10:00 – Barbara is off to the gym and library. She was planning to take Bonnie into town to run some errands today, but Bonnie canceled. That was probably a good thing, since it’s currently raining, breezy, and just over freezing outside. When she gets back from the gym, she’s packing up to head down to Winston first thing tomorrow morning. She’ll stay with Frances and Al tomorrow night and head back to Sparta on Thursday. It’ll be wild women and parties for Colin and me.
The rest of my latest Walmart order arrived yesterday. A case of six #10 cans of Augason Farms Potato Shreds. It’s SOP around here. We just finished one can, so I ordered another case. Unusually for food that’s packaged for LTS, these potato shreds are actually cheaper than the Ore-Ida frozen hashbrowns that Barbara used to buy. A 23-ounce can costs $7.12, but by the time they’re rehydrated that 23 ounces turns into about four or five times that mass of the equivalent of fresh potatoes, or the equivalent of about three $3.00 32-ounce bags of the Ore-Idas.
Email overnight from Cassie. Although she voted for Trump, she’s concerned that Trump’s election increases the likelihood of severe problems in the short run, but she voted for Trump because she thinks that another four years or more of the progs running things would inevitably bring on complete collapse. Smart girl.
She and her husband have been busy, prepping on a budget. Their primary concern is food. She works as a checker at the local supermarket and has been buying significant amounts of bulk staples two or three times a week. The first couple of times no one thought that was strange, but as she says all of her coworkers now know that she’s a prepper. A couple of them have commented on it to her, and said they thought it was a good idea. Now one of them has started doing the same thing she’s doing. Between that and stuff they’re ordering from Walmart, Amazon, and Costco on-line, they’re now in pretty good shape. Cassie figures they’re up to at least a six-month supply for the two of them and plans to keep at it until they’re up to at least a one-year supply. The only thing she’s dreading is all the repackaging they have to do, which they haven’t gotten started on yet.
Dvořák Symphony No 9 “New World” Celibidache, Münchner Philharmoniker, 1991:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9RT2nHD6CQ
In this video, I’ve always been impressed by the musicians’ attitudes: calm but concentrated, in total sync, attentives..
And this evening I’ll enjoy a live classics concert – tree musicians there (a ‘room concert’ , ‘chamber recital’ ? not sure how it’s in english).
We call it chamber music.
” all of her coworkers now know that she’s a prepper.”
Depending on how bad it gets, and your tolerance for mooches, this can be a very bad thing…
It’s one argument for stocking up slowly, over time (if you feel you HAVE time) and for spreading purchases out physically across stores.
I had an interesting experience on Thanksgiving, a friend was over, who is politically aware, very clever, but not a prepper (despite years of my gentle prodding). When his wife saw (with her own eyes) how seriously I take it – she saw the stored food in the garage – it looked like a lightbulb finally went off in her mind. It’s one thing to talk politics and how things are going to shit, and the likelihood of a decline and period of troubles. Lots of people will casually talk about that. It’s something else entirely to see the lengths someone has gone to, and that they are actually ACTING on those beliefs, actually spending the money.
So I might have finally gained a prepper ally in my friend’s family, (they were on my list of ‘we will help these guys, and bring them in if needed’), which is the potential upside when someone finds out you are a prepper.
It can work both ways. Prudence suggests that the mooch to contributor ratio is very high, and that some people’s idea of prepping is taking note of who the preppers are. this is the standard admonition of “OPSEC!!” and it’s vs. “Meatspace baby!!”
Careful and cautious is the name of the game and both admonitions have their place.
n
If I was hard core, or lived on a rural property, I’d be bidding on this:
https://texmax.hibid.com/lot/28588453/mulch-chute/
I would call it a ‘sand bag filler’.
I don’t see me filling that many bags though.
n
“Depending on how bad it gets, and your tolerance for mooches, this can be a very bad thing…”
“It’s one argument for stocking up slowly, over time (if you feel you HAVE time) and for spreading purchases out physically across stores.”
I had the same reaction to that part of the story; it’s good to prep but also good to maintain some OPSEC. I do, in fact, spread my bulk food and water and firearms/ammo-related purchases around multiple stores up here, in a 40-mile radius. Even the regular several-times-a-week grocery shopping we do is like that.
But of course I’m an old paranoid SOB and have been for a very long time now; my therapists at the VA used to tell me I need to dial that back a lot but I don’t see any reason to, and I think they finally gave up on that idea. You can’t take a teenager and put them into the military police and spec ops roles in combat zones and then have them come out and do cop work back here for years and not have them become “hyper-vigilant” most of the time. Over 45 years.
Mrs. OFD on the other hand is almost at the other extreme; her only saving grace is that she spent early years living in NYC and working at Bellevue, and she’s now taken a stronger interest in learning the firearms. Plus she travels a lot to other cities and gets a POV developing from that, too.
Snow ain’t melting today; still cold and humid, we call that “raw” up here. A little wind would add some sportiness, but it’s pretty still outside.
We are a beautiful 65 F today in the Land of Sugar, heading for 70 F. It is going to get abysmally cold here Thursday night, down to 35 F.
And another continuous cost of owning a swimming pool, a new 2 hp circulation pump motor for $671, installed. It died Sunday afternoon.
Western NY is due for some Lake-effect, with heavier bands in the snow belt. Lake Erie is still 45 degrees, so plenty of moisture to provide interesting travels. I’m looking forward to a little XC skiing this winter. Last winter just sucked.
cruising the wife’s facebook while eating lunch and saw teh funny.
Suddenly the lefties are worried about a strong government and a militarized police force!
https://redpowermedia.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/military-style-raid-ends-native-prayer-against-dakota-pipeline/
Where was the outrage at Waco? Ruby Ridge? Boston? Waco again….
Hey snowflakes! This is what using the power of the government to make people do things they don’t want to do looks like. Still want that?
n
“Hey snowflakes! This is what using the power of the government to make people do things they don’t want to do looks like. Still want that?”
And two very pertinent takeways from that story:
1.) FaceCrack completely cooperates with the State in its security crackdowns and spying. How you like them apples, snowflakes?
2.) They whipsawed those people; on the one hand, Barry Soetero, the lame duck National Administrator pretends he likes them and loves hearing their voices; OTOH, the state authorities rolled out the heavily armed and costumed thugs to shut ’em down. So something to dislike for everyone there; betrayed by the Feds and rousted by the state.
So watch and learn, both snowflakes and law-and-order types: this chit can be done to YOU, too.
“And another continuous cost of owning a swimming pool…”
It must suck even worse for peeps who live up North, like here, and own swimming pools they can only use about two months a year, if that. Unless they’re really well-heeled and have a heated indoor pool, that is. We’ve got a bathtub and the outdoor hose if it ever gets above 90.
“I’m looking forward to a little XC skiing this winter. Last winter just sucked.”
Ditto. We got maybe four light snowstorms last winta and really only a few days here and there when it went down to single digits. The previous winta before that, though, we did get a bunch of snow and WEEKS of SUBZERO cold.
We’d like to get out for both x-c and snowshoeing and if we don’t get the snow down here we’re heading to Jay Peak for both those kinds of trails and also I believe I heard Mrs. OFD express a wish to get back on the alpine slopes again; she used to do the double black-diamond trails but would need to start again a bit below that now. I was a baby giraffe on ice-skates with the alpine skiing; much more suited to x-c and snowshoeing. Wanna try out the radios this winta; never got around to it last winter, and any warm weather hiking or canoeing we intended never happened, either, because of her schedule and/or me being functionally crippled for much more than a ten-minute walk around the grocery store.
http://jaypeakresort.com/skiing-riding/nordic-center/
It must suck even worse for peeps who live up North, like here, and own swimming pools they can only use about two months a year, if that. Unless they’re really well-heeled and have a heated indoor pool, that is. We’ve got a bathtub and the outdoor hose if it ever gets above 90.
If you ever drive north on 205 out of Portland, heading to the Vantucky (Vancouver, WA) side of the river on the Glenn Jackson bridge, keep an eye out for the outdoor in-ground swimming pool on a property (estate?) just to the right (East) of the bridge on the North bank of the Columbia. In four years living there, I never once saw that pool covered, and the water was always maintained, probably heated 24/7, ready for use, even if the highs never cracked the upper 20s.
Phil Knight crash pad for when he’s slumming in SW WA State?
It must suck even worse for peeps who live up North, like here, and own swimming pools they can only use about two months a year, if that. Unless they’re really well-heeled and have a heated indoor pool, that is. We’ve got a bathtub and the outdoor hose if it ever gets above 90.
I would like to have one of these sliding enclosures, even here in the Land of Sugar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQVYS0U5fu4
We get about 5 months worth May through September. Sometimes a little longer. 2hp motor sounds large, mines just 1hp and really should be .75hp. Put a fair amount of backpressure as the filter(de) gets dirty. Lose a pump every 3-5 years. Just take to the motor shop they rebuild with motor replacement for about $200. Change it myself. Simple as there are unions in the pipes and flex cable to a junction box with wire nuts.
a new 2 hp circulation pump motor for $671
I am on my third pump in 20 years. My pump is in the garage and is not exposed to the elements. Still fails. I get new pumps (1 HP) online and install them myself. The last pump that quit I took to a local electric motor shop and had it rebuilt for about $100. I now keep it as a spare.
Simple as there are unions in the pipes and flex cable to a junction box with wire nuts
Same here, except I have to wire directly into the pump. I also generally have to change the pump from 110V to 220V operation. A simple jumper change in the electrical connections.
I did have a sand filter explode on me. Turned the pump on, big bang as the filter split around the middle. I guess flexing over the years caused it to fail. It was a plastic (or something like plastic) filter. New sand filter is now some type of fiberglass. Thing still expands when I turn on the pump. I generally change the sand every three years. Requires 250 pound of sand. Removal of the old sand is a chore as that stuff is heavy when wet.
We get about 5 months worth May through September. Sometimes a little longer. 2hp motor sounds large, mines just 1hp and really should be .75hp.
That is about our swimming season, May through September. I’ve got a 400,000 btu/hr pool heater that will heat the spa to whatever temperature that you can stand.
I think that the pool pump motor is actually 1.5 hp. We have around 40,000 gallons of water in the pool and the spa, I need to calculate it someday.
http://images-68.har.com/e1/mediadisplay/68/hr3083968-29.jpg
Avoid crowds and “events.”
http://freedomoutpost.com/nc-man-shoots-2-in-christmas-parade/
(Sanford, North Carolina)
The perp’s name is one clue, I guess.
Ditto: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/12/05/palo-alto-apple-store-patched-up-after-smash-grab-robbery/
Guy at work, a politically and socially very liberal white guy in his early 30s, was arguing a couple days ago about unfair perceptions and biased treatment and blah blah blah. (More precisely, he was arguing. I just sat and smirked while he got more and more annoyed and worked up and frustrated.) Maybe the “perception” of criminality would be adjusted if once in a while we read about a Shaquan pulling some kids out of a burning building or something other than driving an SUV through a store front so that a couple dozen of his closest friends could steal tens of thousands of dollars of merch.
Isn’t there someone here that lives in Australia? Have a friend that needs to communicate with someone there (not sure why yet, can find out).
“Maybe the “perception” of criminality would be adjusted if once in a while we read about a Shaquan pulling some kids out of a burning building or something other than driving an SUV through a store front so that a couple dozen of his closest friends could steal tens of thousands of dollars of merch.”
Indeed. We all know what’s been going on but we let it slide and we keep our mouths shut for the most part. At some point, various flash points are very liable to flare up, and what happens then is anyone’s guess.
@RBT: Hey Bob, you catch this bit of nooz down your way?
http://www.startribune.com/man-charged-with-plotting-terror-attack-to-appear-in-court/403533666/
This character was planning a massacre somewhere around your neck of the woods.
In case anyone needed some reminder reading:
https://readfomag.com/2016/02/interview-former-seal-matt-bracken-talks-shtf-and-a-dirty-civil-war/
Just because Cheeto-Head got “elected” (and we still have to get through 12/19 and 01/20) does not mean all our worries are over. Fah from it.
https://survivalblog.com/section_133_rule_1830_rule_308/
“@RBT: Hey Bob, you catch this bit of nooz down your way?”
Yeah, Morganton is only about two hours south of us on US-18. Uncomfortably close to home.
Good ride this morning. A little chilly, but not too bad, except for the headwind. Last day for a while – snow starts tomorrow and will likely be here for a couple of days at least. Going home _should_ have the tailwind, but it’s uphill most of the way, so it will still be slower. Always is.
I think that the pool pump motor is actually 1.5 hp. We have around 40,000 gallons of water in the pool and the spa, I need to calculate it someday.
http://images-68.har.com/e1/mediadisplay/68/hr3083968-29.jpg
Nope, it is a 2.0 hp pump motor. Stout little beastie. Got the new one this morning.
RickH wrote:
“Isn’t there someone here that lives in Australia?”
Yeah, I do. That is, when I’m not in New Zealand humping sheep with SteveF… 🙂
To clarify Miles_Teg’s comment, my role in his sheep humping is solely as facilitator. I drive him to where he needs to be, provide plenty of liquor (for Miles_Teg, the shepherd, or the sheep; I’ve never asked), and make sure the camera crew is ready. After that, I take myself elsewhere until it’s time to bring Miles_Teg back home. If you watch the film to the very end, you’ll see I’m listed as one of the producers.