, in this case the .45 "Long" Colt, the US military adopted the .38 Long Colt pistol cartridge (.357" bullets) which was used in the Phillipine Campaign against the Moros (Spanish for moslem) who were eager to die in battle agains the infidels, where it failed miserably to stop an enemy attack. This lead to the Colt Single Action Army (Colt SAA) revolvers being taken out of mothballs and shipped to the Phillipines, as well as the Thompson-La Garde tests and the adoption of the .45 ACP. The US military then adopted the 9mm (.355" bullet) in the M-9 (Beretta M-92) pistol and both cartridge and pistol both failed miserably against the moslems and the dust storms of the Gulf War, while the 1911s still in use (mostly by the Marines) continued to work perfectly, just as they had for the previous 70+ years.
*
The next cartridges you will find anywhere ammunition is sold, are the 20 gauge and 12 gauge shotgun shells. Go anywhere in the world and if ammunition is available, so are 12 gauge shells. Older US guns, and many European shotguns, were chambered for the the 2 9/16" shell, rather than the modern 2 3/4" and 3" lengths, which are standard now. Some very light English double barreled shotguns were chambered for 2" or 2 1/2" shells, but these guns are rarely seen today. Many modern 12 gauge shotguns are chambered for 3" magnum shells and even 3 1/2" magnum shells now. The 20 gauge is an excellent choice for younger shooters or anyone who doesn't want the weight or recoil of the 12 gauge, and the 3" 20 gauge magnum shell will do most anything a 2 3/4" 12 gauge shell can do, within reason.
*
Actually the 28 gauge, 20 gauge, 16 gauge, 12 gauge and 10 gauge shotguns (the most commonly found shotgun gauges in the US, but by no means all of them) are "gauges" and not calibers. A "gauge" is the number of pure lead balls needed to make one pound, and equal to the bore diameter. So one pound of pure lead made into 20 equal balls would be the same as a 20 gauge bore, 12 equal balls would be the same size as a 12 gauge bore, so on and so forth. The exception to the rule is the .410 caliber shotgun, which has a .410 caliber bore.
*
What the twelfth cartridge would be will vary by location, but if I was forced to pick ONLY one cartridge, instead of, say, the three, or four, or five most likely, it would be the .44 S&W Magnum. Used in both rifles and handguns, it obtained cult statis when the "Dirty Harry" movies came out and every one just HAD to have a S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum like "Dirty Harry Calihan" had. As I said, depending on where you are, there will be local favorites, but the above listed carridges should be available everywhere ammunition is sold, west, east, south, or north. Other pretty sure bets would be the .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .270 Winchester and .30 M1 Carbine among others. The .45 Auto-Rim is popular in the north-western US, the .45 Colt in the south-west, the .303 British is popular along the Canadian border, and .35 Remington is popular in the north-east.
END
"REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE LMI MAGAZINE - theindependentamerican.freeyellow.com"
Cartridges For Survivalwritten by Douglas P. BellWay back when, the 1950's-60's and 70's, if you saw a magazine with an article on or about survival, it was a "lost in the woods" or "take a 72 hour kit with you in the woods" (72 hours - three days - being the average length someone was lost or time it took to get to safety), and recommended some sort of .22 handgun or rifle. Nothing wrong with that of course, you are still more likely to get lost out in the wilderness than you are likely to need your BOB (Bug Out Bag) and Zombie Gun (admittedly this was a new term to me, which apparently means some sort of a so called "assault" style rifle kept loaded with accessories in case of TEOTWAWKI - The End Of The World As We Know It - or COWC - Collapse of Western Civilization. Read "Prayers for the Assassin" and "Sins of the Assassin" by Rob Ferrigno for one all too likely COWC, and to really scare you because it looks all too true, "JET STREAM" by R. Lee Muehlberg, the first of three books in the series - available from Amazon.com). But that was then, this is now, is there something better than a .22 or an assault style weapon? Realistically, what type or kind of ammunition are you most likely to find on the ammunition seller's shelf, anywhere, north or south, east or west? What's the twelve most popular types of ammunition? Let's see.*Since we started talking about "survival guns" being .22s, let's continue on in that vein. Looking at probabilities, you are much more likely to get lost in the woods then get caught in some sort of major self-defense scenario, the L.A. riots and New Orleans not withstanding, both of which we will cover in another article (see HOW TO SURVIVE A RIOT). Realistically, a .22 LR would be near ideal for 99.99% of the "lost in the woods" survival situations, most of which are resolved in under three days, hence the 72 hour pack. Even in big bear country, people have been running around unarmed or with nothing more than a bow or spear for thousands of years, which does you absolutely no good if you are one of the "one in a million" poor bastards which runs into a large animal, bear, moose, or even whitetail deer (don't laugh, deer kill more people a year in the USSA than dogs, lightening, bees, snakes and sharks, combined) that doesn't realize that humans are on top of the food chain and they should fear us, then takes exception to having you around, which is happening more and more as humans infringe on their territory.*On "Sniper's Hide Forums", one shooter calling himself "Desert Frog", decided to test the .22 LR cartridge at 100 yards to 300 yards. He bought a small frozen turkey, thawed it and wrapped it in a light T-shirt, a heavy cotton shirt and a canvas coat with white paper over everything so he could see the hits. At 100 yards the standard velocity .22 LRs went through all seven inches easily. At 250 yards the .22s also went completely through the bird and at 300 yards the bullets penetrated the bird but got caught under the skin on the far side.*Now you are waiting for me to trash the test, so here goes. The test was not perfect. First it was a domestic turkey, bred for it's large breast and not for muscle tone. Second it was a frozen turkey and then thawed out, which will affect the tissue. Third the turkey is basically hollow, not solid. Fourth, turkey, like all birds, has hollow and light bones which provide much less resistance to bullets. On the other hand, at least this guy went out and tried it, and I say "GOOD ON YOU DESERT FROG!" So what if the test wasn't perfect? At least this guy went out and tried it and was kind enough to write it up for the rest of us. As I keep telling the armchair experts, who shoot their mouths off, but not their guns, and if they do shoot, shoot less a year than I do a month, "go out and try this stuff for yourself!" Since deer are all over here and quite often found dead along the side of the road, along with small game like raccoons, I normally tell people who want to know how this cartridge or that bullet works in flesh, go out and pick up a deer off the side of the road and actually shoot it! Why a deer? Well while it isn't perfect either, a deer is about the same size, shape, thickness, weight and build as a human and is far more reliable as an indicator than wet paper, clay, and all the other nice clean and easy to photo materials normally used.*In any case, the .22 LR would be impossible to bypass for no other reason than it is the most popular cartridge ever made, and is popular world wide, and can be found at any wide spot in the road that sells ammunition. The .22 LR is made by the billions every year and in standard velocity, high velocity, hyper velocity, hollow point, solids, shot, tracer, and who knows what else. A rifle battery without a .22 LR in it is like an honest judge, politico, or cop. You hear of them, but you never actually get to see one, and the reason you do hear about them is due to their extreme rarity, which borders on mythology, if not out right lies and trickery.*As long as we are on the subject of .22 calibers, the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO cartridge would be next. Of course there are lots of other centerfire .22s we could mention or talk about, such as the .22 Hornet supplied with pilot's bail out kits, the .222 Remington, the bench rest shooters darling, the .222 Reminton Magnum that almost became the M-16 cartridge and is a ballistic twin/clone of the .223 Remington, the .220 Swift and .22-250, both long range varmint cartridges, but no matter how popular these cartridges are, again, they aren't one of the "top twelve cartridges most likely to be found anywhere", and the .223 is. Being adopted by the US military is one of the best ways for a cartridge to become popular, although it didn't seem to do the .30-40 Krag, .236/6mm Lee Navy, or .38 Long Colt much good, although the sole reason anyone has ever even heard of any of these cartridges was because they were used by the US military, but they have all faded to obscurity now, with the .236/6mm Lee Navy barely even getting a footnote in history.*What else? I don't think I've ever been anywhere that sold ammunition that didn't have at least one box of .30-30 Winchester on hand. With the million of Winchester 94s, 336 Marlins, Mossbergs and who knows what all having been chambered for the .30-30 Winchester, the number of centerfire rifles chambered for the .30-30 is staggering and probably rival any other commercial rifle chambering worldwide. While the so called experts poo-poo the .30-30, and assure us we need the latest super doper super short ultra long magnum to shoot a deer at 150 yards, millions of deer who obvioulsy didn't read the ballistic charts drop dead every year and are turned into venison due to the .30-30 dropping a bullet of 150 gr to 170 gr right where it needs to be to get the job done. With light recoil and the handy rifles it comes chambered in, this cartridge's popularity, much like the .223, is due entirely to the guns it is used in. Name anything the .30-30 can do, and there are other cartridges that can do the same thing, possibly/probably even better, but none are as popular or chambered in the light and handy rifles the .30-30 is chambered for. When you absolutely have to have ammunition for it, the, the .30-30 is one of the top twleve most likely to be found on the shelf cartridges.*Next on our "top twleve list" would be the .308 Winchester/7.62x51 NATO. Chambered for the M-14 rifle in 1957, it was first introduced to the American public by Winchester in 1954 in the Model 70 rifle, the "Rifleman's Rifle". The 7.62x51, called the T65 cartridge by the US military while it was being designed, replaced the .30-06 Springfield (which replaced the .30-03 Springfield, which replaced the .30-40 Krag/.30 Gov't, which replaced the .45-70 Gov't in case you were wondering) and is basicly 1/2" (.479") shorter then the .30-06. The military seriously looked at the .300 Savage cartridge, but the neck was too short, so they lengthened the neck, tweaked the case and Winchester and the US military moved mountains to come up with the 1888 8x51mm cartridge case necked down to .308"/7.62mm. Due to it's 1/2" shorter length than the .30-06, it can be chambered in actions either too short for the .30-06 (such as the Savage 99 lever action. The original 1920 .300 Savage cartridge was designed to match the .30-06) or have the action shorted (M-14 compared to the M1 "Garand" Rifle) thereby reducing weight or bolt throw. Commerically loaded with bullets from 110 gr to 200 gr., it is about 100 fps (feet per second) slower than the .30-06 and about 450 fps faster than the .30-30 when all are loaded with 150 gr bullets. Available in every action type, single shot, bolt, lever, pump and self-loading automatic, and a wide array of bullet weights and types, it may well be the mythical all around "mouse to moose" rifle cartridge.*No listing of the top twelve cartridges likely to be found anywhere would be complete if the list didn't include the .30-06. Adopted in 1906 to replace the .30-03 cartridged introduced with the 1903 Springfield Rifle, by lengthening the neck, the .30-06 is easily one of the most popular hunting cartridges worldwide. Loaded with bullets from 110 gr to 220 gr., Remington even loads the "Accelerater" cartridge which uses a 55 gr .22 caliber bullet in a plastic sabot (they are also loaded for the .30-30 Win. and possibly the .308 Win. as well). As to which is "better", the .30-06 or .308, a staple of the various gun rags, the .30-06 always beats the .308 velocity wise with all bullet weights and can use heavier bullets effectively. The .308, being shorter, is chambered for more different models of rifles, and the rifles can be made lighter. Nothing hit properly under 800 yards will know the difference between the two.
*
So much for rifle cartridges, what about handgun cartridges? Well naturally the .22 is equally popular as a handgun cartridge as it is a rifle cartridge, so anything said earlier would equally apply here. So what other cartridges would fill out our "top twelve"? Next would be the ever popular .38 S&W Special, introduced in 1902. The .38 Special is (or was) an extremely popular target round with wadcutter bullets and a popular police cartridge until the last few years when it was replaced by the 9mm Luger and .40 S&W automatics. The .38 Special has probably been the most popular commercial centerfire handgun cartreidge in history and easily earns it's place here and uses .357" bullets.
Anywhere the .38 Special can be found, the 9mm Luger (or Parabellum as it was originally called in Europe, after the latin, "to have peace, prepare for war") can be found as well. Also introduced in 1902 in the Luger pistol (the Luger pistol was adopted by the Swiss military in 1900 in the .30 Luger cartridge, and the German Army in 9mm Luger in 1908, as the P-08) it came about because the German Army wanted a larger diameter bullet than the .30 Luger (still loaded by Winchester) used by the Swiss Luger. The .30 Luger when blown out more or less straight, mostly less, was .355"/9mm and named the 9mm Parabellum. Popular in Europe for years, it wasn't until the 1950's when the 9mm became popular in the USSA and started replacing the .38 Special in the holsters of the police. The 9mm was adopted by the US military in the Beretta 92 pistol (called the M-9 by the US military) which has turned out to be a disaster much like the .38 Colt was during the Phillipine campaign and the military is once again looking to replace the 9mm with another .45 ACP pistol.
*
A lengthened .38 Special, the .357 S&W Magnum, introduced in 1935, is another "found anywhere ammunition is sold" handgun cartridge. The cartridge case was lengthened by 1/8" so the .357 Magnum wouldn't chamber in a .38 Special chamber because the .357 Magnum operates at over twice the pressure of the .38 Special. While the .38 Special can be fired in a .357 Magnum, for inexpensive and low recoil practice, DO NOT try to fire a .357 Magnum in a .38 Special, even if it will chamber! The .357 has twice the chamber pressure and might blow the .38 Special up, especially if the .38 Special is an older or low quality pistol.
Of course, naturally, the next cartridge is the .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). Introduced in 1905 for the Colt 1905 Automatic Pistol, and adopted by the US military in 1911 for the Colt 1911 Automatic Pistol, it has been an American favorite ever since. Originally designed with a 200 grain bullet, the military wanted a 230 gr bullet for greater pentration. From 1873 until the Gulf War, the .45 caliber has soldiered on for with only two disasterious forays into .38/9mm calibers. The first attempt to change from the .45 caliber, in this case the .45 "Long" Colt, the US military adopted the .38 Long Colt pistol cartridge (.357" bullets) which was used in the Phillipine Campaign against the Moros (Spanish for moslem) who were eager to die in battle agains the infidels, where it failed miserably to stop an enemy attack. This lead to the Colt Single Action Army (Colt SAA) revolvers being taken out of mothballs and shipped to the Phillipines, as well as the Thompson-La Garde tests and the adoption of the .45 ACP. The US military then adopted the 9mm (.355" bullet) in the M-9 (Beretta M-92) pistol and both cartridge and pistol both failed miserably against the moslems and the dust storms of the Gulf War, while the 1911s still in use (mostly by the Marines) continued to work perfectly, just as they had for the previous 70+ years.
*
The next cartridges you will find anywhere ammunition is sold, are the 20 gauge and 12 gauge shotgun shells. Go anywhere in the world and if ammunition is available, so are 12 gauge shells. Older US guns, and many European shotguns, were chambered for the the 2 9/16" shell, rather than the modern 2 3/4" and 3" lengths, which are standard now. Some very light English double barreled shotguns were chambered for 2" or 2 1/2" shells, but these guns are rarely seen today. Many modern 12 gauge shotguns are chambered for 3" magnum shells and even 3 1/2" magnum shells now. The 20 gauge is an excellent choice for younger shooters or anyone who doesn't want the weight or recoil of the 12 gauge, and the 3" 20 gauge magnum shell will do most anything a 2 3/4" 12 gauge shell can do, within reason.
*
Actually the 28 gauge, 20 gauge, 16 gauge, 12 gauge and 10 gauge shotguns (the most commonly found shotgun gauges in the US, but by no means all of them) are "gauges" and not calibers. A "gauge" is the number of pure lead balls needed to make one pound, and equal to the bore diameter. So one pound of pure lead made into 20 equal balls would be the same as a 20 gauge bore, 12 equal balls would be the same size as a 12 gauge bore, so on and so forth. The exception to the rule is the .410 caliber shotgun, which has a .410 caliber bore.
*
What the twelfth cartridge would be will vary by location, but if I was forced to pick ONLY one cartridge, instead of, say, the three, or four, or five most likely, it would be the .44 S&W Magnum. Used in both rifles and handguns, it obtained cult statis when the "Dirty Harry" movies came out and every one just HAD to have a S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum like "Dirty Harry Calihan" had. As I said, depending on where you are, there will be local favorites, but the above listed carridges should be available everywhere ammunition is sold, west, east, south, or north. Other pretty sure bets would be the .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .270 Winchester and .30 M1 Carbine among others. The .45 Auto-Rim is popular in the north-western US, the .45 Colt in the south-west, the .303 British is popular along the Canadian border, and .35 Remington is popular in the north-east.
END
Thursday, August 14, 2008
elko 2
ELKO 2
As I have stated before, Elko is far from the perfect location to survive the coming collapse. The fact that it has been around for about 125 years and yet has grown less than the population in the US as a whole should tell us something. What it is telling us, I don’t know. Perhaps this winter I will be rudely reminded. Regardless, it does a lot going for it. Low population, relying on commodities ( at a time of increased inflation ) rather than tourism or other even less worthy economics, isolation. It is not that I would wholeheartedly recommend the location to others as much as it works quite well for me.
*
The first night here I knew I had made the right decision to move here. Four miles from town ( two as the crow flies ) and it was absolutely peaceful and quiet. Trains run by about a mile down the road and just love to blow their horn, but since I love trains ( and appreciate their coming importance as the economics of semi-trucks compared to train freight are felt as we run out of fuel ) it doesn’t bother me. Trains allow you a moment of fantasy where you can travel back to a time the US was an economic superpower and actually built things instead of buying it from communist countries. I only have a third of a mile to go to get to the main road so getting into town is easy.
*
The job situation threw me for a loop at first. It seemed like I was throwing people off by applying for a job unworthy of my skills. For the love of God!! He might leave us for another company when we treat him like pond scum and pay him a nickel over minimum wage ( why, back in my day, a nickel was a lot of money! He should be kissing my liver spotted wrinkled ass to be allowed to work for me at $6.40 an hour, by gum ). So two weeks went by with only one job offer. Twenty hours and I had to be available for different shifts. So in a fit of stupidity and desperation I accepted a job offer for a restaurant supervisor. Ooooh! $9 an hour and a raise in three months after I proved my worth. It only took one day to see what I was in for. Running around stressed and losing sleep at night for an extra hundred bucks a month. I actually tossed and turned and lost four hours of sleep that first night. I quit the next day. And as luck would have it ( or perhaps it was Baby Jesus trying to apologize for the tire fiasco ) that very day a job at the food bank opened. Now I can run around like crazy, but not have any stress. That is the kind of job I like-stay busy and leave for home without stress.
*
There has been almost nothing about living off grid that has been difficult. Constantly thinking about it before hand, researching it on the Internet and writing about it ( as well as partially living it previously ) all made it a very smooth transition. The only thing I haven’t done is build an ice box for butter ( I know about room temperature storage in a crock but the wife refuses to believe it won‘t kill her and refuses to eat the butter out of one and I can‘t eat enough butter myself before it would go bad ), mayonnaise and leftovers. My diet is somewhat limited without a fridge but nothing too bad. I buy meat about three or four times a week while in town and we cook it up right away. The rest of the diet is dry goods or from cans. And canned food got old after the first week so there is little of that anymore. If it was really too stressful without a fridge I would have built the box or hooked up my propane refrigerator already, but it wasn’t as big a deal as I had thought to do without.
*
Hauling water is pretty easy. I go to the city park once a week and fill up at a public faucet. I can haul two gallons in my bike basket ( yes, I look like a dork doing it ) five days a week and we only use three gallons a day so I could easily cut my driving back from once a week to every other week to haul water but I don’t have enough clothes to avoid the laundry that extra week. For solid waste I fill up a plastic bag and throw it into the park dumpster ( waste disposal will be another article ). For grey water I just hooked up my trailer drain hose to a five gallon bucket filled with rocks with holes punched in the bottom ( and a layer of rocks under that bucket ). I use the regular trailer toilet for urination and I have a bucket next to that with the lid/seat made for a bucket for the solids.
*
Clearing the lot of sage brush is going to take some time. It is slow and heavy work clearing it by hand ( a hand saw to cut each bush ). It only took about six hours to clear enough space to park a thirty foot trailer and two vehicles however. The rest of the brush gets cleared a bit at a time. The reason I chose to do it that way was both to save money and to keep the plant roots in place to hold the soil in place. When the wind gets to whipping even the dirt from in between vegetation comes your way but by and large the only dust is from the idiot neighbors that insist on screaming past us at thirty miles an hour. They know they are generating a lot of dust so I can’t imagine it doesn’t occur to them that we are sucking it in. Rude bastards.
*
And speaking of rude bastards, this town is not anything like I expected. Yes, most people are nice enough. But very few are small town friendly. I get the same attitude here as I did back in Carson City. Transplanted California Yuppie snooty. The town still lives on trains, cows and mining. Their high and mighty lifestyle won’t survive a downturn economically here. I guess people still think gold is like oil, never to run out in their lifetime. Oh, well.
*
As Creekmore said first, I’m sorry I didn’t make this move a lot sooner. We may not be able to escape the Rat Race, but it sure is a lot nicer moving to a much smaller nest of rats.
END
Look for a guest article Friday
As I have stated before, Elko is far from the perfect location to survive the coming collapse. The fact that it has been around for about 125 years and yet has grown less than the population in the US as a whole should tell us something. What it is telling us, I don’t know. Perhaps this winter I will be rudely reminded. Regardless, it does a lot going for it. Low population, relying on commodities ( at a time of increased inflation ) rather than tourism or other even less worthy economics, isolation. It is not that I would wholeheartedly recommend the location to others as much as it works quite well for me.
*
The first night here I knew I had made the right decision to move here. Four miles from town ( two as the crow flies ) and it was absolutely peaceful and quiet. Trains run by about a mile down the road and just love to blow their horn, but since I love trains ( and appreciate their coming importance as the economics of semi-trucks compared to train freight are felt as we run out of fuel ) it doesn’t bother me. Trains allow you a moment of fantasy where you can travel back to a time the US was an economic superpower and actually built things instead of buying it from communist countries. I only have a third of a mile to go to get to the main road so getting into town is easy.
*
The job situation threw me for a loop at first. It seemed like I was throwing people off by applying for a job unworthy of my skills. For the love of God!! He might leave us for another company when we treat him like pond scum and pay him a nickel over minimum wage ( why, back in my day, a nickel was a lot of money! He should be kissing my liver spotted wrinkled ass to be allowed to work for me at $6.40 an hour, by gum ). So two weeks went by with only one job offer. Twenty hours and I had to be available for different shifts. So in a fit of stupidity and desperation I accepted a job offer for a restaurant supervisor. Ooooh! $9 an hour and a raise in three months after I proved my worth. It only took one day to see what I was in for. Running around stressed and losing sleep at night for an extra hundred bucks a month. I actually tossed and turned and lost four hours of sleep that first night. I quit the next day. And as luck would have it ( or perhaps it was Baby Jesus trying to apologize for the tire fiasco ) that very day a job at the food bank opened. Now I can run around like crazy, but not have any stress. That is the kind of job I like-stay busy and leave for home without stress.
*
There has been almost nothing about living off grid that has been difficult. Constantly thinking about it before hand, researching it on the Internet and writing about it ( as well as partially living it previously ) all made it a very smooth transition. The only thing I haven’t done is build an ice box for butter ( I know about room temperature storage in a crock but the wife refuses to believe it won‘t kill her and refuses to eat the butter out of one and I can‘t eat enough butter myself before it would go bad ), mayonnaise and leftovers. My diet is somewhat limited without a fridge but nothing too bad. I buy meat about three or four times a week while in town and we cook it up right away. The rest of the diet is dry goods or from cans. And canned food got old after the first week so there is little of that anymore. If it was really too stressful without a fridge I would have built the box or hooked up my propane refrigerator already, but it wasn’t as big a deal as I had thought to do without.
*
Hauling water is pretty easy. I go to the city park once a week and fill up at a public faucet. I can haul two gallons in my bike basket ( yes, I look like a dork doing it ) five days a week and we only use three gallons a day so I could easily cut my driving back from once a week to every other week to haul water but I don’t have enough clothes to avoid the laundry that extra week. For solid waste I fill up a plastic bag and throw it into the park dumpster ( waste disposal will be another article ). For grey water I just hooked up my trailer drain hose to a five gallon bucket filled with rocks with holes punched in the bottom ( and a layer of rocks under that bucket ). I use the regular trailer toilet for urination and I have a bucket next to that with the lid/seat made for a bucket for the solids.
*
Clearing the lot of sage brush is going to take some time. It is slow and heavy work clearing it by hand ( a hand saw to cut each bush ). It only took about six hours to clear enough space to park a thirty foot trailer and two vehicles however. The rest of the brush gets cleared a bit at a time. The reason I chose to do it that way was both to save money and to keep the plant roots in place to hold the soil in place. When the wind gets to whipping even the dirt from in between vegetation comes your way but by and large the only dust is from the idiot neighbors that insist on screaming past us at thirty miles an hour. They know they are generating a lot of dust so I can’t imagine it doesn’t occur to them that we are sucking it in. Rude bastards.
*
And speaking of rude bastards, this town is not anything like I expected. Yes, most people are nice enough. But very few are small town friendly. I get the same attitude here as I did back in Carson City. Transplanted California Yuppie snooty. The town still lives on trains, cows and mining. Their high and mighty lifestyle won’t survive a downturn economically here. I guess people still think gold is like oil, never to run out in their lifetime. Oh, well.
*
As Creekmore said first, I’m sorry I didn’t make this move a lot sooner. We may not be able to escape the Rat Race, but it sure is a lot nicer moving to a much smaller nest of rats.
END
Look for a guest article Friday
Thursday, August 07, 2008
non-electric coffee
Non-Electric Coffee
It's going to be a bit short this week. I've been busy with job interviews, then job training, then job abandonment so the whole thing started over again. I am happy to report that I now have a great job ( satisfaction wise, not monetary ) at a non-profit food bank. At this point $7 an hour is just fine if the job is worthy and non-stressful. I'll put off the article on Elko and my set up until next time.
*
Coffee is a necessity of life, ranking just behind food, oxygen and shelter. And a drip coffee machine is the best way for non-snobs ( those satisfied with caffeinated mud, not those needing taste ) to prepare this elixir. For those off grid this is really not an option. Coffee machines simply take too much power. The standard way to brew your coffee then becomes a peculator, either on a wood stove or with propane. The problem I have with that is the excess of fuel used to prepare your coffee. In the winter it is less of a problem since the heat is needed, but the rest of the year it becomes a waste. I have started using pre-soaked coffee to work around this. Best is grounds in water ( in a glass jar with lid ) sitting out in the sun the day before. If you must, it almost works as good just preparing the water before you go to bed ( this assumes the water will stay relatively warm ). The soaking leaches the oils out of the beans so all that is necessary is that you heat the water to boiling and it is ready to drink. No need to continually boil the water to achieve the same results. I have a re-usable filter I place in an old machine basket that I place on top of my cup and pour the boiling coffee in. I use a travel mug ( insulated plastic ) to enjoy a big mug of coffee for the next twenty minutes or so. If I want a second cup I will add more grounds than usual so that bringing it to a boil ( and then letting stand for a few minutes ) will produce the same results ( substituting extra grounds for a longer boil ). I have yet to try a French Coffee Press which is supposed to be better at extracting the coffee and uses water brought to a boil. This is a lot cheaper and should produce about the same results.
END
It's going to be a bit short this week. I've been busy with job interviews, then job training, then job abandonment so the whole thing started over again. I am happy to report that I now have a great job ( satisfaction wise, not monetary ) at a non-profit food bank. At this point $7 an hour is just fine if the job is worthy and non-stressful. I'll put off the article on Elko and my set up until next time.
*
Coffee is a necessity of life, ranking just behind food, oxygen and shelter. And a drip coffee machine is the best way for non-snobs ( those satisfied with caffeinated mud, not those needing taste ) to prepare this elixir. For those off grid this is really not an option. Coffee machines simply take too much power. The standard way to brew your coffee then becomes a peculator, either on a wood stove or with propane. The problem I have with that is the excess of fuel used to prepare your coffee. In the winter it is less of a problem since the heat is needed, but the rest of the year it becomes a waste. I have started using pre-soaked coffee to work around this. Best is grounds in water ( in a glass jar with lid ) sitting out in the sun the day before. If you must, it almost works as good just preparing the water before you go to bed ( this assumes the water will stay relatively warm ). The soaking leaches the oils out of the beans so all that is necessary is that you heat the water to boiling and it is ready to drink. No need to continually boil the water to achieve the same results. I have a re-usable filter I place in an old machine basket that I place on top of my cup and pour the boiling coffee in. I use a travel mug ( insulated plastic ) to enjoy a big mug of coffee for the next twenty minutes or so. If I want a second cup I will add more grounds than usual so that bringing it to a boil ( and then letting stand for a few minutes ) will produce the same results ( substituting extra grounds for a longer boil ). I have yet to try a French Coffee Press which is supposed to be better at extracting the coffee and uses water brought to a boil. This is a lot cheaper and should produce about the same results.
END
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