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justbizness45
03-31-2009, 04:44 AM
I decided to start a thread on preparing for a bad econmic outcome. I'm not talking about building bunkers full of guns, ammo and 20 years of food though. More are you stocking anything, buying metal or planting gardens more than normal.

What if anything are you doing to prep for bond market dislocation and the subsequent civil unrest and shortages? Personally I give it a 10-20% chance that I will need some of my preparations, but I am not stocking up on anything I can't use in the future if things get better. I call it hedging both ends. JTH, Alevin and I have been talking on JTH's thread but I decided to start a new one to see if there is any interest.

justbizness45
03-31-2009, 05:04 AM
Here what I have accumulated/thought of so far:

Enough ammo to hunt food for several months.
Stocked up on seeds/gardening supplies.
Canning and beer making supplies topped off.
I've started storing some food but could only get by for a week or two right now. Would like to have at least a month of staple products.
Stash of silver boullion/coin silver and cash in a lock box. I would have to get it out when things start south. I don't want to keep it in the house until I have to.
Radio's with all county emergency channels programmed in. FRS radios for family comms.
Extra batteries for radios
Water purifier hand pump - 1 qt/min. Remove giradia and all other microbes.


Still to do:

3- 55 gal drums to make rain catchers/fill from well.
50 gal gas for generator.
Complete food build up.
Extra bleach for batch water purification/storage.
More propane.

JTH
03-31-2009, 05:48 AM
For those not indoctrinated yet :rolleyes:

Bug Out - to scram, split, leave, get the hell outta here. Mostly reserved for younger folks who romance about living in the "great outdoors." The smarter ones only Bug Out if they have a solid destination such as a cabin in the woods (lucky bastards).

Bug In - For those who can't evacuate or choose to shelter in. Mostly people like me who have a wife with 3 kids and can't fit the kids and the ammo in the minivan at the same time. :suspicious:

BOB - Bug Out Bag. Just in case you need to evacuate quickly and never come back. An assortment of important items you have with you at all times or have nearby. Usually comprised of 1 can of beans 2 bottles of water, 2 pounds of silver, 20,000 rounds of ammo and 10 guns.

BOV - Bug Out Vehicle. Your planned transportation for the Bug out. This can be a bicycle, motorcycle, quad, car, or truck. ideally it would be something you'd see in a Mad Max movie.

Sheeple - people who mindlessly live their lives and are never prepared. During times of crises they are the ones buying up all the perishable goods such as milk and bread. When the world ends many Sheeple turn into Zombies.

Zombie - Mostly seen in movies. They are essentially irrational mobs of people or anyone who wants to eat your brains. Zombies play an important role in the preparedness mindset because they help justify the amount of money we spend on guns & ammo. :rolleyes:

That's just for starters...

etftalk
03-31-2009, 09:24 AM
I saw this website on Don Harold's site... http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?

Here's Don's video that mentioned it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh6JBKExJOI

justbizness45
03-31-2009, 01:07 PM
For those not indoctrinated yet

Bug Out - to scram, split, leave, get the hell outta here. Mostly reserved for younger folks who romance about living in the "great outdoors." The smarter ones only Bug Out if they have a solid destination such as a cabin in the woods (lucky bastards).

Bug In - For those who can't evacuate or choose to shelter in. Mostly people like me who have a wife with 3 kids and can't fit the kids and the ammo in the minivan at the same time.

BOB - Bug Out Bag. Just in case you need to evacuate quickly and never come back. An assortment of important items you have with you at all times or have nearby. Usually comprised of 1 can of beans 2 bottles of water, 2 pounds of silver, 20,000 rounds of ammo and 10 guns.

BOV - Bug Out Vehicle. Your planned transportation for the Bug out. This can be a bicycle, motorcycle, quad, car, or truck. ideally it would be something you'd see in a Mad Max movie.

Sheeple - people who mindlessly live their lives and are never prepared. During times of crises they are the ones buying up all the perishable goods such as milk and bread. When the world ends many Sheeple turn into Zombies.

Zombie - Mostly seen in movies. They are essentially irrational mobs of people or anyone who wants to eat your brains. Zombies play an important role in the preparedness mindset because they help justify the amount of money we spend on guns & ammo.

That's just for starters...

ROFLMAO!! :nuts::nuts: Thanks, JTH.

justbizness45
03-31-2009, 01:09 PM
I saw this website on Don Harold's site... http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?

Here's Don's video that mentioned it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh6JBKExJOI


I've gotten a few things from them. Hermetically sealed 10# cans of seeds are a really good buy on the site.

alevin
03-31-2009, 02:51 PM
I've checked out the Be Prepared site and thought about the #10 can myself. I decided to be more selective about the seeds I buy-all heirloom, suited to my climate and different seasons thereof. I'm trying to go for 4-season garden-cold frames, and eventually a greenhouse-maybe. coldframes first. But first the trees need to come out so I have more unshaded garden space. That should be happening this week. I ordered seeds about 3 weeks ago-still waiting on 2 orders-got one so far. I didn't realize I was ordering at peak season, they're behind on getting orders shipped. Heirloom-non-hybrid, if collect seed from plants, you should get reliable repeat type of plants and produce. With hybrids, no guarantee. I'm buying cool-season varieties, hot-season varieties both, to help extend garden at least 3 season and shorten the 4th non-season. Trying to reduce need for refridgeration by drying as much as I can, takes less space than canning. Other ideas-pickling, salting-old old ideas. Me I think I'm in a better bug-in location than my other family members if it comes to that-climate and property useability wise, think I'd have to hunker down and stay put, hope they pull through where they are.

I saw last night on news about a 30-something man and 16-year old son extradited from Mexico to face charges of attempting to murder and rob a cross-country skier-they told him they couldn't leave him alive as witness. Being that I'm a cross-country skier and so are friends-not where they were at least, but still....the country is becoming less and less safe even for people out enjoying the great outdoors. I'm taking note, may have to start carrying pistol just to go play in the snow for a day.

XL-entLady
03-31-2009, 03:44 PM
We always try to have at least 3 months supply of canned and dried foods, ever since a tough financial spell the first decade I was married. Not having to buy groceries saved us then, so even though money hasn't been tight since, we still have the groceries and rotate stocks carefully so that what we store is really what we use on a regular basis.

We have a good hand pump water purifier, because while I still was able to go, we did whitewater rafting.

We just took out half our back lawn so that we have a garden spot. Before this year all we had was a little exterior grow box. But the more I read about nutrition, the more I'm finding out that now they breed produce to travel well and that has the unintential result of breeding nutrition out. :( Most new varieties of produce have measurably less vitamin content than heirloom varieties, for example. So since my body needs all the help it can get, we're going to grow our own, hopefully more nutritious, foods.

Regarding guns and ammo, my spouse is ex-law enforcement and he worked undercover for a lot of that time, so the gun safe is always stocked and has been for decades. That's also why we've always had a bug-out bag packed and ready. And don't forget to rotate the medications in your BOB! :)

Regarding communications, we have a ham license and some high powered walkie-talkies. And a close relative (living close by and closely-related, both) is a big cog in the federal emergency response machine, so I'm hoping that covers that one. We won't think about Katrina. :toung:

So that's my preparedness report. FWIW. :embarrest:

Lady

justbizness45
04-01-2009, 02:47 AM
I've checked out the Be Prepared site and thought about the #10 can myself. I decided to be more selective about the seeds I buy-all heirloom, suited to my climate and different seasons thereof. I'm trying to go for 4-season garden-cold frames, and eventually a greenhouse-maybe. coldframes first. But first the trees need to come out so I have more unshaded garden space. That should be happening this week. I ordered seeds about 3 weeks ago-still waiting on 2 orders-got one so far. I didn't realize I was ordering at peak season, they're behind on getting orders shipped. Heirloom-non-hybrid, if collect seed from plants, you should get reliable repeat type of plants and produce. With hybrids, no guarantee. I'm buying cool-season varieties, hot-season varieties both, to help extend garden at least 3 season and shorten the 4th non-season. Trying to reduce need for refridgeration by drying as much as I can, takes less space than canning. Other ideas-pickling, salting-old old ideas. Me I think I'm in a better bug-in location than my other family members if it comes to that-climate and property useability wise, think I'd have to hunker down and stay put, hope they pull through where they are.

I saw last night on news about a 30-something man and 16-year old son extradited from Mexico to face charges of attempting to murder and rob a cross-country skier-they told him they couldn't leave him alive as witness. Being that I'm a cross-country skier and so are friends-not where they were at least, but still....the country is becoming less and less safe even for people out enjoying the great outdoors. I'm taking note, may have to start carrying pistol just to go play in the snow for a day.

I haven't ordered seeds for this year yet, guess I'm behind. Picked the 10# cans as a hedge/investment. They will keep for several +10 years if stored correctly.

justbizness45
04-01-2009, 03:09 AM
We always try to have at least 3 months supply of canned and dried foods, ever since a tough financial spell the first decade I was married. Not having to buy groceries saved us then, so even though money hasn't been tight since, we still have the groceries and rotate stocks carefully so that what we store is really what we use on a regular basis.

We have a good hand pump water purifier, because while I still was able to go, we did whitewater rafting.

We just took out half our back lawn so that we have a garden spot. Before this year all we had was a little exterior grow box. But the more I read about nutrition, the more I'm finding out that now they breed produce to travel well and that has the unintential result of breeding nutrition out. :( Most new varieties of produce have measurably less vitamin content than heirloom varieties, for example. So since my body needs all the help it can get, we're going to grow our own, hopefully more nutritious, foods.

Regarding guns and ammo, my spouse is ex-law enforcement and he worked undercover for a lot of that time, so the gun safe is always stocked and has been for decades. That's also why we've always had a bug-out bag packed and ready. And don't forget to rotate the medications in your BOB! :)

Regarding communications, we have a ham license and some high powered walkie-talkies. And a close relative (living close by and closely-related, both) is a big cog in the federal emergency response machine, so I'm hoping that covers that one. We won't think about Katrina. :toung:

So that's my preparedness report. FWIW. :embarrest:

Lady

Since we are SAR volunteers, the Trailblazer is always full with 48 hr packs for my daughter, my wife and myself. Bugout is grab the guns, ammo and anything else we can carry and we are set for several days in under 5 min.

JTH
04-10-2009, 05:46 PM
Ammo is still scarce across the country. In some cases it's not for lack of production, just high demand.

My dad runs a gun Forum, so he keeps me briefed on current events. .380 has been almost non-existent. The latest claim was that was that .380 is made in smaller batches and it's not made year round like other more popular calibers. In additon there have been some newer .380 pistols introduced recently, so the ammo demand has gone up.

I'm telling you now, if you could trade ammo like gold & silver, you'd be rich.

etftalk
04-10-2009, 07:20 PM
I heard the same thing from a friend of mine. We were having lunch and he said he was going to the range afterward. He is getting ready for a long motorcycle trip and he brings two concealed weapons with him. I asked him about the ammo situation, and he said the shelves are very thinly stocked at the gun shop these days. I have a couple of boxes of .38's and .357's, myself. I can't image I'll need more than that unless I end up in a shoot out with some bandits. :)

JTH
04-10-2009, 08:43 PM
Tom, I'm going to assume you have a nice revolver, have you given any thought to matching it up with a .357 lever action rifle? That's a pretty darn good combination to have and a prepper favorite. :)

I can't think about a lever action, without thinking of...

118

JTH
04-14-2009, 05:33 PM
I'm going to the "Big City" Las Cruces this afternoon.

I'll be going by Sportsman's Warehouse to view the ammo shortage upclose. I don't normally pick up ammo there because they are pricy and I like to shop locally, but I may have to pick some up if they have it.

I also have to go by Hobbie Lobby with the wife. Lord give my strength...:(

etftalk
04-14-2009, 05:48 PM
Did you see 60-Minutes this weekend?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6beoim_RFUw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJFulSn5-Ck

JTH
04-15-2009, 02:19 AM
It's very hard for me to watch those videos and not get agitated. From Joe Public's perspective it might have seemed it was a fair and balanced story. :rolleyes:

Why did they mention several of those crazy gunmen and not point out all the crimes stopped by guns everyday?

Why did they not point out the cities with the highest crime rates have the harshest gun control laws?

I better stop now before I come off sounding like an NRA pamphlet...

OBTW Sportsman's Warehouse is closing down 23 stores. They told me they will be opening their store back up in the fall. 99% of their ammo was gone, but i don't think they are restocking. :huh:

wv-girl
04-15-2009, 02:54 AM
Tom, I'm going to assume you have a nice revolver, have you given any thought to matching it up with a .357 lever action rifle? That's a pretty darn good combination to have and a prepper favorite. :)

I can't think about a lever action, without thinking of...

118
JHT,
You aren't old enough to remember the rifleman. Boy does that bring back memories. But I date myself.(oops)

I finally broke down and bought a Taurus 357 back in Feb for myself. My ex left all of his guns and rifles here when he left but (thought) I wanted something smaller. The gun shop owner recommended this one. I had told him I wasn't really wanting to leave such a big hole in someone(thinking of the mess). He said "Dead people don't testify". He then told me that he was an ex police officer and had seen too many of the wounded purps sue anyone that only winged them. He also said that anyone entering my home univited that their intent is to rob or harm, so don't give them any opportunity to do so. He definitely made his point and the sale. The Taurus shoots both 38 and 357 ammo. So my thought is to practice with the 38s. Hope I will never have to use it.

Other preparations include growing a veg garden and canning what I can and looking for a generator so I can at least run it long enough to pump water from the well daily. If that fails, I live right along the river, so I can boil it. I certainly have enuff wood around me for cooking and keeping warm. And there are plenty of deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, and groundhogs.
So, for being a city-fied, gun-toting WV hillbilly I think I could do ok, but praying I won't ever have to.
Debbie

alevin
04-15-2009, 04:39 AM
Still haven't taken the step into weaponry, but its still on the list. Today tho finally got most of the trees taken out of the back yard that have been limiting utility of my space for planned survival needs-garden, future greenhouse, future chicken-keeping, compost pile, burn barrel.

Work remains to be done however, unfortunately the highest priority work from my perspective-the contractor did not leave adequate instructions for his guys this morning, I came home at end of day while they were still working and asked if they were coming back tomorrow-they told me that they thought they were done, I told them no, the bid item I most needed them to get done this month remains undone.

the faller said he could come back tomorrow, I told him if his boss the contractor needs to talk to me about it first, he should call me in the am. we do have the bid in writing and it was thoroughly discussed in person and standing looking at the tree in question. Kinda like the rest of my day today, setback after setback, just when I thought things were finally good to go. Arg. :suspicious:

justbizness45
04-15-2009, 12:59 PM
Tom, I'm going to assume you have a nice revolver, have you given any thought to matching it up with a .357 lever action rifle? That's a pretty darn good combination to have and a prepper favorite. :)


Funny you should mention the .357 lever, I have been thinking of getting one to compliment my Rossi 6". I like one ammo for 2 weapons concept. Great minds......:rolleyes:

justbizness45
04-16-2009, 03:50 AM
Got off top dead center and went looking for a .357 lever today. Decided I should quit thinking about it. Not a one in town anywhere. I did find a couple 30-30s but no .357. I did find a couple on line but it is a pain without a FFL and I would have to pay a local dealer to process the paper. There is a gun show coming up May 1 locally. I may try and check that out.

justbizness45
04-23-2009, 02:37 AM
My garden preps took a setback. I started some pole beans in the house and they were almost 10 inches tall. I found out this morning my wife's cat likes the taste of beans. She ate the leaves off everyone of them. I thought I was going to be ahead of the game come May 1 and the darn cat did me in.......:eek: Oh well, I still have some seeds left. I can start over.

etftalk
04-23-2009, 03:41 AM
If worst come to worse, you can eat that damn cat. :)

kidding. I'm not a cat hater. I have one myself. And a damn dog. :D

justbizness45
04-23-2009, 01:05 PM
If worst come to worse, you can eat that damn cat.

kidding. I'm not a cat hater. I have one myself. And a damn dog. :D

:unsure::eek::nuts:

alevin
04-24-2009, 03:30 AM
LOL, no cat-eating, just call it gardening tuition. I'm still tearing up sod myself, haven't started anything in the house. Still going down to freezing at night this week tho-barely. Bought new wheelbarrow yesterday-old one so rusted out, if it cut me I'd have to go for a tetanus shot. Hey it was given to me 10+ years ago, salvaged from dump-bound trip even then. I need the new barrow tho, bought 2 P/U loads of compost, manure, topsoil, etc. Saturday, moving sequentially off the carport out to garden-to-be area. too tired tonight from 6 hour road trip and intense 3-hour meeting with scared-to-death agricultural producers fearful of losing 3d-generation small operations, reg agency reps, county judge, county commissioners. Cooked dinner and logged on w/glass of jug wine to see what transpired today. biz about Paulsen et al pretty interesting. Glad to see GLD go up closer to where I can unload it w/o loss and go sit on the sidelines some more, wait for a better worm.

Fed income tax collections are WAYYYY down nationally-see Ticker forum page. I may have to sacrifice some intended future brokerage Roth contribs to TSP instead to cut my 2010 taxes down to more comfortable size. Paying off the mortage last year resulted in sizeable tax additional payment that put me on margin of penalty.

JTH
04-27-2009, 06:13 PM
I live 100 miles north of Mexico, so the flu is probably already here although it has yet to be confirmed :(

I’m going on vacation next month and because of this Flu thing, I’ve got to take preventative measures to avoid getting my grandmothers sick.

Effective Immediately:

-Our homeschooled children are officially quarantined. No church this month, no public places period. My wife will be doing a full month’s shopping tomorrow and we will be cutting out all extra trips.
-I already have some, but I’ll be stocking up on surgical mask, alcohol wipes, dust mask and hand sanitizer.
-The hardest part is that I’ll be going TDY this week, which means I’ve got to go through the El Paso Airport coming and going.

XL-entLady
04-27-2009, 06:34 PM
Good luck, my friend! Wash your hands ... wash your hands ... wash your hands. My spouse is already tired of hearing me say that! :toung:

If you take medications, please remember to have a stock of them on hand too. Today I requested refills of as many of my maintenance meds as I could.

Lady

etftalk
04-27-2009, 06:45 PM
Wow! I guess this is not a drill.

JTH
04-27-2009, 07:03 PM
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=22.22809,-111.357422&spn=35.796953,63.896484&z=4


H1N1 Swine Flu
H1N1 Swine flu in 2009
Pink markers are suspect
Purple markers are confirmed
Deaths lack a dot in marker
Yellow markers are negative

XL-entLady
04-27-2009, 07:04 PM
Wow! I guess this is not a drill.
Don't we wish! I figured that stocks in Roche and Glaxo and 3M (they make surgical masks and plastic gloves, among a zillion other things) would do well, and today as least they are doing excellently. People are stocking up. Next comes the panic. :rolleyes:

I'm still not thinking pandemic ... yet ... but it probably doesn't hurt for us to take precautions. Do you think that "better safe than sorry" applies?

Lady

XL-entLady
04-27-2009, 07:05 PM
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=22.22809,-111.357422&spn=35.796953,63.896484&z=4


H1N1 Swine Flu
H1N1 Swine flu in 2009
Pink markers are suspect
Purple markers are confirmed
Deaths lack a dot in marker
Yellow markers are negative

Excellent information! Thanks, J! I've bookmarked this.

Lady

JTH
04-27-2009, 07:09 PM
Lol :toung:

127

XL-entLady
04-27-2009, 07:22 PM
Feelin' surrounded, are ya? :nuts:

Lady

alevin
04-28-2009, 03:17 AM
I'm reading that its the male 20-50 population that is being hit hardest and Mexican at that, far fewer per capita fatalities among the infected population in U.S. so far. think about relative difference in health environments and disease-spreading conditions between big cities and smaller communities, access to health care vs. non-access to health care. Limit YOUR exposure to extent possible, JTH, it may be you who is most vulnerable through association. My grandmother lived through the 1918 epidemic-11 years old, she got sick, didn't die. She told me the small town/rural schools were closed in her area-it helped keep it from spreading. the only one who died in my family either side back then was a 2-year old.

justbizness45
04-30-2009, 01:21 AM
JTH, I wasn't able to come up with a lever .357 but I did manage to come up with a good long gun. Remington Model 742 DBL .308 Cal. Since it also shoots 7.62mm NATO rounds ammo isn't an issue right now anyway. Didn't succeed with the two for one ammo concept but I'm happy and can make long range shots if things get so bad I have to hunt for meat.

JTH
04-30-2009, 03:50 AM
JTH, I wasn't able to come up with a lever .357 but I did manage to come up with a good long gun. Remington Model 742 DBL .308 Cal. Since it also shoots 7.62mm NATO rounds ammo isn't an issue right now anyway. Didn't succeed with the two for one ammo concept but I'm happy and can make long range shots if things get so bad I have to hunt for meat.


Hey I love .308~!~!!! That's some good long-range-crack for busting up non-fleshy things like telephone poles :toung: I stock up on the comparable 762x39 myself (the russian version) Reminton makes a killer .308 I built on the M-16 platform.

You guys take care of the markets while I'm out. Gotta go, I'm TDY in Utah (yea what a rough life) I sure did miss out on some market action today. Most of my energy is being spent trying to avoid the flu.....:eek:

Like Lady said, wash your hands... :bigsmile:

justbizness45
04-30-2009, 04:12 AM
Hey I love .308~!~!!! That's some good long-range-crack for busting up non-fleshy things like telephone poles :toung: I stock up on the comparable 762x39 myself (the russian version) Reminton makes a killer .308 I built on the M-16 platform.

You guys take care of the markets while I'm out. Gotta go, I'm TDY in Utah (yea what a rough life) I sure did miss out on some market action today. Most of my energy is being spent trying to avoid the flu.....:eek:

Like Lady said, wash your hands... :bigsmile:

Picked it up for a song and he even had a couple 10 rd clips plus the stock 3 shot clip. Going out to the range and try it out this weekend. Ammo showed up yesterday.

Stay safe and healthy my friend.:)

alevin
06-05-2009, 04:21 AM
Well, it's finally here-in my area that is. Shortage of ammo-small town/rural gun shops my corner of the state. No shortage of weapons to buy tho. Article on front page of big city paper that serves my state. Shop owners reserving ammo for regular customers, wont sell large amounts to people they don't know. OTH small town cops/sheriff's deputies laughing at the furor and anxiety, think its humorous. Hope they're right.

OTH, my massage therapist (havent' been to him in several months-guy about 30, wife and 2 small kids, locally born and raised small town/rural family background)-we talked yesterday about "victory gardening", greenhouses from scratch and chicken raising being allowed within city limits! He and I are on the same track mentally, but he's an old chicken hand-been raising them since he was a teenager, I'm the newbie-we're both interested in "heritage" breeds. Both of us newbies to gardens and greenhouses tho. His garden's ahead of mine developmentally at the moment but I'll catch up. Acquired several old aluminum window frames for free from local glass shop last weekend, plan to turn them into cold frames by fall. Market up, economy on roller skates with weak ankles and bad balance. Prognosis-a** over teakettle, just a question of when and how bad. Still riding my token commod stocks/ETFs up until its time to jump off.

XL-entLady
06-05-2009, 12:10 PM
Good for you, Allie! :)

Remember that back lawn we removed to start garden? We picked our first tomato and zucchini last night. And got two peaches from the dwarf peach we planted last year. Not a huge amount of produce but we'll have summer squash in a few days, and the peppers and eggplant are blossoming. We're getting there.

Lady

justbizness45
06-21-2009, 04:25 PM
Took the next step and applied for the concealed weapon permit. My state allows you to have one if you are allowed to to own a pistol. I expect when we are out of the woods recession wise the antis will go after pistols and I want to be grandfathered on any new legislation.

On a more upbeat note my upside down garden is doing well, tomatoes are blossoming and the lettuce, onions and beets growing out of the top of the buckets are doing well also. We had our first garden grown lettuce for dinner last week, man it was great!!

alevin
06-22-2009, 06:23 AM
Took the next step and applied for the concealed weapon permit. My state allows you to have one if you are allowed to to own a pistol. I expect when we are out of the woods recession wise the antis will go after pistols and I want to be grandfathered on any new legislation.

On a more upbeat note my upside down garden is doing well, tomatoes are blossoming and the lettuce, onions and beets growing out of the top of the buckets are doing well also. We had our first garden grown lettuce for dinner last week, man it was great!!

Good job, JB! on both items. Our local community college has been offering CCW permit classes lately, but have to bring own weapon, which I don't have-yet. OTH, I visited with an old old friend this weekend, saw 3 rifles for sale at a second-hand miscellaneous booth at an annual small town celebration-it triggered conversation between us about buying weapons for coming hard times. I was actually surprised she is thinking same way I am-without doing near the economic/financial reading I've been doing the past 2 years. She's been a widow longtime (early loss), but her husband was thinking of acquiring a specific weapon for her before he died. Told her that ammo availability is the bigger issue right now, and gave her ballpark # that's been put out there re preparedness reserve and practice rounds. So strange to be having that kind of conversation with one of the gentlest people I've ever known.

I acquired fair amount of decent scrap plywood last week from a new commercial building site (! shock-with all the real estate troubles still ongoing)-the workers had a sign up for free scrap, said it was ok to come by after work-went dumpster diving for the scrap after hours with my buddy the Nam vet, LOL, never gone dumpster diving before. :nuts: Kinda fun. My future coldframe bases for the old window frames I salvaged from the local glass shop. :bigsmile:

XL-entLady
06-22-2009, 08:20 PM
Husband's concealed carry permit just arrived. He said it felt funny having to go through a class to get something like that when he spent so many years in law enforcement! (Over a decade of that was undercover work - talk about concealed carry!!)

We picked the garden down to take stuff with us on the camping trip: zucchini, summer squash, a couple of tomatoes and some jalapenos. And a batch of sweet bread made out of a summer squash that hid under a leaf until it was too big. Yum, I love summer squash sweet bread!

You all take care!
Lady

alevin
07-08-2009, 05:02 AM
More prepared all the time. Sort of. got enough savings by now to spend on mini-heatpumps (2), and attic fans + something more (real property fence-cedar, one sde; back porch slab redo), to improve energy efficiency/home mtc-upgrade.

Had wide-ranging informal conversation tonight with next door neighbor heating and cooling contractor on various facets of laundry list of needed home improvements (energy efficiency and functional roof over my head) and scheduling them in most sensible logistical manner...Realized tonight that I'm going to have to bump up whole-house rewiring (50+ YO house) prior to insulation job. In fact, should put ALL attic-crawling activities first (skylights-interior work/reroofing/fans/heatpump wiring, whole house rewiring), and then do insulation. Sure glad I cancelled my gym membership in December and cancelled lawnmowing service this year too. The pennies sure help at this point-roughly adds to about $250-300/mo more in my pocket than last year.

Was planning on everything but the whole-house rewiring and wall insulation this year. Bumping up the rewiring potentially forces insulation back til next year for cashflow reasons-unless I get a loan. Rats, I wanted to get insulation done this year and defer rewiring next year or year after, but logic tells me inverse makes more sense as of tonight.

so of course I did a really silly thing earlier today, picked up the phone and talked to a big dog manager about a 4-month lateral detail down in NM to get some slightly lower-level managerial experience on my resume. Would start around late August/early September. If I get it, I'd need to cram home capex into just 1 month time, basically mid-July-midAugust, for this year :eek:. Not to mention potentially abandoning my garden just when its gotten really interesting. :embarrest: There's other people interested in the opportunity, maybe I'll hope one of them gets it over me. Doesn't mean I won't do my level best to get it now I put myself on big dog radar screen tho. :sick::rolleyes: