Month: August 2019

89F and 80%RH. Sunny and hot, who woulda thunk it?

Well, the sleepover went well. Second time here for both girls, so less getting up at night, and not sleeping. Still, it was midnight at least before they slept. So I’m not totally surprised that they let me sleep in. It was a nice change.

Their ‘baking club’ made a bunch of “cake pops” which are little spheres of cake on sticks, and decorated them in various ways yesterday. They were de-li-cious! Baking has so many good learning things in it, measuring, following directions, delayed gratification, working carefully, math, etc. Now it’s not carpentry, or riding minibikes in the woods, but it’s more than 50% of their classmates have done.

And that right there is pretty sad.

n

79F and 90%RH. Another sunny day… and HOT!

I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting today. It’s been great meeting people I would never have met, and it got me into the ham radio lunch group, where I’ve met even more people, including some who are prepping. Get out into meatspace!

Other than adding a couple of cans to the shelves, prepping was pretty slow this week. I did buy a couple of submersible pumps for <$10. I've never really needed pumps, but with all the flooding we get, it seemed prudent to grab them since they were so cheap. Garden continues pretty much unchanged. Still only one orange on the tree. Two tiny apples on one tree, none on the other. Something is eating the leaves from one of the apple trees, so I'll be spraying a broad insecticide later today. I checked, and it's a cuke vine that has survived in the side garden. Not producing cukes yet, but still alive. That beats all the other zukes and cukes. Pepper plants still producing more than I eat, but that's it. I'm looking forward to getting something in the ground for fall. The world around us continues towards war and madness. The Russians seem to be having a bit of trouble, first with their sub, now with a missile... India and Pakistan are back at it. China's still pushing it in the areas it wants to intimidate. Iran is still nuts. Domestically, people are losing their minds. Epstein's web of connections is finally coming to light. HRC has faded from the public consciousness though, which is worrying- I like to SEE the spiders, not have them spinning in the dark. WRT public violence, we're just getting started folks. CW2 seems to be an idea that keeps growing and becoming widespread. Those sorts of ideas have a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy. It doesn't take long for things to change dramatically once that switch flips. I think moving local organized violence up your list of reasons to prep is a smart move at this time. That means stealthing out, getting out of dodge, or increasing defensive measures. Or all of the above. Prices on defensive tools are still reasonable. The panic hasn't started yet. Don't put off any needed purchases too long. Consider armor. I think it will be next on the chopping block. Extremity injuries are much easier to deal with than chest and abdomen, just saying. One of our compatriots is putting his plan into action and moving to reduce his exposure to the primary risk here in the Houston area- hurricanes and flooding. I'm a bit amazed, and definitely supportive. Make a plan, act on it! Stock up, stack it high, and get out into your community. Local local local... nick as always, share what you've gotten done lately

81F and 96%RH this am. This is the time of year we set the thermostat lower than we’d like, and have it colder in the house in the morning. Over the course of the day, the AC can’t quite keep up, even with the cold start, and by late afternoon, it’s a few degrees hotter than we’d like. Oversizing the AC system can help with this, and there are ways to make the oversized system fairly efficient. Additional air sealing and insulation helps too. We haven’t done any of those things. It’s just a short period of time, and the cheapest solution is to do nothing…

@Brad said this yesterday– “After the gun confiscations, it’ll be knives next. Just like the UK …Taking away one of the basic tools of civilization. ” He nailed it. It goes even further though. The process of ‘civilization’ was literally the process of living in cities. It’s the process of developing rule of law, so that people can believe that if someone wrongs them, they don’t have to do something about it themselves, the city/the law/the people who govern will address the issue. Specialization, improvements in agriculture, and other factors contributed, but learning how to live right next to someone from outside your clan was an important step.

And they are taking that away as fast as they can- killing civilization. You don’t even need equality before the law, you just need to know what the law is, and HOW the law will be applied. The stupid bastards are breaking that by making it impossible to know or follow all the laws, and by wildly inconsistent application of the law. They’ve been doing it for decades, but we are now reaping the whirlwind.

n

80F and 80%RH this morning.

You know, getting these posts ready the night before and having them drop automatically is very convenient. Too bad I didn’t do that last night.

Instead I started a book. And a couple of hours later I was still up, which means, 4 hours of sleep until getting up to make the wife breakfast. I’m old enough four hours is woefully inadequate.

So, short shrift today.

n

84F and 85%RH this morning. It got plenty hot yesterday, and we did get a sprinkle of rain, depending on where and when you were in town.

I managed to run some errands yesterday, despite having the kids with me. I’ve got more to do today. 8 days to the start of school for us, and I’ve got mixed feelings. There were things I’d hoped to do with the kids at home this summer, that didn’t get done. But I also don’t seem to get anything done while they’re home. I haven’t yet found the balance I need there.

Wife slept in, so I did too. Time to make the donuts…

n

78F and 93%RH this morning, with the sun poking out.

Didn’t sleep well. Bad dreams continued into this morning, and started me off on the wrong foot.

The news hasn’t made it any better.

3rd world pissants have made and used deadly drone aircraft…

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-05/drone-strike-pro-haftar-forces-public-assembly-kills-over-40-libya and yet no one much seems to be talking about what this means for the world.

The whole world is in turmoil, and things are not going to end well. I know, doom and gloom for at least the last several years… but look at the changes in those last years.

The geo-political landscape really is changing. The world is rearranging itself and we are caught up in it.

Like the list of crime in my previous post, start listing the big changes in the last two years, and it gets surprising quickly how big and how fundamental some of those changes were.

Stay frosty my friends.

n

Another beautiful day yesterday. Another pocket of sunshine forecast for this area today too. Good weather for flying is all I’m looking for…

Afternoon flight, getting home in the evening, with the morning spent on re-packing to accommodate the Cape Cod fudge and saltwater taffy we’re bringing home.

As soon as I get a chance I’ll do a post on active shooter response, informed by the two classes I’ve had on the subject, and the several other times it’s come up in other classes. I will include links and possibly some of the medical response too. It’s hard to do while on the road with slow internet, tiny screens, and other demands on my time.

Violence against innocents is going to increase. No matter your personal internal narrative for the future, violence will increase. Increased gang activity. Racial unrest. Immigrant wars. .gov crackdowns. civil war 2. whatever the cause, it’s not going to decrease for a while. Time to get tooled up physically and mentally. Harden your home. Harden your workplace. Wargame the scenarios. Start working on getting your family onboard or at least get them AWARE of your actions. If you don’t carry why not? If you don’t take an occasional class, why not? If you haven’t been to the range or shot your carry weapon recently, why not?

Do you understand the legalities of use of force? Do you understand the legalities of carrying, storing, transporting, and owning your weapons? Do you know what to do in case of traumatic injury, and do you have any tools available to you when you might need them? Have you had any medical training recently? Why not?

Have you got any idea about the things that make you a target? Many of us here like to think of ourselves as the last acceptable target for hatred and demonization. Think that’s gonna get any better anytime soon?

There are good training resources available online and in your communities. Our HPD and Constables Office both provide free training and awareness for businesses and groups in active shooter response. Yours may too. Stopthebleed.org offers training in treating traumatic injury free of charge. My TXLawSheild insurance offers low cost medical training, and sponsors range days. Several of our local ranges offer safety classes for kids, concealed handgun classes, and new and advanced shooter classes. There are probably shooting competitions in your area too.

Things are getting demonstratively worse, and we all need to make some adjustments to acknowledge that reality.

n

No rain yesterday, and a nice cool breeze during the sunny and warm day. Really nice day spent at the beach with family and kids. FEMA national forecast has us in a clear pocket for the next two days. Maybe some weather in TX when we get back that will make the final approach interesting…

We’ll leave the Cape today, but have to overnight south of Boston. United cancelled our original flight, and the only options to replace it were bad, so we delayed a day to get back on our original nonstop, just a day later.

I realized today why my otherwise smart and fairly together FIL is so messed up politically- he watches CNN non-stop and listens in the car. He thinks they’re objective news. Really. I pointed out that I watch a guy on youtube fix shoes that has more subs than CNN’s average audience. I don’t think he believed me. Since CNN and their pundits are sure that Trump will lose, I’m gonna call it for Trump. They’ve been wrong about every thing else, why would they get that right? He also reads every tell all book about government that the left puts out and believes every word, while confident that he doesn’t need to read any of the right tell alls, because they won’t be anything but lies and spin. His mind’s made up and he gets confirmation in every broadcast. I wonder if there are enough of him out there to make a difference?

I’ve managed to talk to a couple family members and some strangers, all seem pretty sure something bad is coming- minimum of financial badness, maximum of SHTF. Anecdote not data, but…

I’m ready to be back home getting ready for whatever comes. I’ve let too much slip this year.

Keep stacking, and let me know what you got done this week.

n

Our last full day on the Cape, and forecast calls for rain. Beautiful yesterday, with much cooler temps and almost chilly night. Kids want another beach day, so I’m hoping the FEMA forecast is accurate, as it has us in a little pocket of clear.

Anyone with an interest in EMS response to a Mass Casualty Incident or a Mass Shooting should read this report. It seems that recent events have finally driven home that Mass Violence is a different beast than the traditional Mass Casualty that they’ve been half heartedly training for. I’ve linked some other After Action Reports previously, particularly regarding the murders in Vegas, and the terror murders at the Pulse nightclub. This document synthesizes some of the home truths that came out of reviews of those events and offers recommendations to the EMS field. It’s also very revealing about the inadequate current state of preparedness at our hospitals and pre-hospital response. TL:DR current poorly tested MCI planning is ok for events where the victims will wait for EMS response but wholly INadequate for a violent mass casualty where people are going to flee and self transport.

https://files.asprtracie.hhs.gov/documents/aspr-tracie-mass-casualty-triage-final-508.pdf

Some other topics (wildfires and impacts of a ban on 5G tech provided by foreign and hostile goverments) might be of interest here–

https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFACIR/2019/08/01/file_attachments/1258899/The%20InfoGram%20-%20August%201,%202019.pdf

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MIL heard about the additional tariffs the Orangeman imposed on china and scoffed, “Great, now our stuff is going to be even more expensive.” I replied that now maybe more of those jobs shipped overseas would return and more of our citizens would be able to feed their families instead of going on the dole. She didn’t think much of that idea. I don’t actually think much will “come back” but better not to enrich our traditional enemy while destroying our own industrial base. Buying chinese if you have a choice supports slavery and a host of other ills. Selling out the middle class for cheaper fidget spinners is criminal. IMAO anyway.

In any case, big changes in the world, and the mice get squashed when the elephants dance, so stack it high people. They do not have your best interests in mind.

n