Music

I added a juke box, so if you want to hear some Clutch, or just get an idea of what I listen to, scroll down to the bottom of the page to play.
Hope you enjoy my bizarre mixture of punk/metal/industrial/bluegrass/60's hippie folk! Hey, there's something for everyone!
I have to admit, the song choices may be a little 'doomer' oriented.
Have fun!

Politics test

This is an interesting link. I fully expected to be labeled an anarchist, but apparently I'm a socialist (not an extreme one though)
http://www.okcupid.com/politics
Check it out.

New Floor

I got my new floor cut out and "dry fitted" in the van. I wanted it to be a pretty tight fit because I don't want to bolt it down and make more holes in the van.
It was tricky to get it just right, because there are weird shaped fuel fills and wheel wells to cut around. So I made a pattern for each side out of newspaper and traced it onto the plywood. It turned out pretty good.
Now I will apply "Great Stuff" expanding foam to the grooves in the floor of the van and hold the plywood down with my deep cycle batteries as the foam sets. (they weigh about 80lbs apiece)
The foam adheres to things pretty well, so between it and the tight fit I shouldn't need to bolt it down. Yay! I get to cut wood!

A couple interesting things happened the last few days. I was in the Qwik-e-mart buying my cancer sticks and the customer ahead of me was talking to the cashier about being overtaxed and finding a safe place for their money. The cashier mentioned an account in the carribean. I chimed in with "I'm just investing in food and ammo." They both looked at me, but not like I was crazy. More like they were considering it.

Then our 'crazy neighbor' came over wanting to know how many of the 4000 rounds of AK ammo he ordered the Ex wanted. Gun conversations went on for a while, then the neighbor told a story about how he met these guys in a diner who were talking about ammo. The guys were initially suspicious and asked if he was a cop, but it was readily apparent that he was one of the good ole' boys. So they invited him to the range. They have some kind of 'gun club' and a 'facility' in Mississippi. I wonder if it's anybody I know online?....
It was some consolation that if/when TSHTF, the Ex will team up with CN (crazy neighbor) and maybe be able to bug out to MS with da' boys. Ex and CN are going to the range tomorrow. Awwww.... I've given up him, but I still care if he lives or dies. It's encouraging to see him making helpful connections at least.

What's Our Excuse?

Thanks to Mayberry over at Keep It Simple Survival, I finally figured out how to make a youtube player appear in my blog. I thought this was a really sweet video;


So what's our excuse? We have a government that willfully tries to divide us. And we are dumb enough to listen to their BS.

Sick

Being sick sucks. I forgot how much it sucks, because I very rarely get sick. I'm blaming this on my friend that had strep last week. It started on Tuesday with a sore throat and sinus pressure. I got the plywood cut for my floor in the morning, and felt crappy after that. But it was Fat Tuesday! Mardi Gras! And as this city likely won't be here for much longer (neither will I) why not enjoy it now?
So I took a 12 hr sudafed (better than crack!) and headed for the French Quarter. Beer made my throat feel better anyway.
The sheer madness of Mardi Gras is something everyone should experience at least once. I prefer to stay away from the touristy, frat boy riddled area of Bourbon St., but that is where most of the titties are, if you're into that sort of thing. The Frenchman street area is where most of the locals hang out, and the place to go to see well thought-out costumes. My favorite was a couple wearing sandwich board signs with a 'menu' for the "Freddie Mac and Cheese Grill" with humorous menu items relating to our current state of affairs. I wish I'd brought the camera, because I was too many beers into the process to memorize any of the items. Maybe they'll come to me later.
It was still an early night as far as most Fat Tuesdays. I was in bed by 11pm. And SOOOOO CCCCCCcOLD..... Fever sucks. I hate feeling that way. You do get some pretty interesting dreams though.
I worked the next day, even though I felt like total crap. What boss is going to believe you are actually SICK the day after Fat Tuesday? But I managed to blunder through it, and passed out at 7:00 pm. After sleeping 12+ hours the fever seems to have broken and it no longer feels like my head will explode when I cough. So I'm taking it easy today. I'd rather lose one day of working on the van to get better than a bunch of days getting sicker if I don't give myself time to heal. I can still work on planning the interior. I've drawn the 'footprint' of the van interior to scale. The fun part is drawing my major components (bed, stove, potty, battery box) to scale, cutting them out and moving them around on paper to see what works best. Kind of like a paper doll, but for a van.... anybody remember paper dolls?
I bet they were made in America......
I'll post picks of the floor in a later article. I want to talk about the process, and that is too much to go into here.
In case anyone is wondering, the photo is from 'Hidden Messages in Water' by Dr. Emoto. They talk to water, then photograph the results when it is frozen. They said "you make me sick" to this water. A fabulous book, with the potential to change your view of reality. Highly recommended.

Seeds of Change

The voices in my head have been telling me that seeds will soon become very valuable. Fortunately my job allows me the opportunity to acquire heirloom seeds at a reasonable cost.

So I got to thinking. What plants would I want to take with me if I could only pick about 20?

The cultural diets of various areas work together to provide complete nutrition. We wouldn't have survived for tens of thousands of years without certain important plant partners.

The people of the fertile crescent survived happily with wheat, barley, native fruits and the help of animal friends in the form of meat and cheese.

I could eat nice fresh cheese, good whole grain bread and fruit forever. (And maybe some Prosciutto....mmmmmm.)

In the Americas the three sisters were critical; corn, beans and squash. The Anasazi survived for tens of thousands of years with these plants.

Seeds of Change is the heirloom seed company we use at work. The seeds are vacuum packed in resealable plastic packs and have a sell by date of Dec. 2010. I will most likely be either settled or dead by then. I tried to concentrate my purchase to plants that give the most bang(calorically speaking) for the buck. Squashes, root vegetables, grains and beans. When I was ordering the seeds, I tried to get the toughest varieties; the longest keeping squash and carrots, drought and beetle resistant beans, disease resistant tomatos and peppers. I like the weird grains too, because I know they haven't been genetically messed with; Quinoa, amaranth and millet.

I ordered some oil seeds too; safflower and sunflower may both be pressed for cooking/fuel oil.

I didn't buy any greens; they are low in calories and pretty easy to find foraging.

So today I bought seeds. Another prep to cross off the list.

I'd still like herb seeds, but some of my plants (dill, cilantro, parsley, fennel) are getting ready to go to seed so I will probably just collect those and seal them myself.

A few plants I would love to have, but they come in tuber form, not seed form, so don't keep as long. Jerusalem artichoke (aka sunchoke) Yacon, garlic, hops, onions and potatos. Maybe I can barter for them whenever I find my green valley.

A Storm is Coming

Today was an interesting day. I got off work early because of Mardi Gras, and my LA refund check came in the mail. I promply trotted off to the bank to cash it before my state goes bankrupt too. Almost $200.00, and most of it will go to food preps.

To celebrate reclaiming a portion of my my hard earned dollars, I went to the pub. Fox News was on the TV, and they were talking about worst case scenarios, survivalism, and civil unrest.

It was muted, with subtitles, so as not to disturb the doctors and lawers and accountants who also frequent this watering hole. But there it was. On the TeeVee. And we all know that the box speaks the truth.

When I got home, I happened upon the program through an unrelated e-mail link. I watched a portion I'd missed, with my ex sitting right there. He ridiculed it, of course, but it started an interesting discussion.

"The American people won't overthrow the government a la' French revolution. They are too fat and happy. The French were all starving. Americans might march on the White House, but everyone will forget to bring the torches and pitchforks."

"Babe, the people may be fat, but they ain't happy. If Americans overthrow their government it WON'T be with pitchforks....."

We talked about the economy and I mentioned something about ammo being the new dollar. I think I pissed him off. I tried to apologise; "I'm sorry I talk about this. I know it messes with your world view. I won't talk about it anymore if it makes you feel better. At least you have plenty to trade for food. Those defenses will be worth their weight in gold."

I don't think that made him feel better. He quit talking to me and went to bed. I really don't give a shit at this point. Let his world view be messed with. Maybe he will wake up before it's too late. Maybe he'll just think I've gone off the deep end and be glad to be rid of me. Whatever. All things will be as they must.

But I think I can see something coming that he and a whole lot of sheeple don't want to think about. I can try to warn them, but it really doesn't do any good. Mostly it just upsets them, and makes them stay away from me. I guess that's OK. I can really only fit enough preps in the van for me, myself and I anyway. (and maybe a couple of cat friends)

Batten down the hatches, the revolution idea has gone mainstream.

Mainstream thought to manifestation of reality is a small step.

"Say your name/try to speak as clearly as you can you know/nod your head, just in case they're watching with their shiny satellites/ Tune it out/listen to the shit they pump into your head/filling you with apathy/hold your breath/wait until the time is right/hold your breath/ the end is near." -Nine Inch Nails