TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I’ve had to slack off on posting to reprioritize my labor into some home improvement projects, my career, and other not-so fun obligations. I meant to take a couple weeks off, not a whole month!

I’ve been working feverishly (& probably foolishly) around the house with a few improvement projects, a thorough cleaning of the basement, re-organization of my preps, and catching up on cleaning and maintenance. The largest project, by far, is a sturdy fence for the back yard. My dogs have learned they can chew through the wire fence to terrorize small animals in the neighborhood. I have twelve of the sixteen post holes dug and posts mounted, and I have to give myself a pat on the back for accomplishing what I have completed so far.

New England is rock country, and you can’t dig a 10″ hole without pulling at least half the volume in head-sized rocks. I visited many stores looking for an American-made post-hole digger before reluctantly buying the Kobalt one from Lowes. I’ve returned two of them so far, and bent my digging bar so may times it looks like a swizzle-stick. They won’t take the digging bar back, claiming only by running it over with a truck could I get it into that shape. I have a full set of callouses again, after many burst blisters. I can only dig 1-2 holes a night after work before my back is spasming, and my hands are clenched into claws.

Once the last holes are done, then the rest will go up fast. I took advantage of the recent tax-free weekend to buy all the supplies, which included stainless steel screws, which will make attaching the pickets easy, and last a long time. I need to decide if I will paint the pickets on the fence, or before I attach them… I’m using an opaque stain, because paint will peel in 2-3 years. The stain was much more expensive, but should stay better-looking for longer.

The fence is 4×4 pt posts in 36″ deep holes with 4″ of gravel on the bottom for drainage. 2×4 pt boards are used as rails, attached to the front of the 4×4 posts, then 1×6 roughsawn pine will be used for pickets. the more I think of it, the more likely I will rough cut the pickets, stain them en mass, then cut them to final length with the cut end up so i can touch them up after they are attached.

Work has been busy, with me having to work the last three out of four weekends – two without any “comp time” – which sucks because I’m salaried. We now have nothing to do, so it looks like I can try to find the end of the Internet on company time. At least I’ll now have some time to write some quality posts – something this blog sorely needs. I also need to start to study for a couple of very difficult certifications. Part of this flurry of activity is to free up evenings to give me time to study. One of these exams has a failure rate of over 80%, and is no joke.

Looks like I will soon have the raise promised to me in February, which will allow me to buy two key preps. An alternative energy system, and some body armor.

Another reason I took this hiatus from the blog was because of the stress caused by the endless warning-signs and noise from the eminent collapse of the EU and our own economic collapse. I am afraid that this is going to happen soon, sooner than I can save up for some land in Maine and build a cabin on it. I’m afraid I won’t learn how to garden soon enough. I fear how many are going to show up at my doorstep, and how they will react when I tell them to piss off.

The stress was too much, so I’ve thrown myself into these projects. Plus, I’ve been guilty of slacking off instead of taking care of these a little at a time over the last five years. Now I’m paying the price.

I’ve rambled enough, time to figure out an alternative energy system that will work for me here in Mass, and can be used in Maine if/when I get my land.

Just when you think the beating has stopped, that’s when your water heater starts to leak like a sieve, and needs to be replaced. I had a 1/4″ of water over the entire basement, and some of my stuff got pretty wet. All my important stuff was up on 2×4′s, but I still lost some stuff I was planning on selling at the yard sale.

And to make things worse, my phone is missing. I’ve checked everywhere but one couch i was sitting on while at a friends house, I’ll have to check that after work. It has all my photos for the wooden storage box project on it, and they have not been backed up to the iCloud for some stupid reason.

Natog’s Home for Free Men is now up to three tenants – My buddy left his wife this weekend. Dealing with that fallout and keeping his spirits up meant I got nothing done this weekend. Again.

I hope I get my phone back, as I really can’t afford to buy another one.

I just hope this is it. If I have to replace the whole water heater I’m going to have to do something I hate doing, and that is dipping into the credit card to help pay for it. If I do have to replace it, I will be buying one of those tankless models, which can run LP or natural gas. It will be more expensive, but it will be easier to scavenge and jury-rig for hot water post-teotwawki.

I wonder when I’ll be caught back up?

I must apologize for the lack of posting, things have been super-busy for me, and I’ve had a series of personal catastrophes to make my life even more complicated.

I brought the Jeep in for brakes and to fix a bad O2 sensor. $1200 later, I got it back. New brakes, rotors and calipers. Front U joint. My radiator blew while there. That wiped out a chunk of savings, along with the money I had set aside to finally put in a patio in the back yard. Maybe i’ll have enough in the fall.

A close friend had a stroke, but luckily there seems to be no permanent damage. Looks like the same thing Teddy Bruschi had, a small tear in an artery near the heart where clots are forming, then breaking free. Tip o’ the cap to modern medicine for the excellent care and thorough testing.

I saw Roger Waters at Fenway Park on Sunday. Great show! Any seats centered to the stage started at $400 in the nosebleeds, and went up to $2000 for front row. I paid $180 for a seat past the Pesky pole in a field box off right field. Cheapest seats without an obstructed view. The acoustics in Fenway suck, but I thought they did a great job with such a poor venue for a concert.

Lots and lots of family drama. I’m supporting my Mum, and told my brother to piss off. He’s burnt every bridge except for Mum and a single friend. Everyone else that he used to call a friend has cut him off. I wonder if it will ever get through his thick skull, but I doubt it.

I’ve been busting my butt trying to lose weight, but not having any success. At my six-month follow-up my doctor suggested I “drink a large glass of water before every meal” and to keep a food diary. The water is horseshit, I eat fairly small meals, portion control was tackled earlier on in my diet modifications. The food diary has backfired. Based on my weight and activity level I should be eating 3100 calories a day. I’m averaging 2250 a day, and exercising 3-4 days a week. I had blood drawn last week for him to check my thyroid and testosterone levels. Let’s see what the tests comes back with.

I’m finally getting caught up on the cleaning, yard work, etc. that i’ve neglected over the years. I get odd looks when mowing my lawn with a 35# backpack on, but that’s almost 1.5 miles of walking, and at a very fast pace.  when not pushing a lawnmower, I’m doing about 2.5 miles in 50 minutes. I need to up the weight again.

The unfortunate part of the areas I walk, public parks and state forests is that they are now what I refer to as “pickle parks.” Homosexuals congregate there for anonymous sex. I’m of the opinion that I don’t care what two (or more) consenting adults do in private – their home or motel room. Not a public area like a rest stop on the highway or a park in the middle of a city where families bring their kids, or a state forest where there are public hiking or bike trails. I got this new workout shirt just for this situation:

I have every right to use state or city land without catching two pickle-smoochers playing hide the kielbasa. Go fuck some other dude in your home, or get a hotel room. I don’t want to see some dude fucking his girlfriend, either. Keep it behind closed doors, and show some decency. BTW, they trick they pull is to have their dogs with them so if the law asks them what they are doing, they can claim to be “walking their dog,” when everyone knows what they are really there for.

I’ve built a bunch of the wooden storage boxes, and took a bunch of pictures to document it. I promise to do a full write-up this weekend. They could be built with all hand-tools, but a table saw makes it SO much easier. I’ll have to keep track of some tips and tricks for those of you without a woodworking shop.

Work has gone from bored-to-tears to ten-hour days. All the kids are out, so I’ve got a lot of work in schools to bang out. I wonder how long it will last? The economy is still in the shitter, regardless of the lies coming from the MSM.Many businesses are scaling back on their IT expenditures, which means less work for me. I had one customer go back to using a spreadsheet for their bookkeeping because their accounting program shit itself, and the cost for support was too much.

I’m going to have a yard sale to purge some of my crap. I’ve started at one end of the house, and am mercilessly accumulating items for sale. I’d like to get a couple hundred from it in cash, but we will see. Originally I wanted to use it to buy silver, but looks like I’ll be replenishing the rainy-day-fund.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the summer! More better articles to follow!

Life starts as an assortment of circumstances, followed by choices and consequences. Please forgive me if I get a bit philosophical, I have been spending a lot of time thinking lately, trying to figure out what I need to do.
You cannot pick your parents, you cannot choose which social class, race, or gender you are born into. Until you are old enough to think for yourself, you are a prisoner of your circumstances. I could not choose to be gay, or black, or a woman. I couldn’t choose to have rich or poor parents, and I could not guide my parent’s decisions while an infant. For example, my father did not hold me until I was over six months old, and he never changed a diaper on me or my brother.

(I understand that in some circles there is controversy surrounding homosexuality, and whether it is a choice or not. I know many gay men and women and except for the one exception, there was no choice in the matter. Maybe I’ll do a post about this another time. )

Once you are able to make decisions then then circumstances wane in importance to consequences. If you shoplifted candy and got caught, then whether you are white or black, rich or poor is not as important as the decision to steal. Now, I’m not talking about stealing to survive, I’m talking about pocketing a candy bar.

There comes a point in someone’s life when they have the opportunity to break free from your circumstances. If your father beat you as a youth, you can choose not to beat your child. If your parents are good-for-nothing mooches, you can choose to work rather than mooch from the system. This is one of the most pivotal points in a person’s life. Writers try to capture this in a novel or on the big screen as it a naturally climatic point. Although sometimes you don’t realize how important it was until years later.

Let’s take one of my favorite movies, Pulp Fiction. Samuel Jackson’s character, Jules, decides to give up his life of crime and “walk the earth.” John Travolta’s character, Vincent, decides not to sleep with Mia, Uma Thurman’s character. Butch, played by Bruce Willis, makes the choice to turn around and rescue Marsellus, even though Marsellus was trying to kill him a hour or so ago.

Pulp fiction is a great movie, and these strings of choices and their consequences are what makes the movie along with great and memorable characters. Your life is a movie, although the dramatic moments aren’t captured for others to enjoy.

Not making a choice is a choice in itself. If you are browbeaten by your spouse and find it easier to say “Yes, dear” instead of standing up for yourself – then that is a choice. If you stay together with this spouse “for the children” then that’s a choice.

I find many people I know tangentially who are afraid of change. They suffer cruelty from those who once loved them, suffer through a soul-sucking job, and waste time watching sports or searching for the end of the Internet instead of doing something productive with their lives. Watch Joe Versus the Volcano, it’s a good movie and illustrates my point.

Change is good. Even dire change like the collapse of our civilization and the starvation and death of millions can be a good thing. This collapse will happen no matter what you do. You could put all your money into the right bank, or take it out, buy bonds with your life savings and nothing will be different at the national level. It is like watching a car crash from a quarter-mile away, there is nothing you can do to change it.

But, and this is an important but, you can affect the survivors. Pull over and administer first aid. Or in the case of the collapse, retain your humanity and compassion. Give someone three meals and a cot for a fair days labor.
This collapse will happen, I’m thinking that it can be the MOARB (Mother Of All Reset Buttons) for many people. The collapse is a circumstance, partially mitigated by choice, but we cannot say for certain that even the most established prepper will survive and thrive afterwards.

Change is the fertilizer for growth. Do not fear it, but embrace it.