09:09 – I opened the test can of Augason Farms Potato Shreds for dinner last night. I weighed out 100 grams of them and rehydrated them in boiling water. After I removed as much of the water as possible by draining and pressing them, they weighed 530 grams, which was a bit more than I expected. So, one $8.24 #10 can of the potato shreds does indeed reconstitute to the equivalent of 6.5+ pounds of raw potatoes, at a price per pound lower than buying the frozen Ore-Ida hash browns.
Barbara fried them up in lard. We both concluded that they were indistinguishable from the Ore-Ida hash browns, which we have frequently as a side dish with dinners. Tastes at least as good, 25-year shelf life, doesn’t require any freezer space, and cheaper to boot. What’s not to like? I plan to order six or eight cans to keep in the pantry. From now on, instead of reconstituting them in boiling water, we’ll just soak them in water overnight, so that we can just drain them and fry them without further ado.
Eric from Blue Ridge Electric Co-op showed up yesterday to give us a quote on installing a propane tank and lines. As it turns out, he’s a prepper who’s just starting out. He just bought a Colt AR-15 and a thousand rounds for himself, and he’s having his father-in-law, a retired gunsmith, build a second AR for his wife, using an 80% lower. They just put their house on the market yesterday. It’s in a typical development, with small lots and homes close together. He wants to build a home on some acreage, where they’ll have some separation from neighbors and room to grow some crops. As a young married couple, their problem is money. He and his wife both see bad things coming and want to get prepared as best they can. He said if they could afford it, he’d build a bunker for them. I told him he didn’t need a bunker. What he needs to do is assure a water supply and get a lot of LTS food stored in their pantry. I’m sure I’ll be talking with Eric again.
My advice to any beginning prepper is the same. Don’t focus on one thing; cover all the bases equally and incrementally. Too many beginning preppers have tunnel vision. I frequently exchange email with people who have a slew of guns and ammunition but no food or water put by, and the converse. As I tell them, one can’t eat or drink guns and ammo, and one can’t defend oneself very well by throwing cans of vegetables. The trick is to buy some of each thing you need when starting out, and then gradually expand all categories until you’re where you want to be.
There it is.
And be ready to prep in fits and starts, as finances and time commitments allow.
Barbara is out in the garden as I write, picking green beans and zucchini and pulling out all the broccoli plants, which something has been eating on.
If you have no money now, the trick is to start learning and planning now. There are cheap things you can do to be more prepared. I made two cheap first aid kits that fill a quart zip top bag for $20 at the dollar store. You can buy Ramen noodles for cheap at Walmart or Sam’s Club. You can buy some extra canned foods when they’re on sale. You can pick up an extra case of generic bottled water for less than $5.
You need a plan to suit your situation. Someone in the desert needs to stockpile more than someone who lives in an area that borders on being a temperate rain forest.
These cans hold quite a lot of dehydrated food, more than one would eat at a meal. What is the best way to save the leftovers (not yet rehydrated) for future meals?
Barbara and I were just talking with Lori, our USPS carrier. She has a 40-acre cattle farm and a big garden. We mentioned that something was eating our broccoli and she said not to even bother trying to grow it up here. Sparta is apparently the world headquarters for broccoli worms, which lie in wait for someone foolish enough to plant broccoli. Same for cauliflower.
@Roger Ritter
Shelf life of this product is rated at 25 years sealed and 1 year open, which as usual is extremely conservative. An open can with the plastic top on it would probably remain good for at least several years if kept at room temperature and reasonably low humidity. If you’re concerned, you can simply transfer the unused product to another container, such as a sealed Mylar bag or a jar.
I’m not concerned at all, as I’m sure we’ll go through several cans of this stuff per year.
@rbt, and also slightly @roger
Yesterday you did some math on the cost of water bath home canning. I think you over stated the cost a bit by only considering the initial purchase of the jars. I routinely see jars that are 50 or more years old! 75c amortized across even 5 uses is pretty cheap. The lids are the expendable part and they are cheap.
I understand your point (and agree with it) about the quality and cheapness of commercially canned food, but if you did the math for 5 seasons instead of just one, the economics of home canning would look better.
Besides, home canning is to save your excess from the garden and preserve it for the off season. That is a function it will still need to serve if SHTF long term.
And the @roger bit, home canning jars have a myriad of uses beyond preserving food. They let you repackage and keep (short term) dry bulk like the dehydrated potatoes by just sealing the jars, oven canning, or using the vac seal attachment on a FoodSaver. They are good “in use” packaging for homemade laundry soap (a prepper staple), baking mixes, etc.
In other words, even if you don’t plan to home can food now, accumulating the supplies makes sense, esp as you can use them NOW for a variety of tasks.
nick
Sure it makes more sense if you re-use the canning jars over a period of several years, but what I was talking about was the Woodpile Report article talking about storing bulk staples in canning jars. The only way you can justify that economically is if you want to keep a large stock of canning jars anyway, and it’s a matter of storing them empty or storing them full of something.
If you purchase lids in bulk, they’ll cost you about $0.15 each. So, if you plan to re-use, say, 300 canning jars, the total cost would be about $225 to buy the jars with rims and lids initially. Then buy, say, 1,500 lids at $0.15 each for another $225. That’s $450 total for 300 jars, or $1.50 per jar. If you re-use the jars 5 times each after the initial use, your cost per jar per use is $0.25 per jar, which isn’t terrible. But then there’s all the work involved, fuel for canning, and so on.
I just talked with Lori about the economics of canning, mentioning that Mott’s applesauce is cheap. She’s fully aware of the economics, but she’s been making and canning applesauce for the last two days because she loves working in the kitchen and canning. I can’t really argue with that.
As I mentioned, I just received two dozen wide-mouth quart canning jars from Walmart earlier this week. I plan to use them just as I said above, so that I’ll be storing them full rather than empty. And I’ll be buying more of them incrementally, along with extra lids. I’ll store various non-bulk items in them, like salt, baking soda/powder, etc.
And we’ll do some actual canning, just because I haven’t canned in more than 40 years and I want to do a refresher course.
Some discussion of gold versus guns & ammo, etc. for prepping:
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/08/daniel-zimmerman/gold-guns-end-world-know/
I tend to agree; it’s gonna be very hard for a long time to get peeps to accept silver and gold and precious metals for barter purposes, and I doubt I’ll be around long enough to see such a restored government and economic system that specifies what those are worth. Better to stockpile property and hard goods, like guns, ammo, reloading gear, medical supplies, etc. Selco’s experiences in the former Yugoslavia bear this out, plus WATER. Especially in urban areas and places where you’re dependent on town or city water supply.
This is entertaining and horrifying at the same time.
“How to defend yourself from gun attacks using Krav Maga
Krav Maga expert Rhon Mizrachi explains how to deal with gunmen
In this video for Dailymail.com he shows two fearsome methods
They’re designed to disarm attackers from in front and behind”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3734760/How-defend-gun-attacks-using-Krav-Maga.html
PLEASE do NOT watch this and think you can or should disarm an attacker. Your goal is to get away without being killed. Break contact and RUN toward safety.
I know it makes good click bait, but articles like this are the height of irresponsibility.
n
A neighbor’s giant cat keeps sleeping on my back wall annoying our wiener dog. Is it possible to can a cat? Long term prepping, you see.
I have found myself surrounded with family members who view the TV show The Waltons as something desirable. I think there is nothing desirable about the economic period known as the Great Depression. If you had a job, things weren’t great, but you could get by. However, if you were one of the one in four who didn’t, it was dystopian. Looking at a family that owns a small working farm at that time would be like looking at a couple of DINKs who are career civil servants today.
Seeing The Waltons makes me want to move to a slightly more rural location where I can keep chickens, bees and have more space to grow food. Not because I want to do those things, but because I’d feel better if I had a way to get eggs, honey and other foodstuffs without depending on anyone.
And this is from a city boy who never stepped in poop that wasn’t canine. I’m not talking a large working farm, but just a place a little more rural like our host’s.
“I know it makes good click bait, but articles like this are the height of irresponsibility.”
+1,000 There’s a lotta crap out there; concentrate on responsible info/intel sources that help us take care of the basic human needs. Certain Toob channels are good for showing what works and what doesn’t. Sootch is one of them, also the Hickocks, father and son, and Colion Noir. I’m OK with Kyle Lamb and Viking Tactics but I know he rubs some folks the wrong way.
“Looking at a family that owns a small working farm at that time would be like looking at a couple of DINKs who are career civil servants today.”
Agreed; there was a lot of suffering and pain during that era for a LOT of people. And ironically both sets of my grandparents got by because one grandfather was the water commissioner for the city of New Bedford (after his Great War service) and the other was a mailman. And they kept those jobs for decades. Furthermore, in the first case, my aunt worked full-time, too, to help out, as did my other aunt in the other family, commuting to and from Boston and Fairhaven every day on the BUS. Even my ancient great-aunt pitched in, working at a department store and a movie theater.
And we’ve seen more than we would like of DINK couples up here working state, town, county and city gummint jobs. Also LOTS of failed lawyers from elsewhere.
“Is it possible to can a cat?”
Foul blasphemy, pilgrim! Do not fuck with that cat! Unless you don’t mind being overrun with rodents and other vermin.
The only rodents around are rock chipmunks. They are cute.
@OFD,
That article is nothing but clickbait. Strawman argument, and from someone who isn’t very bright or just doesn’t understand what ‘money’ is and how it works.
‘Money’ is a store of value and a medium of exchange.
It allows you to store up your work output (your life) and use it later, and it makes getting things for your work easier.
Anything that does those two things is good money. Anything that doesn’t is bad money.
But to his argument. “I lost money on this investment so it’s a bad idea.” Had he bought at a LOWER price I think his argument might be different 🙂 Lots of people bought at a lower price. AND since he hasn’t sold his coin, he hasn’t actually lost anything. He doesn’t understand the difference between paper losses and actual losses.
“But the government can make gold worth nothing by making it illegal and setting an exchange rate!!!1111!!” Also not true, the value of the gold didn’t change, only the official rate of exchange did. The legality of holding it didn’t change its value either, it just made it harder or riskier to own and exchange it. AND again, he doesn’t understand that if you don’t actually sell at the low price you haven’t lost anything. The argument is also irrelevant as the government can just as easily outlaw whatever else he suggests holding, whether it be guns and ammo, or “excess hoarded” food.
Then follows 4 paragraphs where he proves that he doesn’t understand markets, economics, history, or the definition of currency or refugee, and conflates at least 3 different scenarios into one mish mash.
Consider for a moment those “refugees from the Nazis who tried to smuggle diamonds in hopes of escaping and using diamonds as currency”. Firstly, they (if they existed outside of novels) were hoping to use the diamonds as a store of wealth not currency. They were hoping that when they arrived at some safe haven, they would be able to use some of their stored LIFE to reestablish themselves in society. Diamonds and gold both work well for that throughout history (although it was other gems and not diamonds if you go back past the modern age.) Secondly, consider that same refugee arriving in New York as a DP. Is his situation better with a couple ounces of gold or diamonds up his ass, or a roll of Deutschmarks?
“Where did most of that diamond wealth end up? How much was it really worth to the refugees?” IF he’s confusing the word ‘refugee’ with someone who ended up in a camp, instead leaving in time, it ended up in the hands of their captors. If he’s talking about real refugees, it was as valuable as life itself if it bribed a border guard to overlook a passport issue, or paid the ship captain who carried his family across the river or the sea. It was worth years of backbreaking manual labor if it allowed him to establish a business in his new home. In other words, it was priceless.
Enough about Dan Zimmerman’s poor comprehension skills.
What good is owning gold?
It is a store of value. For the prepper, it’s not an ‘investment’. There are people who buy and sell metals as ‘investments’ but it is really more like gambling and the actual metal rarely moves from owner to owner. Those people are gamblers, not preppers.
Preppers store gold as a way to preserve wealth thru some period of time when there is a big change. Gold is exchangeable for currency now, and whatever the currency is in 40 or 100 years, gold will still be exchangeable. This has been true all over the world and all thru history. Piles of Mountain House, or 30-06 ammo, probably not.
Gold has intrinsic value as an industrial metal, especially in a technological society, and value as an adornment. Every culture that knew gold used it as jewelry and gave it value beyond what they gave to a rock or stick or cow.
Gold historically has a high value to mass ratio. This is a critical consideration for a prepper. Bugging out or becoming a refugee, or even emigrating is a whole lot easier with portable, concealable wealth. You can carry many ounces of gold easily, and even more as jewelry. The equivalent in ammo? Canned goods? Nope.
Gold can be and has been used as a medium of exchange, and as currency. Ferfal’s experiences in Argentina prove that, as well as most of recorded history. Ferfal suggests holding a part of your gold as chains– necklaces and bracelets (in the US in the trade this is called “broken gold”). This avoids a confiscation of coins (although that is fighting the last war, who says some new confiscation wouldn’t be different from the last?) and is easier to convert in small amounts. His key takeaway for me was that you can sell a necklace an inch at a time.
Gold is also durable. Most other ‘trade goods’ are not. Fire, water, rodents, heat, cold, or just time will destroy most things. Not gold.
Yes there may be a Mad Max, zombie apocalypse where gold is laying around for the taking from thousands of corpses. For a while. Then trade and exchange will reassert themselves as they always have. Even warlords want trinkets for their bed slaves. See George Hill’s Uprising series for a ZA with gold lying in the streets, for one possible scenario. [hint, as order is restored, the new .gov starts minting coins. gold coins.] [same thing happens in John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising series]
Gold has a place in every prepper’s plans. Understanding what it will and won’t do, is critical for good planning, as is having an understanding of the different possible and LIKELY scenarios that you are prepping for. Like all of prepping (and life) balance is needed. Get your immediate needs taken care of. Beans bullets bandaids, then bullion.
nick
”
The only rodents around are rock chipmunks. They are cute.
”
But are they TASTY??
n
(daughter is playing minecraft in ‘survival mode’ which she likes because she can make pigs, then kill them and get the meat.)
A light dusting of BT will quickly do in those worms. However I wouldn’t bother with broccoli either unless you’re just experimenting for rough times. Home grown has nothing to offer over store bought.
“Seagate Introduces a 60TB SSD – Is a 3.6PB Storage Pod Next?”
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/seagate-60tb-ssd-36pb-storage-pod-next/
Wow, welcome to the future:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/seagate-ssd-60tb-sas-flash,32426.html
And I did not realize that Samsung had released a 16 TB SSD for $10,000:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-ssd-flash-micron-china,32347.html
I am going to speculate that if SHTF, that the exchange value of gold will drop at least temporarily. For a short time, almost everyone who has gold will be wanting to sell it and a few shrewd individuals will be buying. Yes, gold is a lot more portable than 24 cans of chicken from Costco, but the gold is also not nearly as useful in a SHTF scenario.
My advice to any beginning prepper is the same. Don’t focus on one thing; cover all the bases equally and incrementally. Too many beginning preppers have tunnel vision. I frequently exchange email with people who have a slew of guns and ammunition but no food or water put by, and the converse. As I tell them, one can’t eat or drink guns and ammo, and one can’t defend oneself very well by throwing cans of vegetables. The trick is to buy some of each thing you need when starting out, and then gradually expand all categories until you’re where you want to be.
Lynn’s top ten prepping items of this moment (subject to change by the second)
1. water
2. food (canned then LTS (long term storage: Augason, etc))
3. guns
4. ammo
5. a means of cooking
6. a place to pee and poop
7. a means of generating light
8. a means of generating heat (here in the south, we call that the Sun but we do need heating for three months a year)
9. drugs for us old people
10. ???
The first goal is getting to 30 days storage. The second goal is 60 days. The third goal is 90 days. I am somewhere between 60 and 90 days as I figure that the Cat 5 hurricane damage will have resolved itself by then. If not, we are screwed here as the rampaging hordes will be on the move long before that.
Jeeze if 16TB cost $10K what the hell will that 60TB cost? Better buy the extended warranty. (yes I realize that would be an enterprise product.)
A neighbor’s giant cat keeps sleeping on my back wall annoying our wiener dog. Is it possible to can a cat? Long term prepping, you see.
See “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. Book or movie.
https://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307387895/
“Yes, gold is a lot more portable than 24 cans of chicken from Costco, but the gold is also not nearly as useful in a SHTF scenario.”
Missing the point. Different scenarios, different needs, different tools. Gold is a tool to get you PAST your current SHTF.
If your SHTF has you leaving your home and preps, all the canned chicken in the world won’t help.
If your SHTF is a stock market collapse with a bank run and subsequent ‘bail in’ every dollar you thought you had saved is GONE DADDY GONE. You might get some back later, but you can’t count on it.
If your SHTF is hyperinflation (happened before, will happen again) your cash is gonna be worth less every day. Your canned food will help, but it won’t pay your electric bill, or your taxes, or for the penicillin for your sick kid. Another big takeaway from Ferfal’s book is that in most SHTF, life goes on. It just sucks more. You will need something you can turn into currency on a daily or as needed basis. Do you really want to be selling FOOD?
nick
From my FEMA newsletter:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body’s temperature rises rapidly, sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down.
Do you know the signs of heat stroke? While warning signs may vary, symptoms may include:
An extremely high body temperature (above 103 degrees Fahrenheit);
Red, hot, and dry skin (no sweating);
Rapid, strong pulse; and
Dizziness.
According to the CDC, if someone experiences signs of a heat stroke, have someone else call for immediate medical assistance while you begin cooling the person by:
Getting him or her to a shady area; and/or
Immersing the person in a tub of cool water, placing him or her in a cool shower, or spraying the person with cool water from a garden hose.
Be sure to monitor the person’s body temperature, and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops to 101-102 degrees Fahrenheit. If emergency medical personnel are delayed, call the hospital emergency room for further instructions. Don’t give the victim fluids to drink.
If emergency treatment isn’t provided, heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability. To learn more about this and other heat-related illnesses, visit the CDC website.
Selco’s experiences in the former Yugoslavia bear this out, plus WATER. Especially in urban areas and places where you’re dependent on town or city water supply.
Clean water is almost impossible to get unless you have civilization OR have prepped for the apocalypse. For instance, the clean water in our 15,000 person subdivision comes from the aquifer below us. Our three subdivision well pumps are 400 hp each and over 2,000 ft down. Takes a lot of electricity to run those.
My office property has its own well. That is a 3 hp well pump about 160 ft down that can pump 30 gpm. Needs around 230 volt at 6 kw to operate.
This is why I now maintain 120 cases of 24 bottle 0.5 L cases at the house. A Cat 5 hurricane in the Houston area will absolutely devastate the area for four weeks, maybe eight weeks. In the absolute worst case scenarios, maybe six months if you get storm surge in your property (wave action is very damaging to a house).
BTW, with all of the flooding from the recent Brazos river new high level since 1957, the cities around here are now requiring that people raise the foundations of their home one foot above the peak flood level in order to get rebuilding permit(s).
Jeeze if 16TB cost $10K what the hell will that 60TB cost? Better buy the extended warranty. (yes I realize that would be an enterprise product.)
One of the articles said that they could get the Seagate 16 TB SSD for $7,000 in quantity. They also extrapolated that the 60 TB SSD will be $20,000. Bring your big checkbook.
I know a guy who design builds 2U SSDs NAS for IBM in the size of 60 TB to 300 TB. They are sold out forever. Big server farms (Amazon, NSA, etc) need ultra high speed storage and the demand is infinite.
BTW, one of the long term prepping problems is when the local warlord stops by for his protection money. Gonna happen somewhere between three months and twelve months after “the event”. He will gladly take your water and food. And your silver and gold. Gonna be hard to stop him. I am not sure how to handle this situation as it gets desperate in a hurry.
I’m not missing the point. I’m actually starting to consider buying some gold, although I may buy some junk silver coins first. Both of those would have been unthinkable to me a year ago. I’m thinking that silver and/or gold are now number ten on my list of ten things to do to be more prepared. I’m still way too far away from that.
My primary, and not well stated point is that it is far better to buy prepping stuff with cash now than to try to make up for it post SHTF with gold.
Your canned food will help, but it won’t pay your electric bill, or your taxes
Neither will gold. No one would be set up to take payments in gold as it would be impossible to know the purity, weight and value to the exact amount. It the fecal material is that far into the rotating wind machine I would not gives a rat’s rear end about paying the electrical bill or taxes.
And on another note. As part of my quest to stay somewhat busy during my retirement (last day in office on August 4) I signed up to be a substitute teacher at the local high school. My wife has done it for 28 years. I have been involved in school sports photography for about the last 15 years. The teachers know me, the kids know me, last year the school (actually the annual staff) dedicated the annual to my wife and I. Nice surprise.
Anyway, I have my first subbing job tomorrow. This allows me to not work if I don’t want to work, pays a small amount ($60 a day) but the money is not that important. It is a small school with only 300 students. The bookies at the school are giving me a week before I quit in frustration.
The Samsung 4TB SSD is now down to $1500 on Amazon.
“My primary, and not well stated point is that it is far better to buy prepping stuff with cash now than to try to make up for it post SHTF with gold.”
THAT I can get behind. Like I said, gold is only a part of the story, but an important part in a whole bunch of scenarios.
nick
“…and one can’t defend oneself very well by throwing cans of vegetables.”
And yet you’re about to elect one to defend the free world… 😉
Spook recalls when he had job(s) and boss(es) …
http://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2016/08/11
@Ray Thompson
“Your canned food will help, but it won’t pay your electric bill, or your taxes
Neither will gold. No one would be set up to take payments in gold as it would be impossible to know the purity, weight and value to the exact amount. ”
Straw man argument. I never said that. Again, you can look at ACTUAL HISTORIC FACT and see that having gold to turn into currency works. It works in every neighborhood in America every day of the week. There are businesses in every neighborhood who are IN FACT set up to determine weight, purity, and value in a daily fluctuating currency– US Dollars. They do it every day. They are called ‘pawn shops’, ‘currency exchanges’, and ‘cash for gold’ stores. Millions of people use their services every day, exchanging gold they got some time in the past for currency to use today to pay their bills. There is no reason to expect that that won’t continue, and every reason, including history, to expect it will.
If you (anyone) haven’t read Ferfal’s book, https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving-Economic/dp/9870563457 you should move it to the top of your list. It is filled with what used to be called ‘home truths’ about actually living in one of the most likely SHTF scenarios. It’s available online in other places, google if you can’t afford the $23. There are some surprising things in the book and some great insights. Where I think he does poorly is on the topic of self defense. Where he does best, slice of life observations. For home truths about life during irregular warfare and civil breakdown in a modern city, read Selco. Between the two you will cover the 2 most likely scenarios, both of which share many characteristics with major disasters.
“It the fecal material is that far into the rotating wind machine I would not gives a rat’s rear end about paying the electrical bill or taxes.”
That’s a bit shortsighted. One thing we can see from history is that these SHTF times WILL PASS. Another is that .gov tends to ‘double down’ before the end. Do you really want to be sitting in the dark because you didn’t pay your electric bill? Or have the bank or the city get the sheriff to throw you out of your house? Or find, three years later, that they expect you to get caught up on your taxes now that the crisis is over and they’ve knocked three zeros off the new currency? There are places where all those things have happened. And they’ve happened here too, other than the 3 zeros…
nick
“And yet you’re about to elect one to defend the free world”
right, ’cause only a mental defective can rack up a net worth in the billions and enough personal fame to be instantly recognized on every continent….
I guess that’s what I’ve been doing wrong, should have injected some acid into my frontal lobes.
Dang.
n
From my emergency management newsletter:
the link:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjLiLj9l7rOAhVI3GMKHSpTAAMQFggrMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhomeland.house.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F08%2FAugust-Terror-Threat-Snaphot.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEC6f1IkXw4ODbO5cwk1tGLHQH4hg&sig2=TDusPKVPcyqI9iUa45XDfQ
“I guess that’s what I’ve been doing wrong, should have injected some acid into my frontal lobes.”
I assumed he was talking about Cankles; her behavior lately tends more in the vegetative direction than cheeto-head’s does.
I’ll continue with the hard goods and skillz and the silver and gold is down the list a ways. It may just be easier to steal it at some point. (Not advocating that, of course, ahem, ahem…)
Interview for the IT job probably a bust; they want an “internet business engineer” to hit the ground running immediately with a bunch of customer sites running everything under the sun, do Winblows help desk chit over the phone or on-site somewhere in the state, and also work on major projects involving cutting-edge chit. Not my cup of tea anyway, and probably no bennies, like med insurance, which is the most critical thing for my wife right now.
Back to the drawing board for other revenue so we can at least AFFORD med insurance as it heads toward being more than our mortgage. And pay for yet another year of college and European tours for Princess.
Hah, funny that I assumed trump, as I guess I have internalized the idea that Hillarity can’t win.
If he meant Hillarity, in light of her obvious brain damage, it’s possibly, unfortunately, accurate, except that whole “elect her” part.
If she does manage to take the throne, it won’t be because the people ‘elected her’, but through fraud and dirty tricks.
n
Interview for the IT job probably a bust;
If I may suggest, buddy. Give up on the corporate IT gigs. Like Scott Adams says “who’s going to hire a 62 year old hippy looking geezer.” Focus on local assist. Schools, small biz, personal IT help. Put up a bunch of biz cards in all the local spots. Pick up some change here and there and keep your skills sharp. Any local colleges looking for part time IT, etc. Just an idea for my hero.
I’m with MrAtoz, for whatever reason, the jobs are not going to people like us. Start focusing on the alternative income stream.
Not counting buying time, I don’t spend a whole bunch of time on my selling business, and it is steady, if not spectacular. I know too that if I ramp up my time, I’ll increase the sales too.
Think about a clever doo dad you could make, or some sort of craft or decor item. I know a guy here in Houston that makes ‘birdhouse like objects’ in that they LOOK like birdhouses but aren’t. He gets the materials for free- old tin, old fence boards- makes random variations on a theme (as far as the design goes) and sells as many as he can make. He works out of his shop at home, until he gets tired. They bring in good money too.
There is always a way. Some will work out, some won’t, so you gotta start trying to find the ones that work.
nick
I have just over a month to figure out who is going to hire a 51 year old geezer who isn’t a hippie.
That’s such a good idea, I might steal it.
“…I guess I have internalized the idea that Hillarity can’t win.”
Best git that outch yer mind, son. Because as you say:
“If she does manage to take the throne, it won’t be because the people ‘elected her’, but through fraud and dirty tricks.”
Which they been workin’ on OT and thinkin’ up new ones, too, via one of their major bosses, Mr. G. Soros, who has taken an active part thereby. But remember when everyone lost their minds over the Koch brothers?
Funny thing: I was in for my PT this AM at the local med center, and my “trainer” or whatever she is, a roly-poly short person but very good with the exercise techniques and pleasant to talk with, started in on the Klinton Krime Family Foundation and how they ain’t being investigated, so we commiserated on that chit for a few minutes, you know, one law for most of us serfs and no law at all for the Cloud People. And the two guys I see on Mondays down at the dump/recycling center are all over this stuff; I keep the yak up at their level rather than go into my “extreme” right-wing views and theological beliefs, no need to frighten people, amirite? And my trainer’s hubby is a retired local cop; their son just got stopped by a dick-head in another town who gave the kid a hard time for his CCW which the kid fessed up to immediately, all over the alleged too-dark tint of his windows. I told her that we needn’t bother fessing up to CCW for minor chit like that; OTOH, if it looks like they’re gonna pull ya from the car, that’s the time to let them know. You got it, where it’s at on you, etc. And of course as dick-head ought to fucking know, we don’t need no stinkin’ permits or licenses here for CCW or OCW.
“Give up on the corporate IT gigs. Like Scott Adams says “who’s going to hire a 62 year old hippy looking geezer.””
He said that? Cool. My next-younger brother and wife have been telling me the same thing; I was just doing a sort of last-gasp due diligence caper here today. The remark about “hippy looking geezer.”? I RESEMBLE that! I’ve toyed with the idea of cutting my hair but fuck it; cue up that old CSN Steve Stills song from long ago. When it goes gray I’ll cut it; so far no sign of ANY gray, lol.
“Schools, small biz, personal IT help. Put up a bunch of biz cards in all the local spots. Pick up some change here and there and keep your skills sharp. Any local colleges looking for part time IT, etc. Just an idea for my hero.”
Roger that, will do, just to keep a paw in, and we use IT at the house here anyway and I’m about to kick that up a few notches soon. Hero, schmero. Just a bottom-feeder-level machine gunner, dime a dozen, murdering peasants for Uncle in THEIR country when I shoulda been doing it in Mordor. (I don’t mention this view around the other vets much, either, lol, bums them out….) OTOH, they were commies.
“There is always a way. Some will work out, some won’t, so you gotta start trying to find the ones that work.”
Roger that, will do. Will post the relevant bumf here as I get going with stuff. What works here may not work as well in Sugarland or Chicagoland and vice-versa. And what works this year may not next year, vice-versa. The days of a nice steady pay check with periodic boner checks, free training, beer-and-blue-jeans Fridays, etc., are long gone; I guess some of us saw the last of them.
But yeah, working for corporate asswipes sucks rocks nowadays; avoid if possible. And that means you young lurkers out there, too!
“That’s such a good idea, I might steal it.”
Ditto. I’m working on the cards as we “speak.”
Another card soon for the firearms.
As regards to doing ANY kind of work for the local schools, be advised that up here they put you through the Pervert Wringer, with paperwork, background checks, etc., etc. before they’ll let you anywhere near their precious cupcakes. I have no worries on that score but it’s a giant PITA, and somehow the genuine pervs always get through.
He said that?
Paraphrasing his blog entry on Cankles/tRump.
MrsAtoz started out, and will still use, the biz card as promotion. We also have a bunch of flyers, media folders, etc. We’ve never had an advertising company. Her company has been grossing 7 figures for 15 years now. Most goes out to consultants. We’re proud of how many people we employ. Our personal taxes fund a fukload of welfare queens I’m sure. I’ve almost got her not to vote for Canklesore. Every time Killary opens her yap it’s about raising taxes and much she’s gonna spend. We’re already in the top tax bracket, might as well take it all and go full commie.
I have no worries on that score but it’s a giant PITA
Yep, now multiply that times every State you work in that has different systems of background checks. CA was miserable. Now CA wants programs schools buy to be “certified by Universities”. WTF, over? Another money making scheme by the State.
Thankee kindly, amigo; all noted and appreciated.
I’ve almost got Mrs. OFD to stick only to state, county and town elections now. But I have no real way of knowing what she actually does on the next Day of Infamy. So we’ll just let Cankles keep putting her big fat fucking hoof in her diseased gob, where that big hole is, from whatever, probably an S&M nail or ring driven through by Princess Huma.
“Another money making scheme by the State.”
Almost certainly. It would be nice to ID the people who dream up this stuff and implement it and enforce it…… for future reference.
Don’t forget to do a DBA (Doing Business As) if your using a business name and not setting up an LLC. I’d also suggest a separate checking and savings account for the business to keep it separate from personal stuff. All business transactions go into the checking account. Makes the books simpler. Every time you bring money home from the business, put at least 25% into savings, and send the money in the savings account to Uncle Sam quarterly.
Yep, if I want to volunteer with my kids I gotta go thru the BG check again, that despite one for the CHL, one for the Citizen’s Police Academy, one for work, one for giant oil company as a subcontractor (and piss test), and best of all, one LAST year when I signed up to volunteer.
n
WRT business, yes on the DBA. You will need it when you apply for your Grainger account. What you say? Why do I need a Grainger account? ‘Cuz it’s business to business sales, and they got stuff you just can’t walk in and buy at other places. Set it up as a ‘cash only’ account which includes credit cards and they won’t run your business’ credit.
WRT business banking, your personal bank might have some onerous fees for business accounts and they probably won’t accept deposits in your business name. Someone will have free business accounts, find them. There is no reason to pay for business checking, but every reason to have a business checking account. Don’t bother buying checks either, unless you know for a fact that you will use them. (You’ll need your DBA at the bank too.)
nick
I just suddenly realized that Huma’s number one job is changing Hillary’s crappy diapers. Gross !
“Don’t forget to do a DBA (Doing Business As) if your using a business name and not setting up an LLC. I’d also suggest a separate checking and savings account for the business to keep it separate from personal stuff. All business transactions go into the checking account. Makes the books simpler. Every time you bring money home from the business, put at least 25% into savings, and send the money in the savings account to Uncle Sam quarterly.”
Copy that, Mr. Dave; I have the LLC set up already and am taking online classes with our bank on small biz stuff, biz accounting, etc. We also have a big tax nut with the state and the Feds to clear up, but yeah, the first 25% is going into OUR savings, which will be in the form of CASH. Period. THEN 30% to the Feds quarterly. The rest toward house and vehicle stuff. Wife has to START putting 30% of her pay into the Fed savings account and I will bring this up AGAIN when she gets back. I tire of always being the point man with this stuff here; give the poor old point guy a break.
“Yep, if I want to volunteer with my kids I gotta go thru the BG check again…”
It’s an obvious racket so that $ crosses as many palms as possible; if they were honorable sons of bitches instead of grifters and thieves, there would be ONE BG that ought to suffice to cover a multitude of activities. Run it once a year. None of this BG for every Tom, Dick and Harry on the fucking landscape with their hands out.
“‘Let refugees into your homes’ France pleads with citizens to help ease migrant crisis”
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/699096/migrant-crisis-Calais-France-refugees-Emmanuelle-Cosse
“There are currently 147 reception centres across France, but these are in massive demand as desperate refugees continue to flee the Middle East.”
“Housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse has pledged to built a further 50 centres before the end of next month in a desperate bid to ease the crisis.”
What are they building these “reception centres” out of, balloons and cardboard ?
“”If things work out, the migrant will remain in the person’s home for a minimum of two weeks, and for up to nine months.””
I wonder how many refugees are living in her home ?
I wonder how many refugees are living in her home ?
Ditto every libturd from Obola on down.
Hey, Mr. OFD, have you ever considered Personal Firearms Instructor?
I ask because there are a shitload of them in the Vegas area. I didn’t know why when we moved here, but found out rapidly. There are a shitload of “gun stores” here also. They all teach classes on stuff. The first one I went to, I swear, the first guy behind the counter had three teeth in his head and looked rather scruffy. The next shop I went to was to check on their range. The guy smelled like beer and piss. I kid you not. Another one I walked around for 5 minutes before anyone showed up. I ended up going to the big one here “The Gun Store”. They have ads all over. I didn’t want to go to a real popular place trying to keep a low profile. Guess what? Professional dressed (Gun Store shirts), professionally groomed, competent one on one service. I bought some “stuff” there.
Bottom line, there’s a need for Private Firearms Instructors. You could charge $100/day for one on one instruction. Weekends only. Family discount. They all do that here and stay in business. Extra scratch for something you know about.
If you (anyone) haven’t read Ferfal’s book,
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving-Economic/dp/9870563457
you should move it to the top of your list. It is filled with what used to be called ‘home truths’ about actually living in one of the most likely SHTF scenarios. It’s available online in other places, google if you can’t afford the $23. There are some surprising things in the book and some great insights. Where I think he does poorly is on the topic of self defense. Where he does best, slice of life observations. For home truths about life during irregular warfare and civil breakdown in a modern city, read Selco. Between the two you will cover the 2 most likely scenarios, both of which share many characteristics with major disasters.
I put it in my cart. I suspect that I have read it already though as it sounds familiar. Basically, get out of the city before things get bad. Not before things get really bad.
If I remember correctly, his self defense advice was don’t be out wandering the streets. Only go outside when one absolutely has to. And if you get into trouble, run away !
EDIT: Oh wait, I was thinking of the Serbian guy. I don’t think that I have read anything by a Argentinian guy.
You know, I used to have customers in Argentina. I don’t anymore since it is so hard to pay us. I still have customers in Greece and it is getting harder and harder for them to pay us. And my customers in India are finding it more difficult to pay us. Face it, capital controls are being established all over the place.
Bottom line, there’s a need for Private Firearms Instructors. You could charge $100/day for one on one instruction. Weekends only. Family discount. They all do that here and stay in business. Extra scratch for something you know about.
Sounds like a Personal Fitness Trainer. Personal Firearms Trainer ! $75/hour.
As regards to doing ANY kind of work for the local schools, be advised that up here they put you through the Pervert Wringer, with paperwork, background checks, etc., etc.
Had to get a background check and fingerprinted to be a sub. Cost $38 which will get reimbursed on my first sub job, which is tomorrow.
The schools, and churches, and anyone dealing with kids has to have the background check. It is called due diligence and helps shield the organization from large lawsuit awards. They will still get sued, but it is more difficult to get money if the organization has performed the necessary background checks.
“Hey, Mr. OFD, have you ever considered Personal Firearms Instructor?”
Yes indeed, sir. I’m signing up for a series of NRA certified courses at the local range up the road, and at least three (pistol, rifle and shotgun) will be at the instructor level; on another front I have an ongoing class in CCW Instructor, plus paperwork enroute for two states that have multiple CCW reciprocity with over 30 other states. I’m also pals with a guy about 15 miles east of here who builds ARs and has his own genuine monster CNC machine. I clued him in to Linux and IT security chit a while back, but he’s been outta commission with recent haht surgery. His place is wired/secured/cammed-up six ways from Sunday.
This will all tie in nicely with my other firearms biz enterprises in-progress, to wit, the LLC, and paperwork being sent off for the FFL and Class III. Indeed, some gun shops are a disgrace in terms of displays and personnel on the premises; I’ve found that the personable and friendly guys who don’t talk down to you or ignore you are in about two shops up here. One guy is over on the same Champlain island where Sanders has bought his McMansion and long ago was an Oakland, CA LEO. He was also in SEA the same time I was but as a freaking TOURIST. He used to see the smoke and hear the artillery and bombing and machine gun fire where he was staying.
“They will still get sued, but it is more difficult to get money if the organization has performed the necessary background checks.”
I realize all that but there needs to be ONE overriding credentialing authority that does ONE effin BG and you renew it annually and whichever organization demanded it, PAYS for it.
I realize all that but there needs to be ONE overriding credentialing authority that does ONE effin BG and you renew it annually and whichever organization demanded it, PAYS for it.
It would probably be owned by the Clinton Foundation.
It would probably be owned by the Clinton Foundation.
Hey, we can call it the:
Clinton
Unified
National
Tracking
Service
That’s a cool service your bank offers, don’t know if ours does anything like that.
Two more things I meant to mention:
1. You want your LLC to be a disregarded entity, so that you have the best of both worlds. That is the legal protections of a corporation, but the tax status of a sole proprietorship or partnership.
2. Second, if you haven’t already opened your bank account, you might want to apply for an EIN so that you have a different number other than your SSN to give any business contacts. If you have to fill out a 1099 for someone, or someone has to fill out one for you.
Please note, I am not a lawyer and I’m not a CPA either. So take my advice with an 18 kilogram bag of Sodium Chloride. For all I know, using an EIN instead of your SSN for your LLC could preclude you from being a disregarded entity.
“Hey, we can call it the:”
Naughty, naughty, MrAtoz!
And yeah, such an operation would of course be organized and totally controlled by some new commissar or other; no shortage of rumpswabs willing to fill the position. Or is that “assume the position?,” I forget.
Huma fits the acronym.
“1. You want your LLC to be a disregarded entity, so that you have the best of both worlds. That is the legal protections of a corporation, but the tax status of a sole proprietorship or partnership.”
Done.
“2. Second, if you haven’t already opened your bank account, you might want to apply for an EIN so that you have a different number other than your SSN to give any business contacts.”
Done.
The only fly in the ointment is checking off monthly tax forms online for the state even before I have any income to report, plus they’re already hassling me with mistaken claims for taxes, which I have to deal with tomorrow or next week.
I have a side LLC that hasn’t done any business, but have to file all kinds of forms, under penalty of penalties. lol! We just got hit with a new tax in NV called the Commerce Tax. At least it starts at $4 million on up, but you still have to file. I guess Harry Reid needs some retirement income.
The “Can’t Make This Shit Up” department:
North Carolina remains in the spotlight as home to the most preposterous arguments over not only privacy issues, but the subject of “transgender children” as well. The latest news to pop up this week was a pending decision by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System (CMS) to adjust their policies so that teachers and administrators will no longer refer to students as boys or girls.
That’s the one thing that has me dreading the starting of an LLC. Each level of government having their own tax system(s). At least I’m planning on not selling anything physical, so as long as that holds out, I don’t have to collect sales tax. I’m not actually going to hire anyone so that simplifies things. In my state, it costs less than $100 to file for an LLC, and you have to file a report every other year that costs less than $50. I’m sure there will be more forms and fees, but I’m trying to keep it to a minimum.
Hillary’s
Uterine
Maintenance
Assistant
@ Lynn re: “You know, I used to have customers in Argentina. I don’t anymore since it is so hard to pay us.”
There is a hugely different government now that was voted in less than a year ago. Things have changed considerably. It may be a non-issue nowadays to pay overseas suppliers.
You could (should?) probably contact them again if it was good business.
Lynn, you should do business with firms in Rio. They’ll be able to pay you in hookers. Fat, ugly hookers, judging by the ads shown in some articles on the subject.
Or do business with Venezuelan firms. They’ll be able to pay you in other people’s money, like all socialists and commies.
From the Bad Moon Rising Department:
http://buchanan.org/blog/yes-system-rigged-125529
And from the Remember When We Had Bangs Department:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iRNVwslM4
They’ll be able to pay you in hookers. Fat, ugly hookers, judging by the ads shown in some articles on the subject.
Some may even be women.
Yikes!
Mrs. OFD just called from Kerrville, TX and reports it was 110 all day. “You can’t go out.” I told her to stop whining and get USED TO IT. Her husband humped the Pig in that chit w/100% humidity, plus ammo, plus grenades and saved the hemisphere from communism!
She’ll be home Saturday night, just in time to enjoy the four or five days of “heavy” rain we’re about to get starting tomorrow, which is BADLY needed here. I’m gonna sit out in it and look at the lake for a while when it hits. Then it’s back to house cleaning, installing the new a-c unit in the one window of the attic work space, and getting cracking on assembling stuff up there. I have a list of firearms and radio projects to work on and a bunch of paperwork to get out, for taxes, VA, and firearms.
And we need to clean out the master bedroom thoroughly and re-assemble and reconfigure that, plus I gotta fix some things in the bathroom. We’ll see how much I can get done over the next two weeks before she leaves for ten days in Ireland with Princess. Also gotta lay in more staples and canned goods and get some damn shelving together in the cellar. All good chit to do for rainy weather.
Almost every hooker I’ve ever seen in real life fit the fat ugly description. The notable exception was Calgary Canada. Those girls looked like movie hookers.
n
And we’ll do some actual canning, just because I haven’t canned in more than 40 years and I want to do a refresher course.
The Cook’s Illustrated people have a canning (“Foolproof Preserving”) that is a good way to get back into it. Many of the canning recipes have two versions – a non-canned version with a short “eat by” date and instructions on canning for long term storage. I’ve made dill pickles (from our cucumber plants), Earl Grey-blueberry preserves, blackberry-lemon verbena preserves, and pickled curried cauliflower from it. All are good. They even have a bacon jam, which is not suitable for long term storage, alas. It might be worth it’s weight in gold if things go pear shaped.
I don’t have a full canning setup yet, just doing the quick versions for now. I did avoid one of their suggestions and bought a plastic funnel at Walmart instead of a metal one. It break downs for dishwasher cleaning. I also bought some reusable plastic lids that are dishwasher safe and are suitable for short term use.
which is BADLY needed here
Haha! You funny for a WHITEY! man.
“Haha! You funny for a WHITEY! man.”
Certified class clown from first grade through senior year high skool graduation, mil-spec service, cops and IT “career,” lol. Got jammed up for it more than once, though. Worth it. Always worth it for boffo laffs.
It is hot and sticky here and the dawg is restless and panting and the cats stay out all night. Can’t wait for them heavy rains to kick in. Flash flood warning in effect for the whole AO here and beyond, into northern VT and northeast corner of the Vampire State and Quebec border. This could get interesting.
Vegas hookers range from Sandra Bullock to Cankles. Price, too.
From the Late-Night Boffo Laffs Department, Islamic Roulette, lol:
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/muslim-roulette-like-russian-roulette-but-with-six-bullets-t18343.html
Lefties don’t think this is funny. That’s another thing I don’t like about them; they have no sense of humor and if they DO have one, it’s always nasty and mean and about other people. Especially when spewed by fembat and minority “comics.”
“Vegas hookers range from Sandra Bullock to Cankles. Price, too.”
That suits one of our Oz correspondents perfectly.
Gotta pay for Sandra but Cankles has to pay YOU, even just to look at her picture. Medusa had nothing on HER.
Hookers in Saint Albans, VT? I suspect so; seen suspicious activity on our lovely Federal Street, which runs parallel to Main Street and abuts the railroad properties and multiple tracks. Always white, of course, and a couple not bad-looking. Walking disease farms, of course. Also noticed a couple of them from time to time in front of the new state office building and I was sorely tempted to ask if they were taking a break from their state job offices upstairs.
Hookers down in Burlap? I’m sure of it. Nothing like your big Murkan cities, though.
No, Islamic Roulette is when an Islamic man marries a woman and sees her face for the first time that night. Sometimes you win. Sometimes…
More than one Islamic man has filed for annulment or divorce the day after the wedding. I don’t think that “my wife is hideous” is valid grounds, though. Besides, it’s not like every Islamic man is cut out to be a movie star, know what I mean? And besides that, veils are part of their culture. As proper multiculturalists, we should be ready to force everyone in the world to follow the rules of their own culture and not accept any contradictions or foibles.
All a musloid has to do to divorce his wife is to say to her three times “I divorce you.” And it’s done. And no annulment or child support or alimony or any of that fairy Western chit. And if she gives him any back talk he beats the crap out of her. While the other manly musloid warrior heroes watch and smile approvingly, some of them having already done the same or killed a daughter because she was raped by him and his buddies.
What do we hear from Western fembats about all this? Crickets.
Her husband humped the Pig in that chit w/100% humidity, plus ammo, plus grenades and saved the hemisphere from communism!
I know what you mean but I wonder if the lady readers do ? The pig that DH is talking about is a 25 ??? pound machine gun. Plus another 10 to 20 lbs of ammo.
Local weather report here in the Olympic Peninsula has a ‘heat warning’ for tomorrow. Temps will be above 85F.
(Air conditioning is not widespread in many homes here, so there is some potential for heat-related problems among some.) Doesn’t bother me, though; I lived in Sacramento (CA) area for most of my life; late summer temps there were about 100F. And we had no AC when I was growing up, you young whippersnappers! (And get off my lawn!)
“‘Let refugees into your homes’ France pleads with citizens to help ease migrant crisis”
Funny how none of the people pleading for this are doing it themselves.
I also don’t understand the EU’s actions around Italy. They find these horribly over-filled boats, and rescue the people – which is fine and humanitarian. It’s what happens next, that I don’t understand: they take them to Italy. They ought to take them back to where their boat launched.
As someone pointed out in Tuesday’s thread, we’re seeing more folk coming over the Italian border, trying to sneak through Switzerland to get to Germany. It’s in range of hundreds per month, which is basically just a nuisance. They mostly get caught and sent back to Italy. What Italy is supposed to do with the teeming millions? That’s the problem in a nutshell, and why I don’t understand they way they handle the ships.
If the Italians were to sink the “refugee” boats and then machinegun the “refugees” in the water and then put the videos up for potential “economic refugees” to watch on the smartphones they all see to have, I imagine the problem would die right down. Same goes for the mobs battering at the fences on the Hungarian border and at Calais and elsewhere.
The “refugees” coming from the middle east and Somalia and Northern Africa are 80-90% young men. News flash: If they look like an invading army and they act like an invading army, they should be treated like an invading army.
No, Islamic Roulette is when an Islamic man marries a woman and sees her face for the first time that night. Sometimes you win. Sometimes…
No, Islamic Roulette is when an Islamic man marries a woman and sees her face for the first time that night after she shaves. You never win. Ever…
Fixed it for you.
Haters.