Been busy around here

I haven't posted much lately and have been kind of busy with other things. For one, the forum I run at The Mountain has been giving me a lot of problems and I have been spending time there trying to get it fixed.

Anyway, we finally got some rain here and it was a welcome relief on the long dry spell we had. It rained like a frog strangler last night for about an hour, probably got about 2 inches of rain just guesstimating it. We have rain in the forecast for the next week or so and we really need it. I have trees that have died from lack of rain. I don't think some of them will live even with rain that has started as it came way too late.

Just wanted to get on here for a few minutes and check in. You can find me spending more time Here until I get this problem fixed.

Bug Out Bag

Everybody needs a bug out bag for emergencies, fire, flood, storms, power outages, whatever could happen. When things happen, sometimes it's not feasible to put together what you need to spend a few days at another location. So planning ahead for such emergencies will increase your odds of surviving a situation beyond your control.

The Bug Out Bag is meant to be that bag which you can grab on your way out the door, for whatever emergency reason, the contents of which can keep you alive for three to seven days. Some readers who live in truly remote areas may feel that isn't long enough. Other readers in urban areas are going to have a hard time imagining circumstances wherein they'll have to live out of a single bag for three days.

read more | digg story

How to survive in the woods for 3 days

I've never been lost for 3 days in the woods before. I have been turned around and dis-oriented for a few minutes back there though. I did spend 14 weeks once back in the boondocks while doing some specialized combat training and a lot of survival skills was taught. This would be some good info to know just in case one was to get lost for a while.

Ever been on a hike admiring the wild flowers, gazing up at the tips of the trees--and suddenly found yourself completely alone and lost? What would happen to you if you couldn't find your way back to safety? While being lost in the woods can be a frightening experience, surviving alone in the wild is generally a matter of common sense, patience, and wisely using the gifts that nature provides. All you need to survive for a few days is shelter, warmth, water, and food.

read more | digg story

It's amazing what one has to believe, to believe in gun control:

That the more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals. That Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.That "NYPD Blue" and "Miami Vice" are documentaries.

That an intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .44 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

That firearms in the hands of private citizens are the gravest threat to world peace, and China, Pakistan and Korea can be trusted with nuclear weapons.

That Charlton Heston as president of the NRA is a shill who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

That ordinary people, in the presence of guns, turn into slaughtering butchers, and revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

That the New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns, just like Guns and Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.


read more | digg story

Your doctor could put you on no-gun list

This anti-gun zealot is like the energizer bunny, just keeps on and on with her never ending battle of trying to get rid of guns from the very people that she is supposed to be representing. This is nothing more than a vendetta that she is doing and should be kicked out of office for mis-using it.

Congress fast-tracks plan to let physicians ban weapons ownership. The proposal, H.R. 2640, was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., in the wake of the April tragedy at Virginia Tech, when a gunman shot and killed more than 30 people, then killed himself.

read more | digg story

Al-Qaida chatter warns of 'something spectacular

Israeli security agencies that monitor al-Qaida chatter are not aware of any credible threats indicating a radiological attack against New York or any other U.S. city. The sources said there has been some talk on al-Qaida forums that have proven reliable in the past of "something spectacular" against U.S. interests, but they said the analyzed chatter did not present a timetable or any specific threats and was missing indicators normally associated with credible threats. They said some of the intercepted chatter was conflicting.

The security officials were responding to a much-publicized warning on Friday by the Jerusalem-based DEBKAfile website citing Internet chatter suggesting al-Qaida would use trucks loaded with radioactive material or "dirty bombs" to attack New York. DEBKA also mentioned Los Angeles and Miami as possible targets for dirty bomb attacks.

read more | digg story

Hot, dry and more hot and dry!

It’s been hot and dry here in my neck of the woods now for a couple of weeks. The high temperature for the last few days has been in the triple digits. Today the thermometer was showing 103 degrees and it’s been predicted to be at least 103 with one day this week will get to 104 degrees. The hot I can stand, but the dry is what’s making things worse. The area I live in shows the draught as being in the extreme range. There just hasn’t been much rain at all. The leaves on the trees are changing colors from lack of moisture and some trees have already died off from no moisture that the roots can pull out of the soil. Last week my air conditioning unit went on the blink and it took 3 days to get it back up and running as a new blower motor had to be ordered for it. We had to go outside in the heat to cool off as the house was like an oven.

 

I’ve been seeing a lot of snakes on the move looking for water, but that’s fairly common for them to do that when it gets as dry as it is now. I just hope I don’t step on one that I miss while walking as I’m sure they are agitated from lack of water. It looks like the Fall leaf colors won’t be too good in this area this year as it takes rain for the trees to put on a good leaf color. Without it, the leaves just turn brown, dry up and fall off.

 

The garden has finished all it can do as it is drying up and there’s no water to keep it going. We managed to get a fairly good harvest by pumping water out of the pond into irrigation lines on each row, but now the pond is about 7 to 8 feet low and I sure don’t want to pump anymore water out of it being that low. It’s not been that low since I lived here. Anyway, we have a lot of vegetables put up into the freezers and plenty of tomatoes canned, so we should be set for a couple of years on the garden food supply.

 

Send some rain this way!