Get Home Bag, Walking and Life Update
We have been walking a lot lately. The weather is good now and it is a solid way to get out of the house and doing something. I do not recommend walking as a form of exercise unless you are A) elderly, B) recovering from a serious injury/ illness, C) crippled or D) seriously overweight and or out of shape and working towards running a la couch to 5k or a similar program. However that does not mean walking is not without benefits. Most of the benefits are not really physical. Getting outside and spending time with your family in the area you live in is a good thing. If somebody told me they walk as a form of exercise who did not fit the above categories I would try to coach them towards a better path, potentially with some mocking involved. If somebody told me they walk regularly to get outside and for active recovery from more strenuous workouts like running or rucking or for some additional low impact/ intensity cardio I would say that was a great plan.
My get home bag setup needs some work. The primary issue is that I really like my Tactical Tailor bag and use it regularly. I like that bag for the task but it can’t be in two places at once. This makes having it in the car with a variety of stuff loaded into it problematic. I have a couple of ideas. First a couple side pouches to hold 1 quart water bottles will help free up space in the main compartment for normal life stuff. (Regardless of what I do the bag needs this MOD anyway.) Second sooner or later I need to swap out that bag or get a replacement for normal everyday carry use. Something I have considered is putting most of the stuff that is in my GHB into something else like a wet weather bag or trash bag and then putting it into my TT pack if needed. Mostly this stuff is a full set of clothes with boots, socks, gloves and a hat. I keep this stuff in there because regularly I go on short trips in less than fully ideal clothing and the option to change into suitable clothes for walking is a good thing. I mulled this a lot but despite being an easy and ideal solution it came up short because while I carry the TT bag around a lot while using it as a normal bag it doesn’t ALWAYS MAKE IT INTO THE CAR. Inevitably the day I needed it is the day it would be in the hall closet. So the question is what to do. The short term answer is pretty much covered. I ordered a used medium ALICE pack awhile back for $10. It will be a very inexpensive solution and such will likely fit for awhile. Not as nice or comfortable but for $10 instead of $150 that is to be expected. Still a rugged bomb proof pack. Down the road a nice high end bag like the TT or something from Hill People Gear would be great in this role but I will not be able to justify the expense for awhile. Likely I would use the TT for a GHB and something a bit smaller for typical every day type use. Since I don’t see any traction on this for at least 6 months or more likely 12 there is some time to think about it.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Book Review Shatter by TC Sherry
This is book two of the deep winter series. To recap the last book began in the winter with a massive earthquake and ended with some other problems. This book sort of skims over the tail end of winter and covers the spring and summer. During this book bad turns into worse. It becomes apparent that the Spokane region and the PNW in general are not going to receive help from the outside and things are not going to return to any sort of old normal.
The Good: This book, as well as the previous book, lays out a compelling vision for a very bad future.
To me it is sort of a “and then what” kind of book. So things went to heck in a hand basket, you get stuff set up initially and after a couple months most of the looters have been naturally selected AND THEN WHAT. Folks start figuring out how to feed themselves in the long term, trade, reorganize society and move forward. That is what this book is about.
MILD SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEXT COUPLE LINES.
Basically in the first book after the earthquake things internationally then nationally go to hell in a hand basket. The dollar collapses and there is war. In this book things get even worse, and then worse again, like dealing with all that had happened in the first one wouldn’t be enough.
END SPOILER ALERT
The book brought up some interesting stuff when it comes to property rights, scavenging and ethics. What has been bothering me in a couple books I have read recently, and to some degree the first book in this series is hypocrisy. In this book the main characters actions on the whole were IMO were pretty close to what they expected from others. I won’t say that I agreed with every thing that happened but on the whole it wasn’t offensive and was very thought provoking so that was good.
I think this issue gets complicated if there is a significant die off or long term population shift. There are definitely more questions than easy answers as far as I am concerned. If folks are dead or gone and heirs are not able to be located who does the property belong to? If your neighbor was visiting his cousin in Maine and the balloon goes up at what point do you decide he isn’t coming back? What happens to his stuff?
I think it is pretty clear that stuff which belongs to people who are present or realistically may be present is theirs. However if things get nuts enough that big companies fall apart and such who do their buildings, stores and equipment belong to? Some level of nationalization albeit at a city or county level is likely, at least with this sort of stuff and is probably fairly ethical.
I liked that government didn’t magically go away. It is really a pipe dream to think that some sort of government won’t exist, especially at the local level of city and county. It will hopefully change and help set the conditions for people to take care of their selves, or at least not cause any real problems in a new world though it could get nasty and totalitarian.
In this book there was a sort of barter network that morphed into a sort of general store. For somebody with a knack for that sort of thing, access to a suitable space and some stuff to sort of seed the effort it might not be a bad idea to take some notes about that part. That people were more interactive vs just staying at their homes alone was good I think. People have a tendency to be social animals and it is difficult if not impossible to produce everything you could need or want. It definitely reinforced the desirability of being able to produce, above and beyond your own needs, something which people want.
Personally I do not stock things specifically for barter. However that is at least in part because I am not quite there yet. If one was so inclined they could probably do pretty well with a few hundred dollars of the right stuff. Stuff like kerosene, lamps, .22 LR and small game shotgun loads, sewing stuff, matches, booze, etc.
This book is a good reminder that in many ways local government is more important than at a higher level. To paraphrase Ragnar Benson the county zoning or agricultural commission is far more likely to cause problems in your life than men dressed in black carrying MP-5’s from an alphabet soup agency. This is probably far truer in a long term serious situation as they will have a lot more freedom to maneuver. Bad local governments could turn into little fiefdom’s or Stalinist collective experiments very easily. It was also illustrated in the book that if people don’t stand up to these things as a group they will inevitably get dealt with piece mill and picked off accordingly.
The Bad:
There was a distinct flavor of population and resource control. Think checkpoints and fuel usage restrictions, curfews, etc. I think these would likely be reality in this sort of situation but it isn’t something I particularly like.
Checkpoints I think would be a fine idea, probably a necessity so long as they didn’t hamper the free movement of individuals in the area and allowed some sort of through passage through for those who need to get someplace. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way that there were passes for people who were deemed special which of course included the main characters. Personally in that situation I would be awful curious about who the heck decided which people were special and what the heck they thought gave them the right to say they could move around freely but I could not. They really didn’t go into detail on exactly what these restrictions were or how they affected people who, unlike the main characters, were not deemed to be special, so I can’t say if I really have an issue parse.
Fuel restrictions I have a hard time with. Now if the local government has fuel and is distributing it then some prioritization to EMS, food production, etc makes sense. However telling someone what they can do with fuel they have is another thing. If someone has a 300 gallon fuel tank in the barn and a 74 stingray and wants to go drag racing down their driveway it really isn’t anybodies business but theirs and their neighbors.
A few things happened that were just a little bit too convenient. The main characters stumbled into some stuff in a way that was awful darn lucky. Not so much as to really mess up the book but enough not to show the benefits of having some things squared away beforehand or the downsides of not having them squared away.
The author talks badly about politicians and government officials who are anything other than perfect public servants and folks who said public positions carry privilege. However the main character definitely uses his position to his advantage a few times getting favoritism or special treatment that Joe down the block wouldn’t. It was government choosing winners and losers at a small local scale. Nothing nasty parse, more like good old boy stuff.
The Ugly:
Not really anything ugly about the book in the usual sense that something is worse than the bad. However the book did expose (which is a good thing and thus doesn’t really belong in the bad part) a couple of ugly and very real possibilities. The first is that a default on our debt would cause all sorts of international problems. It is the kind of thing that starts wars. Even if our country fell apart we have a huge and awesome military. Somebody who thought we were weakened and that they could take advantage or attack our allies might be making a very serious mistake. Even if we were pretty tired and confused we could wipe the floor with most countries.
The next is that some places would try to continue suckling from the teat of government. Big, blue rustbelt and New England cities come to mind.
Lastly the balance of government would go all out of whack. Everyone more or less marches to the same drum in normal times and any pull from individual organizations or departments is canceled out by checks and balances or equaled out by pull from other organizations. However as people and agencies had competing visions, conflict over resources and such things might get crazy. The usually boring game of whose budget and staffing will go up by 3%, whose will stay the same and who might (though it rarely happens) face cuts could turn into serious infighting, like 3rd world stuff. Also in a die off scenario the whole line of succession thing could fall apart pretty easily leaving the US without a clear leader.
The vision of massive cascade failures laid out in this series is compelling, disturbing and seemingly plausible. I was familiar with that concept but had never heard the phrase before.
In closing I enjoyed this book and recommend it to readers. It is definitely worth paying $5 for the electronic edition.
Book Review Deep Winter By Thomas Shelly
I have been reading a lot of fiction lately. Almost all preparedness/ survival type stuff. Usually I would allocate far less time and money toward such a thing but right now it is an enjoyable combination of entertainment and escapism. Probably a waste of money butt is about the only healthy way I can treat myself a little bit right now.
I have been working pretty rapidly through the available titles. Amazon pointed me toward Deep Winter. I looked at the reviews and 2/3rds of them were 4 and 5 (out of 5 possible) and 1/3rd were ones. I remembered a buddy had read the series and while he didn’t rant and rave about how great they are he also didn’t say they sucked. I took a chance, the Kindle edition was only 5 bucks so worst case I wasn’t out much. I am very glad I took the chance.
The broad plot is that a massive earthquake devastates the Pacific Northwest in January. The main characters are a family living in Spokane, Washington. This event proceeds or maybe causes larger national and international events to play out. The book follows the main characters, their friends, family and neighbors as well as a variety of regional and international events through the first month or so of the event. I will go into a bit more detail below and will try to keep spoilers to a minimum.
[It has previously occurred to me that it would be bitterly ironic, given all of the survivalist planning and thought about ideal locations, if the inland Pacific Northwest was hammered a massive disaster. I am sure it would be big fun in forums and comment sections of blogs. Some folks would never hear the end of it.]
The Good:
Lots of good, too much to remember or list. Overall this is probably the most realistic preparedness book I have read in a long time. Probably one of the most realistic ones I have ever read. The plot was certainly plausible and that is always a good start. To a certain degree it doesn’t matter what the event is (Lucifer’s Hammer, the Road, Zombie anything, etc) as it is people dealing with after affects that is the interesting part but starting realistic is a plus.
The main characters were prepared but not increadably so. Some characters had valuable skills but well within the normal range for people, especially in that area. The ridiculous almost cliché Navy Seal sniper/ diesel mechanic/ organic farmer/ trauma surgeon did not make an appearance. While I enjoy The Survivalist as much as the next guy this was a breath of fresh air.
I appreciated that there was enough violence to show some lessons (hint- post armed guards in discrete locations) and spice things up now and then but not so much that it read like a first person shooter video game. This also let the book put more energy into other areas like primitive cooking, improvisation to do without modern conveniences and equipment. These are areas which are so often minimized or entirely neglected in other books.
The benefits of forging relationships with local cops and power brokers were mentioned. There wasn’t blatant cronyism or bribery or anything like that, just basic human relationship stuff. It goes without saying that a conversation with a cop that starts with “Hi Bob, how is the family?” and “Everyone is good, sorry we missed you at the lodge last weekend” tends to end on an equally positive note.
I found the characterization of how the military would respond in this sort of a situation to be pretty plausible. They didn’t take peoples guns away or force them en mass into “shelters” or anything like that. They were a definite force for order, if a little heavy handed at times. While I will keep my thoughts on this to myself I do have one observation. Folks who think local cops and soldiers are going to do all this crazy stuff probably don’t know a lot of cops or soldiers. Sorry I got sidetracked, I will get back to the topic at hand.
I found the way that the situation in terms of security and supply availability deteriorated was very plausible. While you never know exactly what will happen the way it went seemed realistic. It didn’t turn into mad max overnight but they didn’t keep going to stores, which were getting resupplied, for weeks either.
Also the author would randomly use parentheses to mention something loosely related to what was being discussed or whatever popped into his head. I appreciate that because it is something I do.
The Bad:
First I want to address the criticisms I was in the Amazon reviews section. Some folks criticized the main characters for being some sort of religious whacko’s, the father for dominating the family and some other such things. They even threw the phrase “Christian Identity” around which is as far as I can tell, the Aryan Nations better spoken cousin. (That part was totally unfounded in anything I got out of the book.) Also editing errors or poor editing quality was mentioned.
The main characters are part of the “reborn” Christian community which seems to need to mention that they are Christian and discuss their faith out of context and to random people at a far higher ratio than most other folks. They prayed occasionally and mentioned the bible now and then and talked about some religious stuff occasionally. Sure the main character jumped onto his religious soap box now and then but it wasn’t too bad, I just skipped a paragraph or two. It was sort of like being at a banquet or party and talking to a random guy who has to mention that he is born again as a Christian, etc, etc even if the current topic of conversation is BBQing or college football. In my opinion it did not detract from the book. As to the family being too paternally dominated or something I would say there is a range of normal family decision making patterns and theirs doesn’t fall outside of it. Preparedness was sort of more the dad’s thing and thus he probably took the lead a bit more.
I didn’t find poor editing to be an issue. Sometimes you see self published books in this arena that have text which repeats like it was copied and pasted but never deleted or systemic punctuation issues, poor grammar, etc. I didn’t see any of that lack of quality proof reading in this book. Could the book have benefited from the kind of very skilled editor that a large publisher would have, of course. It would have tightened things up a bit and cut out some fluff. However it did not detract from the overall quality of the book.
Onto my observations:
I found the action to be quite unrealistic. While I truly appreciated that the main characters weren’t some sort of super commando’s that didn’t save it. The book seemed to give them the standard ‘main character’ advantage but did so by making the bad guys universally idiotic and unlucky. Like the kind of idiots who couldn’t rob a 711 successfully if you handed them a pistol and a ski mask then gave them a ride to the 711.
Also I found the action to be overly simplistic. I will make up a similar scene to illustrate this point. “I heard a gunshot and grabbed my rifle. I walked around the house to see what was going on. I saw a guy with a gun in the bushes and shot him.” First of all in real gunfights people miss. Professionals who do this for a living miss shots regularly. They miss them because they are moving and the other person is probably moving also. They miss because they are in sub optimal firing positions as they take cover. They miss because they can’t clearly see the target or because it is dark. Without reading it again just to look I would say the main characters didn’t seem to miss a shot. Also nobody got wounded or escaped/ broke contact. The bad guys were either killed or captured. While it wasn’t a big overall piece of the book I found it to be way too neat, simple and lopsidedly positive for the main characters. This didn’t really detract significantly from the overall book because that stuff wasn’t a significant part of it.
Their security was sloppy pretty consistently. That is not the authors background (I don’t think) which is cool but they could have done things more consistently. Having guards some nights and not others is a stupid plan. Sort of like carrying a concealed weapon but only on odd numbered days. The real lucky theme of the fights they had was definitely repeated in that they suffered no consequences for their significant security gaps.
The topic of how the main characters expect other people to treat private property vs. how they treat it came up briefly a couple times. It wasn’t blatantly hypocritical so that was good. This has come up in a couple books recently and I am starting to think the central issue may be in my head. I have some thinking to do on that one and will likely write about it later.
Two other things kind of annoyed me. First the main characters really liked using FRS radios. They had the push to talk ones with ear buds and were all on them, constantly, throughout the entire book. Also for reasons I am completely not clear on they said “affirm”. Not affirmative or acknowledged or WILCO but affirm. It was sort of like somebody without an insight to the military was trying to use military language to sound cool. Also in my experience they slightly exaggerated the capabilities and utility of those radios.
Secondly they talked about food a lot. Not food storage or food production or those issues but they were always talking in detail about something that was being cooked or eaten. The book could be slightly changed and called “Eating your way through the Apocalypse”. The format was kind of a recollection/ journal by day thing which worked well throughout except the ratio of the book which was made up of a detailed account of breakfast, then snack and beverages, then lunch, then dinner, then desert could have been a bit smaller. I really don’t care what they are eating for every single meal. It didn’t teach any lessons or provoke any thought or add to the story line.
The Ugly:
Nothing comes to mind. To be honest I was reaching pretty hard for the bad.
Overall Assessment: I really enjoyed this book and think you would also. It also provoked some ideas and thought on a couple subjects. The kindle edition was only five bucks and totally worth it for a long, well written book. I definitely got a lot for my entertainment dollars and that was just on the first read. The paperback was pretty expensive at almost 40 bucks on Amazon, likely because it is one of those very short run type books. I am planning to read the second book in the series next week and am really looking forward to it.
It’s Getting Cold
In the PNW and Germany winter seems to finally be upon us. This is a good time to dig out your coat, boots and gloves. We don’t really travel outside of our immediate area so we don’t worry much about a winter survival kit. If you do then adding a sleeping bag, etc to your car kit is probably a good call. In any case tossing an old coat, a hat, gloves and boots into your vehicle is too easy not to do. I find in your winter coat it is a good practice to put a pair of gloves and a warm hat into the pockets. They go unnoticed until you need them and then you’ve got them.
Personally I wear a lot of fleece. A fleece hat, gloves and jacket are standard during this season. If you are hard up for cash then surplus wool is a darn good way to go. Its only real drawback (aside from aesthetics) is that it is bulky and HEAVY. Not however an issue for most people unless they are doing something really active outside or trying to live out of a bag.
I like winter or definitely appreciate parts of it. One thing I like is that it is perfect for all those warm feel good staple meals. Lets fact it people don’t really want stew or chili or chicken and dumplings in August when it is 100 degrees outside. Also I like quiet winter evenings. Instead of feeling lazy when I am doing nothing at 1900 on a weekday I am happy that I am warm and inside. Sometimes having a warm drink and just looking at the horrible weather outside is a pretty good passtime.
I think when PM’s drop a little bit I am going to buy some silver. Almost bought on the last dip below $25 and likely will the next time it goes there. I kinda wanted to see if it would dip into the low $24 range but maybe I just need to get adjusted to the new reality.
As a final though after spending so much time freezing out in horrible winter weather my favorite winter passtime is probably looking at the horrible weather outside from my warm residence. A nice drink and slippers help.
What I Like In A Beer
I have been thinking a lot about what I really like in a beer. Part of this is because I am in Germany which is to beer what say the South is to fried stuff and BBQ or the PNW is to coffee and Salmon (or trendy micro brews but I will get to that later) and also because one of my next big ventures is going to be brewing my own beer. Since a goal without a time line is a wish (thanks for the great phrase TOM) I intend to get a beer brewing setup around Christmas time and be brewing NLT Feb.
This can partially be explained by my own personal experiences with beer. I am not talking about drunken antics or anything like that but more how tastes have developed. Like most in rural areas I started off with good old domestic stuff. My peer group leaned heavily toward Coors Light and goes to Busch Light if they are watching their expenses. Good stuff to buy a lot of for cheap and drink around a bonfire or at some random house party.
After a couple years my tastes started to change. I wanted beer with some real flavor. Also in this time frame Micro Breweries were becoming a big thing in my region (more getting traction in popularity than anything else) and all sorts of new beers were coming around or maybe I was coming to them, who knows.
I liked Fat Tire a lot and drank plenty of Alaskan Amber. Guinness was my choice when available on tap. These beers were stronger and had lots of flavor. Also drank a variety of Micro’s and was sort of a beer snob.
Somewhere in the last couple years I got tired of expensive heavy dark beer. I didn’t want a meal in a bottle I wanted to enjoy a beer or maybe a few of them. I switched back to light domestic stuff. Someone said in passing that Bud light /Coors light were “great lawn mowing beers”. The kind of brew you can have after doing some work on a hot day and be refreshed.
I still wanted to have a beer with some more flavor than the “lawn mowing” variety. Also as my income got better the price of beer became a relative non issue (if you are poor/ in college a 30 bomb of Busch lite for $13 is money). I started drinking Yuengling and Amstel Light and occasionally Blue Moon in addition to the cheap domestic stuff.
Since we have been here in Germany I have been trying as much beer as I can. Not being a drunk or anything but having a different beer every day at dinner. I have really liked all except one and it was just OK. I think I have officially discovered what I like in beer. It may not be a big suprise but the Germans make darn good beer, probably the best IMO.
I like beer that is flavorful and has character but isn’t heavy, thick and super filling. Not a big fan of really darn or bitter beers. Despite what the populations of Seattle and Portland might think beer can be unique and good without being heavy and thick.
As for alcohol content I think something in the 4.8-6 range is pretty good. A reasonable balance between being needing to shotgun 5 able to feel anything and being able to sit around for awhile and have a few with friends without falling off the chair.
I like Blue Moon and Hefeweizen/ wheat beers but more as something to have in the rotation than the regular beer.
My goal is to make a beer that is golden in color, not heavy but still has plenty of character and flavor coupled with a medium alcohol content.
What do you like in a beer?
Two More Reasons the PNW is the Best Place On Earth
I have had some help with this one. The observations of other PNWerners who have gone to other places to live have created this post.
Apparantly you can not get good Chinese bbqed pork in other places. I am talking about the stuff with the red outside which you get in a piece or sliced from the store or a Chinese resturant. An Uncle who has lived in a few other random states (in big enough cities it should have been there) always tries to get this when he comes home. I remembered this and got some of it at the store this morning.
Also Maple Bars are apparantly non existent outside the PNW. I learned about this because Bro In Law moved to Charleston, SC. They get doughnuts when big wigs show up and he asked why they never get maple bars. They said “WTFare maple bars?” and he told them to “google image that shit” and after some research it became apparant they exist only here.
It is so easy not to notice little things when they aren’t present but I have been sure to get both of these things while back home.
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