mechanical v manual

MECHANICAL V MANUAL

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note: he has a few loose connections, primarily in his belief we can vote our way to freedom, but when he is on fire he is darn good.  Recommended reading:
http://johngaltfla.com/wordpress/2016/07/29/wikileaks-hillary-and-russia-revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold/
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As you all recall from the Great 2016 Chainsaw Debate, I am not one to entertain the notion of unneeded machinery for the sake of convenience.  Certainly not after the Apocalypse.  It is hard enough stockpiling items never to be seen again post-petroleum, such as smokeless powder arms and ammunition and rolls of thick plastic sheeting.  And you want to stock power tools that require spares and consumables?  It isn’t that it isn’t a good idea-I admit the allure of quick completion.  It is that only in a Super Slow Collapse ( like the one we’ve been in for near fifty years ) do you have time to prep in such an extravagant and thorough manner.  I don’t know how young you are, but to me the expectation of a leisure collapse has been the exception rather than the rule.  Until 1991 we had to worry about superpower nuclear annihilation ( Russia and ourselves might be down to a relative handful of  defensive nukes, the rest going from warhead to reactor fuel that gave all the idiots out there the confusing notion that nukes could power our civilization forever, but at one time there were enough to guarantee Nuclear Winter a few times over ) which could arrive at any time ( while in the service I remember thinking how screwed we were as there were only a few WWII era .45’s we used, rumors of a couple of M16’s locked away, and the food they had for the very small cafeteria.  Who knows if we even had very much fuel for generators ). 

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Since 1997 we lived under the threat of imminent power failures in a few short years.  Since 2005 Peak Oil was a sword hanging over us and since 2007 financial collapse was nigh.  And you think that your budget, after buying an armory, an ammunition dump, a stockpile of food for years, alternate shelter and warm clothing and all the other basics to keep you alive and not much more, can also include Tim Taylor Power Tools?  Mine certainly cannot.  Manual tools are more of a necessity than a preference.  Six whole years out of my 51 there hasn’t been a serious threat to my life from systematic collapse.  And during that time, despite record affordable prep supplies, all my money went to the ex-wife ( I was generously allowed to keep $5k a year out of $25k ).  I’ve rarely had the luxury of buying luxury or convenience. 

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And herein lies today’s tale.  My second foray into power tools this century, and once again a concrete proof of how silly they are.  The weather here, despite some years disruptions and diversions, is pretty repetitious.  We get rain in the spring, not a cloud in the summer, clouds all winter and that season can last six months.  Since I’ve lived here I have used a hand powered weeder ( you could call it a sickle, I suppose.  The C shape with closed end, kind of “CI” setting on a handle ) every year after the spring rains feed the weeds in sage cleared spots.  My first $18 tool lasted six years.  It had already been getting dull but the wooden handle broke and finished it off.  It would have lasted longer and I would have bothered sharpening it except when I clear the sage I leave a good six inches of exposed trunk ( I only cut at ground level when I cleared a path in for my trailer ).  The head is always hitting the exposed nubs no matter how careful I am.  I just have to accept it as a consumable item rather than a lifetime tool. 

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Well, this year I’m living in town and I can’t weed every evening and on the weekend mornings.  I visited one weekend and the weeds were a one inch carpet.  The next weekend I was down south visiting my dad.  So two weeks of rains went by and upon returning the plants were, no exaggeration, a foot tall.  I manually weeded as fast as I could but in the heat I could only do so much.  The New Old Lady harped on me until I let her buy me a mechanical weed-wacker.  She bought an electric unit, a 1,000 watt inverter and a few rolls of cutting cord, and I bought a new 12v battery ( those suckers went up almost 50% since my last one two and a half years ago ). 

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It STILL took three weekend visits to get it all cut ( I used the lowest power cutter to conserve the needed watts ).  Even with a good hat, already being hydrated and being in good shape, I can only do so much labor in the heat ( I’m acclimated to the cold.  The summer, not the winter, is my suffering time ).  Now, the inverter and battery are going to be an emergency back-up for the house here.  The power goes out almost regularly.  Their cost didn’t bother me.  And the electric weed-eater was only $30.  But cutting the half acre used $18 worth of string!  Every year, a mechanical cutter costs the same as six years of a manual tool, and that is in consumables only!  It was almost a requirement because of the fire danger, I’ll admit.  This is the driest its been in about seven years.  Not living there I almost have to do it this way ( almost-I could still work around it ).  It is really easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need mechanical tools.  I even did it as smart as possible, foregoing oil and gasoline, still able to use it as long as my battery lasts, but I’m not blind to the Six Times Cost.

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I suppose one could improvise a more permanent string using a thin metal coat hanger ( and wrapping ones legs up to avoid cuts ), and I’m not blind to the calories saved by using solar rather than food as fuel, but it is NOT a long term solution!  Like all power tools, you spend a lot more and you enter into a dangerous situation in record time where you lack the manual tools and the stamina to use them.  Forgetting the cost of the cutter, just in the string/cord alone, you could buy a brand new manual cutter every year.  I’ll still keep that tool, and keep using it but on a more limited basis, but only limiting myself to the manual use during another worse case scenario like foot high dry grass during fire season.  Damn town living is already making me soft.

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