twenty dollar

TWENTY DOLLAR


Thanks for all the feedback on the buried pipe project. I’ll go with the larger pipe ( I had 2” on the brain as that was the only size I saw at Home Depot the last time I bought some- I guess it was a day after someone bought it all up ). Four inch at least, if not six. I don’t want to do this wrong since I only want to dig once. If you want to learn more than I covered, just Google “earth pipe” or “earth pipe cooling”.

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A hearty hi ho and merry thanks to CF for his donation. Not only has he suggested books in the past I enjoyed ( and hadn’t heard of previously ) but he donates yearly. Not that you have to feel bad if you don’t. Just buying your own doo dads ( DOO DAD SWITCH ) and prep supplies through my Amazon links is payment enough, as that is my primary revenue. And not only has he suggested books, contributed to the comments section, sent donations, he has provided me with another article idea. A note hinted at “buying what you can of value with this donation”, as if it was too little to matter. I think his donation was wonderful, and it can buy a lot! We look at financed items and compare the prices of commodities to just a few years ago, factor in inflation ( The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence ) and the end result seems that you can’t buy spit with the money you have. Auto’s are getting out of reach ( thanks, American car companies for over-promising Union retirements while under-funding them ). Houses, even at half the prices of a few years ago, are still insanely priced ( primarily due to banks financing them for thirty years giving a built in incentive to mold zoning laws and such ). Gas and food have doubled, from a combination of import declines ( who would have thought importing 70% of our oil was a bad idea? ) and using half our corn for fuel ( Alcohol Fuel: A Guide to Making and Using Ethanol as a Renewable Fuel (Books for Wiser Living from Mother Earth News) ). Just those four items make a once respectable thirty grand income seem like the equivalent of living on top of a Philippine trash heap shanty town.

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Even I complain of the high cost of prepping, and I just futz around the edges ( having pretty much squared away the fundamentals long ago ). I’m sure those just starting out are horrified by the sticker shock. But, to once again bring up the same subject, frugal prepping is almost no sticker shock and outside of your firearm it can be done for about twenty bucks at a time. Remember that John Cusack ( Say Anything ) movie, where the paperboy is hounding him for the paper money? I can’t remember the amount, I think it was four dollars. The character in the movie turns around and there lurking on a ridge or at the top of road on his bicycle is the paperboy, screaming for his four dollars. That image pops into my head whenever I imaging any amount of money. Evil bike kid screaming, “Where’s my Twenty dollars?!?” Twenty bucks is easy to get. Yuppie scum pay that much each week for Starbucks ( I don’t know if I shared this with you already- according to a book on Starbucks, after the chain saturated the retail landscape an east coast city started detecting caffeine in the water in the bay. After treating the sewage, there was still detectable amounts of caffeine in the discharge water which goes to show you how much coffee we now drink [ of course it could just show you that we’ve just now started measuring for caffeine, but that isn’t as amusing ] )( Starbucks VIATM Ready Brew Italian Roast Coffee by Starbucks Coffee ). One person spends that much going to the movie and getting snacks ( up to 90% of the ticket price goes to the studio for rent which is why the popcorn pays to keep the theatre in business ). Or buying a new release DVD ( The Blind Side ). $20 is only two weeks of a cable bill or about a weeks worth of cell phone use. It’s almost impossible to eat out for two for under $20 and get full ( and that assumes a more blue collar eatery ). Hardback books are almost $30, and paperbacks are already kissing ten bucks for the popular authors ( the asshats elongated the book to appear bigger when selling the ten dollar product ).

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$20 buys fifty pounds of wheat in buckets ( you save the half a bucket for next time as each five gallon bucket holds 35 pounds ). $20 buys a box of ammo ( Frankford Arsenal Model 501 50 Count Ammunition Box ), either five hundred rimfire, twenty rifle or a hundred pistol. $20 buys a grain grinder ( Buffalo Tool's HomeStyle Corn, Grain, Coffee and Food Grinder ). It buys several ceramic pots for water filtration ( get the ones without drain holes- if unavailable silicone a saucer from the thrift store over the holes [ thanks to a minion for that suggestion ] ). Twenty bucks buys a few wool blankets ( Wool Camping Blanket - Natural Warmth & Durability ). And all kinds of military surplus cold weather clothing. $20 buys a butt load of LED lights, as well as a solar AA/C/D battery charger ( Universal Solar Battery Charger, Charges 2 Batteries ). Plenty of knives are under $20. And, as a matter of fact, you could buy a gun for $20 if you have a local dealer that does layaway and payments ( I can’t remember if pawn shops do that ). You could almost claim that you can buy all prep items $20 at a time. Except junk land, but every once in awhile you can find some for fifty dollars a month payments ( as we speak there is an offer on E-Bay for two $50 lots- one in Arizona and one in Louisiana ).

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And unlike yuppie prep plans, after several hundred bucks if no land, you have nothing else to buy. And you are all set to try to survive the end of the world ( I’m guessing your old fat ass will end up in the stewpot, but hope springs eternal in the breast of man ).

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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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Anyone can submit a guest article. No minimum word length, no writing skill necessary ( just get the idea across ). You retain copyright ( this must be your original writing ) and I’ll just use the once. I’ve yet to turn down an article, just don’t use the N Bomb or libel another that can sue me. Send by e-mail ( please, label as “guest article” so I can find it easily later ). Payment will be your removal from my enemies list.
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