guest article

guest article

Report on a Bug Out Practice Run



My brother-in-law recently purchased a foreclosed fixer-upper home out

of state (about 400 miles from my home). He closed a few weeks ago and

I was planning a trip out of state for a business meeting in that

direction. I decided to spend a weekend there to evaluate my bug-out

bag (BOB) and plans before heading out for my business trip that

Monday.



He was OK with me being there for a few days and thought I was just

being cheap. I knew the address and had him mail me the key, also that

the utilities were probably off and that the house "needs some work",

but that is all I knew about the house. I chose to do this test alone

to spare family the hardship of my oversight. I thought this would be

a decent way to check my bug out preparedness. It turned to to be a

great learning tool (I am sharing so others can try this method or

learn from my mistakes).



3 Rules Imposed on Myself:

1. No advance planning for this (didn't review BOB contents and "stack

the deck").

2. Stay at the house and don't seek outside help for resources

(food/water/info) unless dire emergency.

3. Learn something from the experience and take notes.



Instead of my usual review of maps and directions, I chose to rely

only on maps I had in my car. I threw my BOB*, seasonal clothes

emergency bag (2 days of work clothes for me), tent, cell phone,

sleeping bag, hiking boots, plus 3L of water and (as well as my

business attire and files) in the car and hit the road. I could not

simulate the chaos of fleeing or lack of resources, but after getting

in the car, I ate only the food I had with me until Sunday morning

when I resumed "normal" life and drove the rest of the way to the

hotel for my business meeting.



I left Friday after lunch and arrived around 9PM. It is a nice

middle-class neighborhood with only a some houses for sale (how many

foreclosures???). I chose to park around the block from the house to

test my OPSEC. I want to be very clear that I had permission to stay

at this house. I did not break in and I was not squatting. I schlepped

my stuff to the house in 2 trips and went in the front door. The house

was VERY musty and dusty. Obviously not occupied for a long time

before he purchased it. I discovered the house had sat for a while

with no furniture or anything but painted walls and dust. No

electricity and no water. I donned my small AAA headlamp and had a

look around. Toilets were dry and smelly. I poured water into the

bowls to fill the traps and opened some windows to change the air.



Then took my stuff to the least dirty, best breeze, carpeted upstairs

bedroom to unpack. I hadn't been in the house more than 15-20 minutes

when a neighbor showed up knocking on the front door (with her large,

leashed dog). She was friendly but guarded and her husband was across

the street in the front door: "Hi. Who are you and what are you doing

in [former owner's] house." Thank God I was dressed normally and not

commando-style. I gave her my name, explained that my brother-in-law

owned the home, and that I was staying over the weekend to evaluate

the house and help him do some work. I had the presence of mind to

show her the house key and invite her in. She was clearly not coming

in, and kept petting her dog. She wanted to know my brother in law's

name and contact info. I cheerfully provided his info. She seemed to

relax some, but looking at the street and driveway asked where my car

was. I explained that it was parked around the block and that I'd be

moving it soon. This bothered her and she said "That's odd. Why would

you park there at night?" I told her it was a long drive, and I needed

to stretch my legs while I looked for the address. She clearly didn't

believe me. (Good for her!) I promised to move my car as soon as I had

a chance to unpack and get a bite to eat. She was guarded again and

told me she'd be watching [former owner's] house as she turned to go.

I reminded her it was now owned by my brother in law. She just kept

walking to her house. Her porch and street light remained on during my

entire stay. Lesson 1-- people will notice different activity at

houses in the neighborhood. I should have parked in the driveway and

been more obvious that I was there. I am not trained in stealth and a

concerned neighbor will clearly see lights in the windows of a

typically dark house as out of place. So much for laying low...



I was down to a little less than 1L of water and I was very thirsty.

The house was hot and musty. I chose to move my car and look around

for some water in the neighborhood. I took the most direct route to my

car, but drive around the block coming back. Bingo! Storm water

detention pond. I waved to another couple walking past the house as I

pulled in and parked in front of the garage. I left my business stuff

in the car and went back inside. Either the smell and heat were

dissipating, or I was getting used to the environment. I was hungry,

so I ate some peanut butter on triscuits with raisins and drank

water. It was too hot to boil water to make a "real" meal. I needed to

get some water, but it would look very odd carrying a water cube back

to the house at night full of water. After a bathroom break in back

yard bushes (sorry, not enough water to flush), I called home to tell

them I arrived safe and went to sleep.



The situation was very different in the morning. My morning walk

around revealed the house was unoccupied for a while. Lawn and

landscaping were in dire need of TLC. Everything was filthy in the

light of day and the source of the musty smell (wet basement) was

apparent. The house had some damage (holes in walls and doors),

possibly due to a careless move out, but was in pretty good shape. I

understood why he had bought it. Because the house cooled off during

the night, I warmed water to make coffee and oatmeal. After breakfast,

my water situation was more clear. I was now out of water and it was

forecast to be hot. I found nothing of use in the garage or basement

to help-- I was hoping for a box or bag. So, I decide to just walk

down and get some water at the pond. I could access it from the street

without trespassing in anyone's yard. It was a little before 7AM on

Saturday, so I thought I'd be fine. On the way I saw some joggers, but

didn't see anyone when I changed from boots into into flip-flops and

filled the water cube. Put muddy feet in socks and boots because

though I remembered the flip-flops I forgot about wet muddy feet

(stupid!). Walking a third of a mile with 40 pounds of water in a

slippery square plastic container is not easy. This is not something I

considered. I didn't have any encounters during my return walk, but

I'm pretty sure I looked strange. I should have driven or had a duffel

or bag for the water. Add to my list: a bag for the water cubes. Also,

I noticed that about 10% or more of the homes were for sale or

obviously empty. No outside maintenance and no curtains. The other

homes were neat, middle class homes, and it was very sad to see the

difference. We don't to have as many houses so close together where I

live, so we can't see the stark reality of the situation.



Brought the water to the sink and had a pause. Do I want to use this

to flush a toilet? That would probably require about a third of my

water... I had filled the traps, but I knew it was a matter of time

before I could not just slip into the bushes for quick relief. That

would mean another trek to the pond. I filtered 3 of the 5 gallons

into my clean water cube, refilled my water bottles, had a big drink,

and washed my dishes, changed socks and washed feet, then I put my

batteries in the charger on the sill. I looked around and asked myself

what I would do with the day. I could inventory the problems for my

brother and law, but without tools and supplies, I couldn't really do

anything to fix the problems in the house. I used the toilet (and the

rest of my non-filtered water) and drove to get another 5 gallons. No

problem this time, I was out of the car for no more than 2 minutes and

wearing flip-flops to drive is OK. On the way there and back I saw a

number of people doing yard work and decided to ask the neighbors to

borrow their mower to cut the lawn. Not an EOTWAWKI activity, but I

did say I was there to fix the place up. I took the cube upstairs and

noticed I had left my clean water cube dripping slowly on the bathroom

floor. AAARRRGG! Use dirty shirt to wipe up mess.



After wiping up, I went across the street and sheepishly introduced

myself to Peggy's husband, Bill. He was surprisingly friendly and

happy to oblige me. He mentioned that for a while they were cutting

the lawns of the "vacants" to keep up the neighborhood, but there are

now too many to keep up. He asked if I owned it now and my intentions

for the place. I explained that my brother-in-law bought it, and that

I was here to help for the weekend. I told him my brother in law wants

to fix it up and sell it. He wished us luck and gave me his mower and

hedge trimmer. I thanked him and went to work.



What did you do during your EOTWAWKI practice? I mowed a lawn, picked

up trash, and trimmed hedges. Not what I was expecting, but a great

use of my morning and early afternoon. I returned Bill's tools and

mower along with $5 for gas and went back for lunch. It was hot, but I

was hungry and I made freeze dried beef noodles & gravy and

broccoli/cauliflower with cheese sauce. A favorite from moose hunting.

After cleaning up I had a nap and though about this experience. If you

were really bugging out, why not be open and neighborly about your

situation if you're squatting in a home. Fix it up and help to bring

the situation back toward normal. This made sense to me, since the

economy is a crisis that people are reacting to. Not on the same scale

as I was preparing for, but maybe I could learn something here, too.

Food for thought.



When I woke up it was 4PM. I slept longer than I planned-- maybe

because the house is so quiet. I took a quick inventory of my stuff

and decided to filter the rest of my water and go for more. I was

using water MUCH faster than I had planned. But it was hot and I was

doing work and kept getting dirty. The house was so dusty. Also, I had

decided to stop peeing in the bushes out back because this wasn't

neighborly and was likely to get me in more trouble. That meant more

runs for water, but that was easier to explain. When I got back I

filtered water to fill my clean cube and water bottles and still had

enough to flush the toilet. I turned on the crank radio and caught the

end of a baseball game while I inventoried the problems I could see in

the house and expected supplies my brother in law would need. It was

cooling off nicely and looked like rain. I was in need of a bath, but

that was out of the question given my water supply. A wipe down would

have to suffice. I filled the bathroom sink with the rest of my not

potable water cube and went for another 5 gallons. When I got back I

used nearly 1 gallon of water to clean myself up and I used the water

in the sink to wash my shirt and socks because I was out of these (my

kit has clothes for 2 days). It was during my "bath" that I realized

my summer emergency kit should include sunscreen and a hat (ouch). I

thought bug spray would be a good idea, too (though this was not a

problem for me). I called home and had peanut butter on triscuits

(finished the box too soon!) and raisins and a cup of tea then went to

sleep listening to the radio.



On Saturday I used a little more than 7 gallons of water (including

what I had spilled) for all uses: food prep, drinking, cleaning

(hands/body/clothes), and toilet flushing. Hand sanitizer does nothing

for you when your hands are gritty from dusty house or yard work. Yes,

you have killed 99.9% of pathogens, but if your hands are gritty your

crackers taste bad. You need water to wash off the dirt. Lesson:

fetching and especially carrying water is HARD. I used way more than

the 3 gallons per day I expected. I am lucky water was close by and

that I had a car to be able to fetch it. I need to think about this

problem.



On Sunday morning it hadn't rained but it was cooler. I went for water

first thing, and made coffee and oatmeal with raisins. I started

packing my stuff because I had to leave by 4PM to finish my travel to

the hotel for my meeting. I decided to clean up in side the house a

bit, too (leave it better than you found it, etc.). I fetched some

rags from my car and used clean water to dust the horizontal surfaces.

A bucket, even a small one, would have been really nice to have

(NOTE!). When I finished I decided to do the windows, too. Yes I

should have done these in reverse, but I didn't. After finishing up,

the house looked MUCH better. I celebrated with an early lunch of

spaghetti and marinara with apple blueberry cobbler for dessert. I

washed up all dishes and put away my food, cooking, and prep stuff

because this was my last meal in the house. While cleaning the dishes,

I reflected that wouldn't have changed much meal wise. I ate more than

I expected, but I did more work, too. I should have brought a book to

read. Without a book, I got my business file out of the car and read a

bit to prepare for my meeting. I left on time at 4PM.



I didn't see Bill or Peggy when I left, but I hope they were OK with

my visit. The house looked better than it had when I entered and I had

learned a lot!



I am not mentioning any self-protection weapons because I didn't need

these for my trip.In the event of a real event, these would be on my

person.



*Bug-Out Bag Contents I brought with me (items with # were not used,

below the list are my new items to add)

Freeze dried food (mix of about 3 meals for 3 people of miscellaneous

stuff that I rotate through my camping/hunting kit)

1 plastic jar peanut butter

1 box raisins

1 box triscuit crackers

3 cans sardines#

12 packs instant coffee

12 bags black tea

6 packs instant oatmeal

Salt and pepper

1 box baking soda

250 mL bottle of Palmolive

1 Coleman propane 2-burner stove

1 box strike anywhere matches

1 mini-green bottle of propane

Aluminum cookpot with lid

1 metal mess kit (metal cup, blow/plate, spork and knife)

500 mL Doc Bonner's Peppermint Soap

1 hemp washcloth

1 large pack towel

1 L Nalgene water bottle

150 feet paracord

72 piece first aid kit #

1 large zip-loc bag of dryer lint (fire starting) #

4 rolls TP

1 250mL bottle hand sanitizer

12 small trash bags & twist-ties

12 large trash bags & twist-ties

1 bandanna

2 pr deerskin work gloves

1 pr flip-flops

1 small, inflatable sleeping pad

1 folding shovel #

1 Crank/solar radio & flashlight

1 Toothbrush

6 corks #

1 shake flashlight#

1 AAA headlamp

1 AAA solar battery charger

1 Stanley crowbar demolition tool #

1 Leatherman (original) multi-tool

1 Kershaw folding knife

1 Fiskars hand axe #

1 hiking water filter

1 bottle iodine tablets for water purification #

1 19L collapsible water cube (for NOT potable water)

1 19L collapsible water cube (for potable water)

1 roll duct tape #

1 small daypack #

All held in a LL Bean Duffel Bag (~140 L volume)-- except tent# and

sleeping bag.



Stuff I will add to my BOB or change:

1 Duffel to carry water cubes

hat

sunscreen & bug spray

1 small bucket or tub

Rags

Book

3 days of clothes in emergency seasonal clothes bag

More triscuits

More than 3 L of water to start!
END

food banks

FOOD BANKS

Guest articles both weekend days.  Wheeeee.
Major Surplus sent me an e-mail claiming I was a preferred customer. Now, since I haven’t ordered from them in a few years I sort of doubt that this is the case. So I’m sure all of my other minions, or at least those that ever ordered from the company with their latest e-mail address, also got this message. For those that didn’t, they are having a great price of wool blankets ( OD Wool Blanket -US Army Style ). $10 each. The link below is for the box of five but there is also singles for sale if you erroneously think you need less than that. I will grant you that long after the collapse legions of sheep will be grazing all available grassland and wool will be available by trade to all. But for now wool blankets will be quite valuable both to yourself and others. Who has enough blankets to sleep through the winter without central heat?

http://www.majorsurplus.com/Geneva-Relief-Emergency-Disaster-Blankets-P13481C2023.aspx

I always have liked Major Surplus. Not as great as Sportsman’s Guide, but still good stuff. You should get wool blankets. Don’t be bitching to me when your little wee-wee is frozen into a solid twig, since I warned you.

*

The Arch Druid http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ had yet another great article this week. Last week he was in rare form, cutting up and actually showing a sense of humor. I think the Mrs. Druid Dude gave it up and he stayed pretty happy. This week he was back to his slightly glum self. Lighten up, dude. You want to get serious, think about rectal warts. That’s serious business. The collapse has been with us almost fifty years, we might as well enjoy it because it is our only reality ( and, no, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus and just because the collapse started that long ago doesn’t mean we have that much longer to go ).

*

I don’t know if I covered this before. I’ve told you repeatedly that your local feed store only carries at any one time one bag of wheat per ten thousand population. Perhaps double that for corn. Come an emergency, the first lucky customer cleans out the human food selection. If you want to eat vet medicine and molasses cracked corn, then you might be in luck. And, no, this isn’t BumHump Nebraska we are talking about here but your typical small town store. Not the middle of the country where all the grain is grown, vulnerable to aquifer ( Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks ) draw down, lack of domestic nitrogen manufacture, lack of shipping and for all I know, all their John Deere tractors getting fried by an EMP ( One Second After ). With rare exceptions, don’t expect your feed store to stockpile much. Inventory is money you can’t spend keeping the sheriffs office from baring the door in bankruptcy proceedings. Everyone is cutting back on inventory. Also, food banks are seeing less inventory. Well, duh, they have a lot more customers. But it isn’t just that. Food banks are getting more inventory than ever, but it is the wrong kind. They have too much of the wrong kind and too little of the other.

*

When I was in the food bank down in Carson City, I forecasted a shortage of the canned food drive the second year. Everyone just laughed, chuckle, snort, sneer. That silly Jim, he still thinks the sky is falling ( The Sky Is Falling ). We’ve seen donations increase every year for the two decades we’ve been open. Which makes sense, since the city had been growing like crazy that whole time. The California exodus ( The Mass Exodus From California ). And of course I was right. I can’t remember if it was down ten percent or slightly more, but the decrease was nothing to sneeze at. Now, I know my crystal ball is pretty good. I can see the big picture. I can’t call the timing to save my life. So frankly, I was as surprised as the rest of them when I got that call correct. But it was so obvious. The start of economic calamity is going to take its toll on the ability to be generous. And, sure enough, the trend continues. Now it is the price increase of flour and rice and canned goods. Everyone is as generous as they can be. They are spending as much if not more as before. But each dollar buys less. Shelf stable goods are down. The produce is way down due to the huge increase in fruit and vegetable prices. As well as the cost of steel and energy. Top Ramen ( 101 Things to do with Ramen Noodles ) noodles used to overflow the shelf, until the price went up 50%. Rice donations are way down. Like tuna, a cost increase of 50%. Spaghetti in some cases doubled. Etcetera. Not all our non-perishable food stocks decreased by half, but it has been close.

*

What has increased a HUGE amount is perishable goods. Mostly bread and pastries from the bakeries and some dairy. All the grocery stores are donating the crap out of these items. It used to be on the off season ( Christmas is crazy with donations, and we have a spring Boy Scout [ Boy Scouts of America: The Official Handbook for Boys ] can food drive ) I was pretty bored at work. Not a whole lot to do between food boxes. Our boxes used to be primarily to feed the homeless and give the Seniors their monthly government commodity foods. Now, as a lot of households go from two to one wage earner, family food boxes are way up. And, most of my time is now spend desperately trying to process and stock the perishables. A few dozen pounds per store before. Now, it can be literally hundreds per day. The grocery stores have all dramatically increased their donations. It is a 100% retail price tax write-off. Before, they couldn’t be bothered. It all went into the dumpster. Now, they are desperate to save the bottom line and donations look good. I can give out a lot more food, and I do. Each box is three days of food and I went from giving two thousand calories a day to giving at least double that ( half being bread and sweets ). And still, every Friday we give out all the perishables in a mad rush ( food boxes are restricted, once you use your quota you can’t receive more the rest of the year, perishable day is not-come every week and take as much as you want ). The problem with this surplus is that it can’t last more than a week.

*

Once grocery stores start going bankrupt, or the maximum donation has been reached ( over X and it no longer decreases your tax bite ), our surplus ( US Military Army Navy Surplus Duffle Duffel Bag ) instantly vanishes. Food banks cannot be counted on to help you in the near future. They started out to feed a small population of homeless and they are geared to that. Yes, they get lots of government money, but their overhead is insane. And they must rely on a surplus of food. As long as waste is possible, a small amount of the population can eat at food banks. But even now, in a time of plenty ( even if it is the wrong kind of food ), they most likely won’t even get you through until Food Stamps show up ( due to the back log from increased claims ). Beware, and stockpile accordingly.
END
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*
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rice v wheat

RICE V WHEAT


First thing, I would like to thank Dave from Texas for his encouraging words and of course for the ounce of silver. When you tell me how wonderful I am, that strokes my ego and goes a long way in healing all the mean and hurtful things others are saying. Things like, no, you aren’t the messiah, or, you might be full of crap. It cuts deep, people. Silver, on the other hand, puts me back in my happy place, a place where shiny and glittering things captivate one for hours. Hours where the only worries were getting a warm nipple and getting rid of a warm load in your diaper. To me, silver ( 1 oz (.999) Fine Silver Bar - Eagle Design ) isn’t like getting $20. No, it is like getting a real security blanket. Real money, accepted through the ages, unaffected by government printing presses. Well, unless it was Roman silver which was diluted to the point of worthlessness. Which brings me to a few articles. I want to thank http://www.backwoodssurvivalblog.com/ for pointing out this article- http://www.kitco.com/ind/Wilson/jul222010.html . Also, this weeks Kunstler was top form. http://www.kunstler.com/blog/ . I don’t know if I agree with his deflation thoughts- the article above ties in derivatives with hyper inflation- but it was well written. All of his articles are, but this was on topic more than on rant. I used to be a lot more certain about economics before I learned that the energy equation was the ultimate spoiler or that derivatives could very well be another.

*

I think the computer ate all comments posted on Monday’s article. There was a good one making a case for rice, but when I went back to reread it I couldn’t find it. It gave me the idea for today’s article, but I would have liked the original comment for a point by point argument. If recall correctly, it basically said that rice ( Seductions of Rice ) is a heck of a lot easier to prepare, especially in the field. While that is true, and a valid point to keep in mind when stocking for a BOB, it still falls short when talking about long term food storage. Rice has a lot of disadvantages. I highly recommend pre-cooked rice ( Minute Rice, which is “throw in boiling water and sit for five minutes” ) and cooked canned beans for disaster situations. They use almost no fuel and are filling and nutritious. But when you need more than just a few weeks of food rice is not the best answer. Rice, white, is not a complete grain. Whole, brown, rice does not store well due to its rancidity. Rice is twice the price of wheat. Rice can’t be grown in most of the country. To most of us, rice tastes like the white paste we used to eat in kindergarten. Rice does not have the diversity of wheat in menus. Rice only wins in its cooking simplicity and availability.

*

There is nothing wrong with white rice, in a regular menu. If you are just using it as a calorie source it is great. It is very filling. But it is just like white flour. All calories and little nutrients. If you can’t get your needed nutrients from other foods then white rice can’t keep you alive. I stockpile about a hundred pounds of white flour, for variety. But it is to mix with freshly ground whole wheat flour. I wouldn’t want to rely just on the white flour. I also stock about a hundred pounds of white rice. But just for the variety. I won’t eat enough at one time to deprive myself of nutrients. Which would be pretty silly since we are going to be in a emergency ( Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life ) situation and will really be stressed. Which is why I also stockpile roll-your-own tobacco and plenty of cans of coffee. Stress release, and in the case of coffee ( I Love Coffee!: Over 100 Easy and Delicious Coffee Drinks ) absolute necessity. Sure, sure, you are a super stub survivalist who has no vices to become a weakness. Good on you. I want my damn coffee and, yes, I would literally kill for it after a time. I don’t claim to be perfect. I don’t ask for perfection from others, only that they are intellectually honest about things. Although you would think I’m asking for their first born.

*

You can stockpile brown rice, although I don’t know why you would. It still goes bad in a few months. I like to buy once and forget about it. Wheat fits that role. Beans do also, but the older ones can only be eaten by grinding and boiling into a refried type paste ( another reason to have a grain grinder [ Grizzly H7775 Cast Iron Corn / Grain Mill] ). White rice will pretty much last forever, too, but has too many other faults. Such as being twice the price as feed store whole wheat ( which is also better in protein ). Of course, you can also buy rice everywhere. Unlike wheat which can be hard to find. But then, you can solve any problem with lots of money. Here at the World Headquarters Of Bisonia we try to do things the inexpensive way since most of you sign over your testicles and paychecks to the wife ( even those natural boobs are pretty darn expensive, aren’t they? ). Even making fifty grand a year you have a prep budget less than mine based on a minimum wage paycheck. Well, enjoy looking at your boobs ( Boobs: An American Obsession ). Just don’t touch. Next up, we have the restocking issue. Not a concern now, but perhaps in the future when your local baron yokes you to a plow. Rice, without irrigation, does not grow in most parts of this country. Wheat does. And, short term, I expect all of our current rice to shortly be shipped over to Asia as they have more crop failures.

*

I know some of you like rice. I think it tastes like crap. It is okay when I’m bored with other starches and has meat and sauce added to it. But that is the whole thing. You must add to it. At least with wheat you can eat it by itself if needed. And in many more dishes ( even turned into fake meat- look up in  [ Passport to Survival: Four Foods and More to Use and Store ]  ). Sure, you have to grind it first. But if you did grow rice you would need to crush the hull off it to make white rice anyway. A grinder is only $25. And you can cheaply buy beans too old to boil from others, plus make the usual corn and wheat flour. You COULD make a shotgun with plumbing pipe, but it is better to buy the factory gun. So too, it is better to buy a grinder for wheat than trying to make do with rice. Rice is supplemental, wheat is the mainstay.
END
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*
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oil down economics

OIL DOWN ECONOMICS


I know that you all tune in every day not just for my groundbreaking pearls of wisdom as I faithfully regurgitate the same handful of core ideas over and over again, not only for the vast entertainment value of my caustic whit, but also because you idolize me and want to be just like me. You protest at the silliness of my primitive lifestyle, living in a barely insulated tin box in the high desert ( High Desert: A Journey of Survival and Hope ), purposefully ignoring my grand strategy of avoiding the vast sewage pond of humanity by hiding in the Great Basin center, but secretly, deep down, you are insanely jealous that I’ve found peace and contentment in my semi-solitude and my success at minimizing my desire for money. So, when I throw you a bone by describing my latest seemingly mundane activity, you clandestinely cheer and blush with envy. Don’t worry, your shameful obsession is safe with me. Here it is- I’ve just ordered two doomer fiction books. “One” by C. Williams ( One ) and “American Apocalypse II” ( American Apocalypse II - Refuge ). Once received and quickly read, I shall review them for you, my loyal minions. AAII is quite expensive at $15, a normally shamefully exploitive high price for a paperback. But I loved the first one even if it was Militia porn rather than doomer escapism, so I am more than ready to take a chance laying down that kind of coin. All so you may safeguard your hard earned money as you await my verdict. I don’t know about the other one, but it looked pretty interesting.

*

Why all the noise and flash about the WikiLinks Afghan War documents? I thought I heard they were all non-Top Secret. You can be sure there is a story behind the story. Distracting us from the nuclear Iran attack, shifting attention from the continual Gulf oil leak, something. Pay no attention to the squawking. Noise makers, so you don’t hear the assassin creeping up behind you.

*

You should go over to

http://americanenergycrisis.blogspot.com/

and read Monday’s article. We don’t agree on the collapse, but what he says here makes a lot of sense. In effect, slow collapse. At least until 2020 at which point the oil decline might be too deep to make an accurate prediction. He isn’t calling for an indefinite slow collapse, but does distrust all our doomer talk about a sudden “wake up the next morning to a Mad Max ( The Road Warrior / Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Double Feature) ) world”. Which really should be an amusement park. Mad Max World. See Max eat dog food. See gay bike riders slay innocent civilians. See evil hockey mask dude act like the new Genghis. Anyway, his article got me thinking perhaps I should elaborate on my sudden collapse thoughts. Again. As one minion stated, it is a slow collapse. Until it isn’t. My analogy is not the staircase down but the gentle river sloping down until the sudden waterfall. Not because I like the idea of a sudden collapse ( part of me does, conflicted between wanna-be warrior lust and the desire for luxury ) or because I’ve read too much doomer fiction ( I have ), but because no other explanation makes sense as to why every other civilization collapse ( David Eagleman: Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization ) in history has left no solid records. I contend that the collapse was so bad that everything was destroyed except myths. I would love to be wrong, but I certainly ain’t going to bet my life on it.

*

Now, as important as it is to know whether the collapse will be sudden or slow is- your strategy of incremental stockpiling and a thirty year mortgage would be useless in a sudden collapse and selling the wife and kids to move out into the wilderness fully stockpiled would be silly in a slow collapse- to some degree it might not matter too much. If we have another ten years of 7/10ths of a percent oil import decrease a month ahead of us ( as has been the case for the last three plus years ), it follows that the economic pain ahead of us will make the last few years look like the height of the Internet Bubble ( The Internet Bubble: Inside the Overvalued World of High-Tech Stocks--And What You Need to Know to Avoid the Coming Shakeout ). You lose your job, your home, your paper wealth. Everyone still eats, which is only accomplished by a combination of home gardening, ballooning Food Stamp use and cutting off food exports ( plus rationing petroleum to give fuel to the ag sector ). But everything else is going to hell. In real terms, Social Security buys less and less every month. Socialized medicine is rationed to give time for the terminals to die off without wasting resources. Hyper-inflation ( 1923 GERMANY HYPER INFLATION 100.000.000 / 100 Millions Mark very fine ) at Zimbabwe levels means food is given to the poor in pounds per coupon rather than dollar amounts. One non-critical industry after another ( airlines, travel ) is bankrupt. Local government services such as road repair and parks are abandoned. Civil servants are fired before retirement. Retired civil servants see the same worthless checks as old people. One after another overseas military installations are recalled/mouthballed. And that is all just if our oil keeps declining.

*

If the derivatives ( All About Derivatives (All About Series) ) bubble explodes ( and why wouldn’t it, with a quadrillion dollars of Monopoly money? ), that pain is global. If anyone can cushion ( not prevent, just cushion ) the impact it might be China, since they can pretty much override free markets at whim. They will have the infrastructure to actually garrison Asia and strip resources to the homeland. I’m sure there are easily other black swans, from sunspot hyperactivity to tipping point in the weather or exploding incidences of plant disease. So, no, none of this is the collapse ( Collapse ). Yet. But your ability to stay in the money economy is ended. You will, if we are all lucky, still get the Roman bread and circuses to keep you alive and distracted. Free channels of digital TV ( will rooftop antennas be the next government giveaway as legions can no longer afford cable? ) and government cheese ( American cheese, with plenty of Frankenfood soy oil- and apropos to nothing, did you know Henry Ford was a big fan of soy beans substituting for dairy and such? ). You can’t decide where you live. Where to work, if you still work. Will you be forced into government concentration camps if you are homeless? How will you be able to continue to prep if you have no job or house?

*

My point is that even if the collapse of civilization might be ten years away, your economic ability to prepare for it will very quickly be erased as the economic collapse ( HOMEWARD surviving the global economic collapse ) readjusts your life. Even if the collapse isn’t sudden, your shopping will cease soon. Be prepared now, with Less Than The Best. Wheat, bolt guns, junk land. A $25 corn grinder rather than a $300 super deluxe unit. Surplus guns rather than wiz bang semi’s ( also apropos to little, the local ads are selling “self loading” guns in order, one imagines, to avoid the “semi-auto” evil stigma ). You already know the drill. Prep now with Better Than Nothing rather than waiting for the best that never becomes affordable or available.
END
The Official Bison Web Site http://www.bisonpress.com/
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unintelligent intelligence

UNINTELLIGENT INTELLIGENCE


Today ( Monday ) is some anniversary of the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act ( The ADA Companion Guide: Understanding the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) ). Of course, the commies over at NPR were making a spectacle of themselves, literally having orgasms ( it isn’t that they are a bad thing-organisms- just that other peoples are gross ) over the fact. Oh look, they scream in delight, we have spent billions to give a relative handful of people a fuller life. Aren’t you glad we are in charge of your tax dollars so we can do the right thing by others? Aren’t you glad all corporations have been nationalized so that evil free markets ( The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? ) are reigned in? Aren’t you happy, citizen? You better be happy! No? Stazi!!! Look, it sucks that some people are crippled or disabled or gimps, or whatever. I wouldn’t like it if it was me or mine. That is not the point. The point is, if caring for others is what makes you happy, go for it. Don’t point a gun at my head and force me to be charitable. Take it out of your own paycheck. Leave aside the fact that subsidizing cripples is very cost inefficient ( tripling the cost of construction on all new buildings, just on a chance that a guy in a wheelchair might come in ). Leave aside the fact that somehow, throughout all of history, those born bad or bruised in battle have somehow gotten by with no help from outside the family or church. Leave aside the fact that just like Medicare and Social Security, this program of government checks will one day be eliminated, dooming millions. You can’t legislate compassion by compulsion. It never lasts. Family help, and church help, and benevolent organizations ( in effect, a private pool of insurance ) are cheaper and more efficient and longer lasting. Home Of The Free. Free to do as they are dictated to ( wounded vets are a slightly different kettle of fish, so please don’t get into a tizzy over that.  Although the argument is the same.  Dedicated facilities are one thing, retooling a nations entire infrastructure to benefit a very small minority another.  And check your tampon at the door, Nancy.  This is logical, not emotional ).

*

Public educated idiots will swell up with pride at the sight of the flag, instantly reverting to programming, confusing country with government. Love it or leave it, these colors don’t run. Our dictatorship is better than your dictatorship. Etcetera. Hate me, the messenger, but the sad fact is that we have never had a free market economy. Government stimulus has been around for a long time. We took militia members, used them to take the land, used them to forcibly transfer taxation privileges from the British nobility to the American lawyer elite, then gave them a chunk of the same land they had fought for as payment. We took more land from the displaced eastern seaboard Indians and gave it to immigrants ( The Immigrants ) to open up unfarmed land. We gave railroads most of the money to build their rail on public granted land. As then, so now, risk to the taxpayers and reward to the corporates. We spent millions and wasted hundreds of thousands of lives so that JP Morgan ( Morgan: American Financier ) wouldn’t lose his loans to Germany and our allies. We vaporized a good portion of a million Japanese so that we could colonize the globe, using the military to force the bank and corporation customers to hold still for fleecing. I could go on and on but I’m just building up to the point of this drivel. The newest and latest and greatest government stimulus/taxpayer supported subsidy. The Intelligence Sector.

*

How do you stimulate the economy with military spending without wasting too many valuable machines built with depleting ore stocks fueled by imported oil? Hire a bunch of mercenaries at eight times the cost of military troops. Even the cooks and dishwashers ( Haier HDC1804TW 4-Place-Setting Tabletop Dishwasher ). Use foreign owned semi trucks instead of domestically produced helicopters to ferry supplies. Forget what it costs, that’s what printing presses are for. But what about the home front? You don’t want to use the National Guard ( Pewter Belt Buckle - National Guard - Pewter Belt Buckle ) for security, they are all over in Iraq. Security guards don’t make enough, and even if you nationalized them and paid them a huge amount of money, the simple act of standing sentry over water purification equipment or pipelines would make for bad public relations. It would actually be smart strategically, but we can’t have the SUV driving soccer moms thinking we live in a police state. It’s apparently okay to have ninja SWAT troopers all over the place in New York City or an airport, but not in rural countryside. Besides, by concentrating forces in urban areas you maximize control and further protect your men. A few guards on a lonely stretch of pipeline would be sniped and not missed until the next radio check. So, what else can you do to spend a pisspot full of cash with little infrastructure and out of the public eye? Beef up the intelligence gathering sector.

*

There was a big stink lately about the inability to guess the size of the workforce of the CIA ( Enter the Past Tense: My Secret Life as a CIA Assassin ) and such, at least for their subcontractors. And why not? That gives the government plenty of leeway to fudge the figures on the unemployment numbers ( “ in the Great Recession, unemployment was held down to single digits by the ESTIMATED hundred thousand new employees hired for intelligence gathering against the Great Demonic Forces Of Fuzzy Foreigners each and every month” ). What a great idea. Hire a bunch of cubical warriors to scan telephone records for unpatriotic phrases, analyze satellite photos for alleged nuclear missiles and watch bank deposits for suspicious activity. The wrong enemy is being watched. Nothing effective is being accomplished. All our attention is diverted. But we increase employment and stimulate the economy. Remember, it’s just more paper hot off the presses. The War On Domestic Terror, happily approved of by citizens with government checks.
END
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rent to own

RENT TO OWN


I know how you all are, and I bet you think I’m about to erupt with a tirade against “rent-to-own” companies. Perhaps one that screwed me over somehow. As if I shouldn’t take it personally when one or more businesses meet in a smoke filled room with representatives of several layers of government and they are calculate with precise mathematical certainty the exact percentage of take home wages I can spare without leading me to become eligible for welfare ( white males need not apply unless smoking crack- a built in time restraint factor ). “Well, Mr. X, it seems that Jim has $23.13 a week that is being spent in non-sustainability related activities or non-durable goods. I propose that we either modify his child support payments or impose another round of food price inflation, at least in the inter-mountain region”. This pronouncement is met with cries of glee and tremors of barely suppressed sexual excitement, as now all members can both justify building the second indoor heated pool in their vacation estates AND take pleasure in my financial servitude. Alas, no. I did business with a rent to own company exactly once in my life. In the mid eighties while stationed at the adjacent Air Force ( Mirror Lenses US Air Force Style Sunglasses With Case ) base to my Army unit, the pencil dick Wing Nuts decided that the south gate would no longer be open around the clock. One then had to exit through the north gate to report for duty for the morning shift. This was the long way around and not feasible for walking. So I got a moped ( Bravo Leike 150cc Street Moped E.P.A/C.A.R.B Approved ) on a rent to own agreement. Well, very soon after that I found that the moped payment interfered with beer drinking money. I gave the shop back the moped and snuck under the south gate to continue commuting on foot ( not an easy task in dress uniform ). I don’t even remember what the payments were. I didn’t feel ripped off, nor was the equipment defective. I just took it as a rental agreement rather than a rent to own agreement. They did seem a bit put out at my thoughtlessness in the matter.

*

Rent-to-own is only necessary if you are a total idiot with money and want to pay four times retail. In today’s rent to own article, I’m speaking of your dwelling. Most people have been trained to think of rent or mortgage as a question of affordability. What % of my paycheck can I afford? Will the spouse have to work to put the spawn in a good school? Will my Social Security check be enough to pay the rent? How long will I need to have roommates before I can shack up with a dweeb with a good job? Most of us think about how much we can afford for rent, rather than rent being a necessary evil we need to do away with as soon as possible. Even my readers here think it a necessary evil. You want to be close to a good paying job or the wife demands it. Well, I’ve covered that before. If you stay in a craphole of a city to earn an extra twenty grand, yet that amount goes to a higher cost of living and commuting, what have you gained? Just more stress. If you are playing the middle class ( Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback)) ) game to appease the wife, you will both eventually become homeless. But, hey, before that you had a really nice house. Some of my readers are simple amused at my antics, having left the grid decades ago. To them I’m a new preacher singing to the choir of old professionals. But that is only a few of you. Most just put up with rent ( or a mortgage, which is rent to the bank or Home Depot [ a house is a lifetime maintenance cost ] ). Whatever happened to the norm, which was either rent to own or squat and build?

*

Renting should not be a lifestyle choice. It should be a step towards ownership. And, no, a thirty year mortgage is not ownership. It is servitude towards the bank, and then, generally around retirement, it is an unending rebuilding project. The only thing more costly than a mortgage is a string of ex-wives. I’m not saying you can occupy a dwelling without performing maintenance, rather that a gum and glue, sheetrock and warped 2x4 and particle board siding home is a very expensive way to live. You can build a much cheaper, much lower upkeep home yourself, without a mortgage ( Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage or Re-Finance ).

*

Your first step is to lower your current rent. Get a roommate, rent a room, or move to a smaller unit. Take those savings and invest them. Either a used trailer or construction supplies or land payments. Then, you move to the land and live in temporary shelter ( KING CANOPY Temporary Shelter ) while you build a better dwelling. Your out of pocket cost stays the same, but in exchange for a bit of discomfort you gain a rent free life. Let’s say you are single and living in an apartment for $600 a month. You rent out the other half and save up $300 a month until you buy a used trailer. You move that trailer into a park for $300 a month, and save the other $300 towards a piece of junk land ( Junk Land ). Once on the land, you quickly modernize your off grid ( Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America ) living. Say you spend the extra $100 to commute to your old job. You take the $500 and buy solar panels, water tanks, build an insulated shell around the trailer, etc. Within a year or two, you move from a $600 rent in town to a zero rent in the country. If you have a family, you can do the same, with everyone motivated to hurry up and move out of the trailer. A $1200 a month mortgage is a great burden. So you rent out one of the rooms or the converted garage at $300 a month, cancel the cable and the cell phones. You have an extra $500 a month. In three months you have a used trailer ( plus an extra $3600 if you blew off paying the mortgage, but we’ll just call that moving money ). You start paying on a piece of junk land at $100 a month ( it doesn’t matter if it’s overpriced with financing- you will only hold a note for six months to a year ).

*

Move out to the land. Even if you gave up your old job and took a pay cut of 50%, you still have $600 a month to put towards shelter. Take the $500 a month and the first month build on two additional rooms to the trailer, one for the girls and one for the boys. The parents stay in the trailer. Peace is fragile, but not impossible. Move at the end of winter to avoid cabin fever ( Cabin Fever ). You now have nine months to go before you need a better insulated, bigger shelter. Month two through nine you have four grand to build a cabin. If you do it right, it should be enough. The thing won’t be big, but it will weather well. Adobe, earth bags, a crude straw bale ( Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climates (Real Goods Solar Living Book) ) or a shelter from the book “$50 and up underground home” ( The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book ) should all fall in that budget. A small home is self financed, cheaper to heat, easier to maintain and a sharp stick in the eye of the beast. The wife may or may not like it. The kids, their soft flabby pasty asses conditioned to X-Box and Twinkies will at first hate it but grow to love it as they get outdoors and build forts or torture frogs or go camping in the nearby hills. Month ten through twelve to twenty four you accelerate payments on the land to get it free and clear. Max, two years to freedom.

*

Easy as pie, with minimal discomfort. Rent a year or two, then own. You have seven to eight months to go to the end of next winter, start planning. You may thank me later.
END
The Official Bison Web Site http://www.bisonpress.com/
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Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon links in each article. You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your purchase. Thank you.

guest article

GUEST ARTICLE

Review "Book of Eli"



First, let me say that I enjoyed the movie. If you haven't seen it, you will also enjoy it. Here is my nit picking, survivalist point of view, review of the movie.



According to the movie, an "event" happened thirty years ago. I assume when it occurred civilization got shut down.

The unrealistic parts:

1. There are motorcycles and other vehicles in the movie. After thirty years, I would presume to say that all the stored gasoline has gone bad. If they were making bio-fuel, I need to see some living plants. Everything was brown and dead.

2. There was a town with a population in excess of forty people. There were not tilled fields, no animals, and no water terrain. Where are these people getting their food?

3. The main guy carries what looks like an old army one quart canteen. He has no other containers. He walks everywhere. Never is open water seen (river, stream, lake, not even a puddle). He would have died from dehydration long ago.

4. At the beginning of the movie there is a highway ambush scene. Seven guys and one women are living off of those they bushwhack on a lonely stretch of highway. Maybe...... in the beginning of a collapse, but not thirty years after it happened.

5. Thirty years after a collapse, I would say that any manufactured item (pre or post collapse) would be highly valued and well taken care of. This was not the case when the main character failed to retrieve his two arrows in dead bushwhackers.

Now the realistic, instructive parts:

1. The highway bushwhackers were using a busty, attractive (for TEOTWAWKI) female for bait. Lots of people will fall for this tactic.

2. Factory shampoo was a high value luxury item.

3. Barter system was used.

4. Bushwhacker quote "See that you got a gun. You ain't got any bullets, they never do." Observation: most people will use up ammo fast. Then what?

5. Protagonist quote "What we threw away back then, people kill for today" Observation: Says a lot about our way of living!

That's all, rent the movie. You will like it.

I want to thank Jim for allowing me to post this at his site.

If you like this review, you can find more reviews here:

http://newdawnsurvival.com/blog5

debt death

DEBT DEATH
Attention- guest article tomorrow.
Lulu, the people I use to sell both my e-books and paper books, sent me a deal on the paper version of “life after the collapse”. If you order using the coupon code below you get 15% off the $9.50 price. If you order other peoples books and have a $25 order I think they are having a free summer shipping deal, but I can’t guarantee that. And I’m not sure if you can combine the two deals. I don’t expect many of you to want the paper version since the e-book one is much cheaper. I’m just saying if you’ve had the purchase weighing heavily on your mind, unable to sleep at night, kicking the dog ( Kicking the Dog ) in frustration, this might be the time to order. And, speaking of book orders, last month my books sold twice the average amount. Thanks! Amazon commission is up as well. Sometimes, after all that my minions do, I’m almost ashamed when I call them bitches. Almost.

http://www.lulu.com/product/11179055?cid=071810_en_email_BEACHREAD305

coupon code BEACHREAD305

*

In this mornings paper, a house fire as the SWAT ( S.W.A.T. - The Complete First Season ) team looked on. Later, NPR breathlessly droned on about the same thing. It was so groundbreaking that they repeated themselves an hour later. Some ancient old crone in her eighties and her 45 year old son barricaded themselves in the house located in an upscale neighborhood and when the deputies came to serve an eviction notice, they torched the place. I believe shots were first fired, explaining the SWAT team. Now, at first glance you might think this was a typical “seniors are crapped on and have to eat dog food and deserve more and more money” story to tug on your heart strings. But these morons had a third and forth mortgage on the house along with a lot of other debt. They weren’t poor defenseless homeowners cruelly booted out of their homes. If anything, homeowners can really clean up in the current meltdown. The banks don’t want to take a loan off the books since under fractional currency that would contract their assets ( one dollar on the books can be loaned out for more than that dollar amount, and mortgages are treated as assets as well as liabilities ). You can live rent free a long time until the bank is forced to act ( no guarantee, just the current trend ). Of course, since NPR received the Pulitzer prize ( Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs ) for Most Socialistic, Left Wing, Commie Puppet Ass Whore Reporting in 2009 they had to angle this as the big bad cruel Republicans had ruined the economy, our fearless minority leader was unable to repair the damage, taxes must be raised to 99% and everyone other than white males should be on welfare as was their birthright. Okay, they actually just said that the Recession was Mentally Depressionary. But I know exactly wait they were hinting at.

*

Obviously these people had been gaming the system for years. You don’t take out a third mortgage and how ever many credit card loans without knowing what you were doing. I’m sure the bitch was sucking up Social Security paychecks to finance the whole Ponzi scheme ( Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend ) ( sorry, I’ve sold too many scratch tickets to Seniors, and then watched too many permanently glued to slot machines to believe that they aren’t paid WAY too much in benefits ). These people were Users and Asshats. I could give a crap they shot themselves right before the gasoline soaked rug went up in flames. Good riddance, and I hope Baby Jesus spits in your face. This article isn’t about that, though. More about the soft peddling of debt by the media. I swear, not five minutes after the story was reported, the business news was on and some anal licking banker bitch was using convoluted logic to prove that the current economic climate is the responsibility of consumers being unwilling to go into further debt. The quarter million dollar mortgage and seven year SUV payment isn’t enough, evidently. There must be more, MORE!! I would ask you to repeat after me, debt is bad, debt is a trap, debt only benefits the banks. But you aren’t listening to me because the old lady doesn’t put out if her fat spreading butt isn’t commuting around in upholstered leather seats. Well, she still doesn’t put out ( oh my god! I’m so self conscious about my weight- I simply can’t get naked in front of you! ), but your odds were a lot worse when she was riding around in a twenty year old Honda ( Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars ).

*

I started reading Gods Of Money ( Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century ) last night. Let me be frank with you- my sphincter tightened and my nipples were tingling. Because we are in mixed polite company I will refrain from describing the condition of my testicles. An awesome book on the bankers assent to power ( not just a rehash of The Creature From Jekyll Island [ The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve ]- more geopolitics than pure finance ). It included one of the most comprehensive descriptions on the causes of the Great Depression I’ve ever seen. In short, the cartel backed by the Morgan Group was creating credit to keep loaning money to European governments, which were merely paying back the interest from the old loans. It was a lot more detailed than that of course, but that was the core problem. After the start of the Depression, the Rockefeller ( Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. ) Group took over and from then on mostly made their money on increasing local deficits rather than international. But obviously that wasn’t enough recently as they went global again. And just like eighty years ago, it was a bubble that popped and took the economy down. My point is that the whole rotten scam is ending and you mustn’t listen to family, friends or especially the media. Do not think being in debt will do anything other than get you homeless or in prison very soon. Get out of debt. Normally, I would take my chances with prison taking the law into my own hands before I ever thought about paying a lawyer one red cent, but this might be a perfect time to pay one of the bloodsuckers to advise you about bankruptcy. Paralegals are much cheaper, but in this state at least, they are bared from giving any legal advice.

*

Look at it this way. You both work and pay off debts. One of you is laid off and after two years, cashing in the 401(k) and selling all assets, you still lose the home. Or, you downgrade your wages to qualify for bankruptcy and voluntarily lose the house and live in a trailer ( InStep Quick N EZ Bicycle Trailer (Orange/Gray) ) on junk land. You are never homeless. I’m not even throwing in Oil Down here. Just strictly from an economic collapse viewpoint, you are in for far more bad times. Adjust now, get out of debt. Trust someone who has been through it. Losing your credit rating is far offset by the vast relief of being out of debt, of owing nothing. Of having a safety cushion against the unexpected calamity. Of having flexibility. Or not. Hey, it’s your life. I’m just trying to help a brother out. But you can take this to the bank- I personally guarantee your subscription price back- things will get a lot worse financially.

END
The Official Bison Web Site http://www.bisonpress.com/
*
Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon links in each article. You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your purchase. Thank you.