It's father in laws birthday, everyone will be there and the subject will no doubt turn to politics and then to things in the preparedness area. We have been down this road about 6 months ago, and 6 months before that.
One brother in law said he was going in on some bug out land with a guy who is a real survivalist and even owns an AK-47
One brother in law said he wanted to get some food storage and weapons, but the only thing he has done in 6 months was snag an AR.
Sister in law thinks that father in law will shoot mother in law if we give him my 20 gauge, or one of the grand kids... to the point she will have a heart attack if we actually do it when she is there.
I'm always torn how much to say, or how much to help. It's obvious to me that they, like many, are more about talk than about action. I'm an action guy, the only talk is about how to be better prepared and what things we need to add to the stockpiles. I don't want to sit around talking about all kinds of stuff, and giving everyone great ideas that I know won't get acted on. I did a ton of stuff this week and added a lot of supplies, I bet all they did was watch whatever crap was on TV abut dancing, moms, stars, etc. Chances are none of them watched doomsday preppers in hopes of getting 1 single idea.
I also really have an issue with brother in law #1 that I haven't been able to overcome, so I don't really care if he/his family are prepared or not.
I already made it very clear that we don't have much ourselves and I will turn away anyone who shows up thinking otherwise. We have the smallest house and when relatives are over there isn't anything to see. Sure, we are always armed, but it's Colorado and it's America! Father and mother in law are welcome, we have planned for them but still can't get them to work on food storage past having enough food for about 3 weeks.
I'm really not looking forward to this weekend, I don't want to seem rude but I'm going to just tell people to get off the couch and get stuff done. I know they can all afford to do it, even if it's all at once, they just don't really want to do more than talk. Maybe I can distract myself with football.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Giving up my favorite shotgun and new additions
It's Father in laws 83rd (maybe 84th actually) birthday this weekend. The whole family will be there and he asked for suspenders. He also asked for a shotgun, just so he could pump it and scare people away. I told him nothing scares someone like a large hole in the door.
We didn't want to spend a ton of money on something that wouldn't get used (hopefully), so we decided my office buddy would do the trick. I love my 20 gauge, it's so tiny and lightweight and the sheath straps to the side of my get home bag just right. I will miss my shotgun, and I will miss seeing it behind my chair. For now my Taurus subcompact will sit behind my chair.
It was a MAD MAD WORLD at the gun store today. I honestly went to check some bulk ammo prices to see if buying local would be about the same as shipping it in. People were tossing credit cards around, one guy said "max it out, I don't care!"
I watched half a pallet of 5.56 vanish in the hour I was there, I can only imagine what it will be like this weekend with payday and people being able to actually get to the store.
The owner of the store saw me and came over to say hello. I've been doing business with him for 17 years and he knows I don't browse. I told him I wanted to check out ammo prices and to see if our names had been moved up the list for the M&P Shield 9mm. He did have 2 Shields that just showed up and weren't tagged for anyone and he would give them to us. I don't always buy my stuff from him, sometimes it's cheaper down the road, but I always give him a shot and at least buy all my ammo there at a minimum.
.
To replace my .20 gauge we decided to step up and get another 12 gauge. This is the Mossberg 590 with heat shield and Insight slide light. Our current 12 gauge will become my new office and sheath shotgun once we get a synthetic slide, this new model will soon have a collapsible stock installed.
I also got a package today with these fun toys. 70,000 cubic feet of white smoke per, pull ring igniter. Now I'm hunting for need to find some Molle pouches for them to hook onto my vest. I've seen some videos on the volume of smoke they produce, and I'll test it myself next time I'm out in the boonies so no one thinks the house is on fire.
We feel comfortable with the preps we have for firearms and ammo, but have been wanting to add to the supplies a little. It wasn't panic buying, just things that we had planned that happened sooner than we thought they might. This will put off a generator purchase for a couple of months, unless I can't find any long term food storage black Friday deals.
The election happened, there are a lot of people freaked out and very angry. No need to get worked up, if you think you need preps then get them. I'm just going about business as normal until the situation demands otherwise.
We didn't want to spend a ton of money on something that wouldn't get used (hopefully), so we decided my office buddy would do the trick. I love my 20 gauge, it's so tiny and lightweight and the sheath straps to the side of my get home bag just right. I will miss my shotgun, and I will miss seeing it behind my chair. For now my Taurus subcompact will sit behind my chair.
It was a MAD MAD WORLD at the gun store today. I honestly went to check some bulk ammo prices to see if buying local would be about the same as shipping it in. People were tossing credit cards around, one guy said "max it out, I don't care!"
I watched half a pallet of 5.56 vanish in the hour I was there, I can only imagine what it will be like this weekend with payday and people being able to actually get to the store.
The owner of the store saw me and came over to say hello. I've been doing business with him for 17 years and he knows I don't browse. I told him I wanted to check out ammo prices and to see if our names had been moved up the list for the M&P Shield 9mm. He did have 2 Shields that just showed up and weren't tagged for anyone and he would give them to us. I don't always buy my stuff from him, sometimes it's cheaper down the road, but I always give him a shot and at least buy all my ammo there at a minimum.
.
This is my M&P Shield 9mm and I just happen to pick up a Mossberg Plinker (.22) while I was waiting the 45 minutes for a background check. The wait later in the day was hitting 3 hours I was told. I didn't take a picture of the 2nd Shield, it looks the same.
Bulk ammo was a little cheaper than shipping it in, so we picked up 2000 rounds of 5.56 and 500 rounds of .308
We feel comfortable with the preps we have for firearms and ammo, but have been wanting to add to the supplies a little. It wasn't panic buying, just things that we had planned that happened sooner than we thought they might. This will put off a generator purchase for a couple of months, unless I can't find any long term food storage black Friday deals.
The election happened, there are a lot of people freaked out and very angry. No need to get worked up, if you think you need preps then get them. I'm just going about business as normal until the situation demands otherwise.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Please vote for this important political issue!
 | ||
| Please vote for wider doors, getting sticks into the house is too hard. |
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Post number 2, welcome home
For the first time since my military days, I drew my pistol with the intention of having to use it.
I wasn't even home 12 hours, but there is no rest of situational awareness or preparedness. We had just left a store where I picked up a new toy:
I know the picture is hard to see, but it's a .308 DPMS rifle. I've been saving up for a longer distance rifle that wasn't bolt action. This was on sale and had everything I was looking for, and they just happened to be out of the M&P shield in 9mm that we went to hopefully purchase. I will order a few things for it this week.
We left the store and I was in the right lane with a few cars on my left and behind, 35mph area. I see someone in the middle of my lane as we round a corner (in a not so awesome part of town), so I let off the gas thinking he was crossing the street and would be on the curb in no time. I'm now going slow and can see he isn't walking across the road, just sort of standing there so I am almost at a complete stop when he starts waving his arms around and stumbling towards the drivers side of the car.
I already know I'm blocked in with other traffic, I already know the doors are locked, and I am in a spot where I can't curb hop to get away. As soon as he took 1 step towards us, the brakes were applied and instantly I had drawn and racked a round in the chamber, with the gun just below the top of the dashboard. Someone else in the car had a holster unsnapped and ready to draw as well. The man stopped suddenly and walked off the street, out of the way, and I nailed the gas.
While I'm sure there wasn't any real threat, that's hindsight. Perhaps mentally disabled, perhaps drunk, perhaps thinking someone would stop so he could ask for money, perhaps it was going to be an ambush. I don't know and everything worked out ok... it was just a HUGE reminder to always be ready. I was really surprised how smooth and fast it happened, it's not something I practice while driving or in the driveway.
With the particular setup and holster I had on today, I don't keep one chambered, I don't like the idea of having a loaded gun aimed at my nether regions when I move it out of the preferred car driving position on my belt. There is no snap or strap, it's a perfect smooth pull holster that I love for driving around (or being a passenger).
What else... I have leaves all over the yard, the 2 people I was going to overpay (by a lot) failed to do more than 20% of the yard, so they will not get paid unless they finish this week. I can do it myself but am trying to help out a couple of kids who can use the money.
.308 is $1 per bullet, I purchased 5 boxes of 20 and that shelf was bare. They didn't have any 5.56 unless I wanted the Tulammo, but that doesn't shoot well in my carbine.
Be prepared, be ready and listen to your instincts. While this particular situation turned out to be nothing more than a conversation piece, there are plenty of stories all over the country that don't turn out so well.
I wasn't even home 12 hours, but there is no rest of situational awareness or preparedness. We had just left a store where I picked up a new toy:
We left the store and I was in the right lane with a few cars on my left and behind, 35mph area. I see someone in the middle of my lane as we round a corner (in a not so awesome part of town), so I let off the gas thinking he was crossing the street and would be on the curb in no time. I'm now going slow and can see he isn't walking across the road, just sort of standing there so I am almost at a complete stop when he starts waving his arms around and stumbling towards the drivers side of the car.
I already know I'm blocked in with other traffic, I already know the doors are locked, and I am in a spot where I can't curb hop to get away. As soon as he took 1 step towards us, the brakes were applied and instantly I had drawn and racked a round in the chamber, with the gun just below the top of the dashboard. Someone else in the car had a holster unsnapped and ready to draw as well. The man stopped suddenly and walked off the street, out of the way, and I nailed the gas.
While I'm sure there wasn't any real threat, that's hindsight. Perhaps mentally disabled, perhaps drunk, perhaps thinking someone would stop so he could ask for money, perhaps it was going to be an ambush. I don't know and everything worked out ok... it was just a HUGE reminder to always be ready. I was really surprised how smooth and fast it happened, it's not something I practice while driving or in the driveway.
With the particular setup and holster I had on today, I don't keep one chambered, I don't like the idea of having a loaded gun aimed at my nether regions when I move it out of the preferred car driving position on my belt. There is no snap or strap, it's a perfect smooth pull holster that I love for driving around (or being a passenger).
What else... I have leaves all over the yard, the 2 people I was going to overpay (by a lot) failed to do more than 20% of the yard, so they will not get paid unless they finish this week. I can do it myself but am trying to help out a couple of kids who can use the money.
.308 is $1 per bullet, I purchased 5 boxes of 20 and that shelf was bare. They didn't have any 5.56 unless I wanted the Tulammo, but that doesn't shoot well in my carbine.
Be prepared, be ready and listen to your instincts. While this particular situation turned out to be nothing more than a conversation piece, there are plenty of stories all over the country that don't turn out so well.
Mexico picture post
This is the picture post. I didn't take a ton, once you've seen it a dozen times you sort of stop with the camera clicking way. I also opted not to purchase a new underwater camera or housing, I have so many awesome diving pictures I figured they were good enough and just enjoyed the dives without worry about a camera.
I saw all the usual creatures from turtles to sharks to eels. The first few days were rough waters, with the last few calming down to what we are always accustomed to.
While the trip was relaxing and great, we won't go back for several years. After skipping a year and having a crappy time in Honduras, we figured it would somehow be awesome back in Cozumel. It wasn't, so we are going to take a year off from diving and then hit somewhere new.. if the world stay afloat.
I have no idea. I'm not usually at a loss for words, and I'm sure there is some meaning to this display but... well loss for words.
Sunset one night from downtown.
Brazilian Navy strolled into town looking very prestigious in formation on deck.
If you are going to eat ice cream, you better not let the cone man get you.
From our favorite breakfast place, right next to the Cozumel Naval building. The dock farther South usually had 2-3 additional cruise ships there every day.
View from our room.
From the back of the dive boat, heading out for a few hours of nitrogen narcosis.
Out to sea looking West.
I am smiling.
The pool in the center of the hotel area. This was fun to do laps around the entire thing instead of my usual 75 feet and back again.
The last night was the best sunset of the entire week.
Even the clouds looked amazing.
One more shot, same night.
Finally, the last shot.
I saw all the usual creatures from turtles to sharks to eels. The first few days were rough waters, with the last few calming down to what we are always accustomed to.
While the trip was relaxing and great, we won't go back for several years. After skipping a year and having a crappy time in Honduras, we figured it would somehow be awesome back in Cozumel. It wasn't, so we are going to take a year off from diving and then hit somewhere new.. if the world stay afloat.
Friday, November 2, 2012
The American Way?
It's the American way, just make enough demands or scream really loud and you can get everything you want.... (rant ahead). I don't know anyone in the impacted areas, and I maybe I just don't care anymore but:
What kind of crap is this. Fights breaking out over long lines for gasoline, a bus ride, groceries. Upset commuters having to walk 30 minutes to work. News people getting angry towards officials who are trying to get the basics restored. Sorry CNN, you could have given people 6 months advance warning of a storm and still have it bite you in the ass and destroy a lot of things. Those are power lines, and power lines are damaged when debris falls.
Being in Mexico I only have CNN to watch, and internet new stories to read. Sensationalism sells and gets clicks on websites, I don't expect anything less.
It's a personal responsibility to care for your family. If you need government assistance, I understand that, but it's not the governments job (local, state, or federal) to support an entire population of any area. How could you live on the coast without flood insurance? How could you have storm warnings for a week (or more) and not have enough food, water, gas, etc. to make it at least 1 week. I'm only talking about $40-$100, not some spectacular amount of money.
Lines of people waiting to charge a cell phone. My iPhone battery lasts 2 days with only making a few phone calls. How about a little forward thinking... turn the phone off until it's needed to check in with family once the storm has passed. Posting on your social media sites that you are scared and the water is rising is STUPID and doesn't do you any good unless you somehow got a magic life saving boost from people making comments like 'oh you poor thing', 'hang in there', my prayers to you' while you were typing out your final text: 'gurgle gurgle'.
I know a lot of people got some new TV's from the looting, way to go, it's the American way to steal from your very own community. Communities should pull together in a crisis, not make sure you have a lookout while you bust into Best Buy.
Speaking of the American way:
We had some breakfast at a local cafe, great food and good prices, a place we have been going to for all of our Cozumel trips. The cafe was packed, the owners consolidated 2 people on laptops to one table so we could have a place to eat. The people there were all from one of the 4 cruise ships in town, a younger crowd of mostly under 25 year old people. I would say 45 people there, including us, and our group of 4 were the only table not holding a laptop or cell phone. I know the cruise ships have internet, so why would anyone want to walk 1/4 mile just to plug in again. Look around at the amazing water, scenery, beaches, culture.
The locals aren't any better. They have the (us) tourists fooled into thinking they don't make any money and rely on tips alone. Funny, I see these same people with top of the line gear and electronics. I watched a local who was fishing by hand while I was eating a nice dinner.... I was feeling guilty about my lifestyle when a rogue wave crashed up on the rocks and soaked this poor man completely. He pulled out his iPhone to make sure it still worked....
Apparently it's not just the American Way.
What kind of crap is this. Fights breaking out over long lines for gasoline, a bus ride, groceries. Upset commuters having to walk 30 minutes to work. News people getting angry towards officials who are trying to get the basics restored. Sorry CNN, you could have given people 6 months advance warning of a storm and still have it bite you in the ass and destroy a lot of things. Those are power lines, and power lines are damaged when debris falls.
Being in Mexico I only have CNN to watch, and internet new stories to read. Sensationalism sells and gets clicks on websites, I don't expect anything less.
It's a personal responsibility to care for your family. If you need government assistance, I understand that, but it's not the governments job (local, state, or federal) to support an entire population of any area. How could you live on the coast without flood insurance? How could you have storm warnings for a week (or more) and not have enough food, water, gas, etc. to make it at least 1 week. I'm only talking about $40-$100, not some spectacular amount of money.
Lines of people waiting to charge a cell phone. My iPhone battery lasts 2 days with only making a few phone calls. How about a little forward thinking... turn the phone off until it's needed to check in with family once the storm has passed. Posting on your social media sites that you are scared and the water is rising is STUPID and doesn't do you any good unless you somehow got a magic life saving boost from people making comments like 'oh you poor thing', 'hang in there', my prayers to you' while you were typing out your final text: 'gurgle gurgle'.
I know a lot of people got some new TV's from the looting, way to go, it's the American way to steal from your very own community. Communities should pull together in a crisis, not make sure you have a lookout while you bust into Best Buy.
Speaking of the American way:
We had some breakfast at a local cafe, great food and good prices, a place we have been going to for all of our Cozumel trips. The cafe was packed, the owners consolidated 2 people on laptops to one table so we could have a place to eat. The people there were all from one of the 4 cruise ships in town, a younger crowd of mostly under 25 year old people. I would say 45 people there, including us, and our group of 4 were the only table not holding a laptop or cell phone. I know the cruise ships have internet, so why would anyone want to walk 1/4 mile just to plug in again. Look around at the amazing water, scenery, beaches, culture.
The locals aren't any better. They have the (us) tourists fooled into thinking they don't make any money and rely on tips alone. Funny, I see these same people with top of the line gear and electronics. I watched a local who was fishing by hand while I was eating a nice dinner.... I was feeling guilty about my lifestyle when a rogue wave crashed up on the rocks and soaked this poor man completely. He pulled out his iPhone to make sure it still worked....
Apparently it's not just the American Way.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
15kb per second
That's the amazing speed of the internet here in Cozumel, Mexico. I have to download 2500 emails so I figured I would make a blog post while I spend 45 minutes getting them into the laptop.
The weather is great, a little on the cooler side than normal but perfect for us. The sea is choppy making it a challenge for many in the dive group to get on and off the boat. Perhaps if they had both hands free instead of trying to carry everything at once... then again I have been called critical.
Diving is one activity that your weight doesn't matter, nor really physical conditioning. You just add more weight to your ear to get down to the bottom and you come up sooner by sucking down all the air in your scuba tank. I seem to get the tanks on the boat with the least amount of air in them, 5-600 psi less than they normally should be at, and we are still usually the last people on the boat. Diving should be relaxing, so we relax a lot underwater.
Deep cavern diving, wreck diving, 60 foot fast current drift dive... all the usual Cozumel underwater attractions. I'm getting lots of sleep, pumping your system full of nitrogen tends to have that delayed sleepy reaction for us. The hotel is nice, a new choice for us, but it's better than the usual. I would rate it 3 stars, the beds are as hard as the floor but the pool is large enough for me to do laps in for a workout. The food is pretty horrible, I read a lot of reviews that had raves about how awesome the food is, but it's mainly carbohydrate selections, and even those aren't good. I'm trying hard to stick to a 70/30 protein/carb ratio but it's not working out well. I'll be back on it next week.
I finished one book, Half Past Midnight, it was actually a pretty good book about life after a nuclear attack. It wasn't all gun and religion porn.
I started Founders and so far wish I didn't spend the money on it. I figured I would have learned, but I always hope I can learn something or get a great idea from Rawles. What I learned in this book is once again that I am doomed for not being a Christian. I also learned how to skip a large section on some couple and being Jewish... honestly I'm annoyed that the 3rd book isn't better than expected, lot's of things were rushed and I can't wait to finish the last 30 pages so I can just check it off my list.
"A young girl opened the door holding a ruger .22 magnum rifle from 1985 with a removable magazine and a 7x30 power scope"
"We are not Christians but we are catholics"..... "oh, come on in you are welcome in our house"
It seems there was something on each page that made me skip large potions of content. Holding Their Own III is also in my bag, the first two were good enough to make me order the third. I love to read next to the ocean on vacation.
The full moon is really nice, reflecting and dancing on the waves. I would post pictures but that's a lesson in patience I'm not willing to do right now.
The weather is great, a little on the cooler side than normal but perfect for us. The sea is choppy making it a challenge for many in the dive group to get on and off the boat. Perhaps if they had both hands free instead of trying to carry everything at once... then again I have been called critical.
Diving is one activity that your weight doesn't matter, nor really physical conditioning. You just add more weight to your ear to get down to the bottom and you come up sooner by sucking down all the air in your scuba tank. I seem to get the tanks on the boat with the least amount of air in them, 5-600 psi less than they normally should be at, and we are still usually the last people on the boat. Diving should be relaxing, so we relax a lot underwater.
Deep cavern diving, wreck diving, 60 foot fast current drift dive... all the usual Cozumel underwater attractions. I'm getting lots of sleep, pumping your system full of nitrogen tends to have that delayed sleepy reaction for us. The hotel is nice, a new choice for us, but it's better than the usual. I would rate it 3 stars, the beds are as hard as the floor but the pool is large enough for me to do laps in for a workout. The food is pretty horrible, I read a lot of reviews that had raves about how awesome the food is, but it's mainly carbohydrate selections, and even those aren't good. I'm trying hard to stick to a 70/30 protein/carb ratio but it's not working out well. I'll be back on it next week.
I finished one book, Half Past Midnight, it was actually a pretty good book about life after a nuclear attack. It wasn't all gun and religion porn.
I started Founders and so far wish I didn't spend the money on it. I figured I would have learned, but I always hope I can learn something or get a great idea from Rawles. What I learned in this book is once again that I am doomed for not being a Christian. I also learned how to skip a large section on some couple and being Jewish... honestly I'm annoyed that the 3rd book isn't better than expected, lot's of things were rushed and I can't wait to finish the last 30 pages so I can just check it off my list.
"A young girl opened the door holding a ruger .22 magnum rifle from 1985 with a removable magazine and a 7x30 power scope"
"We are not Christians but we are catholics"..... "oh, come on in you are welcome in our house"
It seems there was something on each page that made me skip large potions of content. Holding Their Own III is also in my bag, the first two were good enough to make me order the third. I love to read next to the ocean on vacation.
The full moon is really nice, reflecting and dancing on the waves. I would post pictures but that's a lesson in patience I'm not willing to do right now.
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