09:50 – It was 2.7F (-16.3C) when I let Colin out this morning. He ran out, peed on the bird feeder pole and well casing, and ran back in. I’m not sure what the new-fangled, politically-correct official wind chill is out there, but I’d estimate the actual wind chill at around -40F (-40C).
Ordinarily, I take Colin out for his morning constitutional, but yesterday and today Barbara did that. With as much snow and ice as we have on the ground and my balance issues, even if I took Colin off-leash, it’s very likely I’d fall.
Actually, it turns out that falling is an issue for Colin. When Barbara took him out, he plopped down on the snow. At first, we both thought he was telling her he wanted to play, but it soon became obvious that he had actually fallen and was having trouble getting up or standing. She lifted him by his tail, which we’ve done with all our dogs as they’ve gotten older. Colin turns six years old in about a month, and it seems that he’s developing a minor problem with his hips. So we’ll be very careful with him, particularly when there’s snow or ice on the ground.
I’d forgotten to mention that I’d gotten email from Jen about the ten-day readiness exercise they ran from before Christmas to New Year’s Day. She didn’t have much to report, because everything went pretty much without a hitch. Although this was their longest exercise to date, it’s the fourth or fifth one they’ve run and, as Jen says, they’ve pretty much got all the kinks worked out by now. They heated with wood, pumped well water with solar power, and cooked and baked LTS food and heated water with propane. As Jen said, although they had only a few snow flurries, it was pretty much like a snowed-in weekend with the family all present.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the other day Barbara’s comments about grocery shopping. Ordinarily, she makes a weekly supermarket run on Fridays on her way home from the gym. Because of the winter storm forecast, she decided to head to Lowe’s on Thursday to do her weekly grocery shopping. In Winston, it would have been a madhouse, crammed with people stocking up for the emergency, and the shelves empty of bread, milk, and eggs. Here in Sparta, it was just like an ordinary supermarket trip. No more shoppers than usual, and the shelves fully stocked. For people who live up in the mountains, a winter storm warning is just normal for this time of year. People don’t need to rush out and stock up because they’re already stocked up.
” People don’t need to rush out and stock up because they’re already stocked up.”
And there it is.
The cities are gonna be hurting real bad in a genuine SHTF scenario. The shelves will be empty in two or three days and then what?
5 degrees here, warming right up; wind chills a little below zero today and tomorrow and then Tuesday it’ll rocket into the 30s and stay there for a few days, with snow and rain showers possible. Or so the weather liars say.
Gotta take Mrs. OFD to the airport in a couple of hours for her flight to Memphis, assuming it’s still on. She’s still got a nasty head-chest cold and cough, though. Caught it from great-grandmother and also possibly from a couple of people hacking and coughing on her flight back from Kalifornia over a week ago.
I’m taking my usual precautions not to get it, by washing my hands frequently and loading up on Vitamin C.
RIP Nat Hentoff:
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/nyregion/nat-hentoff-dead.html
91, not bad. He pissed off all the right people.
I don’t buy into the shelves emptying in two to three days meme. Yes, inventories are sufficient for two or three days at normal run rates. but in an emergency all bets are off because everyone heads to the store and buys a lot more stuff than normal. Store inventories likely wouldn’t last a day, and would probably be severely depleted within a couple of hours of the first news of a severe emergency.
As a matter of fact, heading to the store upon news of an emergency is on my list of things NOT to do, partly because I don’t want to buy essential items that others need a lot more than we do, but mostly because things get crazy fast. When the first Colonial Pipeline break occurred last autumn, there was actually a fist fight at a local gas station here in little Sparta, NC. If things are seriously bad, somone’s going to start shooting sooner rather than later, and the last thing I want is to be anywhere near that.
Okay, I might take our vehicles down the gas station 100 yards from us and fill them up, but only if looked safe to do so.
You’re probably right about there not being even two or three days staying on the store shelves; the MSM whips people up into panic mode anytime there’s a little snow storm coming and they rush out like lemmings. Absolutely the places to stay away from, far away from, in a SHTF situation. And at that point, yes, there will be gunfire all over the place.
“Okay, I might take our vehicles down the gas station 100 yards from us and fill them up, but only if looked safe to do so.”
Ditto. And about the same 100 yards, too; a Shell franchise, with about half of the store devoted to marine and fishing gear. I need to take a closer look at that stuff next time I’m in there.
We’d also have a ringside seat for whatever the town officials are doing, as that building is even closer than the gas station. And the sheriff’s department is about a mile up the road.
Two or three days! I would place bets on two or three hours. I know here in the land of OS just the mention of snow will empty the shelves of all the bread and the only milk that is left is soy milk. I actually think the stores do some of the forecasting to deplete old stock from the shelves. If you don’t have enough to last 30 hours, about the life of an average storm in OS, then you have got real problems.
Oh, and the other items that go fast are beer and cigarettes. You know, the life essential stuff for a redneck hillbilly.
” Store inventories likely wouldn’t last a day, and would probably be severely depleted within a couple of hours of the first news of a severe emergency.”
We see this repeatedly. Even with additional shipments, whenever there is a hurricane headed our way, the shelves empty. They can’t restock it fast enough even if the truck is sitting in the dock. In 2-3 days, there won’t be any IN THE SYSTEM. They’ll have restocked as fast as possible, and burned thru anything accessible.
I’ve written about our personal experience with Ike before. My wife made the “last run” while I got the window covers from storage. She called, not panicked, but upset that the stores were empty of canned goods. I told here to buy all the fresh she wanted because we had the fridges, freezer, and gennie with plenty of gas. this was when people were fighting over bottled water, WHILE IT WAS STILL COMING OUT OF THE TAPS.
n
When the SHTF, I’m hitting every ciggie machine I can find. Ciggies will be valuable and I should be able to get all the hookers and blow I want.
Prep non-fail, I guess:
Vehicle problem has me “stranded” or at least not wanting to risk driving it.
Should be able to fix it when temperatures become tolerable.
Uh… I am craving eggs a little, but I’ll just eat oatmeal or something.
Don’t have any bread, as such, but I can manage with other appropriate items.
Don’t drink milk anyway, but I did make some hot chocolate with soymilk.
I haven’t been to a store for a week, and everything is just fine.
That’s why city folk hate country folk, you know. It’s because country folk are hoarders, selfishly keeping all the food and things need by the people in cities — you know, the educated, worthwhile people. That’s why, come the revolution, all the country folk will be massacred or put into the labor and reeducation camps.
“… people were fighting over bottled water…”
Peeps go absolutely bonkers when they panic, as in that sort of thing, which is just half a step away from becoming an out-of-control mob.
“Ciggies will be valuable and I should be able to get all the hookers and blow I want.”
Outstanding! Don’t forget booze; stock up on hard likker. But you’re right; peeps will kill for ciggies. Just like any other dope addiction.
“… I am craving eggs a little, but I’ll just eat oatmeal or something.”
Maybe start keeping chickens? There may come a day when we’ll do it here.
“…all the country folk will be massacred or put into the labor and reeducation camps.”
Which is what happened in Russia during the “Great War,” between the world wars, and then again during the Good War. They started by having bureaucrats and clerks come out to the farming villages and really rural countryside and tote up what everybody had, in terms of crops, livestock, actual harvcsts, tools, weapons, etc., and then later the commissars arrived with troops in force and took every last fucking straw.
But if they try that here, they’ll probably run into some difficulties.
“With as much snow and ice as we have on the ground and my balance issues, even if I took Colin off-leash, it’s very likely I’d fall.”
Get a sleigh with Colin to pull it and you driving. He gets his exercise and you get places in safety…
California once again leads the way
http://lawnewz.com/uncategorized/convicted-killer-gets-state-funded-sex-reassignment-surgery/
as if that’s the only cure.
Full text ”
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.[2]
”
Not seeing it. In fact, the nazis did just that AS TORTURE didn’t they?
n
WRT grocery store supplies:
I haven’t worked in the grocery industry since the late 60s, started as a “bag boy” (courtesy clerk) with Jewel Companies and ended up as a manager for Super-Valu. Back then we did actual shelf and backroom checks to determine what to order. We got trucks every day. Ordering was an art and we tried to maintain at least a 7-day supply. During the height of winter we would try for 2-weeks of non-perishables.
Even though I have not worked in the grocery industry for many years now I have kept up by making friends with the managers at the grocery stores I patronize. The human element is almost completely removed.
Today it is “just in time” delivery. There is very little human input, it is predominately done by what has been rung through the registers and only when a full case or more of a product has been sold is it reordered. The store has virtually no ability to order more stock than the computer says they will sell in a couple of days (they can order it but the computer will not deliver it). There is no allowance for any extenuating circumstances (seasonal and weather driven). There is also no allowance for “shrinkage” (theft).
Some items are not even controlled by the store, particularly bread (bakery products) and milk (dairy products). The vendor fills the shelves with whatever they want to unload and hand the store manager a bill (a lot of opportunity for bill padding).
liquor and wine work the same way, at least in states where they can be sold in grocery stores…
n
The People’s Revolutionary Army of California is on the job!
As if that’s a weird group. It might surprise me if I hadn’t seen it for real so many times. Even here in Backwardsfield.
[snip] and hand the store manager a bill (a lot of opportunity for bill padding). [snip]
One of the store manager’s jobs (and I did it when helping run my sister’s restaurant) is to actually count what the vendors bring in and make sure it jibes with the invoice. I know for sure that one of the two large Florida based grocery chains does give their managers some leeway as to ordering. Maybe it’s because we’re a tourist town, and the numbers are so skewed in the summer, especially around holidays. However, if the store orders say 10 extra cases of Oreos, the registers darned sure better acknowledge selling them ASAP.
Don’t get me wrong. I firmly believe people can act speak and dress how they like.
The convict pisses me off because I’m a taxpayer.
Those other little snowflakes can do as they want. I’ll even defend that right but I’m not going to compliment them.
This expectation that the rest of the world conform to a peculiar worldview reveals a profound and off-putting arrogance. Why does everyone else have to change?
https://pjmedia.com/parenting/2017/01/05/dont-blame-my-kid-for-thinking-your-cross-dressing-child-is-weird/
“Not seeing it. In fact, the nazis did just that AS TORTURE didn’t they?”
Genital mutilation often used as torture by not just the Nazis. I expect that the taxpayers will be on the hook also if and when these freaks decide to change back to what they were. What a racket.
“There is very little human input…”
The Russians had plenty of human input in their food distribution from 1915 through the 1940s but with that same result; ironclad clerical inventories regardless of weather, consumption levels, transportation issues, etc., etc. and ended up with multiple series of widespread famines. With the city-versus-country thing going on throughout. By the time Koba the Dread took over, famine was used as a weapon against their own people.
“As if that’s a weird group.”
We see that occasionally down in Burlap, the big college town 30 miles to our south, pop. 50k. I dig the plaid, though.
“Why does everyone else have to change?”
Exactly. Fuck that. That’s what pisses me off and has pissed me off now for decades. We’re supposed to fall down and worship and adore them for their weirdness and eccentricity and utterly grok how oppressed they are in this country.
Whereas, in some of the countries and among peoples they profess to admire, they would be tossed in the hoosegow or have brick walls tumbled over them or thrown from the roofs of tall buildings.
So there’s snowflakes at one level, and we hope this is just a generational fad that will go away real soon; and then there’s the professional grievance whores and pimps who expect us to hand over our tax dollars ad infinitum upon demand.
“… You know, the life essential stuff for a redneck hillbilly.”
Who, me?
http://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2016/11/19/saturday-19-november-2016/
Note: My facial coloration has not been Photoshopped.
But if they try that here, they’ll probably run into some difficulties.
I think it would depend on the part of the country. I’ve written here before that I believe WA and OR west of the Cascades along with the Columbia Gorge below The Dalles would fall in line pretty quickly thanks to excellent transportation infrastructure and a population mostly dependent on government, directly or indirectly.
Really, though, all the Commissars need to do is cut the cable TV and WiFi except for inside the perimeter of the reeducation camps. 95%+ of the population would willingly report to the gates for reeducation.
I know for sure that one of the two large Florida based grocery chains does give their managers some leeway as to ordering. Maybe it’s because we’re a tourist town, and the numbers are so skewed in the summer, especially around holidays. However, if the store orders say 10 extra cases of Oreos, the registers darned sure better acknowledge selling them ASAP.
If you’re referring to Publix, the chain is 100% employee-owned, and store managers have a lot more say than they would at a Safeway or Kroger.
I came across the DNC Hacking pic. Quite the laugh!
The hag coughed and hacked her way through the whole campaign, when she wasn’t tripping, stumbling, falling down or being helped by guys up and down stairs. A 5’4″ blivet with scrambled rat shit for brains.
Now there’s rumors she wants to be mayor of Babylon-on-the-Hudson, as soon as the current communist piece of shit finally leaves. New Yorkers down there get what they deserve–good and hard, after voting for these assholes over and over again, just like Maffachufetts.
Just watched the Packers slaughter the NY Giants and Eli Manning. Next up for Aaron Rogers & Co. are the Cowboys. But right now the NE Patriots have the best record in the NFL. Again.
Wife’s flight was canceled this afternoon and she called me minutes after I got home from driving her to the airport. So I had to turn around and drive back down the 30 miles and get her again. No flights out in her direction until Tuesday from there, so she found one in Moh-ree-all and will drive up there tomorrow and leave the Matrix at the airport for the three days she’ll be gone. She’ll also miss the first day of teaching the class but will get paid for it anyway and that only halfway makes up for the two days that were cut from this week’s training in Memphis. So essentially she and her colleague (this week it’s a 40-something precious snowflake who is all about herself all the time) have to cram 40 hours into 24 hours. Yet another organization that is making its best people work harder for longer in a paradoxically shorter time for the same or lesser pay while the top beotches rake it in by the truckload.
I’ve heard nothing from the contractors about my Fed sub-sub-contractor drone job and figure I won’t now, so back to the drawing board. No doubt some niggling little tax thing from thirty years ago has sunk me, so I can’t be trusted to hook up network routers and switches and play in their Winblows infrastructure.
8 degrees currently and wind chill “values” will be well below zero here until Wednesday. Wood stoves are in operation in the house and the studio. Speaking of which…
…some little miscreant piece of shit stole wife’s radio from the studio sometime between late last night and this afternoon when she found it missing. Not that valuable but it pisses us off that somebody took the time and effort to trespass here and grab something. I am going to escalate the security stuff here accordingly.
That sucks. It’s the knowledge that someone was there and you didn’t KNOW that is the most disturbing.
You need some cams, some door chimes, or even a cow bell on each door.
n
Did you have a motion solar light on the studio? That would probably scare them off.
I have the solar motion detector lights on the side of the house and three of them on her studio; this was zero deterrent, evidently. Next is Mr. Nick’s suggestion on the noisemakers and I’m installing a new deadbolt on her studio door. Will also alert the neighbors and see if any other shit is going on here. She doesn’t have anything of value out there and they just did a quick grab of the radio, which she normally even brings in at night and just forgot last night.
But like Mr. Nick says, and I said, it’s knowing that fuckheads, probably neighborhood dirtbag kids, were even on our fucking property, probably at night. Dog is out cold and didn’t alert and at night probably only would if someone was making enough noise out there or actually trying to get in the house, which would be a bad mistake on someone’s part.
Both wife and I are pissed off, and this is more fodder for my security upgrades here now that she sees we’re getting attention we don’t want.
Added: it was freaking cold overnight here so they were out in that and up to no good during the wee hours, most likely, as that was when they were out during the summer and banging on doors up and down the street and breaking into cars. Had to be a chill factor last night way below zero like it is and will be tonight.
“”Added: it was freaking cold overnight here so they were out in that and up to no good during the wee hours, most likely, as that was when they were out during the summer and banging on doors up and down the street and breaking into cars. Had to be a chill factor last night way below zero like it is and will be tonight.””
This is particularly disturbing. I have always assumed that any sort of unpleasant weather is a good burglar deterrent.
“This is particularly disturbing. I have always assumed that any sort of unpleasant weather is a good burglar deterrent.”
Depends on the crime. No one likes to get wet, so if the crime involves skulking around outdoors, rain will keep it down. Snow that would leave tracks will put off some, as will slippery roads.
Remember though, for a good portion of these guys it’s a job. It’s what they do, and they got bills to pay. For the casual thief, or crimes of opportunity, anything that reduces their access (like being out in bad weather) decreases crime.
Lights aren’t the deterrent that people think. When my wife’s car got burgled in the driveway, the motion light just helped the guy see what he was taking. They are fast, and in the shadows are actually harder to see if there is a bright light nearby. The lights are for YOU so you can see if you hear a noise or so the cameras can see.
nick
ADDED unexpected things work to throw them off. A beep or tone when they come up the driveway, a chime on a door, maybe strobe light, like a photo flash- if they can’t identify what’s going on, they’ll move along.
“”Lights aren’t the deterrent that people think. “”
Insert ethnic slur about who be afraid o’ de dark!
I had a driveway alert that was helpful, but I can’t seem to waterproof the cheap ones well enough for them to last. Would be good on a porch or in an outbuilding..
Added: That’s the Harbor Freight driveway alert. Pretty good except for weather resistance, and cheap.
And: Even bad motion detector sensor pods might be a deterrent; bogie don’t know it don’t work.
” I have always assumed that any sort of unpleasant weather is a good burglar deterrent.”
It was that way when I was a copper thirty-plus years ago; we would rejoice at crappy weather, with rain, sleet, snow, whatever; kept the muffs indoors. And in the summers they’d all be out like bugs from the woodwork, all night long, too.
Mr. Nick has more up-to-date ideas about it, I see; I’ve been outta that game for so long now. Good tips for what I can do next for security upgrades here. I’m also thinking of wires stretched between trees and between the house and trees or shrubs, with cans of marbles attached. Trouble is, we get rabbits and visiting cats, too. Something at waist height, maybe; hey, I’m open to any ideas.
Motion-detector strobes would be cool; any loud noisemaker thing, also. Webcams that have pics we could hand over to the cops; I guess game cams would serve that purpose.
We mainly don’t want these creeps to get the idea that it’s open season on our shit here, whether inside or out.
Probably the same set o’ punks repeating.
That’s pretty much what we figure; a single-mom harridan a couple of streets over from us with at least two or three teen boyz who seem to be out and about all hours of the night regardless of skool, I guess, during the skool year, and summers out all the time. We don’t know them to look at them but I’ll be conducting some investigation of my own with neighbors here.
We had someone try to break into the mower shed. Door has a combination lock and screws are behind the hasp so really not reachable. Door hinges also have concealed hinge screws. You can see where they tried to pry the hasp. The shed has two 14×14 in windows, one on either side of the door. They busted one of the windows and damaged the frame.
I don’t know what they though they could get through the window as the mower certainly would not fit nor would the gas cans. Might have gotten the weedeater if they were lucky. Anything they could have gotten would have required crawling through the window which is about 5 feet off the ground.
The shed has security lights, motion activated, which did not seem to help. For all I know they could have attempted during the day. The sides of the shed are cement board which is difficult to cut. Did find one small hole where they apparently attempted to cut through. Would not help much as the studs are on 16in centers and you still could not get much out of the shed.
Really damned annoying.
Also had the lock punched out on the truck while in San Antonio. Cretins rummaged through the truck and just stole the GPS. Pulled the power cable apart at the connection where it goes into the GPS. Don’t know why as it simply unplugs. Thus they destroyed the power cable. They just left the cable in the truck which also unplugs from the power outlet. They got a 5 year old GPS with no power cable basically making it worthless. Meanwhile I am out about $1,000 to replace the lock cylinder and handle assembly. Damn mexican cretin. I would shove a firecracker in his dick and light it if I ever caught him.
Way back in the early 90’s my grandfather’s shed was being regularly entered by someone. He had a video camera (back then they were about the size of carry-on luggage) and set it up on a tripod looking out the basement window at the shed to catch the culprit. He also put a sign on the door of the shed that said “Look Left”. Sure enough when the thief returned the next day he read the sign, looked left and gave the camera a full face on view.
As expected it was the local teen troublemaker. The police and his parents took care of things when he was absolutely identified. That was in the days when parents still punished their kids for being caught doing bad things rather than make excuses.
Nitwits like that cause so much damage and irritation, and what do they gain from it?
Once, when I was moving from Boston back to Texas, I put a few last boxes in my car. It was parked in a nice neighborhood (I spent the last night at my boss’s house). Next morning, someone had smashed a window, ripped open a couple of boxes, and stolen another one. The box they stole was full of my students’ homework and exams – of no value to them, but potentially a lot of hassle for lots of other people.
It’s a shame boobytraps are illegal: if the idiots keep coming back to the same place, it would be nice to wire the lock to the electrical system, or somesuch.
Realistically, I think the best solution is a webcam. Get some nice, clear pics to hand over to the police. If they’re local perps, hand over their address with the pics.
Yup, first order of biz is to install the new deadbolt lock and strike plate on her studio door; plus more solar-powered motion-detector floods and at least two webcams back in that area of the yard. 15 degrees, w/wind gusts of 30 MPH+ today so too cold for me to screw around with any of that. It’s gonna warm up the rest of this week into the 30s and I hope to get on it then, with Thursday gonna be devoured by locusts, due to the two hours down and back from a one-hour VA appointment on my disability filing.
Speaking of webcams, does anybody know if there is such a thing as a bluetooth webcam that works. Would need to have night capability and preferably with IR cut filter. Weatherproof a plus
A second choice would be a wireless camera that doesn’t require a proprietary app or purchasing cloud service. Again night vision and IR cut filter.
I have been browsing Amazon and my head is swimming.
As a quickie, I’m using some Arlo by Netgear. Wifi, use 4 x CR123. The convenience is sticking them anywhere your WiFi reaches. They can also be easily stolen. You have to use their app, but get limited cloud storage you can download. They have IR.
I’ve never had a BT camera.
Thanks @MrAtoz, the Arlo is in the running, a big plus is Costco has them so easy to return (however, Costco usually does their research and does not carry bad products, they don’t want too many returns 😉 ).
The Arlo’s get some nasty reviews on that Amazon page; mostly because they were refurb units, so I guess, don’t buy them.
Otherwise they sound good; outdoor use, night vision, motion detecting. I’d like to try two or three and then maybe expand the coverage here.
But my first priority is the door to the studio and the new lock set. And I’m not kidding anymore about tripwires.
Not very good night vision.
No. I’d like it to be decent enough to positively ID perps in hours of darkness. I’ll keep looking.
Weather and temps allowing, I’ll try to cram in as much outside chit as I can this week; takes me three times longer than some dam kid, thanks to age, infirmity, senility, and advanced decrepitude. Did I mention insanity?
ID of perps might do some good, or it might either not do any good (for all the usual wrong reasons) and it might provoke revenge attacks…
I’m just saying that it would be nice to work up a fortress that can’t be touched, I guess, like that’s remotely possible.
I’m not able to suggest anything useful here. Guess I’m just complaining about reality.
After a variety of consumer IP cams, I can say NV is really for indoor, up close, if you want to ID someone.
Maybe Mr. Nick can reco something from his array of commercial cams.
Like I’ve said before here; I’m way outta touch, having left LE over 30 years ago and back then and in the military all we had were those stupid “starlight” scopes, where what you see is mostly green shadows, better than nothing but not that much better.
Any fortress can be breached, given enough effort and ingenuity and blood. I just want this one to be reasonably protected, for now, from idiot local muffs breaking into stuff and stealing our mundane properties. I don’t wanna injure or kill anyone but I do want to make it damned inconvenient and a little painful.
For now a solid door lock, more lights, and tripwire noisemakers. I’ll keep looking into webcams per the following criteria:
1.) Mostly outdoor use and reliability accordingly
2.) Legible? nighttime imaging
3.) Motion detecting and solar and/or battery powered
4.) Not fussy about storage; local hard drives, SD cards, my own private cloud…
I recommend Speco cams and dvrs. They are a good balance between price and quality. They are mostly a “pro-sumer” brand, and B&H Photo is a low price authorized dealer.
They’ve got a full range of cams from cheap and nasty to high end.
Their tech support has been very good, and warranty when needed was painless.
That said, you have to read their specs carefully to get the features you want. They have pure IP cams, that conform to industry open protocols, and you can see the cams directly from third party apps or their own app. They have software dvr available too.
specotech.com
I’ve been pretty happy with how easy they’ve been to install and use.
nick
Thanks again, Mr. Nick. I will continue to research that stuff accordingly. For electronic gizmos nowadays I read the specs very carefully indeed.
Pax vobiscum, fratres.