More work on science kits today.
12:35 – The only prepping I did this week was relocation-related stuff. Oh, that and I bought 35 pounds (4.5 gallons) of soybean oil at Sam’s Club yesterday.
Last night, Barbara cooked dinner purely from food storage. A pound of pasta ($0.90), a 14.5-ounce can of Keystone canned chicken ($4.44), and a 15-ounce jar of Bertolli Mushroom Alfredo sauce ($2.12). It made enough for two meals for us, so she froze the excess. It would easily feed four people, for just over $7 total.
In any emergency that lasts longer than a few days, pasta meals and skillet meals will be important. Pasta can be cooked fuel-efficiently simply by transferring the dry pasta to a pre-heated Thermos bottle, adding boiling water, and allowing the pasta to cook in that hot water. And whipping up a skillet sauce is pretty simple, particularly if you have shelf-stable commercially-packaged sauces or flavoring packets on hand. We keep enough of those on hand to produce several skillet meals a week for the two of us plus a couple of guests to last at least one year, and I’d suggest you do the same.
Incidentally, Barbara gave her seal of approval to both the Keystone canned chicken and the Bertolli Mushroom Alfredo sauce. That’s significant, because she has pretty strong food preferences, while I’m not very picky.
I’ll be happier when we revert to the original Articles of Confederation. But I don’t live in a dream world, so we’ll have to deal with whatever comes down the pike. I get the impression that there are still millions of people who believe in the good things and traditions of this country and are upset and angry over what’s been done to it, but they need to get off their asses Real Soon Now.
I may try to mow the lawn today, but not real enthused about the prospect. This weekend is a time to hole up inside here, lock the doors and pull the shades and arm the land mines and booby traps. Just kidding!
Last year I made a crappy little video of the fireworks, which are lit off less than a hundred yards from here; I might try that again. Or I may just bag it and listen to the VPR programs; today they’re doing songs of Stephen Foster and Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” Just for laffs I may even tune in to the major networks and see what kind of dreck they’re serving up from Mordor. If any. Probably another “gay pride” parade, a welcome party for another ten million “undocumented international workers,” and a celebration of the new treaty we’re making with ISIS ceding them Detroit and Chicago.
“…and a celebration of the new treaty we’re making with ISIS ceding them Detroit and Chicago.”
Oh come on! Obola and Hillary would never give up Chicago, they’d have no chance of winning elections without the graveyard vote there.
Fair
85°F
29°C
Humidity 35%
Wind Speed calm
Barometer 29.83 in (1009.3 mb)
Dewpoint 54°F (12°C)
Visibility 10.00 mi
Heat Index 84°F (29°C)
Last update 04 Jul 8:54 am PDT
Predicted high of 101F today.
BBQ gassed up. Pool clean and ready.
Preparing to make ice cream. Give it plenty of time to harden in the deep freeze for tonight.
Go over by the ball park later where they will to fireworks after the game.
Have a wonderful July 4th.
“Man swimming in Orange bayou dies in apparent alligator attack”
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Alligator-kills-28-year-old-man-swimming-in-6364929.php
Darwin award winner. Swimming in the bayou with a known 12 ft alligator. First fatal alligator attack in Texas in 200 years.
“Oh come on! Obola and Hillary would never give up Chicago…”
Yeah, you’re right. Good point! And that goes for the whole state out there, not just Chicago.
“Predicted high of 101F today.
BBQ gassed up. Pool clean and ready.
Preparing to make ice cream. Give it plenty of time to harden in the deep freeze for tonight.
Go over by the ball park later where they will to fireworks after the game.”
Gee whiz, you got it all sewn up out there! But man, WAY too hot! It’s not even 70 here yet. No BBQ, no pool. And soon, too many people be-bopping around the ‘hood. But the nice thing about that is that within a half-hour of the fireworks ending, they’re all completely gone. It’s amazing to see; 3,000 peeps just disappear.
“Swimming in the bayou with a known 12 ft alligator.”
Not a way I’d care to go, but hey, I guess HMMV.
“… pasta meals and skillet meals will be important.”
Agreed wholeheartedly. And may I recommend here acquiring a nice Lodge cast-iron skillet, at least, and maybe a big ol’ Dutch oven. Their stuff will last for centuries and in a pinch you can crush someone’s skull with it; ditto the enameled cast-iron from Le Creuset. You can often find these items at yard sales and second-hand stores at greatly reduced prices. They can be used inside ovens, on grills and over open fires.
Pasta, tomato sauces, various canned meats, and plenty of good ol’ rice and beans.
Next pay checks here I will run down for a Costco spree. Been stocking up very slowly meantime from the local markets, mostly canned soups, tuna, fruits, boxes of pasta, peanut butter, etc.
Other preps have been the continued maintenance of the raised beds, with several varieties of tomatoes and peppers and we’ve started pumpkins and squash. We’ve always had good luck with the latter, and made some wondrous pies; check out Long Island Cheese pumpkin pie:
http://townandcountrymarkets.com/blog/long_island_cheese_pumpkin_pie/
When done right, it’s like a chiffon, very smooth and silky. Outstanding.
Other preps: researching alternative well pump gear; what do y’all think of this one?
http://www.simplepump.com/
Also working on radio programming stuff, firearms stuff, and got a good chunk of paperwork sent in to BATFE. Started online ham Technician license course.
Just mowed front, sides and 95% of the back yard; now I’m in tune and on board with my closest neighbors and their lawn-mowing, lol. So we all look nice and spiffy for the 3,000 derps arriving tomorrow here for Bay Day.
Listening now to Gershwin…working with online courses…and now on OFD Slack Time.
… but they need to get off their asses Real Soon Now.
You mean like, maybe, I dunno, voting …? 🙂 🙂 🙂
(Ducks for cover.)
Oy.
What should be common knowledge appears to be anything but.
“You mean like, maybe, I dunno, voting …?”
Oh, that’s very good, yes, very good indeed, sir. You have a gift. For standup. Ladies and gentlemen, we have among us today a comic, a wit, a card…he makes a small joke…a very small joke…
Common knowledge? Stop it, you’re killing me here! Have mercy!
We note that the Eye-talian guy knew the scoop. Well, why the fuck not, eh? Anyone know what dude the country is named after???
What’s probably just as sad, given the time and effort spent on it when I coulda been prepping or sumthin, is that I am at the other extreme. I read primary sources for fun from that era. In original manuscript form. I know what certain parties had for breakfast on certain days and what they privately thought of each other. Like I said, pretty sad.
But tell us more jokes, Mr. medium; you have a gift, sir!
@OFD: Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all week! 😀 😀 😀
Last night I asked the question of my 61-yo neighbor; her answer was “the government?” (if only!) The rot has been infiltrating this nation for a long time! 🙁
Shit, I’m 61 but I knew what this day was about in elementary skool! WTF??? I’ve known it for 55 years now!
I also noted that one of the young black grrls at least got within the ballpark of the year involved, and I woulda asked her some more questions; she may have had it, but I am given to understand that they’re not supposed to look or sound too “smart” or white with the others. Jeezum, I wish Mark Dice or somebody would stop me and ask me chit like that sometime…they’d run outta juice on their gear or fall dead to the pavement from boredom.
“Yes, Mark, it was a stifling hot day on July 2, 1775…in Philadelphia when the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s (say, Mark, ya want the Lee family history here, too?) resolution for independence in a near-unanimous vote (the New York delegation abstained, but later voted affirmatively). On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail (and Mark, Abigail was a hot shit!) that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
Kindly note, ladies and germs, that my boy Adams from Maffachufetts mentioned “guns.” Also “Bonfires.” Sounds like a plan.
“Also, Mark, it celebrates us kicking or about to kick our Brit overlords the fuck outta here ’cause they were getting a little too high and mighty for our liking and pissing us off more and more each day. We hadda do that shit twice, and then we hadda bail their sorry asses out twice in the last century.”
I’d like to take the option, though, of educating the young blonde that was up first for Mark’s question….
Happy Independence Day!
I believe Donald Trump was one of the original signers, wasn’t he?
Trump 2016! “I signed dat paper with Hancock”
I was rooting for the aliens in that flick. Yeah, Trump signed it, as did Jesse Ventura and Abe Lincoln.
Then there’s this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvvOFIHs4k
I’m given to understand that anyone who could answer would likely end up “on the cutting room floor” as they say in the business.
nick
Had a nice morning at the Independence Day festival in “The Villages”. Bouncy houses, petting farm, pony rides, fire trucks, watermelon, and face painting. I bet if you asked people at that event what the day was for you’d get the right answer.
Spent the afternoon at the neighborhood association pool. No wanna-be party-organizing invaders here. Just water balloon races, watermelon eating contest (won by skinny 12 yo girl) squirt gun fights, and swimming (and the pool still has a diving board, so there was a lot of jumping off the high dive.)
After dinner, we’ll drive out to Katy Mall for the fireworks show and companionship with some friends. Weather is patchy clouds, irregular wind, occasional rain flurries, and hot and humid. Should be nice around 9pm.
Our street is full of flags, and so is much of our neighborhood. They may only fly 5 or 6 times a year, but they have them, and fly them, and that is heartening.
Happy Independence Day.
nick
squirt gun fights
The horror, the horror.
“The horror, the horror.”
And no arrests??? WTF? What a lawless place y’all live in down there!
And some peeps still don’t get it:
“If we wish to preserve the liberty the Second Amendment makes possible, the 2016 presidential election may well be the most consequential of our lifetime, made even more so by two seemingly unrelated Supreme Court decisions handed down in June of 2015.”
Yeah, OK, buddy.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/07/mike-mcdaniel/dictionary-no-longer-holds/#more-364149
And several of the commenters opine that the rule of law here has been gone since…are you ready for this? Are you sitting down? Prepare for a real shocker…the first Obercula election. These derps have clearly never cracked a decent history book.
Of course if only we can get a RINO in there, the Second Amendment will be OK. What the fuck do these imbeciles smoke, anyway? Out in that meadow with the flowers and unicorns…
On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail (and Mark, Abigail was a hot shit!) that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
And nude women’s beach volleyball… 🙂
All hail Her Majesty, Queen of, amongst other places, the pretended United States of America.
Don’t ya just wish that the US was run by a couple of hundred bureaucrats in Whitehall. How much better the government would be.
“Of course if only we can get a RINO in there, the Second Amendment will be OK.”
Dave, who do you think will protect the Second Amendment? A certain senator from Kentucky or a certain former senator from New York/Secretary of State/First Lady?
Yeah yeah, I know. Rand will send out his goons to disarm you just as quickly as Lady Macbeth…
“And nude women’s beach volleyball… ”
Oh HELL yeah!
“Don’t ya just wish that the US was run by a couple of hundred bureaucrats in Whitehall. How much better the government would be.”
Yo, homes; some of us been checkin’ out the U.K. shenanigans and capers over the last few years and by now it’s lookin’ kinda shaky. Ditto the Land Down Under. We may be pretty effed up here but not THAT effed up yet.
“Dave, who do you think will protect the Second Amendment?”
Nobody. Just us.
“Rand will send out his goons to disarm you just as quickly as Lady Macbeth…”
Maybe not quite as quickly, but if the rulers told sonny Rand to step up dismantling the Second and start taking away all our toyz and safe queens, he’d hop to it and that right smartly.
And I see y’all Down Under have some ass-hats now trying to ban even lever-action rifles. How the hell are ya supposed to shoot the ‘roos and koala bears? Blowguns? Slingshots?
Living here in the Free Fire Zone formerly known as Greatwood. I’m not sure how much mortars cost but they cannot be cheap. I’ll bet that we had a thousand of them go off tonight in our neighborhood. And another hundred in the last 3 or 4 days.
The son left for the Hill Country with his buds. They are rafting the river without fireworks. I am beginning to think that he will never like fireworks again after getting mortared in Iraq. He may be down at the VA center with OFD in twenty years.
” I’ll bet that we had a thousand of them go off tonight in our neighborhood. And another hundred in the last 3 or 4 days.”
The local yokel cretins and derps up here have been lighting off what is probably thousands of dollars worth of fireworks from their cottages, houses and camps along the Georgia Shore Road to our immediate south along the Bay shore. Must be nice to have so much dough they can blow it on that chit every year, while also towing big-ass boats from their big-ass pickups, to and from their second and third homes. Some of it’s been going on since this afternoon, with some close ones in the village here. That stuff don’t bother me much but the extremely close lightning bolt earlier did for a second; hot damn, that was close!
“They are rafting the river without fireworks.”
Good for him. There is a vets group starting up here that aims to get us out and about with stuff like that, plus canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and the usual winter sports. Also horseback riding. Some folks think it’s a big thing when they see para- and quadriplegic vets out there doing this stuff, with various prostheses, etc., and it IS a big thing. But it’s tougher getting PTSD guys out there, believe me; I’ll do it by myself or with the wife but not in groups.
“He may be down at the VA center with OFD in twenty years.”
Hey, seriously, Mr. Lynn; don’t let him go twenty years if he’s having issues with stuff; too many of us didn’t have the treatment or attention available when we came back and we ate it for 40 to 70 years, and let it eat us, with nothing to help. (except, of course, booze and dope and other self-destructive behavior). And it not only messed us up, but messed up people we loved/love.
Now there’s help available and people are doing a LOT more than was the case in our time; overdue, ’cause we have 20 a day killing themselves and a million of us are on food stamps.
He’s more than welcome to contact me via email if he wants more info or just wants to shoot the chit; RBT has that info.
Seriously.
He is doing ok. He gained about 60 lbs when he quit smoking four years ago. He has lost about 40 lbs of it and plans to lose the other 20 lbs gradually. He just does not like fireworks though.
It took him about two or three years to get over those two extended trips to Iraq with Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Killing the Iraqi soldier traitor really hurt him. I am convinced that the three month mini vacation in Afghanistan that they “ordered” him to volunteer for would have done permanent damage. Refusing that “order to volunteer” was the smartest thing that he did.
The light is back in his eyes and he enjoys life. He finished his double degree in Physics and Chemistry using the GI Bill with minimal financial assistance from me. He got his FFL and is selling a gun a week. We even have a good time talking about our paranoid conjectures for the USA again.
Well, then, so far, so good.
Be advised, however, that combat vets can go a real long time without exhibiting any symptoms, often intentionally suppressing them, for various reasons and with varying success. Or there are symptoms but they and the people closest to them do not recognize them.
I’m glad things are going well now, though.
Pax vobiscum.
That’s an odd typo. I’m sure you meant vax probiscum, loosely translated as “I have a nose for mainframes”.
It’s the senility and decrepitude kicking in again here; I actually would much prefer to go back to working with VAX/VMS and OpenVMS machines again. But apparently the only places where it’s still going strong are in northwest Europe, mainly the Netherlands and Germany.