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Month: January 2021

Thur. Jan. 21, 2021 – 012121 – yep, easily amused

Cool and damp, may be even damper later in the day.

Yesterday was pretty nice for mid-winter high with 60s and low 70s.  Overcast all day, but shorts and t-shirt weather for me.  I got a couple of things around the house cleaned up.  Finally got the last of the Christmas decor down and most of it put away.

Because I was at home in the afternoon, I cooked a lamb roast.   It’s a great example of saving money with a freezer, vac sealer, and buying in bulk.  I like lamb.  If you haven’t had it since you were a child, it’s different than it was.  Most of the ‘lamb’ taste, the mutton/gamey flavor is gone because of the farmers growing a different breed.   We enjoy it rare to medium rare.   Anyway, I buy the bigger roast and cut it in half.  Vac seal and freeze the resulting 2-3 pound roasts, and you’ve got a roast that is perfectly sized for two adults with leftovers, or a family like mine.  It doesn’t take forever to roast at that size either.    You can get a much better grade of meat in lamb roast for the same money, than you typically can for a beef roast.  Better living for less….

I buy hamburger in a bulk pack and repack it as 1 1/3 pound slabs.  I press it into a shallow square plastic food saver package then vac seal that shape so it will stack better in the freezer.  I used to do 1 pound packs but the kids are growing.

I buy pork roasts in the 10 pound tube, and slice into center cut pork chops any thickness I like.  I also cut a couple of 2-3 pound roasts out of the whole.  All get vac sealed and frozen.   The 10 pound pack is cheaper than smaller roasts, or pre-cut chops.  I usually season the chops in the vac bag with garlic salt and chinese oyster sauce.  The family LOVES the sweet brown sauce on pork and I don’t have to make a mess at cooking time, or worry about marinading it ahead of time.  Another win!

Beef ribeye roasts get the same treatment as the pork roast, some steaks, some of the best beef roast ever.  I season the steaks before vac bagging with Adkins seasoning.  It’s a nice mix of garlic, citrus-y something, and black pepper.   It’s a lot like Penzey’s Chicago Steak seasoning, without all the hate for conservatives.

Bacon in the bulk pack is 24c/lb.  It’s double that in smaller packaging.  I re-pack it in 3/4 lb blocks which is just a bit more than we need for breakfast.    It rarely lasts until lunch.  Vac seal and freeze into one meal portions…

I should note that I’m not Rockefeller.   The vac seal and freeze routine means the meat lasts as long as it’s frozen, so I only buy the stuff on sale.  I buy a BUNCH when the price is right and store it for later.  There are significant savings to be had if you shop this way.   There are shopping trips where I might not even buy any meat if it’s not on sale, because I have some at home in the freezer.

Another thing I do is freeze the leftovers from holiday meals.   I do the same “shape them into a flat block” trick of pressing them into a plastic storage container before freezing.   It’s easy to gauge the number of portions when it’s time to eat, just look at the bag.

If you want to vac seal something wet or squishy, put it in the plastic container and freeze it first, then take it out of the container and vac seal the block of soup, or chili, or whatever.

You can vac seal and freeze partially prepare foods too.   I like to sear the meat before using the slow cooker to make stew or pot roast or carnitas.  I don’t like the smell in the house (and I didn’t have a working exhaust fan) so if I’m going to get out the cast iron and make the mess, I like to do at least 2 or 3 meals worth.   After searing,  I put the meat and juices into vac sealed bags and freeze them.  The next time I want stew or pot roast, or pork carnitas, I defrost the meat and put it right into the cooker, no muss, no fuss.

I’m sure there are plenty of other people out there that have written or ‘tubed about the vac sealer more eloquently and more completely than I have, but these ideas should get you started if you are holding out.  I consider the vac sealer to be essential, so I have my daily driver, then another spare of a similar type, then two more  spares of the ‘seal a meal’ manual type.  I just picked up another one from goodwill this week to have on the shelf.  You’ll find uses for it, if you have one.

So that’s some ideas for stacking, get to it.

 

nick

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Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 – an unhappy anniversary…

Three years ago today we lost the founder and driving force behind this site,  Robert Bruce Thompson.  It’s been my honor and privilege to keep the conversation going since then.  Thank you to Barbara for her support and to Rick for keeping the lights on.  And thanks to all of you who continue to visit and keep this place alive and growing.

Absent friends.

nick flandrey

 

 

Cool and wet.  Possibly.  Maybe.  Could be a bit like yesterday, which was pleasant enough, and even nice in the mid-afternoon.

I ran my errands and spent the rest of the afternoon sorting and going through stuff.     Today I need to do some neglected stuff around the house.  I’ve been jumping from one thing to another, and now I need to jump back.

Number one prep is keeping my wife happy and on my page.  I have been letting that slide and that is a bad thing.

No further news about the possible BOL/Lakehouse cabin.   They want to sell to us, we want to buy, but there is a question of flooding, easements, and Army Corps of Engineers interactions…. next step is a survey to locate the potential issues.  From where we sit, it looks like there would be significant limits on what we could do in the future with the land abutting the lake shore.  Those future possibilities were a large part of the appeal as an investment.

On the broader stage… I don’t know what will happen today.  I’m hoping for ‘nothing’.   I fear a massive false flag attack.  I think it’s bad enough Biden will be President for some period of time, but to start off with a tragedy would be even worse.   There is too much that is just too weird in DC for me to feel comfortable.

Hopefully, by now everyone is an old hand at staying safe from the current threats, and is working toward safety from the escalating new threats.  Time to think much longer term, 4-10 years.   You can’t stack that much so what do you do?  What you can.

I’m not taking bets on when the war really gets going.   I have already said that I expect to have a Republic of Texas passport within 10 years.  I also have said that I don’t think patsy Joe will last through March.  I don’t see any reason to change either  prediction, but they could easily advance by half.

I sincerely hope this is all hyperventilating and fearmongering.   Best case, no new laws or restrictions, stalemate in the Congress, buffoonery from the White House.   Worst case?  Not gonna even go there today.

I was heartened to hear from everyone who reported on their successes to date.  So, what are you seriously lacking? What do you need to keep stacking?*

nick

 

*moxie and pretzels to be sure….

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Tues. Jan. 19, 2021 – [insert lyric from a Doors song]

Cool and wet, possibly really wet.  Yesterday was the kind of moist windy day I normally associate with spring.  It had ‘that smell’, but it’s still only January.

January seems to be taking its own sweet time.  Funny how the perception of time can change.  December flew by but January is taking forever.  I’m trying really hard not to invest too much time or mental energy in what’s coming up with the Inauguration.  Hurricane is in the Gulf, just need to get my stuff in one bag… so to speak.  I’m certainly not going to change the events that happen.  On the other hand, I’m reading folks I have been reading for a long time, and they seem oddly detached.  It’s like they’re just in a spectator mode where they can’t look away, yet their own comments reveal that they think momentous changes will be coming.

Folks, you can’t just watch this from a distance if you believe it’s gonna get ugly.  This has the potential to impact you in ways the Clinton and Obamma administrations never did.  People are being un-personed.  They are being driven out of their jobs and their communities.  The new administration hasn’t even taken office yet and they’re already messing things up for ordinary folks.

Take some more steps to help shield yourself from the change that’s coming.

Make every effort to have cash and other resources available.  Food.  Comms.  Alternate income streams.  Water will probably be available, it’s not really a hurricane, but infrastructure interruptions and sabotage are being widely considered and discussed.

As civilizations degrade, lots of things that used to work well stop working very well, and sometimes stop entirely.  We’ve already started down that path.  We are eating out our substance in some real and metaphorical ways.   Public trust has eroded away.  Some people are still cruising on inertia but more and more will become aware of the changes as soon as they bump into them personally.  There’s a lot of stored fat on the body politic, but we’re starting to burn through that and it won’t take too long before we’re eating  up the muscle.

Shortages or outages for products are becoming commonplace.  Supply chain disruption continues.

Roads aren’t being cleared of debris.  Illegal dumping seems to be increasing.  Windows are being boarded up instead of having the glass replaced.   Graffiti and tags are staying in place longer.   Trash is everywhere.  Homeless are showing up in areas they don’t normally frequent, and I’m spotting more sleeping in places that NEVER saw any ‘urban outdoorsmen’ at all.

After years of declining numbers, violent crime is increasing again.

Businesses continue to fail.   I’m seeing vacant storefront and restaurant property everywhere, and Houston is somewhat insulated from the economic problems in the rest of the country.  It’s got to be worse elsewhere.

Preps will help cushion us through this.  Stuff, skills, relationships.  Those and determination and persistence will get us through.

Keep stacking.

nick

[I’m thinking “This is the End”, or “People are Strange”, I don’t want to contemplate how “Crystal Ship” might fit.]

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Mon. Jan. 18, 2020 – I was dreamin’ when I wrote this, so ‘scuse me if it goes astray..

Cold clear, and some sunny.

Yesterday it was the same in Houston, as in my (possible) new undisclosed location, well, maybe a couple of degrees cooler.  Felt nice there with Chamber of Commerce ™ weather.

I was literally asleep in my chair at my desk, writing this post in my head.  (I don’t know what Prince was doing when he wrote the lyric.)

It all made a ton of sense.  Then I woke up.  Somehow I feel like torturing the idea to fit this week.   Troops in DC.   Troops in state Capitols (does capitol get a capital?)  Someone with Mad Skilz ™ in graphic arts re-spinning a commie work of propaganda from just a few weeks ago to make the most obvious trap since giant talking fish came out of hyperspace over Endor….  when will it end?

Not with the Inauguration of the “‘scrapper’ from Scranton”, or whatever post industrial filth hole he occasionally flies over.

Not with the crowning of the first (kinda) black woman President.

Not even with her death in the ensuing revolt.

I don’t think you CAN pull back at this point.  I think the only way through is through.  And that is going to take a while.

We’re in for a long slog.  Stack accordingly.

 

nick

Kids are home because a adulterous philanderer got himself shot over something.  His cause, noble as it might have been was hijacked and diverted and subverted until we have the fun house mirror version of freedom his people enjoy today.  Think twice, and then a third time before attempting any discussion of the day in comments.  There’s no way that will end well when the thought police find what you wrote.  Especially if you’re honest, and quote statistics.

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Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 – working the plan

Cold and clear today, same as yesterday.

34F when I went to bed, supposed to be LOW of 36F according to the weather liars.

Did my stuff yesterday, got most of it done.  The big disappointment was the sump pump battery backup.  No battery.  Still, I’ve got batteries and the rest is ok.

Today the family is driving 3 hours north to look at some property on a lake.  I really like the looks of the property, wooded, two lots totaling 11 acres (one on the lake, one behind that lot) right up close to a national forest.  The house is really odd, and the lake has some restrictions that my wife doesn’t love.  The question is, bug out location or vacation lake house?  Which is primary?  We’ll see.  Events elsewhere may push my wife more toward BOL.

I don’t know what’s happening in DC but it’s got the whole country nervous as hell.  At least the half that pays attention.  LOTS of people are paying a whole lot more attention now.  Several people on my rounds today were watching carefully and there is a lot of head shaking once you engage with them.

And that’s just one reason why KNOWING where you can go if you have to go is essential.  Currently, I don’t plan to leave, and that’s mostly because I don’t have anywhere to go.  It’s also because no matter what happens, Texas is probably a good place to be.  I’m thinking Chicago, Baltimore, Philly, DC, all the usual suspects are NOT going to be good places to be.  If you live in a sh!thole city, you might want to consider a plan that is just “that Bayfront motel at the intersection of x and y” in a small town 3 hours away, with a storage unit and some minimal sustainment supplies.  That would be a huge step in the right direction.  It might not hurt to have that storage unit in a company name, prepaid for a while, either.

In fact, maybe working out a list of what I’d stash in the smallest available storage unit would be a good idea.  You can fit a lot in 4 or 8 black tubs.

Get to thinkin’.   Get to stackin’.

nick

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Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 – Elephants. Dancing. Mice. Tucked away safe at home.

Cold and clear in Houston.

Yesterday started at 33F and didn’t get much past mid-60s at my house and despite the sunshine ended up being a nasty day for me.

My dog died. [deleted very sad paragraph] I spent the morning holding and petting him as much as he would tolerate, and after he spent a while laying in the sun and breeze, he collapsed and died in my arms hearing about what a good boy he was.  And he was a Good Boy.  That was about the best outcome we could possibly have hoped for given the aggressiveness of the cancer.  For now there is a giant hole in our lives the shape of an 18 pound chihuahua/dachshund mix.  Thank you all for your kindness and best wishes.

There are forces at work in the wider world that we can only get glimpses of- our awareness and perception is so limited that we are really like the blind men describing the elephant.  Our prejudices and hubris are not limited the same way.  The combination isn’t one that leads to much actual objective understanding when events are bigger than our immediate experience.

One blind man sees Jan. 6 in DC and thinks it’s an organized insurrection.  One sees a betrayal by a man he trusted.  One sees an opportunity to get his hate on and blame his enemy.  One sees the same old corrupted schemers playing out their own “Game of Thrones”.  Time will tell which man has seen with the clearest of mind’s eyes.

Right now, forces unknown but powerful are moving the blind men into position.   They are PICKING which blind men are there, and supplying the elephant.  Other forces are maneuvering to swap their OWN elephant in, or change out some of the blind men.  Still others are trying to put a hippo in place of the elephant, while yet others are busy proclaiming “There is no elephant, and blind men can’t see anything anyway!”

And yet.   After a hotly contested election, where the biggest players in the country, and possibly from all over the world, went head to head, and knife to back, we have a candidate no one wanted, with more issues than a news stand and more baggage than a third year student at Hogwarts, ready to take the oath   for what is arguably the most powerful office in the world.  And his people think they need 20-30,000 armed soldiers around him to keep him safe from — something.  And that they’ll need those soldiers “indefinitely”.

It looks like they are preparing to be besieged.

What could they possibly be planning to do that would provoke We The People to the kind of reaction that they are preparing for?

Or is it just theater, designed to convince people that they are being threatened and that anything they do is justified by the heinous nature of the threat?  You don’t think to include a field hospital if you know that it’s all for show and there isn’t a real threat to justify the defenses.*

Neither scenario, or any of a dozen more, bodes well for you and me.  The elephants are dancing  and there is absolutely NOTHING we can do to change the dance.   The mice are rightly worried about being turned into red jelly paste and should stay as far away from stompy feet as is possible.   And prudent mice should be prepping as hard and fast as possible to tuck into their safe little hidey holes and stay safe while the dance continues.  There may yet be a role for mice to play, other than floor lube, but you won’t be playing it if you are already toe jam… and you won’t be playing it if you are reduced to picking grains of wheat out of mounds of elephant dung.

Stack.  Stuff.  Friends.  Skills.  Mainly stuff, as something will be changing on the 20th.  Something big.  That’s not much time to build skills or networks.  So work on what you can.  Keep stacking.  Concentrate on what might be unobtainium in a few days.

 

nick

 

*two other considerations come to mind- TPTB are sociopaths and don’t  care that the soldiers will need medical attention.  TPTB have never seen war and don’t know that their soldiers will need medical attention.  Either is horrific in it’s own way.  And don’t forget, sometimes you need to “embrace the power of ‘and'”.

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Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 – lots to say, brain running on empty

Cool and clear.  Sunny.  Should be nice.

My day today should involve pickups and drop offs that didn’t happen yesterday,  and some new ones.    I got some odd things and some good things this week.   In the odd but good overlap- packaged setup for a backup battery, charger/maintainer/ and sump pump…  I’ll just use the battery and maintainer.   Odd but useful, 50 pounds of Himalayan salt.   My wife prefers using it in the kitchen, and it was cheap.  Into a bucket you go!  I got a couple more battery chargers, and a nice big 13.8v power supply for my radios/ workbench, and another 12v tire inflater for the vehicles.   Since batteries and chargers are coming my way right now, I’ll keep stacking them.

I missed getting a load dropped off because I actually had an ebay sale that needed to pack and ship.   I took the opportunity to do some family pack and ship errands too.

I’ve got a lot of little things need doin’ today and this weekend too.  Putting together and stocking another two sections of FIFO can manager.  Putting stuff AWAY that’s been sitting out too long.  A grocery order would be prudent too.  No time for complete sentences!

My buddy tells me that most of the Home Depots should have their new garden seeds out and on the floor.   You might want to buy early this year.  Just sayin’.  Also any pesticides or treatments you need might end up in short supply, so you might want them too.  Rabbit wire/ hardware cloth was very hard to find locally this past year.  I’ve got a bunch now, but who would have thought that would run out?  Canning jars and lids are selling VERY well in the auctions, higher price than retail.  Hmm.  Maybe like ammo, people are laying in supplies wherever they find them?   Like guns and ammo if you shoot, if you can, you can never have enough jars…

I hope everyone is planning their garden, even if it is only salad greens in containers.  Get some practice.  And, some container gardening is good cover for much more extensive efforts in the back yard, where no one can see…

Short shrift today, because I’m really tired as I write this and my brain is slow.

Keep stacking.  You have holes in your preps.  Find them and fill them.

nick

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Thur. Jan. 14, 2021 – time keeps on slippin’, into the future…

Cool to cold, clear, really really hope for no rain.  We are supposed to continue clear for a couple of days.

Wednesday was light jacket and long pants, but nice and sunny and clear.  I hit a couple of errands, mainly checking in with my gun store buddy (he’s frazzled) and doing some pulling and organizing in one storage unit.   That was in preparation to taking another load to auction today, and maybe another to the other auction tomorrow.

I really want to sell as much as possible before the shooting starts.

And I don’t see any way around the shooting starting.   I could outline why but I think you all know what I’d say by now.  Anyone who sees a path that doesn’t rely on the right either being all mouth and no ass, or being VERY restrained (and what’s the chance of that with covid cabin fever raging) feel free to lay it out below.   The left is demonstrating daily that they can’t wait to fire up the midnight raids and start running camps.   Not right away of course, but it will get there.   Look what they’re doing to Trump and people who have political power and money.   When they’re talking casually about taking kids away from their parents so that they can be re-educated, and it’s not Ted Kazinski in a cabin in the woods but respected people in management of everyday institutions like PBS, I think that’s indicative of worldview and mindset.  It’s pretty much opposite of mine, and I’m not going to meet them halfway on that.  The masks are coming off and the ugliness is astonishing.

Once the shooting starts, I expect supply chains to literally blow up.  The great TP shortage of 2020 is going to look like shopping at Walmart by comparison.  I didn’t expect things to get started so quickly and I have revised my expectations accordingly.  While there will be  ebbs and flows in the pace of incidents, I expect some soon, and MUCH worse than I originally thought.  I’m not thinking about the Monkey Wrench Gang  so much as angry mobs tearing stuff up and burning stuff down. 100 John Lee Malvos, not one.  100 Timothy McVeighs not one.  As icing on the cake, normal crime is spiking and will continue and increase while the authorities are otherwise occupied.  You may never see an insurgent,but I bet you’ll see home invasions, robberies, rapes, assaults, car jackings, etc increase dramatically.

Maybe it won’t happen that way.  I don’t want it to.  Maybe it will be worse.  Maybe it will take longer.  I don’t see the emotions going away and it doesn’t take much to disrupt our world.  And CV-19 is still killing people.  How many of those 20K guardsmen will be infected, and bring it back to their communities when they de-mob?  Wonder if they’ll call it a super spreader event and blame Trump? Nah, couldn’t happen.

Keep stacking.  It isn’t gonna be ‘back to normal’ anytime soon, if ever.

nick

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Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 – Friday the 13th comes on a Wednesday this month

Cold,but warming up, clear and dry.

Yesterday stayed cool after a very cold start.  It was dry but so cool, stuff didn’t really dry out.   Today it’s coming down no matter what.  Time to get the yard decor in.

Spent most of yesterday afternoon driving around for pickups.  Got a couple of gub accessories, a major piece of our ongoing bathroom project, and gallons of hand sanitizer.  Some other cleaning and plumbing stuff too.

My dog is looking a bit better.   We’ve been jamming food into him whenever he’ll eat.  He was pretty perky when the chicken breast came out for his dinner tonight, but he is spending most of his time sleeping or just lying down.  His two repaired knee joints can’t be feeling great with the cold and damp, mine certainly don’t.  Pain killers seem to be in order, but my wife isn’t seeing outward signs of pain and she’s worried about drug interactions so today I hope she’ll get the reassurance she needs from the vet.

I wish there was someone I could call and get some assurance the country will even make it to the inauguration.  They are moving VERY fast to tie up their ‘win’ and shut down opposition before it can really get going.   They definitely don’t want Trump around as a rallying point or gadfly for the next four years.   They want him tied up, locked up, or buried.  The absolute perfect setup for a false flag attack is coming up and I’m very concerned.  They are already laying the groundwork.

The tech companies are lining up to serve their new masters.  Go Daddy should be treated like a landlord, along with all the other registrars and hosts.  It should be illegal for them to discriminate, if it’s not already.  AR15.com was just the first, they won’t be the last.   Go Daddy is my personal registrar and host, and I need some advice on someone solid to use instead.  I’ve got stuff renewing soon that I would like to move.  It sucks because I’ve been a fan of theirs since they started outside of Tempe AZ all those years ago, and a customer for over a decade.  I have several inactive domains, one work domain with email, one family domain with hosted WP site (that could go away if the domain stayed.)    The business domain and email are the most important things to me.  I would like to hang on to all the domains, but I’m getting tired of paying for privacy.  Most are .com, with a couple variations to protect my name and business name.  I just registered the flandrey domains as backup, and now I need to move them.  FFS.

I see a real lack of contingency planning around a Trump loss on the right.  Doesn’t inspire confidence.  The Republican party reaction doesn’t surprise me at all though.  Trump was never a party Republican.  They never wanted him and can’t wait to get rid of him.  He threatened a lot of rice bowls (hah, see what I did to amuse you, china! FTW!)  Just how many of our congressmen and business  leaders are married or shacked up with chinese women anyway?

If people do push back, and someone will, it’s going to get REALLY ugly real quick.  Too many 3 letters are already corrupted and working against conservatives (remember the IRS and charitable status?).   The rest will jump on the bandwagon if it gets going.  That won’t be fun.

Priorities should be having the basics to cover an extended period of disruptions.  In EVERY account I’ve read of war or prolonged conflict, the people end up eating grass because they’ve eaten everything else.  After food, water, meds, and defense, comms are going to be an issue.  Samizdat is going to be making a comeback, albeit in new forms.  Beyond that, I can’t really say.  Everything technological is subject to eavesdropping, well poisoning, and the equivalent of direction finding.   There are a lot of clever people out there and something will rise to the surface.   If you think I’m nuts, I’ve got literally a page of headlines from this week alone that suggest otherwise, so you’ll have to do more than make assertions.  I was listening to NPR on the radio while driving around and even THEY can see that a civil war is imminent.

I’m continuing with my life as normal, kids’ school, house remodel, ebay sales, because going dark is just as telling as going active.  I’ve always done my prepping alongside my normal life anyway.  And there is no point in shutting down-the internet archives, and the three lette r s have been hoovering up data the whole time.

We’re barely two weeks into 2021 and it’s already insane.  Avoid crowds.  Don’t get on the bus.   Stack it high and deep, and in more than one place.

nick

 

~800 words, right on schedule.

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Tues. Jan. 12, 2021 – 01122021 – kinda cool. Warning- navel gazing ahead…

Cold today, but dry.  I need the Christmas decor to finish drying out so I can get it down before the HOA sends their nastygram…

Which is but one of my tasks for the day.   The others are pickups and continued cleanup at my secondary.  ( Pickups are some preps, but also stuff to move along the bathroom remodel, because life goes on, even as the country melts down around us.)

Didn’t do much yesterday.  I was really tired and not feeling well so I napped in the late morning instead of doing productive work.  I felt much better after.  I did get some small things done in between hitting reload on the news and waiting for the other jackboot to drop.   It’s like 2021 turned to 2020 and said “Hold my beer…” and we’re barely started.   It can get oh so much worse too.  I don’t hold out much hope for ‘better’.  Not for FBI certified home grown extremist potential domestic terrorists like me and most of my friends anyway.   We’re in for a world of hurt.

 

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on yesterday’s trial.   Well, wrt specifically writing the prepping guide, one chapter at a time, consensus seems to be “not as a regular thing” and “not necessarily in that format.”

Which is cool, as that was why I asked. The audience here is far past the basic levels of prepping. I still feel the need to at least organize the beginning stuff, so I’ll try some more stuff later.

One of the things I thought I might try doing instead is writing an article for survivalblog- because, PRIZES!

There were two ideas I was considering. One would be turning my posts about my visit to the Plymoth Colony last summer into an article. The theme would maybe touch on the complete lack of preparation for the endeavor on the part of the colonists, or maybe the lack of flexibility that let them starve while the native population had so much food they could make art. I can’t find a great hook to hang the article on though.

The other might be a bit more timely, and would be something about “what I learned about the power and tools available to the state in the form of local LEOs by listening to the scanner.” That risks getting into subversive territory, a handbook to partisans… which might be just what is needed for that matter, but IDK how the audience over there would react.

A third article could put yesterday’s comments into more coherent form, and cover how to set up a listening station and some lessons learned from monitoring…

My first loyalty is to this place, but hey- PRIZES! Long form articles take much more time and attention and editing than my usual casual posts to a receptive and friendly audience.

For some perspective, I looked at my posts for the last couple of weeks and an ‘ordinary’ post- something to just get the conversation started each day- usually ends up being around 500 words. A post where I have something to say, or a specific goal, those tend to be around 800 words long. And a fully developed but still short, topical post runs to ~1200 words. Something more long form would probably run 1500-2500 words and is not something I do here regularly.  I spent a couple of hours on yesterday’s post and it was 1200 words iirc.  AND THEN the BEST discussion happened there in the comments about scanners!  Nothing to do with the post!  But that is the great part about the ‘conversation’ here, you never know where it will lead.

FWIW, since we’re coming up on the unhappy anniversary, and I’m being all meta and introspective, I’ve done about 1113 posts since Bob got sick, call it average of 600 – 750 words, so I’ve written about 650K to 850K words here in posts alone.  That’s kinda a lot.  6-10 novels worth.    Add about the same in comments, as  that was where I wrote most of my words outside of posts, especially in the beginning.  7500 comments would have to average 100 words each or just total to 700 words over the day.  Call it 10-16 full length novels in 3 years.   1.3M – 1.6M words.   Holy cow I’m glad my wife doesn’t read the blog.

Although, thinking about it,  I wrote a fair number of those comments in the years before Bob passed- so spread the novels out over a couple of more years.  Balanced against that, I used to write a fair number of comments elsewhere too.  10s of thousands of words about prepping and ham radio on just a couple of other blogs, for example.  I did manage to reuse and recycle some of that, when I could find it again.  That is the beauty of working with Intellectual Property, reuse and recycle, and everything old is new again!

It is immensely satisfying to be part of what we’ve continued to build here and to keep the conversation going.

Now I better go do something constructive before I start picking lint out of this belly button I’ve been staring into.

Start stacking.  Keep stacking.

nick

 

(843 words according to WP,  864 according to the tool I downloaded.)

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