Saturday, August 30, 2008

SCOPE CUT!

it had to happen




Some receiving this post are gunners, and well understand. Others are
not, so, gunners, bear with me, and try not to laugh too hard at my
folly.




The 7mm Remington Magnum is a punishing caliber to shoot,
particularly with heavier bullets. This picture illustrates what is
called 'scope eye'. I don't know what the spot in the middle of my
forehead is, almost certainly it's something unrelated to the scope
eye. It wiped away.




I've shot this rifle many times, and with heavy bullets. This time,
however, I was rushing to beat dark to get it zeroed. I do not have my
'regular' bench setup, with an 'owl ear' (front sandbag) and 'bunny
ear' (rear sandbag). I have one bag and a rickety card table and a
kitchen chair, all of which produces a very awkward, very low shooting
position. Rather than adjust things, I just hunkered down, which meant
that I was inclining my head forward and the gun was not well
supported. Rang my bell pretty hard. Two major headaches in a month...
this could get tiresome.




The classic way you get scope eye is to 'crowd' the scope with your
eye, which I was not doing. But the forward inclination of my head put my
eyebrow too close to the scope.




At least, bore sighting had put it almost dead on target. The impact
point (aside from my eyebrow) was 2-1/4 inches right, and 2-1/2 inches
high at 100 meters. I'm fairly certain that a second round to check
final zero is not required, but I will fire one anyway... tomorrow, if
my eye isn't swollen too badly. But I bet I will have a more proper
shooting position before I light off another round. Next time, piss on
this, I'll shoot off the hood of the truck.




Play with fire too often, and eventually you get burned. This is my
first ever scope eye. And I've shot some serious shoulder cannons...
just not in such an awkward position. Piss me right off.




I had forgotten how badly facial wounds (particularly on thin
skin over bone) bleed. Matter of fact, I'm still oozing, almost
dripping blood 2 hours after the fact. I'll almost certainly
have a black eye tomorrow. My head is still ringing
from the impact.




Prissy (my JRT) doesn't like really loud sharp noises. Sighting in the
'06 yesterday(3 rounds) had her hiding under the bed. But the 7 is nearly an order of
magnitude louder and very sharp... today, I found her scrunched in
behind the cabinet the TV sits on.... and she really didn't even want
to come out. I honestly didn't think that she would even fit where she
was. ;)



Mike
Michael sez: This is the first picture I have ever loaded on my blog. You are witnessing History in the making. This story has to rank up there with Sarah Palin!
Stay alive.
Michael






Friday, August 29, 2008

MACHINE NEWS, AND PREPS AS USUAL

I just got done shelling a big bag of beans and then I sat down and listened to Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential designate of John McCain for this coming election. She was quite a treat. She has a son in Iraq. And so does McCain, I believe. This Palin is a maverick and an anti-corruption type of politico from Alaska. She is only 44 years old and is in her second year in office as Governor of her state. She is a Hockey Mom and a Moose hunter. Her husband is a member of the Steel Workers Union and works on the North slope oil field. He has won the Iron Dog snow machine race four times and is the current champion. She spoke in glowing terms of Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton as having cracked the glass ceiling. Now, she says, it is time to collapse the ceiling. I laughed my ass off at the ignominy of the situation.

An Illinois machine politician, Obama, saying we need mysterious CHANGE, picked an East Coast Liberal Machine politician, Biden, to be his running mate and we are supposed to get change from these machine politicians. Not a chance! Not a chance in Hell. Mayor Daley runs the Chicago machine just like his father did. And it elected Obama. And that means it has the goods on Obama and could dump his ass anytime it wished. All unknown at this point but don't think for a minute that the info isn't there, because it is. Obama represents the Machine. He is not for change. He is for the status quo. I remember when the Chicago Machine beat the young people of this nation in what was called a police riot, back in 1968. The machine was triumphant. Old man Daley was as arrogant as ever after that episode.

The Machine has extracted a few promises from Obama. A few key positions will be filled with certain people favored by the Machine. And if Obama wins, those promises will be fulfilled. The road to hell is already paved and waiting. The Left is wanting to disarm the people of this country. They also want to install more government programs to buy more votes for the next election. This is the "reason for being" of a political machine. It's methodology is to perpetuate itself. It's whole function is continuity. To the Machine, nothing is more important than the Machine. And of course, the Machine wants to govern and have the rule over the people. Here we have the basis, the whole reason for Obama's existence, on the American political scene. There are no heart issues in the Machine. Issues of the heart are the stuff of ad companies who write the campaign slogans. Political pollsters find out what the people really want and the ad campaign puts it out there in speeches. But the boys in the back room are not moved by issues of the heart. They are moved by the need for the survival of the Machine. If they win the election they all move up a few pay grades.

Obama is not a Thomas Paine, or even a John Kennedy. He is a machine politician out of Chicago. Plain and simple. If Obama wins, the machine wins.

On the brighter note I got a big bag of beans shelled yesterday and my wife has blessed me with another bag and a half for today. But I asked her to do it. I believe in prepping. I believe in having enough food on hand for hard times. After we put up all that stuff we had thrown down in bags, it is looking pretty good in the supply area. Even the Handmaiden is feeling more secure and positive. But we will try and do even better. There are still some areas for the expression of our tastes and needs. We still don't have powdered milk. Gonna check on different types of grains besides the corn and beans and rice we now have. Millet tastes pretty good and it is nutritious. Vlad Strelok has me on a search for alternative grains right now. I will see what the Amish have for sale. Spelt seems to be a major player with the Amish. A lot of people seem to think that Spelt is better than the Wheat that is grown these days. Maybe it is. I reckon the Amish stuff, whatever it is, will be non-hybrid and can be used for seed. Gonna have to study up on how to get those little bitty seeds harvested in some kind of an efficient manner.

That will just about end it for this Saturday morning. You folks down on the Gulf coast keep an eye on Gustav and get ready to bug out if need be. I hope you all are safe and sound and stay that way. And God helps those who help themselves. Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

WINTER'S COMING ON!

I have trimmed my reading list today. A few people had to go. The guy from Maine had to go because he admitted he would hunt and eat human flesh to stay alive. Sick man. Penny Scout had to go because she hasn't posted in almost three months. There were a couple of others but I can't remember their names. Sometimes you just have to make a decision as to what crowd you are going to hang out with and I have made mine for the morning.



A lot of posting has me thinking about Winter moving in. Sly Wolf is already talking about the leaves changing and things of that order. I believe we will have a bitter Winter and I suggest folks get ready for it. I have some money left this month and maybe I ought to get some long johns. I could have the Handmaiden pick them up tomorrow when she does her shopping. We already have five quilts and a good blanket and that should do us for warmth. Two of the quilts are a little warn but the rest are brand new and should hold up for us quite well.



I have a big bag of Cranberry beans to shell-out this morning and the Handmaiden is gonna go pull up a couple more rows. She is good about keeping me in beans to prepare. Can't quite figure that out. She can pull the beans in an hour and it takes me HOURS to shell them out. But whatever method we use our preps are growing like gangbusters. We went upstairs this morning and pulled all the bags of stuff we had just tossed up against the wall and in amongst the clothes. My God. The amount of canned goods was just wonderful. I cannot get on the new ladder because it won't bear my weight but she can stand on it just fine and I hand the stuff up for her to place where she wants it. A good working routine. And we neither one had any idea as to how much we had just laying there in plastic bags. Let me tell you, it was a lot. I was quite happy.



With the cold Winter I am expecting, we might end up using these preps extensively. Good food. We must have 25 or 30 two pound cans of Beef Stew. Huge amounts of Chili. Lots of fruit and vegetables. Meats and high protein stuff is in abundance, along with plenty of fats. Lots of Salt and some Sugar and Flour. Gotta keep that body weight up with carbs. And carbs make heat!

So we get ready for Winter, which I expect to get here a little early this year. I tell people about this and I point them toward websites that have astronomical data to back it up but I do not know if it is being received well or not. You can only tell folks so many times and then it's on them and they have to live through it as best they can. Dragon has posted about the falling temperatures and put up nice pictures and all that stuff. We are to have snow in abundance. Heavy snowfall is a sure sign of trees falling across power lines and knocking out power. People! Can you do without power in a blizzard? Will your kids be warm? Will your water lines freeze? Will you be able to flush your toilet? You better check this stuff out! You better make sure and you better have back-up if you think you will need it. So many bloggers out there remind and remind about back-up plans. We also call them contingencies. You can't put all your eggs in one basket to 100% degree. Things can go terribly wrong. So get ready for a bummer! If it doesn't happen then you lucked out. But Murphy's Law is in effect at all times and can be put against you in a flash. Your computer and your phone might be knocked out. Your power could go out for days on end. Think, Dammit! Jar those memory cells in your brain loose and see what Katrina did to New Orleans. See what it did to oil and gas prices. Think what Gustav will do if it gets loose in those off-shore oil wells! Think what it will do if it gets to the refineries. You will be screwed! Get something going and prepare! How long does it take to rebuild a critical refinery? Could it be done in 6 months? If they started today that would mean a start up by next March. And it doesn't matter if other nations will sell us crude oil or not! It still has to be refined.

So we have a hard Winter forecast and a hurricane playing bumper pool in the Gulf. Talk about the makings of a disaster! And you know who is going to suffer, and it ain't the rich and powerful. It will be us poor peons as per usual.

The Handmaiden has a blog at http://handmaidenkitchen.blogspot.com/ and it is there that she will store her columns she writes for Staying Alive. It is not finished but it is up and accessible. More is coming.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Thursday, August 28, 2008

FINANCES, MOVIES, PREPS, AND GOVERNMENT

It's looking like the same old game in the financial system. Gold was up. the stock market is up. Oil is down. The Daily Reckoning is saying that things are returning to normal because prices are down, getting closer to where they should be. So prices are down but jobs are down also and though things are cheaper no one can afford to buy. There ain't any money to loan anyhow. But that is how it is in our dress rehearsal for the real thing. We will get a few wake-up calls and then we will get our asses blown up. And you have your choice. I know that I have typed out warning after warning to any and all who would listen that it is going to be bad. And if this sleazy government can pull the wool over your eyes one more time then so be it. The real dollars are stored overseas is big vaults in Asia and the Middle East, with some in India. Trillions of dollars in cash. So when the Presidential Plunge Protection team goes to work jacking up the value of the dollar you know who they are working for. And it ain't you, my friend. It's our brethren around the world who have made a killing off of us, and Uncle Sham is making their dollars safe and secure as he can. All we can do is wait for the next bubble and try to cash in on it. It's a pity that our government has let us be put in this position but we must face it as realistically as we can. I doubt that we represent 1% of the population so there isn't too many politicians trying to pander to us. With our numbers we are bullshit in the American economy. We are invisible. The only people who care about us are Chinamart and her brothers and sisters in the market place. How is that for irony? The company who has done more to bring American mercantilism into a global exercise turns out to be our greatest ally in the food and gear department. Strange bedfellows.

We are gong to have an American pig-out supper tonight. The Handmaiden found frozen shrimp for sale and she is going to fix Shrimp Cocktail and serve it with a tomato and avocado salad. They still let us little guys have a treat every now and then. Ain't that sweet. The real treat of the evening will be starting to view the complete first year of Deadwood. The Handmaiden got the 6 disc set for $2 for 5 nights. Sensational. That is about the best show I have ever watched. It ain't as good maybe as Godfather I or the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman, but it is a damn good bunch of viewing. The cursing is startling if you are not used to it but they tried to make it as realistic as possible. Folks were crude back there in Deadwood. But it tells it like it was. Great cast, great script, and excellent filming. I am pleased as punch that she found those CD's for rent.

I was just discussing the difference between Green Beans and the other beans we eat in this country. 90% or more of our bean eating is shell-puts. Pork and Beans, Bean Soup, Re-Fried Beans in Tacos, Chili Beans, Bean Salad, etc. They all come from shell-outs. I don't think we eat that many Green Beans. People ask me about my beans and I tell them I grow Ripe Beans, not Green Beans. I let them dry on the vine and shell 'em out. Simple as hell. But I feel like the Handmaiden that anyone who is trying to put up ANY extra food ought to be encouraged. We haven't seen the end of this economic mess as yet and cheap food, already paid for, will be a precious item. And Gustave is picking up power down there in the Gulf. If it tears out a bunch of oil rigs and refineries then our asses are mud. We will see very high priced gasoline for quite a while. Think $6 or $7 a gallon. Think having to buy gasoline to go to work. I talked to a guy yesterday who drives a mile and a half to work every morning. Sometimes he even rides his horse to work. Lives out on 60 acres in rural Tennessee. He's in the publishing business and does pretty well at it. Maybe I missed out on a better way to make money than logging and sawmilling. We'll see, I reckon.

For those of you still interested in American politics, Putin of Russia said that America fostered that attack by Georgia to influence the presidential election. There never was a snowballs chance in Hell of Georgia taking over that little country. Dubya was trying to rig the election. And guess what? I trust what Putin has to say more than I trust what Washington and Big Media has to say. I know damn good and well that the fedgov and the media are lying whenever I see their lips move.

My friend Bruce Burdick is getting some ground in a county just below us here in southern Indiana. Just an acre but it has possibilities. Surrounded by State and National Forest. Could be interesting. I'll see if he is into raising a couple hogs! I could use some whole hog sausage.

I'll stop now and wish you to to live on and stay alive. Do what you have to do to make it.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

DEATH AND PREPS AND WHATEVER

It's Thursday morning and I am back to blogging. It feels pretty good to get back to the keyboard.

We buried my long time friend yesterday, right beside the Old Man. I am sure they are having some interesting conversations right now in a heavenly place. And like I told the Gathering yesterday, with those two hooked up and getting down to business, if I was a preacher of a phony religion or a politician selling a freedom destroying government, I would be shaking in my boots. The Old Man, Daniel Wright, was a high Priest advocate of cleaning up the planet, throwing the bastards out on the streets. Gilbert Neeley was his prime fix-it man. They will make a formidable team. And the team will be added to as more of us older men get called up there where the real stuff gets done. The land of NO BULLSHIT. A place of Peace and Righteousness. The scripture says that through Mercy and Truth is iniquity purged. We have seen 2000 years of Mercy and you can take a look around and see what it got us. So it is time for the Truth to be applied. Truth will make the dogs run back up on the porch. For sure.

I'm gonna see about something in the way of preps today. I want a small step ladder to reach high or awkward places in my stash area. Things can be much neater and more space created as a result of a better storage system. I will probably prep until God calls me. Ain't any sense going away and leaving people that I love to do without. They will need all the help they can get. And things are not looking too good out in the nation. I am a little leery of McCain and I don't know what he will do as far as war and foreign relations is concerned. He seems to me to have a hair trigger. But, given the alternative, I will vote for McCain. We at least have a chance to keep our guns with McCain. And you can say all you want about the idiocy of having guns but I will keep mine, thank you very much. We have families with lots of kids around here and I would not leave them defenseless.

I want to insert something right here. Cain rules through fear of Hell and fear of Prison. Well, there ain't no Hell and they ain't gonna take me to prison if I can help it. Watch carefully those who make new religions or spout anti-gun slogans. God ain't said to get rid of the guns and he ain't started any new religions. So stand your ground!

I have an very interesting article from Mike Kemp that some of you would enjoy reading but it involves a photograph and I don't not know how to put up a picture on a blog. If anyone can clue me in I will be most happy to publish the article.

Dragon is working and Mayberry is pissed, as usual. Dragon will make more money working than Mayberry will make being pissed. If you get pissed the chances are the system has you beaten. Don't' get pissed! Get prepared. And then get even! Think before you act. I just got back from town, bought a short ladder. Coming back home I took a little different route because the state is working on the roads. I drove by a section of road where folks had moved out of town onto their little personal paradises. Big brick homes with manicured lawns and ponds and all the trappings of grandeur. And you know they have to be mortgaged out the wazoo! I wonder if these people will be my friends when the economy collapses? Hard tellin'.

I have to get off of here now and get to work. Got lots of beans to shell and more on the way. I have stuff to put away. I have a wife to deal with. Busy life for really having nothing to do!

Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

THE GATHERING

Today we have our Gathering. We will have a service where all who want to speak of our departed Brother can have the microphone and say their piece. It will be packed out. People are here from AZ and TN and Lord knows where else. The Clan is gathering to bury one of it's old timers. Rich or poor, friend or foe, they will be here. Don't know why it happens that way but it does. Then we will go to a hill top and bury him. There are a few there already, having run their course and gone on. One person has already seen our departed Brother dancing and spinning and saying "It's over! At last it's over!" I reckon he is pretty happy about that.

I will be missing most of the day and evening, so I might not answer any email rapidly. I will be in the thick of the Gathering and won't have time for much else. I am one of the older guys and it seems right and proper that I stay with the people. And you never know what will happen. You never now what God will do. He DOES run the show, you know.

So I will be back in a few hours and I hope you all have a pleasant day.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

PREPPING WITH THE HANDMAIDEN

Lacto-Fermenting and Other Projects
By the Handmaiden

Here’s what happening in the Handmaiden’s Kitchen

My Amish friends, kind purveyors of terrific raw milk, butter, cream, eggs and produce, also have a yard for their chickens that is mostly a haven for lambs quarters in prodigious quantities. They don’t eat lambs quarter themselves, so they allow me to go and harvest as much as I like while we’re there. I’ve been freezing it for wintertime eating. When I bring home the bags of these nutritious greens, I take all the leaves off the stems (composting the stems, natch). The leaves get blanched in boiling water for three to five minutes, then poured into a colander (save the water you boil it in--it’ll have lots of vitamins and use it as part of a soup stock or drink it). I run cool water over the lambs quarter and when it is cool, put in it ziplock bags, marking the date and toss it in the freezer. Prodigal Gardens explains it well, and has some terrific recipes too. Actually, I’m feeling a bit guilty about this--I should tell Joaz and Lydia why I harvest and eat the lambs quarters--I don’t think they realize how nutritious it is. As it is though, they have so many vegetables in their gardens that I doubt they have time for this “weed.”

The tomatoes have come in and are doing their best to keep me very busy. I haven’t canned them so far, though I will probably end up doing a batch or three. I’ve been making tomato sauce and freezing that. A basic tomato sauce is super easy to make, mostly because I don’t bother peeling and seeding them. Saute up some garlic and onions, add a bunch of cut up ripe tomatoes, some chopped up basil, oregano and parsley (dried if you don’t have it fresh), some wine or water and salt/pepper and cook it til it tastes mama mia good. I have one of those handheld blender things--and what a great tool for the kitchen that thing is!--and so I blend it well when it has cooked enough. Yum. Tomato sauce is one of those universally useful foods to have around. If you’re as poor as we are all probably going to be, some fried corn mush topped with tomato sauce and cheese can make an excellent dinner.

Mostly what I’ve been doing, however, involves lacto fermentation, which is something you should know about. You can read about it here, here and here.

Lacto fermentation is a method of preserving food with the added bonus of making that food extra delicious and healthy for you. Here’s what Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions has to say:

It may seem strange to us that, in earlier times, people knew how to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. This was done through the process of lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. These lactobacilli are ubiquitous, present on the surface of all living things and especially numerous on leaves and roots of plants growing in or near the ground. Man needs only to learn the techniques for controlling and encouraging their proliferation to put them to his own use, just as he has learned to put certain yeasts to use in converting the sugars in grape juice to alcohol in wine.

Lacto-fermentation is ancient, preserves food, and makes the vegetables, fruits and beverages easier to digest while increasing vitamin content and adding probiotics to your diet. If you have a root cellar or other cool place where you can store foods long term, then you should learn how to ferment your own vegetables. If you have a love for pickles and other sour-tart foods, you’ll love fermented vegetables. As Fallon points out, this is a worldwide custom, every culture knew how to ferment vegetables and fruits to preserve them and to make them even more nutritious.

The basic process is this: Pick the best vegetables or fruits available to you--organic if possible. Clean and cut up the vegetable, usually diced or shredded. Put the vegetable in a bowl and pound it to get some of its juices going. Put it in a clean glass jar, then add some sea salt, whey and water. Leave an inch of head space in the jar, then put the lid on tightly. Leave at room temperature (about 70 degrees) for a few days. This gives the lactobacillus time to ferment. When it tastes sour/tangy to you, then you can store it in the fridge or in the root cellar or another cool place. Sally Fallon explains this in her article and her cookbook. It is very simple and cheap and will preserve your vegetables for months. There are recipes available on the web, just google lacto-fermented recipes and you’ll find them. I’ve talked about vegetables here because I haven’t tried fruit yet. I keep my fermented veggies in the fridge for now, but will put them in the root cellar or cold room when we get that going.

Where you get whey: If you can get raw milk, you can make your own curds and whey. Raw milk left at room temperature will sour, but it doesn’t go bad, at least not in the few days you leave it out. Pasteurized milk will definitely go bad left at room temp. I leave a quart or two of raw milk at room temp for two to four days (the time varies because “room temperature” can vary). When the milk has separated, you pour the milk through cheesecloth, allowing the liquid (whey) to collect in a pot, and keeping the curds in the cheesecloth. I use a colander lined with cheesecloth, and when most of the whey has gone into the pot underneath the colander, I gently tie up the cheesecloth onto a wooden spoon placed on top of the colander. I allow the when to drip off the curds for 8 to 10 hours or so (overnight) and in the morning, I have a quart of whey, and some cream cheese in the cheesecloth. I store the whey in a quart jar in the fridge, and use up the cream cheese in recipes. The whey will keep for months. You can add a tablespoon of whey to a cup of soup or water for extra nutritional value, but mostly I use the whey in fermenting. In the 19th century, there were lots of whey houses (think coffee houses or oxygen bars) and it was renowned for its health-giving properties.

“Whey is such a good helper in your kitchen. It has a lot of minerals. One tablespoon of whey in a little water will help digestion. It is a remedy that will keep your muscles young. It will keep your joints movable and ligaments elastic. When age wants to bend your back, take whey . . . With stomach ailments, take one tablespoon whey three times daily, this will feed the stomach glands and they will work well again.” Hanna Kroeger, Ageless Remedies from Mother’s Kitchen (p. 87 in Nourishing Traditions)

If you can’t get whey, you can make piima milk by purchasing some good non homogenized whole milk and adding piima culture. I haven’t looked but I’m sure you can find piima culture to buy through google or check your local health food store. Once you have piima milk, you can then make your whey and cream cheese curds--just leave at room temp for a few days until it separates. Note I am not talking about whey powder here--this is the liquid stuff.

Using lacto-fermentation, I’ve made beet kvass, a very healthy tonic drink. Tart and pleasingly sour, it will strengthen your liver and alkalize and clean your blood. This couldn’t be easier: peel two to three raw beets, dice them up, put in a quart jar and add one tablespoon sea salt and four tablespoons whey. Fill the jar with filtered or clean water and let sit at 70 degrees for a few days, then refrigerate. Leave the beets right in the jar. Once you’ve drank all the liquid, you can refill the jar with water, leave out for two days, then in the fridge again. I’ve been reading that you can also ferment herb teas, which sounds very interesting. More on that later.

Another thing I’ve fermented is gundru. This is a survival food from Nepal, “poor people” food. Gundru can be made from spinach or any other green. And it doesn’t require any salt or whey! All you do is clean the greens, cut them up into small slices, then use a rolling pin to crush the greens more and get their juices working. Cram as much as possible into a clean jar and put on a tight lid. Leave out at room temp. Next day, pound on the greens in the jar again using a wooden spoon. Then you leave it out with the lid on for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, the greens will smell tart and fermented, like they’ve been cured. The lactobacilli on the surface of the greens will have done their job. If there is any excess water, drain it, and then put the cured leaves out in the sun to dry. It took the batch I did one day to sun dry (it was hot as hell that day). I then put the greens into a small jar and I’ll add them to soups and stews. The gundru taste interesting--it is a good addition to the Greens Jar for adding to wintertime food.

Then there’s purlane stems fermenting and watermelon rind, using the basic salt, whey, water method. And well as some Amish cider that is fermenting in a slightly more alcoholic mode.

There’s other projects going on as well, freezing and drying foods, but this has gotten too long. With life and times about to get harder for most of us, I’m trying to learn ways to harvest free, healthy food, and preserve them for my family. Anything we can do to heighten our nutrition will lessen our need for doctors. And if we’re eating a lot of basic rice and beans, it will help that our vegetables are preserved in ways that make them tasty, interesting and good for us. Give fermentation a try--all our ancestors did.

Michael sez: The Handmaiden sees the body's immune system in the same light I do. If you don't want to be sick then feed your immune system. I have eaten her contributions from foraging all Spring and Summer and I feel it has done me a world of good. I am very proud of her. I eat her food with confidence and gladness. The Lamb's Quarters I had for supper were absolutely delicious. These things she talks about are long term programs for keeping you healthy for the long term. Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

HURRICANES AND PREPS

The fedgov's original estimate of the path of Gustav is off the table. Two people that live on the gulf said it was coming in and now it looks like they were right all along. I think it is going in also. Two things are important here. One is that the fedgov system is broken, at least in speculation. The fedgov uses a practice known as trend analysis. That is why we are getting cooler weather and the fedgov says things should be warm. 2008 is turning out to be the coldest year we have had for a while, but the Al Gore fans at the fedgov turn a blind eye to that and swear we are in global warming. That explains why I wear a coat out on the porch in the morning. I must be wanting to experience the warming.

I have a report that Upper Michigan can expect a frost warning tonight or tomorrow night. A big cold front is moving down our way. This has been described as very good way to predict that the possible gulf hurricane will not go raging into the Florida coast. It will stay in the gulf and go playing bumper pool around the various coasts. So if you live up here North of the Mason-Dixon line you can get ready for some unseasonably cold days and if you live along the gulf coast you had better watch your ass.

The gulf coast is an unfriendly environment in the presence of bad weather. There ain't any place to run to and wait out a big storm. You can't get out of town and drive 20 or 30 miles and get into the hills. Hell, in Florida the highest elevation is under 20' above sea level. Scares me and I ain't afraid of anything! If a big monster hurricane hits, you are just there and you take what you are going to get. I don't like those odds too well. During hurricane season I really come to love the hills and hollers of southern Indiana. Damn few tornado's too. Those big winds like that flat ground where they can really unwind and do their thing.

The second important thing about being on the coast and preparing for a storm is survival. I can recall pictures and videos of people nailing plywood over their windows. They also load up on food, water, batteries and gasoline. Then they sit and watch and wait. They know more about what to look for than I do so I will leave it up to Mayberry to explain these things.

My idea of survival preps in the event of a possible hurricane landing in my vicinity is to know someone who lives in the hills somewhere and get my wheels a turning toward paying them a visit. I just don't think much of sitting around in the path of a hurricane.

PREPS

Another thing that is troubling me is the banking situation in this country, and in the world for that matter. These guys are in deep doo-doo and I am afraid that there is going to be hell to pay. Unemployment is up and going strong. Prices are up and going strong. Wages, adjusted for inflation, are down. The top executives and government contractors are making it just fine but the rest of the world has it's tit in a wringer. The Handmaiden watches other folks' shopping carts when she goes to the store and there ain't anyone buying beef. I know we aren't! Maybe a little hamburger if it is on sale but that is about the extent of it. We can still buy breakfast sausage at Aldi's for $1.50 a pound but it is $2.50 to $3.00 a pound elsewhere. Deer season is coming upon us and I intend to get mine and grind it up into sausage for my breakfast meat. I like meat and eggs in the morning.

The Handmaiden has started packaging Lambs Quarters and freezing them. Nice to think about unless the electricity goes out. But she is also buying canned vegetables for our stash. Peas and Spinach so far. It's commercially grown food and it is not organic but it is nutritious anyhow. I read an article about a survey in Missouri that said that canned food had as much nutrition as frozen food. You supposedly don't get robbed by buying canned food. And that is fine. I can eat canned food okay. But there was nothing in the tests that measured the toxins from the herbicides and pesticides. You be taking your chances with that stuff, just like always. But it is preps and it may help you to stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Monday, August 25, 2008

HANG ON TO YOUR SEATS. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2008/08/fdic-increasing-staff-for-expected.html

FDIC Increasing Staff for Expected Increase in Bank Failures

The FDIC is starting to increase its staff for what it expects to be a large number of bank failures.

Currently, the FDIC has 4,600 employees. It is hiring 70 new employees and bringing back 70 retirees.

The FDIC's Atlanta regional office, which covers seven states from West Virginia to Florida, also recently boosted its bank examiner and professional staff by about 10 percent, to about 300.

The agency is also expected to soon raise the insurance premiums it charges banks and thrifts to begin rebuilding its reserves.

The list that the FDIC maintains of "problem" banks totaled 90 institutions with $26.3billion in assets at the end of March. The confidential list is expected to be much higher when an updated version is released tomorrow.

SOLDIER OF DESTINY

I'll tell you a little story. These are some lyrics to a song that a very good friend of mine wrote. It concerns the guy we call the Old Man. He ran this place for most of 35 years. I am one of his spiritual sons. He was truly a man of God. He was of no religion and he didn't play church, but he had a contact with Deity. He heard a voice.

I witnessed many miracles in my sojourn through this life I have spent here. Things that would astound you. They sure did astound ME!

But many years ago the Old Man was living in Indianapolis pasturing a small church. He was seeking a deeper walk with God and praying. It was at night. Here is a piece of the song.

Then came a voice from out of the night
Come out of this land and I'll show you my valley
I'll show you my world
Men will take their shoes off
Land of the Patriarchs
Land of the free

I cannot always sing this song because I get so choked up that words won't come. But this song is a clue to the reason I stay where I am and do what I do. That voice has guided this place for 42 years and it has never failed us. The song is titled Soldier of Destiny and it surely is true.

Michael

PREPS IN GENERAL

It's Monday morning and I am wondering how I am doing with my preps. Let's run through a short list and see.

WATER

We are abundantly supplied with water. We have numerous ponds about our property. We have several springs, in fact we have quite a few springs. We have a creek that runs through our valley. We have wells and one well that we are getting a hand pump installed. I do not fear a water shortage.

FOOD

The Handmaiden and I have several hundred pounds of food stored. And if this effort to grow beans an corn is successful then we are loaded with nutrition. The Handmaiden cooked up our first Crockpot of Horticulture beans yesterday and they were absolutely delicious. Some of the best beans I ever ate. Very good flavor. I am taking a break from shelling more of them to write this post. The Golden Bantam corn I planted has not turned down as yet so we haven't sampled it. I planted corn for grinding, not for freezing or roasting ears. I love corn bread and mush. The Handmaiden is drying tomatoes! I have never seen this done before. But she looks after them and keeps them covered with a thin cloth and they seem to be doing just fine. We have quite a collection of canned goods. All kinds of meat products and dishes. Starting to get some more vegetables. Spinach and peas took a build up this weekend. We also have fruit and probably will buy more, if the economy allows. And of course, we also have rice and beans running out of our ears. And almost 50 pounds of feed corn for grinding. We have spices galore and will probably get some more. The Amish are good about carrying the ground Cayenne I like so well and we will probably buy from them. Our Cayenne is getting put into Wristras and hung out on the porch wall. I would have to say that food supply is looking pretty good. And I can have this food supply on my meager pension because we do not have a mortgage on our land here. It sure is nice to be free of that bullshit. Gotta pay the land taxes and that is about it.

FUEL

We have all the wood in the world here in the valley. Good hardwoods, not the fireball pines they have out west and that burn across California every Summer. We can cook and heat like crazy with our wood supply. If we have to use questionable water we can boil it properly and have no fear of pathogens. We have a couple high springs that can get water up into some buildings if necessary. Makes having a flush toilet a wonderful thing. Our Poplar is renowned for building. And Termites don't think much of it. Get it off the ground and covered with a roof with some overhang and you are set to go. Of course we also have White Oak for building corn cribs and things of that nature. Fuel is not a problem here.

GUNS AND AMMO

I have plenty of firepower here at the ranch. It's not really a military arsenal but everything shoots and that means it CAN be used for defense. Pistols, shotguns and rifles. Pretty standard fare. I have an adequate amount of ammo. Not saying I couldn't use more but I can live with what I have. I don't reckon a man would ever say he had ENOUGH ammo. But if you get a whole lot you gotta come up with more space to store it and that can get hard to do! Women who live with you have a certain animosity toward anyone who wants a lot of valuable storage room!

CLOTHING

Starting to build my supply of good clothing. Not Sunday-go-to-meeting good but good as for keeping me warm and holding up to wear and abuse. I would like one more pair of good boots but I think I can get by for now. But I will be lookin'! The Handmaiden has plenty of clothes. She is the most unconscious shopper I have ever seen. She will go to the Salvation Army store and find a $300 thick leather coat for $15. She bought a pair of $200 high top leather boots for $10. And this stuff is like NEW. She has coats out the wazoo and sweaters and all that stuff. And if she gets bored she always slips on one of my good T-shirts. She has plenty of warm socks and scarves. She says she has plenty of blue jeans. She will have to check but she thinks she has plenty of long johns. We are doing okay in the clothing area.

MEDICAL SUPPLIES

We recently got a small medical kit together. Survival blogger finally got his band aids! So nice of him. But we have it going and that is what counts. And the Handmaiden is making salves and ointments and plain old raw dried herbs and what not. Anything you can make from stuff growing out in the wild will save you money. Various teas and decoctions are coming to the fore. We even have some small tools like scissors and tweezers. We have more to do but we are getting ready and that is what you have to do. You never have enough and you never are satisfied but you keep working at it. When the SHTF you go with what you have.

Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Sunday, August 24, 2008

THE IMPLOSION IS ACCELERATING, PREPARE WHILE YOU CAN

March 15, 2008
By Greg Evensen
News With Views

For thirty years, I have been writing, speaking, imploring, and begging others to make rational, concrete plans for a time in life that would offer no quarter, give no mercy, and that would in a word be--catastrophic. We are coming face to face with that moment. You have so little time left to do anything that will give you a fighting chance. What are you doing?

National Guard units are training and preparing for urban combat. The United States has just reached an agreement with Canada’s armed forces to come in to this country and assume combat roles should they be needed in American cities and towns. The Federal Reserve’s last ditch effort to stem the “blood loss” in the sub-prime and other currency markets has failed. The dollar has been abandoned for Euros. The stock market can’t find its ass with both hands and a Chinese made, Wal-Mart sold ass finder. Israel has demanded that all of the financial aid it receives from Washington (that’s us) be paid for in Euros. The ultimate irony and slap in the face. Oil, dairy, wheat, wheat products, gold, silver, copper prices, the list goes on and on, are racing for the stratosphere with no end in sight. An implosion has begun and it has no known method of stopping or reversing until critical mass is reached. It will be followed by an explosion in the economy and the political realm unseen since the founding of this nation.

The ultimate tragedy is, this was preventable. It could have been slowed or reversed at any time if a courageous and morally upright Congress had revealed the root causes for the disaster. If the socialist “generals” in Congress had been defeated or at least their programs thrown out at the time of their introduction, billions would have been saved. If the truth and our first president, General George Washington’s advice had been followed, every conflict since WWII would have been avoided. During the past 60 years, 120,000 American soldiers would have survived, 500,000 would have been physically uninjured, and two trillion in direct costs and the rehabilitation money grants to former enemies would have been saved.

The size of the federal government would be less than half of what it is today, the budget of the US government would be about 500 billion as opposed to two and one half trillion on a yearly basis and we would most likely be at relative peace. Lack of foolish and unnecessary regulations, taxes, and frivolous lawsuits, would have allowed an explosion of small businesses to thrive. The lack of a Federal Reserve System would have allowed the United States to remain a creditor nation based on assets rather than suffering under a crushing debt imposed by the feds dictatorial control over the people’s treasury. There are so many reasons why we could have avoided all of this. Thousands of perfectly good reasons IF employed by thousands of honest, moral, representatives who simply could have done the citizen’s business the way God and sound governmental practices demanded ---would have, should have, and could have made the critical difference.

Instead, we saw year after year, decade after decade, and now century after century of greed, bring ultimate ruin to this marvelous nation called America. Although we did not want it, we have allowed it to happen. It resolves nothing and does not buy us a way out, but we must accept our responsibility for this debacle and now prepare for what is coming.

Friends, you must begin NOW if you have not done so, to protect yourselves and your family from this pending---as the disaster movies call it---“extinction level event” for our former way of life. If you hesitate, you will be caught in the maelstrom that is the next six months to five years of life in the US. Pick your poison. If you like global warming and believe that is going to do you in, well then, build a refrigerated secure basement. If you like the Planet X scenario, then prepare for 800 mph winds and basically a “pole shift” that will leave nothing at all. If you live in a nuclear target city, or worse yet (worse??) yes, in a sanctuary city, then get out and get out quickly. Here is what you must do.

Consider geography carefully. I don’t care where you live now, choose your “Ride & Hide” (ride it out and hide from the enemy—you pick ‘em) location with great wisdom. Coasts are bad, arid regions are bad, rural northern and mountainous regions are the best. Why? Fewer people mean fewer morons to deal with. Weather considerations, wild game availability, timber resources, fresh water, tillable soil, survival off the utility grid is doable, herding small numbers of livestock is possible, also grazing horses can be kept. Being at least 50 miles from the nearest interstate or major highway is preferable, the same with commercial airports and nuke plants. Holing up with really close friends or family is the ultimate best so that expenses, work loads and practical skills are shared to your best advantage. Be ready to leave your city home with only one or two hours alert time. You may not even have that. Practice getting home, loading, and leaving at least once. Notify only those in your group that would be affected. Tell no one else what you are doing. Keep your gas tank full and an extra 5-10 gallons.

Securing the land with a rugged structure(s) and reinforced underground shelter can be expensive, however; it is an absolute. Stocking that domicile with stores of enduring foods, food components (flour, raw sugar, yeast, salt, etc.) medicines or natural remedies (apple vinegar, honey, olive leaf extract, etc.) an electric generator and at least 500 gallons of diesel, 100 gallons of kerosene for lamps, tools-------you know the drill. There are many sites available to assist you in stockpiling long term necessities right at NWV.

You will be happy to know that your government in Washington has assisted these efforts to protect your family from ANY kind of disaster by making it a felony to harbor many items (as listed in the Patriot Act II). You know, be wise, be prepared, but if you go more than a week’s worth, we’ll put you in one of 800 non-existent Halliburton model “stay for a while, we’ll leave the lights on ” Washington style long term family “vacation” detention campsites built with illegal or prison labor, right here in the good old US of A.

Moving your money freely will become even more difficult as banks begin to restrict the amounts that can be transferred from savings accounts and other short-term investment vehicles under their immediate control. Using personal checks outside of your own community will become increasingly difficult, soon. Bank drafts or money orders will do for a while, but many real estate, large business or supply companies will require that you jump over difficult hurdles so that they are not left to chase you down for payment.

Securing advance amounts of medical supplies, especially prescriptions and antibiotics (Tami flu, Amoxicillin, Keflexin, etc.) will be very difficult as most insurance companies will only reimburse for 30 days or less. If you have any serious dental issues, (abscessed teeth), surgeries, glasses or other necessary medical needs, get them done, now.

Consider transferring available 401K, IRA accounts, or other liquid plans into gold or silver before their availability or price are literally beyond reach. A penalty for withdrawal is not desirable, but highly preferable to empty or inaccessible accounts next month or whenever.

Have GPS chips removed from your newer vehicles, laptops if possible, and prepare to leave your cell phones in the lake 100 miles from your retreat. Leave your ID chipped pets at the humane society and any animals you raise for food consumption must be newly born and chip free (many good patriots are telling the state and federal USDA to, well, you know, but that won’t last much longer as most states are going into compliance regardless of what the law says, the constitution says, common sense says or what God himself says. The same is true with the REAL ID. That card is also becoming, state by state, the final nail in the coffin of personal liberty. Consider it the mark of the beast (I don’t know if it is, but it could be). The personal ID chip is without a doubt that mark, I personally believe. I will not UNDER ANY CICUMSTANCES take that chip, no matter what it ultimately costs me. That is why, among many reasons listed here, common sense and the urgency that is coming at you like the freight train from Hell, you must complete your personal retreat plans, NOW.

Are you getting the picture dear friends? Laugh at me if you will. Marginalize me and others who are begging you to make this effort while you can, but hear this: IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN A CITY OR WITHOUT THE MOST BASIC OF NEEDS, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE A CRISES.

That is the absolute truth and the absolute facts of life. You will be among the first victims of the event or its immediate aftermath. Roving gangs of real pirates and sadistic tormentors will only seal your fate in a most cruel fashion.

Ask yourself this single question. What do you have now that is so worth keeping (suburb mortgaged home, SUV, boat, hockey equipment, a JOB that is killing you, etc.) over your life and that of your family? Is your morning cup of Starbucks worth this effort? For God’s sake, WAKE UP!! If you haven’t really cared who or what the Federal Reserve is, well, don’t worry about it now. Just get your money out and do something with it while you can. If you haven’t followed the presidential debates, then don’t watch them now, either. Decide for yourself what you are going to do for your family and this nation by becoming independent and “free” in spite of this and the world government’s absolute determination to rule you completely and forever. Can you let go of football and beer long enough to answer that single question? I’m ready, some of you are ready, many of you are not. If you refuse to get ready, then I bid you farewell. You were never my fellow countryman to begin with. God help you.

Your last consideration must be in terms of self-defense. This will draw the ire of many morons who were just waiting for this. To you, I say, don’t ever buy a gun. You would only eventually supply a criminal with one more weapon. To everyone else, think shotgun, first. A 12 gauge, 20 inch rifled barrel chambered for 3” shells. Buy at least 1000 rounds of OO Buckshot for defense, 1000 rounds of slugs for large game, and 1000 rounds of #6 shot for small game and birds. These are all round good loads for most situations. Professional hunters may argue a bit, but I tell you from experience hunting and in law enforcement, this will do it. The make of the weapon is your choice, but I would stick with Remington or Mossberg as my first pick. There are others, check with a reputable sporting store to assist you. A Ruger .22 rifle and a 1000 rounds will do for quieter small game. A .308 and 500 rounds will do for long range whatever you need to do shooting—if you get my drift.

A Ruger Mini-14 rancher model chambering .223 with several 20 or 30 round clips and 1000 rounds will be good for when you are outnumbered, and a .45 Government model Kimber or Springfield Armory pistol with 10, 10 round clips and 1000 rounds will do you well. That’s roughly $4500 worth of weaponry. Cheap in defense of all that you have. A good four wheeled vehicle of any kind for off road use rounds you out. I’m pretty good at spending your money, hmm? Forget the vacation that would have cost you that anyway. Forget the new $50,000 truck that you just couldn’t live without. You will LIVE if you use that money wisely. You have just weeks or a few months—MAYBE—to be positioned for any possibility. Natural or manmade. If I am wrong, sell it in a couple of years to someone who still sees the need and you’ll be free to be at risk again.

This is the article that many of you have been pleading with me to write for over six months. I did not want to present it prematurely and yet it’s anybody’s guess as to when it will be too late. There is a risk for the writer of such messages. The risk is that many will still ignore it, stick their heads in a little deeper or laugh nervously as they dismiss the content with, “he’s a typical right-wing worrier, this just can’t happen.” Well, I pray to God Almighty you are right and I am wrong. But then again, no matter what happens, I’m ready, my family and I have a good chance………………..are you ready, do you have any chance at all?

© 2008 Greg Evensen
- All Rights Reserved

SOME THINGS TO NOTE

The handmaiden bought 2 and 1/2 pounds of diatomaceous earth form the Amish yesterday for $8. Don't know if that is a good price or not but we now have it and others have it to get! Having things that you saved to get is a good feeling. It is obvious that people have not saved much over the past 10 years but if you have then you have something now and others are scurrying to pay their debts. Who the hell ever fell for borrowing to get wealthy? The dumbest thing I have ever heard. And take a look at the ridiculous mess our economy is in right now and you will understand. But we here at the household have our diatomaceous earth and all is well. The Handmaiden even gave our new kitten a little bit to worm her. The stuff is pretty versatile. We mainly have it to put into bags with our dried beans and rice. Really does a nice job according to people who have tried it. Bugs eat it and it cut their insides to ribbons and they die. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks.

I read an article on SurvivalBlog.com this morning that was very interesting. It was a study done in Australia on the effects of Tamiflu. So far they have found 100% resistance to the drug from all flues checked out. What a scam! Billions spent on that shit of mine and your money and it doesn't do a damn thing. Another example of our government at work. Very nice of the H5N1 virus to be a false alarm. If it had been real we might have had a problem. I still think that Sambucol is the best deal out there. If you haven't been paying attention, Sambucol is Tincture of Elderberry. You get nice ripe black Elderberries and you soak them in high proof alcohol and you take a shot of this stuff at the first sign of flu. And it don't cure it but rather shortens the episode by a few days. Your body has to fight off the flu. Always has. And it is cheap! You see, you can't patent Elderberries! God put them here and we can use them however we damn well please. Let's hear it for GOD!

I have been reading about the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac debacle this weekend. It seems that the Secretary of the Treasury in apt to be a bit kinder and gentler with the stockholders of these two criminal operations because the main stock holders are people like China, Japan, and South Korea. Oops. Don't want to piss those boys off too much. It can be hazardous to your health. Your financial as well as your physical health. Bear-Stearns was about 80% owned by it's employees and thus was kicked like a rabid dog. Nothing like putting it on the citizens. You can get real conservative when you are dealing with citizens. They're just dogs, you know.

Another interesting item from Jim Rawles this morning was about the hitting of peak production of Phosphate Rock on this planet back about 1988. In the grand trio of farming, we have NPK and K is Phosphorous. You might keep your eyes open for deposits of Phosphate Rock.

I have noted in my studies this weekend that everything is going to hell as planned and those of you who have prepared have a better chance of surviving that those of you who didn't. The Handmaiden and I have prepared and we stand ready to be tested. We have not achieved perfection but we have done a few things and tried to do them well. There is always more to do and we will be keeping our nose to the wind in case of something new coming into view.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Saturday, August 23, 2008

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Hey! It's late Saturday night but this will go for Sunday, I reckon.

I am a little perturbed by the fact that I can get on the mainstream media on the Internet and find no mention of the bank failure in Topeka, Kansas. That sorta bugs me. You figure that this miserable government of ours would at least warn us of approaching harm. But I do not think that is the case. They will warn us of approaching harm if it will raise their threat level and get them a bigger appropriation for Homeland Security, but when the fifth bank goes out since the middle of July you don't get a word. You either find it on alternate media or you get hung out to dry. That must explain why we are so devoted to blogs and alternate media. Just plain old survival. You can read about Joe Biden being picked for Obama's running mate until your mind snaps. But if the financial sector of our nation is about to bite the big one, well, you get nothing.

And that is relatively close to being wasteful. All the time and money we have put into our security would at least entitle us to some kind of warning. Some kind of word that we had better do something because the train is headed down our track and is about to turn us into ooey gooey. This is some indication of what our elected officials, Bush and Cheney, think of us. They want us out there consuming like crazy and that is about it. They will count the votes after an election and tell us who won. Don't it just warn your heart. I wonder who Diebold has pickled for President this election? Sure does a world of good to have them pulling for you!

I actually watched a video on Fox this evening showing some CEO who said his company was doing well and the future looked rosy. Of course, he is in energy and fuel and that sort of stuff. I wonder if he has bought into a lot of TVA and is gonna get a big boost from this rate hike going into effect very quickly. He did gripe quite a bit about paying American taxes and thought the rates ought to be cut so that we could be more competitive. Of course, most of his really big business is overseas and they do it on the cheap over the oceans. He probably outsources to Indiana and China as much as possible. And I would too! I'll be damned if I make things any better for this government! When things get back to being honest then we'll be get back to being regular Americans again. Until that time they can kiss me where the sun don't shine.

Our weather has turned warm this last week and a half but it looks like it will turn cooler again tomorrow. I was getting used to those cool nights. Great for sleeping. I don't think we have ever had heat turned on in our bedroom. We just don't like it. We have quilts and blankets to handle the cold. But you can sleep with your nose sticking out from under the covers and keep that good fresh air coming into your system. Wonderful!

That is all for now. Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

HERE ON SATURDAY

I have some time to write so I will blog away! The Handmaiden is out and about shopping and visiting the Amish and so forth. We should be getting our beans harvested pretty soon, at least I hope so. I am getting tired of not having them in the storage. I want those little darlin's socked away with the rest of my preps. They should make up about 8 to 10 gallons of beans and that is nothing to sneeze at, at least for me. And that should insure that the people in my building will eat. My buddy's wife told me this morning that she has lots of Muskmelon on her kitchen counter and we are welcome to plenty of it. Sounds good to me! I gave the handmaiden the money to buy diatomaceous earth form the Amish this morning and some extra money for a couple can openers. I would be horrible embarrassed if we didn't have extra can openers when the SHTF.

I was bombarded by info, chiefly from Texas, that Mint leaves would do a good job of protecting my beans from vermin while they wait patiently to be cooked and eaten. Just slip them into the bag like they were Bay Leaves and you're all set. It's amazing what preppers know if they have to think about things. You just have to jar their memories and then it comes out and helps you save the day. Nothing like it.

And speaking of preppers, I have been reading http://wildflowers-survive.blogspot.com/search/label/comments on a daily basis and I am convinced the woman has a brain. A very GOOD brain. It is a shame she can't get out of the city where she lives but she is comfortable there and I wish her the best of survival. But we have hospitals out here in the countryside and she could get a job at one of them pretty easily. And I figure she would be much safer that way. And being safe is a function of staying alive.

My man Mayberry at http://mayberry-keepitsimplestupid.blogspot.com/ is doing okay from the sounds of things and I hope THAT continues. He has an article on getting it together for making it this Winter. Poverty is about to come upon me and I will be doing what I can to make it. Hell, I might even like poverty, I don't know. I really don't have a lot of wants anymore. I might have the Handmaiden pick up something I think we need for preps but that is about it.

There were no sunspots this morning but there is a place where it looks like one is trying to break through. No big deal. But it all points to a cold Winter as far as I am concerned. Gotta get a wood stove put into this building. It couldn't heat it but it could save our water lines in the event of a power outage. Of course, if we have a power outage we won't have any water anyhow but it will raise some hell when it comes back on! And power outages are a hot item these days what with the Farmers Almanac predicting big time snow fall this winter. Limbs get too heavy with snow and they snap off and fall over the power lines and there you are. Power outage. But we have those things out here in the countryside and we can generally handle it pretty well. I just saw the Handmaiden's stash of emergency candles. She has 20 of them. Good woman.

Another bank went under Friday afternoon. It was out in Topeka, Kansas, I believe. I am sure you have noticed that the Mainstream Media does not report these bank closings very well. What Really Happened had it up and Bloomburg had it buried in the International news or some such shit. And it never happens until it is too late for the evening news on Friday. I think Lehman Brothers will be next to ring the bell. They had a deal going with the South Koreans but they wanted too much money for what they had to sell. They got a bit uppity with the Koreans cause they backed out. But it's okay because the fedgov will do the deed if no one else will do it.

I got some free seed this morning. Not much but you can't beat the price. Mainly lettuce seed, which I am not particularly fond of growing but which the Handmaiden is quite adept at producing.

I will go for now and leave you with the admonition to stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Friday, August 22, 2008

WSMV.com

TVA Approves Huge Rate Increase
Largest Increase At TVA Since 1974

POSTED: 11:06 am CDT August 20, 2008
UPDATED: 7:59 pm CDT August 20, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Valley Authority has approved a huge electric rate increase for millions of consumers across the seven-state region.
Video: TVA To Substantially Increase Electric Bills

TVA directors meeting in Knoxville Wednesday approved a total increase in rates of 20 percent effective Oct. 1.

The impact on the average TVA household will be an increase of $12 to $15 a month per 1,000 kilowatt hours used.

The average TVA household uses 1,320 kilowatt hours per month. The increase is broken down as 17 percent in a quarterly fuel adjustment charge to offset rising costs in coal and natural gas prices.

The other 3 percent is part of the base rate increase taking effect under the new $12.6 billion budget for fiscal 2009.

This would be the largest increase at TVA since a 20.2 percent increase in 1974.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.

Michael sez: We, the taxpayers, paid for TVA. Looks like we are going to be payng some more for it!

Stay alive!

Michael

mbbone@rtccom.net

MORE FINANCIAL BULL HOCKEY

GM, Ford Seek $50 Billion in U.S. Loans, Doubling First Request
By Jeff Green

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) --

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC and U.S. auto-parts makers are seeking $50 billion in government-backed loans, double their initial request, to develop and build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The U.S. automakers and the suppliers want Congress to appropriate $3.75 billion needed to back $25 billion in U.S. loans approved in last year's energy bill and add $25 billion in new loans over subsequent years, according to people familiar with the strategy. The industry is also seeking fewer restrictions on how the funding is used, the people said.

GM and Ford lost $24.1 billion in the second quarter as consumers, battered by record gasoline prices, abandoned the trucks that provide most of U.S. companies' profit and embraced cars that benefit overseas competitors such as Honda Motor Co. U.S. auto sales may drop to 15-year lows this year and fall even more in 2009, analysts have said.

``Next year is going to be a make-or-break year in terms of survival,'' said Mirko Mikelic, senior portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which oversees $22 billion in assets, including GM and Ford bonds. ``Any help like these government loans would be a huge boost.''

Standard & Poor's said Aug. 19 that U.S. light-vehicle sales will fall to 14.2 million units this year from 16.1 million in 2007 and drop again to 14.1 million next year. The ratings company said there is a 20 percent chance that this year's sales will be as low as 13.6 million and 11.7 million next, presenting an ``overwhelming challenge'' for U.S.-based companies.

``Our plans, which require significant investments, are at risk because of limited access to capital,'' GM spokesman Greg Martin said, declining to comment on whether GM is seeking more than the original $25 billion. ``This program will open capital that is necessary to make sure our transformational plans continue at full speed and give us the best chance to succeed.''
Ford spokesman Mike Moran said the automaker had no comment on any funding beyond the $25 billion already approved.

Congress needs to appropriate about $3.75 billion in funding to cover the upfront cost of the government loans, according to a July 25 estimate in a letter to House and Senate leaders. The letter was sent by more than 40 members of Congress urging support on the issue.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan at jgreen16@bloomberg.net

SOME READING FOR THOSE INTERESTED

Some interesting reading is to be found at the site listed below. Read the second article especially close. It will tell you the plan of the elitists on this tired old planet. They merely want to have you do without and not make any ruckus about it. How clever.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/08/22/p28023#more28023

I have been against the global warming guys from the first. Anything Al Gore does is more than suspicious in my view. He is not a good person, shall we say. He is a Hypocrite for starters.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

Today, actually this morning, Gilbert E. Neeley, my old and dear friend died in Arizona at our land we have out there. He would have been 71 tomorrow. He got his three score and ten exactly to the day. He was a Master Mechanic. A fixer of the unfixable. We went through the wars of production together and helped this place grow to the size it is. I believe his body will be coming home to Indiana. I may be out of pocket for his funeral. And it looks like I have moved up the ladder to my ultimate appointment with God another step. I may as well get used to being in the missile silo cause I am bound to go up there. Your friends death causes you to realize your own mortality. But I am sure Gilbert is happy where he is today. God bless him and all of the rest of us old timers.

Michael

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

FANNY AND FREDDIE BELOW THE WATERLINE

Fannie, Freddie shares lose 25 percent of value
Investors anticipate a government bailout; stock trade at record lows

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26316080/





NEW YORK - Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost more than a quarter of their value on Wednesday as fears mounted that the mortgage financiers will soon need government support and any bailout would hang stockholders out to dry.


Since Monday, stock in the two companies — which together hold or guarantee half the U.S. mortgage debt — have plunged more than 45 percent and are now trading at lows not seen in nearly two decades.
"There's a big negative feedback loop and there's no way out of it," Friedman, Billings & Ramsey Co. analyst Paul Miller said in an interview. "As the stock falls more and more, it's more likely the government steps in and more likely equity holders get wiped out."



Fannie Mae's chief executive sought to reassure investors that no bailout is imminent.


"They haven't offered anything and we haven't asked for anything," Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd said in a public radio interview Wednesday morning. "I don't anticipate that they will do that."


Mudd said the company's financial position "remains very strong," and that he intends to remain the CEO.


Executives with McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac met with Treasury department officials on Wednesday morning, according to two sources familiar with the meeting who were not authorized to discuss its contents publicly. They described it as part of a regular series of meetings that have been occurring since last month when the Bush administration announced a plan to aid the two companies.


Armando Falcon, who served for six years as Fannie and Freddie's chief government regulator, expects a full-fledged government takeover before year-end. The companies' financial picture is far worse than they have acknowledged, he said, particularly for riskier loans they purchased as investments.


"They can't keep playing games with the accounting rules to avoid taking their losses," Falcon said.


The first intervention, he said, is likely to be government support for sales of the companies' debt. After that, he said, "everything quickly snowballs."


The two government-sponsored companies are the largest source of funding for home mortgages in the U.S. But they have struggled with soaring losses from mortgage defaults. Washington-based Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June, and investors fear the losses will continue to grow.


Fannie Mae's stock fell $1.61 to $4.40 in afternoon trading. Shares of Freddie Mac fell $1.05 cents to $3.12, after earlier hitting a low of $2.95.


Freddie Mac, in particular, has investors and analysts fearful. The company earlier this year promised to raise $5.5 billion — more than double the company's $1.95 billion in market value Wednesday afternoon — to shore up its finances.


Fannie's market capitalization was about $4.50 billion in afternoon trading.



The precipitous slide in Fannie and Freddie's stock prices are a sign investors assume the government is on the brink of taking control of the mortgage giants.


"It could be tomorrow, it could be six months from now," Miller said.


The Bush administration on July 13 unveiled a plan to provide unlimited government loans to the two mortgage giants and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed for a period covering the next 18 months. Congress ultimately adopted those proposals as part of a broader bill that also seeks to help keep 400,000 households from losing their homes to foreclosure.



Critics charged that the open-ended nature of the support for Fannie and Freddie would expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.


Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has insisted that the package needed to be structured in this way to boost financial markets' confidence as the companies deal with mounting losses from mortgages that have gone bad.


But investors started dumping shares of Fannie and Freddie this week after a Barron's article on Saturday — citing an anonymous Bush administration source — said the government is pressing the companies to raise more money to guard against losses but doesn't expect them to succeed.
The Barron's report said the government is likely to buy preferred stock in the companies, wiping out common shareholders. Paulson has declined to comment on whether a rescue is imminent.


Many observers say Paulson is not interested in shareholders and only in Fannie and Freddie's ability to provide support to the battered mortgage market. That means a government rescue might not occur until there is evidence the mortgage companies' are unable to roll over short-term debt — an indication they would no longer be able to operate normally.


Bert Ely, a banking consultant and longtime critic of the pair of mortgage companies said, "the rationale for government involvement is to maintain (Fannie and Freddie's) role in the marketplace, which comes through buying mortgages."


Recent debt sales by Freddie Mac indicate the sale of short-term debt is becoming more difficult and expensive.


A $3 billion offering of five-year notes by Freddie Mac was priced Tuesday at 1.13 percent above five-year U.S. Treasury notes. Freddie Mac's most recent sale of five-year notes, which took place in May, was priced at just 0.69 percent above Treasury notes of a similar length.


When companies issue debt, prices are often compared with those of similar-length Treasury bonds. Treasury yields are considered a benchmark because they are considered the safest investments since they are backed by the government. The wider the gap, or spread, between corporate debt and treasury yields, the riskier investors deem the corporate debt.


Two-, three- and 10-year notes issued by Freddie Mac since May all have had narrower spreads than Freddie Mac's most recent sale of five-year notes.


The current lack of action by both Fannie and Freddie to raise capital and the government's silence is freezing up liquidity in the mortgage market, Miller said. That lack of liquidity is trickling down to traditional retail banks that rely on Fannie and Freddie to purchase loans and provide cash to originate new mortgages.


Fannie and Freddie "cannot be active" in the current environment to provide the necessary liquidity for the mortgage market, Miller said. "Until they get funding, it hurts everyone," Miller added.



Michael sez: It's all a game. The money they are supposedly losing is just made out of thin air, anyhow. It's all done with smoke and mirrors. But a lot of people are going to get their financial throats cut on this and it will not be pretty. As usual, we will get to "bail" this out and make everything right again. Gotta mortgage? Can you get out of it?



Stay alive.



Michael



mboone@rtccom.net

GONNA GET COLD!

Brrr! Farmers' Almanac says cold winter ahead


Purloined from http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/031815.html






Households worried about the high cost of keeping warm this winter will draw little comfort from the Farmers' Almanac, which predicts below-average temperatures for most of the U.S.



"Numb's the word," says the 192-year-old publication, which claims an accuracy rate of 80 to 85 percent for its forecasts that are prepared two years in advance.



The almanac's 2009 edition, which goes on sale Tuesday, says at least two-thirds of the country can expect colder than average temperatures, with only the Far West and Southeast in line for near-normal readings.



"This is going to be catastrophic for millions of people," said almanac editor Peter Geiger, noting that the frigid forecast combined with high prices for heating fuel is sure to compound problems households will face in keeping warm.



The almanac predicts above-normal snowfall for the Great Lakes and Midwest, especially during January and February, and above-normal precipitation for the Southwest in December and for the Southeast in January and February. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions should be getting an unusually wet or snowy February, the almanac said.



The forecasts, which are spelled out in three- and four-day periods for each region, are prepared by the almanac's reclusive prognosticator Caleb Weatherbee, who uses a secret formula based on sunspots, the position of the planets and the tidal action of the moon.



Weatherbee's outlook is borne out by e-mail comments that the almanac has received in recent days from readers who have spotted signs of nature that point to a rough winter, Geiger said. The signs range from an abundance of acorns already on the ground to the frequency of fog in August.



The almanac's winter forecast is at odds with that of the National Weather Service, whose trends-based outlook calls for warmer than normal temperatures over much of the country, including Alaska, said Ed O'Lenic, chief of the operations branch at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.



While he wouldn't comment specifically on the almanac's ability to forecast the weather two years from now, O'Lenic said it's generally impossible to come up with accurate forecasts more than a week in advance.



"Of course it's possible to prepare a forecast with any lead time you like. Whether or nor that forecast has any accuracy or usable skill is another question," he said.





Michael sez: I do not believe the fedgov's forecast. I get on http://www.spaceweather.com/ every day looking for sunspots and they just are not there. And I know a lot of people believe like Al Gore and think we are in for global warming. I personally think that Al Gore is nuts. But come what may, don't forget to have preps for cold weaather. We have two comforters on the bed, a nice blanket outta some soft and snuggly material, two new and waiting comforters from Chinamart, and a NEW HANDMADE QUILT FROM CHARLI GRIBBLE. We are not going to freeze this year! No way. I have two pairs of suitable boots for inclement weather. The woman is getting ready to patch my Carhart. I be stylin', folks. And I better be stylin' because if I ain't I will freeze my ass off.





Stay warm and stay alive!





Michael





mboone@rtccom.net

WHILE PREPPING, YOU MIGHT REMEMBER...

Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children
by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews)

Two new studies showing that vaccines increase the risk of diabetes have been published in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal.

In a prior study, published in the journal Autoimmunity, Dr. J. Bartholomew Classen of Classen Immunotherapies and David Carey Classen of the University of Utah compared more than 100,000 children who had received between one and four doses of the hemophilus vaccine with more than 100,000 unvaccinated children. The Classens found that after seven years, children in the vaccination group had a 26 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than children in the non-vaccine group. This amounted to an extra 54 cases of diabetes per 100,000 children vaccinated.

The Classens noted that the vaccine itself is only projected to prevent seven deaths and seven to 26 cases of permanent disability per 100,000 children.

"Our results conclusively prove there is a causal relationship between immunization schedules and diabetes," J. Bartholomew Classen said at the time.

In the more recent study, Classen examined data on the same vaccine, this time looking only at children who had a sibling with Type 2 diabetes. He found that the hemophilus vaccine led to an extra case of diabetes in one of every 50 such children, or 2 percent. This is 40 times higher than the already-elevated rate found in the Autoimmunity study.

"The recent data shows that common childhood vaccines are especially dangerous to children with a strong family history of diabetes," Classen said. "Parents of a child with a strong family history of insulin-dependent diabetes ... should know that the administration of a full series of vaccines may have a greater than 5 percent chance of causing their child to develop diabetes."

Another study, published in the same issue of the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal, demonstrated a connection between the hepatitis B vaccine and Type 2 diabetes.