Prepper Diary January 9: Its Much Calmer Here on the Homestead than Out in the Real World

Gun sales are up again, this time in reaction to the storming of the capitol.  I have to admit, I am a little surprised at this reaction.  Where were these people when they were rioting, looting and setting fire to businesses in Minneapolis?  How come they didn’t buy guns when the protesters attacked the Federal buildings in Portland night after night?

Seems to me that the cavalier attitude of prosecutors who let liberal protestors off with a slap on the hand, and the pundits and talking heads on the news media who saw little or nothing wrong with the anti-police protests of the summer are suddenly seeing the opposite side of that coin.  Yes, when you allow one group to misbehave, you have to expect others will follow in their footsteps.

Too all those running out and buying guns now, good luck finding ammo.

The Laughable Coup

The idea that some hotheads who stormed the capital was some sort of coup is laughable.  For example, having your photo taken with your feet on Pelosi’s desk is the act of a kid who broke into the staffroom during spring break, not someone intent on over throwing the government.  How much smarter would they have been to plant a key logger on her computer or ransomware on the office network?

I could plan a better coup, and I expect most of my readers could as well.  With the Democrats controlling the Senate by one vote, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to come up with a way to overturn that margin. 

This is just another example of the media making everything look far worse than it is to make conservatives look bad and socialists look like they have all our best interests at heart.

All Quiet on the Homestead

We had a quiet day here on the homestead. We brought in enough firewood to cover us for at least three days, just in case a potential polar vortex brings cold air and snow our way.  I worked in the garage and got more tools unpacked and hung on the pegboard and installed an LED shop light over the bench.  It finally starting to look like a workshop. 

I started unpacking boxes left over from our move that were deemed low priority when we were in the midst of unpacking.  That means putting books on shelves and deciding which books can stay in boxes.  Quite a few of my prepping books are no longer really necessary.  I have a couple on building underground shelters that I am thinking of either discarding entirely or tearing apart and scanning.  Years ago, I had considered building an underground survival shelter, but I just don’t consider that likely any longer.

I did hang on to Kresson H. Kearny’s classic Nuclear War Survival Skills, which is one of the fist books I read early in my prepper journey, as well as classics like Where there is no Doctor and Where there is no Dentist.  Books on homesteading, gardening, finding and identifying edible plants in the wild and other outdoor titles remained on my shelf.

What’s the Frequency Kenneth

I have also unpacked the speakers and stereo amplifier and set everything up so our movies have theater-like sound again.  Even with an external antenna, I cannot get any radio stations.  I know we are rural, but we can AM and FM in the car.  In fact, as we drive higher up the mountain, our reception improves.  Maybe the lack of radio inside is because the stereo is in the basement.  Looks like I will have to work on figuring that out. 

I bought this equipment back in 2004, well before streaming services, and with the exception of no radio pickup, it is still humming along just fine.  I can’t say the same for my first iPod, which gave up the ghost a couple years back. 

Our Self-Imposed Quarantine Resumes

Now that the holidays are behind us and we are getting no more visitors, we are settling into our self-imposed quarantine again.  We’ve been out only once in the past week.

Last time around, staying home meant more reading, more streaming, and more baking.  We have already made pizza for dinner, and I am hoping my wife will make chocolate chip cookies for me.  Instead, she been making homemade soup with lentils, barley and other dried ingredients.  Not bad, but not in the same class as her chocolate chip cookies.

After our latest shopping trip, we have five dozen eggs in the fridge and will probably go at least two weeks without needed to go shopping again.  I expect we’ll make a run to the post office and to drop trash off at the dump, but both of those are no-contact activities.

Walmart Plus will not deliver to this address, but we can still do curbside pickup there or at the grocery store.