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Month: November 2020

Fri. Nov. 20, 2020 – or 11202020 – or TGIF

Another great fall day, I hope.  We are supposed to get rain, but only in a little ring around Houston, for the next couple of days.  Any change in weather patterns and that little spot will miss us.  I hope anyway.

It got up to 81F yesterday, but was back to 68F at night.  Other than being a bit too humid, basically great weather.  Clear sky, light breeze, warm sun.

Being that I didn’t feel fantastic, I was moving a bit slowly yesterday.  I did manage to get a few things done, and I did get a wuflu test.  Talked to my mom in Florida and she sound ok with us missing Thanksgiving with her.  Even thinking about the trip seems nuts to me, but I’m not always driving the bus.

The election stuff continues to evolve.  We’re learning some stuff about the process and the machines and the companies involved that is frankly incredible.  Lou Dobbs says we don’t even know the true ownership of the companies doing the counting…  FFS, I thought it was bad in the old days when one company provided the de facto results based on exit polls and really, whatever they wanted to say… and the count was kind of an afterthought.  No matter what comes out of this, it’s not going to be good.  Even if it’s all laid out and irrefutable, the damage done will be massive.  A total reset of voting processes will be needed to restore public confidence.  The chances of either of those things being true seem to be slim at this point.  We are truly at a crossroad.

I’ve said for some time that I think we are in one of those periods where everything changes, the shape of the whole world gets rearranged.   Last time we benefited enormously.  Who will benefit this time, as it seems unlikely to be us?

Periods of rapid change and realignment are rarely much fun for the ordinary people living through them.  Oh some people will rise like the robber barons, but most of us will be lucky to keep what we have-think europeans after WWII for example.  I don’t think I want to live as a DP wandering around Eastern Europe.

I want to live comfortably in the country I grew up in.  I’m gonna do what I can to make that happen.  And I’m going to keep stacking so I have some resources available.  Cuz seriously, what do YOU think will happen when Trump’s team lays out the evidence for the steal, but loses anyway?  Or if he somehow pulls it off, what do you think the radical left will do when his “coup” is successful?

Keep stacking.

nick

 

added- I scanned through 11 pages of those results and found only a couple that predated the election, and those were from unabashed socialist sources.

Preparations to respond are already under way. A manual titled Hold the Line lays out how to form local “election protection” committees and start organizing for coup resistance.[6] Numerous organizations and coalitions are actively preparing for responding if Trump and his supporters disrupt the election and attempt to nullify its results. They include Choose Democracy,  National Council On Election Integrity, Keep Our Republic , Stand Up America , and People’s Strike!. Others are keeping a low public profile unless and until open resistance is necessary. Protect the Results, a joint project of Indivisible and Stand Up America, has already organized actions in 233 locations for 5:00 p.m. local time on November 4.

 

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Thur. Nov. 19, 2020 – sick or not, I still feel like cr@p most of the day

Cool.  Sunny.  Humid.  Breezy.  Eventually.

Did some stuff yesterday.  Some of it even advanced my plans. Wrote this post then went to bed early.

Much of the time I feel pretty OK, then I’ll stumble for no reason, or feel nauseous for a few seconds.    The sharpness in my upper lung is better, and I’m coughing less, but I’m not skipping my test appointment.   I’ve got something, maybe not wuflu, but in a normal world, I feel like I’m about two days from crawling into bed for a week.

So I’m crawling into bed early…

Keep stacking.   All that stuff ain’t gonna stack itself….

 

n

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Wed. Nov. 18, 2020 – my how time flies

Cooler.  Still damp.  Still sunny.    44F and 99%RH at 6am.

It was a very pleasant day yesterday, with some light wind, and not a drop of rain.  Humid, yes.  But with the help of the industrial floor dryer, I got the pool liner dried out and rolled up.

Did some minimal leaf blowing and raking then realized I’d have all day at home today to do that.  So I stopped.  Did an auction pickup.  Dropped off a few smalls for my other local auction.

Ate my orange from my very own tree for breakfast.  It was good.  Not as sweet yet as store bought, but still good. Did I already mention that?  Can’t remember.

Not feeling particularly well.  Coughing, stuffed up head, sore eyes, mild headache coming and going.  Feeling ‘half a bubble off’ all day.  Bumping into  things with my legs, stumbling.   Bit of sharpness in my upper lungs.  Sore throat.  No fever and I can still smell and taste.   So I tried to find a quick test place yesterday.  There used to be at least three in the area I was in.   Not any more.  Big upswing in cases, EVERYONE saying “get tested” and at least 3 local test sites are shut down.  Bugger me.  I need a rapid result too, because I’m supposed to leave for Florida on Friday.  And that’s a whole ‘nuther ball o wax…

I’ll try again today.   I might have to try researching first.

I’m definitely trying the “more sleep” approach, if even for just an extra hour.  So I’m going to hit “save” on this post and hit the hay.

The ‘prudent’ buying is sweeping the nation again.  Maybe ‘prudent’ isn’t quite right,  ‘understandable’ or ‘sensible’ might be better.  In any case, if you are going into a lock down of unknown length it makes perfect sense to buy a bit more than you normally do, when you can pop down to the store at any time.  Doesn’t take too many ‘bit more’ s to strip the shelves.  It’s not like they stack the stuff to the ceilings, and it’s still delivered ‘just in time’.  Or more likely, ‘too little too late’.

Which is why we prep -so we don’t have to worry about wiping our nethers with the cleaning paper of choice, or with some pages from Green Eggs and Ham…

TP isn’t the only thing that will be in short supply soon.  Stack it high.

 

nick

 

 

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Tues. Nov. 17, 2020 – the wheel turns…

Cool, damp, but sunny and clear.  I hope.

Stayed cool and clear all day yesterday. It was 45F at midnight but 70s and maybe into the low 80s at some point during the day.  Cool in the shade though.

I got stuff done around the house.  Moved the rest of the insulation into the attic.  Broke down a whole bunch of scrap.  Messed with the pool liner so it will hopefully finally dry out.  Poked at a couple of other things.

It doesn’t sound like much but it was forward progress.

On the other hand, my cough and sore throat don’t seem to be getting better.  I’m going to try to get a test today or tomorrow.  I don’t have a fever, or any of the other serious and definitive symptoms, but I’m supposed to be driving to Florida to spend a week with my mom at the end of the week…  I’m still not comfortable with that, and especially so if I’m not feeling well.  Maybe I’ll try a rapid test this time, and pay for it.

I’ve been feeling tired and run down, but then I’m not sleeping enough either.  Being tired is a natural consequence of not sleeping.  Anyway.   Better to test if I can.  And if I can trust the results.  And if I can actually get a test.   To be honest, I stopped paying attention, and the pictures out of El Paso shocked me.  Daily Mail had this to say,

– it has become a particularly heavy burden upon rural America.

Counties with fewer than 10,000 residents now have the highest rate of new daily coronavirus infections per capita of any size county, according to an Axios analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

These rural counties – referred to as ‘non-core’ by the National Center for Health Statistics and US Census Bureau are suffering an average of 60.4 new cases per every 100,000 people, whereas 35.4 out of every 100,000 people living in large central metro areas are being diagnosed a day.

As a result, the national rate of infections seemed to be climbing more slowly, but hospital systems are more likely to be imperiled now than they were during the first spring peak of the pandemic in the U.S.

Rural areas have fewer beds to begin with, meaning that they can quickly become overwhelmed, as El Paso, Texas, has. That means that even if the absolute numbers of new cases and hospitalizations remain low, facilities may run out of space and personnel to treat patients, and people may die faster than space an be made in small local morgues.

Aesop and others had mentioned this very scenario way back in the early days…  Other than total deaths, most of what was outlined before this became political has remained on target.  Waves.  Of decreasing size.   For years.  Rural areas with no resources quickly overwhelmed.

No one called the political aspects. Always there are second and third order effects.  Those are much harder to predict.

Violent rhetoric and  actual violence against conservatives are increasing.  The radical elements on the left are becoming emboldened (or the ones who are in the know are becoming desperate.)  If I was a conspiracy guy, I’d say we’re due for a major incident that will overwhelm the election stories.  Bonus if it kills Americans, bonus if it can be used to bludgeon Trump for not giving up and letting Biden in the door.  And if it looks like Trump might actually be successful in his challenge, expect someone to try for him.  It’s kinda amazing that he’s made it this long considering the forces aligned against him.  They’ve tried smears, they’ve tried legal action, they’re trying election fraud, what’s left?  And Harris is waiting in the wings to step in…   The flip side is some antifa/blm/black bloc kids get sacrificed to create a narrative that Trump’s nazzi white supremacist thugs are out of control and need more crackdowns…

Or dozens of other potential scenarios, most of which end in increased violence and lead toward civil ware…..

The good news is, if you are prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for most of the rest of the threats too.   Don’t get caught short this time.  Stack what you need.  Stack it high and deep.

nick

 

 

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Mon. Nov. 16, 2020 – just another manic Monday…

Warm and windy.  Humid.  Sunny.  That’s my hope anyway.

Well, something blew into town.  It went from 70F to 50F at midnight, and it’s currently 44F at 6AM.  Good thing I don’t get paid to be a weatherman.  Or if I did, it’s a good thing they don’t get paid to be right.

Spent yesterday doing cleanup and reorganization.  Found some stuff I lost.  I hate losing stuff.  I’ll have to email the guy and see if he still needs the thing I found.  When I finally sell something it’s a real bummer to cancel the sale because I can’t find the item…

Today I’m at home with daughter two.   My wife is in the office MWF this week.  Daughter one is at school.   That will give me a chance to do stuff here.  There is always a pile of stuff to do here.

Time to get cracking.  And stacking.

 

nick

 

*anyone think it’s NOT shifty as hell that the one voting machine company is controlled by Democrat insiders, and that the COB of the other is now on Biden’s transition team?  Just lucky for them I guess….

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Sun. Nov. 15, 2020 – tomorrow is usually mostly like today. until it isn’t.

Warmer, damp.  Overcast.  But hopefully no rain.

Saturday was overcast and muggy all day.  I was out running around, and my wife was taking down the pool. . . she was running fans to try to dry it out but it wasn’t working.  It was MUGGY.  91%RH at 10am.  The RH did go down as the temperature went into the 80s.   I got a few light sprinkles in various parts of town.  Barely enough to use the wipers though.

I spent some time throwing stuff out at my secondary.  I’m making room for other stuff.  And I’m discovering that I saved a lot of empty boxes, just because I could.  I was using them back in the day, but haven’t in a long time.  B’bye…. can’t afford that now.

Gotta make more room for TP and paper towel stacks.

Today the plan is to head over there and put the forklift to work, attacking from the other end.  If it doesn’t rain that is.

I was reminded of Selco, and SHTFSchool.com by Peter Grant’s post at his site.  Selco is one of the legends of the preppersphere.  He’s also very no nonsense and willing to tell uncomfortable truths to people.  Read what he’s written on the blog, buy the books.   Peter’s post reminded me of how quickly things can deteriorate.  One thing I really don’t want to see in the US is fighting in the streets.  We have been seeing RIOTING in the streets.  Last night at the Million MAGA March in DC it came much closer to FIGHTING.

Real fighting- snipers, roadblocks, burning cars, raping and murder, arson (some parts of Chicago on any given weekend)- hasn’t started yet.  While the left has been running riot, the right has been standing around.  While the left has been working out tactics and support, the right has been mostly posturing.  While the left has been getting their financing in order, the right has been frozen out of crowdfunding, and doesn’t have a deep pockets patron.   I have a feeling the right is going to learn some very hard lessons when the fighting actually kicks off.

I read somewhere that no insurgency has ever  survived long without outside support.  The lefty insurgency has that in spades.  If the right is forced into becoming an insurgency, who do they have?  And what will it cost to get help?

What would victory look like?  What would defeat look like?  Neither looks as good as a week long vacation at Disneyland, but at the moment, one or the other looks more likely.

Keep stacking.

nick

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Sat. Nov. 14, 2020 – tired. But stuff still needs doin’

Overcast, cool, but saturated.

Like yesterday.

I was all over town yesterday and even got a few sprinkles, but mostly it was just overcast.

I got a few things done.  Moved about half the insulation batts to the attic.  I’ll move the other half today.  Got a couple more things organized or moved around.  But really not much.

Harvested another orange.  I’ll eat that today and report.  Some of the ones on the tree are huge.  I don’t know if that is normal or an indication of an issue.  I have a couple of bean plants that survived after all.  We’ll see if they grow.  Nothing else seems to be.

The drama continues, with a “President Elect” that isn’t yet, and a disaster in the making.  I’m beginning to lose hope.  I think the fix is in.  TPTB can’t allow any fraud to be acknowledged at this point, there is too much water under that bridge…  so we’re going to get shafted.  And then the shooting starts.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m treating this as a disaster that is already here, and not obsessively ‘following the storm track’.  I’m ‘cutting up the downed branches’ and ‘raking up debris’, and checking the stock of blue tarps.

Stack it higher.  Work on skills.  Make some friends.  Build your team.

‘cuz it ain’t gonna be pretty, and we’ll need every advantage we can get.

nick

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Fri. Nov. 13, 2020 – Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month

Cool and damp.  Possibility of sunshine later.

I was sweating standing still in the shade yesterday.  Air is saturated.

The pool liner and cover are still wet.  I’ve got to get that stuff put away but I really don’t want it put away wet.  Really really don’t want that.

I did get a few things cleaned up yesterday.  Not as much as I’d hoped but that’s kinda par for the course this year.  Which is almost over.  Crazy.

Today I’ve got a few pickups, again, mostly stuff for the house.  Some for my non-prepping hobby, and some as Christmas presents for the kids.  Some PPEs are in there too.

The property search continues.  The 11 acres against a national forest works great as a bug out, but it turns out you don’t own all the way to the water.  The Corps of Engineers does, and that means you can’t make changes like cutting down trees to improve your view or your access to the water.  So as a nominal ‘lake house’ it’s not looking good.  I’m still interested, but my wife isn’t.    She continues the hunt though, and she hasn’t ruled it out.

I’m surprised that the expected violence from the left hasn’t been unleashed yet.  They think they’ve won, so I guess that’s holding them back.  The right is still playing “wait and see”.  I’m glad, I just don’t expect it to hold.

I’m going to keep stacking, and keep working the plan.

nick

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Thur. Nov. 12, 2020 – ever closer to the end of the year

Coolish, but still damp.

Wednesday was sunny with a nice breeze, but still saturated.  I really need to have the pool cover and liner dry out so I can put them away for the season.

Several of the friends and neighbors I’ve offered the new freezer to mentioned that they just got one.   That’s good news that they are thinking ahead.  A bit worrisome that so many people are concerned enough to take steps, from the point of view that what society as a whole expects, we usually get.  Heartening though that they are acting.  I may just add it to the garage.

Since I was out today, I thought I’d stop at the grocery store and pick up my OTC allergy meds (have to do it in person, thanks meth heads.)  While I was there I might as well buy some fruit and veg, since I can pick it out myself, and I might as well walk the aisles and see what inventory looks like, maybe fill some gaps……   long story cut mercifully shorter, I spent $400 on groceries and an hour and a half.    They had prime sirloin for $5/pound.  Buy a spiral slice ham, get a free turkey.  Pasta in stock.  The soda I like on the shelf.  Milk, breads, eggs, cream, all the staples I’d be buying in a day or two anyway…..  and some canned veg varieties I hadn’t seen before.

Got my allergy meds too.

Home today so I’ll do stuff here.

Oh, and daughter one is ready for orthodontia.  Joy.  We’ll be writing some checks for that…

Thanks for the suggestions for monitoring her web traffic.  Time for me to do some learning.  I really thought I’d have a couple more years before issues like this arose.  That seems to be the story of 2020 though.

Spent some time at my buddy’s store.  Every ten minutes someone stuck their head in the door and asked about ammo.  Word up, the proprietor of your local is VERY TIRED of having people shout at him from the door about ammo.   If you are looking for some, driving from store to store, shouting in the door, and inevitably being told NO! isn’t going to get you any.  This is where those relationships you built in meatspace for the last couple of years pay off.  Oh, you didn’t do that?  ammoseek.com is your best bet, from what I hear online.  And sign up for everyone’s enewsletter and special mailings so if they do get stock in, you’ll hear about it.   All of my buddy’s suppliers are out of everything and they are not encouraging about stuff coming back into stock.   You may be going into what’s coming with what you already have.

This is why we prep.  This is why you put a couple back for friends who might need something later, if you have the chance and the means.  This is also why “Meatspace Baby!” got the traction it did last year.  The online discounter isn’t going to hold a box under the counter for you.  The mom and pop you’ve been buying from for the last couple of years might.  It applies to anything that might be in short supply, meds, seeds, chicks, you name it.  Jane down at the co-op who’s been helping you with gardening advice is much more likely to have what you need or know who does than some chinese reseller online.  Just saying.  On the other hand, it isn’t necessarily too late.  Work the network you already have.  It may turn out that we’re all preppers now, and the guys at the Rotary Club are more switched on than you expected.  Be circumspect though.  Hard times ARE coming, and there will be predators as well.

Stack what you can.  Go out and talk to someone.

nick

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Wed. Nov. 11, 2020 – Veterans’ Day

Overcast, damp, but hopefully cool.

We got a bare dusting of rain in the early morning yesterday, and it was still sitting on stuff at 6pm.  THAT’S how damp it was in Houston.  You sweat just standing still, even at 76F.

I did one pickup, of stuff for the house mainly.  I did get 3 partial jugs of smokeless powder for reloading.  Not something I do, but I’ve got most of what I’d need to reload shotgun… or I’ll sell it as a bundle and hopefully get more than I would for just the pieces.

Today I need to rent a trailer to get all the things.  Mainly I bought 2 pallets of fiberglas batt insulation.  I am going to finish my bathroom project this fall/winter/spring.  It was 2/5 the price of lowes, and that’s a pretty big discount.  I really only needed one pallet, but for the first time in months, the pallets went for less than $200 and my ‘safety placeholder’ bid won.    I’ll use it up in the attic over the kitchen where the existing insulation is minimal.

I’ve got another pickup before that one.  I won some shotgun ammo in a local estate sale.  It went for much less than the crazy high prices the rifle and pistol ammo brought.  Shotty will work just fine, come the day.

Before all that though, daughter 1 has an orthodontia appointment this morning.   I’ll be taking her to that, then back to school.

After all my other tasks, then I’ll use the trailer to move one more thing in the late afternoon/evening and I’ll be done running around for the day.

The local and regional PD have been working overtime on surveillance and arrests.   The other night a massive task force went after the street racers.  Then there was some drug surveillance involving DEA and their aircraft.  Today it was auto theft and armed robbery.    They followed the bad guys and grabbed them as soon as it started to go down.  Had the helo up in case the guys ran.   Some other thing was running too, involving ATF as one of the partner agencies.

The interesting thing for me is that the bad guys still manage to lose the good guys  lot of the time.  Or they spot some of the surveillance and avoid doing any crimes in front of those units, but they can’t help themselves and still commit crimes in front of the others.  Often, the good guys will use a marked unit to make the stop, almost always after establishing probable cause so the target never even knows they were being watched.  I can’t believe how many crooks have broken tail lights, or do really stupid stuff in traffic.   I’d say that 99% of the stuff the local PD and the task forces do never even gets noticed by the press.  Get a scanner and start listening.  It’s enlightening and well worth just having it on while you’re doing other things.

So much to do, I better get busy.   Keep getting ready, keep stacking.

 

nick

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