Report from the OP, October 17, 2021

In a British advanced observation post. How artillery fire is observed and corrected. With the British Army on the Western Front - published in 1916 for Tatler and Sphere. . Fortunino Matania, Ri (1881-1963). One of the most accomplished realistic illustrators and artists of his time, his wartime work was immensely popular and appeared in nearly every major news magazine, Allied, Neutral and Central Powers alike. Literally tens of millions of readers saw wartime events through the medium of Matania's weekly illustrations and, as such, he played an important role in defining people's mental image of what Great War battlefield scenes and soldiers looked like. Date: 1916

This one is going to be a little different than usual, so bear with me. It’s almost like a mental tab clearing.

Mrs. Freeholder, Old Friend, Old Friend’s Wife and I went to see Wicked, at a local performing arts center. That was Thursday and on Sunday I’m still humming Defying Gravity. I think the version in the show I attended was even better than the original. Even near the end of the run, the cast still gave it 100%. Worth every penny and I’d go again except for the ticket price. If you get a chance, go see it.

Old Friend and I went to a local fly-in. We drove. 🙂 It’s a yearly thing to support the NC Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame, and was much smaller than usual. I’m guessing the increasing price of aviation fuel and the continuing Wuflu panic crap are the reasons. Almost no masks in sight. Folks were friendly.

Indian Summer is over. We didn’t get the killing frost that’s supposed to precede it, but we had a wonderful period of warm temps and dry weather, which let me get a lot done outside. Of course, there’s still more to do, but isn’t there always? Temps are going to still be a bit above normal, but 10+o lower than what they have been. The house is now at it’s “winter temp” of 72o, and the cats are unamused. They’re looking longingly at the wood stove.

Mrs. Freeholder did the grocery run this week. She came home without 20% or so of her list. No Pepsi Zero, no Gatorade G2. Store appeared to be “picked over”. Sale items long gone. She did get some fresh vegetables. Her eyes are being opened. Normally I don’t watch much prepper stuff with her in the room, but last night there was one from Alaska Granny (this one, if you’re curious) that really piqued my interest. She stopped what she was doing and watched.

Our elected fools in the legislature passed, and our idiot governor signed, H951. TL;DR version-now North Carolina is in the game of carbon reduction, otherwise known as skyrocketing energy prices. It’s not bad enough that we’re going to see our electrical bills go up 11%-ish because the price of natural gas is going up, we’re going to see rate increases, faster shutdowns of coal-fired power plants and probably the increased use of wind and solar power, which has worked so well in states like California and Texas, not to mention Europe. I hope that veil lifts fast enough to get some sort of solar setup in place before the fun starts.

I’m also looking into solar hot air setups. It would be nice to have a backup heating system that doesn’t make tell-tale smoke.

Gas prices increased a dime a gallon, then mysteriously fell back to the earlier price in a span of 2 days. No visible reason why.

I’m continuing to add to the stocks of items other than food that we use, and Mrs. Freeholder is not complaining about it. Next trash run I’ll hit the gas station at the lake that keeps 100% 93 octane gas. I have some empty cans that I’d rather weren’t empty. I’m probably going to double the amount of motor oil on hand, which will see us with 2-3 years worth of oil changes. I already the filters for that. We’re ramping up kitty litter, which has other uses than just what our cats do with it. Every time I go through the basement or garage, I look at things, trying to be sure there is enough of everything for a long period of supply issues and/or a period economic and social upheaval. The place is beginning to look like a general store.

I’ve also ordered I-v_e-r_m-e_c-t_i-n from All Day Chemist. A painless process so far, even if it is expensive compared to the veterinary alternative. I want an option. Again, just in case.

Every time I go out beyond the wire, I’m struck by something. It’s the seeming normalcy of things. If it weren’t for rising prices, dwindling supplies and occasional mask wearer, you could mistake it for Before Wuflu. If you talk to someone for long, the topic of prices and supply are sure to come up. People are noticing that things aren’t right, but the normalcy bias is still stubbornly in place. One really good systemic failure might jar folks out of it, but what we’re getting is the old “boiling frog” thing. A little something here, and little something there the week after. Never enough to really jolt the populace at large out of their slumber. I fear what happens when they wake up en masse. It will not be pretty.

I may have touched on it before, but back in the day I was rather a stereo freak. I have a modest collection of equipment, most of which is sadly unused. Mrs. Freeholder has requested that I bring up a small system for upstairs use. I’m game. We’ll need a decent outdoor antenna, and I happen to have a brand new discone that I can use. The frequency range covers the FM broadcast band, although AM is left out. I hope to engineer a system where I can split the signal to a number of other receivers and scanners throughout the house.

I’m working on GMRS radios for the kids, both handheld and mobile units. I’m also working on communications protocols. All this is just in case. Once we test this out, I hope to expand it to a small group of friends and neighbors. Still, just in case.

Other things demand my time now. Remember the immortal words of ‘Ol Remus: Avoid Crowds. Out here.

2 thoughts on “Report from the OP, October 17, 2021

  1. We use Motorola T260 2 way radios, simple to use, rechargeable. The range is supposed to be about 20 miles, we get 1/2 mile due to hills, but they’re lightweight and simple.
    I have some dry foods stored in Mason jars. I use a jar sealer attachment for the food saver vacuum. My jars have stayed sealed for going on 5 yrs. I used one jar of Jiffy Mix this year, and it was just as good as fresh. Other dry goods are put in ziplock bags and stored in plastic containers and used in rotation over a year or two. I’ve never had a problem with bugs or going rancid.
    As usual, WallyWorld was out of some things, okay on others; same at the supermarket. Flour and sugar were sparse, peanut butter only in 16 oz or 40 oz, no midsize, and stock was thin. Gas is 2.89 to 3.30, depending on location. The local Dollar General has a lot of empty shelves lately, especially the canned foods.

  2. Yesterday my non-prepper wife brought my the site link for All Day Chemist. She suggested we order IVM and HCQ tablets for ourselves and our grown non-prepper kids. They don’t take plastic, but I used an auxiliary bank account to order what we needed.

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