grumpyunk's Blog

I don't call it, Fury. More like, "Getting my hate on." I haven't reached true Fury levels in a long time.
Unfortunately, most people can't distinguish between my Serious Face and my Mad/Angry Face. Unfortunate for them but good for me, as people mostly leave me the hell alone when they think I'm on a hate jag.

I'm a big believer in sarcasm and parody to relieve the stress of anger. Lot's of folks don't like that but it works well for me. Pointing out the faults and lack of logic in a situation and making fun of whomever the perpetrator of the stoopid is helps. Me anyway.
This does not endear me to some coworkers, admin pukes and a lot of the Dumb asses that come through the Emergency Room on a daily basis.

Having a constant low level hate, fury, stress or whatever you call it probably isn't good for any of us. Physical activity is the best reliever. And Beer!

DOH!!!! Sorry! OK. I forgot the link. Now that we've established that I'm a dork, here ya go - http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/index.html

Dirk-Pitt, haven't seen any reference to a military background in what i have read so far. Or at least I don't remember one. See forgotten link above.

This is the story of a guy who had to bug out during Katrina. He is a very good writer and has taken the time to very thoughtfully, put together a great survival tale, instructional primer and history lesson from what he learned. I'm not finished reading it all yet. It's very long (Book length) and very heavy on how to instruction (With printable worksheets) and the story behind the disaster of Katrina.

Like I said, he's a very good writer. Funny and obviously intelligent. The ideas apply to everyone, regardless of location and he focuses on using your brain more than just having a kit and a big stash of beans. Very different outlook from the normal SHTF site I'm used to seeing.

I recommend it for everyone.

That's just crazy stupid by both of them.

I really enjoy the Foxfire books and recommend them for anyone. The Naval Institute book I've never heard of. May have to check it out. Preparedness for me involves more of what you referred to above in the use of old time methods of living. You need an established garden & orchard and a way to preserve what you grow before things go bad.
Small scale livestock of some kind, chickens and rabbits are the easiest and take up almost no space.

www.backwoodshome.com is a good magazine and their website has a wealth of articles that are free to access. Gene Logsdon has many books on the small scale self reliant lifestyle. Two Acre Eden, The Contrary Farmer, The Contrary Farmers invitation to Gardening and Homesteading are all good. Kinda preachy on the whole "organic lifestyle" and what not, but that's ok.

Tom Brown has a whole series of Field Guides for outdoor survival that are very good and I recommend them.

Central Boiler is sorta the Cadillac of the field. I was looking into having my brother possibly making one. There are plans available and he can literally, build anything. Other than wiring I can do most of the installation.
But yeah, it's a lot of $$$ and I don't know if I could pull the trigger on that unless the payback on savings would be significant. Since my current furnace system is old and not working worth a shit, I may be better off replacing it with a gas or propane set up and just get a smaller generator to power it for back up in emergencies.
I'm gonna need to talk to someone around here who has one and see if the payback is worth it.

We heated our other house with a wood stove for years. The insurance man about had a cow and basically told us he'd have to drop us if we put one indoors here. Since we have everything insured with him (a personal friend) I'd like to avoid that. The wife doesn't do smoke, even in small amounts to well anymore and would prefer not to have a stove in the house.

With an outside wood boiler I could run some plumbing and fin tube to the garage and heat it too for only a small bit more $$. Another bonus.

Does anyone here have one? It's a large initial investment, but with the rising cost of energy and the option of preheating the hot water supply it seems that it would be worth it. Wood is cheap here, as in free if you want to take the clean ups from areas that have been logged & I already have chainsaws and a truck.

I'd like to hear from someone who has been living with one and hear pros and cons, things to consider before purchase, plumbing and planning a system, etc. There are a lot of them in use around here, but I don't know anyone personally who has one yet.

I know these things need a certain amount of electrical power when integrated into an existing forced air system and that's one of my worries. We get a lot of ice storms. If the furnace fan won't circulate the heat generated what then? Running a baseboard fin tube radiant option would be best, but economically not doable. I'd like to be able to keep both me and the plumbing from freezing if we have a power outage for any length of time.

I'm in the "Kicking this idea around" stage and as you can see, don't know a hell of a lot yet, so I'd like to hear any and all ideas related to this to move me along the learning curve a bit. Thanks.

A great poster for what we have to look forward to from - http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2008/07/obamessiah-ber-alles-obamessiah-ber.html.

I'll try to post the photo but we'll see.

You should love the WeeStrom. As far a dependability, there's a guy close to me who has over 200K miles on his. There is a very active owners group and lots of web support too. Not to mention the big after market add on and parts selection.
You may want to check out www.stromtrooper.com and http://vstrom.info/
My riding buddy has the 1000cc version and I can see me moving to one when my Concours finally gives it up. Enjoy and ride safe!

Hit the tip jar for Ben. Not much but a start.

You may want to add your proper email addy/paypal ID for receiving funds into the post above. It took me a minute to figure out why paypal wouldn't accept the $$. Reread your post and found the proper email info at your main site. Might make it easier for folks if you add it above.

Hope Ben is coming along ok.

I love these kind of discussions. Adding to the medical kit idea, is a Red Cross course in 1st aid. Bummer trying to read that manual and stop a buddy from bleeding out at the same time. ;-)

That alpha rubicon link above is loaded with good stuff. http://www.survivalblog.com is also a good one. Both of those are pretty hardcore in planning for the worst case. Not that that's a bad thing, but I'm more concerned in the higher probability short term things related to weather, etc. And the overall self reliance do it yourself lifestyle in general. http://www.backwoodshome.com style.

We keep enough staples for 1-2 months & have revamped and expanded the garden in prep for next year and have a few Chickens.

Water for more than a week would be a problem and I'm looking into driving a shallow well. drove one before and it's not too hard & I can use it for the garden and the chickens. Would have to boil it before drinking though. Depending on the pump (manual), not a real expensive project.

My insurance man about had a cow when I mentioned a wood burning stove inside. Thinking of a build it yourself outside boiler like this - http://www.deb-design.com/

A generator would be tits but I know I could never afford one big enough & storing fuel?. Maybe a unit big enough to keep the freezer going and a few accessories on & off? Don't know crap about 'em. Maybe one of you do.

Landoc has the first one correct. As for Kim's name, Doo Twa' I believe is how I heard him pronounce it on the webcasts he used to do.

Good thing he had a helmet on.

Ogre, even a low level head injury can lead to some pretty dramatic personality changes. So be advised that he may not be quite the same for awhile or permanently. Not necessarily bad. Just different. My brother became a recluse after his head injury and it took about 5-6 years for him to get back to his pre-injury self. He's still different but not in a bad way.

Can be stressful on friends and family so I thought I'd mention it.
Count me in if you decide to have a fund raiser.

I refuse to believe that the puppies under Ms Simpson's shirt are evil.

Yes, keep us updated, please. My fear of hitting a deer is one of the big reasons I don't ride much at night. May G-d lay His healing hand on, Ben.

If you've not had a Mosin before you'll love it. Next you'll be looking for a long 91/30 and then ..... It's a sickness.

Woo Hoo!!!

Greetings from Southern Indiana! Looks good.