Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Hold Up. Riding The Storm Out.

After getting off to a running start on the Harley rebuild, I have come to an abrupt stop. It seems the machinist used high quality S&S shafts when he built the crank assembly. S&S uses the older style of the stronger Shovelhead shaft design. Needless to say, I didn't have any Shovelhead parts laying around. And neither do any of the several Harley shops in the KC region. I finally contacted my machinist, lo and behold, he has the part I need. A hundred miles later the missing link was laying next to the motor. I managed to get the rest of the parts from a catalog company called J&P Cycles. So after being shot down for the last several days I will resume the build on Monday. More to come on this subject.

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Riding The Storm Out.....

My son and daughter- in- law live in the coastal Virginia area. They are looking at their yard filling with water at this time. Most all of their neighbors elected to ride out the storm. Thankfully the storm has been downgraded to a catagory 1 with winds of 85 mph. That's quite a bit better than the one hundred mph winds they were expecting as late as yesterday. I spoke with my son a couple days ago about steps they needed to take. They have done very well. In a short time their storm supplies grew to include spare water, 3 types of light, propane, a generator hooked to the existing transfer switch, many more canned goods , tarps for the roof and many other things. They have put all important papers in a .30 caliber ammo can and filled all the cars and gas cans. They also have cash on hand. All good and wise steps to take. Now as long as his wife doesn't go into labor during the storm all will be well.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Freeze Dried Food

Last night my wife and I went to meeting that was hosted by a friend of ours. The meeting was led by a couple of very nice ladies who represent Shelf Reliance. The focus of this get together was to introduce folks to freeze dried food as a viable everyday alternative to the usual crap you get from the grocery store. Shelf Reliance has a huge assortment of freeze dried foods and if you look through all the papers that were given you also see they sell a wide array of ......preparedness items! Any way, we had the opportunity to try several items such as tacos made from FD(freeze dried) peppers, onions and taco flavor TVP (textured vegetable protein). Very good but even better were the chicken quesadillas. These were made using FD shredded chicken breast, onions, peppers and....mozzarella cheese all layered in organic tortillas. Very tasty! Hosts had prepared a couple different salsa's using reconstituted corn, onions, peppers and organic tomatoes. This was an interesting dish. Not that it wasn't good but I have very definite ideas of what salsa is. We got to try FD fruits and veggies straight from the can. The fruits were fantastic. And the sweet corn? I could eat it like candy.
My wife and I listened to the presentation and looked at the amount of food we waste every week and have decided we will start ordering this outstanding, high quality food. Now if you are wondering where to put all the cans of freeze dried food, Shelf Reliance has a very intelligent set of rotational storage shelf units. The units allow you to use the concept of first in, first out with out even trying. If those are out of your budget try this DIY set that I have been using for years. Look for a distributor in your area or even become a distributor that way not only do you have access to all the products you can even make a little money.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

New Shooter Day 3 and a Field Trip

Yesterday, Saturday that is, I picked up my nephew for another round of shooting class. Once again the young fella is doing OK. He cleared the swinging target 5 for 5. Round II he went 6 for 5. When he started falling off on the swingers we took a little break and tried a some paper targets at a little longer range of 25 yards. He did OK but does need to work on this some more. We discussed holding the rifle steady and using his elbows on his knees to create a solid platform, we covered breathing, you know, take a breath and let it half out and fire. For the next session we might start with 1 round of swingers and then transition to the paper and back to swingers of even some stationary clay targets with give a nice visual confirmation of a hit. we cut this session short so we could take a trip to a gun store. When we arrived I was flabbergasted. The gun shop, Great Guns, is next to a large outdoor retailer call Rogers Lures. It seems Rogers was sponsoring the Grand National Waterfowl Calling Competition. The parking was spilling over into the grass lots next door. The sounds of the competitors and shoppers trying out the bevy of calls for sale filled the air. Flocks of the latest decoys were placed all around us. Vendors lined the edges of the parking lot. Needless to say the gun shop was filled. The gunslingers behind the counter however, did treat my nephew with courtesy and listened to him. We then made our way to Rogers to check out the sale there. Decoys of geese and ducks abounded. I guess the price was right as I saw many dozens carried out the front door. The cases of shotgun shells could have filled a couple of semi trailers. Camouflage clothing abounded, all on sale course. We looked and walked and talked and gawked. We had a good time especially since we just started out to see the gun store.

Friday, August 5, 2011

The Rumble, The Roar, The Tick Tock?

I ride a motorcycle. Some would say I'm a biker. Some have felt my generosity and other have felt my wraith. All I know is when I get on the bike everything is better. No more worries, no headaches, nothin' but the wind in my face. I use a bike for enjoyment, vacations and commuting. I know if I leave at a certain time I will arrive someplace at the same time I would if I had been in a 4 wheel vehicle. If I leave for a run or a trip I don't give a rat's ass what time it is or when I have to be back.
So, I'm perusing the latest J&P catalog today and what do I see but two whole pages of clocks to put on your motorcycle. Fifteen different manufacturers, each with 2-10 specific models. Now what the fuck is up with that? Is there that many people that while riding down the road have a sudden urge to know what time it is? Pretty much everyone I know is connected these days. Connected as in has a cell phone or smart phone. Both of those have a time telling function if you really need to know the time. I ride a really nice Harley. It's got some age on it now and quite few mile too. It's got lotsa chrome on it. I know, chrome don't get ya home. But it sure looks good. I can't for the life of me though, understand why anyone would want a clock on a symbol of a life free of life's usual encumbrances.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Disgusted Again

Well the American people are well and truly fucked again. The budget bill has been passed and signed by the Chosen One. Supposedly there are 2 trillion in cuts to be made over 10 years. A freakin' decade! The ass hat in charge said there will be two trillion in cuts immediately. Immediately is certainly not a decade.
As an added benefit to the passage of this heinous act, we now have a "super congress" a bi-partisan panel of thirteen of our duly elected liars that have fast tracked this bill through congress. The big question is, will they limit themselves to this one piece of legislation or will they take on any major bill presented to congress? I'm betting they don't disassemble now that the budget "crisis" has been avoided. And speaking of a crisis. Was there ever any real budget crisis? Sooooo, I don't know if we are any better than defaulting would have been. We are just putting off the inevitable. No country that has invested it's future in fiat paper currency has ever withstood the test of time. Economists say when the debt ratio gets to 250% collapse is inevitable well, we are at 300 percent.
I do believe it's time for the American voters to give up on the Big Two political parties. Neither one has done anything worth a rat's ass for the country as a whole. Or start thinking about which box they prefer. The ballot box or the cartridge box. The soap box has failed. The ballot box is suspect so................................

Monday, August 1, 2011

Summer time in the city

I'm a winter sort of guy. I like cold weather, no, I love cold weather. Give me a drizzly, cold fall day over a sunny spring day anytime. I like to hunt, shoot, ride in the cold. I just like it cold.
But after coming home from the grocery store, I realized that I did like summer for a few reasons.
Things I like about summer. Come on guys, you know what I'm talking about.


Ya' know what I don't like about summer?



  • the oppressive heat

  • the oppressive humidity

  • the glaring sun

So , with all the positives I guess I can't bitch to much, I mean the scenery is better in the summer time.




Broadcasting Your Preps or How to Blow Your OPSEC

Have you seen the Nation Geographic Channel show called "Doomsday Preppers"? I caught an episode today. Let me start by saying everyone has their own idea of preparedness. OK? So, this show profiled 3 different preppers. All of them started out on the prepper road pretty much the same way. What I saw, what I see, what I read about event X got me (them) started. Whether event X is a solar ejection, a "nukular" crisis, a financial collapse or a 2012 end of the world situation they all let that thought drive their determined logistical acquisition of food, supplies, meds, arms, techniques and tactics. The only one I had a real problem with is the 2 family group in South Carolina. First off the one non land owner family says if it gets too bad to stay where they are they plan to retreat to the farm of their landowner buddy. 20 minutes away. Once they are ensconced in the safety of the remote farm 20 minutes away, the two families intend to hold on to their 50+ acre farm/retreat with 4 adults and about 4 kids under the age of 16 or so. A couple of the kids are under 12 I would guess. The owner has the ability to plant fields in crops and has cattle and chickens for the protein factor. If things get real bad they intend to cut their protected acreage to 5 acres, using small perimeter trip wire alarms that emit a local buzzing sound that could barely be heard on the TV. They have 1 or two LP/OP (listening post/observation posts). So with 4 adults and 2 teenage kids they are going to plant and harvest crops, preserve foods, tend to and butcher livestock, provide security for the retreat and man up to two LP/OP's 24 hours a day with this small group. ??? The "expert panel" recommended that they get more families to join them. The group poo pooed this idea. They have a tractor to farm with but no mention was made of stored fuel. Now maybe this was OPSEC "that's a military term" but I doubt it. I really believe a well set up retreat group or single family would poo poo the idea of broadcasting their names, general locations and level of preparations. Now that's real OPSEC.