Week in review 4/21/13

I spent last week reviewing the past couple months, but I'm making an attempt to get back into the motion of updating every Sunday. I'm also trying something new to make things more cohesive. Thats right, I'm finally writing things down so I can keep track of what I want to say. Without further ado: Last week.

Well start with the continuation of Phase 2, we planted the seeds on Sunday. its been one week, and they've exploded. The green bean plants are now about 14 inches tall. Both types of cucumbers are now all about 4 to 6 inches tall. Thats great right? Wrong. Its still dropping down to sometimes freezing at night. I think we might have to make an emergency transplant of the green beans into plants that we can keep inside until its safe to put them outside. I have determined that gardening is not a science, it does not have standards, and it will do whatever the hell it wants regardless of what you think and feel. I'm happy to seem them sprouting up so nicely, I may have some extra to send out this year again. I helped a friend move yesterday, now she has a nice back porch and she wants to plants. I think she'll be receiving a few. I really hope these plants produce something. I would be very pleased with myself.

While talking about Phase 2, I wanted to mention that people throw away perfectly good things in my neighborhood. I don't mean a broken chair that needs a new back and it will be useable. I don't want to sound like a hoarder. Yesterday on a walk my wife noticed some stuff stacked up beside a dumpster. Yes, this story is about (sort of) dumpster diving. Someone threw some stuff and in the stuff were 3 almost brand new flower pots. They look like they were used one season and then tossed to the garbage. Today, I emptied one and brought it in. The last two will be brought in later tonight. I don't like doing that durring the day, I'd rather do it under the cover of darkness. It makes me feel like a secret agent. Point of the story? Living in an apartment complex isn't so bad. It has its perks.

I've been thinking a reoccurring post each week that deals with my Sunday routine. I go to the William's Grove Flea Market almost every Sunday. The only times I don't are on holidays and days it rains. I think I'm going to start posting a small post about the stuff I find. I don't always buy, but I always see interesting things and meet interesting people. And if I don't do either of those, I find out some thing interesting about a friend I didn't know. For instance, my friend Mike who I only knew him as being a movie buff and a nerd was walking around with me last sunday and he started looking at fishing sinkers. I said to him, "I didn't think you were a fisher." His reply, which took my by surprise, "I'm not, but you can melt these down and use it to make bullets." Needless to say, I was completely shocked. I think at this point "Preppers" are pretty common, they just don't know what they are yet.

As for this week at the flea market, I'm happy to report that ammo has started popping up on tables. Its not always what you're looking for but people are emptying out their workshops and closets and selling off what they don't want/need. I found a gentleman who had a couple boxes of 308 for sale at a decent price that I'm sure didn't last the day. I found plenty of 30/30 and 30-06 for sale. I also noticed an uptick in rifles and shotguns for sale. These are standard hunting rifles, no black guns. These is now a nice self -defense guys there. They sell kubatons, batons, tasers, stun guns, pepper spray, and other stuff. Today they threw some .22LR, 9mm, 5.56, and some .380 on the table. When people saw it, it didn't last. When I got to the table, they had 1 50-round box of CCI standard .22, 3 boxes of TulAmmo .380 at $25/box, and some 5.56 left. They're cool guys and when I learn what the the name of their business is I'll plug it. As for the day, we didn't get there until later than normal. We had boots on the ground at 9:30am and it was still too cold for most people so there were quite a few open spaces. It wasn't a bad day but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. It was a zero dollar day.
Yeah, after writing that I have decided I will be making that a weekly post. 

Finally, today ended up making a trip to Dunham's and a fabric place. I needed some stuff for my drop bag I got the other day. Dunham's had a weird twist though. I went in fully knowing I wasn't going to find any ammo. I spent some time talking to the guy behind the counter with the guns. We'll call him "Dan". He was very knowledgable, we talked about the GSG-9, the MP5 clone by ATI. I've been looking to buy one because...well because I think they look cool and I think they'd be fun to shoot. He showed me the AR .22 that they also made. Its not as fun as the MP5. Suddenly, my wife called me over where she was standing with an employee. He had 4 boxes of .22LR in his hand. He hands them to me and tells me he was holding them for himself but he heard me talking. So because of an incredibly nice staff member I got 200 Federal .22LR for $16. I know its not a great price, but this two weekends of shooting for me. That guy rocks, I appreciate what he did and I can't thank him enough. If you're whining because he was holding product for himself, shut up you never worked retail in an store that you had interest in.

That brings this week to a close. I'm hoping to have a more structured week next week!
At the beginning of starting writing this I had 860 views, so we're close to 1000 views! I'm excited.

Personal Update

I have spent the last 24 hours thinking about how awful that last post was written. There was so much to talk about but I didn't really hit anything I wanted to. So I decided we're going to go back and be a little more decisive with the update.

I mentioned that there is a military surplus place near my apartment that stock changes regularly. I went back because I was kind of interested in a Pro Mask bag they had that didn't have a price tag on it last time. Well, today I went back. It was marked for $8. I didn't think that was bad, so I bought one. I also saw they had new boots for $49. I didn't buy any, they didn't have my size. I think it will be a purchase when they finally do have my size. I was also told through the grapevine that the state surplus warehouse used to/still might sell surplus state police gear. I was told there were bins of boots and holsters for a few bucks a piece. I'm hoping to confirm that by early next week. I also talked about my gear upgrades. There is my personal gear so far. I'm pretty proud of it. I might add I look like a beast when I'm in full gear.

I fit all my gear, but it could always fit better. I maintain a distaste for my body. I'm too big. I'm not obese or disgustingly fat, but I am not proud of it. My goal at this point is to be in a size 38 waist  and a comfortable fit of an XL shirt by mid August. The goal is mid august is so that I have time to order a set of black BDU's for Comic Con in Baltimore in September. I'm dressing up this year as an Umbrella Corp soldier. The costume looks suspiciously like my bug out gear. I maintain my status as a nerd.

Also, Phase 2 2013 was just started. We've backed down the amount of plants this year from 72 to 36. we ended up with alot of extra plants that we couldn't send anywhere. Its only been a couple days since they were planted and already we're seeing growth! What you're looking at is 6 cucumber, 6 bell pepper, 6 hot pepper, 6 lettuce, 6 pickling cucumbers, and 6 green beans. This year we want to produce a decent amount of vegetables  If all 36 make it to plant stage, we're still going to have to give some away. There is some extra thought put into this. If we can produce pickling cucumbers, we are going to make pickles. I'm very excited. We made our share of mistakes last year that were all noted. I hope to avoid as many hiccups as we can this year and produce to good food!

Finally, mentally I've been feeling great. I've been maintaining my regiment of supplements  I've been sick minimal amount of times this year. Allergies were the culprit in almost all the cases  of missing work. However, I've done something to my leg. I get a limp sometimes and my knee and the back of my thigh above the back of my knee hurt like hell. I'm not quite ready to see a doctor, its relatively new. I will be starting my gym regiment again in a day or two. It recently flipped to a 24 hour gym so I can go at night on the weekend. I'm 26 and when I think about the weekend I'm trying to figure out when I can start going to the gym. You have to have your priorities. Also, I recently had to buy some clothes. Its never a fun time, especially as a larger built fellow. I have found that every store has dropped their big and tall section.

It's mid way through April now. I have my goals set for mid August. I would like to see size 36/38 and maintaining by the end of the year. I have also had to make the decision that if I am forced by lack of supply to practice shooting I will spend that extra time running. However, I think I will be rationing my supply to make sure that I can do SOME shooting so I can at very least maintain my ability to hit a target at 100 yards with a long rifle and maintain a decent group with my pistol at 10 feet. I think it would be horribly counter productive to let myself get rusty because I don't want to dwindle my supplies.

Anyway, that is all for now. This isn't the article I expected to write, but it was worth it.

Four months into 2013.

So I've been busy and lazy. Maybe not lazy, winter has taken my motivation from me. With the weather warming up and getting to spend more time in the sun has revitalized me. So, here we go!

Also, I won't be talking about current events in this post. I'm going to make another post to discuss that stuff.

First, lets talk about the horrible winter that we endured. By horrible I meant non existant. That is Pennsylvania for you. So with a non existant winter we didn't have to use any of our supplies, but we did anyway. We've had some stuff sitting for a while so we circulated some of our food. That is my final report on Winter 2012/13 or lack there of.

Recently, we decided that we wanted to buy our dog a yard and a dog house. We decided we were going to try to find a yard what had a house for the wife and I too. Unfortunately, due to financial slips on my part we are unable to get a mortgage for a year. We did learn a couple good lessons from it all. While I was incredible let down, we decided to take some extra money and get rid of debt and we made a good budget that is going to give us some extra money to use to resupply. So its not all bad. We have 12 months and we'll try again.

I took my first (of many) civil service tests so I can get a promotion. I'm still shitting bricks about the scores. I probably won't know for another week. Side note, an agreement with my father may lead to a shotgun if the score is 93% or better. I've been trying like hell to score a shotgun but money is never in my favor. Where that all leads is to where I'm at with my gear. I recently picked up a fantastic molle vest and some pouches. I need some other pouches. I found a cool surplus shop near my place that I am checking out weekly because there stuff is always moving. They have promask leg pouches for a couple bucks that I think I'm going to pick up. I'm not sure what I'll use it for but its a good durable drop pouch. It might be useful for raiding or scavenging. I found my missing mag for my pistol. So I'm up to 3 now. So those things are checked off the list. So I'm making headway!

Here is the everything important:
1. Winter was boring and uneventful.
2. I will be maintaining my living conditions for another 12 months.
3. Trying to get a promotion. In turn, also may get a shotgun.
4. Added vest, pouches, new flashlight, and magazines to gear list. In turn, taken them off the list.
5. I sucked at writing tonight, and that saddens me.
6. I have way more things I wanted to talk about. Tomorrow, I'll being writing a better piece.

Seriously, amen for spring. If winter would have drug on any longer, I don't know if I would have survived. Also, I'm sorry this is a jumble of stuff. Its been a while since I wrote anything and I think I rambled. So...sorry. I'm going to get back to writing more! I have some stuff I want to review too. I'm also looking for local folks to meet and greet. I would love to have some like minded people around. Anyway, thats all for now.

Winter Update

Yeah its been a while since I posted last. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine didn't go so well. I ended up in the ER Christmas Eve. Turns out a cold that I was fighting turned into a double ear infection. I spent most of my Christmas day sleeping. But that was the worst that happened.

My dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I almost jokingly typed "Ammo and MREs". I told my brother and sure enough, for Christmas a case of MREs landing on my lap. 12 MREs and 650 rounds of ammo, and some miscellaneous stuff were my gifts. My wife got her first pistol too! Its a very exciting time. It was a great holiday with my family. It was the first without my brother-in-law, who passed away several months ago, and my brother and his family, they moved out of state making it tough to get together for holidays. But enough of all that.

The York Gunshow was last weekend. In the wake of tragedy in CT, the good folks that love and own guns have lost their minds. I am a (stable-minded) gun owner, I don't like to panic buy. However, dealers there, and from what I understand, everywhere, have gouged their prices for "assault rifle style" weapons. (Side Note: I hate the term assault rifle because its not through around in the media to describe any rifle that has a pistol grip and is magazine fed. ALSO, they started throwing around the term "Semi-Automatic". The words "Assault" and "automatic" scare the crap out of people that don't understand or respect weapons.) I saw Saiga shotguns, that 3 weeks ago at the Harrisburg MAAC gunshow, were around 750-800. They were 1100 at the York show. The unfortunate part is people were happy to pay whatever price dealers felt like selling it at. AR style weapons were in the 2000 range. They were flying off the tables. When we allow that kind of treatment, we tell the dealers that this is okay. Also, when we behave like this it gives these anti-gun folks something to point at and yell "SEE! THEY'RE UNSTABLE! LOOK AT THEM BUYING! WE CAN'T HAVE THIS!" Please, please, please, stop buying like this. They're just using us to fuel their own machine. Now, on a positive note, gun parts were at an all time low price. There wasn't much there, though I wasn't surprised in the least. I knew this gun show would be the push for rifles and ammo. 7.62x39 was sold out by Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, a single case was left. Each box of 20 rounds was selling at a $10/box.
So gun parts were low priced and tactical gear was plentiful. I picked up a great thigh rig and a pouch for $20. That's it in the picture. Also, picked up a magazine for the pistol and for the wife's pistol. Including $29 in fuel, we spent right under $100. It was a good run. I also got my samurai patch, made my donation to the Wounded Vets, and finally got a 550 cord bracelet that fit!

Over the weekend, I officially started integrating my wife into the prepping. Shes always been a part of it, she's supported it and actively participated. But we've now broken the barrier. We're going to starting putting together her B.O.B. She officially has her own box on the shelf. I know it doesn't seem extremely exciting but it is to me.

Speaking of the shelves, I recently revamped the prepping room. Originally, the shelves were placed against the wall making them fully visible from the door. This was easy access for our food when we were going to use it. However, it was visible from the door. There was the problem. I didn't like that by walking past the door, or looking up through the window you could see the shelves. You weren't able to see what was on them, but shelving units like this are not a standard furnishing in an apartment like mine. Someone might be able to tell that I was stockpiling. I have taken to the idea of its probably best to stay low-key. Taking the opportunity to rearrange I could also go through everything. So the picture there is what is left of the food stuff after I picked it over. For two people, I'd say that isn't so bad.

I also missed the whole Mayan end of the world thing. Obviously, we're all still here. No one did anything really dumb. We all live to fight another day.

Well, this went much longer than I thought it would. I hope everyone enjoys the last of 2012! I'll update with some winter updates as things change. Its a very exciting time!

Post Gear Inventory Review

I didn't get the feedback, but the folks that did respond (and thank you for the responses!) gave me great advice!

So everyone that respond brought up some simple things that I have completely looked over. The simple things usually get looked over completely. So here are a few things that folks brought up and some things I thought of.

1. A compass.
I have a compass. Its an app on my iPhone. ...Obviously, I cannot rely on that.

2. Duct tape.
Who the hell doesn't have a roll of duct tape!? Me. But not for long. I'm going to fix that.

3. Solar lights.
These can be found pretty cheap and would be really nice to have in a no power situation. ...as long as the sun doesn't burn out I have a reusable resource.

4. Fishing kit. 
 I have one, BUT I've been meaning to expand it.

5. Water purification system.
I don't have one. ...Thats silly. I'm going to work on that.

6. Eating utensils.
No plate, bowl, cup, fork, knife, or spoon. I'm a little surprised that I've overlooked that.

So we're going to fix those things. I'm going to keep working on other stuff. I've got some other things I want to learn. I'll update everyone with that later! but for now, I'm off! Its back to normal grind tomorrow! 

Physical Gear Inventory

I decided I wanted to go through my gear so I can see a full list. This is going to be the list of what I have on my shelves. I'll make a post later this evening after I've made my decisions about which direction I want to go. SO here is it!

1 Power Inverter
1 Hand crank radio/flashlight
2 AAA Battery powered LED flashlights
1 AAA Battery powered LED Headlamp
20 AAA Batteries
10+ Lighters
10+ Boxes of matches
5 Bricks of Triocane
50+ Tea light candles
3 Bandanas
1 Shemagh
1 Pair of leather gloves
12 Pairs of latex gloves
1 Drop Holster
2 2-quart canteens
1 compressed fleece blanket
5 Heavy-duty contractor bags
100+ Feet of 550 cord
1 Fully stocked gun cleaning kit
1 Fully stocked sewing kit
2 Fully stocked first aid kits
1 Fully stocked tool kit
1 Minor electrical repair kit
1 Duffel bag
1 Backpack
2 Compressed nylon bags
2 30 caliber ammo cans
1 Etool
Various bottles of vitamins
Various manuals
Various local/county maps
1 Kubaton
26 12 gauge shells
2000+ .22LR rounds
260 7.62x39 rounds
200 5.56 rounds
10+ Various knives (including metal, poly, folding, and fixed)
2 Pairs of handcuffs

I also have my primary, secondary, and hand to hand weapons.

I'd let to get some feedback on this so I can get a different view point before I post my second post tonight.

Pre-Winter Inventory

So as you may remember my Pre-Fall inventory was a little painful. I didn't realize how much I DIDN'T have. Needless to say, at the end of that day I was feeling a little like a beat puppy.

Since that day, I made some lists and some conscious decisions to make some changes. SO without further ado, I present my Pre-Winter Inventory:

(1) Camp Stove
(1) 3 Gal. Drink Dispenser
(4) Cans of Sterno Fuel
(3) Bottles of propane
(48) Bottles of water (stored)
(9) Boxes of Mac and Cheese (Requires Milk and Butter)
(16) Cups of mixed fruit
(8) Boxes of assorted dry pasta
(2) Jars Spaghetti sauce
(2) Bottles of ketchup
(1) Bottle of BBQ Sauce
(2) Boxes Mac and Cheese (Requires nothing extra)
(1) Carton bread crumbs
(34) Packs of Roman Noodles
(3) Cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew
(4) Cans of assorted soups

Its still not my target but it is WAY better than before. From here I'll be making additional lists and some more decisions about what is going to be useful.

As for plans for the following couples months, I've made a list of things I'd like to accomplish. This is the list in no specific order:

1. Learn how to properly pickle. As a first test, make pickles.
2. Reform my decisions in the gym. Starting with my lack of gym time.
3. Learn how to make bread.
4. Continue my stockpiling.
5. Reform my finances.
6. By the end of the winter, I would like to own my first shotgun.

I don't think that any of that is unreachable. But that list is ever changing and currently it is not prioritized.

For now, that is it. I'll be working on my physical inventory of non-food items and eventually post it. I know there are a few small kits that I would like to finish before I post it.