For My Internet Friends

New blog here: http://lagunamadrepirate.wordpress.com/

That's IT!!

Blogger has eaten my last post.  It has drove me ape shit with it's last glitch. I am SICK of wasting my time, having my posts eaten, being hit with "conflicting edits" error messages, giving me that "cookies disabled" bullshit, and not even trying to work with my Opera browser.

I tried four times to post something tonight, just to have my pictures disappear every time. I'm sick of Blogger, their glitches, and lack of concern for them. I know this is a "free" service, but it has come to the point where "free" is costing too much. Tomorrow, I'm going to start over on Wordpress. Blogger has got on my last nerve...

Plum Wore Out

I spent all damn day working on that shed. Heh, silly me thought a metal shed would go together right quick...

This is one labor intensive freakin' little building! I bet I drove 1,000 screws today, after kicking, cussing, and generally forcing all the holes to align. It wern't no "tab A into slot B" kinda thing, that's for sure.

And I ain't done yet... I got the four walls done, and the gables on. The roof beams are assembled, but I ran out of daylight.

I never thought it would take a solid weekend to put this damn thing together. Hell, I probably coulda built something out of wood a whole lot faster. Probably not cheaper, but definitely faster. At any rate, it's almost done, and I can fill it up with all the crap that's been laying around here annoying me. I despise clutter...

One thing I didn't do was to buy plywood for the floor. The shed is sitting on concrete underneath the house, so I didn't bother. But I will get 4 pallets to throw in there, to keep stuff off the floor. It could get wet if it rains hard, and stuff needs to be kept off the ground. Otherwise, it should be pretty dry in there.

My warped brain almost instantly envisioned a cot, port-a-crapper, table with Coleman stove, and another with a wash basin. And some shelves for food, clothing, etc. With some insulation and a couple windows, this thing could make for some right snug shelter. At the whopping price of $298. Say $500 with all the "amenities" I listed. Oh it sets the mind to wandering...

But I'm a simple guy with simple needs. Not too many folks out there could even imagine living in such a thing. I'd be tickled pink. But then again, I read "Robinson Crusoe" and got jealous. "Call of the Wild" was another one that tickled my fancy. As did "My Side of the Mountain". Yeah, I'm not "normal". And I'm glad...

Karma

I believe in karma. It might be slow to work, but work it does. Just ask Teddy Kennedy (oh wait, you can't)...

I was settling down to some ice cold beer after my day's adventures. Then the phone rang. My wife found one of our kiddie's friend's Dad sitting beside the road with a dead vehicle. So I hopped in the truck and headed out to investigate.

Sure enough, his Tahoe was dead as a door nail. I had him switch on the key, and I didn't hear the fuel pump come on. So I popped open my tool box, retrieved my tow strap, and hooked him up. When we got to his house, I flipped the truck around to jump his battery. Lo and behold, the fuel pump kicked in, and his truck fired right up. A case of what we in the Navy called "PFM". Pure Fucking Magic. Heh heh...

With the truck running, I couldn't troubleshoot any further. But I suspect his fuel pump relay has gone wonky. Anyhoo, I done my good deed for the day. Always good to keep karma flowin' your way...

My Little World

So much is going on around me, and there is so little I can do about it. Given that fact, I'm just doing what I need to do to keep my family's heads above water. I know I'm not alone in this scenario...

I did it. I sold the escape pod today. Within 20 minutes of posting it on Craigslist, I had four phone calls. Damn, I should have priced it higher! Oh well, I listed it for what I thought was a fair price. Needless to say, I got full price (two more people called on it while the buyer was looking at it).

The only reason I sold it is because I don't really need it anymore. When I bought the 'pod, I was basically on my own. Down here in hurricane country... I bought it specifically as emergency shelter, and if we could manage to use it for camping, so much the better. Well, we didn't use it for camping. Finances and work schedules precluded that use. And now that I have a bug out location, the 'pod really had no practical application anymore.

The proceeds will go to good use, of course. Little is wasted around here... I did go against my grain just a bit, and bought a storage shed. With the 'pod gone, I had a lot of prep items that no longer had dry storage. Plus, I'm sick and tired of looking at all the crap laying around in our screen room downstairs. The shed will provide storage for all this stuff, something which we really needed.

What's left will go toward the garden, my boat project, and additional food storage (which the shed will help with).

Critical supplies will be stored in plastic totes, for ease of retrieval and loading into the truck come bug out time. My stored food is already in totes, and I'm going to add more. You can never have enough, especially with a family. And hurricane season approacheth...

But I think hurricanes are the least of my worries. There's a financial hurricane brewing, which will make Katrina look like a walk in the park. There is a natural disaster component to this financial mess as well, I do believe. It could even be the prime mover. That which undoes the shaky foundation. And we are on a shaky foundation, there's no doubt in my mind.

I am reminded of words which moved me many years ago. Words which helped propel me into the blogosphere. Words which resonated with my very core. They were the very first words posted by Selous Scout, and they ring even truer today than they did when he first wrote them in April 2008...

It is almost palpable, this feeling of dread. It builds each day making me want to scream out loud.


The evil grows, like a noxious weed, feeding on the human spirit. It wants to devour us; its hunger is unsated by the death and destruction that it unleashes. It controls our leaders and their minions, and to an extent, the masses of sheeple surrounding us.


It is borne on the wind, howling ominously in the trees, voicing its disdain for our wellbeing. It thirsts for our tears as it seeks sadness and woe, spreading gloom and despair in its wake.


The wickedness takes on new forms as well as old; poverty, plague, starvation, disease, climate change, drought, addiction, predation, rioting, oppression, wars and sudden death from acts of violence.


Children attack their peers, laughingly, thinking it great sport to inflict pain and suffering. Parents, wrapped up in the daily struggle of consumerism, pay scant heed to their own children until the wickedness washes over them like a black tide, spilling darkness into their lives and choking off the light.


Yes, the wickedness.


It is here now.


It has come.

It's The Little Things...

That piss me off. Because there's so damned many of them!

CBO: Taxing mileage a 'practical option' for revenue enhancement

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs of highway maintenance at a time when federal funds are short.


The report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and taxed, as well as the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles...

Thank you sir, may I have another?!

Suttle unrolls toilet paper tax

Mayor Jim Suttle went to Washington Tuesday flush with ideas for how federal officials could help cities like Omaha pay for multibillion-dollar sewer projects.



Among the items on his brainstorming list: a proposal for a 10-cent federal tax on every roll of toilet paper you buy.


Based on the four-pack price for Charmin double rolls Tuesday at a midtown Hy-Vee, such a tax would add more than 10 percent to the per-roll price, pushing it over a buck.


The idea came from a failed 2009 House measure by an Oregon congressman to help cities and the environment.


“I heard about it and said, ‘Well, this is simple. Let's put it on the table,'” said Suttle. “It doesn't mean I endorse it.”


The mayor says Omaha needs help with the metro area's $1.7 billion bill for federally mandated sewer improvements. The work must be done by 2024...

A shitty idea if there ever was one...

I'm so sick and tired of these miserable bastards coming up with new ways to screw us over. Is that all they got? Seriously? How pathetic...

Go Galt, that's all I got to say. Which is 100% better than feeding these idiot monkeys.

Shake Your Foundations...

Go read this over at Half Past Human. It's long. But it's worth the read.

Hat tip to Bill.

In other news, I pretty much finished clearing out stuff from my old shop. Whatever is left over at the old place is the next sucker's problem.

Since I won't be getting any boat money out of the old house, I decided to go ahead and bring the building jig I started on quite some time ago over to the new place.

I'll have to level out the base, and reinstall the forms.

But what the hell, it'll give me something to do that at least is working toward getting on the water. 

I am going to simplify the design a bit. It was meant to have two lapstrakes, which I am going to eliminate. That'll make the build easier. I will laminate a second piece of plywood maybe six inches wide along the sheer (the top edge of the hull) to give it a bit of a lapstrake look and a little rigidity though.

But it will be built "down and dirty". No expensive marine plywood. And I'm not going to fiberglass the chines (where the sides meet the bottom) as is specified. I'm gonna slap it together with wood screws and caulk the hell out of the joints, slap some porch paint on it and call it good. With a little luck I'll find a cheap 20 horse outboard, and a reasonably priced trailer. If I do, posting here will get pretty thin, because I'll be gone fishin'. Or crabbing. Or clamming. Or shrimping...

I'm even considering selling the escape pod. Don't really need it anymore, since my folks bought the farmstead. I've got a place to bug out to. We don't use it for a camper. Other than a small amount of storage that it provides for SHTF gear, it's just taking up space. I might put up an ad just to see if it generates any interest. Now is the perfect time...

DHS Is REALLY Starting To Piss Me Off

DHS is a frequent visitor to my blog, me being a "domestic terrorist" and all...

I know they've installed a keystroke logger on my 'puter, because my comment posting now goes slower than my "hunt and peck" typing these days. It didn't until a few months ago. Sometimes I wait a full minute for it to catch up.

And my trojan removal program, which used to work fantastic, won't even open now. Gimme a break DHS goons. I know the bull dike runs roughshod over y'all, but cut a little guy some slack. Better yet, wake up and tell Big Sis she can suck your maleness. Stand up and defend your oath. But you'll never do it, because you have no male organ. You turned it over when you signed up to work for the bull dike. Or is it "dyke". I don't know, nor do I give a shit one way or the other. Just butt the hell out of my business...

Too Perfect

I just couldn't resist...

Awesome Basic SHTF Kit

If you were wondering what one looked like, well Hermit Jim found it! Some enterprising individual should start selling these...