Thursday, February 16, 2017

prioritize lifeboat items part 2


PRIORITIZE LIFEBOAT ITEMS 2

Combining the realization that The End Is Nigh and the new and improved Dark Age will be global, along with acknowledging the Oil Age is on its very last leg ( ExxonMobil hasn’t made a profit-and they are best of the top US oil companies-in three years.  And that is just the financial aspect of the many problems ), you might come to the realization that you should get off your flaccid jiggley ass and stock your lifeboat with the basic items that will never be duplicated again in the history of ever.  The first I listed was industrial grown grains.  Screwy weather is global, as is the diminishing net energy of petroleum, as is overpopulation.  You certainly can grow your own grains and you should, but most likely you will be growing vegetables and legumes rather than grains, given our usual lack of land all but a extreme small minority experience.  Growing grains is for after the die-off, stored grain is for during and to cushion against crop failures.  So while you don’t need modern anything to grow grains, only industrial grain is cheap enough to stock a decades worth.

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You could also find a way to grind your grain in a primitive ( rocks ) or salvage specific way ( metal pipes ).  But why should you?  A modern metal grain grinder is under $50 ( my first one in the ‘80’s was actually more, so they are great inflation fighters ).  It won’t force you to eat sand, nor will it take extra calories you can ill afford.  So too, you can easily make a storage unit for your grains out of primitive materials.  And you should have the instructions for such.  Yet, buying the plastic now is-relatively-affordable and will be an invaluable water container after emptied.  So, this is why I recommend buying lots and oodles and gobs of grain NOW, as your first lifeboat item.  Followed by the grinders ( multiples, duh ) and plastic storage containers.  Diatomaceous earth is also a very wise investment.  It is invaluable in your stored grain, and will prove VERY useful against age old problems such as lice or bedbugs.  You can buy the non-food grade at Home Depot, and you should.  They come in a thick plastic bag and can be stored for the day of infestation.  Just get food grade for your grain-you’ll probably need to mail order it and I’d appreciate it if you bought that through my Amazon ad links so I get a commission. 

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Next up of course is ammunition.  There are more firearms than people in this country, and that nicely translates into a lot of surplus firearms after the die-off.  What won’t be in such good supply will be ammunition.  That is a far greater priority than a crap load of guns or magazines or laser sites of FLIR’s or tacti-cool sighting systems.  Given that every swinging cheese dingus out there thinks tactics are spray and pray, don’t expect ammo to last any longer than the surplus population.  That is all you really need to know on the subject ( if you recover or steal ammunition, steel cased ammo is okay in non-CommBlock guns.  On a limited basis, and I’d try to trade the crap myself and only use it in emergencies.  If extractors and firing pins take a beating on harder material steel case ammo, you might damage your gun.  You might not be able to get another quick enough, so don’t be lured into false economics buying this stuff ).

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Next up would be illumination.  You need AA rechargeable batteries, the LED lanterns and flashlights that use them, and some solar chargers.  Because here is the thing.  12v RV batteries are great for using high power items.  You could run a fridge off of a couple of panels and a modified freezer.  You could run a microwave if fuel was an issue.  But 12v batteries do NOT last all that long, AND if you store dry batteries for later use to initially charge them you need much more than a trickle charge off of a solar panel ( so you’ll need a quality generator-that means Honda for a cool thousand bucks-and the gasoline storage now becomes another limited time storage issue ).  It is far better for those on a budget to simply forego using 12v batteries.  With AA rechargeable the batteries can sit in storage forever until you need them, then you can charge from the sun.  You could use candles and oil lamps for tow tech illumination, but the light output sucks and LED’s and rechargeable AA’s are pretty darn cheap.  Plus, low tech light needs fats ( unless you have bees ) you should be using as lubricants or foods rather than for lights.  You are fat and well fed now, but in the future every calories will count like you can’t believe.  Because you didn’t spend $50 for illumination now, you want to go hungry and have your gun rust in the future?  Light is VERY important for psychological health.  Do not discount its need.

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Glass and insulation for building might be a very easy to salvage item, or it could put your life at risk.  What is easier for you to do?  Salvage or stockpile?  These two items will be very important and while glass MIGHT start being made after the Dark Ages, insulation is mostly Oil Age Only ( unless you live in a wool tent, of course ).  And plastic sheeting.  It won’t salvage well, and nothing is better for water proofing.  Most locations with water in this country are going to have cold winters.  Nothing is better for conserving fuel than building dug-outs.  And plastic sheeting is almost mandatory unless you want dark and dank.  I built my Test Pit the wrong way and the bugs and mildew are simple gross.  I wouldn’t want to live in there ( and I can‘t imagine it would be healthy ).  The B-POD was built the right way ( an exposed doorway at the bottom of stairs so you get air movement from the bottom to the top ).  If you build a dug-out like this you shouldn’t have an issue with living underground ( subject to soil and rain at your location, of course.  However, you can build an earth covered shelter completely aboveground with good drainage, so this isn’t completely impossible ). 

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And there is your bare bones, frugal budget, impossible to duplicate items you need for your lifeboat.  Yes, the list COULD be endless.  This is a reality based list, however.  Keep your fantasy confined to your football.

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17 comments:

  1. There is a work around on fuel for the Honda generator.
    Just procure a conversion kit to propane , as it will last indefinitely for storage.
    Then later on , after you've run out of bottled propane...
    Just start manufacturing your own methane , by building a methane digester. Simply just an oxygen free tank that you put shit into , which has a hose hooked on top to let the methane out. Tis a bit more complicated than that , but actually very easy to cheaply construct. Not only could you run a generator...You be cooking with gas !
    Google it...If you dig deeply enough , y'all might even run across a paper I wrote up for my master's thesis way back in the dark ages lol.

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    1. Methane is a good idea, no matter what. Power from crap, then fertilize with the end product ( with safety proviso's of course ).

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  2. If you have your junk land that you intend to live on, it is also advisable that you get all the excavation you can done now by machine while the cost of diesel is such that it is cheaper than hiring shovel wielding laborers. @$1400 should give you a week with a bobcat rental or other such equipment which should be long enough to put a couple of properly sized holes in the right places and stack the debris in spots that would be comfortable to either shovel back around your future structures or to lead water and other threats away from your structures and self.

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    1. Certainly not a bad idea. If you are poor and can't do that, but don't want to do it all by hand, think about a gas powered post hole digger. Use that for digging down at one end, remove dirt by hand, then it is horizontal pick work ( much easier than going down ) manually from there. $200 for the unit, although I don't know how long it would last.

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    2. Oh yeah, I love me post hole digger- With the extensions and different sized 'bits' for the augure you can make quite a deep hole for posts, trees, or burying other things that need to be put in deep - in our clay/gravel mix I find that using the smallest possible bit first to the right depth plus a little deeper, then moving up to bigger bits as the hole gets bigger and using a manual post hole digger and shovel to remove the loosened dirt when necessary is still far faster than digging such a hole with purely manual tools.

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    3. Any sizeable hole I make in the future will be made with one-getting too wiped out at the job to duplicate my past manual work.

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  3. Following on from my previous post about how lucky you guys are to have the 2A (it's not just guns guys)

    In Australia the Police will come and inspect your safe & firearms to 1) ensure the guns are secured lawfully 2) you don't have any extra, nor are you "missing" any. The last time the Police came to my place the Officer was asking where the f*** guns I sold 8 years ago were. I assure you I was very worried. Fortunately nothing came of it.

    The other concern I had relates to this blog post. Stock piling ammunition. Currently The only law we have regarding stockpiling ammo is that above 1,000 rounds you are required to have a warning sign. Yes, that includes .22lr.

    I read an article from our national firearm body (think NRA but one that trips over itself hurrying to sell out it's members). Anyways the article said some poor sap had all his ammo confiscated because the Copper didn't think he should have "that much". He had 500 .22lr rounds. That's it. He didn't bother arguing the point because, well you know, just pop to the gun shop and buy another brick. However if the cops saw my stockpile and took it I'd be a little sad.


    PS - don't forget Water filter for lifeboat. Your minions would have a couple of buckets with their wheat berries.

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    1. So, I'm assuming you guys have no crime if the cops have time to inspect gun safes? Kind of like the fire department here-no fires, they go around harassing businesses about safety code violations. A real cute way to foster community relations.

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    2. This is why criminals are, in a way, doing law abiding citizens a favour. Just as long as the crime doesn't involve violence or tea leaving my stuff I'm pretty OK with it.

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    3. "(think NRA but one that trips over itself hurrying to sell out it's members)"
      So, EXACTLY like the NRA?
      -eviltwin

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  4. A prep for those who like candles is the Menorah candles found a Amazon, you can get pk of 44 for $5. I bought up the 3 hr candles by the box a few years ago at a local store. I got enough to burn for a year straight at 6 hr per day. So I will be trading those as needed. Peace

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    1. Petroleum candles aren't a bad deal financially. But, just for ONE night try nothing but candles. They BLOW, YO!!!!!

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    2. Petroleum-paraffin candles should not be used in an unventilated space where people are breathing. They are good for getting damp wood going or running an ammonia refrigerator.

      LED's for lighting. Ni-MH batteries will cycle a lot of times. Lead-acid AGM's and Gel batteries (no leaking!)charged correctly will last more than 5 years cycling. Iron Edisons may last decades.

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    3. But of course, the Edisons are $2k EACH.

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    4. I love the edison batteries in theory. But the new 'saltwater' batteries for fixed household power needs look like they may last even longer and be simpler to maintain (non toxic, they have video of a guy eating the ingredients) while being even cheaper. The down side the possess is that they are HUGE - they will fill a coat closet easily based on only a fraction of a typical houses energy usage, still they are simple saltwater and extremely long life ingredients and with sufficient energy conservation look like they could last more than the average lifetime for only a couple of thousand including charge controller and inverter.

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    5. I'm not finding any price comparrisons. Hard to have any opinions.

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