Putting on Your Galoshes

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

If it’s raining you put on your galoshes. You use an umbrella.

Well, ladies, gentleman, minotaurs, dragons, it’s going to rain. The long rains are going to come.

I expect in two years things will start to settle down. I expect in four years, the shape of our society will be completely different.

But–

I expect for the next two years things are going to purely suck.

So:

1- prepare. I don’t know what that means for you. I know for me some of the prep work is delayed, because we can’t really know exactly what we need or plan for what might go wrong until we move.

So, I can’t tell you what you’ll need. But you know the usual: A year of meds, if you can (and if they’re the kind that goes bad, vaccum seal them and throw them in the freezer. Unless they say do not freeze); spare glasses (I need to get on that.) Some bottles of water, enough to get you through a few days at least. Enough food that if you have to stay in place, or throw it in the back of the car, you can. Clothes at this time of the year for cold weather. Some thermal blankets.

It’s unlikely you need a go-bag unless you live where antifa gambols. And if you do, find a way out soonest. BUT these years have been so weird, keeping your essentials in a backpack or a duffel won’t kill you.

Have food and meds for your pets for at least a couple of months.

2- Weapons… don’t tell me about it. Just do what you can in the way of preparation. And remember, if threatened, fight like a cornered cat. We are in a war, even if most people are still in denial. There are no dangerous weapons, there are only dangerous men (and women. Particularly women.) Coming from a country where owning a gun wasn’t an alternative, trust me when I say you can do damage with an umbrella, a ruler, a shoe, a scarf or your bare hands. Keep your mind flexible. Even if Gen. Mattis turned out to decide to sell honor for approbation in the media and cheap “revenge” his advice isn’t wrong: be kind, polite and have a plan for killing everyone you meet. The defining nature of civil…. instability is that switch overs are really sudden. It’s a normal day, you’re going around the corner on the way to school/work/etc, and suddenly you’re in the middle of a fight. Be ready. Some people have already been sucker punched by this. Don’t let it happen to you. Situational awareness, sure. But also make plans in your head for various contingencies.

3- Work. Work as hard as you can, as fast as you can. While you can. Also, learn and be creative. And start multiple streams of income now. One of the things when societies change shape rapidly is that it’s going to leave some people stranded, or high and dry, with their former skills useless. It’s going to leave some areas of the country lagging, confused, with nothing to support their population.
It will be temporary, and a new shape will take place. But make it easy on yourself. If you have crafts/other things you’re interested in? Learn now, plan now, acquire the implements and materials now.
And if you establish multiple streams of income. It’s unlikely they’ll all finish at the same time.

4- Get yourself safe. Now, this obviously is more urgent if you’re in a big blue city that’s suddenly become East Berlin in the 70s but twice as dangerous. If that’s where you are, it’s time to move. Start your plans as soon as you can. If you own a house, you want to be ahead of the curve, so you can get some money out of it, at least.
But for all of us, a change is coming. No, I’m not being mystical.
A change has already come. A lot of us live where we do for work/school/etc. And for a lot of us that went away over the last year, and the entire country is wide open.
This is the geographical equivalent of multiple streams of income. Is there a place where you always wanted to live (that’s not a big blue city)? Is there a place you have RELIABLE extended family/good friends who’ll loan assistance if you find yourself unhorsed in the convulsions ahead? If you still have to work in person, is there a place your job is likely to be in higher demand?
I think we all have between six months and a year before traveling/moving gets…. confusing. So, look around now, and see if you need to change your residence.

5- Prepare mentally. When I say the next two years are going to be going through hell with no galoshes, I’m not joking.
Prepare. Bad things are going to happen to people you love. You’re going to lose friendships, friends, family members.
No, I’m not telling you there’s a way to make this be good. I’m just saying that like a fighter who braces for a hit, you should brace. The hits are going to come. Don’t let them be a surprise. Surprise will paralyze you. Some things you can’t prepare for. All you can do is grit your teeth and decide you’ll survive. Do so now.

6- Make connections.
MAKE CONNECTIONS.
Particularly make connections with people you can trust. BE trustworthy and show it, so they’ll trust you too. Make connections in person, on line. If you care about people, make sure you have a way to contact them if the net goes down.

7- Don’t trust any news.
No, I didn’t say don’t trust any leftwing news. For now everything is on the 48 hour rule, good and bad. And reality test everything, even what you WANT to be true.
Don’t react. Analyze, study, look at the facts. (Again, and again, what are the facts? – RAH)
With the covidiocy such a resounding success, more psyops will be coming your way. Now most will be stupid — for us — “the Earth is going to burn in 8 years!” or “Donald Trump eats babies for breakfast.” Whatevs. But a lot of them will be smarter, more credible. Be aware of the ones that use your decency against you, as Covid did. Expect them to be: if you don’t denounce/abjure/whatever our enemies, people will die! Practice saying “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” and make it sound good.
The good Germans REALLY were trying to be good. Don’t be a good German.

8- If you can in preparations and relocation, plan on friends who might land on you, at the last minute with no preparation. That’s the price of community. Just be ready.

Yes, for the next two years we’re going to go through hell. We can’t do anything about that. What we can do is put on galloshes. At least it will protect us from some of the mud, if not the lava.

And be not afraid. The worst that can happen is we die, and that’s such a minor thing, and eventually will happen anyway.

It barely warrants mention, while we’re fighting for the future.

Go.

397 thoughts on “Putting on Your Galoshes”

        1. These days I pray for wisdom and good judgement. Skills, well, some you just live in hope they never need be used. Better to have ’em than not, but still- best of all never in need.

          Once you have made reasonable preparation in all senses, and there’s always just a *bit* more… Then you need good judgement to know when *not* to use your skills (most all of the time) and to recognize the rare moments when you do need them.

          In all the discussion of preparation, preparing the mind is just as, if not more, important. May we all meet our coming days with courage, character, and wisdom.

          2. Actually, I’m learning to weld and operate a milling machine and a lathe. In service of constructing particular things, at this point, but still…

            *waves to Fred

            1. Good skills to have. Careful with the eyepro, always. Known too many welders with bad eyes over the years, sadly. Never know when such skills might come in handy for a project or two. Can be fun.

                1. Most of the “solar cell” helmets have batteries inside anyway, the “cell” is apparently for marketing. The cheap helmets have the batteries spot welded in, better ones have replaceable batteries. I wondered why I was only getting two or three years out of helmets before they died, and finally took one apart under the “it’s broken anyway” concept.

                  You *might* be able to remove the battery straps from the circuit board and run wires to an external battery pack, but the one I took apart was both snapped together and glued, and required destructive disassembly to get that far inside.

                  1. if i understand it correctly, the solar cell is what tells the lens to change. Got one we need to replace the battery on already.

  2. Bob Dylan was right, a hard rain Is going to fall.
    So we have several kilos of beans and rice, a cistern full of water, and enough sardines to get tired of sardines. Wish I could afford a couple of Jamons. Jabugo is not far.

    1. That number is: one.
      One sardine.
      (OK, puking your guts out at the reek might not technically be boring, but I would immediately be tired of it.)

        1. JP I think they’re too salty for most cats palates 🙂 . And anything that salty is bad for felines anyways, their kidneys are really delicate.

          1. hmm, former vet (back in Louisiana) said to let cat eat salty stuff he loved (olives, and heavily salted popcorn, potato chips) as it may help make him drink more water and help with the cystitis. One of my current nutters loves the salty stuff too (potato chips, popcorn, peanuts she chews on the shells but doesn’t eat those, Cheetos).

            1. JP I think I’d believe the vet over myself. In my case the cat that had to swear off salt already had some kidney issues.

              1. I think it depends on the cat. Cadbury was a special cat though. as in medical records that were tome length, and feeling like he weighed 90 pounds when he walked across you even though he was 12 at his heaviest.

                  1. Cadbury looked a bit fat, but it was muscle, and dense at that.
                    My “wakes you early all too often” doesn’t walk on me, she uses her whiskers to find my face

  4. I would add, perhaps under #5 – pray. This war of oppression on us is spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical. Armor up spiritually by praying, or meditating, or whatever you practice.

    1. In support– did you know that there are different levels of “eek, a demon!” in Catholic theology?

      From worst to less bad:
      Possession, Oppression and Infestation. Infestation is like demonic flees in an area.

      Even if folks don’t believe in demons– it’s trying to describe observed things.

      1. Yes. Possession is usually the wrong term. Oppression is more accurate. I could go on, but I’ll just note that only the Modern and Postmodern West doesn’t believe in demons. The rest of the world knows they exist. (BTDT… And don’t forget to pay your exorcist. You don’t want to be repossessed.)

        1. Lots of other dimension demons and entities with us. Strange that some religious people that believe demons exist, don’t believe that entities found through therapies exist, and vice versa. A time of increased spiritual battles indeed.

        2. It’s really easy to rationalize that pre-modern man just didn’t understand mental illness.

          Until you work in a psych ward, and realize that we don’t, either.
          (And that there are many times when demonic possession seems very, very real.)

              1. And be not afraid. The worst that can happen is we die, and that’s such a minor thing, and eventually will happen anyway.

                It barely warrants mention, while we’re fighting for the future.

                That’s quite the statement of faith.

            3. The scary thing is I think some of these people are inviting these entities in. That’s just … too horrible for me to think about.

          3. We do not, and cannot really understand mental illness.

            Magical thinking is definitely a form of human behavior.

            How should we handle that in theories of human behavior?

            The thing about religious faith, it provides the basis for being able to conclude that not all magical practices have the power that they claim to have. Assuming that no practices have power is unfounded in absence of faith.

            Christianity offers a religious/magical practice of not engaging with outside magical or religious systems. The claimed power of this practice is that the outside systems then have no power.

            Aztec sacrifice of hearts clearly did not have the power to preserve the sun. As clearly, in the Christian system it was sinful, and those acts did have a certain power to harm the doer.

            I’m personally badly educated in theology enough, and uncertain in my faith enough, that I do not have a good defense for where I’ve felt the dividing line to be.

            Some of what I’ve been exposed to makes me hesitate in wanting to concede much reality to the idea of demons. My reaction to events is my story, but it involves details about someone else that i) I have a sense of privacy towards ii) I watch my tongue with personal information about other individuals, even if they are personally careless about what they reveal iii) I have some fear of revealing material that could identify me indirectly, and of saying things about certain persons that would distress them if they learned I had said them. This last fear is in both a good and a bad way.

            1. Well, part of this is that when we understand it, we stop calling it mental illness. Epilepsy was mental illness as long as it was defined by the behavior; we now know about the brain storms and call it something else.

              1. Not entirely correct. We have some understanding of bipolar now, and it is still a mental illness.

                APA declared homosexuality not a mental illness on the basis of consensus, despite the consensus claims being bundled with conflicting claims.

        3. They don’t believe in a lot of things, many of which are quite real.

          But no, it’s much more comforting to talk about myths and legends, than to deal with the Good Folk, with angels and demons, with powers and principalities.

          Faugh. I wash my hands of them.

      2. Having lived through the wildfires and Antifa rioting on my doorstep last year, I can attest to the overt demonic forces unleashed in our area. Our Archbishop conducted an exorcism in the heart of PDX, but I believe it will take years, if not decades, of prayer, fasting and penance to mitigate the horror that’s everywhere in the country. And no, although we’ve looked at property in other states, moving just isn’t feasible for us for a variety of reasons. One of which is that we assume the ‘blue wave’ will eventually overtake any temporary refuge. We might as well stay here and go down with the ship—we can perhaps provide solace for a few of our neighbors.

        1. So, holy water sprinkler systems along PDX protest routes?

          I can hear it now – the “tch,tch,tch,tch” starts up quickly followed by “yeargh!” and shouts in demonic tongues, though as I understand it the bursting into flame thing is a myth.

      3. I know one story, from a person I know well enough to trust. That you tell on a hot summer day in the sun over your second beer. He was a good materialist playing with astrology and whot-not, and certainty did not believe in “oppression” but the dark thing that had him did.

        1. I grew up in the jungles with a tribe that came out of the stone age ten years prior. There were evil spirits in the jungle. We could feel them. You didn’t go into the jungle at night, or even out of the house if you could help it.

          Interesting story. 20+ years later, I was doing some hospital chaplain training and we did an exercise where we associated a color with a primary emotion. I chose green for scared and realized it was because the jungle was green and that’s where the demons lived.

          1. There was a place on my college campus that was…hard to describe, but Bad in a non-human way. Lovely in the daylight, but…Bad. I’d buy ghosts, demons, or some sort of psychic haunting to explain it, but I would never ever believe “imagination”.

              1. My all-time creepy was at my paternal grandmother’s when I was small. The family put me down for a nap and I woke up after sundown in utter terror. I wasn’t scared *of* anything, but whatever it wasn’t, it was “standing” at the foot of the bed. I don’t know how long it took me to scrape up the courage to run for the light switch, but I was too embarassed to tell anybody. Didn’t, until I told the story to my husband when I was about 30.

                In adulthood, I just figured it was childhood weirdness, until my father started reminiscing about his teenage home. “And it’s the weirdest thing, every couple of months I woke up feeling spooked about something near the foot of the bed…”

                1. Both my sons complained of the downstairs bathroom (their bathroom) particularly when they were on weird schedule and got up in the wee hours, like when older son was working as a medical scribe, and going to college and got up at 4 am. Or younger son was doing robotics, and going in at about that time, to work before school.
                  ….The complaint was that they were sure someone was standing at the door to the bathroom, and would KILL them if they turned around and saw him.
                  I once, coming up from the basement, saw, by the corner of the eye, a little girl, hair and white garment flying, running through the kitchen and into that bathroom.
                  …. She was strangled there. Her mom was murdered in older son’s room (he also had the “something at the entrance” sometimes referred to as really large “shadow thing” and NO ONE liked the mud room after dark (where 50s family teen son was murdered, returning home from sleepover).
                  At the time, police suspected husband who was police officer on nightshift. But apparently he was in company ALL night. And eventually a string of murders that matched (husband working late hours. Kids strangled, mom knifed) going from the springs into New Mexico, where it finally stopped halfway into New Mexico, one hopes because the evil fuck died. Pardon my French.
                  Now both my sons are built like brick shithouses and when we moved from there they were both early twenties. BUT they felt abject terror in that bathroom, in the early hours.
                  I’ll mention that I felt “oppression” in the house. Including brain shutting down. Now there were physical reasons for it, but it was more than that.
                  Because once in a while I lost my mind and tossed a few grains of blessed salt down each vent. And for about a week it was blessedly “clear”.

                  1. My mom swears by ghosts. She says now dad looks over her. Not around all the time. But occasionally. Don’t remember the encounter, but mom swears she stopped me from following “the pretty lady in blue” when I was about 3. Mom saw the lady too. Either no encounters since then or I’m not seeing/feeling them anymore. Don’t know why not. If anyone is going to believe, it is me, based on my reading. But what do I know?

                    1. I saw my grandmother. But since I was dying at the time, my testimony is not reliable.
                      I’ve FELT cats. You know how if you have half a dozen cats you know exactly who got on the bed, and where/how they snuggled to you?
                      Pixel came back every night for three months. The others very occasionally only.
                      I’m ONLY somewhat hurt that Greebo so far has only come back to snuggle twice, about 3 months apart, and the last time 2 months ago.
                      OTOH it’s the first time I reached down, while still half asleep, and could feel him and pet him with my hand. (Not Havey, who had got very quickly to my other side, as he used to do when Greebo got on the bed.)
                      Lasted maybe a minute, and then he wasn’t there, and I woke up fully.
                      BUT again somewhat hurt, as he clearly doesn’t miss me as much as I miss him.

                    2. I’ve FELT cats. You know how if you have half a dozen cats you know exactly who got on the bed, and where/how they snuggled to you?

                      —
                      ❤

                      Yes. Definitely. I swear Thump was curled up in his spot between us, half on my pillow, nose buried in my hair, for at least a month or more. Until the new babies had full run of the house. (They still don't cuddle much. They have each other.)

                      Now, the 11 cats and 7 dogs waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge take turns, or all come together, checking on us. They trust the current 4, to do their jobs, but, you know how it is, they just have to see for themselves.

                    3. “somewhat hurt, as he clearly doesn’t miss me as much as I miss him.”

                      Piffle. Maybe Heaven is keeping him beyond busy, maybe he hasn’t yet racked up sufficient “good behaviour” leave, maybe he’s watching over the boys for you. A cat has many duties, after all, and scant time for sentimental visits, however much he wants them.
                      ~

    2. This is a #1 for me. The enemy of souls is destroying the nation of goodness. My outrage can derail me, prayer is where I give it away and get to work.

      I could literally cut apart the six R senators with a buck knife, piece by piece, and delight in watching them die. So this energy will be focused on myself and my family and my life.

      And for that I need prayer.

      Great post. Wellingtons always make me feel solid.

      1. I could literally cut apart the six R senators with a buck knife, piece by piece, and delight in watching them die. So this energy will be focused on myself and my family and my life.

        New plan: airdrop AtH commenters on Washington D.C. with their favored implements.

        Should be able to reduce the Troubles to a couple months instead of 6-24 months.

      2. Right now those six can vote that way as pure posturing because conviction requires two-thirds, and there’s no possible way the “WeAllHateAmerica” Party can get 66 when 45 R voted that the trial, for which they are the sworn finders of fact, is unconstitutional.

        If the two D Senators from states with R governors were to become Sir No Longer Appearing In This Film things would get very interesting.

        Of course, telling the Junior ziploc bag of warm hair gel Senator from Utah apart from “a D Senator from a state with R governor” would be tricky.

        On a darker note which I mentioned previously, the actual text only requires two-thirds of the Senators present at the vote, so if they can count on the votes of those six, all they need is to “quarantine” seventeen real R Senators and keep them from attending that vote, and Bob’s Your Uncle!

                1. There are very few who can operate at that level of malice. I hold no grudge against the man who performs poorly under those circumstances, and I hold no admonition for the man who chose his lawyers.

                  Though I can’t see it, I believe everything that happens in this disaster is foreordained and important.

                2. When your talent pool is limited to those who don’t mind being disbarred / defamed / assaulted….. or false flags….

                    1. If they can do it to Trump, they can do it to anyone. Only the politically correct will be able to retain lawyers and other professionals. Again, the only thing the Democrats have done yet is make the people they hate wear yellow Stars of David.

                  1. Yeah. I’d had an idea for a game mechanic and have been trying to put it together, when I realized I could not do it under this pseudonym because, if it was actually successful, someone would likely decide to make it their mission to destroy my life.

                    My assorted postings under this pseudonym would likely make it quite easy for them to find something to whip up a ragemob over and go burn things.

                    Such fun…

                    1. Not what I’m talking about.

                      Bottom line: do you trust your doctor, or lawyer, or any other professional you engage, to keep their word on confidentiality in the face of “woke”….. with the state’s licensing power to back the woke?

                    3. I don’t trust the diaper face behind me in the grocery line, much less a medical employee.

                4. What are the chances of your lead attorney selling you out in his opening statement? Based on DJT’s previous success at picking lawyers, 100%.

                  He should have called Colonel Kratman.

                  DJT seems to conflate “famous” and “connected” with “competent.” We now know that competence isn’t a factor at the levels he operates in.

                    1. I’ve seen reports that Giuliani has been hitting the bottle hard, so that may be a) why he was unsuccessful i his balloting challenges and b) why he is no longer representing Trump.

                      Some might suggest his hitting the bottle and representing Trump were related.
                      ~

                  2. See my comment to Harry above. Maybe DJT suffers from the same blind spot: you grew up in a world where ethics weren’t situational. How do you deal with a world where ethics and morals = “SUCKER”?

                    1. And made a boatload of money before the wheels fell off. From what I gathered, from being both greedy and dumb as a rock.

                  4. “DJT seems to conflate “famous” and “connected” with “competent.” We now know that competence isn’t a factor at the levels he operates in.”

                    Yeah, that’s how he got to be a multi-billionaire. Not knowing people.

                    1. That skill seems to have left him. A majority of his appointees stabbed him in the back as soon as they felt they could get away with it, often gaining no obvious advantage by doing so.

                    3. And if you think he was free to operate under the same rules for hiring and firing he had as a businessman, you’re too naïve to listen to.

                      As soon as nominees were announced, they and their families were attacked. There were positions that NEVER got nominees because the candidates would withdraw under threat in every blue jurisdiction.

                      Then they had to pass background checks. Conducted by the same FBI running the coup. And if Trump bypassed it? Full justification for withholding intel or refusing orders, and God knows they did that enough anyway.

                      Then get through Senate confirmation. In a Senate with enough RINOs to mean the really conservative nominees would fail with or without the filibuster. One of the worst kept secrets in DC was that Trump couldn’t replace Sessions because Vichy Mitchy and Snake in the Grassley wouldn’t confirm a replacement. Which meant that the swampies down the chain would take over. And Vichy and Lyin’ Ryan over in the House made sure there would be no recess appointments the first two years until the GOPe could throw the House to the Democrats.

                      On and on and on it went.

                  5. Power Line’s John Hinderaker was asked last ight by Mark Steyn about Donald Trump’s “bad taste” in lawyers …

                    As we have seen, the Left holds lawyers daring to represent conservatives as being guilty of serious ethical violations.
                    ~

                    1. Conservative writers are all talentless hacks, even if they were very talented before coming out the political closet. Conservative artists are unimaginative, even if– Conservative doctors are all butchers and unethical and can’t be allowed to practice. Conservative scholars are all stupid and unethical and should be fired.
                      I mean, I know the real names of a good fifty Huns who would lose their jobs tomorrow if the names were known.
                      I’m humbled they trust me, but they should never be in that situation.

              1. thing is, I don’t think her crimes are covered by no longer being in office. not that I’m an expert by any means. If DOJ was suddenly interested in doing its job she’d could still end up wearing a different orange jumpsuit (okay. likely not, as they’d give her a club med internment and not the firing squad)

            1. Unless you have evidence, that seems a bit extreme. Incompetent, maybe. Overwhelmed by the satanic universal malice? Most assuredly.

              1. Speaking of evidence, I’ve been kind of waiting for Trump’s lawyers to interrupt the impeachment managers and announce, “We are entirely willing to stipulate, in the interests of time, that on January 6th, 2021, during an address by Donald J. Trump, a number of persons broke into the Capitol and attempted to disrupt activities therein. We respectfully ask the managers to please get on with any evidence those trespassers did so at the behest, encouragement or incitement of Mr. Trump.”

                If they were to observe that in DC courtrooms, even as the managers speak, Federal prosecutors are charging many of those trespassers with pre-meditated intent to disrupt the Electoral College certification process, rendering accusations of incitement moot.
                ~

                1. Now they’re trying to claim Trump ‘incited’ them for months by pointing out that the November 2020 election was stolen by blatant fraud.

                  The Democrats have only been claiming the 2016 election was stolen by fraud for 4 years, after all.

                  1. “The Democrats have only been claiming the 2016 election was stolen by fraud for 4 years, after all.”

                    That was different because shaddup.

                    Actually, if I understood their argument correctly, they claim it is because violence occurred after Trump’s speech. As we all know, there was NO violence (as they define violence: anything that makes them feel insecure) after their speech. Lead impeachment manager Representative Raskin was reportedly a Constitutional Law professor prior to his DEL>turn to crime election, so presumably he understands the Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc fallacy?
                    ~

                2. I can’t even watch a shadow of the proceedings. It makes me want to destroy everything.

                  1. Yep. I don’t even really want to read about it, because even nominally “right” pundits accept some part of the insane Dem framing. It does feel like the matrix keeps glitching and throws me out into amorphous blob reality.

                    1. Right? It’s the people theoretically on my side that keep bleating bits and pieces of the communist playbook that send me over the edge.

                      That, and actual grief for Trump. I love the man, personally. Love his style, love the personality. My favorite boss of all time was just like POTUS Trump.

                      This hurts.

                    2. “Yep. I don’t even really want to read about it, because even nominally “right” pundits accept some part of the insane Dem framing. It does feel like the matrix keeps glitching and throws me out into amorphous blob reality.”

                      Exactly. Makes me feel like I’m going mad, in between wanting to grab said pundits by the shoulders and shake them. Like, did you people not see what’s happened in the last ten months, or was I just having some kind of horrible fever dream? I never understood the power of gaslighting until lately.

        2. I was wondering about that – those GOP/Dem-Lite Senators could just have a Positive COVID test (wink, wink), and HAPPEN to not be present in the chambers when the vote is taken.
          Too bad. They WOULD have voted Trump, but…

              1. Romney lost it when after winning the first debate he decided to concede the next two debates to Obama rather than staying on the attack. But for that, he would have been able to overcome the Democrats’ standard fraud. His bad choices started long before election day.

                1. And Barry has said he expected to lose that one, which largely explains his second term.

                  The ziploc bag of warm hair gel threw that one in order to join the “lose honorably” brigade. I still can’t figure out what Utah was thinking electing him to anything after that.

            2. Trump took Obama seriously, followed Chicago Rules and brought a gun to a gun fight – Romney fought by the Queen of Marquesbury rules.
              ~

        3. Given how the Democrats are making claims that mirror what Democrats themselves did, including an impeachment head manager who objected to certification of electoral votes for Trump, Eric “Bang Bang Fang Fang” Swalwell, and others, and the ability to play all the clips of Democrats actually inciting violence and approving of riots on the Senate floor, the six who voted to allow it to oroceed may have been utterly wrong on constitutional grounds, but maybe it ends up a political win by showing how feckless the Democrats are……who am I kidding, the six who voted to proceed are RINOs and any political embarrassment to Democrats is for them an unfortunate accident.

      3. In fairness, we have had a long period of peace, and it is easy for a politician to be unprepared for the level of coercion that is likely now being brought to bear on them.

        And I have some failures of resolve on my own account.

        2. I was warned that running for Select Board that I could be having a third to half the town mad as hell at me.

          /shrug

          There are over a million violent Muslim fundamentalists who would try to kill me in an instant if I were in their presence. I ain’t worried about some lefty Massachusetts transplants.

      4. Then please *do* pray. If it helps, the one thing that truly helped when I was most filled with rage was going Old Testament on it: “OK, God. Here’s my anger. It’s really, really high quality and I own it in all senses of the word INCLUDING having a legitimate claim to it, but You seem to want it, so here You go…”

        1. I spend way more time in the OT. It feels way more gritty and real world than the NT, especially when I’m murderous angry or feeling suicidally lost.

          So, yes. God invites, and I say yes.

  5. The spare glasses thing shouldn’t be all that hard. If you have your prescription, there are a few different online options to order glasses inexpensively. We got a “fun” pair for one of my kids for less than $20.

    1. Time to stop delaying and get cataract surgery while hospitals work. CCPVirus shot# 1 set for Friday

      1. You can get those online too. My husband needs prisms for double vision too, and he got some glasses from eyebuydirect.com. I think he actually talked to them about it, but I’m pretty sure their online order form allows you to put in the prism bit.

        1. Pretty sure they all do.
          I use Payne. (My “troubled” youngest likes to break glasses. Last year, she went through 16 pairs of her own, a few pairs of her sister’s, and a pair of mine. I’ve done entirely too much comparison shopping.)

          Good quality, dirt cheap. Recommend.

        2. Yep. Zenni does too. (I have astigmatism “axis” instead of prism, but they all have the categories.) The trickiest part is getting your pupillary distance measured, because that’s not usually on the prescription itself.

          1. Last time I got a glasses prescription I got them to give me the pupillary distance. I had measured it myself, but it was a 2 mm different, which makes a difference.

              1. Most of the glasses places have “how to measure it” on their stuff, and will give a free exchange guarantee.

                https://www.befitting.com/en_us/

                These guys were great with me– good quality glasses, and they’ve got optometrists that answer the email, and will custom make a “here, this is how you adjust your glasses” video for you, based off of pictures you send.

        1. Alleged? I won’t have a gas dryer … It is a very good fire starter … Recommended for scout youth everywhere (or should be).

        2. An excellent firestarter can be made by mixing dryer lint with melted wax and pouring the result into the egg locations in a cardboard egg carton. Each ‘egg’ makes a firestarter that will work in any weather. It was a fun project for my son’s Cub Scout den quite a few years ago.

    2. Have a way to start fire that doesn’t rely on civilized artifacts. Tinder, matches (lots and lots of matches), sparker/flint. There are videos on how to start fire without matches, relying on captive friction instead. If you’re to where you need unpowered cooking, you’re to where you need unpowered firestarting too.

      Scrap wood and four cinder blocks, or even a pit in the dirt, makes a reasonably good cookpit. Townsends has a couple good vids on building and cooking in a beehive (mud) oven.

      [In fact, come summer I think I’m going to build one anyway, cuz it looks useful.]

      1. Yes, excellent.

        I have a 4-book series of Bushcraft books that are really useful. They teach all the basics, then the advanced basics for when the bad times go longer than you thought. Great stuff on everything from shelter to cooking to trapping.

        Bushcraft 101 and the rest by Dave Canterbury.

        1. And don’t forget salt. Not only because a little seasoning is very helpful when appetite for beans-again? ?flags, but also because it’s necessary if you plan to preserve certain foodstuffs.

          Fifty pounds of salt stashed away would not go amiss, if you’re where preservation might become an issue.

          1. &^%&! I have enough table salt set aside but not enough for the obvious “everything else” needs.

            Gonna take care of that tomorrow, thank you!

        2. Wonder how many of our houses are actually harder to heat effectively than a small single room yurt or cabin.

          1. All the ones with five bumpouts and nine rooflines, to be sure. All that complex surface area is almost impossible to insulate and air seal.

            A yurt or one-room cabin is easy to “heat” because you spend all your time next to the heat source and don’t worry about how much is escaping to the cold outdoors.

            1. *nod*

              And if there’s a secondary room, it’s divided by a very negligible wall. Not high insulation value walls that let you keep it ice cold while the room next to it is sauna warm.

            2. LOL, that is approximately how I heated my trailer. There was no keeping the heat in, but it was plenty warm next to the coal stove!

          3. Be careful about heating your lair. Yesterday was chilly so I had the fireplace going. I was watching that 40 minute Soviet simulator video when I started to feel a little dizzy, a little queasy, a headache coming on…

            After a minute I thought, ‘Geez, these are carbon monoxide symptoms.’ Of course there are other possible causes, but I went outdoors just in case, and started to feel better after a few minutes. Not conclusive, but good enough for me. I chased the cats outside, opened the front door and back window and turned on the fan.

            You wouldn’t think a fireplace would emit carbon monoxide, but they can. It has set off the detector before, but not this time. Maybe it’s replacement time.
            ———————————
            Governments can’t create prosperity; at best, they can refrain from destroying it.

            1. Yeah. When we had a carbon monoxide accumulation in our basement, two houses ago, due to a bad furnace, I was taking a cat down there (to isolate) and started feeling woozy. Came up the stairs (with cat, who didn’t look too good, either.) I promptly threw up and had a blinding headache.
              At which point I went “Oh, sh*t” and cracked windows, and called the furnace people.

            3. I am utterly, irrationally, insanely scared of carbon monoxide.

              We have one sitting ON the furnace in the basement, another plug-in down there, one on each vent in a bedroom, and half the fire alarms also do CO.

              …that said, the symptoms do match CO, and a couple of other things, so good choice.

              1. “I am utterly, irrationally, insanely scared of carbon monoxide.”

                The way I figure it, if you’re going to be utterly, insanely scared of something, there are worse options than an odorless, colorless, quietly deadly gas that’s generated by everyday items.

  7. An important thing to do is harden your communications and internet activities. Get off Twitler and Facebook if you can. Join alternatives. Get more secure email. Have alternate ways of contacting people important to you. Minimize Google exposure. If you blog have backup and plans for when you’re deplatformed. Collect a blogroll so you don’t need to rely on search. Join email lists for your favorites so deplatforming doesn’t stop the signal.

    1. Make sure that you have financial backups-i.e. alternate banks if the one you bank with purges you and if you operate a business, especially online, alternate means of having people pay if that happens.

  8. We’ve been considering multiple potential plans, since circumstances can change on a dime.

    Something to consider: there used to be multi-volume sets of home maintenance/building skills that contain useful information in a form that is independent of the availability of electricity, or the whims of the FAANGs. Having a set of those at hand could make life a lot easier in the upcoming Zombie apocalypse.

      1. I agree, I’m glad I kept the ones I have. I also have a selection of manuals I pulled off archive and hathi. I’m thinking of printing some out. I know how to bind them, but I might just use a ring.

        1. Too bad we don’t have film cameras any more,. Would be quite easy to photograph screen shots of the pages on to 35 mm film and have a microfilm cache of data readable with a magnifying glass or microscope ….

          Having said that I just found, for example Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Negative Film (35mm Roll Film, 36 Exposures), 400 ISO is available for 7 bucks a roll on line.

          Might have to dust off my Minolta.

          1. Even better would be an ortho litho film. It’s still available, and it’s a slow, high-contrast film that’s pretty much meant for photographing black lines on paper. You’ll need a light stand with bright lights, but it will get very good results on printed pages.

    2. I haunt Goodwill and other thrift stores for exactly that reason. I’ve gotten some good how-to manuals that way; few people want either books or Boomer-looking things any more, so they’re MINE ALL MINE. My pride and joy is the first-year nursing textbook. 🙂

  9. And reality test everything, even what you WANT to be true.

    Or fear it may be.

    I am so. Flipping. Sick. Of folks excommunicating Big Public Figure based on a reported half-line of dialog in response to an unpublished question, followed by five paragraphs of characterization.

    They wouldn’t be reporting it if it didn’t serve their purpose. That applies both to the Progs, and to the disaster-pr0n addicted. Stop it!

    1. So much this. Addicted and refusing to see the rank hypocrisy of those who tell them to be afraid. We are working hard to get out of this bluer than blue city. Fingers crossed it happens in the next couple-three months.

  10. We’ve prepped to the degree we can right now. As someone raised in earthquake country, I’ve always been ready to live in the rubble of my home for 3-4 days, and/or figure out a route out of the affected area (i.e. going around collapsed freeways). My worry now is getting out of a city that is surrounded by rivers….

    1. If you plan to wait to leave, also have enough stored 5 gal gas cans, with stabilized fuel, to get you 600 to 700 miles from where you are.
      A major disruption will interrupt the resupply of gasoline, and the first to leave will strip the gas stations on their way out.
      Also consider whether the refuge you plan to seek would have the will or capacity (food, water, shelter, etc) to take you in when you get there.
      Good luck. I think that we will all need it.
      John

    2. Rivers and the zones on the other side of rivers. There are 5 paths from Manhattan that do not require crossing another river to get to the mainland west of the Hudson. (2 car tunnels, 2. Rail tunnels, and 1 bridge.) The area on the other side of the bridge and one of the tunnels might be moderately OK but the others not so much.

      Yeah, I do know every way off Manhattan Island, that doesn’t make me paranoid. 😇

      1. About the only way to get out of Philly without having to cross a river is to head south to Delaware. Somewhere south of Wilmington you can head west, or keep heading south. Personally, I would prefer to get across the Schuylkill immediately and then work it out. The other side of the river is not bad at all.

        1. You can’t get to Delaware without crossing the Schuylkill. You can go north to Bucks county if you want. I highly recommend crossing the Schuylkill. Don’t cross the Delaware, you will go from frying pan to fire!

          1. True. But I was thinking that fewer people would head south than head west. But my first plan is to cross the Schuylkill. We’re right at Girard and Lansdowne so we are close to a bridge.

  11. I started collecting books for a future disaster way back before the Millennial Bug. Sure enough, in 2020 my son’s college put out an email declaring that classes were open for registration in August of 1920. The bug was real — it just didn’t crash the world like I thought it would. We drank our way through the liquor collection eventually, heh. I figured pint bottles of bourbon might be good trade goods. Also, delicious.

    Our library includes the beautiful novels that will be “disappeared” by the commies, and books that explain how things work. Medical textbooks and anatomy. How to build greenhouses. Five Acres and Independence. Composting. Lots of these we found in flea markets and used bookstores. And I’m going to the flea market today to see if I can find more. Time to put on the galoshes, indeed.

    Oh, and thank you for this essay, Sarah. There’s so much useful information here. Thank you.

  12. As part of #5: Don’t spend as much time worrying about what they are going to try to do to you as you do preparing for what you are going to do them.

  13. A few years ago I started a work on BOBs. Bug Out Bags. What should be in one. What should be in yours. I can sent the list to anyone wanting it. Conversely, if our delightful hostess approves, I can post it here.

    2. Worth listing. There are many little bits and bobs that are situational, but a few that are absolutely essential.

      For the fannish among us (who isn’t?), this is a small step up from dressing as if you might be whisked away on an adventure soon as you step out your door. *grin*

    4. Doug-
      I would love to see your list of bug out bag suggestions. It’s something I’ve been wanting to work on, but beyond what I think is the blindingly obvious- papers and drinking water, what’s next?

      1. One thing that often gets overlooked, especially when a male is setting up the BOB – feminine hygiene products. Tampons are good for stopping bleeding in punctures, also, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a pad could do double duty as a pressure bandage. And, of course, if there any females in your group of the appropriate ages, within a month they’ll be very happy that you remembered those.

        1. Pads are your best bet– they were actually based off of bandages– but note that they are not clinically sterile, though they are clean and contained and, I can vouch, the size-of-four-paperbacks packs are awesome about staying dry if you haven’t opened them yet.

          The “daily liner” types are about twice as thick as a bandaid, and would work well for large cuts/abrasions/burns or honestly anything too big for a bandaid, plus it can stick to the wrap you use.

          If you only want one pack as a why not item, I’d suggest:
          U by Kotex Security Ultra Thin Feminine Pads for Heavy Flow, White, 56 Count (Pack of 1), Unscented, they are quite acceptable quality, small size pack, and will last quite some time.

          Mad amounts of tribac, too, of course. Probably don’t need to do proper neosportin…..

        2. “Tampons are good for stopping bleeding in punctures, also, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a pad could do double duty as a pressure bandage.”

          Just one more thing that Ghost got right………

        3. Pads also make a dandy (and EASY) torch at need. Self-adhesive backs, wrap ’em till you have the thickness you want, light and go.

          1. We discovered in AF basic training, that sanitary pads made wonderful shoe-polishing media.
            I also discovered that I hated polishing shoes, but that I could iron and starch like a champion. I went into business, swapping ironed blouses for shoe polishing.
            This system of skills-swapping worked very well.

          2. Part of the initiation for new members of my Order Of The Arrow Ceremonial team was to go out and buy Kotex for our torches (which for teen age boys in the 70’s was quite the ordeal). Wrap a couple on freshly cut branches and secure them with bailing wire. Soak in kerosene for an hour or so. Torches lasted more than long enough for the ceremonies.

            1. initiation for new members of my Order Of The Arrow Ceremonial team

              –
              These days some percentage of the new members would have pads packed in their gear, JIC. I did. Our initiation process was an overnight, alone. Used to be no gear. By the time I was initiated, a sleeping bag and tarp (Oregon), were allowed. Spaced about 20 of us on side of trail at Camp Baker. The Bracken Fern were really soft. I slept on feathers, dry, and warm. They “lost” me. Next day was spent in quiet service to the camp. Then the ceremony.

              1. I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing. You seem to be talking about the candidates .

                I’m referring to the Ceremonial Team (all Brotherhood or Vigil) that ran the activities and performed the induction ceremonies. The “initiation” I was referring to was not an official approved thing, but simply someone on the Ceremonial Team had to buy the “Torch Supplies” and it went to the newbies to handle it.

                1. I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing. You seem to be talking about the candidates.

                  –
                  You are right.

        4. Tampons are good for stopping bleeding in punctures,

          I’d actually like to see tests of this because I don’t think it’s true.

          Using them for their intended purpose doesn’t stop anything unless there’s not much of it. I.e. so little that there’s no point in using one when you’re awake.

          If there is much of it, the primary benefit is that the tampon absorbs some and slows down the flow of the rest so that you don’t get sudden gushes that would overwhelm the absorptive capabilities of your back-up pad. (Because there is such a thing as a maximum rate of absorption.)

          Unfortunately, I only know enough wound care to treat normal household injuries, so I don’t know when merely slowing down the rate of blood-loss in that manner would be helpful.

          They might make good fire-starter though.

          1. If you have literally nothing else, they’re better than a torn t-shirt… and about as sanitary, sadly. There are *much* better options.

            A decent pressure bandage, 2 each, runs about $10 I think. Shelf life about four years. Works on lacerations, bleeding punctures, and pressurized arterial bleeding (which is bad).

            Before all that, take a good first aid course, at the very least. First aid is something every breathing human with at least one good hand and eye should know, in my book. Right up there with self defense.

            When packing your go bag, for IFAK should contain the very basics: gloves, medical tape, bandages, gauze, tags and sharpie. More when you have the knowledge and skill to use them. *Don’t* do something half-assed and cause harm. Get the knowledge and training.

            We have tools now that weren’t even thought of in the seventies. We can do one hell of a lot better than tampons and pads. If that’s all you have, and you have the knowledge and skills to save a life, by all that’s good and sacred DO THAT, and may Himself bless you. But much better to be prepared than not.

            So in short, Be Trained, Have Good Kit, Help People. Easy as CAB.

            1. Most people’s first aid kits have expired bandages that the adhesive is dust, and tape that’s a solid block. First aid kits should be cleaned out and restocked yearly, or after each use.

              1. Amen, brother. Just like the emergency food supply, it needs maintenance. If you keep a kit in the car, it will degrade faster than the one in the house bag, too.

                I tend to use mine more often than the average person, coming home with a new gash or bruise from who knows where. Some of us seem to be more accident prone than others. And once you reach A Certain Age, the body doesn’t heal like it used to when you were thirty.

            2. The fairly new , military developed, blood coagulation applications worthwhile for serious punctures or cuts.

              2. Agreed, also. And can be fairly inexpensive, 2 pack of BleedStop (?) from Wally World for like 5 bucks. Well worth the investment.

            3. Thank you, Dan and Feather Blade.

              Stopping bleeding, if it can be stopped without serious medical intervention, requires that the blood clot.

              Tampons have one design feature, much appreciated by the intended audience: they *discourage* clotting, so they do not get stuck at the point of application.

              So, in the event, use what you have, but plan to have something better.

        5. “Tampons are good for stopping bleeding in punctures, also.”

          Here’s a fun fact about tampons: if you get a serious nosebleed, they basically shove one up your nose. Oh, it’s not /called/ a tampon – it’s Rhino Rocket (TM) brand nasal packing or whatever – but it’s a tampon. And trust me, it’s even less fun going up your nose than up your lady parts. No idea how useful they are for any other sort of bleeding.

          (Oh, and delurking, as per #6. I should probably lurk moar before opening my big mouth, but Sarah’s right about needing connections, and I’m stuck behind enemy lines RL and really terrible at the making friends thing. Mostly I just wait until someone more extroverted decides I’m interesting and adopts me. This works badly at the best of times, and horribly when you’re surrounded by people who, even if they wouldn’t ship you off to a gulag themselves, would probably just tsk about what a disappointment you turned out to be while they watched you get dragged away. So hello, nice people!)

            1. Huh, so there is a worse place to have those stuffed than up your nose. News I will hopefully never use.

                  1. No. It’s apparently normal growing up in Colorado, because it’s dry and kids have thin skin.
                    Though he DID have concussion from going backward against a wall when the swing broke. And he lost consciousness for 10 minutes. NOT ONLY didn’t the school take him to the hospital, they didn’t tell me about it for hours.
                    GRRRR.

                    2. NOT ONLY didn’t the school take him to the hospital, they didn’t tell me about it for hours.
                      GRRRR.

                      Why would the parent need to notify the night keeper before evening? (as seen from the School’s perspective)

              2. The number of times we were out somewhere and kid sneezed, and the person standing next/near him looked like a mass murderer…. TBF so did he.
                So one learned to keep those in purse. And yes, there was MUCH b*tching and whining.

          2. Hello, nice person! I am terrible at making friends but good at adopting (don’t ask me how that works; I don’t know). Apparently God decided I was going to be the Mom Friend whether I wanted to or not. But I do offer a friendly ear and an endlessly chattering keyboard. 🙂

            1. Nice to meet you! I promise not to scratch your furniture or pee on all your rugs. (This is Ar-Zimraphel from above. Decided to make a WordPress account for easier commenting. I’m currently lost in the “oooh, time to pick a profile picture” rabbit hole…)

                1. Can’t speak for the rugs, but more destruction in the comments section is hardly going to catch anyone’s eye. Between the dragon, the flying carp, the various science experiments that invariably wind up going FOOM…

                  2. fooSH. it went FOOSH.

                    exactly as theorized.

                    Foom would have been a whole nother barrel of monkeys.

          3. Mostly I just wait until someone more extroverted decides I’m interesting and adopts me.

            We need a ranking for commenters…. time for SCIENCE! Hopefully we can keep the scale down to five or six dimensions. The local shoggoth population gets agitated when we disturb too many angles.

            Also *waves

              2. Just watch out – around here, the cake is not a lie. Nor the cookies, though they’re mostly low carb. Because this crowd, unlike GLaDOS, is full of people who believe Food Is Love.

                Then again, what do you expect from an author who wrote a shifter series set in a Diner?

                1. I’m not entirely convinced that low carb cookies aren’t their own kind of lie, but I am always open to persuasion.

                  1. L = C * D

                    where:

                    L: lie ratio
                    C: carb ratio between “normal” and “low carb” options
                    D: devourment ratio due to lack of guilt when eating the low carb version

                  2. I suspect the real indicator of true low carb (and high fat) is going from “MOAR!” to “Ugh! That’s enough,. Even though they’re/it’s great.” When I did a “fathead” pizza suddenly “Gee, I could half easily, maybe the whole thing” to “That third piece might have been a mistake. Delicious, but ENOUGH!”

            2. Many of the commenters are already plenty rank as is and need no encouragement to be ranker.

              DO NOT ask how I know.
              ~

          4. FWIW, I am anti-gulag. I saw if anyone seeks do en-gulag that to you, we let them…. have a you-shaped effigy that is a bomb that will detonate just before arrival. Or maybe right at the gate, if we can rig it,

            Hello. I’m Orvan. Ox, Bull, Minotaur, stubborn cuss… and Mostly Harmless. But only mostly.

          5. Oh, and delurking, as per #6. I should probably lurk moar … So hello, nice people!”

            Nyah – lurking is no good. This place is like my old Michigan swimming hole in April: just jump on in and get the jolt of molten snow over and done with. If you go a week without inadvertently stepping on somebody’s toes and getting in a squabble you’re probably not doing this right.

            But make no mistake, we’re not nice people; we’re quarrelsome, opinionated, loud and argumentative – so don’t take the elbows under the basket personally and don’t be afraid to give an shove if you get crowded. Heck, some of us aren’t even people.
            ~

        6. When the kinks in the supply chain started becoming apparent, Calmer Half went out and bought all of the feminine napkins of the particular size and style and brand I preferred. All. At every Walmart in the area.

          He has quick-clot and pressure bandages and lots of good first aid things (post-stent, he had to take meds for months that made his skin paper-thin and unlike to clot, so we’re well-stocked on that already.)

          But he wanted to make sure that in case I went to the store and it wasn’t on the shelves (and it wasn’t, for a while), there was peace and calm in his vicinity.

          Old age and treachery definitely have their advantages over youth and enthusiasm.

    5. Good Sir Doug, I would be most appreciative if you could shoot a copy of said list my way, as well (m0ng0l.h0rde@protonmail.com)

          1. I will be glad to send Doug a coffee in thanks. If I could figure out a way to do that.

            That kind of research is non-trivial, and I do appreciate it. I always look to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything (like bulk salt).

  14. Sarah, always love your posts and the responses. Preparing can give us hope as well because we can at least do something if not to end the madness at least to live through it.
    There are a couple of habits that I think will serve us well. Easy to change but have to be thought through.
    1) Fill your car after 1/4 tank. If that is daily so what. Gives you a chance to yak with folks while you buy that extra strength coffee.
    2) Shop for food weekly. We changed to delivery due to Wuhan flu. Now making certain to keep freezer full at all times. Also gives chance to suss out the state of the replenishment. Key indicator of trends.
    3) Buy a little extra when you go do #2 above. Can of corn, bag of beans and rice. 5 dollars you wont miss. Throw in a box under the bed, easy storage no matter if you live in an apartment.
    4) Buy a life straw and keep in your go bag. Have a small go bag in your car no matter what. May not need to be a full on kit because you can make do. Look up Sierra club ten essentials. Have that.
    5) Skills and information. Do not just bookmark. Download and put on a thumb drive. Internet down you can still look stuff up if you downloaded it. This should include common repairs for YOUR vehicle.
    6) Make a point of learning one NEW skill every month. Does not need to be some all encompassing thing. EX. basics of small engine repair, patio gardening, how to skin a rabbit, you get the idea. Keep it simple but it all adds up.

    That is about it for now. My family has been doing most of this for awhile and it absolutely aids in the comfort level in times like this. We have greater confidence in our collective ability to survive harsh times. As well we find other interests that we are turning into additional revenue streams to be more resilient.

    1. About your 5)

      Every time I buy a vehicle, I also buy the factory service manuals. The ones the dealer’s service department uses. They have everything from ‘how to replace a headlight’ to ‘how to rebuild the transmission’. Service manuals have saved me thousands over the years.

      2. Next time you buy a vehicle you need to check on manuals before wasting time looking at the cars. Some manufacturers are now “online-only”; each service tech has a terminal in his bay, connected to the Mothership. It’s all “proprietary information” and not available to customers. The only manuals are from third parties like Robert Bentley, which have been going “electronic” with license-for-one-Windows-install, as a friend found out when his old XP laptop died.

      1. Scuba/MOPP gear? Considering 2020, having a spacesuit handy might not be the worst idea… Who knows? Might need to do a bit or traveling.

          1. JIM suit, perhaps? Something rated to the deep ocean…
            1500ft down should keep you alive in the sea of sludge…

  16. There is another way. With all due respect to the intelligentsia who read/post here, I feel constrained this morning to share my own experience with you. I lived through times similar to these in the 70’s. In my 78 years have tried most of what y’all are suggesting. I identify with and admire your spirit. But I must suggest an alternative that has gloriously worked for me. “Wu Wei.” (Yes it is Chinese; please try to set your feelings about that aside for a moment. Let’s not judge the ancient wisdom of one of the oldest surviving civilizations solely by it’s current state. We wouldn’t do that to our own, would we?) I quote Laozi:

    In pursuit of knowledge,
    every day something is added.
    In the practice of the Dao,
    every day something is dropped.
    Less and less do you need to force things,
    until finally you arrive at non-action. [Wu Wei]
    When nothing is done,
    nothing is left undone.

    True mastery can be gained
    by letting things go their own way.
    It can’t be gained by interfering.

    What’s the worst that can happen? I will die. That would be a promotion!

    1. Wu Wei 無爲 is also translated as effortless action, go with the flow. A workable plan as long as you realize sometimes you gotta paddle a bit to get lined up with the current heading where yo wanna go.

      & a Taoist would tell you no, your dying ain’t the worst that could happen, that’s a good thing as long as your daddy dies first and you granddaddy before him and your son after all you all.

      That you may live in interesting times is the worst that could happen.

      1. Shucks. General Stark said “Death is not the worst of evils” some 225 years or so ago; and I’m fairly certain he didn’t know no Taoists.

    3. (Looks at the history of China, and how that philosophy has actively enabled blood soaked horror for millennia)

      Thanks, but I’m going to give that one a hard pass.
      I aim to misbehave.

  17. I’ve been doing my best to fly under the radar. My opinion is that the worst case scenario will make preparations useless.

    1. Preparation can never *hurt*, especially if done judiciously. (Looks at people with garages full of toilet paper and shakes head.) And in any case other than ‘worst’, it can be essential.

  18. IMHO, the first rule of being a prepper should be: Don’t talk about what you have stashed.

    On #7, while getting ready for my ham license exams (looking good, test next week), I ran across a site called AmRRON dot com. They are somewhat affiliated with the American Redoubt organization (supposedly not a militia, but…), but the amrron goal seems to be reasonable: get a bunch of people on radio (ham as well as other services, including CB) to gather/disseminate intelligence and share comms. It’s run on a mode (JS8Call) that’s friendly to low power and poor signal to noise situations. The field exercises I’ve seen look useful for various disasters, both natural and SHTF varieties.

    When I get the station put together, the first thing I plan to do is to lurk a bit.

    Question: Does anybody here have more info on these people? I don’t want to deal with a group that’s more undercover agents and CIs than Deplorables.

    1. seeing grumblings ham is gonna be in trouble, I think over the latest bans on saying wrongthink over the airways.
      I’ve seen a few vids about that on Odysee/LBRY and YT

      1. Considering that your callsign goes in at least one publicly searchable database*, talking religion/politics/philosophy strikes me as an exceptionally bad idea, particularly anything that might bring out the torchlight brigades from any side.

        (*) Name, and a mailing address. Physical address isn’t not required, but amateur radio doesn’t go along with privacy.

        1. This is why a Ham license plate strikes me as a Bad Idea – advertising, “I have hundreds (thousands?) of dollars worth of high-tech electronics at . . .

    2. I’m also a Ham (glad to know you’re joining us), and AmRRon is new to me. I’ve put it in the bookmarks, and will be asking some people later today (my local club is meeting tonight for our Business meeting).

      Don’t neglect GMRS. The equipment is generally simpler to use, it covers about the same distance as handheld transmitter (HT), and it is familiar to those who have used the ‘walky-talkies’ at work or in an organization. The downside is the cost of the license – $70 – but it covers your whole household or organization. Very useful for neighborhood watches, community groups, and when you have a situation where the regular communications are down, and you have to rely on local communications. You also can easily encrypt your comms in a privacy mode. No ham license or training needed.

  19. I’m not too sure we’re past galoshes and onto Hip Waders, on the way to Chest Waders, but likely will need deep sea diver gear soon.

    On an aside for the WP Reader report. WP thinks today’s is Moving Is Stressful (evergreen) and about Baseball

          1. I worked on Point Loma for awhile and every summer when it rained the cars parked on the street were turned into rapids–the water flowed directly over them, along the sidewalk, and down the street in raging torrents.

  20. My respect and admiration (jealousy) keeps growing for people building homes off the grid. I know it’s not feasible or desired by everyone, but possible financial “cancellation” makes it look real good.

  21. Don’t forget to get any dental work you’ve been putting off. Major difference in personal misery index, not to mention health impacts.

    2. I just got insurance through my new employer. Going in for first check-up in (many) years *soon*. Eyes, too, especially since Gramma and Dad dealt with cataracts.

  22. #2 – the best weapon is one you can/will carry everywhere, including into no carry zones and other restricted areas (I work in a hospital, they don’t allow anything). Remember that being in good shape and aware of what you can do to them barehanded is important. And if you are so inclined, martial arts training is great for situation awareness, physical fitness, and stress reduction. In my case, the most important part right now is stress reduction!

      1. a zap can be hidden but will set off detectors, a zap in a Brelly would be good because it’s just a handle (don’t let anyone hold it though . . .”why’s this so damned heavy?”), but make ya gotta your own. The Unbreakable is a good one to use for making one’s own handle.

      3. I like those! Even their factory seconds are worth buying – I think mine had a scratch on the handle or something – and they’re many dollars cheaper than the factory firsts.

        1. I have one of the telescoping ones so I can carry it in a pocket and not be tempted to put it down somewhere and then walk off without it (which is why I normally wear hats instead of carry umbrellas here in Seattle).

          I haven’t had the need to carry it anywhere yet, but I probably will if my company ever goes back to the office downtown.

          1. I’ve got one of the solid shafted ones, and I rigged up a sword hanger for it so I can carry it on a belt for that very reason.

            Of course the problem with putting a load on one side of a belt is that it pulls. I need to rejigger my wardrobe to include regular corsetry to proper distribute the weight without affecting the look of the outfit.

      1. (If I could figure out how the “Like” thingy worked….)

        Followed by hands, feet and teeth.

        After that, look at what your environment provides. (Fire extinguishers have a multitude of uses for instance.)

  23. Sorry – galoshes has been declared sexist; the preferred term is guyloshes or, even better, non-gender-defined-personloshes — personloshes, for short.
    ~

    2. Eurocentric too, the word ultimately comes from Gallic sandals, but the fine points of the language do tend to elude them, q.v., herstory.

  24. Keep firmly in mind the virtues of second hand stores. Ive found incredibly valuable diamonds among the coal residing on the dusty bookshelves. Literally a pharmacists book on the medicinal properties of plants that grow everywhere in our nation along with urban and survival tactics from yesteryear that go into FAR more detail than much of todays drek. An extra 10 lb bag of rice, beans and/or pet food each time someone goes to the grocery store adds up fast. Dont forget lidded 5 gallon pails lined with correct sized garbage bags make for much easier storage and movement. Location appropriate heritage seeds can be as valuable as noble metals. (Not quite as valuable as lowly lead tho) Be ants not grasshoppers. (HT to J.R. and Bandit Six.) AWESOME blog Sarah.

    1. Second-hand and thrift stores are your friends … especially if you want to avoid China-manufactured junk.
      Our political votes might not count for much, these days, but we can vote economically with our dollars, our feet and our eyeballs, when it comes to proggie cr*p in the marketplace.

    2. The big problem with heritage varieties is that they often produce erratically, or poorly, or a large percentage of the crop isn’t really edible, or they’re highly susceptible to common diseases (whereas commercial varieties actively select for disease resistance), and some are extremely poor keepers (another trait undesirable in a commercial crop). So be sure the saved seeds you stash away are proven not only first generation but also as second generation producers, for YOUR climate and conditions and needs.

      Notably, I’ve had much better luck with saved seeds from commercial sweet corn (some of mine are now 3rd generation; Sunglo Hybrid breeds true despite the name, and matures in 70 days) than from the heritage and ‘freely pollinated’ types… those often don’t even make proper ears, or the ear is mixed flint and sweet and not much good for either, or matures too slow for a northern summer. (As a general rule, the shorter the stalk, the faster it matures, and the more frost-resistant it is, too.) And second generation seeds from heritage tomatoes sometimes don’t produce much. Neighbor gave me saved seeds from heritage carrots, and they were like gnawing wood even when they were small. And so on.

      And you need to isolate some crops if you want to keep your established type. (Especially with corn.)

      And be aware that acid levels can be different, which affects preservation and taste. (Eg. some heritage tomatoes are very low acid, and if they aren’t also sweet, those are kinda flavorless.)

      OTOH, with seeds saved from commercial crops, you need to keep an eye out for male sterility, particularly in onions and carrots. Lots of commercial onions reproduce well (Walla Wallas and Sunions are like weeds), but some don’t make viable seeds at all. And hybrid tomatoes often produce something unexpected (one good eating tomato that I saved seed from made a nice Roma type offspring, and tomatoes mostly self-fertilize so you get whatever is back there).

      Anyway, point being…don’t rely on heritage seeds too much, or get hung up on the idea that they’re necessarily better. Commercial varieties exist for good reason, and not always because they’re more “commercial”. Instead, do what you can to select what works for your needs regardless of the origin or lineage — it needs to be viable, reliable, and not prone to rot on the vine (a great trait for spreading seeds in the wild, not so good for a crop) or to being taken out by common pests and diseases..

      1. Yup. Also, from my tomato observations: Hybrids deliver more calories per plant than most heirlooms. Cherry tomatoes are exceptionally prolific and easy to preserve; when I have an excess, I dry ’em, then dry can and rehydrate for use in soup/pasta/whatever.

        If you want to talk gardening and food preservation, hit me up at trufox at the positively charged mail. I’m reasonably good at it. If you’re south of the Mason-Dixon line, look up David the Good, a survival/practicality gardener who is 1) conservative and 2) damn funny. (He’s got a book on gardening in a crisis which starts off with “If you are reading this book in the flaming ruins of your neighbor’s house, here’s where you need to start…”)

        1. I know who David is, but doesn’t he cheat and garden in Florida? No fair! I’m in Montana, where we have to make do with a single growing season. Or sometimes half a growing season…

          Joseph Lofthouse has a bunch of good info on his site, re his own plant-breeding adventures (his are basically on their own under terrible conditions, and he eats the survivors) and really good details on male sterility.

          Yep… I don’t normally care for cherry tomatoes, but I like the VT100 — tasty-sweet, very thin skin (tomato skin, ick), excessively prolific, and it breeds true. (Everywhere you look. They’re like weeds.) The real secret to a bumper tomato crop is planting enough extras to allow for some that die or fail. Then every single one will produce by the bushel, and the vines will eat passing children. This method also works with zucchini and spaghetti squash. 😛

          I do pretty well on the “grow enough to feed India” part, but my preservation skills need work… well, the truth is I hate the bother. If I can’t store it in a bucket in the garage, it’s unlikely to happen. Also, I wish for self-peeling apples and potatoes, and self-frying zucchini.

          Need to get some different seed potatoes this year (they’re just umpteenth generation grocery potatoes). My reds and golds have pretty much petered out, and I’m not fond of the excessively productive russets. Lordy, search for “seed potatoes montana” .. who knew it was a major industry! Holbrook Seed Potatoes even delivers in state! ..tho I don’t need 25 pounds of any of ’em… Left some in the ground this winter, to see how that goes… after my first year here, when I went to dig up for spring, I found perfectly good potatoes down there, far superior to what was dug and stored. You’d think they’d freeze here, but evidently not.

          Oh, word is that true potato seed keeps pretty much forever (and I can attest that tomato seed is good for at least 18 years), so there’s an alternative future-storage method… have not tried growing ’em myself, but have a bunch of true potato seed saved (cuz some of mine think they’re tomatoes). Onion seed, tho… once the seed coat goes totally hard, the poor little embryo can’t escape. Conventional wisdom was that they die after a year or so, but I planted then peeled some old onion seed, and found they *were* trying to grow, without success due to being unable to break the coat. Fermenting old seed might help.

          Will (try to remember to) shoot you an email, just so you’re in my address book. 🙂

          1. Last I heard, he was gardening in Costa Rica. Talk about easy mode.

            I love cherry tomatoes for snacking, not cooking. One year, however, I was bringing in three pounds a day from ONE DAMN PLANT and frantically searching for things to do with them. Cue the cherry tomato salsa…nice flavor if you can get past the skins. But I have a growing kid who, thankfully, loves fresh vegetables, so my garden’s heavy on bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. And Cherokee Purples. And Mortgage Lifters, and… (This year I’m trying Vernissage tomatoes from Baker Creek. My garden kinda imploded last year, but before all the crap happened my Vernissage seedlings were half again taller and stronger than the rest. I am intrigued.)

            Thankfully, I enjoy food preservation. Everything except the post-tomato-sauce cleanup. Even I can’t put on a happy face for THAT, but the Cherokee Purple sauce is worth it. (Purple tomatoes. Red wine. Spices as desired. Pinch of salt, two pinches of turbinado sugar, thank me later.) But squash pickles and jams and stuff like that make me happy.

            I’ve never really troubled with growing potatoes – usually trying for fancier veggies that taste better than storebought, and potatoes are low on the money/time spent totem pole. Recent events, however…

  25. Mostly off topic, but woke silliness….

    A couple months ago EA [ritual condemnation here] announced that they were releasing a remaster of the Mass Effect duology + tech demo. Yay! Good for those who for whatever reason couldn’t play the originals, and they really did need a texture upgrade. Also they were planning on tweaking some things, which as long as they didn’t screw anything up is ok too. Obviously this wouldn’t extend to finally releasing the third entry of the trilogy, but that was never expected.

    tick tock, time passes

    There is a character in ME2 that is designed as a Hot Chick. This isn’t just for reasons of Hot Chick — though that doesn’t annoy me as much as it once did — but also as a plot point that she was a test tube baby constructed to create a dynasty, etc, etc. Part of the characterization is for the camera often end up, uh, behind, the character.

    Now EA has announced that they are going to change the camera in those cutscenes. Because ew male gaze or something.

    Then the Usual Suspects tasted the blood in the water and want the character’s high heels removed.

    By the time this is released I expect Miranda to be played by an obese man in a dress.

    2. The Fail Harder! circus will flail and whine. While they aren’t the game buying audience the investors are looking for, they *are* the negative attention magnet the quivering marketing department is hoping to dodge.

      And let’s not kid ourselves. Miranda will be a transgender clone of the HHS dude in a dress if they get their way.

      1. they *are* the negative attention magnet the quivering marketing department is hoping to dodge.

        I think I need to disagree with Our Hostess regarding the lack of proper marketing and market research in publishing.

        Clearly this was a case of unusually wise forethought in the publishing industry. For they understood that marketing exists primarily to destroy the host.

    3. We did have the third instalment. Even though it was covered up, you can see it peeking through.

      It’s a cosmic horror story that naturally ends with Anderson and Shepherd on the space station, bleeding out, and watching the world burn.

      It sounds tongue in check, but I’m really not kidding.
      Any one who spends time around reapertech is indoctrinated.
      We know the Reapers deliberately influence civilizations through the introduction of reapertech.
      The space station that’s the hub of galactic governance is reapertech.
      At the beginning of the third act, the scheme to save civilization by utilizing all resources to build a huge machine that looks exactly like blatant reapertech is introduced. We don’t have any fricking clue what the machine is, or what it’s supposed to do. But everyone who has spent any time on the space station immediately concludes that this McGuffin is our only hope. (Despite the known fact that isolated bits of precursor civilizations who didn’t know the danger managed to survive, so we know that the Reapers are not omniscient, and that it is possible for a remnant to be saved.)
      Nobody who has been on the space station objects to this “plan”.
      Rather, they embrace it without question.
      And you, who has spent more time around reapertech than anyone else, can literally do nothing but passionately champion this obvious folly.
      Everything naturally follows.
      And there you are.
      You’ve done everything you could.
      But the heroic traits that allowed you to postpone doom twice, are the same traits that caused you to bring the story to the tragic end.
      It’s a cathartic moment.
      It’s bittersweet and sad, but powerful, beautiful, and moving.
      Yes, there’s only one ending, but the decisions you made to get there give it a resonance that’s unique to your experience.
      (Then you start floating, and nothing makes sense.)

      I suspect the suits had a conniption at the thought of a valuable IP being killed off. (Or maybe the devs got cold feet.) So the stupid ghost was added, the ridiculous postscript was tacked on, and handwavium was deployed by the metric ton.

      1. I’m persuaded by Shamus Young’s argument that the three games are not consistently written.

        1. Or they wrote themselves into a corner and had to make up *something* to end it.

          “Organics and synthetics will inevitably go to war and destroy each other!”
          “Uh, I negotiated peace between the Quarians and Geth…”

        2. IIRC, the head writer switched after the second game. He has apparently claimed that he hadn’t plotted out the third game, so players should rest assured that the writer of the third game didn’t throw his ideas out to make room for the plot that we ended up with. According to him, there was nothing to throw out.

        3. Oh, I agree with much of his take.
          But momentum in stories is possibly more powerful than momentum in physics. Once you’ve invoked Cthulhu, you can’t just ignore him.

          I roughed out the fact pattern (there’s more, but what I did was representative).
          The themes established in 1, and rounded out in 2, inexorably lead to the conclusion in 3.
          Even though the writers in 2 tried grasping at straws like “dark energy” to try and deviate from the established course, they also continued to build on the themes established in 1, reinforcing the inevitable end those themes demanded.

          So, yeah.
          They wrote themselves into a corner.
          In 3, they had the choice of playing out the hand, or invoking deus ex machina. They wanted the power of the themes, but not the downer ending.
          They wanted a happy ending, but not to diminish the nature of the threat, or violate the canon they’d established.
          Rather than commit, they tried to kludge the diametrically opposed options together.
          And birthed an abomination.

          The head writer left the project, but there’s a rather large difference between the team “not having plotted it out” and “having no idea where this was going”.
          They might have intended it as a placeholder “until they came up with something better”. But as they worked towards it, every choice constrained them towards that ending.

          (My best friend tells me that most of the American market would be *extremely* pissed off at the ending I regard as natural, but it would be a huge hit in Japan. I’m not convinced he’s right. Westerns can be just as dark as samurai movies, and already have inherent commonalities with cosmic horror.)

          1. This only works if you agree with The Reaper’s view of The Reaper’s power as explained by The Reapers.

            There may be some bias in that view.

            Even in ME1 if you look there is ample evidence that The Reaper’s are starting to get sloppy in their own success. Not enough to be beatable outright, but combined with the Prothean sacrifice and the Humanity wildcard it is enough to make defeating them one of the options on the table. Though admittedly a very costly one.

          2. “Once you’ve invoked Cthulhu, you can’t just ignore him.”

            That would be an example of Chekhov’s Elder God, then?

      2. There’s a long snippet of conversation between Anderson and Shepherd that so far as I can tell was cut from the game. It’s part of the final conversation, and Anderson is telling Shepherd that the latter would be an awesome parent.

        Seems a pretty strong hint that even after a lot of the dialogue had been recorded, it was expected that Shepherd would live

      3. Or, you know, the idea that a game series that was heavily advertised as having your choices make a difference ultimately ended with none of those choices mattering in the least. That wouldn’t go over well with the players.

        Mass Effect was quite literally sold on the idea that your choices make a difference. Before the players knew ANYTHING about what the game would be about, before players had any idea that Reapers might exist, players knew that their choices in the game would have consequences. Your suggested ending effectively denies the original, core tenet of the game. Everything that the players did across the course of the three games would be rendered null and void, as you ended the game indoctrinated aboard the Citadel.

        Dragon Age 2 actually tried to pull off something similar. Your choices only mattered to the extent that they determined how a certain event came to be. Your sibling was gone when you got back from the expedition. How and why your sibling left was determined by the choices that you made. Your mother got killed by a serial killer. The identify of the serial killer was quite literally determined by whether or not you let a particular suspect go. If you let the suspect go, then they were the killer. If you killed the suspect, then the suspect was innocent and the killer was someone else. I liked quite a lot about the overall story in Dragon Age 2. But one of the things that players understandably found frustrating was that the choices in the game generally made little difference in the long run.

        Doing that at the end of the Mass Effect trilogy would have pissed off the players even more than what Bioware ended up with.

        1. I hated DAII to start with, but found it improved *immensely* on a second (third or fourth because I loooove Bioware banter) playthrough. It reminded me of all the breathless 90s commentators talking about how we might end up with “playable novels” or phrasing to that effect. Prearranged plot, but you could still go grimdark or struggle heroically. I wish they’d had the standard “you can get the perfect ending if you work your butt off and/or read the guide” option, but I found it improved in hindsight.

          Plus, Varric. And SnarkyHawke. But mostly Varric.

    4. Miranda’s physical appearence is based off of her voice actress. So there should be a limit on just how far they can screw her up.

      In any case, my interest in the trilogy died at roughly the half-way mark in ME3. The Asari homeworld, imo, was the point at which ME3 became more slog than fun to play. And the game only got worse as it continued. I pre-ordered the deluxe edition of that game, and then didn’t purchase a single DLC. As a result, I’ve no interest in the new trilogy bundle.

      1. Miranda’s physical appearence is based off of her voice actress.

        Report to reeducation. I have it on good authority that all non-ham-planet-women are unrealistic depictions.

    5. In EA’s extreeeeeemely limited defense, the frequent Mirandabutt shots put my teeth on edge (girl gamer here). Bioware’s usually pretty good about piquing player interest without “LOOK HERE! THIS SEXY CHARACTER IS SEXY AND YOU SHOULD WANT TO SEX THEM!”

      OTOH, Miranda would totally fight in high heels just to rub it in that she Can and you Can’t.

      1. n EA’s extreeeeeemely limited defense, the frequent Mirandabutt shots put my teeth on edge

        Agreed on that.

        Sadly that isn’t the why of the change….

    6. In related pop cult news, I recently discovered that the BC comic strip has given names to The Hot Chick and The Fat Broad. I doubt I will ever be able to learn their “proper” names and deplore the exigencies which forced the strip’s heirs to make that name.

      I very much doubt any fan of the strip ever took offense or was otherwise deterred from reading the strip because of those characters’ labeling.
      ~

  26. But those aren’t galoshes because galoshes go over shoes, right? Those are just rubber boots. I haven’t seen galoshes in count no years.

    1. https://www.qcsupply.com/footwear/overboots.html

      I like Servus brand rubber boots (and they’re made in USA, so the rubber is properly cured, and they last til I literally wear through the sole)… I wear ’em as everyday barn boots, any time it’s not so cold I have to resort to insulated. But didn’t realize they also made overboots. Going to have to get a pair of those, on G.P.

      And in honor of how much I hated those red rubber overshoes when I was a kid!

  27. I’ve always done at least a little homesteading and prepping, but now that it’s go time I’m scared shitless that I didn’t learn enough in time to keep the rest of my large and moderately useless family safe and well. I never thought the “good” times would last, but I always expected a gradual decline rather than the end of western civ with the stroke of a pen promising “just two weeks to flatten the curve”. I just hope it’s enough to weather the storm.

  28. “if threatened, fight like a cornered cat. ”

    Better yet, fight like a cornered wallaby. We kick like crazy.

    We also know how to really punish attackers.
    ~

          1. well, for close in there are faster things too.
            as an aside, anyone ever see someone fire a 12 ga pistol with those cute little 1¾ inch shells? All I see are nutters trying 3½ turkey loads
            Also, 32 gauge (regular, not Russian) are 26¢ a round. How the heck?

              1. 32ga is about .50 cal btw with about ½oz of shot or slugs at 1330fps or so. 3″ 20ga in 4 starts around 65¢/ and up atm but was higher when I saw the price on 32, it was less than the cost of 209 primers at the time (and they lasted maybe an hour) so you get a 209 with bonus powder load and some #6 shot.
                32 is still 26¢ but then jumps to 69¢. Rio 28ga is 40¢ (same brand as the 32ga a 26¢)
                Primers are nuts if one can find them. $324.99/1000 for small rifle right now, bet they are gone in an hour or so.
                ouch

                1. Better to take a course in precision long-range rifle – that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it…(And taking that course in May. Hopefully the fun-and-games will hold off until I finish the course.)

        2. Are fine if you are operating with a minimum of 2-3 fire teams. However, as most of us are solitary with only kin to hand, and those either too young or unable to operate, it would be time to take a page from those of us Underhill – and make nights terrifying again.

          Perhaps it’s time to start dying my hat in the arterial spray again …..

  31. PSAish: I’m middle-aged and astigmatic. Athletic resistance is not gonna be my forte. But *galoshes* I can help with. I am good at cheap food, food preservation, and suchlike. Got a few helpful ebooks as well, so e-mail me and tell me you’re From Here. Address is t r u f o x at protonmail.

      1. I like it! Though my favorite will probably always be the “SCAdians afer WWIII” one.

        I’ve been watching Leslie Fish’s blog. The lady is peeved.

            2. My cousin always wanted a pet peeve. When she moved out and got her own place (Uncle wouldn’t have a cat in the house) she got a cat and named it, of course, Peeve.

      1. Apropos of nothing but that you appear to be online. I’m going to send you an email tomorrow mirning (late, ypur time) about something that has been weighing on my conscience for a while.

        I *think* (hope) you’ll be on board. This comment is in the way of stopping my procrastination. Also ccing Jagi.

        1. Lamb’s quarters. Both of you. If you’re in the right zone, which is most of them. Yell at me on e-mail and I shall send you my beginner’s guide. 🙂

      3. “We don’t have soil, we have dirt.”
        — county extension agent in the SoCal desert

        You’re trying to grow the wrong things. Try anything with stickers, spines, or stingers; they’ll do great. Russian thistle will grow to the size of a Rover from the Village, and will behave much the same once it breaks loose.

  32. “I don’t have ‘Hobbies’, I’m building a robust post-apocalyptic skill set.”

    I told my parents many times not to sell their big house. ‘It’s too big for just the two of us.’ I looked them in the eye and said, “And what happens when one of your kids gets in trouble again and needs to come back for help?” There’s five of us and excepting myself every single one of us has gotten married and then come back home with a spouse and kid(s) that needed a roof and time to recover from financial difficulties.

    They sold it, and escaped California, which was a great move, in hindsight. So I bought a big house. Bigger than I really needed, because I was looking ahead at the possibilities. I would never have dreamed of Covid and what it has done to this country, but I’m glad I looked at those teeny row houses with their postage stamp sized bedrooms and said, ‘Oh hell no.’ I had been counting on myself, my sister, and her twins teenage sons, once the custody battle was over. Now I have her oldest as well, because he wanted out of California and was old enough to tell his father to stuff it, her significant other (who was stranded here by Covid travel restrictions and just never left), and a friend who is couch surfing and working any job she can to help pay for groceries.

    I’ve been caught from falling by other people’s safety nets before, and this time it’s my turn to provide the safety net. What goes around comes around and true friends are a more reliable resource than money. Make those connections and make ’em as strong as you can while you prepare as best you can. Then lean together with whoever you have. An arch can hold up a lot more weight than a solitary column.

  33. Spare glasses:

    Keep the ones from prior years, if you haven’t re-used the frame for this year. Keeping “one back” at least gives you a useable spare. You then recycle frames from “two back” (or three back as you deem appropriate)

    Industrial safety glasses – not pretty, but they work. Some employers /plans subsidize these differently. They are often much cheaper than the everyday wear ones. They are also cheap and -essential- eye insurance for tool work, shooting, and even housekeeping with various chemicals. They also are less drama when damaged versus the “nice” pair on which you finally splurged. If you need them for everyday wear spare, the side shields are usually removable without damage once you know how.

    If you accumulate old pairs of glasses, and have your above spares, there are charities that will greatfully repurpose your extras to the needy.

    I still have eyes because I buy good safety glasses. These are -well- worth the money even for infrequent tool-time. Once you have them, one can easily find more occasion to use them.

    1. Seconded. Safety glasses mean all those little pieces of shrapnel and burning liquids never did touch my peepers. I don’t want to have to learn to read in braille. It would slow my book intake. And I need my fix.

    2. My prescription hasn’t changed much over the years, so I as I’ve replaced glasses the old ones went out to the workshop, in the go-bags, etc.

      Even if they’re not the latest, without them I’m not far from white-cane time.

  34. ABC/Disney just fired Gina Carrano from The Mandalorian because she refused to clap for Stalin.

      1. The left has been trying to get her fired for a long time, and she is not wrong with the level of persecution that the left is engaged in against people who disagree with them. Needless to say, the left insists that they are the only ones who can compare people to Nazis.

        ABC/DIsney was emphatic that she would never work for them again-they are actively trying to unperson her. I would not be surprised to see her edited out of the episodes she was already in.

          1. If they do that, we need to start popping Gina Carano into all those retouched Stalin photos. Preferably in full color.

        2. I’ve been saying for years that self-admitted Marxists need to be actively hunted down and fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, repeatedly arrested and prosecuted on the flimsiest legal grounds, and otherwise relentlessly counterpersecuted and destroyed before they can destroy us.

          Yes, I’m gonna say it. “I told y’all so.”

          1. ” from their jobs, evicted from their homes, repeatedly arrested and prosecuted on the flimsiest legal grounds, and otherwise relentlessly ”
            That’s a long AND WEIRD way to spell “from cannons.”

      2. I got a ‘free preview’ week (or 2, don’t remember) of Disney+, wasted a couple of hours picking through it and wound up at “Huh, nothing there worth watching when it’s free.”

        Like when there was a ‘free preview’ of about 20 premium channels, HBO, MAX, SHO and others, over 200 movies in all. I bothered to record maybe a dozen, and regretted a couple of those. If you ever run across a movie called ‘Harpoon’ about 3 people stranded on a yacht, skip it. I wish I could skip it retroactively.

        1. Six kids. There’s definitely stuff for us to watch.

          …but not when they’re killing the one thing that made the sub worth having, for her having bad think.

            1. If they notice, we’ll just explain that the company fired the tough lady from Mandalorian, because she said it was bad to beat up people for disagreeing with you.

                1. I try to at least not do more harm than good when taking a stand, especially with my kids.
                  This is the kind of thing that people point to in 20 years, saying “That is when I decided ___ side was wrong.”

                  1. Foxfier, the weird thing younger says is responsible for his being politically on my side?
                    “You told me to always question EVERYTHING. Examine all authorities.”
                    I always told both boys that, mind. “Again, and again what are the facts” from Heinlein was an almost daily quote.
                    BUT did I expect it to have this effect? No.
                    Incidentally, younger son also credits it for his religious faith.

                    1. Sounds like my mom’s insistence on trying to turn stuff around, try to figure out what stuff isn’t clearly visible, rather than accept the interpretation we’re handed.

                      …backfired on her a few times, there. 😀

              2. You ought not lie to your kids – she didn’t actually say there was anything wrong with beating “up people for disagreeing with you.” She opposed sending such people off to death camps.

                Which is a little less pleasant than being beaten up, even if being beaten is a part of camp activities.

                OTOH, your kids are probably a little young to learn that not all camps are fun camps, so absolution is grantable.
                ~

                1. *Waggles hand*
                  She pointed to a known agreed wrong, that the Jews were treated wrong.

                  She opened by pointing out it didn’t go straight to mass murder, it started with making them acceptable targets of lesser violence.

                  She then asked how that is different from beating up those who disagree with you.

                  The implication is that it is wrong; strictly speaking, she didn’t even say that the death camps were wrong.

                  They know about the death camps, though in a very vague way. St. Kolbe’s story mentioned it.

                  1. As I posted on Larry Correia’s web page, Gina was pointing out that genocide does not go straight to cattle cars, concentration camps and gas chambers. The German National Socialist Workers Party spent about 8 years laying the groundwork of hate first.

                    Here, the Democrats have spent almost 5 years doing the same thing. Was last summer intended to be Kristallnacht 2, or just a preview?

                    I am sure the Capitol ‘insurrection’ was supposed to be much worse than it was. Democrats expected the Trump supporters to go apeshit after their instigators got them started, not wander the halls taking selfies with the statues. The ‘Confederate Flag Guy’ has been identified as a Leftroid stooge.

                    The priceless line Trump missed: “Looks like another ‘mostly peaceful’ protest to me!”
                    ———————————
                    This is OUR house. Congresscritters are just the help.

                    1. The person holding a Confederate Flag is always a plant. If you need access to explosives invite him into your group; he will not only provide but be enthusiastically in favor of it.

                  2. One also notes that she spoke of those who disagree, not conservatives. That the left leapt to “conservatives” shows they know the value of their “both sides” rhetoric.

  35. Reminds me of that old fairy tale line “Can’t go over it, can’t go under it, have to go through it”

  36. ” ladies, gentleman, minotaurs, dragons,”

    Hmm. Who’s the gentleman? Since there’s only one. 0:)

  37. If you have a reasonably current prescription–or can readily get one–I recommend one of the online eyeglass makers–I personally use 39dollarglasses.com, but I’m not married to them.

    They do need a measurement not ordinarily vouchsafed to you by the ophthalmologist–the “interpupillary distance” or IP–but you can get that measured at any optometrist’s shop or do it yourself.

    I have a boxful of older sets of glasses in varying prescriptions–including some that are tinted for sunny days–and now I never worry about losing them or stepping on them. Recommended!

  38. Don’t know if this item is in the usual bug-out lists, but I think it would be helpful to invest in a good solar charger that can handle cellphones, e-readers, and laptops. Also an adapter cable for the car that will do the same. The solar is so you don’t waste gas/battery power charging things when you aren’t actually driving somewhere. And make sure the USB ends fit your devices. 😉

    Sarah, excellent post. Thank you!

  39. Pingback: If it’s raining you put on your galoshes. – Points of Interest

Comments are closed.